Under the headline: ‘Why I’m glad my Christian beliefs shifted before my wonderful granda passed away’ a journalist, Gareth Hanna, who makes no secret of his rejection of the Bible, rejoices in his casting away of the truth of the word of God. An alternative title for the article seems to be ‘Traditional Christian beliefs are throwing grieving families into needless despair’.
I think he has been told to change the title so that the blasphemous point he is trying to make is even more clear to ‘BT’ readers!
Although I have already sent out an article today, I must answer this wicked man’s deceptions!
Gareth Hanna is one whose writings I have challenged before and contradicted from the Word of God. It is to the shame of the ‘Belfast Telegraph’ that they have given space yet again to such blasphemies but I suppose, having embraced that position decades ago, that newspaper is unlikely to change.
As for the writer, Gareth Hanna, as a Christian one must sense with sorrow, something of the horror that the Bible reveals awaits someone of his opinion!
Hanna’s article ends with this self-evidently stupidly defiant statement:
I say, ‘self-evidently stupidly defiant statement’, for the simple reason that while he employs the word ‘unsaved’, the opposite of the word that is used of God to describe those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary and who are thus assured of heaven’s peace and joy for all eternity, he then deliberately misleads his readers by stating that those who come under this term, ‘unsaved’ are not to be considered eternally lost! To be concerned about being ‘unsaved’ is needless. Hanna says! He would have his readers blindly follow his reasoning and reject the plain Word of God!
The ‘rich man in hell’, referred by the Saviour does not share his views. Dying unsaved and finding himself damned for all eternity, he expressed ‘concern’ for his five unsaved brothers. He wanted them warned that “lest they also come into this place of torment,” Luke 16:28.
If God says that only the ‘SAVED’ will enter heaven, who is Gareth Hanna to dispute God’s statement and claim that He is wrong and that the opposite to what God says will take place? The unsaved will not be lost in hell and therefore need have no concern about dying!
The man is unspeakably arrogant and immeasurably foolhardy. Woe to any who pay heed to his utterly wretched counsel!
Just how is the word saved used in Holy Scripture?
Here are but a few examples of how it is employed under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
“Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places,” Deuteronomy 33:29.
“But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end,” Isaiah 45:17.
“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS,” Jeremiah 23:5-6.
“And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace,” Luke 7:50.
“Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved,” Luke 8:12.
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved,” Acts 4:12.
The use of the term ‘saved’ is woven into the very fabric of the Bible.
Here are just a few thoughts to outline the gospel Mr Hanna is so keen (with the aid of the ‘Belfast Telegraph’) to deny and destroy.
What is it that we need to be saved from?
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life,” Romans 5:8-10.
The wrath referred to is that incurred by our sinning and breaking of God’s Holy Law.
How is the sinner saved?
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek,” Romans 1:16.
“But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast,” Ephesians 2:4-9.
Can we know that we are saved?
“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God,” 1 Corinthians 1:18.
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures,” 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,” 2 Timothy 1:9.
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost,” Titus 3:5.
What is it the person who is ‘saved’ can look forward to in eternity?
“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me,” Job 19:25-27.
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also,” John 14:1-3.
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us,” Romans 8:16-18.
“And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus,” Ephesians 2:6-7.
“For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better,” Philippians 1:23.
“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” Matthew 25:31-34.
The Bible is brim-full of the message of mercy and love whereby the Lord has a purpose to save His elect and bring them to glory, there to be with Him for all eternity rejoicing in the unspeakable joys of heaven.
“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God,” 1 Corinthians 2:9-10.
May none be misled and deceived into rejecting the sure word of the gospel by Gareth Hanna and the many of his ilk that fill all too many pulpits today.
Let all bear in mind the faithful and true words of Paul when writing of these very days.
“And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved,” 2 Thessalonians 2:8-10.
Christ’s words seal the matter!
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him,” John 3:36.
Here are some verses from two portions of God’s Word that were part of my reading today. They indicate that such ‘troublers’ of God’s people have been around for a long time. The fate of such is also highlighted!
“O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself. Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud. LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves? . . . Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see? He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. . . . They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood. But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge. And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off,” Psalm 94:1-4, 7-11, 21-23.
“Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself,” Philippians 3:17-21.
Sincerely in Christ’s name,
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)