Dear Gerry,
I am 16 years old and I go to a private Christian school. I have been raised in church, my mom is a Christian and has been for a while, my dad on the other hand, may not be a Christian, I am not really sure. He was raised Catholic and now does not openly practice any religion, he believes in evolution but still expresses a belief in God. So who knows what his heart truly believes, but we have always acted as if he was not a Christian – just in case.
My whole life I have been taught of this ‘eternal hell’ that Jesus is saving me from, and it honestly has been the single biggest stumbling block in my entire faith. I could not grasp the fact that God loved me so much, but was completely okay with my dad suffering in hell forever. I would lie awake at night in tears because I was so afraid of hell and that the people I love, and possibly myself could be going to hell. I was so unsettled by this fact that I would get so scared and I wouldn’t even be able to talk to God or even think about hell because it freaked me out so much. I was more afraid of God than I was of Satan or anyone else in this world, and I felt really bad about it. I always heard people saying how much they loved God and how great and compassionate he was, and I felt so horrible that I did not feel the same way. I would constantly question my faith and about every other Sunday I would try to ‘re-accept’ Christ into my life, just so that maybe I could feel that love that others felt towards him.
Over the past year I would say, I have gone through some hard times, and I found myself getting even farther away from God, he just scared me and made me angry, and I didn’t want to have anything to do with him. I would pretend like I prayed and read my bible, but honestly I didn’t because I felt like every time I opened my bible to read it, I would just get more scared and confused. People had always taught me that God was not a God of confusion, but his word confused me so much!
About 3 weeks ago, I saw your book Hope Beyond Hell lying on our coffee table, and I asked my mom what it was about, she hadn’t read it but she knew what it was about, so I took it up to my bedroom and started reading it. That day I rushed to finish my homework and I began reading your book. I was up till 3 in the morning reading it, and I was so amazed and infatuated by it that I could not put it down! Never before had I ever even heard the thought that hell was not eternal, and it was the most amazing thing that I had ever read. Over the next two weeks or so, I kept reading it and highlighting it, I actually found myself turning off the TV and reading the book (and that is a big deal because I hate to read).
Honestly I thought that it was too good to be true, so I went to a friend of mine’s house and I told her about it. She was strongly opposed to the complete idea, and she sat there for 2 hours trying to convince me that it was all a lie. I brought up verses such as Revelation 1:18 as evidence, and she tried to say that I had taken it out of context or something. I left her house feeling pretty defeated, but as I was driving home thinking about all the stuff she tried to tell me to refute it, I realized how crazy it all sounded! She was telling me the same exact things that I had been taught my whole life, those same things that had kept me so far away from God, and they made no sense, but this book makes complete sense. There is so much evidence proving the Blessed Hope, and so little (or even none) to discredit it.
So the reason why I am telling you all of this (sorry this e-mail is so long) but is to first tell you thank you SO much for writing this book. I honestly had never loved God until I read it, and now I love him so much its crazy! This book has truly changed my life, and I am so thankful! God has really used you in my life, and the funny thing is I don’t even know you, but maybe one day I will get to meet you! God has used you in my life in such an incredible way, thank you for writing this book.
Secondly, my friend that I was telling about said to me that she believes that if the blessed hope is true, then there is no reason for Christ’s death. I didn’t want to be disrespectful by calling her crazy, cause she is 27 and I’m only 16, but I am definitely giving her a copy of the book…
Thank you again for writing this book and giving me hope, never before have I been excited about God and his good news, but I find myself having to keep from telling all my friends at school how happy I am because of this book, because I know they would not accept it at first. I am praying and asking God to give me good timing as to when to bring it up to people, because I feel it is a message that is too great to be kept a secret! I honestly don’t know how anyone can believe that God is impartial, all-knowing, loving and all-powerful if they do not believe in the Blessed Hope! It’s just impossible!…
Thank you so much and I hope that this encourages you, because your book really encouraged me and changed my life forever.
God bless!
Love,
Emilie
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March 30, 2012
May Jesus bless Emilie and her household .
We all ought to have the hope that all sentient beings will be reconciled to God BY JESUS (at least reconciled to some extent) .
I do not know whether or not it will happen in the end , but a plausible case can be made that it is not just a passing desire of God , but instead a priority of God .
Perhaps some people might continue to resist God ad infinitum , then again maybe not . We should certainly hope for the eventual salvation of all , whether it happens or not is yet to be seen . Woe betide me if I should ever develop the selfish attitude that prioritizes saving my own personal self from some unpleasant scenario in the afterlife , rather than putting the salvation of others first …which is to say , woe betide me if I ever do become like those factions among the ultra-fundamentalists who don’t even want all persons to be saved through Jesus and even would be dissappointed if they did . If I ever do become one of those selfish people who is a okay with being paradise with the thought of other people in some sort of endless physical agony , or an endless state of nightmarish madness in the afterlife ( the latter being an alternate fundamentalist conception of hell , that would still be unjust ) then don’t hesitate to denounce me !
With God all good , internal consistent outcomes are possible . We should hope for the salvation of all, though all the well placing urgency on the importance of sharing the gospel and trying to persuade people to embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior and , hence, become disciples here and now .
June 10, 2012
That is such a beautiful story Emilie. . .it is amazing how much sense the “truth” makes, isn’t it! I ran into the same stumbling blocks when trying to share this revelation of truth with others, and I wondered why? I mean, once you “get it” it seems so obvious. I have come to realize this is not a simple matter of: the Word of God says this or that, so I believe this or that. If that were true, the moment you present the scriptures Jerry brings to light, Beleivers would be able to receive the revelation of truth. Sadly, there is a “spirit” (of the devil) behind this deception. This is a powerful spirit that keeps a very “strong hold” on the Body of Christ. . .I almost didn’t read Hope Beyond Hell because of it.
I encourage you to pray for family, friends, and the entire body of Christ to be released from the mental stronghold that inhibits them from receiving this revelation of God’s amazing love. I would also take time to memorize key scriptures that helped you come into this revelation and when the Spirit leads, you will be prepared to share what the Father has made known to you.
May God Richly Bless Your Journey!
Melissa
August 6, 2012
Praise our Father, Gerry! Much like Emilie, the Father has used you to transform my life. This is an amazing and powerful testimony. May our Heavenly Father continue to use you to change the world.
T. Le Mont & Karen Silver