Any Pastors make the switch from ECT?

[PastorMark]

Pastored 30 years and preached Gods love truth and power. And now…Im facing an insurmountable inner crisis of theology because I cant get over the pain of thinking how wrong ECT seems.
Is it time to resign my non denom. southern evangelical church and start over under a new theology?

[maintenanceman]

Hi pastor Mark!

First of all, welcome to the Evangelical Universalist forum. Just want to say that all you knew and know has validity, many here have different views but many of the views are well worth considering even if we wrangle about with each other from time to time. ECT is a hard pill to swallow. Good luck and have fun here. The YHWH of the bible can be seen as the God of Grace.

Love ya bro.

Chad

[AndreLinoge]

Don’t resign; just announce your new perspective and they will resign you. Or maybe not.

[Origen]

“Any Pastors make the switch from ECT?”

Have you heard of Rob Bell, author of “Love Wins”?

“A staggering number of people have been taught that a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spend forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better. It’s been clearly communicated to many that this belief is a central truth of the Christian faith and to reject it is, in essence, to reject Jesus. This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus’s message of love, peace, forgiveness, and joy that our world desperately needs to hear.”

Love Wins

Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived

[pilgrim]

May God bless you.

You may have heard of the pastor called “Peter Hiett”? I believe that he was in a similar position. If you google him you can find his story.
http://godslovewins.com/blog/peter-hiett/peter-hietts-pastoral-concerns/

[Invernessian]

Well, Mark. I am a fairly new member of this Forum. I have made many friends (I think) here and have often been surprised by the level of bible knowledge they exhibit, the manner in which they provide comments, the genuine love and understanding they show, and much more.

It may be helpful for you to read some of the posts in the category “Introductions”. In it you will find many posts explaining why the poster wanted to join this forum in the first place. As an ex lay-preacher myself, I offered my first post under the title “Introducing Myself”.

I am a member of a very Reformed, very orthodox church. The folk are (mostly) lovely people and have shown tremendous love and care for me during the six years my wife suffered from dementia and who passed into glory last Christmas. I don’t have a single bad word to say about them and have no desire to leave and find another church home.

My pastor doesn’t understand why I have difficulty in continuing to believe some of the teachings of my church, especially since at 78 I am now doubting its doctrines on heaven and hell which have endured for nearly 500 years. I now hold back from discussing my doubts about such doctrines in order not to cause any offence. Years ago, I adopted Romans 14:22 as a text to live by.

I could say much more but will leave it at that. Once again ‘welcome’ and I look forward to learning more about your struggle for truth and how the Lord is leading you.

Blessings,

Norm

[PastorMark]

Thank you sir

[Invernessian]

No need to call me “sir”, despite my venerability. But interestingly, a couple in my church who recently came from Nigeria, insist on calling me that, despite my protestations.

[PastorMark]

I got my reply priveledges activated so just wanted to say thank you to everybody. I love the kindness I see in these discussions.

[Origen]

The following quote is from:

https://poptop.hypermart.net/testjg1.html

John Gavazzoni:

Having learned of John through Kurt Kolstad, I emailed John; and here is a combination of what he and Kurt said at about that time.

John: “Christ opened my heart to Himself as a 16 year old teenager, having been raised in the Roman Catholic tradition. My conversion came about mostly through the witness of other teen-agers, including some in the gang I ran with.”

Kurt: He is an X-Pastor of a church in Thousand Oaks, Ca. He used to travel with Youth For Christ, the organization for which Billy Graham was the first itinerant evangelist…and was very well know in the camps of the BIG TIME preachers around the country. He came into the truth long ago and is a brilliant theologian and has some great insights. Many writings are posted HERE.

More from John:

"Four of us organized a quartette almost immediately after we had turned to the Lord; and we sang, gave our testimonies and took turns preaching in churches and youth rallies all over…particularly the Pennsylvania area. I preached my first sermon that same year. I began in ‘full time ministry’ at age 19, traveling with a chalk-artist evangelist as his song-man and youth speaker. About two years after that, I went out on my own conducting local church evangelistic crusades and eventually was asked to join the Eastern Area Crusade Staff of Youth for Christ International, covering an eleven-states area. It was during that period that I came to the revelation of ultimate reconciliation, specifically while ministering at a summer Bible conference.

"I was confronted by God suddenly and very unexpectedly while I was musing about sermons I’d preached on eternal hell. I heard the voice of the Lord say to me, ‘Do you really believe that about me?’ In an instant, the answer leaped out of my spirit, ‘No I don’t Lord.’ I more or less carried this truth in my heart for many years…enjoying what it meant to me in my relationship with our Heavenly Father. It wasn’t until I was co-pastoring a church here in Thousand Oaks, Calif. that there were some occasions when I felt that I just had to be upfront about my conviction with several people.

"One of the elders of the church became very upset and demanded that I either repent of that ‘heresy’ or be dismissed as pastor. Of course, I could not deny what God has shown me…even for the sake of ‘unity’. So, I was relieved of my pastorate and declared a heretic by letter to all the evangelical churches in the area.

"After doing some leading of home meetings, I eventually went into sales work to support my family, until years later, the Lord began to release me to ministry again through writing mostly at first, and then to speaking at conferences and churches which embraced the truth of the salvation of all.

“That is a short version of this servants walk in the Way, and pretty much brings you up to date. In case you might be interested in joining us, I will follow up this e-mail with an announcement of the 4th conference in a series that is planned for every area of the country. I hope our paths cross one of these days. I look forward to meeting you in person.”

[PastorMark]

Thank you so much