2539AFC092625 – The Proof in Truth ← PODCAST LINK 😀
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Luke 16:31 (GNT) [1] – 31 “But Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone were to rise from death.’”
Amos 6:1 a 3-4 (GNT) [2] – 1 How terrible it will be for you that have such an easy life in Zion 3 You refuse to admit that a day of disaster is coming, but what you do only brings that day closer. 4 How terrible it will be for you that stretch out on your luxurious couches, feasting on veal and lamb!
Psalm 146:9 –
9 The Lord watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
1 Timothy 6:11-12 (GNT) [3] – 11 But you, man of God, avoid all these things. Strive for righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. 12 Run your best in the race of faith, and win eternal life for yourself; for it was to this life that God called you when you firmly professed your faith before many witnesses.
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him. Before I begin, I must forewarn you that I will be citing some “rough language” in this post. I do that because it will be necessary for the content that follows and surrounds it. Strapped in and helmets and goggles on! Here we GO!
“What the Hell was that all about?”
“Oh, yeah? Well you can go to Hell!”
“That was a Hell of a shot, Bro!”
“Oh, what the Hell. Sure. I’ll have some ice cream, too. After all yolo.”
“Hell will freeze over before you can try that with me.”
“He hasn’t got a snowball’s chance in Hell to win that election.”
“For a fire is kindled in mine anger,
and shall burn unto the lowest hell,
and shall consume the earth with her increase,
and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.” (Deuteronomy 32:22 (AKJV) [4]
Let death seize upon them,
and let them go down quick into hell:
for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them. (Psalm 55:15) (AKJV)
You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to hell? (Matthew 23:33)
Now, have we had enough of that? “We sure as Hell have!” And that is the point. There is Proof of the Truth. Do we believe in Heaven? If so, we must also believe in Hell. do we believe in God? If so, we must also believe in Satan. Do we get God-given pleasures from Life? If so, then we must also hope to get greater pleasures after death if we are righteous. Do we get Worldly pleasures from Life? If so, then we have our reward, for as we Live for the World, so also shall we die for the World. Have we ever heard someone ask, ”What would it mean to you to win this competition?” and the respondent replied, “It would mean the World to me!” Is that in this World or the Next? Many Bible scholars assert that Jesus talked about Hell more than any other person in the Bible. Jesus used multiple terms to designate Hell such as Hades, Gehenna, utter darkness, and fiery furnace. Check this out:
Matthew 13:40–42 – 40 Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42 and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And how about this one? Matthew 24:40-41 – 40 Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Back in 2023 in Get Right and Get Left, I offered the speculation that the wicked would be gathered up FIRST like weeds and cast into the fire and the righteous would be left behind to enjoy the New Heavens and the New Earth. Think back on the times we hear Jesus talking about what will happen to the righteous and unrighteous. The goats leave and the sheep stay. The weeds are gathered and burned, and the wheat stays. Unrepentant sinners are cast out while repentant sinners are given the white robes of eternal Life. “There are no inconsequential acts.” Some consequences are Good. Some consequences are seriously severe. Those intensely severe consequences are most often the ones that actuate the just Wrath of God.
Being assigned to Hell for an unrighteous style of living isn’t merely the “natural consequence” of YOLO-F in the wrong lane of the highway. It is far worse than that. That’s like a euphemistic PC phrase to cover up what it will be like to expose our Eternal Life to the Just and Divine Wrath of God. In 2018 we saw these references:
John 15:6 – 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
2 Peter 2:4 – … God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell* and committed them to chains of deepest darkness to be kept until the judgment
*ταρταρόω (tartaroó) {tar-tar-o’-o} Use of this word by the Apostle Peter is similar to Christ’s use of the word Gehenna. It represents eternal punishment for the worst of the worst – the wickedest of demons and people.
Romans 11:22 – 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.
Matthew 26:28 – 28 for this is my blood of the [new] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
John 3:17 – 17 Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Adelphos, we use the word “Hell” as if it is just a word, like snow, or hello, or sandwich. It is regarded as just the name of something intangible, even perhaps primitive and artificial, a construct of ancient superstitions. We must not think of Heaven and Hell as a theological duality where one is equally powerful to the other. Hell is the consequence of rebellion against God. Hell is the reality of the Divine and Just Wrath of God Almighty who is El Shaddai-Olam, God of Hosts (remember that “Hosts” in this context is not only the Army of Gods Warrior Angels, but also all of Creation).
Wrath, Fury, Rage – how would we describe what must be the antithesis of the Divine and Merciful Eternal Rest and Reward? Some people call the day all of that will happen “Judgment Day.” I usually call it “The Day of Reward.” Every soul that has ever lived will be gathered up before God. Jesus will be the Shepherd who sorts the sheep from the goats. His judgment will be the final affirmation of each soul’s Particular Judgment. We know that our particular – individual and personal – Reward will occur immediately at the moment of our last wisp of life, and that particular judgment will be the permanent state of our soul until the Day of Final Reward when the dead shall be raised and each will receive a body suited to the Life it will live in eternity. Some will receive a reward at the Heavenly Banquet. Some will receive a reward in Gehenna. There can be no slight change in location either way.
I plead most urgently, then, that all of us respect the Truth which is the Proof of God’s Immutable Justice. Hell is not just a part of our slang vocabulary; it is real, and it is filling up fast. Our Lady of Fatima has told us that more souls are going towards Hell than towards Heaven. If you don’t believe in what the Mother of God has said, then believe the B.I.B.L.E. which is indeed the inerrant and authoritative Word of God. And if it is all that is acceptable and literally True, then believe that God himself has uttered Hell and will justly give Hell to everyone who chooses it by their actions and dispositions in their corporal, Worldly Lives.
That’s a Hell of an outcome, but it is the Proof in Truth that God gets to settle things his way. God continually beseeches us to relinquish our enmity to him and to accept his Gift of Salvation. He has not said he will simply snuff out and nullify the existence of the souls that deserved his Wrath. He has not said that on The Day of Reward he will give everyone opportunities to repent and “come into the blessedness of the Mansions in The Sky.” He has said we can choose Heaven or Hell, Eternal Life or Eternal Death during our Earthly existence, and there are no do-overs. This Sunday’s Gospel is the parable about Lazarus and the Rich Man. In that parable, Abraham said to the tormented soul of the Rich (but unrighteous!) man, “My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.” Hell is a reality and must be taken seriously; it should not be normalized into our speech as something imaginary. Regrettably, very many souls will realize that Truth when they get their own direct proof on the Day of Reward.
God’s Day of Reward works like this:
What we do says what we are.
ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS.
Since Hell is “a real thing,” then let’s avoid it in every thought, word or deed? Deal? Deal!
How to avoid that destination? Ah, Belovéd the Bible tells us! (↔ Music Link) Be good to your enemies, obey God in all things, believe – I mean really BELIEVE – in Jesus. We are sinners. Jesus was sinless. Remember this one? 2 Corinthians 5:21 – 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. God caused – allowed, ordained, required – Jesus to take on the entire weight and accountability for every sin of every person in every time across the entire world. Jesus became the Perfect Sin Offering, The Lamb Without Blemish. Thus, BY Grace WE can be returned to our state of righteousness before, and in, God as at Eden before the Serpent. The choice is ours: freedom or bondage, life or death, Heaven or Hell. We don’t “catch Hell” like a bad cold, a disease that is temporary. WE earn it by pretending God’s Holy Wrath is as imaginary as Hell itself, and then living as if we have not had Proof of the Truth.
I must tell you bluntly, that’s a really stupid thing to do!
That is why we must remember these wise words from The Apostle Paul: Romans 5:8-11 – 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9 Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11 But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. Psalm 146:9 d and You refuse to admit that a day of disaster is coming, but what you do only brings that day closer. Amos 6:3
Now, we know we live in a wicked world. We know we’re broken people because of sin. We know we have a duty to evangelize, to be “fishers of men” and to bring others into our fellowship. NONETHELESS, HOW MUCH MORE must we be vigilant and diligent about our Adelphos within the Church if they will not be convinced even if someone were to rise from death. That is the Truth and the Proof of and in the One God who made Heaven and Earth – including you and me – because of this:
CCC §1022 Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of Heaven – through a purification or immediately – or immediate and everlasting damnation.
At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our Love.
Belovéd, let us Love one another – or adelphos and our enemies (those who are enemies of God). OK, this is already too long, so I am going to ask that we do a little homework together. Please CAREFULLY read aloud 1 John 4:8-16. There is the Proof in Truth that “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (See Matthew 24:35)
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
[1] Passages marked (GNT): Good News Translation (GNT) are from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV) KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK. The Authorized (King James) Version of the Bible (‘the KJV’), the rights in which are vested in the Crown in the United Kingdom, is reproduced here by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press. The Cambridge KJV text including paragraphing, is reproduced here by permission of Cambridge University Press. Used by permission.
