COMMENTARY & OPINION - HELL

From the desk of

Bill Ramey

12/2/16

COMMENTARY & OPINION

IS OUR CONCEPT OF HELL A BLEND OF TRUTHS, HALF TRUTHS AND OUTRIGHT LIES?

No doubt, our first concept of hell was the most terrifying and came largely from a spoof on religion written by a Greek named Dante Alighieri entitled "The Inferno".  It was written centuries ago and has become a continuing spoof on religion.  Sadly, most people carry this vision, of a hell, (where people burn forever and never burn up), with them for life and never proceed to the next chapter. 

Others dare to turn the page and find another "hell" (hades) which is a hole in the ground such as a grave.  Sadly also, these proceed smugly along life's highway, confident that they have debunked the tradition-al concept of hell.  

A few, with a bit more intestinal fortitude, dare look for a "...rest of the story" and discover yet another "hell" which is a destroying fire (gehenna) where people burn up and become "...ashes under the feet of the righteous.

All these have scriptural backing but it seems nobody ever tries to connect the dots to see where all these fit into the mosaic. 

If you can stand the truth, I shall try to do that.  But first if we are going to be taught by the Creator, we must find out "To whom He will teach knowledge and cause to understand doctrine..."  and how He will do this.  We find this in Isaiah 28 --- "... precept upon precept ... line upon line ... here a little and there a little." 

Allegedly the wisest man who ever lived was Solomon, son of David.  He wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes that, "The living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything."   Yet we find in Isaiah 14, that the king of the end time Babylon dies and enters hell immediately and is found communicating with other kings who have been long dead.  How can this be? 

Have you ever considered taking Calculus before Algebra, Geometry and Trigonometry?   It doesn't work --- right?  Why?  Because Calculus is a study of spatial relationships that are defined by Algebraic, Geometrical and Trigonometric functions.

Learning about life, the universe, what is and what isn't is much the same way.  Some basics have to be learned first --- "...line upon line ... here a little and there a little..."  We must learn that there is such a thing as spirit and that it comes in different packages.  There is a spirit of the Eternal which some try to represent as a third person in a "trinity" relationship.  This is error and is a product of the deception of the second package of spirit which is the spirit of Satan who was originally named Lucifer or light bringer.  Much of this know-ledge has been hidden from the world at large because he was put in charge of this earth and still holds that position.  In ii Corinthians 4, he is even called the "...god of this world".  His replacement has already qualified but has not yet been inducted into office. That event is just around the corner.

There is yet another "spirit package" and that is the spirit of man (mankind).  Now it gets kinda murky because, Satan, through his minions on earth, has really muddied this picture.  You see, Satan is not going to yield up his position of rulership willingly --- just as his minions (the "elite"), are not going to yield up their positions of authority (under Satan's jurisdiction), willingly.  They have chosen him as their "god". 

Satan is a master counterfeiter. The Eternal created a Sabbath to memorialize forever His creation of the earth.  Satan countered with a counterfeit sabbath to draw away followers of the Eternal to him-self.   The Eternal created "Holy Days" to give understanding of His plan for mankind to mankind.  Satan countered with "holidays" loaded with festivities to distract mankind from the plans of the Eternal.  The Eternal gave a few laws to show mankind how to conduct himself toward the Creator and toward mankind.  Satan countered with lawyers, senates, kings and a myriad of "laws" to take away the freedom of mankind and put control in the hands of a few of his minions.  And yet all of this is so "blitzed" with entertainment that we can't see the forest for the trees.

So what does all this have to do with hell? Everything!  Bear with me --- you have not completed arithmetic 101 yet. 

The Creator found that even He could not create perfect character.  We see in Ezek 28 that Satan (Lucifer) was created perfect but iniquity (lawlessness), "...was found in him."  He was lifted up in pride.  His beauty went to his head.

In Job 38, we see that the angels that sang for joy at the creation of the earth were called the "...sons of God".  In the book of Jude, we see that the sons of God "... left their first estate".  What does that mean?  "...line upon line ... here a little and there a little."

We can begin to see what it means in Gen 6 where the "...sons of God chose wives from the daughters of men", and sired children who became "...men of renown" (kings).  At this point, many will draw back in all their self righteousness and say, "Angels cannot beget children".  If they dare read another sentence, I would challenge them with this question:  "Are they calling Christ a liar when he said to the Pharisees, 'You are of your father the devil'"?

There is one thing Satan has not been able to counterfeit and that is the spirit in man.  This is imparted by the male sperm and the "hybrids" (offspring of demonic spirits) do not have it.  We see numerous scriptural accounts of those "...who sleep a perpetual sleep" or "...those who do not rise." 

You see, those who have the spirit of man are in the character forming stage unless they choose to abort.  The spirit of God can unite with the spirit of man in much the same was as the male sperm unites with the female ovum to produce a physical child.   If this union goes to term, then there is a rebirth of this physical person into the spirit world at the resurrection.  In other words, they are "born again" at that time. 

So again, what does this have to do with hell?  "Elementary my dear Watson".  You see, if that "spirit of man" (human), receives the spirit of Satan rather than the spirit of the Creator, then he is simply aborted and cast into the destroying fire of gehenna and will be no more forever.  Similar to the fetuses that are aborted today and cast into the ovens or the trash bin. 

But what about those who are offspring of the demonic spirits?  Ahh --- therein lies the solution to the mystery of Isaiah 14. 

We see in Revelation 6 that the spirits of the dead saints are under God's throne and that the opening of the 5th seal is where they are presented with white robes and told to rest for yet a little while.  So we see that the saints going to heaven is not total myth after all. 

But what about those hybrids who are born of the demonic spirits of Satan?  Do those spirits die when the physical body dies?  Or do they go to a place of restraint for the next 1000 years?  Ya might wanna study Rev 20 to get a perspective on this.  You will find it goes a long way toward explaining Isaiah 14.