EMPOWER EVANGELISM CONFERENCE: HEAVEN OR HELL?

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EULESS–Christians want people to be saved because life as a believer provides ultimate purpose, abundant life, and heaven–all good reasons, Southern Baptist Convention President Bobby Welch told the Empower Evangelism Conference crowd Feb. 7.

“But beyond that,” Welch reminded, “we want people to be saved because we do not want people to go to a place called hell!”

In a year when he has challenged the SBC to witness to, win and baptize a million people, Welch preached from the Luke 16 story of the rich man and Lazarus and their respective views from damnation and paradise.

“There are only two places: you either go to heaven or you go to hell,” said Welch, pastor of First Baptist Church of Daytona Beach, Fla. “Hell is forever … it’s forever, it’s not just for a day or two.”

The annual conference, sponsored by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, was held Feb. 6-8 at the First Baptist Church of Euless, drawing around 2,800 people on consecutive nights.

Attendees also heard from nationally known pastors and evangelists such as Steve Gaines of Bellevue Baptist Church in suburban Memphis, Tenn., the successor of the late Adrian Rogers, and from musical recording artists such as gospel trio Greater Vision and soloist David Phelps.

Welch began his sermon by telling the story of a Chicago mobster who was gunned down after serving many years in prison. Welch said a newspaper, speculating on the motive, wrote, “The mob knows the rule and it’s this: Dead men don’t talk.”

“The only problem with that is, it isn’t true. Dead men do talk. Dead men talk. And it just so happens that in the Scripture we have here, you will see two dead men telling their stories after they died. Dead men talk.”

Noting Luke 16:19-31, Welch said, “I want you to look at two men, two places, and two preferences, all of which point to why you and I want to be in this plenteous harvest right now.”

Reading Luke 16:24, which tells of the rich man begging Abraham to send Lazarus to cool his tongue because of his torment in the flame, Welch stated calmly, “May I tell you that every time we read that as a preacher we do a great injustice to the Scripture.”

“This actually should be read this way: ‘And the man cried out,’ Welch said calmly, then he raised his voice to a tormented scream. “Father Abraham, oh, oh, Father Abraham, I’m tormented … I’m tormented in this place!”

“There are only two places. … If you have Jesus Christ, you go to heaven,” Welch said. “If you do not have Jesus Christ, you go to hell. And the sorry, sad part about it is, hell is forever.”

People sometimes describe human suffering on earth as hell, “but you and I know that’s not really hell. Hell is a place being described here in the Bible.”

Quoting from the late preacher Hyman Appleman’s book “Born Again,” Welch said, “Hell is a place without hope. … Beyond God forever, beyond Christ forever, beyond the Spirit forever, beyond the Bible forever, beyond eternity forever … forever, forever.”

“You don’t want your sons and daughters in hell. You don’t want your grandchildren in hell. You don’t want your neighbors in hell. You don’t want your uncle in hell. You don’t want your fishing buddy in hell. You don’t want the beauty shop lady in hell. You don’t want to see anybody go to hell, nobody go to hell.”

“You might say, ‘Oh, Bro. Bobby, you’re preaching to the saints tonight.’ I’m telling you if the saints don’t get hell on their minds and get hell on their hearts again” … they won’t keep anyone from going there.

Welch said it is noteworthy that the rich man went to hell not because he was rich but because he was poor in the things of God. The poor man, however, went to heaven not because he was poor but because he was rich in the things of God.

“Don’t ever get that confused. Rich people don’t go to hell because they’re rich. They only go to hell if they aren’t saved. Poor people don’t go to heaven just because they have a hard life here on earth. They only go to heaven if they get saved. And there are only two types of people and both of these are clearly spotlighted.”

One, the rich man, had not repented,” Welch said. “Notice that he isn’t in hell 30 seconds until he becomes a soul winner.”

Reacting to low rumbling of chuckles across the audience, Welch stated, “That would be funny … but is it possible there are more soul winners in hell than there are in the room tonight? Are there more soul winners in hell there are in our churches tonight? I’ve got a feeling everybody in hell is a soul winner, wishing that nobody would com there.”

Noting the influence believers have on their families, Welch said Luke 16:27 shows that the rich man immediately thought of his unrepentant brothers.

“He didn’t want them to go to his stockbroker, he didn’t want them to go to the country club. He didn’t want them to go to the high-brow people he’d been running around with. He wanted them to go to family.”

“Don’t let them end up in a place like this,” Welch said paraphrasing the damned man. “Don’t let them come here.”

Welch admitted he isn’t very successful at winning converts, but he said he continues to try with some success, noting that he recently heard about the baptism of the grandchildren of a woman he’d helped along the side of the road in Mississippi more than 30 years ago. That night, the woman attended a revival service where Welch was preaching and got saved, changing her family’s direction.

“You see, everybody influences somebody if you’re faithful to share.”

“There is a way in God’s economy of work that he has chosen to put men and women as the connector” between heaven and men. “We are the ones who are called,” Welch insisted. “We have a part in it. … That’s your job. That’s your job. That’s your job. And oh, what a wonderful job it is.”

Welch said in the New Testament’s 27 books there are 234 warnings about eternal torment. If those 27 books were 27 miles of highway with 234 road signs that warned, “Stop! You’re going the wrong way … you’d think any fool would stop with that, don’t you?”

“The trouble with it, ladies and gentlemen, is that people who are going to hell are not on this road. They’re not reading those words, the New Testament. It’s mine and your job to acquaint them with the gospel. That’s our job in evangelism, soul winning.”

The gospel is hard work, Welch noted, “but if we don’t share this gospel, it won’t get shared. It’s our job to do it.”