The parallel words of Jesus in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 are speaking directly to this end time generation we are living in. There are two dire warnings contained in all three. First, there will be many false christs and false prophets with new teachings like never before. Second, it will be so bad that the Lord already pre-determined to shorten the days because the delusion will be so strong that it would bring down almost every believer in Christ.
When I first heard of Rob Bell’s new book ‘Love Wins’ and the blatantly erroneous new teachings he tries to pedal, I considered to scour through it page by page and refute it like I did with Choo Thomas’s book of deception ‘Heaven is so Real’. Even though both are false, I believe there is a difference between crafty deception and a new teaching. I felt a righteous anger with ‘Heaven is so Real’ because I saw good Christians who were craftily deceived by her book. Whereas ‘Love Wins’ presents itself by saying in the first chapter that the Christian story has been hijacked and that Rob Bell is here to tell it the right way. This is a huge neon danger sign to any true Christian. Oh how he and his book are literally fulfilling the above Scriptures with his new teachings. Also, those that flock to it, are fulfilling Scripture (2 Timothy 4:3) about those with itching ears who will not adhere to sound doctrine. To be successful in the American Church, all you have to do is come up with a so called better way or new revelation or re-explain the original Greek with a new twist. There are enough people with itching ears who will be drawn to it because that is exactly what they are looking for. Just look at the size of Rob Bell’s Mars Hill Bible Church. I may not be able to stop people from trying to satisfy their lust of itching ears, but I can present the truth to those who are being deceived.
2 Corinthians 11:3 says, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” The Gospel message is simple. It is man, through the work of the Devil, who try to make it complicated. And when it is made complicated, it makes room for various new teachings that keep on appearing that try to say, “Look, you got it all wrong. I am here to teach you the correct way.” The Apostle Paul sums it up very well when he uses the word fear. I fear for all those who are being led astray. I would not want to be in Rob Bell’s shoes. He will have to answer for it.
God is just as much a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29) as He is love. This means that even though He is love, He is a righteous God who cannot have sin in His presence. Rob Bell tries to tell us that in the end ‘Love Wins’ and that all will eventually make it to Heaven. But in reality ‘Righteousness Wins’ for eternity. There truly is a Heaven to desire and a Hell to spurn and that Jesus is the only way. The decision we make here on earth determines our final destiny with no second chances (Hebrews 9:27).
Dear Brothers and Sisters-in-Christ, never forget the words of Jude 22 & 23, “And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.” Rob Bell may not like it, but that fire is an eternal fire for Isaiah 66:24 sums it up very well from the original Hebrew, “And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
Annointing 