Thus the Bible clearly describes the complete and TOTAL eradiction of "evil"
from its stronghold in the universe.
But the eternal torment of the wicked WOULD NOT MAKE THIS POSSIBLE.
According to that teaching, sin and sinners would be PERPETUATED, they would
LIVE FOREVER -- and they would spend that time HATING and CURSING God,
constaintly raising their rebellious hands and spirits up against the God of
everlasting love. ( everlasting torment -and- everlasting love: two things
that are just mutually exclusive in God's character )
Christ's victory within this scenario would never be complete. he would
merely be segregating "evil," not destroying it. Which would bring us right
back to the question "if eternal torment were true, and we'd be separated, why
not just do that from the start?"
How could any of the righteous ever be happy in heaven, knowing that those
they loved were suffering in the fires of hell for billions and billions of
years? It defies logic -- no one would be happy in heaven.
No, God intends to have a clean and sinless universe, and that means that
those who have rejected God and His Son's free offer of salvation and eternal
life have chosen eternal death -- non-existance.
"There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall
there be any more pain..." [ REV 21:4 ] No more PAIN? How could this ever be
true if God kept several billion beings alive eternally in the fires of hell?
All the saints in heaven would be sorrowful knowing that there were numerous
"good" secular people in an eternal hell that rejected Jesus, etc., yet there's
no way to ever get them out of hell.
See, no one, not Moses, not David, not John, mark or Matthew, could ever
truely "love" a God who would keep people alive eternally just to watch them
suffer. ( This would also get real old, real quick. )
No, the only thing that guarantees eternal security in heaven is that all the
wicked will have been blotted out of existance, both body and soul. Totally
forever.
"...the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that IT
SHALL LEAVE THEM NEITHER ROOT NOR BRANCH." [ MAL 4:1 ] The tree of evil with
the roots being Satan and the branches men and the fallen angels.
Satan represents the "root," the originator of evil, and his followers are
represented by the branches. Remember, it is not if you are for or against
Jesus; you can't take neutral ground to be safe.
If someone said "I'm going to pay everyone here a million dollars who eats
oranges." And someone started passing out apples, and you saw those people not
getting a million dollars. Turning to grapefruit because its neither doesn't
get you the cash. In this silly example, the apple eaters are not losing out
because they eat apples, but because they don't eat the oranges. People who
follow Satan are not lost because they are Satan followers, it's because they
aren't following Christ. Even if you don't follow Satan but still don't follow
Christ, you're by definition not following Christ. This is one of Satan's
most well-founded lies: as long as there's someone out there worse that you,
you think that by COMPARISON you're better off that you are. You can make a
50% on a test, and someone else can make a 10%. You both still fail because
an passing grade starts at 60%... regardless if you are 5 times better than
the 10% person.
Malachi 4:1 states that ALL of this tree shall be consumed by fire. Not a
single part of it shall survive. Again, SIN as well as the SINNERS will be
totally "burned up," completely and totally DESTROYED by the Lord of Hosts.
...and the whole gift of salvation is free, and with it comes rewards, too.
"No murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." [ 1 JOHN 3:15 ]
So why do mainstream Christians keep insisting that the wicked will "keep
living eternally?" It's certainly NOT what the Bible teaches.
Here's what the Bible says: "He that hath the Son hath LIFE; and he that hath
not the Son of God HATH NOT LIFE." [ 1 JOHN 5:12 ]
"Eternal life" is a REWARD given only to the repentant righteous who turn
away from sin and accept Jesus. That doesn't mean they stop sinning, it means
that they volunterly turn away from the desires that they know are sinful or
that lead to sin. They accept the teachings and messages of Jesus and try
to use them as guidelines for their own moral actions.
But the seoncd death awaits the wicked. Because they don't either recognize
their actions as sin, or they desire has such strong desire for the things that
seem to come with it. ...none of which lasts when you die; so they often live
recklessly trying to get the 'most' of a moment.
Is money the big solution? Many sinner cling to that resource. What about
all these people who have gobs of it, and they just end up divorced, broken,
dead, drying out, or aimless with their lives. People who have lots of money
will admit the conviences it brings are nice, but it doesn't comfort you.
( You then have tax collectors, thiefs, people who want to take your money from
you. ) Many rich people end up locking themselves in, or end up screwing up
their marriages with afairs. These people are looking for something money
hasn't been able to buy. ..get it?
John 8:44 says that Satan was "a murderer from the beginning," therefore
Satan "hath not eternal life." Nor do any of the other wicked that shall be
destroyed in hell. Suppose you were created immortal, and that could be
stripped from you. ...then it isn't eternal, is it?