When we first discovered that the documentary movie Hellbound was showing in a theatre near us, and the Director Kevin
Miller, would be there, we were quite excited about going. I had checked the web site to find out more
about it, and discovered that some well-known names had been interviewed and
were part of the movie. They were people
like Ray Comfort, Bob Larson, Brad Jersak, William Paul Young (author of The
Shack), and Chad Holtz (more about him later), and others I had heard about,
but didn’t know that much about. So we
thought the movie would present a balanced and Biblical view of hell, as it
seemed to indicate on their webpage, sprinkled with other trains of thought
that might disagree with the Bible. We
were so wrong.
The movie began with an attention grabber, interviewing
members from Westboro Baptist Church ,
who are picketing at Ground Zero in New
York , with their “hate” propaganda. Of course, you couldn’t take anything they
said seriously (since most of what they said was confusing to begin with), and
also since many believe they are an extremist group, and some claim they are a
cult. Then when it got to Ray Comfort,
it showed him asking a young man questions about ever lying, cheating, and so
on, but important parts of the significance of admitting those sins, had been
omitted. In other words, when Ray
Comfort asks people these questions, he does it to point out that we have all
sinned in some way (and that no one is good enough on their own), and we are
all in need of a Savior if we want to make it into heaven. This part was omitted.
Most of the men and women interviewed took the view
that there is no such thing as eternal torment, and that hell, as we know it,
does not exist. Very few, if any
Scriptures were used, and most of the comments were based on their personal and
emotional feelings, and what they personally thought, rather than what the
Bible had to say. One of the people
interviewed tried to explain hell away by saying whatever mention of hell there
is in the Bible is a place on earth called Gehenna. The name means “valley of Hinnom Jerusalem
(see Joshua 15:8; 18:16; Jeremiah 19:2,6).
It had been the place where humans were sacrificed by fire for the
idolatrous worship of the pagan god Molech (see 2 Chr. 28:3; 2 Chr. 33:6). The Universalists (most, not all, of the
people being interviewed) believe that ANY mention of Gehenna in the Bible,
including Jesus reference to it in the New Testament, refers to this
geographical place mentioned in the Old Testament, and that it was a past
event. But according to trusted Biblical
scholars, when Jesus made reference to hell (Gehenna), He used it 11 times in
reference to a FUTURE time. Therefore,
the Universalists are wrong because they omit the important fact that it is
also a FUTURE place of torment (hell) for all those who do not believe in Jesus
and accept His free gift of salvation.
Also, the big problem with this argument that Gehenna is a place
on earth and does not refer to a FUTURE place of torment, is that they don’t
explain the many mentions of hell in the Book of Revelation, a FUTURE time in
the history of the world, and a time we have yet to experience. Therefore, if they had taken this one
reference to hell and simply said it was used metaphorically based on a past
historical series of events, you would have to question everything else they
said from that point on.
Another interesting
thing to note was that little mention was made of salvation and the
great price Jesus paid for our sins so that we could be saved, and spared from
eternal separation from God. In other
words, if the gospel was discussed at all, it was a minimal part of the
documentary, and not presented as anything really significant. I began to wonder what was the real point of
the film, but as it neared the end, it became crystal clear that the stance of
the movie, was to try and convince people not to worry, they wouldn’t be going
to hell, and what a ridiculous belief to begin with. In other words, if
you believe in a literal hell, and that it is a place of torment, then you are
sadly mistaken, a good and loving God would never “send” anyone there. And such is their misguided human logic.
After the movie, the
Director showed up, and wanted people to ask questions about the movie. My husband and I knew we had to share, since
we have been lovingly contending with the Universalists for months now, trying
to shed some Biblical light on their mistaken anti-Biblical views about
hell. Out of all the people in the
audience, we were the only ones that challenged him with Scripture, and he was
not able to answer us, but quickly moved on to answer the questions of
others. We had also pointed out that
Chad Holtz, one of the people being interviewed who once denied that hell is
real, had undergone a complete change of mind and heart. We said that he no longer believes that hell
is not real, but emphatically and publicly states that he was wrong, and that
he believes it is real.
What was alarming to me,
is that since my husband and I were the only ones that actually quoted the
Bible from the audience in the theatre, is that perhaps people no longer really
know what they believe because they are not reading the Bible and asking God
for revelation to reveal His truths to them.
I also wondered if maybe the audience were not Bible-believing
Christians, or they did not have a grasp of the Bible, and therefore, would not
know what to ask, or perhaps were afraid to speak up. This is one of the biggest issues I have been
writing about for months now in my blogs:
READ YOUR BIBLE so that you will not be led astray by false
doctrines. I mentioned it in yesterday’s
blogs and I talked about freedom of speech and how long do we have until we can
no longer proclaim the Gospel message? I
can see that if someone in that audience who did not know their Bible or
perhaps wasn’t sure about what Scripture means when it talks about hell, they
could easily be led astray by the deluge of “feelings” and “personal thoughts”
(biased at best and highly subjective), by so-called learned men who may have
written a book, could quite easily be convinced that maybe these Universalists
are right.
Who are we going to
believe? The Lord, or the confused
opinions of a few men who perhaps have fallen away from the truth, or one
wonders if they ever really knew the God of the Hebrew Bible in the first place? That is Chad Holtz’s testimony. He knew that a year ago when he was a pastor
of a church and asked to step down because he no longer believed in hell, that
at that time, he never really knew the Lord.
But the Lord had great mercy on him and his eyes were opened to the
truth, and now he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt – he is forgiven and saved,
and yes, there is a literal hell. Read Chad ’s
testimony here.
I
feel that the verses I quoted in yesterday’s blog bear repeating here:
2Ti
4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2Ti
4:2 Preach
the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
2Ti
4:3 For the time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap
to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
2Ti 4:4
And they shall turn away their
ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
2Ti
4:5 But watch thou in all things, endure
afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
The task to proclaim
God’s Word feels enormous, especially when someone has released such a movie,
hoping to change people’s minds about the Truth of the Bible. I do
not recommend this movie, since although it is entertaining, is laced with
anti-Biblical notions that only serve to confuse the unsuspecting and anyone
not well-versed in the Bible as the Holy Spirit reveals His Word.
I also encourage you to
download my recent book, NO FEAR OF
HELL. In it are many references to
hell as an actual and literal place, and it will challenge you to search God’s
Word and find out for yourself the truth about hell.
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