Hell
is not a place of eternal torment....the Bible speaks of
The Day of the Lord", when the whole earth will burn up and it will happen on
one day. 2 Peter, 3:1 says,
"
But, the day of the Lord
will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the
works that are therein shall be burned up."
This scripture states
that the whole earth will burn up. AND...this fire is the punishment
of the wicked! Malachi 4 expands what we know, it
describes the same fire that
Peter is talking about, and he further explains that it is a day of utter
and complete destruction for the proud and the wicked.
"For, behold, the day cometh, that
shall burn as an oven; (it says it
happens on a coming day, it is not ever burning, or
happening right now) and all the proud, yea,
and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and
the day that cometh shall burn them up,
(a coming day when they will be burned up completely.)
saith the Lord of
hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
(This is utter destruction, nothing will be
left of them, neither root nor branch. It is
eternal death, or what the Bible calls "the second death.")
But unto
you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness
arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth,
and grow up as calves of the stall.
And ye
shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be
ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I
shall do this, (God
has clearly stated 3 times that this will happen on a
coming day...and at the end of it, they will be ashes
under the feet of the righteous!)
saith the Lord of
hosts.
Gehenna fire
happens on one day, it burns the physical earth up, but
God is creating new heavens and a new earth wherein
dwells righteousness. Eventually all the wicked
will be burned up and only good people will want to live
under God's system will live in
God's new spiritual world.
Isaiah 65:17 says,
"Behold, I will create new heavens
and a new earth. The former things will not be
remembered, nor will they come to mind.
SO WHAT CAN WE DO TO AVOID THE FIERY DAY OF CONDEMNATION
FOR THE WICKED?
Understand that godless men will be the ones who will be
in trouble with God. “For
certain men whose condemnation was written about long
ago have secretly slipped in among you.
They are
godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for
immorality and (thus they) deny Jesus
Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”
They say,
'Don't worry about sin, grace covers it all, the law is
done away with' They give you "licence"
to sin, but by doing so, they deny Christ as Sovereign
and Lord, ignoring what He said on the subject!
KEEPING THE LAW WON'T
SAVE YOU, BUT NOT KEEPING IT CAN GET YOU BURNED UP!
Sin
or the “transgression of the law” is what always gets us
in trouble with God. Unfettered, unrepented of sin is why a person goes
to Gehenna or "hell." Christ said, “If your right eye offends you
(causes you to sin), gouge it out and throw it away.
It
is better for you to lose one part of your body than for
your whole body to be thrown into hell.” Matthew 5:28-29
Offend in the
Bible
simply means “cause you to sin.” In one fell swoop, Christ had wiped out
their license to sin called “grace.” They can no longer say, “I can do
whatever I want to do, I’m under grace!” Why??? Because Christ plainly
says to rid yourself of whatever causes you to sin, because, it would be
better for us to lose a small part of our life, i.e. “our eye,” than to
be utterly burned up on the day of Gehenna (hell) fire! The message of early Christianity was
repentance of sin---so that you could receive the Holy Spirit and
receive forgiveness of your sins. Acts 2:37-38 says, “…repent and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
HOW
TO AVOID TOTAL DESTRUCTION....Fear God and keep His
commandments, including the 7th day Sabbath. There
is no "license to sin." Keeping the law won't
save you, it won't give
you salvation, but breaking it can get you burned
up...permanently.