Now seriously and honestly and Scripturally, is there ANY torture in fire going on in sheol? Is there ANY human activity whatsoever going on in sheol? Is there even consciousness in sheol? Of course not—SHEOL IS DEAD! But Christians ASSURE us that sheol/hades/hell is a place of extreme activity, pain, screaming, torture, fire, demons, Satan, etc., etc., etc. Let me make this so simple a child can understand it. Remember the Christian definition of hell in our dictionary:

"hell, the abode of condemned souls and devils... the place of eternal punishment for the wicked after death, presided over by Satan… a state of separation of God… a place of evil, misery, discord or destruction… torment, anguish."

Okay then, here are ten bold key words which define "hell." If these are the proper words and phrases to describe and define "hell" in our English Bibles, then we should find these ten words scattered all through the verses of Scripture which speak of sheol/grave/hell.

Let us now go through all 31 verses of Scripture in which the translated sheol into the English word hell, and count all of the times that we find the words: condemned souls, devils, eternal punishment, Satan, separation of God, evil, misery, discord or destruction, torment, anguish.

Now to the average theologian I have proved absolutely "zero" by my above scholarship. If fact, they might even laugh me to scorn for such antics. However, let it be known that I thank my God many times over that He does not allow my mind to work like the minds of popular theologians!

This little experiment above proves VOLUMES to me regarding the meaning and usage of the Hebrew word sheol. Me thinks that they do lie and deceive when they continue to translate sheol into the modern Christian "hell."

Below I list all of the 65 Scriptural references to sheol in the King James. It appears that they might have used the flip of a coin to determine whether to translate any particular verse as heads or tails. I do this to impress upon your minds the unscholarly, unscriptural, and silliness employed to come up with 31 graves and 31 hells by using the same one word, sheol.

In one verse they would have us believe God is speaking of an "ETERNAL LIFE OF TORTURE IN FIRE," and in another verse using the very same word sheol, they would have us believe all are "DEAD." And they did this SIXTY-FIVE TIMES!

Not once in all 65 verses where we find the word sheol do we find a word associated with Christianity's hell.

What do we find in these verses then? Well, for one thing, in these 65 verses we find the words "death," "dead," or some form of dying (as in ‘slain with the sword’), TWENTY-FIVE TIMES. Yet we do not find any one of the ten words used to describe the Christian hell, even ONCE in all 65 verses. Is anyone out there in computerland beginning to use their own God-given brain just once, instead of listening to the "Church Authorities" (Which Church Authorities Jesus Christ upbraided to high heaven)?

Let’s consider some very interesting translations:

In Psalm 88:6 we read this:

And in Psalm 139:15 this:

But in Deut. 32:22 we read:

Why "hell?" Why not "pit?" We already have Scriptural proof that there are such things as the "lowest pit" and "lowest parts" with absolutely no connection or reference to any kind of hellish torture chamber, so why not use "pit" in Deut. 32:22? Actually "grave" would be better, but since they like to translate sheol as "pit," why not make it pit in Deut. 32:22? You tell me.

In Job 17:13 we read:

"If I wait, the grave [Heb: sheol] is mine house, I have made MY BED in the darkness"

Here we have God telling us that Job will make his "bed" in the darkness of the sheol-grave.

But in Psalm 139:8 we read:

What sense is it for Job to say, "If" he makes his "BED in the sheol-GRAVE," whereas King David considers, "If" he make his "BED in the sheol-HELL?"

Consider also that when people have been buried in graves from time immemorial, they are laid down as in a bed (witness the mummies of Egypt), but in what possible, conceivable way can a person in a "Christian hell" who is supposedly being tortured in literal fire, be considered to be "in BED?" Do Christians never, ever, EVER think about what they are reading? Apparently not to often.

Clearly, Psalm 138:8 should be translated "If I make my bed in the GRAVE…" Furthermore we have Scriptural proof that David was buried in a grave:

And NO, David never went to heaven either:

"For David is not [‘is not’—In both Greek and English, that means "IS NOT’] ascended into the heavens…" (Verse 34).

In Psalm 31:17 we read:

But in Psalm 55:15 we read:

Was this another toss of the coin—heads it’s "grave" or tails it’s hell? In one verse the King James sends the wicked to the grave, and in another the King James sends the wicked to hell.

Do you think they learn these things I am teaching you in seminary? Does it really matter? Does anyone really care? Why should anyone question such trivial things?

Listen to me very carefully: What I am teaching you right here in these pages has to do with whether there is a lick, a smidgen, a crumb, a shred, a tad, a scintilla, an iota of proof or Scriptural evidence that ANYONE ON THE FACE OF THIS EARTH, FOR A PERIOD OF FOUR THOUSAND YEARS, WAS EVER WARNED BY GOD OR A PROPHET, OF AN ETERNAL HELL FIRE OF TORTURE FOR ALL WICKED PEOPLE WHEN THEY DIE.

God clearly and plainly tells us that before He would ever send calamity or evil upon a people, He will first warn them:

"Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in the city, and the Lord has not done it? SURELY, the Lord God will do NOTHING, but He reveals His secret unto His servants the PROPHETS" (Amos 3:6-7).

Has God blown a trumpet to let humanity know that all unrepentant wicked people will be burned in some fabled eternal fires of hell? The Hebrew Scriptures cover four thousand years of human history. Where is there a warning of an eternal hell of torture in fire for the wicked? WHERE? WHERE are the prophets who have warned of such a fate of eternal torture in fire? Where? Give me chapter and verse? Does God LIE? Does God’s Word LIE? Or do your theologians, pastors, and ministers LIE?

Do not the web sites by the hundreds of thousands, LIE? Are not the Bible book stores, and now even the department stores, parading books filled with the lies of babbling religious heretics? Are not the air waves filled with the LIES of televangelists trying to frighten more and more people into sending them more and more money for their $25,000,000.00 private executive jets? Have they no conscience? Have they no shame? Jesus WALKED, Peter, Paul and the apostles WALKED to spread the gospel, but FIRST CLASS on modern jets and limousine service is NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR TODAY’S phony evangelists.

Maybe to some of you that is a very small thing, not even worthy of study. To me it is a GIANT THING because I have seen and experienced the suffering of those who have unfortunately bought into this most "DAMNABLE HERESY AND BLASPHEMY" in all creation, which the Church has fostered upon all of us whom they consider to be, VERY DUMB SHEEP! Well God is giving some of us dumb sheep a voice to expose and make known these damnable heresies to the whole world.

Regardless of how they translate sheol we know from the context in no less than 25 of these verses that sheol is a place of DEATH. Is there any hope for all those who go to sheol in death, which includes every person who has ever died? Yes there is.

I've heard many, many times that hell is "separation from God." And, of course, they translate "hell" in the Old Testament from one word only—sheol. Now then, is this oft-repeated statement in Christendom true? NO, not according to the Scriptures, not according to God—Psalm 139:8:

Sheol cannot separate God from humanity. God is just as surely in sheol as He is in Heaven.

[1] Psalm 49;15:

And Hosea 13:14:

Notice the context of this verse in this chapter as it is speaking of SINFUL Israel. Israel has sinned greatly, they have died, but notice God’s ultimate mercy upon them:

"O Israel, you have destroyed yourself, BUT in Me is your help" (Verse 9).

And so, even though they died in their sins without repentance, yet will God be their help and will "RANSOM them from the power of sheol." But orthodox Christian theology teaches us that once a wicked person goes to sheol there will never ever be a return. They say that there will never be a "second chance" to be saved. As though the Scriptures ever speak of a FIRST CHANCE?

Let me digress for a minute to clear up another damnable heresy of the Church, and that is this unscriptural notion of "chance." The Scriptures know of the carnal concept of "chance." Never, ever is salvation associated with the idea of one having a "chance" to be saved. The word "chance" does not exist in God’s sovereignty, anymore than the words "unpredictable" or "luck."

The American Heritage College Dictionary:

"chance n. 1a. The unknown and unpredictable element in happenings that seem to have no assignable cause."

And do we really think such things exist in God’s economy? For all of you who have read my "Myth of Free Will" series, you know that God is the "cause" of all, and that absolutely nothing is "unpredictable" or "unknown" to Him. Yet twice the translators of the New Testament King James thought it necessary to use the word "chance" in describing that which was not by "chance" at all.

Luke 10:31—"And by chance there came down a certain priest that way…" No, the priest didn’t come down by "chance," but by "coincidence." The Greek compound word translated "chance" is, su[n]g kur I’a. Literally, "together-sanction." Hence "co – incidence"—"Together happen." Sometimes a "coincidence" really seems very strange, but would we expect anything less from a God who does many things that seem strange to us.

I Cor. 15:37—"And that which you sow you sow not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain." Think for a moment think—someone who didn’t actually plant the seed might not know what will come up, but I guarantee that the sower who sowed the seed knows. No one has ever sown a kernel of corn and had a stalk of wheat come up.

The word translated "chance" in this verse is the Greek, tu[n]gch[an]’o, literally "happen [-up]," and can be translated "happen" as in Rotherham’s Translation.

Now, lest anyone thing that there is an element of "chance" involved in this word, notice how it is used in Heb. 8:6—"But now has He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the Mediator of a better covenant…" The phrase "has He obtained" is the translation of this one Greek word tungchano which is translated "chance" in I Cor. 15:37, believe it or not. It merely means "to happen, to obtain, to come about." There is absolutely NO "chance" of anything in Scripture or with God. Salvation has nothing to do with "chance" or "luck" or any such carnal nonsense. Salvation through Christ our Lord is absolutely SURE:

"SURELY [Gk: ge—"a primary particle of emphasis, yet, at least, besides, doubtless, SURELY"], He Who spares not His own Son, but gives Him up for us ALL, how shall He not, together with Him, also be graciously granting us ALL?" (Rom. 8:32, Concordant Literal New Testament).

Is anyone so foolish as to think that the very ministry of our Lord was a thing of "chance?" What a powerful Scripture Rom. 8:32 is when we translate all the words: and yet most Bibles do not even translate this word in their versions. What a shame.

[2] But there is more; a great deal more: "…I will redeem them from DEATH: O death, I will be thy plagues." (Verse 14). We also read this same truth in the New Testament in I Cor. 15:55, but the translators tried to hide it: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave [grave is translated from hades, but the translators tried to hide it by translating it just this once as "grave," whereas every other time they translate hades as "hell"], where is your VICTORY?" Yes, there is "…victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" over hades (Verse 57). This is because: "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is DEATH" (Verse 26).

[3] And what does Hosea say that God will do after He "Ransoms them from the power of SHEOL…" and "…redeems them from DEATH…"? Let’s read it together:

"I will be your plagues; O GRAVE [O SHEOL], I will be your DESTRUCTION…" (Hosea 13:14)!

WOW! We have just seen clear Scriptural proof that there is VICTORY over death and the grave [hades/sheol], and that we (saints AND sinners) will be RANSOMED and REDEEMED, from the power of sheol, and God will be the utter DESTRUCTION of death and the grave [sheol]!

Unrepentant sinning Israel, Sodom, Jerusalem, all the Hitlers of the world and every person who has never even heard the name of Jesus Christ will be raised from the dead and JUDGED in the Great White Throne / Lake of Fire / Second Death Judgment, and then all humanity will be saved and God will be "ALL in All" (I Cor. 15:28). There will never be death again, as it will be completely abolished (I Cor. 15:26) by being destroyed along with hades/sheol in the Lake of God’s Spiritual Consuming Fire (Rev. 20:14).

So why doesn’t the Church teach these marvelous Truths of God? Because the "Synagogue of Satan," (Rev. 2:9), and "Satan’s throne" (Rev. 2:13), and the "depths of Satan" (Rev. 2:24), are in "The Seven Churches of God."

"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceived the whole world: he was cast out into the earth [the ‘earth’ represents those who are called out of the ‘sea,’ but who are not as yet in ‘heaven’—they are the ‘many called’ but not ‘chosen’—the carnal CHURCH!], and his angels were cast out with him" (Rev. 12:9).

There is not one single word in the entirely of the Hebrew Old Testament Scriptures that speaks of the dead in sheol being tortured or burned with fire. There is a Scripture however that speaks of a "refiner’s fire," but the time setting for this fire is not the Old Testament, but rather the New:

Israel and especially the priests mocking ask:

To which God answers:

"Behold, I will send My Messenger before Me: and the Lord, Whom you seek, shall suddenly come to His temple [His people in whom He dwells, I Cor. 3;16], even the Messenger of the covenant [the NEW covenant], Whom you delight in: behold, He shall come, says the Lord of hosts.

Just who are the "sons of Levi" under the New Covenant? Why they are the "chosen elect FEW." Peter describes them:

"But you [those chosen for salvation in this church era] are a chosen generation, a royal PRIESTHOOD, and holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of Him Who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light: Which in time past were NOT a people, but are NOW THE PEOPLE OF GOD…" (I Peter 2:9-10).

Ironically, it is the "people who were NOT a people" that make up the New Covenant "royal priesthood" (II Pet. 2:9). It is the "uncircumcision who are now God’s circumcision people" (Phil. 3:3) It is the GENTILES who are God’s New Covenant "JEW which is one inwardly" (Rom. 2:28). It is the GENTILES who are the New Covenant SPIRITUAL "Israel OF GOD" (Gal. 6:16).

Notice that Peter calls us "a ROYAL priesthood." The word "royal" is translated from the Greek, basileios, and it means "kingly." Peter is speaking of " a KINGLY priesthood" or "KING/PRIESTS." Yes, that is exactly what God calls us:

"And has made us unto our God KINGS AND PRIESTS, and we shall reign on the earth" (Rev. 5:10 & Rev. 2:26-27).

Continuing in Mal. 3:3

Now where do we read of this in the New Testament/New Covenant? Paul makes clear to us that only the "gold, silver, and precious stones" of God’s word in us will survive the "refiner’s fire":

"Now if any man build upon the Foundation [Jesus Christ] gold, silver, precious stones [these are refined and purified and made much more valuable by the fire], [or] wood, hay, stubble [these are totally consumed and burned up by the fire]:

Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by FIRE; [The ‘Refiner’s fire.’ ‘For our God is a CONSUMING [spiritual] FIRE,’ Heb. 12:29]; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself SHALL BE SAVED; yet so as by fire" (I Cor. 3:12-15).

Concluding Mal. 3, verse 3:

It is this "offering in RIGHTEOUSNESS" that the "kings of the earth [we, the chosen elect few, ARE the ‘kings of the earth, Rev. 5:10] do bring their glory and honor [‘an offering in righteousness’] into it [New Jerusalem out of Heaven]" (Rev. 21:24).

THE BLESSINGS AND THE CURSINGS

THE BLESSINGS:

"And all these BLESSINGS shall come on you, and overtake you, IF you shall hearken unto the voice of the Lord your God" (Deut. 28:2).

• Will set you high above all nations on earth
• Blessed in city and field
• Fruit of body, cattle and ground
• Smite your enemies
• Blessed in storehouses
• Blessed in all you set hands to do
• Blessed coming & going out
• All nations will fear you
• Will establish you an holy nation
• Will make you plenteous in all goods
• Shall lend but not borrow
• Be the head and not the tail

THE CURSINGS:

• "But it shall come to pass, IF you will not hearken unto the voice of the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statues which I command you this day; that all these CURSES shall come upon you, and overtake you" (Deut. 28:15).
• Cursed in city and in field
• Cursed in basket and store
• Cursed fruit of body, flocks & land
• Cursed coming in & going out
• Send cursings, till destroyed
• Pestilence will consume you
• Smite with consumption, fever, etc.
• Extreme burning and the sword
• Your heaven as brass & earth as iron
• Smitten by your enemies
• Smite you with botch of Egypt
• Madness, blindness, astonishment of heart
• Shall not prosper in your ways
• Another man will take your wife
• Build a house but not dwell in it
• Plant a vineyard but not partake of it
• Sons & daughters given to foreigner
• Fruit of your lands eaten by other nations
• You will go mad
• Smitten with botch which cannot be healed
• Smite from sole of foot to top of head
• Shall serve other nations and their gods of stone
• You will be mocked among the nations
• Locust eat your fields, worms eat your grapes
• Locust will consume all the trees of the field
• Children will go into captivity
• Strangers within will rule over you
• Strangers will be the head and you will be the tail
• Therefore you shall serve your enemies
• He will put iron on your neck until you are DESTROYED
• You shall have none assurance for your LIFE

Now let’s be completely honest with what we have just read. All of the blessings are physical blessings of food, cattle, children, houses, and safety from enemies from without, in this land, in this life, ONLY. And the Cursings are loss of children, cattle, food, house, and their land, and sickness, disease, pain, suffering in their bodies, and captivity, slavery, bondage, misery, and death and destruction in scattered foreign lands. Nothing more, and nothing less.

Where in all these blessings is there ONE WORD about anything beyond the relatively short life of prosperity and safety in the land? Where is there ONE WORD about an afterlife of blessing with God?

Where in all these cursings is there ONE WORD about anything beyond the relatively short life of disease, poverty, captivity, misery, slavery and death in scattered lands? Where is there ONE WORD about punishment beyond death in an afterlife of pain and punishment in an endless hell? Can we not all agree that it just isn’t there?

Does this mean that the Old Testament contains not a word about an after life? No, not quite. There are a few hints and a prophecy that confirm the dead will live again, but not a word that the DEAD ARE ALREADY LIVING.

RECORDED IN THE LAW:

"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it [Heb: ‘He’—the One Seed, Christ] shall bruise [Heb: ‘hurt’] your [Satan’s] head, and you [Satan] shall bruise [hurt] your heel" (Gen. 3:15).

This prophecy was indeed vague at best to Adam and Eve, and even the Old Testament readers, but it was nonetheless, a positive affirmation that the deceiving work of Satan in the Garden would one day be rectified.

RECORDED IN JOB:

"If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. You shall call, and I will answer you: you will have a desire to the work of your hands" (Job 14:14).

Job was given to understand that there is coming life after the grave. Not IN the grave but after a period of "waiting," and after a "change" takes place.

RECORDED IN PSALMS:

"Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave [Heb: sheol] (Psalm 49:14-15).

David realizes as does the writer of Ecclesiastes, that a person dies just like an animal, and both are consumed away in the grave. But, David was also given to understand that God will "redeem" his soul (the real, sentient David, preserved by God until resurrection back to life into a new body). This will take place in either of two resurrections of the dead.

RECORDED IN THE PROPHETS:

"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting [Heb: ‘eonian’] life, and some to shame and everlasting [Heb: ‘eonian’] contempt" (Daniel 12:2).

Daniel does not tell us when these two resurrections of awakening out of sleep will occur, only that they will. We know from New Testament revelation that the First happens prior to Christ’s reign and the Latter happens after His 1000 year reign. But the hope of an afterlife was made know to at least a few of the Old Testament writers.

Interestingly, Moses never once makes mention of any such thing as a punishment upon the wicked after death, or a blessing upon the righteous after death. We have record of but a handful of men who even knew of an after life, but not one of them suggests and endless punishment for the wicked. From where then did this teaching originate?

Is anyone so foolish as to suggest that possibly God revealed the teaching of an endless punishment upon someone other than His Own chosen people, Israel? From the Garden of Eden, the first five books of the Bible by Moses, and the rest of the Old Testament canon, we find not a word about endless punishment. Neither did the Jews believe in an endless punishment for the wicked. But, by the time of the coming of Messiah, many Jews where thoroughly indoctrinated with this teaching. There is a long void of canon history of some four hundred years from the last prophet Malachi and the coming of Messiah.

What happened during this long period with relation to what the Jews believed regarding the belief in an afterlife? Where did they learn about "endless punishment" if not from their own Scriptures and prophets? From the very opening pages of the New Testament we find that the Jews believed in reincarnation, transmigration of souls, endless punishment, and many other such things.

Did the Greeks originate the doctrines of hades and tatarus? Did the Catholic Church invent the doctrine of purgatory? How could the man blind from birth have sinned and thus be responsible for his own blindness? (John 9:1-3). Why did Jesus ask His disciples who the people were saying Jesus really was? Why did they say that some thought maybe Elijah or another prophet? Why did some Jews think Jesus was John the Baptist, when in reality they were both the same age? We shall answer these and many more things you never learned in Christendom in our next Installment. L.RaySmith