Universal Reconciliation

Hello, and thank you for listening to the Testing the Spirits podcast. The title of this episode is Universal Reconciliation or the Heresy of Universal Reconciliation. Let me just start out by defining the term.

Defining Universal Reconciliation as Universalism

My definition is very simple and straightforward. Universal Reconciliation is basically just a fancy term for universalism. The idea that everyone is saved no matter what. No matter what you do, no matter what you believe, everyone is saved.

And just to prove that I'm not alone in my definition, here is what Wikipedia says. They say Christian Universalism, which isn't Christian, but Christian Universalism, according to Wikipedia, is a school of Christian theology focused around the doctrine of universal reconciliation.

The view that all human beings will ultimately be saved and restored to a right relationship with God. Christian Universalism in the belief or hope in the universal reconciliation through Christ can be understood as synonyms.

In other words, universal reconciliation and universalism, it's the same thing. And then they go on to talk about how people who reject universalism hold to the doctrine of eternal damnation. And for the Orthodox Protestant or evangelical Bible believing, whatever you want to call it, the Orthodox Protestant evangelical Christian, you know, we understand that no, not everyone is saved.

Clearly, this is what Jesus taught. Not everyone is going to heaven. Instead, those who reject the grace of God offered through Jesus Christ, according to Jesus, according to the scripture, they will suffer eternally in a place called hell.

Biblical Teaching on Hell and the Necessity of Faith

So tied up in universalism is the denial of hell or typically because hell is mentioned in the Bible, they will just redefine the term. So I'm going to read from an article from gut questions .org in a few moments.

But here are some verses that prove that there is in fact a place called hell that you need to be saved from. Jesus tells Nicodemus, first of all, the necessity of believing in Christ. Jesus tells Nicodemus in John three, verse three, most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Jesus said in John eight, 24, therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am, he, you will die in your sins. So you must believe in Jesus. And then Jesus said three times at the end of Mark chapter nine, he talks about people who will be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched, where according to Jesus, he says, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.

Revelation 14, 11, it talks about people in hell. It says the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and they have no rest day.

Or night.

And then revelation 2015 says, and if anyone is not found written in the book of life or anyone who has not found written in the book of life, they are cast into the lake of fire. So clearly the Bible does not teach that everyone is saved.

And just in case someone is watching and you think that somehow that seems unfair because this is what people say, that this penalty of everlasting torment is, seems somehow unfair or extreme. Well, that's like saying God is unfair.

God has sent Christ into the world, given people the opportunity to believe there's not a single person on earth who wants to be saved and God isn't allowing it. That's just not the case. So let me just share with you the plain truth.

According to scripture, according to Jesus, ultimately the people who end up in hell, they go there because of their unbelief and really ultimately they hate God. I mean, there's a group of people who said, well, I don't know if they hate God.

Well, there are passages we could look at, but let me just illustrate it this way. There's a group of people locally that had been going around trying to convince people of this false doctrine of universal reconciliation.

I spoke with one of them and they came right out and admitted it. Now they don't say I hate God, but they did say, they told me the God of the Bible is like a villain. They said the true God is not like that.

I just don't believe the Bible or at least certain parts of the Bible are true. God is not like that. The God of the Bible is like a villain. And I was sort of surprised that they came out and admitted that.

Because usually when someone's trying to convince someone of universalism, sometimes they operate like a cult. And of course, this person that I was talking to is actually in a cult. But when people try to convince another person, usually they don't share what they really believe upfront.

They wait until people are already well initiated into the group and then they tell you what they really think. But I suppose that person knew that I was never going to be persuaded. So they just had that honest moment and they shared their hatred for the God of the Bible.

The God of scripture is like a monster. And that person's spouse is going around telling people, Oh, I believe in Jesus. No, they don't. They believe in a different God. They believe in a false Christ.

As Paul said, a different Jesus, another Christ, a false Jesus. They have concocted in their own vain imagination, all the while despising the true Christ of scripture, trying to trick people into thinking they're Christians.

Because if somebody, and hear me say, if somebody believes in universalism or universal reconciliation and they're denying Jesus's teaching that you must believe and that there is a hell, if you deny that you're denying a fundamental truth of the Christian faith, you're denying the gospel.

You are not a Christian. If you believe in universalism, that's the bottom line. And all Orthodox Protestants and evangelicals and Bible believers understand that. That's not, not anything new. So, and really what's especially sad is that local pastors are allowing these false teachers, these heretics, local pastors are allowing these people into their congregations.

And in some cases, local pastors are actually, you know, running interference for these people. You see, here's what bothers me. I'll just share this with you. Here's what really bothers me. It's not that everyone has to take the same exact approach, you know, as one church has to do the exact same thing as another church.

Now, it's true, the call for excommunication for false teachers, Titus 310, it's not optional. It's not a suggestion. Pastors must protect their flocks. So every church is biblically obligated to excommunicate these people.

So it is bad, the fact that many refuse to do that. But here's what really bothers me. It's the pastors that are fighting against us, the pastors that are actually opposing the group of us who have excommunicated these people.

There are actually a group of pastors who are opposing myself and four or five other pastors and churches who have taken not just a hard line, but a biblical approach. And they're telling us we're wrong.

All the while, they're trying to make space to allow the heretics into their fellowships. That's inexcusable and honestly, fellowship with people like that is just not possible. This has been going on for more than six months and nobody's changing their position.

It's totally inexcusable. There's no biblical justification for this at all. And I've said it before, this is by far the worst situation I have ever seen, at least on a local level. Okay, back to universalism.

Common Prooftexts Used for Universalism

What are the verses? You say, well, how can people believe in universalism? What verses do they even use to back up their false doctrine? Here's a short list. John 4 .42 says that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world.

First John 2 .2, Jesus is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but for the whole world. So the idea is that Jesus died for everybody, for every human being. Well, why is that a bad argument?

First of all, the term world is general in nature and could simply mean humanity, generally.

Speaking.

In other words, Jesus died for Jews and Gentiles. He died for people. He died for people from every nation, tribe, and tongue. But even if you grant that Jesus died literally for every human being who has ever lived, that argument still ignores the fact that Jesus said people must believe.

It ignores all those verses that demand that people repent and believe the gospel. So that's just a poor argument at best. There is no verse that denies hell or says that everyone is saved. They're just taking that out of context.

Here's another verse they use, Colossians 1 .19 -20 says, For it pleased the Father that in him, that is in Christ, all the fullness should dwell, and by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross.

So they say, see, all things, you know, everybody, all are reconciled to God. Well, again, the word all needs to be qualified. All of who? All of what? If I say we're all here, I don't mean that every human being on earth is here.

I mean, everyone, all is, you know, within the context. And then, of course, Paul goes on in Colossians 1 to talk about how you must continue in the faith and in the hope of the gospel. So in other words, to use Colossians 1 to teach universal reconciliation is to completely ignore the context.

But this is what false teachers do. They might have a verse or two that sounds good, but it's out of context. Therefore, the meaning gets twisted. Okay, so if all of that wasn't enough, let me just end the podcast by reading from this article from GotQuestions .org.

The article is called, Is Universalism Biblical? Here's what the article states. Universalism is the belief that everyone will be saved. There are many people today who hold to universal salvation and believe that all people eventually end up in heaven.

And by the way, you know, some of these guys, you have to watch out because they're like.

Satan.

They're subtle and they lie and they twist the truth and redefine terms. Some people say, I believe in hell. But what they are talking about is really more like purgatory, that people only go there for a little while and then get out.

So just keep that in mind. Back to the article. Perhaps it is the thought of men and women living, that living a life of eternal torment and hell. After all, it's that thought that causes some people to reject the teachings of scripture on this issue.

For some, it is an overemphasis on the love and compassion of God and the neglect of the righteousness and justice of God that leads them to believe that God will have mercy on every living soul. But the scriptures do teach that some people will spend eternity in hell.

Why Eternal Punishment Is the Teaching of Scripture

First of all, the Bible is clear that unredeemed men will dwell forever in hell. Jesus's own words confirm that the time spent in heaven for the redeemed will last as long as those who are unredeemed in hell.

Matthew 25, 46 says, then they, that is, the unsaved will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. According to this verse, the punishment of the unsaved is just as eternal as the life of the righteous.

Some believe that those in hell will eventually cease to exist, but the Lord himself confirms that it will last forever. Matthew 25, 41, Mark 9, 44, which I already alluded to that verse in the end of Mark.

So the Bible and Jesus Christ himself describes hell as eternal fire, is unquenchable fire. It is eternal. Nobody's getting out. It never ends. How does one avoid this unquenchable fire? According to gotquestions .org, many people believe that all roads, all religions and beliefs lead to heaven.

Some people do believe that, or they consider that God is so full of love and mercy that he will allow all people into heaven. Well, God is certainly full of love and mercy. It was these qualities that led him to send his son, Jesus Christ, to the earth to die on the cross for us.

Jesus Christ is the exclusive door that leads to an eternity in heaven. Acts 4 .12 says salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. First Timothy 2 .5. In John 14, verse 6, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.

In John 3 .16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. So if we choose to reject God's son, we do not meet the requirements for salvation.

John 3 .16, 18, and verse 36. Just read John 3 .36. It's extremely clear. With verses such as these, it becomes obvious that universalism and universal salvation are unbiblical beliefs. Universalism directly contradicts what Scripture teaches.

While many people accuse Christians of being intolerant and exclusive, it is important to remember that these are the words of Christ himself. Christians did not develop these ideas on their own. Christians are simply stating what the Lord has already said.

People choose to reject the message because they do not want to face up to their sin and admit that they need the Lord to save them. To say that those who reject God's provision of salvation through his son will be saved is to belittle the holiness and justice of God and negate the need of Jesus' sacrifice on our behalf.

And I would just add that the local cult that is currently teaching universal reconciliation, that's what their leader said. The exact same thing when he claimed that the death of Jesus was completely avoidable and unnecessary.

And yet, again, six months after everyone, all the pastors have known about this for at least six months, local pastors, many of them are still running interference for the universalists and their right to attend church services and church events.

It's pretty sad. But just to end on a positive note, I praise God for all the pastors and the deacons and the elders and church members who see this for what it is, rank heresy. Just name a few names.

I praise God for Pastor Gary Borbo. I praise God for Pastor Jason Beeman. I praise God for Pastor Jim Rennie. And there's a few others. I praise God for them that they actually are willing to do the biblical thing.

But so many are not. And then again, some are just running interference for the heretics. Yeah, we may be in the minority, but that's always been the way, you know, it's the remnant,.

Right?

That remained faithful to the scriptures. So I exhort in case any of the other local pastors who haven't taken a stand on this, I just exhort you, if any of them are listening, please, for the love of literally for the love of Christ and the word of God, please uphold the scriptures on this.

How to Discern a Universalist and Why the Issue Matters

One last thing, if you want to discover whether or not someone is a universalist, you need to ask specific questions because some people say, well, I talked to some of these guys and they seem they're a man of God.

They seem sincere. They're so nice. You have to ask specific questions. Whether they seem sincere is not the issue. Whether, hey, he seems like a nice guy. That's not the issue. No one is saved because he seems like a nice guy.

Come on, we need to be discerning. So here's what you have to do to discern whether or not someone is a universalist. You need to ask specific questions. You have to ask them point blank. Yes or no. Will all people be saved in the end?

Yes or no. Will people who die in unbelief go to a place of eternal conscious torment? You have to ask those specific questions and get a yes or no answer. And if they're not willing to give a yes or no on like the most basic of all Christian teachings, I mean, that tells you everything.

And remember, unfortunately, false teachers, they lie, they change definitions. So while some people are brazen in their heresy, others will try to kind of dance around it and not be straightforward. So ask specific pointed questions.

Because why is that? Because if this heresy is allowed to continue and people allow these folks to come into churches and make friends and then they're going to share these beliefs and they're going to try to pick people off from good churches into their cult.

God forbid if more people embrace this, every person who embraces universalism, they have fallen away from the true faith. Souls are at stake. This is the most serious issue I have ever seen. I can't stress that enough, but really, at least in their minds and hypothetically, if this is true, if universal reconciliation is true, which it's not, but if it were, there's no longer a need for the church.

There's no need for Christian education. There's no need even for the gospel because everyone's going to be saved in the end. So it doesn't matter what you do, you could live your life as a serial killer and everyone's still saved.

You can reject God, hate God, reject Christ. If universalism is true, you see how it is a denial of everything the Bible teaches. So in conclusion, those of you who are on the right side, God bless you, keep fighting the good fight of faith.

And if by some chance an unsaved person is listening or someone who has been pulled into deconstruction and heresy, if someone like that is listening, please repent. Please don't put it off another day.

If you die in this condition, you will go to a place of eternal conscious torment. You might not like it, but that's what Jesus said. That's not what I'm saying. Well, you just think everyone has to agree with you.

I'm just telling you what Jesus said. Shouldn't we all, if we're going to say we're Christian, shouldn't we say that we would believe the words of Jesus? Don't believe me, believe Christ. Repent and believe the true gospel that Jesus died on the cross for sin.

And on the third day, he rose again for our justification and that a person must repent and believe the gospel. Scripture says, if you would confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Saved from what? Sin and its penalty, which is not only death, it is the second death in the lake of fire. Thanks for listening. And until next time, may the Lord be with you and have a great day.