Immortality or Resurrection (Updated) by William West (reading strategies book .TXT) 📖

to an end] just as the world will come to an end. "BUT
THE HEAVENS THAT NOW ARE, AND THE EARTH, BY THE SAME WORD HAVE
BEEN STORED UP FOR FIRE, BEING RESERVED AGAINST THE DAY OF
JUDGMENT AND DESTRUCTION OF UNGODLY MAN" [2 Peter 3:7]. Both are
destroyed "in the day of," not one [the earth] destroyed "in the day of," and one [the lost]
being destroyed for all eternity but never destroyed; not that they will be just as
undestroyed after a million years as they were at it's beginning and will be undestroyed
for all eternity. Not the destruction of one and the everlasting torment of the other one,
but it is the same destruction of both at the same time. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE
EARTH AND THE UNGODLY IS ON THE JUDGMENT DAY, THE
THEOLOGY OF TODAY SAYS, "NOT SO, SINNERS WILL HAVE NO
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DESTRUCTION, BUT WILL LIVE FOREVER IN TORMENT FOR THEY CAN
NEVER BE DESTROYED."
JOHN 3:16 APOLIA - PERISH "Should not PERISH, (apolia) but have ETERNAL
LIFE." This verse certainly teaches that God sent His Son that a person may have eternal
life, not just a reward to those who are born with eternal life. It does not teach that a
person is born with a soul that cannot die, and this part of a person had eternal life before
Christ came and without the death of Christ. John 3:16 teaches those who believe on
Christ will have life, and those who do not will have death, not life without end in Hell.
ACTS 8:20 APOLIA - PERISH "May your silver PERISH (apolia) with you" [Acts
8:20]. The SAME THING that happens to the silver happens to the person ["PERISH
WITH YOU"]. Is the silver being tormented WITH HIM or did both perish?
The King James and New King James translators try to cover this up by using
"perdition." Apolia is translated "perdition" Eight times in the King James Version, and
comes from the Latin Bible used by the Catholic Church, not from the Greek. Does this
show the unwillingness of the translator's to translate it honestly? Were they trying to
hide its true meaning; if not, WHY DID THEY TRANSLATE THIS GREEK WORD
INTO A LATIN WORD IN AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION? Was it because they did
not want it understood? Perdition in Latin is not a synonym for endless torture; perdition
means "utter destruction," but not many English readers would know this. It hides the
true meaning from all who do not understand Latin but nonetheless lets the translators say
they did not mistranslate it. Apolia is translated "perdition" in both the King James
Version and the American Standard Version in John 17:12; Philippians 1:28; 2
Thessalonians 2:3; 1 Timothy 6:9; Hebrews 10:39; Revelation 17:8; 17:11. In 2 Peter 3:7
the King James Version says "perdition" and the American Standard Version says,
“destruction." The New Revised Standard Version, New International Version and most
other translations have been more truthful to the English readers and taken "perdition" out
and replaced it with "destruction."
[4] OLETHROS is used 4 times. Translated DESTRUCTION all 4 times. Wigram,
Page 528.
2 Thessalonians 1:9 "Who shall be punished with EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION
[olethros] from the presence of the Lord." WE ARE TOLD CLEARLY AND
EXACTLY:
• (A) WHAT THE PUNISHMENT IS: EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION. Not
punished with everlasting torment, but PUNISHED WITH EVERLASTING
DESTRUCTION. "Punishment, even eternal destruction." American Standard
Version, 2 Thessalonians 1:9. "And these will pay the penalty of eternal
destruction" New American Standard Version
• (B) Also when it shall be: [2 Thessalonians 1:10] "when He shall come" [not
forever or in "Hell"]. "At the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the
angels of his power" [2 Thessalonians 1:7]
Two views of 2 Thessalonians l:9
One view) THE EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION COMES FROM THE
PRESENCE OF THE LORD. The "everlasting destruction" comes "from [apo] the
presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power" New King James Version. This
destruction is the penalty for sin [death] to those who are not in Christ and are not saved
by His death. Henry Thayer said, "Destruction proceeding from the [incensed, wrathful]
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countenance of the Lord, 2 Th 1.9" A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament,
Page 59. In Jeremiah 4:26, the origin of the destruction is from God. In Isaiah 2:10: 2:19;
and 2:21 the Septuagint, a Greek version of the Old Testament made in third century BC,
has the same Greek words ["from the presence of the Lord"] used by Peter in Acts 3:19
where it is used as proceeding from the Lord.
• "And fire came out FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD and consumed them,
than they died before the Lord" [Leviticus 10:2]
• "Fire also came forth FROM THE LORD and consumed the two hundred and fifty
men" [Numbers 16:35]
• "We would see a sign FROM [apo] you" Matthew 12:38
• "So there may come seasons of refreshing FROM [apo] THE PRESENCE OF
THE LORD" [Acts 3:19]
• "Everlasting destruction FROM [apo] THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD and
from the glory of His power" [2 Thessalonians 1:9 New King James Version]
A second view) THE DESTRUCTION IS TO BE SENT AWAY FROM THE
PRESENCE OF THE LORD. Unconditional immoralists add "away" from the presence
of the Lord. They want this destruction to be only being sent away from the presence of
God [as if there were such a place], to be banished to some place where God is not there.
To be away from the presence of God is to be nowhere at all. Not to be; to have no
existence at all anywhere. To be alive anywhere is to be where God is [Psalms 139:7-9];
and with God sustaining the life they have, for there can be no life that is not sustained by
God. There cannot be a place where there is life away from the presence of God. Today's
theology denies the omnipresence of God by saying there is a place where God is not
present, then says mankind can forever live there without God being there to sustain their
life. The destruction comes from God. It is "destruction from the presence of the Lord,"
not to be given eternal life but then "being sent away from the presence of the Lord."
Both Acts 3:19 and 2 Thessalonians 1:9 have the identical words, “FROM (apo) the
presence of the Lord.” A sign, many things, destruction, and seasons of refreshing are all
things that came FROM God, not things that were SENT AWAY FROM God and will
exist forever away from His presence. Apo is used many times in the New Testament and
never means away.
• “We would see a sign FROM (apo) you” [Matthew 12:38]. A sign that came
FROM (apo) Christ, not a sign that was “forever away FROM the presence of
Christ.”
• “FROM (apo) the presence of the Lord” [Acts 3:19]
• “FROM (apo) the presence of the Lord” [2 Thessalonians 1:9]
• “And suffer many things FROM (apo) the elders” [Matthew 16:21 New
American Standard]. Christ suffered many things FROM (apo) the elders, not
many things that were “forever away FROM the elders.”
• “So all the generations FROM (apo) Abraham unto David are fourteen
generations [Matthew 1:17]
• “He is risen FROM (apo) the dead” [Matthew 14:2]
TWO PASSAGES THAT ARE USED BY SOME TO PROVE TORMENT IN
HELL, 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 and Revelation 14:10-11. Where is Hell? Those who
believe in Hell use 2 Thessalonians 1:9 to prove Hell is away from the presence of God
and that death, the wages of sin is separation from God, but not a real death. Yet, they
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make Revelation 14:10-11 be literal to prove Hell, but when they make this torment be
literal torment, they literally make it be in Heaven, not Hell.
1. "IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD."
2. Or AWAY (which is added) "FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD"
Those who believe in Hell use both to prove Hell; both "from" and "in" the presence
of the Lord are where the torment of Hell will be, they clearly contradict themselves. Is
Hell in Christ's presence or away from His presence? They say death is separation from
God. They have it both ways with the dead both separated from God and at the same time
in the presence of God.
Robert Peterson commenting of 2 Thessalonians 1:9 in "Hell on Trial" says:
• Peterson: A person EXISTS but remains excluded from God's good presence.
• Paul "Who shall be punished with everlasting DESTRUCTION from the presence
of the Lord."
Peterson changed "destruction" to "exists." From what dictionary does Peterson find
"destruction" to mean "exists"? The English or the Greek word does not mean to exist.
Nothing can exist and be destroyed at the same time. There is no passage in the Bible that
says a part of a person will exist apart from God before or after the judgment. He changed
"everlasting destruction" to "everlasting existing."
• Anything that exists has not been destroyed.
• Anything that has been destroyed does not exist.
DESTRUCTION HAS BEEN CHANGED TO EXIST, to exist in some faraway place
where God does not exist. Who made this place? Did God make it and then abandoned it
to exist on it own just as those sent there must exist on their own and sustain their own
life without the help of God who is not there? WHERE IS THE REVELATION FROM
WHICH ANYONE COULD KNOW DESTRUCTION MEANS TO EXIST AWAY
FROM GOD AND WITHOUT GOD? They know that if destruction is destruction, then
those who are destroyed do not exist any longer, therefore, they must change the word
God used to exist. They must say to God, "Not so God, even despite the fact that You
said they will be destroyed, no one can be destroyed." This is an example of how far
Peterson and all who believe this heathen teaching are willing to go to save their
theology. BEING PERMANENTLY APART FROM GOD MAKES LIFE
IMPOSSIBLE. IT MAKES TO EXIST IN ANY WAY IMPOSSIBLE. How can anyone
who says he or she “speaks where the Bible speaks and is silent where the Bible is silent”
change “everlasting destruction” into “everlasting torment” and still say they do not
change God’s word when even a child can see they have changed it?
For this passage to prove God will forever be tormenting most of mankind, "eternal
destruction" must be changed to "eternally destroying." God is made to be like a man that
sets out to destroy a house by tearing it down, but works on it all his lifetime, and not one
part of the house is destroyed. They have God spending eternity destroying a soul but
never will destroy any part of that soul. "Destroy" and "torment" are different things and
cannot be made to be the same thing.
1 Thessalonians 5:2-4 "For yourselves know perfectly that THE DAY OF THE LORD
so comes as a thief in the night. When they (those of the world) are saying, Peace and
safety, then sudden destruction (olethros) comes upon them, as travail upon a woman
with child; and they shall in no wise escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness,
THAT DAY should overtake you as a thief." The sudden destruction, which "they shall in
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no wise escape" is on "THE DAY OF THE LORD," "THAT DAY" not eternal torment
after "THE DAY OF THE LORD." Also 1 Timothy 6:9; 2 Corinthians 5:1-5.
Roger E. Dickson said, "2 Thessalonians 1:9 should thus be translated that 'these shall be
punished with destruction that has unending result.' The word 'destruction' means something is
terminated, that the action of destruction would not continuously go on forever and ever...The
result of the destruction would continue forever. In other words, those destroyed would not
come back into existence. Taken literally, they are destroyed" "Life, Death and Beyond" Biblical