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DIVINE ENCOUNTER MINISTRIES (RENEWAL FELLOWSHIP) P. O. BOX 3625 WARRI, DELTA STATE, NIGERIA. TOPIC: WHAT SHOULD WE BELIEVE: TOTAL ANNIHILATION, ETERNAL TORMENT OR TOTAL RECONCILIATION?
TEXT: Phil 4: 8 PART 1 DOCTRINE VS DOGMA
INTRODUCTION In Phil 4: 8 we are told “Finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praise worthy, meditate on these things” NKJ.
From the above it is crystal clear that not all things are lovely and not all things are pure, or of noble state and neither are all things true, but the key thing is, we are asked to meditate on only those things that are true, noble and pure. The reason being that your meditation and the things you so meditate on make up your personality because it forms your belief system. Your reaction to issues and your views about life, of today and tomorrow is all a factor of some basic philosophy that you upheld to rule or guide your life and that is what we have called your “Belief System”. Now to a large degree the circle or society you belong to forms your “belief system” since every group of individuals has certain beliefs that mould their thinking pattern hence behavior within and outside their homes. So we find that we can easily distinguish people within the society based on their character because of their belief system that has been formed over the years because of the group they belong to in the overall society. Even the language of man and his views about society, the happenings thereof and what they think as to the end of all things is a clear reflection of their “belief system” and that also is the foundation of their meditation.
DOCTRINE VERSUS DOGMA In the Christian circle, the “belief system” that ought to guide our daily living, approach to life, what we foresee for the future and the ultimate end of humanity make up what we call DOCTRINE OR DOGMA. It can be seen from the body of Christ today that what is polarizing us is nothing but our convictions based on certain “Doctrines or “Dogmas”. By Doctrine here we mean as used in the GRK scriptures didache and didaskaklia, which as derived from the root word is “to teach” which can also mean the act of teaching or the content of what is taught. Doctrine therefore is the teaching of scripture on theological themes. They are actually the raw materials of the word of God which authorities can use in formulating theological truth in definitive forms. When Paul spoke of “sound (healthy) doctrine: (1 Tim 1: 10, Titus 2:1) he meant to infer and affirm that true doctrine is life-giving. Dogma on the other hand denotes a body of religious truth, an authoritative ecclesiastical affirmation. The word is from the GRK dogma, from dolkein which means “think, seem, and seem good”. The word stands for a tenet of doctrine authoritatively pronounced. For instance in Daniel 2: 13, “the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain, and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain”. This is a dogma from the king of Babylon in the days of Daniel. In Lk 2: 1 we are told, “there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that the entire world should be taxed” (compare Est. 3: 9). In Acts 16: 4, we read of “…those who went to deliver the decrees that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem”. In Greek philosophy, especially stoicisms, it referred to axiomatic principles considered settled forever, beyond all doubt. So what are we seeing here? Dogmas are those propositions of religious truth believed to have originated from divine revelation and set forth as a part of a comprehensive doctrinal system by a duly constituted ecclesiastical authority, in this case, the authority could be made up of Bishops or elders who have been so accepted by a group of people to formulate these dogmas. From the above one can conclude that men often use the statements and teachings of Jesus to form dogmas whether properly understood or not, depending on the level of the revelations of those who constituted that body.
TOTAL ANNIHILATION, EVERLASTING TORMENT, AND TOTAL RECONCILIATION: ARE THESE DOCTRINES OR DOGMAS? It is clearly noticeable that within the body of believers called “Christians” these are the three major belief systems as to the fate of mankind based on their rejection or acceptance of Christ’s redemptive work, or the sovereignty of God. Total Annihilation states that all wicked people who do not accept Christ and change from their wicked ways will be completely exterminated from existence, without a trace, even in eternity. Everlasting Torment states that the wicked will be tormented for ever and ever in the lake of fire without any hope of ever seeing God or having reconciliation from the effect of the fall of Adam that came upon humanity. Certainly from the look of things about 20 – 80 percent will go into the lake of fire because even the believers themselves cannot overcome the condition that qualifies one to enter into the lake of fire such as lies, pride etc. On the other hand Total Reconciliation says all mankind, no matter where you are coming from, shall eventually find themselves in the bosom of the Father-God after due process of discipline as the case may be; but that in going back to God, everyman is in his own order. All of these belief systems have their thousand and one scriptures and definition of terms to back up their positions. And because of these separate beliefs, there is a lot of division among brethren such that we are not better than those in the days of Apostle Paul when he told them that they were carnal and not spiritual because one will say “I am of Apollos and another I am of Paul are you not carnal and believing like mere men?” 1Cor 3: 1-5. The question then is, are these belief systems Doctrines or Dogmas? If they be Dogmas who are the relevant authorities that set them forth and if they be Doctrines shouldn’t we reexamine the scriptures so used before taking a stand? In other words before taking it as a belief system that can guide our meditation? Above all, should these things really create a polarization among us or that we give room for individual maturity to receive light in those areas wherein there seems to be darkness and still maintain the Christian faith? Was Jesus an advocate of Dogmas or Doctrine? What of Paul?
EMPHASIS SHOULD BE ON WHAT CHRIST TAUGHT In 2Jn 9 we read: “For if you wander beyond the teaching (Doctrine) of Christ, you will leave God behind. While if you are loyal to Christ’s teachings, you will have God too. Then you will have both the Father and the Son” TLB. “ Any one who runs on ahead (of God), and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ – who is not content with what He taught - does not have God; but he who continues to live in the doctrine (teachings) of Christ - does have God; he has both the father and the son” AMP.
It simply means for us to hold anything so strongly,
it must be what the Lord himself taught as a doctrine and to a large
extent it should reflect in the teachings of the Apostles, especially
Paul the apostle, of the resurrection. So in examining the scriptures,
what can we say they pointed to? For in seeing the realities of the
scriptures we shall then have the mind of God. Besides, it should not
just be what He taught, but also what the doctrine of the Christ stands
for, in relation to humanity, knowing that Christ, His role and the
end is the central theme of the Gospel hence “the Gospel of Christ.”
These then are the issues to be examined in order to form a meditation. PART 2
A WORD ON ORTHODOXY “Now, brothers, practice thinking on what is true, what is honouorable, what is right, what is pure, what is lovable, what is high-toned, yes, on everything that is excellent or praise worthy”. Phil 4: 8. Williams. Now for us to think on those things that are right and noble, there are certain principles that must of necessity guide our thoughts and that is first of all, we must have “the mind of Christ” Phil. 2:5 . Having “the mind of Christ” means we are to think His thoughts and walk in His ways; and this can only be possible when we follow His teachings. In His words “if you really love me, you will keep my commands” Jn. 14: 15 Williams. “If you love me you will do what I order” Beck. In other words, the proof of our love for Jesus is to do only His precepts. Therefore, to say, teach or practice anything other than what he has commanded means we do not have His mind and so, are not thinking his thoughts. Meaning we cannot reveal His will upon the face of the earth when our mindset is completely different from his own.
To have his mind is to have the pattern with which He is building His church; that is, what the Church will eventually become at the fullness of time upon the face of the earth. Therefore it requires the wisdom of Christ to both teach and build His people that they might fit into his ultimate programme.
WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT FOLLOWING HIS TEACHING? DOGMA AND ORTHODOXY We have already established the fact that Dogmas are tenet of doctrines authoritatively pronounced. They are axiomatic principles considered settled forever, beyond all doubt. The word “orthodoxy” in the words of A.P. Adams who wrote from about 1885 to 1925 is taken to mean “the generally received faith among all classes of Christians. For instance “endless torment is an orthodox doctrine, i.e. it is held by the great mass of professing Christians throughout the world: so also of the Trinity, Substitution, Immortality of the soul, etc – these are all so called – orthodox doctrines, being embraced in the faith of the majority of Christendom. Furthermore, he said “the use of the term orthodox by those who claim the exclusive right to use it is really absurd since, as a matter of fact, the standard of orthodoxy shifts and changes from generation to generation, from decade to decade and almost from year to year. The standard in protestant churches in the days of Jonathan Edwards is very different from what it is today, even in those denomination that are most conservative and non-progressive – thus does this word, which ought to denote something fixed and permanent, really signifies the most changeable of all terrestrial things, human opinions, and the various branches of the nominal church really makes themselves ridiculous in their lofty claims of orthodoxy”. So in the true sense of it, the word orthodoxy is a word that applies only to the truth; its etymological meaning is straight doctrine i.e. true, correct doctrine. By Implication, those who claimed to be orthodox believe that they have a set of doctrines that are very accurate and so they should be the ones to set the standard for our Christian beliefs. This is why they so pride themselves as being either “Orthodox” or “Evangelical” but in the light of what we are discussing, in terms of our meditation, it was in the 2nd century A.D that three major different views emerged as to the final state of the lost, as thy contend for the title of “Orthodoxy” which can be classified as:-
1. The doctrine of annihilation, which is the belief
that after just judgment and punishment, those who could not be corrected
and refused to accept the Lordship of the Christ would be destroyed
or “reduced to nothingness” perpetually.
And like we said before now, these major three doctrines have come to have serious influence upon the majority of believers that turns to hatred or sectarianism once you do not belong to their camp and you can be branded as a “heretic”.
Before we begin to examine these doctrines and perhaps the general influence on the people that believed them, it is equally important for us to realize that inability of one to understand the true meaning of certain scriptures and the words so used can cause a lot of misunderstanding in interpretation thereby leading to a faulty foundation.
It will be wise therefore, for us to humble ourselves to learn again and be prepared to accept truth in a new light when it becomes obvious that what we initially held on to does not fit into God’s plan and will both for mankind and His creation. One will recommend the spirit of Peter in a matter like this, when he wrote concerning the writings of Paul and said “so, beloved, since you are expecting these things, be eager to be found by Him (at His coming) without spot or blemish, and at peace-in serene confidence, free from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts. And consider that the long-suffering of our Lord (His slowness in avenging wrong and judging the World) is salvation, (that which conduces to soul’s safety); even as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the spiritual insight given him speaking of this as he does in all of his letters. There are some things in those (epistles of Paul) that are difficult to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist and misconstrue to their own destruction, just as (they distort and misinterpret) the rest of the scriptures” II Peter 3: 14-16 AMP. This is a serious matter to behold. If we know it that our salvation is directly connected to our understanding the scriptures and yet is very possible to distort and misinterpret the scriptures to our destruction, then in our approaching the scriptures especially the writings of Paul, it should be done in humility with shoes off our feet – (former concepts or belief) as one treading on a holy ground for it is the issue of life that is at stake, nothing should be taken for granted.
A LOOK AT TOTAL ANNIHILATION…(1) “But there were false prophets among the people just as there will be FALSE TEACHERS among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies. Even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them- bringing swift destruction themselves- -”2 Pet 2: 1 – 2. NIV
I have quoted the above scripture to prove the fact that the prophetic and teaching ministries are placed on equal level here by Apostle Peter. And that I believe it is because they stand to convey the will and the plans of God to mankind. Even if one is an Apostle, it takes the teaching anointing to properly convey his apostolic insight to men for the ultimate purpose of their faith. Take for instance, Apostle Paul was an Apostle, a teacher and a preacher (2Tim 1: 11). And so we have the prophetic teachers just like we have the prophetic ministries. Now the prophetic teachers carry with them an Apostolic mandate in revealing the will of God, hence we read of the mysteries hidden from ages that was not revealed to the sons of men but is being revealed to the holy Apostles and Prophets (Eph 3: 1 – 5). In short, among those Jesus is sending to build His church according to Math 23 – 24 are the prophets, the wise men (Apostles) and the scribes (Teachers). Even Jesus with all His Apostolic Ministry did more of teaching than preaching. This tells us the place of the teacher in unveiling the Kingdom mysteries. But as lofty and wonderful this office is, the word of God says it can produce false ministry just as we had false prophets in times past; bringing in teachings that are not right with the will and ultimate purpose of God, and not just that even denying the sovereignty of Christ. Here we find that it is not just a matter of denying Christ but taking away from Him His sovereign power and dominion over His creation. In other words they limit His authority over creation as to what He can and can’t achieve. This makes it imperative for us to truly consider whosoever we are receiving as a teaching-doctrine no matter who is giving it to us. In fact there is an attitude which is called “NOBLE” which the Berea Christians had that was different from that of the Thessalonians in that despite the caliber of Apostle Paul, when he finished teaching them they will go and search the scriptures where there these things be so (Acts 17: 10 – 11). May be we need to develop the same spirit in our walk with the Lord and men – teachers.
THE DOCTRINE OF ANNIHILATION We have already indicated that it was in the 2nd century A.D that these views came into the body of Christ and the one in question stated that “after the just judgment and punishment the “incorrigible” of the universe would be destroyed, or ‘reduced to nothingness’ perpetually” First of all we need to observe this fact: 1. There can never be a ‘reducing to nothingness’.
Why? Because even science has it that ‘an atom is the smallest
level of existence possible for an element’. That is to say you
can only destroy an element (object) to its smallest level of existence
and stop. Therefore, man cannot be destroyed beyond his atomic state.
St Paul himself attested to this fact when he was admonishing the Corinthian church as to what should be done to a man that was having an affair with his father’s wife. He said “To deliver such a one unto Satan for the DESTRUCTION OF THE FLESH THAT THE SPIRIT MAY BE SAVED in the day of the Lord” 1Cor 5: 5. Satan is seen here as the instrument for afflicting bodily suffering; see Lk 13: 16, 2Cor 12: 7. So we found that when the flesh suffers, the Spirit returns to God at death, better still when one drops the flesh he gets back into the resurrection or restoration even as it were given by God. Again we conclude that that which is destructible is the flesh and the works therein which are completely earthly or Adamic. Again we must understand the principle at work here in 1Cor 5: 5. The one that is sent unto Satan’s destructive power simply means he is excommunicated and so will loose the protective covering of the church and this man does not deserve such protection, so once excluded, he will be subjected to disease and death (the destruction of the flesh) but his spirit is not lost or destroyed, there is hope for it. So we see that the Bible talks about destruction but it does not talk about annihilation. We should be able to understand the part that is lost or destroyed or what is left undestroyed. As we continue with this meditation, we shall look at some scriptures so commonly used such that borders on the words “Ashes” and the example of “Sodom and Gomorrah”. What examples do they leave behind for us as to the application of the word Ashes and eternal fire? PART 4
A LOOK AT TOTAL ANNIHILATION…(2)
Here in this scripture, we see that there are certain doctrines resulting from teachings of teacher that will bring a reproach to the gospel of Christ and it is like many will follow that way, especially if it has to do with prosperity matters. However the point I’ m raising is that the teaching ministry is something you cannot joke with as it has a lot of influence on people. Now the issues we are examining such as ANNIHILATION are all the fact of teachings by certain individuals that eventually became major doctrines, influencing a large portion of Christianity.
LOOKING AT ANNIHILATION SCRIPTURES It will be worth noting that the Seventh Day Adventists, the Jehovah witnesses and a few others are the major propagators of this belief that “all the wicked will be annihilated, or put entirely out of existence”. The question is, does the Bible really teach this theory or not? Most of the scriptures used to prove this theory are scriptures there you have words like destroy, perish, destruction and consume. Again, the question is: does any of these words mean annihilation?
THE WORD “DESTROY” (MATH 10: 28) “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: But rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” The word DESTROY is from the Greek word apollumi which means to destroy in the sense of to kill the body as can be see in passages like Matt 2: 13: 12; 14 as it applies to the plans both Herod and the Pharisees had in order to destroy Jesus. But you can agree with me that even if they had succeeded in their plans to “destroy” Jesus, just like he died on the cross, that was not the end of His existence, He was not annihilated when he went to the cross. The word is also used in the sense of “to punish by torment”. When Jesus met the insane man at the cemetery he said “…art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” Math 8: 29. The word torment is apollumi. In Rom 14: 15 Paul used it to indicate a cutting of one’s spiritual supply when he said “But if thy brother be grieved with they meat (that is life style and choice) now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with they meat for whom Christ died” It also means “to lose something” e.g. Math 10: 42, Lk: 15: 4, 8. It means to mar (Mark 2: 22). In all of these, it can not mean total annihilation because that one lost something for instance does not mean that the thing is no longer in existence. For that which is lost can be found.
The word Perish is from the same Greek word and it never means annihilation even as we can find in passages like Matt 5: 29 – 30; lacking of a member of yours which could perish instead of your whole body being cast into hell. The best definition or meaning that one can make of the meaning of the word Apollumi is to ruin or render unfit for intended use. CONSUME is another word used by those in this belief to prove their faith. For instance Ps 37: 20 which is one of the scriptures they quote, says “But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lamb; they shall consume, into smoke shall they consume away” Now take for instance we were told that the famine that will arise in the Land of Egypt while Joseph was there “shall consume the Land”(Gen 41: 30) Does this men there will be no more land, no Egypt because of the famine? Certainly not! Again in Job 7: 9 we read: “As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away; so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. “ Here we are only referring to man’s existence upon the earth; that he went the way of the grave does not mean his life is finished. You may want to compare scriptures like Job 19: 27, Ps 6: 7; 39: 10. Evidently, we can see that Consume which is from the Hebrew Kalah is the equivalent of the Greek Apollumi as stated above. The summary of all of these words as destroy, consume and perish simply means to mar or ruin or render unfit for the intended purposes for which a person or thing was created or designed, “Burned up” but that does not preclude its existence. The Portions of scriptures they use for this issue are Mal 4: 1 and 2 Peter 3: 10; “For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and “the day that cometh shall “burn them up” saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch” (Mal 4: 1) This is not talking of the state of the wicked at the end but rather what happens as a result of the judgment of God, His “day of visitation” in his anger. You can compare corresponding scriptures like Amos 5: 10, 16; 30: 27 Zeph. 1: 18; 3: 8. Just like in Jer 21: 14 where God was speaking to the house of Judah “But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the Lord: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it”. This was a result of the sins of the people of Judah who boasted themselves of security of the location of Jerusalem on a Plateau. The word Leave as used in Mal 4: 1 (See also Exo 23:5 and Gen 39: 6) is from the Hebrew word azab, a Hormony, means Help or restore, (hence strengthened or fortify) and to Leave or forsake. Now to leave without any “root or branch” mans there will be no help whatsoever to rescue or restore when God unleash his judgment. That itself is not annihilation. The second portion used is 2Pet 3: 10 which says that “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (Please for details study on this, see our work on “The three worlds and three heavens”). Now the word “burned up” here actually means to “uncover” or “made bare” or exposed if you will. Ultimately, it is not that such things as element, bauxite, gold, on even crude oil in the earth shall be burnt up, but what it speaks of is that of the purification of the earth symbolized by the fire which is actually a purified just as water is a cleansing agent that was used in the days of Noah (Gen 6 – 7) after which Noah still inherited a purified earth in Gen 8 – 9. Even if you take the case of those who died physically in the days of Noah, it was not that of total annihilation, for the record says “And it was in the spirit that He (Christ Jesus visited the Spirits in Prison and preached to them – SPIRITS OF THOSE WHO LONG BEFORE IN THE DAYS OF NOAH had refused to listen to God, though He waited patiently for them while Noah was building the ark… That is why the Good news was preached even to those who were dead – killed by the flood – so that although their bodies were punished with death, they could still live in their spirits as God lives” 1 Pet 3: 19 – 20, 4. : 6. TLB.
This is clear enough that although they were destroyed, punished and consumed from the face of the earth, they were not annihilated because their spirit lived on, like we said before. Again we reemphasize the fact that you cannot destroy an element beyond his atomic state; and his original source which is the spirit.
So, we conclude here that these scriptures do not support total annihilation at all; rather, God’s ultimate punishment and loss to the wicked. Just as we can see in 1Cor 3:15 “if any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire”. Does this scripture still make any meaning to you in anyway? To be saved by fire yet suffering a loss? God help us in Jesus name, to see a greater light than we ever have.
PART 5
THE ELEMENTS, WORKS, SODOM & GOMORRAH & ASHES “Thou shalt not raise a false report; put not thine hand with the wicked to be in unrighteous witness” Ex 23: 1.
The above scripture warns expressly that we do not have to be an unrighteous witness whosoever. Who is an unrighteous witness? He is that man who confesses to know a thing about something he does not really know anything about, maybe for the purpose of either gaining favour or incriminating someone on trial. We as witnesses of Christ today (Act 1: 8) should be standing in the witness box in the world today to declare what we know, not just about Jesus Christ, but who He really is, His mind, thoughts, desires, plans and purposes even for His creation. Meaning if Jesus were to be alive, whatsoever He will say about a thing should be what we should say. By implication, our belief system which is the doctrine we should be holding unto should be exactly what He would have taught and should be teaching us now, in the spirit by his Spirit indwelling. Be that as it may, what is Jesus to say, Total annihilation or what? For the record says, “it is enough for the disciple that he is as his master and the servant as his Lord…” Math 10:25. What a standard that Himself has set for us! We have to be like Him and again I repeat, both in thought, plans and purposes.
EXAMINING THE ANNIHILATION SCRIPTURES FURTHER Like we said before, among the scriptures used for the propagation of the Total Annihilation doctrine is 2Pet 3:10 and it says, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heart, THE EARTH ALSO AND THE WORKS THAT ARE THEREIN SHALL BE BURNED UP”. Now let us first of all make some critical analysis of the above scripture. Where do you find the elements? The elements that are to melt are not in the earth but in heaven. Did you see it? We had thought the elements are in the earth but no, they are in the heavens (plural), while the earth contains “works”. Now the “heavens” you must understand speak of the controlling powers, a realm of authority in and over a people. So what are the elements? The Greek word used here is stoicheon and it means “orderly in arrangement, fundamental, initial constituent, proposition, element, and rudiment”. Here we can see that the elements are the elementary principles of life that God did set in place over man to live by until Christ is revealed, all of which includes the dietary and moral laws of Leviticus, the wisdom of man’s education, psychology, philosophy, Esoteric etc. see how Paul used it: “See to it that no one carries you off as spoil or make you yourselves captive by his so-called philosophy and intellectualism, and vain deceit (idle fancies and plain nonsense) following human traditions, men’s ideas of the material (rather than the spiritual world – just crude notions) following the RUDIMENTARY and ELEMENTAL teachings of the universe, and disregarding (the teachings of Christ…) Col 2: 8 AMP. In verses 16 – 20 he called all those teachings of the worship of angels, Sabbath observance and externalism as “…CRUDE and ELEMENTAL notions…” See also Gal 4: 8. Evidently we found that the “elements” that shall melt away with fervent heat are nothing but the ways of life, mentality and otherwise, cultures (social wake keepings, burial rites, naming ceremonies, birthday ceremonies), educational philosophies, economic, social and political ideologies that are void of Christ Leadership and inspiration. What are the works in the earth that must be burned up? The word says “mortify therefore your members which are upon the Earth: Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry” Col 3: 5. “So kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members – those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin: sexual vices, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry (the deifying of self and other created things instead of God) AMP. Very simple! What is going to be made “bare”, “uncovered” “Burned up”? It is the evil nature in man; nothing whatsoever that is of mineral nature is being made reference to here neither is it dealing with the trees and other things on the earth.
SODOM and GOMORRAH (See Gen 18: 20 – 19:29, Math 11: 23 – 34) The next scripture or passage they often quote again to support this theory is 2 Pet. 6: “And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in Ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly”. Looking at Deut 29: 19 -23 we can understand better what the Lord is saying here with regards to Sodom and Gomorrah: “The Lord will not spare him, but the anger of the Lord and His jealousy shall smoke against that man and all the curses that are written in this book shall be upon him, and the lord shall blot his name from under heaven, and the Lord will separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel – So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you … shall say, when they see the plagues of the land and the sickness which the Lord had laid upon it; And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt and burning that it is not SOWN, nor BEARETH nor ANY GRASS GROWETH therein; like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His Wrath”.
Simply put, what the Lord is saying here is that all forms of evil shall be eliminated without a trace of continuity or revival. Take for instance, the two witnesses of Rev 11: 3+ which some people interpret to mean, Moses and Elijah, were killed “And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the Great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also out Lord was crucified” (V: 8) Now we do know that ordinarily Moses and Elijah were not killed in Sodom or Egypt, not even our Lord Jesus. What this stands for rather is sin (Sodom) and bondage (Egypt). By implication sin leads to bondage, in other words the prophetic voice of the Lord in a people against idolatry and the delivering Power of the chosen in the life of the savior can be stiffened out through sin and the bondage to it. So when we are talking of “Sodom and Gomorrah” as a symbol of God’s judgment, we are talking of that which will never be left without to survive or revive and that no man shall re-visit. Furthermore we read in Jude 7: “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah 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”. But we know that the fire is no longer burning up till now. Sure it is eternal in that the God who initiated the fire is an eternal God and no man can put it out, because it is God’s own fire. But again we state that this has nothing to do with annihilation in that we are told Jesus preached to them in the spirit that they might live as God (1pet 3; 18 – 20, 4:6).
WHAT OF THE ASHES MENTIONED? It is important we recognize the symbolic usage of this word in scriptures: 1. Gen 18:27, it speaks of something that is of Less Value. Abraham said “… am just dust and Ashes...” 2. Deep Poverty like in the case of Job when he said “…he sat in Ashes”. In other words, his wealth was gone. 3. It is also a sign of mourning and fasting like in Jonah 3:5-6. 4. Above all when the Lord speaks of “beauty for Ashes” (Is 61: 1 – 3, Luke 4: 11 -12) that was in reference to Judah’s captivity for 70 years and the deliverance thereof. So we can see that Ashes is not necessarily talking of the after effect of burn – fire – rather, a people’s condition.
PART 6
THE DOCTRINE OF ENDLESS TORMENT “- - Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil: … Exo 23: 2” This is a great Law that needs to be observed and be constantly meditated up. It simply proves the fact that truth is not necessarily based on the number of people that believe a thing. What I mean is: the fact that majority of people believe a particular doctrine does not prove the fact or make that doctrine to be truth. Therefore we should not base our conviction on the number of people that are proclaiming a thing, but rather on the revealed word of God and the intent and purposes of God for humanity. In 2 Kings 22, the fact that about four hundred prophets spoke in favour of Ahab going against Ramoth-Gilead in victory as opposed to one prophet Micaiah who spoke in a contrary voice of the defeat of Ahab, did not prove that because Micaiah was alone, therefore the majority of the prophets were correct, rather it proved the contrary. Therefore no matter how popular a doctrine is and the majority of people that believe it is no indication that it is true; and so that should not be the determining factor for either believing or rejecting a thing. Because few believe something else does not mean it is error.
THE DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL TORMENT What is it? This doctrine states that “All those who refused to repent and believe the Lord would be judged, and after wards imprisoned in Hades or Gehenna for endless torture”
It can be observed that in order to prove a point or fight against the doctrine of endless torment that perhaps the doctrine of total annihilation of the wicked came. To them, they could not imagine a just and loving father eternally tormenting His children or people; rather they could just be annihilated. On the other hand, the eternal torment faction feels the annihilationist could not be right, because every wicked act and refusal to follow Christ must attract eternal punishment for God to prove He is just and righteous who hated sin eternally and the carriers therefore. Among the numerous scriptures used for the propagation of the doctrine of endless torment are as follows, though we do not intend to give interpretation of those passages here: “…If anyone worship the beast and his name and receives a mark on his forehead or upon his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in that cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day and night those who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name; Rev. 14: 9 – 11. We may probably look into this passage later but can we observe this fact, that the phrase “Day and Night” cannot be found in eternity, because according to Gen 1: 14 – 19, it pertains to times and seasons, and in Gen 8: 22 it states “While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter and DAY and NIGHT shall not cease”. In fact God says “…if ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their seasons…” Jer 33: 20. People of God I do not know whether we can find seasons in eternity because it surely has to do with day and night. Another passage in use is “Math 5: 27 – 30: “if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into HELL. And if your right hand causes you to sin, let it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perishes, than for your whole body to be cast into Hell”. We shall x-ray this passage more in the light of Mark’s writings. But again we must also realize that if this scripture was to be taken literally, it simply means no Christian or otherwise can escape hell fire because none yet have literally cut off his or her members. Members, what are they? To be discussed later.
Again we have Rev 21: 8 which says “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the LAKE WHICH BURNS WITH FIRE and BRIMSTONE, which is the second death”. Now the central theme of the doctrine of eternal torment is the issue of HELL FIRE. In the words of one of the strongest Proponents of the doctrine of endless torment he says: “The Bible plainly teaches that the souls of the wicked dead (their bodies are in the grave) at physical death, go into hell, or the underworld of departed spirits, and are in a conscious state of torment by their own sins, until they are resurrected (am sure they mean a physical coming back of the dead) to stand trial, where they will be judged, sentenced, and forever imprisoned”. From the above statement you can readily see the mindset of all those who believe into this doctrine. But there is something I think we need to observe here: If man will agitate for a fair trial, then of course one should expect same in the court of God, which can tell us that all men’s sentence cannot be the same since all men’s sins are not the same. Why do we say so? Because we do know that the same judge who sentence a criminal to the death penalty of either hanging or as the case may be, can as well sentence another criminal to either three or four years imprisonment with an option of fine or both. This really proves the accuracy of the judge and the judicial fairness. Can we then expect less in the court of God such that all crimes committed will receive the same punishment of endless torment? It’s like some people will definitely be denied the place of fair hearing since no matter what offence you commit your punishment is the same – endless torment in Hell fire and of the same duration. This I think really calls for wisdom, for this pattern of judgement and rule of Law does not portray the God of all wisdom that we serve.
Having considered the view of a believer of endless torment let me also quote the view of a proponent of the annihilation theory and you may have room to think. He says: “…I consider the concept of Hell as torment- -outrageous doctrine, a theological and moral enormity, a bad doctrine of the tradition which needs to be changed. How can Christians possibly project a deity of such cruelty … inflicting everlasting torture upon His creatures, however sinful they may have been?... more like satan than like God, at least by moral standards and by the gospel --”. Who could be right in these thoughts? What do you picture in all of these? Can we confidently say the scriptures used for the doctrine of eternal torment are actually so? What is the origin of this doctrine? Was it thought by the pagan world before Judaism came into existence? Did Moses teach this particular doctrine to Israel? If not, why? “But there were false prophets also among the people, - - if there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, wherefore he spake unto thee, saying, let us go after other gods, which thou has not known, and let us serve them. Thou shalt not hearken unto the word of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul”. 2Pet 2:1, Deut 13: 1 – 3.
From the above we can understand that to be a false prophet or teacher is not necessarily that your ministry does not go with signs and wonders. What makes one a false prophet or teacher therefore is misleading people from knowing, understanding, following and worshipping the true God. So signs and wonders is not the proof of a true ministry, but how many people through your ministry have received light and are getting more united to God, with God in their soul and spirit. Besides we found that God allows this to prove our loyalty to Him and His word. It must be seen that what you believe about a person will determine your level of relationship and walk with that individual. So how you see God and who you take him to be will determine your walk with Him.
CAN THIS BE TRUE? TRACING THE ORIGIN OF THE DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL TORMENT I will like to quote extensively the words of General Green for the support of the doctrine of eternal torment: “What do you believe – “Annihilation” or “everlasting punishment”? Can we disregard the apocryphal books that speak in the most unambiguous terms of the lot of the wicked dead as final and enduring? The book of Judith describes the vengeance of the day of judgment as “fire and worms” on those who rise up against God and Israel, which they shall feel and weep forever. The book of Maccabees tells of “eternal torture by fire” and Interminable torments”. Another one speaks of the “furnace of Hell” and how the despisers of the most High God are doomed to be “henceforth in torments” always “in pain and anguish of seven kinds”. We find Enoch writing about retribution. As a general rule, the pseudepigraphic writings are equally explicit: they speak of the penalty of the wicked as an “everlasting curse” of the last days as “a day of judgment and punishment and afflictions upon the wicked to eternity” of “the abyss fire” in which the impious shall be “locked up for all eternity” of “a just judgment in eternity forever”, We can’t fail to mention Josephus, who mentions the Pharisees and Essenes believing in “everlasting punishment” end quote.
But the question is, how did this doctrine get into the apocryphal writings? Who were the Pharisees and Essenes? How was their life style even with all that they believed about “eternal hell fire”? Who did the Lord quarrel with most in His days for living a hypocritical life style? What does that tell us about believing a thing and living in the light of it? How did we really get all these into our bible?
In tracing this doctrine may we please observe these key facts: 1. This doctrine was not mentioned before the Law was given to Moses in Mount Sinai. 2. It was not mentioned in the Law of Moses, in other words Moses never wrote anything concerning eternal torment as a warning to Israel, the very community of God. Was this an act of negligence or deliberate wickedness? 3. The patriarchs as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, even Joseph never taught it or mentioned it to their children. What was responsible for this outright neglect? 4. Apostle Paul in His letters to the gentiles never taught it to them. Was it a sheer lack of Love to the gentile nations to whom Christ sent him or outright forgetfulness? Do these questions and revelations shock your mind?
A careful research evidence points to the fact that the doctrine of the Efena region is a paganistic belief, as we shall see shortly. First of all what you will find in the Catholic Catechism as to the question of “where is hell”? The answer is “It is in the centre of the earth”. They also believe that “Babies that do not receive their water baptism are to suffer hell fire”.
THE EGYPT CONNECTION Let it be noted that Egypt was the first world civilization, then Babylon down to the Greeks. It may surprise you that the Egyptians believe that hell is made up of two stages divided by an impassable Gulf, and this also is what the Catholics believe. Do no forget that the Egyptian civilization pre-dates Judaism or what you will now call the Hebrew community, so we find that they already had their belief system even before the Israelites went there in the days of famine, ever before Moses was born. There is something worth noting here: In Acts 7: 22 we are told “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds”. Now the fact that Moses never mentioned it shows that he rejected it after a careful study. We shall find out later why the heathen invented this theory, which the Christians would have picked up. The Egyptian belief system says when somebody is accused, at death he was sentenced by 42 Judges to an endless punishment across a lake of burning sulphur (sounds like the lake of fire in the book of Rev. 20). For the criminal they were not immediately buried rather their bodies were set up against the wall of the house before burial. At this point the spiritual state of that individual will have to be addressed, which duration is determined by the extent of the crime committed. At this point also their parents and others come in to pray for the Spirit – (sounds like the Roma Catholic purgatory). Besides they believe that there is judgment in the realm of the spirit which also determines the onward movement of the departed soul or having the soul sent back to the earth either as animal, rocks, trees, reptiles etc as the case maybe. This is what is often referred to as Transmigration – soul migration or the migration of the soul, or Reincarnation.
HOW DID WE FIND THIS TEACHING IN THE APOCRYPHAS AND NOT IN THE LAW? It is evident that this doctrine, though originated with Egypt, crept into Israel through the Apocryphas and other historical writings when Israel began to forsake the Laws of Moses between the 400 silent years of Malachi the last prophet and Mathew when there was no voice of God until Jesus came. Hear what Jesus told the Jews: “But if ye believe not his (Moses) writings, how shall ye believe my words? (John 5: 47, Lk 16:31). Therefore it is evident that since they will not stick to the teachings of Moses, they are bound to introduce into their system of worship most of the heathen-Philosophers and Babylonian beliefs as a carry over from their slavery in these lands.
SO WHY DID THE HEATHEN INVENT THIS THEORY? It is a clear fact that heathen invented the doctrine of eternal punishment for the purpose of creating and instilling fear in the governed by the Priests and Governors. And this attitude goes contrary to divine truth which says “there is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love” 1Jn 4: 18. Our walk with God must not be based on fear but on love. Those who do things out of fear have no genuine love.
PART 8
HELL AS A HEATHENISTIC HUMAN EVOLUTION “… Learn not the ways of the heathen… for the customs of the people are vain …” Jer 10: 2 – 3. We have already established the fact that the Egyptians taught the immortality of the soul and hell as the reward for wickedness ever before Moses gave his laws to Israel; and that despite the fact that Moses learned of all the wisdom in Egypt, he mentioned nothing about eternal torment in all his writhing, not even the patriarch’s did. But that the doctrine found its way into Israel through the Apocryphal writings when Israel forsook the laws of Moses and there was no voice of God for about 400 years between prophet Malachi and Mathew (see Acts 7: 22, Jn 5: 47).
THE GREEK PHILOSOPHERS CONNECTION Now the above text in Jeremiah tells us that picking a thing from the world as a practice or doctrine in Christianity amounts to walking in vanity because the customs, belief system of the people have no substance that leads anywhere but away from God. So we can definitely see the shadow we pursue when we define our conviction based on what people do and not on the revealed word of God. Oh! Christians where are we?
It will be shocking for you to discover that the priest and the philosophers then taught this doctrine of endless punishment to the majority of the people but no faith in what they were teaching, rather only meant to use it to subject the people unto obedience; hence it was meant to keep the people in perpetual subjection, therefore it was an invention of the fear of the gods and that of eternal fire. Let it be understood that the Greek philosophers traveled to Egypt to learn there from where they also picked this doctrine or approach to Governance. For instance, among others, Pythagoras, said “truth does not persuade people, so the fear (of endless torment) is necessary”. Plato himself said the doctrine is a “fabulous invention of hell fire”. They even believe that “soldiers don’t fight well because they are afraid of death”. So how do you persuade them to fight? Simply that if you do not fight well, you are sinning against the state and the people and so at the end you will suffer the punishment of endless torment, and therefore to avoid this you have to fight to finish. So to the ruling class who were the philosophers this doctrine was: 1. Of great advantage to the state 2. It was used in persuading the multitude 3. It served a basic purpose of the state law in regulating the common people (not the upper class) from sin. This is exactly why you find that the Pharisees and Essenes who upheld this doctrine highest in Israel, as compared to the Sadducees who stood for morality in this life, lived completely hypocritical lives. If the Pharisees were really afraid and believed what they were teaching, how come they were so wicked and hypocritical so that Jesus kept rebuking them? Imagine this statement: “How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees, Hypocrites; you are like white washed tombs (in the cemetery) – beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sort of impurity. You try to look like upright people outwardly, but inside your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness” Math 23: 25 – 26 NLT
Does this kind of lifestyle as described by Jesus really portray a man who believes in hell fire? No; so you see, the Pharisees, like the Greek philosophers, were teaching all these to subject the people under fear so that they can continue to have rule over them.
HELL IS A COMMON BELIEF OF ALL RELIGIOUS GROUPS The Encyclopedia Americana said “As generally understood, Hell is the abode of evil spirits, the internal regions… whither lost and condemned souls go after death to suffer indescribable torments and eternal punishment … some have thought of it as the place created by the deity, where He punishes, with inconceivable severity, and through all eternity, the souls of those who through unbelief or through the worship of false gods have angered Him. It is the place of divine revenge, untempered, NEVER ENDING. This has been the idea most generally held by Christians, Catholics and Protestants alike. It is also the idea embodied in the Mohammedans’ conception…The main features of hell as conceived by Hindu, Persian, Egyptian, Grecian and Christian theologians are essentially the same” end quote. The question then is how did the Christians start believing the same thing that the heathens believed even before Christianity came into the scene? Does the sin the Christian believe will take a person to hell fire the same with a Moslem believer? How does the Hindu see Life? What does he consider as sin? Do we know that the focus of all these religions were different? For instance, Hinduism is essentially a search for human liberation; Buddhism is a search for enlightenment without God; Taoism and Confucianism is a search for heaven’s way; Shintoism is Japanese search for God; Judaism is the search for God through the scriptures and tradition; Christianity is simply a revelation of the way of God in the person of Jesus the Christ. Do you think their values are the same? If not the same, how come the sins committed are leading all to the same place?
THE INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGIANS AND GREEK PHILOSOPHERS Judaism which was a strict adherence to the scriptures at the close of the Old Testament began to loose power when they no longer believed the writings of Moses especially within the interval of the 400 silent years when there was no Law, no teachings and no revelations. Therefore they had to look to other sources for inspiration and guidance, leading to deviating from the Law, leading to extreme human traditions and heathenistic influence. For instance one of the influential Christian theologians Augustine (AD 354 – 430) reasoned that there should be a temporary cleansing of imperfect souls in Purgatorial fire. He, like other influential men of the Christian professing church, was influenced by “pre-pagan philosophers- and other early church fathers (See Encyclopedia Britannica 11th edition “Purgatory”). Dante Alighieri (1265 – 1321) wrote a tremendously popular poem La Divina commedia in three parts – Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. It was believed that Dante Alighieri was perhaps the greatest educator, who had great influence on the course of Civilization than any other one man since his day. He wrote in incomprehensible verse, an imaginative and lurid account of a dismal journey through a horrid hell – where he saw the wicked being punished upside down in an inferno – a long poem containing certain phrases which have caught the attention of the whole world such as “ All hope abandon, ye, who enter here” (Dante and his influence). He was said to have been so influenced and fascinated by the ideas and philosophies of the pagan philosophers as Plato and Virgil that he believed they were divinely inspired. But who were these people? From the Encyclopedia Britannica “Virgil, pagan Roman poet (70 – 19BC), belonged to the national school of Pagan Roman thought, influenced by Greek writers. Christians of the middle Ages, including Dante, believed he had received some measure of divine inspiration” Plato, a pagan Greek philosopher born in Athens (427 BC) was a student of the renowned Socrates. Plato’s famous literary work phaedo taught the immortality of the soul - the foundation for other writings on the doctrine of eternal hell fire where wicked “souls” are supposedly punished forever. Can we see that the world’s concept of hell is definitely a product of human thinking – of pagan speculations of what could possibly happen to the wicked and also to be able to control the society?
PART 9
HOW THE DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL TORMENT CREPT INTO THE CHURCH “Many Pastors have destroyed my Vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made pleasant portion a desolate wilderness” Jer. 12: 10. “Many foreign rulers have ravaged my Vineyard, trampling down the vines and turning all its beauty into barren wilderness” TLB
In our meditation on the origin and advancement of the doctrine of eternal torment, we begin to see the dangerous influence and encroachment of heathen ideas and philosophers, and the above scripture aptly describes what will result and have resulted in the belief system of the body of Christ called the Church. In other words, the effect of foreign invasion is the destruction of the simplicity and genuineness of the Gospel of Christ. Why is it so? Because in Jer. 3: 15 we are told: “And I will give you leaders after my own heart, who will guide you with WISDOM and UNDERSTANDING” TLB. It means there is a type of knowledge that destroys, which can be carried by certain individuals, but in order to reverse the effect of this dangerous wisdom, God himself will have to give His body a sect of people that will bring in accurate knowledge both to build and stabilize His body as the true vine. It is evident from the language of Jesus that a corrupt tree cannot bear good fruit. It is also a basic fact the whatever a man worships, based on his knowledge, determines how he or she feels and reacts towards situations, and so we find that the spirit of any man is determined by what he believes or worships. By implication, those who worship an aggressive God that kills will manifest the same spirit of aggressiveness and killing, because that alone can satisfy that same spirit.
Among those who believe so strongly in the doctrine of eternal punishment, is one Dr Benson who is quoted as saying God will personally be present to see what the state of those who rebelled against his Government will be. In other words, God will personally pay regular visits to hell to see to the condition of those there and go back to heaven.
We have already established the fact that Plato, a Pagan Greek Philosopher, a student of Socrates was the one who in his literary work (Phaedo) taught the immortality of the soul which becomes the foundation for the writings on the doctrine of eternal hell.
THE CHANNEL OF INFILTRATION INTO CHRISTIANITY As it is evident, the Apocryphal Books that Judaism eventually started relying upon, having forsaken the Laws of Moses (Jn 5: 46- 47, Lk16: 31), carries with it among others, a lot of Babylonian and Assyrian ways of worship and fire-works etc. These are some of the things St Paul was fighting against when he said to Timothy: “...Keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science falsely so called; which some professing have erred concerning the faith …” 1Tm 6: 20 – 21; See also Col 2:8. Again with regards to Judaism: “Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith” 1 Tim 1:4. As a matter of fact, most of the philosophers equated Jesus the Christ with Zoroaster.
APOSTOLIC FATHERS By Apostolic Fathers here we mean those who carried on the Faith after the death of the early apostles, amongst whom were Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Barnabas of Alexandra, Ignatius, Justine Martyr, Hermas of Rome etc. There is something we need to observe about the early Apostles and that is their creed, which reads: I believe in God Almighty and Jesus Christ, His only begotten son who is born of the Virgin Mary and the Holy Ghost, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, buried, rose from the dead on the third day, ascended into heaven and seated at the right hand of the Father. When He comes, He will judge the Living and the dead. In holy Spirit, the holy church, the remission of sins and the resurrection of the body” And this is the way the original version ended. But this portion was added: “I believe in the judgment of those who are not born again that they will be raised into eternal torment and endless punishment”. So we find that these were a sect of the Apostolic fathers who went ahead to uphold or spread the hetaeristic philosophical sentiment of the use of Tartarus and Hades as instrument of the State to be used against the enemies and prosecutors as an agent of governance of the people. Such Apostles were Justine Martyr (140 – 156), Pythagoras, even Alexandria, who were students of Plato especially Justine Martyr and so could mix the Platonic sentiment of endless punishment and Annihilation in their Languages. But in the midst of this, we have people like Clement of Rome, Polcarp etc. who were the immediate successors of the early apostles and never spoke a word of future endless punishment in all their write ups. But again we find that even people like Justine Martyr (who wrote some 40 years after St John) were not sure of what they believe. For instance he would say: “Every one is stepping forward into everlasting miseries or happiness according to his works. Moreover, we say that the souls of the wicked being reunited to the same body shall be consigned to eternal torment and not as Plato will it to the 1000 years only. Satan with all its host of angels and men like him shall be thrust into fire, they are to be tormented world without end as Christ has foretold” But listen to this: “I do not say all souls will die, those of the pious will remain after death – in a certain better place and those of the unholy and wicked in a worst, all expecting the time of judgment. Those who are worthy to appear before God never die, and the others are tormented so long as God wills that they should exist, independent of the will of God as a perishable nature and then be annihilated so as to exist no longer. God alone is self existing and by his own nature is imperishable and therefore is God, but all other things are begotten and corruptible for which reason souls of the wicked both suffer punishment and die”. The soul has to be punished “…Until God annihilates that soul”. Was this man teaching endless torment or total annihilation? Though he is among those that blazed the trail of endless torment, but he ended up with total annihilation. Seems he wasn’t totally convinced of the issue of endless torment. Now the Father of the Doctrine of Endless Torment is Tutalian who wrote between AD 200 and 220. He was so aggressive on this subject.
The Progressive Development of the Doctrine Records have it that it took some 500 years after the death of the Apostles to have this doctrine established in the church. In development we have: 1. About AD 100, some 10 years after the death of St John, we have the denying of the resurrection to the wicked and unbelieving, with the soul remaining in Hades as a disembodied spirit. 2. The judgment after death and the punishment of the unbelieving in AD 112 – 140 3. The future torment and final annihilation of the souls of the wicked AD 140 – 190 4. The future endless torment of the wicked was as set forth by Tutalian AD 200 – 220. It was about AD 553-540 that this doctrine was condemned as an article of faith. We see later on that most people who used the word “endless torment” never believed it was forever but for duration of time.
THIS IS STRANGE, BUT YET THE TRUTH. There were two major sects in the days of Jesus: The Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Sadducees, unlike the Pharisees, do not believe in endless torment. Josephus himself confirms that they inflict rigorous punishment on offenders, pay a special regard to justice, were very pure and morally upright, denying a future reward or punishment because they do not believe in resurrection or fate in death or hell. Yet they were better off then the Pharisees that believed in endless torment. What do we conclude here? 1. The belief of endless punishment does not restrain or prevent men from their criminal passions. Those believing are no better in character or conduct because they believed; e.g. the Pharisees. 2. The non-believing does not make man immoral or wicked as the character of the Sadducees; who even their enemies acknowledged to be strictly honest, just and moral as abundantly demonstrated. 3. Jesus never mentioned nor rebuked the Sadducees; yet in Math 23: 33 he said to the Pharisees “…How can you escape the damnation of Hell”? See v. 15
PART 10
VIEWS OF SOME EARLY CHURCH FATHERS ON ETERNAL TORMENT “The priests said not where the LORD is? And they that handle the law know me not; the PASTORS also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit”. Jer 2:8.
As we continue our meditation on the Doctrine of Eternal Torment, it is important for us to understand something from the above scripture and that is that the major problem that God is having with His people is from the Pastors of His church. First of all the word says: “those who handle the law do not know God” and that is very serious, because for you to stand for a man in revealing His mind, then you must not only know what he wants, but who he is, that is his personality which has to do with temperament and all. Now here are a people who are proclaiming the Laws of God and yet do not know who the Law giver is. Certainly, He must be misrepresented. Now do not forget these groups of people who handle the Law are the teachers of the Law, or word of God, and since they do not know God, they are bound to bring in their own interpretations. Again, we have the PASTORS WHO TRANSGRESSED AGAINST THE LORD. What is leading to the transgression here is because they do not know the Lord. By the way to transgress means “to go beyond”. In other words they are both preaching and teaching things outside of the mind and will of God, producing a greater separation of the people from God in the way they think, relate and envision God. And this is precisely the state of the church in her relationship to God. Today what do we really know about God except the God who punishes people endlessly and bless other few righteous people with a lot of money and a mansion later in heaven up in glory yonder. All we know is the God who does not see nor has the desire of the Moslems, the Hindus etc at heart because they, in our thinking, have refused to listen to our preaching and teachings, therefore they must be roasted in hellfire forever and ever. And because of this the Lord is saying “I will give you Pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding” (Jer. 3:15). Certainly, we are here talking of the knowledge of who God is; His intents and purposes for His creation and the understanding of His manifold wisdom in carrying out His will for His creation.
THE VIEWS OF SOME EARLY SPIRITUAL FATHERS ON THE ISSUE OF ETERNAL FIRE We have already stated that among those early Fathers who believed strongly on the doctrine of endless punishment is a person like St. Augustine who was the all time champion of the doctrine of endless punishment. But the fact is that he was of “The Manichean School of thought” the most dangerous of all the ancient Gnostic-cults. It was founded by a Persian named Mani in about 238 AD. He was a first class deceiver who claimed to be the promised “Comforter” by Jesus Christ. He claimed to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by providence. In their major doctrine, they claimed that “only a few would be saved. The unsaved would suffer Endless punishment in the Kingdom of Darkness”. So in the teachings of St Augustine: “History ends with a final and total separation between the Kingdom of Light (Christendom) and the kingdom of Darkness (heathendom, or Satan’s Dominions)”. Evidently then, Augustine could not do a good Biblical exegesis on this subject since he was a Latin speaking person who knew no Greek or Hebrew in which the NT and OT were written.
Now I will like to present the views of some Greek Church Fathers and what they believed and I hope to quote extensively. 1. In the words of Origen of Alexandria (185 – 254 AD) He said: “The sacred scripture does indeed, call our God a consuming fire (Heb 12: 29) and says that rivers of fire go before his face (Dan 7: 10), and that “He shall come as a refiner’s fire and purify the People (Mal 3: 2 – 3). As therefore God is a consuming fire, what is it that is to be consumed by Him? We say it is wickedness and whatever proceeds from it, such as is figuratively called ‘wool, hay, and stubble’ (1Cor 3: 15) - which denote the evil works of man. Our God is a consuming fire in this sense, and He shall come as a refiner’s fire to purify rational nature from the alloy of wickedness and other pure matter which has adulterated the intellectual gold and silver, consuming whatever evil is admixed in all the soul …they are purged with the “wise fire” or make to pay in “prison” every debt up to the ‘last farthing’ (Math. 5: 25 – 26)…to cleanse them from the evils committed in their… “error” (Rom 1: 27) together with salutary sufferings that follow Lovers of pleasure; thus they are delivered from all the filth and blood with which they had been so filthied and defiled that they could not even think about being saved from their own perdition … by the spirit of Judgment and the spirit of burning (Is 4: 4). For He goes forth as the fire of a foundry and as the lye of the fullers (Mal 3: 2 – 3) washing and cleansing those who are in need of such healing remedies, because they did not determinedly to “have God in their knowledge” (Rom 1: 28) …But how long this purification which is wrought out by penal fire shall endure, or for how many eons it shall torment sinners? He only knows to whom all judgment is committed by the Father…” (Please see Against Celsus IV: 13, “On prayer XXIX. 15 and comm. in Epis to the Romans VIII, II). These statements are straightforward as to the thoughts and views of these Fathers that need no further commentary. 2. Again we quote the words of Novatian of Rome (Circa 250 A.D) one of the great presbyter of the church in Rome “…wrath and Indignation of the Lord so-called are not such passions as bear those name in man; but that they are operations of the Divine mind directly, solely to our purification (in De Regula fidei IV). To him the judgment or wrath of God whether by fire of hell or Lake of it, is for purification. 3. In the words of Gregory, Bishop of Nyassa (AD335 – 395) commenting on 1Cor 15: 28, 32 – 44 said: “…so I begin by asking, what is the truth that the divine apostle (Paul) intends to convey in this passage? It is this: In due course evil will pass over into non-existence: it will disappear utterly from the realm of existence, Divine and uncompounded goodness will encompass within itself every rational Nature; no single being created by God will fail to achieve the kingdom of God. The evil that is now present in everything will be consumed like a base metal melted by the purifying flame. Then everything which derives from God will be as it was in the beginning before it had ever received an admixture of evil… (v. 40). And this is the ultimate goal of all hope that nothing should be left in opposition to the good, but that the divine life should permeate everything and abolish death secured its hold over man having already been destroyed… (V. 44). That last phrase which speaks of God coming to be in all by becoming all to each, clearly portrays the non-existence of evil. Obviously, God will be in all only when no trace of evil is to be found in anything. For God cannot be in what is evil. So either He will not be “in all” and some evil will be left in things, or, if we are to believe that He is “in all” then that belief declares that there will be no evil for God cannot be in what is evil.” Furthermore Gregory commenting on Psalm 54: 17 said “The Lord will, in His judgment destroy the wickedness of sinners, not their nature … wickedness being thus destroyed, and its imprint being left in none, we shall all be fashioned after Christ and in all that one character shall shine, which was originally imprinted on our nature.” And while commenting on the second death said “They who live in the flesh ought, by virtuous conversation, to free themselves from fleshly lusts, lest after death, they should again need another death to cleanse away the remains of fleshly vice that cling to them”. End quote.
You may consider the writings of Jerome, Bishop of Bethlehem (340 – 419AD); Victorinus (360AD); John Chrysostom (347- 407AD); Titus, Bishop of Bostra (304 AD); Ambrose of Milan 340 – 397AD); Gregory of Nazianzen, Bishop of Constantinople (325 – 390AD). With this historical background laid, we shall move on to consider the relevant passages used in propagating this doctrine.
PART 11
THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM “HELL” “Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel (The church), The Lord has filed a law suit against you listing the following charges: There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your Land… My people are destroyed because they don’t know me, and it is all your fault, you priests, for you yourselves refuse to know me; therefore I refuse to recognize you as my priests since you have forgotten my laws, I will ‘forget’ to bless your children” Hos. 4: 1, 6TLB The fact remains that the controversy that God had with the people of Israel is not yet over because we find them still with us today. It is still lack of faithfulness and kindness even win the body of Christ and no true knowledge of God as to what is truly his word or what we have picked up from other sources to form what we subscribe to as religious truth but are not. The Greek mythologies and Roman traditions that we have picked along with out theological exegesis have led to one thin; our children and generations that are following us being deprived of the true blessings of Abraham. Through this lack of knowledge, we have caused a breach between us and our children. The point is, what is not the word of God cannot become the word of God and so we want to critically look at the word Hell. What does it stand for? How did the Bible apply it? What symbolic truth does it represent?
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE WORD HELL? Hell is basically the English rendering of two different Greek words in the NT. The English word comes from the Anglo-saxon hel which means a hidden place, from the Anglo-Saxon helan “to hide” and this is used in the NT for the translation of two major Greek words: 1. GEHENA (Grk-geenna): The word Gehenna is the transliteration of the Hebrew word Gai-Hinnom which means “the valley of Hinnom or “valley”of (the sons of) Hinnom, and this was a valley where there was a constant fire for the worship of the fertility god called Molech. During this worship, children were made to pass through the fire, in other words, roasted alive in the outstretched arm of the image of this god which was made of cast iron. The fire will be kindle on this Iron sculpture with the child on it arms to a degree of redness with heavy drinking and dancing to drown the cry of the child until the child is completely burnt alive. Then the god is seen to have accepted their sacrifice. In the OT, Tophet was the Heb Word used, because it was a place in this valley. In Jer. 7:31 we read “And they have built the high places of tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I commanded them not neither came it into my heart”. Please se also Isa 30:33, Jer 19: 11 - 14. And it was King Josiah who finally put a stop to this horrible practice in this valley which is to the southern part of Jerusalem when he was carrying out his reforms: “And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to molech” 2Kings 23: 10. In the days of Jesus, this abominable worship that did not and will not come to the heart of God had ceased, but the fires were still burning there as a continuous destruction of the refuse that was coming out of the city of Jerusalem. So essentially this valley became a dumping ground and incinerator for the cleansing of the city. More on this fact later. This is why geenna was used symbolically for the fires of destruction associated with the Judgment of God. This word Geenna occurs 12 times and is always rendered “hell” in passages like Math 5;22, 29,30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33: Mk 9: 43, 45, 47; Lk 12:5; Jas 3: 6; which is certainly a mistranslation. 2. Hades- (Grk: hades) it is a word used by the Greeks to man the “unseen world”. In the real sens3e, the meaning the Greeks puts upon it should have nothing to do with us, as we should have nothing to do with the imaginations of the heathens, neither the traditions of the Jews, the Romanists or any of such teachings that has to do with their concepts of the evil world of the departed spirits. The application of this word by the Holy Spirit is directly connected to the “the earth” and so have had it “purified” as “silver tried in a furnace” Ps 12: 6. Here we are talking of the word spoken that pertains to the earth that had received a spiritual purification unto perfection. The OT is completely written in Hebrew Language, it has no literature behind it. It is its main source and this is not the same with the Greek Language. The Hebrew word sheol is completely Divine in its origin and application; whereas as the Greek Hades is not so. It is a word that has gone through series of developments down through the countries, therefore acquiring different new senses, meanings and usages.
HOW DO WE DETERMINE THE TRUE MEANING OF HADES? It is simply by comparing two scriptures in both the OT and NT in their application by the Holy Spirit. In Ps 16: 10 talking about the death and resurrection of Jesus we are told: “For thou wilts not leave my soul in Hell (sheol) neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy one to see corruption. And this is exactly what apostle Peter quoted in Acts 2:27 3:2 and it is here rendered Hades in the Greek. So we see that the common meaning as supplied by the Holy Spirit is that of the common grave of mankind and this is the meaning it should carry in the NT wherever it is used, no more no less. The word “Hades” occur Eleven times in the NT in such passages as Math 11: 23, 16: 18: Lk 10: 15, 16 23; Acts 2: 27, 31; 1Cor. 15:55; Rev; 18: 6, 8, 20: 10, 14. And in all of these passages, the translators of the King James Version have continued to use the word “Hell” except once in 1Cor. 15:55 where it reads “Grave”. But in the RSV and most modern translations, it is always rendered as “Hades” Deut. 32: 22 – 25 is worth reading at this time. Conclusively we can see that when we are talking of the grave it is as touching direction, the foundation of the mountains. It is downward, in terms of location, it is in the earth: and it is in direct contrast with the state of the Living. So what can we see is associated with the grave (Hades)? It is connected with: 1. Mourning (Gen 37:34) 2. Sorrow (Gen 42:38, 2 Sam. 22: 5, Ps. 185) 3. Fright and terror (Nub. 16. 27, 34 4. Silence (Ps 6: 5: 31:17, Eccl. 9: 10) 5. No knowledge (Eccl 9:5, 6, 10) 6. Punishment (Num. 16, 29, 34. 1Kgs 2:6, 9, Job. 24, 10 Ps9:17.)
What is the way out of Hades? It is simply through resurrection. See Ps 16: 11; Acts 2:27, 31; 13:33 – 37.1Cor. 15:55 Rev 1: 18: 20:5, 13: 14. In fact here we are told Hades will disappear through the lake of fire when all that need to be burnt has been taken care of by the fire which can never be quenched, but “…where there is no firewood the fire goes out” Pro. 26:20
TARTAROO This is the third word used in the NT in 2 Peter 2:4 (to thrust down to Tartarus). This is a Greek word not used in any other place in the scripture. This is a Greek mythology. Homer described it as a subterranean. The closest scripture to this description in Deut 32:22 which says “for a fire is kindled in Mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with here increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains” Homer taught that Tartarus is the prison of the Titans or giants who rebelled against the god Zeus. To the Greeks this was a place reserved for those who were considered to deserve the worst punishment. There was this Greeks this was a place reserved for those who were considered to deserve the worst punishment. There was this Greek story of Tantakus who stole Zaus ambrosia and was taken to Tartarus where his punishment was to stand in a pool of water. He became so thirsty that any time he wanted to take water to drink, it would recede from him, and even the trees bearing fruit all around him, he could not pluck Andy as they will recede when he attempts to do so. It looks very mush like that case of Lazarus and the rich man who was demanding for a finger of water to cool his tongue. There will be no room here to pursue who “the sons of God” were that were consigned to hell in 2 Peter 2:4; but let is be noted that sons of God (Gen 6; 2- 4) speaks of a righteous community of people that finally feel lot the realms of the flesh and certainly these could be the lineage of Seth who came into the scene after the death of Cain. In Job 1: 6 we are told sons of God were always coming to the presence of the Lord. This then is the origin of the application of the word Hell in the church.
PART 12
THE “HAND” “FOOT” AND “EYES” “As I urged you… that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine... Some having strayed have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm” 1Tim 1:3 – 7 NKJV.
The above statement by Paul to Timothy, though actually
applied to those who were teaching the Law, is still very valid to us
in our days. The indictment is that they do not know what they are trying
to teach though they sincerely desire to be teachers. One major thing
about the Teaching Ministry is that it actually ought to establish the
people, causing them to understand the mind and dealings of God. But
what do we see today? A group of people trying to do the teaching ministry
and yet not knowing or understanding what they are teaching, so how
do we expect those being taught to have understanding of what they are
supposed to know? And one of the most terrible areas of teaching that
our present day teachers /pastors have ventured into without proper
understanding and accurate knowledge is the doctrine of “Hell”
otherwise known as “Hell Fire”. We have already established
the fact that the word Hell ought to read Gehenna in the Greek which
corresponds to the Hebrew word Gai-Hinnom which means the “valley
of Hinnom” or valley of the sons of Hinnom, a place that was used
for the sacrifice of children to the god Molech, which Josiah eventually
stopped and turned into a refuse dump, see Jer 7: 31, 2 Kgs 23: 10.
Whereas Hades corresponds to Sheol of the Old Testament, that is the
common grave of mankind and that what gets you out of this is simply
resurrection. Compare Ps 16: 10 and Acts 2: 27, 32. In Mark 9: 43 – 44 we read: “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off, it is better for you to enter into life maimed rather than having two hands, to go to ‘hell’ into the fire that shall never be quenched – where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched”. Firstly, we do understand that Jesus was talking to his disciples. (See Vs 33 – 40) so what was their offence that will qualify them for this rebuke and prescription? It is simply that they stopped someone casting out devils in his name and yet he is not among them as a disciple. Listen to Jesus: “But who causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea” (Vs 42). This great millstone is turned by an ass, the type that Samson was made to turn by the philistines; and it was a Greek or Roman method of PUNISHMENT and not Jewish. So then what exactly was Jesus talking about? Let us quickly define a few things. V. 43 “… it is better to enter into LIFE maimed” Watch! Jesus did not say “enter heaven” but life; forget about the religious preachers that say heaven, Jesus’ word is “Life”, what life is this? The Greek word is Zoe and with an article, it speaks of entering a resurrection life or life eternal. Looking at Math 9: 18, you find the case of Jarius who came to Jesus saying “My daughter is even now dead; but come and lay thy hand upon her and she shall live” or “come to life again” especially to live in the resurrection. So what is the resurrection? Jesus clarify this point to Martha who thought the resurrection has to wait till the Last day (Jn 11:24) before her brother Lazarus that was dead four days could come alive again, but Jesus said “…I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me though he were dead, yet shall live” (in other words even if you were dead in sins and trespasses Eph 2: 2 – 2 you can be made alive in Christ). And whosoever liveth (that have come alive in Christ) and (continues to) believeth in me shall never die; believest thou this?” (Jn 11: 25) So what are we saying? The life Jesus was promising His disciples was not that of the bye and bye, but the one that can be entered into right here and now in Him. For “…This is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent|” (Jn17: 8) Look at the way Paul puts it: “For though he was crucified through weakness, YET HE LIVETH BY THE POWER OF GOD, For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you” 2 Cor 13: 4. In Rev 1:18, Jesus said He died “… and behold I am alive forevermore, Amen”. So what He was talking about was that the offence will procure for you a millstone punishment (vs. 42) or eternal life in Him for your faith in Him. Before answering this question, let us also consider the common belief of this passage. “And if thy hands offend thee, cut if off…” (V. 42); “And if thy foot offends thee, cut it off…” (v. 45); “And if thy eyes offend thee, cut it off…” (v. 47) or else you will go to hell fire that shall not be quenched. The first observation I will like us to have here is that both the “hand” “foot” and “Eye” are all in the verses with “the unquenchable fire of hell” and so if the fire is going to be literal later on then one should expect that the ‘hand’ ‘foot’ and ‘Eye’ should have been literally cut off to prevent one from going there, for it will be wrong for us to believe the “A” part to be symbolic while the “B” part of the same verse of scripture is to be literal. And we do know that no one has literally cut off either ‘hand’ or ‘foot’ because he or she wants to take Jesus very serious. Now the next thing we are told is that the “hand” “foot” and “Eye” means either members of your family or friends that could corrupt your spiritual life, so Jesus is saying separate yourselves. Now that itself is a good interpretation, and that will also mean that the word “hand “ “foot” and “Eye” have been spiritualized, so why would the word “unquenchable” retain its literal meaning? Again every human being has two hands, two feet and two eyes, so what did Jesus mean by saying only one out of these two can cause you to sin? And which of them could be responsible for this sin? Is it the right or the left? Again we must find out what kind of sin was Jesus talking about? We cannot know why these our members can cause us to sin until we know the nature of offences that they could cause. And so we read “And if your hand puts a stumbling block before you and causes you to sin, cut it off”…v. 43 Amp. “Indeed if it is your own hand that spoils your faith, you must cut it off! Philips Translations. Now we cannot truly understand this until we first see why he said this to the disciples in Vs 43. “And I tell you too, that the man who disturbs the faith of one of the humblest of those who believe in me would be better if he is thrown into the sea with a great millstone hung round his neck” Philips Trans. Remember the offence the disciples committed? They stopped someone from casting out devils in the name of Jesus simply because to them, he is not among them. So what offended Jesus? – They were practicing sectarianism; so you see, the issue is a Christian attitude, and these are what the ‘foot’ ‘hand’ and ‘Eye’ represents. Look at the disciples, they were followers of Christ alright, but they were envious, jealous and segregational towards all those who do not carry their Label in their thinking, and that is what can qualify a man for either hell fire or to be drowned in the sea with a millstone. In other words any attitude you carry that can turn off someone from the faith such like causing him or her serious public embarrassment, and so pull out off fellowship, or regretting for being a Christian at all or acting in such a manner even in dressing which is very unethical Christian wise for people to copy, the word says you are qualified for hell. And Paul will say: “…If food (that we eat, or my dressing) make my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble” 1Cor 8: 13 NKJV.
PART 13 “And they built the high places of Baal which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom. To cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them nor did it come into my mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin” Jer 31:35 “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” Mk 9: 44 NKJV
We have abundantly explained the fact that ‘the valley of Hinnom’of old is the same thing as the Gehenna of the New Testament Again we ask the question: what was Jesus dealing with in this passage? Who was He talking to? What led to it? And what does the “hand” “foot” and “Eye” represent? For we have seen that none of these things could be literal as no man had ever cut off his Literal hand or foot in order to fulfill this scripture. Again, we stated earlier that the major offence of the disciples of Jesus that qualified them for this rebuke and warning was the SPIRIT OF SECTARIANISM, for attempting to stop a man that was casting out devils in the name of Jesus, though he was not among the disciples of Jesus.
SO WHAT DOES THE “HAND” “FOOT” AND “EYE” MEAN? I will like to explain the “hand” and “foot” with the illustration of Jesus on the marriage Super of the Lamb in Math22. Here we are told that people were invited to the feast supposedly put together by and for Jesus, and garments were prepared for all invitees as was the custom of the Jews; such that whoever comes in must have one, especially if you go through the door where someone is positioned to give them out. But in vs 12 – 14 we are told as the host – Jesus – came in to inspect the guests. On reaching one table, He found someone without the garment which He has instructed should be given to guests and so He was surprised and said: “…Friend how camest thou in thither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless; then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called but few are chosen”. First of all, let it be noted that this is not the so-called “Rapture” for Jesus could not have made a mistake of taking an unqualified person to heaven only for Him to discover later. So what do we have here? This parable is simple: The garment speaks of Christ’s Righteousness which we must put on as His bride. The scripture says “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof” (Rom. 13:14). “…And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in RIGHTEOUSNESS and TRUE HOLINESS” (Eph 4: 24). This then is what that man was not having. And because he lacked this garment, he was not qualified to do ministry with and in the name of Jesus. For we see that Hand speaks of Power – Mk 16: 16 – 18 “… In my name (nature) … they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover” (V. 18). As for the FOOT we are told “… How beautiful are the feet of them that PREACH THE GOSPEL OF PEACE, and bring glad tidings of the good things” (Rom 10:15) “… take unto you the whole armour of God … And your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace” (Eph 6: 13 – 15). So we find that the “foot” speaks of the Gospel of Christ, and the ‘hands” the authority that emanates from the Gospel. Therefore to bind one “hand” and “feet” means the individual is not qualified to preach the glorious Gospel of Christ for not having his righteousness. In fact the word says: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth” (1 Jn 1: 6). So we can see that what will eventually disqualify us is the type of Gospel we are preaching and the source of the anointing we are using, And again we find that Outer darkness is synonymous to Hell here because, the state of the unbeliever is that of Darkness, and here the individual is to go beyond darkness to “outer darkness”. The Bible says those that were in the region of Capernaum sat in the region and shadow of death, but saw light when Jesus came to them (Math 4:13 – 16). Again, we say wrong faith practices resulting in wrong teachings coupled with negative anointing will disqualify us and take us to Gehenna.
Now what is the “Eye” that will cause you to sin? Before dealing with this, let me quickly explain that reading a similar account in the Book of Math 5:29 – 30, he used the word “right eye” and right hand”. This should not be a problem to us because this is not just a symbol of power, proper vision in consonance with God’s mind but also that of blessing. Just like we are told Jesus is sitting at the “right hand of God” (Mk 16: 19) even as Jacob was blessing Ephraim and Manasseh, by crossing his hands over their heads (Gen 48: 13 – 14) by blessing the younger with his right hand. Talking about the “Eye” (Mk 9: 47) in Math 6: 22 -30 we are told “The Lamp of the body is the eye (not eyes) if therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness”. So what is the meaning of the Eye here? Perhaps we need to read it from another translation: “If your eye is pure, there will be sunshine in your soul. But if your eye is clouded with evil thoughts and desires you are in deep spiritual darkness, and oh how deep that darkness can be” TLB. “…If then the very light in you (your conscience) is darkened, how dense is that darkness”. AMP, So we find that the eye speaks of our conscience, the soul of man. Therefore to talk of the eye that can make you stumble in the faith, of course, we must understand that it is a wide range of evil desires that are lurked up within our soul realm. All of those things as Greed, covetousness, Lusts etc that are a manifestation from the soul realm are the things that take us into supposed Gehenna, certainly for the purpose of purification. In other words, to have all of this filthiness burnt out of our lives. This is in direct connection with the application of this word by Jesus, |
