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~4T Apnstnlit 3J1ait4 'T"'"''''"""""""""""""""""""""",,""",,",,"''''''"''''''''''''"""""''''''''' ",'"",,',,""" I ~4t Apnstnlit 3J1ait4 Have Faith In God As we mark the evening shadows, With the -setting of the sun, So we note the "time of trouble"; Even now it has begun. When the light has turned to darkness, And the pathway no more seen, Can we then, as did Peter, Safely cross the angry stream. With the Saviour close beside him, How could Peter fall? Christ is still our loving Saviour, And He cares for all. Let us not be fearful, Man can not kill the soul. Let us keep au!' light still burning, And our lives in His control. lIe alone can guide our foot-steps, In the darkest night. When our lives areg;iven to Him IIe will make the pathway bright. Lilian T. Thistlethwaite. Baxter Spring·s, Kansas I ji II''''". '''""'''''''''''."11""",,,,,,,,,.,.,,,,,,,,,,, -_JS' IMMORTALITY When we make a bonfire, it i,s to destroy that (Continued from the August papcl') \\"hich is worthless. Is not that God's purpose. THE WAGES OF SIN. As by a careful "Unquenchable fire." But he will burn up study of the Bible, we find that God, "who the chaff with "unquenchable fire." Matt. 3 :12. only hath immortality" has given no promise Then Christ teaches. Matt. 5 :29-30: Mark of "eternal life" to the sinner, it Lecomes very 9 :43 48. "It is better to enter the kingdom of certain to me that "eternal torment" would b~ Gcd with one eye than having two eyes to be impossible, cast into hell, where the worm dieth not and However, with those who believe ill the teach- the fire is not quenched." This alludes to Ge- ing of "eternal torment," we wi,sh to have no henna outside Jerusalem, the VaHey of Hin- controversy, for we have many rlear friends nom. The worrl hell in English is f1'om Gehen- and relatives who accept this doctrine. and 0'1 na in Greek; and Gehenna In the New Testa- our part at least, we shall never allew anv dif- ment ,symbolizes death and utter destrnction; ference of belief to hinder our love and fellow·· but in no place symbolizes a place of eternal ship. torment. In this place were. cast all kinds of Paul said, "Let every man be fully per,suaded filth 'with the carcases of beasts and unburied in his own mind." While this is our privilege. bodie,s of criminals who had been executed. we should always endeavor to keep a humble, The fire was kept alive and never allowed to die teachable spirit, remembering that we now only out, to prevent pestilence. The worms came "know in part." For as the heaveTls are higher from the bodies, lodging on the rocks which than the earth, so are God's ways higher than were on one side of the fire. our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts. 'Vhen Mr. Parham was in Jerusalem, he saw Therefore our finite minds can not gra~p the this Gehenna, Valley of Hinnom ;the:!"eis no fire greatness of this wonderful salvation, planned burning there now. Gehenna was used in the by an Infinite God. Truly we, a'3 Hig children, Bible as an illustration of the utter desb'Uction should be very careflll HOW we represent the of the wicked. for what the fire did not destroy, character of God to a lost, sinful world th'J.t the worms consumed. The fire only lasted 8,S we may draw souls unto Him. and not drh'(~ long as there was fuel for the flame, and the them into infidelity. May it never he sairl to worms lived only as long as they had some- us, a,s God said to Job's three comforters that thing to feed on. "ye have not spoken of me the thi'lg that is And, they ,shall go forth, and look upon the right." carcases of the men that have transgressed GOD IS LOVE. Would it he po.ssib'e for a against me: for their worm shall not die, God of love to subj ect Hi.,; creation to endless neither shall their fire be quenched. Isa, 66 :24. misery, eternal torment giving them life, (for A carcase is a "dead body," "a corpse." Worms God alone can give life) only to suffer, Vf>t do not begin to eat on the flesh of a body until with no hope of their betterment or of them it i<; dead, so then "their worm ." living, feed- giving Him glory? It is impossible for the hu- ing on their dead bodies. certainly shows utter man mind to conceive of what "etenal tor- destruction. ment," suffering that is absolutl'ly endless, "Quench" means to "put out." "to extin- really means. guish." If your house was burning. and the Scriptures Used to'Teach Eternal Torm'Z:nt fire-men told you that the fire was "un- Though the tenn "eternal torment" h;·s been quenchable." and that it "never shall be so often used in the pulpit, it is not found in quenched," would you think that your house the Bible, but we will quote and cJ.refully con- would bum throughout eternity or just that sider the main Scriptures which hwe been the fire-men were unable to "quench" it, or put used to teach "eternal tonnent." it out, anrl it would continue to bum till your' The first world was destroyed by water anrl house was burned up? If the fire "prepared the Bible definitely teaches that the instru- for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25 :11) was ment used to punish the wicked in the final quenchable, they would put it out, would they judgment will be fire. Will this fire destroy not? But this fire is unquenchahle until it or simply torment, is the question before us. has "burned up" the chaff, "Eternal fire." In verse 7 J uue says, that to eternal torment, and the beggar represented Sodom and Gomol'l'ha "are set forth for an ex- all good pel sons, who at death go to heaven. Let ample, suffering the vengeance of "eternal us, howevel', endeavor to forget the teachings fire.' And in 2 Peter 2 :6, and turning the and "traditions of men" and go back to our cities of Souom and Gomorrha into ashes, con- open Bibles and prayerfully seek to learn the demned them with all overthrow making them lesson that Christ taught in this parable. an example unto those that often should live The parable does not say that the rich man ungodly. Thi,s "eternal fire," tha,;; turned So- was wicked. He was "rich ," but it is not a dom and Gormorrha into ashes is not burning sin to be rich. He "fared sumptuously" and now, it only lasted till it had accompli~hed its ,,\Casdressed "in purple and fine linen." purpose, and utterly destroyed tho.se wicked Purple was worn by persons of wealth and cities, which Peter said is a warning to the un- high official position, (Esther 8 :15) and es- godly. pecially by kings (Judges 8:26). It was a sign "Forever." Rev. 14:10-11, has been also usea of royalty, and was put on Christ by the Jews to teach eternal torment, but in the 9th and in mockery of His claim. "Purple and fine 11th vel,ses you will see that it refers to those linen," were especially used by the .Tewsin the who in the close of this age take the mark of hanging,s of the tabernacle (Ex. 25 :4. 26 :1, 31, the beast, and not to eternity. But some one 36), and were also used in the garments of the says, "It is forever." True, but it is modified Jewish high priest. Ex. 28: 5, 6, 15, 33. 39 :29. by "day and night" and in eternity there ,,,ill WE: see then, even the very clothing of the rich be no night. (Rev. 21 :25) so "forever" here man, represented the Jewish people. must mean "a space of time" which is one of Neither does the parable say thnt Lazarus' the definitions given for this word, in the the beggar, was a good man, but that he "laid language of the Bible. Though in our language at the rich man's gate,"-"full of ,<;oles,"-"de- we understand "forever" to mean "eternity," siring to be fed with the crumbs" -and "the we find it is not always u,sed so in the Bible. dogs came and licked his sores." \-Vonldit be Deut. 15:17. Then thou shalt take an awl, possible to picture a more pitiful, wretched and thi'ust it through his car into the door and condition! Do you believe that Christ would he shall be thy servant "forever." 1 Sam. 27 :12. represent Hi,s glorious Church, by this sick Therefore he shall be my servant "forever." beggar in this God-forsaken, povelty-stricken Here "forever" could only mean as long as he state? Surely not. If a beggar of thi,s ter- lived or until the year of Jubilee, recuring rible description lay at your gate, wonld you every fifty years, when all slaves were set free. at once ,recognize him as one of God's elect, a Jonah said, (Chapter 2 :6) the earth with her child f the King? I am sure that David would bars was about me "forever," which was only not, for he said, "I have been young, and now 3 day,s and 3 nights. In these, and other simi- am old; yet have I not seen the righteous for- lar Scriptures, we see that "forever" does not saken, nor his seed begging bread." 'fhe beg- mean "eternity," which occurs only once in the gar then can not represent God's chosen people Bible and that refers ta God.
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