Coincidental Love

A circle is a special ellipse in which the two foci are coincident.

-Definition of a ―circle‖

―I'm praying not only for them

But also for those who will believe in me
Because of them and their witness about me.
The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—
Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
So they might be one heart and mind with us.
Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.
The same glory you gave me, I gave them,
So they'll be as unified and together as we are—
I in them and you in me.
Then they'll be mature in this oneness,
And give the godless world evidence
That you've sent me and loved them
In the same way you've loved me.”

-John 17:20-23 (The Message)

By Daric Ford and Isaiah Fifield

 It is our prayer that those who have ears, let them hear.
To those that have eyes, let them see the Lord’s love.
For He does not simply love you, He is obsessed with you.
His grace is irresistible and inescapable.

If you begin to become afraid or anxious while reading, pray.

Pray that the present is simply a test and your suffering is for a bigger purpose.
Pray that this document speaks to you in a way that will compel you to foolish
worship.
Pray that it brings you to recklessness.

It did for us.

 ―This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story
ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill -
you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.‖
-Morpheus (The Matrix 1999)

There are many things that this text will be, each of them different for each
person that will read what is written. There are also many things that this text is
not. First and foremost, this text is a message of God. Not a god, not many gods,
not a blind and uncaring god, but The One, true LORD who loves unconditionally
and unashamedly.
We, the writers, are very certain of a simple fact as we pen this text. Once
you accept this truth—this red pill—there will be no going back. This is not a
delusion of grandeur, as we both have experienced the powerful effect that
brought forth the truth contained herein. The truth that will be presented in the
following chapters will challenge many of the traditions that have become the
foundation of many a devout Christian. Throughout the process of this writing -
the revelation of its truth, the compiling of its evidence, and the final production of
the text - we have found nearly every belief that we had come to know
challenged right before our eyes.
It is in this vein that we must assure all readers that we have stayed firm in
biblical truth. Never did we attempt, nor did we want, to stray from God‘s Word.
As Martin Luther called it, we have upheld Sola Scriptura. Sola Scriptura
demands that only those doctrines are to be admitted or confessed that are
found directly within or indirectly by using valid logical deduction or valid
deductive reasoning from Scripture.
As it became necessary, we went to the original Hebrew and Greek
language of the Old and New Testaments respectively. An attention to detail as
well as an attention to logical deduction has brought forth the evidence of God‘s
revelation in our lives. Without doubt, the truth as it has be revealed to us is
within these pages. We give all glory and honor to the LORD and the LORD
alone.
With that said, we must state very clearly, the message contained herein
is not a message for believers only. It is a message for all mankind. Believers
and non-believers alike will find this message to be of particular interest, and it is
our hope that as each new person reads what is written, it is read with an open
mind and an open heart, truly mirroring God‗s own attributes. It is our wish that
once you have finished reading the message we have presented, that it will then
be passed on to someone else. The Truth shall not be kept from any who seek it.
As was stated, this text will challenge, redefine, and change some very
commonly held beliefs within the Christian faith. There are, however, basic
theologies that remain unchanged and forever True. We, the writers, began with
these unchanging foundations, and for the full scope of this message to be
understood, these following statements must be at least acknowledged, if not
fully accepted by the reader.
  We believe in God, the Almighty, the LORD, the Father, Yahweh, et al.
 We believe in Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son, who is also God and who died upon
the Cross.
 We believe in the Holy Spirit, who is also God and who is the vehicle through which
God lives within us.
 We believe that God‘s inspired Word, as revealed in the Holy Bible, is inerrant.
 We believe in the authority of the original language of the Bible. (Hebrew and Greek.)

Beyond those few points, we have found that nearly everything else was
brought into question during the process of preparing this message. While at first
this seemed frightening and frustrating - and sometimes quite angering - the final
message of this text was revealed to us, and since that moment, there has been
a sense of incredible urgency, incredible peace, and incredible hope.
Such wonderful feeling was born from sorrow and negativity, which we
came to find, was very much alike God‘s own plan for us all. The Lord is a
magnificent Creator, and a wonderful, loving Father to us all. So, it is with Him,
that we begin this journey, as Morpheus said more than ten years ago, down the
rabbit-hole.
 GOD
‫אלהים‬
―God is not a cosmic bellboy for whom we can press a button to get things done.‖
-Harry Emerson Fosdick

Who is God? What is God like? What is God made of? These questions
and others like it have been asked throughout the history of mankind. As God
said, He is our Alpha and Omega; the beginning and end. So, before any
deduction, idea, or whole theology can be formed we must first enter the Word
and see what God has revealed of Himself. As He laid the foundation of the
world, so too will He lay the foundation for this document.
Though it may be often debated between the religious and unreligious
alike, the Bible paints a very clear picture of what God the Almighty is from the
first page to the last. It must be noted that one cannot attempt to place God
within a ―box.‖ The Almighty cannot be fully and completely fathomed by the
human mind. ―For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.‖ (Isaiah 55:9)

God is:

God is love:
―And as for you, ye meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as
it is this day, to save much people alive.‖ (Genesis 50:20)

―For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have eternal life.‖ (John 3:16)

―…and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.‖ (Genesis 12:3b)

―But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,‖
(Ephesians 2:4)

―The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: ―Yes, I have loved you with an
everlasting love; Therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you‖ (Jeremiah 31:3)

―He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.‖ (1John 4:8)

In both the Old and New Testaments, God‘s eternal, unconditional love is
writ on the page. This love is such that it even extends to those who profess a
hatred or disbelief of God. This concept is hard for many people to swallow. Such
unconditional love belongs to Mother Theresa and Adolf Hitler alike. There is no
distinction in God‘s eyes, and it is often our own human prejudices that stand in
the way. As 1 John plainly states, God is love; we can delve into who God is
more so with the Biblical definition of ‗love‘.
“4 5
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is
not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of
 6 7
wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects,
always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are
9
tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in
10
part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect
11
disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned
12
like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a
poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I
shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.‖
(1 Corinthians 13:4-13)

The passage in 1 Corinthians is by far one of the most powerful in the

entirety of the Bible. We see in full view what love is and we also see a bigger
image of who God is.

All-powerful, omnipotent:
―And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and
as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, ―Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent
reigns!‖ (Revelation 19:6)

―When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him,
―I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.‖ (Genesis 17:1)

―Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me." (Matthew 28:18)

―Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great
power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.‖ (Jeremiah 32:17)

Here we see another attribute of God. From this we can understand that
not only is nothing too big for God to handle but also that there is nothing too
small for God to handle.

All-knowing, all-seeing, omniscient:

―Talk no more so very proudly; Let no arrogance come from your mouth, for the LORD is
the God of knowledge; and by Him actions are weighed.‖ (1Samuel 2:3)

―Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of
before you ask Him.‖ (Matthew 6:8)

―For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.‖
(1John 3:20)

―Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid
bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.‖ (Hebrews 4:13)

God being all-knowing brings us to a note that cannot be ignored. We‘ve

all heard the phrases ‗God has a plan‘ or ‗God is control‘ and it‘s true—He does:
 "A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." (Proverbs 16:9)

―Thus says the Lord, Your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way you should go." (Isaiah 48:17)

―O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct
his own steps‖ (Jeremiah 10:23)

But these verses approach, if not thrust, us into an age-old debate which
questions our very existence and the character of God:

„Does the grace of God allow us to have free will over our actions, or have we been
predestined to follow His plan?‟

There are proponents for each side of the question among the Church as
a whole, many denominations varying based upon their belief. Both positions
have their own ―flag-bearers,‖ so to speak, and many denominations are said to
follow the Arminian tradition (that of free will) or the Calvinist tradition (that of
predestination). These names are drawn from the theologians Jacobus Arminius
and John Calvin respectively.
Arminianism states that God‘s grace, called prevenient, acts upon all
people to convict them of the Gospel, and thusly draw them to salvation through
Christ. Further, this prevenient grace is resistible, and mankind has been granted
the free will to respond or resist the call and conviction of prevenient grace.
Calvinism states that God‘s grace is irresistible, called efficacious grace
because God‘s grace effectually applied to those whom He has predestined to
save (referred to as ‘the elect‘) and, in God‘s own timing, overcomes any and all
resistance. Calvinist thought is thus anathema to Arminian thought in that it
removes man‘s own free will from him.
It is with this understanding we must again return to the Bible for clarity in
this debate. What we seek is not some new wisdom that will summarily end the
debate; many have debated for centuries and still have no entirely firm answer.
We instead will search for a clear picture—another definitive statement—to add
to our description of God, as written above.

―You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and
bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my
name, he may give it to you.‖ (John 15:16)

―And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the
Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.‖ (Acts 13:48)

―For he says to Moses, ―I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or
exertion, but on God, who has mercy.‖ (Romans 9:15-16)

―even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be
holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through
Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,‖ (Ephesians 1:4-5)
 ―In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the
purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,‖
(Ephesians 1:11)

―who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because
of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages
began,‖ (2Timothy 1:9)

From the evidence of these verses, as well as others (see Romans

9:22-24, Philippians 1:29, 1Thessalonians 1:4-5, 2Thessalonians 2:13) we shall
put forth the position that God, in His sovereignty, has a predestined plan.
Further, knowing that God is omnipotent and omniscient, we can logically deduce
that God has prepared this divine plan with full knowledge of any and every
choice that all mankind will ever make, and as such, according to His plan, His
grace is irresistible.
A good illustration of this is seen in Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.
In John 11:43, it is recorded that Jesus told Lazarus to ―come forth‖ and that
Lazarus came forth out of the tomb. What had to happen before Lazarus—who
had been dead for several days—would be able to respond to Jesus‘ command?
He had to be made alive because a dead man cannot hear or respond. The
same is true spiritually. If we are dead in our sins, as the Bible clearly teaches,
then before we can respond to the Gospel message and believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ we must first be made alive.
“3
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of
passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one
4 5
another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not
because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us
6
through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us
7
generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace,
we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.‖ (Timothy 3:3-7)

The omniscience of God places Him in a unique position that is very

difficult for man to understand. As a being who knows all things from all times,
who has purposed a plan from before time, it is simply impossible to state that
God‘s plan does not already account for any and all resistance that it may or may
not face whilst working toward completion. In the simplest terms, if a man would
resist God‘s calling and election, God would have foreseen such resistance and
accounted for it in His plan such that, in God’s own timing, the man will come to
accept God‘s calling in his life.
Common questions in regards to predestination are:

 If God predestines us, and our sinful wills would never allow us to seek God,
then wouldn't God be violating the wills of those He calls?

No. Our argument is that no man has a free will, regardless of if you are
saved or not. God‘s plan was made before time began, meaning that our
choices were made before time began. There exists an illusion of free
choice, so that we may eventually understand why we made our choices.
  Does this mean that even if you wanted to be saved you couldn't be saved if
you've not been predestined?

No. This means you can‘t want to be saved. The Word describes us all as
‗dead‘ in our sins. A dead person can‘t want anything because they are
physically unable to want. We will apply similar attributes to those that are
‗spiritually dead‘ in their sins.

 How does this doctrine of predestination fit in at all with an all-loving God?

Initially, the doctrine of predestination does not fit with an all-loving God
because if God predestines us to an eternity in Heaven, then He also
predestines some to go to eternal Hell. To answer this question fully, we
must continue in our pursuit of who God is.

Invariable, unchanging:
―For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.‖
(Malachi 3:6)

―Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of
lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.‖ (James 1:17)

The invariable nature of God is paramount to our understanding of Him. If

the Lord were to behave chaotically, without reason, or with wild variation, it
would therefore be impossible to trust in Him. God must remain as a constant
from beginning to end, and thankfully, He surely does.

Eternal, unending:
―The eternal God is your dwelling place…‖ (Deuteronomy 33:27)

―but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to
all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience
of faith.‖ (Romans 16:26)

The eternal God exists from before time, through all times, and unto the
end of time. God simply does not exist as we exist. As 1 Corinthians 15:28 tells
us; ―When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be
subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all
in all.‖ He is infinite.
As humans, being finite and mortal, it is impossible for us to fully grasp the
idea of an infinite being. We exist in a finite world where life begins and ends. It‘s
all around us and among us. Our very perception of existence is drawn from what
we can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. Ultimately, this basic truth hinders us
from fully comprehending what it means to be infinite. That is, to lack the very
thing that is all around us; to have no beginning or end. However, man has made
attempts to define such an existence and we have learned it since our infancy.
A circle is a common shape that is seen in a variety of ways throughout
everyday life. However, a perfect circle cannot be shown through a two
dimensional image or by any visible form that we can comprehend. However, we
can mathematically conceptualize such a shape. A perfect circle, by definition, is
infinitely symmetrical. There is no beginning or end.

Sound familiar? Like God, a circle has no beginning or end. Though not
entirely accurate—none can precisely define God but God, Himself—we can
represent God‘s existence by a circle.
This truth begins to reveal a noticeable amount of evidence for itself. As
we believe God has created everything out of Himself, there must be signs of a
cyclical – circular - existence. Common examinations could be the cycle of
seasons, or even the shape of our planet.
This information presents a particularly peculiar flaw in Christian theology.

―Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock
and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
(Genesis 1:26)

As Genesis has clearly stated, we are made in God‘s image and likeness.
Therefore, our existence itself must be in God‘s image and likeness. If God is in a
cyclic existence, is humanity in a cyclic existence?
If we believe it to be true, then the traditional theology regarding the
afterlife is no longer relevant, as they tell of a linear existence.
This basic representation is how all mainstream Christian theologies believe our
existence is. However, if God works and exists in a cyclical fashion, our
existence must mirror this. It is from this thought process that we must ask an
array of questions:

 How does mankind mirror God?

(And from this important question…)
 What is the afterlife?
 How permanent is it?
 To what end is our purpose here?

To that, a foundation needs to be built. We‘ve examined what we can about

the Creator. Let us now proceed to second part of the equation—the created.
 MAN
‫נפש‬
―Men often become what they believe themselves to be. If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me
incapable of doing it. But when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it even if I didn't have it in the
beginning.‖
–Mahatma Gandhi

From strong Christians to strong Atheists, most know the Genesis creation
story. To be blunt, there is no reason for us to discuss scientific evidence for or
against the Biblical story of creation. That is not the purpose of this document;
therefore, we will not begin to focus on such a topic. Instead, let us focus on
potentially the greatest creation ever made.
The physical human is fascinating. The human body is so complex that
one could speculate that mankind will never understand our bodies to their fullest
potential. Our ability to create and destroy and our cognitive ability to question
existence and the universe at hand separate us from the rest of creation. What
we will focus on today is the metaphysical and our connection to it. Two words
we commonly use to refer to the metaphysical are soul and spirit.
These two, often interchangeable, words can cause a great amount of
confusion if they are not defined properly. It was at this point that understanding
basic Biblical Hebrew and Greek was essential to progress in this text. What we
have found is an important distinction between the human soul and the human
spirit. Human beings have both a spirit and a soul.

―For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it
penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts
and attitudes of the heart.‖ (Hebrews 4:12)

In this verse, the Greek for ―spirit‖ is ―pnuematos‖ coming from the word
―pnuema.‖ The same word is used again in John 3:6 ―That which is born of the
flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.‖ In John, both forms of
the word are used, one referring to God and one referring to mankind‘s spirit.
There are ninety-six occurrences of ―pnuematos‖ in the New Testament, and
each one refers to either the Holy Spirit that dwells within mankind and comes
upon mankind or mankind‘s own spirit. For example:

― 59While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60Then
he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had
said this, he fell asleep.‖ (Acts 7:59-60)

The Old Testament provides even more evidence towards the connection
that exists between God and the spirit of man:
―But Moses and Aaron fell face down and cried out, "O God, God of the spirits of all
mankind, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?"
(Numbers 16:22)
 “The spirit is the element in humanity which gives us the ability to have an intimate
relationship with God. Whenever the word “spirit” is used, it refers to the immaterial part of
humanity that “connects” with God, who Himself is spirit” –GotQuestions.org

It is with this fact firmly in mind that we can logically deduce that it is the
spirit, or pnuematos, that is our connection with God, the Creator. The spirit is, in
fact, how we were ―made in His image‖ because as John 4:24 clearly states,
―God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.‖
What then, is the soul? If the spirit is our connection to God, there must
also be a clear definition of the soul within the Holy Bible. The most obvious
distinction between soul and spirit is that the soul can die, or be destroyed.

―It happened, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Ben-oni,
but his father named him Benjamin‖ (Genesis 35:18)

―Don't be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear
him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna‖ (Matthew 10:28)

―For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or
what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?‖ (Matthew 16:26)

―It will be, that every soul that will not listen to that prophet will be utterly destroyed
from among the people.‖ (Acts 3:23)

―let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from
death, and will cover a multitude of sins‖ (James 5:20)

―And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a
dead man: and every living soul died in the sea‖ (Revelation 16:3)

―And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I
destroy from among his people‖ (Leviticus 23:30)

―Zebulun is a people who exposed its soul to death, Naphtali also -- on high places of
the field‖ (Judges 5:18)

―lest they tear apart my soul like a lion, ripping it in pieces, while there is none to deliver‖
(Psalms 7:2)

―to deliver their soul from death, to keep them alive in famine‖ (Psalms 33:19)

The essence of the soul is not just to die, however, for the Bible further
expounds on the nature of the soul as a thing of life. The soul is a whole and
living entity. We find also that the soul is capable of feeling emotion, and is often
at the center of many physical and emotional experiences that we attribute to
being ―alive. ―

―Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and man became a living soul‖ (Genesis 2:7)
 ―Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?‖
(Job 30:25)

―Fear came on every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the
apostles‖ (Acts 2:43)

―(for that righteous man dwelling among them, was tormented in his righteous soul
from day to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds)‖ (2Peter 2:8)

―Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in
God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.‖ (Psalms 43:5)

―But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep
bitterly and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive‖
(Jeremiah 13:17)

―Now therefore, O king, come down, according to all the desire of your soul to come
down; and our part shall be to deliver him up into the king's hand‖ (1Samuel 23:20)

―Elijah said to him, "Elisha, please wait here, for Yahweh has sent me to Jericho." He
said, "As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." So they came to
Jericho‖ (2Kings 2:4)

―My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me‖ (Job 6:7)

―My soul shall boast in Yahweh. The humble shall hear of it, and be glad.‖
(Psalms 34:2)

―who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip‖ (Psalms 66:9)

―By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn't find
him‖ (Song of Songs 3:1)

―My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I
am weary of bearing them‖ (Isaiah 1:14)

The spirit and the soul are definitely connected, but they are able to be
separated which requires that they be treated as different and individual. Where
the spirit is our connection to God, the soul stands as the very being of humanity.
Our souls are both spiritual and physical. The spirit is incapable of being
destroyed, but the soul can die.
Though the spirit, our connection to God, can never be destroyed, we can
certainly neglect the fact that we are made in His image. This tendency to turn
away from God is a part of our being made of flesh. Humanity has three distinct
―parts‖ to our being, and each is described within the Bible. We have seen the
distinction between soul and spirit, but we have not yet described and defined the
third; flesh. Flesh is sinful, flesh is detestable, and flesh is corrupt.

―For out of the heart come evil thoughts, the taking of life, broken faith between the
married, unclean desires of the flesh, taking of property, false witness, bitter words‖
(Matthew 15:19)

―It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you
 are spirit, and are life‖ (John 6:63)

―I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for as you presented
your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness,
even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification.‖
(Romans 6:19)

―For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace‖
(Romans 8:6)

―for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you
not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?‖ (1Corinthians 3:3)

―Now the works of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality,
uncleanness, lustfulness‖ (Galatians 5:19)

It is the flesh that corrupts and twists our souls towards evil. The spirit is
wholly and completely spiritual and the flesh is wholly and completely physical, it
is the soul that joins these two together into a whole, and living being. Thus, the
flesh corrupts the soul, the whole being of man which causes him to turn away
from God and neglect his connection with the Lord, the spirit.
The Bible states in no uncertain terms that man has turned from God and
the image that God created us in has been perverted.

―See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many
schemes‖ (Ecclesiastes 7:29)

―Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin,
and so death spread to all men because all sinned…by the one man‟s disobedience
the many were made sinners‖ (Romans 5:12,19)

―Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you‖
(Psalms 143:2)

―If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin‖ (2Chronicles 6:36)

―All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and
the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.‖ (Isaiah 53:6)

―The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind;
they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net. Their hands are on what
is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters
the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together.‖ (Micah 7:2-3)

―If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say
we have not sinned, we make [God] a liar, and his word is not in us.‖ (1John 1:8,10)

―And Jesus said to him, ―Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone‖
(Luke 18:19)

―For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality,
theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride,
foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.‖
(Mark 7:21-23)
 ―And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased
mind to do what ought not to be done‖ (Romans 1:28)

―They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of
the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.‖ (Ephesians 4:18)

―The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.‖ (Genesis 6:5)

As Romans 3:23 says, ―all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.‖
None are free from the enslavement of sin. This is part of our condition of total
depravity.
Total depravity is a theological doctrine that derives from the concept of
original sin which states that all sin came from the disobedience of Adam (see
Romans 5:12 above) and as such, all are born into the enslavement and
bondage of sin, thus making us completely and entirely incapable of freeing
ourselves. In short, we are condemned to a life of enslavement from the moment
that we are born into this world.

―Jesus answered them, ―Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave
to sin.‖ (John 8:34)

―Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are
not gods.‖ (Galatians 4:8)

―A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.‖
(Matthew 7:18)

―For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God‟s
law; indeed, it cannot.‖ (Romans 8:7)

―Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.‖
(Psalms 51:5)

―…for the intention of man‟s heart is evil from his youth.‖ (Genesis 8:21)

―as it is written: ―None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for
God.‖ (Romans 3:10-11)

―The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly
to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.‖
(1Corinthians 2:!4)

―No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.‖ (John 6:44)

―So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.‖
(Romans 9:16)

The doctrine of total depravity goes far deeper than just our own inability
to come to God with our own efforts, however. Indeed, the word ―total‖ denotes a
complete perversion of all that we do, even to the point that our efforts towards
being ―good‖ are faulty.
 As Genesis 6:5 shows above, ―every intention of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil…‖ This means that though we may hope to do ―good‖, our
drive to act is born from a selfish, depraved, or infected thought. Our corruption is
so complete that we cannot even fully fathom it ourselves. It has become second
nature to ―mean well‖ but to internally hope for recognition, praise, and
repayment for our good deeds.
Selfishness and pride corrupt even our good actions, and we are
completely incapable or freeing ourselves from enslavement to them. This is the
truth of total depravity, and now we must understand why we are damned to such
an existence. What about our lives can have such a corrupting, blinding,
hopeless, enslaving effect on us, God‘s own creation? What is our punishment
for living in such a way? Ultimately, how can we get out of such a situation?
 HELL
‫שאול‬
―We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell‖
-Oscar Wilde

Let us begin with defining Hell as it is detailed within the Holy Bible. In the
Old and New Testaments there are three specific words, or places, that refer to
―Hell.‖ They are Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna.

Sheol
Throughout the Bible, Sheol is described as a place that we can go ―down
into‖ and as a place of sorrows, death, and wickedness. In English translations of
the Bible, Sheol has been translated as both ―hell‖ and ―the grave.‖

―If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my
gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.‖ (Genesis 44:29)

―But if the LORD creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows
them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you
shall know that these men have despised the LORD.‖ (Numbers 16:30)

―Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol, or descend together into the dust?‖
(Job 16:17)

―The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God‖
(Psalms 9:17)

―O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from
among those who go down to the pit.‖ (Psalms 30:3)

―Let death steal over them; let them go down to Sheol alive; for evil is in their
dwelling place and in their heart‖ (Psalms 55:15)

―Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol;‖ (Proverbs 5:5)

―The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me. I found trouble
and sorrow‖ (Psalms 116:3)

Hades
Hades appears only in the New Testament, having been transliterated
from the Greek ᾅδης. In the Septuagint, the ancient translation of the Old
Testament from Hebrew to Greek, Hades is used in place of Sheol in the
Hebrew. This use, however, refers to Hades as a place for the dead in general,
rather than a place for the wicked. This can also be determined from ten of the
eleven occurrences of Hades within the New Testament. The eleventh
occurrence (Luke 16:23) speaks of ―torment,‖ but no clear description of
wickedness can be determined. In fact, even Abraham is said to be in Hades with
Lazarus in the verse, thus implying a lack of wickedness.
There is no debate that Hades is inexorably bound to death in the Bible.
The clearest statement of this fact is shown within the Book of Revelation.
Wherever Hades is used within that book, so too, is Death.

Gehenna
Gehenna is cited in the New Testament and in early Christian writing to
represent the final place where the wicked will be punished or destroyed after
resurrection. In both Rabbinical Jewish and Christian writing, Gehenna as a
destination of the wicked is different from Sheol or Hades, the place where all
dead reside.
Jesus speaks very directly about Gehenna in the Gospels as both a place
for the wicked and sinful as well as a place of fire. The traditional idea of Hell as
a place of eternal punishment and fire is taken from Gehenna.

―But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment;
whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, „You fool!‟
will be liable to the [Gehenna] of fire.‖ (Matthew 5:22)

―And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to
enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the [Gehenna] of fire.‖
(Matthew 18:9)

―Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land
to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much of a
son of Gehenna as yourselves‖ (Matthew 23:15)

―You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to
[Gehenna]?‖ (Matthew 23:33)

―And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled
than with two hands to go to [Gehenna], to the unquenchable fire.‖ (Mark 9:43)

As we begin to understand the traditional ideas of Hell throughout the Old

and New Testaments, it becomes necessary to gain a broader idea of how the
Bible describes Hell in general. With a combined vision, the full scope of Hell‘s
corrupting influence on man and man‘s relationship with God is uncovered.

―For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and
committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment…then the
Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under
punishment until the day of judgment‖ (2Peter 2:4,9)

―For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the
depths of hell.‖ (Psalm 86:13)

―Therefore hell has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure, and
the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude will go down, her revelers and he who
exults in her‖ (Isaiah 5:14)

―Because you have said, ―We have made a covenant with death, and with hell we have
an agreement, when the overwhelming whip passes through it will not come to us, for
 we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter‖
(Isaiah 28:15)

―saying, ―I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the
belly of hell I cried, and you heard my voice.‖ (Jonah 2:2)

―the cords of [hell] entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I
called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my
voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.‖ (Psalms 18:5-6)

In the verses above, we see a picture of Hell that may not fall in line with
traditional wisdom on the subject. In addition to its nature as a place for the dead,
a place of sorrow, and a place of fire and punishment, Hell is also a place that
God delivers us from as well as a place from which God can still hear our calls to
Him.
This became very important to our understanding of sin, hell, and the
nature of humanity, especially as it regards to what the Bible says of ―earthly‖
things.

―Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion,
evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry‖ (Colossians 3:5)

―This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual,
demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and
every vile practice.‖ (James 3:15-16)

―Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with
minds set on earthly things.‖ (Philippians 3:19)

―For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and
pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world‖ (1John 2:16)

―but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other
things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.‖ (Mark 4:19)

―training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled,

upright, and godly lives in the present age,‖ (Titus 2:12)

―It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.‖ (Jude 1:19)

―The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ―Behold, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world!‖ (John 1:29)

―The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works
are evil.‖ (John 7:7)

―And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and
judgment:‖ (John 16:8)

―Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and
perfect.‖ (Romans 12:2)

―Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?
 Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1Corinthians 1:20)

―For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise
in their craftiness," (1Corinthians 3:19)

―In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep
them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of
God.‖ (2Corinthians 4:4)

―But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you
turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world,
whose slaves you want to be once more?‖ (Galatians 4:9)

―See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according
to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not
according to Christ.‖ (Colossians 2:8)

―Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans
and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.‖
(James 1:27)

God‘s word does not look kindly on the things of the Earth. The world is
corrupting, the world is sinful, is evil, full of fleshly desire, deceit, and idolatry.
The world simply is anathema to God Himself. The revelation here is quite
striking in its clarity.
Earth, this physical, corrupting, dark, sorrowful, painful world in which we
live, is Hell. We can logically derive this from the following points of fact:

 To sin is to turn from God and go away from Him. (Isaiah 53:6)
 Hell is a place wherein sinners and the evil reside. (2Peter 2:4,9)
 Man, in his nature, is sinful and evil. (Genesis 6:5)
 Man is made of the ―dust of the earth.‖ (Genesis 2:7)
 God‘s ―good‖ creation has been perverted. (Genesis 1:10; Ecclesiastes 7:29)
 We can be alive in Hell. (Numbers 16:30)
 We can call out to God in Hell. (Psalms 18:5-6)
 We must be delivered from Hell. (Psalm 30:3)
 Hell has many depths, pits, and layers. (Psalm 86:13)
 Hell is a place of punishment, where God sends us. (Genesis 3:22-23)
 Hell is a place wherein we can die. (Matthew 10:28)

Weighing the heavy implications of such a revelation, we find ourselves

pondering the last fact about Hell. We can die in Hell. In light of mankind‘s total
depravity, there is simply no way for us to escape this fate of our own volition,
additionally, all things have been foreseen and predestined in accordance to
God‘s own plan. It has been said that Hell itself is a place without hope, and in an
Earth that is Hell, hope seems to be well and gone from us.
We came to realize that all people will simply die in this Hell-Earth, apart
from God because of our sinful and perverted natures. It is at this point of
hopelessness that our inquiry turned to our inevitable fate.
 DEATH
‫אֲ ֵבלּות‬
―Have the courage to live. Anyone can die.‖
–Robert Cody

―Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will
rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my
name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.‖ (Matthew 10:21-22)

―Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they
see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.‖ (Matthew 16:28)

―Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be
hated by all nations for my name‟s sake.‖ (Matthew 24:9)

―And He said to them, ―My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and
watch.‖ (Mark 14:34)

―This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die‖
(John 6:50)

―Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.‖
(John 8:51)

―Jesus said to her, ―I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though
he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
Do you believe this?‖ (John 11:25-26)

―Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who
announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now
betrayed and murdered,‖ (Acts 7:52)

―Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin,
and so death spread to all men because all sinned‖ (Romans 5:12)

―Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves…‖

(2Corinthians 1:9)

From the onset, we can see what seems to be a glaring inconsistency.

First, we are told that we will all die. Then we are told that we will not taste, nor
see death. But even the Righteous One who tells us these hopeful things is
Himself put to death. Truly then, we cannot ever escape this fate. Whether
righteous, unrighteous, or even Messiah, all will confront death at some point.

―I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the LORD.‖ (Psalm 118:17)

―So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, ―Let us also go, that we may
die with him.‖ (John 11:16)

―Then Paul answered, ―What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am
 ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord
Jesus.‖ (Acts 21:13)

―I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every
day!‖ (1Corinthians 15:31)

―You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.‖
(1Corinthians 15:36)

―For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.‖ (Philippians 1:21)

―Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil
desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.‖ (Colossians 3:5)

―The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him;‖
(2Timothy 2:11)

―and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.‖
(Hebrews 2:15)

―And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but
death will flee from them.‖ (Revelation 9:6)

Surely, we will all face death, but the Bible also paints an interesting
picture of our fate. Throughout the Bible, death is shown as something to seek
after, to celebrate, and to anticipate. This is done only by the ―righteous,‖ ―the
godly,‖ and those who have cast away what is ―Earthly.‖
Truly, this fact reignites the spark of hope that resides within. There is an
answer after all, as the Apostle Paul puts it, ―For to me to live is Christ, and to die
is gain.‖ Our hopes renewed, we came directly to the End, the Bible‘s depiction of
the fate that awaits us all. Death and new life.
 REVELATION: THE END
‫הסוף‬
―In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.‖
–Martin Luther King Jr.

But, in this light, a thought comes upon us. God has purposed a plan for
all of us. There is no way for us to make a change on our own. We will all die.
The righteous and godly, however, will see new life again because of Christ, the
Messiah and our belief in Him.
But what of the unrighteous? Surely, God has not condemned them to a
death that they have no way of avoiding. All fairness has fled. Justice seems a
joke. Why would some be allowed to live again and others condemned to die with
no way of escaping this inevitable fate? This is simply against what we know of
God who is all-loving. But, we also know that God is invariable and unchanging,
so there must be an answer somewhere.
Let us begin searching for an answer to this plaguing question within the
Book of Revelation. Within these pages, the end is described, the details of the
judgment that awaits us, whether righteous or unrighteous. Here, there must be
an answer, not for the righteous that have been given it throughout the New
Testament, but for the unrighteous that have not yet been granted the mercy of
God. What can we learn from a detailed look at the last book of the Bible?
The scenes it foretells are very familiar to some.

―They cried out with a loud voice, ―O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you
will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
(Revelation 6:10)

―The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged,
and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name,
both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.‖
(Revelation 11:18)

―So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was
reaped.‖ (Revelation 14:16)

―The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people
with fire. They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God
who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.‖
(Revelation 16:8-9)

―And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and
they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.‖
(Revelation 16:21)

―Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, ―Come, I
will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters,
with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the
 wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.‖
(Revelation 17:1-2)

―They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, ―Alas! Alas! You great city, you
mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.‖
(Revelation 18:10)

―From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he
will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of
God the Almighty.‖ (Revelation 19:15)

―And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were
opened. Then another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were
judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the
sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in
them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.‖
(Revelation 20:12-13)

―And if anyone‟s name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into
the lake of fire.‖ (Revelation 20:15)

The Book of Revelation is not the only book of the Bible that shows a
vision of what is to come at the End. The Book of Daniel also holds promise of
judgment.

―At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And
there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till
that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall
be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth
shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and
those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.‖ (Daniel 12:1-3)

Certainly, we found the traditional wisdom to be upheld here. The

righteous, those in the Book of Life, will be granted life, and those sinners, those
earthly, those immoral, will be sent down into the lake of fire that is Hell. Indeed,
God‘s judgment does not even escape Death itself.

―Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death,
the lake of fire.‖ (Revelation 20:14)

The second death. First, the physical bodies die, and then sinners are
sent to some sort of second death. Revelation 20:6 tells us clearly who will not be
sent to that second death. ―Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first
resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests
of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.‖ But still,
no answer remains for those unrighteous who do not accept Christ according to
God‘s own predestined plan.
The predicament becomes clear in the particular chronology of the verses
following Revelation 20:14.
 THE CIRCLE
Gwx
―The nature of God is a circle of which the center is everywhere and the circumference is nowhere‖
-Empedocles

Traditional wisdom among the Church is that at the End, those who
forsake God will be sent to eternal punishment in Hell, while those who believe
and call Christ ‗Lord‘ will be spared from this fate and instead receive eternal life
in Heaven. We did not seek to challenge this thought at the onset of our search
for answers, but a challenge arose nonetheless.
As we discovered previously, the Bible supports very clearly an earthly
hell. This Hell-Earth is described with the same language throughout the Bible as
―The Pit,‖ ―Sheol,‖ ―Hades,‖ and also, ―the lake of fire.‖ As we have come to know
it, the earth we exist in right now, is Hell. This placed another question on our
growing list of questions during this process.

If Earth is Hell, and Earth is temporary, how can there be eternal punishment?

And further still, how can sinners be sent back to a place that will be ravaged
and destroyed according to the Book of Revelation? An attention to the
chronology in Revelation is what will give us the answers to these questions.

―and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur
where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night
forever and ever.‖ (Revelation 20:10)

―And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead
who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had
done.‖ (Revelation 20:13)

―Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death,
the lake of fire.‖ (Revelation 20:14)

―And if anyone’s name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the
lake of fire.‖ (Revelation 20:15)

―Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had
passed away, and the sea was no more.‖ (Revelation 21:1)

From the account given to us all within the Book of Revelation, we can see
that the lake of fire and sulfur (brimstone) will be a part of the devil‘s torment
forever and ever. He goes first, sent back to his earthly realm. Then, Death and
Hades (Earth) deliver up to God the dead that reside in them until Judgment Day.
Then, Death and Hades (Earth), those temporary things, are returned to the lake
of fire. The sinners are then cast back to Earth. And then, finally, John sees a
new heaven and a new earth. This is a new earth that is populated, apparently,
by the souls of the sinners who have never accepted God or Christ.
 Such a thought brings new light to verses like Deuteronomy 32:22.

―For a fire is kindled by my anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the
earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.‖

It seems then, that the descriptions of Hell as a place of liquid fire, pits,
depths, and earthly tombs are more accurate than we had first imagined. We
know very well of a place that is made of liquid fire and sulfur.
According to the Nevada Seismological Lab at the University of Nevada,
Reno; ―The earth is divided into four main layers: the inner core, outer core,
mantle, and crust. The core is composed mostly of iron (Fe) and is so hot that
the outer core is molten, with about 10% sulfur (S).‖
Suddenly, setting fire on the foundations of the mountains doesn‘t at all
seem like metaphor, but more in line with a typical volcanic eruption. And, based
on what we have learned about the nature of Earth as Hell, it takes no leap of
faith at all to combine the two descriptions.

 There is a lake of fire that contains liquid (molten) sulfur.

 Hades (Sheol) is temporary and earthly.
 The earth delivers up the dead who have awaited judgment.
 The earth (Hades) is then sent back to the lake of fire.
 The sinful and damned return also to this earthly hell.
 There is then a new earth.

Going forward to Revelation 21, we see that God has even more
interesting things to say about this time of turmoil and change.

―And He who was seated on the throne said, ―Behold, I am making all things new.‖ Also
He said, ―Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to
me, ―It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the
thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. He who overcomes
will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. But as for the
cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral,
sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with
fire and sulfur, which is the second death.‖ (Revelation 21:5-8)

God states very simply that He is making all things new. Both heaven and
hell, that is earth, are being made new and those who believe in Him shall be
with Him in heaven, whereas those who don‘t believe in Him shall be given their
portion on earth. But, strangely enough, the story does not end there.
God is the beginning and the end. He is both. He is eternal. He is all
things, and is unchanging and invariable. In the pages of Revelation, we see that
God is beginning a new creation. Perhaps it is similar to His first creation? We
turned our attention to the Book of Genesis for clarity on this subject.
 GENESIS - THE BEGINNING AGAIN
Hllxt
―The beginning is the most important part of the work.‖
-Plato

―In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.‖ (Genesis 1:1)

―The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.‖
(Genesis 1:2)

And now, we‘ve started to gain more understanding, not only about the
beginning and the end, but also about God Himself. At first glance, Genesis 1:2
seems to discount any sort of ―return to earth‖ for the condemned. Clearly, if the
earth is without form and void, it cannot hold anything. It is not solid or physical at
this point.
The Hebrew tells a different story, however. By returning to the original
language of the Old Testament, we learn that sometimes, modern translations
can affect our entire view of things completely.
In their Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon, Brown, Driver, Briggs, and
Gesenius offer more than one translation for the Hebrew words for ―without
form,‖ ―void,‖ and ―the deep.‖

֙‫ ֹת֙הּו‬- (tohuw) - confusion, unreality, wasteland, place of chaos

‫ ָו ֹת֔הּו‬- (bohuw) - emptiness, void, waste
‫ ְת ה ֹת֑ ם‬- (tehowm) - deep, deep places, abyss, the grave

Perhaps, then, a more accurate reading of Genesis 1:2 is ―The earth was
a [deep, confusing, wasted, place of chaos] and darkness was over [the grave.]‖
How drastically that would change our view of the world in which we live! The
redefinition goes further still, beginning with Genesis 1:3. ―Then God said, ―Let
there be light‖; and there was light.‖
In our darkened wasteland, we are in desperate need of light. Those in
heaven, by contrast, do not need such grace.

―The [New Jerusalem] had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the
glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.‖ (Revelation 21:23)

What deeper revelations can come now from the Book of Genesis?
Indeed, what fog of confusion and uncertainty can now be wiped away when we
read the Biblical accounts as a circle instead of the traditional line?
First, the odd chronology of the creation of man is brought under the
microscope, so to speak. In Genesis 1:27, it is said that ―God created man in His
own image; in the image of God He created them; male and female He created
them.‖ Then later, in Genesis 2:1, it is said that ―…the heavens and the earth,
and all the host of them, were finished.‖
It is not until Genesis 2:7 that we begin to see the tale of Adam unfold.
God has formed Adam for a specific purpose, which is to ―put him in the garden
of Eden to tend and keep it.‖ (Genesis 2:15) Then, of course, came Eve, brought
forth from Adam‘s rib.
Based upon a linear chronology, the story of the creation simply defies
logic. But, in a circular chronology, we may better understand that God has
indeed made all things new as was said in Revelation. New people, new souls,
have been sent to populate the new earth. And then God sets Adam apart for a
specific purpose, which at first seems inconsequential, but is actually much
grander.

Adam begot Seth begot Enosh begot Cainan begot Mahalalel begot Jared begot Enoch
begot Methuselah begot Lamech begot Noah. Noah begot Shem begot Arphaxad begot
Salah begot Eber begot Peleg begot Reu begot Serug begot Nahor begot Terah begot
Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac begot Jacob begot Judah begot Perez begot Ram begot
Amminadab begot Nahshon begot Salmon begot Boaz begot Obed begot Jesse begot
David. David begot Solomon begot Rehoboam begot Abijah begot Asa begot
Jehoshaphat begot Joram begot Uzziah begot Jotham begot Ahaz begot Hezekiah begot
Manasseh begot Amon begot Josiah begot Jeconiah begot Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel
begot Abiud begot Eliakim begot Azor begot Zadok begot Achim begot Eliud begot
Eleazar begot Matthan begot Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, ―of whom was
born Jesus who is called Christ.

Indeed, even the presence of the serpent among God‘s chosen man
almost demands an answer. But as we know from Job 1:7, ―And the LORD said
to Satan, ―From where do you come?‖ So Satan answered the LORD and said,
―From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.‖‖
Satan had been cast to the earth in the time of the End! It is part of his
torment forever and ever that he should remain among the corrupted and vile
place that is both Hell and Earth.
Still more interesting, though, is Genesis 4:16-17. ―Then Cain went away
from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city,
he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.‖
From where did Cain‘s mysterious wife come? Certainly, she, like Cain,
was one who had been sent away from the presence of the Lord during a
previous ―End.‖ And the curiosities of a circular chronology in our existence do
not stop there.

―He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon
the light. Behold, God does all these things, twice, three times, with a man, to bring
back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life.‖ (Job 33:28-30)

―But nothing unclean will ever enter [the New Jerusalem], nor anyone who does
what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.‖
(Revelation 21:27)

―Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of
life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and
 sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone
who loves and practices falsehood.‖ (Revelation 22:14-15)

The verses in Revelation beg a peculiar question. Why must it be stated

that no unclean or immoral person can enter the city? Is that not implied by the
rest of Revelation wherein the unrighteous are thrown back to, in traditional
wisdom, be destroyed, tormented, and otherwise vexed as eternal punishment?
Certainly, more understanding comes from a logical deduction of the text
presented.
If it must be stated that the unrighteous cannot enter, then the unrighteous
must still exist in a form that allows them to attempt to enter the city at all,
thereby allowing us to reason that the unrighteous will also be returned to a life
that allows them to act upon their desires. This is very unlike the traditional
hellish prison of demonic enslavement and unrelenting bondage.
But what does all of this truly mean? Where do we go from here? The
pieces have not quite fit completely. There is still more to understand, but in
order to do so, we must compile all of this new wisdom. There is a bigger picture
here, to be sure.
 NEW PURPOSE - NEW LIFE
Rcy
―It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.‖
-Ernest Hemingway

Taking stock of what we now have before us thanks to God‘s Word, we

can state that:

 God is omnipotent. God is omniscient. God is all-loving.

 God has predestined a plan for everyone based upon His ability to see our
choices from before time began.
 We have gone astray from God and perverted his good creation.
 We live in an earth that is Hell.
 We have no way to save ourselves from this due to our total depravity.
 The unrighteous are condemned to another life on this Earth-Hell after a cycle
of life, death, judgment, and new life again.
 The righteous and faithful are not sent back to Earth-Hell, but instead live with
Christ and God for eternity.
 It is our connection with God, the Spirit, that allows us to achieve this eternal
life because the spirit cannot be destroyed, only ignored or denied.
 Allowing our flesh and our corrupted soul to die (for/with/because of) Christ is
to gain this life that He promises.
 Christ died upon the cross simply because God loved this world so intensely,
that His love defies our perverted human understanding.

We have now come full circle. Back again, to where we began. It has
come to us, the writers that the truth is, as Genesis 6:5 states, ―every intention of
our thoughts is only evil.‖ So evil, so debased, and so distorted that we have
even sought to change the very nature of God. We have sought to make Him,
His plan, and our own existence into a linear thing. From Beginning to End, a one
way course, but that is simply not what the Scripture says.
God is both Beginning and End, at the same time! God is invariable, God
is unchanging, and God is infinite. Thankfully, there does exist something in our
understanding that shares all of these properties with God; a circle. We have
written briefly on this above, but it bears repeating here.

 A circle is infinite, having no beginning or end, rather one point serves as

both beginning and ending to a complete circle
 In any, and every circle, the circumference divided by the diameter is always
π (pi) thus making all circles invariable.

God‘s own word, the Holy Bible, is circular. The End returns once more to
the Beginning, ad infinitum. And so, we return to God‘s plan as part of His own
omniscience. God‘s nature, as defined by the Bible, is one of love for all. His
plan, then, must extend to all of us.
Truly, God‘s plan of judgment is remarkably like that of a father to his
children. Disobedience results in punishment, but never complete banishment,
for though we are punished, we may still call out to Him from our place of
bondage and He will deliver us from it. Further, God‘s plan is such that our
choices are of no consequence to Him. (Certainly, there are consequences for
us, however.) Regardless of where our souls end up after this life (or the next, or
the next, or the next…) God has our best interests at heart.
Our purpose, the human purpose, then undergoes a vast redefinition in
itself. God has foreseen it all, and in his infinite, all-loving mercy, He has set it so
that we will be given a chance to understand Him for what He truly is, love,
complete and incarnate.
Throughout this journey, we, the writers, have found ourselves challenging
anything and everything that we have been taught or have come to know
ourselves about God and His ways. Our choices precede us, we cannot ever
know the future, we will never fully comprehend what lies ahead of us, but we
can certainly take a brief moment to stop and look behind us.
What we see there is evidence—evidence of the minute and magnificent
works of God. All that he does for us is laid bare and made readily apparent in
His Word. In every verse, every single word of the Bible, there is a picture of a
God who not only loves, but forgives, prepares, admonishes, promises, protects,
delivers, sustains, comforts, and dies, just for us, His creation; His beloved.
The truest testament to God‘s loving nature is fulfilled and completed in
the one Man whom we have spoken of only briefly in this document; spoken of
only as a tangent to all of the other questions and concerns and clarity that we
have received from it. That Man is Jesus.
 JESUS CHRIST
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“Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming self.‖
-St. Francis of Assisi

―A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his
enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act.‖
-Mahatma Gandhi

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in
him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

―but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who
has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the
gospel.‖ (2Timothy 1:10)

―Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive
sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are
raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not
fall away on account of me." (Matthew 11:4-6)

―and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make
you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.‖ (2Timothy 3:15)

―She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will
save his people from their sins.‖ (Matthew 1:21)

―and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who
rescues us from the coming wrath.‖ (1Thessalonians 1:10)

―Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been
called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ:‖ (Jude 1:1)

―The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ―Behold, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world!‖ (John 1:29)

―knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your
forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious
blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.‖ (1Peter 1:18-19)

―And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their
testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.‖ (Revelation 12:11)

―Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in
Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,‖ (Ephesians 1:3)

―And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, ―Those who are well have no need of a
physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.‖
(Mark 2:17)
 ―but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for
us.‖ (Romans 5:8)

Truly we have said what we believe, and we say it again now. All of our
choices, and all of your choices, have already been made in the eyes of God. He
has predestined you to be in exactly this point at exactly this time. We have
come, charged to understand not what these choices mean, but instead, what
the love of God means.
How deep it is, and how powerful? Rarely are we gifted with the ability to
see the full spectrum of consequence that our choices hold in store for us. This is
one of those rare moments. Perhaps, you find yourself having read this
document as a believer, perhaps as an unbeliever. Perhaps you have been given
this writing after a quest for answers, or a longing for truth. Whatever your
circumstances may be, we do not know, but we are completely certain that at this
point, you will make a choice.
That choice will carry with it consequences. That choice will be based
upon what you have come to know, and what you hope to know in the future. Will
you accept God‘s love into your heart, or will you turn away from Him again? Will
you acknowledge the power of Christ and His salvation from sin, or will you suffer
yet more?
As a believer, perhaps you have come to this moment in order to
re-dedicate yourself to Christ once more. Perhaps God has purposed you to read
this text in order to see all that He has done for you throughout your life. Again,
however you may find yourself at this moment, we urge you as Christ urges all of
us; count the cost.
God has prepared for you a place with Him, and perhaps today is the day
that you realize this fact. We hope, with great love for you, that you read the
words written below, and invite Jesus into your life, that you no longer ignore the
spirit that connects you with God Himself.

Dearest Heavenly Father,

I realize now that I am a sinner.
I have turned my eyes from You, and for that, I am sorry.
I ask, LORD, that you forgive me
For my wrongs against You and against Your people.
I invite You, Lord, into my life at last.
I desire to live eternally with You, and for You.
I pray, Lord, that my heart is remade by Your love
And that Your presence in my life will be forever apparent
To all who see me from this point forward.
I love You, God, and in Your precious Name,
I pray all of these things.
AMEN.
 CONCLUSION
@wo
―This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.‖
-Winston Churchill

We hope that the difference between knowing and walking will be made
apparent to you, not by the actions of the people that surround you, but by the
God that loves you. For, as Jesus Christ said, ―no one is good except God
alone.‖ All that we do is corrupt and selfish and will only lead to destruction. All
that He does is righteous and loving and will lead everyone to life.
It was stated above, but it must be stated once more for the sake of
memory. We firmly, and unequivocally, believe that every man, woman, and child
on this earth is here for a reason that has been ordained by none other than God
Himself, and that according to God‘s own perfect plan, every person will come to
accept Him in God‘s appointed time.
It is our final wish, then, that God‘s appointed time for you comes sooner
than later. Whatever time, that is, however, we will certainly join in the celebration
and rejoicing for you, because we, in accordance with God‘s teaching in our
lives, love you.
May His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.