"Christian" preachers and their proselytes always say "believing in Jesus means you'll never go to hell," but according to scripture and their own testimony, this is patently false. Let's begin with the scriptural evidence.
Christ-- while rebuking the apostle Peter for rebuking him-- said, "I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, [that is to.say "a stone;" not "a rock"] and upon this rock [meaning himself] I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18) He did not say his church wouldn't go to hell: quite the opposite. This amounts to a frank admission that his church-- in part, at the very least -- will go to hell, but instead of staying there they will go through: In 'n' Out. (Burger King's burgers are better, by the.way, and you don't have to live buried in excrement in California to enjoy a flame- broiled Whopper.)
Why would a true child of God be scared of hell, anyway? Psalms 139:8 says, "if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou [O Lord (verse 1)] art there." Why be afraid of any place where the Lord is, unless you're an enemy of his, or-- like Peter-- you presume to lord- it over the Lord? So much for staying out of hell.
As to what these "Christian" preachers and their proselytes call "believing in Jesus:" they prescribe a "little" [like Zoar] heresy they refer to as "the sinners' prayer" and baptism "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Ghosts scare them!)." The successful comp!etion of this ritual renders one "born again," according to them. Never mind the fact that this is-- according to the scriptures they claim to believe in-- utter nonsense.
1 Peter 1:23 says of rebirth, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed [such as the words of a sinner in prayer, for instance], but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." As the Lord told the Jews who would return into Egypt, "[they] shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs." (Jeremiah 44:28) So much for sinners' prayers.
As for baptism, if it were so important to take a bath with another man, why is it "Jesus himself baptized not?" (John 4:2) There is a necessary baptism, but it's not after the manner of John Baptist's baptism. It is in fact the same operation described in the already- cited passage from 1 Peter. Ephesians 5:26 says, "That he [Christ] might sanctify and cleanse it [the church] with the washing of water [baptism] by the word." And Christ himself said-- again, in rebuking Peter-- of John Baptist's manner of baptizing, "He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet," (John 13:10) when he washed the apostles' feet and Peter asked to be washed after the manner of John Baptist's baptism. So much for the rub- a- dub- dub tub. So they oppose the scriptures.
As to how these preachers and their proselytes oppose themselves: they say the same Christ who said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me," (Matthew 16:24) rode his own cross straight to hell-- and that so his followers wouldn't have to go there. What, then, is following?
They're "leaving their King in India," in the words of Alexander in the movie by Oliver Stone, and expecting rewards from the same King to lay at the foot of his cross instead of their own. How's that supposed to work?
There are some people who are too good for hell, and there is a place prepared for them: it's called "the lake of fire." ( Revelation 20:10)
Heaven can't help those whom hell won't have.
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