Satan’s best deception is the doctrine of hell by which he’s led the whole world astray (Rev. 12:9, NIV). As I covered on my previous post, “Fallen Angels Rule the World,” Satan is the “king” of the fallen angels (Rev. 9:11) who set out to “be like the most High” (Isa. 14:14, KJV) and “deceive the nations” (Rev. 20:3). Therefore, his best deception is the doctrine of hell. And there are several factors to take into account to help us see that the doctrine of hell, what Christians have been teaching for centuries, is totally unbiblical.
Our Enemy the Devil. Since God has been testing humanity through this life (Deut. 13:3-4), He allowed Satan to be “the ruler” (John 12:31, YLT) and “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4, KJV) with “all authority” (Luke 4:6, NIV) warning us about him saying “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8, NIV). He also warned us that Satan is “a murderer…and…a liar, and the father of lies” (John 8:44, NIV). And because he’s only been given a short time to reign on earth, Satan is filled with fury at God (Rev. 12:12) which he expresses by hurting humanity, the people God created (Gen. 1:27).
Leading the body of Christ to believe in the doctrine of hell, was a fabulous lie on Satan’s part so that we wouldn’t really trust, obey or even like God, must less love Him (Mark 12:30), since He’s so brutal. We all know that only the most wicked person would burn someone alive. Yet for centuries Christians have taught that God, whom they correctly say “is love” (1 John 4:8, KJV) will everyone alive who has not believed in Jesus, and that hell burn them alive for the rest of eternity, that they’ll feel that pain for the rest of forever!
How could Christians believe this horrendous lie? Because, the human “heart is deceitful above all things” (Jer. 17:9, KJV) While born again Christians, those who should have known better, not only believe this heinous lie, we’ve spread it for centuries helping Satan hurt our heavenly Father along with His beloved people for whom He had Jesus shed His blood (John 3:16). We’ve hurt people with because it DOESN’T draw them to Christ! Understandably. The doctrine of hell is a major deterrent keeping God’s elect from warming up to Christ.
While there are loads of stumbling blocks that born again Christians have placed before the lost, this has to be the biggest one. What a monumental obstacle! And the thing is that God says, “Make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister” (Rom. 14:13, NIV).
The Fact is that All Men ARE Liars. One of the main points God is working at getting across to humanity is that all humans are liars (Jer. 17:9) so that “there is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10, KJV). Even the born again have a history of lying so that we’ve fulfilled “the rebellion” (2 Thess. 2:3, NIV). The body of Christ has proven that all men are liars since we’re the only ones who profess to know and love Jesus who is “the truth” (John 14:6, KJV) and yet we’ve historically NOT honored Him. We’ve lied to God, to ourselves, and to others.
And Satan knows that the human heart is deceitful above all things since he was created as “the anointed cherub” (Ezek. 18:14, KJV) to be “a ministering spirit” (Heb. 4:14, NIV). Satan is the most intelligent among God’s created beings. While he was supposed to be helping us, he rebelled against God (Isa. 14:14) so that he was given only a short time to rule the world (Rev. 12:12). Therefore, in order to get back at God for kicking him out of heaven (Isa. 14:12), Satan has been making the most of every opportunity to hurt humans by slandering God. And he’s done a really great job with the doctrine of hell since he’s had the help of so many.
The Bible Translations. Since all men are such monumental liars (Jer. 17:9) and because English is the most widely spoken language in the world, Satan hijacked the most popular English translation of the Bible, mother of practically all other translations, the King James Version (KJV), as summed up on these two web posts.
The Lord’s Character. God gave us a very clear picture of His nature and character by sending us His Son, Jesus, since “the Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Heb 1:3, NIV). And the four Gospel books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John inform us about Jesus’ life and ministry. On top of that, God has given us the testimony of the first disciples through the rest of the letters of the New Testament.
However, because human beings are chronic liars (Jer. 17:9), even when we read the parts of the New Testament where someone is speaking other than Christ, we have to do as admonished and “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5, NIV). If we don’t do that we’ll end up with a twisted image in our heads of God’s character and nature so that we believe stuff like the doctrine of hell.
A good example is with Peter in dealing with Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-10, NIV). While Peter had denied Christ three times (John 18:25-27) and Jesus readily forgave him for it (John 21:15-19, NIV), when given the opportunity to grant the same grace to others, Peter sided with Satan “the murderer” (John 8:44, KJV). Had Jesus been present, He clearly would have forgiven both Ananias and Saphira just as He had forgiven Peter and so many others. This is what God means in telling us to take our thoughts captive to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5). We have to do it in the Bible and in the world in which we live, especially around professing Christians.
Christian Rebellion. As I covered thoroughly enough on my first blog post, and cover in detail through this ministry of free books and videos, and summed up on this graphic, “the body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:27, KJV) the real Christians and only people who have had the power to actually understand God’s Word (1 Cor. 2:14) have been in rebellion against God for most of the past 2000 years!
Since “the body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:27, KJV) has historically rebelled against God like a snowball effect, born again Christians of every generation up until the present time have believed a load of lies that Satan has fed us, the worst of which, in my opinion, is the doctrine of hell.
The Doctrine of Hell is the Most Damaging to God and Man. The doctrine of hell is the worst because it makes people view God as the exact opposite of what He’s really like. Christians have been teaching that God is like the Father who set his six-year-old son on fire, David Rothenberg, in 1983. Yet God is “love” (1 Cor. 4:18, KJV) and demonstrated that love to humanity through Christ’s life and death on the Cross. While Jesus was Himself without sin (Heb. 4:15, NIV), He willingly went to the Cross for humanity to deliver us from Satan’s curse of death (Heb. 2:14) and to enable us to know Him even though we can’t see Him (1 John 1:3). God has also given us the completed Bible, His Manual for Life, to help us know Him since He was present throughout the Old Testament. And even hardened criminals wouldn’t call what that father did to his son as being loving. Just the opposite. What a deranged monster! Yet this is what the body of Christ has been teaching about our heavenly Father for centuries! And they think they don’t need to repent. Deceived.
God Created Humanity for Fellowship. The reason God created humanity in the first place was so that He could fellowship with us. That’s the difference between all the religions and biblical Christianity. Religion is a set of rules whereas biblical Christianity is a relationship with God through His Son. “This is the life age-during, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and him whom Thou didst send — Jesus Christ” (John 17:3, YLT)
Therefore, the doctrine of hell is the best of Satan’s lies (from his perspective) since it makes us NOT want to know God or know Him all that well since He’s so supposedly brutal. The doctrine of hell doesn’t exactly make anyone feel are warm and fuzzy.
Called to Rightly Divide the Word. On a mission to “be like the most High” (Isa. 14:14, KJV) masquerading as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14-15), given all authority over the world (Luke 4:6 & 2 Cor. 4:4), Satan didn’t just highjack the Bible translations but the actual Bible! We know this because when Jesus walked the earth He made a distinction between what the Jews had been taught in Scripture and what He was teaching them, which I summed up on this whiteboard graphic.
We’ve Been Brainwashed! Having fallen into rebellion 2000 years ago, born again Christians have believed more and more of Satan’s lies and had those lies embedded into our systems so that when God enlightens us to the truth on some point, born again Christians fight us on it instead of rightly dividing the Word of truth for themselves by taking their thoughts captive to Christ. This man sums it up. As does my testimony since I’ve been standing in No Man’s Land for 24 years, rebuked by both the lost and so-called believers because I’m supposedly out of my mind for being faithful to God (Hos. 9:7, NIV).
We Need to ENGAGE Our Brains! Having believed Satan’s best and most damaging lie about the doctrine of hell, it’s as if Christians have been teaching that God is saying “To hell with most of you!” since “narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matt. 7:13-14, KJV). While the way to life is narrow during this “present evil age” (Gal. 1:4, YLT), God doesn’t mean that everyone else is going to burn alive in place called hell for the rest of eternity! I summed up the ridiculousness of the doctrine of hell with this graphic.
Or else, professing Christians side with Satan by ignoring Christ’s teachings. I’m referring to the many who call themselves Christian who aren’t even born again, which is the majority according to God (Matt. 7:14 & . While they don’t believe in the doctrine of hell, they also don’t believe that we need to obey Christ. Either way, Christians are honoring Satan. As a group we are antichrist when we are supposed to be the ones for Christ.
While the Lord’s greatest rebuke had to do with hypocrisy (Matt. 23:13), Christians have historically behaved as if there’s no problem at all with hypocrisy! Again, because our hearts are “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9, KJV).
Why God Made the Devil Our Ruler. I’ve said it before in my posts and I’ll say it again. God made Satan “the ruler” (John 12:31, YLT) and “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4, KJV) because He’s using him as his tool. While Satan views himself as the Lord’s arch enemy he is actually God’s tool. But he is our enemy (1 Pet. 5:8). God is using him to help us understand what we are actually like, which is much more like Satan than like Christ. When we get that, we’ll genuinely appreciate what God did for us through Christ. The doctrine of hell, like everything else, is being used by God since He’s worked it all into His Master Plan (Eph. 1:11). The following playlist produced by The Total Victory of Christ channel addresses this same topic of the doctrine of hell within the broader scope of what God has done.
Praying that you would seek your Maker with your whole heart so as to respect Him (Prov. 9:10).
