WHAT'S THIS BUSINESS ABOUT HELL?

Sinners Perish
Everlasting Fire Texts
Souls Die, they do not Burn Independant of the Body
Lazarus and the Rich Man and Isaiah 66:24


Many people believe that the lost will burn forever and forever without relief and without intermission in a place called hell. If this belief is true then the God we thought was a God of love exceeds Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Ghengis Khan, the Spanish Inquisition, and all and any other sadistic groups or individuals in absolute cruelty!

According to this theory God's wrath against sin is not satisfied with removing life from rebellious mankind, but instead roasts them alive for billions upon billions of eons! A torment from which there is no reprieve or possible escape.

If this teaching is true, then Jesus, far from being a God of love, mercy and compassion, would be the most ruthless, demented, sadistic, barbaric, vindictive, brutal tyrant anyone can imagine!

Fortunately the only one that fits the description above is Satan — Jesus is a God of love and compassion, while the demented fallen angel is the one trying to attribute his own characteristics on our understanding of God.

Yes, God will punish the wicked. Yes, there will be a fire that no one can quench until it has completely and irrevocably completed it's task. God is a God of justice as well as love. But how much justice can there be in roasting someone for billions and billions of millennia. Even the worst murderers under the most heartless judge would surely be declared as having had their due after at least a few million years of torture, yet this terrible false doctrine declares God's punishment on him would have only just begun!

SINNERS PERISH

A text that most all Christians know by memory, and which Christ Himself spoke, reads: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him SHOULD NOT PERISH but have everlasting life."

Jesus doesn't say: "that whosoever believes in Him should not suffer everlasting life in hell's torment, but have everlasting life in eternal bliss." No Christ clearly points out that the issue is between life everlasting or perishing. When something perishes it stops being, there is no everlasting life for those who reject Christ.

Psalms 37:20 states: "The wicked shall PERISH, and the enemies of the Lord, like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish. Into smoke they shall VANISH AWAY".

Psalm 145:20 "The Lord preserves all who love Him. But all the wicked He will DESTROY"

Paul tells us in 2 Thessalonians 1:8,9 that those who do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ will be punished with EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION.

"The Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His might angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting DESTRUCTION from the presence of the Lord."

Destruction means to destroy, not keep alive. They are destroyed, never again to be. Eternally gone, eternally extinguished. That's eternal punishment!

Matthew 25:46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Note again, only the righteous have eternal life not the wicked. The wicked do not have eternal life, not even in a torture chamber. The comparison is between life or punishment. The two are direct opposites, it does not say there are two different ways to spend eternal life-- eternal life in bliss or eternal life in torment.

THE EVERLASTING FIRE TEXTS

Let's look first at Jude 7 which tells us that Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set as an example, suffering the vengeance of ETERNAL FIRE!

Genesis 19:9 tells us these cities were destroyed. They are not still burning. 2 Peter 2:6 tells us that the Lord turned Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly"

Malachi 4.1-3 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.

Notice also in Jeremiah 17:27 where the Lord warned the inhabitants of Jerusalem that if they didn't hallow the Sabbath day, He would kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and it shall NOT BE QUENCHED.

And so it was, the Babylonians burned the entire city — no one could put it out once it began, until it had done it's destructive work. But it is not still burning.

What does it mean when Jonah was in the belly of the great fish "forever" (Jonah 2:6) What does it mean when Samuel was to abide in the temple "forever"? (1 Samuel 1:22) What does it mean when Paul counseled Philemon to receive Onesimus "forever"? (Phil. 15)

None of these means without end. Jonah was out in three days. Samuel abode in the temple as long as he lived. Onesimus and Philemon could only be together till one of them died.

Isaiah warned in Isaiah 34:9-11 that the ancient land of Edom would burn and that the brimstone "shall not be quenched night or day and that it's smoke shall ascend forever and that no one shall pass through it forever and ever" and that the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it.

Archeologists know the general location of Edom and there is no smoke rising there. There is no fire burning. If it were how could the porcupine and pelican live there?

These texts on the everlasting fire denote completeness not continual burning. The Bible clearly tells us that the wicked are destroyed — body and soul.

SOULS DIE THEY DO NOT BURN FOREVER

Matthew 10:28 "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

This says we are not to fear those who can inflict the first death, we need to fear the second eternal death! The first death is just a sleep where the body rots away but our resurrection is sure. God has our complete personality code tucked away in his special computer-- it is not the end. But the hell here spoken of is the fire which results in the second death WHICH DESTROYS BOTH SOUL AND BODY. The second death erases the person for all eternity.

Ezekiel 18.4 "Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins, it shall die."

God alone has immortality 1 Tim. 6:15,16 "the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality,"

The immortality of the soul is a Greek concept that crept into first Jewish and also Christian thinking — that is where the idea comes from, not from the word of God. When the Bible truth gets mixed up with pagan ideas then arise the falsehoods of immortal souls and eternal torment.

People who believe in the immortality of the soul, tell us that when a person dies, his body goes to the grave but the disembodied soul goes to heaven or hell. But without bodies how could they even burn? Fire needs substance on which to feed it's flames. Without bodies how could there be "torment" without nerves to transmit the pain impulses to the brain? All God's created beings have bodies. Different from ours, yes, but still they have bodies.

1 Corinthians 15.39-40 "All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts.
There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial:

QUESTION THAT USUALLY COMES UP AT THIS POINT IS:

What about the rich man and Lazarus in the story Jesus told? The rich man went into conscious torment after physical death. "I am being tormented." There can be no doubt; he was suffering and knew it! And what about the text in Isaiah, the one right after the Sabbath text you SDA people like to quote to prove you will keep the Sabbath forever, where it says they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me, for their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched. Is.66:24 Do these not prove that hell and heaven will exist at the same time?

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus is a parable. The rich man represents the person rich in spiritual knowledge who thinks he will make it to heaven simply on the bases of who he is (in Jesus time this represented the Jews who looked down upon the Gentiles as unworthy). Yet we see the poor man, the outcast, in the bosom of Abraham (he was grafted into the true Israel) while the one who thought he had it all was cast in the lake of fire.

This corresponds with Jesus words in Matthew 8.11,12 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Again in Luke 13.25-29
"When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and you begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God."

So we see the situation points to a specific time when the MASTER stands up (that is probation has closed) the saved are gathered, the lost (some of whom thought they were saved) are outside.

The text in Isaiah fits in with Revelation and shows that the wicked are indeed outside and the righteous inside and that they will be aware of each other and that the righteous will witness the fiery destruction of the wicked.

Revelation 20:4-9 They (the righteous) lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. (Note that the wicked LIVED NOT during those thousand years)
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

So we see the wicked surround the New Jerusalem which has come down form heaven (Rev. 21:2) The saints are inside the city, the wicked are outside. The fire comes down and devours them. The fire will burn until everything on the outside of the city is completely destroyed. It devours yet it burns day and night, therefore it will not be done in a moment, but the Bible also says they were DEVOURED, and the results are forever.

The Bible plainly states that the "fire came down from God out of heaven and DEVOURED THEM." (REVELATION 20:9)

Then God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. (Rev. 21:4)

Do you understand that — no more crying no more pain ---definitely no more torment, especially not from a loving God.

God is a God of love and justice. Sinners must be dealt with in the end but Paul tells us plainly that how God deals with those who "after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds:" (Romans 2:6)

The same God who limited the judges of Israel to dealing out punishment by the guidelines of "a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye" — that is make the punishment fit the crime, do not over punish. Will Himself not over punish anyone!

Sin must be eradicated. Sinners who clung to their sinners rather than seeking forgiveness and cleansing will be destroyed. But this is a strange work for God, not one He delights in. It is a one time act,

Isaiah 28.21
For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim,.. that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act."

Ezekiel 33.11
"Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die,"

2 Peter 3.9-13 "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein SHALL BE BURNED UP.
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness."


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