The Apostle Paul warned the Ephesian elders that to take heed for yourselves and the flock given to them, for which the Holy Spirit made them overseers, and that Christ purchased with His blood. He continued: “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves” (Acts 20:29-30).

I spoke about this in my sermon on Sunday. The problem is that when Paul describes these savage wolves, we imagine men who have a fiendish look about them, with blood dripping from their teeth and dead sheep all around them. The harsh reality is that these savage wolves always seem like very nice guys. They look and sound like guys that would be a joy to hang out with. What makes them so savagely is the fact that the message they teach and preach leads people to eternal damnation. It does not matter how nice a person is, if they preach a false gospel, they are the most wicked of men because the end result is that those who follow them, are damned eternally.

Case in point: Rob Bell, pastor, teacher, all around swell guy… but in reality a false teacher. He appeared on MSNBC recently with his book Love Wins, in which the premise is that eventually, all people go to heaven because… love wins. Watch the following video in which you will see MSNBC host Martin Basher pointing out that Rob Bell is twisting the gospel to make it palatable for the current culture.

It really sickens me when I see men who have such a large audience, putting forth such a dangerous gospel. Basher really did an excellent job showing Bell’s inconsistencies. O, the gospel is important now? But love wins, so what does it matter? Bell was being trapped and was too much of a touchy-feely guy to see it.

The problem with people like Bell, who focus solely on one attribute of God, that attribute being God’s love, is that he ignores the rest of God’s attributes as well. Specifically, Bell ignores God’s holiness which is spoken of far more in the Bible than God’s love. It is out of His holiness that God brings about His wrath and His judgment. (I feel like I’m repeating myself here… why, o why, do people listen to guys like Bell). That judgment for believes is dealt with on the cross. For those who reject Christ, there is no hope. We know this because of the countless times that Jesus tells us about hell. What Rob Bell wants to candy coat, Jesus spoke of more than anyone else in the Bible. He is the One that tells us there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. He is the One that tells us that there is a great gulf fixed between heaven and hell that cannot be crossed (Luke 16:19-31). He is the One that tells us that the worm never dies and it is better to maim yourself than to sin and be thrown into hell (Mark 9), showing us that going there has eternal consequences. Jesus is also the One that tells us there will be many who do things in the name of Christ, but will depart from Him, because He never knew them (Matthew 7:21ff). So in Bell’s view of the gospel, Jesus tells them to depart from Him on judgment day (the say with the goats in Matthew 25), but then says, “OK, come on back. I was only kidding!”

The reason that people do not change their minds once they get to hell is because they continue to hate God, and there is no longer an atonement for their sin. Jesus would have to die all over again for that to happen (Hebrews 6:4-6). The reason hell is eternal is because the sin they committed was against an eternal being. It takes the death of One who is eternal to satisfy God’s wrath. Jesus was that One and the One by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). He cannot die again, so it is vital to accept Him on this side of death. To reject Jesus is to reject the only means of salvation and once we die it is too late for that. Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment. There is no hope at that point. Remember the great gulf that is fixed between heaven and hell that Jesus told us about? Once one is found lacking, he is cast into that hell and there is no getting across that gulf. It is permanent.

But Mr. Bell would have us believe that eventually God’s love will win out and all those people in hell will be freed and invited into heaven. This ignores God’s eternal decrees of election (Ephesians 1:3-14). It makes God out to be me nothing more that a cosmic hand wringer who is hopeless with the lives of men on this side of glory. It also makes God out to be a liar for He would be contradicting His own word, which He cannot do. Poor Mr. Bell. He is trying so hard to be liked and make God likeable, that He makes God out to be a liar in the process. To make God out to be a liar is to show that the truth is not in us (1 John 1:10). Since this is true, the truth is not in Bell. He needs to repent.

I think that what Mr. Bell also needs to do is go into sales, selling used cars and quit trying to pass himself off as a pastor who cares. He does not care. He is very hateful towards those whom he pastors. He needs to be rebuked in the harshest terms, because he is leading his flock into everlasting punishment. I know, he is such a nice guy. And Satan presented himself as an angel of light too. Real pastors and those who love our Savior, get angry at guys like Bell.  He truly is a savage wolf. What Bell does is wicked beyond hope. May God silence him soon.

Here is more of his teaching.

Sounds good, but in reality he is dead wrong. Those outside of Christ are not spiritual because they are spiritually dead. Ephesians 2:1ff show that the non-believer is not spiritual at all. He is dead spiritually. This is why there is a need for new birth (John 3). Rob… read the Bible! This shows Bell to be more into New Age than true, biblical Chrisianity.

Here is another pastor, Cameron Buettel, discussing Rob Bell and his humanism disguised as the gospel.

Here is Buettel’s blog. I like what Buettel says close to the end of the clip. It is important that we point out false teachers and expose them for who they are. What a lot of people try to do is silence all criticism in the body of Christ. What this effectively does is keep men like Bell from coming under the Scrutiny of the authority of God’s word. Even the Apostle Paul was under this scrutiny. He commended the Bereans for checking out what he said (Acts 17:10-15). We should as well. That is how we know when men like Bell come along, the gospel they are presenting is no gospel at all.