Sparrow

Originally Posted by HSong

Hi everyone. Today, just a few hours ago, I had a miraculous evangelism experience. Yesterday, I was talking to a satanist online. Now, it seems another memorable event has happened. This was inevitable, but a non-Christian Universalist approached me in this real time chat. I say this because I don’t know if they were an ECT or Annihilationist, just that they did not believe that God will save everyone. Them: “If everyone is saved, what’s the point of repentance? Repent or perish!” Me: “Everyone is saved through Jesus Christ by faith alone.” Jesus is the only way to Heaven, that’s the point. And God’s point is to save all of humanity, that’s why He sent His son to be the saviour of the world. The wages of sin is death, but everyone will become believers in Christ, so they will all have eternal life. I showed many verses to them. Here’s a few of them. Genesis 12:3 In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Psalm 18:30 The way of God is perfect. Psalm 13:5 I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. Hebrews 1:2: "He [God] has spoken to us by his Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things." Ephesians 1:10 As a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. However, after this, another obstacle appeared. Someone who was not religious at all. Apparently, this person had noticed all of the Bible verses that I was citing when I was debating a non-Christian Universalist. So, they said “Stop pushing your religion on other people!” Which is a bit ironic, since I was talking to another Christian, but I imagine other people were getting impacted by those Bible verses too. Which was my primary evangelistic intention, to indeed convert people to Christianity through Christian Universalism. They mentioned about their being kids there, so I replied “All children will go to Heaven by faith alone in Jesus Christ”. When the disciples were debating amongst each other, Jesus pointed to a child and said that the child is the greatest. Luke 9:47-48 Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.” Another person spoke and said “I’m a Christian. They’re just talking about their beliefs”. The non-Christian then said to that person to really think about what I was saying. I said “I’m sorry, maybe I appeared to be too confrontational”. I then mentioned about how it’s each person’s personal choice to come to Christ. Back when I used to believe in ECT, I saw other ECTers get too confrontational with people and oftentimes intimidate them. So, I made sure to play it nice here. 1 Peter 3:15 "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." I said “People are free to choose their own personal beliefs. I’m only showing them an option they have. So if anyone wants to become a Christian, then here are the Bible verses that they can look at for support”. And then suddenly, and I’m still having a difficult time processing this, they started profusely apologizing to me? “Oh, I’m sorry!” they said. I was so confused, so I said “No no, I should be the one who is apologizing”. They replied “No no it was totally on me! I would like to apologize.” “Again I’m very sorry” they said before leaving, I replied “Again, no troubles at all” with a smile. We wished each other a great day and then they left. As soon as that was over, another person, a new person, came and exclaimed about them seeing another Christian. This person too must have seen the conversation I was having with this non-Christian. Though they did not comment against my beliefs of Universal Salvation. I said “I’m glad to see other Christians here too”. Romans 5:18: "Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men." Christian “I know right! I have been waiting for years to find a person that’s a Christian!” Honestly, I don’t know if the “years” part is an exaggeration or not. I mean, has it really been that long since they found another Christian? Maybe they mean it in the sense of, a Christian evangelizing, spreading the good news of Jesus Christ saving everyone through faith alone? 1 Corinthians 15:22: "As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." So this is a circumstance where, even a single conversation can benefit a) Christians who don’t share your beliefs b) Those who are not Christian and c) Christians who share your beliefs. What may surprise you is that I’ve met many Christian Universalists too. However, a lot of them don’t know about the term “Christian Universalist”, they would be surprised when I show them the Tentmaker.org site. “Your teachings remind me of my sister” a child said to me. I was surprised by this comment, I mean, whenever I imagine a teacher, especially in a Biblical sense, I think of someone really great. Me? I’m just some random person, an ordinary guy telling people the truth of Jesus Christ. There’s nothing special about what I’m doing, anyone can do, as long as they know about Christian Universalism. Ephesians 4:10: "He who descended is the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things." “My dad is really crazy about his religious beliefs and it scares me” was another thing a child said to me. Hearing stories like that sends a shiver down my spine. I would oftentimes cry about ECT when I was younger, even when I was saved, scared for other people I cared for, friends and family members, begging God “Why do you save me, but not them?”. That inspired me to do evangelism in the beginning, however, as an ECTer, I wouldn’t talk about Hell, because the idea terrified me. After years of research, I became convinced that Christian Universal Salvation is true and became a Christian Universalist. So I hope, that by spreading this true good news, that everyone will be saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ, that I can spare children from the horrible feelings that I endured when I was younger because of ECT. Also, what I notice is that most children seem to believe in Universal Salvation. That makes sense. It’s a simple truth. Jesus Christ died for everyone’s sins. Everyone will become believers in Christ Jesus and go to Heaven. I just realized I typed way more than what I expected to. This was only supposed to be about my evangelism experience today, but I ended up talking about a lot of other ones too. I hope that’s fine. I just really wanted to let off some of my excitement. For me, it’s personally incredible to see the positive impact Hebrews 1:2: "He [God] has spoken to us by his Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things." And honestly, a lot of people think of evangelism as this thing you do physically, out on the streets and what not. But, most of my evangelism so far has been done online through the Internet. Sure, I would talk to people face-to-face and experience them shouting back at me in live-action lol. I’d go to Bible study groups and talk about faith alone salvation, even when sometimes they’d believe in works salvation. But, most of the time, it’s through the web. The great Matthew 4:18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. I go out to random forums and post about Universal Salvation, even ones that are unrelated to Christianity. I talk to people in real time chats. I would even draw out pictures of what I was talking about. There’s a lot of creative ways you can spread the good news of universal salvation, so I hope my stories can help inspire others to do the same.

From .sparrow.

Thanks for sharing this. Truly. As to the bold. This is why you found truth. You cared. You FELT what you believed at the time, and you KEPT feeling it..... (your heart did not build walls to make you cold and indifferent to the horror of what you THOUGHT was true at the time). You WALKED through the fear. You conquered it. You didn't stop questioning. You didn't relent. And so, you came to the truth. Many who do not, it is maybe because perhaps their hearts are also so very caring, but the walls unfortunately went up and they haven't been able to tear them down yet. They haven't FACED what they believe. They have, instead ignored the horror. They look past it. They somehow try to rationalize it. As long as those walls are up around the heart, making the heart cold..... it is impossible to get to truth. You just keep going in circles. Your faith does not move mountains. How could it? Those among us who seem so callous, so unloving, so uncaring about the fate of those whom they believe are "not saved" may perhaps have very, VERY caring hearts. It's those walls that were so quickly built against the horror of the LIE, that has made their heart grow cold. I feel sorry for them sometimes and other times I am angry at them for perpetuating the lie. The lie that casts our beautiful Creator into such an ugly and sickening light. In fact, it is pure darkness. God will one day, take their hand and gently bring them into the light of truth. And they will rejoice. As we all will. Well, I'm starting to ramble. Peace to you and thank you for sharing.

From .sparrow.

Wow!!! Thank you so much for your reply .sparrow. Truly, I’m genuinely touched by your kind words :) It is words like yours that inspire me to keep spreading the truth to other people. I can also feel the emotions coming from your post, and it motivates me, so again, thank you friend!

Proverbs 28:14 How blessed is the man who fears always, But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

Disclaimer: Fear here means respect, reverence, as in having respect for other people’s feelings and not just dismissing them. The Lord is love after all, so those who respect love thus respects others too. But someone who disrespects others, the calamity will be other people who will disrespect them in turn. A disrespect that can be prevented through respect, thus “fear”.

Yes, as you showed in bold, I feel bad for people who are also very caring, but who have walls in their hearts. There are humanist atheists who build infrastructure and work hard to improve the lives of many people, yet because they don’t believe in God, it’s all in vain. They will be saved, of course, but they’re whole house burns down.

1 Corinthians 3:15: If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved--even though only as one escaping through the flames.

These flames are a refining fire. It’s the mental pain the consciousness feels when people recognize they are a sinner. Before I was saved and learned about sins, my head and my heart, it felt horrible. Like it was burning, on fire. But, that anguish was necessary for me to realize my sins and come to Christ for salvation. It’s a fire that everyone will experience. Like a blacksmith purifying metal, God puts all of us through the furnace. It’s just, for some people, they will experience all this mental fire in their hearts all at once in Sheol, the realm of the dead. And for them, it would have been better if they realized the truth earlier, not only to not feel all the fire at once, but to prevent further suffering from them continuing to sin in their life.

Yes, ECT is such an ugly and sickening light, I agree. I feel, a lot of Christians accept it because that’s what they’re told. They don’t question it. They harden their hearts to it. And sure, they may be have very VERY caring hearts towards other aspects, but not the aspect of ECT in particular.

That’s the reason why I evangelize, even though everyone will go to Heaven by faith alone no matter what. The pain people feel right now, in the present moment, is real. And a lot of it can be prevented by showing them to recognize their evil deeds as sins and coming to believe in Christ Jesus alone. I want people to learn the good news as soon as possible.

No worries for the ramble. It seems that I have started to ramble too lol, but I think it’s good to ramble, as it shows both of our passion towards the topic. As such, I greatly appreciate this discussion.

I pray that the Lord gives you many blessings, and again, thank you so much for your reply my friend :)

Psalm 86:9 All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, 0 Lord; they will bring glory to your name. (NIV) Everyone will bring glory to God out of gratefulness for being saved despite sin. All nations that the Lord has made, which is every nation, will become worshippers, thus believers in Jesus Christ through faith alone, and therefore will be saved!