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AND IN THE
TIME OF CHRIST THE REAL FIRES WERE CONSTANTLY KEPT BURNING
SINCE IT SERVED AS AN INCINERATOR FOR THE USELESS REFUSE OF
THE CITY. CHRIST USED IT AS A SYMBOL [An illustration] OF
DESTRUCTION [Like the burning of the useless chaff of Luke 3:17]. GEHENNA
CANNOT BE TRANSLATED OR CHANAGED INTO HELL. To say Gehenna, as
used by Christ, is Hell; is to say it has no reference to the Gehenna [the city dump] near
Jerusalem.
The Jews might have made the valley of Gehenna a dump because of their hatred
of its misuse in Old Testament times, but the figures or symbols used by Christ [fire
and maggots] came from its use in New Testament times, not its use in Old
Testament times. THEY ARE SYMBOLS OF DESTRUCTION, NOT OF
TORMENT. IN THE TIME OF CHRIST THERE WAS NO TORMENT, AND NO
IDOL WORSHIPPED IN GEHENNA [the city dump]. CHRIST WAS NOT
ALLUDING TO IDOL WORSHIP OR TORMENT BUT TO THE DESTRUCTION OF
THOSE WHO REJECTED HIM. Worms [maggots] do not eat living being, but dead
ones, NOT TO TORMENT THEM, BUT TO CONSUME [eat up for food], NEITHER
DO MAGGOTS EAT “SOULS.” As long as there was something to burn or eat, the
maggots would never die out, and the fire would not go out; but be consuming, not
tormenting what was being cast in. In the time of Christ it was a place used to dispose of
useless things, not to torment them. Many misuse this to show that living being will be
tormented forever, and make God be doing the tormenting. LIVING VICTIMS WAS
NOT PRESERVED ALIVE AND TORMENTED IN GEHENNA, BUT FIRE OR
WORMS DEVOURED DEAD VICTIMS. TO MAKE IT A PLACE OF ETERNAL
TORMENT IS WITHOUT ANY BASE WHATSOEVER. How and when did a valley
that exists to this day get turned into Hell?
Gehenna and the Lake of Fire are often thought to be the same metaphor by many.
Gehenna is a place of destruction, and the lake of fire is a place where no life as we know
it could exist; they are two different symbolic pictures [Revelation 20:14]. Neither one is
a symbol of an eternal life of torment. Both picture the total destruction of whatever was
thrown into them.
203
On 11/1/2010 I found this on the web by Steven Clark Goad, church of Christ Christian Ekklesia
Podcast: “In summation, isn’t it strange indeed that false teachers have taken a “real place”
(Gehenna) referred to by Jesus himself as a metaphor of destruction and have changed in into
another made up/fabricated “real place” (hell) where souls (spirits, living beings, whatever) will
be tortured unendingly by a loving heavenly Father? If Gehenna is a metaphor of “hell” as it is
traditionally taught, isn’t it a poor one, for Gehenna (the Jerusalem city dump of Jesus’ era) was a
real place of destruction and consummation with no torment and no torture involved, while
“hell” is a made up place of torment and torture with no destruction at all? Is this twisted
thinking the height of misguided thinking?” “Thoughts on Punishment of the Wicked,”
http://www.godsmessageontheweb.net/2010/07/25/thoughts-on-punishment-of-the-wicked/
UNQUENCHABLE FIRE OF GEHENNA
IMMORTAL WORMS OF GEHENNA
"UNQUENCHABLE FIRE" AND "THEIR WORM DIES NOT" AS THEY ARE
USED IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS: UTTER DESTRUCTION.
John the Baptist used "Unquenchable fire" on one occasion. He says Christ "will
gather his wheat into the garner, but the chaff he will BURN UP with unquenchable fire"
[Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17]. Will this unquenchable fire forever torment the chaff, which
has been burned up?
Adam Clarke, "He will burn up the chaff that is, the disobedient and rebellious Jews, with
unquenchable fire that cannot be extinguished by man."
When firefighter cannot put out a burning building, they say it is an unquenchable fire
but it is not a fire that will burn forever; no one will be able to escape from it by putting it
out, but it will go out when there is nothing more to burn. An unquenchable fire is one
that no person can put out but it is not an eternal fire.
Unquenchable fire is used on one occasion by Christ of the burning of trash in the city
dump in Mark 9:43-48 where He repeats it a second time (verses 43 and 48) in the
American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, New International Version.
"Unquenchable fire" is repeated five times in Mark 6:43, 44, 45, 46 and 48 in the King
James Version. BOTH the chaff and trash are utterly destroyed by burning to get rid of
something unwanted. The chaff or the trash was not tormented. Like Gehenna,
unquenchable fire is not used in the rest of the New Testament; Paul, Peter, John, etc
never used it.
Christ used the "worm that dies not" only on one occasion [Mark 9:44-48; Repeated
three times in verses 44, 46 and 48 in the King James Version but only one time in verse
48 in the American Standard Version]. He used both the maggots and the fire of Gehenna
as a symbol of total destruction, not to show that God will forever torment most of
mankind. If this is not figurative language, will there be immortal maggots in Hell? Can
earthly maggots eat an immortal soul in "Hell?" Even most who believes in "Hell" make
the maggots figurative, not real maggots in Hell, but make the "fire" be literal fire.
If Gehenna’s "unquenchable fire" and "their worm dies not" are a description of the
endless punishment of the wicked in "Hell," the silence of the New Testament writers
would be unexplainable. (1) Acts, a history of the preaching and church for about thirty
years does not mention Gehenna, unquenchable fire, or immortal maggots. (2) In none of
Paul's fourteen letters, he never mentioned any of them. (3) Peter, John, James, and Jude
are also as silent as Paul. (4) Neither can they be found in the Book of Revelation.
[1] The one time Christ used "unquenchable fire" in Mark 9:48, He was quoting from
Isaiah 66:24. TO UNDERSTAND HIS WORDS, THEY MUST BE UNDERSTOOD
204
IN THE WAY THE OLD TESTAMENT USED THEM, just as much of Revelation is
to be understood by the way the same symbols are used in the Old Testament.
“UNQUENCHABLE FIRE” WAS A WELL-KNOWN EXPRESSION IN THE OLD
TESTAMENT AND WOULD BE UNDERSTOOD BY THOSE HEARING CHRIST.
"And the strong man will become tinder, his work also a spark, thus, they shall both burn
together, and there will be none to quench them" [Isaiah 1: 31]. Jeremiah warned
Jerusalem of the consequence of their sins, "Then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof,
and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and it shall not be quenched" [Jeremiah
17:27]. His warning was fulfilled in 2 Chronicles 36:19-21. Jerusalem was destroyed
with an "unquenchable fire." It consumed all, and was not quenched unto it went
out when there was nothing more to consume; then the unquenchable fire went out.
Jerusalem is not burning today. An unquenchable fire is not an eternal fire, but one
that cannot be put out unto there is nothing to burn. Those who believe in Hell
change "unquenchable" into "eternal" then move the unquenchable fire that destroyed
Jerusalem from Jerusalem on this earth and put this "eternal fire" in their "Hell" which
they say is not on this earth. First, they must change the fire and second; they must move
the changed fire from Jerusalem to "Hell." Isaiah says, " For behold, the Lord will come
in fire and His chariots like the whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke
with the flames of fire. For the Lord will execute judgment by fire and by His sword on
all flesh, and those slain by the Lord will be many...Then they shall go forth and look on
the corpses [dead bodies in American Standard Version] of the men who have
transgressed against me. For their [the corpses] worm shall not die, and their [the
corpses] fire shall not be quenched; and they [the corpses] shall be an abhorrence to all
mankind" [Isaiah 66:15-24]. The worms consumed the corpses, and the fires were not
quenched unto there was no more flesh to consume or burn. IT WAS CORPSES, DEAD
BODIES WHICH WERE ON THE EARTH THAT WERE BEING CONSUMED
BY THE UNQUENCHABLE FIRE AND UNDYING MAGGOTS, “THOSE SLAIN
BY THE LORD” (ISAIAH 66:16) NOT “THOSE TORMENTED BY THE LORD,”
NOT IMMORTAL SOULS IN HELL THAT CANNOT BE SLAIN SCREAMING
IN ANGUISH AND PAIN; ISAIAH 66:16; 66:24 DESCRIBES THE AFTERMATH
OF A BATTLE WITH THE DEAD UNBURIED. THOSE PEOPLE BACK IN THE
TIME OF ISAIAH DID NOT LOOK FROM HEAVEN DOWN INTO HELL AND
SEE LIVING SOULS BEING EATEN BY MAGGOTS. IT WAS THE LIVING
PEOPLE ON THIS EARTH IN THE TIME OF ISAIAH THAT WENT OUT TO
THE BATTTLE FIELD AND SAW REAL DEAD BODIES ON THIS EARTH
BEING EATEN AND BURNED, NOT IMMORTAL SOULS IN HEAVEN THAT
"SHALL GO FORTH AND LOOK ON THE CORPSES" AND SEE LIVING SOULS
THAT ARE THAT ARE BEING TORMENTED IN HELL AS WORMS AND
FIRE ARE CONSUMING THEM. HOW CAN FIRE OR WORMS ETERNALLY
TORMENT A DEAD BODY? It is the fire that is unquenchable and both Isaiah and
Christ speak only of the maggots that being alive, not the corpses that were being burnt
up or eaten, they are dead, have be slain, there is nothing said about them being alive and
in torment, but today’s theology says there are both alive in being forever tormented by
fire. There is not even a hint that the corpses that were in the unquenchable fire were
aware of anything. For this to prove the soul is immortal they would have to be viewing
disembodied immortal souls that had been "slain by the Lord" [Isaiah 66:16] but were
205
still living after the Lord had slain them, not viewing dead bodies that were on this earth.
It was living people viewing dead bodies that had been "slain by the Lord," not living
people on this earth looking into Hell and seeing an immaterial, invisible part of a living
person being tormented in Hell. WITHOUT DOUBT, THIS WAS A JUDGMENT
AND PUNISHMENT ON THIS EARTH THAT HAS ENDED, NOT A
PUNISHMENT IN HELL THAT WILL NEVER END.
• There is no mention of torment. The ungodly had been killed; it says nothing
about the Lord TORMENTING them.
• There is no mention of living souls that are being eaten by maggots and being
consumed by fire. The witness sees the RESULT OF THIS DESTRUCTION
(slaying). They see the CORPSES, DEAD BODIES being consumed by fire and
maggots, not a living immaterial, invisible part of a person being tormented.
• They do not see them in pain and anguish, not in endless tortured for the corpses
they see are dead and are on this earth, not in Hell. The dead bodies that are being
eaten by maggots on this earth have been changed to living souls suffering eternal
torture in Hell; it is beyond me to see how those who make such a change and still
say they do not change the Bible; there is nothing about souls, eternal torment, or
Hell in this passage but they add all three.
• Some believers in Hell change the Bible by transferring the qualities of the worm
being undying to the dead bodies that were eating.
[2] "Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, mine anger and my wrath shall be
poured out upon this place, upon man and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and
upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched" [Jeremiah
7:20].
[3] Ezekiel also speaks of the destruction of Judah using the imagery of a forest
burning. "And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, son of man, set your face
toward the south, and drop
TIME OF CHRIST THE REAL FIRES WERE CONSTANTLY KEPT BURNING
SINCE IT SERVED AS AN INCINERATOR FOR THE USELESS REFUSE OF
THE CITY. CHRIST USED IT AS A SYMBOL [An illustration] OF
DESTRUCTION [Like the burning of the useless chaff of Luke 3:17]. GEHENNA
CANNOT BE TRANSLATED OR CHANAGED INTO HELL. To say Gehenna, as
used by Christ, is Hell; is to say it has no reference to the Gehenna [the city dump] near
Jerusalem.
The Jews might have made the valley of Gehenna a dump because of their hatred
of its misuse in Old Testament times, but the figures or symbols used by Christ [fire
and maggots] came from its use in New Testament times, not its use in Old
Testament times. THEY ARE SYMBOLS OF DESTRUCTION, NOT OF
TORMENT. IN THE TIME OF CHRIST THERE WAS NO TORMENT, AND NO
IDOL WORSHIPPED IN GEHENNA [the city dump]. CHRIST WAS NOT
ALLUDING TO IDOL WORSHIP OR TORMENT BUT TO THE DESTRUCTION OF
THOSE WHO REJECTED HIM. Worms [maggots] do not eat living being, but dead
ones, NOT TO TORMENT THEM, BUT TO CONSUME [eat up for food], NEITHER
DO MAGGOTS EAT “SOULS.” As long as there was something to burn or eat, the
maggots would never die out, and the fire would not go out; but be consuming, not
tormenting what was being cast in. In the time of Christ it was a place used to dispose of
useless things, not to torment them. Many misuse this to show that living being will be
tormented forever, and make God be doing the tormenting. LIVING VICTIMS WAS
NOT PRESERVED ALIVE AND TORMENTED IN GEHENNA, BUT FIRE OR
WORMS DEVOURED DEAD VICTIMS. TO MAKE IT A PLACE OF ETERNAL
TORMENT IS WITHOUT ANY BASE WHATSOEVER. How and when did a valley
that exists to this day get turned into Hell?
Gehenna and the Lake of Fire are often thought to be the same metaphor by many.
Gehenna is a place of destruction, and the lake of fire is a place where no life as we know
it could exist; they are two different symbolic pictures [Revelation 20:14]. Neither one is
a symbol of an eternal life of torment. Both picture the total destruction of whatever was
thrown into them.
203
On 11/1/2010 I found this on the web by Steven Clark Goad, church of Christ Christian Ekklesia
Podcast: “In summation, isn’t it strange indeed that false teachers have taken a “real place”
(Gehenna) referred to by Jesus himself as a metaphor of destruction and have changed in into
another made up/fabricated “real place” (hell) where souls (spirits, living beings, whatever) will
be tortured unendingly by a loving heavenly Father? If Gehenna is a metaphor of “hell” as it is
traditionally taught, isn’t it a poor one, for Gehenna (the Jerusalem city dump of Jesus’ era) was a
real place of destruction and consummation with no torment and no torture involved, while
“hell” is a made up place of torment and torture with no destruction at all? Is this twisted
thinking the height of misguided thinking?” “Thoughts on Punishment of the Wicked,”
http://www.godsmessageontheweb.net/2010/07/25/thoughts-on-punishment-of-the-wicked/
UNQUENCHABLE FIRE OF GEHENNA
IMMORTAL WORMS OF GEHENNA
"UNQUENCHABLE FIRE" AND "THEIR WORM DIES NOT" AS THEY ARE
USED IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS: UTTER DESTRUCTION.
John the Baptist used "Unquenchable fire" on one occasion. He says Christ "will
gather his wheat into the garner, but the chaff he will BURN UP with unquenchable fire"
[Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17]. Will this unquenchable fire forever torment the chaff, which
has been burned up?
Adam Clarke, "He will burn up the chaff that is, the disobedient and rebellious Jews, with
unquenchable fire that cannot be extinguished by man."
When firefighter cannot put out a burning building, they say it is an unquenchable fire
but it is not a fire that will burn forever; no one will be able to escape from it by putting it
out, but it will go out when there is nothing more to burn. An unquenchable fire is one
that no person can put out but it is not an eternal fire.
Unquenchable fire is used on one occasion by Christ of the burning of trash in the city
dump in Mark 9:43-48 where He repeats it a second time (verses 43 and 48) in the
American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, New International Version.
"Unquenchable fire" is repeated five times in Mark 6:43, 44, 45, 46 and 48 in the King
James Version. BOTH the chaff and trash are utterly destroyed by burning to get rid of
something unwanted. The chaff or the trash was not tormented. Like Gehenna,
unquenchable fire is not used in the rest of the New Testament; Paul, Peter, John, etc
never used it.
Christ used the "worm that dies not" only on one occasion [Mark 9:44-48; Repeated
three times in verses 44, 46 and 48 in the King James Version but only one time in verse
48 in the American Standard Version]. He used both the maggots and the fire of Gehenna
as a symbol of total destruction, not to show that God will forever torment most of
mankind. If this is not figurative language, will there be immortal maggots in Hell? Can
earthly maggots eat an immortal soul in "Hell?" Even most who believes in "Hell" make
the maggots figurative, not real maggots in Hell, but make the "fire" be literal fire.
If Gehenna’s "unquenchable fire" and "their worm dies not" are a description of the
endless punishment of the wicked in "Hell," the silence of the New Testament writers
would be unexplainable. (1) Acts, a history of the preaching and church for about thirty
years does not mention Gehenna, unquenchable fire, or immortal maggots. (2) In none of
Paul's fourteen letters, he never mentioned any of them. (3) Peter, John, James, and Jude
are also as silent as Paul. (4) Neither can they be found in the Book of Revelation.
[1] The one time Christ used "unquenchable fire" in Mark 9:48, He was quoting from
Isaiah 66:24. TO UNDERSTAND HIS WORDS, THEY MUST BE UNDERSTOOD
204
IN THE WAY THE OLD TESTAMENT USED THEM, just as much of Revelation is
to be understood by the way the same symbols are used in the Old Testament.
“UNQUENCHABLE FIRE” WAS A WELL-KNOWN EXPRESSION IN THE OLD
TESTAMENT AND WOULD BE UNDERSTOOD BY THOSE HEARING CHRIST.
"And the strong man will become tinder, his work also a spark, thus, they shall both burn
together, and there will be none to quench them" [Isaiah 1: 31]. Jeremiah warned
Jerusalem of the consequence of their sins, "Then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof,
and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and it shall not be quenched" [Jeremiah
17:27]. His warning was fulfilled in 2 Chronicles 36:19-21. Jerusalem was destroyed
with an "unquenchable fire." It consumed all, and was not quenched unto it went
out when there was nothing more to consume; then the unquenchable fire went out.
Jerusalem is not burning today. An unquenchable fire is not an eternal fire, but one
that cannot be put out unto there is nothing to burn. Those who believe in Hell
change "unquenchable" into "eternal" then move the unquenchable fire that destroyed
Jerusalem from Jerusalem on this earth and put this "eternal fire" in their "Hell" which
they say is not on this earth. First, they must change the fire and second; they must move
the changed fire from Jerusalem to "Hell." Isaiah says, " For behold, the Lord will come
in fire and His chariots like the whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke
with the flames of fire. For the Lord will execute judgment by fire and by His sword on
all flesh, and those slain by the Lord will be many...Then they shall go forth and look on
the corpses [dead bodies in American Standard Version] of the men who have
transgressed against me. For their [the corpses] worm shall not die, and their [the
corpses] fire shall not be quenched; and they [the corpses] shall be an abhorrence to all
mankind" [Isaiah 66:15-24]. The worms consumed the corpses, and the fires were not
quenched unto there was no more flesh to consume or burn. IT WAS CORPSES, DEAD
BODIES WHICH WERE ON THE EARTH THAT WERE BEING CONSUMED
BY THE UNQUENCHABLE FIRE AND UNDYING MAGGOTS, “THOSE SLAIN
BY THE LORD” (ISAIAH 66:16) NOT “THOSE TORMENTED BY THE LORD,”
NOT IMMORTAL SOULS IN HELL THAT CANNOT BE SLAIN SCREAMING
IN ANGUISH AND PAIN; ISAIAH 66:16; 66:24 DESCRIBES THE AFTERMATH
OF A BATTLE WITH THE DEAD UNBURIED. THOSE PEOPLE BACK IN THE
TIME OF ISAIAH DID NOT LOOK FROM HEAVEN DOWN INTO HELL AND
SEE LIVING SOULS BEING EATEN BY MAGGOTS. IT WAS THE LIVING
PEOPLE ON THIS EARTH IN THE TIME OF ISAIAH THAT WENT OUT TO
THE BATTTLE FIELD AND SAW REAL DEAD BODIES ON THIS EARTH
BEING EATEN AND BURNED, NOT IMMORTAL SOULS IN HEAVEN THAT
"SHALL GO FORTH AND LOOK ON THE CORPSES" AND SEE LIVING SOULS
THAT ARE THAT ARE BEING TORMENTED IN HELL AS WORMS AND
FIRE ARE CONSUMING THEM. HOW CAN FIRE OR WORMS ETERNALLY
TORMENT A DEAD BODY? It is the fire that is unquenchable and both Isaiah and
Christ speak only of the maggots that being alive, not the corpses that were being burnt
up or eaten, they are dead, have be slain, there is nothing said about them being alive and
in torment, but today’s theology says there are both alive in being forever tormented by
fire. There is not even a hint that the corpses that were in the unquenchable fire were
aware of anything. For this to prove the soul is immortal they would have to be viewing
disembodied immortal souls that had been "slain by the Lord" [Isaiah 66:16] but were
205
still living after the Lord had slain them, not viewing dead bodies that were on this earth.
It was living people viewing dead bodies that had been "slain by the Lord," not living
people on this earth looking into Hell and seeing an immaterial, invisible part of a living
person being tormented in Hell. WITHOUT DOUBT, THIS WAS A JUDGMENT
AND PUNISHMENT ON THIS EARTH THAT HAS ENDED, NOT A
PUNISHMENT IN HELL THAT WILL NEVER END.
• There is no mention of torment. The ungodly had been killed; it says nothing
about the Lord TORMENTING them.
• There is no mention of living souls that are being eaten by maggots and being
consumed by fire. The witness sees the RESULT OF THIS DESTRUCTION
(slaying). They see the CORPSES, DEAD BODIES being consumed by fire and
maggots, not a living immaterial, invisible part of a person being tormented.
• They do not see them in pain and anguish, not in endless tortured for the corpses
they see are dead and are on this earth, not in Hell. The dead bodies that are being
eaten by maggots on this earth have been changed to living souls suffering eternal
torture in Hell; it is beyond me to see how those who make such a change and still
say they do not change the Bible; there is nothing about souls, eternal torment, or
Hell in this passage but they add all three.
• Some believers in Hell change the Bible by transferring the qualities of the worm
being undying to the dead bodies that were eating.
[2] "Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, mine anger and my wrath shall be
poured out upon this place, upon man and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and
upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched" [Jeremiah
7:20].
[3] Ezekiel also speaks of the destruction of Judah using the imagery of a forest
burning. "And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, son of man, set your face
toward the south, and drop
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