Indisputable Evidence
This is an excerpt from Dr. Stephen Jones' book "Creation's Jubilee". He shows from the law God gave His people that the idea of torturing people endlessly is not from God. This book can be read online at http://www.gods-kingdom.org/CreationsJub/CJ_index.html. The following excerpt is from chapter 5. It is Jesus’ responsibility—indeed, His calling—to rule His Kingdom on earth during the final Ages of the Ages, until the purpose of His reign has been fulfilled. Jesus will NOT reign forever as the Son. He will reign only as long as it takes to subject the whole earth under His feet. It will take BOTH of the coming ages to do this. His purpose is to conquer the whole earth by the power of His Love, for He said in John 12:32,
this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. In other words, Jesus said, “If I am crucified, I will draw ALL MEN to Myself.” Was Jesus “lifted up” on the cross? Of course He was. Then He will indeed draw ALL MEN unto Himself. He died for the salvation of the whole world, not just a few, and His blood has never lost its power. When all men have accepted Christ as Savior and King, even as believers in past ages have done, then He will present a perfected and completed Kingdom to His Father. Verses 27, 28: Paul here quotes from Psalm 8:6, as he does so often to prove the point. All things (ta panta, “the All”) will be put in subjection to Christ, with the single exception of the Father Himself, who will not, of course, be put under the headship of the Son. And when the all is indeed subjected to the Son, then Christ will present the entire perfected creation to the Father as a present and be subject to the Father also. This is truly a glorious destiny for the earth. This is the Creation’s Jubilee. The Witness of Hebrews Hebrews 2:6-9 continues this same teaching: 6 But one [David] has testified somewhere [Psalm 8], saying, "What is man, that Thou rememberest him? Or the son of man, that Thou art concerned about him? 7 "Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels; Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, And hast appointed him over the works of Thy hands; 8Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. "For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now [at present] we do not yet see all things subjected to him. 9 But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. Here the author defines “all” as “everyone.” Not all are in subjection to Christ at the present time, but the day is coming when all men everywhere WILL be subject to Him. Meanwhile, the Scripture says, we see that Jesus tasted death for EVERYONE. “He left nothing that is NOT subject to Him. Paul refers to Psalm 8 again in Philippians 3:20 and 21. 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. Many Christians today have never really thought about whether Jesus really has this power or not. They assume that He is essentially powerless to save any but the firstfruits, a tiny portion of the harvest, because Jesus will not go against the will of man. But Jesus Himself said in John 12:32 that if He would die upon the cross, He would “draw” all men to Himself. The word “draw” is the Greek word, helkuo, which means “to drag.” As used in the New Testament, it always indicates that the one doing the dragging is imposing his will upon the ones being dragged. John 6:44 says no man can come to the Father except the Father DRAG him. John 12:32 says that Jesus will DRAG all men to Himself. John 21:6 speaks of dragging the net to bring the fish to shore. James 2:6 speaks of the civil magistrates, who, in persecuting the Christians, would DRAG them to court. It is apparent, then, that the day will come when God’s will is going to be imposed upon all men. He will drag all them to Himself by means of judgment, that is, the lake of fire. He has both the power and the will to do this. In Philippians 2:10,11, Paul says: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. John saw the fulfillment of this in a vision recorded in Revelation 5:13. 13 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." John well knew that the purpose of Christ’s rulership in His Kingdom was to draw all men to Himself. He wrote in 1 John 2:2, 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. Of this verse, Clement of Alexandria gives us a commentary on its meaning and scope in his Commentary on 1 John: “And not only for our sins, that is, for those of the faithful, is the Lord the Propitiator does he say, but also for the whole world. He, indeed, saves all; but some He saves converting them by punishments; others, however, who follow voluntarily He saves with dignity of honour; so that every knee should bow to Him, of things in heaven, of things on earth, and things under the earth—that is, angels and men.” What a marvelous thing that Jesus would die not only for our sins (that is, for us as Christians), but also for the sins of the entire world! Surely the blood has not lost its power since then. Paul told Timothy (1 Tim. 4:10,11) to preach this as well. 10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. 11 Prescribe and teach these things. Believers are especially singled out, because their salvation comes first. Theirs will be a greater honor, because they will inherit Life in the Kingdom. But yet, God is the Savior of ALL MEN. No doubt Timothy and others like him did indeed teach this in Asia Minor, for the early Church leaders in the next centuries were faithful to teach these things, as their writings prove. And today we are likewise exhorted to teach these things. Why? Because it is important to understand that God is truly righteous in His judgments. The usual teaching of endless torment makes God unjust. By what standard? By God’s standard, as revealed in His law. That is the only righteous standard in the earth. And for this reason we must know of the restoration of all things.
IT! I know it goes against everything in our minds but do it anyway. It's OK with God, in fact, He said to make sure what we have been taught is correct. How many of us have really done that?
seemed to teach what I already believed to be true. "Yep, there it is." That was about the extent of my search....why should it not be, I was not aware of anything else?
besides what we were taught. OK, have you turned loose yet? Now, doesn't the idea of eternal punishment throw up a red flag in your common sense? It always did mine I just didn't know I was allowed to consider anything else. Stephen Jones says this in chapter 4 of "Creation's Jubilee":
purify the wicked. The believers will simply receive “few stripes” or “many stripes,” up to 40, according to Bible law (Deut. 25:1-3). God prohibits beatings of more than 40 stripes. Why?
and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, 2 then it shall be if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall then make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of stripes according to his guilt. 3 "He may beat him forty times but no more, lest he beat him with many more stripes than these, and your brother be degraded in your eyes.
degraded? Why? Because He knows the value of human life. Why? He created it! OH......
than 40 stripes, would allow people to be burned in hell forever? You may say, I have no choice, that's what the Bible says. I must tell you, it is not what the Bible says and you DO HAVE A CHOICE. If you can read and you have a Bible and a concordance, you have a choice.
then perhaps, you should do what I did. Just tell God about it. He already knows it anyway...that's what real confession is, just simple, agreeing with what God already know to be the truth. That's how we can get rid of it....confess it!
mean that I don't love them. I know in my head this is wrong but I don't feel it in my heart. Please forgive me for not loving people like you want me to. Change me, Lord. Amen.
is better to judge ourselves than to be judged. But, should we stiffen our neck, at least we know that the rich man found compassion in Hades. The Pharisees found repentance in Gehenna. The prodigal son found some wisdom in the pig pen. If you hear God's voice, don't harden your heart. Let Him change you while you can still help somebody. :) |