Many hair singeing sermons have been preached on the resurrection of DAMNATION. The word itself can cause the most stone-hearted man to shudder, and this is by no accident. Something has caused this foreboding cloud to rise and drift through the minds of millions all over the world. One of the probable causes is due to religious leaders not having a living word to win converts and change people’s lives, so they resort to fear. Mistranslations lend a heavy hand to the problem. And no doubt, there are the more sinister reasons for taking the holy things of God and profaning them. Regardless of the reasons men and women malign God and the written word, the abuse that the above verses have taken at the hands of fire and brimstone preachers is phenomenal. What is worse, is the abuse the people have received. These altered words have been heaped upon men’s souls like burning coals of fire.

The truth is, THE RESURRECTION OF DAMNATION, as the King James Bible has it, is one of the hopes that the rebellious portion of creation has. It is a judgment handed down that helps to deliver them from the bondage of corruption. Without it, many would indeed remain in torment throughout the ages. The resurrection of damnation, however, is a work of God that will rid people from torment, and is a subject that merits closer examination, to say the least. It will, no doubt, bring pain to those it falls upon; but the pain will be a factor in delivering them from the torment of sin.

Although the King James Version of the Bible is classified as a work of literary art, it is not noted for its accuracy. It is therefore, not the best one to use for study. It certainly has the beauty and flare of that day, but this poetic style of writing does not constitute infallibility, as some may suppose. Due to its writing style, there are more than a few who believe this was the Bible Paul and the other apostles used and taught from, not realizing there was no such thing as The Holy Bible of any kind at that time. The Scriptures, which were written on long, individual strips of rolled up papyrus called scrolls, is what they had. As far as what we call the New Testament today, consisted of letters from several of the apostles that were passed around. Almost 300 years later, they became what we call today, The New Testament.

Nevertheless, the text of the KJV is written in the old English, which in itself makes it difficult to grasp at times. To compound the problem, a large number of the words carried a different thought than what they do today. Although there are many wonderful truths contained between its leather-bound covers, there are many errors, and caution should be taken if you are using it as a road-map in this perilous journey.

The loyal translators of King James can be given credit for 70,000 errors in its inception. Fifty thousand of those discrepancies have since been corrected, so the authorities estimate. The above word — DAMNATION — is one of the 20,000 remaining errors.

Rather than "the resurrection of "DAMNATION," it is more accurately translated, "the resurrection of JUDGMENT." The Greek word is "KRISIS," from which we get our English word "CRISIS." In the truest sense, it means A TURNING POINT. For example, when a person's body is racked with fever, and its highest temperature is reached, this is called the crisis — it is the turning point. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance says the primary meaning for the word is "a decision."

The word "DAMNATION" is very misleading. Turning point, decision, or judgment are words much closer to what KRISIS means. If we understand what "judgment" means, it is a good word to use; for judgment carries the thought of a decision for or against, and with the action applied — it initiates a turning point. When a judgment is in a person's favor, rewards are generally given due to their good works (promotions, raises, etc). Judgment can also come as an acquittal of his guilt, especially if there is a lack of evidence. But when the situation constitutes it, judgment is levied against a person in the form of remedial punishment. This is the context that the word is most often used in the New Testament. The other translators of the Bible commonly used JUDGMENT for the word KRISIS. We can’t help from noticing, however, that even with more accuracy, these translators seemed to be influenced by church dogma. They were not always consistent in their work and very often leaned in the direction of the "Authorized King James Version."

I am not suggesting we should stop reading the Bible. I am saying, however, we are to know what the scriptures are, as well as their purpose. We should know they have no life within themselves; but rather, they point to Jesus Christ who is that life.

Apparently, when those to be judged seemed to be the more hardened sinners, such as the Pharisees, the translators took their liberty and used "damnation" as the word for "krisis." Had the translators known that they themselves were part of the very Pharisees Jesus spoke of, perhaps they would have been a little less "damning" in their work.

The Church of England, one of the many daughters, was delivered from the womb of Roman Catholicism, but like the sisters before her, she kept many of her mother's doctrines. Since "ETERNAL DAMNATION" was a favorite part of Christendom's theology, much of the King James Bible was sown with its fabric.

ANNIHILATION OF THE LOST?

Some feel that God's "damnation" is composed of hellfire which will consume and annihilate the lost, while the vast majority who walk in the broad way believe that those who are raised in the second resurrection are thereafter cast into the lake of fire to be tormented forever.

The thought of annihilation is closer to the truth of a loving Creator, but some things are still lacking in their understanding of God's purpose for mankind and His ability to cause it to be fulfilled to its ultimate end. There is a time that the man of sin in every person, the old man that we once were, is indeed annihilated. It vanishes in the same way death does when it is swallowed up of life, or darkness fades in the presence of light. The caterpillar is found no more when the butterfly emerges. Adam vanishes in the presences of transfiguration — but the individual remains as a new creature in Christ. He is joined to the Lord and becomes one Spirit and is no longer that living soul he was in Adam. It is similar to a child being annihilated when it grows into adulthood under the hand of the father. The child is gone forever but not the person.

I have a list of ninety-eight scriptures (free upon request) relating to this mandate and purpose of God, which doesn't seem to phase in the least the ardent "truth seekers," so called. It is unlikely, then, that only one verse saying all is out of, through, and back into God will have much impact. Even so, it remains a truth, and all the unbelief in the Church cannot stop if from coming to pass; and praise God, one of the sure things He has provided for this return to God is THE LAKE OF FIRE!

There are many interesting things about these verses; but one thing in particular stands out. The Greek word for JUDGMENT is KRISIS. This is the same word Jesus used in John 5:29, which the King James translators rendered as "damnation." It was translated properly in Revelation 20:4, and it seems that it would have been just as easily translated judgment in John 5:29; but Rome's doctrine of a God in their own image had to be propped up wherever possible. It was a doctrine that could not stand on its own merits of truth, for it had none. It was popularized early in the Roman Catholic Church by Jerome's translation of the Bible, known as the Latin Vulgate. The error received reinforcement by an angered Dante Aleghieri (1265-1321) in his epic poem the "Divine Comedy," commonly called "Dante's Inferno." Both titles are very accurate in what they express. Compared to the truth, Dante's poem is a comedy, for it is truly a laughing matter; but to be taken seriously, it is a travesty. And the title, "DANTE'S Inferno" — it is exactly that — it is Dante's! IT ISN'T GOD'S! It is a product of Dante's vindictive hostility toward his bitter enemies of the Church and State. In exile, the poet’s imagination created graphic pictures of the horrors of hell to which he consigned his detractors. From the abyss of the carnal mind came Dante's Inferno, not from the heavens of God.

Centuries ago the doctrine of eternal torment in searing hellfire and brimstone swept into the Church like fire itself. It is pagan in origin, and its roots are largely in Assyrian mythology. Such doctrines picture God with a violent temper, and His actions are justified only because "He is God." This portrays Him as unforgiving and relentlessly vindictive.

"To think that if man wills, God Himself cannot withstand him, is a childish notion and should be discarded from our very thoughts. Such have a very small God and their thinking is aligned with humanism. Wouldn't you say that if God Almighty is inclined or determined, it would come to pass? I pray so. Wouldn't you agree that if God Omnipotent chooses or prefers, it will come into existence? I pray so. Wouldn't you think that if the God of absolute and unrestricted power has a desire toward anything, it would be fulfilled? I pray so. Tell me, if the God of unlimited authority, subject to none other, is to be about, or delights in, or is to be willing to perform a task, wouldn't you pray He is capable of fulfilling it? I think so! So if God is inclined to save all of humanity, if God delights in saving all of humanity, if God desires to save all of humanity, if God be willing to save all of humanity, will all of humanity be saved? Will humanity be delivered from the bondage of corruption? Wouldn't you think the Will of God is greater than the puny, little, stubborn will of man?" — End quote.

The sad part is, there are so many in the Church with the same mind-set of those ancient creators of pagan gods. A seemingly sweet lady, a devoted wife and mother of two children, who was the director of a Christian nursery school said this to me of her alcoholic father: "I hope he confessed Jesus as Lord before he died; but if he didn't, he is burning in hell where he belongs. And this doesn't bother me, for that is the way it is — He deserves it."

The thought of her father writhing in boiling lava and searing flames with no possibility of ever escaping, does not bother her; but when I told her of God's ultimate plan of restoration for all, she got fire-eatin’ mad. That bothered her! This is what happens when people take on the spirit and philosophies of heathen gods. They get mean. They can get real mean. You can curse God and spit on the cross, and they might roll their eyes and pity the poor fool; but touch any of their countless sacred cows, and they will nail you to the tree and damn you to the flames of everlasting hellfire. This, we know by experience.

HEAVEN & EARTH FLED AWAY

"And I saw A GREAT WHITE THRONE, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them...." Men have had their vivid imaginations and schemes about THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT. The airbrush of the carnal mind has painted detailed pictures of a giantlike God sitting upon a huge throne in the heavens somewhere. As far as the eye can see, the mass of unsaved humanity stands before Him, anxiously awaiting their turn to be judged.

Just for the sake of curiosity, let us entertain this thought for a moment. From the time of Adam to the end of this century, it is estimated that 80 to 120 billion people will have died without "saying the sinner's prayer," having never belonged to the "right church," never believed in "church dogmas," or whatever else man's darkened minds have conjured up as what constitutes "salvation." Let's say the world soon comes to an end, and there are 100 billion lost souls scattered over the past 6,000 years who are suddenly resurrected, and the "great white throne judgment" begins. Since we are thinking carnally, let us also assume that each person is going to have their "day in court." Like any court proceedings, the God, the supreme judge, will supposedly read what His heavenly bookkeepers had steadfastly written concerning everything every person had ever done during their lifetime. This, of course, would take much too long to read each book of so many souls, and then pass sentence upon them. For the sake of argument, we can conclude that things would be speeded up a bit. Let's say He will spend about one minute per person. If this scenario should be the case, how long do you suppose it would take to process all those billions? It would take 1,666,666,666 hours, or 190,258 years for this foreboding judgment to be completed. Should He only spend 1 second on each case, it would still take more than 3,000 years.

If this is the way it will be, we can expect a long line. If He gives each person only 60 seconds of His time, it will still take 1,902 years to get our minute with Him, and then it will take another 1,902 years before we get to see Him again. Our short visits will come around every 1900 years or so; that is, if He does nothing but shake hands, hug necks, and bless people night and day without ever taking a break. If He takes care of other affairs of the kingdom, it will be much longer before we see Him again.

I don't particularly enjoy giving place to such thoughts. But they need to be addressed at times. Now that we can see how irrational they are, we can go on to brighter things.

"And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them." Where might this throne be? Is it in the heavens somewhere beyond the milky way? Is it on a distant planet especially designed for such an event? Or is the throne, perhaps, here on this planet we call earth, with it sitting at the edge of a deep, fire-burning pit, so these 100 billion can be easily cast into it after each guilty verdict is read?

Let us do some more thinking. If the earth and the heaven flee away in the presence of the One sitting upon the throne, where does that leave everything? It is annihilated, emptied, vacated, depleted, obliterated, erased — it is gone. There is nothing anywhere to be found. There is no heaven for the throne to float in, nor an earth to rest upon. There is nothing left wherein the teeming billions can even have their ill-fated trial. There is not even the black vacuum of space, for that endless void is also a portion of the physical heavens. What heaven then, and what earth, could be fleeing in the face the One sitting upon the throne? In a word — IT IS THE HEAVEN BETWEEN OUR EARS! It is the spirit and carnal mind of man! It is the earth of the physical efforts and works of mankind! His cunning craftiness and all the schemes of human wit are the things that flee in his presence!

In the kingdom of fallen man, there is a place for his heavenly renown and reeling earth. It was given to him to rule over from the very beginning, even in his fallen condition, but once the King of kings puts every enemy under foot, there is no longer a spot found anywhere for the kingdom ruled by man. It is taken from him. Until this time, Adam, the elohim, the God of this world reigned in death from the throne of the carnal mind, but when the King of glory makes Himself known, the king of death loses ground. That fallen kingdom is captured and swallowed up in the victory of life with no place left for it whatsoever. It flees away as surely as darkness vanishes in the presence of light.

Let us close this study with the words from the anointed pen of J. Preston Eby: