(Antioch, California May 22, 2011) We're still here! Waited until 6 PM Pacific to post this….just in case. It's too bad Camping's Prophecy didn't jell as the event could have settled Rob Bell's no hell notion once and for all.
If we all had been yanked from this world yesterday and saw the after-life for ourselves it would all become clear. Writers would not be able to publish their finidings, which in itself would answer the question—having a scoop and not being able to publish it, would be real hell for writers, thereby proving it DOES exist.
Helen Trautman, our Executive Research Associate currently living in Pittsburgh where she is CEO of Results Unlimited, an organization that does the planning and staging of major events as well as a Speaker's Bureau booking national and international figures, actors and authors and who is putting finishing touches on her biblical one-woman show, Lydia, known in The Bible as the Seller of Purple, playing the starring role, with her big screen debut in the works, sent us several clips on the Rob Bell blast at Christian beliefs.
However, it took so much space to run off her credits that there is no room left for the story. OK, OK, I suppose we can lengthen the space for this issue…..
Rob Bell, pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan, (according to a book review by Lauren F. Winner forThe New York Times), was once called, "the hippier-than-thou pastor" by Time magazine. He has stirred the pot causing a big stew over his book," Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived." (Harper-One).
With this book released in February, (this book was not released…it escaped!)...Bell has taken the inclusiveness issue to a new level. Can't exclude anybody from anything these day's don't you know.
With his re-construction tools, he has plunged in to widen the narrow path to salvation and heaven so that everyone, without exception, can go directly to heaven since hell does not exist. Thus saith he.
Indeed, Time magzine devoted its coveted Easter Season cover to Bell's best smeller. Columnist Tony Norman of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette adds that Rob Bell is catching hell for his book that trashes long held Biblical beliefs.
Norman asks in his column," Portfolio," , "If Jews, Buddhists, atheists, Muslims and other non-Christians are allowed to experience God's love and grace in eternity—not to mention Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Mao and the army of pedophile priests uncovered in recent years—what is the point of being a Christian?" Excellent question.
He takes it further by stating, "Wer'e offended by the concept of a truly loving God who puts Hitler and Mother Teresa on the same level. We demand that God have higher standards."
God DOES have higher standards which demands moral living, ethics and honesty, plus a belief in His Son. One must accept His Son in order to come to Him.
Pastor Dan Helix of Great Awakenings Church in Concord, California makes it very clear. "If you come to see me, it is expected that you will accept and like my son. If one does not accept my son, then he is no longer welcome in my house."
A Holy God MUST employ wrath against those who sin. The first book of Romans tells how God deals with those who refuse to turn from their sin: "And even as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things that are not proper." Romans 1:28.
This is the wrath of abandonment. He removes restraints and allows the sin to run its inevitable course, identified in such cases as, 'sin unto death.' This wrath is a holy ordinance that must be satisfied.
That is precisely what happened to a California pastor who continued in sin. God allowed the area newspapers to pound him so steadily that he committed suicide. This does not let the newspapers off the hook. Even though God allowed them to do what newspapers do, they will have a serious judgment to face in the end.
Bell sez 'no Hell.' "It is offensive to think that a loving God would send people to Hell."saith he. First of all, God does not send anybody to hell. One can go the world's way to the end which the world provides, which is a pathway that must be chosen.
However, God stands with his arms outstretched saying, "Love my son and come to me." By reaching out to God you take a different pathway and can enjoy His fellowship forever. God does NOT send one to hell. You wind up there simply by refusing to take refuge in Him.
If I have a house on high ground and a flood comes, my home will be safe. I can invite neighbors to come up to my house and escape the flood. The neighbor can say, 'yes,' and come to that highter ground and be saved. OR, they can say, I won't go to that house, I don't want anything to do with that neighbor on higher ground so I will not accept the invitation. That is the situation, simple, cut and dried.
This modern day version of Bell, Book and Candle is way off track. To try to re-write the Bible is foolhardy. And dangerous.
I would urge you to give Jesus a try. If you don't like him, the devil will always take you back.
Don't let Bell Rob you of your beliefs by spending your money, and worse, your time on his tome. It is more profitable to read Dinesh D'Souza's book, What's So Great About Christianity. There you will find lots of valid answers..
