On Sunday the 8th of October, 1871, a horrific tragedy occurred that devastatingly affected Chicago city, Illinois and shocked the nation of the United States of America. From a barn house located on the south west of the city of Chicago, a fire spread to the main business district of the city. Coinciding with the intensely dry summer season that year, the fires destroyed over six squared kilometres of area; this included over 17,000 buildings and homes, and leaving thousands homeless and hundreds killed.

With strong southwesterly winds during that dreadful night, spirals of fire spewed in all directions, burning building after building. Rain had extinguished the fire more than 24 hours later, but majority of damage had already been done. Fortunately, the railroads, wharfs, lumberyards, stockyards, mills and especially the city’s world-famous meat processing plants were spared; which were able to provide employment for many of the victims and residents. Renewed efforts were made after to build fireproof buildings.

This imagery relatively depicts the hell-fires preached in most churches. But the well accepted concept that an existing underworld with an everlasting flowing lake of volcanic lava, and tormenting waves of giant flames forever burning sinners when they die, is far from what the Bible, and Jesus taught.

The eternal lake of everlasting burnings is not an exclusively modern church concept, but is also shared in Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and many African and Asian ethnic forms of religion.

For instance, in the Quran, the sacred writings of Islam, it states in Surah Al-Ma’idah 5:37, “They (those that refuse godly teachings) will wish to get out of the fire, but never are they to emerge therefrom, and for them is an enduring punishment.”
Furthermore, the Quran states in Surah Al-A’raf 7:40-41, “indeed, those who deny our verses and are arrogant towards them – the gates of heaven will not be opened for them…they will have from hell a bed and over them [coverings of fire] …”

Another revered text, the Bhagavad Geeta, of Hinduism has a fair bit to say about hell. In the Shree Krishna 16:16-22, the Bhagavad Geeta states, “…These people who are confused by many foul thoughts and evil influences, entangled in the net of unending darkness and obsessive desires for material gains, they are blackened souls who fall down into a foul hell in the end…These devilish people who are cruel, whose soul is filled with hate, and who are among the worst men on earth, are ultimately thrown into destruction by Me the Supporter (Shree Krishna, Hindu Lord)…these people constantly remain in this vast cycle of constant birth and rebirth…Furthermore, they are reborn into lower life forms and into corrupt and evil families. They do not attain the highest state which is refuge in Me, O Arjuna, Instead, they choose to take the darker, lower path which leads to hell… should a man free himself from these three doors, to hell, darkness and destruction, he discovers what is best for his inner spirit (or soul).”

The BIG QUESTION here is WILL SINNERS BURN ETERNALLY IN HELL, UPON THEIR DEATH?

According to the Quran, the answer is yes; and the Bhagavad Geeta defines a re-incarnating cycle of a living hell. So the Bible states eternal burnings also then, right?
I’m here to tell you today that THAT IS NOT TRUE!

The teaching of the immortal soul and everlasting hell burnings did not appear in Christian doctrine until the early third century. It was mainly accredited to Tertullian of Carthage. He adopted many pagan philosophies into Christianity from Greek and Roman philosophy. He said, “For some things are known even by nature: the immortality of the soul, for instance, is held by many; the knowledge of our God is possessed by all. I may use, therefore, the opinion of a Plato, when he declares, ‘Every soul is immortal.’” (Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh, 7308)
Tertullian was directly inspired by Plato, the Greek philosopher, and not the Bible. Consequently, this lake of fire concept has caused great fear and obsession among Christians for the last two thousand years, rather than an increasing belief and love for Jesus.

The most important Bible fact that must leave us peacefully assured, is that no human is or was ever cast into a lake of everlasting burnings upon their last breath. The Bible does teach that there will be an elimination of all those who fail to acknowledge the Creator’s sovereignty and great love for all people, but it won’t be everlasting burnings. But rather, a consuming fire which will entirely consume Satan and his angels, and all those who refuse the laws of God’s government and who mock at the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

To break down in very simple terms what the Bible has to say exactly regarding the wrath of God’s judgement upon the wicked and the stubbornly disobedient, it is vital to understand the composition upon which God formed a human being.

In the first book of the Bible, Genesis 2:7, it states, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

Another Bible verse that is in connection to this subject is, “…and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” Therefore, from these two Bible verses alone, we start to see an illustration of the composition of a human being.

Dust + Breath of God = Living soul. Living soul – Breath of God = Dust. And this is also for the deduction of dust from a living soul. From these two verses, we can deduce that immortality is not given to every person. Which is further supported by the Bible verses Ezekiel 18:4, 20 which states that, “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” The soul does not live on when someone has died. It is the separation of the living breath gifted by God Almighty and the mere dust of the ground. This is then amplified in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” In other words, immortality is a gift from God THROUGH Jesus Christ the Lord. Interestingly, the Bible further mentions in Psalm 115:17, “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.”

In conclusion, how does the destruction of the wicked tie into this? The Bible tells us in Malachi 4:1,3, “ Behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of Hosts. Not a root or branch will be left to them…” (Burned entirely to ash and dust) “Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the LORD Almighty.”

It is crystal clear here that God will destroy the wicked by fire to the extent that they turn into ashes.