By: General James Green
EVERY THINKING PERSON is likely at one point or another to run into stumbling blocks as he or she tries to understand Christian doctrine or just the Bible. Believe me, there are things in the Bible I just do not comprehend out of my own understanding; but my inability to comprehend some of the more “inscrutable” aspects of the faith does not do away with their reality. HELL is one of these things that many of us have a hard time understanding—that is, for me, in all its fullness. I DO BELIEVE in HELL as much as I do in Heaven, but I do not understand the fullness of these realities except in a humanly intellectual way, as best as a Spirit-led Christian man can.
Since many do not believe in Hell, they naturally think it does not exist. HA! It exists, all right! You just have a barrier of belief. Hell is no myth or superstition like too many “professional” theologians and churchgoers believe. In fact, these people do GREAT HARM in manufacturing complex doctrines/beliefs that LIE against the truth. Real stupid!! As one noted professor of theology wrote, “…much theology is far too sophisticated, but this diagnosis of the trouble is inadequate just the same. There would be no need for theologians if everything in the Bible were self-evident…Scriptures are clothed in a mystery that confuses the human intellect.” I agree with professor N.F. Langford who penned that statement. He also believes in a place called HELL.
Heaven or Hell
WHY ARE WE prone to believe all that is said about Heaven, yet dismiss Hell as non-real? Do you really believe in Heaven? If so, what shall we say about Revelation 21:27?—“But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes abomination or a lie, but ONLY those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life” (NKJV). What happens to all those who are not written in “the Lamb’s Book of Life”? WHERE DO THEY SPEND ETERNITY?
What About Revelation 22:14-15?
“BLESSED ARE THOSE who DO His commandments, that they may have the right to the Tree of Life and may enter through the gates into the city” (v. 14). WHERE DO ALL THE ONES GO WHO DO NOT DO HIS COMMANDMENTS? Well, verse 15 gives us the answer: “But OUTSIDE are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murders and idolaters, and WHOEVER LOVES AND PRACTICES A LIE.” So, is there a place for these ones? Yes—IN HELL FOREVER!!
“But, General Jim…”
PLEASE DO NOT try and reason this Biblical FACT away. You’ll lose.
Heaven has its rewards and so does HELL: Living rewards for the saved; punishment and torment—ONLY!—as rewards for the lost.
I have written on this subject many times before (order all our “Hell booklets”), but please allow me to set things straight once again.
Eternal Bliss or Eternal Perdition?
YOU AND I will spend endless time in one or the other.
Question?
“WHY WOULD A loving God, who sent His only begotten Son to die for the sins of the world, send anyone to Hell?…to burn forever?” Okay: There is no contradiction between the love of God and the fires of Hell. God’s love allows men to choose, and unfortunately, most men choose Hell.Carry the logic of the above question to the radical extreme and you must conclude that God will eventually save ALL—and this is definitely not Biblical. Sorry, Universalism is not found in my Bible.
Now, let’s get it straight: God does not “send” anyone to Hell: WE CHOOSE OUR DESTINY BY DOING OR NOT DOING HIS COMMANDMENTS.
Matthew 7:23
“THEN I (JESUS) will tell them plainly, I never knew you: AWAY FROM ME, YOU EVILDOERS!” Does this sound like the “loving Jesus” who is preached in our modern churches today? NO!
Who was Jesus talking to here? “Not every one who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven,” Jesus warns, “but ONLY he who DOES the will of my Father who is in Heaven” (v. 21). He is talking about those who claim to know Him and who speak of Him as their Lord. In any case, we know the Bible is replete with such Scriptures: it is clear that MEN choose Heaven or Hell. Oh, please don’t give me this Calvinism bull either, that God predestinates some to Heaven and others to Hell!
You see, along with Calvinism, Universalism is a BIG LIE! Yet the LIE that God will eventually “succeed in His purpose of winning ALL men to Himself in faith and love” is preached by many false teachers today. Please take note of what I’m about to say: We can absolutely be sure that our loving Creator will never be slack in His desire for ALL to come to the saving grace He offers through His Son, Jesus Christ; but, as one Bible scholar and preacher well said, “Due to the reality of ‘free will,’ it is logically possible that some may spurn God’s offer of salvation.” I’ll add “many WILL spurn and NOT accept God’s offer of salvation.”
Salvation Is Still Free!
NEVERTHELESS, SALVATION THROUGH the Blood Atonement of Jesus the Christ is still offered freely to “whosoever WILL.” One preacher, a Universalist, said, “It seems morally (although still not logically) impossible that the infinite resourcefulness of infinite love working in unlimited time should be eternally frustrated, and the creature reject its own good, presented in an endless range of way” [John Hick, Evil and the God of Love (London: Macmillan, 1966), pp. 379-80]. Really, Mr. Hick? Seems to me that BILLIONS HAVE ALREADY REJECTED GOD’S FREE OFFER TO BE REDEEMED, and MULTITUDES CONTINUE TO DO SO DAILY! BILLIONS are already in HELLFIRE, awaiting the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:14).
River of Life / Lake of Fire
REVELATION 22:1 SAYS, “And He showed me a pure river of water of Life…proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Here we find those who are the redeemed enjoying God’s River of Life. Revelation 20:11-15 tells the horrid fact concerning those whose names are “not found written in the Book of Life” and who will be “cast into the Lake of Fire.” I did not write this!
Body – Soul – Spirit
“THE ‘SELF’ IS not reducible to physical processes without a remainder.” Science and philosophy, and now Christianity (really, Churchianity!) too, treat man as only a body—and no more. Many in the Church who do believe in the soul and spirit of man also wrongly believe in “annihilation.” But dear ones, our soul is ETERNAL/“IMMORTAL”: it cannot be “burned up.” It lives on forever—either in Heaven or Hell.
One professor of theology, who believes in annihilation of the wicked, stated this: “…I consider the concept of Hell or endless torment in body and mind (soul) an outrageous doctrine, a theological and moral enormity, a bad doctrine…which needs to be changed” [Clark H. Pinnock, “The Destruction of the Finally Impenitent,” Criswell Theological Review 4.2 (1990); pp. 246-47]. Sorry, professor Pinnock, you need to change YOUR doctrine, for it contradicts God’s Word.
Mr. Professor goes on in his defense of the annihilation false doctrine: “…Surely God…is no fiend; torturing people without end…” God does not “torture people”; their unconfessed SINS and also DEMONS do that!
Survival of the Individual
NO ANNIHILATION IN Hell—only a separation from eternal Life. I don’t have the time to go into all the “CARNAL” reasoning “OUT THERE” on the “body/mind torment” issue. It is not resolved, either, by a simple appeal to Hebrew as opposed to Greek thought. I can say, however, that in the course of Christian history, the positive hope of Eternal Life beyond death has been clearly linked with other key Bible doctrines: that is, we see a grouping of Heaven with Hell, along with the resurrection of the just and unjust and the idea of personal immorality.
We cannot compare other religions to Christianity either, for although they may contain some like doctrines/beliefs, the Bible is infinitely unique. (Some of the other major world religions definitely believe in a “Heaven” and an ETERNAL HELL—rewards for doing good, eternal retributive punishments for doing bad.
What A Man Does
WHAT WE DO in this lifetime is of great consequence: not only for the present time (now) but for the future—what awaits us after death. The Bible plainly teaches that moral and spiritual decisions, which shape character now, also have eternal consequences—eternal meaning “not only concerning here and now (the present quality of life) but concerning the quality of life after death.”
Roman Catholic Church
PURGATORY IS AN invented doctrine, a kind of compromise. The Roman Catholic Church recognizes that strictly on the basis of merit (their formula for “salvation” and “damnation”), few persons are so evil that Hell is inevitable; also, that few are so saintly as to face no impediment in their attempted entrance into a Heavenly reward. So, the “intermediate state” dogma and doctrine was set up. (Also, there was lucrative gain to be made by the establishment of this doctrine!) This is purely a human-manufactured doctrine. Purgatory is a LIE!
The Real Gospel
LET IT BE known that the Gospel is more than forgiveness, it is also about retributionas well. Did not Jesus explicitly say to the religious of His day, “Serpents, a brood of vipers! How shall you escape the condemnation of HELL?” (Matt. 23:33, NKJV). This was said by the “loving” Jesus! I like the Amplified version: “You serpents! You spawn of vipers! How can you escape THE PENALTY TO BE SUFFERED IN HELL (GEHENNA)?”
The verbal chastisement concludes with the frank revelation that the Pharisees are a generation of poisonous snakes, incapable of avoiding the pangs of ETERNAL HELLFIRE. And don’t try to tell me that the Hellfire passages can be understood through the teaching of annihilation. John the Baptist made it very clear when he said, “The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be CUT DOWN and THROWN INTO THE FIRE” (Matt. 3:10). John follows up with the wheat example (v. 12)—“…his winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and BURNING UP THE CHAFF WITH UNQUENCHABLE FIRE.” This is not a contradiction—that is, “burning up” (the chaff—sinners) and the fire of Hell being “unquenchable” (i.e., NEVER GOING OUT!). It is because there are sinners in Hell that the fire keeps burning (cf. Jn. 15:6; Heb. 10:27; 12:29), for the sinners are the fuel.
“General, don’t those texts teach annihilation?” NO! Other texts give testimony that Hellfire speaks of the pain of the wicked, not their utter consumption.
Jesus says in Matthew 13:30 to “Collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned.” If Jesus was teaching extinction/annihilation, He would not have used the words we find in the succeeding verses (vv. 40-42): “throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be WEEPING and GNASHING OF TEETH.” So, Jesus warns of continual suffering and pain.
You might counter with, “Yes, but after a quick painful burning, the sinners are totally burned up.” Well, we could look at it this way, but according to historical interpretation—and all honest Bible scholars agree!—when the Son of Man banishes the ACCURSED/DAMNED to “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41) in the “goat and sheep” teaching, He uses the phrase “ETERNAL fire,” which clearly denotes UNENDING PAIN, not an immediate extinction. Nothing is even hinted about anyone “burning up” but rather the emphasis is on the fire being “ETERNAL.” It does not say that the effects of the fire are eternal (which some claim to twist this Scripture and make it sound like annihilation); it says the fire itselfis eternal.
We find the devil (satan) being thrown into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:10) whereby “he (and the sinners) will be TORMENTED DAY AND NIGHT forever.” “Forever” here denotes torment—UNENDING TORMENT! I don’t like this idea one bit, but I must believe it. This torment is not obliteration for the devil, evil demons and ALL unrepentant sinners (better read Lk. 16:23-24 along with this). Luke 16:25-28 shows us that the “fire” speaks of “agony” which the rich man suffered. It is called the “place of torment.”
Now, if you want to speak merely of logic (as our opponents so love to do!), we know that an extremely hot furnace would kill and consume a man immediately (see Daniel 3:22, for example). No one would have time (not even seconds!) to “weep” or “gnash” their teeth. Clearly then, even by basic logic, we see that Hellfire speaks of anguish, not annihilation.
HELLFIRE
REGARDLESS OF ANY precise focus, we can learn from the use of “hellfire” imagery that the imagery unmistakably equates fire with TORMENT.
The “Rev.” John Stott writes, “The fire itself is termed ‘eternal’ and ‘unquenchable,’ but it would be very off if what is thrown into it proves indestructible. Our expectation would be the opposite [NOTICE THERE IS NOTHING HERE ABOUT GOD’S WORD!—but simply ‘OUR expectation’!]: it would be consumed for ever, not tormented for ever [BUT THE BIBLE SPEAKS OF EVERLASTING TORMENT!]. Hence it is the smoke (evidence that the fire has done its work) which rises ‘forever and ever’ (Revelation 14:10,11)” (Edwards and staff, Evangelical Essentials, p. 316).
The above quote was answered by R.A Peterson, M.Div., Ph.D. (professor of Systematic Theology at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, MO; a Presbyterian): “On the contrary, our expectation would be that the smoke would die out once the fire had finished its work. How could the smoke from the fire rise forever if its fuel (sinners/devil/demons) had been consumed? The rest of the verse confirms our interpretation: ‘There is NO REST DAY OR NIGHT for those who worship the beast and his image’” (my emph.).
Let us put this into plain words: John the Apostle says that “there is no rest day or night” for the wicked. So when annihilationists assert that the Apostle John means to say that the wicked have no relief “so long as their sufferings last,” they evade the plain meaning of the texts by reading into the text something that is not there. This is called eisegesis.
The conclusion is inevitable. The imagery of burning in Revelations 14:10-11 conveys the eternal conscious torment of the ungodly. (For more, see Judge, The Fire That Consumes, p. 300; cf. Atkinson, Life and Immortality, p. 109 and Guilleboud, Righteous Judge, p. 24).
Rejecting God
THE TRADITIONAL FORM of Bible doctrine has insisted that those who have rejected God and thusly are rejected by Him, will CONTINUE to EXIST after death FOREVER. I believe this to be true. Furthermore, the Bible states that they will SUFFER, for unlimited time, PAIN and ANGUISH, which are purely retributive: that is, they are PUNISHMENTS, and are justified because of what each man/woman did and/or did not do in his/her life. Think about this! DON’T BLAME GOD!
Disciplinary Suffering
SENDING PEOPLE TO Hell is not as some teach: that it is for the purpose of “rehabilitation.” These modern liberal reformers of the penal code are in error. Hell, by definition, is ENDLESS RETRIBUTIVE PUNISHMENT: the sinner exists forever in this state of penal suffering. This is why we here at ACMTC use every means possible to witness to the lost—Hell is a long time, an endless time…WHY GO THERE?!
PAIN
SOME ARGUE THAT the flames of Hell are figurative, not literal. Well, however this may be interpreted—whether they are symbolic of mental and psychological anguish or involve very real physical flames—the point is that PAIN IS INVOLVED. AND WE CAN ESCAPE THIS REALITY IF WE ACCEPT JESUS AS SAVIOR AND WALK IN HIS WAY TILL DEATH OR TILL HIS SECOND COMING.
Biblical Definitions
IN MY BOOKLET “Locked Into Everlasting Punishment,” I deal with the words “destroy” “consume,” and “burned up.” Briefly, let me restate here what these three words mean. Many misconstrue them to signify “annihilation.”
“DESTROY” — (See Matthew 10:28.) This is a Greek word (apollumi) meaning “to destroy in the sense of ‘to kill the body’ (Matt. 2:13; 12:14), ‘to punish by torment’ (Matt. 8:29; Mk. 1:24), ‘to cut off spiritual life’ (Rom. 14:15), ‘to lose something’ (Matt. 10:42; Lk. 15:4, 8), ‘to mar’ (Mk. 2:22), and ‘to be lost in Hell’ (Jn. 17:12; 18:9; 2 Cor. 4:3).” The word “perish” is often the forgotten word of John 3:16. It points not to physical death but to the dreadful reality of ETERNAL PUNISHMENT (cf. Matt. 10:28). So both “destroy” and “perish” do not mean “annihilation” but “TO BE CAST OFF FROM ETERNAL LIFE TO A CONSCIOUSEXISTENCE—LASTING FOREVER IN THIS STATE!—OF ETERNAL DEATH.”
“CONSUME” — (See Psalm 37:20.) “Consume” here is used to teach annihilation of the wicked, but this Hebrew word does not mean “cessation of existence” in Psalm 37 any more than the same word does in Genesis 41:30, Job 7:9, 19:27, 33:21, Psalm 6:7, 31:9-10 or 39:10.
“Consume” is from the Hebrew kalah and is the equivalent for the Greek apollumi mentioned already. It simply means “to mar or ruin or render unfit for the intended purposes for which a person or thing was created.”
“BURNED UP” — (See Malachi 4:1). These words are also used to teach annihilation; but, in the first place, Malachi 4:1 refers to the “Battle of Armageddon” and not to Hell, as is clear from a study the whole chapter. Read Ezekiel 38:17-21 and 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 also. In the second place, it is said that the earth and the works therein shall be “burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10-13), but all that will happen is the purification of the earth by fire.
So, “everlasting fire” teaches EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT; PERPETUAL SUFFERING. Just as Heaven is eternal and everlasting, so is Hell. The same Greek word is used for both—showing endless duration FOR BOTH. Why believe it means “everlasting” for Heaven and yet not believe it when it is used, in the same context, for Hell?
Annihilation would do away with the reality of “everlasting destruction” (“ruin”) and “punishment,” for there would be no men/women nor devils to punish forever. That’s just not Biblical. God allows “destruction” (everlasting “marring”) of the soul in Hell (Matt. 10:28); thus Hell is not extinction.
“Everlasting” and “Eternal”
MATTHEW 25:41 and v. 46 use “everlasting” (Gk. aionios), which can also be translated “eternal.” “And these (the wicked) shall go away into EVERLASTING (AIONIOS) punishment, but the righteous into life ETERNAL (AIONIOS).” What do we deduce from that statement? That the punishment of the wicked is EXACTLY as ENDURING as the life of the redeemed.
Some like to translate aionios as “age long” when referring to the punishment of the wicked…but why not do the same for the life of the redeemed—seeing both use the same word, one right after the other? Aionios is never translated “age” in my Scripture; it always means “eternal”.
Hell To Be Understood
NOW, WITH ALL this said and done, Hell is to be understood as the end result of self-determination. Therefore, God has placed many signs of warning here on earth to keep the human race from facing Hell—mainly His written Word and His ministers.
Individuals and nations, despite these warnings, go their own sinful way. In doing this, they bring down upon their own heads, and upon innocent people’s heads, the DAMNATION OF HELL.
Hell on Earth?
WELL, YES, IN one sense we might say this. And the road humankind is on will lead to the greater Hell. Grant you, the earth is filled with sheer hellish things, even as I write. But you who believe that Hell is only on earth now or believe in Universalism, had better throw out your expectation of not facing Hell after death and/or of the “ultimate and universal salvation of ALL humankind”—neither is Biblically true.
Breaking The Chain
JESUS CHRIST OFFERS to “break the chain of moral causes and effects” in that He offers to forgive you of your sins and thereby release you from the “effect” of sin on your life, which is inevitably HELL. If you doubt this, read the entire New Testament for yourself. You need to see this not just me quoting Scriptures. It is true: Jesus has already gone to prepare a place for us in Heaven’s sphere.
This is why I teach and preach Christ’s death on the cross, His resurrection from the dead, and His glorification. These great truths are able to INTERRUPT the DEADLY CYCLE OF DESIRES AND SIN AND CONSEQUENCES THEREOF. Self-assertion will not break us free from sin. We must be BORN AGAIN. Jesus states in John 3:3 that “Except a man is born of water and of the (Holy) Spirit, he cannot enter into the KINGDOM OF GOD.” Jesus was probably referring to the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit (water) in the birth. Titus 3:5 speaks of “the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost (Spirit).”
Shall We Not Rejoice?
WE SHALL BE glad and rejoice to escape from the cruel bondage of “the self” (unregenerated “self”), from the EVERLASTING FIRE that CANNOT BE QUENCHED, from “THE WORM” OF OUR SELF-WILL THAT DOES NOT DIE. Shall we neglect so great a salvation as Jesus offers to us?
Who Knows Who Is Saved or Damned?
IT IS GOD and Him alone that decides who is saved and who is damned. I’m not speaking of Calvinism here, I mean it is His prerogative to make such fateful or wonderful decisions. If we are born-again and walk in the Spirit, we are assured of FULL SALVATION—yet men can deceive other men by their deeds and words, so only God really knows the answer.
Debated Generalizations
HEAVEN AND HELL are not just “general considerations to be glibly debated,” but are highly personal. Rewards—things we earn after we become Christian (not salvation, for salvation is a free gift)—are promised to the faithful. The same goes for punishments for the wicked, for punishments are understood as “the fruit of all that has preceded us in a life without Christ”: our self-assertion or self-life is “rewarded” by how much “stature” we “built up” (or “down”!) as sinners.
You see, the fruits of our rebellion against the laws of God judge us. Why blame the Holy Father for something we did? If you committed the acts of crime, you pay for the same. God only judges the crimes and justly rewards us.
If we choose to go to Hell, this means we prefer Hell above Heaven; we prefer to serve god (ourselves!) rather than God.
“The Worm”
MAN’S CONSCIENCE, KNOWN in the Bible as “the worm,” shall be in torment in Hell—as well as the body—and “never die” (Mk. 9:48; Isa. 66:24). Memory of our past will be our torment. Maybe you ought to consider or reconsider all this, my dear reader.
Scepticism
OH, THERE IS plenty of this out there, even in most churches. Scepticism about what the Bible says on this issue of “everlasting punishment,” of course, renders useless any attempt to believe the various things the Bible says about Hell. But I have an obligation to preach the Gospel to every creature (whether they believe in Hell or not!). It is really a shame—yea, a SIN!—to see so many “Christian” ministers skirt this issue of Hell.
Historical research will not always lead bias and scepticism to belief, but it will help many in their desire to know the truth. There are some who will never accept the truth about HELL, no matter what is presented.
Study God’s Word
I BELIEVE IN study. The Scriptures contain divine truths, so we must make every effort in the linguistic, literary and historical field to understand God’s Word.
Take the word “Gehenna,” a Greek word,—what does it really mean? Why did Jesus and the Apostles use it? This word, of course, is translated “hell” in our KJV Bible. [In the KJV (Authorized Version), the word “hell” is translated 10 times from “Hades,” 12 times from “Gehenna” and once from another lesser-known Greek word for the abode of the dead, “Tartaros” (2 Pet. 2:4); “Gehenna” is thus used most.] But what did Jesus mean by this word? Was “Gehenna” a term or concept used in Judaism? My study has led me to believe that in Judaism, the doctrine of the resurrection was late in developing, whether speaking of damnation or bliss.
Neville Clark (Interpreting the Resurrection, p. 20) said that the Old Testament thought is “expressive of a passionate unveiling of the heights and depths of fellowship with God, which is already implicitly undermining the finality of death.” Russell Aldwinckle, late professor of Systematic Theology, Canada, said of Clark’s comment, “The full implications of this were only to be unfolded after a simple theology of rewards and punishments in this life had broken down under pressure of experience.”
D. Russell, in his book The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic, writes, “If God’s justice…were to be vindicated, this could only be affirmed if Sheol, the abode of the dead, could somehow be brought under the control and jurisdiction of Yahweh…the period between the Old Testament and the New Testament in the apocalyptic and apocryphal writings…In those, we see a radical change of thought about individual destiny after death.”
Better Understanding
“SHEOL,” THE ABODE of the dead, has been better understood thru the centuries. The dead are no longer “shades” as once believed. They are spoken of as souls or spirits; conscious beings. Thought in O.T. times claimed personality was wholly dependent on the body, but now men believe and know that the soul/spirit continues in existence without the body.
Jesus Descended Into Hell
AFTER JESUS WAS crucified, His body (dead body) was laid in a tomb, but He went down into Hell/Hades, the heart of the earth (see Matt. 12:40; Eph. 4:7-11) or the “lower parts of the earth.” This is what David was referring to in Psalm 16:10 (see also Acts 2:25-27): “For thou (the Father) wilt not leave my soul in Hell…” The verse continues with this: “…neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” in the tomb—Jesus’ body was resurrected after 3 days.
Now, was Jesus bad that He had to go to Hell (i.e., for the wicked)? NO! Hell (“Hades”) was divided into sections. “But isn’t Hell-‘Hades’ the same as Hell- ‘Gehenna’?” you ask. NO! As already stated, there are 3 Greek words translated as “Hell” in the KJV: they are “Gehenna,” “Hades,” and “Tartaros.” According to the Bible, “Gehenna” is the Lake of Fire mentioned in the Book of Revelation, the place of ETERNAL PUNISHMENT after the resurrection of the dead and Final Judgment. “Hades,” on the other hand, is the intermediate place (not Purgatory or any version thereof) where souls await the resurrection, and is made up of 2 sections: the section for the wicked and the section where the righteous once dwelt, the latter being called “Paradise.” “Hades” is said to be in the earth below. When Jesus died and arose, He took those righteous souls in “Paradise” away, up above into another abode, into Heaven, into the presence of God, the Son, the Holy Spirit and the holy angels. Hell-“Hades” is still there (“Paradise” is empty though!) and will be until “death and Hell (Hades) [are] cast into the lake of fire (Gehenna). This is the second death” (Rev. 20:14). So, to the early Church, “Gehenna” and “Hades” were two very different places.
The Scripture is clear on this teaching. But for some additional information, here are some quotes from early Church leaders: “‘And death and Hades were sent into the lake of fire, the second death.’ Now this is what is called Gehenna, which the Lord called ETERNAL FIRE” (Irenaeus, AD 130-200, from his writings c. AD 180, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, p. 566).
“If we threaten Gehenna, which is a RESERVOIR OF SECRET FIRE UNDER THE EARTH FOR PURPOSES OF PUNISHMENT, we have in the same way derision heaped on us” (Tertullian, AD 160-230, from his writings c. AD 197, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3, p. 52).
“Consider Gehenna in your heart, which penance will extinguish for you. First imagine the magnitude of the penalty, so that you will not hesitate to adopt the remedy. What do we think this store house of eternal fire is—when small vent holes of it rouse such blasts of flames that neighboring cities either no longer exist, or are in daily expectation of the same fate?…This proves to us THE PERPETUITY OF THE JUDGMENT. Although they are devoured, THEY NEVER COME TO AN END” (Tertullian, c. AD 203, Ibid., p. 645).
“Ever-burning Gehenna will burn up the condemned—a punishment that devours with living flames. Nor will there be any means by which at any time they can have either rest OR AN END TO THEIR TORMENTS. Souls with their bodies will be reserved in INFINITE TORTURES FOR SUFFERING…This is in accord with the truth of Holy Scripture, which says, ‘Their worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched’…The PAIN of punishment will then be WITHOUT THE FRUIT OF PENITENCE. Weeping will be USELESS and prayer INEFFECTUAL. Too late, they will believe in eternal punishment who would not believe in eternal life” (Cyprian, died AD 258; writing from c. AD 250, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5, pp. 464-5).
“A horrible place it is, of which the name is Gehenna. There is there an awful murmuring and groaning of bewailing souls. There are flames belching forth through the horrid darkness of thick night. It is always breathing out the rages of fire of a smoking furnace…There are many different degrees of its violence, as it gathers into itself whatever tortures the consuming fire of the emitting heat can supply. Those who have been rejected by the voice of the Lord, those who scorned His rule, it punishes with different dooms” (Treatise on the Glory of Martyrdom, from c. AD 255, Ibid., p. 584).
I could supply my reader with plenty more writings from early Church leaders along these lines, but this should give you the idea.
“SHEOL” — The Old Testament concept of “Sheol” was that it was divided up into several compartments and went according to the moral/spiritual conditions of the souls which went (go) there. Professor Rudolf Bultmann, in his book Primitive Christianity (1956), states on page 46, “The idea of the immortality of the soul is quiet foreign to the Old Testament. It only entered later from the Greek world into Hellenistic Judaism. Palestinian Judaism, on the other hand, adopted the Iranian conception of the resurrection of the body, a belief which appears only in a few late passages in the Old Testament. Otherwise, the Old Testament invariably confines human life to this earth. The departed live a shadowy existence in Sheol.”
The New Testament makes it plain that all those who were captives of the place called “Abraham’s bosom” (“Paradise” in “Hades”) were captured by Jesus at His resurrection (Eph. 4:7-11; cf. Acts 1:11). Today, when a righteous soul dies in his/her body, the soul leaves the body and goes directly to Heaven to await the resurrection of the body (2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:21-23; Rev. 6:9-11). And again, today the soul of the wicked still goes into Hell (“Hades”) until their resurrection (Lk. 16:19-31; Rev. 20:11-15). So, the “shades” or the “shadowy” place of “Sheol” is now understood.
Final Judgment
MY FINAL POINT to be made in this short lesson is about how many feel that death only effects the body and not the soul of man. No, the soul is eternally affected, for no moral change is possible, for saint or sinner, after death (one can confirm this both in the Bible and in Enoch 62:2 and Baruch 85:12).
Physical death IS the FINAL END, and then the Judgment. “Sheol”/“Gehenna” is the final state of judgment for the wicked.
Some scholars point to Jubilees in which “Sheol” is the place where the wicked are slain, but not annihilated, for it is a “place from which they will never escape” (103:7-8). In 1 Enoch 22:10-11, “Sheol” is a place of torment, though the actual word “Gehenna” is not used. Dr. Russell Aldwinckle says, “Whether the wicked in Sheol have a body of some kind is not clear. Some Greek influence may be discernable…but it is not decisive. Even if the apocalyptic literature can conceive of ‘soul’ without body where there is no suggestion of Greek influence, for the most part ‘soul’ in Sheol has to be united again with the body at the general resurrection in order that the whole man may be judged and punished.”
I believe after my years of research on this subject that there will be a real existence of persons of an embodied kind after death. However, the moment of death is not the moment of Final Judgment; but this is not to say that death will not be a final judgment at the end of history (Parousia). Final Judgment, despite many liberal “theologians’” thoughts, means A SEPARATION FROM GOD AGAINST WHICH THERE IS NO FURTHER APPEAL.
Forget Postmortem Evangelism
“THEOLOGIAN” CLARK PINNOCK’S (and others’) doctrine of Postmortem Evangelism (a LIE!) is a corollary of his view that the Lord not only desires to save every person but will save every person—no matter what. We know that God gives man his ONLY chance here and now, not one after death. Clark blasphemously calls the Good News (salvation preached only in this lifetime) “bad news.” He claims that God’s love will never allow a soul to perish in Hell. Good thought; BAD THEOLOGY! The only encounter an unrepentant sinner will have with the Loving God will be that of being judged and sent to his or her final abode: the Lake of Fire for the unsaved. There will be NO Postmortem Evangelism in Hell.
Pinnock teaches a perverted view of God’s nature. Death is, despite the views of Pinnock and other theologians, the CUT-OFF POINT for grace…followed up by EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT—first, in Hell (“Hades”); and then, the Lake of Fire (“Gehenna”). The sinner escapes NOT from the “jail” (Hell / “Hades”) nor from the “penitentiary” (the Lake of Fire / “Gehenna”).
Pinnock claims that every soul MUST have access to salvation if they missed it in this life. That sounds fair enough, but I just can’t find it anywhere in my Bible AT ALL! Besides, we know God works with all men, even with the consciences of those who have never known God, and we know God is just. Pinnock says, if a soul rejects God’s salvation in Hell, then their fate is extermination (annihilation). WOW! I don’t think any soul in Hell would EVER reject an altar call after being in HELL’S TORMENTS!! This is nothing short of sheer wishful thinking, and is certainly not Scriptural. Amen.