“But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.” (2 Peter 2:1,2)

*****

Mankind has witnessed horrendous atrocities all throughout history, such as:

The tragedy of the French Revolution

The Nazi death camps

The Russian gulags

The Cambodian killing fields

Saddam Hussein’s torture chambers

The September 11^th attacks

Even most Americans, not to mention the rest of the world, were appalled by the scandal at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. And yet, from among this same group of people there is a large percentage (fundamentally taught Christians) who believe that a loving God will end up torturing most of humanity in hell for all eternity. But wait a minute! Isn’t this what the Bible teaches? The Book of Revelation does mention a place called the lake of fire, doesn’t it? And even Jesus Himself mentioned over and over again a place of outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The story about the rich man and Lazarus is surely describing a place of eternal torment, isn’t it? Are these things not to be taken literally? 

When I looked up the word literal in my Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10^th Edition, I was surprised at what I had learned. Definition 1a reads like this:

“according with the letter of the scriptures” !! (Emphasis added)

God’s Word teaches us that the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6). So based upon this information, is it possible that those who insist upon a literal interpretation of the Scriptures are walking the wide road that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13)? Indeed,

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but
its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 14:12)

Now this is where with an open mind we need to start thinking outside the box in our quest for the Truth. For many, however, our human pride will not allow us to admit to ourselves or to anyone else that we could have been so deceived, despite the fact that God’s Word clearly tells us that Satan deceives the WHOLE WORLD (Revelation 12:9), save the very elect (Matthew 24:24). Are you among Christ’s very elect? Am I? And if we say yes, then how can we know for sure? 

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge — even to ourselves — that we’ve been so credulous (So the old bamboozles tend to persist as the new bamboozles rise). Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication and courage.” –  Carl Sagan

If we above everything else have a desire to know God’s Truth, then we would do well to humble ourselves in His sight, for

“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (I Peter 5:5)

And this includes our willingness to admit to ourselves and to others that maybe, just maybe, we have for the most part been misled. I think we could all learn something from one of my favorite quotes of all time, and just because this came from a non-Christian, don’t think for one moment that it wasn’t God-inspired!

“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.” — Confucius

Something that had always puzzled me before were these comments by our Savior:

“But I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that Day for Sodom than for that city. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.” (Luke 10:12-14)

What on earth is Jesus saying? If the ultimate destiny of all of the above mentioned, according to fundamentalist church doctrine, will eventually be eternal punishment in a literal burning lake of fire, then exactly how can it possibly be “more tolerable” for one group than for the other? Perhaps one group will be sent to the base of the flame, where the fire isn’t as hot as it is at the tip of the flame. Or maybe God will allow Lazarus to “cross over” every once in a great while to cool the tongues of the former inhabitants of Sodom, Tyre and Sidon with a drop of water. Do these explanations make any sense at all? I speak as a fool! No more so than God (Who is by His very Nature the definition of Love) telling us to love our enemies, while at the same time torturingHis enemies for all eternity in a literal burning lake of fire. I hope you can see the hypocrisy in this teaching. Is it any wonder why much of mankind sees the God of Christianity as this unforgiving hypocrite who sits upon his throne in heaven; one who is just patiently awaiting his opportunity to sadistically torture his creation for all eternity? 

“For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles
because of you, as it is written.” (Romans 2:24)

But the Good News is that the truth about God which is taught by the majority of fundamental Christianity pales in comparison to the Truth of the Eternal God Who is concealed within the pages of His Holy Word.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

*****

“In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.” — George Orwell

“Truth: the most deadly weapon ever discovered by humanity. Capable of destroying entire perceptual sets, cultures, and realities. Outlawed by all governments everywhere. Possession is normally punishable by death.” — John Gilmore, author

“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” — Henry David Thoreau

“Ah yes, truth. Funny how everyone is always asking for it but when they get it they don’t believe it because it’s not the truth they want to hear.” –Helena Cassadine

“Men occasionally stumble over truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.” — Winston Churchill

“But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receiveth correction; truth is perished and is cut off from their mouth.” (Jeremiah 7:28)

“And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity (integrity) cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgment.” (Isaiah 59:14,15)

Since childhood, I have been taught that the word gospel means good news. The Gospel of Jesus Christ literally means the Good News of Jesus Christ. So tell me, please, how can the eternal torment of the vast majority of humanity in a literal burning lake of fire be called good news? Anyone who is led by God’s Spirit cannot, and indeed WILL NOT be able to accept this.

“Any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind
of a child cannot be a true system.” — Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

There must be another explanation! AND THERE IS, GLORY TO GOD! In fact, I will now emphatically state that a loving God will NEVER torture anyone in a mythical place called “hell” for all eternity. This is NOT what the Bible teaches! It has largely been due to a series of a few very critical mistranslations of key words in the original text (a little leaven…) that has led people to believe this heresy. *(See the footnote at the end of this article. And BE SURE to watch the video interview with Greek scholar Louis Abbott).

THE DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL TORMENT

“A hundred difficulties meet the mind, when we think on this great subject; and they meet us when we endeavour to urge our fellow sinners to be reconciled to God, and to put confidence in Him. I confess for one that I feel these, and feel them more sensibly and powerfully the more I look at them, and the longer I live. I do not know that I have a ray of light on this subject, which I had not when the subject first flashed across my soul. I have read to some extent what wise and good men have written. I have looked at their theories and explanations. I have endeavoured to weigh their arguments, for my whole soul pants for light and relief on these questions. But I get neither; and in the distress and anguish of my own spirit, I confess that I see no light whatever. I see not one ray to disclose to me the reason why sin came into the world, why the earth is strewed with the dying and the dead, and why man must suffer all eternity.” — Albert Barnes Practical Sermons, p. 123

For all who truly desire to know the Truth, even at the cost of having to abandon your  cherished traditions and pre-conceived notions, I highly recommend the following:

The Origin and History of the Doctrine of Endless Punishment

by Thomas B. Thayer

You can access this article for yourself by the link provided on the homepage, but I have included some excerpts from this very well researched document in order to leave no doubt as to the pagan roots of this belief system that we have all been sold. This should once and for all verify to the reader the motive and agenda behind introducing this doctrine to the masses.

Polybius, the historian, says: “Since the multitude is ever fickle, full of lawless desires, irrational passions and violence, there is no other way to keep them in order but by the fear and terror of the invisible world; on which account our ancestors seem to me to have acted judiciously, when they contrived to bring into the popular belief these notions of the gods, and of the infernal regions.” B. vi 56.

He later goes on to say that “…the quality in which the Roman commonwealth is most distinctly superior is in my opinion the nature of their religious convictions. I believe that it is the very thing which among other peoples is an object of reproach, I mean superstition, which maintains the cohesion of the Roman State. These matters are clothed in such pomp and introduced to such an extent into their public and private life that nothing could exceed it, a fact which will surprise many. My own opinion at least is that they have adopted this course for the sake of the common people.” F. vii 56.

Livy, the celebrated historian, speaks of it in the same spirit; and he praises the wisdom of Numa, because he invented the fear of the gods, as “a most efficacious means of governing an ignorant and barbarous populace.” Hist. I 19.

Dionysius Halicarnassus treats the whole matter as useful, but not true. Antiq. Rom., B. ii

Strabo, the geographer, says: “The multitude are restrained from vice by the punishments the gods are said to inflict upon offenders, and by those terrors and threatenings which certain dreadful words and monstrous forms imprint upon their minds…For it is impossible to govern the crowd of women, and all the common rabble, by philosophical reasoning, and lead them to piety, holiness and virtue – but this must be done by superstition, or the fear of the gods, by means of fables and wonders; for the thunder, the aegis, the trident, the torches (of the Furies), the dragons, &c., are all fables, as is also all the ancient theology. These things the legislators used as scarecrows to terrify the childish multitude.” Geog., B. I

Seneca says: “Those things which make the infernal regions terrible, the darkness, the prison, the river of flaming fire, the judgment seat, etc., are all a fable, with which the poets amuse themselves, and by them agitate us with vain terrors.”

Sextus Empiricus calls them “poetic fables of hell.” 

Cicero speaks of them as “silly absurdities and fables” (ineptiis ac fabulis).

Aristotle says: “It has been handed down in mythical form from earliest times to posterity, that there are gods, and that the divine (Deity) compasses all nature. All beside this has been added, after the mythical style, for the purpose of persuading the multitude, and for the interests of the laws, and the advantage of the state.” Neander’s Church Hist., I, p. 7.

Timaeus Locrus, the Pythagorean, after stating that the doctrine of rewards and punishments after death is necessary to society, proceeds as follows: “For as we sometimes cure the body with unwholesome remedies, when such as are most wholesome produce no effect, so we restrain those minds with false relations, which will not be persuaded by the truth. There is a necessity, therefore, of instilling the dread of those foreign torments: as that the soul changes its habitation; that the coward is ignominiously thrust into the body of a woman; the murderer imprisoned within the form of a savage beast; the vain and inconstant changed into birds, and the slothful and ignorant into fishes.”

Before Christ walked upon this earth, pagan philosophies, such as the doctrine of metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls, gradually crept into the Jewish schools, and the Jews incorporated into their ancient faith the dogmas of both the philosophy and theology of Egypt, the very fountain-head from which came the doctrine of future endless torments. But not only did they borrow from the Egyptian, but also from the Oriental and Pythagorean philosophy, in both of which, as well as in the Egyptian, one of the distinguishing features was as a method of retribution after death. Hence, in the account of the blind man restored to sight by Jesus, we have the question: “Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2) This shows plainly that the people thought the man might have been sent into a blind body as a punishment for some sin in a preexistent state; which is an exact copy of the Egyptian and Oriental doctrine. In Matthew 16, we have another trace of the doctrine among the people. In answer to the question of Jesus,“Whom do men say that I, the son of man, am?” the disciples reply, “Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some say Elias; and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets.” They seemed to think the soul of some one of these ancient men of God had returned again to the earth in the body of Jesus, which to them was a satisfactory explanation of the miracles He wrought. Many of the Jewish doctors have believed that the souls of Adam, Abraham, and others, have at different times animated the bodies of the great men of their nation. Indeed, Pythagoras made so much of this dogma, that it was often called specially by his name; and it was almost universally believed by the Oriental nations, and is to this day, especially by the Hindus, the Burmans, the followers of the Grand Lama, and by the Buddhists generally.

Plato, in his commentary on Timaeus, fully endorses what he says respecting the fabulous invention of these foreign torments. And Strabo says that “Plato and the Brahmins of India invented fables concerning the future judgments of hell” (Hades). And Chrysippus blames Plato for attempting to deter men from wrong by frightful stories of future punishments.

Plato himself is exceedingly inconsistent, sometimes adopting, even in his serious discourses, the fables of the poets, and at other times rejecting them as utterly false, and giving too frightful views of the invisible world. Sometimes, he argues, on social grounds, that they are necessary to restrain bad men from wickedness and crime, and then again he protests against them on political grounds, as intimidating the citizens, and making cowards of the soldiers, who, believing these things, are afraid of death, and do not therefore fight well. But all this shows in what light he regarded them; not as truths, certainly, but as fictions, convenient in some cases, but difficult to manage in others.

Plutarch treats the subject in the same way; sometimes arguing for them with great solemnity and earnestness, and on other occasions calling them“fabulous stories, the tales of mothers and nurses.”

Saint Augustine also makes mention of these things in his celebrated book The City of God. Concerning the opinions of Marcus Terentius Varro (116 BC – 27 BC), who was a Roman scholar and writer, and was considered by some to be the greatest of all the Roman scholars, Augustine writes:

“I should be thought to conjecture these things, unless he himself, in another passage, had openly said, in speaking of religious rites, that many things are true which it is not only not useful for the common people to know, but that it is expedient that the people should think otherwise, even though falsely, and therefore the Greeks have shut up the religious ceremonies and mysteries in silence, and within walls. In this he no doubt expresses the policy of the so-called wise men by whom states and peoples are ruled. Yet by this crafty device the malign demons are wonderfully delighted, who possess alike the deceivers and the deceived, and from whose tyranny nothing sets free save the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” B. iv 31

“Varro says also, concerning the generations of the gods, that the people have inclined to the poets rather than to the natural philosophers; and that therefore their forefathers,–that is, the ancient Romans,–believed both in the sex and the generations of the gods, and settled their marriages; which certainly seems to have been done for no other cause except that it was the business of such men as were prudent and wise to deceive the people in matters of religion, and in that very thing not only to worship, but also to imitate the demons, whose greatest lust is to deceive. For just as the demons cannot possess any but those whom they have deceived with guile, so also men in princely office, not indeed being just, but like demons, have persuaded the people in the name of religion to receive as true those things which they themselves knew to be false; in this way, as it were, binding them up more firmly in civil society, so that they might in like manner possess them as subjects.”   B. iv 32

Montesquieu states that “Romulus, Tatius and Numa enslaved the gods to politics, and made religion for the state.”

And Plumptre adds that “It has been, and is, the creed of the great poets whom we accept as the spokesmen of a nation’s thoughts.”

The question with which this section began, “Whence came the doctrine of future endless punishments?” is now, I trust, answered by a sufficient number of witnesses to settle the matter beyond dispute. The heathens themselves confess to the invention of the dogma, and of all the fabulous stories of the infernal regions; the legislators and sages very frankly state that the whole thing was devised for its supposed utility in governing the gross and ignorant multitude of men and women, who cannot be restrained by the precepts of philosophy.

“How far it may be proper to use falsehood as a medicine, and for the benefit of those who require to be deceived.” — Eusebius, Ecclesiastical historian

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”  — H.L. Mencken, American journalist 1880-1956

“Historians and economists {subsidized by governments} are very good at creating and perpetuating myths that justify increasing the power placed in the hands of government.” — Reuven Brenner, Economist

They have not the slightest faith in these things themselves; they do not think them at all necessary to regulate their own lives, or keep them in order; but it is for the common people, the coarse rabble, who can only in this way be terrified into good behavior. One cannot help noting the resemblance between these wise men and some of our own day, who seem so anxious to maintain the doctrine in the ground that it is necessary to restrain men from sin. But, unfortunately for this theory, the revelations of history, both Pagan and Christian, are in opposition to it. 

“Without doubt, the greatest injury of all was done by basing morals on myth. For, sooner or later, myth is recognized for what it is, and disappears. Then morality loses the foundation on which it has been built.” – Lord Herbert Louis Samuel

Has history shown the doctrine of eternal torment to be a successful deterrent to lawlessness? Well, for a nation in which a majority of its citizens claim to believe in both a heaven and a hell, why is it that the United States has the highest crime rate? And not just here in the US, but lawlessness is ever increasing worldwide, where this doctrine is believed by many in one form or another.  

In vain does Cicero, speaking of the poets, exclaim against this state of things:

“When the plaudits and acclamation of the people, who sit as infallible judges, are won by the poets, what darkness benights the mind, what fears invade, what passions inflame it!” – The City of God B. ii 14

“But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23)

“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Isaiah 8:20)

I think the facts establish, beyond refutation, these results:

• The belief of future endless torments does not restrain nor prevent men from the indulgence of their criminal passions. Those believing are no better in character or conduct because they believe it. The hell of the Burmans, for example, is as horrible as imagination or invention can make it; and yet they are notoriously corrupt, licentious, bloody-minded – the greatest thieves, liars and cheats in the world!

• The disbelief of endless torments does not make man immoral or wicked; as the character of the Sadducees, whom their enemies even acknowledge to be strictly just and moral, abundantly demonstrates.

I can imagine but one reply to this simple statement of facts: It may be said the comparison is not just, since the Burmans, as well as the Greeks and Romans, are heathen, and the Sadducees had the benefit of revelation, and of the divine law of Moses. But this is yielding the point in debate; for the ground taken is, that a religion without the doctrine in question cannot exert a salutary moral influence; that the belief of this is indispensable as a check on the wicked heart. To say, therefore, that other elements of the law, or of revelation, might have made the Sadducees moral and virtuous, is surrendering the argument, and admitting that this doctrine is not necessary to virtue.

Still, there is no difficulty in meeting the objection on its own ground. The Greeks, Romans, and Burmans are heathen, but the Pharisees are not. They are believers in divine revelation, having all the benefits of the Law of Moses, living side by side with the Sadducees, subject to the same social influences; the only difference between them being precisely the point in debate – the Pharisees believing the doctrine of future endless punishment, and the Sadducees denying it.

Of course the Pharisees ought to be great saints, without spot or blemish; and the Sadducees ought to be great sinners, vile and wicked to the last degree. To the contrary, the Sadducees were not great sinners, but honest, just and moral, by confession of their worst enemies. One half the argument, therefore, falls to the ground at the outset. Now for the other half – were the Pharisees great saints? The Savior will answer to this: “Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites; robbing the widow and fatherless, neglecting justice, mercy and truth; generation of vipers; whited sepulchers, full of corruption and all manner of uncleanness!”This does not look much like being very saintly. So the second half of the argument fares no better than the first half; and both are perfect failures.

Thus, exactly the reverse of what is claimed for the doctrine proves to be the historical fact: those believing it are the great sinners, moral vipers, whited sepulchers; while those disbelieving are – not saints perhaps, but vastly better than the sanctimonious hypocrites who charged their doctrine with immoral and dangerous tendencies.

One other thing is worthy of note in this connection, and with this I close the argument. In all his rebukes and denunciations of the wickedness of the men of His age and generation, the Savior never includes the Sadducees. It is always, “Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites;” never Scribes, Sadducees, hypocrites. This is strong presumptive proof of the unimpeachable morality of the Sadducees, and equally positive proof of the preeminent wickedness of the Pharisees.

We return, therefore, to the conclusion already stated, viz.: The belief of endless punishment does not tighten the bonds of morality, nor lead to a life of virtue; while, on the other hand, the disbelief of it does not loosen the bonds of morality, nor lead to a life of wickedness.

“Do you not know that God’s kindness (or goodness) is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4 – RSV)

It is God’s GOODNESS that leads us to repentance, not the fear of eternal torment!

THE PARABLE OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS

Dr. Good has a curious passage on the subject in hand, in his Book of Nature, which I must be permitted to introduce here. “It was believed in most countries,” he says, “that this hell, hades, or invisible world, is divided into two very distinct and opposite regions, by a broad and impassable gulf; that the one is a seat of happiness, a paradise, or elysium, and the other a seat of misery, a gehenna, or tartarus; and that there is a supreme magistrate and an impartial tribunal belonging to the infernal shades, before which the ghosts must appear, and by which they are sentenced to the one or the other, according to the deeds done in the body. Egypt is said to have been the inventress of this important and valuable part of the tradition; and undoubtedly it is to be found in the earliest records of Egyptian history. But, from the wonderful conformity of its outlines to the parallel doctrines of the Scriptures, it is probable that it has a still higher origin, and that it constituted a part of the patriarchal creed, retained in a few channels, though forgotten or obliterated in others, and consequently that it was a divine communication in a very early age.”

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus furnishes another example. “And in hell (hades) he lifted up his eyes, being in torment” (Luke 16:23). It will be remembered that the Jews had borrowed their ideas of torment in a future state from the heathen, and of course they were obliged to borrow their terms to express this. Accordingly, after the manner of the Greeks, Hades, or the place of departed spirits, is represented as receiving all, as Sheol did, good and bad; but we have also the additional idea of separate apartments or districts, divided by a great gulf or river; on one side of which the blessed are located, and on the other side the damned, near enough to see each other, and converse together, as in the case of Abraham and the rich man.

It must also be remembered that this is only a parable, and not a real history; for, as Dr. Whitby affirms, “we find this very parable in the Gemara Babylonicum.” The story was not new then, and not original with Christ, but known among the Jews before He repeated it. He borrowed the parable from them, and employed it to show the judgment which awaited them. He represented the spiritual favors and privileges of the Jews by the wealth and luxury of the rich man, and the spiritual poverty of the Gentiles by the beggary and infirmity of Lazarus; and while the former would be deprived of their privileges and punished for their wickedness, the latter would enjoy the blessings of truth and faith. And Smith’s Bible Dictionary concludes that “it is impossible to ground the proof of an important theological doctrine on a passage which confessedly abounds in Jewish metaphors” (page 120).

THE FINAL JUDGMENT

Most Christian based denominations teach us that if we are “saved” when we die we will immediately be translated to heaven, but if we are “unsaved” we will promptly be sent to an eternity in hell.  But is it true? Well, Jesus said that

“No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.” (John 3:13)

The truth is that when God takes back the breath of life from the individual, the body dies (Ecclesiastes 12:7) and goes to the grave, which is represented by the Hebrew word Sheol. The soul then departs, or enters into a state of being (described by the Greek word Hades) that properly means to be unseen. This unconscious state (death) has been likened unto “sleep” by numerous passages of Scripture. [See, for example: Deuteronomy 31:16; II Samuel 7:12; I Kings 1:21; Daniel 12:2; Luke 8:52-55; John 11:11-14; Acts 13:36,37; I Corinthians 15:6,18; I Thessalonians 4:13-15; II Peter 3:4; etc.] Here all are awaiting the resurrection to life, some to glory, but most to shame. [For a more detailed analysis be sure to read the article Does Man Have an Immortal Soul? by Ken Eckerty]

“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” (John 5:28,29)

You will notice that, contrary to fundamentalist church doctrine, at the time of the resurrection, those who had previously done good were still in their graves, and not in heaven. The word for grave is the Greek word mnemeion (Strong’s G#3419), and denotes a remembrance, i.e. cenotaph (place of internment); grave, sepulchre, tomb.

The former professor of divinity at the College of Glasgow, Dr. Fairbairn, whose volumes on “Prophecy” and “Typology” have given him high rank among biblical students and interpreters, says without reserve, “Beyond doubt, SHEOL, like HADES, was regarded as the abode after death, alike of the good and the bad.” Of course, therefore, to translate it by the English word “hell” is to misrepresent the sacred writers, and mislead the common reader.

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13,14)

Now please examine this passage of Scripture carefully. We are encouraged to “enter” by the narrow gate, for most will “go in” by the broad gate. The English word “enter” as well as the short phrase “go in” both come from the same Greek word eiserchomai, which means precisely what it says. So is it possible that the implication is that both groups will eventually “enter” into the same place, albeit via different paths? Jesus Himself told us that there were two paths; one leading to life, and the other one leading to destruction. It is important to note here that the English word “destruction” was translated from the Greek word apoleia, which means to suffer loss or ruin, and in no way implies eternal damnation. Please keep these facts in mind as you proceed.

THE FIRST RESURRECTION

“Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:6)

The two paths that Jesus speaks of are the two resurrections. Obviously, the narrow road is the preferred path. This is the first resurrection that leads to the “life of the ages” (Greek: aionian), which is symbolized in the book of Revelation by the phrase “a thousand years.” So who is it that will have his place in the first resurrection?

“To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” (Revelation 2:7)

“He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.” (Revelation 2:11)

“To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.” (Revelation 2:17)

“And he who overcomes, and keeps my works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations.” (Revelation 2:26)

“He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot his name from the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before his angels.” (Revelation 3:5)

“He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.” (Revelation 3:12)

“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also sat down with My Father on His throne.” (Revelation 3:21)

“And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:4)

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” (Revelation 12:11)

So is overcoming the world starting to sound a bit more complicated than walking forward during “altar call” and accepting Jesus as your personal savior, getting baptized, and speaking in tongues? Always keep in mind that

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 14:12)

The apostle Paul also testified of these truths when he penned the following:

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:12-14)

Paul’s most heartfelt desire is clearly expressed here when he wrote:

“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection FROM the dead.” (Philippians 3:10,11)

Please note the emphasis that was added to that little four-letter word from. Unlike the King James Version, most of our modern translations, including theAmerican Standard, New American Standard, Revised Standard, New International, and the New King James Versions accurately show that there is a distinction here between the two resurrections. Paul’s desire was to know Christ and the power of His resurrection, the first resurrection, or the resurrection (apart) FROM the dead (Revelation 20:6), which is the narrow path. On the other hand, the wide path that leads to destruction will be the resurrection OFthe dead (Revelation 20:12).

You can rest assured that if your desire is to attain to the first resurrection which is apart from the (spiritually) dead, then you are not in for an easy life.

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” (John 15:18-20)

Always remember that DIFFICULT is the way of (Greek: aionian) life (Matthew 7:14).

“Yes, and ALL who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus WILL suffer persecution.” (II Timothy 3:12)

Paul knew that he had to endure many hardships and persecutions “to the end” before he could finally make this boast:

“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” (II Timothy 4:6-8)

And Jesus Himself states that it is the one who endures (hardships, persecutions, etc.) to the end (that) shall be saved (or attain to aionian life – Matthew 24:13).   

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

THE SECOND RESURRECTION

In the introduction to this article it was stated that membership in Christian based religion numbers over two billion people worldwide, or roughly one-third the earth’s population. However, Jesus makes it clear that there will be FEW, not many, who will find that narrow path leading to life. So what happens to the rest? 

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:12,15)

“And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet … These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.” (Revelation 19:20)

“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:10)

So what is the purpose for the second resurrection? Is this where a loving God brings his rebellious creatures back to life for the purpose of endlessly tormenting them in a literal lake of fire? Absolutely not! Yet I hear the preachers ranting and raving about poor souls being cast into hell fire where ”their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched” and this, we are told, means eternal, unending torment. How foolish, illogical, and deceptive! Such a view contradicts the plain meaning of the term “unquenchable” and its use in the Word of God.

J. Preston Eby in his article The Lake of Fire provides some valuable insight:

More than 2500 years ago the Holy Spirit warned the wicked inhabitants of Jerusalem that God would kindle a fire at Jerusalem’s gates that would devour her palaces.

“But if you will not hearken unto Me … then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not he quenched.” (Jeremiah 17:27)

Didn’t God just say that this fire “shall not be quenched?” This prophecy was fulfilled a few years later and it did destroy all the houses of Jerusalem (see Jeremiah 52:13). But since God said no person or thing would “quench” this fire, did that mean it would burn forever? Or since it accomplished the work it was sent to do, and since it is NOT BURNING TODAY, it obviously went out by itself after accomplishing its purpose!

So we can clearly see that the “fire” serves the very useful purpose of “burning up” all of the things that do not deserve to continue. When God turns on the HEAT, the BLAZING LIGHT OF HIS SPIRIT AND WORD, some things begin to change! The fire is never sent to destroy the PERSON, but is for the purpose of purging out all that hinders and separates him from his God. It will consume the pride, arrogance, hostility, defiance, and rebellion of the flesh, and the carnal mind so that he might then be wooed and drawn by the Holy Spirit unto the Father of Spirits and live. 

ADDITIONAL WITNESSES

In His Word, God gives us three keys to use whereby we can unlock the meaning of the Scriptures. By applying these principles of Scriptural interpretation we should be able to see the lake of fire in its true context:

1. “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” (II Peter 1:20)
2. “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” (II Corinthians 1:13)
3. “Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” (I Corinthians 2:13)

Have you ever wondered why God’s Word is so redundant? Well, in any court of law it is nearly impossible to prove a case where there is no physical evidence, and when there is only one witness testifying against someone else. It is for this very simple reason that God will always confirm His Word in the mouths of two or three witnesses. And we will soon learn that there IS a second witness in one (and ONLY one) other passage of which I am aware in the entirety of the Word of God which speaks of every man’s work being tried and judged in God’s consuming fire.

“Every man’s work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.” (I Corinthians 3:13-15)

You may recall how it was earlier noted that the one who goes by the wide road will indeed suffer loss or ruin, BUT HE HIMSELF SHALL BE SAVED! 

Origen Adamantius (185-254 AD), one of the early church fathers and the greatest of all Christian apologists and exegetes of his era, was obliged to defend his faith when Celsus, in his True Discourse, objected to Christianity on the ground that it taught punishment by fire. Origen replied that such thoughts had been entertained by certain foolish Christians who were unable to see distinctly the sense of each particular passage, or unwilling to devote the necessary labor to the investigation of Scripture.  And perhaps, as it is appropriate to children that some things should be addressed to them in a manner befitting their infantile condition, to convert them, so such ideas as Celsus refers to are taught. But he adds that ”those who require the administration of punishment by fire” experience it “with a view to an end which is suitable for God to bring upon those who have been created in His image.” In reply to the charge of Celsus that Christians teach that God will act the part of a cook in burning men, Origen says, “not like a cook but like a God who is a benefactor of those who stand in need of discipline of fire.” Contra Celsus V. 15, 16.

“For our God IS a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:29)

Thus Origen interprets “fire” in the Bible not only as a symbol of the sinner’s suffering but of his purification. The “consuming fire” is a “refiner’s fire.” It consumes the sins, and refines and purifies the sinner. It burns the sinner’s works, “hay, wood and stubble,” that result from wickedness. The torture is real, the purification sure; fire is a symbol of God’s service, certain, but salutary discipline. God’s “wrath” is apparent, not real. There is no passion on His part. What we call wrath is another name for His disciplinary process. God would not tell us to put away anger, wrath (Origen says) and then be guilty Himself of what He prohibits of us. He declares that the punishment which is said to be by fire is understood to be applied with the object of healing. The “eternal fire” is curative.

Charles Pridgeon, in his scholarly work on the subject of BRIMSTONE, says:

“The Lake of Fire and Brimstone signifies a fire burning with brimstone; the word ‘brimstone’ or sulphur defines the character of the fire. The Greek word THEION translated ‘brimstone’ is exactly the same word THEION which means ‘divine.’ Sulphur was sacred to the deity among the ancient Greeks; and was used to fumigate, to purify, and to cleanse and consecrate to the deity; for this purpose they burned it in their incense. In Homer’s Iliad (16:228), one is spoken of as purifying a goblet with fire and brimstone. The verb derived from THEION is THEIOO, which means to hallow, to make divine, or to dedicate to a god (See Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon, 1897 Edition). To any Greek, or any trained in the Greek language, a ‘lake of fire and brimstone’ would mean a ‘lake of divine purification.’ The idea of judgment need not be excluded. Divine purification and divine consecration are the plain meaning in ancient Greek. In the ordinary explanation, this fundamental meaning of the word is entirely left out, and nothing but eternal torment is associated with it.”

DO YOU HAVE EYES TO SEE AND EARS TO HEAR?

When Jesus’ disciples came to Him and asked, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” He answered and said to them,

“Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing. And their eyes they have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear…” (Matthew 13:10,11,13,15,16)

But just as it was in the past, so it also is today (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11). Most simply have not been given the eyes to see and the ears to hear the Truth. And many that do come to see the Truth will deny it because it would mean breaking with their tradition. Well did Isaiah prophesy of them when he wrote the following:

“Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men.” (Isaiah 29:13)

Jesus said that “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). If the doctrine of eternal torment really is true, then the church is under an extremely heavy burden to evangelize the world, for without Christ billions of people will perish in eternal hellfire. And the church today, like no other time in history, has indeed “traveled land and sea to win MANY proselytes, and when they win them over they make them twice the children of judgment, or hell (Greek: Gehenna) as they are themselves (Matthew 23:15).

“For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight, says the LORD. They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My Name, to pollute it. And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.” (Jeremiah 7:30,31)

Concerning the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, or Gehenna, which is used figuratively to represent the place of judgment, Smith’s Bible Dictionary tells us that

“An idol of bronze of great size was set up in the valley, facing Olivet, where children were sacrificed in the fire, which seems to have been kindled inside the idol. Josiah abolished the worship, and strewed human bones over the place, making it unclean, and thus prevented the renewal of worship there (see II Kings 23:10). These inhuman practices gave the place a horrible character, and caused its name to be detested and used as a figure for a place of torment.”

So the literal burning of the children of Israel was an abomination to the LORD, one “which He did not command, nor did it enter into His heart!” So if God condemned the actual practice of the burning of their children in a literal fire, then what do you think will happen to those who teach that He will do likewise? Are you beginning to see what Jesus really meant when He said that the judgment of Sodom, Tyre and Sidon (used to represent worldly, self-seeking people) will be “more tolerable” than that of Chorazin and Bethsaida (representing those who have witnessed the mighty works of God, yet fail to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth)? Many good, church-going people are one day in for a rude awakening, for they will come face to face with the Lamb of God, see Him as He really is, and come to the realization that the Love of God does not seek to fry unrepentant sinners for all eternity. After a lifetime spent of either knowingly or unknowingly misrepresenting the Love of God, “their glory will be turned to shame” (Philippians 3:19), and they will be“tormented in the presence of the Lamb” (Revelation 14:10). I am convinced that this torment, in the presence of a gentle Lamb, will be the anguish they will suffer within their own hearts. Judgment by (a refining) fire will surely come upon the harlot church, and is described in vivid detail in Revelation 18. Hence the strong admonition to

“Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:4)

*****

And finally, according to Strong’s Concordance (G#386), the word that was translated into the English word “resurrection” is the Greek word anastasis, which can also mean in a figurative sense to be a moral recovery of spiritual truth. Since the entire book of Revelation is written in figurative, symbolic language, then a metaphoric  rendering would agree perfectly with the words of the prophet:

“For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” (Isaiah 26:9)

There is coming a time when the inhabitants of the world will not just hear of righteousness, they will actually learn righteousness. And every knee shall bow, and every tongue will openly avow that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father (Isaiah 45:23, Philippians 2:9-11)!

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the house of Aaron now say, ‘His mercy endures forever.’ Let those who fear the Lord now say, ‘His mercy endures forever.’” (Psalm 118:1-4)

“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, Who desires ALL men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself a ransom for ALL, to be testified in due time.” (I Timothy 2:3-6)

“For as in Adam ALL die, even so in Christ shall ALL be made alive.” (I Corinthians 15:22)

“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile ALL THINGS to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” (Colossians 1:19,20)

“And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And He shall wipe away EVERY tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more, for the first things are passed away.” (Revelation 21:3,4)

“ALL the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and ALL the families of the nations shall worship before Him. For dominion belongs to the Lord, and He rules over the nations. Yea, to Him shall ALL the proud of the earth bow down; before Him shall bow ALL who go down to the dust, and he who cannot keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve Him; men shall tell of the Lord to the coming generation, and proclaim His deliverance to a people yet unborn, that He has wrought it.” (PSALM 22:27-31)

“ALL Thy works shall give thanks unto Thee, O Lord; and Thy saints shall bless Thee. They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power; to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts and the glory of the majesty of His kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. The Lord upholdeth ALL that fall, and raiseth up ALL those that are bowed down.” (PSALM 145:10-14)

“ALL the nations that Thou hast made shall come and bow down before Thee, O Lord, and shall glorify Thy Name.” (PSALM 86:9)

“Now, isn’t this the best news you’ve heard all day? This is the REAL good news gospel that precious few have heard.”

“This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of ALL men, specially of those that believe. These things command and teach.” (I Timothy 4:9-11)

*****

In the introduction to this article, the question: “Could it be possible that the majority of Bible-believing people worldwide have been indoctrinated into a different gospel than the one which was taught by the apostles?” has been met with enough Biblical and historical evidence to at least make one think. And that has been my direct intent.

“Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness; when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)” (Hebrews 3:7-11)

“This testimony is true. For which cause reprove them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. To the pure all things are pure: but to them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled, They profess to know God; but by their works they deny Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” (Titus 1:13-16)

“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” (Revelation 18:4,5)

“An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power; and My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?” (Jeremiah 5:30,31)

“And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea; who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:10,11)

God’s Word exhorts us to prove (or try, test) ALL things (I Thessalonians 5:21). The Berean Jews were “more noble” in this respect. But what will YOUdo in the end?

*****

*Footnote: Please note that in the original King James Version the word forever (which means eternal) is divided into two words - for and ever. This part the translators got right, but their rendering of the word “ever” is very misleading. Most modern translations give us a single word forever. Look for the word forever in your concordance and you will find that it is nowhere to be found! The word here that means ever is the Greek word (Strong’s #165) aion, which denotes an indefinite period of time, or age; spec. (Jewish) a Messianic period (present or future) that has both a beginning and an end. A thorough study of this word in a good concordance such as Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible will reveal that the King James Bible butchered that word. Why? If they didn’t twist the word the way they did, the doctrine of eternal punishment could not be supported by the Bible. So they took a word which simply means an indeterminate period of time or an age and twisted it into a word which can be as short as a day to the concept of timelessness, that is, eternity. *[Interestingly enough, Augustine himself, who flourished about A.D. 400 to 430, was the first to argue that aionios signified strictly endless. He attempted a criticism on the original word, maintaining at first that it always meant endless; but this being so bold and palpable a blunder, he was compelled to abandon it, admitting that it did not always mean endless, but did sometimes; and he brings Matthew 25:46 as proof, arguing that if the "everlasting punishment" was not endless, the "eternal life" was not. And this criticism has been handed down from his time to the present, and is still employed with great confidence, notwithstanding it forces into the spiritual world a judgment which the Savior expressly declared should take place in that generation, before some then living should die. (Matthew 16:28; 24:30-34; Luke 9:26,27)] For example, Genesis 13:15 in the KJV states: “For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.” Genesis 17:8 reads: “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession: and I will be their God.” After reading and studying these two scriptures we know that something is not in accord because the physical seed of Abraham has not always retained possession of the land of Canaan. From A.D. 70 up to the middle of this century, the people of Israel have been scattered throughout this entire earth and thus did not possess their Promised Land endlessly, as the words forever and everlastingsignify. Again by examining the Hebrew manuscripts we do not find the two words forever and everlasting in this scripture but instead we find the word OLAM or AGE. Likewise, the King James Bible says that the Aaronic Priesthood is an everlasting priesthood, but the book of Hebrews clearly states an end to it. This should make one think (see Exodus 40:15 and Hebrews 7:14-18). Leviticus 24:8 tells of the Mt. Sinai or Mosaic covenant as being an everlasting covenant, yet Jeremiah 31:31 prophesies its end with a second and better covenant. Hebrews 8:7-13  reiterates this prophecy as being fulfilled. The KJV has Jonah in the belly of the whale forever which actually ended three days later (Jonah 2:6). Dozens of examples like the ones above should make one see that the King James translators did not handle the translation of this word aion and its Hebrew counterpart olam correctly. If the translators render the word aion and its adjective aionios consistently as a period of time with beginnings and endings, then the teaching of eternal punishment will no longer find a place in the Bible. 

*****

Now you might protest by saying something like, “Well if all of this really is true, then why didn’t God make these things unmistakably clear enough so thateveryone could understand them?”

“It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory
of kings is to search things out.” (Proverbs 25:2)

I have recently found your site, as I too have looked into the “hell” doctrine (for all who do not have emunah / faith), and have found such a doctrine wanting. Sure does get scared people into churches, though. And after all, how else will the man-made religious systems get $ out of the pockets of the masses? First you have to get them in the building.

But I digress.

The reason for my email simple. I was wondering what you thought happens to the Hitlers and Stalins of the world? Do they get off scot free? Do they also share in the Malkut Elhim (Kingdom of Elohim)?

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Shalom b’shem Yahshua h’Mashiyach

The simple answer to your question is that nobody gets off “scot free”. Ezekiel 18:4 states: ”the soul that sins shall die“. And Romans 6:23 agrees that ”the wages of sin is death“. Did Hitler and Stalin sin? Of course. And where are they now? They’re dead. So they have paid the penalty for their sin with their lives, just as scripture plainly states.

The main problem is that we’ve all been conditioned to believe that there’s punishment beyond the grave when scripture teaches no such thing. The penalty for sin is death itself, nothing more, nothing less. Please refer to my other email “The Wages Of Sin Is Death (Not Hell)”

But as humans we tend to think evil men like Hitler and Stalin deserve a worse fate than others. But that’s not what the scripture teaches. In fact, the apostle Paul came to the realization that he himself was the “chief” of sinners (I Tim 1:15). So what was Paul saying? Was he more evil than a Hitler or a Stalin? Of course not. He merely came to understand that if it had not been for God’s grace, he could have been.

But who is really responsible for evil? Let’s see what the scriptures (not men) say:

“Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?” (Amos 3:6 – KJV)

“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” (Isa 45:7 – KJV)

“By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.” (Job 26:13 – KJV)

“And I have appointed on the world evil, And on the wicked their iniquity, And have caused to cease the excellency of the proud, And the excellency of the terrible I make low.” (Isa 13:11 – Young’s Literal Translation)

Evil was not the result of some fabled Luciferic rebellion (see my article The Lucifer Myth), nor was it the result of Adam and Eve eating some “forbidden fruit” (see Genesis Reloaded, Part Three and Part Four. The scriptures say that GOD HIMSELF is responsible for evil. Why? And for what purpose?

“It is an experience of evil Elohim [God] has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.” (Ecc 1:13 – Concordant Literal Version)

So God is using evil to humble us. And death itself, according to scripture, is an evil:

“This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.” (Ecc 9:3)

But there is another very important purpose for evil:

“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.” (Gen 3:22 – KJV)

So apparently, knowing the difference between good and evil is a necessity before God can finish the process of creating us all in His image, which is why we are all here:

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Gen 1:26 – KJV)

I like the way this gentleman puts it:

“God knew that men would sin in all ways, but permitted this result to come to pass, knowing that it would ultimately be for their advantage. For since God created man when he did not exist, and made him ruler of so extended a system, and offered so great blessings for his enjoyment, it was impossible that He should have not prevented the entrance of sin if He had not known that it would be ultimately for his advantage. Therefore God divided the creation into two states, the present and the future. In the latter He will bring all to immortality and immutability. In the former He gives us over to death and mutability. For if He had made us at first immortal and immutable, we should not have differed from irrational animals, who do not understand the peculiar characteristics by which they are distinguished. For if we had been ignorant of mutability we could not have understood the good of immutability. Ignorant of death, we could not have known the true worth of immortality. Ignorant of corruption, we could not have properly valued incorruption. Ignorant of the burden of sinful passions, we could not have duly exulted in freedom from such passions. In a word, ignorant of an experiment of evils, we should not have been able properly to understand the opposite forms of good.” – Theodorus of Mopsuestia (350-428 AD)

But the answer your question: “Will Hitler and Stalin be in the kingdom” is no. But the men who once were Hitler and Stalin will be, after the second resurrection. The corruptible seed (the carnal, sinful nature) will first die before it is raised incorruptible (see I Co 15:35-57).

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” ( John 12:24)

“But who may abide the day [Judgment Day] of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth [will sinful man be able to stand in His presence]? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.” (Mal 3:2-4)

And you are right that the churches must use fear to get us in the doors. But this too is part of God’s plan, for:

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Prov 1:7)

If it were not for the fear of hell I once had, I doubt that I would have had much interest in spiritual things. But the mature believer must see these things for what they are and move beyond them:

“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (I Co 13:11)

Hope this has been helpful,

Gary

ANSWER:

How can corruptible flesh put on incorruption “in the now”? Is this what Paul teaches?

“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” (I Cor 15:50)

Are there other scriptures which state the flesh is corrupt? As the matter of fact there are:

“And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.” (Gen 6:12)

Your theory on hell is one of the best I’ve ever heard, not that I believe that there is no hell, but it is well thought out, however, if you deny hell then what is there to be “saved” from? By denying hell, you are denying Christ’s purpose. If there were no punishment for sin, then God himself would be an illegitimate deity, useless, and not worthy to worship. He would be like the parent who lets his children do whatever they want with no consequence, he wouldn’t be respected, he wouldn’t have any control, he would be ineffectual. Yes, God is love, but He is also much more than love. Does any parent that truly loves his children allow them to disobey repeatedly without consequence? Doesn’t a parent discipline his children out of love? I’ve read your statement of faith, and your mission statement, I do not wish to judge you, that is not my job, but as a Christian it is my duty to remind you that you WILL be judged! Read Revelations 22:18,19 “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” So in short, it’s one thing to believe the way you do, but you should examine your beliefs, and be careful not to spread false doctrine!

Your friend in Christ,

[name withheld]

Wed, 28 June 2006
Hello [name withheld]:

Sorry it took me so long to respond, but I have been extremely busy these past few days. Anyway, I have divided your email into sections, and have responded to your questions and comments one by one. Hopefully, what I have written will make sense to you. [Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references have been taken from the New King James Version]

YOUR COMMENT: If you deny hell, then what is there to be “saved” from? By denying hell, you are denying Christ’s purpose.

MY RESPONSE: If you can show me one place in the Scriptures where it is taught that Christ came into this world to save us from “hell,” then I will gladly repent of teaching this doctrine. I think John the Baptist accurately described Christ’s purpose in one sentence: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) The phrase “takes away” comes from the Greek word airo, meaning “to expiate” [atone for, appease, put an end to]. Christ Himself succinctly defined His purpose: “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17)

Romans 6:23 declares that “the wages of sin is death.” I do not know of any Christian who will deny that statement of fact; yet very few believe it! Instead, most believe that the wages of (unrepentant) sin is eternal torment in hell. If that’s the case, then we all might as well live it up, for the debt, according to the Scriptures, is still unpaid. If Christ’s purpose was to take upon Himself the punishment that we deserve, then He would have to be away right now suffering in the eternal flames of hell for us! Of course, this is nonsense.

The apostle Paul saw further ahead to Christ’s glorious purpose: to deliver God’s creation from the bondage of corruption (Romans 8:21), and to reconcile ALL THINGS (not just “saved” things) to Himself (Colossians 1:20). For all things were created through Him, and FOR Him (Colossians 1:16). Now when all things are made subject to Him [the Son], then the Son will also be subject to Him [the Father] who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all (I Corinthians 15:28). The fundamentalist’s teaching of “hell,” which means “eternal separation from God,” clearly contradicts the victorious declaration “that God may be all in all.”

YOUR COMMENT: If there were no punishment for sin, then God himself would be an illegitimate deity, useless, and not worthy to worship. He would be like the parent who lets his children do whatever they want with no consequence, he wouldn’t be respected, he wouldn’t have any control, he would be ineffectual. Yes, God is love, but He is also much more than love. Does any parent that truly loves his children allow them to disobey repeatedly without consequence? Doesn’t a parent discipline his children out of love?

MY RESPONSE: I do not deny that there are consequences for sin. In fact, I already covered it: “The wages of sin is death.” [Not eternal death, not eternal torment, not annihilation, not transmigration into a lower life form, but DEATH!] Psalm 51:5 declares: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” Even innocent babies are under the same law of sin and death that we are under. [For babies die just like we do, don’t they?] It is our sin-nature that separates us from God. “For as in Adam all die…” (I Corinthians 15:22)

One of the most difficult truths for people to accept is the reality that we will all die [Unless we happen to be among that privileged group of individuals who are still alive at the last trump - see I Corinthians 15:51,52]. Orthodox Christianity even denies this truth ["Ye shall not surely die"]. Most want to believe that we will “cross over” into another realm, or that our souls will immediately ascend into heaven (if we are “saved”) at the point of death. But Jesus clearly said that: “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.” (John 3:13)

It is misconceptions such as these that have given birth to other heresies, such as the “age of accountability” doctrine, which was invented to assure the parents of children who die at a young age that they will immediately go to heaven, not hell. The Book of Mormon sets the age of accountability at eight years of age. The Catholic Church puts it at seven years of age. Now where did they come up with that? Nowhere in the Scriptures, I will assure you. But once it is understood that the wages of sin is death, not hell, and once it is understood that all will be made alive in Christ (at the resurrection), then there is no longer any need to believe in a doctrine that cannot be supported by the Scriptures.

“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in their graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation [judgment].” (John 5:28,29) According to Jesus, you will notice that, contrary to orthodox Christian church doctrine, at the time of the resurrection, those who had previously done good were still in their graves, and not in heaven. These will remain dead [asleep] until the time of the resurrection, when “…even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (I Corinthians 15:22) [For a more in-depth look at this subject be sure to read Does Man Have an Immortal Soul? by Ken Eckerty]

The Scriptures declare that we will all be judged by our works, or deeds (I Corinthians 3:13-15; Revelation 20:12,13). The purpose for God’s fiery judgment (for God is a consuming fire – Hebrews 12:29) is to consume the “dead works,” the wood, hay, stubble, etc. Most will suffer tremendous loss, “but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” (I Corinthians 3:15) Like I already pointed out in my “top ten list,” our Loving heavenly Father is no different from any other parent, who only wants the best for His children. Discipline is ALWAYS for the purpose of CORRECTION:

“Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old [mature] he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

“For when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” (Isaiah 26:9)

“These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, and those who complained will learn doctrine.”(Isaiah 29:24)

“When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters return to their former state, then you and your daughters will return to your former state.” (Ezekiel 16:55)

YOUR COMMENT: I’ve read your statement of faith, and your mission statement, I do not wish to judge you, that is not my job, but as a Christian it is my duty to remind you that you WILL be judged! Read Revelations 22:18,19 “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” So in short, it’s one thing to believe the way you do, but you should examine your beliefs, and be careful not to spread false doctrine!

MY RESPONSE: I appreciate your concern for me and for the warning “not to spread false doctrine.” According to my dictionary, the word “false” (as in doctrine) means: not genuine, intentionally untrue, based on mistaken ideas, adjusted or made so as to deceive, etc. I will challenge you to go over what I have just written and see if you can demonstrate whether or not I have “added to” or “taken away” anything from “the words of the book of this prophecy.” I am fully aware of the fact that what I am teaching is contrary to what the majority believes, but that doesn’t necessarily make it untrue. Before we invaded Iraq, the majority of Americans were led to believe that Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat and had massive stockpiles of WMD. Now we know that the truth turned out to be quite different from what we were told.

Perhaps this doctrine that I teach is “based on mistaken ideas.” If so, then I know that God will judge me severely for every idle word spoken. This is why I have been extremely careful to base everything I say according to the Scriptures. In Titus 1:9, the apostle Paul encourages believers to “expose those who contradict.” (Concordant Literal New Testament) Since orthodox Christianity (in my opinion) is full of contradictory thoughts and ideas, it is my contention that they are the ones who teach doctrine that is “based on mistaken ideas.” Perhaps they are really the ones who have adjusted their doctrine to deliberately deceive. Biblical references to “false prophets” and “false teachers” in the last days are too numerous to ignore. Of course, nobody in the established church believes that these warnings are for them. Instead, they point the finger at groups such as Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other so-called “cults.” They attempt to remove the speck from their brother’s eye, but fail to see the beam in their own.

A brief glance at early church history will clearly show that what I am teaching is nothing new. In fact, the majority of the church throughout the first five centuries believed in universal reconciliation. (See The Prevailing Doctrine of the Early Church, by J.W. Hanson, D.D.). Even “Saint” Augustine himself, who was one of the major early proponents of the “eternal torment in hell” doctrine, had to make this candid confession:

“There are very many who though not denying the Holy Scriptures, do not believe in endless torments.”

Unfortunately, the doctrine of universal restitution was officially declared heresy in 553 AD by, get this, the Roman Emperor Justinian. Now, can you imagine the outrage today if George W. Bush were to stand up and make an official declaration of what is and what is not to be believed by the church? And yet, this is exactly what happened 1500 years ago. Don’t take my word for it – look it up yourself. It’s little wonder to me, then, that this imperial decree would give birth to the Dark Ages. And the majority of Christianity still resides in darkness.

“But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23)

“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Isaiah 8:20)

A noted scholar once said that: “Minds are like parachutes; they only function when they are open.” I was highly encouraged by your opening statement concerning my “theory” on hell being one of the best you had ever heard, which indicated to me that you were at least able to see a degree of reasoning and logic (and perhaps a glimmer of truth?) behind my arguments. It is my sincere prayer that you will consider these things with an open mind. And I would like to encourage you to be like the Bereans, and search these things out, to see whether or not they are true (Acts 17:11).

“Test all things, and hold fast what is good.” (I Thessalonians 5:21)

“Be diligent to present yourself approved unto God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed [on the Day of Judgment], rightly dividing the Word of Truth.” (II Timothy 2:15)

May God be with you,

Gary

“In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.” – George Orwell

“The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think.” – Aristotle; Greek philosopher (384 BC – 322 BC)

“We find few historians who have been diligent enough in their search for truth; it is their common method to take on trust what they help distribute to the public; by which means a falsehood once received from a famed writer becomes traditional to posterity.” — John Dryden (1631-1700) English Poet

“In all affairs it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.” — Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) Philosopher, educator

“The key to wisdom is this — constant and frequent questioning … for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.” — Peter Abelard (1099-1142) Source: Sic et non, c. 1120

“It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.” — Giordano Bruno (1548-1599) Source: On Shadows of Ideas

“Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.” – Mark Twain

“The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns … from the herd and thinks for himself.” – Archibald MacLeish

“What luck for the rulers that men do not think.” – Adolph Hitler

(EXCERPTS FROM HELL: BIBLICAL TRUTH OR PAGAN MYTH?)

Jesus made some puzzling remarks while pronouncing judgment upon the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida:

“But I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that Day for Sodom than for that city. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.” (Luke 10:12-14)

Now I don’t know about you, but I have always been under the assumption that the city of Sodom, like its sister city of Gomorrah, were two of the most vile and morally depraved communities that have ever existed. If there were ever a group of people that deserved to be damned for all eternity, then surely these people filled the bill. But Jesus says that their judgment will be “more tolerable” than that of Chorazin and Bethsaida. How can this be? Only one way – that the time of judgment, contrary to the teaching of orthodox Christianity, does not last forever!

“For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight, says the LORD. They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My Name, to pollute it. And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.” (Jeremiah 7:30,31)

The Valley of the Son of Hinnom, or Gehenna, is famous chiefly for the abominable religious practices of the Israelites who there “built the high place of Tophet” to burn their sons and daughters in honor of the pagan god Molech (II Chronicles 28:3, 33:6). Changed into a public refuse dump and permanent place for burning, this accursed place, “the hell of fire where their worm does not die nor their fire go out,” is used figuratively to represent the place of judgment. Smith’s Bible Dictionary tells us that

“An idol of bronze of great size was set up in the valley, facing Olivet, where children were sacrificed in the fire, which seems to have been kindled inside the idol. Josiah abolished the worship, and strewed human bones over the place, making it unclean, and thus prevented the renewal of worship there (see II Kings 23:10). These inhuman practices gave the place a horrible character, and caused its name to be detested and used as a figure for a place of torment.”

So the literal burning of the children of Israel was an abomination to the LORD, one “which He did not command, nor did it enter into His heart!” So if God condemned the actual practice of the burning of their children in a literal fire, then what do you think will happen to those who teach that He will do likewise? Are you now beginning to see what Jesus really meant when He said that the judgment of Sodom, Tyre and Sidon (used to represent worldly, self-seeking people) will be “more tolerable” than that of Chorazin and Bethsaida (representing those who have witnessed the mighty works of God, yet fail to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth)? Many good, church-going people are one day in for a rude awakening, for they will come face to face with the Lamb of God, see Him as He really is, and come to the realization that the Love of God does not seek to fry unrepentant sinners for all eternity. After a lifetime spent of either knowingly or unknowingly misrepresenting the Love of God, “their glory will be turned to shame” (Philippians 3:19), and they will be “tormented in the presence of the Lamb” (Revelation 14:10). I am convinced that this torment, in the presence of a gentle Lamb, will be the anguish they will suffer within their own hearts. Judgment by (a refining) fire will surely come upon the harlot church, and is described in vivid detail in Revelation 18.

“Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:4)

Polybius, the historian, says: “Since the multitude is ever fickle, full of lawless desires, irrational passions and violence, there is no other way to keep them in order but by the fear and terror of the invisible world; on which account our ancestors seem to me to have acted judiciously, when they contrived to bring into the popular belief these notions of the gods, and of the infernal regions.” B. vi 56.

He later goes on to say that “…the quality in which the Roman commonwealth is most distinctly superior is in my opinion the nature of their religious convictions. I believe that it is the very thing which among other peoples is an object of reproach, I mean superstition, which maintains the cohesion of the Roman State. These matters are clothed in such pomp and introduced to such an extent into their public and private life that nothing could exceed it, a fact which will surprise many. My own opinion at least is that they have adopted this course for the sake of the common people.” F. vii 56.

Livy, the celebrated historian, speaks of it in the same spirit; and he praises the wisdom of Numa, because he invented the fear of the gods, as “a most efficacious means of governing an ignorant and barbarous populace.” Hist. I 19.

Dionysius Halicarnassus treats the whole matter as useful, but not true. Antiq. Rom., B. ii

Strabo, the geographer, says: “The multitude are restrained from vice by the punishments the gods are said to inflict upon offenders, and by those terrors and threatenings which certain dreadful words and monstrous forms imprint upon their minds…For it is impossible to govern the crowd of women, and all the common rabble, by philosophical reasoning, and lead them to piety, holiness and virtue – but this must be done by superstition, or the fear of the gods, by means of fables and wonders; for the thunder, the aegis, the trident, the torches (of the Furies), the dragons, &c., are all fables, as is also all the ancient theology. These things the legislators used as scarecrows to terrify the childish multitude.” Geog., B. I

Seneca says: “Those things which make the infernal regions terrible, the darkness, the prison, the river of flaming fire, the judgment seat, etc., are all a fable, with which the poets amuse themselves, and by them agitate us with vain terrors.”

Sextus Empiricus calls them “poetic fables of hell.”

Cicero speaks of them as “silly absurdities and fables” (ineptiis ac fabulis)

Aristotle says: “It has been handed down in mythical form from earliest times to posterity, that there are gods, and that the divine (Deity) compasses all nature. All beside this has been added, after the mythical style, for the purpose of persuading the multitude, and for the interests of the laws, and the advantage of the state.” Neander’s Church Hist., I, p. 7.

Timaeus Locrus, the Pythagorean, after stating that the doctrine of rewards and punishments after death is necessary to society, proceeds as follows: “For as we sometimes cure the body with unwholesome remedies, when such as are most wholesome produce no effect, so we restrain those minds with false relations, which will not be persuaded by the truth. There is a necessity, therefore, of instilling the dread of those foreign torments: as that the soul changes its habitation; that the coward is ignominiously thrust into the body of a woman; the murderer imprisoned within the form of a savage beast; the vain and inconstant changed into birds, and the slothful and ignorant into fishes.”

Before Christ walked upon this earth, pagan philosophies, such as the doctrine of metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls, gradually crept into the Jewish schools. And the Jews incorporated into their ancient faith the dogmas of both the philosophy and theology of Egypt, the very fountain-head from which the doctrine of future endless torments came. But not only did they borrow from the Egyptian, but also from the Oriental and Pythagorean philosophy, in both of which, as well as in the Egyptian, one of the distinguishing features was as a method of retribution after death. Hence, in the account of the blind man restored to sight by Jesus, we have the question: “Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2) This shows plainly that the people thought the man might have been sent into a blind body as a punishment for some sin in a preexistent state; which is an exact copy of the Egyptian and Oriental doctrine. In Matthew 16, we have another trace of the doctrine among the people. In answer to the question of Jesus, “Whom do men say that I, the son of man, am?” the disciples reply, “Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some say Elias; and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets.” They seemed to think the soul of some one of these ancient men of God had returned again to the earth in the body of Jesus, which to them was a satisfactory explanation of the miracles He wrought. Many of the Jewish doctors have believed that the souls of Adam, Abraham, and others, have at different times animated the bodies of the great men of their nation. Indeed, Pythagoras made so much of this dogma, that it was often called specially by his name; and it was almost universally believed by the Oriental nations, and is to this day, especially by the Hindus, the Burmans, the followers of the Grand Lama, and by the Buddhists generally.

Plato, in his commentary on Timaeus, fully endorses what he says respecting the fabulous invention of these foreign torments. And Strabo says that “Plato and the Brahmins of India invented fables concerning the future judgments of hell” (Hades). And Chrysippus blames Plato for attempting to deter men from wrong by frightful stories of future punishments.

Plato himself is exceedingly inconsistent, sometimes adopting, even in his serious discourses, the fables of the poets, and at other times rejecting them as utterly false, and giving too frightful views of the invisible world. Sometimes, he argues, on social grounds, that they are necessary to restrain bad men from wickedness and crime. But then again he protests against them on political grounds, as intimidating the citizens, and making cowards of the soldiers, who, believing these things, are afraid of death, and do not therefore fight well. But all this shows in what light he regarded them; not as truths, certainly, but as fictions, convenient in some cases, but difficult to manage in others.

Plutarch treats the subject in the same way; sometimes arguing for them with great solemnity and earnestness, and on other occasions calling them “fabulous stories, the tales of mothers and nurses.”

Saint Augustine also makes mention of these things in his celebrated book The City of God. Concerning the opinions of Marcus Terentius Varro (116 BC – 27 BC), who was a Roman scholar and writer, and was considered by some to be the greatest of all the Roman scholars, Augustine writes:

“I should be thought to conjecture these things, unless he himself, in another passage, had openly said, in speaking of religious rites, that many things are true which it is not only not useful for the common people to know, but that it is expedient that the people should think otherwise, even though falsely, and therefore the Greeks have shut up the religious ceremonies and mysteries in silence, and within walls. In this he no doubt expresses the policy of the so-called wise men by whom states and peoples are ruled. Yet by this crafty device the malign demons are wonderfully delighted, who possess alike the deceivers and the deceived, and from whose tyranny nothing sets free save the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” B. iv 31

“Varro says also, concerning the generations of the gods, that the people have inclined to the poets rather than to the natural philosophers; and that therefore their forefathers,–that is, the ancient Romans,–believed both in the sex and the generations of the gods, and settled their marriages; which certainly seems to have been done for no other cause except that it was the business of such men as were prudent and wise to deceive the people in matters of religion, and in that very thing not only to worship, but also to imitate the demons, whose greatest lust is to deceive. For just as the demons cannot possess any but those whom they have deceived with guile, so also men in princely office, not indeed being just, but like demons, have persuaded the people in the name of religion to receive as true those things which they themselves knew to be false; in this way, as it were, binding them up more firmly in civil society, so that they might in like manner possess them as subjects.”   B. iv 32

Montesquieu states that “Romulus, Tatius and Numa enslaved the gods to politics, and made religion for the state.”

And Plumptre adds that “It has been, and is, the creed of the great poets whom we accept as the spokesmen of a nation’s thoughts.”

The question with which this section began, “Whence came the doctrine of future endless punishments?” is now, I trust, answered by a sufficient number of witnesses to settle the matter beyond dispute. The heathens themselves confess to the invention of the dogma, and of all the fabulous stories of the infernal regions. And the legislators and sages very frankly state that the whole thing was devised for its supposed utility in governing the gross and ignorant multitude of men and women, who cannot be restrained by the precepts of philosophy.

“How far it may be proper to use falsehood as a medicine, and for the benefit of those who require to be deceived.” — Eusebius, Ecclesiastical historian

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”  — H.L. Mencken, American journalist 1880-1956

“Historians and economists {subsidized by governments} are very good at creating and perpetuating myths that justify increasing the power placed in the hands of government.” — Reuven Brenner, Economist

They have not the slightest faith in these things themselves; they do not think them at all necessary to regulate their own lives, or keep them in order; but it is for the common people, the coarse rabble, who can only in this way be terrified into good behavior. One cannot help noting the resemblance between these wise men and some of our own day, who seem so anxious to maintain the doctrine in the ground that it is necessary to restrain men from sin. But, unfortunately for this theory, the revelations of history, both Pagan and Christian, are in opposition to it.

“Without doubt, the greatest injury of all was done by basing morals on myth. For, sooner or later, myth is recognized for what it is, and disappears. Then morality loses the foundation on which it has been built.” – Lord Herbert Louis Samuel

Has history shown the doctrine of eternal torment to be a successful deterrent to lawlessness? Well, for a nation in which a majority of its citizens claim to believe in both a heaven and a hell, why is it that the United States has the highest crime rate? And not just here in the US, but lawlessness is ever increasing worldwide, where this doctrine is believed by many in one form or another.

In vain does Cicero, speaking of the poets, exclaim against this state of things:

“When the plaudits and acclamation of the people, who sit as infallible judges, are won by the poets, what darkness benights the mind, what fears invade, what passions inflame it!” – The City of God B. ii 14

“But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23)

“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Isaiah 8:20)

I think the facts establish, beyond refutation, these results:

• The belief of future endless torments does not restrain nor prevent men from the indulgence of their criminal passions. Those believing are no better in character or conduct because they believe it. The hell of the Burmans, for example, is as horrible as imagination or invention can make it; and yet they are notoriously corrupt, licentious, bloody-minded – the greatest thieves, liars and cheats in the world!

• The disbelief of endless torments does not make man immoral or wicked; as the character of the Sadducees, whom their enemies even acknowledge to be strictly just and moral, abundantly demonstrates.

I can imagine but one reply to this simple statement of facts: It may be said the comparison is not just, since the Burmans, as well as the Greeks and Romans, are heathen, and the Sadducees had the benefit of revelation, and of the divine law of Moses. But this is yielding the point in debate; for the ground taken is, that a religion without the doctrine in question cannot exert a salutary moral influence; that the belief of this is indispensable as a check on the wicked heart. To say, therefore, that other elements of the law, or of revelation, might have made the Sadducees moral and virtuous, is surrendering the argument, and admitting that this doctrine is not necessary to virtue.

Still, there is no difficulty in meeting the objection on its own ground. The Greeks, Romans, and Burmans are heathen, but the Pharisees are not. They are believers in divine revelation, having all the benefits of the Law of Moses, living side by side with the Sadducees, and subject to the same social influences. The only difference between them is precisely the point in debate – the Pharisees believe the doctrine of future endless punishment, and the Sadducees deny it. Of course the Pharisees ought to be great saints, without spot or blemish; and the Sadducees ought to be great sinners, vile and wicked to the last degree. To the contrary, the Sadducees were not great sinners, but honest, just and moral, by confession of their worst enemies. One half the argument, therefore, falls to the ground at the outset. Now for the other half – were the Pharisees great saints? The Savior will answer to this: “Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites; robbing the widow and fatherless, neglecting justice, mercy and truth; generation of vipers; whited sepulchers, full of corruption and all manner of uncleanness!” This does not look much like being very saintly. So the second half of the argument fares no better than the first half; and both are perfect failures.

Thus, exactly the reverse of what is claimed for the doctrine proves to be the historical fact: those believing it are the great sinners, moral vipers, whited sepulchers; while those disbelieving are not saints perhaps, but vastly better than the sanctimonious hypocrites who charged their doctrine with immoral and dangerous tendencies.

One other thing is worthy of note in this connection, and with this I close the argument. In all his rebukes and denunciations of the wickedness of the men of His age and generation, the Savior never includes the Sadducees. It is always, “Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites;” never Scribes, Sadducees, hypocrites. This is strong presumptive proof of the unimpeachable morality of the Sadducees, and equally positive proof of the preeminent wickedness of the Pharisees.

We now return to the conclusion already stated: The belief of endless punishment does not tighten the bonds of morality, nor lead to a life of virtue; while, on the other hand, the disbelief of it does not loosen the bonds of morality, nor lead to a life of wickedness.

“Do you not know that God’s kindness (or goodness) is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4 – RSV)

It is God’s GOODNESS that leads us to repentance, not the fear of eternal torment!

(A): Though Paul never used the word “hell” anywhere in his epistles, there are several places where warnings of “falling short” of the kingdom of God are given:

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” (I Corinthians 6:9)

“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” ( Galatians 5:19-21)

First of all, it should be understood that Paul is not addressing the heathen in either of these two letters; rather, he is addressing those who claim to be believers:

“To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified (set apart) in Christ Jesus, called to be saints…” (I Corinthians 1:2)

“To the churches of Galatia…” (Galatians 1:2)

Anyone who takes an open-minded and honest look at I Corinthians 15:20-28 will come to see that the apostle Paul clearly understood that it has always been God’s intention to bring all fallen creatures into a right relationship with their Creator:

“…having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him.” (Ephesians 1:9,10)

So Paul cannot be speaking of massively large groups of sinners who will be entirely left out of God’s kingdom; rather, the issue here in which Paul is addressing involves one of inheritance. The word “inherit” which is used in these passages of Scripture comes from the Greek word kleronomeo (Strong’s #G2816) and strictly means “to receive by lot,” and then, in a more general sense, “to possess oneself of, to receive as one’s own, to obtain” [Vine’s Concise Dictionary of Bible Words]. In other words, Paul is speaking of the right, privilege, or possession to which a person is entitled by birth, or a “birthright.” Those who have been predestined (or chosen) to receive the age-enduring promises will inherit God’s kingdom as true sons and joint-heirs via the first resurrection. This is the difficult to find “narrow road” of which Jesus spoke. All others will travel the “wide road” into the kingdom via the second resurrection. [For a more detailed analysis of this, see the articles Hell: Biblical Truth or Pagan Myth? as well as the series of articles on the word Destruction.]

There are multitudes of individuals today who have been “set apart” in Christ, or called, to be saints. However, Christ Himself made it very clear that “many are called, but FEW are chosen.” According to Paul, God’s will for mankind (I Timothy 2:4) is a mystery (Ephesians 1:9) which has been “made known” to but a select few. The majority of the “called,” thanks largely to the misleading doctrines that are prevalent within orthodox Christianity, have had their eyes blinded to these truths by “the god of this age” (II Corinthians 4:4). God’s chosen few will come to recognize the errors within the church system and separate themselves from it. (See II Corinthians 6:14-20; Revelation 18:4,5)

(B): The phrase “These shall be punished with everlasting destruction (without remedy) from the presence of the Lord” (II Thessalonians 1:9 – NKJV) would be more accurately rendered as “age-abiding” (Greek: aionian) punishment, always for the purpose of correction.

PART SIX: THE NUMBER OF MAN

“As [God] is perfect, so His works and His words also must be perfect. And when we see number used not by chance, but by design; not at haphazard, but with significance; then we see not merely so many works and words, but the Living God working and speaking.” - E. W. Bullinger (1837-1913)

In the previous section we showed that man was [and still is being] created on the sixth day, and thus has the number six impressed upon him. And six days are appointed to him for his labor. But the number six tells not only of labor, but also of sorrow, and it specifically marks all that is under the sun:

“Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun? One generation passes away, and another generation comes; but the earth abides forever.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2-4)

Therefore, six is the number, not only of man, but of labor also – of man’s labor as apart and distinct from God’s rest. And six is the number stamped on all that is connected with human labor. We see it stamped upon his measures, which he uses in his labor, and on the time during which he labors. And we see this from the very beginning:

“Corresponding to these measures we have the first division of the natural time-spaces which measure man’s labour and rest – the day, consisting of 24 hours (4×6), divided into the day and night of 12 hours. The multiples and subdivisions are also stamped by the number six: the months being 12, while the hours consist of 60 minutes (6×10), and the minutes of 60 seconds (6×10).” – E. W. Bullinger, Number in Scripture

The remainder of this segment contains some more interesting observations about man’s number – the number six, from E. W. Bullinger’s classic Number in Scripture:

There are three men which stand out in Scripture as the avowed enemies of God and of His people. Each is branded with this number six that we may not miss their significance:

1. GOLIATH, whose height was 6 cubits, and he had 6 pieces of armour; his spear’s head weighed 600 shekels of iron (1 Sam 17:4-7).

2. NEBUCHADNEZZAR, whose “image” which he set up, was 60 cubits high and 6 cubits broad (Dan 3:1), and which was worshipped when the music was heard from 6 specified instruments.

3. ANTICHRIST, whose number is 666.

In the first we have one six connected with the pride of fleshly might.

In the second we have two sixes connected with the pride of absolute dominion.

In the third we have three sixes connected with the pride of Satanic guidance.

So if six is the number of secular or human perfection, then 66 is a more emphatic expression of the same fact, and 666 is the concentrated expression of it; 666 is therefore the trinity of human perfection; the perfection of imperfection; the culmination of human pride in independence of God and opposition to His Christ.

The number 6 was stamped on the old mysteries. But 666 was the secret symbol of the ancient pagan mysteries connected with the worship of the Devil. The great secret symbol consisted of the three letters SSS, because the letter S in the Greek alphabet was the symbol of the figure 6. a = 1, b = 2, g = 3, d = 4, e = 5, but when it came to 6, another letter was introduced! Not the next—the sixth letter (z, zeta)—but a different letter, a peculiar form of S, called “stigma” (V). Now the word stigma (stigma), means a mark, but especially a mark made by a brand as burnt upon slaves, cattle, or soldiers, by their owners or masters; or on devotees who thus branded themselves as belonging to their gods. It is from stizw, stizo, to prick, or brand with a hot iron. Hence it came to be used of scars or wound-prints, and it is thus used by Paul of his scars, which he regarded as the tokens of his sufferings, the marks which he bore on his body for the sake of his Lord and Master, and marking him as belonging to the one who had bought him (Gal 6:17).

It is also remarkable that the Romans did not use all the letters of their alphabet, as did the Hebrews and Greeks. They used only six letters, D, C, L, X, V, and I (the M appears to have been merely two D’s). And it is still more remarkable, and perhaps significant, that the sum of these amounts totals 666:—

The number 666 has another remarkable property. It is further marked as the concentration and essence of 6 by being the sum of all the numbers which makes up the square of six! The square of six is 36 (6², or 6×6), and the sum of the numbers 1 to 36 = 666, i.e., 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12 + 13 + 14 + 15 + 16 + 17 + 18 + 19 + 20 + 21 + 22 + 23 + 24 + 25 + 26 + 27 + 28 + 29 + 30 + 31 + 32 + 33 + 34 + 35 + 36 = 666.

The talents of gold brought to Solomon in a year were also 666 (1 Kings 10:14). But this perfection of money-power was only “vanity and vexation of spirit” (Ecclesiastes 2:8,11; compare I Timothy 6:10).

It’s also worth mentioning that the Assyrian Empire endured for 666 years before it was conquered by Babylon. And Jerusalem was trodden down by the Roman Empire exactly 666 years from the battle of Actium, BC 31, to the Saracen conquest in AD 636.

So while one figure (6) is significant, two figures (66) are still more so; and three figures (666) seem to denote the concentration or essence of the particular number.

THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST

I have several translations of the Bible, and every one of them (save two) says that in Revelation 13:18, the number 666 is the number of a (certain) man.

“Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” (King James Version)

“Here is scope for ingenuity. Let people of shrewd intelligence calculate the number of the Wild Beast; for it indicates a certain man, and his number is 666.” (Weymouth’s New Testament)

So who is this man? There have been many books written about this coming man of sin, the son of perdition (II Thessalonians 2:3). And there are hundreds of thousands of pages on the Internet as well. A couple hundred years ago, there were undoubtedly those who believed Napoleon Bonaparte was the Antichrist. And those who lived through the horrors of WWII must have thought the same of Adolph Hitler. During the course of my own life, I have heard everything from King Juan Carlos of Spain to former president Ronald Wilson Reagan (each of his 3 names contains 6 letters = 666) to Mikhail Gorbachev. One theory pinpoints Prince Charles as the future leader, or Antichrist, of the New World Order. And I have also had some emails forwarded to me which “prove” that Barack Obama is the Antichrist. Will it ever end?

It is not my intention to further speculate as to the identity of this man. More than enough has already been written. And most everything that has been written has been wrong. But it is my intention to reveal an aspect of this prophecy that most miss, largely because they have their eyes fixed upon the outward things, and fail to look inwardly. Most prophecy teachers focus either upon the past or the future, and fail to understand “that they themselves are beasts.” (Ecclesiastes 3:18).

IS, WAS, AND IS TO COME

If you were to do a little research, you would find that almost every opinion about this “man of sin” falls into one of the three following categories:

PRETERISM: Preterism is a Latin word meaning past, and teaches that most, if not all of Biblical prophecy, has already been fulfilled. Preterists teach that the Book of Revelation is primarily a prophecy about the Roman war against the Jews in Israel, a war that began in 67 AD and ended with the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. Preterists are unanimous in their opinion that Nero, who ruled the Roman Empire from 54-68 AD, was the Antichrist. Because the Roman emperors were worshiped as gods, there was a rumor circulating about that he would be restored to life, even well after his death, and that he would rule once again (see Revelation 13:3).

PREMILLENNIALISM: Premillennialists believe that Christ will return at the end of the Church Age and establish a literal 1,000-year kingdom on earth. According to this view, which has had an enormous amount of exposure thanks to the popular Left Behind series, the coming of this world leader, the Antichrist, is yet future.

AMILLENNIALISM: This system, endorsed by St. Augustine in the 4^th century, interprets the 1,000-year Millennium to be the Church Age. But since well over 1,000 years has passed since the Holy Roman Catholic Church was first established, church officials have had to adjust their belief that the 1,000 year kingdom is symbolic of a much longer period of time. They also believe that Christ’s work on the cross has bound Satan (Revelation 20:2) where believers are concerned, even though the spirit of antichrist remains in this world, even to this very day (I John 2:22; II John 7).

So, which of these views is correct? Well, none of them are entirely correct. However, there are truthful aspects of each. But what most Christians don’t know (because the church does not teach this fundamental truth), is that The Revelation of Jesus Christ (who IS, who WAS, and who IS TO COME – v. 1:4), and most all prophecy in general, is written on THREE levels: the PAST, the PRESENT, and the FUTURE:

“Write the things which you have seen [the past], and the things which are [the present], and the things which will take place after this [the future].” (Revelation 1:19)

“That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

Ecclesiastes tells us that history always repeats itself. A good example of this can be seen in Daniel 11:21-31, which describes one of the more wicked kings of that day, Antiochus IV. He is the one Daniel says, “shall pollute the sanctuary, take away the daily sacrifice, and place the abomination that maketh desolate” (v. 31). The Dictionary of Bible and Religion (p. 54) tells us:

Out of the power struggle, Antiochus IV came to the throne, announcing himself as the manifestation of Olympian Zeus and taking the title Epiphanes [Greek for: "God manifests"]. In order to unify the kingdom behind him, he insisted that all subject peoples honor him alone as divine. The Jews were forbidden to practice circumcision or to offer the sacrifices required by their law, but were to pay him divine honors at an altar he ordered erected in the Temple at Jerusalem. This was viewed by Jews as the “abomination of desolation” mentioned in Daniel.

And in 168 BC, Antiochus IV further desecrated the Temple by sacrificing a swine (an unclean animal by the Law of Moses) upon the holy altar. These unspeakable acts led to the Maccabean revolt, and Jerusalem’s independence was eventually won. [For the historical record of these events, see the apocryphal books I & II Maccabees.] The Temple was cleansed in 164 BC, and is celebrated in the Feast of Hanukkah.

So did Antiochus Epiphanes fulfill the prophetic requirements of Daniel 11:21-31? Absolutely! In 168 BC, Antiochus IV stood in the Temple in Jerusalem and claimed to be God. And it appears as though even the apostle Paul alluded to this historical fact:

“Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” (II Thessalonians 2:4)

But the comparisons did not end there, for the historian Josephus recorded similar types of events, which led to the Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire:

“NOW Caius Caesar did so grossly abuse the fortune he had arrived at, as to take himself to be a god, and to desire to be so called also, and to cut off those of the greatest nobility out of his country. He also extended his impiety as far as the Jews. Accordingly, he sent Petronius with an army to Jerusalem, to place his statues in the temple, and commanded him that, in case the Jews would not admit of them, he should slay those that opposed it, and carry all the rest of the nation into captivity.” – War of the Jews, II, 10:1

“Now on the next day, which was the seventh day of the week, when the Jews were crowding apace to their synagogue, a certain man of Caesarea, of a seditious temper, got an earthen vessel, and set it with the bottom upward, at the entrance of that synagogue, and sacrificed birds. This thing provoked the Jews to an incurable degree, because their laws were affronted, and the place was polluted.” – War of the Jews, II, 14:5

These examples show us how history repeats. When Jesus spoke to His disciples on the Mount of Olives concerning the end of days, He referred to Daniel’s prophecy, not as a past event, but as a yet-to-be-fulfilled future event (see Matthew 24:15-28). The preterist camp believes that all of these things were fulfilled with the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 AD. And the prophecies spoken by our Lord concerning the Jewish Temple (Matthew 24:2; Luke 19:41-44) were indeed fulfilled at that time. But those who were still alive in 70 AD and had to endure the tribulation of the Roman war against the Jews, those who were closest to our Lord, and who recalled the things Jesus had told them, must have believed that the end of days was indeed at hand. For Jesus Himself had told them:

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Matthew 24:29,30)

But Jesus did NOT return “immediately after the tribulation of THOSE days” to establish His kingdom upon the earth. Instead, another prophecy was fulfilled:

“And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, … and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.” (Deuteronomy 28:68)

This prophecy was written nearly 1500 years before it was fulfilled. Those Jews who survived the siege and destruction of Jerusalem were taken aboard Roman ships back to Egypt, where the slave market was overly saturated for years.

So since Jesus did not return at that time, premillennialist prophecy teachers believe that a future world ruler known as the Antichrist shall also stand in a future rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem, claiming to be God. One was, and one is to come. But what about the “IS” part of this prophecy? How does this prophecy apply to us? Before we address this, a bit of irony:

Many religious Jews today believe that before their long-awaited Messiah can come, the physical Jewish Temple in Jerusalem must be restored. And most Jews have rejected the notion that Jesus is the Messiah. And many Christian prophecy teachers believe that an impostor (the Antichrist) will sit in this Temple and deceive the nation of Israel into thinking that he is their messiah. And yet, Christians here in the United States are encouraged to support the nation of Israel in their endeavor to rebuild this temple. So what’s wrong with this picture? Are Christians unwittingly supporting the rise of the Antichrist? Hmmm…

We have seen how many of the physical symbols in the Bible (the letter of the Word) are indicative of spiritual things. But because most have their eyes set upon worldly things, they are not able to see it. And inaccurate Bible translations don’t help much, either. Here are two that are (here in Revelation 13:18) better than most:

“Here is wisdom. Let him who has a mind calculate the number of the wild beast, for it is the number of mankind, and its number is six hundred sixty six.” (Concordant Literal New Testament)

“This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.” (New International Version)

Those who have been given wisdom need not concern themselves (other than for educational purposes) with past events (Philippians 3:12-14), nor do they need to worry about future events (Matthew 6:25-34). Christ’s elect must focus their attention upon the here and now, for their time is at hand (Revelation 1:3). So how does this prophecy apply to us? In a footnote to Revelation 13:18, the New Living Translation tells us that the statement “the number of a man” can also read: “the number of humanity.” So with this in mind, let us attempt to calculate the number of the beast. Exactly who is this beast that sits in the temple of God? You might be surprised:

“I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.” (Ecclesiastes 3:18)

“I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You.” (Psalm 73:22)

“Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight?” (Job 18:3)

God’s Spirit no longer dwells in buildings made of stone. The heart is the new temple of the living God (I Corinthians 6:19; II Corinthians 6:16), and we [speaking of humanity in general] are the beast!

THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST

God told us way back in Genesis that His plan was to create man in His image. And this process began with Adam and Eve. But Christianity teaches that mankind was already perfectly created in the image of God; that is, until we fell from grace. And why do they believe this? There are many reasons, including poor Bible translation, false teaching, and a failure to “study to show themselves approved.” But the number one reason, of course, is because the god of this present wicked age, in complete accordance with God’s will, has blinded their eyes from the Truth. For instance, Kenneth Copeland has said that when Adam was first created, he was so shining, so glorious, so spiritual, so GOD-like, that one could not even see his body for the glorious radiance of his spirituality. Oh really? Is this what we learned about “nakedness” in part three? Mankind is NAKED, although he “… knoweth not that he is wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and NAKED” (Revelation 3:17). And because man is not cognizant of his own condition, he proudly tends to boast of his “own” accomplishments, just as Nebuchadnezzar did (see Daniel 4).

“And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast?” (Revelation 13:4)

And man fails to glorify our sovereign LORD (who has already declared the end from the beginning – Isaiah 46:10) for the things HE has done. For example, Christians often talk about the grace of God as if they really believe they are saved by God’s grace. But in reality, they do not believe that anyone is saved by God’s grace. Instead, they believe that is it their (free will) CHOICE for Jesus that saves them. According to Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary, the word “choice” is briefly defined as “the act of choosing, selection.” In other words, they believe that their act, work, or deed of “choosing Christ,” usually via some form of a “sinner’s prayer” is what saves them. But Paul disagreed. It is NOT of ourselves. God’s free gift was given even BEFORE the world began. (see Ephesians 2:9; II Timothy 1:9).

“Their land is also full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.” (Isaiah 2:8)

“And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 13:8)

God is creating man in His image. This is an established Scriptural fact. But although:

“… they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.” (Romans 1:21-23; New Revised Standard Version)

And how have sinful men exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal being? One way is by claiming that God is triune, consisting of three PERSONS. What did the second commandment say?

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” (Exodus 20:4)

Our Israeli fathers held such a fearful reverence for their LORD that they would not even use vowels in an attempt to spell out His name, referring to Him only as YHWH. And it was considered blasphemy to even utter His holy name as well. Even today, religious Jews print the words “G-d” and “L-rd” without the vowels for fear that this would be an attempt to pronounce His holy name. But Christian theologians have blatantly violated the second commandment by creating God in the likeness of sinful men, referring to Him as three persons. And the beast (man) worships this image that he has created. But it doesn’t end there. For now that this false image of God has been established in the hearts and minds of believers, another image has been created as well: one of the triune man, consisting of a body, an immortal soul, and a spirit. And they worship the image of this beast as well, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God, capable of making free will choices. But man does not consist of a body, an immortal soul, and a spirit. Read Genesis 2:7 again. What does it tell us?

“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

Lifeless body + God’s precious breath of life = living soul. So what happens when God removes His precious breath of life from the body? The soul DIES (Ecclesiastes 12:7; Ezekiel 18:4).

Once again, the Scripture plainly tells us:

“For the creature [that's us] was made subject to vanity [we were created this way], not willingly [we did not of our own 'free will' rebel against God's will], but by reason of Him [according to His plan] who hath subjected the same in hope.” (Romans 8:20 – KJV)

According to Strong’s Concordance, the Greek word for vanity (#3153) in a figurative sense denotes transientness. Funk & Wagnalls New Practical Standard Dictionary offers this description of the word transient:

“A thing is transient which in fact is not lasting; a thing is transitory which by its very nature must soon pass away; a thing is temporary which is intended to last or be made use of but a little while…” (Vol. 2, p. 1385)

These physical, fleshly bodies of ours are temporary vessels, wherein “dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18). In earlier installments, it was made perfectly clear that our first parents were not created as perfect beings. The symbolism of the number six itself even bears this out:

“The number six represents what falls short of the number of completeness, seven.” – The New Oxford Annotated Bible, Oxford University Press, 2001, Third Edition (footnote to Revelation 13:18)

The creature was made (and is still being made) subject to vanity. The creature (once again, that’s us) is in a transition process. We are being made (an ongoing process) in the image of God. And that image will not be completed until we are clothed with brand new, incorruptible spiritual bodies (see I Corinthians 15:35-57). Jeremiah speaks of this as well:

“And the vessel that he made of clay [the physical man] was marred [by design] in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel [the spiritual man], as seemed good to the potter to make it.” (Jeremiah 18:4)

In a MySpace.com discussion group one day, a fundamental Christian told me I was taking this verse out of context, and that the “vessel” is really talking about the nation of Israel (v. 6). And the reason he believed this, of course, is because he, like most all Christians, have not been taught how to compare spiritual with spiritual. So let’s see what the Scriptures reveal when we put these foundational principles into play:

“Nay but, O MAN, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” (Romans 9:20,21)

Six is the number of man, the number of imperfection. Seven is the number, not only of perfection, but of completion as well. Shouldn’t this tell us something?