Secondly, there are a few doctrinal issues that should raise eyebrows. In one of Nicky's talks/booklets he lists the penalties of sin. His list is correct but seriously incomplete. I was waiting for him to mention the Lake of Fire, an eternal Hell, of which Jesus spoke more than He did of Heaven. No mention. Instead, the vague, "spiritual death, cut off from God forever." Word is that Nicky Gumbel actually believes in annihilation, as do a growing number of evangelicals, and of course, the cult groups as well.

By this teaching, a man whose house burns down, with him in it, has suffered Hell, and for him life of any sort is over. This is clearly not what God's Word teaches. Nicky doesn't "teach" it either, but his silence on the matter is telling.

More serious to some is the teaching that the Name of Jesus may not be required for salvation in some instances. In another talk/booklet, "What About Other Religions?", he tackles the truly difficult question of those who have never heard the Gospel. Can they be saved?

Nicky says, if a man has a God-given sense of sin or need, and an abandonment to God's mercy, even if he never hears the Gospel here on earth, he can be saved. The story of the tax collector (publican) is given as an example. His "Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner," sufficed to put him in favor with God.

But God says there is no other Name given whereby we must be saved. Period. God tells us to preach this Name in all the Earth. Should we recall our missionaries, since people can be saved without the Name?

This is where Reformed Theology helps to fill in some of the gaps in modern church thinking. For this is a difficult question. But, God has a people who will be saved. From the Reformed viewpoint, this "God-given" sense of sin will be matched by a presentation of the Gospel one way or another. Have you not heard stories of people who had been asking the way of the Lord in primitive lands, only to have a missionary show up and tell him that way?

We understand the sincerity of Nicky's heart, wanting to remove obstacles that keep people from coming to Christ. But there is a danger in trying to "explain away" the hard parts of the Bible. Better to bring people to faith than mere human understanding. When one comes to the resurrection of the Son of God, one can play the speculation game also, but then the game is over. Once human wisdom is allowed to trump mere faith in what God has said and done, there is no chance for salvation. We are called to believe in our heart, not our head, that God raised Jesus from the dead!

God will save those who come to Him in faith, with or without our efforts to ease the pain. If a man turns away because of a hard saying, let him. That seems to be the attitude of Jesus in John 6, when a host of would-be disciples hit the road as Jesus told them to eat His flesh and drink His blood. He made no effort to stop them. Questioning disciples got answers later, and questioning, continuing disciples always will. But if one intellectual problem keeps a man from faith, it is clear that his heart is not right from the get-go. Desperate men only, are allowed to enter God's Kingdom.

Nicky Gumbel states, in that same booklet, "The fact that Jesus is the Way does not mean that we write off other religions as misguided or demonic." There is some truth in the other religions.

As for me, I do indeed write off other religions as misguided and demonic. It is the very essence of Satan's plan to include bits and pieces of truth in all his falseness. Romanism is Jesus plus tradition. Mormonism is Jesus plus the Book of Mormon. The "Witnesses" is Jesus plus the New World Translation. Islam, bits of Bible truth plus the Koran.

Write them off. They will send people to eternal Hell.

He says there will be more people saved than lost because Christ is greater than Adam. This is human logic. Jesus indicated that relatively few will find the narrow way. "Few there be that find it." His very words.

Again, I can see Nicky's heart, and part of me wants to congratulate him. But the fruit of some of his associations and teachings could be seriously detrimental to the Body of Christ.