Why Evangelicals Should Not Use Universalism to Deceive Unbelievers
Evangelicals are notorious for using a false doctrine of God’s universal love for all people, without exception, in their witness to unbelievers. A popular British theologian once wrote, “all we need is love.”
Evangelicals have taken his theology and imposed it onto the God of the Bible. Lutheran theologian, Gerhard Forde has so lamented this isolation of one attribute of God, that he wrote, “Why does God never enter the discussion as a deciding factor? In these discussions there is much obligatory and (mostly) innocuous talk about God — often pious platitudes about the fact that God is love! But since God is just love, love, love, God fails to enter the conversation in any decisive way.”
One might inquire to which discussion or to which conversation Forde alludes? Today, it is almost all of them. God has been so diluted in Evangelical discourse that He can only do one thing: love people.
A prominent evangelical leader wrote this a while back:
“God cares about each of us deeply. He created us in His image, therefore, we are so very special to Him. There is no other part of God’s creation that He considers more important than people.
He cares so much that He sent Jesus to die in our place. Did God send a horse to die in the place of other sinful horses? Did God send a tree to die in the place of other trees, so trees could one day be in heaven with Him for eternity? Of course not. God loves us because we are that unique part of His creation who were created in a bodily form similar in appearance to God.
Therefore, God loves:
Every. Single. Person.
So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he Him; male and female created He them. Genesis 1:27”
I kept his spacing because he was using it for emphasis.
What this man has penned is the doctrine of Universalism. This earnestly concerns me. If evangelical leaders will stoop to employ notions of Universalism to bear witness of Christ, what are evangelical followers doing out there?
Universalism is a man-centered theology that embraces the idea that “God loves everybody.” Logically, Universalism either rejects sin as a problem, or it preaches that Christ died for everyone head-for-head without exception. The logical conclusion and trademark of Universalism is that everybody goes to heaven.
Did God the Father elect every, single, person in eternity to be His child? Did Christ die on the cross, shedding His precious blood for every, single, person to be a member of His church? Does the Holy Spirit cause every, single, person to be born again? The honest answers to these questions is obviously, “No.” Universalism would claim that the answer to these questions, if they would even find the questions legitimate, is, “Yes.”
So, what does one do with a prominent evangelical leader, who is claiming that God loves everybody with exception and Christ died for everybody without exception?
First, you call him out on it. I did this by writing, “Universalism rocks!” and was immediately blocked from Facebook by him. Next, he texted me, “Universalism is the belief that all humankind will eventually be saved. That’s not at all what I’m saying and you know that. I’m simply saying God died to offer everyone the chance to choose Christ.”
Offer? Chance? (Also note there was no mention of this in his original post. This is the deception.)
This is how utterly unsure some evangelicals are about God’s immutable decree of salvation.
Universal love invites universal redemption, which should lead, logically, to universal salvation. In this, Universalists are at least consistent. What is tragic is that prominent evangelical leaders can be so inconsistent and illogical.
Second, his error begins by quoting Genesis 1:27, but he has forgotten to include Genesis 3 in his thinking. Universalism, whether it is truly believed, or simply employed by Evangelicals to deceive people about God and salvation, is going to forsake the doctrine of sin and total human depravity. Love, love, love has no use for sin, let alone, judgment, wrath, and eternal hell.
A deficient doctrine of sin will produce a defective doctrine of man. According to Scripture, man is dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1). Dead means dead, spiritually (1 Cor 2:14). Dead men do not make good choices because they do not make choices at all.
Jesus Christ did not die to offer anything to anyone. He died to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21)…not Every. Single. Person. There are no chances with God, nor does he create an opportunity for dead men to choose anything.
In conclusion, if you are an evangelical, please stop trying to trick unbelievers into the kingdom of God with false doctrine (ie. universal love; universal redemption; etc.). The Gospel is simple, and it is consistent. It does not include you receiving a limited time offer. It contains no chances. There are no choices for you to make.
The Gospel: God the Father elected a chosen people for Himself before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4,5). Man fell into slavery to sin and there was no way out (Rom 3:23). Death loomed (Rom 6:23). Jesus Christ was sent to save God’s chosen people, elect from every nation (Jn 3:16; Rev 5:9). The Lord, the Holy Spirit, knows those who are His (2 Cor 3:17; 2 Tim 2:19). He gives them new life (Eph 2:5; Col 2:13), by causing them to be born again of God in the Spirit (Jn 3; 1 Pet 1:3). God will never leave, nor forsake, nor lose even one of His chosen people, the church, the bride of Christ, the Israel of God (Mt 16:18; Gal 6:16; Heb 13:5; 1 Pet 2:9). If He has given you the Spirit of His Son, then you have the Son, and if you have the Son of God, you have eternal life (1 Jn 5:12). Incidentally, if you believe this paragraph then you are living proof of this truth. If you do not believe it, then you do not have God’s Spirit and have believed a lie of the enemy.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved!
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
November 1, 2021
