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attempt of many preachers to make
death mean separation from God,
you cannot reconcile this with
Scripture. Neither does death
mean eterna! liJe in the horrifying,
nightmarish torments of an imag–
ined "he!
l."
This "hell-fire" doctrine that is
used to frighten so many ignorant
human beings is a
LIE.
Its author is
the father of lies-Satan the devil!
If
you are one who has gullibly
swallowed that doctrine and suf–
fered mental agonies from the fear
of a man-made "hell fire," God
help you to study all the scriptures
on this subject and find bis truth.
But remember that the penalty
of death will be caused by fire . Paul
warns in Hebrews 10:26-27: "For" if
we sin wilfully after that we have
received the knowledge of the
truth , there remaineth no more sac–
rifice for sins, but a certain fearful
looking for of judgment and fiery
indignation, which shall
DEYOUR
the adversaries." Here we find that
those who, after·knowing the truth,
sin willfully or deliberately, will be
devoured by fire-totally burned
up and consumed.
10
This
ÍS
a
FEARFUL WARNING
tO
those who know God 's t ruth and
still refuse to obey it! T his is not an
unreasoned fear of a harsh, stern
God who delights in punishing sin–
ners. Rather, it is tbe saber realiza–
tion that unless we surrender to
God's will and bis way of lave, and
refuse to Jet anything turn us aside,
God will take away the life he has
given us.
Yet this same passage shows
God's infinite
LOYE.
H e will not
take away people's lives because of
ignorance or weakness, but be–
cause they willfully and knowingly
refuse to obey their Creator. This
rebellious attitude in itself would
bring them, and those abou t them,
nothing but eterna! trouble and
misery if they were allowed to live
forever. So God !n bis merey and
supreme wisdom has decreed the
penalty of
DEATH
for s u ch
people.
The Lake of Fire
When the Bible says, "The wages
of sin is death," it is not referring
to the death we see around us every
day. This death is referred to in 1
Corinthians 15:22, which says, "In
Adam al! die," and in Hebrews
9:27, which says, "And as it is
appointed unto men once to die,
but after this the judgment." Tbese
passages describe the first death-a
death caused by a person wearing
out physically and from which he
can be resurrected.
Revelation 20 shows the time of
later resurrections, and when the
wicked are cast into the lake of fire.
Study it carefully. Tbe first three
verses describe Satan being bound
for a thousand years, and the resur–
rected saints, who are in the first
resurrection, ruling the world
under Christ.
The first part of verse 5 is an
inserted thought that tells us,
"But the rest of the dead lived not
again until the thousand years
were finished." So tbe heathen,
the atheists and al! who were not
called to a full knowledge of
God's truth, are not resurrected
uotil after the thousand-year reign
of Christ. T his is the second res–
urrection. For them the book of
life is opened for the first time
( Rev. 20: 11- 12).
But just befare then, at the end
of tbe thousand years of peace in
the world tomorrow, the devil will
go forth to deceive the nations who
were not imbued with God's Holy
Spirit. He will be overcome and
"cast into the lake of fire and
brimstone, where the beast and the
false prophet are, and shall be tor–
mented day and night for ever and
ever" (verse 10). Notice that tbe
word
are
is in italics in the Autho–
rized Version. It is an inserted
word to complete the meaning, and
should be rendered "were cast"–
because the beast and false prophet
are human beings who will be
burned up when they are cast into
the lake of fire just befare the
thousand years begin (Rev.
19:20).
At this point, sorne of you may
be thinking about tbe parable of
Lazarus and the rich man-and
wondering if the rich man wasn't
pictured as being forever in eterna!
torment. He definitely was not! But
he was in mental torment as the
fire of
Gehenna
was about to end
his life. For the full and interesting
proof of this, write immediately for
our free booklet titled
Lazarus and
the Rich Man.
Now continuing in Revelation
20, notice in verse 13 that the
remaining dead are raised in a
third resurrection and are judged
"according to their works." These
are the wicked who were called
in
this lije
and who rebelled. Verse
14 continues, "And death and hell
[hades,
the grave] were cast into
the lake of fire. This is the second
death ." Here is a plain statement
r evealing that Gehenna, or the
lake of fire,
IS
the
SECOND
DEATH.
Truth Makes Free
The Bible reveals a very d ifferent
God from the one so often
preached today.
lt
seems that men either try to
do away with God's power alto–
gether by preaching as though God
had gone "way off" and left man to
work things out according to
human reason, or they go to the
opposite extreme and look upon
God as
~n
"angry Judge" wbo is
just waiting for an opportunity to
punish belpless sinners throughout
all eterni ty.
(Continued on page 12)
Th11
PLAIN TRUTH