If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in Him will never be disgraced.” –Romans 10:9-11 (NLT)–
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Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans (Kregel, 1982).
Adam Clarke, Clarke’s Commentary, 6 vols (Schmul, n.d.).
NIV Study Bible (Zondervan, 2020).
Fire Bible: King James Version (Hendrickson, 2014). This used to be called The Full Life Study Bible in the 90s. David Wilkerson said that it “comes at just the right time to strengthen the roots of evangelical Christianity. It is weighty, but most worthwhile to the serious student and lover of God’s Word.”
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. –Revelation 14:10-11 (KJV)– This teaches that the holy wrath of God against the wicked is what justifies the existence of Hell as a place of torment. Enemies of God burning in fire and sulfur are shown to the seer. Holy angels and the Lord Jesus are shown as watching God’s enemies burn in judicial capital punishment. The only difference between this and burning at the stake on earth: is that the capital punishment of burning alive lasts for ever and ever; and the people are never put out of their misery, they are never allowed to rest in peace. This is not the annihilation nor the extinction of consciousness for the wicked; there is no conditional immortality. The souls in Hell continue to be immortal and self-aware; but they are always in the process of dying, an eternal deathly existence in which, they are suffering from the capital punishment of burning alive again, and again, and again.
The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone…THE DEVIL that deceived them WAS CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE AND BRIMSTONE, WHERE THE BEAST AND THE FALSE PROPHET ARE, AND SHALL BE TORMENTED DAY AND NIGHT FOR EVER AND EVER. –Revelation 19:20; 20:10 (KJV)– This teaches that the devil and all his demons, will eventually be cast into the lake of fire, to burn alive with all the human beings who rebelled against God. This will happen after the Day of Judgment. The Antichrist and his false prophet, who were men, will burn there too; and their torments will never, ever come to a finishing point. Their capital punishments will continue in the subterranean federal prison of Hell for ever and ever. In Revelation 19:20, the beast and the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire, at the beginning of the Millennium when Christ returns. In Revelation 20:10, when Satan is finally thrown into the lake of fire, we see the beast and false prophet still burning alive in the lake of fire, one thousand years later! This clearly teaches that there is no annihilation of the wicked in Hell, but rather an eternal conscious punishment in the lake of fire.
The fearful, and UNBELIEVING, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, SHALL HAVE THEIR PART IN THE LAKE WHICH BURNETH WITH FIRE AND BRIMSTONE: which is the second death. –Revelation 21:8 (KJV)– This teaches that God is just in only sending criminals against the kingdom of God into Hell. He only sends people who are ashamed of the Gospel, people who refuse to trust in God’s Word, haters, murderers, pimps, pornographers, occultists, idol worshipers, and liars into the lake of fire. Not babies, kids, and teenagers; not tribesmen who never got a chance to hear the Gospel; not the mentally handicapped who can’t understand the Bible. God is just and holy in his wrath. He only sends his enemies to Hell. He only sends people to Hell who really, truly deserve eternal damnation. “Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit, who worketh when, and where, and how he pleaseth. So also are all other elect persons who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word” (Westminster Confession 10.3).
Hell from beneath is moved…at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee…All they shall speak…Art thou also become weak as we?…the worms cover thee…How art thou fallen…Thou shalt be brought down to Hell. –Isaiah 14:9-12, 15 (KJV)– This teaches the immortality of the wicked in Hell.
The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? –Isaiah 33:14 (KJV)– This teaches eternal punishment in fire for wicked hypocrites in the Old Testament.
They shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. –Isaiah 66:24 (KJV)– This teaches that the righteous dead will look upon those in Hell; and see them as living corpses, in zombified bodies, where they are eternally eaten alive by flesh-eating worms, and eternally burned alive in a subterranean crematorium. Jesus believed so much in the literalness of this verse as a vision that describes Hell, that he quoted it three times as a warning when he preached about it (see Mark 9:43-48).
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Doubting the matter of eternal punishment requires either doubting the Word of God or denying its literal, normal interpretation…Scripture never challenges the concept that eternal punishment is by literal fire…As such, it is a spur to preaching the Gospel. –Dr. John Walvoord–
Woe to the vessel For it couldn’t compose The igniting spark
Oh, it shuddered And collapsed Beneath the weight of it all Slowly it is reassembled As a wound not seen but felt
No sense of presence Oh, again it shudders Oh, again it collapsed
The vessel It wept And crept behind the door
Echoes dripping down the walls Crawling underneath the floor
Procession to a grave Unknown is the one we mourn
An entity lost on its way To this our physical plane
It was a shadow Cast from a flame Indestructible energy that still remains
–Zao, “The Weeping Vessel”–
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Dr. John F. Walvoord, “The Literal View,” in Four Views on Hell (Zondervan, 1996).
Dr. John R. Rice, Hell: What the Bible Says About It (SLP, 1945).
Dr. Robert Peterson, Hell on Trial: The Case for Eternal Punishment (P&R, 1995).
—, ed. Is Hell for Real or Does Everyone Go to Heaven? (Zondervan, 2011).
Bill Wiese, Hell: Separate Truth from Fiction (Charisma House, 2008).
My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. –James 3:1 (NKJV)–
Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. –Leviticus 18:22 (KJV)–
Whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. –Mark 9:42 (KJV)–
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance… You will make me full of gladness with Your presence. –Acts 2:4, 28 (ESV)–
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels. –1 Corinthians 13:1 (ESV)–
The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself. –1 Corinthians 14:4 (ESV)–
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” –Jesus Christ in Matthew 7:21-23 (ESV)–
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Dr. John R. Rice (IFB) and E. S. Williams (AG) both teach that the Holy Spirit does more than regenerate a believer: Christians can experience a definite, subsequent fullness or empowerment of the Holy Spirit for Christian service and evangelism. This fits the Biblical pattern of the disciples, who were already believers before Christ commanded them to “tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). Jesus likewise told them, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me” (Acts 1:8), and the disciples were subsequently “all filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:4). Williams presents this within a distinctly Pentecostal framework: Spirit baptism is a distinct experience associated with supernatural empowerment and gifts of the Spirit, including tongues as the initial physical evidence. He would therefore emphasize passages such as Acts 2:4, where “they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues,” and Acts 10:44-46, where Gentile believers received the Holy Ghost and “heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.”
Dr. Rice likewise strongly emphasizes a definite post-conversion experience of Spirit fullness and power, particularly for soul winning, boldness, prayer, and evangelistic effectiveness, but he does not make tongues the necessary evidence. His emphasis fits the repeated Biblical connection between Spirit empowerment and witnessing: “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me” (Acts 1:8); “They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31); and Paul prayed that believers would be “strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man” (Ephesians 3:16). Dr. Rice therefore represents a revivalist evangelistic ministry, Spirit-empowerment position, whereas Williams represents a classical Pentecostal position, though both would be agreed on Spirit baptism as power, energy, and boldness for evangelistic ministry. Their common ground is substantial: both expect genuine Holy Spirit fullness and divine power beyond a merely intellectual Christianity, especially for evangelistic ministry. Their principal difference is that Williams connects Spirit baptism with the Pentecostal doctrine of tongues, while Dr. Rice stresses the Spirit’s power to live, witness, pray, and win souls without making tongues required.
Dr. French Arrington, Christian Doctrine, vol. 3 (Pathway Press, 1994), p. 150ff.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. –1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (KJV)–
