HELL: BIBLICAL TRUTH OR PAGAN MYTH?

    "I am aware that when even the brightest mind in our world has been trained up from childhood in a superstition of any kind, it will never be possible for that mind, in its maturity, to examine sincerely, dispassionately, and conscientiously any evidence or any circumstance which shall seem to cast a doubt upon the validity of that superstition." - Mark Twain

    "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 11th 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, 10th 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 torturing His 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 the American 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 OF the 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 YOU do 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 everlasting signify. 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 that everyone 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)

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