The Abode of Satan<\/b><\/p>\n
The abode of Satan and his angels (Matt. 25:41), described in the Bible with the imagery of eternal fire, outer darkness, being lost, perishing, and the like. It is impossible to envisage a state that can be described in so many different ways. Clearly it is horrible and is to be avoided at all costs (Mark 9:43).<\/p>\n
The Shaw Pocket Bible Handbook, Walter A. Elwell, Editor, (Harold Shaw Publ., Wheaton , IL; 1984), p. 351.<\/p>\n
Poll: American Men <\/b><\/p>\n
GLENDALE, CA (EP) – American men are among the world\u2019s \u201cmost pagan,\u201d according to pollster George Barna. A study reported in The Barna Report, his newsletter, found that the church has little or no influence on many American men.<\/p>\n
About one in three American men claims to be a born-again Christian, but only 28 percent attend church on any given weekend. Other forms of religious activity\u2014including Bible reading, Sunday school attendance, and giving time or money to a church\u2014have all declined among American since 1991.<\/p>\n
Barna also found that even men who claim to be Christians often hold unorthodox beliefs that are at odds with biblical Christianity. For instance, 28 percent deny that Jesus was physically raised from the dead, while 27 percent say He committed sins. Surprisingly, 55 percent of self-identified Christian men agreed that all people \u201cexperience the same outcome after death, regardless of their way into heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barna found that less than half of Christian men believe that there are absolute moral truths (47 percent) or that the Bible and religion should be primary influences on moral thinking (40 percent).<\/p>\n
To reverse this trend, Barna says churches must provide a male-friendly environment, including opportunities to interact with other men, practical Bible teaching, and real-world solutions to personal problems.<\/p>\n
Northwest Christian Journal – May 1997<\/p>\n
Literal Fire?<\/b><\/p>\n
Is the fire spoken of literal fire? It is an accepted law of language that a figure of speech is less intense than the reality. If \u201cfire\u201d is merely a figurative expression, it must stand for some great reality, and if the reality is more intense than the figure, what an awful thing the punishment symbolized by fire must be. <\/p>\n
Wm E. Evans, The Great Doctrines of the Bible, Moody, p. 262<\/p>\n
Does God Punish People Forever?<\/b><\/p>\n
1A The possibilities (five viewpoints)<\/p>\n
1B. Denial: \u201cThere is no such place. Christians just made it up.\u201d<\/p>\n
2B. Earthly suffering: \u201cHell is what you go through on earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
3B. Annihilation: \u201cIt refers to the final destruction of all evil persons.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 II Thessalonians 2:8: \u201cDestroy (\u201ckatargeo\u201d) with the brightness of His coming\u201d (cf. Romans 6:6; I Corinthians 13:8).<\/p>\n
\u2014 Matthew 10:28 (Hell\u2014\u201dGehenna,\u201d \u201capolesai\u201d\u2014 cf. Romans 14:15).<\/p>\n
\u2014 II Thessalonians 1:9 (\u201colethros\u201d\u2014 cf. I Corinthians 5:5).<\/p>\n
4B. Restoration: \u201cAll persons will ultimately be saved.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Primarily centers the attention on the usage of words translated \u201ceternal\u201d or \u201cforever\u201d (age).<\/p>\n
\u2014 \u201cAidios\u201d used two times: Jude 6 and Romans 1:20. Stresses permanence and unchangeableness.<\/p>\n
\u2014 \u201cAionios\u201d used 68 times\u2014 unmeasured time. Contrasted with the word \u201ctemporary\u201d (\u201cproskaira\u201d) in II Corinthians 4:18.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Used of God in Romans 16:26; I Peter 5:10; I John 5:20; (and of God\u2019s power: I Timothy 6:16).<\/p>\n
\u2014 Used of blood of Jesus: Hebrews 13:20.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Used many times of the eternal life of the believer: Romans 6:23.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Used of the Holy Spirit: Hebrews 9:14.<\/p>\n
\u2014 \u201cAion\u201d used 102 times\u2014 refers to the moral and spiritual characteristics of a particular period of time. Greeks used this word to contrast with that which comes to an end.<\/p>\n
5B. Unending torment: \u201cHell is a place of eternal suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n
2A. The proof that he does punish people forever in a place called hell.<\/b><\/p>\n
1B. The biblical description of hell.<\/p>\n
1C. Hades used 11 times (\u201cunseen\u201d); refers to dwelling place of the wicked dead.<\/p>\n
2C. \u201cTartaros\u201d: II Peter 2:4\u2014abode of certain wicked angels (cf. Jude 6\u20137).<\/p>\n
3C. Lake of fire used five times in Revelation. Revelation 20:15; 21:8 (second death).<\/p>\n
4C. Bottomless pit: pit of the abyss. \u2014Used nine times; refers to lower regions as the abode of demons, out of which they can be let loose at times.<\/p>\n
5C. \u201cGehenna\u201d used 12 times: Aramaic form of Hebrew Gehinnom of Valley of Hinnom\u2014dump.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Valley of Hinnom, where children were burned with fire as sacrifices to Molech Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 7:31 (cf. Matthew 23:33).<\/p>\n
6C. Outer Darkness: Matthew 8:12: 22:13; 25:30 (weeping and gnashing of teeth).<\/p>\n
7C. Place of torment: Luke 16:28 (also called \u201cHades\u201d\u2014verse 23).<\/p>\n
2B. The specified duration of hell.<\/p>\n
1C. Everlasting punishment: Matthew 25:46.<\/p>\n
2C. Eternal condemnation: Mark 3:29 (sin).<\/p>\n
3C. Eternal judgment: Hebrews 6:2.<\/p>\n
4C. Everlasting destruction: II Thessalonians 1:9.<\/p>\n
5C. Eternal fire: Matthew 18:8\u20139. (\u201cGehenna\u201d); Matthew 25:41; Jude 7.<\/p>\n
6C. Unquenchable fire: Mark 9:43\u201338 (cf. Isaiah 66:24).<\/p>\n
7C. Eternal torment: Revelation 19:20; 20:10.<\/p>\n
The Biola Hour Guidelines, What We Believe, by David L. Hocking, (La Mirada, CA: Biola Univ., 1982), pp. 11-14<\/p>\n
Whatever happened to hell? <\/b><\/p>\n
The following are some of the cults listed by John Ankerberg and John Weldon in Facts on Life after Death. Listed also is each group\u2019s divisive opinion about both heaven and hell along with its founder\u2019s quotations.<\/p>\n
1. Christian Science, founded by spiritist Mary Baker Eddy, teaches that \u201cthere is no death.\u201d They believe that \u201cheaven and hell are states of thought, not places. People experience their own heaven or hell right here on earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
2. Edgar Cayce, a spiritist and New Age prophet, said that \u201cthe destiny of the soul, as of all creation, is to become One with the Creator\u201d and that no soul is ever lost.<\/p>\n
3. New Age cult leader Sun Myung Moon of The Unification Church believes that \u201cGod will not desert any person eternally. By some means…they will be restored.\u201d<\/p>\n
4. Mormonism, founded by occultist Joseph Smith, argues, \u201cThe false doctrine that the punishment to be visited upon erring souls is endless…is but a dogma of unauthorized and erring sectaries, at once unscriptural, unreasonable, and revolting.\u201d<\/p>\n
5. Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, founded by Charles Taze Russell maintains that the wicked are forever annihilated because \u201cthe teaching about a fiery hell can rightly be designated as a \u2018teaching of demons.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
6. The Church of the New Jerusalem (Swedenborgianism), founded by spiritist Emanuel Swedenborgh, emphasizes that God \u201cdoes not condemn anyone to hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
7. Eckankar, a New Age religion founded by Paul Twitchell and Darwin Gross, insists that \u201cthere is no death\u201d…and that there is no eternal hell.<\/p>\n
8. Lucis Trust and the Arcane School\/Full Moon Meditation Groups, established by New Age spiritist Alice Bailey, argue that \u201cthe fear of death is based upon…old erroneous teaching as to heaven and hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
9. The Love Family (The Children of God), founded by spiritist David Berg, views hell as a temporal purgatory: \u201cThe lake of fire is where the wicked go to get purged from their sins…to let them eventually come…out.\u201d<\/p>\n
10. Rosicrucianism, an occult philosophy, declares that \u201cthe \u2018eternal damnation\u2019 of those who are not \u2018saved\u2019 does not mean destruction nor endless torture,\u201d and that \u201cthe Christian religion did not originally contain any dogmas about Hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
11. Unitarian Universalism confesses the following: \u201cIt seems safe to say that no Unitarian Universalist believes in a resurrection of the body, a literal heaven or hell, or any kind of eternal punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n
12. The Theosophical Society, founded by medium Helena P. Blavatsky, declares, \u201cwe positively refuse to accept the…belief in eternal reward or eternal punishment.\u201d Hence, \u201cDeath…is not…a cause for fear.\u201d<\/p>\n
13. The spirits everywhere proclaim their allegiance to cultic teachings, declare Ankerberg and Weldon. \u201cRamtha,\u201d the spirit speaking through medium J. S. Knight, claims \u201cGod has never judged you or anyone\u201d and \u201cNo, there is no hell and there is no devil.\u201d \u201cLilly\u201d and other spirits channeled through medium Ruth Montgomery argue that there is no such thing as death\u201d and that \u201cGod punishes no man.\u201d <\/p>\n
To Hell and Back, by Maurice S. Rawlings, M.D., (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publ., 1993), pp. 81-83.<\/p>\n
Donald Trump<\/b><\/p>\n
Early in 1989, when Trump\u2019s bank account was still bulging, a writer asked Trump the inevitable question about what horizons were left to conquer. \u201cRight now, I\u2019m genuinely enjoying myself,\u201d Trump replied. \u201cI work and I don\u2019t worry.\u201d \u201cWhat about death?\u201d the writer asked. \u201cDon\u2019t you worry about dying?\u201d Trump dealt his stock answer, one that appears in a lot of his interviews. \u201cNo,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m fatalistic and I protect myself as well as anybody can. I prepare for things.\u201d This time, however, as Trump started walking up the stairs to have dinner with his family, he hesitated for a moment. \u201cNo,\u201d he said finally, \u201cI don\u2019t believe in reincarnation, heaven or hell\u2014but we go someplace.\u201d Again a pause. \u201cDo you know,\u201d he added, \u201cI cannot, for the life of me, figure out where.\u201d <\/p>\n
Donald Trump, investor and businessman. Quoted in Pursuit magazine in an adaptation from the took What Jesus Would Say, by Lee Strobel, 1994, Zondervan<\/p>\n
Bertrand Russell<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cI do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly human can believe in everlasting punishment.\u2026I must say that I think all this doctrine, that hellfire is a punishment for sin, is a doctrine of cruelty.\u201d <\/p>\n
Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian.<\/p>\n
The Mason Jar<\/b><\/p>\n
The old mountaineer had lived a full but not exactly saintly life and now was on his deathbed. He summoned his weeping wife. \u201cSara,\u201d he said, \u201cgo to the fireplace and take out the third stone from the top.\u201d<\/p>\n
She did as instructed.<\/p>\n
\u201cReach in there,\u201d said her husband, \u201cand bring out what you find.\u201d Her fingers touched a large Mason jar, and with some effort she pulled it up. The jar was full of cash.<\/p>\n
\u201cSara,\u201d said the old man, \u201cwhen I go, I\u2019m going to take all that money with me. I want you to put that jar up in the attic by the window. I\u2019ll get it as I go by on my way to heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n
His wife followed his instructions. That night the old mountaineer died. After the funeral his wife remembered the Mason jar and went to the attic. There was the jar still full of money and by the window.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh,\u201d the widow sighed. \u201cI knew I should have put it in the basement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
How deeply has the tendency to deny hell penetrated evangelicalism? One survey of evangelical seminary students revealed that:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Nearly half\u201446 percent\u2014felt preaching about hell to unbelievers is in \u201cpoor taste.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u2022 Worse yet, three out of every ten self-professed \u201cborn again\u201d people surveyed believe \u201cgood\u201d people will go to heaven when they die\u2014even if they\u2019ve never trusted Christ. <\/p>\n
\u2022 One in every ten evangelicals say they believe the concept of sin is outmoded.<\/p>\n
Ashamed of the Gospel, John F. MacArthur, Jr., 1993, Crossway Books, p. 65<\/p>\n
Down Under<\/b><\/p>\n
A politician awoke after an operation and found the curtains in his hospital room drawn. \u201cWhy are the curtains closed?\u201d he asked the nurse. \u201cIs it night time already?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d the nurse replied, \u201cBut there\u2019s a fire across the street, and we didn\u2019t want you to wake and think the operation was unsuccessful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rotary Down Under, as quoted in Reader\u2019s Digest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Abode of Satan The abode of Satan and his angels (Matt. 25:41), described in the Bible with the imagery of eternal fire, outer darkness, being lost, perishing, and the like. It is impossible to envisage a state that can be described in so many different ways. Clearly it is horrible and is to be … Continue reading “Hell”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}