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

7:5 three
times; 7:6 three times; 7:7 three times; 7:8 three times; 11:13; 14:1; 14:3; 21:16.
In all of the 22 times it is used the precisely number of thousands is stated.
• Strong's word 5507, "chiloi" which Strong says is "plural" and "uncertain" is used
eleven times in the New Testament. Thousands (an indefinite plural) of years is a
long indefinite period of time having no certain or fixed limit. "Chiloi" is used in
2 Peter 3:8 two times; Revelations 11:3; 12:6; 14:20; 20:2; 20:3; 20:4; 20:5; 20:6;
20:7.
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In all four times the second death is used, death is from "thanatos," which is used 118
times in the New Testament. In all 118, death is death, not eternal life with torment, not
alive but separated from God, not alive with only a loss of well being.
• "You do proclaim the Lord's death [thanatos] till He comes" [1 Corinthians
11:26].
• "He was sick nigh unto death [thanatos]" [Philippians 2:27].
• "Brother shall deliver up the brother to death [thanatos]" Matthew 10:21].
• "Shall not taste of death [thanatos]" [Mark 9:1].
• "What death [thanatos] he should die" [John 12:33; 18:32].
• "By the death [thanatos] of his Son" [Romans 5:10].
Thanatos always means death, never any kind of life, but today's theology tells us that
John's interpretation of the Lake of Fire must be reinterpreted and death changed to
eternal life with torment for there could not be death to a soul that cannot die, therefore,
John's interpretation of the Lake of Fire being the second death must be reinterpreted to
be the Lake of Fire is eternal life with torment.
• Lake of fire - interpreted by John to be the second death.
• Lake of fire - reinterpreted today to be eternal life with torment.
The lake of fire is only a symbol of the real thing [the second death], but many preach
and teach it as if there is a real lake of literal fire somewhere but it is not on this earth and
this fire will last forever. There is not now or ever will be a lake of literal fire. They must
turn it around and make the second death be only a metaphor of the lake of fire, and it is
not a real death, for the second death cannot be a real death if the "soul" can never die.
They also make the second death be only a metaphor of Gehenna (but only after Gehenna
has been mistranslated into "Hell"). They do not seem to be able to make up their minds
on whether the second death is a metaphor of the lake of fire or a metaphor of Gehenna
after Gehenna has been changed to "Hell."
Changes made by those who say they do not change the Bible.
• The Bible says THE LAKE OF FIRE ------ IS THE SECOND DEATH
• Today many say THE SECOND DEATH - IS THE LAKE OF FIRE
• Today many say THE LAKE OF FIRE --- IS HELL
• Today many say THE LAKE OF FIRE --- IS GEHENNA
DEATH WILL END AFTER THE JUDGMENT WHEN DEATH IS DESTROYED.
The end will not come unto Christ "shall have abolished all rule and all authority and
power for he must reign till he has put all his enemies under his feet, the last enemy that
shall be abolished is death" [1 Corinthians 15:26].
• Death will be "DESTROYED" King James Version, New King James Version,
New Revised Standard Version, New Century Version, and New International
Version.
• Death will be "ABOLISHED" American Standard Version.
The lake of fire, which is the second death [Revelation 21:8], will be abolished,
destroyed when the kingdom is delivered up to God [1 Corinthians 15:24-26].
THE BRIMSTONE AND FIRE OF THE SECOND DEATH. How "fire and brimstone"
are used in the Bible and in the Book or Revelation.
BRIMSTONE AND FIRE IN NON-SYMBOLIC PASSAGES
Fire and brimstone [sulfur rock] were literally rained on Sodom and Gomorrah in
Genesis 19:24. THE "FIRE AND BRIMSTONE" THAT DESTROYED SODOM WAS
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RAINED FROM JEHOVAH OUT OF HEAVEN, NOT FROM HELL, AND THE
DESTROYING WAS ON THE EARTH, NOT IN HELL. "Then Jehovah rained upon
Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of Heaven" [Genesis
19:24; Luke 17:29]. Both cities were literally burned up and brought to a total end by the
fire and brimstone that rained on them. Fire and brimstone are used six other times in the
Old Testament [Deuteronomy 29:23; Job 18:15; Psalms 11:6; Isaiah 30:33; 34:9; Ezekiel
38:22], one time by Christ in Luke 17:29 speaking of the total destruction of Sodom. He
said, IF THE DESTROYING WILL BE "AFTER THE SAME MANNER" THEN THE
FIRE WILL BE RAINED FROM HEAVEN, NOT BE IN HELL, AND THIS FIRE
WILL DESTROY, NOT FOREVER TORMENT THOSE ON WHICH IT IS RAINED.
Most believers in Hell put both the brimstone and the fire in Hell, but in every
passage in both the Old and New Testament this literal fire and brimstone is always
on this earth, IT IS NEVER IN HELL. They must move the brimstone and fire from
earth to Hell for they have no scripture which is not symbolic that put it where they want
it.
Edom's destruction Isaiah 34:9-10: "Its smoke shall go up forever; from generation to
generation it shall be desolate; none shall pass through it forever and ever." The fire did
go out, and today there is no smoke going up. After the fire went out, it became the home
for pelicans hedgehogs, owls and ravens [Isaiah 34:11]. Thorns came up in its fortified
towers after the fire went out [Isaiah 34:13]. The fire was not quenched but went out
when there was nothing more to burn. The smoke is a symbolic picture showing that the
complete destruction was forever.
IT IS ALWAYS A TOTAL DESTRUCTION, NEVER A FOREVER ONGOING
TORMENT. Today's preaching of "Hell fire and brimstone" does not fit with the use of
fire and brimstone in the Bible. In today's theology the destruction is changed from total
destruction into a never ending torment without destruction.
BRIMSTONE AND FIRE IN SYMBOLICAL PASSAGES
Fire and brimstone are used six times in Revelation as a symbol of total destruction,
which is taken from its literal use in the rest of the Bible.
• (1) Revelation 9:17 "Out of their mouths proceeds fire and smoke and brimstone."
Out of the mouths of horses! This does not sound like the fire and brimstone we
are told will be in "Hell?"
• (2) Revelation 9:18 "The third part of men killed, by the fire and the smoke and
the brimstone, which proceeded out of their mouths" Even most who believes in
Hell say this fire and brimstone coming out of the mouth of horses are a symbol
of something on this earth before the end of time, something before the coming of
Christ and not an eternal torment. Believer's in Hell does not believe that a third
part of those in Hell will be killed by the fire and brimstone that comes out of the
mouths of horses; they believe no one that is in Hell can be killed. HELL
COMING FROM HORSES MOUTHS is a symbolic picture. Does anyone
believe this "fire and brimstone" that kills is the Hell-fire that torments as
preached by Jonathan Edwards? THEY DO NOT THINK HELL COMES OUT
OF HORSES MOUTHS and want to make only a part of the symbolic language
be literal and they get to pick what part. Most who believe in Hell believe the first
and second occurrences of "fire and brimstone" in Revelation is used figuratively,
not literally. They only make it be used literally when it will prove their Hell, and
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fire and brimstone coming out if the mouth of horses is not what they are trying to
find.
• (3) Revelation 14:10. Brimstone used in a symbolic picture of Babylon. A part of
the same symbolic picture is smoke in Heaven in Revelation 14:11. See [17]
REVELATION 14:11 above. THE BIBLE IS ITS OWN BEST INTERPRETER.
Isaiah 34:10 says the smoke of Edom "shall go up for ever and ever." Today,
there is no smoke. It is symbolic for a punishment that has eternal consequences
and not a punishment that shall go on forever.
• (4)-(5)-(6) Revelation 19:20; 20:10; 21:8. Three times of the lake of fire, which
burns with fire and brimstone is the second death. The symbolic use of brimstone
and fire depends on its use in the non-symbolical passages for it meaning. In
them, it is always a destruction that ends when the destruction is total. Many
symbols in Revelations come from the Old Testament. In the Old Testament fire
and brimstone always brought a literal death; in Revelations fire and brimstone
are used as a symbolical picture of death.
PART FOUR
EVERLASTING OR FOREVER
Of The King James Version
OLAM in the Old Testament: "Age, age-lasting, olam" Robert Young, Young's
Analytical Concordance To The Bible, Page 310. OLAM (olamim-plural) in the Hebrew
Old Testament is translated everlasting in the King James Version and others, but does
not mean without end as eternal in today's English does.
Olam-singer and olamim-plural are used of:
1. A Period of times that had both a beginning and an end. Forever (olam) is used
about sixty-five times in the Old Testament for things that have already passed
away.
2. Periods of times that had a beginning but the end is obscure or had not yet came.
3. A Period of time that is followed by another period of time; “from olam (age) to
olam (age)” and “from olam (age) to olamim (ages), which are often translated
“for ever and ever, ” which would make there be more than one eternality.
AGES WITH BOTH A BEGINNING AND AN END
SOME OF THE THINGS THAT ARE "EVERLASTING" OR "FOREVER" IN THE
KING JAMES VERSION THAT WAS AGE LASTING, NOT "EVERLASTING."
1. THE LAW OF MOSES - "A statute forever (olam-age)" See Exodus 12:24;
27:21; 28:43; 29:28; 30:21; Leviticus 6:18; 6:22; 7:34; 7:36; 10:9; 10:15; 16:29;
16:31; 17:7; 23:14; 24:3; Numbers 10:8; 15:15; 18:8; 18:11; 18:23; 19:10;
Deuteronomy 12:28; 13:16; 15:17; 23:3; 28:40; 29:29; Joshua 4:7; 8:28; 14:9. It
lasted for an age (about 1500 years) and was replaced with a better covenant
[Hebrews 8:7-14]. It was not "forever" with the meaning of forever in today's
English. Forever in the King James Version is a bad translation of olam, for olam
in the Old Testament did not have the same meaning that forever had in 1611.
2. JEWS WERE TO POSSES THE LAND "FOREVER" (olam-age) [Genesis
13:15].
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3. TEMPLE RITUALS TO CONTINUE FOREVER (olam-age) [2 Chronicles2:4].
Today there is no temple in Jerusalem and no rituals in the temple that does not
exist.
4. LEVITES WERE TO BEAR THE ARK FOREVER (olam-age) [1 Chronicles
15:2]. There are no Levites to bear the Ark and no Ark for them to bear.
5. SACRIFICES WERE FOREVER (olam-age) [Leviticus 3:17; 6:18; 7:36; 10:9-
15; 16:29; 17:17; 23:14: 24:3; Numbers 10:8; 15:15: 18:8; 19:10].
6. CIRCUMCISION WAS FOREVER (olam-age) [Genesis 17:13].
7. DAVID'S THRONE WAS FOREVER (olam-age). [2 Samuel 7:12-13; 1 Kings
9:5].
8. A SLAVE WAS A SLAVE FOREVER (olam-age) [Exodus 21:6; Deuteronomy
15:17] Olam [forever] lasted only to the end of his life.
9. JONAH'S "EVERLASTING" (olam-age) lasted only three days [Jonah 2:6].
AGES THAT HAD A BEGANNING
BUT THE ENDING IS IN THE OBSCURE FUCTURE
THE EVERLASTING (olam) HILLS [Genesis 49:26]: The hills had a beginning
when the earth was made but there ending is some times in the obscure future.
THE EVERLASTING (olam) COVENANT OF THE RAINBOW [Genesis 9:11-17]:
Like the hills, the beginning of the rainbow covenant is known but it’s ending is some
times in the obscure future, probability both the hills and the rainbow ends at the end of
the earth.
Neither is eternal, without beginning or ending. The “olam