Lately, a number of sincere questions have been raised, both within our church and by friends and family outside the church, about hell, the final judgment, and views like annihilationism and universalism. I want to serve you with something clear and usable, both for your own understanding and for conversations you may be having with others.
Start here: two recent Wednesday teachings (full treatment)
If you or someone you know has questions, please begin with these two messages. In them, I walk through the key biblical texts and engage the most common objections.
- Part 1: “What Did Jesus Actually Teach About Hell?”
https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermons/12112554295917 - Part 2: “What Annihilationism Gets Wrong and Why It Matters.”
https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermons/121825412254037
A simple chart to help you compare the views
Along with those messages, we have provided a simple chart comparing the Traditional view, Annihilationism, and Universalism side by side. The purpose is not to create heat, but clarity. It highlights the fundamental differences in how Scripture is interpreted at the key points.
After careful study, I am persuaded that only the Traditional view reflects sound, faithful exegesis of the key passages. The other views repeatedly depend on redefining key terms and softening the plain force of clear texts in order to reach a different conclusion.
How to use these resources well
I encourage you to read the relevant passages in their context and ask a simple question: “What is the text actually saying?” Then listen to the two messages above, because they are designed to walk through the Scriptures carefully and thoroughly.
If you know someone outside the church who is wrestling with these issues, please feel free to share this post with them and point them to those two messages as a starting place.
God bless you REAL good!
Much love in the Lord Jesus,
Pastor John Samson
Dr. James White deals with the subject of Universalism, an ancient heresy that is making in-roads into the professing evangelical Church in our day. Even if you are sure it is wrong, are you able to show this from the Bible? Its very important, in light of the current widespread falsehoods being expressed by Rob Bell’s “Love Wins” book (and others out there), to be able to articulate what it is we believe and why we believe it. You will find the audio of Dr. White’s message 
Surely we cannot accept… universalistic ideas, because, if we do so, it means that we find ourselves contradicting the plain teaching of Scripture in those places where there is a clear division between the saved and the unsaved, the good and the bad, the redeemed and the lost. In spite of the arguments based upon a philosophic idea of the love of God, the Scripture draws the ultimate distinction between eternal salvation and eternal destruction… There is only one salvation—by the blood of Christ—and no-one can enter the kingdom except by belief in Christ. Such is the Universal teaching of the Scripture…