February 13, 1995

 

Dear ___:

Well, I wanted to get it from the horse’s mouth, so I called _______—he might have told you. I was surprised, frankly, at the accuracy of his answer regarding how to obtain a right standing with God. I was glad, too, to hear his balance as to good works (holiness) being the sure fruit but not the root of salvation. Furthermore, he had a milder position on the necessity of 7th day keeping than some I have talked to.

However, just as I suspected, they have a major flaw—they deny hell. They teach, rather, annihilation. They teach that the soul and the body of the non-Christian is burned up and eliminated from existence. It is a grievous error. It is heresy. It pulls the rug from under the gospel. Permit me to contend for the doctrine of hell. I am not the least ashamed to do it.

  1. If conscious eternal punishment is not true, then ultimately one can sin against the living God and get by with it. It is blasphemy. And this is just what every sinner wants to hear. “Sure,” he thinks within himself, “I might suffer for a while but eventually, it will be all over so I might as well go ahead and live it up and get all I can now. I will win out in this power struggle against God in the end. I will escape Him, even if it means annihilation.” What we have here is another form of Roman Catholic purgatory, and really it is not as close to the truth as even that.
  2. Similarly, if annihilation is true, the justice of God is never vindicated. This is what every conservative-minded fellow groans about with our justice system. The murderer spends a little time in jail and then is out and free. Society cries, “it is unjust, it is not right.” By the same token, under this doctrine, one can commit treason against his Maker, one can steal the glory of the incorruptible God, one can put to death the Prince of life, one can blaspheme the Holy One and get by with it relatively easy. You see, infinite punishment in hell should be no problem to us when we look at it through God’s eyes. It is only RIGHT that those who have sinned against an infinitely holy and good God pay an infinite penalty. And really they are not even paying off the penalty. Only the blood of Christ can really do that. The astonishing thing is not “How can God put ANYBODY in hell and be right about it,” but rather how can God not put EVERYBODY in hell and be right about it. How amazing that a just God found a way of forgiving sinners and still maintaining justice.
  3. Annihilation robs Christ’s work on the cross of much glory. How much more powerful it is that Christ died, undergoing such awful suffering, to spare us from such awful suffering.
  4. Notice that everlasting punishment in Mtt. 25:46 is in the same verse as everlasting life. If the Adventists take the everlasting life (heaven) to mean EVERLASTING, then why not the other? Right?
  5. Think of the term in 2 Thes. 1:9, “eternal destruction”. It does not mean destruction of one’s existence, but of one’s welfare. We use the term that way—”the car was totally destroyed in the wreck.”
  6. If annihilation is true, if souls will not be “tormented forever and ever” (Rev. 14:10, 11), then why the tears over the souls of men? Why the press to evangelize? After all, the consequences are not all that bad. No, rather, hear Paul saying, “If by any means I might save some” (1 Cor. 9), and “knowing the TERROR of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Cor. 5). Hear John the Baptist crying in the wilderness, “Flee from the wrath to come” (Mtt. 3).
  7. The Bible says hell is so bad that Jesus says, “It would have been better not to have been born” (Mk. 14:21).

As for the Christian when he dies?

  • Lk. 23:43: today you will be with Me in Paradise.
  • 2 Cor. 12:1-3: where is Paradise? The third heaven (comparing v.2 and v.4). See also Rev. 2:7 which would appear to be a synonym for heaven.
  • Ph. 1:23: having the desire to depart and to be with Christ.
  • Mtt. 17: Moses and Elijah appeared in glory.
  • 2 Cor. 5:8: absent from the body and at home with the Lord.
  • Lk. 16:22: the poor man died and was carried away. Where? Heaven in contrast to hell where the rich man IMMEDIATELY went when he died.

Willie, those who hold this position have not been considered part of historic Christianity. Matter of fact, the Adventists admit they had their beginnings in the 1800’s.

One thing right on the surface that should concern us about the Adventists is this: their main prophet is a woman—Ellen White.

One of their prophets, you might know, had everyone waiting on the hilltop for the Lord to return in 1844, and when it did not happen, they conveniently came up with a very foolish thing—that the Lord rather went from the Holy place into the Holiest. Scripture for it? None.

Now, regarding the issue we discussed regarding the Law, permit me to enclose a treatment of the subject that I did a while back. Another thought on it too, it is significant that God sovereignly wiped out (via Titus and the Roman army) the whole theocratic system in 70 AD. What a message. The Old Covenant that God established with the Jews (consisting in and summed up by the Ten Commandments) was wiped out. Paul says we are not “under the Law,” Rom. 6:14. What Law? Ceremonial only? No, he makes it clear that he IS talking about the Ten C’s—follow right on down through the verses into chapter seven, especially, verse seven, where Paul quotes ONE OF THE TEN C’s, “you shall not covet.” Sure, the moral law is a GUIDE (even the summary of the OT itself was love, Ga. 5:14 = Lv. 19:18), but it is NOT A GOVERNOR, only Christ.

Mtt. 24:20: One explanation might be simply that the Lord spoke it while under the OT economy (before Calvary and Pentecost). And so, we can see the wisdom of His advice to pray that way. He was not necessarily saying WHEN those things would occur, i.e., not necessarily before or after Pentecost.

I will enclose an article on the 7th day issue if I can find it.

I wish you the best, that you and your dear wife may be brought entirely to zero and then find all in Christ. You are so precious.

Wanting to be a helper,

Bob Jennings' Signature