Hi Mike and Sandi,

I want to thank you and Sandi again for all the work you have been doing (and also the others at IWWB) – I know it is all of the Lord, and He will always deserve our ultimate thanks because HE is our saviour.

Not us though! We don’t save ourselves. Unfortunately though, the multitudes believe THEY SAVE THEMSELVES because they make the choice to follow Jesus. And that single choice saves them from eternal torment. Yesterday, one of my friends asked me about Hell, and I showed him these verses:

Col 1:19-20 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

He will reconcile all things – in his timing. So he won’t give up on his creatures because we are marred in his hand (Jer 18:4) and subject to vanity, but not willingly (Rom 8:20) because he created us, and he is sovereign (Isa 45).

The next verse I showed him was:

1Ti 4:10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

‘He is the savior of all men, especially (not exclusively) the believers.’ My friend, a bit shocked, first said ‘how did you find this verse?’ Then he pulled out a bible commentary to try and get some “clarification” on what this meant. The commentary from William McDonald read as follows:

“God is the savior of all men in the sense that he preserves them in the daily providences of life. But He is also the savior of all men in the sense pointed out previously – that he has made adequate provision for the salvation of all men. He is the savior of those who believe in a special way because they have availed themselves of his provision. We might say that he is the potential savior of all men and the actual savior of those who believe.”

The difference is subtle, but nevertheless it completely undermines the truth of God’s word because McDonald has added the word ‘potential’ to God’s word. The bible (God’s word) doesn’t say that. It says “he is the savior of all men”. Yet man’s word says, “he is the potential savior of all men.”

And yet all this is of God which gives us the peace of Jesus Christ that surpasses all understanding (Php 4:7) which is a beautiful thing.

And so we continue to try the spirits (1Jn 4:1), and I just thought I would write to you – and feel free to pass this on to others – as way of encouragement to keep persevering and to keep spending time in God’s word. Because God’s word is the truth.

We don’t have to be anxious because the lord is at hand (Php 4:6).

So thank you for everything you are doing and are continuing to do.

In Christ,
A____

Hi A____,

Thank you for sharing with me what you showed to your friend concerning what the scriptures actually say about hell.

William McDonald’s commentary is nothing less than “the voice of a stranger”, and Christ’s sheep will immediately know that Christ Himself “made [mankind] subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who subjected the same in hope”.

Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

Christ is the “hope” of mankind, and the outcome of our hope in Christ is not in question, as if it were some vague hope of “potential salvation”. Rather it is as sure as the fact that we are “in Adam”.

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

The equation given here is “as in Adam… all… even so in Christ… all”. That equation eliminates any question about whether all in Adam will be saved. ‘All’ are ‘in Adam’ by God’s sovereign work or creation, and that creation will not be completed until ‘all’ are “in Christ… every man in His own order”. Those who are raised up “in Christ… at his coming”, like Christ are “a kind of firstfruits”, and that is so only because “of His own will”… [it is] not of him that wills or runs, but of God” who has already ordained who it is who will first trust in Christ and be shown mercy in this age as “a kind of firstfruits”. He has also already sovereignly decided who will be saved at “the end when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power [including] the power of death”. When that is accomplished, God will have “destroyed…. death”, and death will not have so much as one single “sting” and the grave will have not one single “victory” to boast:

1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? [The Greek, for ‘grave’ in this verse is ‘hades‘. It is the same word translated as ‘hell’ ten of its eleven entries in the KJV.]

Rom 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

Jas 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

G86
ᾅδης
hadēs
Total KJV Occurrences: 11
hell, 10
Mat_11:23, Mat_16:18, Luk_10:15, Luk_16:23, Act_2:27, Act_2:31, Rev_1:18, Rev_6:8, Rev_20:13-14 (2)
grave, 1
1Co_15:55

Changing the word ‘hades‘ to ‘hell’ ten out of eleven times, and translating it properly as death only once is both adding to the Word of God, while at the same time taking away the Truth of God’s Word, and this is what is promised to those who do so:

Rev 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Another verse which plainly states that God is in the process of saving all men is 1Ti 2:4:

1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

It is true that this verse can also read ‘desires all men to be saved’, but this is what we are told about the things God ‘desires’:

Job 23:13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.

What God desires is what He does, and since He desires to “have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the Truth”, that is exactly what He is doing. He is not saving only “them that believe” at this time. He is also in the process of making it manifested that He is also the savior of “the whole world”.

1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

“What His soul desires, even that He does” will not be undermined by Mr. McDonald adding the words ‘that He could potentially do’. No, the salvation of all men is not a potential of a sovereign God, because what God desires is “not of him that wills, but of God who shows mercy or hardens”, and He will use those to whom He shows mercy at this time to show that same mercy to those whom God will save through His firstfruits:

Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

“Mercy upon all”!!! There is nothing ‘potential’ about what “God has concluded”. He “has concluded… that He might have mercy upon all… [and] that He does”! (Job 23:13)

Your brother and fellow soldier in our Lord’s army,

Mike