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The Final Frontier: Heaven

July 1st, 2007

Where Is Heaven?
The answer to this question might be
harder then you think. In lure of the story about God, if I was
Satan, the last place you would find or define. This, too, is no
problem since most are hell bound thinking the story about God
isn’t a literal fact. See if you understood the story statements
you would know the lie accredited to Satan. This lie ties in our
created existence in the life. You would understand the Tartarus
and Satan current home. So until we do come to know the story
fact, after the spirit of truth has come, we have our visions
about heaven. A thought conveyed in fantasies and not the truth
defined in the story account.
So for those who do not
believe as well as those who do, let’s keep it simple. After all
simple is God creation in the story to most. Ones defining of
this act of creation an illiterate account of the known reality.
Science holds the reality of existence and religion view of God
act an empty statement void of fact. The reader has two ways to
view the facts of these statements. They can see the story about
God a valued collection of good intents to guide moralities.
They can relate a deception beyond the story of God statement
which over ride its fact. Believe it or not, the table is
already established against you. Like a zebra you can not change
your stripes. Adam, earth dwelling man, nature is too stern for
change. The story fact states narrow is the path of
righteousness and few there in but broad is the way of
destruction and many there in.
Let’s began this search for
the heaven. All of us, at some point, has gazed the night
darkness. The darkness like a vast ocean blankets the sky with
its essence. One poet conveyed this sight as a bowl turned
upside down. We, of course, trapped inside this inverted bowl.
The darkness unknown pit only indifference is its array of
stars. The stars scattered placement in the darkness seemingly
endless fact. It’s there in this pit sprinkled glittering lights
we concentrate our search for the heaven.
Religion theology
state out there in this starry darkness is God existence. The
fact view is not the given detail in the story about God. God
state in the story is in light and not darkness. We can listen
to the howls of demonic possessed ill intent directors. Or we
can apply the truth of the story about God. Science denies the
existence of others outside our world. This fact includes the
fact of God. The thought by science of anything in such a harsh
environmental condition is a doubt. Such mumbling and non-sense
babbling by science coming to the logic, we are out there. We
have sent vessels there and had them return. Science, itself has
proven, although harsh under the right factors there is the
reality of life. Science statements of extreme variables can not
denounce the potential of life in such conditions. Our reality
in such a state is proof of that existence. Religion calls this
harsh vision of darkness with its stars heaven.
The thought
of heaven was derived from the story of God. The portrayal of
the heaven assumed by religion is outside the story of God fact.
The heaven of the story account as mentioned had light with a
fact of darkness. Religion states above the clouds God watch
over the earth. Science ventures beyond the reach of the clouds
yielded no proof of God domain. Science took from religion an
imagined endless state called night. The story account of God
reflects the balance of the light and the darkness. The heaven
under religion absorb the essence of the stars. Science defines
this same state as space. The total sum of religion thoughts of
above them and science acclaims of space is a short coming of
the story about God given heaven account.
Science perceives
there is no heaven. Not a state so to speck that holds the facts
of other living entities. Science has step from cave man to all
knowing and yet so naïve. The story states the self-proclaimed
wise shall be made fools by their assumptions. Those of religion
are no better. They state they believe but lack the fact of the
existence. Religious believers of God proclaim a desire to
venture to heaven. The believer ideal of the state not yielded
in the story fact. In the story, we are taught God lives in
heaven. God in the state of this heaven made worlds. The value
of the story defines God and the things of creation existence.
The things made, as God, exist in the heaven. Our earth under
this concept is in the heaven. The stars and all others unknowns
are also there in the state.
So in the rationing mind we
have this place of the heaven. Science states the heaven is a
state imagined in old folklore from our ancient past. Science
prides themselves over their mothers and their fathers
acclaiming to wisdom they have fed. Religion states the last
endeavor for the resurrected to a new life. The story account
declares the place of God. We are there in the heaven. We do not
have to go any where, heaven is here. God created existence in
the state of His heaven. There in this account are the worlds of
angel and adam. Religious believers longing to go to heaven has
been quenched with the reality of the story account. The
religious statement and the projected reality is not the actual
intent of the believer. The believer thirst is to be with Christ
and not the dwelling occupancy of the heaven existence.
The
heaven in the story account contains all of the existence. The
story states without God nothing we know and don’t know would
exist. The story states the creation is still under
construction. God finished His work in six days and rested on
the seventh. The host of angel and adam awaits the return of God
to His work. It’s at that time; the heaven will come to hold the
new heaven and the earth for the new adam. The heaven will hold
the lake of fire for Satan and those of the host of angel who
followed him. The ideal of the heaven is all we can see from our
state on the earth and things not seen or known. God state in
this heaven apart from the heaven of angel and from this heaven
for adam.
May we all grow in the wisdom and prosperity of
God will,
Alexander Coppedge
TPAC Manager
href>http://www.tpacmindfood.com

Daddy, Why Does the Preacher Talk So Funny?

June 30th, 2007

When it comes to fundamentalist preachers, there is nothing quite like the way they choose to express themselves from the pulpit. What they say, in and of itself, can be quite amazing. Such as the recent flap with Mrs. Benny Hinn, tryng her darndest to give a ranting good sermon for the masses and making a complete fool out of herself. In the typical breathless rant of evangelical showmanship, she told the audience what they needed was “a Holy Ghost enema, right up their butts.” Honest, that was what she said and she repeated it. She then went on to tell the audience not to be “butt kissers.” Having realized that she probably had crossed a few too many lines, she tried to recover by saying that people like her just have that kind of humor but was too late and the tape spread around the world, and not in a good way. She then went into a pacing frenzy back and forth until she broke her shoe and told the audience they didn’t need shoes anyway, they needed to put on combat boots for Jesus. I guess this got her out of the shoe breakage embarassment. The end came merciful when she fell flat on her face, on stage, and everyone started clapping as if this was of God and the perfect ending to a perfect sermon. It was pathetic and the scary part is that not one person in the audience got up and said “I’m out of here.” They loved it.

The fact is that nothing she said in the “sermon” was helpful. Nothing she said was correct and practically nothing she said was anythng but an attempt to appear inspiring and ending up being absolutely foolish. Poor Mr. Hinn was so angry that the video was playing around the world, he threatened those who showed it, from what I understand. I don’t blame him. What a time at the ‘ol breakfast table next day that must have been!

What is it about fundamentalist preachers that some seemingly have to loose their minds and common sense in an avalanche of “techniques” that leave most educated people laughing themselves sick? Do they not realize they are being laughed at?

When a preacher tells the audience that the reason Bathsheba was called Bathesheba was due to the fact that as King David oggled her from the roof top, she was taking a BATH!

I’m not kidding, I heard it with my own ears and wrote the man suggesting that had she been taking a shower, we would have known her as SHOWER-Sheba. The man was simply ignorant and I almost drove off the road laughing. On the other hand, it was pathetic and I often wonder if any in his congregation called him out on that little piece of ignorance. Sometimes I wonder at the audience more than the preacher.

What can be said from the pulpit can be amazingly silly or incredibly harmful. Pat Robertson tells us that hurricanes are from God punishing New Orleans or that Ariel Sharon’s stroke is from God for giving up part of the West Bank to people who also need a real place to live. His coments are wrong, ignorant, foolish and dangerous in these prounouncements. He suddenly saw the light (most will do that when you challenge a particular piece of ignorance and never do when never challenged) when the State of Israel cancelled his affiliation with them and one of his pet projects in Israel, but it was too late. Good for them to put a price on speaking foolishness from the pulpit. I guess the State of Israel was able to uninspire Pat’s inspired comments. God, I suppose, was forced to recind His inspiration and give into the current dilemma.

Time would fail to account for all the ignorance that comes from the pulpits of men and women not trained, not educated, not informed and not accountable for their presentations. Sanctified ignorance is still ignorance as far as we can tell.

There were dinosaurs on the ark…wrong

Earth is just 6000 years old…wrong

Our church is the only true church on earth…wrong

Evolution is a doctrine of Satan…wrong

Dancin is a doctrine of Satan…wrong

Whatever you ask in Jesus name, you will have…wrong

“I am God’s true representative on earth and I am compelled to say these things…” wrong

If you tithe, God will bless you and pour out the windows of heaven to you…wrong

God is doing this…wrong

God is doing that…wrong

Jesus thinks this of that…wrong

Jesus thinks that of this…wrong

“I know I am going very long on this sermon..but you need to hear this…” wrong

“You need to put the Church and bible study and being here first in your life…” wrong

…and on and on and on such that it would behove most preachers of this way of being to join On and On Anonymous!

Perhaps most irritating and pathetic of all is the WAY that many Evangelical, TV and Fundamentalist preachers present themselves. What’s with the cadance from hell in the presentation? What’s with the “eh” “eh” “eh” at the end of every sentence. I realize physiologically it helps them breath or they would pass out, and while it may be “tradition” it is past useful for educated parishioners. Maybe that’s the problem too.

What’s with the yelling? Always yelling and always giving the appearance that they are angry. Preachers are angry a lot as they think they can’t be a Preacher without their righteous indignation showing for every last thing on the planet they decide is evil and needs the iron rod of Jesus to smack down.

I listened to a preacher this morning coming in to work just to see if he would pass out and go absolutely speechless trying to yell, speak and breathe at the same time. I don’t think he missed one human foible in his presentation that he was not bashing his congregation over the head with. Sometimes I sense “me thinks thou protesteth too much.” I have learned that far more often than one thinks, just monitor what topics the preacher rails upon repeatedly and you might have a good hint at what troubles his own ignorant soul. Every minister in my personal experience who was known to rail against this or that “sex problem” was wrestling with it himself. Projection is something that most congregants of fundamentalist preachers don’t understand.

No one can slaughter the English language like a preacher gone berserk behind the pulpit. Imagine a meeting at IBM or the Oval Office (well there I can ;), conducted in that tone and style and you will find someone being escorted off the premisis looking for a new job.

Sermons are full of nonsensical phrases and pronounciations. If you were to write down what was said and read it back, it would sound ridiculous. From “Jaaa..eeeeeezus says,” to “days (there is) a time a commin…” an intelligent and meaningful presentation is lost in a flurry of emotion and slobber. HOW you say something for many preachers far outweighs whether what one says is even true. Remember, in fact, science by nature of being science has to be accurate and admit mistakes. At this moment, we have some very embarassed and angry South Korean scientists who have found out and admitted that their recent cloaning projects were bogus. Sorry about that, but good for them.

Preachers not only rarely admit to mistakes, but seem to have a need to perpetuate the error. Since God is never wrong, they never are not wrong either, since they think they both speak and are inspired by this outside force called “God.” Simply ask yourself how many times you have ever heard a preacher or church say it was wrong when it said this or that and you will understand what I mean. Because of this, many fundamentalist sermons are delivered in angry, emotional, threatening and self righteous tones. I can only imagine what some of the kids are thinking as they watch the show. Often they will tell you years later how nuts the church the grew up in was.

Every scientific fact that the church has ever made fun of as being contradicted by the Bible, they have eventually had to admit to being correct. Of course, many do not, and never will, Praise Jesus for my ignorance because “the wisdom of man is foolishness with God,” and “my ways are not YOUR ways..saith the Lord.” Preachers hid a lot of ignorance behind those two quotes.

It just took the Pope 350 years to apologize for almost burning Galileo at the stake for thinking earth was not the center of the solar system and the sun circled it. He didn’t apologize for actually doing it to nameless others. Science has yet to acknowledge one Biblical allegory as being literally true in their actual findings. Eventually, the “facts” the church promotes in areas where they don’t know what they are talking about, falls to the real facts. More so now in these days of easy access to the internet for information not formerly available to the average person.

And so sometimes we have to ask ourselves, “what is our chillins learning in Church from such preachers?”

For starters, they are learning:

Yelling trumps teaching.

Good grammar doesn’t count in church.

God is a consuming fire if you question the preacher.

Emotions trump good information.

One can be ill-programmed for life and not realize it.

Brains and YOUR intelligence and common sense indeed can be checked at the door when you go to your church.

Preachers are never wrong.

YOU are seldom right.

“Jaaaaaaheeeezus” loves the sinner but hates the sin, but it sure sounds like he hates the sinner too.

Mom or Dad never seem to think what I think the preacher says and does is stupid..something must be wrong with me.

God and Jesus must be raving lunatics if this man or woman is his personal representative on earth to me.

Narcissism must be a spiritual gift.

Take some time and just listen to the words of those that fit these ways of speaking for God. Watch the antics they feel they have to use to convince. If your head says “it must be so” while your tummy says “no no no”, go with the tummy. It will tell you the truth of what you are feeling more accurately and you won’t feel like something is wrong with you for observing that, while sincere, this man is really not qualified to teach me who and what God is and what he is or isn’t doing on good ‘ol planet earth. You’ll also be able to more genuinely answer the question your kids are asking themselves, whether you know it or not. “Dad, why is the preacher yelling, and why does he talk so funny?”

VIiruses, Terrorism, and Beliefs

May 31st, 2007

I have been swamped, deluged and inundated with people’s thoughts telling me they are frightened by the possibility of terrorist attacks. They are scared of airmail toxins, viruses and nuclear explosions ruining their health and jeopardizing their lives. I am telling you people I don’t do illnesses, only social diseases. My only answer to you is to have Faith. We will overcome adversity.

Speaking of social diseases, there is one that is causing quite a stir. On this I am definitely a non- expert expert. It is called the Ostrich Virus. It isn’t airborne, but this insidious social disease leap frogs from credit card to credit card, leaving their wealthy owners trembling in fear of losing their material possessions. If you want the cure stop worrying so much about your assets.

Are you in fear of losing your possessions? If so, you are just causing the virus to spread. Do you judge your accomplishments solely in monetary terms? Come alive my friends, having Faith will give you all the credit you need. There, don’t you feel more secure now? Doesn’t having Faith make you feel prosperous? You will if you just believe in God. Don’t you want to acquire a bunch of faith-based assets?

This is an excerpt from my book The Magic of Faith. To preview it just go to http://www.faith123.com

Good Fridays, Bad Choices

May 29th, 2007

“You can’t answer the cell phone during prayers,” I said to myself. “Especially during these prayers at the hour that Christ died.”

“But this is probably an emergency, and you are a doctor as well as a priest!”

“No, it’s not right. Don’t answer it.”

Whenever I talk to myself, the dialogue is always feisty.

The phone buzzed in my pocket, unanswered, three persistent times. It could wait. The prayers would be over in just a few more minutes. The phone buzzed again. I discretely looked at it, just to see what name appeared on the screen. It was Raphael. That could mean only one thing: that she was dead.

My blood turned cold, and a shiver ran down my spine. The hougan (voodoo priest) had told this perfectly healthy young woman, just a week ago, that she would not live past the “prayers of Calvary hill.” It was in her cards. She could not live past the hour of Christ’s death, unless she drank the potion he could make to save her. Now sure enough, she was dead. As the prayers of Calvary hill were coming to their conclusion, so was she coming to hers.

Her name was Marie Louise. She and her brothers and sisters were born to impoverished Haitian cane cutters in the bitter sugar fields of the Dominican Republic. The mother and father having died, the children were thrown over the border into Haiti a dozen years ago, during one of the frequent Haitian roundups by Dominican officials. They landed in Haiti where they had never lived, where they knew no one, and where they could not even speak Creole. A Haitian social worker gathered them up and delivered them to our orphanage, where we have spent many years getting to know and love, and struggling to deal with, this complex family.

Earlier Good Friday morning, while enjoying a coffee, a few of us were getting ready to start the day. I was getting ready to go to visit a friend who is facing the huge challenge of brain cancer. Good Friday was a good day for such a visit: we were commemorating an absolutely stark reality, that was nevertheless overflowing with grace; a grace as dark as it was powerful. Our chatter was interrupted by a disturbing call. Marie Louise was very sick in Kenscoff, and needed help. Off we went. Sure enough, her condition was disastrous. It was clear to me immediately that her whole nervous system was under full scale attack. I was sure she was reeling from a poison. We did our best to resuscitate and stabilize her, and when there was nothing more we could add to her treatments, I left her in the care of Raphael. I had other sick people to see, and I also needed to be on time for the prayers at 3pm at the orphanage on the mountain. I thought Marie Louise stood a chance with our treatments. I had seen these things before. Usually there is a lot of hysteria associated with them. I underestimated this time how much was terror and how much was the physiology of poison. I didn’t underestimate in terms of treatment, but in terms of prognosis. I did not expect her to die.

In shock, I uttered the final “prayer of Calvary hill”. I had no idea what to think or what to do next. But for sure, I needed to get her body. The Sisters and children of the orphanage started to pray the rosary for Marie Louise. Alfonso and I headed to Port au Prince to find a coffin, and to bring her body home.

It was a long sad drive back up the mountain. It was late at night, and we gathered to bathe her body and dress her, and place her in the coffin. As we bathed her, I thought of Joseph of Aramathea, and the sacred body he prepared for burial, freshly taken off the cross, two millennia ago that very day. Both his corpse and ours were destroyed by jealousy and hatred. And there was no lack of blood in either case. His, from many afflicted wounds, hers from massive internal bleeding that poured out her mouth and nose as we prepared her for burial. Across the span of twenty centuries, we understood the sadness and the urgency of what Joseph had done for the dead Christ- the last possible act of kindness and respect.

Joseph had to observe the Jewish command to bury Jesus before sunset. We were supposed to observe the Catholic command not to bury Marie Louise until Monday. But we could not keep this un-embalmed body, in the tropics, and full of poisons, in an orphanage, from Friday to Monday. We had no choice but to arrange a simple burial, with prayers and without a funeral mass, on Holy Saturday morning, and that is what we did.

Timid heads of hundreds of orphan children peered into her coffin. Alfonso, with wet eyes and trembling hands, placed an image of the risen Christ into her cold hands. Susana and others who spoke a last goodbye did so with quivering and broken voices. And all of us had hearts as heavy as the heaviest lead.

We struggled to understand the story, the one that Marie Louise had herself painted. She had come to see Alfonso a week before, to explain a grave problem. She was in love with a man who already had a girlfriend and a child. She also had become pregnant by him. Even though the boyfriend insisted on her ending the pregnancy a few months earlier, there was still strong jealousy on the part of the other woman, who went to see a hougan to put a death curse on her. A different hougan, whom she sought for help, wanted $300 Haitian dollars to make a potion to protect her. Marie Louise was looking for that money.

Alfonso insisted, rightly, that God’s power is absolute, that to buy into these cures and this way of thinking is like stepping into quicksand. To stay close to the God of life, and to stay away from these evil incantations and their hypnotic power, was the only way to face them. (Good Friday is the most dramatic expression of this message imaginable.) He gave Marie Louise a cross to wear around her neck, to remind her of God’s love and power. Such discussions are almost daily occurrences in Haiti, so alive are the convictions that misfortune, illness and death have their source in a personal curse.

Two days before her fateful one, Marie Louis was at the orphanage again. A lovely dress, fresh makeup, cheerful conversation, helping in the kitchen. But before she left, she asked again for $300, which was once again denied.

Desolation of desolations. After her burial, we went to Kenscoff to try to understand more fully everything that had happened. I spoke with the boyfriend, the two girls who lived with her, with neighbors. I tried to find the hougan. I spent Easter Sunday in this dreary pursuit, only to find out that Marie Louise’s life was one of prostitution and drugs, of nightlong parties in filthy bars. Desolation of desolations. Those who filled her days and nights were nowhere to be found when she needed them. We were the only ones to try to rescue her from deadly poisons, to shed tears for her, to prepare her tenderly for burial, to commend her to the earth with prayers for her soul. Desolation of desolations. In spite of all her years with us, she never centered herself in what is true about love, but sought it in the places where, as the Bible says, Satan crouches like a lion ready to devour you if you are foolish enough to come near. Desolation of desolations. Marie Louise had come to us as child out of a nightmare, only to leave us as a young woman into a nightmare again. But this I know for sure: at five years old and again at twenty years old, we were truly home for her. May she rest in that comfort now.

Religions have always played contradictory roles in society. Some aspects are liberating and life-giving. Others are enslaving and destructive. Christianity has dealt some death-blows in her long and very human history. So has Voodoo. But Christianity is a religion that lives in the public eye, with an identifiable authorities that must take responsibility for her activity in society. Voodoo lives in the shadows, ever secretive, with never anyone to hold responsible. Christianity must continually restate her purpose and goals, ever refined by public challenge. Superstitions become replaced by convincing descriptions of mystery, and the demands of mystery on us. Maybe one day Voodoo will be forced into this most necessary dynamic.

Late that night, Good Friday, after a long tragic day, I stepped outside exactly at midnight to look at the stars. There was a wonder in the sky. The southern cross, of all things, shone like a diamond in the velvet sky, beneath clouds lit up by the full easter moon. I thought of God’s promise to Noah, after the great flood. If there could ever be a rainbow at midnight, there it was.

“Desperado, won’t you come down from your fences, Put down your defenses, and open the gate. It may be raining, but there’s a rainbow above you! You better let somebody love you Before its too late.”*

*Jackson Browne

Fr. Rick Frechette
NPH Team for Excellence in Healthcare
NPH cares for orphaned and abandoned children in Latin America and the Caribbean since 1954.
www.nph.org

Fr. Rick Frechette is the Director of the Team for Excellence in Healthcare of NPH International. NPH cares for orphaned and abandoned children in Latin America and the Caribbean since 1954. Fr. Rick works every day in the slums of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Abiding in the Word

May 26th, 2007

How many Christian people do you know who are bearing no fruit? Jesus said, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. (John 15:4)

The meaning of the word “abide,” means “to live” or “to dwell.” So, to abide in Christ, means to live in Christ together as one person. Jesus Christ and the Word of God are one in the same (John 1:14). So, if we will abide in Christ, we will abide in the Word.

If we will abide in the Word, the Word will instruct us and teach us in the way we should go (Psalm 32:8). He will also guide us to pray according to His will and our prayers will have a guaranteed effect.

I love the scripture that says, “Ask the Father anything in My name and He will give it to you.” (John 16:23)

Although this scripture is an encouraging promise, it is not a license to treat God as some cosmic bell-boy who should come and cater to our every whim. James 4:3 says, “You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your own lusts.”

Yes, we are to live abundant and prosperous lives. That is our duty as Christians, for we are ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor 5:20). We are to be blessed, but also, we are to be a blessing.

Living prosperously is not just for ourselves, but also for others! “Work with your hands that you may have something to give to him who has need.” (Eph 4:28)

Every person is created unique, with different characteristics, skills, and abilities. These are gifts that are to be used to produce good fruit for the Kingdom of God. I believe if we will abide in the Word and use our gifts we will be successful.

Jesus said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

About the Author

Daniel N. Brown is the publisher of the “Living the Abundant and Prosperous Christian Life” Newsletter. A free weekly publication that teaches people how to live the abundant and prosperous Christian life. Receieve a free copy of Dan’s 14 page report entitled, “5 Biblical Keys to Outrageous Prosperity,” when you sign up.
www.secretplaceonline.com

The Great White Throne Judgment

May 21st, 2007

Before we get the new heaven and new earth, there is one more event that must take place - the Great White Throne Judgment. In my last article, Satan is Let Loose One More Time, you saw that Satan will end up in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone forever and ever - never to bother, harm or tempt humans ever again! Now what happens to the rest of unsaved humanity?

They will all come before God in what is called the Great White Throne Judgment. This event has to be the most disturbing and most bothersome event in all of Scripture. Before this happens, the Bible tells us that all the unsaved people are kept in a place called Hades (Hell) until the Millennium Kingdom is up. Hades (Hell) is a temporary place of torment that these souls are kept in until they have to appear before God in this final judgment, which will determine their eternal fate once and for all.

The New King James version calls this place Hades. However, the Original King James version calls this place Hell. Either way - Hell or Hades is a temporary place of torment where all unbelievers go to before this judgment comes to pass.

Here is the verse giving us the details on what will be happening in this judgment of the unsaved.

“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire.” (Revelations 20:11-14)

Remarks

1. The above verse refers to a “second death.” The first death is when the unsaved are thrown into Hades after they physically die and are kept there until the Millennium Kingdom is up. The second death refers to when the unsaved are cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone where they will remain for all of eternity.

Notice that the above verse definitely establishes that these unsaved people are in kept Hades until this judgment comes forth. The verse says that “Hades delivered up the dead who were in them.”

2. After this final judgment is pronounced, not only are the unsaved cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, but Hades itself is also cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone. This would thus be a “merger” of Hades and the Lake of Fire and Brimstone. Not only is God going to merge His heaven with our earth when we get the new heaven and new earth - God is also going to merge Hades (Hell) with the Lake of Fire and Brimstone when all is said and done. This will God’s final ultimate end for the saved and the unsaved.

The Bible does not give us the specific details of the nature of the torment that they will be under once they are thrown into the Lake of fire and Brimstone. And God may never tell any of us, even when we get into the new heaven and the new earth. It may be something He may never really want us to know about and we may be better off not knowing the full details.

However, just the thought that a certain percentage of humanity will not make it into the new heaven and new earth, and will have to spend the rest of their eternal lives in this horrible place of torment just blows the human mind!

Some people ask how could a loving God create such a horrible place of torment for people to end up in if they choose for whatever reason not to accept Him. I believe there is only one answer to that question.

I believe God has everything set up on a “all or nothing” principle. There is only maximum life or maximum death. If you choose God and Jesus, then you will end up with maximum life in the new heaven and new earth. If you do not choose God and Jesus, then you will end up with maximum death - which is the Lake of Fire and Brimstone. There is no middle ground or neutral areas! It’s all or nothing. It’s God or the Devil. It’s heaven or hell. It’s maximum life or maximum death. It’s really all black and white.

God the Father is a God of maximum intensity. He is not playing games. There is only one
God and one Savior - Jesus Christ! There is only one way to live and that is to choose God and Jesus and follow all of Their ways and all of Their commandments. Here is the Scripture verse that I feel really captures this thought:

“… I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days …” (Deuteronomy 30:19)

I don’t think God could make things any more clearer than the way that He has it spelled out in that verse. That verse is about as black and white as you can possibly get. You’ll notice that God says nothing about any type of neutral areas or any type of middle ground. However, the actual choice is up to each and every person. God will not force Himself or His ways on anyone. Each person has to freely choose God and His ways with their own free wills. If they don’t - for whatever reason - the consequence will be maximum death in the most horrible place imaginable.

The other thing to understand about why God would create such a horrible place is to just look at some of the people who commit pure evil in this life. The serial killers, the rapists, the murderers, the leaders of nations who enslave and torture their own people. Just look at the nature of Satan himself and all the horrors and evil he has caused throughout the history of our earth. Some of these fallen angels and evil human beings deserve nothing less that maximum death, which really does line up with their evil natures and personalities.

The real sad part about all of this is why a certain percentage of the angels and humans have chosen to live their lives on the “dark side,” and to allow themselves to deteriorate to the lower levels of the dark side where they themselves have now become pure evil - giving God no other alternative but to throw them into this lake of fire for the rest of their eternal lives.

None of these angels and humans were born or created pure evil. They became pure evil over the course of their lives and they freely chose to do so with their own free wills. To fully understand why these humans and fallen angels have chosen to live this life on the dark side, when they also had a chance to choose God and the “good side” of this life will probably always remain a mystery.

But for those who have chosen God and His ways - you will not have to go through the Great White Throne Judgment. Your reward is going to be maximum life - and this reward is going to be the new heaven and the new earth. I will discuss what the Bible has to say about this new paradise in the next article.

Article written by Michael Bradley of Bible Knowledge Ministries. Their website is a resource of Bible commentary and teaching. They currently have over 100 Bible articles. All free of charge.
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