Ron Garber Ministries  

You may wonder how a righteous God had predestined some people to be saved... "according to the kind intention of His will;" (Eph.1:5,5) "...according to His purpose... after the counsel of His will;"  (Eph.1:11) and has sent others to hell to be in torment for all eternity? The answer is simple - He doesn't!

I read once of a 12 year old child that was found in a cage in the basement of a house. She was being treated like an animal, living in filth and feces, and had the mental development of a five year old. A normal person is appalled when we hear of someone being treated in such a manner. In fact, there is nothing that a person could possible do that would justify someone treating another human being in such a manner. Punishment may be justified but that type of treatment is truly a sadistic means of punishment. Yet, these same normal people believe their God, who loved the world so that he gave His only begotten Son to save those who believe, would inflict eternal, unceasing TORMENT upon people. If we, being evil, would not devise such a mistreatment for a person, how can we think God, who is love, would? Most people will say they do not believe in torture, yet, believe in a god who will torture people forever.

I have heard people say that if you don't preach a eternal punishment in hell, people will not get saved. What a distorted gospel! No one comes to God because they do not want to go to hell. We are drawn to God through Jesus because God chose us. Jesus did not teach that if you didn't believe in Him you would burn forever in hell, nor did His disciples. I can remember, during times of revivals, men preached all about the torment of hell and it would bring people to the alter to repent because of the fear of hell. In the light of day their fear would vanish along with their salvation.

I remember when I first started looking to the Holy Spirit to guide me into the truth. One of the first things I asked was where does it say the soul is eternal? After searching to no avail for Scriptures to back up what I had been told repeatedly, I asked Lord where were the Scriptures? An inward voice seem to say go to Genesis. I did and read, "Then the LORD God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of Us , knowing good and evil, and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever' - therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden." (Gen.3:22-23) It was a revelation! For suddenly I realized that man had not been created with eternal life and had never taken of "the tree of life."

So how does one obtain eternal life? "He who has the Son has the life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life." (1Jn.5:12) "For the wages of sin is death, but the FREE GIFT of God is ETERNAL LIFE in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom.6:23) In order to have eternal life you must have Jesus. Only what is eternal can impart life that is eternal. Death means the cessation of life.

Now the Word says, "There will certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked." (Ac.24:15) So what is the outcome? "And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and DEATH and HADES gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then DEATH and HADES were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, (that book that was written from the foundation of the world) he was thrown into the lake of fire." (Rev.20:12-15)

The Word speaks of eternal judgement (Heb.6:2), eternal punishment (Mat.25:46), and eternal fire (Ju.1:7). It is not the judgement, the punishment, or the fire that is eternal but the effects of them. The effects of the judgement will be eternal; there will be no future pardon. The effects of the punishment are eternal; there is no purgatory. The effects of the fire will be eternal; for what is thrown into it will be no more. "Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, ......are exhibited as an example in undergoing the PUNISHMENT of ETERNAL FIRE." (Ju.1:7)

Think about it. The fire that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah is no longer burning, but the effect of the fire was eternal for those cities were NEVER rebuilt, or ever will be. Many cities were destroyed in times past and rebuilt, but not Sodom and Gomorrah. God made sure of that, for those cities are now covered by the dead sea.

2 Thessalonians 1:9, speaks of eternal destruction. How can something suffer destruction forever? That is an oxymoron! It is not the destruction that is eternal, it is the effect of the destruction that is eternal.

I will not attempt to answer all the Scriptures that have been distorted to support this "hell" men have created, but I hope to explain some of the biggest misunderstandings. There are several names applied to this place: Hell, Gehenna, and Hades. Jesus said, "And you Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades."  (Mat.11:23) This did not mean, nor do I believe anyone thinks, that the city of Capernaum is in Hades burning in torment forever. What we do know is that Capernaum was destroyed. So Hades that Jesus was speaking of was a realm of punishment and destruction.

Let look at the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. (Lu.16:19-31) The rich man represents the Jews, who had the Law through Moses and all the prophets, and the riches of God's grace upon them, but reject the Christ. Lazarus means "whom God helps." He represents the poor Gentiles who, like dogs, beg for the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. Remember the Syrophenician woman. (Mat.15:21-28) The parable is saying that the Jews will be cut off and be in torment while the Gentiles will enter into the blessings of Abraham. The Jewish nation is now spiritually dead. (Rom.11:15) They were once exalted to heaven but now they have a partial hardening, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; then all Israel shall be saved. (Rom.11:25-28) The rich man did not ask to be taken to the bosom of Abraham, he only asked for relief from his misery. The Jews have been persecuted all over the world, yet, they have not accepted the Messiah so they can enter into all the promises made to Abraham. Abraham answered the rich man saying, "If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead."  (Lu.16:31) And we see, just as it was written, that the Jews did not believe when Jesus rose from the dead.

We all know of cases where someone's husband or mother or father died and was not a Christian. It is hard for them to think of their loved one spending an eternity in torment. I've even heard a preacher comfort one person by saying, "Maybe they repented and accepted Jesus in the last moments before they died." I know of one grieving mother, whose unsaved son was killed instantly in a car accident trying to get away from the police. She prayed about it until she, herself, gave a message in tongues and interpretation, saying, "He believed just before the car hit the tree and was saved."

People believe in that place of eternal torment created by the Catholic Church until a unsaved relative dies and then they attempt to find a way of getting them out of "hell." They have no problem with those they do not know being thrown into "hell." Some even look forward to seeing those who laughed at them about being saved burning in "hell." When Oral Roberts' drug addicted son committed suicide, a minister consoled him by saying that God turned Him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his soul could be saved. If that was the case then God, in order to be a just God and not a respecter of persons, would be required to turn every sinner over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that their soul could be saved.

Do you see how Scripture can be twisted and taken out of content? Paul, when instructing the church to turn a man over for the destruction of his flesh, was speaking about a brother who had committed an immoral act. (1Cor.5:1-5) When he was upon his deathbed from sickness brought on him by Satan, the man realized his sin and repented. Afterward, Paul wrote and urged them... "to reaffirm your love for him."  (2Cor.2:6-8)

"And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, ....and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." (Rev.20:10) Some words can have several meanings - such is the case of the Greek word translated into English "forever" and "ever." It can mean continuous duration, a space of time; or an age. If it meant eternal, it would be saying, "....and they will be tormented day and night for eternity and eternity." Another oxymoron!

So, in the light of the Scriptures and what we know about God, how could we possibly believe our God will put people into a place of torment to be tortured for all eternity?

Ron