Eschatology
The wicked will be annihilated, and they will be as if they had never
existed |
Many
sects teach that the wicked will be annihilated, that is to say, they will be
condemned to extinction (which is the second death). Therefore, according to
their teaching, the ultimate end of the wicked is annihilation or extinction
of being. |
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Jehovah’s
Witnesses. Total annihilation is the doom of the ‘goats’ (that is, the
enemies of the Jehovah’s Witnesses) at the battle of Armageddon (cf. Let God Be True, page 97); of all
those who will not be raised during the millennium, such as Adam, Eve, Cain,
those who died in the flood, the people of Sodom, Judas Iscariot, and the
religions hypocrites of Jesus’ day (cf. Paradise
Lost, page 236; You May Survive Armageddon,
page 354); of all those who, though living on the new earth during the
millennium, refuse to obey God’s kingdom (cf. Paradise Lost, page 237; You
May Survive Armageddon, page 356); and of all who follow Satan in his
final battle (cf. Let God Be True,
page 270). Gehenna, ‘second death,’ and the lake that burns with fire and
brimstone, all stand for total annihilation (cf. The Truth Shall Make You Free, page 364). As you can see,
according to Jehovah’s Witnesses, not all the wicked will rise again, for
some people have already ceased to exist (since they deny that man has an
immortal soul which continues to exist consciously after death, those who
will not be risen again have been plunged by death into the condition of
non-existence). |
The
followers of Herbert Armstrong: ‘Now back to Revelation 20. Verses 13 to 15
indicate that there will then be a last, final resurrection of the
incorrigible who have rejected the eternal salvation offered them. They, with
any such living at the end of the Millennium, will then die the second death
– utter extinction – in the lake of fire …’ (Herbert W. Armstrong, The Incredible Human Potential,
Pasadena, California, 1978, page 164) |
The
Way International. Death for the believer is referred to as falling asleep
because in sleep there is an awakening point. But for the unbeliever, the
Christ rejector, the ungodly, their resurrection is temporary for they shall
meet a second and final death (Wierwille, Are the Dead Alive Now?, p. 98). |
The
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Even
some people who are regarded as Evangelicals – such as Clark Pinnock, John
Wenham, Philip Hughes, and Stephen Travis [1] - teach ‘annihilationism.’ |
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Confutation |
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The
wicked will be tormented forever, that is, they will suffer unspeakable
torments for all eternity. That’s what the Scripture teaches about the final
destiny of the wicked. |
Let
us look at the passages of the Scripture which attest what I have just said. |
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Jesus said about those who on that day will be put on His left: “And these
shall go away into everlasting punishment” (Matthew 25:46). |
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Paul says to the Thessalonians: “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to
recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled
rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his
mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God,
and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the
glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9). |
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John wrote these words in the book of Revelation: “And the third angel
followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his
image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall
drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture
into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and
brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the
Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they
have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and
whosoever receiveth the mark of his name” (Revelation 14:9-11). |
Please
note this expression “and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever
and ever” which indicates that their torment will be without end; and note
also this other expression “they have no rest day and night” which indicates
that those people will have no rest for all eternity, unlike those who will
live forever with the Lord about whom the Scripture says that they will rest
from their labours. |
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John wrote in the book of Revelation that the false prophet and the beast and
the devil will be thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where they
“shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).
Obviously, since the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers,
whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars will be thrown into the lake
of fire and brimstone, it follows that they also will be tormented forever
and ever (Revelation 21:8). |
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Jesus said: “And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for
thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to
be cast into hell [gehenna] fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is
not quenched” (Mark 9:47-48). |
I
want to point out that in Gehenna (or the lake of fire) the worm of the
wicked does not die and the fire is not quenched, which indicates that their
torment will be continuous, endless. |
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Jude said about |
That
means that when the inhabitants of those wicked towns rise again on that day,
they will be sentenced to everlasting torment and will be cast into the
everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. However, at the
present time the inhabitants of those towns are being tormented by fire
because they are in a place of torment called Hades (Greek word which means
‘unseen world’ and which is translated ‘hell’ ten times in the King James
Version). |
As
you can see, the above mentioned passages in one way or another speak about
an everlasting punishment which will be inflicted on the wicked, which will
be an everlasting torment into an everlasting fire. I would like to point out
that the everlasting fire is a fire that will last for an endless time, I say this because I know that some assert that one
day this fire will end! But – I ask – if one day it will end how could it be defined everlasting? |
Let
no one deceive you with empty words, the fire prepared for the devil and his
angels into which the wicked will be cast on the day of judgement is
everlasting and all the wicked will be tormented forever into it. |
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Notes |
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[1] Clark Pinnock, "The Destruction of the
Finally Impenitent"; "Fire, Then Nothing," Christianity Today,
20 March 1987, 40-41; John Wenham, The
Goodness of God (London: Inter-Varsity, 1974), 27-41; Philip Hughes, The True Image (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1989), 398 ff.; and Stephen Travis, I Believe in the Second Coming of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1982), 196-99. |