Oh Canada..again.....

I met a couple from Canada, gave them each a million dollar bill and decided to start the conversation quickly by asking if they believed in Heaven and Hell. The lady quickly said Heaven – yes but Hell is here on earth. She said she was Anglican and did not believe in a real Hell. I asked her where she thinks evil people like Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin, Marx, etc. went when they died. Would they be with her in Heaven? She said no but not sure where they are and was not sure if God sent them anywhere.

We spoke for a while about her sins by going through the Ten Commandments and really she just brushed it off. Even though she admitted she was a sinner, she said she would be going to Heaven since her Hell was here. She went on to explain how her brother died a painful death from cancer. She did not understand it and even went to her minister. I asked her if she thought her brother’s cancer should have been borne by someone evil since he was a nice guy? She confirmed this and did not understand what God was doing.

I had to agree at this point that God’s ways are not our ways and I don’t understand many things. But God is sovereign and He knows what and why He does what he does. I let her think about the idea that if she want to possibly see her brother again (don’t know if he is in Heaven or Hell) and also to be able to ask God these questions, then she needs the salvation that only she can get from the shed blood of Jesus Christ. I gave her the Gospel and let her think about it as she and her husband had to leave.

A quick review of the Anglican belief is a bit like taking Episcopalian, Catholicism, Reformed, The 39 Articles of Religion, Book of Common Prayer, etc. into one big bucket and yet belief the major tenants of the Gospel get distorted. For example their BCP states; "By hell, we mean eternal death in our rejection of God." This means they do not see Hell as a real place where the damned are weeping and a gnashing of teeth as clearly proclaimed in the Bible. Again, another manmade religion that rejects the True Gospel of Jesus Christ.