Let me share a conversation I had with a friend about Hell:

Me: ‘There is no hell or lake of fire and I believe that everyone goes to heaven’

Friend: ‘That’s a heresy. Jesus came to save us from hell. All unbelievers will go to the lake of fire to be burnt forever’

Me: ‘What are you doing about saving those people?’

Friend: ‘I go to Church every Sunday and give $20 a month to Gospel ministries.’

Me: ‘But didn’t Jesus tell His disciples to sell all their possessions, give up their jobs and their lives to preach to the lost? If you really believe in hell then why aren’t you doing that? Why aren’t you giving up everything to save people from hell?’

Friend: ‘But hell is a real place because God cannot tolerate sin!’

Me: ‘Didn’t Jesus say in Matthew 5 that if a person did not cut his eye or hand that sinned, then he would be thrown into hell? I don’t think Christians really believe in hell otherwise we would have seen a lot of people without arms and eyes, including myself!’

Friend: ‘Jesus did not really mean all of that’

Me: ‘Exactly, this proves that hell does not exist!’

Friend: ‘Let’s talk about something else. Did you watch the game last night?’

You see the truth that not even Christians really believe in this atrocious doctrine of hell because actions speak louder than words. The theologies of hell, eternal conscious torment and annihilation are immoral doctrines. For 2,000 years, the Church has preached that Christians will go to heaven but that everyone else will be tormented forever in a burning hell. But does this make any moral sense? How can we say that ‘God is Love’ and yet turn around and say that He will burn people if they don’t love Him back? If we ask Christians whether they would personally burn any unbelievers, then they would never do that. Then are we saying that we are more loving and moral than the God we worship?

This inconsistency is incredibly astounding and we must address this issue. We are preaching an immoral and horrifying God who is sending 70% of the world, including billions of people to a burning hell just because they did not believe in Jesus! The punishment is infinitely greater than the unbelief or any finite crime committed by man. No man however bad, deserves infinite punishment! Even the government authorities of the world show greater mercy to criminals.

Some Christians say that man voluntarily chooses to go to hell by his own unbelief. But does a loving God allow His own creation to freely choose such a horrific destiny? God’s thoughts are much higher and gracious than ours! He’s a loving Dad and not a cruel psychopath who allows people to burn forever.†Jesus was the One who ate & drank with sinners, forgave the adulterer and those who crucified Him.

Isaiah 42:3 ‘He won’t break a bruised reed.†He won’t quench a dimly burning wick.†He will faithfully bring justice.’

He is so tender in His love that He did not even break a bruised reed on the floor. How can this loving God send anyone to hell! This hell is religion’s lie but LOVE is Daddy’s truth!†If someone burns people, you would call him a crazed murderer but if God does it then religion calls him “a just God”. The true God is our Daddy who keeps no record of wrongs -†His love is justice!

The doctrine of hell produces more atheists than God’s love produces believers. God does not murder anyone through annihilation or torture anyone in hell.†Christians believe in a bipolar God who is peaceful like Jesus in turning the other cheek and yet turns around to kill millions like Hitler.†God’s true nature was not displayed in Sodom’s fire or on Mt. Sinai when 3,000 Jews died but it was revealed in†Jesus who forgave, loved, laughed & cried with compassion – He did not kill anyone but loved His enemies.†Jesus told the Jews to be as perfectly compassionate as God by loving their enemies, but Christianity believes that this same God burns His enemies forever. Any sane human being will declare that the burning of others is inhumane and horrific. The truth is that even atheists are more compassionate than the hell-fire “God” portrayed by Christianity and other religions. Christians will never send their unbelieving children to hell. Then how will our infinitely loving God do that? It’s impossible!

Therefore we must renounce this false teaching of hell – that has made Christianity immoral and unbelievable. Every religion on earth believes in this system of Law where the righteous people are rewarded and the wicked are punished based on their unique definition of faith. Isn’t traditional Christianity also similar to such an ‘Old Covenant’ mentality, if we believe in this message of “Heaven or Hell”? These ideas of eternal punishment were introduced into the Church from the Roman pagan culture and the religion of Zoroastrianism more than 1000 years ago.

What is the truth about the hell?†In the creation account of Genesis, God only created the heaven and earth but there is no mention of any hell. God never told Adam that he would be condemned to a burning place called hell. The curse fell upon Adam’s land and His punishment was spiritual death that was imputed by the Law that came 1000s of years later. Man was under judgment – and we see the flood, Sodom’s fire and Egypt’s drowning in the Red Sea as examples. When the Law came, Israel was blessed if they obeyed but judged if they disobeyed. We see no mention of any place called Hell in the entire Old Testament! We first see it when Christ makes the judgment on the Pharisees.

Matthew 23:29,33-36 ‘Woe to you, scribes and†Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous †You serpents, you offspring of vipers,†how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna (Hell)? Therefore behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city;†that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar.†Most certainly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.’

The judgment of hell was only pronounced on a single generation of the Pharisees and those Jews who trusted in the law. It has nothing to do with anyone post-70AD. The judgment of hell was only for those Jews who were under the old covenant (ten commandments) as Christ preached in the Sermon on the Mount telling them to have a righteousness that exceeded the superficial holiness of the Pharisees otherwise they would perish in Gehenna or Hell.

Matthew 5:21-23, 27-30 ‘You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ëYou shall not murder;’ and ‘Whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’†But I tell you, that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of the judgment; and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ will be in danger of the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna …’You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’†but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna. If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.’

Today Christians believe in hell but yet they will not obey the very words of Christ. They will not cut off their eye or hand that sins, and will definitely not stop getting angry at their fellow human being. This is the clear proof that we don’t really believe in hell at the core of our hearts. If Christians really believed in hell then they would take the words of Christ seriously. This is why Christians do not obey Christ in selling all their possessions (Luke 12:32-33, Luke 14:25-33). The truth is that Jesus did not command these things to us. We don’t have to sell everything and cut off our body parts because we’re not the Jews who lived under the law.†The truth is that this hell was the judgment of 70AD when Jerusalem was destroyed and it has nothing to do with anyone today.

How do we know this? It’s because Jesus spoke about this Hell or Gehenna as a physical place where bodies perished. This Gehenna was known as the valley of Ben Hinnom in the Old Testament that constantly burned with the Jews’ sacrifices to the false gods. When the Jews worshipped these false gods, God’s judgment came upon them through the Babylonians who destroyed Jerusalem with fire so that it was burning like the valley of Hinnom (Jeremiah 7:30-34). History was about to repeat itself because the judgment was coming upon Jerusalem when it would become like a burning Hell (Gehenna) in 70AD. Therefore Jesus spoke about escaping the hell-fire of Jerusalem even if they lost a limb instead of perishing in the city.

Mark 9:43-44 ‘If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire, where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’

Entering the kingdom was about physically escaping this burning place called hell. We see that Christ actually quoted the scriptures from the Old Testament that spoke about the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple where the dead bodies would burn in the fire and be visible to those who were alive.

Isaiah 66:6,15-16,24 NIV ‘Hear that uproar†from the city, hear that noise from the temple!†It is the sound of the Lord repaying his enemies all they deserve ‘See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For with fire and with his sword the Lord will execute judgment on all people, and many will be those slain by the Lord’ †And they will go out and look on the dead bodies†of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.’

Therefore this hell was the burning of Jerusalem and itís Temple and not a spiritual bonfire. The lake of fire was the burning of the land of Israel that eradicated and removed the Old Covenant. It was not a spiritual place! But what about all those evil people who could not be saved and were cast out into the darkness?

Revelation 22:14-15 ‘Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.’

When you carefully read the passage above, many people think that it talks about the sinners today who are burning in hell. The scripture tells us that the dogs are condemned. But what about the cats? I hope you’re seeing that this is not a literal description of criminals in general. It’s symbolic language that is talking about the Pharisees and teachers of the law. Paul called the circumcision group as the dogs (Philippians 3:2). He also called the Jews who trusted in the law as adulterers (Romans 7:1-3, 2nd Corinthians 11:1-3). They were also called murderers, idolaters and lovers of money that was the root of evil (John 8:44, John 3:19, Luke 16:33-34, 1st Timothy 6:10).

What happened in 70AD was the ultimate reversal and the turning of the tables. Under the law, the Pharisees condemned the prostitutes, tax collectors, adulterers and murderers. But Jesus told them that the first would be last and the last would be first (Luke 13:29-31).

Matthew 21:23,31-32 ‘Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.’

In the end, the teachers of the law were the ones who were judged as the dogs, murderers and adulterers in 70AD. But the actual ‘sinners’ were the ones who trusted in Christ and they entered the kingdom in 70AD by escaping the destruction of Jerusalem.

This judgment of the lake of fire was prophesied in the Old Testament that would happen in the later generations of Israel. It was the same burning sulfur that fell upon the land of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24, Jude 1:7, Matthew 25:41, Revelation 20:10).

Deuteronomy 29:22-24 ‘Your children who follow you in later generations†and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it.†The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it.†It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, which the Lord overthrew in fierce anger. All the nations will ask: ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?’

The Old Covenant Israel perished in the fire in their land. It was their last days and final generation that would never come back because the Law came to an end never to appear again.

Eternal life is God’s presence with us

Most people think that eternal life is heaven and that eternal death is hell. But thatís not the truth because God never told Adam that he would go to heaven or hell. From the Bible, we see that the eternal fire was about a physical judgment that ended a specific generation or covenant.

In Jude 1, it says that the eternal fire would be likened to the judgment of Sodom. The question we ask is whether Sodom is still burning today? Not at all! Sodom was burnt down and that generation came to an end with no more descendants. It was a physical judgment.†In the case of the Jews, the eternal death described the destruction of the old covenant system when Jerusalem was destroyed in 70AD.

The Bible also tells us that the final judgment would be similar to the flood of Noah (Matthew 24:36-39). The flood was a physical judgment that completely eradicated a certain generation. Only Noah and his family of 8 people were saved (1st Peter 3:20). It was not about heaven or hell. It was about the continuation of descendants and generations on the earth. During the time of Noah, the entire world was filled with violence. After the flood, such violence will never be repeated. Jesus also said that the 2nd coming was similar to the fire of Sodom when Lot escaped the fire (Luke 17:28-29). In that judgment, the city of Sodom was destroyed and the violence and injustice perpetrated by the Sodomites was never repeated again. Lot escaped and his descendants lived on the earth but the Sodomites perished to never inhabit the planet again.

In the same way, the final judgment of the 2nd coming of Christ in 70AD was not about some mythical place called hell. It was about the eternal end of the old covenant and all who trusted in that system. The Jews, their Temple and priesthood came to an end so that the old covenant and ministry of condemnation would never be repeated. Those who perished in 70AD were the sinners under the law. After 70AD, God made a new covenant so that there is no more law and there are no more sinners. But now all of humanity is righteous in the new covenant from generation to generation on this earth forever and ever because God’s Spirit is with us.

Isaiah 59:21 NIV ‘As for me, this is my covenant with them,’ says the Lord. ‘My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants from this time on and forever,’ says the Lord.’

Those who escaped the judgment of Jerusalem in 70AD received eternal life. Their children and generations continued to live on this earth! This is the world we live in after the judgment of 70AD. This is the eternal life – a world without end! The Lord is with us forever in this life and also after death because the Judgment Day is over. There is no more separation from God and therefore no more tears of judgment, but only everlasting joy (Revelation 21:3-5). Life is not perfect and we will face problems, but God is telling the world that there is no more judgment and that we live in this New Covenant where His love for us never ends (Isaiah 54:7-10). The Judgment Day in 70AD was brief, final and unrepeatable, but His love endures forever. The New Covenant has included ALL people in God’s love and the gift of Righteousness in Christ.

John 17:3 ‘Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.’

Eternal life is in Christ, and He lives in you.†Eternal life is to know God as Daddy who loves you and will never judge you.

Revelation 21:1-3 ‘I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more. I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem,†coming down out of heaven†from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, ‘Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God’

In this new covenant system, it’s not about going to heaven or hell because the separation between man and God has ended. Under the old covenant, God’s presence was in heaven and man was on the earth separated by the law that exposed his sins. But now thanks to Jesus Christ in 70AD, God’s presence has come to the earth and He is living with all of humanity. Eternal life is to be with God both in this life and beyond. It is to know God as Daddy, and every human being will know the truth either in this life or after death.

From my book “Relaxing in Daddy’s love”
-Mathew Simon

Mathew Simon†is here to share with you the Glorious Grace of God through Jesus Christ. He hopes that you can know Him and/or grow in His Grace through the Bible-based postings on his blog GoodNews4You. Author of: “Accepted in the Father’s Love”, “Relaxing in Daddy’s Love” & “Tasting Health & Healing in Daddy’s Love”

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(The burning sulfur and brimstone)

Revelation 14:10
he will indeed drink the wine of Godís fury poured undiluted into the cup of his rage. He will be tormented by fire and†sulfur.

Revelation 20:10
The Adversary who had deceived them was hurled into the lake of fire and†sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Many read the above verses of the lake of fire and assume it is about a spiritual fire. Forgetting that the Book of Revelation is written in Symbolic (Figurative) manner and an obsolete language.

This lake of fire is made of burning sulphur. We need to also note that Sulphur is n EARTHLY ELEMENT, and it is not spiritual. Elements do not exist in the spirit realm.

This fire is not spiritual or neither is it the ‘burning love of God’. It is not. Fire is not a symbol of God’s love. Fire symbol for ‘judgment or destruction’…

Fire is used figuratively to represent God’s anger. The lake of fire is made of burning sulfur and brimstone. Take note; This same fire is what God rained on the city of Sodom…

Genesis 19:24; Then†Adonai†caused sulfur and fire to rain down upon Sodom and Gomorrah from Adonai out of the sky. (CJB)

Deuteronomy 29:22 and that the whole land has become burning sulfur and salt, that it isn’t being sown or bearing crops or even producing grass like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Tzvoyim, which Adonai overthrew in his furious anger.

This fire was a phyiscal fire that destroyed and made the land of Sodom desolate.†Deuteronomy says the whole land became a burning sulphur. That is, it became a ‘Lake of fire’.

When the book of Revelation talks about the lake of fire, it was relating to the desolation of Jerusalem by fire.

Jerusalem is described figuratively as Sodom and also as Babylon (1 Peter 5:13).

In the same breath, the fire that razed down or desolated the whole city is described as the Lake of fire.

Revelation 11:8; And their dead bodies†shall lie†in the street of the great city, which figuratively is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

The lord Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem. And those people’s body shall lie on the STREETS where Jesus was crucified.†Just as it is written, no prophet can die outside Jerusalem (Luke 13:33)†.

Did you know that the same lake of Fire is called the ‘Eternal fire’?

Jude 1:7 Even as†Sodom†and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of ETERNAL FIRE.

This means the cities were burnt physically into ashes. The land did not become productive anymore.

Is the city of sodom burning ‘forever and ever’ in fire? No. The city was burnt into ashes.

2 Peter 2:6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah INTO ASHES condemned†them†with an overthrow

Jerusalem was going to suffer the same fate that Sodom had.

And this fire is called ‘Gehenae’ (the English translation call it hell).†Jesus warned the Jews they were going to suffer the same fate like Sodom.

Luke 17:24-32;†For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one†part†under heaven, shineth unto the other†part†under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of THIS GENERATION. And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained FIRE AND BRIMSTONE from heaven, and destroyed†them†all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.

Remember Lot’s wife.

Luke 10:12-15†But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell.

Can a city or town be thrown in Hell? Yes it can. Because the ‘hell’ is not spiritual but a physical fire.

The fire that destroyed and made Jerusalem desolate (Matthew 23:26-39) is called the Lake of fire.

It happen to that generation that rejected the LORD JESUS CHRIST.†Let us read Jesus definite words to the women at his crucifixion.

Luke 23;28-31†But Jesus turning unto them said,†Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.†For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed†are†the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? Why would Jesus speak in such a tone to the women if they were not going to suffer for their rejection?

It was not God’s punishment, but it was a self-inflicted punishment they brought on themselves when they made war with the Romans.

This would make Jesus a liar if his words were not to come to pass in that generation.†But Christ was right. Read what is written here:

Revelation 6:16-17†And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? (The exact quote of Luke 23:30) .

And this happened in AD70.

The lake of fire is not God’s burning love. It is not also spiritual. It was the fire that razed down Jerusalem and their temple into ashes.†In the old testament this fire is also called the ‘consuming fire’.(Exo 24:17; Deut 4:24; 9:3; Isaiah 30:30; 33:14; Psalm 18:8).

This term is used in Hebrews 12:29. Because this fire is to remove that which can be shaken (i.e. the Temple), to make room for the permanent (our Body).†It was done by the hands of Romans. To which the writers ascribed it as though was the ‘work of God’.

Hebrews 12:28-27†At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven.’ The expression ‘once more’ signifies the removal of what can be shaken, that is, what he has made, so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

‘Heaven and earth’ represent their Temple. Just as Jesus said ‘Heaven and earth’ would pass away.

Israel did not exist as a nation after this desolation. Their culture, identity and nation was lost. Desolate! (Matthew 23:36-39).

This event is what is term as the ‘Wrath of God or God’s anger or fury’, it was self inflicted by the Jews themselves.

. . Be at peace, the lake of fire is not spiritual, it is in your past. Ignore all this religious talks of a burning place somewhere in the spiritual realm. . It is time to love all men, like Christ loves us

Jesus reigns!

JF

Jonathan A. Forgor is a dedicated husband and father who spends most of his time with his family. He likes to participate in evangelism and other social activities that champion the welfare of man. He is a graduate of University for Development Studies with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Technology. He is currently a teacher of Math and Science at Faith-Hill Community School LTD and is a blogger at enjoyroyalty.wordpress.com. He is very passionate about the gospel and focuses on the historical study of scriptures to bring liberation to men.

You don’t have to gnash your teeth at God
nor be afraid of your soul’s destiny.
Just call the Hellbusters hotline!

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“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of FIRE and BRIMSTONE, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire . (Revelation 20:10; 14-15)

If you have been a follower of my articles, you would notice I have explain some of the terms in the verses above.

The devil is the High priest, the beast are the Jewish zealots and false prophets are the Pharisees and death and Hades (Hell) was the Law (the old covenant).

They were cast into the lake of FIRE and BRIMSTONE. I want to explain what this fire is. It is this fire Jude says we should ìsnatch them fromî (Jude 1:23).

This fire is also known as the eternal fire. This fire was the FIRE of A.D. 70 that razed down the whole of Jerusalem.

Do you know this FIRE and BRIMSTONE is the same as the Burning Sulfur.

It was this FIRE and BRIMSTONE which was rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis.

Genesis 19:24KJV
Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven.

Other translation says:

Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrahñfrom the LORD out of the heavens. (NIV)

Jude calls this fire and brimstone as Eternal fire.

Jude 1:7
Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of ETERNAL FIRE.

Is the land of Sodom and Gomorrah still burning? Is it?

It is the same fire that destroyed Edom.

Isaiah 34:8-10

For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for Zion’s cause. Edom’s STREAMS will be turned into BURNING SULFUR, and its dust into sulfur; its land will become pitch. It will burn NIGTH AND DAY, and will NEVER be extinguished. Its smoke will rise from generation to generation, and it will lie desolate FOREVER AND EVER. And no one will pass through it.

(A stream is a body of water with current would be burned into a burning sulfur.)

Tell me, Is Edom also burning?
Is it burning night and day?
From generation to generation?

This was the same fire Isaiah spoke of here:

And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will NOT be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind. (Isaiah 66:24)

This was in relation to the destruction of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah also speaks of his same fire:

Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: My ANGER and my WRATH will be poured out on THIS PLACE on man and BEAST, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land and IT WILL BURN AND NOT BE QUENCHED. (Jeremiah 7:20).

Which place and people was Jeremiah speaking about?

Jesus answered this in Mathew 23, 24, 25 and from his parables.

When the Bible says ETERNAL fire or Fire that CANNOT be quenched like the lake of fire, it means the FIRE will burn until it has accomplish its job. It is a metaphor.

This lake of Fire is the same fire that completely razed down the whole city and Temple of JERUSALEM into ashes.

And the bodies of over 1 million Jews, eaten by worms all over the land. No stone was left on another.

When God wanted to destroy the prince of Magog. He rained down fire and brimestone on them. (Ezekiel 38:2-3)

And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every manís sword shall be against his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will RAIN upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, FIRE, and BRIMESTONE. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that Iam the LORD. (Ezekiel 38:21-23)

Is the fire still burning?

Can anyone imply that this fire to be a spiritual fire? So why does anyone think what is written in Revelation is any different?

This is not a spiritual fire, it was a literal fire that occurred in AD70. The lake of fire is not in your future. Relax and enjoy!

Jesus reigns!
JF

Jonathan A. Forgor is a dedicated husband and father who spends most of his time with his family. He likes to participate in evangelism and other social activities that champion the welfare of man. He is a graduate of University for Development Studies with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Technology. He is currently a teacher of Math and Science at Faith-Hill Community School LTD and is a blogger at enjoyroyalty.wordpress.com. He is very passionate about the gospel and focuses on the historical study of scriptures to bring liberation to men.

You don’t have to gnash your teeth at God
nor be afraid of your soul’s destiny.
Just call the Hellbusters hotline!

Social Links

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Real, NATURAL flames in a SPIRITUAL place of unending fiery torment?

Could anything be more absurd?

And yet people have been duped by this brow-beating religious fairytale for centuries.

The real hell is just a valley outside of Jerusalem, the “Valley of Hinnom”. It was used by both Jesus and Jews as a symbolic illustration of judgement. For Jews, hell (Gehenna, the Valley of Hinnom) was a place for non-Jews, while Jesus used it as a metaphor for judgement on unrepentant first century Jews. Every time the word “hell” is used, it’s associated with Jews. Paul never preached hell to anyone..

Jeremiah described the Valley of Hinnom as a place of slaughter.

(Jeremiah 19:6-7) Therefore, days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth, or the Valley of Hinnom, but rather the Valley of Slaughter. I’ll shatter the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I’ll make them fall by the sword before their enemies and at the hands of those seeking their lives. I’ll give their dead bodies as food to the birds of the sky and to the animals of the land.

Just as Jeremiah prophesied that Jews would give their dead bodies as food to the birds of the sky and to animals of the land during a time of war and judgement on them, the Revelation records this as:

(Rev 6:8) I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild [BEASTS] of the earth.

(Rev 19:21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls [BIRDS] were filled with their flesh.

When in Mark 9:43-44 Jesus referred to Isaiah 65:24, a verse Jews would have been very familiar with, He was telling them that Jerusalem would become like hell (Hinnom), the valley of slaughter). This actually happened.

Recall that Jesus wept over Jerusalem as he approached it.

Luk 19:41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it,
Luk 19:42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
Luk 19:43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side
Luk 19:44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Within that generation (forty years) of the time Jesus warned the Pharisees, scribes and the disciples, war, destruction and judgement came to Jews, Judaism and Jerusalem.

Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees….

Mat 23:33 Ye serpents, yegeneration of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

And a few verses later we see when they would experience it.

Mat 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

In 70AD, the temple was destroyed. Their nation was destroyed. The Jewish people were decimated. The dead bodies of thousands of unrepentant Old Covenant Jews were thrown into the Valley of Hinnom, just as Jesus had warned.

Gehenna (hell) has never existed as a spiritual place. It remains the Valley of Hinnom, located just outside of Jerusalem. We should extricate ourselves from such religious traditions like the modern-day version of hell with its imaginary, unending fiery torment. Don’t allow railers and fear-mongering fundamentalists to brow-beat you into submission to their sadistic version of the God of the Bible.

– Michael Bradley

Michael Bradley is a dedicated husband and father of three children, a tugboat captain, pilot, world-traveler, has lived in SE Asia for fourteen years, a self-taught theistic apologist and advocate of Israel Only, the view that the bible’s redemptive narrative pertains only to Old Covenant Israel.He enjoys spending time with his wife and children, and one Siberian husky and a cat named Gracie. He enjoys supporting his children in their interests and activities, shooting guns, playing chess, traveling and is currently studying Forex trading.

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I’ve divided this teaching into 3 main sections for you guys.

1. Quick Video/8mins (for the quick answer without all the details)
2. Expanded Details Video Series/1hour (LOTS of details)
3. Written Summary (straight to the point, quick advanced read)

INTRO:

Who are the wheat and tares? Who are the sheep and the goats?

We know that something awful happens(ed) to the tares and the goats right? It’s kind of important to know!

The good news is, it happened in the 1st century. It’s NOT something that we’re fearfully looking forward to.

The wheat/tares/sheep/goats warnings from Jesus were to THAT 1st century generation about something that was going to happen to THEM…
and it DID on a massive scale (in ad70).. AND it had NOTHING TO DO WITH THE AFTERLIFE!

 

1. QUICK VIDEO: 8 mins
Speaker Dr Jonathan Welton

2. EXPANDED DETAILS VIDEO SERIES: 1 hour

These videos will be a sobering dose of audience relevance.
The big picture will come into play very soon.

MAKE SURE to take advantage of walking through these detailed videos!
Scott allowed me to clip them from a series that he had on his youtube channel.
It’s kind of a big deal for us to have access to them the way that we do.

Parable of the Wheat & Tares:
Speaker Pastor Scott Fisher

(each video is about 10 minutes long)

 

Part 1

 

Part 2

 

Part 3 (Wheat & Tares Revealed)

 

Part 4

 

Part 5

 

Part 6

 

3. Written Summary Details:

Keep this in mind: The entire audience relevance had to do with 1st century Israelites/Jews.

The Wheat/Sheep:
were the Jews that believed Jesus to be Messiah and left the Old Covenant, joined the New Covenant (the Kingdom), becoming ‘sons of God’. These ‘believers’ heeded Jesus’ warnings and fled Jerusalem in AD70 before it’s final fiery destruction(Luke21:21).

The Tares/Goats:
were the Jews that did NOT believe Jesus to be their coming Messiah. These ‘unbelievers’ chose to stay under the ‘elements’ of the Old Covenant and were surrounded by the Romans (Luke19:41-44) and trapped in the fiery destruction of Jerusalem during the Passover gathering in AD70.

The scripture below is Jesus explaining to the disciples who/what the ‘wheat and tares’ parable was about. See my expanded audience relevance notes in the scriptures.

Matthew 13:37-42;
He(Jesus) answered and said unto them(disciples),
He that soweth the good seed (gospel message of New Covenant Kingdom)
is the Son of man(Jesus);

The field is the world (<- The word ‘world’ is actually ‘LAND’. It was the LAND of Israelites (12 tribes) in the 1st century. This is NOT talking about the entire planet.)

the good seed (believing Israelites)
are the children of the kingdom (New Covenant Israelites);

but the tares (unbelieving Jews / Judaizers)

are the children of the wicked one (oppressive Judaistic Old Covenant Law system);

The enemy that sowed them is the devil (corrupt Old Covenant High Priest and members);

the harvest is the end of the world/age (aion = age) (AD70);

and the reapers are the angels (messengers/in this case the Romans).

As therefore the tares (unbelieving Jews / Judaizers)

are gathered and burned in the fire (Judgement of Old Covenant Jerusalem in AD70, destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by fire);

so shall it be in the end of this age (AD70).

The Son of man (JESUS)

shall send forth his angels (messengers/Romans),

and they shall gather out of his kingdom (the LAND / vineyard)

all things that offend (wolves in sheeps clothing/antichrists/false prophets/falsely converted Jews/remaining followers of the Old Covenant),

and them which do iniquity (to do iniquity meant to ‘break a law’, this was referring to those OC members under Mosaic Law);

And shall cast them into a furnace of fire (description of judgement of Old Covenant Jerusalem’s fiery destruction in AD70):

there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth (anger) (describing AD70 using a reference from OT scripture referring to the horrible death history of the valley of Gehenna in the CITY of Jerusalem).

OT reference of 586bc:  https://youtu.be/Z4aWnpoEZSo 

What Jesus was talking about was the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70:  https://youtu.be/I9Ena_zwmzA 

The above notes are the summary details.

————-

I’ll expand below for those who are interested in more:

Pay attention to WHO John the baptizer is talking to and what he says:

Matthew 3:7-10;
But when he saw many of the PHARISEES and SADDUCEES come to his baptism, he said unto them, O GENERATION of vipers,

who hath warned you
to FLEE FROM THE WRATH –> ABOUT TO COME <– ? (<– destruction of their entire system in Jerusalem in AD70)

Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance (Messiah is coming, switch from Old Covenant to New Covenant).

And think not to say within yourselves (Pharisees & Sadducees), We have Abraham to our father: (circumcision covenant *of the flesh* would not save them, they would need to repent from the Law (OC) and move to the Faith (NC).)

for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

And NOW also (in the 1st century)
the AXE IS LAID UNTO THE ROOT OF THE TREES: (<- the ax was at the root of the trees in the 1st century, the entire tree of the Old Covenant Mosaic Law system was going down in that ‘chosen generation’.)

therefore every tree (Israelite) which bringeth not forth good fruit (bad tree/Old Covenant Israelite/ cannot bare good fruit) is hewn down,
and cast into the fire. (<-AD70 destruction of Jerusalem, 1.3 million Israelites murdered by the Romans.)

John the baptizer is VERY clear on the exact GENERATION and specific people that he’s speaking to.

This is written to a very specific audience in the 1st century about something that happened to THEM.

He also tells THEM that the “AXE” is already at the ROOT of the trees, context being the 1st century.

The ‘wrath’ against THEM was ABOUT TO COME and had already started, in the 1st century.

It was  ABOUT TO COME. (3195mello) 

It was ABOUT TO COME in THEIR generation.

That context has nothing to do with you and me.

John the baptizer was warning THEM about the destruction of their system and Jerusalem in AD70.

The context has nothing to do with you and me.

So too with the parable of the wheat and tares. It has nothing to do with us.

———

We’re truly on the forefront of a rapidly spreading reformation. There are three different voices in this blog with the same message. One is a full time pastor in Texas, the other a world renown PhD, myself a blessed researcher. I hope this blessed you.

Love you guys,
DK

David King believes that we’re on the forefront of the next great reformation of all 3 of the Abrahamic religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The historical truths being presented in this day are causing massive transitions out of superstitious religious understandings and into the fulfilled truths of what Jesus accomplished in the 1st century. Consider him your ally in the battle to set the global family free from false religious superstitions. What he shares comes from a lifestyle of study, and a place of love and deep sincerity. Finally with questions like “If Jesus didn’t come to save us all from an afterlife hell, then why did he come?,” we can begin to unpack the radical truths of what Jesus actually displayed at the cross. “LOVE is the revolution.”

You don’t have to gnash your teeth at God
nor be afraid of your soul’s destiny.
Just call the Hellbusters hotline!

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Eternal torment has come to be seen as one of the most foundational doctrines of the Christian faith, but do the scriptures really teach eternal suffering for those without Christ? As Christians we should always be pursuing truth and try to understand the Bible better and if we find something in the scriptures that goes against what we believe we need to let that belief go and favor of what the scripture is actually saying no manner how popular that belief maybe.

Allow me to share with you what I’ve discovered in my own studies and search for truth. Not many realized this, but the scriptures to say that death is the result of sin and in the final end of the unrighteous far far more often than it could seem may suggest eternal suffering.

For example, Job 6:18 says about the godless, “the part of their course wind along, they go up into nothing and perish.”

Psalms 37:20 says “But the wicked will perish and the enemies of the Lord will be like the glory of the pastures; they vanish — like smoke they vanish away.”

Proverbs 11:19 says “He who is steadfast in righteousness will attain to life and he who pursues evil will bring about his own death.”

Notice these verses say perish, vanish, and death. These directly contradict eternal suffering. These are just some of many verses in the Old Testament that speak of death for the ungodly.

As for the New Testament, Matthew 18:14 says “So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.”

John 6:48-50 says “I am the bread of life. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven so that one may eat of it and not die.”

John 10:27-28 says “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And I give eternal life to them and they will never perish.”

So again all of these verses say die, death, and perish. What Jesus is saying also directly contradicts eternal suffering.

As for the word ‘hell’ in the Bible, most translations today don’t have the word ‘hell’ in the Old Testament unless you have a version like the King James. But the word in Hebrew that sometimes gets translated to ‘hell’ in the Old Testament is the word ‘Sheol’ which just means the unseen realm of the dead or the grave, nothing to do with the eternal torment. In the New Testament, the Greek word ‘Hades’ is translated ‘hell’ a few times, but ‘Hades’ is just used in place of Sheol and has also just referring to the unseen realm of the dead or the grave. But the most common word we see in the New Testament translated to hell most often used by Jesus is the word ‘Gehenna.’ Gehenna is a literal valley on the south side of Jerusalem. Why would Jesus be warning about a valley? Well, in the Old Testament, Gehenna is called the valley of the son of Hinnom or the Hinnom valley. And if we read in Jeremiah 7 and 19, we see that whenever Jerusalem was destroyed by another army the dead bodies were thrown into this valley Gehenna, the word translated ‘hell.’

The Lord names this valley the “Valley of Slaughter” so Gehenna becomes a symbol of slaughter, of death and destruction. Jesus makes this more clear, in Matthew 10:28 says the body and soul would be destroyed in Gehenna, not tortured forever, destroyed.

As for the terms like “unquenchable fire,” “fiery furnace,” and “eternal fire,” there’s a well-established rule of biblical interpretation —that we should interpret word, terms, and phrases we find in scripture mainly by how they are used in other parts of the scripture. In other words, interpret scripture with scripture.

And if we look at all the verses that mention “unquenchable fire” like Isaiah 34:10, Jeremiah 7:20, Ezekiel 20:47, and all these other verses, they all show that “unquenchable fire” is death and destruction, not eternal suffering, “unquenchable” just means the fire will not stop until it burns everything up.

If we look at Isaiah 31:8-9, Ezekiel 22:20, and Malachi 4:1, we see that “fiery furnace” also describes destruction, not eternal suffering. As for “eternal fire,” Matthew 18: 8-9, Jesus says “eternal fire” is Gehenna. As we just saw, Gehenna represents death and destruction. If we look at Isaiah 33:14, we see the term “everlasting burning” describing destruction, not eternal torment. In Jude 7, it says that Sodom and Gomorrah are an example of what eternal fire is. In other words, eternal fire is what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah. What happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? They were destroyed.

This is what eternal fire is. The ‘fire’ means destruction and ‘eternal’ means that it is eternally destroyed or forever destroyed, never to return.

“What about the Lake of Fire?” you might ask. Well, firstly, we need to understand that Revelation is a book of symbols and hyperbolic imagery that represent other things. We have four apocalyptic horsemen, a beast with seven heads and ten horns, a giant woman that sits on the beast, and giant golden-faced grasshoppers with scorpion tails. We can’t say that’s all metaphorical, but the Lake of Fire is one hundred percent literal, no, it’s imagery that represent something else. So what does it represent?

Well, in Revelation 2:11, 20:6, 20:14, and 21:8, the Lake of Fire is called the “second death.” Death means death, not eternal torture. If we use the approach of interpreting scripture with scripture as we’ve already seen ‘fire,’ when used metaphorically, is consistently used throughout the scripture to describe death and destruction, not eternal torment of the soul.

The Lake of Fire is also called “fire and brimstone” multiple times. Deuteronomy 29:23, Isaiah 34:9, Ezekiel 38:22, and every other verse where “fire and brimstone” is mentioned, it never speaks of eternal torment. It is always speaking of destruction.

In Revelation 14:10, the Lake of Fire is described as “drinking the wrath.” In Isaiah 63:6, Jeremiah 25:15, Lamentations 4:21-22, and other verses, all consistently show that “drinking the wrath” is always speaking of destruction, not eternal suffering.

And as for Revelation 20:10 where it says “tormented day and night, forever and ever,” this cannot literally mean “forever and ever” because the majority of verses about the Lake of Fire describe it as death and destruction. This completely contradicts eternal suffering.

The word ‘forever’ in scripture doesn’t always mean forever the way we think of it today. For instance, in the Old Testament, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the ceremonies and festivals were to last forever and ever, but they aren’t still going on today, are they?

In Isiah 34:10, it says that the ‘smoke’ would rise from the city of Edom forever, it would burn forever, no one could pass through it forever and ever. But Edom isn’t still burning today and people can walk through there today. Jeremiah 17:4 says “a fire would burn in Judah forever,” this happened when Babylon destroyed Judah but it isn’t still burning today.

So, probably, a better way to interpret ‘forever’ is it will last as long as God has appointed it to. And again, since we all have the verses speaking of death and destruction, we know that ‘torment’ eventually comes to an end.

You may ask, “Aren’t they consequences to sin and to rejecting Christ?” Absolutely!
Romans 6:23 says “the wages of sin is death.” Death means death, not being tormented forever and ever.

The scriptures clearly say “eternal life is a gift from God only through Jesus Christ.” We are not immortal on our own. Only through Jesus Christ can we have immortality.

Consequences of sin and being without Christ is death, having no hope of eternal life, no hope of life after death, no hope of being with our Father, with our loved ones in a Paradise forever.

Remember when God warned Adam and Eve in the Garden “not to eat the fruit of the tree”? All he warned them of was death. That’s it. Now, if it’s true, that by them eating the fruit, then everyone who lived after them would be doomed to burn for eternity. How cruel and twisted was it of God to not warn them of such grave consequences, to not warn Noah, to not warn Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the Israelites, and not tell any of the prophets of the Israelites? No Sir, he only warned them of death because death was the only consequence. And death means death, nothing more, nothing less.

All we need to know about the afterlife can be found in the words of Jesus in John 3:16. We all know this verse so well, but yet we miss the simplicity and, apparently, what it says.

“God so loved the world, that he sent his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish.” It doesn’t say “should not burn forever and ever in torment.” It says “should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Source: Does The Bible Really Teach Eternal Torment?

Micah J. Stephens shares his unconventional yet liberating thoughts about God and the Bible in his personal blog, Micah Stephens Theology.

You don’t have to gnash your teeth at God
nor be afraid of your soul’s destiny.
Just call the Hellbusters hotline!

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The word ‘PERISH’ has nothing to do with separation from God in the afterlife or the annihilation of a soul.

The word “PERISH” isn’t even a spiritual term. It’s a literal term. In the NT, it is usually used to describe the death associated with those 1st century Jews who would die in the fires of AD70 if they didn’t heed Christ’s warning and abandon the Old Covenant Law before it was too late.

Referring to ‘lost’:

Sometimes the Greek rendering of ‘perish’ is translated as ‘lost’. A lost sheep who is scattered  in the wilderness among the beasts of the field and away from it’s Shepherd. It isn’t protected by it’s Shephard. This rendering of ‘lost’ has nothing to do with the soul or anything to do with the afterlife.

Referring to lost sheep (Matt 10:6; 15:24; Luke 15:4–7), to lost hair (Luke 21:18), to a lost reward (Matt 10:42; Mark 9:41; Luke 15:8–9; 2 John 8).

Were the sheep annihilated and then found? They were lost among the beasts of the field right? In the real story they had been ‘cut off’ from covenant with YHVH due to trespassing the Mosaic Covenant (Hosea1).

The prodigal son (referring to Ephraim) being lost (Luke 15:24, 32). Was this man annihilated and then found? No. Jesus removed the ‘ordinances of the law’ that were against Ephraim (10 northern tribes) so that he could return to the sheep fold (the New Covenant with YHVH).

What happens to lost sheep in the wild who are among the beasts of the field? They’re not worried about their souls ceasing to exist right?

Referring to ‘physical death’:

Most times the rendering of ‘perish’ has to do with physical death.

Notice Jesus’ words below to THEM (not us) warning THEM of perishing in a literal death.

Also, remember the word “you” isn’t talking to you. It’s talking to a specific reading audience in the 1st century, it’s not talking to you and me in the 21st century.

Luke 13:
2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?

What things did they suffer? Pilate murdered them.

3 I tell YOU, no; but unless YOU repent YOU will ALL LIKEWISE perish.

Likewise perish how? They will be murdered.

4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and KILLED THEM, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?
5 I tell you, no; but unless YOU repent YOU will ALL LIKEWISE perish.”

Likewise perish how? A physical death by the sword. He was warning THEM about THEIR coming destruction in AD70. The Romans literally murdered 1.3 million Jews in Jerusalem. The Jews that heeded Jesus’ message and fled Judea when the Romans surround Jerusalem were the ones ‘saved’ from the massacre.

********

We see the same thing in Mark 4:38 when the disciples were frustrated with Jesus because they feared they would DIE.

There is no sense, in this example below, of them going to a place called hell.

They feared drowning.

“and he himself was upon the stern, upon the pillow sleeping, and they wake him up, and say to him, ‘Teacher, art thou not caring that we perish?’ (YLT)”

They were afraid of dying. This is not an afterlife statement.

*********

If you’ll look at the word ‘PERISH’ in different translations, you’ll find the words ‘DIE’ ‘STARVE’ ‘MURDERED’ ‘DROWNED’ in several of them instead of the word ‘PERISH’.

Try using ‘Biblehub.com‘ and use their word search bar. Just type in ‘perish’ and you’ll see tons of examples.

You’ll see how it plainly stands for words like ‘die/starve/drown/murdered’.

*********

List of scriptures:

Genesis 41:36
And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land PERISH not through the famine.

Ezekiel 5:12
A third of your people will die of the plague or PERISH by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword.

Numbers 21:30
So we overthrew them; Heshbon, as far as Dibon, PERISHED; and we laid waste as far as Nophah; fire spread as far as Medeba.”

Judges 5:31
“So may all your enemies PERISH, LORD! But may all who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.” Then the land had peace forty years.

Matthew 8:32
And He said to them, “Go.” So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine. And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and PERISHED (drowned) in the water.

Matthew 26:52
But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will PERISH(die) by the sword.

Luke 11:51
from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who PERISHED(died/was murdered) between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.

Luke 13:33
Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should PERISH(die) outside of Jerusalem.

Luke 15:17
But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I PERISH(die/starve) with hunger!

Do you see how it plainly stands for words similar to ‘die/starve/drown/murdered”?

Last but not least.. (and this is my own hyper-literal translation)

John3:16
For God so loved the world (order of Jews/Israelites)
that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever (of the Old Covenant) believes in him (as Messiah to be saved from the judgement of the Old Covenant) shall not PERISH (die in their coming judgement of AD70 in Jerusalem and surrounding areas)
but have eternal life (New Covenant promise. Freed from the bondage of the Law).

DK

David King believes that we’re on the forefront of the next great reformation of all 3 of the Abrahamic religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The historical truths being presented in this day are causing massive transitions out of superstitious religious understandings and into the fulfilled truths of what Jesus accomplished in the 1st century. Consider him your ally in the battle to set the global family free from false religious superstitions. What he shares comes from a lifestyle of study, and a place of love and deep sincerity. Finally with questions like “If Jesus didn’t come to save us all from an afterlife hell, then why did he come?,” we can begin to unpack the radical truths of what Jesus actually displayed at the cross. “LOVE is the revolution.”

You don’t have to gnash your teeth at God
nor be afraid of your soul’s destiny.
Just call the Hellbusters hotline!

Social Links

Official Website
Steemit Blog
Facebook Group
Facebook Page
Twitter

I’ve known about the doctrine of hell since I was a little boy. The nuns used to scare me with it. As far as I know, there are five (5) absolutely essential ingredients for the full doctrine of hell. Nobody told me these, I figured them out myself.

1. It’s final, unchangeable separation from God.
2. It’s forever, everlasting, endless, infinite, forever.
3. It’s torment, yeah, torture and literal fire with pain, and no relief.
4. It happens in the afterlife, that’s code language for after a person dies.
5. Your immortal soul goes there. That is, supposedly, every person lives on after his body dies.

Why say essentials? I mean, if any of those five ingredients would be removed from the hell doctrine, the whole thing would fall apart.

Oh yeah, there’s a lot of scriptures that people see and they looked like hell, if you pardon the expression, but those scriptures only looked like hell because you already believed in hell. It seems to me that any senses, that means verses in the Bible, that looked like hell need to contain at least one of those five ingredients.

Don’t you think if the doctrine of hell was removed from the Christian religion, the Christian religion will be different? How about the old guys like Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Peter, and Paul and John, and, of course, the biggest one, Jesus? None of them ever uttered the word ‘hell’ because they had no concept of it. God didn’t say anything to Adam and Eve about hell if they ate the fruit. He just said they’d die. In all the writings of Moses and speeches to the rebels of Israel, he never said a word about suffering in hell after death. David never mentioned hell in all of his poetic songs. They never described fiery torture after death. What has such a huge, terrifying idea, if true and Dad’s [God] plan, have been mentioned somewhere in the Bible, wouldn’t it have been explained or described?

A question is: Why? Why not? From where did this idea come? What is its source? Why is it been promoted? And it has been promoted. Well-meaning believers have accepted and inserted the word ‘hell’ into the scriptures because of an ancient myth starting in Egypt and other ancient cultures. There’s no clear statement of fiery everlasting torture in the scripture. Unless, of course, you already believe it and you find words that seemed to describe what you already believe.

There’s not one verse that would describe anything like these horrible pictures. They’re crazy! I mean, who thought these up? They are looney toons, but they are not funny. The hell story has been employed by the church to coerce good behaviour, to correct believing and submitting to teachings. It’s been a valuable tool to keep people in line and to scare people into faith.

I don’t think that’s how my Dad in heaven attracts people to himself.

Robert “Bob” Nolan, together with his wife Charlene and other God-believers, worship Dad in heaven everyday outside a structured system. You can connect with Bob through his YouTube program, Thought Provokers, or through his own website bobnolan.org.

You don’t have to gnash your teeth at God
nor be afraid of your soul’s destiny.
Just call the Hellbusters hotline!

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One commenter [Powderfinger07] to a priest’s answer to a question about hell said, “The headline is trivial. I think most rational beings including church goers know that Hell is a fairy tale they just won’t admit to it.”

If hell is a fairy tale, let’s find out why. So here is the transcript of the priest’s point of view about hell.

Priest:

I don’t think Hell exists. I happen to believe in life after death but I don’t think it’s got a thing to do with reward and punishment. Religion is always in the control business and that’s something that people really don’t understand. It’s in the guilt-producing control business. And if you have a heaven as a place where you’re rewarded for your goodness and hell is a place where you’re punished for your evil, then you’re sort of have control over the population. And so they create this fiery place which has quite literally scared the hell out a lot of people throughout Christian history. And it’s part of a control tactic.

Interviewer:

Wait a minute, you’re saying that hell, the idea of a place under the earth or somewhere where you’re tormented for eternity is actually an invention of the church.

Priest:

I think the church has fired its furnaces hotter than anybody else. But I think there’s a sense in most religious life of reward and punishment in some form. The church doesn’t like for people to grow up because you can’t control grown-ups. Thus far we talk about being born again, when you’re born again you’re still a child. The people don’t need to be born again. They need to grow up. They need to accept their responsibility for themselves and the world.

Interviewer:

What do you make of the theology which is pretty quite prominent these days in America which is that there is one guarantee way not to go to hell and that is to accept Jesus as your personal Savior.

Priest:

I grew up in that tradition. To every church I know who claims “We are the true church,” they have some ultimate authority. We have the infallible pope. We have the inerrant Bible. The idea that the truth of God can be bound in any human system, by any human creed, by any human book, is almost beyond imagination for me. I mean, God is not a Christian. God is not a Jew or a Muslim or a Hindu, a Buddhist. All of those are human systems which human beings have created to try to help us walk into the mystery of God. I honor my tradition. I walked through my tradition but I don’t blame my tradition defines God. I think it only points me to God.

Life is a startling and wondrous experience. And, eventually, I think we’re gonna discover that God is unfolding through the life of our consciousness and our self-consciousness. And that’s not a parent figure up in the sky. But I believe I’m related to something that’s not bound by time and space, then I will share in one of the God’s eternity is.

Source: YouTube | Priest Says Hell Doesn’t Exist

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