In my previous two blogs I have been comparing the reality of hell versus what promoters of Ultimate Reconciliation/Universal Salvation teach.  Most of them take the Bible’s teachings on hell to be symbolic.  They essentially say it is a place for correction rather than for punishment and that people will be released from it after they have learned their lessons.  They say that the Old and New Testament words for “eternal” and “forever” mean an “age” (see last blog). The following Scriptures tell a different story and use other words besides “eternal.”   

The workers of iniquity fall and lie prostate, they are thrust down and not able to rise (Ps. 36:12).

He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light (Ps. 49:19).

Let burning coals fall upon them [the wicked]; let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits, that they rise not up again (Ps. 140:10).

They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish (Isaiah 26:14 KJV).

For those who say those in hell will eventually rise again, these verses would beg to differ.

Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.  For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? (Job 27:7-8 KJV).

When a wicked man dies, his expectation will perish, and the hope of the unjust perishes (Prov. 11:7).

For the evil man has not future hope, and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out (Prov. 24:20 NIV).

Clearly the above verse states that there will be no future hope for those who die in their sins contrary to the teaching that everyone will eventually get saved.  For those who go to hell, no hope of getting out exists.  These verses taken together prove that anyone who goes to hell will not eventually get out as some teach.

I am sure some people would say that the above Scriptures are all from the Old Testament and will not accept them.  To them I would point out that Jesus got His doctrine from the Old Testament.  Jesus was partly quoting from Isaiah when He talked about hell where there is fire that will never be quenched, and He and didn’t use the controversial word for “eternal” here:

If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched – where “Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:43-44).

Another argument many unsaved people, who may believe in God, think and say, “God is too good to create a hell and to send people there.”  The Bible teaches that God is a just God.  Anthropologists have discovered in virtually every culture that has existed that people have had a sense of justice and believe it is a good attribute.  They expect and want their leaders to be just.  We hear much in our media and politics of “social justice.”  Whatever you may think of the current brand of “social justice,” the phrase is being used because most people think justice is a good thing.  Therefore, most would agree that if God is good, then He must also be just.

If God is a just God, then He must reward good and punish evil, which the Bible clearly tells us He does.  He would not be a good God if He were not a just God.  It is nonsense to say that God is too good to create and then punish people in hell if in fact He is a good God.  Goodness and justice demand the punishment of the wicked.  

Many people who many believe in a hell think they are too good to be cast there even without being saved by the blood of Jesus.  In other words they don’t consider themselves sinners.
The Old Testament Law such as the Ten Commandments tells us what sin is.  For example: If you have had anything in your life before God, you are an idolater. If you have lied, you are a liar.  If you have stolen, you are a thief and so on.  Jesus said,

“But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Rev. 21:8).

It is just that God should throw sinners in hell or the “lake of fire.”

We are all sinners, who are condemned already if we have not accepted the atonement of Jesus as John 3:18 tells us.  After God made such a costly way for us to be “justified” even though we have all sinned against Him, it is just for Him to condemn anyone who has spurned His son’s sacrifice.  It would be unjust for Him to do anything else.

I have a tract from End-Time Handmaidens, Inc., that tells of a broadcast on TBN in Dec., 1989.  It says Paul Crouch read from a letter about scientists in Russia drilling a nine-mile hole into the earth’s crust.  It was the world’s deepest hole.  They lowered sensitive microphones into the hole to listen to the sounds of the earth.  What they first thought was static in their equipment, they found after tuning that they were actually hearing screams of people in torment.  It scared many of the scientists.  Suddenly, unbelieving Russian scientists believed in a real hell!

While I was studying the doctrine of Ultimate Rec., I was kept from swallowing their arguments by the books I have in my library from people who claim to have been to hell and back for one reason or another.  Some of those books are from a man I heard preach years ago who has since passed away.  It was one of the few times I have ever heard preaching that made me tremble.  His name was Howard Pittman.  He was a Baptist minister who fell off a balcony and was medically dead for a while.  When his spirit left his body, he first stood before the judgment seat of God, who told him He was not pleased with his self-serving life.  Then he gave him a tour of hell.  He was allowed to see several orders of demons by ranks and shown some of their end-time plans for deceiving the nations and trapping many people into going to hell.  This man certainly had a passion for warning people about going to hell.

I have another book published and edited by League of Prayer that John Bunyan wrote.  He is the author of the famous allegory Pilgrim's Progress in the 1600s.  Before he got saved, at one point he was going to kill himself.  Right before he pulled the trigger on his rifle, an angel appeared to him to stop him.  He first was taken on a tour of heaven, where he talked to some of the famous people of the Bible.  Then he was taken on a tour of hell, where he actually talked to people being tormented by demons and even talked to some of the demons.  He saw demons mocking people for not believing in the Gospel or hell.  Demons are very much believers in hell.

Another book I have in my library is called 23 Minutes in Hell by Bill Wiese, which you can get in bookstores now.  He was a Christian man who went to bed one night and woke up in hell.  All memory of him being saved had been erased from his mind.  He was actually tortured some by terrible creatures there.  Later the Lord told him that He had done that so he would have a very real experience of what it is like for an unsaved person to end up in hell with no hope of ever getting out.  He wanted him to warn people.  This book tells many facts about hell that he learned from his experience and backs up with Scripture such details as hell being located in the center of the earth.  

All of these people were/are very passionate about warning people of the realities of hell.  Some of the books I have are from people who were not even saved before they experienced hell like Bunyan.  They all warned everyone they could about a very real hell.  I also have other books which relate similarities, but each experience was also different.  The same could be said about the people who have testified about going to heaven and coming back.  The Bible says that truth is established by two or three witnesses.  The Lord has given the people many witnesses who have been to hell and have come back to warn about it.  Some people will never believe in a real hell until they go there.  As the story Jesus told says,

“There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.  But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table.  Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.  So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.  And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.  Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’  Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house,  for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’  And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’  But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead’” (Luke 16:19-31).

Believe in hell now, or you will believe in a real hell later.  Nobody in hell is an unbeliever.  Once they get there, they are fully convinced; unfortunately, then it is too late to do anything about it.

I mentioned in my last blog that I encountered some people over the years who called themselves “Kingdom people.”  Most of them had come out of the traditional Babylonian church system as I have, and most of their teachings were on a deeper level than what you can find in the average traditional church.  I enjoyed the fellowship I had at home gatherings and am still friends with some of them and love them.  However, it seemed the main uniting doctrine that these people shared was an unbelief in a literal hell and eventually everyone will get saved.  This doctrine is commonly called “Universal Salvation,” “Universalism,” or “Ultimate Reconciliation.”  I call it “Ultimate Rec.”  In our day sin is becoming more and more fashionable, and the doctrine of a real hell is becoming less and less popular.  Even the Pope made a statement recently that sounds like Ultimate Rec.  Here is what he said,

“On the contrary, the Lord has created us in His image and likeness, and has given us this commandment in our heart: Do good and do not do evil. The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, what about the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us first class children of God! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, with everyone doing his own part; if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of meeting: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good! We shall meet there.”

I don’t know if the Pope actually believes Ultimate Rec. or not, but it certainly sounds like it.

I began a long study of this doctrine in their writings, their opponent’s writings, and in the Scriptures.  I approached it with an open mind, not really knowing if they were correct or not.  I found the entire subject on hell was much more complicated than I ever realized.  I also found in their literature that they had some really good points that were difficult to refute.  I came to a place where I really didn’t know what the truth was on hell and Ultimate Rec.  I also continually  prayed that the Lord would show me the truth on these things.  

One of their main arguments in support of Ultimate Rec. and a non-literal hell was based on the interpretation of the Greek and Hebrew words “eternity” and “forever.”  The Greek word for these words is aionios.  The root of this word is aion which means an “age,” “era,” “duration,” or “perpetuity.”  The phrase in the Bible translated “forever” eis ton aiona  literally means “into the age.”  Since aionios is based on this word, they say it means “pertaining to an age.”  Thus, all the places it is translated “eternity” they say are wrong.  Therefore, the verses that speak of an eternal hell are, according to them, hell for an “age” for the purpose of learning and repentance and not for eternal punishment.  They make the same argument for the Hebrew word translated “eternity,” olam.

As the result of my study on the matter, I believe they are right in some cases.  I think sometimes when the translators have translated aionios as “eternity,” it only means age or ages.  However, I have several sets of Greek and Hebrew dictionaries and Lexicons in my library, and none of them say it always means “an age” or “pertaining to an age.”  They all say it can and does mean “eternity” most of the time.  

Although they have some good points for this doctrine, I cannot accept that it never means “eternity” or “eternal.”  Nevertheless, because they have some bases for their argument with these words, I would not use this to debate them as they would not accept that it can even sometimes mean eternal or forever.   But this point, which is one of their main supports for the doctrine of Ultimate Rec. and a remedial hell instead of a retributive hell, is not needed to refute their doctrine.

So for the sake of a debate, I will be generous and give them their interpretations for aion and aionios and the Hebrew olam even though I personally don’t believe these words never mean “eternity.”  One of the main arguments of their opponents against their insistence that these words never mean “eternal” is that the same words are used to describe heaven, salvation, and even God.  Therefore, if hell is not eternal, then neither is heaven or salvation or God.  I think this is good reasoning; however, we can find other words that describe these things as everlasting without using aion and aionios.  For example, the phrase “never ending” is sometimes used which employs different Greek words that mean “never” and “ending.”  The same is true for the Hebrew Old Testament.

If I give them their interpretations for these words, I found the hardest argument to refute of their teachings on this was this verse:  

. . . that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:10-11).

The people who believe in Ultimate Rec. say that the reason every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord is because eventually everyone gets saved.

At first, I found their teachings on this verse very persuasive.  However, as I continued to study, I learned there is a theme throughout the Bible that the wicked will bow not only to the Lord, but also to the righteous, not because they got saved but because God eventually compels them too.  

This verse is fulfilled in two ways.  One is that after all the judgments of the end-times, all those who survive on the earth will get saved because of all the works of the Lord they will see and because of fear of Him.  This is in fact the context of the verse that Paul was quoting from in Isaiah in the above verse.  Here is that passage:

“Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth!  For I am God, and there is no other.  I have sworn by Myself; the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath” (Isaiah 45:22-23).

The Ultimate Rec. people have misinterpreted the passages that speak of all the remaining people of the earth getting saved after the end-time wars and judgments to mean even those who have died in their sins.  The above passage in Isaiah is in an end-times context and just two verses before the passage quoted, from which Paul quotes in Philippians, it makes clear that all these people who are bowing are those who have survived all the wars and plagues of the apocalypse.

“Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations.
They have no knowledge, who carry the wood of their carved image, and pray to a god that cannot save” (Isaiah 45:20a).

The second way in which “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess” is that even the wicked will be made to bow and confess Jesus is Lord on judgment day as they stand before Him and his saints when He pronounces their sentence.  It will be rather difficult to deny in that situation.  Besides, we have numerous examples from the Scriptures that when someone comes into the very presence of God, their automatic reaction is to bow with their faces to the ground.  No one can stand in the presence of God unless He gives them the strength.  For example,

And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Ulai, who called, and said, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.”  So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face; but he said to me, “Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the time of the end.”  Now, as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he touched me, and stood me upright (Dan. 8:16-18).

This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.  So when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking (Ezek. 1:28).

If righteous men fear and fall on their faces in the presence of God and even His angels, how much more will the wicked?

All those who go down to the dust, shall bow before Him, even he who cannot keep himself alive (Ps.22:29b).

This verse points out that even those who cannot keep their [soul] alive (as it says in the Hebrew) shall bow before Him.  This is what the wicked lose in hell – their souls.

The evil will bow before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous (Prov. 14:19).

“Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers; they shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me” (Isaiah 49:23).

Also the sons of those who afflicted you shall come bowing to you, and all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you The City of the Lord,
Zion of the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 60:14).

The verse in Phillipians was the most difficult argument I found to refute those who believe that hell is not a final judgment for the wicked and all will eventually be saved.  Yes, all the survivors who will be left on the earth in the end-times will get saved, but not those who died in their sins without repentance.  All will bow in His glorious presence and the saints’ as well, even the wicked who will be cast into hell and lose their souls.  I might even say especially those who will be cast into hell will bow because they will be made to be a spectacle before God and the saints on that day.  They will bow and never rise up as we will see in the next study on this topic.

The doctrine of Ultimate Rec. will ultimately wreck many lives and be the cause of many being cast into hell and losing their souls for eternity.