eternal – Auriesville Tubthumper

Hell Yes It’s Real, Part 1

In the last couple months I have working on a few theological items. Some of the main topics have been Hell, Heaven and Faith along with a few others. I wrote about Hell previously but this time I did some research and pulled the views of some others into my package of thoughts and knowledge.So I think I will work through these items starting with Hell.

In a series of posts I will show how the authoritative words of Jesus Christ and the clarity of the Bible cause us to have no other choice but to believe that Hell is for real.

The subject we are considering is extremely heavy as we look at the reality of Hell. Hell is an awesome thing. Who could ever possibly take it all in? To admit that Hell is real is to say that it is possible you or I or both of us might end up in eternal anguish separated from God and separated from other humans to be tormented in darkness. It is important to know if Hell really exists and it sure would be nice for a lot of people if it didn’t. [1]

There is a very different opinion of Hell now from back at the time when Edwards or Spurgeon were thumping the “Hellfire and Brimstone” from the pulpit. Any discussion regarding Hell today is sure to bring a rash on someone. The doctrine of Hell has never been challenged as much as it is now in our time.[2]

Hell is certainly for real and even Jesus Christ went there. He went to Sheol (Greek Hades) at His death on the cross (Acts 2:27, 31). He visited briefly because He was resurrected on the third day and came back in victory. Because of His resurrection from death Jesus has in His possession “the keys to death and Hades” and He will reign over them (Rev. 1:18). In the end both death and Hades will be cast into the “lake of fire” along with the devil, fallen angels and all the lost sinners (Rev.20:13-15).

The views have changed over time. The doctrine of Hell is almost never addressed in Christian theology today because it is so controversial. You don’t hear any ‘Hellfire and Brimstone’ sermons any more like was part of the ministry of Jonathan Edwards so long ago. Jonathan Edwards was probably more closely associated with the concept of Hell than any other preacher. Many called him sadistic because he concentrated on Hell so often. Jonathan Edwards was a man that truly believed in the reality of Hell. Because he was concerned about the spiritual well-being of his congregation, and he rightly should have, he preached passionately about Hell. He certainly had no desire for any of his people to experience that dreadful place.[3]

The Doctrine of Hell stands alone. Of course Hell is for real. The doctrine stands alone based on the history of Christianity. If you were to take away Hell the entire scope of Christian theology would be altered. Men and women dreamed of going to heaven and they had nightmares about going to Hell. Now days there is distaste for hell and it shows up in the watered down sermons. There cannot be any room for doubt on this. We must make a choice to admit that the endless misery of Hell is real or we need to give up the thought of eternal happiness in heaven.[4]

There is both scientific and biblical evidence that Hell is for real. Evangelical Christians believe the Biblical sources are the only ones truly reliable to determine what our eternal destinies will be like. They (we) want to seek out God’s truth for the answer. Evangelical Christians also believe that Hell is for real and any thought of a postmortem second chance or an afterlife is preposterous. Consequently, evangelicals believe the most horrible fate any human being could ever face is the reality of Hell.[5]

The views have changed over time. Regardless of the issue that people do not want to think seriously about hell, everyone needs to be aware. Human beings need to understand the place that Christ’s death on the cross saved them from. All unbelievers should be warned of the eternal judgment that will become them if they do not turn to God, repent of their sins and find salvation through Jesus Christ.

This is real serious stuff because we are talking about the eternal future and destination of real people. People that you and I know and see every day. People that could spend the rest of eternity in a horrible place. Anyone persistently rejecting the Lord throughout their life can expect to one day face God in judgment and likely get the verdict to be cast into Hell. Hell is for real. Anyone ending up in Hell can never come out again and Hell is frightening beyond any human imagination.

Yes, Hell is for real… join me in the next post as I continue with defining hell and getting into the nitty-gritty dirty details.

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2

Click here to jump to Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Conclusion.

Have a Godly day,

“The Tubthumper”

[1] Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle, Erasing Hell.

[2] R.C. Sproul, Unseen Realities: Heaven, Hell, angels and Demons.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Timothy Keller et al., Is HELL for Real or does Everyone go to Heaven.

[5] Edward William Fudge, and Petersen, Two Views of Hell.

[6] Sproul, Unseen Realities.

You must view God in 3-D, part 5

CONCLUSION

You likely have sung or heard this doxology:

“Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him all creatures here below, Praise Him above, ye heavenly host, Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”

You may also be familiar with this:

“Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy ghost, As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, World without end, Amen.”

Both of these songs are about the Trinity. By knowing the true nature of the Trinity and by intimately relating to each person and the Godhead one can deepen the spiritual walk and increase faith in Christ. Knowledge and understanding of the nature of God and theological issues like this will gradually wean one from the milk of the word and help in the partaking of the meat.

There are some false views and mistakes many make regarding the Trinity. One big mistake people make is to buy into the theory of “tri-theism”. Tri-theism maintains that the Trinity is made up of three separate gods. The theory is these three gods cooperate with one another but are all separate. Do not get caught up in this theory. It is false.

Another theory people might buy into is the theory of “modalism”. Those that lean to this kind of thinking believe there is one God that reveals himself through using three different modes. This is kind of like having a climate system on your care that can use three modes, the heating mode, the cooling mode or the vent mode. Just turn the switch. So they God turns the Father switch on when he is in Father mood or maybe he feels today like a ghost so he switches on the Spirit mode and then when He feels like it He changes to the mode of the Son. Don’t get caught up in modalism. This is false teaching and both “tri-theism” and “modalism” are unscriptural.

How does scripture describe the Trinity?

1) The Bible says the Father is God. “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:44) “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 1:7) “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” (1 Peter 1:2)

2) The Bible says the Son is God. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6) In the beginning was the Word, [Christ] and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) “And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.” (John 20:28) “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” (Titus 2:13) “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.” (Hebrews 1:8)

3) The Bible says the Spirit is God. “But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” (Acts 5:3-4) “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:14)

I am sure you may be familiar with this beautiful hymn:

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty,

Early in the morning, our song shall rise to Thee;

Holy, Holy, Holy, merciful and mighty,

God in three Persons, blessed Trinity.

The author of that hymn is Reginald Hernber and I don’t think anyone could have put the doctrine of the Trinity in a better form.

They are All Equally God and they are All Divine.

The doctrine of the Trinity can be best defined this way, “First, the Bible teaches there is only one God and second, the Bible teaches there are three distinct persons called God, namely the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Lastly and most importantly, the three persons; The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are the one God.”^[1]

There is only one deity and that one deity is sacred and holy and eternal. There are three persons that make up the one deity. As mentioned earlier the doctrine of the Trinity cannot be figured out through human wisdom and knowledge. It can only be revealed by the truth of the word through scripture. We first find the Trinity in the pages of the Old Testament and later we find it in the New Testament where the doctrine becomes fully revealed. Three distinct personalities show up along with the relationship to each and they all are unified to show the “three in one” dynamics.^[2]

Regarding deity they are all equal. (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.) They are all equally God. Barry Davis wrote, “This Jesus who identifies Himself as “I AM” is equal with God because He is God. “I AM” is eternal with God.”1

The whole issue can be summed up with the words of William Edwin Boardman in his book The Higher Christian Life, where he said, “The Father is all the fullness of the Godhead invisible, (John 1:18); the Son is all the fullness of the Godhead manifested, (John 1:4-18); and the Spirit is all the fullness of the Godhead acting immediately upon the creature. (1 Corinthians 2: 9-10) And therein lays “The Deity of Three.”

Jesus had a favorite way of referring to Himself. It was “The Son of Man”. That title is what He preferred, however, when He wanted to be very clear that He was the same as God the Father and the Holy Spirit he used a different term so as to demonstrate his sovereignty and His deity. “I AM…I AM”. He is claiming to be ‘The God’, the self-existent one, He is claiming to be the God identified with the Old Testament and He is claiming to be ‘your God’. He is my God! The great “I AM…I AM,” Lord and Master of all.

He is “One God and Father of all, who [is] above all, and through all, and in you all,” Ephesians 4:6.

I will conclude with 2 Corinthians 13:14, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.”

Today is Good Friday; please enjoy the Resurrection Sunday in Him. He is risen!

Amen and Amen,

“The Tubthumper”

Click here to jump to :

PART 1, PART 2, PART 3, PART 4

[1] Beckwith, The Trinity.

[2] Max Robert Miller, The Godhead as It Relates to the Three Divine Personalities of Deity, the Trinity, Being God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, Thereby Making Special Identification of These Three Persons and Especially to the Son and His Relations in the Trinity (Amridge University, ALabama: http://p2048-www.liberty.edu.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/docview/303230576?accountid=12085-Dissertation/Thesis, (accessed March 1, 2013), 1981).

Finders Keepers Part 7

Once saved always saved? Watch it or you could lose that salvation before you die?

How much more can be said on this subject? I guess I’ll continue until it becomes exhausted in my mind. I will continue driving the subject home.

Some want you to believe you cannot be sure. Some want you to think the doctrine of the “Preservation of the Saints is a false doctrine. Some scholars call this theological doctrine the “Perseverance of the Saints”. I prefer the word “Preservation” because it is making an emphasis on the activity of God. It is He who saves us, it is He preserves us and it is He who keeps us, watches over and protects us.

I will remind you of what has already been written in my previous posts. Being saved has little to do with the response to an altar call or revival meeting emotion. Being saved has everything to do with faith. It is having a saving faith and belief in Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Lord, the Son of God. It is about you the believer being transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, and I am paraphrasing from memory, “My sheep listen to my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and no one can snatch them out of my hand.” I have mentioned this passage before and you can find the reference in a previous post within this subject. The point is that no one can snatch them away… no one can snatch you away if you have saving faith.

I recently did some work on the deity of God and the trinity doctrine and will put some of it up soon. One of the points made is even the demons believe in God. It says in James chapter 2 and verse 19, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” Let that serve as a lesson to you in that belief in God is one thing and it will not save you. In order to be saved you must worship, have faith, follow His commandments and trust Him. Belief in the Lord involves much more than simply acknowledging He exists. So a true believer is one that is transformed, follows Christ and has a changed life through the power of the Holy Spirit.

If that sounds like you and you believe the Bible is the inerrant, inspired and authoritive word of God then you can be assured of your salvation forever. You can be assured because the Bible states very clearly that we can know that we have eternal life. Turn to John 5:13, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

The Bible indicates that we are Children of God. It indicates this in many scriptures of which I will list a few: John 1:12, Hebrews 2: 9-10, Hebrews 12: 5-6, Romans 8:16, Galatians 3:26, Galatians 4:6-7, 1 John 3:1, 1 John 3:2, 1 John 3:10 and 1 john 5:19. If you are still a skeptic after all I have written then do this for me. Please reply to this post with a reference to one verse in the Bible where God disowns one of His children. You cannot!

I have written previously about how we, the children of God have been predestined. We have been predestined for salvation even before the creation of the world. Scriptures that tell us of this predestination are listed here: Matthew 20:23, Matthew 25:34, Mark 10:40, John 14:2-3, John 17:2-3, Romans 8: 29-30, Romans 9:223, 1 Corinthians 2:7, 1 Corinthians 2:9, Ephesians 1:5, Ephesians 1:11, Ephesians 2:10, Ephesians 4: 11-12 and Hebrews 11:16. Now I ask again of the unbelievers among you, can you please reply to this post with one verse from God’s word that refutes this? You cannot!

The Bible also tells us we are heirs of God. We have an inheritance. Scriptures that indicate we are heirs of His are: Romans 8:17, Galatians 3:29, Galatians 4:7, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, Ephesians 4:30, 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12, 1 Thessalonians 4:7, 2 Thessalonians 1:11, Hebrews 7:24-25, 1 Peter 1: 3-4, Ephesians 1:4-6, Ephesians 1:18, Jude 1:1, Revelation 17:14. Let us turn specifically to Romans 11:29, “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” To you that doubt, can you reply to this post and tell us of just one verse that leads one to a conclusion that a believer is ever un-called or sent packing? You cannot!

Scriptures tell us also that believers are chosen by God Himself. Scriptures that give evidence to this are listed here: Ephesians 1: 11-13, Mark 13:20, Luke 18:7, John 15:16, John 15:19, romans 8:33, Romans 11:5, Colossians 1:27, Colossians 3:12, 1 Thessalonians 1:4, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, James 2:5, 1 Peter 1:2, 1 Peter 2:9, Revelation 17:14, Matthew 22:14 and Revelation 17:14. With the scriptures listed clearly showing a believer is chosen please then, if you are one who thinks you can lose your salvation, reply to this post and cite me just one verse from the Bible that shows God removing a believer from the kingdom. You cannot.

We are sealed by God when we become saved by His grace. The Bible says believers are sealed by God for redemption within these verses: 2 Corinthians 1: 21-22, Ephesians 1:13, Ephesians 4:30 and 2 Timothy 2:19. Please if you don’t believe, reply to this post with just one verse where God removes the seal from a believer. You cannot.

Believers are glorified by God and the Bible says we will be glorified after death in these verses: Romans 8:17, 1 Thessalonians 2:12, 1 Peter 5:4, 1 Peter 5:10, 1 Thessalonians 2: 19-20, 2 Thessalonians 2:14, 2 Timothy 2:10 and Colossians 3:4. Now to those that oppose my view I ask for a reply to this post that shows me where in the Bible that God removes that glory from a believer. You cannot do it.

The Bible shows that we are born again and we have become a new creature when we are saved. Look to these scriptures: John3:3, John3:7, 1 Peter 1:3, 1 peter 1:23, 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Ephesians 4:23-24. Now, again I ask for a reply that would show just one verse in the bible where a believer can become unborn after being born-again. It even sounds silly.

This notion that once someone is saved and has a saving faith in God could lose their salvation is refuted in over 80 verses throughout the Bible. We, as believers are predestined, called, chosen, sealed and we are children of God that are heirs of the Father along with Christ for our glorification in Heaven.

All of the verses I will list here speak of the promise of eternal life to believers. This is not an all exhaustive list and not one of them mentions anything about the possibility of losing that eternal life. Here they are: Matthew 19:29, Mark 10:29-30, Luke 18:29-30, John 3:16, John3:36, John5:24, John6:39, John 6:40, John17:2-3, Acts 13:47-48, Romans 5:20-21, Romans 6:23, 2 Corinthians 5;1, Galatians 6:8, 1 Timothy 1:16, 1 Timothy 6:12, Titus 1:2, Titus 3:5-7, 1John 2:24-25, 1 John 5:11-13, and Jude 1:21. In John 5:24 Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” Can anyone show me anywhere in the Bible where someone is to return by passing from life unto death? No… not one verse.

In closing I must say there is one sin that is not forgiven by God. The sin of blasphemy is not forgiven. So I suppose some fool could give away by choice all that he has. That is not losing salvation given by Christ but is a conscious turning away. Blasphemy is complete unbelief. According to the Bible a true believer cannot fall into unbelief. True believers will persevere even unto the face of opposition. Recently I heard of a couple Pastors that said they went from belief to unbelief. I say they never really found out what true faith is and never were anointed by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 1:8 says, “Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Once saved, we are confirmed unto the end and we are always saved, so that we will be blameless in the day of our Lord. Amen!

God bless your day,

“The Tubthumper”