Universalism (Christian) versus The Hell Doctrine! (Which Bears Good Fruit?)
Victorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, Our Father is UNFAILING LOVE!
Tentmaker Visitor Comments and Testimonies
May we add your testimony to our heavenly Father’s faithfulness real soon.
Some excerpts from recent emails we have gotten here at Tentmaker. We share them to encourage others who are on a similar spiritual journey. Please also check our Testimonials Page for more stories and testimonies. Glory to God!
June 24, 2013
I have been struggling with my faith. I have been in baptist and Methodist churches. I truly feel I have been brainwashed to believe only part of the gospel. I truly believe that Jesus died for all and he has a plan to reconcile the whole world back to himself. How can I know this is really true? Deborah
June 24, 2013
Hi. This is the best site I’ve found on the Internet in 20 years of Internet surfing. After believing in hell for the better part of 48 years I’ve now discovered the Amazing Good News of the Gospel. At first I thought it was to Good to be true having been one to warn others about hell. I’ve now discovered that this indeed is a false doctrine as much as I tried to find fault that eventually all mankind shall be reconciled to God. Scripture no longer contradicts itself. Unbelievable how we the church have been blinded. The material and research on this site is fantastic. Thank God for people who dare to think against the grain. A Big Thank-you. God Bless you for such great news. This was so awesome I just bowed my head and thanked God. Truely the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the best news. God saves all mankind. How amazing. Truely God is Love. What peace fills my heart. Thank-you. Kirk.
June 24, 2013
The resources on this site saved my life, both physically and spiritually. I can’t even express my thanks. They’re too big for words. Grace
February 21, 2013
At 72 years old and a retired minister I am afraid I am just now finding out the reality and Love of God for all. I just thank the Lord He has shown fit to enlighten me at this time. He has used your site for His glory for many people and I thank you. May God’s blessing continue to be upon you. Edward
February 2, 2013
My own daughter had OCD for 3 years and was tormented by the concept of hell. I suffered from CFIDS and severe anxiety that I now attribute to views on hell and severe legalism. Many of my friends suffer from anxiety related health disorders, particularly the ultra-conservative homeschooling moms. I met a psychiatric counselor at my local YMCA in the sauna one day that told me that her pych live-in home was populated predominantly by folks with OCD and schizophrenia who obsessed about an angry punishing God and hell. She called it “God issues”. I meet these sorts of folks all the time. I am a magnet for them.
The whole concept of Universalism is new to me, but it really resonates. As I read your site, I think to myself, “here is a God I can actually LOVE”. I never loved God. I was scared to death of him and I always feared that I had somehow messed up and did not have the gospel right and was going to be one of the “non-elect” in the end. I almost gave up my faith when I saw what it was doing to my health. I kept asking myself how a Savior who came into the world and healed people, could be promoting beliefs that were making them sick.
February 2, 2013
Read your article on the Fruit of the Teaching of Hell. I have suffered mental and emotional illness and so has my daughter (OCD) as a result of these teachings about an angry creator God who is always displeased. I am a nutritional consultant and I have noticed that fundamentalist Christians seem to suffer in larger than average numbers from certain illnesses like food allergies, bowel conditions, migraines, autoimmune disorders, etc. I believe that this can be directly attributed to the fearful anxiety ridden lives they lead. In 2010 we left an IFB (Independent Fundamentalist Baptist) cult and I almost lost my faith altogether as I began to study fundamentalist thought, stress physiology, and illness. I saw the correlation between certain views of God and physical and mental illness. This is the first site I have found on the web that gave me hope. I felt my faith in God slipping away from me. I am not ready to engage in a thorough study of Universalism and I have reject the doctrine of hell that so tormented myself, my children, and many of my friends.
February 1, 2013
I appreciate your ministry so much. I’ve been struggling with the idea of eternal hell for the past year or so and it was really killing my view of God, harming my love for him. It is very relieving for me to see that the popular view that eternal hell is a “matter-of-fact” is not necessarily apparent and conspicuous in scripture as some people would have you believe. Thank you so much.
January 25, 2013
After 37 years of knowing Christ, and 23 yrs. as a pastor, I have been set free to embrace the “blessed hope” or “larger hope” of Christ’s full redemption of creation! I would like to know more about how to get involved. I want to spend the rest of my life as a vessel of the unshackled gospel!
January 25, 2013
Many years ago, in the 80s, I was in the church waiting for meeting to start and reading my Bible which I had often read through, one version after another. Suddenly, I gasped. It was 1 Corinthians 15— as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. WHAT!!!
I read the entire chapter again! and again! and again! It still said the same thing.
ALL will be saved. Halle lu YAH!!!
As the years went by, I found more and more and more verses all through the Bible confirming that ALL will be saved.
About four years ago, I was taking a class on prayer in a Baptist church. We were supposed to read Romans. Church influences had pretty much erased the ALL will be saved. I was freaking out! Most people would burn in hell forever and ever and ever according to what the church and the teacher was putting out. I was on my knees praying for mercy for all.
Then Holy Spirit took me by the hand and I was reading Romans 5: 12 and read on.
Then it all surfaced in my memory, 1 Corinthiains 15. I call them “twin chapters” both giving the same message. Halle lu YAH!
I’m not in churches any more. I’m not very good at keeping my mouth shut. lol
And there’s a lot more false teachings in the church. A lot more……
I asked YAH why he allowed his book to be so mangled. YAH told me he doesn’t want the Bible to be a golden calf. He wants a personal relationship with every person. Let them come to him and ask their questions.
Works for me!
January 5, 2013
If it weren’t for your ministry, I would now be an agnostic. I had always struggled with the mainstream concept of eternal torment. It was a mystery to me how most Christians could receive “comfort” and joy from a book that apparently condemns most of humanity to eternal torture. Finally the day came when I knew I had to resolve the issue. The Bible-backed Tentmaker website is a joy to read. An unbearable weight has been lifted from my shoulders.
January 4, 2013
Thank you for the very quick reply. It just proved God’s timing is perfect because I read this after my Wednesday night service, where I had an encounter with God I very much needed. I still have some questions, but now I’m just starting to realize that a relationship with Jesus goes far beyond what words in a book might say. I was trying to have a relationship with a manmade book called the Bible, not with God Himself. The article I read about the misuse of “the word of God” really opened my eyes. The Holy Spirit convicted me, and I did not know how to respond. Being convicted of idolatry is tough, especially when you think the idol truly is God. And I never really grasped the idea of the Holy Spirit revealing the Word through the Bible. Without the Spirit of God, the Bible is just another book. I get that now. I guess it’s just a matter of getting it every single day.
January 3, 2013
Before I came to this understanding I would have panic attacks and cry myself to sleep. This world is deceived but they are still the creation and children of God. Intense study into the Lake of Fire and what it is (a place of purification) is an awakening like I have never had before. The Greek language is fascinating. Truly makes the Bible a book of love and good news.
November 26, 2012
I am an apologetic minister. In my quest for the truth I believe that your beliefs on this site are the most logical and scriptural. Up until now I have been part of baptist churches whether southern or independent and have even considered general baptist beliefs to be close to accurate. However after much research into the subject of hell and eternity in the Bible I am convinced that I am in error. I would like to realign myself with a true “scriptural church in my area. Do you know of any churches in the Lacey/Olympia WA area that believe along these lines that I may attend their services? Any help is appreciated. Thank you so much for the valuable resources you provide on this site. Love in Christ, Dan
October 30, 2012
thanks for your quick response , and the website is a real blessing , I understand the love of God is a lot bigger than most christians realise, and I feel blessed with the gift of that faith that accepts all being in Christ forever. keep up the good work. BJ
October 29, 2012
I hope you and your wife are doing well. Your website is incredible.
At the point in time I lost touch with you I had pastors checking my computer history and I wasn’t allowed to visit your site.
I’m very much independent of that now as I separated from my husband and gained some freedom back. When I came back it was under the condition that he would not be able to control me in the ways he had before.
Anyway….I hope to start writing down what I’ve been through and specifically what I experienced during my break down. My mother died three years ago tragically and threw me into the deepest darkest depression ever.
I had nightmares of her being in hell for months on end and I was finally hospitalized and drugged. I’ve been on a slow path of recovery. Rob’s book Love Wins came at a good time as my Orthodox Jewish brother gave it to me to try and comfort me. As you can imagine I was extremely surprised and thought of you immediately. I’m glad to be back in touch and hope to meet you both like we talked about years ago.
October 25, 2012
First, thank you so much for all you have done and are doing for the Truth of the Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. It has been less than a year since I first heard of the Christian Universalist message — have suffered with the fear of hell since about age 8 when I was immersed in the Roman Catholic theology and found pornography in my home and began to think I was a hopeless case – I am now 57 – I found Tentmaker, then Gerry Beauchemin, Charles Slagle, Thomas Talbott) and I am being slowly healed of almost fifty years of toxic theology.
I was divorced several years ago and my son, Jonathan, has since decided he doesn’t believe anymore. He was brought up in what I thought were really good churches at the time, but now realize he was exposed to a different version of the toxic theology that devastated my life. I feel like I have failed him and the emotional pain of that is really overwhelming at times. Believing the Truth certainly helps, but I pray with many tears that my son would be restored to our Savior and with correct understanding – Jesus, the Savior of ALL men, especially us who believe. Thanks again, David
October 25, 2012
Tentmaker is a great resource, especially the scholarly section. Gary Amirault and Michelle Amirault were a godsend during my year of spiritual hell as a closet universalist.
October 25, 2012
Thank you. I have been having the same questions for months now. I travel a lot and work in many places. I love the people I meet and cannot understand how the God I love is the God who sends men to hell. Please don’t stop. My parents are ministers and even they won’t understand. Thank you. Brother
October 7, 2012
Would just REALLY like to say thanks for taking the time to recognize the truth, mercy and grace of our Creator’s spirit and putting it out there. I have felt for so long that teaching that our Father was capable of unending cruelty was the most grievous slander any body could throw at Him. It’s such a relief to see people finding the greater truth! May many blessings come your way! Paul
October 3, 2012
I so relate to u right now Gary…I’m having root canal pain now too…it was done 12 yrs ago and has been very sensitive the last few weeks….Sometimes the pain makes me not want? to go on…Yet this is absolutely nothing compared to the idea of eternal torment…which no one really believes in…Oh they make think they do – but no one can really believe in it consistently – u would have to go mad!
October 3, 2012
I am a Christian, and your site has been invaluable as I’ve continued to recover from immobilizing anxiety, depression and raw fear generated by mere thoughts of eternal conscious torment.
October 1, 2012
Have to read more!
Thankyou!!! Gary, I just finished reading The Two Pillars of the New Covenant, and I am excited about what you wrote. Have to read more on this site. Patricia
October 1, 2012
The Most Importants Truths
Gary, just so you know, your website and videos are invaluable, and all the work that you do in all of this is very, VERY appreciated. Thank you. And don’t get discouraged! You are teaching one of THE most important truths that can be taught in this day and age. You are being a valiant warrior of the Light! Stay strong! Much, much shalom and? all things good to you, Yirme
October 1, 2012
Deceit Being Lifted!
Wow, you sure have put a lot of effort and? work into your site – how wonderful it is that after hundreds of years of doom, religious nonsence and outright lies, THE VEIL OF DECEIT is being lifted for all the world to see! May the Lord bless everything you do. Shalom.
September 23, 2012
Cannot Abandon Belief in Universal Salvation through Jesus Christ
After being a church goer for most of my life, it is lonely not having a fellowship of like minded believers. It hurts when past church and family member see me as leaving God. But there is freedom, and peace that comes from the belief of God reconciling the world back to himself which is not based on fellowship and which I cannot abandon.Let us continue to encourage the world that God is Love and has taken care of everything through Jesus Christ. Steve
September 20, 2012
My parents were Independent Baptist missionaries to Turkey. They were supposed to spread God’s love, but spent most of their time in bitter & hateful combat with each other. By the time I was a teenager my mother left my father. Since that time my father has remarried once and my mother twice. They seem to be in a spiral of bitterness and judgement. For many years I turned my back on God because I could not understand how a loving God could so spitefully and viciously punish those that rejected him. I could not justify an eternal damnation for even the worst characters the world has seen. But recently I saw the light. Jesus’ words have always rung true for me, but I finally understood. All the fear and anger slipped away & I was left with nothing but peace. Jesus forgave me & I did not need to hurt myself or others to feel alive. I have never felt so great or so alone on this earth. Most of my friends have a hatred for religion and don’t see this as anything but a religious experience that will soon fade. My mother believes that the KJV is the infallible word of God and does not not accept my salvation as valid, because as she puts it, if there is no hell, there is no heaven. Finding your site was inspirational to me. It gives me hope that there are people who believe in a truly pure and kind God that does not wish for any to perish. And what type of God would he be if he was not victorious over sin & death? This might sound a little strange, but the reason I am contacting you is that I need someone to talk to. Someone who understands what true redemption is & what a second life with Christ is really like. Joshua
September 20, 2012
Free from the lie of Hell
What a blessing this is. I have never believed in Hell but have always been taught to believe it….for the past 60 years..I am free from the lie. Gary…thank you, my dear friend. Mike
August 26, 2012
Pastor husband wife feuds bring confusion
Gary Amirault’s article on The Best Bible Translation brought tears of joy to my eyes. At last I read what I personally have found to be the truth. THANK YOU for sharing.
July 31, 2012
There are those who believe in the salvation of all mankind in every denomination of Christianity. They do not verbalize it because of the persecution they might receive. But surveys of Christians in main-line denominations prove many of them do NOT believe in Hell even though the teaching of Hell is part of their denomination’s teachings. Many seminary professors and church leaders personally do not believe in Hell, but they do not make a big issue out of it for fear of losing their position and income. – This passage identifies myself and my ministry to a tee. I do not believe there is a place called hell. I believe that all people will be saved based on the work of Christ, not anything that they believe, do or don’t do. My income comes from the church people that believe in hell. QUESTION: What is your advice for a guy like myself? If you don’t respond it’s no harm, no foul. I just believe in my heart that if a person’s heart is kinder then their doctrine, something is wrong with their doctrine. Thank you for listening. If you have any thing to share please do.
July 20, 2012
Hello Gary and Michelle. I just wanted to let you know that I have been enjoying your site very much. I found a link in a book I was reading called,”Raising Hell.” In the past few years I have been growing tremendously since I found the message of grace. The more I explore the more treasure I find.
I had no idea 2 years ago that I would come to a point where I would consider universalism. However, it seemed to be the natural progression once I got hold of the message of grace.
Exploring the various books and teachers of universalism has me on a path to no longer believing in hell. I do believe there will be a punishment period, not a permanent though, one for those who need it.
The more I learn about the God of Love and what He has done for us in Jesus Christ the less and less it seems that such a God as this would destroy any of His creation.
In the last two years I have had more shifts in my beliefs than I have had in the previous 24 years. I just want to say thank you for your part in that process. You have a great site with lots of good good information. God Bless you both, Tony
July 18, 2012
I just wanted to thank you for your website and for all your teachings. I have been tormented all my life on these issues of hell. I couldn’t understand that if most were destined for hell then what was the purpose of even existing? God knows the beginning and the end and if that was our destiny, he would not have created us in the first place. Bless you Gary and your wife and all involved in this. You have literally saved my sanity and my life. Brian
June 15, 2012
As I got older, I struggled with these contradictions and during such emotional pain, I found the Tentmaker ministries and after hearing your testimony, it was like the door opened and the sun came in! It’s about mercy. Mercy for the whole world. All the scriptures telling us of the world being saved came to life and I was able to see how many of the eternal hell scriptures have been assumed or added or just taken out of context.
And I have to laugh at the idea that if we all believed in universal salvation, we would just eat, drink and be merry with no convictions – why not? We’re all saved – lets party down! But it’s the opposite. It’s made me want to serve Him more and I have a deeper love and gratitude toward my heavenly Father. Do I live a perfect life? Hell, no! Still trying to quit smoking!
But I have a new desire to get back into the Word and seek Him. It is like being reborn all over again. But this time, it’s more peaceful transformation. It feels like deep inside I’ve always known this truth and never had the guts to admit it. As the scripture says His love TRIUMPHS over judgement! Amen!
June 4, 2012
I’ve been a follower of Jesus for almost 50 years (off and on) being born again?? at a Baptist summer camp in 1963. Since then I have studied and attended various Christian faiths including Methodist, Lutheran, Charismatic, Church of Christ and others. Currently I have been out of “church” for several years and have relied on my own studies and the internet in my search for the REAL truth of the gospel.
My mother and grandmother were Unitarian Universalists and did not believe in salvation through Jesus Christ. Although neither of them made much of an attempt to get me to go to church, I knew what they believed and flatly rejected it because it did not include salvation through Christ, which was very plain to me when I read the Bible. I guess that’s what has taken me so long to finally see the truth in Universalism. This is the 3rd time the Lord has brought me to this door, but up til now I have refused to enter in.
I really am not sure why I started reading on your site, but I give all the credit to Him. As soon as I read a couple of things (I don’t even remember what), the Lord flooded me with His entire salvation plan. I saw things like I had never seen them before and it all became so plain to me. My wife and I talked about it for hours!
Thank you very much for being obedient to put all of this info out there for anyone to find. The Lord has used you in finally bringing me to what I’ve been praying for years about. I had given up entirely on man’s religion and prayed that the Lord would bring me to the absolute truth of His plan, even if it meant that He had to destroy everything I had ever been taught about Him. Thanks again, Roger
May 22, 2012
I just want to thank you for this site. I am a Catholic who went to Catholic grade school and has gone to mass all of my life, and I have always found peace and joy in going. I wouldn’t say we are too intense about fire preaching, but we definitely are taught that those who die apart from Christ go to Hell, and a lot of things didn’t add up to me about this. I just got tired of blindly accepting everything the church told me so I decided to take initiative for my own learning, and I am pleased to have found this site.
I have spent too much time worrying about Hell and fearing people that I know are going there. While I wouldn’t say I’m completely sold on Universalism yet, this site has given me hope and has assured me that by trusting God, I have nothing to fear. It is so much easier to love and live life to the fullest now with my renewed sense of hope, joy and innocence that I fondly recall having in elementary school. So I ask you how should I go about researching the topic of Hell and figuring all these things out? And how do I let go of that small part of me who is scared to let go of my belief of Hell? I mean I would hate for this all to be wrong. God bless you, and please pray for me that I will be bathed in the light and truth. Max
May 22, 2012
I would like to begin by saying how touched I was, from the outset, by your videos. If truth be told, as I listened to you speak of the wonderful gospel of Christ my heart began to well-up inside of me as I fought to hold back the tears that were filling my eyes. I am a “catholic” man of 52 years and for all my life, I have believed in God and in Christ. Most of that time however has been spent in guilt and fear and shame, trapped as it were, in a vicious repeating circle of sin and remorse, never quite reaching that ‘summit of perfection’ that would keep my soul from hell. As my life progressed I began to realise that ingrained guilt and feelings of unworthiness can have terrible results and that rather than freeing a soul from ‘sin’ (falling short of the mark) it can cause the opposite to happen. Don’t get me wrong, I know I am a sinner. I know I am not worthy. I know I am guilty, but how to overcome my sinful, unworthy and guilty nature so that I might avoid hell and eternal damnation has always eluded me. I have tried repenting and believing, I have fasted and died to self and prayed a thousand rosaries. I have whipped my body with leather thongs and tied knotted cords around my waist until it almost bleed, I have went on pilgrimage and prayed to every saint I can think of, I have spent hours in Eucharistic adoration.
I spent six years in a lay Christian community working like a dog, morning, noon and night, quite often in meagre conditions, all it seems, to no avail. No matter how hard I tried, my sinful nature just would not submit and all I was left with was this fearful feeling that I was destined for eternal hell. This, Christ, that I had believed in, for most of my sorry life, was not able to save me from myself…What a sorry state I was in. Here I was, a sinner from the moment of my conception to the moment of my death and in the blinking of an eye, (three score and ten,,, I think less for me) I was to be, thrust into hell, with no hope of remission; and all for not quite, ‘making the mark’? The only sort of religion that could come up with a plan like that, was one that had planned to control my/your whole life from beginning to end, a religion of slavery to an earthly god, a god who could not speak, or see, or hear, let alone save. I don’t blame God or Jesus his Christ and son for any of this. I blame the so-called religious leaders who bar up the gates of heaven to men with their rules and regulation. They fill their barns with plenty as their sheep suffer and die for want of a Sheppard. They call black white and white black, they, turn everything upside down.
So what was it about your videos that touched me so much? It was remembering that God loved me so much that he sent his own beloved son to save me because I was wholly incapable of saving myself, no matter how hard I tried. It was the knowing, but never really knowing, never really understanding the concept of “I will draw all men unto myself” and other similar passages of scripture.
This fear and guilt, that I had been branded with, like a stain on my heart, that could never be removed never really triggered the magic bullet that would set me free from sin. The only thing in my life that ever motivated me to do anything remotely good was love. Loving and receiving love in return filled and renewed my heart and being with such hope in humanity. The only time I ever felt happy was when I was helping someone through a simple act of love. Love is the changing force of God, not hell and condemnation. I don’t know how it all works out in the end but Jesus, the Christ, the son of the living God loves me so much that right at this moment I feel like exploding. Perhaps there is some sort of reincarnation or ‘you must be born again’ thingy that will eventually see all men reconciled to God through Christ, I don’t know. Just for now, I can lay my weary head on His breast and just accept that I am loved in spite of everything and recognise once and for all that it is love, not guilt, that wins the day.
St Paul had this, or something similar, to say about love.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
If God is love then these must be some of his attributes. Why then do his ‘so-called friends’ say he is a god of hell?
Indoctrination is a terrible thing. It can make men do the most terrible things and once in the trap it is very hard to shake. Brian
February 22, 2012
thank you for all you do…i pray almost everyday for God’s truth about ultimate reconcillation to spread throughout the world and for Satan’s lies to be destroyed…it is not me that remembers to pray this…i feel it is God Himself who reminds me. Rich and Laura
February 22, 2012
I was raised Catholic. In October 2011, two of my grandparents passed away the same week after long battles with Alzheimer’s and Dementia. It set me into a crisis that lasted about a year. My grandfather had Alzheimer’s, my grandmother dementia. It was incredibly hard to watch them suffer so much and lose their identities, and my family and I were unable to do anything to help them. During this time I began thinking about the suffering of non-Catholics. Previously I had been self-righteous and nonchalant about the suffering of certain people, content to believe it was a person’s “choice” if he wanted to be tormented for eternity. …But watching my grandparents suffer so much, my old set of beliefs no longer worked for me; I could not be anything but sickeningly miserable believing in a God who punishes a single person for eternity. Seeing my grandparents whither away of their illnesses humbled me.
After my grandparents’ death I began looking to my faith for comfort but all I got was perturbing. Thinking about my Jewish, atheist, agnostic –all my non-Christian friends and family members– suffering for eternity terrified me. Thinking about people I don’t even know being going through torture for eternity terrified me — even rapists, murderers, “evil” people… The thing is, I don’t want *anyone* to suffer for eternity. Unable to reconcile my compassion for my neighbors and belief that my neighbors were one heartbeat away from being punished for eternity, I left Catholicism.
In the early summer I found your Youtube page. From October to then, I was becoming physically ill from my fear of an “eternal damnation” god; I lost a lot weight and I was getting frequent heart palpitations. When I found your Youtube page, at first I was skeptical. I thought you were a well-intentioned person promoting something you wished was true, but had little reason for actually believing. But the more I have watched, the more I have believed that Jesus is the savior of every single person.
I want to thank you so much for the work that you do. Though I’m still not where I’d like to be in terms of my conviction in belief of universal salvation, I am SO much better now than before I found your work. Please keep up the work that you do. Your message is beautiful.
-Anthony
February 16, 2012
From the bottom of my heart I want to thank Christ and the Holy Spirit directing me towards your site. I almost lost all my faith because I was trapped in traditional and doctrinal Christianity and could not understand how a Loving Father will send Children knowingly before hand to hell. Why then create them in the first place. I mean as a father myself of a 3 month old son, I cannot, will not, does not want him to serve an eternity for mistakes away from me. Even if he rejects me as a Father one day, my love for my child cannot grow cold to such an extent that I want him to be tortured forever. In fact I will serve his term for him if i could. Now if i was made to the image of God how can my heavenly father wants this for his children?
Anyhow thank you for all your messages. It’s been a road for me that have taken me from dispensationalism to what I believe the truth is in preterism and victorious gospel of Jesus. I know the Spirit has led me to the truth. Of course my old dispensational friends don’t see me as a brother anymore and that I am now part of the great apostasy, will miss the rapture and will be going to hell.
By the way I am from South Africa where we are fundamentally religious. I have been branded a heretic and my place is booked in hell, especially because I believe in preterism and the universal salvation for all through Jesus Christ. I am called to spread this message, but don’t have formal ministry training so I am hesitant. Anyhow thanks for listening and please excuse my English it is not my first language. Kind regards, Wynand
February 3, 2012
My son’s friend stepped out in front of a train a couple years ago. He had Bipolar Disorder and wasn’t taking his meds. After this happened, my son, who also has Bipolar asked me,”I don’t think that Mike went to church and I don’t know if he believed in God. Does this mean he is going to burn in hell? He never hurt anyone in his life and was such a good person. He couldn’t help it he was Bipolar.If he’s going to hell I don’t want anything to do with a God that would do that to my friend”. WHAT an eye-opener! Something in Christianity always bothered me, well two things actually, HELL and God not saving ALL MEN…For five years I have struggled with these two teaching of the church. I finally found your website and WOW! There is was! This is what I’ve been looking for for years. Now I found the true and yes, with the help of the Holy Spirit I now read my bible. God is Awesome! And now I know, God loves Everyone, all of His creation!!!!!!!
January 29, 2012
I remember being at a bible study at a church I was attending in Wisconsin. One guy brought up the all too common statistic that 4 out of 5 people were going to hell. Something like that anyway. I remember saying, “man, that’s sad”. His response. . . “I don’t care, as long as I’m on my way to heaven”. I was still very new in the faith but remember thinking. . . . . . How selfish.
January 24, 2012
Thanks for distinguishing between the universalism where a magic wand is waved and all go to heaven and the universalism that is grounded in the work of Christ. It is always encouraging to find others who have come the conclusion that the God of the scriptures has a purposeful design unfolding where the renewal of all things is his ultimate goal and His ultimate glory.
January 24, 2012
First off, I have enjoyed your site. There is a time in my Christian life when I would’ve avoided it at all cost. Although I have always hoped that I was wrong in my acceptance of eternal punishment, etc., I could never find enough counter information for me to make an informed decision. After reading most of what’s available on your website as well as numerous other articles and several books (Hope Beyond Hell & others), I have moved considerably close to adopting a Christian Universalism stance.
January 24, 2012
I just wanted to thank you for your work on “HELL”. Your site is well-done and has it all on one page- This word “HELL” and the translations, and use by denominations and preachers has caused much anguish and darkness to descend on the world. Let me say- that I appreciate your work
January 21, 2012
Dear Gary. I just wanted to let you know that I am appreciating your emails and teachings. What a difference from the teaching of the main stream churches. I have quit going to church because I feel there is something critical missing. I am bored with the ritual of church. I know they have truth but, a little leaven, leavens the whole body of truth. I know that you spend a lot of time researching your teachings and I just want to let you know it isn’t lost. Thank you for taking the time to stay at it. Your most recent bible matters article really touched me.
January 20, 2012
Why do I feel a sudden inspiration of hope and a feeling as if everything suddenly makes sense as I watch your videos, like the first breeze of spring and that deep inhale you take knowing that the bitter cold has passed… :-)
January 13, 2012
I just wanted to express how grateful I am for this website. It has put many fears and doubts that I had to rest. I grew up in a very conservative Baptist church. Hell was often taught and preached about for the 16 years I was there, since I was a child. I got away from God and left the church when I was 23 years old, to marry the man I loved who my church disagreed with. The idea of hell always terrified me and even though my husband claimed to be saved I was still horrified that he might not be and that he might spend eternity tormented forever in hell. I would sometimes have a panic attack thinking about it and I would beg him to be sure he was saved. Eventually I began to question God’s existence because the bible said God is love, and how could love do such a thing? I found myself wishing God didn’t exist so that hell was not real. When I came upon your website and saw my questions answered and saw that God IS a God of love I literally bawled my eyes out with relief. Such a weight was lifted from my heart and I can’t thank God enough for leading me to your site and for affirming my belief in a God of compassion and love! Thankyou so much and God bless you. Corinna
January 13, 2012
God Bless you for teaching the truth, I have spent decades trying to love God, Tonite He answered my prayers, I feel saved for the first time in my Christian walk.
January 13, 2012
thank you for your website, it has enlightened me greatly. thank you-keep up your excellent work–love you bro.
January 15, 2012
Your videos are my only comfort right now after being traumatized from watching Bill Wiese’s “23 Minutes In Hell”. I became so depressed, and I could honestly say that I thought I was gonna end up insane. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cried out to god to tell me it’s not true.
January 13, 2012
Gary, thank you for the newsletters and the video. your work has greatly helped me to understand the scriptures and the love God has for everyone. Brian
January 13, 2012
Tears of sorrow turned to tears of joy
I just want to thank you (I hope I am sending these the right way). I am incredibly thankful for those who spread and have spread the truth of universal reconciliation (despite the dangers, etc.) and God for drawing me to this belief! I have been a christian ever since I remember (I am 18) but have just recently started believing in universal reconciliation. I am truly blessed that I have had VERY strong faith my whole life but in the last year or two I remember accidentally going down a place Bourbon Street (a bad street filled with “strip clubs” bars etc.) with my family in New Orleans and practically mourning those who worked at and went to those places because I believed they would probably go to hell and I thought and cried much on the matter. Even after our vacation the thought of people having to spend all eternity in hell which also seemed unfair to me because while I may have sinned in different ways than them I have still sinned (if anything I deserved hell more than them because I had sinned knowing better). I simply could not agree with God even though I “knew” he was right and prayed to understand but slowly began to lose my faith. And one night I was truly struggling to keep my faith and in desperation I searched google for something along the lines of “how keep faith hell” for any possible advice on how not to lose my faith due to my belief in hell (I wrote it like that because I find that google works better when you use less words). And that is when I found a page on Tentmaker by John W. Hanson about the different words translated into hell and I was very cautious but it was convincing enough to do more research into this “Universal Reconciliation” so I looked up books on my e-reader and found one called something like “At the End of Ages Abolition of Hell ” and was convinced from that. I have since read on the Tentmaker site and watched some of your Youtube videos. I used to cry in misery because of my belief in hell. But now I cry with joy because I know we will all be saved! :)