"I believe every word that the Bible says about the lake of fire; I don’t believe what Rome says about it, nor what the church systems of man say about it, nor what tradition says about it, nor what Chuck Johnel says about it; but I certainly believe what the Bible says about it!"
"One would think that the lake of fire was a prominent theme throughout the scriptures from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation. It is not. The fact is that the teaching concerning the lake of fire and brimstone does not appear anywhere in scripture except in the book of Revelation, the book with the most signs, symbols, and metaphors of any book in the entire Bible. If the book of Revelation had not been given us we would have no knowledge of the lake of fire at all. The Revelation speaks of the lake of fire five times."
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"Because of the gross misunderstanding of almost all people concerning the lake of fire, I would like to draw our attention to three words found in our text. "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." The word "BURN" means combustion, or to consume. To consume does not mean to annihilate, for there is no such thing as annihilation in the absolute and scientific sense. When fire consumes a log in your fireplace it does not destroy any of the elements within the log, it merely changes their form. Combustion is the process by which chemicals combine to form new chemicals. For example, a tree might be cut down, sawed into fire wood, and burned in your fireplace. When the wood is burning the heat causes the chemicals of which the wood is composed to vaporize, mixing with the oxygen in the air to form new chemicals, including water and the gas carbon dioxide. So what was formerly a tree is no longer identified as the form of a tree, but the substance thereof is now simply changed into a different form and exists in its new form within the atmosphere as water, carbon dioxide, etc. Thus, to burn means to CHANGE! And of course we are not speaking of our bodies being burned up in the lake of fire — the fire is spiritual fire and its work is a spiritual work upon our stubborn wills, our carnal minds, our flesh nature, our corrupt passions, and all that causes us to be cast into this divine processing of God! Furthermore, it is significant to note that fire does not burn down; it always burns up; it seeks the highest level. All that it consumes "goes up in smoke," to exist in a new form in a higher dimension. Even if you take a pan of water and place it over a fire, before long the water will take on the property of the fire and will begin to go up in steam. To burn means to CHANGE, and the change is always UPWARD in motion!"
FIRE" is the heat and light that you feel and see when something burns. It takes heat to start a fire, but once the fire is started it produces heat that keeps the process going. Thus, fire is really heat and light. In my study of the lake which burns with fire and brimstone I was very much impressed and helped by the understanding given by Charles Pridgeon and I would like to quote from his scholarly work on the subject of brimstone. He says, "The Lake of Fire and Brimstone signifies a fire burning with brimstone; the word ‘brimstone’ or sulphur defines the character of the fire. The Greek word theion translated ‘brimstone’ is exactly the same word theion which means ‘divine.’
And THERE is your 6 percenters!
"In Homer’s Iliad (16:228), one is spoken of as purifying a goblet with fire and brimstone. The verb derived from theion is theioo which means to hallow, to make divine, or to dedicate to a god (See Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon, 1897 Edition)."
"To any Greek, or any trained in the Greek language, a ‘lake of fire and brimstone’ would mean a ‘lake of divine purification."
"BURN means combustion; to change the form of. FIRE means heat and light. BRIMSTONE means divine. Putting these three together can we not see that the lake burning with fire and brimstone is, actually, DIVINE HEAT (JUDGMENT) AND LIGHT (ILLUMINATION) PRODUCING A CHANGE! Is such a process eternal? All the laws of nature shout that it is not!"
Zeal!
"But the fearful…"
"But the word for fear in our text is deilia, which is always employed in a negative sense, with reference to a cringing coward who refuses to take his stand."
"If you think the kingdom of God is rosewater, or eau-de-cologne, you are mistaken. You cannot war on the devil with that. You cannot war on the carnal minds of men with that. You have to make war on the flesh, the world, and the devil with a sword sharper than any two-edged sword. You have to make war on the flesh nature and self-will with fire, divine fire, that must burn up every inherent altar of Baal, and lick up the very dust around. Make no mistake! OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE! He is man’s "horse breaker" and He will break you, precious friend of mine, and bring you to the foot of the cross of Jesus no matter how hot He has to build the fire around you! Even if long ages of fiery judgment and tormenting darkness fall upon you, they will last no longer than till the Great Fire of God has melted all arrogance into humility, all hostility into surrender, and all that is self has died in the bloody sweat and all-saving cross of the Christ, which will never give up its redeeming power till sin and sinners have no more a name among the creatures of God. Aren’t you glad!"
"…and murderers…" The subject is not just homicide, the bloody murderers of this world, although without doubt there will be multitudes of them there, but we must never lose sight of the fact that the Revelation is first and foremost a spiritual book, and its realities are spiritual realities! The natural figures the spiritual, and we know that a natural man can be killed many different ways — with a gun, a sword, a knife; by starvation, deprivation, suffocation, poisoning, and many others. The very same John who on Patmos penned these portentous words is also the one who wrote, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not His brother abideth in death. Whoso hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding (dwelling as a life principle) in him" (I Jn. 3:15) No one knew better than the beloved John what, in its spiritual meaning, "murder" signifies! The message is clear — If old Adam is still alive in us we cannot help hating our brother who offends, misuses, or abuses us, and we are in our heart a murderer; to boost our own ego, or enhance our standing with others, we will at least whisper behind people’s backs, repeat (with a certain sense of satisfaction or justification) a negative report, carry a tale about someone, engage in idle gossip, thus assassinating the character of any brother who appears as a threat to us, or whose place we wish to usurp — that’s the way the carnal nature works, even that "devil" who is a murderer from the beginning! Like the Inquisition, those who are not in allegiance with a particular church system have throughout the centuries been tortured in dark dungeons, burned on the racks, burned at the stake, boiled in oil, beheaded, or otherwise destroyed by accusations of heresy. Some were merely excommunicated, spiritually suffocated by being cut off from spiritual fellowship and spiritual food, unable to breathe the life-giving breath of the heavens. Don’t think it was just the Papacy who committed these atrocities, my friend, for John Calvin and Martin Luther and other Reformers and Christian kings killed and ordered the extermination of the "heretics" of their day! All who retain that carnal mentality, though in other ways they may be great men of faith, still will have to be dealt with by the Holy Ghost Fire of God to purge them of their spiritual wickedness!
"…and abominable…and sorcerers…" The word for "sorcerer" used throughout the book of Revelation is an altogether different Greek word than is used anywhere else in scripture. In our text it is pharmakeus and in Revelation 22:15 it becomes pharmakos. Then in Revelation 9:21 the word is pharmakeia. It is at once obvious that these are but three different forms of the very same word, and the prefix "pharma" reveals that the meaning of the word has something to do with drugs, as in the words "pharmaceutical," "pharmacy," and "pharmacist." No other place in scripture, but in the book of Revelation, is the idea of "sorcery" associated with drugs! The word identifies deadly poisons and those who either make or sell those deadly poisons. That is just what the words mean, nothing else. In the Greek language a Pharmacist is, therefore, a Sorcerer, a maker or a dealer, a vendor or a user of deadly poisons sometimes administered as medicines. Legal, or illegal, in many cases they destroy the brain, weaken the immune system, damage the liver, kidneys, heart, and other vital organs and systems, addict or madden the user, and ruin the spirits, souls, and bodies of countless millions who rely upon them."
"Ah, the apostle John also understood what, in their spiritual meaning, drugs and sorcerers signified! All who think with a spiritual mind will perceive the truth that the drugs point to the doctrines and teachings of religious Babylon which dull the spiritual senses of the Lord’s people and are destructive to true spiritual understanding and spiritual life, giving them a distorted view of God and His purpose, a false hope, a mis-directed goal, and causing them to live by religious superstitions, myths, traditions, legends, and folklore."
"…and the unbelieving…" Unbelief is to be void of faith, and the writer to the Hebrews assures us that "without faith it is impossible to please God" (Heb. 11:6). The message is just this: Unbelief is sin! Faith is the spiritual sense by which we recognize the presence, character, and purpose of God; both that He is, and that He rewards the seeker. Faith seeks for God; it believes that He is; it keeps the heart open towards Him; it bows in humility and hope for Him to make Himself known. To know God, to see God in everything, and everywhere, to hear in our heart His voice and His teaching, and in our daily life to be conscious of His presence so that we always walk with Him — this is the true nobility of the man of faith!"
"Faith can walk with God as a son of God!"
"To doubt that faith within ourselves, to neglect the growth and development of that faith, to be unbelieving of God’s call, purpose, and power in our lives would surely put us in the category of "the unbelieving" who must be purged and purified in the lake of fire! Selah. Pause and think about that."