Apologist Wes Huff told entrepreneur Steven Bartlett that he would be going to Hell if he didn’t accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour.
In a recent episode of the globally popular podcast “The Diary of a CEO,” Huff sat down with Bartlett for a discussion that lasted more than two hours. Among the hot topics Bartlett sought to discuss was Hell.
“Everybody is going to Hell,” Huff declared. “The Bible is very clear. All good people go to Heaven. But Jesus said, ‘No one is good but God alone.’ So if all good people go to Heaven and no one is good but God alone, only God is in Heaven.”
“Heaven isn’t full of good people,” Huff clarified. “Heaven is full of people who understand they are not good enough.”
Huff outlined how “because justice is fulfilled, now, mercy, which is not getting what we do deserve, is able to be given to those who put their trust in Jesus.”
When Bartlett asked if he could still go to Heaven if he didn’t believe in Jesus and the Bible but lived a “good life,” Huff responded, “If you’re living your life rejecting God, God is not going to force you into His presence.”
“I’m not going to go to Heaven, then?” Bartlet asked.
“No,” Huff replied.
When Bartlett inquired where he was going, if not to Heaven, Huff replied, “You would go to Hell.”
“If I don’t believe in the Bible and Jesus and God, then I’m going to go to Hell?” Bartlett asked.
“Yes,” Huff reiterated, clarifying that “Heaven is a place for those who have submitted their lives to Jesus, who are living the identity of what they’re created to be and who said, ‘Your will be done, God.’”
“Hell is a place where God says, ‘You rejected me, your will be done,’” Huff explained. “I’m (God) going to give you what you want in that I’m going to remove my grace and mercy from you, and you are going to experience truly what you desire in being separated from Me and My goodness and My grace.”
Huff continued: “I desire you to have a personal relationship with your Creator because I don’t want you to experience whatever Hell is. I desire for you to be in perfect relationship with your God, not necessarily because I want you to get a get out of Hell free card but because I actually think that in living how God created you to be, in accepting living out the image that you bear, you’re going to find that meaning and purpose that you ultimately expressed that you have this innate desire for.”
When Bartlett asked if he just needed “to say ‘I believe in God’ or do I have to have some sort of active commitment and evidence in my life that I am living my life in line with God’s … teachings,” Huff replied, “It’s not just about saying the right words, it’s not just … an incantation. You’re not saved by [your] works, it’s just Jesus.”
“Insofar as Christ on the cross fulfills the justice of His holy law, mercy is enacted, and you don’t get that punishment by putting your faith and trust in Jesus as your Lord and your Savior,” he added. “You don’t get that punishment and now, you get grace, which is not what you’re owed, but you are adopted as a child of the most high.”
When Bartlett cited statistics about belief in God and predicted that “there’s going to be a very small number of people who actually live in such a way that are fully repented and have accepted the Lord as their Savior” and that “a very small percentage of people are actually qualifying for the Kingdom of Heaven as it’s designed in the Bible,” Huff assured him that “the miracle of this is that your salvation is received, not achieved.”
Elsewhere in their conversation, Bartlett said he found the evidence for the death and resurrection of Jesus “persuasive”.
