By Gary L. Clendenon, April 6, 2020
(Disclaimer: Unless otherwise stated, the following words are my own personal thoughts, opinions, and beliefs.)
It was taught from these texts that Jesus’ return was dependent on us and all Christians to get out the name and story of Jesus to everyone in the whole world or they would be lost! These ideas were reinforced with Jesus’ own words “I am the way . . . No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6) and Acts 4:12: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (emphasis mine)
Naturally, this teaching (1), as it still does, created quite a motivation in most Christians to get the word out by whatever means necessary—including the ultimate sacrifice of one’s life! It inspired every missionary to “Go”, and they/we went! We felt good that we went because we were accepting Jesus’ Holy Calling and that was exciting!
I and four other young men were stationed in a large city where we taught Conversation classes from which we would invite our students to Bible classes and religious programs once a week. Halfway through the year, we had a vacation which we took to a village hundreds of miles away from our city. In order to get to this village, we flew, then we drove on paved roads, then unpaved roads, and finally, we hiked for a whole day on a trail before arriving at our destination.
Being at this village was an interesting cognitive experience for us. As we had grown up in the Church on “missionary stories” and we had prepared and studied to live in Indonesia, for the first time we felt that the pictures in our minds of what it looked like to be a missionary matched up with where we were! Being in the city didn’t do that for us, but this village was a perfect match for what we thought we had prepared for somehow! It felt “just right”. And yet, the reality of our missionary experience in the city was way different than our expectation.
This trip to a secluded village in the mountains of Indonesia triggered some other cognitive challenges for us. We had a painful, challenging thought that begin to gnaw at our minds. We had been to one of the most secluded places on the planet and begin to think of all the other secluded places on the planet and the feasibility of reaching all those places with “The Gospel”. The thought began to become more clear, and the further we pondered it, we came to the startling conclusion that it was not humanly possible to get the Gospel to every person of “every tribe, nation, people, and language”!
This was an earth-shaking bit of knowledge to process. It created a lot of cognitive dissonance in our minds. It was not humanly possible to do the job we were trained and set out to do! How could this be? Was the Bible wrong? Were we wrong? What were we missing? What would happen to those who fell through the cracks and didn’t hear the name of Jesus? How would they be judged? It wasn’t their fault they didn’t know Jesus!
With all these questions colliding in my head after we returned back home to the city, I headed to my bedroom. One of the other teachers had loaned me a cassette tape of Amy Grant’s 1977 debut album. I was listening to this cassette when Amy’s words arrested my attention. It was the song “Old Man’s Rubble” and I rewound the cassette and listened again as I heard these words:
“Deep within you there’s a spiritual battle. There’s a voice of the darkness and a voice of the light. And just by listening you’ve made a decision, ‘cause the voice you hear is gonna win the fight!” (2)
You know that “Aha moment” when the Heavens open up and a light shines down and charges up the light bulb above your head until it flashes and then you know—you just absolutely know—that you’ve been given a Word of Knowledge from above. Ya, it was like that for me!
Amy Grant’s words contained the answers to all those questions I had been chewing on unsuccessfully. Every person that ever lived in every corner of the globe—no matter how remote—was given the same opportunity: to listen to or reject the Voice of Light within them. That was GOD speaking to them through the Spirit of GOD. Everyone would hear that Voice and they would ultimately be judged on how well they listened and followed Its leading.
Next, I compared my “Aha” to those earlier Bible texts I cited. Did they match up? Was Jesus still the only Way? Yes, only Jesus and His sacrificial blood could make it possible for the unreached soul to be saved—even if that soul never heard of or called upon the name of Jesus! When that soul meets Jesus, they will recognize His voice as The Voice they chose to listen to and follow. (3)
If this was true, then some other things must not be true. The idea that if someone didn’t hear the name of Jesus, and call upon His name, they couldn’t be saved: not true. Therefore, my reaching that unreached soul was not an “eternal life” matter. They could be saved even if I didn’t get to them! What a relief! What a burden was lifted from my soul as the weight of the world’s lost souls were removed from my shoulders!
It’s literally a crying shame all of the damage that has been done by Christians in Jesus’ name to our fellow humans in the name of this misunderstood teaching: “Crusades”, banishment, judgment, shaming, torture, executions, forced confessions, ostracizing, condemnation, manipulation, peer pressure, sweet talking, finger pointing, arm-twisting, behavior control, and most of all, outright hellish fear of eternal damnation!
For thousands of years we Christians have been trying to scare people into the Kingdom of GOD—by whatever means necessary! These methods we’ve been using are NOT “The Gospel”! The word “Gospel”, literally translated means “Good News”! I challenge you to find any good news in these completely negative, abusive—one could even go so far as to say “evil”—methods!
What, then, is the “Good News”? Let’s look at the most famous text in the Bible: John 3:16. In it Jesus says:
“For God so loved the world...” Does a God who loves sound like good news to you? A further study of the Bible reveals that there are numerous verses clarify, reinforcing, and expounding upon these words. It can be said without dispute that the central theme of the whole Bible is summed up in these words. (4) It would be hard to argue that being loved by one’s Creator is not good news!
“...that he gave his one and only son...” People who love, give gifts to those whom they love. GOD’s gift to humanity was a personal representation of the Godhead wrapped into a person humans could see, touch, and listen to. God wanted to be “with us”, one of us, so that we could understand the Godhead better and answer those most important philosophical questions: “Who am I?” “Why am I here?”
“...that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” There were two parts to the gift of GOD’s son. The 2nd part was Jesus’ gift of His death—taking our place for the required Death Penalty that hung over our heads. Jesus stated His purpose for coming in John 10:10: “I have come in order that you might have life—life in all its fullness.” Not only a fully actualized life now, but life forever with the GODhead. Is there any doubt as to why the Gospel is called “Good News”?? Perfect Love, Gifts, and a Full Life now and forever with our Creator? C’mon!
Most people stop at verse 16 of John 3, but I love the fact that Jesus keeps going (there were no verses back in Jesus’ day). Notice what He says next: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Think about this, please! Why would Jesus say such a thing? I am arguing that He wouldn’t have said these words if there was not an idea floating around somewhere that GOD’s purpose was “to condemn the world” and Jesus wanted to make sure that all humanity understood this was not the Truth! As I already alluded to, this practice of condemnation is sadly very common now among Christians; it seems to be one of GOD’s enemy’s favorite deceptions! (5)
So, the “Good News” of the Gospel is: GOD’s Perfect Un-condemning Love, The Gift of Jesus and His Teachings, The Gift of Jesus Death—saving us into a Full Life now and then forever with our Creator? If so, then we Christians need to get back to “The Gospel” meaning what it’s supposed to mean—“Good News”—and get rid of all the baggage we have added to what used to be “Good News”. No more condemnation or anything even remotely related to that! If there is ever meant to be a time of condemnation, rest assured that that will still not be our job as Christians. It will be GOD’s job and it will be done in such a loving manner that whomever is being “condemned” will pronounce the judgment right and fair!
Understanding the lesson learned from Amy Grant’s song completely changed my perspective on what in Christian circles is called “Evangelism”. This is the fancy word for “doing whatever it takes to get someone into the Kingdom of GOD”. Only now the false urgency is gone for me—it’s not life or death. Is it still important? Absolutely! Jesus asked us to share the “Good News” all around the world. And here’s the thing about good news, it almost spreads itself! If you are excited about something or someone, you can’t wait to tell everyone you meet. I believe that’s what “Evangelism” ought to look like—people sharing their good news with others.
One Christmas a few years back, I noticed something about the Angel appearing to the Shepherds with the news of Jesus’ birth. Check this out: “...the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11, emphasis mine) Now, check out the word “Evangelism”. If you look closely, the word “angel” is in the middle of that word! It was then that I came to a new understanding of the word “Evangelism”. Now I understand “Ev-angel-ism” to be “The Message of the Angel”: “Don’t be afraid. I bring you good news (The Gospel). This news will cause you great joy. You have a Savior!”
Given these ideas, here are some questions you might think about for your own personal evangelism and the evangelistic program of your church. 1. “Is what I/we am/are bringing to people being brought and received in a Spirit of Fear or a Spirit of Love?” 2. “Is what I/we am/are bringing to people being shared with the excitement of “Good News” that causes “Great Joy” or with the droll seriousness of a funeral parlor?
Personally, I believe the Power of our witness as individuals and as churches has been lost because we’ve lost sight of the Angel’s message. Instead we tend to bring the Message of GOD with fear, seriousness, and a complete lack of any sign of Joy! And we wonder why our churches are shrinking and our children are leaving! I would even go so far as to say that unless we change our perspective and attitudes about evangelism, we, and the people around us, might be better off if we take a break from what we call “Evangelism” and spend some time praying the prayer of David “Restore to me the Joy of your salvation.” (Psalms 51:12)
If the beliefs I derived from Amy Grant’s words are true, then there is one more popular Christian teaching that must also not be true: the belief I was raised with and taught that “there is a only a small, limited number of people that end up being saved” (at one time that number was 144,000 only). If this is not true, then my understanding and beliefs about who would be saved needed to grow beyond 144,000, beyond the “elect remnant” of my denomination, and most shockingly of all, beyond the confines of my own Christian religion!
If the salvation of people who never hear the name of Jesus or get a chance to know Him and His Teachings fully is to be determined by whether they consistently chose to listen to GOD’s Voice through the Holy Spirit, then that must mean that there will be people outside of my denomination that will be saved. Further out, it means that there will be people of other religions that will be saved. And lastly, it must mean that people of no religion or belief system will be saved!
Have you ever had this thought: “There could even be Atheists in Heaven!” Think about that for a while! I love how SDA Pastor John McLarty puts this idea: “Many who call themselves nonbelievers will discover, when all the misunderstandings have been swept away, that God is precisely the ideal to whom they devoted their lives. ....many who are not Christian will be saved at last.” (6)
I was surprised to find out that this is similar to what the Ultimate “You need Jesus” Evangelist of my lifetime—Billy Graham—believed, and also, like me, grew to believe over time:
"I used to play God, but I can’t do that anymore. I used to believe that pagans in far-off countries were lost–were going to hell–if they did not have the gospel of Jesus Christ preached to them. I no longer believe that. I believe that there are other ways of recognizing the existence of God–through nature, for instance–and plenty of other opportunities, therefore, of saying ‘yes’ to God.” - Billy Graham, 1978
A while back I came across the perfect parable that really spoke to me regarding all these ideas:
A person dies and shows up at the pearly gates. St. Peter meets them and then gives them a tour of Heaven, showing them everything in great detail. After the tour is over, St. Peter asks if they have any questions, and the person says “Yes, just one: You gave me a very complete tour of everything here in Heaven, but I couldn’t help noticing that you didn’t show me what is behind that wall over there!” St. Peter leans over and in a hushed voice says, “Oh, behind that wall? Those are the Adventists. They think they’re the only ones here!”
It’s been 38 years since I first encountered these thoughts, and the thoughts that followed have taken numerous years to process and sort through to get where I am today. For you, this might be your first encounter with thoughts like these, so I just ask to think about them, ponder them, mull them over, compare them with your understanding of Scripture, Prophecy, and Reality. I’m not trying to change your Theology—well maybe a little bit—but mostly I just wanted to share the “Good News” and Joy of what I have come to believe with you: “Outside of a real relationship with Jesus Christ, it is whether or not you chose to listen to the Voice of GOD that determines whether or not you will be saved!”
Naturally, I encourage you to get to know that Voice, as I slowly am, and Listen well!
Footnotes:
1. I just learned this teaching has a name. It’s called “Restrictivism” or “Particularism”.
(http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/heathen.htm)
2. “Old Man’s Rubble” on Amy Grant, 1977, Written by Brown Bannister.
3. I did not realize it at the time, but my beliefs had just moved from “Restrictivism” to “Inclusivism”.
(http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/heathen.htm)
4. Ellen White wrote a comprehensive history of the Earth’s 6,000+ year history in relationship to GOD. It took up 5 books with a total of over 3,500 pages. The first three words in the first book and the last three words of the last book are exactly the same: “God is Love”. Throughout all her writings, White confirmed that Love was the primary message of the Bible and thus, also, her own writings.
5. Paul affirms that this message is legitimate and important to the Christian by re-emphasizing it again: “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1, emphasis mine.)
6. John Thomas McLarty, Adventist Spirituality for Thinkers and Seekers, p. 87.
