I recently heard a radio evangelist make this outrageous statement: “God is sad, and heartbroken every day a wicked person dies and goes to hell.”

Of course, the statement is designed to encourage you to witness and send in your financial donation so people can be “saved,” but it mocks the God of creation in many ways. With the incredible numbers dying each and every hour, one might conclude their God is continually sad and heartbroken. We say their God because we believe our God is satisfied. But let’s consider what a wicked person really is, according to the scriptures. After even a cursory examination, we discover the wicked are not spoken of in glowing terms:

Pro 24:20 For there shall be no reward to the evil [man]; the candle of the wicked shall be put out.

2Th 1:8-9 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

Mal 4:3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do [this], saith the LORD of hosts.

Psa 92:7 When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; [it is] that they shall be destroyed for ever:

Can God Be Surprised?

The bible defines two classes of individuals, and draws a clear line between them: the wicked – and the righteous, a child of God.

So back to the original quote. If God is sad or heartbroken because a wicked person has died, and is hell bound, is this not something which God himself could have stopped, stayed or prevented? We take comfort in the fact that God saw the travail of His soul when Jesus died on the cross for the sins of His people, (who by the way, became the righteous), and was satisfied.  John 10:28 “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

We serve a powerful, all-knowing, God who is everywhere present and nowhere absent. He sees all and has declared the end from the beginning. He has set all things in motion and ensures continuation. So why then, did He fail at His effort to save the wicked? Why would He be sad, disappointed and discouraged because the wicked die and are hell bound?

Of course by now, you know He’s not truly sad or heartbroken at the demise of the wicked. Nor did He in any wise fail. The wicked are, as we stated, very different from the saints of God. The simple truth of the matter is they have not been born again, and remain enemies of God.

Let’s follow the radio preacher’s logic to its inevitable conclusion: the fault has to lie with man. You see, man has a responsibility to reach out to these fallen humans, these hell bound wicked and persuade them that they only need turn their life over to Jesus and be saved, born again and become heaven bound. It’s as easy as one single confession. And one of the best ways to persuade them, according to modern evangelism, is to graphically explain to the wicked their final destination. Let’s scare them with the reality of hell, and then surely they’ll turn from their wicked ways and seek the Lord, and in turn be born from above.

Those solid bible students among you are starting to clench your fists or squeeze the armchair a little too tightly, wondering how far I intend to take this. You can relax. We’re going to the scriptures for light and clarity.

But first, some common sense. Put yourself in the place of the wicked for a moment: pretend you are hell bound and don’t believe in God. In such a case, would you even believe in the hell I describe to you? You see, I want to scare some sense into you by describing this hell in graphic detail. But logic says you don’t believe in God, therefore, you can’t believe in God’s eternal punishment either.

How can you believe in something you don’t think exists? In other words, can I scare you away from hell if hell is not a real place to you? The bible says in 1Cr 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

Wait a minute. If it’s foolishness to them that perish, they aren’t going to believe in hell. If they won’t accept the concept of God coming to earth and dying as a sacrifice for them, then the concept of hell must be equally foolish to them.

That’s ironic. The very punishment a radio preacher needs to “scare the hell” out of them, is imaginary to them. They have no fear. The bible talks about that as well: There is no fear of God before their eyes.

The wicked – destined to hell after this lifetime, are natural men while on this earth. Televangelists, radio preachers and well-meaning, but unsound Christians who preach, cajole, beg and plead them to repent are speaking to natural men. You know what Paul said about these natural men and their understanding: 1Cr 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.

He cannot know these things. It doesn’t say he won’t, it says he can’t. You’re wasting your breath trying to persuade them.

They cannot be influenced, they are not scared, and they are not going to change, repent, accept, live for God or any of the other things well-meaning preachers and evangelists may beg them to do. They just won’t.

But some do you say. Yeah, some people are scared of hell. Some believe in hell and want to avoid it. Who are those people? Well, they’re not natural men, since these things are no longer foolish to them, so we must conclude they are changed people -- reborn, renewed, regenerated children of God.

We know there are two types of people on this earth – sheep and goats. The righteous children of God are represented by sheep, the wicked are classified as goats. And the saints, the children of God, the sheep, all have spiritual minds that give them the capacity to see and understand the things of God.

1Cr 2:10 But God hath revealed [them] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

TV and Radio preachers use hell an awful lot to keep the fear stirred up and the money coming in. Their goal, which on the surface appears honorable, is mis-guided. They desire to make children of God. But the scriptures won’t allow that.

You see, God made the division between sheep and goats long before He formed the world. God choose His bride in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. He purposed to save his elect children from the death they experienced in Adam’s fall. And He sent His Son to be the perfect sacrifice to redeem them from their fallen state.

Among Primitive Baptists, every few years a crowd will get stirred up and start teaching what we’ve come to call a “no-hell” doctrine. They teach some strange things, pull away a few converts and then the uproar through the churches causes the error to get put down. The problem is, they could teach a no-hell policy, if they would do it properly, scripturally. And to do this, they’ve need to take this stand:

For the elect bride of Christ, perfect in election, chosen in Him before the world began, there was never any danger of hell. For the saints of God that live in this lifetime, that are born again, and show forth evidence of the new birth, there is no hell.

Ironic again, isn’t it? The only ones that could be scared of hell and repent to keep from it are never in any danger of it.

No hell for the saints. Now that’s a biblical no-hell doctrine we could all support.