SPELLING EDITED

Bb-1. Is UNIVERSALISM SOUND BIBLICAL TEACHING?

Just briefly, the doctrine of UNIVERSALISM teaches that eventually ALL of mankind will be saved.

The question that we will cover in this study in God's word is “Is the teaching of Universalism a SOUND BIBLICAL teaching base upon the WHOLE word of Almighty God?”

So then, let us begin this study in God's word by taking a closer look at the verses of Scriptures that are used to support the teaching of Universalism that basically states that ALL of mankind will one day be saved. In other words, the Bible ITSELF does indeed, teach us that not even ONE human being will be tormented to suffer in the lake of fire for all eternity, as in, their soul will never die as some wrongly teach. However, Universalism teaches that NOT even ONE person will be DESTROYED or ANNIHILATED in the lake of fire as the Bible itself DOES, indeed, teach. So then, ACCORDING to the doctrine of UNIVERSALISM, ALL of mankind will be RECONCILED back to God and receive eternal life in order to live with God in his kingdom for all eternity and that not even ONE person will be lost. And here is one of the main verses they quote to support their teaching as being Biblical.

Please read Colossians 1:20.

“And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to RECONCILE ALL THINGS unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.”

So then, is the Bible itself teaching here that this phrase “TO RECONCILE ALL THINGS unto himself” means that ALL of mankind will EVENTUALLY be saved and receive ETERNAL LIFE in the world to come and live forever with God? In other words, does this word “RECONCILE” mean the actual receiving of the salvation that is offered to ALL of mankind? To say this another way, will each and every human being that has ever been born or will be born shall actually receive ETERNAL LIFE in the world to come to live with God for all eternity? Now, according to those who teach Universalism, this is the way that they themselves INTERPRET this verse to mean.

But again, is their INTERPRETATION of the Scriptures a SOUND BIBLICAL interpretation of this verse in the light of the WHOLE word of God?

As I have said many times, any verse when viewed ALONE and APART from the WHOLE word of God may SEEM to be saying something that it is NOT truly saying, and even more so when someone has dogmatically taught you that this is the ONLY way for that verse to be understood. Please keep in mind that the first rule of interpretation is to KEEP the verse in question and then COMPARE scripture with scripture in order to see if there are any CONTRADICTIONS with the rest of God's word.

So then, let us KEEP this verse in the CONTEXT of where it is found to learn what it is truly teaching us.

Please read Colossian 1:20-23 which clearly and plainly teaches us that our receiving the end of our salvation is CONDITIONAL upon our CONTINUING in the faith.

Colossians 1:20-23.

“And, having made PEACE through the blood of his cross, by him TO reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.

21. And YOU, that WERE sometime alienated and enemies in your mind BY wicked works, yet now has he RECONCILED.

22. In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

23. IF you CONTINUE in the FAITH grounded and settled and BE NOT MOVED AWAY from the HOPE of the gospel, which you have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;”

In other words, PEACE has been made between Almighty God and mankind by the shed blood of Jesus whereby there has been made a way to RECONCILE whosoever not only initially believes the preaching of the gospel, but also CONTINUES in the faith, being rooted and grounded so that they are NOT MOVED AWAY from the HOPE of the gospel, which is to receive ETERNAL LIFE in the world to come.

Another way to say this is that the WHOLE word of Almighty God teaches us that we are BEING saved, as in, our salvation is a CONTINUAL PROCESS that must be carried out to the END, in order to be found worthy to receive ETERNAL LIFE in the world to come. Verse 23 in the CONTEXT of being RECONCILED clearly and plainly teaches us a CONDITION of being RECONCILED, which is to CONTINUE in the FAITH and to NOT BE MOVED AWAY from the HOPE of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Let us now COMPARE this with some other passages of Scripture to see if this is in fact what the WHOLE word of God teaches us. Please read Ephesians 2:11-19, where we see this same word “RECONCILE” used to teach us that we have been brought into a RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with Almighty God by the cross or by the sacrifice Jesus made for us to make PEACE with God the Father.

Ephesians 2:11-19.

“Wherefore remember, that YOU being in time past GENTILES in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision BY that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;(In other words, those of the circumcision, the Jews, considered the GENTILES to be WITHOUT GOD having NO HOPE.)

12. That at that time (Referring to the time before you BELIEVED the gospel of Jesus Christ) YOU were WITHOUT Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having NO HOPE, and without God in the world:

13. But NOW IN Christ Jesus YOU who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

14. For he is our PEACE, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

15. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

16. And that he might RECONCILE both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

17. And came and PREACHED peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

18. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

19. Now, therefore, YOU (Speaking of those who received the TRUE Gospel of Jesus Christ) are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;”

So then, Jesus paid the price that made PEACE with God and mankind, therefore, making it possible for WHOSOEVER BELIEVES to be brought into the RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with God the Father. To say this another way, by the shed blood of Jesus there is no longer JEW and GENTILE in the sight of God. ALL of mankind is welcome to or is INVITED to have access to God because of the blood of Jesus through their own personal FAITH and obedience in the TRUE gospel of Jesus Christ.

For you see, the WAY has been cleared to be RECONCILED to God, but in order for this RECONCILIATION to take place is for each and every person to come to God of their own free will. In other words, Almighty God Himself CHOSE to save those of mankind that BELIEVE in Jesus BY the foolishness of the PREACHING of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Plain and simple, if one does NOT BELIEVE in Jesus, then they REMAIN under the CONDEMNATION of their sin and shall PERISH. This is what the WHOLE word of God teaches us about what it means to be RECONCILED to God.

Now, I want you to take a look at 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, where we learn that WE as Christians are all given the MINISTRY of RECONCILIATION, whereby, we have become Ambassadors of Christ, his representative, to PREACH his gospel in order to RECONCILE all who will accept and BELIEVE that Jesus died for their sins so that they could be brought back into a RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with God and be free from the bondage of sin.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21.

“Therefore IF any man is IN Christ, (The word “IF” is a CONDITION for being RECONCILED to God. So then, IF any person in the world BELIEVES in the TRUE gospel of Jesus Christ) he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new.

18. And all things are of God, who has RECONCILED us to himself by Jesus Christ (Meaning the ALL of whosever BELIEVES are of God referring to those of US who are IN Jesus Christ), and has given to us the MINISTRY of reconciliation; (Or the ministry of preaching and teaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ teaching those in the world HOW they can be RECONCILED to God)

19. To wit, that God was IN Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and has committed unto us the WORD of reconciliation. (Speaking of the TRUE gospel of Jesus Christ which teaches people HOW to be saved and how to receive eternal life in the world to come)

20. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we PRAY (Or we implore, we plead with, we beg) you in Christ's stead, BE YOU reconciled to God. (And then it is up to each individual person as to whether or NOT they chose to BELIEVE and RECEIVE God’s so great a gift of reconciliation)

21. For he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

You see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, Almighty God Himself CHOSE that the MEANS by which to RECONCILE or SAVE mankind was to be by the foolishness of PREACHING the gospel. And, therefore, it is ONLY those of us who BELIEVE the TRUE gospel of Jesus Christ enough to FOLLOW and OBEY the teachings of Jesus. For you see, it is only by our CONTINUING in the FAITH being rooted and grounded in the HOPE of the gospel to receive ETERNAL LIFE in the world to come that we will never be MOVED AWAY from this HOPE of the PROMISE of ETERNAL LIFE.

Please read 1 Corinthians 1:18-21 which clearly teaches us that some will indeed PERISH because the preaching of the gospel is FOOLISHNESS to them. And, therefore, they will REJECT the reconciliation of God by NOT believing the gospel. While others, like us, who do BELIEVE the gospel are reconciled to God. And IF we CONTINUE in the faith we shall obtain eternal life in the world to come.

1 Corinthians 18-21.

“For the PREACHING of the cross to them that PERISH is foolishness, BUT unto us which are saved (Or unto US who BELIEVE the gospel and have been brought back into RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with God or RECONCILED to God) it is the power of God.

19. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

20. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

21. For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew NOT God, it pleased God by the foolishness of PREACHING to save (Or to bring back into RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with God. Or to RECONCILE) THEM that BELIEVE.”

So then, Colossians 1:20, the verse in question, when viewed in the light of the WHOLE word of God is speaking of those of us who are IN Jesus Christ as being the ones who are RECONCILED to God. Let us go back and read this verse in its CONTEXT once again and pay close attention to WHOM is being spoken of as the subject in this passage of Scripture.

Colossians 1:20-23.

“And, having made PEACE through the blood of his cross, by him TO reconcile all things unto himself (Clearly showing us that this reconciliation is a continuing process where the ALL THINGS is speaking of “THE ALL” meaning all of mankind who BELIEVE the WORD of RECONCILIATION through the PREACHING of the GOSPEL. The word “things” is not in the original text. Please see the LITERAL translation); by him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.

21. And YOU, that WERE sometime alienated and enemies in your mind BY wicked works, yet now has he RECONCILED Referring to “THE ALL” speaking of only those who BELIEVE the preaching of the gospel)

22. In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: (This is the goal or end result of those who accept Jesus as their savior by first believing the gospel)

23. IF you CONTINUE in the FAITH grounded and settled and BE NOT MOVED AWAY from the HOPE of the gospel, (This is the CONDITION that must be met to bring about the goal or end result to obtain eternal life in the world to come) which you have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a MINISTER; (Speaking of being made a minister of RECONCILIATION on HOW to be reconciled to God and STAY reconciled to God)”

So you see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, the SUBJECT of the ALL THINGS that are being RECONCILED to God is the YOU. The phrase “all things” is speaking of those of us who BELIEVE the gospel of reconciliation. So in truth, the phrase “all things” should have been translated as “THE ALL”. The word “things” is not in the original text and was added by the translators. Again, please read Colossians 2:20 in the LITERAL translation. We ALSO can see that this is, in fact, what this verse means by continuing to read the book of Colossians on into chapter three. Please read Colossians 3:5-11 where again we see the meaning of Christ is ALL and in ALL, meaning that, the being ALL and in ALL as referring to the Spirit of Christ being IN all BELIEVERS.

Colossians 3:5-11.

“Mortify therefore YOUR members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

6. For which things' sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience:

7. In the which YOU also walked some time, when YOU lived in them.

8. But NOW YOU also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

9. Lie not one to another, seeing that YOU have put off the old man with his deeds;

10. And have put on the NEW man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

11. WHERE there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and IN all.”

Please notice in verse 11 the word “WHERE” which is identifying the place where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is ALL and IN ALL. The WHERE is speaking of “THE ALL” in Colossians 2:20 meaning ONLY THOSE who have put on the NEW MAN. In other words, those who are IN Jesus Christ who has put OFF the old man and his deeds of sin that Christ is ALL and IN ALL have actually RECEIVED God’s so great a gift of RECONCILIATION.

Clearly, the word of God teaches us that Jesus Christ is NOT IN the wicked sinner who REJECTS the preaching of the gospel or who have not yet heard the gospel of reconciliation. The WHOLE word of God teaches us that YES, Almighty God has indeed paved the WAY by which WHOSOEVER of ALL mankind who BELIEVES this gospel of reconciliation may RECEIVE forgiveness of all their past sins and be brought back or RECONCILED to a RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with Almighty God. But this does NOT mean that all of mankind will eventually believe and receive the TRUTH of the TRUE gospel of Jesus Christ to be saved.

Again, this does NOT mean that ALL of mankind will eventually be RECONCILED to God. Clearly, the WHOLE word of God teaches us that some of mankind will NOT accept or BELIEVE the gospel. And because they REJECT God's love of reaching out to them, they will REMAIN under their condemnation of sin and PERISH in the lake of fire on the Day of Judgment UNLESS they REPENT of their sins, TURN from their wicked ways and endure unto the END in order to be saved.

Another popular verse used by those that teach UNIVERSALISM is where the Bible teaches us about the RESTITUTION of ALL THINGS, which they INTERPRET to mean that one day Almighty God will RESTORE every single individual who has ever been born or who shall be born back to the perfect condition that he or she was created.

Please read Acts 3:21, which says,

“Whom the heaven must receive until the TIMES of RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”

Again, any verse when viewed ALONE and APART from the WHOLE word of God may SEEM to be saying something that it is not truly saying. Therefore, we must INTERPRET this verse in the light of its CONTEXT to see if it TRULY means that each and every individual person will be RESTORED back to the perfect condition that they were created as those who teach UNIVERSALISM CLAIM that this is what this verse means.

First, go back and read the CONDITION of the restitution of the all. It says that God spoke these things through his prophets. So then, any INTERPRETATION of this verse in Acts 3:21 must AGREE with what the prophets PROPHESIED in the Old Testament. And I myself do NOT find any prophecies in the Old Testament where God has promised to save ALL of mankind, in that, EVERY single human being will eventually be saved. Let us now read a larger context.

Please read Acts 3:13-23.

“The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Son Jesus; whom you (Speaking to the JEWS) delivered up, and DENIED him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go.

14. But YOU DENIED the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;

15. And killed the Prince of life, whom God has raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.

16. And his name through faith in his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know: yea, the faith which is by him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

17. And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance you did it, as did also your rulers.

18. But those things, which God before had shown by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he has so fulfilled.

19. REPENT you, therefore, and be CONVERTED, that your sins may be blotted out, WHEN the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

20. AND he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

21. Whom the heaven must receive UNTIL the times of RESTITUTION of all things, (WHEN he shall send Jesus to restore the kingdom to Israel) which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

22. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him, shall you hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.

23. And it shall come to pass, that EVERY soul, which will NOT HEAR that prophet, shall be DESTROYED from among the people.”

So then, right here is the same CONTEXT, we clearly see that those who DO NOT HEAR this man Jesus and REJECT his teachings shall be DESTROYED from among the human race. Therefore, the RESTITUTION of ALL THINGS cannot possibly mean that ALL of mankind will one day be RESTORED to the perfect condition that they were created. NOR can this verse mean that ALL of mankind shall eventually one day be saved and given eternal life to live with Almighty God forever and ever.

Well, since this verse does NOT mean “universalism” where every person will eventually be saved, then what is the true meaning of this verse? First of all, I want to draw your attention to the word “WHEN” in verse 19. Please notice that it is referring to WHEN our sins will in actually and TRULY be BLOTTED OUT for good never again to be remembered. It will be AT the COMING of Jesus.

Acts 3:19-21.

“REPENT you, therefore, and be CONVERTED, that your sins may be blotted out WHEN the times of refreshing SHALL come from the presence of the Lord;

20. AND he shall SEND Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

21. Whom the heaven MUST RECEIVE UNTIL the TIMES (In the PLURAL which speaks to the TWO Days of Judgment. There will be a judgment right before the 1000 year reign of Jesus which will be ONLY for those who are IN Jesus Christ. And the final Day of Judgment will occur after the Millennium has ended. These will be time TIMES)  of RESTITUTION of all things (Or more precisely, the LITERAL translation reads that these will be time TIME of restitution of ALL, speaking of THE ALL of WHOSEVER BELIEVES in Jesus as their Messiah and REPENTS of their sins), which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”

You see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, the prophets prophesied that the sinners would DIE in their sins. But IF a sinner TURNS from his wicked ways THEN he shall LIVE. Also, I want you to notice that it is AT the SECOND COMING of Jesus that those who are found to be IN Christ, speaking of both the DEAD IN Christ in heaven and those of us who are ALIVE at his coming on the earth, shall be CHANGE from mortal to IMMORTAL. And it will be at that time that the SECOND DEATH will no longer have power over us. But until that DAY of his coming any one of us can become DECEIVED by the deceitfulness of sin and be MOVED AWAY from the HOPE of the gospel. This is why we have been WARNED in so many places in the Scripture to take heed and hold fast to the profession of our faith that no man TAKES our crown of life from us. For a deeper understanding of what we must do to be saved and obtain eternal life in the world to come please read the studies “HOW CAN I BE SAVED” and “IS ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED BIBLICAL?”. But for now, back to the study at hand.

Again, I want to draw your attention to the word “TIMES”, which is in the PLURAL. This means that the RESTITUTION of THE ALL who believe in Jesus will BEGIN at the SECOND coming of Jesus. Then the Millennium will begin. And DURING the 1000 year reign of Jesus when Satan is bound in the bottomless pit so that he cannot DECEIVE those left alive of the nations after the wrath of God will be taught of the Lord during this 1000 year span of TIME along with the REMNANT of Jews who will also be left alive after the wrath of God. Then at the end of the 1000 years, Satan will be loosed for a little season to DECEIVE the nations one final time. And when those of the nations who have been DECEIVED by the Devil to make war with God's people God shall send fire from heaven down upon them to DEVOUR them which is the second half, as in, the final part of God’s wrath. Then ANOTHER book of life will be opened to judge the REST of mankind that was NOT judged at the second coming of Jesus right BEFORE the Millennium. Then after the final JUDGMENT, all the WICKED will be cast into the lake of fire to be DESTROYED, to be DEVOURED, to be CONSUMED, to be BURNED UP, to be turned into ASHES, to be NO MORE forever. Then God will CREATE a NEW HEAVENS and a NEW EARTH wherein ALL of nature shall be RESTORED back to God's way of RIGHTEOUSNESS with no more death, no more sorrow, no more sickness, and no more WICKEDNESS.

This is what the expanded meaning of the  RESTITUTION of ALL THINGS could mean in the LIGHT of the WHOLE word of Almighty God. In other words, YES, God is going to RESTORE “things” to the way they were before SIN entered into the world. But ONLY THE ALL of those who have been found WORTHY shall be given the RIGHT to the TREE of LIFE to live forever with God for all eternity. But again, this does NOT mean that ALL of mankind will eventually be saved and granted the RIGHT to the TREE of LIFE. Please read Revelation 22:14,15 which CLEARLY and PLAINLY teaches us that it is ONLY those who KEEP the COMMANDMENTS of God who shall be given the RIGHT to partake of the TREE of LIFE and live forever.

Revelation 22:14,15.

“Blessed are THEY that DO his commandments, that THEY (Speaking of ONLY THEY who DO or KEEP the commandments of God under the NEW COVENANT written in the New Testament) may have RIGHT to the tree of LIFE, and may ENTER in through the gates into the city. (Keep in mind that the city of God will remain up in the heavens either in the earth’s atmosphere or in orbit in space around the earth. The New Jerusalem will not come down out of heaven until the END of the 1000 year reign of Jesus. This does NOT mean that Jesus will return INVISIBLY before the Millennium. All this means is that Jesus himself will not come all the way down to the surface of the earth until the end of the 1000 year reign of Jesus. We will go up to MEET Jesus in the AIR. It also means that ONLY true born-again faithful Christians will be given eternal life to rule and reign WITH Jesus IN or from the city of God, the New Jerusalem during the 1000 year reign of Jesus)

15. For without (Or for outside of the city of God down on the surface of the earth) are dogs, and sorcerers, and whore mongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie.”

The whole word of God teaches us that ALL the WICKED will eventually be cut off, cast out, slain, and then ultimately DESTROYED in the lake of fire at the end of the age.

For most of you, this should be enough Scriptural evidence to prove to you that the doctrine of UNIVERSALISM is a FALSE teaching. But for some of you that may still have doubts, let us continue to take a closer look at the verses used to try and support this man-made teaching that eventually someday ALL of mankind will be SAVED and receive eternal life where NO ONE will be neither DESTROYED nor suffer in the lake of fire for all eternity.

Now, I personally do NOT believe in the DOCTRINE of ETERNAL TORMENT and TORTURE in flames of FIRE for ALL ETERNITY as some FALSELY teach. Rather, I believe that the whole word of God clearly teaches that ALL the WICKED shall be DESTROYED at the end of the age after they are raised from the dead to stand before the JUDGMENT of God. And NOME of the WICKED will be resurrected AT the coming of Jesus BEFORE the Millennium. In other words, ALL of the WICKED will be resurrected at the END of the Millennium to be judged according to their works.

Anyway, that is another study in and of itself. So let us continue with the arguments used to support Universalism.

SECTION 2.

First of all, I want you, the reader, to pay very close ATTENTION as to how those who teach Universalism only use PARTIAL passages of scripture mixed with human emotion to build their doctrine. They also base some of their conclusions upon other already accepted but none the less FALSE teachings. In other words, some of you may read some of their points and may agree with them because you were taught some of the same things that they base their argument on.

For example, we all know that it is God's WILL that ALL men be saved. This clear FACT is, without a doubt, found in scripture which we will take a look at momentarily. But then this clear undeniable TRUTH of God's word is then MIXED with a MISCONCEPTION that comes from wrong teaching of MAN which is NOT soundly based upon the whole word of God. But yet it is widely accepted as being the TRUTH by many Christians. In other words, one of these MISCONCEPTIONS is that since God is ALL POWERFUL and it is his WILL for ALL men to be saved, then it is IMPOSSIBLE for even ONE single individual to be LOST. Therefore, according to THEIR incorrect interpretation of the Scriptures, ALL of mankind will eventually be SAVED.

Let us now take a closer look at what the word of God ACTUALLY teaches us about his WILL for all men to be saved. Please read 1 Timothy 2:4, which is used by those who teach Universalism to show that since it is God's WILL for ALL men to be SAVED, then ALL men must therefore eventually be SAVED because God's word says that he will do ALL his PLEASURE as foretold in Isaiah 46:10.

1Timothy 2:4.

“Who will have ALL men to be SAVED, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth”

Isaiah 46:10.

“Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:”

So then, those that teach Universalism WRONGLY conclude from these two verses that since God is God and it is His WILL or it is His PLEASURE that ALL men will be SAVED and He will DO ALL his PLEASURE, then ALL men will, without fail, be SAVED because God is NOT a man that He should LIE.

Now, to those who do not go to the word of God for themselves in order to see if what they are being taught is indeed the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of God, then they could easily be DECEIVED by such teaching as this. For you see, on the SURFACE it appears and sounds logical.

However, if we KEEP these verses in their CONTEXT of where they are found and then COMPARE Scripture with Scripture to see if the INTERPRETATION we arrive at or conclude AGREES with the REST of God's word, we will find that this conclusion that is drawn by Universalism does NOT AGREE with the WHOLE word of God.

Here is 1Timothy 2:4 left in its context and then compared to another like the verse in found 2 Peter 3:9. Please read 1Timothy 2:1-4, where we are exhorted to pray for all men so that we can live in peace.

1Timothy 2:1-4.

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for ALL MEN;

2. For kings, and for all that are in authority; (WHY? Why are we exhorted to pray for ALL MEN?) THAT (Or so that) we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

3. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior;

4. Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

Granted, one may interpret this passage of Scripture to mean that we should pray for ALL MEN to become to the knowledge of the TRUTH and be SAVED. But is this INTERPRETATION the true meaning of this verse? Or is the true meaning of this verse to pray for all men so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty? For you see, it is much easier to preach the gospel when people are not trying to kill you for warning them of God's wrath that will come upon those who reject Jesus as their Savior.

Now let us COMPARE this verse with a similar one found in 2 Peter 3:9 which clearly teaches us that God is NOT willing the any should PERISH, but rather that ALL men come to REPENTANCE. For you see my dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, UNLESS a person comes to the knowledge of the TRUTH and REPENTS of the sins, then they will REMAIN in the CONDEMNATION of their sins and PERISH in the lake of FIRE on the Day of Judgment.

2 Peter 3:9.

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, NOT willing that ANY should PERISH, but that ALL should come to REPENTANCE.”

So then, there is both a CONDITION that must be met in order to be SAVED. And there is also a PUNISHMENT of PERISHING in the lake of fire that will be carried out on those who do NOT meet the CONDITIONS that Almighty God himself CHOSE as the MEANS by which to RECONCILE mankind back to himself. God gave mankind a CHOICE to either choose LIFE or to choose DEATH. But God desires or God’s WILL is for all of mankind to choose LIFE. The word of God also says that God takes NO PLEASURE in the DEATH of the WICKED and pleads with the wicked to TURN from his wicked way so that he can LIVE.

Here is Deuteronomy 30:14-19 that clearly teaches us that God has given us a CHOICE to either OBEY and LIVE or turn away from his commands and PERISH.

Deuteronomy 30:14-19.

“But the word is very nigh unto you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may DO it.

15. See, I have SET BEFORE YOU this day life and good, and death and evil;

16. In that I command you this day to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to KEEP his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that you may LIVE and multiply: and the LORD your God shall bless you in the land whither you go to possess it.

17. BUT (Here comes the evil part that God ALSO set before us. For you see, anything that goes against God's commands is evil and brings death) IF your heart TURN AWAY, so that you will NOT hear, but shall be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

18. I DENOUNCE unto you this day, that you shall SURELY PERISH (Not maybe perish but rather those who reject God’s so great a salvation shall SURELY PERISH), and that you shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither you pass over Jordan to go to possess it.

19. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have SET BEFORE you LIFE AND DEATH, blessing AND cursing: THEREFORE choose LIFE, that both you and your seed may LIVE:”

Clearly, it is God DESIRE that we ALL CHOOSE LIFE and LIVE. But ultimately, this CHOICE rests with each individual person. Yes, you can PRAY for all men, but I can almost guarantee that not one of us has the fight in us to stay the course until the end to see that particular prayer answered. You see some want to argue that since it is God's WILL that ALL men will be SAVED and we are given the promise in 1 John 5 that if we ask ANYTHING that is according to God's WILL, we know that he HEARS us. And if he hears us, then we know that we shall HAVE the petitions that we desired of him. And then they conclude, THEREFORE, ALL MEN shall one day be SAVED because they PRAYED God's WILL to be DONE in the earth as Jesus taught us to pray.

But what these Christians fail to include in their equation is the WILL of each individual person and the ENEMY of God who fights God's people. For you see, the enemy of God eventually gets many people to cast away the confidence in the faith. The enemy also gets some Christians to speak words of unbelief which is the undoing their prayer.

Another thing that some Christians do not realize is that just because it is God's WILL or DESIRE that does NOT mean that it, therefore, will be DONE without fail. What they have failed to see is that God does not FORCE anyone to love him or even believe in him. And again, many forget that God has an ENEMY that is fighting against God's WILL being accomplished in the earth. Also, many fail themselves to PRAY as they ought to pray, myself included in this part of not always praying for others as we ought to be doing every day.

Anyone who has spent much time in prayer knows that it is a hard job. And yet another thing many Christians fail to realize is that Almighty God has CHOSEN US to be co-laborers WITH him, to plant and water the seed of his word and to stand in the gap making intercession, travail in prayer night and day until Christ be formed in those we are praying for. Long story made short, those who use this argument of praying God's WILL most likely have never applied what they teach to ENDURE unto the END to see his WILL FULFILLED. Yes, the reward is a great joy, but sometimes the joy set before gets obscured and we give up before God's WILL is manifested.

Moving on to the next point which is that since God will DO all his PLEASURE and the very reason he created mankind was for his good PLEASURE, then in no way will God punish ETERNALLY his creation nor will God DESTROY his creation because God takes NO PLEASURE in the DEATH of the WICKED. Therefore, the ONLY other option, according to the Universalism INTERPRETATION, is for God to RESTORE ALL of mankind back to their PERFECT state in which he created them.

Now, all of this sounds PLEASANT to hear. But the TRUTH of the matter is that the WHOLE word of God clearly teaches us that even though God takes NO PLEASURE in the DEATH of the wicked, the wicked will, none the less, be DESTROYED in the lake of fire IF they do not REPENT and TURN from their wicked ways so that they may LIVE. And clearly, the WHOLE word of God teaches us that not all the wicked will repent and turn to do righteousness. In fact, it appears from what I have been able to discern that only one-third of humanity will be brought through the fire to obtain ETERNAL LIFE in the world to come. This figure of one third also coincides with one-third of the angels being drawn by Satan to war against God to try and overtake his throne. No matter the number, it still comes down to ALL of mankind being given the CHOICE between life and death. No one is FORCING the WICKED to REMAIN wicked. Remember, in order to correctly INTERPRET any verse, it must be left in its CONTEXT.

Isaiah 46:10-13 left in its context reads.

“Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

11. Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.

12. Hearken unto me, you stouthearted, that are far from righteousness:

13. I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.”

So the PLEASURE that God is speaking of doing is to ultimately bring his RIGHTEOUS back to his creation by reconciling whosoever BELIEVES.

Revelation 4:11 says,

“You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for you have created all things, and for your pleasure, they are and were created.”

First of all, the word “THINGS” is NOT in the original text. The LITERAL translation reads “...You create THE ALL and because of your WILL they ARE and ARE created.” In other words, SOME of THE ALL have already been created IN Jesus Christ and some will still yet BE created IN Jesus Christ in the future. Revelation 4:11 has nothing whatsoever to do will all of creation from eternity past.

For you see, Lucifer was a created being who rebelled against God. So according to the logic of those who teach Universalism, then Satan as well must be RESTORED back to his original perfect condition on the day he was created.

But is this what the WHOLE word of God teaches us about Satan's END? Please read Ezekiel 28:13-18, where we are told that this covering Cherub, we know as Lucifer, will be DESTROYED and be DEVOURED and brought to ASHES by Almighty God in the end.

Ezekiel 28:13-18.

“You have been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of your tabrets and of your pipes was prepared in you in the day that you were created.

14. You are the anointed cherub that covers; and I have set you so: you were upon the holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

15. You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, till iniquity was found in you.

16. By the multitude of your merchandise, they have filled the midst of you with violence, and you have sinned: therefore I will cast you as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will DESTROY you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

17. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty, you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness: I will cast you to the ground, I will lay you before kings, that they may behold you.

18. You have defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your traffic; therefore will I bring forth a FIRE from the midst of you, it shall DEVOUR you, and I will bring you to ASHES upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold you.”

Clearly, the WHOLE word of God teaches us the Satan will be DESTROYED and brought to ASHES in the lake of FIRE at the end of the age. Therefore, the man-made DOCTRINE of UNIVERSALISM is a FALSE teaching and must be laid aside.

BE NOT DECEIVED!  All of mankind is NOT going to be eventually saved.

There IS a JUDGMENT to be faced by the WICKED! And if you are found to be in that number of the WICKED because you refused to get into God's word for yourself to see if you are being taught the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of God and you let SIN into your life and you DIE in that state of SIN, then you will be cast into the lake of FIRE to be destroyed KNOWING that you could have obtained eternal life and live with God for all eternity.

Now, those who teach Universalism do not deny that there is coming one day, a Day of Judgment, and PUNISHMENT for the WICKED, but they teach that this punishment of the WICKED is ONLY a TEMPORARY punishment and NOT an EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION.

But their INTERPRETATION of the Scriptures is a direct CONTRADICTION with the whole word of God. For you see, the word of God clearly teaches us that it is a RIGHTEOUS thing WITH God to take vengeance upon the WICKED in his WRATH to punish them with an EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION from the PRESENCE of the Lord. I mean why try and explain away all the verses that clearly teach us that God will DESTROY the wicked and CLAIM that the word destroy means to SAVE?

Please read 2 Thessalonians 1:4-11.

“So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you ENDURE:

5. Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that YOU may be counted WORTHY of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer:

6. Seeing it is a RIGHTEOUS thing WITH God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

7. And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,

8. In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that KNOW NOT God, and that OBEY NOT the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

9. Who shall be punished with EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION from the PRESENCE of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

10. When he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all them that BELIEVE (BECAUSE our testimony among you was BELIEVED) in that day.

11. Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you WORTHY of this calling, and fulfill all the GOOD PLEASURE of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:”

You see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of Almighty God clearly and plainly teaches us that it is ONLY those of us who BELIEVE and OBEY the gospel of Jesus Christ and ENDURE unto the END who will be glorified with ETERNAL LIFE when Jesus comes to execute WRATH and EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION upon those who do not know God AND those who perhaps do know God but who are NOT OBEYING the gospel.

Many of those who teach Universalism were drawn into this FALSE teaching that eventually ALL of mankind will be saved because of another FALSE DOCTRINE which was dogmatically taught to them. And that other false doctrine, known as Calvinism and Reformed Theology, they could not accept that a LOVING God could ever do. For you see, they began to see that we as human beings who are far inferior to God could never even imagine doing. They began to see that God did NOT create some people to be evil while creating other people to be saved.

They also began to see the ERROR of Catholicism which wrongly teaches the doctrine of eternal TORMENT in hellfire. You see, it is this FALSE DOCTRINE of everlasting or eternal TORMENT and TORTURE in flames of FIRE for all eternity that has caused many to pull away from the mainstream church only to be caught in the snare of the enemy with yet another FALSE teaching or cult. Universalism reasoned correctly that a LOVING God could never do such a thing to TORTURE and TORMENT for all eternity one of the creatures that he created for his pleasure when the word of God also says that God takes NO PLEASURE in the death of the WICKED, but they got into ERROR when they concluded that ALL of mankind would one day be SAVED and given ETERNAL LIFE to live in the PRESENCE of God for all eternity.

For you see, as we just learned in the above passage of Scripture that all those that KNOW NOT God and all those who OBEY NOT the gospel will be DESTROYED with an EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION when Jesus comes to execute the wrath of God which is a RIGHTEOUS thing WITH GOD.

Can you not see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ that YES, God is a LOVING God and this is WHY he must be FAITHFUL to perform his word to carry out his DECREE to PUNISH the unjust. The word of God also clearly and plainly states that our God is a CONSUMING FIRE. Please read Deuteronomy 4:23,24 and Hebrews 12:14-29. Deuteronomy 4:23,24 teaches us to TAKE HEED lest we FORGET the covenant of the Lord and disobey his commands and thereby suffer his wrath.

Deuteronomy 4:23,24.

“Take HEED unto yourselves, lest you FORGET the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of anything, which the LORD your God has forbidden you. (WHY? Why did God WARN the children of Israel to never forget his covenant?)

24.  FOR (Or BECAUSE) the LORD your God is a CONSUMING FIRE, even a jealous God.”

Why the warnings to take HEED if so be that everyone will eventually be saved? Now, let us compare God's warning to the children of Israel that He is a CONSUMING FIRE with Hebrews 12:14-29 which teaches us that WITHOUT HOLINESS NO man shall see the Lord.

Hebrews 12:14-29.

“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

15. Looking diligently LEST (The word lest here means for FEAR that) ANY man FAIL of the grace of God; lest (Or for FEAR that) any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

16. Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

17. For you know how that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing, he was REJECTED: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

18. For you have not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,

19. And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:

20. (For they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:

21. And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)

22. But you are come unto mount Sion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

23. To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of JUST men made perfect,

24. And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel.

25. See that you REFUSE NOT him that speaks. For if they escaped NOT who REFUSED him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape IF WE TURN AWAY from him that speaks from heaven:

26. Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he has PROMISED, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

27. And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

28. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

29. FOR (Or BECAUSE) our God is a CONSUMING FIRE.”

You see, it is NOT God who FAILS, but rather it is MAN who FAILS the grace of God by allowing bitterness and strife and sin back into his or her life. The LOVE of God has been taught so ONE SIDED that many have FORGOTTEN the SEVERITY of the Lord God Almighty that PROMISED in his word to avenge the RIGHTEOUS by DEVOURING the WICKED in the FLAMING FIRE of his WRATH. The church as a whole has seemed to FORGET that our God is a CONSUMING FIRE just the same as he is LOVE.

The TRUTH of the matter is that God's WRATH is going to come upon ALL who do not KNOW HIM and upon ALL who DISOBEY the gospel of Jesus Christ. Like it or not, the END of our salvation is CONDITIONAL. Please read the related studies on this subject of salvation by beginning with “HOW CAN I BE SAVED” all the way through to “WITHOUT HOLINESS NO MAN SHALL SEE THE LORD”. God is NOT MOCKED, every man shall REAP that which he SOWS.

Please read Galatians 6:7-9.

“Be NOT DECEIVED; God is NOT mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.

8. For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap CORRUPTION; BUT he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap LIFE EVERLASTING. (Can you not see that there are two DIFFERENT rewards awaiting mankind? The reward of the WICKED is ETERNAL DESTRUCTION in the lake of fire. And the reward of the righteous IN Jesus Christ will be ETERNAL LIFE. Live and death are completely OPPOSITE of each other. And to reap CORRUPTION means to read DEATH. The wages of sin is DEATH.)

9. And let us NOT be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap IF we faint NOT.”

Also, the word that is TRANSLATED as “CORRUPTION” here means DESTRUCTION in the original text. The point is this. There will be some of mankind who BELIEVE the gospel of Jesus Christ and who OBEY his teachings who reap ETERNAL LIFE in the world to come IF SO BE that they faint NOT, but rather ENDURE unto the END to be saved. And there are some of mankind who will REJECT the preaching and teaching of the gospel who will sow the desires of their own flesh. And, therefore, the WICKED will reap everlasting DESTRUCTION from the PRESENCE of the Lord, if so be that they continue in the wicked ways and do NOT REPENT of their sins before they die or before Jesus comes again to execute the WRATH of God upon those that know not God and those who DISOBEY the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So, in NO WAY does the WHOLE word of Almighty God teach this FALSE DOCTRINE of UNIVERSALISM that states that ALL of mankind will eventually be SAVED to live forever in the PRESENCE of God.

The Bible clearly teaches us that the WICKED will be DESTROYED at the PRESENCE of the Lord.

Please read Psalm 9:1-5.

“I will praise you, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will show forth all your marvelous works.

2. I will be glad and rejoice in you: I will sing praise to your name, O You most High.

3. WHEN mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and PERISH at your PRESENCE.

4. For you have maintained my right and my cause; you sat in the throne judging right.

5. You have rebuked the heathen, you have DESTROYED the WICKED, you have put out their name forever and ever.”

So YES, Almighty God is going to one day RESTORE his kingdom back to RIGHTEOUSNESS where there shall be no more WICKED nor shall there be any more DEATH.

However, the WAY in which God accomplishes this RESTITUTION of ALL THINGS is NOT by restoring each and every individual to the perfect state in which they were created, but rather Almighty God is going to DESTROY all the wicked with an EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION so that wickedness may NEVER RISE AGAIN. The word of truth teaches us that the SMOKE of their torment shall rise forever and ever.

In other words, this SMOKE of the wicked being CONSUMED and DESTROYED in the lake of fire will rise up forever and ever as a reminder to us who have chosen RIGHTEOUSNESS and what happened to those who rebelled against Almighty God. The WHOLE word of God teaches us about having a GODLY FEAR and reverence toward God, so work out your own salvation with FEAR and TREMBLING.

Please read Philippians 2:12.

“Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always OBEYED, not as in my presence ONLY, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with FEAR and TREMBLING.”

What would anyone have to fear IF SO BE that ALL of mankind will eventually be SAVED and live forever in the PRESENCE of God? Can you not see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ that those who teach UNIVERSALISM have handpicked certain individual verses of Scripture and they have taken them OUT of CONTEXT? Can you not see that they have wrongly combined those verse that they have taken out of their context with other verses that they have also taken out of context in order to perpetuate this LIE of Satan, that man shall NOT DIE as God said he would IF he DISOBEYED the commandments of God.

This teaching of Universalism that ALL of mankind will one day be saved is a DOCTRINE of DEVILS. This LIE that the devil told Eve that she would NOT surely DIE is the FIRST LIE that Satan ever told to mankind. Please read Genesis 3:1-5 where Satan brings forth QUESTIONS and LIES to produce DOUBT in what Almighty God has TRULY SAID.

Genesis 3:1-5.

“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, has God said (Or has God TRULY SAID ???), You shall NOT eat of EVERY tree of the garden?

2. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you DIE.

4. And the SERPENT said unto the woman, You shall NOT surely DIE:

5. For God does know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

And the teaching of Universalism is MAKING the SAME LIE of Satan that man shall NOT SURELY DIE!

Now, please read what Almighty God has TRULY said in Genesis 2:16,17.

“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of EVERY tree of the garden you may freely eat:

17. BUT of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall NOT eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall SURELY DIE.”

Again, God did not say MAYBE you shall DIE for I have not decided yet. God did NOT say, you shall surely die TEMPORARILY. But rather God stated as a FACT with no interpretation needed that without a doubt that if you DISOBEY my command and eat of the ONE TREE that I command that you must NOT eat from, then you shall SURELY DIE. In other words, God MEANS what he says.

Can you not see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ that this LIE of UNIVERSALISM that man shall NOT DIE if he disobeys God's commandments is the SAME EXACT LIE that Satan fed to the man and woman, Adam, and Eve, in the very beginning. Be NOT DECEIVED by this LIE of Satan that ALL of mankind will one day eventually be SAVED and therefore NOT DIE because Almighty God has WARNED us over and over in his word that the SOUL that SINS shall SURELY DIE. There are many WARNINGS throughout the word of God in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament that God will DESTROY the WICKED in his WRATH to come. There is no doubt to the warning of God that the lake of fire is the SECOND DEATH. The wages of sin is DEATH. And the second death means ETERNAL destruction and NOT a so-called TEMPORARY punishment.

For the remainder of this study, I am going to take direct quotes from a website that teaches Universalism. And then one by one I will show you from the WHOLE word of God that they have taken each and every verse OUT of context and have given it a meaning which does NOT AGREE with the rest of God's word. The statements of Universalism will be in a DIFFERENT font style so that you can distinguish their comments from what the word of TRUTH is truly teaching.

The link to the website is http://www.tentmaker.org/articles/universalism-refuted.htm

and also http://www.tentmaker.org/articles/unique_proof_for_universalism.html if you want to see for yourself what they teach concerning Universalism.

SECTION 3.

IS UNIVERSALISM BIBLICAL?

Below is a statement that has been taken directly from the website Tentmaker.org from the first link above in section 2 that will take you to the article. It is from that article that the following quotes here in section 3 were taken. Again, the Tentmaker.org website teaches the doctrine of Universalism which CONTRADICTS what the Bible itself teaches. And in this section, we will continue to see the errors of interpretation made by those who teach Universalism. First of all, there are many variations of what people mean by Universalism. Some use this term to mean that all religions lead to the one true God in heaven. And others, like most Christian Universalism, use the term Universalism to mean that ultimately ALL of mankind will be saved.

Again, all quotes from this site will be in a DIFFERENT font like this so that you can easily distinguish from what they teach to that of what the word of truth, the WHOLE word of God truly teaches. The emphasis is mine.

Christian Universalism

Ultimate Reconciliation in Christ

What is Christian Universalism? Christian universalism is a belief in the simple Bible truth that Jesus Christ is the "Lamb who takes away the sin of the world." He is the promised Messiah of whom the prophets of the Old Covenant foresaw; He is the Savior of the world, He is the "Second Adam," through Whom ALL mankind will be RESTORED to God's original image, He is the only way to the Father, the only begotten Son of God, and that there is no other way to everlasting, “aionian” life but through Him. We believe He is king and judge of the universe, and owner of all Creation, and that His purpose for the ages (aions) is to bring all things under His government and reconciled with Himself.

We believe that in His substitutionary death and resurrection He became the "Lamb who takes away the sin of the world." As Christ Himself said, "If I be lifted up (crucified) I will DRAW all men to me" (as also prophesied in Psalm 22). His Name is the One before which every man, woman, and child, from all of human history, will bow before and declare that He is Lord. At that day, the prophesied "restoration of all things" shall come to pass, and of the increase of His government and peace, there shall be no end.

This view is also known as Ultimate reconciliation or Universal Salvation, which is a very different thing than Unitarian Universalism.

The first thing that I want to bring to your attention is that with any FALSE teaching there is almost always a hint of truth. What I mean by this is that most false doctrines or false teachings will use verses of Scripture from the Bible to TRY and support their beliefs. And on the surface, they sometimes can be very convincing and may SEEM to be teaching the truth. Especially to those who do not go to the word of God for themselves in order to see if what they are being taught is, in fact, the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of God.

I have said many times throughout the many studies in God's word that I have done through the years that any verse when viewed ALONE and APART from the WHOLE word of God may SEEM to be saying something that it is NOT truly saying.

So then, the first rule of INTERPRETATION is to KEEP the verse in question in the CONTEXT of where it is found. The verse in question is the verse that is used to try and support a doctrine or teaching. And after we read the context of the verse in question we are to then COMPARE Scripture with Scripture. This means that we are to read all the verses in the Bible that have the same word in question in them in order to see if the INTERPRETATION does, in fact, AGREE with the REST of God's word. In other words, if there are other verses of Scripture that CONTRADICT the INTERPRETATION of the verse in question, then it is NOT the CORRECT interpretation of that verse.

For example, l please notice that I have emphasized the phrase “ALL mankind will be RESTORED” because this is what the doctrine of Universalism teaches. In other words, the doctrine of Universalism teaches that eventually ALL of mankind will be saved or restored back to their perfect state in which they were first created. And we want to know if this is sound Biblical teaching or if it is false teaching.

Here is a more detailed definition of Universalism taken directly from this website called Tentmaker.org. Here is the link to the article from which I copied and pasted their arguments and line of reasoning of what they believe in this study so you can see for yourself what Universalism teaches by going straight to one of the websites written by those who teach Universalism.

http://www.tentmaker.org/articles/universalism-refuted.htm

Refutation, Rebuttal, Exposition, and Explanation of Universalism There is a rise in the teaching of Universalism. What is Universalism? Is Universalism Heresy? According to who?

Definition of Universalism

As with many English words, there is often more than one definition. Such is the case with the word “universalism.”

The 35th edition of the Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary only has one meaning: “Universalism, n Theol. The doctrine that all men will eventually be saved. – Universalist, n & adj.”

World Reference.com defines universalism as: A noun: universalism, the theological doctrine that ALL PEOPLE will eventually be saved

That is precisely how, we, at Tentmaker Ministries use the term, only with some qualifications. We believe that all men (and women) will eventually be saved ONLY because of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross, not because of any other way. We do NOT believe all religions lead to heaven. The way into Heaven is through Jesus Christ alone.

So then, those at Tentmaker.org have indeed made the distinction between ALL the different RELIGIONS of the world NOT leading to the one true God that is taught in the Holy Bible. However, they still teach that ALL PEOPLE will eventually be saved in the end, whether it is in this life or in the next life. In other words, they qualify their statement of faith by saying what the Bible does, in fact, teach which is the ONLY WAY to the Father is through his SON Jesus Christ alone.

The point that I want you to see is that they MIX this TRUTH of God's word that clearly teaches us that there is NO OTHER name under heaven given among men whereby we MUST be saved along with their teaching that ALL of mankind will ultimately be saved in the end and that not one single person will be LOST. But is this the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of God?

Please read Acts 4:10-12.

“Be it KNOWN unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that BY the NAME of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand here before you whole.

11. This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.

12. Neither is there salvation in ANY OTHER: for there is NONE OTHER NAME under heaven given among men, whereby we MUST be saved.”

Now, simply reading these three verses ALONE and APART from the context the reader cannot discern whether or not ALL of mankind will, in fact, one day eventually be SAVED. The truth of the matter is that all we can say for SURE is that there is NO SALVATION in ANY OTHER NAME because the name of Jesus is the ONLY NAME given among ALL of mankind whereby we MUST be saved. So YES, it is TRUE that the Bible clearly teaches that Almighty God chose from before the foundation of the world to bring the gift of salvation to ALL of mankind BY or THROUGH his SON Jesus whom he himself chose and ANOINTED to be the SAVIOR of mankind.

The point that I want you to see is that MIXING a little truth along with something that is NOT the truth is exactly what Satan, the enemy of our souls, does in order to lead us AWAY from the TRUTH of God's word. You see, Satan DECEIVES believers to believe his doctrines of devils by MIXING some TRUTH in along with his DECEPTION. I want to say that I personally do not believe that those who teach FALSE doctrine willingly, knowingly, and deliberately teach FALSE doctrine, but rather I believe that they have been DECEIVED by the enemy Satan to teach these doctrines of devils and they do NOT truly realize that they are teaching FALSE doctrine.

Remember that Satan's very first LIE to DECEIVE was to FIRST QUESTION what God actually said by asking a man the question, “Has God said that you shall surely die?” Then Satan plainly tells us his first bald-faced LIE that man shall NOT surely DIE which CONTRADICTS what Almighty God has ACTUALLY said in his word. I want you to see that Satan's very first LIE that mankind shall NOT SURELY DIE if he disobeys God's commands is the exact same LIE that Universalism teaches that none of mankind will surely DIE if they SIN. But rather, Universalism wrongly teaches that ALL of mankind will EVENTUALLY be SAVED through the atonement that Jesus made for the sin of the whole world. They make the CLAIM that every person will be saved either in this present life or in the afterlife.

Also, remember that BEFORE the lie was actually told there were QUESTIONS. The questions themselves may be sincere. The questions may even be true. But is the ANSWER to those questions the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of Almighty God. You see, the teaching of Universalism sprang from QUESTIONS. Unitarian Universalism wrongly teaches that all RELIGIONS lead to heaven. And Unitarian Universalism sprang from QUESTIONS. Good honest people were questioning how a good God of love and mercy could cast good moral people into the lake of fire simply because they never heard of Jesus.

Then Universalism sprang from those same kinds of questions but realized that they could NOT compromise their faith in the TRUTH which is that Jesus is the ONLY WAY to be saved. So based upon these questions they began reading the Bible with the mindset that since it is God’s WILL that all men be saved then that MUST mean that God will indeed save all men. In other words, they set out to try and prove what they WANTED to believe.

Please understand that the whole word of Almighty God does, in fact, teach us that Jesus made the ATONEMENT of the SACRIFICE for the sins of the WHOLE world. Of this TRUTH there is NO DOUBT. Please read 1 John 2:2-4, which clearly and plainly teaches that Jesus not ONLY died for our sins, meaning the sins of us who have already come to the knowledge of the truth and who have ALREADY BELIEVED but that Jesus also SACRIFICED himself for the sins of the WHOLE world.

1 John 2:2-4.

“And he is the PROPITIATION (Or the ATONEMENT or the SACRIFICE or the RANSOM, the price PAID) for OUR sins: and NOT for OURS ONLY, but ALSO for the sins of the WHOLE world.

3. And hereby we do know that we know him IF we KEEP his commandments.

4. He that says, I know him, and keeps NOT his commandments, is a LIAR, and the TRUTH is NOT in him.”

So then, YES, the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of Almighty God is that SALVATION for mankind is ONLY THROUGH the SON of Almighty God, Jesus Christ. And YES, the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of God ALSO teaches us that Jesus did, in fact, die FOR the SINS of the WHOLE world.

However, this does NOT mean that ALL of mankind will EVENTUALLY come to this knowledge of the truth by BELIEVING the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to be saved or RECONCILED to God. Nor does that mean that ALL of those who do, in fact, come to the knowledge of the truth and accept Jesus as their savior in order to be RECONCILED to God will REMAIN faithful and endure unto the END in order to receive ETERNAL LIFE in the world to come. In other words, the only thing that we can for sure conclude from Acts 4:10-12 and 1 John 2:2 is that Jesus is the ONLY NAME under heaven that is given among mankind whereby we MUST be saved.

Keep in mind that Universalism does NOT teach that all people will be saved in this present world. But rather they believe that all the people who are not saved in this present world will eventually hear the gospel of Jesus Christ in the afterlife. And then they will believe the gospel and be saved.

Now, my understanding of the Bible is that TODAY is the day of salvation. And to me, this means that every person has THIS PRESENT life to be saved. And if they are NOT saved in this present life while they are yet living then AFTER they die physically then all HOPE is lost for being saved. And the ONLY exception if for those who survive the WRATH of God AT the coming of Jesus who REPENT and call upon the name of the Lord to be saved ALIVE.

Let us now take a look at this MIXTURE of the TRUTH of God's word. Again, by the mixture of the truth, I am speaking of using verses of Scripture that are being taken OUT of their CONTEXT in order to TRY and show that ALL of MANKIND, meaning EACH and EVERY person who has ever lived or who shall be born, will EVENTUALLY be SAVED by the blood of Jesus. And again, Universalism teaches that if they are not saved in this life then in the next life they will be SAVED, as in, every person will be RESTORED back to their perfect state in which they were created. Here is what is stated on this website called Tentmaker.org that teaches Universalism.

Acts 3:21 (NLT): Jesus "must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of ALL things, as God promised long ago through the prophets." Again, WHAT ELSE could this refer to but the complete restoration of EVERY child of God created in His image to a right relationship with Him?

Did you notice the QUESTION? WHAT ELSE could this verse mean? Those that teach Universalism that ALL of mankind will eventually be saved use Acts 3:1 by planting the idea in your mind with a QUESTION that there is NO OTHER WAY to INTERPRET this verse than for it to mean that ALL of mankind, as in, EVERY single human being past, present and future shall be one day RESTORED back to their perfect state in which they were originally created.

But is this TRULY the ONLY way that this verse can be interpreted? Let us now leave this verse in the CONTEXT of where it is found to learn the TRUE mean of this verse teaching us about the final restoration of ALL things. Please read Acts 3:21-23, which clearly and plainly teaches us that all those who do NOT hear and obey the words of Jesus will be CUT OFF from God's people and be DESTROYED as opposed to being RESTORE back to their original state in which they were created.

Acts 3:21-23.

“For he (Speaking of Jesus) must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his prophets.

22. Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up a Prophet like me from among your own people. Listen carefully to EVERYTHING he tells you.'

23. Then Moses said, 'ANYONE who will NOT listen to that Prophet will be CUT OFF from God's people and UTTERLY DESTROYED.'”

So then, when this verse in question is LEFT in the CONTEXT of where it is found then everyone can CLEARLY see from the CONTEXT of this verse of Scripture found in Acts 2:21 that is the exact OPPOSITE from the INTERPRETATION of those who teach Universalism. For you see, Universalism teaches that ALL of mankind will one day eventually be RESTORED back to their original perfect state in which they where created. But the Bible ITSELF teaches that those who do NOT listen to and obey Jesus will be UTTERLY DESTROYED. So Universalism is ACTUALLY teaching quite the OPPOSITE of what the Bible is teaching us in simplicity.

Can you not see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, the CONTEXT of this verse is clearly and plainly teaching us that those who do NOT listen to the teachings of Jesus will be CUT OFF from God's people and UTTERLY DESTROYED.

Therefore, we must conclude that the INTERPRETATION given by those who teach Universalism, that ALL of mankind shall ultimately be RESTORED is in ERROR. For you see, if so be that all of mankind is to be restored then that would mean that NONE of mankind will be DESTROYED. So why would the Bible WARN us that those who do not listen to Jesus will be utterly destroyed if so be the no one will be destroyed? So to me, the interpretation made by those who teach Universalism cannot possibly be the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of God because their INTERPRETATION definitely CONTRADICTS the CLEAR word of Almighty God that plainly states that those who do NOT hear the words of Jesus will be CUT OFF from God's people and UTTERLY DESTROYED.

Let us now read Acts 2:21 from the King James Version in order to bring out some deeper insight into what this verse is teaching us about the RESTORATION of ALL THINGS. Please read Acts 3:21 again and notice that the word TIME is in the PLURAL form in the King James Version.

Acts 3:21.

“Whom the heaven must receive until the TIMES of restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”

In other words, Jesus must remain in heaven UNTIL his second coming to the earth to execute the wrath of Almighty God which BEGINS the restitution of all things. Keep in mind that that the end of the Millennium will be a mirror image of the second coming of Jesus BEFORE the Millennium. There will be TWO wars, TWO resurrections, TWO parts of God’s wrath, TWO judgments, TWO harvests, and ONE lake of fire. So then, there will be ONE war, the FIRST resurrection, the judgment seat of Jesus Christ, the first half of God’s wrath, and the first harvest at the second coming of Jesus BEFORE the Millennium.

At the second coming of Jesus is when Jesus will come in FLAMING FIRE to execute the WRATH of Almighty God upon all those who do not KNOW God and also upon all those who are NOT OBEYING the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ. Please read 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9, which clearly and plainly teaches us that all those who do NOT KNOW God, along with those who do NOT OBEY the GOSPEL, will be punished WITH an EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION from the PRESENCE of Almighty God, which is the exact opposite of being RESTORED back to their original perfect state in which they where created as Universalism FALSELY teaches.

2 Thessalonians 1:6-9.

“Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to RECOMPENSE tribulation to them that trouble you;

7. And to you who are troubled rest with us, WHEN the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,

8. In flaming fire taking VENGEANCE on them, that know not God, AND that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

9. Who shall be punished with EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION from the PRESENCE of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;”

To me, this passage of scripture is teaching us that the TIME to get right with Almighty God is right NOW while we are yet LIVING in this present world. And then we must REMAIN in right relationship with God unto the END as Jesus warns us in Matthew 24 that only those of us who believe AND ENDURE unto the END shall be SAVED. That is to say, the END spoken of by Jesus referring to BELIEVERS enduring unto the END in order to be SAVED is actually referring to the judgment seat of Jesus Christ at the time of his SECOND coming. Let me explain what I mean by this.

The Bible teaches us that Jesus will come QUICKLY, as in, a MOMENT in a TWINKLING of an eye. So, therefore, if a true born again Christian is found to be living in SIN when Jesus comes again they will be JUDGED according to their WORKS of iniquity. So then, whether you have accepted Jesus as your savior or not you will be JUDGED at the coming of Jesus. NOONE will be judged according to any good work that they have done in the past. But rather everyone will be judged by the PRESENT state that they are living in at the very MOMENT Jesus comes again. In other words, there will be NO TIME for you to repent of your sins because the coming of Jesus will be like a flash of lightning.

Now, what I mean by this is that for those BELIEVERS who are found to be FAITHFUL at the coming of Jesus then THEIR CHANGE from being mortal to being given IMMORTALITY or ETERNAL LIFE will take place in a MOMENT and a TWINKLING of an eye. The actually changing from mortal to eternal life will be so QUICK that if a Christian is found to be UNWORTHY by their living in SIN there will be NO TIME to REPENT of their sins. Please read Revelation 22:10-15, where we see Jesus saying at the MOMENT of his coming for those who are RIGHTEOUS to REMAIN righteous and for those who are WICKED to REMAIN wicked for that brief moment of time of his coming while the RIGHTEOUS are given ETERNAL LIFE and caught up to be with Jesus in the air.

Revelation 22:10-15.

“And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the TIME is at hand. (Speaking of the TIME to give the REWARD of ETERNAL LIFE to the RIGHTEOUS and HOLY and to recompense the reward or the wages of sin with DEATH)

11. He that is UNJUST, let him BE unjust STILL (Or let him REMAIN unjust): and he which is filthy, let him BE filthy STILL: and he that is RIGHTEOUS, let him BE righteous STILL: and he that is holy, let him BE holy STILL.

12. And, behold, I come QUICKLY (In a MOMENT and in a TWINKLING of an eye, like a flash of lightning, so fast that there will not be time for the wicked to repent, nor the righteous to commit sin); and my REWARD is with me, to give every man ACCORDING as his WORK shall BE. (Speaking of the present tense of each and every person’s WORK AT the time of the second coming of Jesus right before Jesus executes the WRATH of God and the 1000 year reign of Jesus BEGINS)

13. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

14. Blessed are THEY that DO his commandments that THEY (Speaking of ONLY those who are DOING or KEEPING the commandments of Almighty God that he gave to Jesus to give to us under the New Covenant written in the New Testament) may have RIGHT to the tree of LIFE, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

15. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whore mongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie.”

Please keep in mind that AFTER the reward of ETERNAL LIFE is given ONLY to the RIGHTEOUS who are IN Jesus Christ then the people of Israel will RECOGNIZE Jesus as their MESSIAH coming to deliver them from their enemies. And then the children of Israel will call upon the name of the Lord to be saved, as in, being preserved alive to go into the 1000 year reign of Jesus in their MORTAL bodies. Also, there will be a REMNANT of those of the GENTILE nations who will REPENT as well when they see Jesus coming in great clouds of glory and they too will call upon the Lord and be saved, as in, being preserved alive to go into the millennium in their MORTAL bodies.

Jesus will then reign on the earth for 1000 years continuing to RESTORE ALL things back to the original state in which they were created during these 1000 years. The buildings destroyed during the war of Armageddon will be rebuilt. The mortal humans who will survive the wrath of God by calling upon the name of the Lord to be saved will go into the Millennium in their MORTAL bodies to be TAUGHT of the Lord. The mortal humans down on the surface of the earth will live from generation to generation in PEACE. But the children of Israel will be the UPPER class of mortal people. And those left alive of the nations will SERVE the Jewish people. So after many generations, the fear of the Lord may wear off a bit. Then at the end of the 1000 year reign of Jesus Satan will be loosed to DECEIVE the nations one final time. And many of the nations will be deceived to go to make war against God’s people, the Jews who have accepted Jesus as their Messiah.

Then God will send fire down from heaven and DEVOUR them who will be deceived to make war with God's people. And then the rest of the dead will be raised to stand before God to be judged according to their works. Keep in mind that there will ALSO be RIGHTEOUS people who have DIED being righteous DURING the 1000 year reign of Jesus. And those righteous in Jesus Christ will ALSO be raised during this second and final resurrection of the dead along WITH all the UNRIGHTEOUS from the beginning of the creation of mankind. And ONLY those found to be righteous IN Jesus Christ during the 1000 year reign of Jesus will be given eternal life just like those of us who will have taken part in the FIRST resurrection at the second coming of Jesus.

Then those who are NOT found in the book of life will then be cast into the lake of fire to be UTTERLY and ETERNALLY DESTROYED which is called the SECOND DEATH. Then comes that age of all ages and God will create the NEW heaven and the NEW earth where there is NO MORE SEA. The word sea is used as a type or figure that represents the WICKED. In other words, in this NEW earth that God creates for the RIGHTEOUS, there will be NO MORE WICKED. This is the restoration of all things. This is what the Bible means by the RESTORATION of all things. The WICKED are DESTROYED at the end of the Millennial age and there shall be NO MORE wicked ever again. Thus, the RESTITUTION of ALL THINGS means the RESTORING God's kingdom back to a kingdom wherein dwells ONLY RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Can you not see that the phrase “the restoration of all things” does not demand that the wicked PEOPLE be restored? What is restored is RIGHTEOUSNESS to God's kingdom. So then, the TRUE BIBLICAL meaning of restoration means that ALL the wicked shall be DESTROYED and shall be NO MORE.

Again, can you not see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, that there is no need to dogmatically demand that the ONLY way to interpret Acts 3:21 is to say that the restitution of all things must, without fail, mean that EVERY SINGLE human being will be SAVED as in every wicked person be RESTORED back to their original state of righteousness in which they were created. For you see, it can clearly be seen that God's kingdom can be RESTORED back to a kingdom wherein dwells ONLY the RIGHTEOUS by UTTERLY DESTROYING all those who do NOT hear the words of Jesus and therefore REMAIN condemned in their SINS.

Simply read the CONTEXT of Acts 3:21-23!

“For he (Speaking of Jesus) must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his prophets.

22. Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up a Prophet like me from among your own people. Listen carefully to EVERYTHING he tells you.'

23. Then Moses said, 'ANYONE who will NOT listen to that Prophet will be CUT OFF from God's people and UTTERLY DESTROYED.'”

So then, clearly the whole word of God teaches us that the disobedient to the gospel will be UTTERLY DESTROYED and NOT RESTORED as Universalism FALSELY teaches.

Let us move to another verse quoted from this site Tentmaker.org that is used by those that teach Universalism to TRY and show that ALL of mankind will one day eventually be saved.

Ephesians 1:9-10: God's "purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time," is to "unite ALL things in him [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth." What other meaning could these verses possibly have than the clear meaning that is right there? In the fullness of time, ALL things ("all people," according to the context) will be united in Christ and God will be all in all! That is why Paul talks in verse 12 about "we who were the first to hope in Christ." We who are believers now are the first fruits. The rest will follow in due time.

No, my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, the CONTEXT does NOT refer to ALL PEOPLE. But rather, the context is referring to ALL BELIEVERS who are IN Jesus Christ because they LISTENED to EVERYTHING this prophet Jesus told them. Please notice that right after the phrase “who FIRST trusted IN Christ”, we see in verse 13 that Paul is talking to other BELIEVERS who ALSO heard the word of truth, the GOSPEL of our salvation. And after they heard the true gospel of Jesus Christ they BELIEVED.

Ephesians 1:10-13.

“That, in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

11. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will: (It was the WAY of salvation being IN Jesus Christ that was predestined and NOT that all people are predestined to be saved)

12. That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

13. IN whom you ALSO trusted, AFTER that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: IN whom also AFTER that you BELIEVED, you were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”

So then, it will be “the ALL” of whosoever BELIEVES IN Jesus as their Messiah who will be gathered together or UNITED together as one in the fullness of times. Can you not see that this passage of Scripture is clearly speaking of ONLY those of us who BELIEVE in Jesus Christ and follow his teachings? Also, nowhere in this passage of Scripture or any other passage of Scripture do I find that “We who are believers now are the first fruits. Then the rest of all of mankind will follow in due time.” This kind of reasoning is nothing more than the conforming or twisting God's word to make it fit ones OWN personal INTERPRETATION of the Scriptures. Yes, it is true that there have been many who followed on to BELIEVE the gospel of Jesus Christ. And yes, there will still yet many more who BELIEVE the gospel of Jesus Christ in this present world and even in the world to come. But in no way does the WHOLE word of Almighty God teach us that ALL of mankind will one day, in due time, be saved.

How is it that those who teach Universalism IGNORE the many WARNINGS in God's word to FLEE the WRATH of God that is to come? This brings us to the next verse used by those who teach Universalism, but yet again they have taken this verse OUT of its CONTEXT and TRIED to make it support their teaching that ALL of mankind will one day eventually be saved. What about a mass murder that is killed by the police while he is in the act of murdering innocent people? Clearly, this murderer did NOT REPENT of his sins before he was fatally shot by the police and instantly DIED while still pulling the trigger slaughtering innocent people. The CLEAR word of God teaches us that NO MURDERER shall ENTER into the kingdom of God.

Please read 1 John 3:7-15.

“Little children, let NO man DECEIVE you: he that does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

8. He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

9. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin; for his seed REMAINS in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

10. In THIS the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever does NOT RIGHTEOUSNESS is NOT of God, neither he that loves not his brother.

11. For THIS is the MESSAGE that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

12. NOT as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.

13. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

14. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we LOVE the brethren. He that loves NOT his brother abides in DEATH.

15. Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer: and you know that NO MURDERER has ETERNAL LIFE abiding in him.”

But yet those who believe and teach Universalism seem to ignore these clear, plain, and simple passages of Scripture in God's word that clearly state that NO MURDERER has ETERNAL LIFE abiding in him. In other words, if a MURDERER shall DIE in their state of SIN then they shall NOT be given the reward of ETERNAL LIFE. But rather, they shall be JUDGED ACCORDING to their WORK which is in the SINGULAR form. And this is teaching us that we will be JUDGED according to our LAST work, whether it is righteous or whether it is wicked. Please read Ezekiel 33:7-20 that to me, clearly teaches us that we shall be JUDGED by the LAST act we do before we die. And if we are alive at the coming of Jesus, then we will be JUDGED by the work that we are presently DOING when he comes.

Ezekiel 33:7-20.

“So you, O son of man, I have set you a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear the word at my mouth, and WARN them from me.

8. When I say unto the WICKED, O WICKED man, you shall SURELY DIE; IF you dost NOT speak to WARN the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall DIE in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand.

9. Nevertheless, if you WARN the wicked of his way to TURN from it; if he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you hast delivered your soul.

10. Therefore, O you son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus you speak, saying If our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them (Or we DIE in our SINS. Those who die while living in a lifestyle of wickedness will suffer painfully in the GRAVE thinking over and over of their sins that they committed KNOWING that all HOPE for them in LOST), how should we then LIVE? (Or if we DIE in our sins how shall we obtain ETERNAL LIFE)

11. Say unto them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the DEATH of the wicked; BUT (Or but rather I do have pleasure in) that the wicked TURN from his way and LIVE: turn you, turn you from your evil ways; for why will you DIE, O house of Israel? (The only way to obtain eternal life in the world to come is to call upon the name of Jesus and REPENT of your sins. The word REPENT means to TURN AWAY from sinning and DO good works of RIGHTEOUSNESS unto the end.)

12. Therefore, you son of man, say unto the children of your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall NOT deliver him in the day of his TRANSGRESSION (In other words, you cannot store up good works of righteousness to outweigh your transgression. That is what the world religions believe. The world HOPES that their good works will outweigh their bad works. But that is NOT what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that everyone, including Christians, will be judged by their LAST work right before they die or right before Jesus returns, whichever come first. And NON-believers are ALREADY judged to be DEAD in the sins because they have NOT BELIEVED in Jesus as their savior): as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall NOT fall thereby in the day that he TURNS from his wickedness; NEITHER shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he SINS.

13. When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; IF he trust to his own righteousness and commit iniquity, ALL his righteousness shall NOT be REMEMBERED; but for his iniquity that he has committed, he shall DIE for IT (In other words, a person can be a CHRISTIAN all their life faithfully serving the Lord and then be DECEIVED by the enemy and TURN back to their old lifestyle of SIN and IF they were to DIE without REPENTING of their SIN, then they will DIE the second death because of their final act of sin which they have done. Please keep in mind that these are the words of Almighty God himself. I am just WARNING you as we are instructed in God's word to do. So if you are a “backslidden Christian” I implore you to REPENT and turn away from your backsliding. Turn from you living in sin and come back to God)

14. Again, when I say unto the wicked, You shalt surely DIE; IF he TURNS from his sin, and DO that which is lawful and right;

15. If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, WITHOUT committing iniquity; he shall SURELY LIVE, he shall NOT DIE.

16. NONE of his sins that he has committed shall be mentioned unto him: he has done that which is lawful and right; he shall SURELY LIVE.

17. Yet the children of your people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal.

18. When the righteous TURNS from his righteousness and commits iniquity (Or when a CHRISTIAN SINS and he or she DIES in their state of SIN), he shall even DIE thereby. (In other words, any one of you who profess to be Christians, IF you should be deceived by the deceitfulness of sin and turn back to your old lifestyle of sin and DIE while you are living in SIN, then you shall NOT obtain the reward of ETERNAL LIFE. But rather you shall be DESTROYED along with the rest of the WICKED at the end of the Millennial age)

19. But if the wicked TURN from his wickedness, and DO that which is lawful and right, he shall LIVE THEREBY. (Or the wicked shall LIVE only by TURNING from there wickedness to DO works of RIGHTEOUSNESS)

20. Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O you house of Israel, I will JUDGE you every one after his WAYS.”

I know and understand that this is a hard passage of Scripture, but it is none the less the TRUTH of God's word. And, therefore, I must WARN both the WICKED and the RIGHTEOUS to TURN from living in sin. The word of God teaches us that we must WARN the WICKED to TURN from their wickedness and DO the works of righteousness. AND we must also WARN the RIGHTEOUS, that IF they TURN BACK from doing good works of righteousness and go back to doing the deeds of the old man that if they should DIE while living in SIN then they will LOSE their reward of ETERNAL LIFE and they shall be DESTROYED in the lake of fire right along will all the wicked who never accepted Jesus as their savior.

Let us move on to yet another verse used by those who teach Universalism that TRIES to make this verse mean that ALL of mankind will one day eventually be SAVED, if not in this life, then in the next life they will get a second chance to be saved and surely during this second chance they will definitely be saved. To ME, this sounds a lot like reincarnation which is NOT taught in the Bible itself. Now, those who teach Universalism do not actually use the word reincarnation. Rather, they teach that IF a person is not saved IN this present world then they will be saved in the next world.

Luke 3:6: "All flesh shall see the salvation of God." This verse is probably taken from Isaiah 40:5, which says, "And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." Surely these verses point in the direction of universal salvation. Matthew 5:8: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

First of all, let us read Luke 3:6 being LEFT in the CONTEXT of where it is found and read Luke 3:3-17 which CLEARLY and PLAINLY teaches us that the WICKED will be BURNED in an unquenchable FIRE until they are UTTERLY DESTROYED as opposed to being SAVED or RESTORED to righteousness as Universalism FALSELY teaches.

Luke 3:3-17.

“And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;

4. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

5. Every valley shall be filled, (Speaking of being filled with the blood of the wicked at the Battle of Armageddon) and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;

6. And all flesh shall SEE the salvation of God. (Speaking of all the people who are ALIVE at the second coming of Jesus seeing Jesus coming in clouds of glory and power to execute the WRATH of Almighty God after the entire world SEES the saints being RAPTURED or taken up into the AIR to be SAVED from the WRATH of God. There will be NO SECRET rapture before the time of great tribulation as some FALSELY teach. But rather, everyone living at the time of the second coming of Jesus will SEE the faithful Christians being CAUGHT UP into the AIR and many of them will KNOW that the WRATH of God is about to be poured out upon them. It will be too late for them to be saved, as is, for them to receive eternal life at the coming of Jesus. But a remnant of the Jews and a remnant of the nations will repent and call upon the name of the Lord to be saved ALIVE in their MORTAL bodies while many others will FIGHT against Jesus. And those who continue to fight against Jesus at his coming and who do NOT repent will be SLAIN and cut off from God. They will go to the grave to await the final Day of Judgement where they will be resurrected and cast alive into the lake of fire to UTTERLY and ETERNALLY be DESTROYED never to rise again)

7. Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who has WARNED you to FLEE from the WRATH to come?

8. Bring forth, therefore, FRUITS (Or DO WORKS) WORTHY of repentance, and begin NOT to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

9. And now also the AX is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree, therefore, which brings NOT forth GOOD FRUIT is hewn down and cast into the fire.

10. And the people asked him, saying, What shall we DO then? (In other words, they BELIEVED John about the WRATH to come and they wanted to know what they must DO in order to escape the WRATH of God)

11. He answered and said unto them, He that has two coats, let him impart to him that has none; and he that has meat, let him do likewise.

12. Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we DO?

13. And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.

14. And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we DO? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.

15. And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not;

16. John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I comes, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:

17. Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly PURGE floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will BURN with fire unquenchable.”

First, I would like to point out that the phrase in verse 6 “And all flesh shall SEE the salvation of God” does NOT mean that all flesh will be PARTAKERS OF the salvation of God, in that, all of mankind will be saved at the second coming of Jesus. But rather, this verse means that all flesh will SEE, as in, they will WITNESS with their own eyes the salvation of God which is Jesus Christ himself. Those who are ALIVE at the coming of Jesus will SEE the RAPTURe of the CHURCH. Every Christian must know and understand that the rapture of the church is for ONLY those who are found to be the good and faithful servants who are already IN Jesus Christ. For you see, it will be ONLY the faithful Christians who will receive ETERNAL LIVE at the coming of Jesus to live and reign WITH Jesus over the MORAL humans who will repent and be saved alive in their MORTAL bodies to be taught of the Lord during the Millennium.

Secondly, I want to point out that the CONTEXT of this verse in question clearly teaches us that there is something every single human being needs to DO in order to flee or escape the WRATH of God that is to come.

Thirdly, we can also see again in verse 17 that the context of verse 6 is referring to when Jesus comes again to execute the WRATH of God. In other words, all flesh or all of mankind that is alive at the coming of Jesus will SEE JESUS who is the SALVATION of God.

Yes, they will see Jesus executing the WRATH of Almighty God. Jesus is going to THOROUGHLY PURGE his floor with flaming fire. BUT God will bring a THIRD of mankind THROUGH the fire. In other words, those of mankind who are ALIVE at the coming of Jesus will SEE or WITNESS that RAPTURE of the church. Jesus will gather all his wheat FIRST right before he executes the WRATH of God upon those who are left behind. The analogy of the wheat is speaking of all those who BELIEVE in Jesus BEFORE they actually SEE Jesus coming in clouds of glory. And ONLY those Christians who are found to be his good and faithful servant when he comes will receive eternal life in the world to come. And then Jesus will take all the chaff, which is speaking of all those that know not God and those disobedient to the gospel and pour out the WRATH of God upon them. In other words, Jesus will take all the WICKED who do NOT repent and call upon the name of the Lord to be saved and BURN them with unquenchable fire.

The words “THOROUGHLY PURGE” here means to thoroughly clean. And the WAY or the MEANS by which Almighty God RESTORES his kingdom is CLEARLY and PLAINLY taught to us in this passage of Scripture that leaves us no doubt that all the wicked are BURNED UP in an unquenchable FIRE to be NO MORE. So then, the true sound BIBLICAL meaning of the restitution of all things is that the kingdom of God shall be RESTORED to a kingdom wherein dwells ONLY the RIGHTEOUS by God utterly destroying all the wicked with everlasting destruction.

So you see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, those who teach Universalism have INTERPRETED the verses that they use to INCORRECTLY mean that all of mankind shall RECEIVE the salvation of God. In other words, they WRONGLY interpret the phrase “SEE the salvation of God” to mean that all of mankind will eventually RECEIVE the salvation of God. But that is NOT what the WHOLE word of God teaches us. The Bible itself teaches us that ONLY those who BELIEVE in Jesus as their savior will be saved.

Let us continue in this study of God's word to show further that those who teach Universalism have taken the verses that they use OUT of CONTEXT in order to TRY and show that all of mankind will ultimately be saved someday, if not in this life, then in the next.

Now, one of the main reasons why some teach that ALL of mankind will one day eventually be saved is that they see the sacrifice that Jesus made to redeem mankind to be a FAILURE if so be that not ALL of mankind is completely RESTORED to righteousness. In other words, their line of reasoning is that since Jesus died for ALL of mankind and it is God’s WILL that all men be saved then SURELY in their minds that means that God will eventually save every human being. To THEM, that is the only thing that makes sense because they have been wrongly taught that God DOING ALL his PLEASURE means that God WILL, without fail PERFORM all his WILL. They have failed to see the difference between the will of God and the DECREE of God.

Let us now take a closer look at the verses they use to TRY and support their line of reasoning that Jesus would be a FAILURE if ALL of mankind were NOT SAVED.

1 John 4:14: "And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the few who receive him in life, and to throw the rest into everlasting torment." Is that what it says? No, it says, "The Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world." Will He succeed, or will He fail?

Again, one of the biggest roadblocks that blind the eyes of those that teach Universalism is that if all of mankind are NOT saved in the end then somehow they view this as God and Son Jesus FAILING. Therefore, they WRONGLY conclude that all of mankind MUST be saved eventually in order for Almighty God and his Son Jesus to have SUCCEEDED.

The TRUTH of the matter is that Almighty God the Father and his Son Jesus have, in fact, already SUCCEEDED in providing a WAY whereby ALL of mankind may be saved. And that WAY of salvation is clearly spelled out for us in the word of God. There is NO INTERPRETATION needed to understand what we must do in order to RECEIVE and HOLD ONTO this so great a salvation from God. Once again, let us KEEP 1 John 4:14 in the CONTEXT from where it is found in order to see its true meaning.

Please read verse 14 in the CONTEXT of  I John 4:1-21.

“Beloved, believe NOT EVERY spirit, but TRY the spirits whether they are of God: because many FALSE prophets are gone out into the world.

2. Hereby know you the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God:

3. And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world.

4. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

5. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world hears them.

6. We are of God: he that knows God hears us; he that is NOT of God hears not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of ERROR.

7. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loves is born of God, and knows God.

8. He that loves not KNOWS NOT God; for God is love.

9. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

10. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the PROPITIATION (Or an ATONEMENT or SACRIFICE) for our SINS. (In other words, Jesus is the ONLY SACRIFICE that God accepts from mankind to have their sins forgiven. And the ONLY WAY for a person to OFFER the ONLY SACRIFICE that God will accept is by their FAITH IN Jesus as the ATONEMENT for the sins. So yes, the WAY to be saved has already been accomplished by God and his Son, Jesus. BUT that does NOT mean that every human being will RECEIVE God’s OFFER of so great a salvation)

11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

12. No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us.

13. Hereby know WE that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

14. And we have SEEN and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. (By being eyewitnesses of the resurrection of Jesus and his being highly exalted by the Father)

15. Whosoever shall CONFESS that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and he in God.

16. And WE have known and BELIEVED the love that God has to us. God is love, and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him.

17. Herein is our love made perfect, THAT (Or so that) we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. (Meaning that we as Christians have been made new creatures in Jesus Christ to walk in LOVE the same as Jesus walked in love. And because we LOVE one another we can have BOLDNESS on the Day of Judgment)

18. There is no fear IN LOVE; but perfect love cast out fear: because fear has torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love.

19. We love him because he first loved us.

20. If a man says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he that loves not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

21. And this commandment we have from him, That he who loves God love his brother also.”

So then, the CONTEXT of this passage of scripture begins with a WARNING telling us that there are many FALSE teachers gone out into the world and that we are to try the spirit of these teachings to know whether or not they are of God.

We have already seen that the first LIE of Satan was that man shall NOT SURELY DIE if he disobeys God. So therefore when God's word clearly and plainly teaches us that the wage of sin is DEATH and that the wicked will be DESTROYED, then to teach that NO, the wicked will NOT be destroyed, but rather the wicked will eventually be RESTORED or saved, is to LIE and CONTRADICT what Almighty God has actually said in his word. Please read Psalm 101:6-8, which is a prophecy of Jesus speaking about the Day of Judgment.

Psalm 101:6-8.

“My eyes shall be upon the FAITHFUL of the land, THAT (Or so that) THEY (Speaking of ONLY the FAITHFUL who are IN Jesus Christ) may dwell with me: he that walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me.

7. He that works deceit shall NOT dwell within my house: he that tells lies shall NOT tarry in my sight.

8. I will early DESTROY ALL the WICKED of the land; THAT (Or in order that) I may CUT OFF ALL WICKED DOERS from the CITY of the LORD.”

This AGREES perfectly with Revelation 22:14,15 where ONLY the RIGHTEOUS will be given the RIGHT to eat of the tree of LIFE and live forever and ALL the WICKED will not be ALLOWED to ENTER into the CITY of our Lord. And we know that the ONLY WAY to be righteous in the eyes of God is to be IN Jesus Christ. And if we are truly IN Jesus Christ then we will STOP sinning. And if we sin we will quickly repent and confess our sin.

Again, I personally do not believe that those who teach FALSE doctrines, such as Universalism, DELIBERATELY, and willingly KNOW that they are speaking the LIES of the enemy that mankind will NOT DIE if they disobey God commandments. And by God’s commandments, I am speaking of God’s NEW commandments that the Father gave to Jesus to give to us under the New Covenant written in the New Testament.

The word of TRUTH clearly teaches us that the WICKED will be DESTROYED. And this is HOW our Lord will CUT OFF the wicked from entering into the city of our Lord. You see, it is ONLY the FAITHFUL who will have right to the tree of life at the coming of Jesus and live forever and reign WITH Jesus for 1000 years.

Here is another passage of scripture that teaches us that the wicked will be DESTROYED as opposed to being RESTORED as Universalism FALSELY teaches. Please read Psalm 145:20, which again clearly and plainly teaches us that God will DESTROY ALL the WICKED and shall preserve ONLY those who love him.

Psalm 145:20.

“The LORD preserves all them that LOVE him: BUT ALL the wicked will he DESTROY.”

Now, one of the reasons that I personally believe that many of those that teach Universalism do so is that they have been dogmatically taught that God will TORMENT and TORTURE the wicked in flames of the FIRE of HELL for ALL ETERNITY. But as you have just seen in the above two passages of scripture that God has prophesied to DESTROY the wicked and NOT to torture and TORMENT them in hell forever and ever as some FALSELY teach.

So in order to rationalize a LOVING and merciful God, those who teach Universalism, have falsely concluded from their MISGUIDED belief in this FALSE doctrine of eternal torment in hell that SIN will be safely contained in hell forever. So, therefore, in their minds, sin itself will NOT be destroyed in the lake of fire. But rather they believe that SIN exists forever. In other words, due to their MISGUIDED BELIEF IN the eternal torment, false doctrine Universalism concludes that Jesus failed to PUT AWAY or to destroy sin. To say this another way, they simply cannot RATIONALIZE a loving God tormenting anyone in hell for all eternity when it is his WILL to SAVE all of mankind.

So you can see how one FALSE teaching can lead to another false teaching. Please read the studies “DOES REVELATION 2-:10 TEACH ETERNAL TORMENT?” and “IS THE DOCTRINE OF HELL BIBLICAL?” But for now, here is another one of their arguments to try and prove that eventually all of mankind will be saved either in the world or in the next world.

Hebrews 9:26: "He [Jesus] has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." The NIV translates it, "To do away with sin." That is the question: Did Jesus come to completely do away with sin or JUST to safely contain it in hell forever? If sin exists forever, Christ's victory is incomplete, because He came to do away with it completely! Amen!

First of all, the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of Almighty God does NOT teach of an ETERNAL torment in the lake of fire. But rather, the Bible itself clearly teaches us that the wicked will be CONSUMED, BURNED UP, and turned into ASHES and be NO MORE in the lake of fire. Therefore, the TRUTH of God's word teaches that Jesus was, in fact, victorious to put away sin by his sacrifice. Jesus came to DESTROY the works of the Devil and one of the Devil's works is sin. And another work of the Devil is DEATH, which shall be the LAST enemy of God to be DESTROYED in the lake of FIRE.

So then, one of the reasons WHY some Christians believe in Universalism is due to the fact that they sincerely BELIEVE in the FALSE doctrine of eternal torment in hell where supposedly the wicked will be kept alive for all eternity to suffer in the eternal fire. And since they WRONGLY believe that the wicked will be kept alive for all eternity they have also wrongly concluded that SIN will exist for all eternity as well. But what they believe is that sin will be CONTAINED in hell and not allowed to affect the righteous in Jesus Christ.

Let us now take a closer look at Hebrews 9:26 when it is LEFT in the CONTEXT of where it is found to see if their INTERPRETATION that ALL of mankind will ultimately be saved is true or false. Please read Hebrews 9:26-28, which teaches us that Jesus will appear the second time without sin UNTO SALVATION to ONLY those of us who are LOOKING for Jesus.

Hebrews 9:26-28.

“For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

27. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

28. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto THEM that LOOK for him shall he appear the second time without sin UNTO SALVATION.”

Let us read Hebrews 9:28 again from the New International Version, which reveals more clearly to us what the words “UNTO SALVATION” truly means.

Hebrews 9:28 from the New International Version.

“So Christ was SACRIFICED once to take away the sins of many people (Or more precisely Jesus died for the sins of the WHOLE world, meaning ALL of mankind); and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to BRING salvation to THOSE who are WAITING for him.”

The WICKED and the rebellious who are fighting against God's people and who are living in SIN are definitely NOT going to be LOOKING for the return of Jesus.

Also, some of you may be thinking something like, 'Wait a minute I thought we were ALREADY SAVED, so how is it then that Jesus will BRING salvation with him to give to THOSE who are LOOKING for his return?'

This answer is simple. Most Christians who may think thoughts like that have NOT been taught the WHOLE word of Almighty God concerning SALVATION. In other words, SOME Christians have been WRONGLY taught that the very moment that you accept Jesus as your savior then from that moment on you are SAVED and you can never lose your salvation no matter what you do or do not do.

Now, almost every Christian has been dogmatically taught that we are saved NOT by any WORKS of RIGHTEOUSNESS. But rather we are saved by the GRACE of God through faith and NOT of works lest any man should boast. But some Christians have wrongly concluded that since we have been saved by grace and faith ALONE then to THEM it is certain that we cannot MAINTAIN our salvation by GOOD WORKS.

Well again, this is PARTLY the truth. Again, a little truth has been MIXED with a conclusion that is NOT true. For you see, Ephesians 2:8,9 is NOT the WHOLE word of God concerning being saved AND receiving the END of our salvation which is our reward of ETERNAL LIFE. You see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, we do not ACTUALLY receive ETERNAL LIFE until the world to come. And ONLY those who are IN Jesus Christ who are OBEYING the commandment under the New Covenant written in the New Testament will be licensed to receive eternal life. We have already read Revelation 22:14,15 several times in this study.

So now please read Mark 10:28-30.

“Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have FOLLOWED you.

29. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that has left a house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's sake,

30. But he shall receive a hundredfold NOW in THIS TIME, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and IN the world to COME ETERNAL LIFE.”

In other words, when we accept Jesus as our savior all our PAST sins are forgiven us and we are made CLEAN. We are SAVED in that we are RECONCILED to God and brought into RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with him. And we are set FREE from the bondage of sin and sin has NO MORE DOMINION over us.

From that moment on, we are in a FIGHT of FAITH against sin to OVERCOME sin. God gives us ALL the weapons we need to be VICTORIOUS, but it is up to us to FIGHT the fight of faith and OVERCOME sin through the power of the Holy Spirit and the promises in the word of God. If we stumble and fall and get back up by asking for forgiveness of our sins, then he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin.

But if we keep listening to the LIES of the enemy and fall back into a lifestyle of sin arguing with the Holy Spirit making excuse after excuse refusing to repent of our sins and then IF we were to DIE in that state of sin, then we will NOT inherit ETERNAL LIFE in the world to come. For a deep understanding on what we must DO in order to be saved AND to receive ETERNAL life in the world to come, please read the studies beginning with "HOW CAN I BE SAVED" all the way through to the study "WITHOUT HOLINESS NO MAN SHALL SEE THE LORD". But for now, let us get back to the study at hand and take a closer look at the next argument used by those who teach Universalism.

Hebrews 2:14-15: "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver ALL those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." If Jesus' death destroyed the devil as to his having the power of death, how can death continue forever in hell? If Christ's death delivers ALL from the fear of death, how can eternal death be waiting for anyone?

First of all, Jesus has NOT YET actually destroyed the Devil. It is only the power of DOMINION that the Devil had over mankind that has been destroyed thus far. And the DESTRUCTION of the dominion of sin is only RECEIVED AFTER a person truly and sincerely believes that sin has NO MORE DOMINION over them. So again, the WAY of salvation is PROVIDE for ALL of mankind. But that does NOT mean that ALL of mankind will BELIEVE and RECEIVE God’s so great a salvation that he has PROVIDED for them.

Also, the Devil will be bound for 1000 years so that he cannot DECEIVE mankind DURING this 1000 year reign of Jesus in his Father's kingdom. Then at the end of the 1000 years reign of Jesus, the Devil will be loosed to tempt and DECEIVE the nations one final time. Then FIRE will come down from heaven and DEVOUR those who were DECEIVED by the Devil to rebel against God. Then the REST of the dead will be raised from the dead and judged. The WICKED will be cast into the lake of fire. The DEVIL will be cast into the lake of FIRE. And DEATH and hell will be cast into the lake of fire. The word translated as hell means the GRAVE will be cast into the lake of fire which means that AFTER all the WICKED are DESTROYED there will be NO MORE death.

And THUS, this final judgment of Almighty God where everything that is EVIL is cast into the lake of fire to be DESTROYED once and for all time is called the SECOND DEATH. This means that from that point ON or AFTER the fire has completely CONSUMED the wicked there will be NO MORE DEATH, NO MORE DEVIL, NO MORE SIN, and NO MORE WICKED. In other words, the RESTORATION of ALL THINGS will be COMPLETE, once the SECOND DEATH has taken place at the END of the 1000 year reign of Jesus. And THEN, God will create a new heaven and a new earth wherein ONLY the RIGHTEOUS will dwell with God. And THAT is what the restoration of all things means in the LIGHT of the WHOLE word of Almighty God.

Yes, Jesus did take the keys of death and the grave at the time he was resurrected and given eternal life. But again, DEATH itself will be the LAST enemy to be destroyed only AFTER the SECOND DEATH has been executed upon ALL the WICKED at the end of the age. In other words, Jesus has been GIVEN the right to JUDGE who will be given eternal life and who will be DESTROYED in the lake of fire.

Secondly, all of mankind has indeed been DELIVERED from the dominion of sin. All of mankind has been set free from the SLAVERY of sin. But most people have NOT COME to this KNOWLEDGE of the TRUTH that Almighty God LOVES them so much that he gave his only begotten Son to DIE for their SINS. Even many Christians have not come to this knowledge of the TRUTH that they have been made FREE from SIN and the sin has NO MORE DOMINION over them. Some Christians have been dogmatically taught that they are SINNERS for so long that this wrong teaching is all they believe. They wrongly believe that they are SINNERS and that it is their NATURE to SIN. However, this is NOT what the WHOLE word of God teaches us.

Can you not see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, how vitally important it is for you to search the word of God daily to see if what you are being taught is the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of God. Do NOT trust your very salvation to the hands of another. Get into the word of God and read it for yourself asking God to show you the WHOLE TRUTH of his word. If you are TIRED of sinning and want to know HOW to be set free from sin, then please read the study “HOW TO LIVE FREE FROM SIN!”. But for now, let us continue to take a closer look at the arguments used by those that teach Universalism to TRY and support their teaching that ALL of mankind will be SAVED eventually.

Hebrews 2:9 "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death FOR EVERY man." Christ has tasted death FOR everyone! Therefore, all will be saved in due time.

Yes, it is true that Jesus TASTED death FOR EVERY man, in the same way, that Jesus was made sin FOR every man. But this does NOT mean that ALL of mankind will ultimately be SAVED in due time. For you see, if the word FOR truly means “IN PLACE OF” then that would mean that all of mankind would AUTOMATICALLY be saved WITHOUT BELIEVING in Jesus.

Please read 2 Corinthians 5:21.

“For he (Speaking of Almighty God the Father) has made him (referring to the Son of man, Jesus) to be sin FOR us, who knew no sin; THAT we might be made the righteousness of God IN him.”

The truth of the matter is that Jesus SUFFERED in all points like as we suffer. Jesus TASTED suffering,  by being TEMPTED And he suffered temptation so that he can be that faithful high priest FOR us knowing what it is like to suffer temptation as we do. But this does NOT mean that none of mankind shall ever be tempted. So in the same way, just because Jesus TASTED death for every man does NOT mean that NONE of mankind will ever DIE. And just because Jesus was made sin FOR us does NOT mean that we are AUTOMATICALLY saved WITHOUT ever BELIEVING in Jesus.

Please read Hebrews 2:17,18.

“Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, (WHY? Why did Jesus TASTE what the nature of MAN was like) THAT (Or SO THAT) he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. (And HOW do people RECEIVE reconciliation? Are we AUTOMATICALLY forgiven of our sins? Or do we have to BELIEVE the gospel of our salvation FIRST?)

18. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is ABLE to succor (Or to help, to aid, to comfort, to assist) them that are tempted.”

But not all Christians BELIEVE that they can OVERCOME each and every temptation every single time to NEVER sin again. And a few Christians have been deceived to wrongly believe that they have crossed some kind of so-called line of NO RETURNING to God. While some other Christians have been deceived that they can never lose their salvation no matter what they do or do not do. And a few of those Christians have been deceived so deeply with the false doctrine of eternal security that they sincerely believe that they can even DENY Jesus and still never lose their salvation. Please read the studies under the heading >>>CAN WE LOSE ETERNAL LIFE?<<<. But for now, let us continue to examine the errors of interpretation made by those who teach Universalism.

Some Christians read right over this and do not fully realize that when Jesus was TEMPTED of the Devil that Jesus SUFFERED being TEMPTED. They fail to see the REASON of WHY Jesus needed to suffer TEMPTATION. The truth of the matter is that in order for Jesus to be a FAITHFUL and even a JUST high priest then Jesus needs to KNOW what it is like to suffer temptation like us which is a fight within us to resist the evil and to choose the good.

And because Jesus SUFFERED temptation in all points like we are tempted he now KNOWS what it is like to SUFFER temptation. And thus Jesus is ABLE to understand our suffering temptation and come to our AID to HELP us OVERCOME sin. You see since Jesus has been in our shoes, so to speak, in that he has been in this fight against sin and he KNOWS how to OVERCOME the enemy. Jesus went before us and lived his life without sin through the power of the Holy Spirit as an EXAMPLE for us to follow in his steps. Please read the study “HOW TO LIVE YOUR LIFE FREE FROM SIN!” for a deep understanding that Jesus came to set us free from the dominion that sin has over mankind.

Again, I AGREE with the word of Almighty God that clearly teaches us that Jesus DIED for the sins of the WHOLE world because 1 John 2:2 makes this TRUTH very plain to us. BUT this does NOT mean that ALL of mankind is AUTOMATICALLY forgiven of all their sins WITHOUT them BELIEVING first.

1 John 2:2.

“And he is the PROPITIATION (Or  Jesus is the ATONEMENT or the SACRIFICE) FOR our sins: and NOT for ours ONLY, but ALSO FOR the sins of the WHOLE world.”

However, this does NOT mean that the WHOLE world will be SAVED and given ETERNAL LIFE in the world to come simply because Jesus suffered and died for their sins. For you see, this is NOT the only verse in the Bible. CLEARLY, we see in OTHER places in God's word where the WICKED will be DESTROYED, CONSUMED, DEVOURED, BURNED UP, turned into ASHES, be NO MORE and PERISH because they have NOT BELIEVED in Jesus as the PROPITIATION FOR their sins.

We are saved by grace TROUGH our FAITH in the true gospel of Jesus Christ. We are taught in God's word that the wicked are CUT OFF from entering into the city of our Lord by WAY of Almighty God DESTROYING them as opposed to God SAVING them. God gave every human being a free will to make his or her OWN CHOICE to either choose life or to choose death.

Therefore, Jesus tasted death for every man means that Jesus made it possible for every person to be reconciled back to Almighty God through his SACRIFICE of dying on the cross as an innocent man. And thus by the Son of man BECOMING the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, God has committed all JUDGMENT into the hands of Jesus. So now, Jesus has the KEYS of death. Jesus has been given the right to REDEEM WHOSOEVER of mankind who BELIEVES in him back to God. Jesus has NOT been given the right to go BEYOND what Almighty God has commanded him. So to me, Jesus cannot go beyond what is written in the New Testament as the terms of the New Covenant which is God’s so great a salvation.

Now, the WAY or the MEANS by which Almighty God CHOSE for his so great a salvation to be OBTAINED is through FAITH, the BELIEVING of the true GOSPEL of Jesus. This is why the word of God over and over again teaches us that WHOSOEVER will BELIEVE on him shall NOT PERISH but shall be given eternal life. But please ALSO remember and keep in mind that the word of God ALSO clearly states that WHOSOEVER does NOT BELIEVE will REMAIN DEAD in their SIN and they shall DIE or PERISH in their sins. The Bible itself, meaning the WHOLE word of God, clearly teaches us that the wicked will be destroyed and NOT eternally tormented in flames of fire forever and ever as some falsely teach. One false teaching will almost always lead to another false teaching when a person begins to question the first false teaching UNLESS Christians go to the word of God for themselves to see if what they are being taught is the truth of the WHOLE word of God. For you see, ALL false teachings USE Scripture. But taking verses OUT of their CONTEXT does NOT make the teaching to be sound BIBLICAL teaching just because Scriptures are being quoted.

Please read the studies “IS THE DOCTRINE OF HELL BIBLICAL?” and “IS THE SOUL OF MAN IMMORTAL?”. But for now, let us continue to take a closer look at a few more verses that are used to TRY and support Universalism.

Psalm 2:7-8: "The Lord said to me, `You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession."' This verse is used in the mission’s textbooks all the time. God has promised to give His Son all the nations as His inheritance, and He will do it!

Here again, FALSE conclusions are being drawn from PREVIOUS FALSE teachings that are no doubt sincerely believed as being the truth by those that teach them. But in reality, there are many teachings that are NOT the truth of the whole word of God. The writer here makes the argument that since this verse is USED by mission textbooks all the time that it must, therefore, be the TRUTH. Now, I do not know how those mission handbooks INTERPRET this verse. But it is clear to me, that those who teach Universalism INTERPRET this verse to mean that all nations will be SAVED.

But the truth of the matter is that JUDGMENT has been committed into the hands of Jesus to JUDGE who is WORTHY and who is NOT worthy to receive eternal life in the world to come.

One of the main arguments for Universalism is that it has been around since the founding of the church and has been taught by many church fathers throughout history. Well, if this were to be a basis on which to believe doctrine then we must embrace every doctrine that was every taught which has been around since the first century.

No my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, we are to base our faith upon the whole word of God and NOT on the TRADITIONS of man-made doctrines that have supposedly been around since the first century. Please keep in mind that the first apostles fought against false teaching from the very beginning. So the FACT that there were FALSE teaching in the times of the Apostles of Jesus does NOT make those FALSE teaching to be the truth.

The only way to know if a teaching is a truth or not the truth is to let the word of God interpret itself by keeping the verses in question in the CONTEXT in which they are found. And then we must compare whatever interpretation that is drawn from those verses in question with the rest of God's word to see if our INTERPRETATION AGREES or CONTRADICTS any other part of God’s word that has been CORRECTLY interpreted in the LIGHT of the WHOLE of God. And if our interpretation agrees with the WHOLE word of God, then that interpretation is the truth. BUT if our INTERPRETATION of a verse in question contradicts the WHOLE word of God then that interpretation must be understood and rejected as FALSE teaching.

So then, let us now KEEP the verse in question in the CONTEXT of where it is found in order to learn the TRUE meaning of “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” Please read Psalm 2:1-12 which clearly teaches us that the heathen or the nations are given to Jesus as a possession to DESTROY because those particular nations rejected his so great a salvation.

Psalm 2:1-12.

“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? (The VAIN thing here is referring to the nations who THINK that that can make war against Almighty God and his people and WIN that war. Read the CONTEXT and you will see this to be true)

2. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,

3. Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

4. He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

5. Then shall he speak unto them in his WRATH, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

6. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

7. I will declare the decree: the LORD has said unto me, You are my Son; this day have I begotten you.

8. Ask of me, and I shall give you the heathen for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. (This is the verse in QUESTION. What I mean by the verse in question is WHAT does this verse TRULY mean? Some say that this verse means that all of mankind will eventually be saved either in this present world or in the world to come. But what does the Bible ITSELF say that this verse means? Keep reading the CONTEXT and let the Bible speak for itself. What does the BIBLE say in the very next verse that “I will give you the nations as your inheritance” mean?)

9. You shall BREAK THEM (Speaking of his inheritance, the HEATHEN nations) with a ROD of IRON; you shall DASH THEM in pieces like a potter's vessel. (Now comes the WARNING to flee God's WRATH by SERVING God NOW before it is too late)

10. Be wise NOW, therefore, O you kings: be instructed, you judges of the earth.

11. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

12. Kiss the Son (Or RECEIVE Jesus as your Savior NOW during while it is TODAY. For today is salvation. So receive Jesus NOW in this present world and OBEY his teaching in the New Testament), lest he is angry, and you PERISH from the way when his WRATH is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”

Again and again, over and over through the WHOLE word of God we are clearly and plainly taught that God blesses ONLY the RIGHTEOUS that put their TRUST IN him. And over and over again and again we are clearly and plainly taught that the WICKED will PERISH and be DESTROYED. The words, PERISH and to be DESTROYED do NOT mean to be eventually be saved. Please read the study called “IS THE SOUL OF MAN IMMORTAL?” for a deeper understanding that the SOUL that SINS shall DIE, PERISH, be CUT OFF and be DESTROYED at the end of the Millennial age.

Nowhere in the word of God are we clearly and plainly taught that ultimately one day ALL of mankind will eventually be SAVED either in this life or in the afterlife. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that every human being who is not saved in this present world will be saved in the world to come. This doctrine of Universalism came into being primarily because there were many Christians who saw in God's word that God is LOVE, that God is MERCIFUL, and that God is GOOD, and they could NOT accept the teaching that a LOVING and MERCIFUL God would TORMENT and TORTURE any of his creation for ALL ETERNITY.

Yes, it is true that a REMNANT of Israel will be saved at the coming of Jesus. And yes, it is true that those left ALIVE of the nations after the wrath of God will be taught of the Lord during the 1000 year reign of Jesus. Bt this does NOT mean that every single person of those left alive after the wrath of God will endure unto the end of their mortal lives to be saved. Remember that after the 1000 years has ended that Satan will be loosed for a short time to DECEIVE the many nations one final time to make WAR against the children of Israel who they are made to SERVE during the Millennium. Remember the PROPHECY in verse 1 that says that they will take counsel and say, Let us BREAK their BANDS. In other words, they will be deceived to beat the plowshares into weapons of WAR and seek to wipe the children of Israel off the face of the earth.

Again, one of the main reasons why Universalism even exists is due to their belief in the doctrine of eternal torment in hellfire. However, the word of God itself does NOT teach ETERNAL TORMENT in flames of fire for all eternity, but rather teaches us that the wicked that reject God will be cast into the lake of fire to be destroyed to be no more. I cover the verses that clearly teach this truth in the study “IS THE DOCTRINE OF HELL BIBLICAL?”. “DOES REVELATION 20:10 TEACH ETERNAL TORMENT?”, and “IS THE SOUL OF MAN IMMORTAL?”.

But for now, let us take a closer look at another misunderstood view of God's WILL and SOVEREIGNTY that I believe has caused many false teachings from God's word. Please read the study “THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD” for a deeper understanding of TRUE BIBLICAL sovereignty of God as opposed to the many man-made doctrines on this subject. But for now, I will just say that God has placed LIMITS upon himself and he is FAITHFUL to follow and do what he said he will do. YES, most certainly God is ABLE to do anything he chooses to do, but the truth of the matter is that God has made the CHOICE NOT to do some things. For example, God has said in his word that it is IMPOSSIBLE for God to LIE. Well, ALL things are POSSIBLE with God, but God has CHOSEN for himself and LIMITED himself from LYING. God is ABLE to LIE, but God has CHOSEN NOT to lie and he will do what he said he will do.

The next thing that seems to cause believers to stumble and be deceived by false teaching is that they believe since it is God's WILL, then God’s will MUST be DONE without fail. Many Christians do not realize that God's WILL is NOT the SAME as God DECREEING something to BE. Let me explain what I mean by this.

In the beginning, God said  “Light BE” and light was or light came into existence. But nowhere in God's word does God decree ALL of mankind to BE SAVED. Can you see the difference between God WILLING or DESIRING all of mankind to be saved as opposed to God DECREEING that all of mankind will be saved? Earlier in this study, we took a look at Ezekiel chapter 33 where we see God PLEADING with the wicked to TURN from their wicked ways and to do that which is right in his eyes in order to live. We saw that God does NOT want to DESTROY the wicked. We saw that God takes NO PLEASURE in the death of the wicked. But rather, we saw that God DESIRES or WILLS that ALL of the wicked REPENT or TURN from their wicked ways and LIVE.

So then, when we read a verse like 2 Peter 3:9 why do some Christians wrong interpret God not willing that any should perish as God supposedly DECREEING that no man shall perish? I mean why would the word PERISH even be in the Bible at all if so be that no one will perish?

2 Peter 3:9.

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, NOT WILLING that any should PERISH, but that all should come to repentance.”

This verse does NOT mean that ALL of mankind will without fail COME to REPENTANCE. Yes, God sincerely DESIRES that ALL of mankind see and understand his great LOVE for them. But at the same time, God has given every person the free will to CHOOSE life or to CHOOSE death. So then, if they themselves make the CHOICE NOT to BELIEVE, then God has no choice but to remain FAITHFUL to what he has DECREED in his word. And God has DECREED in his word that the WICKED will be DESTROYED if they do not repent.

THUS, God has LIMITED himself by what he has SPOKEN and DECREED in his word. Therefore, since God has DECREED in his word that the WAGES of SIN is DEATH, then God must honor and be FAITHFUL to perform his word.

Here is the argument that Universalism gives for being God's WILL for mankind to be saved.

1 Timothy 2:3-6: "This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires ALL people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for ALL, which is the testimony given at the proper time." There are basically three ways this passage can be interpreted:

1. The Arminian-God desires all people to be saved. He gave His only Begotten Son to save everyone. But He can't save anyone except those who are willing to be saved.

2. The Calvinist-God has two wills that "appear" to contradict each other-His revealed will and His secret will. Even though His expressed will is for all people to be saved, He really doesn't want anyone to be saved except for the elect whom He chose before the foundation of the world, and whom He effectually calls to Himself. They call this "apparent" contradiction a paradox or an antinomy. But if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. In other words, if it looks like a contradiction and sounds like a contradiction, it probably is.

3. The Universalist-God wants all men to be saved. He sent Jesus to die for all men. God is sovereign. Therefore, all will eventually be saved.

Unfortunately, these are not straw men. I have heard and read each of these views from those who hold them. Which one sounds most plausible?

You see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, BOTH the Calvinist, and the Universalists have a misunderstood view of what the SOVEREIGNTY of God truly means according to the whole word of God.

Calvinism wrongly teaches that since it is God's WILL for all of mankind to be saved and God is SOVEREIGN, then ALL of mankind MUST be SAVED. But they ALSO see in God's word that ALL of mankind will NOT be SAVED. Therefore, they FALSELY conclude that God must have a hidden or secret will where he has specifically CHOSEN only a select few specific individuals to be saved before the foundation of the world. And by their WRONG ASSUMPTION of this so-called secret will of God, they thus reconcile the apparent contradiction or what SEEMS to be a contradiction in God's word in their own eyes.

As I have said before, it is the INTERPRETATION of particular verses that cause these apparent contradictions in God's word. The word of God does NOT contradict itself. Rather it is a WRONG conclusion of what a verse means that causes the contradiction. And both Calvinism and Universalism incorrectly understand the SOVEREIGNTY of God. And, therefore, both Calvinism and Universalism FALSELY conclude that since it is God's WILL and God is SOVEREIGN then it MUST be done because God is God and he will DO ALL his PLEASURE.

The truth of the matter is that God has DECREED ONLY some things in his word. While at other times, God has just simply shared his DESIRE or his WILL to us. In other words, God has DECREED that he has set before us BLESSING and CURSING, LIFE, and DEATH, as a CHOICE for each individual person to CHOOSE for themselves. But God's WILL is that we CHOOSE LIFE and BLESSING.

So you see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, it is NOT that God is not POWERFUL or mighty enough to save all of mankind. But rather it is God has LIMITED himself based upon what each individual person CHOOSES. Now, Almighty God himself has CHOSEN the WAY or the MEANS by which his so great a salvation is to be RECEIVED by mankind. But God leaves that CHOICE of whether a person BELIEVES or NOT believes up to each individual person to make their OWN CHOICE.

Therefore, IF any man does not COME to God on HIS TERMS, then God must HONOR his word and DO what he DECREED that he will do. Otherwise, God will be a liar and no one could TRUST him ever again.

So again, God does NOT DESIRE or God does NOT WILL that any man should perish, but rather God is long-suffering, patient, kind, and his goodness is leading man to REPENTANCE, but it is up to each individual person to make their OWN choice of whether or not to REPENT of their sins and serve God in RIGHTEOUSNESS.

It is not that God is too WEAK to MAKE or to FORCE all men to love him. It is not that God is not able to draw every person with an IRRESISTIBLE grace to come to him on his terms to be saved. But rather, it is that God has CHOSEN the foolishness of PREACHING the true gospel of Jesus Christ as HIS WAY to SAVE WHOSOEVER of those of mankind who BELIEVE. This brings us to another verse of Scripture that is used by those that teach Universalism to TRY and show that ALL of mankind will eventually be saved. The verse of Scripture is 1Timothy 4:10, which is used on the logo of Tentmaker.org's website.

1 Timothy 4:10: "We have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe." The meaning is so clear it's transparent! God IS the Savior of everyone! He is the Savior of believers now and He will save everyone else in due time.

Now if one simply reads this verse alone and out of its context, it may APPEAR to be saying that God will SAVE ALL PEOPLE and that he ESPECIALLY saves those that BELIEVE. In other words, some have INTERPRETED this verse to mean that there are DIFFERENT DEGREES of SALVATION, in that, God SAVES ALL the people, but he ESPECIALLY or in a SPECIAL manner saves those who BELIEVE.

But is this truly what this verse is saying? Let us take a CLOSER look at the Greek word that is TRANSLATED here as “ESPECIALLY”, and see what the original text teaches us. The Greek word used here is “MALISTA” and comes from the Greek word “MALLON”, which means “RATHER”

In other words,1Timothy 4:10 should read,

“For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially (Or RATHER God is the Savior) of those that BELIEVE.”

The word “ESPECIALLY means RATHER. Therefore, God is the Savior of ALL men, or RATHER, that is to say, MORE SPECIFICALLY, God is the Savior of those who make the CHOICE to BELIEVE the preaching of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. In other words, Jesus DIED to provide a WAY for all men to be saved, but salvation can ONLY be obtained by WHOSOEVER of mankind who BELIEVES and endures unto the end to be saved.

And this interpretation AGREES with the rest of God's word. Whereas, the INTERPRETATION of Universalism CONTRADICTS many places in God's word that clearly teaches us that God has DECREED in his word that, those that SIN shall DIE even though it is NOT God's will or desire that any should PERISH.

I believe I have covered most every argument given by those who teach Universalism and have clearly shown that the verses they use to TRY and support their erroneous teaching that ALL of mankind will eventually be saved have been taken OUT of CONTEXT. I believe that I have clearly shown to my readers and seekers of the truth that the verses used to teach Universalism have been incorrectly interpreted to say something they are not truly saying. The verses that I did not go into are the same verses used to teach Calvinism, which I cover in detail in the study called “EXAMINING CALVINISM in the LIGHT of God's WORD”, and “WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT CALVINISM?” And that tells me, that in order to be deceived to believe in the false doctrine of Universalism then one must first be deceived to believe the false doctrines of Calvinism. So I conclude that BOTH the teaching of Calvinism and Universalism as being FALSE teachings.

Jesus did, in fact, DIE or pay the PRICE for the sins of EVERY SINGLE human being which Calvinism DENIES. And universalism DENIES that only GEW of mankind will be saved compared to that vast number of mankind through the ages. What both Calvinism and Universalism fail to see is that the word of God ALSO teaches us that God has chosen and DECREED as a MEANS BY WHICH this gift of eternal life MUST be RECEIVED. And the only way that any person can be saved is that they must CHOOSE to BELIEVE the gospel of Jesus Christ. But Calvinism DENIES that man has a free will to choose to believe that Jesus is the Messiah or to choose to deny that Jesus is the Messiah. But that is what the Bible itself teaches. Therefore, those of mankind who do NOT make their own choice of their own free will to follow and obey God's PLAN or  God’s TERMS on HOW to be saved will indeed PERISH even though it is NOT God's WILL or DESIRE for them to be DESTROYED in the lake of FIRE.

You see God did not prepare the EVERLASTING FIRE for MANKIND. But rather God prepared this everlasting destruction for the Devil and the fallen ANGELS. And then hell ENLARGED herself.

Please read Matthew 25:41.

“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, PREPARED FOR the devil and his angels:”

We are told in Isaiah 5:14 that hell has ENLARGED herself, which to me, says that God never intended any of mankind to be cast into hell and that hell was prepared specifically for the Devil and his angels.

Isaiah 5:14.

“Therefore, hell has ENLARGED herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoices, shall descend into it.”

Now to me, if God is truly SOVEREIGN, as in, if God is truly sovereign in the WAY that many dogmatically teach which is that God is God and God all-knowing, all-powerful, and outside of time seeing the beginning from the end, then SURELY God would have KNOWN to make hell LARGE ENOUGH to hold the wicked sinners of mankind when he prepared this pit of everlasting fire called the second death. There are many places in God's word that do not AGREE with the WAY many teach about the SOVEREIGNTY of Almighty God. You may find the study “THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD” to be quite different than what many of us have been taught by way of MAN'S OPINION of how they themselves have INTERPRETED some verses to mean.

Thanks for reading and if you have some verses that have convinced you to believe this teaching of Universalism that I did not cover or I did not explain it very well, then please write me and share your thoughts.

May God bless you richly as you continue to seek the truth of the whole word of God.

Your brother in our Lord Jesus Christ,

Brother Mark.

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