In a recent YouTube video, evangelist Perry Stone delivers a stern warning to Christians about the dangers of harboring unforgiveness, revealing it could send them to hell.
Stone begins by citing what he calls “the most frightening verse in the Bible,” from Matthew 7:22-23: “Many will say to Me that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did I not prophesy in Your name…?’ And He will say to them, ‘Depart from Me, you worker of iniquity, I never knew you.’”
Stone explains that while some may perform religious works, such as prophesying and casting out demons, their hearts may still be full of iniquity, which will ultimately lead to their rejection by Christ. “There would be a group of people in the congregation, in the church, that would be doing the work of God,” he says, “but yet their heart was full of iniquity.”
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One of the most pervasive issues he sees in the church today is unforgiveness. Stone points to numerous near-death experiences from credible individuals who claim that bitterness and grudges landed them in hell. “They attended church but had bitterness and unforgiveness toward people. They gossiped, they talked about people, they cut people down,” he says. In many of these accounts, the individuals were only spared from hell after being given a second chance to forgive those who wronged them.
He backs up his point with Scripture, referencing Matthew 6:14-15: “If you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you.” Stone warns that failing to release bitterness and grudges could cost Christians their eternity.
Stone calls on believers to examine their hearts and forgive those who have hurt them. “Eternity is at stake, and I don’t want to see people enter into eternity and have to face Matthew 7 and not be able to enter the kingdom,” he says. He lifts those suffering from a hardened heart in prayer, asking God to “help everybody watching me to be able to forgive and release the people that have hurt them and harmed them.”
“Forgive, so that you may be forgiven,” Stone urges, echoing Mark 11:25: “And when you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven may also forgive you your sins.”
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James Lasher is staff writer for Charisma Media.
