Random Thoughts on the Really Good News

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: You brood of vipers! ...every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire…" (Matthew 3:7-10) "Vipers" spew out poison from their mouths.  These "vipers"  that John the Baptist is talking to are the religious leaders, not their congregations, or those outside which they termed sinners. Whatever they were spewing from their pulpits was not "good fruit" . “...after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire… “ (Matthew 3:11) Of course John is talking about Jesus. Those religious leaders needed a strong dose of his Truth, not the poisonous  "precepts of men" they were passing out. “They worship me in vain, they teach as doctrine the precepts of men." (Matthew 15:9) When Jesus returns he will "baptize...

"...Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven...removing those things that are shaken...that those things which cannot be shaken may remain...for our God is a consuming fire". (Hebrews 12:27-29) Is FIRE good or bad?  Well, it depends on whether your perspective is short term or long term. In the short term fire can be an awfully destructive power, but in the process it purifies its object or victim.  God is a "consuming fire" that will purify his creation. The "lake of fire" is part of that process. "...And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire...where the beast and the false prophet are... And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire...And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:6-15) The "lake of fire" consumes the "devil" (slanderer), and the "beast and false prophet" ( adversaries of God). It will als...

"So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 13:49-50) I find it hard to believe that bible teachers cannot seem to understand the context of the above passage. If they would just read and study the above along with Mark 13, Luke 21, Matthew 24 and 25 and the books of Daniel and Revelation they would not apply the above verses to their horrible views about a mythological “hell” being the "furnace of fire" and a place of eternal torment for all mankind except Christians. The above passage and those related to it deal with Israel as a Nation, the chosen people of God among all the people of the earth, most of whom rejected Jesus as their Messiah at his first coming.  And at "the end of the age" (this age in which we are still living) most in Israel will still be rejecting Jesus as they are today.  Al...