Bill Wiese, the author of the New York Times best-selling book “23 Minutes in Hell,” has a staunch warning for universalists who believe everyone will go to heaven.
“These people fail to realize that God is a God of justice and judgment,” Wiese says. “They say God is love, and that He would never allow such suffering, for people to go to hell. Believe everyone gets a free pass. The Universalist tries to support their beliefs with Scripture, but I’m here to tell you that the Universalist teaching is false and heretical.”
Wiese refers to British evangelist John Blanchard’s book, “Hell on Trial,” to explain the origin of universalism.
“It’s when Satan brushed aside God’s warning and said to Eve, ‘You will surely not die,'” Wiese says. “But Jesus said in John 11:25-26, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.'”
Jesus said in Luke 13:3: “I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
Wiese says many universalists use five specific scriptures to support their beliefs and teaching. But, he says, they don’t incorporate the verses around those scriptures to get the full meaning of what is being said. “You can’t just pick out the one verse. You have to read all around it.”
Those scriptures, which Wiese explains thoroughly in this video, include: 1 Timothy 4:10; 1 Corinthians 15:22; Ephesians 1:10; Colossians 1:20; and Romans 5:18.
Those looking for further proof, Wiese says, should seek no further than Acts 4:12, which reads:
“There is no salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Also, Matthew 7:13-14, which reads, “Enter at the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who are going through it, because small is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
“These Scriptures are pretty clear,” Wiese says.
Shawn A. Akers is the online editor at Charisma Media.
