MY TESTIMONY by Rodger Tutt
The idea that God lets any creature suffer endlessly has caused me more suffering than all other problems of my life combined. By the time I had reached the mission field I had hoped to have found a satisfactory answer that would justify God allowing this to happen. I didn't find such an answer. Surrounded by thousands of people, dozens of whom were dying every day and beginning an eternity suffering in hell was too much for me.
In 1966, at age 28, it caused me to have a nervous breakdown. For several weeks I was confined to my bed in a state of terror night and day. The terror was caused by the fear of what a God I could not love or respect would do to me after I died. It took me twelve years to fully recover from the breakdown. I quickly became agnostic, for the Christian gospel and the Bible were no longer any comfort to me at all. Many evangelical friends tried to help me. They meant well, but in the end they all had only words of condemnation towards me. This added more suffering to my already intense suffering.
Gradually I began to learn that there have been, in centuries past, and still are today, a few people in the world that see a different kind of God in the Bible. They see a God who will not let any creature suffer forever. They see a God in the Bible who will, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the power in the blood of His cross, change every second of everyone's suffering into something better that it happened, including the sufferings that Satan must yet endure. I read dozens of books, and listened to hundreds of tapes by men who believe this way and I gradually became converted to believing this way myself.
Since 1981, through my newspaper ads and my telephone ministry, I have sent out many hundreds of packets of literature explaining why I believe as I do. I have also sent this evidence to hundreds of pastors and Bible school teachers. None of them have told me that they are able to refute it. I have also read eight books that were supposed to refute the evidence in favour of universal transformation, but none of them do. Because of this evidence, my panic attacks became less frequent until twelve years after my breakdown they ceased altogether. Now nothing gives me greater pleasure than to make this evidence available to others who have suffered because of the same problem I had, and I use a substantial amount of my money and time to this end.
Because of the enormous amount of suffering the idea of "endless hell" causes in this world, I am asking you to consider the possibility that you should stop endorsing the idea that the Bible teaches it. Or, at least, let others know that there are (and have been in centuries past) people who do not think the Bible teaches it.
Many of the responses from pastors and teachers range from a mild: "The majority don't agree with you so you must be wrong", to the vicious "For every week you leave your ad in the papers, God will increase the temperature of the fires of hell for you personally".
Most are somewhere in between these remarks. But none have told me they are able to refute the evidence. And, until they can, it is my great joy to share the good news that a literally translated Bible teaches universal transformation, not endless suffering in hell, or even annihilation.
May God's blessing rest with your spirit!
My phone number is 905-886-3922
My website is at
http://www.angelfire.com/on4/hope
Click on TRIBUTE in the menu box to read my son’s tribute to my work.
A powerful site that contains an answer against every known argument in support of endless suffering in hell is at
http://www.what-the-hell-is-hell.com/
The sources for information on this site go on and on and deal with every aspect of the subject. This site links to the TENTMAKER MINISTRY’S front page where the search engine is very comprehensive, as is “THE SCHOLAR’S CORNER” under “RESEARCH”.
God bless you!
From Rodger Tutt in Toronto, Canada
“That God may be All in all” 1Cor.15:28