Well, I just took over an hour to watch the video "Hell is not torment" and after chewing over some of what she shared, I thought I'd spit out some of my thoughts:
While I believe this woman has a heart for Christ and truly loves him, a lot of what she says isn't Biblical. So many times she talks about people following "false doctrines" or the reference to 2 Thessalonians 2:11 where "God sends a strong delusion so they'll believe a lie" and yet,
she is doing that very thing.
This woman (I never caught her name) is jaded against people meeting in a church, which I can sorta understand. For many years my family has gone to a home church where we read the Bible and EVERYONE give input on what we're reading. Just recently we started going to a "churchy church" where we're preached at. I find that there is accountability, growth, and fellowship in both types of meetings. However, this woman says church is a business and they're only looking to get money. "Each time you go to church they tell you to tithe," she says.
Growing up, I saw this a lot. Thankfully, the "churchy-church" we're currently going to doesn't pass a plate or beg for coin. Every few months, during announcements, we're reminded there are donation jars at the back of the church and that's it. One time our pastor, during preaching, mentioned that he is never, ever told who gives and who doesn't because it's not his place to know. Instead, the church treasurer takes care of that angle. So to make the absolute statement that churches are only looking for money is false.
This woman seems very angry that the church would even ask for money. She says churches tell us to "...give everything, blah, blah, blah..." She also says tithing is not biblical (which is a controversial subject...in my opinion, everything we own belongs to God anyway so when he nudges us to give, we should do it). Yet she seems to forget Luke 6:38, which tells us,
"Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again."
She gets angry at the idea that we should give if we're already poor.
Oh, woe is me I'll have to eat Ramen Noodles if I tithe or give to the needy! But what about the story Jesus told of the widow who gave her last mite? Sure, the corrupt Pharisees benefited from her financial sacrifice (just as the churches, today, benefit from our monetary gifts) but she gave it out of love for God, and that's what REALLY matters.
Besides her recurring bashing of giving money to the church, she also seems to believe that churches are all corrupt. "Denominations today are daughters of the whore." And that, "A lot of pastors aren't teaching with the Holy Spirit," (I'll grant you that, many churches have fallen away and now cater to those with itchy ears...) "and that they're teaching lies. Because if they
were teaching with the Holy Spirit they would know what I'm telling you....they [pastors] claim to be more anointed because they want you to feel like you'll never be great like them, so you'll ask
them your questions and not God."
Um, what?! So if we don't believe that hell is NOT a literal place, then we (or, rather, preacher man) isn't filled with the Holy Spirit? Basically she makes it sound like if we don't believe what she believes, we aren't in the Book of Life. In fact, she insinuates that unless you leave the church (doesn't matter what church, basically meeting in a building where one guy preaches is bad no matter where you go) you need to leave so your name can be written in the Book of Life. Wow.
And then there's her whole "conspiracy" on why pastors rush through scriptures during their teaching....
"Jesus in not my best friend," she says. "He's my GOD."
But...but..but...in .John 15:15 JESUS HIMSELF says,
"I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."
Or how about when he called us his brothers and sisters in Matthew 12:46-50? Yes, He is Yahweh and He is powerful and we
should fear Him. But he is also our friend and our brother/sister and He intercedes for us before the throne because He loves us!
So I haven't even touched on her actual "discussion" on how Hell isn't a real place. With all the contradictions and inaccurate biblical teachings, it's hard to take her seriously.
