Book Preview: Francis Chan Tackles 'Love Wins'

From Charisma News Online:
In response to Rob Bell's controversial Love Wins, David C. Cook is rushing out former pastor and best-selling author Francis Chan's third book.

Scheduled for release July 5, Erasing Hell: What God Said About Eternity and the Things We Make Up "promises to be both controversial and confessional, directly addressing a variety of views on hell, the Bible and God," Cook said.

Co-written by Bible college professor Preston Sprinkle, the book will offer a comprehensive and thorough study on God's character, Chan said. Erasing Hell "is not a book that tells you 'here's what you ought to believe,'" Chan said in a video trailer for the book. "It's a book that helps you think through all the evidence out there—all of what Scripture teaches—and come to your own conclusions. ... We can't afford to be wrong about this issue."
Full article here. 

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I've watched the YouTube video preview of Francis Chan's upcoming book, Erasing Hell, and it looks promising. I certainly have what I believe to be a biblically sound view on this, so I dont expect or hope for this book to in any way shape my theology on this issue, but I actually look forward to this book being released. It seems like it will provide a good counterbalance to the Rob Bell's horribly heretical take on the issue and doctrine of hell. I dont think I'll be running out to buy Erasing Hell the day it's released, but I expect to get a hold of a copy soon enough. I hope it's as good as the preview video makes it seem it will be.

I especially like Chan's rationale and arguments about us humans needing to be careful not to try to subject the actions of the almighty God to our own human moral perspective. We should never forget we are mental, intellectual, and moral gnats compared to the mind and holiness of the God of Heaven. Anyway, the video speaks for itself. I certainly wont endorse the man's book before it's even released, but he seems to be already making some good points worth considering at this time.

Pastor Fired for Not Believeing In Hell.

Pastor Chad Holtz ministered to a congregation in Oxford, North Carolina until he stated that he no longer believed in hell in a blog post to the church website. Holtz told his story to the AP. video below.



Sorry, but I'm not feeling a lot of sympathy for this guy. I'm just gonna be blunt here: good riddance.

When you  as a "pastor" choose to abandon clear Bible doctrines, you are not longer fit to be shepherding peoples' souls. All preachers, especially pastors, are called to be "watchmen on the wall". The day that the watchman decides that the threat of God's judgment isn't really a threat, he does a grave, and possibly eternally grave disservice to those he is supposed to be ministering to.

Note the words of God in Ezekiel chapter 3:

¹⁷ “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: ¹⁸ When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.

It was interesting that I ran across this article while preparing to do one on Rob Bell and his denial-by-stealth of the doctrine of hell. That article will be coming up very shortly. Clearly it seems the Devil is busy trying to undermine the doctrine of hell. In the voices of these false prophets you can almost hear the serpent-like hiss of Genesis chapter 3 as he denied God's warning of death as a consequence of disobedience:

"hath God [really] said....?

Then further...

"You shall not die"... "but shall be as God!"

(Paraphrasing from Gen 3:1, 4.5)

Now, we have Lucifers's 21st century version, as he denies God's warning of hell/the lake of fire, which the Bible calls "the second death" (Rev 20:14):
 
"hath God and the Bible really said there is a hell?"


I see this increase in the denial of the doctrine of hell as just another stepping stone of this creeping but steadily rising apostasy that is attempting to overwhelm the Body of Christ.  Remember Bishop Carlton Pearson began with denial of hell, which led to his becoming a crusader for the Gospel of Inclusion, his acceptance and virtual embracing of gay theology, his becoming the pastor of a New Thought church, and more recently his embrace of "New Christianity" (which is essentially a pseudo-"Christian" front for Satan's one world religion).  Doctrine does matter. Doctrine has consequences. As we can see from Carlton Pearson's example, once you decide to abandon a key doctrine as the doctrine of eternal punishment, there's just no telling how far into apostasy you'll end up drifting!

My dear readers, watch for this denial-of-hell phenomenon to be a bigger issue facing the church world in the months and years to come. Watch very closely.


I'll be back with a follow-up article on this very soon. Peace and blessings be upon all of you .