But is that doctrine Scriptural? No. Salvation is only by faith in Christ, the Savior. He Himself insists that, “No one comes to the Father [is saved] but by Me.” (Jn 14:6) and “…unless you believe that I am [Messiah] you shall die in your sins.” (Jn 8:24) You cannot be saved just by believing in some generic future messiah as the Jews in Jesus’ day did when they did the lamb sacrifice. You have to actually believe in Jesus as the Messiah. “There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which you must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) No one who died before Jesus could be saved, if your eternal destiny were sealed at death. Jesus refuted that when He talked about “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matt 8:11) and “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob…” (Matt 22:32) Scripture makes it clear that even the great heroes of faith who came before Jesus “died in faith, without receiving the promises… because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” (Heb 11:13 & 40) Clearly, salvation is an ongoing process which begins with whatever little bit of faith is available at the time, and then continues on, even after death, until one’s faith can be perfected.

Please note that I have just eliminated the need for the old Roman Catholic “age of accountability” theory. Children who die before they’re old enough to understand the gospel don’t get a “free pass” into heaven. They go to the “nursery” in Hades to learn of Christ, and don’t get into heaven until they believe and receive Him. I hate it when theologians’ own wrong doctrines force them to invent some other way of salvation in violation of the clear words of Scripture!

The Scripture maintains that although Salvation is only by faith in Christ, yet judgment is always according to our deeds. It seems quite reasonable to me that though Jesus only paid the price for the sins of those who will believe in Him, and those who will not believe must be cast into hell to pay the price for their own sins, yet eventually, when that price is paid, they may well become believers too.

I know this is a controversial interpretation. But there have been many since the days of the early church who believed in the ultimate reconciliation of all things (though most of them were tortured and killed by the Inquisition in the Dark Ages). One purpose of my book is to complete the Reformation that was only started by John Wycliffe and Martin Luther. The God of Wrath of the Old Testament is the God of Love of the New Testament, but you can only understand this when you realize that His terrible judgments are always corrective and redemptive. Always. It is a vile slander against His good name to claim that His wrath on the wicked abides forever, when Scripture makes it clear that His anger is but for a moment, while it is His mercy and lovingkindness that abide forever. (Ps 30:5; Ps 106:1; and many others.)

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