Fuel For The Fire
“…be filled with the knowledge of His will…” (Colossians 1:10)
19 years ago I began to pray the above prayer for myself. Soon thereafter I began to examine my doctrinal positions. In doing so I had to face squarely a question I had avoided for the most part - Is it really God’s WILL to separate Himself from unbelievers, keeping them alive eternally to punish and torment them?
"For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness." (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)
And what will be the end of Saint Thomas and Jonathan Edwards?
"Anathema Maranatha!" (1 Corinthians 16:22; Galatians 1:9)
Meaning - such men are devoted to destruction at the coming of the Lord. They will be judged and cast into the lake of fire for their unbelief (the second death is the lake of fire, not eternal conscious torment although it would be poetic justice).
Paul specifically told Timothy what to "prescribe and teach"…
“As in Adam all die, even so, in Christ, shall all be made alive...this is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…God our Savior WILLS all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who have Himself a ransom for ALL...we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of ALL mankind, especially of believers. Prescribe and teach these things.” (1 Corinthians 15:22; 1 Timothy 1:15; 2:3-6; 4:10)
You are not one of the "believers" if you do not teach the above, nor can people be a "believer" who teach the opposite - the myth of eternal conscious torment.
When I finally became a "believer", it freed me from these "doctrines of demons".
"But the Spirit explicitly says that in subsequent eras some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons." (1 Timothy 4:1)
“…ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may have a walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him.” (Colossians 1:10)
You cannot please God by believing He will allow eternal torment. Trying to build on Jesus, our "foundation", with such teaching composed of "wood, hay and straw" will fuel the fire that will consume those false teachings when we all stand before Jesus to give an account of what we chose to believe about God.
"Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God...For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on the foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved - even though only as one escaping through the flames." (Romans 14:12; 1 Corinthians 3:12-15)
My advice is to stop fueling the fire!
19 years ago I began to pray the above prayer for myself. Soon thereafter I began to examine my doctrinal positions. In doing so I had to face squarely a question I had avoided for the most part - Is it really God’s WILL to separate Himself from unbelievers, keeping them alive eternally to punish and torment them?
I was determined to be "filled with the knowledge of His will" even if it meant to embrace this doctrine which seemed to me to contradict the love of God. And for 5 years I studied Scripture, and the more I studied, the more it became obvious that this doctrine was not in the original language of His Word.
When the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar wanted to punish the people of God who had refused to worship him, he had them thrown into a furnace of fire...
“But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.” (Daniel 3:6)
Is our God like Nebuchadnezzar?
When Jesus’s Jewish disciples wanted to reign down fire from heaven and destroy the Samaritans Jesus told them…
"You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." (Luke 9:56)
Of what spirit is the doctrine of eternal conscience torment?
When the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar wanted to punish the people of God who had refused to worship him, he had them thrown into a furnace of fire...
“But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.” (Daniel 3:6)
Is our God like Nebuchadnezzar?
When Jesus’s Jewish disciples wanted to reign down fire from heaven and destroy the Samaritans Jesus told them…
"You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." (Luke 9:56)
Of what spirit is the doctrine of eternal conscience torment?
Paul had told Timothy...
"...instruct certain men not to teach false doctrines or devote themselves to myths..." (1 Timothy 1:3-4)
So how did it become a doctrine of the church?
It came by mixing the gospel of Jesus, the Savior of the world with Greek mythology, Greek philosophy and Greek theology - which has brought the institutional churches to a sorry state. Listen to one of the Saints of the Catholic church from the middle ages...
"The blessed in the kingdom of heaven will see the punishments of the damned, in order that their bliss be more delightful for them." - Saint Thomas Aquinas
And hear part of two sermons by Jonathan Edwards, a Protestant preacher whose sermons are still quoted by misguided evangelists in our modern era.
“The view of the misery of the damned will double the ardour of the love and gratitude of the saints of heaven...The sight of hell's torments will exalt the happiness of the saints forever. . .Can the believing father in Heaven be happy with his unbelieving children in Hell. . . I tell you, yea! Such will be his sense of justice that it will increase rather than diminish his bliss."
These men are insane and their words some of the most heretical blasphemy against God and Christ Jesus ever uttered. We were warned by Paul to avoid these servants of "Satan"...
"...instruct certain men not to teach false doctrines or devote themselves to myths..." (1 Timothy 1:3-4)
So how did it become a doctrine of the church?
It came by mixing the gospel of Jesus, the Savior of the world with Greek mythology, Greek philosophy and Greek theology - which has brought the institutional churches to a sorry state. Listen to one of the Saints of the Catholic church from the middle ages...
"The blessed in the kingdom of heaven will see the punishments of the damned, in order that their bliss be more delightful for them." - Saint Thomas Aquinas
And hear part of two sermons by Jonathan Edwards, a Protestant preacher whose sermons are still quoted by misguided evangelists in our modern era.
“The view of the misery of the damned will double the ardour of the love and gratitude of the saints of heaven...The sight of hell's torments will exalt the happiness of the saints forever. . .Can the believing father in Heaven be happy with his unbelieving children in Hell. . . I tell you, yea! Such will be his sense of justice that it will increase rather than diminish his bliss."
These men are insane and their words some of the most heretical blasphemy against God and Christ Jesus ever uttered. We were warned by Paul to avoid these servants of "Satan"...
"For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness." (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)
And what will be the end of Saint Thomas and Jonathan Edwards?
"Anathema Maranatha!" (1 Corinthians 16:22; Galatians 1:9)
Meaning - such men are devoted to destruction at the coming of the Lord. They will be judged and cast into the lake of fire for their unbelief (the second death is the lake of fire, not eternal conscious torment although it would be poetic justice).
“As in Adam all die, even so, in Christ, shall all be made alive...this is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…God our Savior WILLS all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who have Himself a ransom for ALL...we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of ALL mankind, especially of believers. Prescribe and teach these things.” (1 Corinthians 15:22; 1 Timothy 1:15; 2:3-6; 4:10)
You are not one of the "believers" if you do not teach the above, nor can people be a "believer" who teach the opposite - the myth of eternal conscious torment.
When I finally became a "believer", it freed me from these "doctrines of demons".
Rejecting the "doctrines of demons" is the only way to believe the clear statements in the Bible that it is the WILL of God that all be saved and the whole world reconciled to God. Read the Bible with the goal of harmonizing all of it with that WILL. The truth is that God will be ALL in ALL His creation…according to His grace and mercy!
“...through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross" ... "that God may be All in All.” (Colossians 1:20; 1 Corinthians 15:28)
My faith has not been received well by the institutional church and I have found it is wasting time to argue. However, I will from time to time share my thoughts on the truth they ignore, and I will pray that those who read my thoughts will "ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will"...
“…ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may have a walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him.” (Colossians 1:10)
You cannot please God by believing He will allow eternal torment. Trying to build on Jesus, our "foundation", with such teaching composed of "wood, hay and straw" will fuel the fire that will consume those false teachings when we all stand before Jesus to give an account of what we chose to believe about God.
"Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God...For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on the foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved - even though only as one escaping through the flames." (Romans 14:12; 1 Corinthians 3:12-15)
My advice is to stop fueling the fire!