Daily Devotional, Year 2 – JUNE 27 (Eternal Torment? Part 10: “Endless Stripes?”)

By admin On January 16th, 2021

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Daily Devotional, Year 2 – JUNE 27

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Eternal Torment?

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Part 10:

“Endless Stripes?”

To read Part 1, click here… “September 8th (Eternal Torment?)”

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“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;

and there shall be no more death,

neither sorrow, nor crying,

neither shall there be any more pain:

for the former things are passed away.”

Revelation 21:4

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A person has to ignore so many scriptures to arrive at the conclusion that the wages of sin is “Eternal Torment”!

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But more than that, a person has to ignore the character of God, as revealed in the wonderful and glorious character of Jesus Christ.

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“…HIS THRONE IS UPHOLDEN BY MERCY”

Oh yes, God is a God of Judgment! But He also is a God of Mercy!

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And so, as it is written… “Mercy and truth preserve the King: and His throne is upholden by mercy.” Proverbs 20:28

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**And so, just how a person could believe the unbiblical church-doctrine of “Eternal Torment”, while telling the world that God is so tender and merciful, is truly mystifying!**

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Because, if more than 90% of the world’s inhabitants will be tormented in fire for all eternity, just where is the Good News?

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A GIANT CLUB

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Well, on the other hand, the doctrine of “Eternal Torment” does indeed make a giant club to hit over the heads of all rejecters of Christ!

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It is a huge cudgel to supposedly “force people into submission” to accept Salvation. This “terrifying people into church”, perhaps, is one big reason why the leaders of the churches, through the centuries, have tenaciously clung to this old catholic doctrine.

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Brooklyn Museum – The Rich Man In Hell – James Tissot – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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A PARABLE IS MERELY A PARABLE!

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But just because “Eternal Torment” has been the long-held traditional doctrine of the apostate churches throughout the past centuries, does not make it in the least little bit, a true doctrine!

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The fact is, one has to diminish many Bible texts and truths to arrive at this unthinkable idea! EVEN IF the Parable of the Rich Man & Lazarus were to be interpreted literally, it could not be discovered that the Rich Man was eternally tormented.

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**It just doesn’t say anything about “eternal torment” in that parable!**

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Hell – Jan van Eyck Diptych – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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RICH MAN & LAZARUS

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But truth-be-told, the Rich Man & Lazarus is only a parable, and cannot be interpreted literally.

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It has just too many inconsistencies and impossibilities for it to be considered anything else but a parable!

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And parables were not given to be interpreted literally, but rather, to present spiritual and allegorical concepts! That’s why they sometimes make no literal sense!

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And come on! Who really believes that Lazarus was actually sitting in Abraham’s lap?

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And who really believes that the lost multitudes will have physical bodies throughout eternity, as the Rich Man had in the parable?

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Or that he really begged for merely one tiny drop of water? Most people would concede that the drop of water represented a tiny drop of mercy and grace.

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God has put in these obvious absurdities (and other similar impossibilities) to make it clear that this story is not to be interpreted literally, but spiritually!

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Rich Man & Lazarus – Wikimedia – Public Domain

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STRIPES (LASHINGS) ARE NOT ENDLESS

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Now there is another inconsistency with this church-doctrine known as “Eternal Torment”.

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Listen… “And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to His will, shall be beaten with many stripes (lashings). But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.” Luke 12:47, 48

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Now most teachers apply this beating to the punishment of the wicked throughout eternity. But this above passage cannot be speaking of “Eternal Torment” since those who burn in the Lake of Fire are to supposedly roast in fire throughout the ceaseless ages. This is what the apostate church believes.

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And let’s face it! “Eternal Torment” could never be considered to be merely forty lashes, but rather “infinite lashes”!

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Brooklyn Museum – The Rich Man In Hell – James Tissot – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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And this is the point of today’s devotional. Stripes (lashings) are not endless.

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Exclamation Mark – Wikimedia – Public Domain

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NOT TO EXCEED 40 STRIPES

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Listen…“And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number. Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy Brother should seem vile unto thee.” Deuteronomy 25:2, 3

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This above passage presents a huge concept which many “Eternal Torment” advocates completely miss! People despise an unmerciful judge, don’t they? There have been many books and even movies made which portray an unmerciful judge. And this passage even confirms this truth, when it says, “lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy Brother should seem vile unto thee.” Deuteronomy 25:3

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Forty stripes – Wikipedia – US Public Domain.

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WHO IS MY BROTHER?

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And in this passage “thy brother” is probably speaking of both the judge, but also, the man being punished, since Jesus is our true Judge, but Jesus also is our true “Brother” (Hebrews 2:11, 12). And this passage too, is also very much the “Spirit of prophecy”, and very much is the “testimony of Jesus”.

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**Listen…“for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” Revelation 19:10. And so, the entire Bible is prophetic!**

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In other words, all those Old Testament Laws were shadows of the Gospel. And they were signs, pointing to Christ. And this Law concerning stripes is also the Spirit of Prophecy, pointing to the Eternal Judgment of God.

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And so, this whole entire notion that billions of lost souls will receive endless stripes (lashings) from God is just not supported by the Bible. And it’s certainly not supported by these passages concerning the judgments of receiving stripes!

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Holy Bible – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Lic.

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JESUS NO LONGER ON CROSS

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And really, if the wages of sin were “Eternal Torment”, then Jesus would still be on the Cross, wouldn’t He? So, because He’s no longer being punished for our sins, this whole notion of “Eternal Torment” doesn’t make a lick of sense! And those who try to philosophize why Jesus did not have to go through “Eternal Torment” can probably “convince the choir” as the saying goes.

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But those honest-hearted souls who love the truth will not be satisfied with hearing such convoluted wrestlings with Scripture.

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We must search the Scriptures for our own selves, with the same nobility of those noble Bereans who, “These (Bereans) were more noble…in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Acts 17:11

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USMC – Prayer before Bible study – Wikimedia – Public Domain

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To read Part 11, click here…

JULY 15 (Eternal Torment? Part 11: ”Is God A ‘Good Cop/Bad Cop’?”)

Hans Thoma – The angry god, Jupiter – Wikipedia – Public Domain

Jesus – Woman why weepest thou – Jesus – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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TODAY’S PRAYER…

“Dear Lord, Give me a love for truth which causes me to insist on finding any and every related passage on any questionable doctrine…

Girl Praying – Wikimedia – Public Domain

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THE END

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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN

Info & pics of constellations on this site from Wikipedia & International Astronomical Union (click here)

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MOON’S 1ST FACE

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Tilt your head slightly to the left

Do you see a man’s face?

It’s that proverbial “Man in the Moon”. We’ve always taken it for granted. But now we’re learning that God is responsible for creating this Nocturnal Watchman. You see, God has etched Signs in the Moon, long ago.

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A story? Yes. And just now He is revealing those Signs. Just now He is telling that story.

God promised that His covenant with David (who represented Christ) “shall be established for ever as the Moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.” Psalm 89

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Full moon over 96th St – by ed yourdon – cropped image – Wikimedia – Share-alike License

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TOMORROW…

JUNE 28 (Flee To The Mountain! Part 2: Am I A Pillar of Salt?)

Mrs. Lot Flees , turns to salt – www.christianimagesource.com

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20+ MINUTE AUDIO STUDY IN JEREMIAH

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ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) ARE ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN FOLLOWING THIS 650+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH EACH DAY ON THIS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.

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THIS STUDY #543 IS PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING…

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above picture: Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.org – Public Domain

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Those who are interested in using photos on this page may click on provided link below each photo, to get to Wikimedia Commons for various licensing details & tags, and all other necessary information on any particular photo. Most tall, narrow photos have been cropped or reduced by this website to make them a better fit on phone screens.

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