WHY “HELL’S BELL”?



I know that some people will question why I titled the site “Hell’s Bell.”  Let’s just pretend that hell is not only a place but also a being that wants to consume as many people as it can.  The only problem is that this being is unable to come to earth to deceive people.  Therefore, it needs an earthly spokesman to represent itself and to deceive as many people as possible so they end up in hell.  If that were true today, one of those spokesmen would be Rob Bell.  Thus, Hell’s spokesman today is Rob Bell.  Rob Bell is deceiving people by giving new definitions to biblical words like heaven and hell.  He is also distorting the gospel, the “good news” of salvation, in a way that will lead many people to hell.  His is a gospel that gives false assurance and false hope to those who are still outside of Christ.  It is a gospel that leads people to believe that they can reject the grace of God in this life, live as they please, and yet still have an opportunity to repent after they die and inherit God’s kingdom.  It is a gospel that presents a false view of God’s love that will surely cause some to be careless about the state of their soul.  It is a deception that will lead many people to hell. 

Some people might view what Bell believes as just another “different” interpretation of the Bible.  There are sincere believes in Christ who often do have different interpretations of difficult passages of the Bible.  But what Bell has done in his book is to go way beyond simply having different interpretations of some difficult texts.  What Bell has done is to give biblical words entirely different meanings.  He quotes passages out of context to make them say something they don’t, and he’ll quote part of a text, stripping it from its context, in order to make a point, without quoting the rest of it.  Nobody who has a real love for God and His word would treat the explaining of the word of God in such a careless manner.  I am convinced he does not love God or His word.  You cannot love God without loving His word. 

In writing my response to Rob Bell’s book, I have tried to keep it as simple as possible.  I have tried to show, in a basic way, that anyone can pick up their Bible, without being a theologian, and see that what Bell teaches is completely false.  I have intentionally stayed away from deep theological explanations for each of Bell’s errors.  While I’m probably not the best one to do it, I could definitely provide more in-depth answers to each of his errors if I wanted to go that route.  But that was not my goal in this response.  My goal was to show even the newest believer that they can pick up God’s word and believe what it says, they can see that what Bell is teaching is wrong, and they can do so even without necessarily aligning themselves with any particular theological camp.  They do not need a “theologian” to twist the word of God for them and tell them what it “really says,” like we see in Love Wins.  It is my hope that this basic response to Bell’s book will cause some people to examine what Bell says in light of God’s word, thus keeping them from falling into deception.

Some people might take offense because I have pictured Rob Bell as a snake on the webpage.  Since Rob Bell is into art – expressive, interpretive art – I’m sure he will understand.  I have portrayed Rob Bell that way because just how the devil spoke through the serpent in Genesis three, the serpent (Satan) is speaking through Rob Bell today.  There really is no difference.  For those who still are offended, remember that Satan spoke through Peter (Mat. 16:23) and entered Judas (Luke 22:3).  So is Rob Bell a misguided Peter, is he an apostate Judas, or is he just a plain false teacher?  I’ll leave that for you to decide.  Everyone must come to their own conclusion.  I hope though that after you’ve read my response and looked at the word of God, it will become clear to you. 

My hope and prayer is that God will use this simple response to help someone hunger and thirst for the word of God, that it will keep someone from being deceived by all of Bell’s leading questions that can cause people to doubt God’s goodness, and that it will keep people from falling for a false view of God’s love.  My prayer is it will cause people to read God’s word and see ALL of God’s attributes working together in perfect harmony.  My prayer is that God will deliver some who are caught up in the teachings of Rob Bell and others like him and that ultimately God and His word will be magnified in people’s lives. 


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