%20(2).jpg)
The Wrath of God in John 3:36 – Exposing a False Teaching
To my brothers and sisters in the Lord,
A dangerous teaching has been spreading in Canada, particularly through Steve Holmstrom of Oilpatch Pulpit. He claims that when Jesus said in John 3:36, “Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him,” this “wrath” is not the same wrath found elsewhere in the Bible.
He even suggests it is a softer, “constitutional opposition” from God rather than His holy anger.
This is not just a misunderstanding. It is a distortion of Scripture. And it matters deeply, because when we downplay God’s wrath, we cheapen His holiness and confuse His grace.
What the Bible Actually Says
John 3:36 is crystal clear:
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
The Greek word here for “wrath” is orgē. This same word appears throughout the New Testament, including in Revelation 14:10, where it describes the eternal, terrifying judgment of God poured out without mixture.
The idea that John 3:36 is referring to a “gentler” wrath is false. Scripture uses the same word, orgē, consistently to describe God’s holy, settled anger against sin (Romans 1:18; Romans 5:9; Ephesians 5:6).
Nowhere in the Bible does it teach that God is merely “constitutionally opposed” to sin. That phrase does not exist in Scripture. It has been invented and placed on the lips of God by men.
Why This Matters
False teachers often twist words in Greek to suggest hidden meanings that soften uncomfortable truths. But God’s Word is not ambiguous. The wrath of God is not a metaphor, not a gentle nudge, and not a constitutional principle. It is the real, terrifying reality of God’s judgment on disobedience.
When Steve or anyone else tells you that disobedient Christians are merely experiencing a different, softer wrath, they are lying to you. The Bible says plainly that those who refuse to obey Christ will face His wrath. This is not works-righteousness—it is the very heart of repentance and faith. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).
Grace, Obedience, and the True Gospel
It is vital to remember that we are saved by grace through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8–9). But the grace that saves is never a license to sin. Real faith produces obedience, just as James 2 teaches: “Faith apart from works is dead.”
This is why John 3:36 makes such a sharp distinction: belief leads to eternal life, but disobedience leaves a person under wrath. There is no “safe zone” of willful sinning where God’s judgment doesn’t apply.
False teachers comfort the disobedient with lies. But Christ Himself warned in Revelation 3:16 that the lukewarm will be spit out of His mouth. We dare not take His warnings lightly.
A Call to Stand Firm
Friends, the gospel is not complicated. God loves us, sent His Son to die for us, and offers eternal life to all who repent and believe. But those who persist in disobedience remain under His wrath.
Do not be deceived by voices that promise you can believe without obeying, or that God’s wrath is something less than what His Word declares. That is not grace it is a counterfeit gospel.
Let us hold fast to the true gospel of Jesus Christ, trembling at His Word, rejoicing in His grace, and walking in obedience to the Son who purchased us with His blood.
Brother John Elving
The False Gospel of Works
To my brothers and sisters in the Lord,
Steve Holstrom, together with Dennis and Katie Wiedrick, are promoting a message that is not simply confused; it is a false gospel. Their teaching divides what God has joined together. They claim there is a “gospel of salvation” and a separate “gospel of the kingdom,” and that while salvation is free, the kingdom is entered by effort, striving, or performance. They even suggest that someone could “go to heaven” and yet never enter the kingdom of God.
This is completely unbiblical. The New Testament speaks of the gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 4:17, 23), the gospel of God (Romans 1:1), the gospel of grace (Acts 20:24), the gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:15), the gospel of salvation (Ephesians 1:13), the gospel of glory (2 Corinthians 4:4), and the eternal gospel (Revelation 14:6).
These are not competing messages. They are different descriptions of the one gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul defined that gospel at “first importance”: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). There is no second gospel, no special kingdom gospel that requires extra effort, money, or performance. Paul warns, “If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:9).
The truth is that every believer is born again into the kingdom of God. Jesus said, “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). The kingdom is our present reality, for Paul declared, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13). And the kingdom is also our inheritance, for Jesus Himself will one day say, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).
To teach otherwise is to confuse believers and replace grace with works. Holstrom and the Wiedricks turn parables such as the treasure hidden in the field (Matthew 13:44) into a works-based message, as though you could buy or earn your way into God’s kingdom. But Jesus said plainly, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Entry is not by striving; it is by new birth.
They also treat healing and blessing as though they depend on entering a higher “kingdom level.” Yet nowhere in the Gospels does Jesus ever say, “You would have been healed if you had worked harder.” Instead He continually says, “Your faith has made you well” (Luke 17:19; Mark 10:52). Healing and salvation are gifts of God’s grace, not wages we earn. To make them conditional on performance is to gut the heart of the gospel.
This is not a minor misstep. It is another gospel. Their teaching echoes Mormon theology, where heaven and the kingdom are separated, blessings are earned, and spiritual advancement is based on performance. Such teaching denies the sufficiency of Christ’s finished work on the cross.
I urge pastors and leaders in Canada to be watchful. To invite Dennis, Steve, or Katie into your church is to give a platform to false doctrine that will confuse and enslave the flock of God. Jude’s warning is clear: “Certain people have crept in unnoticed… ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality” (Jude 4).
There is only one gospel. It is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16). By grace you have been saved through faith, and that salvation is entrance into God’s kingdom. Every believer is already a citizen of heaven and a member of the kingdom of God, and we await the full revelation of that kingdom when Christ returns.
Anything else is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.
To my brothers and sisters in the Lord,
Steve Holstrom continues to reveal his biblical illiteracy. In one of his most outrageous claims he said:
“The Lord spoke to me… there are multitudes of people who are broke because they judged Copeland. I believe there are Christians who are dead because they judged and cursed Copeland.”
This is not from Scripture but from the imagination of a false prophet. It is spiritual manipulation designed to frighten believers into silence. The Bible never teaches that criticizing a preacher brings death or poverty. Instead we are commanded to “test everything; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Paul rebuked Peter publicly when he was wrong (Galatians 2:11-14). Jesus warned of false prophets, not of judgment falling on those who expose them (Matthew 7:15).
Holstrom’s words are fear-mongering, not faith. This tactic is used by false teachers to shield themselves from accountability. Scripture makes clear that healing, salvation, and blessing are by grace through faith, not by protecting corrupt preachers. Galatians 1:9 warns that it is those who distort the gospel who are under a curse, not those who test them by the Word of God.
This is not just careless teaching but a different gospel. It mirrors cult-like systems, even Mormon theology, where loyalty to leaders is tied to blessing and judgment. I warn churches in Canada: do not give this man a platform. His message is anti-biblical, manipulative, and an enemy of the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Blasphemy of Pre-Existence & the “God Spark”
(An Open Letter to the church, Steve Holstrom & Katie Wiedrick)
To my brothers and sisters in Christ,
It is with deep concern that I must sound the alarm regarding teachings promoted on Steve Holstrom’s Oil Patch Pulpit. Sadly, Steve continues to show a lack of biblical understanding by presenting Katie Wiedrick as his “spiritual mother” and endorsing her course on “original design.” What followed in their conversation was not Christianity at all it was the kind of error you find in Mormonism and New Age mysticism.
Katie claimed:
“Before time we partner with the Creator and have plans and purposes… we were all in heaven before we came here, held in the Father’s heart, and then sent into the world.”
This is the heresy of the pre-existence of souls. It is not the gospel. Scripture is clear: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5). God knows us because He is all-knowing, not because we existed before birth. To teach otherwise is to erase the Creator–creature distinction.
Even worse, Katie declared: “I’m absolutely convinced the I AM is in all of us.”
The name “I AM” belongs to God alone (Exodus 3:14). To place that holy name on every person is blasphemy. It echoes the serpent’s lie in Genesis 3:5: “You will be like God.” This is the “little gods” doctrine, not Christianity.
Why This Matters
This is not harmless encouragement. It is a different gospel. By exalting man with talk of divinity and pre-existence, it lowers God and confuses salvation itself. Jesus warned that “unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). If we don’t know who God truly is and who we are in contrast we cannot know the true gospel.
The apostle Paul’s warning applies here: “If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:9).
Final Warning
Steve Holstrom is promoting a teacher who denies basic truths of Scripture and replaces them with cult-level doctrines. The church must not remain silent. These teachings belong in the same category as Mormonism, New Age spirituality, and other false systems that flatter man while robbing Christ of His glory.
Cling to the Word of God. Test everything. Hold fast to what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Do not give false teachers a platform.
In Christ’s truth and grace, Brother John
To my brothers and sisters in the Lord,
Steve Holstrom’s theology is not simply confused; it is openly anti-biblical. He presents ideas that sound spiritual, but the moment they are measured against Scripture, they collapse completely. In one of his teachings, Holstrom declares, “It is absolutely possible for you to go to heaven when you die and never enter the kingdom of God.” This statement alone reveals his ignorance of the Bible.
Scripture never separates heaven from the kingdom of God. Jesus said plainly, “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Paul writes, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 15:50). Jesus Himself promised, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). To suggest someone could walk into heaven yet somehow miss the kingdom is nonsense.
Every true Christian is already part of the kingdom because we have a King and we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Paul is clear in Colossians 1:13: “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.”
This is not future tense; it is the present reality of all believers. At the same time, as Christians, we continue to pray as Christ taught us: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
We long for the full and visible manifestation of God’s kingdom on earth at the return of Christ, when the King Himself will reign and every promise will be brought to completion.
Holstrom’s false dichotomy between “heaven” and “the kingdom” denies both our present reality in Christ and our future hope in His coming reign.
Yet Holstrom imagines a conversation where Jesus supposedly says, “Well, I’m glad you like the place, but this is not the kingdom of God. This is heaven. Didn’t you read the book?” These words exist only in his imagination.
Jesus never made such a distinction. On the contrary, He consistently preached, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). Heaven is God’s kingdom. There is no such thing as “heaven without the kingdom.”
Even more troubling, Holstrom pushes the idea that healing is conditional on whether a person managed to “enter the kingdom,” saying, “I’m sorry you missed out. You would have loved it. You would have received your healing.” According to him, healing depends on effort or spiritual performance.
This is in direct contradiction to the gospel. Nowhere in Scripture does Jesus tell anyone, “You would have been healed if you had worked harder.” Instead, He continually affirms, “Your faith has made you well” (Luke 17:19; Mark 10:52).
Healing, salvation, and life in the kingdom are gifts of God’s grace, not wages we earn. To make them dependent on human striving is to gut the very heart of the gospel.
This is not a minor misstep. It is an entirely different gospel. Holstrom’s system replaces grace with works and presents a theology nearly identical to Mormon teaching, where multiple kingdoms are separated, blessings are earned, and salvation is based on performance.
The apostle Paul’s warning in Galatians 1:9 could not be clearer: “If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” The gospel is not “work harder and maybe you’ll enter the kingdom.” The gospel is: “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).
If you are a pastor or church leader in Canada considering inviting Steve Holstrom to your church, I urge you to pause and think carefully.
I have compiled a playlist documenting some of the most ludicrous false teachings in Canadian church history, and Holstrom deserves his place among them.
He is an enemy of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I am warning churches against his anti-biblical teachings, his distortion of grace, and his prosperity-minded focus on material wealth in this world.
To platform him is to give space to a false gospel, and I will continue to sound the alarm so that Christ’s church is not deceived.
The content on this page is provided for educational and religious purposes as fair commentary and theological critique of the publicly available teachings of Steve Holstrom. All quotes are drawn from his own sermons and materials, and the analysis reflects opinion and biblical evaluation in accordance with the Christian duty to “test everything; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Nothing here is intended as a personal attack or defamatory statement, but as theological commentary and critique of ideas, presented in good faith to inform and warn the church.