FIRE

HELL, FIRE & ANNIHILATION

[Luke 16:29-31] “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

The intriguing question regarding the existence of hell must be addressed here. What sort of a fire is the eternal fire and why would the loving gracious God create a place of torment for the ‘baddies’ and heavenly bliss for the ‘goodies’? 

The Hebrew word for hell is Gehinnom, which is derived from the Valley Ben-Hinnom where children were being offered to Molech. It is not clear whether children were burned alive or only passed through flames thus honoring this horrendous idol of the ancients.

[Leviticus 18:21-23] You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the LORD. You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination. Also you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.

These verses come together because not only children were being offered to Molech, but rituals of homosexual and bestial kind were also practiced. God who chose Israel and deposited His name among gave warnings to the free-willed people regarding His holy name YHVH.  Is it possible that those who have already profaned His name are given over to their own wants and desires? 

Read Romans 1:24-28. 

An excerpt from booklet "I've gone to hell now I'm in heaven"

[Judges 13:20] For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this they fell on their faces to the ground.    

So the physical common-to-earth flames don’t scorch angels; and we shall be like them. But you may say, “Yes, but only the wicked will suffer not the righteous.” Be careful what you say, for the Word says that none of us are righteous (Romans 3:10). We are saved by grace. Examine your feelings. Would you like the wicked to fry for eternity? For whatever the reason, he or she did not accept Christ or your preaching or has not attended your church services? Let us not bring here any church theology, but rather get education from the Truth. God loves to reason with us.
Beelzebul & GeHinnom

There was a widely spread doctrine of the old Israelite Baal, which Queen Jezebel imported from Tyre. Her father, Eth Baal, was the high priest of that cult.

[Mark 3:23-27] The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.” And He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished! But no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.”

No logic could penetrate those stony heads. But today we have a quite similar situation.

[Luke 11:18] “If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.”

First of all, Satan must be a king in order to have a kingdom, but is he?

[Matthew 5:22] “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery * hell.”

* A literal translation: Gehenna of fire. In other words such one shall be burned up or annihilated like stubble or garbage.

For some strange reason people entertain an idea that eternity is something perpetual according to the known-to-us span of time. Eternity is the absence of time simply because in it there are no physical objects and no shadows. Time is relative to light, darkness and matter.

Eternity cannot be measured with time’s intervals therefore it is not the absence of the measurable time, but rather oneness of God. The heavenly kingdom is instantaneously present, not fragmented like the physical realm, but one. Nonetheless, it was a powerful allegory, with which the Scribes and Pharisees used to frighten people. Their job was to bring back to Judaism the Hellenized Jews, and in order to successfully do that they used anything visibly present to make their point. GeHinnom was exactly that point.

In the New Testament these are the verses that contain the word Gehenna translated as hell: Matthew 5:29-30; Matthew 10:28; Matthew 18:9; Matthew 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5 and James 3:6.

In 2 Peter 2:4 appears the Greek word “Tartaroo” translated as Tartarus, which was believed to be the lowest region in the abyss or Hades (Greek) or Sheol (Hebrew). The ancient Greeks imagined it to be the place of the dead wicked and the most miserable place ever imagined. Tartarus has been commonly translated as hell, I guess… to simplify things; but it hardly simplifies anything, but rather confuses even more.

With so many new translations of the Bible the usage of “Hell” seems to shrink. In the first Catholic English translation of the Bible, (published in 1610) the text contained the word “Hell” 110 times. A year later the King James Version contained 54 words; and the New King James version uses “Hell” 32 times, but the New American Standard uses it only 13 times. 

The English word for “Hell” was perhaps derived from the Old English Norse mythological word “Hel” an idea of a continuous yet conscious torture. I do not think that the word “Hellenism” bears any connotation to hell, although one never knows. In order to not dwell too much on this we conclude that “Hell” is a word most fearsome.

The Greek word for hell is Gehenna. The New Testament was written in Greek. Sheol in Hebrew means a place of death and in Greek it is called Hades a name borrowed from one of the Greek gods. Strangely (only in the Greek New Testament) Hades is frequently translated as Hell, which comes from that day’s folklore. It was believed that the dead go directly into a place of torment or Paradise (Abraham’s Bosom). Jesus picked up on this folklore and made His point through this parable.   

In Hebrew both man would be in Sheol, but in Greek they are in Hades, not Gehenna. “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. “And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. ‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us’ (Luke 16:23-26).

We also see that even in death the rich man was still acting like a lord trying to order Lazarus around. Because the Greek people believed that Sheol (Hades) is a place of torment, from which Purgatory (Catholic and Eastern Orthodox doctrine) emerged, Jesus had to address their imagination in order to make His point. Jewish people believe in the world to come rather than heaven, hence the idea of purification (in Purgatory) before one enters heaven seems alien.

Fire speaks of refinement and purification and with this line of thought I tend to agree and would attribute this sense to this parable. The rich man is being portrayed as an unrefined human being due to his callous behavior toward the poor Lazarus. This lack of refinement has much to do with his pride; hence, also absence of compassion while Lazarus did not have to tear down his pride, which God opposes.

“And he said, ‘then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house— or I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ “But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ “But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead’” (Luke 16:27-31).

One was insensitive to the needs of the poor, for God made us in such a way that one receives more, in terms of special endowments, in order to be of help to another. One has the natural moneymaking ability while others long for just the money itself, but not the abilities to make it. As it is with everything, even money making carries great responsibilities, especially when you employ many people. Another has the gift of music or arts while another appreciates them, or secretly longs to have them too, but without a talent is not proficient in them. The point I try to make is simple; one has in order to make someone else happier. One has a gift to bless another, but when selfishness takes over one’s psyche and the one might feel superior; selfishness is the natural consequence. That which came to one quite naturally, as a gift, is now being treated, as something deserved. Such person was the rich man. He could have helped Lazarus with medicines, food and clothing, set him on the right course in life and in return he would have enjoyed fuller life here and forever.

Clearly, the parable does not speak of Gehenna, but of Hades. Because people imagined a place in Hades to be extremely hot, Jesus did not take those imaginations away, but rather used them to emphasize the importance of the now. He did not have to scare folk with hell for they were scared already. Jesus emphasized the now, and not the later: “Here I am teaching you. Hear what I have to tell you. Recognize Me the one of whom the prophets spoke. In time, Gehenna and Hades will be explained to you. Do not wander around in the wrong time zone. Leave future to God. Seek Him first and His Kingdom and He will reveal to you the complete truth. Don’t seek cheap satisfaction in revenge.”

Many places refer to that place as a place of darkness and gnashing of teeth a place of regrets. The purpose of all those parables was to show people expediency of the now. Slothfulness is not of righteousness but of its opposites. The assumed feeling of being avenged, seeing all tormentors die in anguish will never be fully satisfied, not now and not for eternity. It is a cheap and vindictive sentiment.

MISTRANSLATIONS & ADDITIONS

Jesus supposedly said these words, I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Mt. 16:18 KJV). Yet the hell of His words is Hades or the Hebrew Sheol, place of death. In other words Jesus said that ‘His church will never die.’ 

The expression “where their worm does not die” speaks of maggots, which eat dead corpses. This metaphor is used to dramatize and perhaps to frighten away any potential sinner. This style of in making an impression on a hearer is being widely used in both Hebrew and Arabic languages today. A worm that will supposedly eat you will keep on eating you forever is indeed a scary scenario. Because of heavy attachments to just our physical frames hardly anyone things in a detached way, which means that you have lost any sense of being when your dead body decays in the grave.

[Matthew 9:43-48 & Mark 9:44-46] “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than having your two hands go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.” 

These insertions: “where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” were added to the original text. Any good Bible will either place these words in margins or write them in italics. The scaring with hell tactics was a way of hording people into heaven through an institutionalized religious body that claimed to be the true door that leads to heaven. Anyone not going through that door would then end up in hell. These tactics worked well in Judaism as well as in Christianity.

Some halfwit, seated in some authoritative seat, dared to add to these manuscripts words that were not found in the earliest manuscripts of the gospels. Why would anyone do that, unless the aim was to formulate the official church doctrine and whip people into obedience and to the newly formed empire?

Yes, Jesus rightly said, the hell you have invented you yourselves will burn in. If you like it so much then perhaps you should go there first. Get acquainted with those immortal worms and let the cockroaches crawl all over you. What glorious comfort we shall obtain when the former things will be no more, and the indignation I feel right now will not be even remembered.

Amazingly the Book of Revelations does not use the word Gehenna at all. King James translation throws that word into Revelations 1:18, 6:8, 20:13-14, but each time the English text shows up “Hell” the original Greek text shows up “Hades.” Interestingly enough, the word “death” (Greek THANATOS used in Revelations 1:18) comes after the word Hades. Consecutively John uses “Hades” together with death. Since not even once the word “Hell” appears in his writings we have assumed that the lake of fire must be hell, but that’s our problem not the writer’s. The lake of fire is something else. Just like all elements we see falling into a lake of molten lava, become absorbed and vanish, so will our imaginations vanish also. For this reason in the Book of Revelations John repeatedly depicts anything evil with at least four words: dragon, the serpent of old, the devil and Satan.

[Revelations 6:8) And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell (Hades, death) followed with him.

The one who sat on the pale horse was called Death (Thanatos, which means as in the death of the body, separation of the soul and the body, natural or violent, by which the life on earth is ended).

In 2Peter 2:4 we read about hell (only in translation), but the original Greek uses one of the underworld god called Tartarus. (…) God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment.

Note: Tartaroō the name of the subterranean region, doleful and dark, regarded by the ancient Greeks as the abode of the wicked dead, where they suffer punishment for their evil deeds; it answers to Gehenna of the Jews, to thrust down to Tartarus, to hold captive in Tartarus.

The Jewish fallen angels myth and the Greek myths were used quite frequently in order to impress the predominantly Greek audience with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, without which hardly anyone would have listened. But does God seek the frightened with hell children or rather the lost sheep, blind and lost sons in order to open their eyes to the Truth until they become the re-adopted children of God?

If angels indeed sinned and were cast out from heaven then this heaven we would like to go to is not sure, but as wobbly as our fancy yet preposterous ideas about it. Someone had an interest in muddying up the clear waters. Someone did not seek the welfare of another, but rather an intellectual mess in order to snare the unsuspected not with pure heaven, but their own brand of religion. 

THE REAL FIRE

The eternal fire is timeless therefore instant. Anything that once was, is right now can be subject to this fire which annihilates anything existing either spiritually or physically.

 [Matthew 13:30 & 40] Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.” (40) So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.

The burning is permanent and not as the fires in Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem where things were being burned perpetually. This metaphor of an endless fire does not work well with our perceptions for we imagine time in frames of nights and days, minutes and hours. That is not the case with the instantaneous realm of infinity. What to us is but a moment is eternity and not something repetitiously long. Just a trash is being burned or gotten rid of so it will be after the great judgment day. The field and tares by then have served their purposes and will no longer serve any purpose in the age to come. Their destruction is instant and that is the real fire. 

Why must there be annihilation? I remember, still as a child that after we have harvested potatoes, their shrubs we left on the ground to dry and then they were burned. In the hot ash we roasted the newly harvested potatoes and they were delicious. These types and similes portray something, which we must understand; whatever had fulfilled its mission is burned up. The tares will be burned up and the field that housed them, but only the harvested eatable produce is being consumed sustaining life. This life sustenance is for different realms; one is for this dimension, which speaks of the living spiritual dimension. We came from heaven and we return to heaven, but fruitful and multiplied to the glory of our Creator’s name. We overcome and triumph.

[Matthew 6:20-21] But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

Those who are only preoccupied with the earthly treasures do that because others covet it and that is their comfort and even pleasure, which is very hard to part with. But they must constantly remind themselves that others want what they got. As a result they will join what they are attached. Dust attaches itself to the same. But those who seek God and His Kingdom have the natural things added to them and quite naturally so (Mt. 6:33). But that is great secret, which must be sought after and then discovered. 

[Matthew 13:44] The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

The filed is the world (Mt. 13:38) and the tares have been sown by the devil (Cain) therefore the tares are Kenites already given over to just the natural, which spurs them kill and pillage just to have. In the field the man (Jesus) found treasure so He sells everything He has (lays down His life for the world) and buys the field in order to have legal (mineral and other) rights to the treasure. What is that treasure? – Most certainly not gold or precious stones for neither God the Father nor His firstborn Son Jesus needs them, but rather us—God’s lost and no found sons (that includes daughters, genderless). Parables like the one about the prodigal son speak of us that left the Father’s house and got lost.

[Luke 19:10] the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

There are no surprises in the Kingdom of the One. The state of being lost occurred not in heaven, as some supposed, but on this physical planet we call the Earth. Had it not been for the confusion we have obtained and got lost in this book would never had to be written. God chooses people because He sees the treasure, you and me, and wants to enjoy it. For this reason God paid the most precious price for the whole world in order to get to us—His treasure.

[John 3:16] For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

The word “whoever” means anyone who hears the Gospel of the Truth and responds. We do not know who is God’s potential child to be rescued from every wind of doctrine and trickery of men, craftiness and deceitful scheming—the Kenite ploys (Eph. 4:14). So when the Gospel is preached faith comes (Rom. 10:14, 17) and some respond while others either stay neutral or oppose it. The neutral ones are most likely the field types of people, but those who oppose are most likely the tares, which shall be burned up and be no more; in neither a world. It speaks His treasure buried in this world. Fire cleanses and rejuvenates the field thus preparing the world for the new. 

[Isaiah 43:18-19] Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. [62:17] For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.

Only in the physical domain we can excavate and find ashes of past cataclysms but in the spiritual domain everything is new as if any old things never existed. The Bible speaks of that real renewing fire. It is not the garbage-burning fire from which man made hell and a perpetual endless torment. God is not a sadist. He is loving, gracious and slow to anger, yet those who depicted Him otherwise not only ensnared themselves, but also those that fell into their spider web like doctrines.  

If the former things will not be remembered or come to mind again yet on the planet earth we can excavate the past; then how much more it shall be so on the spiritual side where time plays no role. The Messianic Age will be quite different; where wars will be no more, no killing and no aggression of any kind; a realm of perpetual peace. How would you like to place yourself in such a domain and be aware of another place where people shriek in pain?