The liberal clergyman resented having a fundamentalist preacher consign him to the "legion of the damned" because he didn't believe in hell and damnation.



In reply, the liberal clergyman cited I Timothy 2:4: "Who [God] desires all men to be saved . . . " and argued that if all men are not saved, God's will is thwarted; He is unable to achieve His purpose. He wrote: "Could it be that the great, triune God of the universe could find His purposes blocked by anything man does, or does not do? The very idea is absurd. Therefore it will surely be that the end-result of world history will be the salvation of mankind and their reconciliation to God, who created us and loves us, and who would not do anything—in this world or the next—inconsistent with that love."




What a beguiling thought! A loving God will not condemn anyone to the fires of hell; in the end, everybody will enter eternal bliss.



Why, then, did Jesus weep over Jerusalem and lament: "How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" Man does have the fatal ability to say no to God. Jesus knew this; He also knew the stark tragedy that awaits those who reject their Savior in unbelief, for He said: "He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." That wrath of God will one day speak a fearful and irrevocable word to those who reject the only hope of salvation men will ever have. To those who reject Jesus Christ as their Savior it will solemnly declare: "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Those who reject the Son of God damn themselves eternally.



Yes, God is a God of love. He did so love the world that He gave His only-begotten Son to pay the price for all its wickedness and perversity and rottenness. But His saving love is also to be found nowhere else than in His Son Jesus Christ. Those who believe in Him are blessed by that love. Those who reject Him sunder themselves from it; they have lost it forever.



Whoever teaches that one may ignore and reject the love of God in Christ and still be saved is sending a soul straight to hell. Whoever teaches that the sinner will be saved even though, in his time of grace, he does not repent and believe in Jesus Christ is a henchman of Satan. The "legion of the damned" believe that teaching.