Thus says the Lord: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” (Jeremiah 6:16)

Neo-Gnostics Believe They’re In The Gno

I’ve told you before e.g. in Apprising Ministries: Rob Bell Resources that online apologetics and discernment ministries have been warning you about the warped and toxic teachings of the Emerging Church rock star pastor Rob Bell for years now. 

Bell’s gospel is essentially the same as the newer postmodern form of Progressive Christianity—Liberalism 2.0—that  Living Spiritual Teacher and leading Emergent guru Brian McLaren began laying out systematically in his book A New Kind of Christianity.

Now I’ll tell you that today in the video clip Conversation on Religion with On Faith’s Sally Quinn over at The Washington Post “Bell answers two questions from Twitter” in preparation “for an extended interview” that should appear “next week.”

The first question he’s asked is “what if you’re wrong; about hell?” And this is precisely the point I’ve been trying to get you to see with Rob Bell; I personally think that he’s the kind of guy who would announce to a room: I’m the only one here who really knows what Jesus would say or do.

Here’s the transcript:

Sally Quinn: Ah, we’ve got a couple of questions-

Rob Bell: Okay.

Quinn: Ah, from Twitter. Um, what if you’re wrong; about hell?

Bell: If (pause) billions and billions and billions of people; God is going to torture them, in hell, forever—people who have never heard about Jesus—are going to suffer in eternal agony, because they didn’t believe in the Jesus they’ve never heard of, then at that point we will far bigger problems than a book by a pastor in Grand Rapids.

I said years ago that these EC rebels against the final authority of the Word of God in the Bible are neo-Gnostics whose personal practice of corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism has deluded them into a quiet, but smug, arrogance where they feel they’re just a little better than you are, because they know; and well, you don’t. I don’t believe Bell would ever think he’s wrong; but he is.

Notice that Bell’s answer is actually an appeal to philosophy, not to the Bible; it’s designed to tug at your human heart strings, it isn’t rooted in what God says. In fact, such as these like Rob Bell in the sinfully ecumenical neo-liberal cult of the Emergent Church aka the Emerging Church speak from the world, and the world listens to them (1 John 4:5).

People don’t go to hell because they’ve never heard of Jesus; the truth is, we are not children of God by nature, but rather children of wrath, like the rest of mankind (Ephesians 2:3) who are born already condemned. As it is written — Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him (John 3:36).

As far as those without the Gospel, the following is helpful:

In reality, it is not that some people have not heard about God. Rather, the problem is that they have rejected what they have heard and what is readily seen in nature. Deuteronomy 4:29 proclaims, “But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.” This verse teaches an important principle—everyone who truly seeks after God will find Him. If a person truly desires to know God, God will make Himself known.

The problem is “there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God” (Romans 3:11). People reject the knowledge of God that is present in nature and in their own hearts, and instead decide to worship a “god” of their own creation. It is foolish to debate the fairness of God sending someone to hell who never had the opportunity to hear the gospel of Christ. People are responsible to God for what God has already revealed to them. The Bible says that people reject this knowledge, and therefore God is just in condemning them to hell…

If we assume that those who never hear the gospel are granted mercy from God, we will run into a terrible problem. If people who never hear the gospel are saved, it is logical that we should make sure no one ever hears the gospel. The worst thing we could do would be to share the gospel with a person and have him or her reject it. If that were to happen, he or she would be condemned. (Online source)

The logical conclusion to the Wider Mercy myth really isn’t much of an importance to be missional, is it. Now here’s the second question:

Quinn: Ok, if there’s no hell, then why did Jesus die for our sins?

Bell: What I argue in the Bible for is for the existence of hell. Like in the Bible, so wh—so wha you read—I believe in hell now, I believe in hell when you die. I believe God gives people the right to say “no,” to resist, to refuse, to reject, to cling to their sins, to cling to their version of their story.

So ah, the Bible is very—there’s a whole chapter in the book on hell—and I think we should take hell very seriously. I think it exists; and so ah, there being no hell isn’t something I believe so (pause) there you go. (Online source)

I don’t think this is right area to attack the mythology of Rob Bell and hell; as I said two years ago in Rob Bell And Christian Universalism, he appears to be leaning toward a form of Christian Universalism (CU), which is also known as Universal Reconciliation/Redemption (UR). Those who adhere to CU/UR do generally see Jesus Christ as the only way that all mankind (at the least) will eventually be saved.

There are various views but this CU is based upon a universal atonement of Christ on the Cross—an At-One-Ment—very similar to that of the New Spirituality and Metaphysical Mind Science cults, which then in turn sounds an awfully lot like the Love Wins mythology of Rob Bell. It’s also important to note that many in CU do believe in a literal hell, they just hope that one day it will be completely empty.

You may recall the following from a 2007 post called An Interview With Rob Bell at the Emerging Ooze:

(Online source)

It’s best to take Rob Bell at his word that he believes “in hell when you die” and stick to his wrong views of it. Universalism, Christian so-called or not, has never been the position of what the late great defender of the faith Dr. Walter Martin so often referred to as “the historic, orthodox, Christian faith.” I offer that Bell is preaching another gospel entirely; and he has no business preaching in the evangelical community.

As I close this, for now, I leave you with these harrowing words from Grand Rapids pastor Kevin DeYoung condensed from his extremely thorough—and dead on target—God Is Still Holy and What You Learned in Sunday School Is Still True: A Review of “Love Wins”:

According to Bell, salvation is realizing you’re already saved. We are all forgiven. We are all loved, equally and fully by God who has made peace with everyone… Bell is saying God has already forgiven us whether we ask for it or not, whether we repent and believe or not, whether we are born again or not… Bell categorically rejects any notion of penal substitution. It simply does not work in his system or with his view of God…

At the very heart of this controversy, and one of the reasons the blogosphere exploded over this book, is that we really do have two different Gods. The stakes are that high. If Bell is right, then historic orthodoxy is toxic and terrible. But if the traditional view of heaven and hell are right, Bell is blaspheming. I do not use the word lightly, just like Bell probably chose “toxic” quite deliberately. Both sides cannot be right.

As much as some voices in evangelicalism will suggest that we should all get along and learn from each other and listen for the Spirit speaking in our midst, the fact is we have two irreconcilable views of God… (Online source)

The question then becomes: Is Galatians 1:6-9 truly inspired by God the Holy Spirit (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16)…or not:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

See also:

ROB BELL AND POSTMODERN NEO-LIBERALISM

APPRISING MINISTRIES: ROB BELL RESOURCES

ROB BELL ON THE RECORD CONCERNING SCRIPTURE

IS ROB BELL EVANGELICAL?

BRIAN MCLAREN TAKES ON AL MOHLER OVER ROB BELL

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GOOD NEWS

THE NEW DOWNGRADE AND ITS APOSTLES OF UNBELIEF