Facebook note on Saturday, 26 March 2011 at 16:18. Coming Out of the Concept of Hell You all are going to have to bear with me on what follows, because it may take a long while to teach and to reveal all of the misconceptions in the doctrines that we have learned. And I am just going to touch on one of them now, the subject of hell. I will cover this in more detail as we go on in this work. There are many other authors who have covered this subject in the true light of God’s nature, and I would be happy to recommend them to you. The biggest question in people’s minds is the question of hell and the seeming teaching in Revelation about the eternal torment of hell. Let me just give you a little concept of what hell is. Hell is simply the grave. What most people call hell is the Lake of Fire in Revelation. The lake of fire is something that everyone is going to experience at one time or another. Jesus Himself said that everyone would be salted with fire. Matt. 9:49. In the New Testament, the fire began on the day of Pentecost as tongues of fire on the apostles. John said I baptize you with water but one coming after me will baptize you with fire. (More on this later.) Let me give you an example of the lake of fire. Do you remember a few years ago when the man heading the biggest ministry in the world confessed publicly, before the whole world, his sin? That man went through the lake of fire. Not only did he go through the fire because he was caught and had to publicly confess, but he also suffered under the opinions of others—especially Christians. And I want you know that when I first heard about that, God revealed to me the heart of Jimmy Swaggart. He showed me a man who was not a hypocrite, as the world and as most Christians assumed, but he was a man caught in the web of the knowledge of good and evil. He had the largest ministry in the world but his message was very judgmental and critical. If you ever heard Jimmy preach, you know that he was a hell-fire and brimstone preacher. Why? Not because he was a hypocrite, but because he hated so much what he had inherited through Adam, and he struggled so desperately with that thing. He didn’t want anybody else to ever have to suffer what he suffered; and he did not understand, nor did he know, the extent of the love of God. There is a book I wrote called Coming Out of Condemnation. Right after this happened to Jimmy,God revealed to me that he needed intercession. I wept and I groaned and I travailed for that man. I felt his suffering. I felt his agony. And God said,"It is time that My people understood that they don’t need to feel condemnation." (I wrote the book, and please get one—not because I wrote it, but because I can guarantee that you, too, suffer under condemnation, and you need to read that book.) And God said, "Write that book, and send it to Jimmy Swaggart." And of course you know how we all think. I thought,"Well, you know, he has this big ministry, and he’s in the middle of this; how can I even get it to him?" But I just addressed it: "Jimmy Swaggart, Baton Rouge, Louisiana," and I sent it off. Within a few days, I got a letter from Jimmy thanking me for sending it. A lot of Christians do things they would not want exposed to the world, they just haven’t been caught.Now I realize that in our natural character, there are some who are very strong-willed, and they are able by their self-effort to be very good people. However, they will condemn you something fierce, because you are not able to do what they can do. And they will preach hell-fire and brimstone to you and have your ears smoking.
Yet God has men and women positioned all over the earth today who understand what I am telling you. Judgment is coming, and I believe it is coming quickly. The Lake of Fire is coming to the earth. The fiery indignation is coming to the earth in a fully righteous judgment. The fires of God are coming, and the Word says that our God is a consuming fire. I have been judged by that fire many times. Do you think that Jimmy Swaggart didn’t go through a burning? Can you imagine what it would be like if you had your deepest sins revealed to the world? How about even to your family? (Now I know this is not still true for all of us. Right now I don’t have a problem like that, but years ago I did. I would have been absolutely humiliated to have the world exposed to my sin.) Yet you know that Revelation says that there is a day coming when we shall stand before God and the books will be opened. Do you know what that book is? Paul says that you are living epistles, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God. Each of us is a book. There is coming a day for everyone when their book will be opened. But let me tell you something: the fire of God, the judgments of God are never vindictive! We are taught a doctrine of eternal punishment. I will provide more detail later, how the concept of eternal punishment all happened. I will tell you now that it began basically with pagan religions. It was brought into the New Testament church by leadership in the Church, who wanted to instill fear into the hearts of God’s people. We know that the Bible says that perfect love casts out all fear, but yet the churches, almost everywhere in all denominations and in all sects, have within their Gospel and their teaching, of fear. If we need to fear anything, it is the carnal self-life that keeps us separated in our mind from the life of God in our spirit. You have heard this expression: "If you really do love someone or something, let it go." Let it go, because if you try to hold onto it, if you keep it in bondage, there can be no genuine love flowing. God’s people today need to be set free. Behold the Lamb 0f God that takes away the sin of the world! If the religious concept is true, the victory at Calvary was a very, very small and a very, limited victory. If the religious concept is true, when this thing all winds up, there are going to be a few on God’s side, but the devil is going to have the masses of humanity. That is not a great victory. Even common sense tells us that. God knew that when He brought you forth into this life you were going to be separated and alienated in your mind from His life, and there are people who live seventy or a hundred years, and for one reason or another, they never, never, hear someone preach the true Gospel to them. Oh, they hear the religious gospel. But they don’t want that. They don’t want to hear, "You’ve got to change your life. If you want to be used by God, you can’t do that! Do you want the blessings of God? You can’t do that!" They don’t want to hear that, because they are just like you, they are selfish. Self wants what self wants. But when God regenerates your spirit, then you begin to want the things of God.If people begin to realize the extent of God’s love, they will flock to Him. Can you imagine what it would be like for a prostitute to walk into a church where everybody knows she is a prostitute, yet they would love her, they would minister to her, and they would draw her into worship? Can you imagine how long she would be a prostitute? (And even if she was, that’s God’s business and not yours.) Do you have enough conviction in your knowledge of God and in the words that you speak to believe that you could speak life into her? Because if you can’t, she doesn’t need your church. If she only hears how she needs to change her life and clean herself up, it is useless. She can’t and she doesn’t need to hear that. If you will love her and minister life to her and not the letter of the law, she will begin to grow and change. Let’s go to Romans 5:12-21. "Therefore just as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men because all sinned. For before the Law was given, sin was in the world, but sin is not taken into account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by the breaking of a commandment. (These verses are so plain!) As did Adam who was a pattern of the one to come. But the gift is not like the trespass, for if the many died by the trespass of one man (and we know "the many" was the whole world) how much more does God’s grace, and the gift that came by grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflow to the many (Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin.)for judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. (That doesn’t compute in our minds!)For if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. (The next is a key verse:) Consequently just as the result of the one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of the act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men." How can we separate those two? How can we say "in Adam they all die, but in Christ they are not all going to be made alive"? We would rather read it that "condemnation was for all men, so the result of the one act of righteousness was justification to those who receive Jesus and begin to walk in obedience to His commands." It doesn’t say that. . What am I saying? Do I have the liberty to live any way I want to live? Are you telling me that I can do anything that I want to do, and that eventually I’m still going to be OK? If your attitude is, "If what you are telling me is true, then I am going to go live it up," then my answer to you is this: you do not know God, and you desperately need to be saved. But I will tell you this, you do not have a free will. Being lowered into this dense physical world took care of that for you, it bound up the human race into the will of the flesh. You do not have free will. We can obtain freedom in our will only by learning how to contact and fellowship with God in our spirit. By spending time in God’s presence, and learning to live there, His Spirit will flow into our natural will and transform it into His will. The Pentecostals love to say, "We are filled with the Holy Ghost." Well, let me tell you something: If you are really filled with the Holy Ghost, you will be a holy person. But you cannot be that way by trying to be that way. Trying to do the right thing doesn’t work. If you are full of the Holy Spirit, you will be controlled, moved and motivated by that Holy Spirit. But you can’t work for it. You can’t "live right" for it. You can’t try to choose the good over the evil for it, because that puts you into the works of the flesh. Trying with your carnal nature to choose the good over the evil puts you in that category of being alienated in your mind from that life that is in your spirit. You can’t make it that way. "As the result of the one trespass was condemnation for all men, so the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life to all men." So, can you live any way you want to? Yes. But here is the problem. You’re going to go through the lake of fire one way or another. God had a plan in the very beginning for every human being that was ever born, and that is why I have shared so often that the scripture says we have been chosen in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. That is God’s design; that is His plan, and that is His purpose, and your little will cannot stop God’s purpose for your life. Absolutely impossible! I have done everything in my life but curse God. I have told Him, "Leave me alone! I can’t do it anymore. I can’t make it any more." God would just say, "Too bad, it’s too late for you. You consecrated yourself to me and there is no turning back." To be continued
Yet God has men and women positioned all over the earth today who understand what I am telling you. Judgment is coming, and I believe it is coming quickly. The Lake of Fire is coming to the earth. The fiery indignation is coming to the earth in a fully righteous judgment. The fires of God are coming, and the Word says that our God is a consuming fire. I have been judged by that fire many times. Do you think that Jimmy Swaggart didn’t go through a burning? Can you imagine what it would be like if you had your deepest sins revealed to the world? How about even to your family? (Now I know this is not still true for all of us. Right now I don’t have a problem like that, but years ago I did. I would have been absolutely humiliated to have the world exposed to my sin.) Yet you know that Revelation says that there is a day coming when we shall stand before God and the books will be opened. Do you know what that book is? Paul says that you are living epistles, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God. Each of us is a book. There is coming a day for everyone when their book will be opened. But let me tell you something: the fire of God, the judgments of God are never vindictive! We are taught a doctrine of eternal punishment. I will provide more detail later, how the concept of eternal punishment all happened. I will tell you now that it began basically with pagan religions. It was brought into the New Testament church by leadership in the Church, who wanted to instill fear into the hearts of God’s people. We know that the Bible says that perfect love casts out all fear, but yet the churches, almost everywhere in all denominations and in all sects, have within their Gospel and their teaching, of fear. If we need to fear anything, it is the carnal self-life that keeps us separated in our mind from the life of God in our spirit. You have heard this expression: "If you really do love someone or something, let it go." Let it go, because if you try to hold onto it, if you keep it in bondage, there can be no genuine love flowing. God’s people today need to be set free. Behold the Lamb 0f God that takes away the sin of the world! If the religious concept is true, the victory at Calvary was a very, very small and a very, limited victory. If the religious concept is true, when this thing all winds up, there are going to be a few on God’s side, but the devil is going to have the masses of humanity. That is not a great victory. Even common sense tells us that. God knew that when He brought you forth into this life you were going to be separated and alienated in your mind from His life, and there are people who live seventy or a hundred years, and for one reason or another, they never, never, hear someone preach the true Gospel to them. Oh, they hear the religious gospel. But they don’t want that. They don’t want to hear, "You’ve got to change your life. If you want to be used by God, you can’t do that! Do you want the blessings of God? You can’t do that!" They don’t want to hear that, because they are just like you, they are selfish. Self wants what self wants. But when God regenerates your spirit, then you begin to want the things of God.If people begin to realize the extent of God’s love, they will flock to Him. Can you imagine what it would be like for a prostitute to walk into a church where everybody knows she is a prostitute, yet they would love her, they would minister to her, and they would draw her into worship? Can you imagine how long she would be a prostitute? (And even if she was, that’s God’s business and not yours.) Do you have enough conviction in your knowledge of God and in the words that you speak to believe that you could speak life into her? Because if you can’t, she doesn’t need your church. If she only hears how she needs to change her life and clean herself up, it is useless. She can’t and she doesn’t need to hear that. If you will love her and minister life to her and not the letter of the law, she will begin to grow and change. Let’s go to Romans 5:12-21. "Therefore just as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men because all sinned. For before the Law was given, sin was in the world, but sin is not taken into account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by the breaking of a commandment. (These verses are so plain!) As did Adam who was a pattern of the one to come. But the gift is not like the trespass, for if the many died by the trespass of one man (and we know "the many" was the whole world) how much more does God’s grace, and the gift that came by grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflow to the many (Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin.)for judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. (That doesn’t compute in our minds!)For if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. (The next is a key verse:) Consequently just as the result of the one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of the act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men." How can we separate those two? How can we say "in Adam they all die, but in Christ they are not all going to be made alive"? We would rather read it that "condemnation was for all men, so the result of the one act of righteousness was justification to those who receive Jesus and begin to walk in obedience to His commands." It doesn’t say that. . What am I saying? Do I have the liberty to live any way I want to live? Are you telling me that I can do anything that I want to do, and that eventually I’m still going to be OK? If your attitude is, "If what you are telling me is true, then I am going to go live it up," then my answer to you is this: you do not know God, and you desperately need to be saved. But I will tell you this, you do not have a free will. Being lowered into this dense physical world took care of that for you, it bound up the human race into the will of the flesh. You do not have free will. We can obtain freedom in our will only by learning how to contact and fellowship with God in our spirit. By spending time in God’s presence, and learning to live there, His Spirit will flow into our natural will and transform it into His will. The Pentecostals love to say, "We are filled with the Holy Ghost." Well, let me tell you something: If you are really filled with the Holy Ghost, you will be a holy person. But you cannot be that way by trying to be that way. Trying to do the right thing doesn’t work. If you are full of the Holy Spirit, you will be controlled, moved and motivated by that Holy Spirit. But you can’t work for it. You can’t "live right" for it. You can’t try to choose the good over the evil for it, because that puts you into the works of the flesh. Trying with your carnal nature to choose the good over the evil puts you in that category of being alienated in your mind from that life that is in your spirit. You can’t make it that way. "As the result of the one trespass was condemnation for all men, so the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life to all men." So, can you live any way you want to? Yes. But here is the problem. You’re going to go through the lake of fire one way or another. God had a plan in the very beginning for every human being that was ever born, and that is why I have shared so often that the scripture says we have been chosen in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. That is God’s design; that is His plan, and that is His purpose, and your little will cannot stop God’s purpose for your life. Absolutely impossible! I have done everything in my life but curse God. I have told Him, "Leave me alone! I can’t do it anymore. I can’t make it any more." God would just say, "Too bad, it’s too late for you. You consecrated yourself to me and there is no turning back." To be continued
No comments:
Post a Comment