By Gary Amirault
For those of you who have come to the realization and faith that Jesus Christ is indeed the Savior of the whole world (and have held that belief for any length of time), you know there is a real burden with embracing and sharing this truly Good News. Believing Jesus will save all mankind is the heresy of heresies in traditional churches. The stigma is often too much for people to bear so the persecution often silences them. The burden is too heavy to carry.
But another burden that comes with believing that God loves and saves all is manifesting that kind of love. I have had some wonderful tastes of how God truly loves all mankind in my personal life, but to be honest, there are a lot of people in this world I don’t like, let alone love. I know that God if He wanted to, could pour into me His love for people I personally don’t like in such a way that they could feel God’s love for them. I’ve experienced this. Corrie ten Boom expressed this beautifully:
“It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there—the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s pain-blanched face. He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. “How grateful I am for your message Fraulein,” he said. “To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!” His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile; I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness! As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.” (On page 220 from the book “The Hiding Place” by Corrie ten Boom)
Yes, this kind of supernatural grace is available. I’ve read or heard many wonderful examples of this kind of grace outpouring. I don’t know anyone who is constantly walking in it. But the knowledge of knowing this kind of grace is available and yet not manifesting it regularly is a burden. There is another kind of burden most Christians experience.
When I was taught in traditional churches that most of mankind would be tormented in Hell forever and ever, there was a real burden to tell people about Jesus so they wouldn’t have to suffer in such a terrible place. I was astonished how few Christians really cared that most of mankind was headed for Hell. I was always amazed how Christians could go through the day going about their business and never tormented with the fact that most of those they were encountering each day were on their way to Hell. In a typical day, the average traditional Christian rarely experiences a burden for souls they have been taught are on their way to eternal damnation. Rarely, do they ever stop, look a person in the face and tell them they are on the way to Hell if they don’t immediately accept Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, start reading the Bible and attend a Bible-believing Church. By yoking themselves to a tradition Hell-believing church, they have placed this heavy burden upon themselves and yet they seem oblivious to it — they seem unconscious of this burden. Why is that? Because if they carried that burden around and saw the significance of what they are taught to believe in their churches, they would go insane. They would become like Westboro Baptist Church members. The burden would drive them crazy. And few Christians want to appear that crazy. But if they really believed what they have been taught, they would either let themselves appear crazy to the world or go crazy — one or the other.
Burdens, trials, tribulations, we all must carry them in our stay on this planet. What burdens are you carrying?
3 thoughts on “The Burden of Believing Christian Universalism VS Hell for Most”
what will happen after death? what about resurrection, if there is a hell?
Visit the Tentmaker Discussion boards and see what different folks who believe in universal salvation have to say on the subject. http://tentmakerwordpress.hopeforallfellowship.com/forum
Well, just today I finished reading Andrew Jukes book on the second death with some words from Wm. Law, also and I am challenged, to say the least, especially when they say as the Apostle Paul did also to die to self and live unto righteousness which I found has to happen daily. I ask the Lord to help me with this because I sometimes think that what I have to give up is too much to give even though He promises to give me a more abundant life in return when I do. We’re called to live in this world but not be of it and I am doing that better now than ever but there are still tendencies to stumble from time to time especially when presenting myself to an unbelieving world that includes loved ones, some of which are Christians from more traditional systems that espouse Augustinian/Calvinist and/or Arminian/Pelagian beliefs. When I do pray for boldness in the Lord though He’s always helped me with that, so I’ll have to say that I am growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ daily.
One of my weaknesses is that I am an anxiety neurotic and tend to panic so I have learned to fashion my life in a way that I avoid situations that can cause me to panic. This is my “thorn in the flesh” that I have had to deal with since I was about 22 years of age. Before then I was relatively fearless but something happened after college that sent me into this condition. A chemical imbalance? I don’t know for sure but after 10 years of psychotherapy I’m better but not cured entirely. I’ll have to say that God’s grace is sufficient though and He is still using me and I know He will never give up on me .
Things aren’t as good with our children as I would like especially since I’ve given all of them my tracts and sincere letters explaining how God has worked in my life. They are like so many in our country today who think only of making ends meet and worrying about finances or how their children will turnout . I’ve tried to encourage them to not leave God out of the equation and talk to Him daily about everything that is going on in their lives. The thing that bothers Paula and I though is that they are not including us in their lives very much and as we get older we fear that we will not be able to see the grandkids as much as we’d like either.
My wife isn’t well either and being self employed leaves me a little spent at the end of the day since I take care of her and do many of the things that she used to do. She is a dear Christian woman though and prays without ceasing. We’ve been married for 43 years. I, too, have some health issues but am dealing with them pretty well now, thanks to God.
In spite of all of these things though I praise God for His providence and comfort through the Holy Spirit every day and through the years.
Now Gary this may not qualify as burdens, trials or tribulations but they are real concerns that many have to deal with , yours truly not excepted.
I would appreciate your prayers in this regard and I’ll gladly do the same for you and yours.