The Official Journal of the Ensign Trust, London

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THE ENSIGN MESSAGE

THE HELL YOU SAY

By

USA

Shortly before the time of Christ a new idea of a burning hell for sinners came into existence as it was never mentioned in the Old Testament. Although the word hell did appear, it had nothing to do with the idea that departed souls went through a conscious state of physical torment as promoted by hundreds of thousands of  preachers  over  the years.

The word hell comes from the Hebrew word  sheol and has been translated hell 31 times and  grave  31 times. Since these two words are far from being synonymous it would appear that there is a  problem with the translation. I firmly believe the correct translation of the Hebrew word is grave, as it is tangible and not spiritual and is so real that I can still remember my dad  being  lowered  into one over 65 years  ago.

To shed some light on this regarding the word hell it is necessary to know that the word hell years ago was meant to cover something. A good example, to cover your house was to put a roof on it. Roofers years ago were called hellers and the name Heller is still popular today as are the words Carpenter and Plumber.  To bury someone was to cover him. This makes the two words far more compatible than the idea of burning departed souls with  no bodies  before  the judgment.

Solomon said in Ecc 3:21, Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth? The spirit mentioned here is the breath of life. The beast also has the breath of life but it does not return to God who gave it. Then in 12:7 he said, Then shall the dust [body and soul} return to the earth as it was: and the spirit [not the conscious soul} shall return unto God who gave it. David said in Psalms 146:4, regarding the state of the dead , His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Then Solomon confirms it in Ecc 9:5, The living know that they shall die but the dead  know not anything.

 Some of today’s questionable doctrines  are found in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus which some say is not a parable but factual. It is found in Luke 16 and covers verses 19 thru 31, and every verse therein has a meaning, but only a few of them are used to describe the torments that the rich man is going through and the comfort that Lazarus has, as he is supposedly in heaven. Since the rich man could see him from afar off in hell that would mean that hell would be up in the heavens too.

There are probably millions of people in torments right now and it is not physical pain. Some have just lost their husband or wife, some have  just lost  their jobs as well as their house and the lifestyle they once had, some have just found out they have terminal cancer with only six months to live. This list could go on and on and sometimes it ‘s worse than physical  pain.  This is the type of torments the rich  man  was going through.

This parable is not about a rich man, but a certain rich man, and why was he dressed in purple and fine linen ? The rich man was symbolic of Esau-Edom and Lazarus was the symbolic name for Jacob-Israel, as these two brothers have been the ages long enemies of each other from Genesis to Revelation. If you were trapped in a burning car, do you think a drop of water on your tongue would help one bit? If not what did it mean? and who were the five brothers He wanted Lazarus to talk to?

At the time of Christ, prisoners were not given a proper burial after being put to death, but instead were taken to the large dump outside the walls of Jerusalem to be burned along with the trash and garbage. This dump was described three times in Mark 9, Where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. When the fires were not hot enough to burn some things including dead bodies, brimstone was added to make it hotter. Of course the worms never died as they just went into the ground. These verses were not describing a burning hell, where billions would be burning for eternity.. It’s hard to even entertain the thought that our God could watch the majority of His creation burn forever, with the love and mercy He has for His creation. What did our Lord have to say about burning one alive? In Jeremiah 32:35, and other places He said, Neither came it into my mind that they should  do this abomination. No civilized people in the world would condone this except for the most depraved ; sadistic, brutal and Godless people found in the apex of most governments today, including ours. We look forward to the day that the government shall be upon His shoulders and His prophecy in Obadiah 18 comes to pass, And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall  not be any  remaining  of the house of Esau, for the Lord hath spoken it. This fire is symbolic of the destruction of Esau and the Edomites. This is the culmination of the age long battle between Jacob-Israel and Esau Edom.

We are all told over and over by our preachers that the soul never sleeps or dies and refer to it as soul sleep and that anyone that believes that is not Christian. We have all heard of people that have gone into comas, some for a few days, and some for months and even years. Since the soul cannot sleep it has to be either in “heaven” or “hell”, and we have yet to hear from anyone of them returning from a long coma and telling of all their time in either one of these places . On the other hand, believers like myself know they were just asleep and have no memory of the time lost. The Bible says that the last enemy to be destroyed is death and no one including myself likes the thought of going to hell or the grave unless he is in extreme pain. If you were to visit some of the old cemeteries in New England you would see the letters R.I.P {Rest in Peace} on thousands of tombstones, which is mute evidence that they believed they were dead and in the grave till the resurrection. I prefer to rest in peace, until He comes, as the Christians of early America also believed. It seems strange that no preacher has ever mentioned the location of the hell they preach about, as there is no mention of its location in the Bible. Is it up in the air like “heaven” as we are told that the rich man could see and hear Lazarus from hell, or is it on or in the earth?

There is a strange paradox that’s apparent in the Christian mindset today. It is rather apparent that they like the idea of a burning hell because they will not be there. When talking to my sister in law about thirty years ago, I tried to convince her that the hell as taught in the churches was in error, she replied, “If  there  is no hell, what’s the point of being a Christian?” She along with millions of others do not like the idea nor do they want to hear any Bible verses that clarify what the hell or grave actually is. They hate the idea that they could be deceived. They believe the Catholics could but not them, even though the Catholics believe in the same hell as they do. If anyone feels that’s the only reason for being a Christian, he is not much of a Christian .

Maybe some feel that the earth itself will be turned into their hell as it’s got to be some place. I know exactly where it is, it exists only in the deceived minds of men, and it is used by the evangelists and preachers as a tool to get people “saved” and into their church. Some of these flim-flam men, wolves in sheep’s clothing, have made millions from it and it has not helped to stop the well planned destruction of America by our internal enemies.

All of our reformers and  great  theologians  of  the last 500 years did not believe in the immortal soul doctrine of the Eastern religions, and our contemporary pastors preaching this error  is not to  be taken lightly as they have virtually  the same Bible as they had. One  of the definitions of blasphemy is, Attributing to God, something that is not in His nature. Regarding His feelings of burning someone alive are found in Jer 19:5 and 32:35,  where  He  said,  The  thought  never entered  My mind.

 Today’s pastors have the same Bible I have and know what I have written is true, but they still can’t resist preaching it as they feel the end justifies the means regardless of truth. If it were not for this ungodly and false doctrine, how many Catholics do you think you would find at their pagan, boring and repetititious Masses every Sunday or at their confessionals, often officiated by homosexual priests?

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