Daily Devotional, Year 2 – SEPTEMBER 15 (Eternal Torment? Part 12: “Outer Darkness”)

By admin On January 16th, 2021

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Daily Devotional, Year 2 – SEPTEMBER 15

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Eternal Torment?

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Part 12:

“Outer Darkness”

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

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“And I say unto you,

That many shall come from the east and west,

and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,

in the kingdom of Heaven.

But the children of the kingdom

shall be cast out into outer darkness:

there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 8:11, 12

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There are many who read this above passage and assume it’s speaking of the church doctrine known as “Eternal Torment”.

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They believe that outer darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth is what all lost souls will be doing for all eternity.

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But such misunderstanding of Scripture and ignorance of God’s character can be corrected by doing a more thorough investigation of the Bible.

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

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SPIRITUAL DARKNESS, NOT HELL!

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**This phrase, “outer darkness” is found three times in scripture…**

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1: One concerning the Centurion’s Servant (Matthew 8),

2: The next in the Parable of the Invitation to the Wedding Feast (Matthew 22)

3: And the third is found in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25).

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**But in all three instances, the phrase, “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” is mentioned by Jesus.**

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But the outer darkness spoken of here is actually concerning the spiritual darkness that covers this unbelieving world. In other words, being cast out into outer darkness has to do with a churchgoer being cast out into spiritual darkness: that is, cast back into this lost world.

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People on Times Square – Wikimedia Commons – Share-Alike License

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GNASHING OF TEETH

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**And “gnashing of teeth” actually is when a person gnashes on his teeth in anger at another person. It’s like a growling or biting and grinding to show one’s anger at another.**

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We read concerning David…

“But in mine adversity they rejoiced,

and gathered themselves together…

With hypocritical mockers in feasts,

they gnashed upon me with their teeth.”

Psalm 35:15, 16

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And so, here we see how an apostate churchgoer will become judgmental and scornful against all the sinful behavior in this rebellious world!

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Brooklyn Museum – What Our Lord Saw from the Cross – James Tissot

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EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW, EVERY TONGUE SHALL CONFESS

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Of course, this could never ever be speaking of the state of “Eternal Torment”. It is utterly absurd to imagine that the lost will be eternally cursing God in some netherworld den of torment.

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All such notions are borne of abject ignorance, not only of God’s Character, but also of how to properly interpret Scripture….

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Listen… “For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord,

every knee shall bow to Me,

and every tongue shall confess to God.”

Romans 14:11

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On Judgment Day, all humanity will confess that they were wrong, and will admit that God is true and righteous and good. This above verse makes that perfectly clear!

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Triumph of Christianity by G. Dore www.christimages.org Limited use license – cropped image – see their website for restrictions

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CHAMBER OF HORRORS?

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Scripture must be properly interpreted by comparing Scripture with Scripture and “comparing spiritual things with spiritual”. 1st Corinthians 2:13

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Oh yes, God purposely put some scriptures in the Bible, which, when taken out of context of the whole and entire Bible, might lead today’s careless and fully indoctrinated Bible teachers to imagine that there is some netherworld chamber of torments.

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After all, this false church-doctrine has been deeply ingrained into the minds of churchgoers for hundreds of years!

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Hell – G. Dore – Wikipedia – Public Domain

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HELL IS EVERLASTING SLEEP

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But when searching the Bible carefully and prayerfully, quite a different picture of Hell begins to emerge…

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For example, listen to Job…

“Why died I not from the womb?…

For now should I have lain still and been quiet,

I should have slept: then had I been at rest,

With kings and counsellors of the earth,

which built desolate places for themselves;

Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:

Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been;

as infants which never saw light.

There the wicked cease from troubling;

and there the weary be at rest.

There the prisoners rest together;

they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

The small and great are there;

and the servant is free from his master.”

Job 3:11, 13-19

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This above passage from Job gives us quite a different picture of death and Hell, wouldn’t you agree?

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Job (oil on canvas) by Bonnat, Leon Joseph Florentin (1833-1922) – Wikimedia – Public Domain

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JESUS, THE LIGHT

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Listen to Jesus’ warning…

“Then Jesus said unto them,

Yet a little while is the light with you.

Walk while ye have the light,

lest darkness come upon you:

for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

While ye have light, believe in the light,

that ye may be the children of light.”

John 12:35, 36

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So here we see that Jesus was speaking of walking in the darkness as a spiritual condition right here on earth!

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Jesus – by H. Bloch – Sermon On The Mount – Wikipedia – Public Domain

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But just how do we walk in the light, and stay in the light?

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This subject and more will be dealt with in PART 2 (click here to read)

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Question Marks – At a loss – svg – Wikimedia Commons – Share-Alike License

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TO READ PART 13, CLICK HERE…

SEPTEMBER 25 (Eternal Torment? Part 13: Tophet NOW!)

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

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TODAY’S PRAYER…

“Dear Lord, Help me to keep my eyes steadfast upon Thee. Let the meditations of my heart be upon Thy Word. Let me pray to the degree that I’m not even aware that I am praying! O let me not be taken away and cast into outer darkness…

The Christian Martyrs Last Prayer – Wikipedia – US 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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“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Six days shall you labour, and do all thy work:

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God:

in it you shalt not do any work,

thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter,

thy manservant, nor thy maidservant,

nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth,

the sea, and all that in them is,

and rested the seventh day:

wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

Exodus 20:8-11

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The Earth seen from Apollo 17 – wikipedia, – NASA, – public domain

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FOURTH SOLAR SYSTEM MEMBER

Counting the Sun as the 1st heavenly sphere, the Earth is the 4th heavenly sphere. If we extend our theory (and it’s just a theory) that God created our solar system to correspond to the commandments, then planet Earth would correspond to the 4th Commandment.

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And so, on the very planet that corresponds to the commandment that exalts the idea of “rest” and “peace”, there exists very little peace. And very little rest. Ironic, isn’t it?

Picture: Solar System NASA public domain

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TOMORROW…

SEPTEMBER 16 (Cuttlefish & The False Prophet, Part 3: All Power, Signs & Lying Wonders, continued)

ABOVE PICTURE: Satan, The False Prophet who now in these last days destroys the churches via a world-loving prosperity-driven false gospel – www.signsofheaven.org

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20+ MINUTE AUDIO JEREMIAH STUDY

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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 IS STUDY #623 PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING…

Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.com – Public Domain

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