Does God Send People to Hell?
It is customary for false teachers to teach others that God does not send people to hell. In a contrived effort to defend the universal love and mercy of God (neither of which is universal), the false teacher will turn to man-centered theology, as the preferred way “to protect God’s honor and reputation.” This is insidious because God’s honor and reputation need no defense. He also does not need anyone’s opinion, of who he or she thinks God is, or should be in reality.
The fundamental quest of man-centered theology is to replace the person and work of God, with the person and work of man (at every possible point). The one who does this has fallen into the snare of the deceiver, “You shall be like gods (Gen 3:5).” The natural man, in Adam, wants to be God. Arminianism (the nick-name for man-centered theology) plays directly into the fleshly desire of fallen humanity.
Arminian teachers take the sovereign free will of God, and they give it to men (or at least they promise it to them, like the serpent did to Adam and Eve). If God is judge of all, then, in man-centered theology, man has to be the one who judges whether he will accept or reject the meritorious work of Jesus.
Really? God has already accepted the work of Jesus (demonstrated by raising Him from the dead), so who made you a ruler or judge of Christ’s work? Answer: the Arminian preacher has done that for you! God did not give you free will, the Arminian preacher did! This means you do not have autonomous free will; you have just been made to think you have free will.
In the matter of God sending people to hell, Satan promises that sovereign decision…to men. Satan’s marketing scheme for the false gospel is to make a multitude of his followers think they control Jesus and salvation. Thus, the deceiver turns the heralding of the Gospel into “a free offer” sales pitch for consumers to accept or reject.
Instead of a Gospel where the sovereign King, who is Judge, determines the end of His created subjects, the false gospel of Arminianism has a King, who has abdicated His throne, in favor of the democratic sovereignty of all people, everywhere, and at all times. Simply put, Arminianism is the promotion of mutiny, and it is high treason against God. There are many who follow this wide way…of billions of potential gods.
The King of kings and Lord of lords has become a puppet on a string for the Arminian. Man chooses, and God reacts in the way the Arminian has made Him to be…in his own image. God is a robot, who must do what man commands.
“My God would never send anyone to hell,” is a statement from man-centered theology. It is usually followed by, “God loves everyone.” Sometimes, the false teacher will be so forward to declare, “Christ died for everyone.” Thus, the Arminian is an advocate, for double-jeopardy under the Law. Double jeopardy permits a person to be tried for crimes more than once, even after being acquitted. In other words, Christ paid your debt of sins, but now you must pay for all your sins, again, in the eternal hell you chose for yourself. This makes your decision to reject Jesus, a sovereign one. What you alone have decided is the determining factor in your eternal punishment in fiery hell.
Further, it is now reasonable for us to see that the contrived defense of the character of God is just a front for man to usurp God’s position and power, to send people to hell. Man is captain of his own soul and the captain of his soul’s destiny. The Arminian teacher is wicked in this regard. His objective is to empower as many people as possible, to wrest control from God, in the matter of salvation. He may go so far as to say, “God is a gentleman, who does not force His will on anyone. He has given us free will and we must decide.”
What is really being said above is, “God has no right to impose His sovereign will on me, and I will be the one who judges whether I will accept or reject Jesus’ payment for my sins.” Not only is the heart of this sentiment the sin of pride, it is blasphemy against God.
God created man and ordained the fall of man. The reason for creation and fall is that God would be glorified, as sole Redeemer. The second Adam is the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world (note the timing). God’s story is thematically redemptive. In His predetermined plan (Acts 2:24), God has rightly made Himself to be the Hero, the Savior of His people (Mt 1:21).
In addition to that role, He is the just Judge of the reprobate people (Acts 10:42; 17:31; 2 Tim 4:1; 1 Pet 4:5). These are the unelect, unredeemed, unregenerate, unbelievers, who never had their names written in the Lamb’s book of life, from before the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8). This means there is no “possibility” for their salvation, which also means Christ did not die for them, which also means the Holy Spirit will never cause them to be born again (regeneration). They will never receive the grace of repentance, nor the gift of faith.
The Arminian will naturally hate the preceding couple of paragraphs because these words openly declare the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation. God is not “offering” salvation to anyone. He is calling in His elect sheep from every nation (Rom 8:30; Rev 5:9; 7:9), through the heralded (not offered) Gospel of truth, which, because it is all of God, is called “the Gospel of God” and “the Gospel of grace.”
Preachers of the Arminian false gospel want to empower men to be like gods, by freely choosing to steal the glory of God, by thinking they are making the decision to let Jesus save them. Arminians are robbers and thieves, who want to have the glory, derived from the work of salvation. They are Roman Catholics in Protestant clothing.
Friend, if you have been taught by others that God has given away His sovereign free will to you, in order for you to judge the acceptability of the merits of Jesus Christ, then, you must repent of your believing what is false. Further, if you are teaching free will decisionalism to others, then, consider this your warning of the wrath of God to come upon you, as a false teacher (Rom 1:18).
God created hell for rebel demons, who joined Satan in the quest to overthrow God. Just as God sends them to the hell He created, He will send to hell, all those in Adam that He has not willed to have mercy on (Rom 9:15–16, 22). His judgment is just, His mercy is great, and His grace is perfectly efficient, to save those He has chosen to be a people for His own possession, from before Creation (Dt 7:6; Rom 11:5; Eph 1:4–5; Titus 2:14; 1 Pet 2:9).
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
October 25, 2022
