By Brannon Howse
April 2, 2025

There’s a cancer spreading in evangelicalism, and it’s not subtle—it’s a full-on assault on the Bible itself. I’m talking about annihilationism and Christian universalism, doctrines gaining mainstream traction that say hell’s either not real or just a pit stop before you’re zapped out of existence or welcomed into heaven anyway. I brought on Tom Littleton, our religious Trojan horse reporter, to unpack this, and what we found ties right back to Revelation 14—and a shocking betrayal from within. This isn’t just theology—it’s Satan’s oldest trick, and it’s working.

The Lie of Annihilationism

Here’s the pitch: if you die without trusting Christ—faith alone, Christ alone, the biblical gospel of John 3:16 and Acts 16:31—no worries! You’ll hit hell, suffer a bit, then poof—annihilated. Gone. That’s annihilationism, and it’s popping up everywhere. Why does it matter? Because when you gut the Bible’s clear teaching on eternal torment, you open the door to “Did God really say?”—straight from the serpent’s mouth in Genesis 3. If hell’s not forever, maybe Jesus isn’t the only way (John 14:6). Maybe everyone gets in. That’s Christian universalism, and it’s poison.

I was studying Revelation 14 for my Sunday night Bible study—lesson 35 now—and it hit me like a freight train. An angel warns: take the mark of the beast, worship his image, and you’ll “drink of the wine of the wrath of God… tormented with fire and brimstone… and the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever” (Rev. 14:9-11). Forever. Not a weekend getaway. The smoke and torment are tied—eternal. Yet annihilationists like Preston Sprinkle, once shocked by this in 2015, now say there’s “biblical support” for it. By 2022, at his Exiles in Babylon Conference with Francis Chan, he’s calling it orthodox—alongside universalism. How’d this happen?

The Trojan Horse: John Stott and John MacArthur

It starts with a name: John Stott. Sprinkle, a Master’s Seminary grad under John MacArthur, stumbled onto Stott’s annihilationism in 2002 and freaked out—thought Stott couldn’t be Christian. Stott’s on MacArthur’s “most influential books” list at Grace to You. Problem? Stott pushed a works-based gospel and annihilationism since the ‘50s. MacArthur fed this to his seminarians, and Sprinkle drank it up. From “What?” to “Maybe it’s legit,” he’s now peddling hell’s a temp job and everyone’s reconciled to God—blood of Jesus or not. That’s not orthodoxy; it’s heresy.

Tom Littleton nailed it: “Bad theology leads to bad morality.” Sprinkle and Chan, both MacArthur protégés, prove it. Chan ditched his church, moved to San Francisco’s gay mecca, and softened on homosexuality—says it’s not the worst sin. Sprinkle’s worse—since 2013, he’s been the poster boy for “LGBTQ Christianity,” running his Center for Faith, Sexuality, and Gender. He calls Mark Yarhouse, an American Psychological Association interfaith guru, his “Master Yoda,” pushing “same-sex attraction” and “gender identity” myths into the church. This isn’t random—it’s coordinated. The 2010 Lausanne Movement (Stott’s baby) rolled out white papers normalizing homosexuality, and by 2014, Gospel Coalition and Southern Baptist ERLC (Russell Moore, Tim Keller) were amplifying it. Sprinkle’s their activist.

MacArthur’s Silence: The Real Scandal

Here’s the gut punch: John MacArthur’s silent. His grads—Chan, Sprinkle—are preaching apostasy, wearing his degrees (maybe ordinations), and he’s mum. Tom asked: “How can he let them carry his brand?” MacArthur’s quick to blast charismatics—lumping solid Bible-believers with Benny Hinn—but on this? Crickets. He’s shared stages with Gospel Coalition and Together for the Gospel heretics—John Piper (works-based “final salvation”), Al Mohler (Nate Collins’ Revoice)—and hosted them at Grace Community Church. Piper’s defended BLM, trashed guns, pushed replacement theology—MacArthur still props him up. Why?

I’ve said it before: MacArthur’s done more damage than Hinn or Creflo Dollar. He’s the wolf inside the gate. A Twin Cities listener told me his church split over a MacArthur grad’s works-based gospel—friends divided, families torn. “I thought you’d lost your mind,” he said, “but now I see he’s a false teacher.” MacArthur denies Christ’s blood for salvation—YouTube it—twists scripture, and calls faith “easy believism.” Show me that in the Bible, John. His followers? “He built our theology,” a doctor friend admitted. That’s the trap—man over God’s Word.

The Stakes: Eternity and Apostasy

Tom hit the core: “If you can’t embrace hell, you don’t grasp God’s holiness or sin’s depth.” We’re eternal souls—heaven through Christ, or hell forever. Annihilationism and universalism shred the gospel, the Great Commission, the church’s purpose. Satan’s goal? Destroy it from within. Sprinkle’s LGBTQ agenda, Chan’s moral slide—it’s the fruit of rotten theology. Revelation 14’s clear: torment’s eternal. Romans 1, Genesis 19—sexuality’s black-and-white. Yet seminaries churn out activists, not pastors, trained in queer theory, not scripture.

This is the religious Trojan horse—bad doctrine births bad morals. Want the church to swallow socialism, open borders, climate scams? Undermine hell, and morality collapses. Tom’s tracked it at 30piecesofsilver.org—read it.

Stand for Truth

We’re not perfect—sanctification’s a process—but God’s Word is. It’s clear on salvation, hell, sexuality, government, borders. We’re not arrogant; we’re obedient, marking false teachers (Acts 20:29-31) who draw disciples after themselves. Support us at worldviewfoundation.com—monthly donors keep this free. Grab free business cards at worldviewstore.com—12,000 shipped—to spread truth. Pray, study, reject man-made theology. Eternity’s at stake.

WATCH FULL SHOW: https://worldviewtube.com/tv/video/hell-hoax-how-annihilationism-and-un…