· “For he that sows unto his own flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption: but he that sows unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life” (Galatians 5:8) must be changed to, “Both shall reap eternal life, just not both in the same place, some eternal life in Heaven and some eternal life in Hell.”
· “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23) must be changed to, “For the wages of sin is eternal torment in Hell for those who were born with eternal life, and the gift of God is eternal life must be changed to an escape from eternal torture for a ‘soul’ that already has eternal life, and a reward for the ‘soul’ that is in you that now has eternal life.”
· “Whosoever shall seek to gain his life shall lose it: but whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it” (Luke 17:33) must be changed to, “Whosoever shall seek to gain his life shall preserve life in eternal torment in Hell, but whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve his life in Heaven, but only for ‘it,’ not for ‘you.’”
The changes that must be made by those who teach eternal life in Hell for a deathless soul could be extended to many pages, but this should be enough for anyone who loves the truth more than the “doctrines and precepts of men” (Matthew 15:9).
The reinterpretation of the many words used that mean the end of life has no equal. Other reinterpretations are based on the changing of a few passages; Peter being the first Pope is based mostly on a reinterpretation of Matthew 16:18; but for souls to be deathless and tormented forever, there had to be many plus many more changes and many adding to God’s word. "Everlasting destruction" had to be changed to be "everlasting life with torment." Was Paul trying to deceive by using the word "destruction," and today's theology has to correct him by saying, "No Paul, you really meant to say everlasting torment"? Destruction does not mean to preserve alive in eternal torment.
"And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him" (1 John 3:15). Was John wrong when he said no murderer has eternal life? If, as many say, mankind has a "soul" that is now immortal and cannot die, and if the only part of men that shall live after the judgment is an ever-living soul that all that even all murderers now have, then a murderer does have this something that now has eternal life and can never die. All the murderers would now have the same "immaterial, invisible part of man" (W. E. Vine) that will live forever that the saved have. Without eternal life, a murderer cannot have an immortal soul; if he did have an immortal soul, he would have eternal life abiding in him; if he does not have eternal life abiding in him he does not have an immortal soul. To teach all have a soul in them that is eternal and can never die make all have a soul that now has eternal life, it can only be a question of where that soul will spend it’s eternal life. John said, "And this is the promise which he promised us, even the life eternal" (1 John 2:25). "We have passed out of death into life...no murderer has eternal life abiding in him" (1 John 3:14-15). Is there anyway John could have said any clearer that a murderer does not have an immortal soul that now has eternal life, that murderers has not “passed out of death into life”?
Death is not Hell
A dead person cannot be tormented; they can feel no pain. Only the living can be tormented. If Hell were a real place, those in it would be alive, not dead. Their life would be just as eternal as the life of the saved.
If there is no death, there cannot be a resurrection of the undead. If there is no resurrection, we have no hope 1 Corinthians 15:16-19. Can there be a doctrine more harmful than the doctrine of Hell, which takes away our resurrection; therefore, our hope of salvation?
WHAT THE DEAD DO NOT DO?
What do the dead do, think, and know? Nothing. Does anyone think this is a picture of Heaven or Hell? Without the resurrection the dead would never know anything after death (1 Corinthians 15:12-22).
Unwilling to accept God's word: Inspired writers speak often about death being a sleep, and about its unconscious nature. "His breath goes forth, he returns to the earth; in that very day his thoughts perish" (Psalm 146:4). If Solomon had said, "Their love, as their hatred and their envy will continue...for there is work, and device, and knowledge, and wisdom, in Sheol, whither you go" (Ecclesiastes 9:5-10), then those who teach a "immaterial, invisible part of man" is alive from our death unto the resurrection, could rightly say this ends all debate on this subject. But, when it is put the way God inspired it; they reject it. If you try for the rest of your life, you would never be able to say any stronger than Solomon that there is nothing after death, and without the resurrection taught by Christ there never would be life after death. Unconditional immorality must have knowledge in sheol, the grave; therefore, many plain statements that there is no knowledge in the grave must be rejected, and many plain statements that death is a sleep must be rejected. See Isaiah 38:18-19; Psalm 115:17; 6:5; John 11:11-14; Daniel 12:1-2; Job 14:12-15; 1 Corinthians 15:20.
Some say that Ecclesiastes is the view of those in the world, the way they see life when God is left out, but it is not the way a child of God sees life. Ecclesiastes has statements that are so conductivity to the soul being immortal that many try to make the whole book not be the truth, but it is only "life...viewed from the perspective where God is left out." Because it was conductivity to his belief that salvation is by faith only without works, Calvin did with the book of James the same as many do to Ecclesiastes. There is much in Ecclesiastes that cannot be said to be the way those in the world look at life (see Ecclesiastes 12:1, 12:13, and many other statements throughout the book), but to do away with these statements, they are willing to do away with all. If Ecclesiastes is "life...viewed from the perspective where God is left out," why is it not use it that way when Ecclesiastes 12:7 is used to prove the "soul" is immortal? If Ecclesiastes is, "life...viewed from the perspective where God is left out," then nothing in the book is the truth. Was a book that is not the truth inspired by God? If the book is only "life...viewed from the perspective where God is left out," what good could it have been to those that read it? Then why do we have this book in the Bible? Because it is not true that it is only the way the world sees life with God left out.
Death that never dies! The living dead! The undead dead! If this sounds like something out of a horror film, it is the teaching of many about some deathless something which is an "immaterial, invisible part of man." If there is a "part of man" that can never die, the lost could never be dead; common sense tells you that an immortal being can never die would have no need of a savior to die in its place to keep it from dying. Death is not life, whether it is good life in Heaven, or bad life in Hell. To die is not to live. There cannot be life after death without a resurrection that ends the death.
FIRST RESURRECTION - SECOND DEATH
"He that over comes shall not be hurt of the second death" (Revelation 2:11, 20:6). The first resurrection is when a person is "born anew...born of the water and the Spirit" (John 3:3-5). "And you did he make alive when you were dead...made us alive together with Christ (by grace have you been saved), and raised us up with him" (Ephesians 2:1-6; Galatians 2:18-19; 3:1).
2. "But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead...for he raised us from the dead along with Christ" (Ephesians 2:4 New Living Bible).
3. "But God, rich in mercy, for the great love he bore us, brought us to life with Christ...He raised us up" (Ephesians 2:4 New English Bible).
The first resurrection
is when a person (not a soul, whatever a soul is) put on Christ, "We
were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ
was raised from the dead" (Romans
6:3-4). “And you did he make alive, when you
were dead through your trespasses
and sins…even when we were dead
through our trespassed, made us alive together with Christ…and
raised us up with him” (Ephesians
2:1-10), it was “us” “we” that were
dead and made alive, not a soul. "I say unto you, the hour comes, and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God; and they that hear
shall live" (John
5:25). The first resurrection is when a person “like as Christ was raised from
the dead" when they were
buried through baptism and resurrected to a new life in Christ, a resurrection
to a life that the unsaved never will never have; a life that begins when a
person is buried through baptism and “And
you did he make alive when you were
dead...made us alive together with Christ.” Just as the resurrection at the coming of Christ will
be, it is a resurrection that will happen only one time; in both it is the
person that is resurrected, not a pagan immaterial, deathless soul. The endless
life that begins when a person comes up out of the water or baptism, “That like as Christ was raised from the dead" (Romans 6:3-4), after a sleep that will seem as
if it was only a moment, is the life that is hid with God in Christ, “If then you have been raised up with
Christ…you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ,
who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory”
(Colossians 3:1-4). Life after the resurrection for “those alive from the dead” (Romans 6:13) is not a different life
but a continuance of the life that began when a person was “raised up with Christ.” All the faithful in Christ have been
raised from the dead and now have life as long as they remain faithful and “shall not be hurt of the second death”
(Revelation 2:11). At the second coming of Christ, those that are alive in
Christ, whether they have fallen asleep in Christ or remain unto He comes, when
He come they will be changed and put on incorruption, immortality, and forever
have the victory over death (1 Corinthians 15:52-55).
In John 5 Christ gives “eternal life” to those that believe, “He that hears my word, and believes him that sent me, has eternal life, and comes not into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24). Those that hear and believe Christ have now passed our of death and have endless life, but are still in the image of Adam, have not yet put on the spiritual body; they will sleep with their life “hidden with Christ in God.” But “the hour comes in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice and shall come forth; that that have done good, unto the resurrection of life.” At that time they will awake in the image of Christ with spiritual bodies that will be suitable for life in Heaven. All others, “They that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:29). In this passage Christ speaks both (1) of the believes passing from death to life in this lifetime, (2) and also a resurrection to immortality for believes that will take place at His second coming. It is a continuance of life for believes that never will have an end even when they have “fallen asleep in Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:18). Believes “comes not into judgment,” but are raised from sleep to life, those that do not believe will be raised for judgment, not life; those that believe not “shall not see life” (John 3:36), after they have been raised for judgment (John 5:29), they shall be hurt of the second death (Revelation 21:8).
In John 11:25-26 Christ speaks of the life the believer will receive both now and after the judgment. “I am the resurrection, and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die” Even when the saved are asleep in Christ they live unto God; it is the person that is asleep in Christ that will wake up from their sleep.
All that are in the grave, both saved and lost, will hear His voice and come forth at the resurrection. All will be raised and stand “before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). All who were born again, made alive by being raised with Christ through Baptism, and live faithful shall not be hurt of the second death, which will be after the judgment. Christ paid the wages of sin for them. All others will pay their own wages of sin, which is death (Romans 6:23). "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone; which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8). The second death is after the second coming of Christ, after the resurrection and judgment; from this death there will never be a resurrection. The results will be eternal. An endless life of torment is not a second death; it is eternal life with torment; an endless life of torment bears no resemblance to a death. To feel pain, those in Hell would have to be just as alive as those in Heaven are. For an immortal, immaterial soul that cannot be dead to be forever alive and tormented in a literal lake of fire is so dissimilar to death that a person would be in desperate need to prove his or her theology to say an eternity of being alive in a like of fire is death; if a dead person were in a lake of fire, that dead person would not feel or know about the fire; if an immaterial soul that, according to Dr. Morey in “Death And The Afterlife,” page 79, is nothing but thoughts and will not have a body, that soul could not feel the fire .
Summary: All are dead unto they are buried with Christ “through baptism into death and raised from the dead through the glory of the Father” (Romans 6:3-5). All saved persons now have eternal life even though there bodies are still in the image of Adam (John 3:15; 3:16; 3:36; 4:14; 5:24; 6:47; 11:28; 20:31; many more). They will sleep with there life “hidden with Christ in God” unto the second coming of Christ; at that time the persons that believed and has been given life, the same person will put on immortal bodies in the image of Christ. The life a person will have after putting on the image of Christ is a continuation of the endless life given to them when they were in the image of Adam.
"There are only two alternatives, the crown of life-eternal life-or the second death" Homer Hailey, Revelation, page 128, Baker Book House. It is life or death, not life in Heaven or life in Hell. Death is real.
I. D. Williamson: "Relative to the question, whether the lake that burns with fire and brimstone is to be understood literally or figuratively, I have little to say. During the dark ages, it might have been necessary to discuss that question; but the day has passed when any man, claiming even a tolerable share of theological knowledge, would risk his reputation, as a man of sane mind, in an attempt to maintain the existence of a real lake of literal fire and brimstone, in which immortal and immaterial spirits are to be burned. It is a figure used to represent a reality, and this reality is the second death." "An Examination Of The Doctrine Of Endless Punishment."
"The Second Death" is used four times, all in Revelation.
1. The first two times “the second death” is used say that those in Christ will not die the second death.
SECOND DEATH
IN PLAIN UNSYMBOLIC LANGUAGE
"There remains no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries" (Hebrews 10:27). For the lost (1) judgment then (2) devour in the lake of fire, which is the second death. Not as it is preached today (1) judgment (2) then an eternal life of torment in Hell forever, but never devoured, or as preached by many an eternal life in Hell at death before and without the resurrection and Judgment Day.
· The Bible speaks of two deaths, the first, and the second, if the first death is death, but if the second death is eternal life being tormented by God, and then the second death is not death.
· The second death is a real death, just as real as is the first death; both the first and second death is the end of life, neither one is not life in another form or place.
· The second death is never spoken of as a sleep; there is no waking up or resurrection from it.
· The first death is the end of living in this temporal life, which all die and is not the wages of sin. The second death is the end of living in whatever kind of life the lost will have when they are resurrected from the dead (when the dead are resurrected for judgment they will have life of some kind, but not eternal life that is given only to believers—resurrection means life, if not then it would not be a resurrection).
o “And the sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death” (James 1:15).
o “Whoever turns a sinner away from his error will save him from death” (James 5:20) New International Version.
o “For the end of these things is death” (Romans 6:21).
o “They that practice such things are worthy of death” (Romans 1:32). “Those who practice such things deserve to die” New Revised Standard Version.
o “For if you live after the flesh, you must die” (Romans 8:13).
o “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
o “And their part shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).
"IF YOU LIVE AFTER THE FLESH, YOU SHALL DIE." “For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die (apothncesko); but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13). All mankind, even the faithful, have been dying the first death since the sin of Adam, this is not a reference to the first death but the second when only those who live according to the flesh will die. Paul did not say, "If you live after the flesh you are now spiritually dead," (present tense), but "you shall die" (future tense). Not A soul shall live forever separated from God, but "you shall die." Why do many that say they believe God, but work hard to change His word? "But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live." It is you that will live or die, not a part of you that will always live and cannot die.
“For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Not the death of the flesh, which all die, but the second death.
“I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died (apothncesko). This is the bread which came down out of Heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die (apothncesko)” (John 6:48-50). All die the first death, even the apostles, but there will be a resurrection, and those who eat of the bread that came down out of Heaven will not die the second death, all that do not eat of it will die the second death”