You only have one day left, not 365, not 30, one. But it gets worse. You're not ready to meet God. So when your time runs out, where do you actually go? There are four options, but only one is true. And that is why you need to look very closely, because we're putting the first band teaching on trial. Universalism, imagine this scenario. You love Jesus and you are a Christian, but you wake up in heaven only to be surrounded by people who are totally opposite.
They laugh at Jesus, they reject him, and they say they don't even want to be here. If you thought that sounded insane, it's nothing compared to what you see next. Also in heaven is Satan and the demons, and they are also going to live alongside you forever in paradise. Now according to universalism, that is exactly what heaven will be like. In plain English, universalism is the belief that in the end, everyone will be saved and no one will go to hell because God will forgive everyone.
OK, I could be totally wrong about this, but I do wonder if there's anyone listening who finds this version of heaven kind of appealing. So let's ask the big question. Is universalism biblically accurate? To answer that question, we need to investigate where did this idea come from? In the 3rd century, a church father named Oregon taught something called apocastasis, which is just just a big Greek word meaning restoration of all
things. He believed that eventually God's love was so strong it would restore everything, even the Prince of Darkness himself. I'm not going to lie to you, I think Oregon was reaching way too far here, but come on guys, let's be neutral to Texas here and let's test the Bible verses he used to back up his position. All right, check this out. One Timothy 2 verse 4 says God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Sounds pretty universalist, right?
God wants everyone to be saved, no exceptions. But hey now Paul in Colossians 120 takes even further and says and by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. I'm just curious, what do you think? Does that mean God wants everyone saved?
I personally do believe that the Bible teaches that God does want everyone in heaven, but he will not push anyone into heaven against their will because for love to be true love it must be totally free. Am I talking to any hopeless
romantics here today? Because I for one do not want my wife to love me because I made her or pushed a button that said you will fall in love with me. No, I want her to have the choice to love me or the choice to reject me so that we can have a meaningful relationship that is real and authentic. And so likewise, Jesus Christ holds his hands out to humanity and says, come to me and I'll save you and I'll wash away your
your sins. But at the same time, he will respect your choice to reject him and he will not pull anyone up to heaven who does not want to be there. Guys, I can't sugarcoat this. Jesus Christ was crystal clear in the Gospel of Matthew. Enter by the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction. And there are many who go by it because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life. And there are only a few who find find it. Only a few.
Hmm, that doesn't sound like everyone's getting in, does it? May I go deeper? Revelation 20 verse 15 says. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. See what I mean? Some verses, they might pull you one way, but then other verses slam the brakes. On which path is the Bible really pointing to? And what is the Lake of Fire? Is it eternal conscious, or is it something else? We're going to come to that a little later, but right now,
let's go back in time again. Because Oregon wasn't alone. Another respected teacher, Gregory of Nysa, also leaned towards universalist ideas. But in 553 AD, at the Second Council of Costanopa, apocotasis was officially condemned as heresy. The church effectively stamped it as case closed until it was reopened.
In the 1800s, Universalism reemerged with an entire denomination formed in America called the Universalist Church of America. This later merged into what's now called Unitarian Universalism, a religion that openly denies hell. In 2011, it really made a comeback. A mega church pastor called Rob Bell reignited the debate with his book Love Wins. He simply asks, will all people be saved or will God not get what he wants? That question went viral.
Bell went from a mega church celebrity to a blacklisted pastor who must be avoided. But over to you now. I want you to think about something. Should we open all of the prisons right now? I'll ask you again. Should we open every single prison right now and let all of the prisoners walk free on the streets? I for one, am glad that there are prisons. I am glad that there is justice for those who have done evil. But let's take the question even further. Imagine we do open all the
prisons right now. Would you let those evil men, those evil women, come and live in your house, share your property? Would you trust them to be left alone with your family? I think the vast majority of us would say no way would I let those unrepentant men and women live in my house. So if you've got rules about who's allowed to enter into your house, why can't the God of the
universe have rules? Who enters his house and his rules are you have to be covered by the blood of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Through Jesus death on the cross, God the Father can meet both of his attributes. He is a just God, but he is also a merciful God. He demonstrates his justice by substituting Jesus in our place for our sins, so that that huge debt of sin is paid for.
But at the same time, he is a merciful Father, extending unmerited forgiveness to us, though we don't deserve it, though we can never earn it. He can wash us clean and give us a new beginning and promise us heaven if we trust in the Saviour. I suppose what I'm really trying to say here is the problem with universalism is it confuses love
with permissiveness. But God's love is holy, and true love doesn't just brush justice under the carpet, it provides it through the cross of Christ. So I think it's safe to say that universalism did not pass the test when we compared it to the teachings of the Bible. But where does that leave us when we look at the remaining 3 In our case, before we meet the second band teaching, I just want to check how observant are you? Did you notice that there were
no adverts before the video? The reason is this, back when I started this channel nearly 10 years ago, I made the difficult decision not to run on helpful adverts on the channel because I didn't want you to be distracted from the message. So if you're not against seeing ad free content in the future and you're enjoying this video so far, please do subscribe. OK, Strap on your seatbelts because we're about to open our second case file. Purgatory.
What is purgatory? In simple terms, Roman Catholics believe purgatory is a place or state where souls go after death to be purified before entering heaven. Just a minute. Catholics don't believe this purification takes place in hell. It doesn't happen on earth, and it doesn't happen in paradise. They believe it happens somewhere in between, in a source of limbo. This concept really started to take shape in the early Middle Ages.
Catholic theologians like Saint Augustine hinted at the idea that sins not fully punished in life could be purified after death. By the 12th century, the teaching was formalized. Later, the Council of Florence in 1439 and the Council of Trent from 1545 to 1563 codified it as official church doctrine. Oh, and I nearly forgot to tell you about indulgences, too. You see, in medieval times the Church taught that prayers, good works, or even donations could reduce a soul's time in purgatory.
So wealthy patrons could give money to fund cathedrals, monasteries, or crusades, and in return received certificates promising their own soul or loved ones a shorter stay in the flames. This made salvation feel, well, like it could be bought, and it sparked major opposition. For instance, Martin Luther, the passionate reformer, famously railed against it. Today, indulgences do still exist in Catholic teaching, but money has nothing to do with
them. They're earned through prayer, charity, or spiritual acts, not coins. I wonder whether I should tell you this, but I was very, very unsure about covering this teaching of purgatory. In my last video on Christian denominations, many Roman Catholics said I misrepresented them. And I want to say right now, that was never my intention. And so when I came to this one, I didn't know whether to talk about Roman Catholic teaching. But here's the thing.
It really is the big elephant in the room. So if you aren't Roman Catholic and you are watching right now, please know my aim here is certainly not to belittle anyone's beliefs, but to uncover biblical truth. And so I do. I welcome your corrections, insights, or clarifications in the comments section as I just want this to be 1 big conversation. With that being said, let's dive in. Here's the answer we all want to know. Does the Bible talk about purgatory?
Well, you will never actually find the word purgatory in the Bible. However, Catholics still insist the concept is very biblical. You may already know that I firmly believe the Bible is complete and we do not need any extra text to uncover the truth of the Word of God. Why? Because everything we need is written in the 66 books of the Bible. However, Catholics would disagree. They often point to Two Maccabees 1244 to 46, an apocryphal book which they say proves their teaching on
purgatory. Here, a priest called Judas Maccabees prays for soldiers who died with sin on their conscience. And according to Catholics, this suggests that the dead can benefit from prayers of the living. Interestingly, in Matthew 1232, Jesus does say some sins will not be forgiven in the age to come. People could argue that this implies a post death purification.
But wait a second, just to reiterate, Protestant Bibles don't include Maccabees, and Jesus never gives instructions about a purification chamber, which would you not argue is a massive thing that does need describing in detail if it's true, instead of us just being left a guess in the dark what it really looks like. Before we dismiss purgatory completely, here's another piece Catholics often point to.
In One Corinthians 3, verses 12 to 15, Paul talks about building on the foundation of Christ. Some will build with gold, silver and costly stones, but others will build with wood, hay or straw. When the day comes, fire will test everyone's work. If it survives, there's a reward. If it burns up, the builder will still be saved, but only as one who is escaping through the flames. Catholics see this as a hint towards purgatory, a place where imperfect parts of life are
purified before entering heaven. I am going to choose my words carefully now, but is Paul describing post death cleansing or is he talking about refining trials we already face in this life? If fire is now, not later, wouldn't Paul's audience have understood it that way? And does this saved but through flames line really fit with Paul's other letter to the Ephesians where he emphatically emphasizes that salvation is by grace, not works?
It is essential to also remember Jesus words to the man beside him on the cross who recognized his own sin and asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his Kingdom. So Jesus, recognizing this man's faith, said today you will be with me in paradise. Now, unless you and I overthink this sentence, I think it has a very basic reading. It proves to us there is no purification stop, just immediate fellowship with Christ when we die.
But our next banned church teaching may offer a very different viewpoint to what I've just said. Or at the very least, we'll make you question everything you ever learned at Sunday school before we go there. We are in a kind of limbo on this whole purgatory issue. So between you and me guys, I can assure you of one thing. I am certainly not the authority on anything.
But when I think of purgatory, it reminds me of a student who aced their final exam but was then told they still had to redo old homework or they weren't allowed to graduate. Would that be fair? Would that even make sense? Well, that's what purgatory implies. Jesus work gets you most of the way, but you still need an extra little bit of credit or God pays your bill, but then the restaurant owner says you must also contribute something too.
OK, I want to make this clear. Once again, my goal is not to disrespect Roman Catholics, but I simply want to raise these questions so that we can find the truth. So why does purgatory, in my opinion, feel so invisible in the Bible? If it is real, where are the scriptural warnings, the instructions, or the stories of
souls passing through? Yes, Matthew 12 and Paul's fire are Roman Catholic friends argue are hints, But are they enough to build a system that shapes centuries and centuries of Christian practice? All right, if you thought purgatory stirred the pot, wait until we test our next band teaching. Without further ado, let's investigate our third case file annihilationism.
I am embarrassed to admit to this, but the first time I heard this teaching presented by a pastor at a church I used to attend, I dismissed it automatically as unbiblical. But to quote this same pastor, he said this isn't a doctrine we can be arrogant about thinking we don't need to consider it as many godly Christians and theologians down through the ages held this view. And the Bible has a whole heap of verses that you could also argue support it.
And no, before anyone jumps to conclusions, this isn't a Jehovah's Witness thing. Yes they hold it, but they didn't invent it and you don't become AJW just by considering it. Otherwise, I guess I'm a vegan because I eat salad sometimes. But come on now, you and me need to talk about this. What is annihilationism and is it even biblical annihilationism Effectively asked the question, what if hell doesn't last forever?
It's also famously been called conditional immortality, and it's the idea that the wicked face real, serious consequences for rejecting Christ. But it doesn't go on forever. Eventually it ends in destruction. In other words, they cease to exist. Proponents of this teaching prefer the term conditional immortality. See, because immortality, to live forever, is a gift given only to those in Christ.
Now, later, I'm going to share which of these four band teachings I personally think is true. But right now I can see that some of you might be raising your eyebrows. Because let's be honest, for many of us, the idea of eternal conscious torment is so ingrained upon us that we cannot imagine any other biblical option. But what does the Scripture actually say over and over? The language used about the fate of the unbeliever sounds final words like destruction, perish,
death, end, corruption. Matthew 7 verse 13 warns us of the road leading to destruction. John 316 says those who don't believe perish. Romans 6 verse 23 talks about the wage of sin being death. And perhaps the most convincing verse is Matthew 10, verse 28, where Jesus warns us not to be afraid of Him who can destroy your body, but fear the one who can destroy both your body and soul and cast you into hell.
I am confident those of you who read your Bibles remember these images in Scripture about God's judgement. You've got the chaff getting burned up. We see fruitless trees cut down and thrown into the flames, then weeds pulled up and burned. There's bad fish who get caught in the net and thrown away. There's the house that's built
on sand collapses into ruin. The world gets swept away in the days of Noah. And we also see the wicked reduced to ashes on the feet of the righteous in Malachi 4 verse 3. Again and again Scripture says they'll be cut off. It says in Psalm 37 they'll vanish like smoke. It says they will wither like branches thrown into the fire in John 15. It says in Nahum 1 they will be consumed like stubble in the fire. It says they will perish like wax melting before the flame in Psalm 68.
It says their names will be blotted out of the book of life in Psalm 69. The fact is, they this we cannot escape it. This imagery returns over and over again. And yet historical voices also remind us that conditional immortality has had long standing credibility. John Stott, one of the 20th century's most respected evangelical theologians, considered the annihilation view a serious, scripturally
defensible option. Have you heard of Anna Bias, a Christian writer from the early 4th century? Well, he noted that destruction of the wicked, not endless torment, was compatible with God's justice. This isn't just some new idea, it's actually been part of the conversation throughout church history. Hey, this next part's a little bit important, so you might just want to catch it. You see, I personally cannot pretend this isn't a very difficult question to answer.
Is eternal despair for a lifetime of 70 years on earth proportional? It has made me think, is hell sinless? I think the obvious answer is no. And so therefore it's very likely that the Sinner will keep on sinning and sinning for all of eternity. I've even heard some preachers say that the unbeliever will continue to sin but will find no happiness in it because they compare it to what they could
have had with Christ in heaven. And moreover, they will not have any power to stop their sin even if they wanted to. Am I the only one who thinks that that actually kind of changes everything? Let me put it another way to you. Is there anyone here right now who would think that a prisoner who reoffends whilst in prison keeps doing wrong whilst they're in jail? Does that person deserve to be let free?
Of course not. That person should receive a longer sentence, and I could be way off on this one. But is God's judgement like that a sentence that grows endlessly because the prisoner keeps on rebelling and rebelling and rebelling for all of eternity? What goes through your mind when I say these things? Because I also really want to know. The unbeliever even want to go to heaven. Why would they want to spend eternity with a God they refuse to worship?
And some theologians take it even further when they claim that the gnashing of teeth described in hell means that those who occupy the lower realm grow more and more angry and loathsome to God as eternity continues. CS Lewis, the author of the Chronicles of Narnia, famously said the doors of hell are locked from the inside. So the unavoidable conclusion is this. We can't really just dismiss all of this language of destruction, perish, death, and burned up branches.
The story of Lot is nothing more than just interpretive gymnastics. But at the same time, there are arguably even more verses and biblical answers that God's judgement lasts forever and not just for a period of time. So, ready or not, it's time to confront one of Scripture's most challenging themes. Is hell eternal? As you know, this is our last banned church teaching. Before I tell you which of these I believed to be true, but let's put the doctrine of hell to the test.
Did you know the Bible doesn't just have one word for hell? There are several, each showing a different side of what happens after death. Take the Old Testament's word Sheol. It basically means the grave, the place everyone goes to when they die, saved or unsaved. But it's more than a hole in the ground. In the book of Genesis chapter 37, we see Jacob say I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.
I won't go into this too much. Because I have made an entire video on what I think the Bible teaches really happens in this shadowy realm. I'll leave a link in the description if you'd like to check out that video. But I do want to say this right now. Sheol was seen as the unseen world of the dead, a kind of holding place for souls, like a sort of waiting room.
Now you may already know this, but in case you didn't, when the Old Testament talks about Sheol, the New Testament usually translates that word into Hades. But here's the key difference. Hades is isn't just the grave, it's a place of conscious torment, a realm where the soul experiences real anguish.
An unforgettable example of this is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Now perhaps you disagree with this, but I personally think this is probably the only parable where Jesus describes something that actually happens. Not just a story to illustrate a point, but this is something real. You will probably remember the story right? Lazarus was a poor beggar who struggled in life and goes to Abrahams bosom, a place of rest,
comfort and peace. Meanwhile, the rich man who saw Lazarus struggle every day, when he dies, well he finds himself in a place called Hades. Flames lick around him, he's thirsty, he's desperate and he longs that his family won't end up in Hades too. OK, this is something that has me very curious. Whilst in Hades, the rich man can see Lazarus across the divide. He can see peace, comfort and life, and yet he can't reach it. He can't attain it. He can't even warn his family.
He can't turn back the clock and he can never escape. And the way I've always thought about it is hell will be exactly the same. You see, I think if this parable proves anything, it proves that there will be no memory loss in hell. When the rich man reaches out to Abraham from Hades, Abraham says one chilling word. Remember. I believe every single soul in
hell will remember. They'll remember all the times they quietly laughed at the street preacher in their city who was crying out to them to repent before it's too late. They'll remember. Every time they walk past the church, every Bible verse they ignored, every moment they dismissed the words of eternal life, they will remember videos like this about the gospel. They'll remember.
When their Christian friends and family members tried to tell them about Jesus Christ, they will remember every time they heard the gospel preached the good news about the Saviour who took their hell upon the cross, who bore all of that wrath, all of that fire, who turned it away from sinners and placed it upon himself so that the Sinner has the opportunity to be forgiven and to flee from that wrath and spend eternity in heaven.
They'll remember all of these doors that were open for them on earth, but now these doors are shut forever in hell. And it doesn't matter how much they knock, it doesn't matter how powerfully they push, these doors will never open again. Before we talk about the place, the fallen angels, it would be so wrong of me not to simply ask you, have you gone through that door today whilst the door is open? Have you gone through it? Because the plot twist is this.
That door is Jesus Christ himself. He once said, I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved. So if you haven't, please, please today walk through that door by asking Jesus to be your Lord and Savior because he died for your sins on the cross to rescue you from hell and he rose from the dead to give you an opportunity to have an endless life in heaven with him if you want it. But that's the big question, do you want it? So what's all this about fallen
angels and demons? Where do they go? Well, have you ever heard of Tartarus? It pops up only once in the New Testament. In Second Peter chapter 2 verse 4, it says God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell. Or to be more accurate, Tartarus, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment. In a nutshell, Tartarus is a special holding cell for
rebellious angels. Think of it like a spiritual maximum security prison, but eternal and chained in darkness whilst you await judgement. Just a little diversion. But there is another word, abyss, which reoccurs throughout the Bible and it literally means bottomless or immeasurable pits. In the Bible it is often depicted as a place of
confinement for evil spirits. The most famous example is found in Luke 8 verse 31 when the demons begged Jesus not to send them into the abyss, showing that it is is a dreaded place that even the darkest beings fear. Revelation describes the abyss multiple times as the bottomless pit from which locusts emerge, the place from which the beast rises, and where Satan is bound for 1000 years.
Many Bible scholars believe the abyss is the same place as Tartarus, but even if it isn't, they both prove from scripture that God maintains ultimate authority over all evil spirits. Some confined in the abyss and others roam in the earth, but ultimately, ultimately all will face final judgements by him who is on the throne. Another name for hell in the Bible is what Jesus calls Gehenna. Surprisingly, it turns out it's also a real place on earth.
Gehenna comes from the valley of Hinnon, right beside Jerusalem, and archaeology backs it up. Back in the days of King Ahaz, the Israelites actually performed a very evil idolatry here. So years later, a good king, King Josiah, put a stop to it and the valley became a burning God garbage dump, which the fires were always smoldering and there was a stench there that was very overwhelming.
So when Jesus talks about Gehenna as a place of final consequence, he's pointing to something concretes A10 manageable image that his listeners would have known well so that they would know exactly what to expect the eternal judgment to be like for those who reject the gospel. Hey, check this out. Because archaeological digs in the valley of Hymnon have uncovered layers of ash and
evidence of continual fires. But I guess the strongest image of hell that has evoked all of the paintings, all of the movies, all of the literature is that image of the lake of fire. So this is the part of the video where things get very intense. Why? Because some say, Oh well, it's just a metaphor. But is it really? The Apostle John in the Book of Revelation describes fire, torment, separation, and honestly, I'm not sure our human language can even capture it fully.
It's like there's a vast sea of flames and sulphur, and as Jesus said, it is a place where the worm does not die, which doesn't make sense if you believe in annihilationism. So over to you. I'll ask you again, if hell is just a metaphor or if the unbeliever just suddenly ceases to exist, why is the Bible full of descriptions? Like it says hell is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.
It's a fiery furnace. It even says that it's an unquenchable fire because the fuel of that fire, could it be, is Chrysler Souls? And then the one that really gets me is it says it's a place where there is no rest day or night, which doesn't add up if the wicked do one day get completely destroyed. But I can hear exactly what some
of you are saying. Many Christians who believe in the doctrine of annihilationism, they can argue against those verses above, but they really struggle to build a case against this next one. Matthew 25, verse 46. These will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. How do we untangle this verse when in one breath it states the unsaved will go away to eternal punishment and in the next breath it states the righteous, the saved, will go away to eternal life?
Do you see what I'm saying here? Because the Greek, the exact same word for eternal life, is the same word used for eternal punishment. And even more astonishing, it's the same word used in the Bible to describe God's infinite eternal nature. In Hebrew it's olam, in Greek it's aeon. And these words don't just mean a really long time, they mean beginningless, perpetual, endless. So this verse is describing something as real and unending as God's own eternal existence.
And if we are to be consistent here, if we say that unbelievers are not receiving punishment in hell eternally, we've also got to say that heaven is also going to end one day. And to take it even further, you would have to say that God Himself is not eternal, which I hope none of us would dare say, especially when Scripture is so crystal clear that the Lord has
no beginning and He has no end. Before we draw a line under this case and decide on a verdict of which of these four options is really true, there's one final piece of evidence worth noting. What did the early Christian writers consistently affirm?
Well, let's meet some of them. Ignatius of Antioch, Second Clement and Justin Martyr all spoke of unquenchable fire for those who reject God, whilst Polycarp and Mathias emphasize that even the earthly problems that we may face, they are nothing compared to eternal torment. Athena, Goris, Theophyllus and Irenaeus stressed that the wicked will face everlasting fire, not annihilation, and Tertilian and Hippolytus highlighted its unending and
inescapable nature. And lastly, Cyril of Jerusalem reinforced that the consequences of the unsaved of both spiritual and bodily, with eternal consequences tailored to each person's deeds, whilst the righteous receive immortality and life of God across these early voices. And some of them knew the first apostles, they knew the Apostle John, they knew the disciples of Jesus. The message is clear from these guys. Eternal separation from God is real, deliberate and
irreversible. I am sorry, but I do feel that a whole heap of this video has really just appealed to your mind. So if I may, can I talk to your heart for a moment as I want to share with you one of the most powerful poems that was ever written? You live next door to me. For years we shared our dreams, our joys and tears. A friend to me. You were indeed a friend who helped me when in need. What sadness then, my friend, to find that after all, you weren't
so kind. The day my life on earth did end, I found you weren't a faithful friend. For all those years we spent on earth, you never spoke of second birth. You never spoke of my lost soul and of the Christ who'd make me whole. So I plead today from Hell's cruel fire, and tell you now my last desire, you cannot do a thing for me. No words today will set me free. But do not err, my friend again. Do all you can for the souls of men.
Plead with them now, quite earnestly, lest they be cast in hell with me. So as I close this case file, is my verdict not obvious? If you're a believer, I pray you will warn your neighbors that an eternal conscious hell exists. But there is also grace, because God gives an escape route through Jesus Christ. And if you're not a believer, you've heard me tell you in this very video the message of Jesus Christ. And so I only have one more thing to say to you, my dear friend.
Go anywhere in this world, but do not go to hell.