Bob Larson says don't see Hellbound - I agree.

Bob Larson says don't see Hellbound

 

  

 

Do not go to see the new movie "Hellbound?" I had encouraged our friends to see it, but I emphatically withdraw that directive. I'm in this feature film, and I have no complaints about my part. The time that I'm on the screen is worth seeing; most of the rest of it is not. I was misled by the writer/director, Kevin Miller. When he was in Phoenix and interviewed me and filmed an exorcism, he told me the movie would be a balanced analysis of the differing views of Hell. That isn't anywhere close to the truth. I believed him because he had done such a great job with the movie "Expelled-No Intelligence Allowed" with actor Ben Stein, about efforts to keep creationism out of public education. He also did a film with Christian actor Kirk Cameron. Miller told me that "rather than endorse or exclude a particular positionHellbound? is a feature-length documentary that seeks to discover why we are so bound to the idea of hell and what our views on hell reveal about how we perceive God, justice, the bible, and, ultimately, ourselves." You can see why I was interested in the project. Miller said he picked me to participate because I am someone who "has spent a great deal of his life engaged in spiritual warfare and educating people about the forces of darkness." I was told by Miller's associate that this movie would be a "useful tool for the church" and that it would teach Christians how to respond to the heresy of universalism (all will be saved). Even the trailer, in which I was featured, was deceptive. It also led me to think that all opinions would be out in the open with fair treatment. Wrong again.

 

Rob Bell (author of "Love Wins" the anti-hell, everyone gets saved book) could have written the script for this film. It starts out okay with people like me leading the way. I'm on-screen talking about the exorcisms I do and what demons say to me about Hell when I cast them out. It shows me and the Teenage Exorcists casting out demons. Pastor Mark Driscoll, of Mars Hill church in Seattle, does a great job of articulately confronting the lie of universalism. But from there it's all downhill. What I say is basically the last of what you hear of demons or a personal devil. You'd think that with all this talk of Hell the writer would at least give the devil his due. Within 30 minutes all objectivity is lost and Miller's intent takes over. Rob Bell makes his pitch. Frank Schaefer (son of the late Dr. Francis Schaefer, one of my most admired theologians) opts for a weird kind of evangelical universalism, and cynically proceeds to trash Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and John Hagee. (All due respect, how many great churches, TV networks, or universities has Frank built lately?)

 

It gets worse. "The Shack" author, William Young, the guy who says God is a she, joins in to add fuel to the no-eternal-punishment argument. Even C.S. Lewis is mocked. Then a series of cool, young, nobody-knows-who-they-are "theologians" chime in and the message takes over. Repeatedly we see the fanatics from Westbro Baptist Church. These are the embarrassing "God Hates Fags" people who rejoice every time an American soldier is maimed in Afghanistan. They are linked with people like Driscoll and me to suggest that our views are somehow similar. By the end of the film, as the music swells in the background, we are told that Christian supporters of Israel are sabotaging the Mideast peace process and that we can't be sure there is a heaven. Yes, even heaven is open to question. (There is also no rapture, no Tribulation, no Millennium, because Bible prophecy ended in 70 A.D. - heard that one before.) Those who believe that everyone will make it to heaven are the reasonable, compassionate, loving, and intelligent Christians.

  

Now here's what really upsets me. The writer has been traveling to Christian concerts encouraging huge audiences of born again youth to see the film. He is trying to get churches to bring their congregations to be part of the audience. Don't buy it. The supposed attempt at "objectivity" is a ruse to promote the clear conclusion of the movie that a loving God couldn't possibly be just and send anyone to Hell, and that everyone (yes, including Hitler) will make it to Glory in the end. I understand now why Huffington Post and the "New York Times" loved the movie. My guess is that Screwtape has a poster in Hell (yes there is a Hell) advertising the movie as the best thing he's seen in a long time. I'm sad I ever said a word in its favor.  

 

Don't see Hellbound? or you might be hellbound.