#6 - http://www.truth.info/future/universalism.htm

The subjection of all to Christ

What does God mean when He states that Christ can subject all to Himself? Philippians 3:21 tells us that this will be in accord with the transfiguration of the body of our humiliation, to conform it to the body of His glory. This is further explained in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44: “Thus also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is roused in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor; it is roused in glory. It is sown in infirmity; it is roused in power. It is sown a soulish body; it is roused a spiritual body.” Verse 28: “Now, whenever all may be subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also shall be subjected to Him Who subjects all to Him, that God may be All in all.”

So not only is Christ able to subject all to Himself; He WILL subject all to Himself. Once all are subjected to Christ, Christ will subject Himself to God, that God may be all in all. This is when Christ will be giving up the kingdom to His God and Father- verse 24. Verses 25-27 show the intimate relationship between the subjection of all to Christ, and the abolishment of death. In verse 22 we are informed that the “all” encompasses the entirety of mankind. This is in perfect harmony with Phil. 3:21.

To further elucidate the theme, Paul gives us the revelation of Romans 5:18, 19. Being constituted just (immortality/ vivification) is contrasted with being constituted sinners (the body of our humiliation). Just as all mankind were condemned through Adam’s act, all mankind are justified through Christ’s sacrifice. This is an essential and unavoidable part of Christ’s achievement, “…For this was the Son of God manifested, that He should be annulling the acts of the Adversary.” 1 John 3:8. Never doubt that Christ and God are able to overcome Adam and Satan. Death will be abolished in practice; it already has been in principle. The realization of this achievement is accomplished in phases, for there are three classes in view in 1 Cor. 15:20-28.

I am sorry, but G. Campbell Morgan did NOT say this. I have read the entire sermon that he preached this, and even downloaded and put it in WORD.doc to look up different words and phrases and they still didn't come up.
First of all, he preached this in USA and not in England. It was published in "The Presyberterian" and NOT in Westminster Sermons, and he preached it in 1932, but he didn't go back to England till 1933. The sermon is from "The Bible and the Cross" subtitled "The Cross and the Ages to Come".

And it can be found at...

http://www.wordsofspirit.us/morgan/morgan_1.htm

At least this webpage... wordofspirit.us, uses this to prove G. Campbell Morgan was a believer in Universalism, but even they didn't catch that it is not part of his sermon...

So little research done today by people who would besmearch the character of someone by putting words they never said into their mouths.

puritan, thank you for pointing that out.

My hard copy of THE BIBLE AND THE CROSS says it was copied from THE PRESBYTERIAN, June 1932.

Thank you for the correction regarding the quote.

I did find that quote as a comment by the editor in response to a quote from G Campbell's book called GOD'S METHODS WITH MAN (pages 185-186).

So I am replacing snippet #72 with the following taken from that book, followed by the editor's comment.

#72 - A snippet from GOD’S METHODS WITH MAN – G. Campbell Morgan (pages 185-186)

“Let me say to Bible students that we must be very careful how we use the word ‘eternity.’ We have fallen into great error in our constant use of that word. There is no word in the whole book of God corresponding with our ‘eternal,’ which, as commonly used among us, means absolutely without end. Men have divided the church, separated from each other, and persecuted one another, upon a though conveyed by an English word which has no equivalent in the Bible.”
G. Campbell Morgan

In response to that statement, the SCRIPTURE STUDIES CONCERN editor (unnamed) wrote in 1956
“We cannot conceive of a Creator Who knows the end from the beginning, One Who is Love, Who has infinite wisdom, and infinite power, giving to any being life, life which is never to end, but to continue in suffering to all eternity. The Bible does not teach it anywhere in the original languages. God’s punishments are remedial and take place within the span of the ages. Punishment will last no longer than is necessary to bring man to hate his sin and be reconciled to his Saviour.”

TO THE WEBMASTER: If you can, please replace my snippet #72 with the above.
Thanks from Rodger Tutt

#7 A snippet from The Outcome of Infinite Grace
Death Swallowed Up in Victory
By Dr. Loyal Hurley:

“"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph.2:8,9). Why do these verses follow immediately the statement, "that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus"?
And why do these verses begin with the word "for"? The word "for" shows a relationship between what precedes and what follows. In the ages to come, He will demonstrate His grace, for He has already shown it to us, His church, whom He will use as the demonstration.

No member of the church deserves to be saved by grace. Not one thing can we claim that has any merit in it. Some will say that at least our faith is our own. "For by grace are ye saved through faith"—and surely the faith is ours. But Paul will not have it so, for he adds, "and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." Yes, God gives to us our faith, "according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith" (Rom.12:3). And He gives it to us through "Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" (Heb.12:2). Not only does He give us grace: He gives us the faith to receive it. Otherwise we would still be in stubbornness or unbelief. "For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all" (Rom.11:32).

So God chooses a few undeserving sinners in this age through whom He will demonstrate His grace to other undeserving sinners, "in the ages to come." And the demonstration will be convincing, too. It will accomplish what God intends that it shall accomplish: "That in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him" (Eph.1:10).” 7

#8 - THE NATURE, THE CHARACTER OF CHRISTIAN PRAYER - JOHN WESLEY HANSON

Every human being is under perpetual obligation to pray to God as the Father of all souls, to bring in His kingdom, fulfill His will and deliver from evil, and save from sin the whole human family; and that we are commanded to pray for this,—universal salvation—is evident from the language of the Apostle Paul in I Timothy 2:1-4:
"I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers,
intercessions and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings and
all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life
in all godliness and honesty; for this is good and acceptable in the
sight of God our Savior; who will have all men to be saved and to come
unto the knowledge of the truth."

Thus God desires all men to be saved, and you and I and all men are commanded therefore, to pray that all men may be saved. God does this. This prayer proceeds from the divine heart all the time. "Prayer is the soul's sincere desire uttered or unexpressed." All men must, when they follow the instincts of their nature, pray for the salvation of
all men...

But the second feature in prayer is, that men, "whatsoever they ask for of God, shall pray in faith, nothing doubting.
I Timothy 2: 8:—"I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting
up holy hands, without wrath and doubting."
It is wicked to pray for anything to God, unless we pray in faith,
unless in our heart of hearts we believe our hopes will be answered. A
faithless prayer is an abomination in the sight of God; hence the
apostle says in Romans 14:23:—"Whatsoever is not of faith is sin."

Now, then, a Christian must pray for universal salvation; if he does not, he does not offer Christian prayer; and if a man thus prays, but believes that his prayer will not be answered, then he cannot offer Christian prayer. Genuine Christian prayer comprehends the final salvation of all men, and as it is necessary to give it in full faith, nothing doubting, it demonstrates the final salvation of all, for certainly God would not command his children to pray for a thing and pray without doubting, unless in the divine plan that were to be the result. Hence Paul appeals to this ground of faith in I Timothy 2:5-6:
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due
time." 8

#9 - In John 12:32, in signifying by what death He was about to be dying (v.33), Jesus said, 'And I, if I should be exalted out of the earth, shall be drawing all to Myself.'
It is not that "draw" means "drag;" it is rather that an agency which draws, is equally as effective as an agency which drags. When a man is dragged, he is moved contrary to his will; when a man is drawn, he is moved in correspondence to his will, according to the influences which cause him to choose as he does. Agencies which drag, determine the
body; agencies which draw, determine the heart, from which spring the outflowings of life (Prov.4:23).

When one is "drawn in" to doing something, he is still caused to act as he does; he must still do what he, even if gently, is "drawn" to do--as much so as if he were "dragged" ("kicking and screaming") into so doing. It is simply that an agency which "draws," engages the will and instills the voluntary behavior which follows, in contradistinction to a power that merely compels outward acts--"dragging" them forth--without gaining the acquiescence of the will.
Thus we rejoice to know that while no one can come to Christ if ever the Father Who sends Him should not be drawing him (John 6:44), in due time, under God, Christ "shall be drawing all to Himself" (John 12:32). James Coram http://www.concordant.org/expohtml/QuestionsAndAnswers/Q&AIndex5.html#115a
It would be good to answer this question: When will Christ draw to Himself the multiplied millions who die without having once heard about the one true God? (This would include hundreds of millions of small children.) - Kenneth Larsen 9

#10 - Does God “offer” salvation to all, and it’s up to each one to either accept it or reject it?
First, of ourselves, none of us would accept it. So, we should receive the clear Bible teaching that faith is a gift. Ro. 3:10-18; Eph. 2:6-10; Phil. 1:29.
Second, we know from Ro. 9 and other verses such as Eph. 1:4; 2 Thes. 2:13 and 3:2, that God does not choose to save all in this life.
Third, we know God wills all to be saved. Titus 2:11; 1 Tim. 2:4-6.
Fourth, we know that all things are possible with God. Matt. 19:25,
26; Jeremiah 32:17.
Fifth, we know that Christ enlightens all, and draws all to Himself.
John 1:9; 12:32.
Sixth, we know God will reconcile all to Himself. 1 Cor. 15:20-28;
Col. 1:15-20; Phil. 2:9-11; Ro. 5:18, 19.
Therefore, seventh, we know that God grants salvation (faith,
repentance, and reconciliation) to all, for He is the Savior of all
mankind. Acts 5:31; 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25; 1 Tim. 4:9-11 - Kenneth Larsen.

#11 - “Not you choose Me, but I choose you…” John 15:16

“Too often is salvation made a matter of the sinner's choice. This sadly mars the full and clear apprehension of God's love which it is intended to reveal. All active effort in redemption is the outflow of divine love, and is entirely on God's side. All the sinner's activity is a hindrance, He would choose anyone but God. His part is a passive or a negative one.
This basic truth is much more forcibly revealed later on in connection with the call of the nations. We were chosen by God in Christ before the disruption. Sin itself was subsequent to His choice of us. Hence, sin, either past or present, cannot affect God's purpose for us, or our acceptance of His grace. He chooses, He calls, He glorifies. He does not give man his choice or a chance. He has the wisdom and the power to impel men to fall into line with His purpose no matter what their natural inclination may be.
All human experience confirms the divine declaration that He it is Who is operating in us to will as well as to work for the sake of His delight (Phil. 2:13).
Man can carry out his own will only so far as it accords with the purpose of God. When men rage against God, He uses their wrath as far as it is useful to His plans. The remainder of their wrath He restrains.”
-Snippet from the Concordant Commentary
(http://concordant.org/expohtml/ConcordantCommentary/CC04_John.htm)

#12 - TENTMAKER MINISTRY WEBSITE ARCHIVES
INTERESTING READING THAT URS WILL ENJOY
If the link doesn’t open up, click on the word “impatient”

January 15, 1998: http://web.archive.org/web/19980115040606/http://www.tentmaker.org/

December 1, 1998: http://web.archive.org/web/19981201194938/http://www.tentmaker.org/

June 10, 2000:
http://web.archive.org/web/20000610020831/http://www.tentmaker.org/

#13 - DESTRUCTION IS NOT ETERNAL – Kenneth Larson

Jesus knew that John 3:16 was not the end of the story…that’s why He continued to John 3:17 and talked about the salvation of all mankind!!!
Jesus makes no attempt to use verse 16 to negate or qualify verse 17. He simply makes both statements side by side as if both are completely true. The reason He does this is that both ARE completely true.

We see this over and over in Scripture, especially in the writings of Paul – a statement about people who have faith now (maybe a warning or exhortation or encouragement about the benefits of taking part in the kingdom of God a.k.a. the next two ages of life on earth) right next to a statement about how Christ accomplished the justification of all men. See Romans 3:23-24 and 5:18 and their contexts for example. This is no big deal; none of these statements negate, qualify (change), or contradict each other, because both concepts are 100% true. Some will be saved from death early and take part in the kingdom of God, and everyone else will be saved from death later.

To attempt to use some statements (about those who get saved early) to negate the others statements (about the eventual salvation of all) is to butcher the common sense rules of language and communication. We would never do this to each other in everyday communication; the only reason people try to do it to Jesus and Paul is because they cannot bring themselves to believe the plain statements about the eventual salvation of all mankind.

If I said to my kids, “Those of you who help me clean the yard today will get to go to a movie with me tomorrow, and next week I will take the rest of you to a movie,” I have made it very clear that all the kids will eventually go to the movies. My two statements do not contradict each other or negate each other in any way. This is the exact same thing Jesus does in John 3:16 and 17 – He makes two equally true statements. Yet “hell mindset” Christians try to make one statement negate the other in order to fit their preconceived pagan inherited ideas.
http://www.bible-questions-and-answers.com/Erasing-Hell-book.html

#14 - IS GOD STRONG ENOUGH? – Kenneth Larson

“For which of you, wanting to build a tower, is not first seated to calculate the expense, to see if he has the wherewithal?- lest at some time, he laying a foundation and not being strong enough to finish up, all those beholding should begin to scoff at him, saying that 'This man begins building and is not strong enough to finish up!’” Lk. 14:28-30.
God’s perfect foundation is Christ Jesus. 1 Cor. 3:11; Is. 28:16; Lk. 20:17; Heb. 5:7-9. What God is building on His foundation is a perfect, reconciled creation. Ro. 8:20, 21; Col. 1:15-20; 1 Cor. 15:20-28; Phil. 2:5-11.
God is strong enough to reconcile all, for He controls all hearts. Is. 26:12; 2 Chronicles 30:12; Rev. 17:17. God has a purpose- a will for creation. Eph. 1:9-11; 3:11. God “wills that all mankind be saved and come into a realization of the truth.” 1 Tim. 2:4. And “All that Yahweh delights He does, in the heavens and on earth, in the seas and every abyss” Ps. 135:6; see Is. 46:10 and John 1:29.

Christ will draw all to Himself. Jn. 12:32. Our stubbornness and unbelief are no match for Almighty God. Romans 11:32. "Not stronger than He are we!" 1 Cor. 10:22. God is a perfect Savior, and He is more than strong enough to save all. 1 Tim. 4:9-11; Is. 53; Matt. 19:25, 26.

#15 - Questions

In order to have a consistent, logical Biblical worldview, some questions about the Final Destiny of people must be answered. The Bible, to be credible, must be able to be logically explained. This is self-evident. As centuries have passed, ideas that were Orthodox, but unbiblical, have fallen away. Sometimes en masse, as during the Reformation. Sometimes more slowly, as with the gradual abolition of slavery, which was led and championed primarily by Christians.
Here are a few questions about the common Orthodoxy of Eternal ****ation.

• If some people will end up in eternal torment, is God unable or unwilling to save them? Logically, it must be one or the other. No tricky appeal to free-will can alleviate the tension of the question.
• If we determine our destiny by our free will, then is not our will stronger than God's will? How do we deal with passages as in Romans 9 that says we cannot resist His will?
• If some people will be tortured eternally, which is apparently the will of Satan, how is Satan a defeated foe? Doesn't eternal torment make Satan a partial victor?
• How can there be "no more tears" if some people will be tormented forever?
• How can we say that "His mercy endures forever!" if His mercy for us, in the most practical and real terms, ends if we do not choose to follow Christ before we die?
• Given the Bible's revealed standards of righteous and justice (which are clear and not myterious at all), how is unending punishment just reward for temporary sin? Again, the Bible is clear on standards so saying "God's ways are not our ways" or "It's a mystery with God" is only an avoidance of a hard question. The question must be Biblically answered with justification from Scripture.
• If God "gives up" on those who do not choose Jesus before death, how does the parable of the 100 Sheep, with 99 found and the master leaving the 99 to find the one lost one, make any sense?
• Why does God give up on people after death?
• If eternal Hell is the price for disobeying God and living in Sin, why did God hide that from Adam and Eve and promise a different penalty? Why did God hide the most horrific fate possible, torture in Hell forever, from mankind for entire Old Testament period (probably 4,000 years)?
• How does the idea of Col 1:15-20 "restore All Things" (Ta Panta - The universal All in Greek) make any sense if some things are permanently and irrevocably isolated from and unrestored to God forever?
• Why must an omnipotent, omniscient God, who describes Himself as "Love", settle for not having everything that has ever been made love and worship Him? Why must He settle for a divided creation in which some live in abundant joy and others live in mind-numbing torture? Is God really that weak or does He want that kind of reality?
• Why do we think that our "will" is so absolutely free, when it is affected by every little thing around us and we rarely respond from thought alone, but often from instinct built in us from birth?
• How can God be "All in All" as Revelation states He will be in the end if All is not in complete harmony with Him and His character of love, joy, peace, etc.?
• Why did God create a place of unending torture in the first place?
• How is God glorified in unending pain that does not lead to being restored to righteousness and a loving relationship to Christ?
These, and many more questions, must be answered scripturally and logically if the idea of an Eternal Torture is to be even considered as a Biblical possibility.

#16 – By Hannah Whitall Smith

“…I seemed to catch a fresh and clearer revelation of the depth of the misery that had been caused to human beings by sin. It was more than I could bear. I clenched my hands and cried out in my soul, "O, God, how canst Thou bear it? Thou mightest have prevented it, but didst not. Thou mightest even now change it, but Thou dost not. I do not see how Thou canst go on living, and endure it." I upbraided God. And I felt I was justified in doing so. Then suddenly God seemed to answer me. An inward voice said, in tones of infinite love and tenderness, "He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied." "Satisfied!" I cried in my heart, "Christ is to be satisfied! He will be able to look at the world's misery, and then at the travail through which He has passed because of it, and will be satisfied with the result; If I were Christ, nothing could satisfy me but that every human being should in the end be saved, and therefore I am sure that nothing less will satisfy Him." And with this a veil seemed to be withdrawn from before the plans of the universe, and I saw that it was true, as the Bible says, that "as in Adam all die-even so in Christ should all be made alive." As was the first, even so was the second. The "all" in one case could not in fairness mean less than the "all" in the other. I saw therefore that the remedy must necessarily be equal to the disease, the salvation must be as universal as the fall.

I saw all this that day on the tram-car on Market street, Philadelphia -- not only thought it, or hoped it, or even believed it--but knew it. It was a Divine fact. And from that moment I have never had one questioning thought as to the final destiny of the human race. God is the Creator of every human being, therefore He is the Father of each one, and they are all His children; and Christ died for every one, and is declared to be "the propitiation not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2). However great the ignorance therefore, or however grievous the sin, the promise of salvation is positive and without limitations. If it is true that "by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation," it is equally true that "by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." To limit the last "all men" is also to limit the first. The salvation is absolutely equal to the fall. There is to be a final "restitution of all things," when "at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." Every knee, every tongue- words could not be more embracing. The how and the when I could not see; but the one essential fact was all I needed- somewhere and somehow God was going to make every thing right for all the creatures He had created. My heart was at rest about it forever.
I hurried home to get hold of my Bible, to see if the magnificent fact I had discovered could possibly have been all this time in the Bible, and I had not have seen it; and the moment I entered the house, I did not wait to take off my bonnet, but rushed at once to the table where I always kept my Bible and Concordance ready for use, and began my search. Immediately the whole Book seemed to be illuminated. On every page the truth concerning the "times of restitution of all things" of which the Apostle Peter says "God Hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began," shone forth, and no room was left for questioning. I turned greedily from page to page of my Bible, fairly laughing aloud for joy at the blaze of light that illuminated it all. It became a new book. Another skin seemed to have been peeled off every text, and my Bible fairly shone with a new meaning. I do not say with a different meaning, for in no sense did the new meaning contradict the old, but a deeper meaning, the true meaning, hidden behind the outward form of words. The words did not need to be changed, they only needed to be understood; and now at last I began to understand them.”
A snippet from The Unselfishness of God and How I Discovered It
By Hannah Whitall Smith
http://www.tentmaker.org/books/unselfishness-of-god.htm

#17 - RAY PRINZING COMBO (worth repeating)

REDEMPTION ALL IN ALL - RAY PRINZING (my earthly hero and mentor)

“Aionian punishment means of the age, or age during. It is a period of time designated by God for the bringing to naught that which is wrong. God will mete out exactly the amount of time necessary for correction, but it will not be prolonged beyond that which is needed. All of God’s punishments are corrective in nature, motivated by His love, and used to work into our good and His praise.”

THE MAGNITUDE OF REDEMPTION – RAY PRINZING

“ ‘And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD.” 1John 4:14.
‘Who will have ALL MEN to be saved, and to come into a knowledge of the truth’ 1Tim. 2:4.

This is not a pitting of man’s will against the will of God as some try to teach, with man’s will able to resist and hold out until God cannot change him, but must throw him into some eternal cesspool to be tormented. NAY – for we read that ‘He is working out all things after the counsel of His own will,’ and man cannot disannul that which HE has willed. It is God’s will that all shall come to Christ. He is the propitiation for the sins of the WHOLE WORLD. Why then shall we be so foolish as to dispute the immutability of His truth?”

THE INTERPLAY OF GOOD AND EVIL – RAY PRINZING

“God is sovereign, and He controls all the interaction of evil and good, and causes all to redound to His own glory. It is not – what was lost by the fall was to be regained by redemption, BUT by the interaction of FALL AND REDEMPTION, God achieves greater, wiser, nobler, and higher goals than by the Adamic race remaining in its pristine state.

Evil and good are synchronized to accomplish God’s will and purpose, so that the ultimate goal shall reveal all evil transformed back into good, and all negation cancelled out by GOOD. Evil is allowed for wise ends, and when these are secured it must cease to exist, for God will restore all things into good. HE controls all the interaction between evil and good until His purpose of the ages is fulfilled. Then shall God be All in all.”

DIVINE INWORKINGS – ALL IN ALL – RAY PRINZING

“We would not minimize the judgments of God, but the more the spirit of revelation unfolds the truth, the more we see God’s judgments in proper perspective, that they are remedial, corrective in their nature and used to bring forth a state of righteousness. They shall not be executed in unholy vengeance, for MERCY shall balance the score. God’s judgments are ever tempered with mercy, and when they have fulfilled their purpose, the judgments end. Mercy will outlast all the judgments, and will rejoice in the ultimate restoration of all that was perverted, corrupt, and evil.

Mercy can operate on the basis of justice because Christ has gathered the whole into His own heart, and suffered to reconcile all to Himself.”

#18 - The first-born and first-fruits are the "few" and "little flock;" but these, though first delivered from the curse, have a relation to the whole creation, which shall be saved in the appointed times by the first-born seed, that is by Christ and His body, through those appointed baptisms, whether of fire or water, which are required to bring about "the restitution of all things." St. Paul expressly declares this when he says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, ... that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in the earth, even in Him." - Rev. Andrew Jukes

#19 – By Walter Lanyon

"Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing."
With this overshadowing comes the peace that passeth ALL. An osmosis - absorption - a blending; into the ONE takes place and there is no longer question and answer, problem and solution.
"Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing" becomes a reality. There is no limitation - no questioning whether the desire is good, bad, or indifferent - for from this elevation the desire is the shape of the idea sent straight from the heart of God, and is made alive by the pulsating heartbeat of the universe.
"Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing" yet are you desireless, free from wanting and ready to move into a place of substance, out of the place of things and yet in the midst of them all. You are suddenly One. There is no more you and your problem, there is only you. You pass easily through the crowd of beliefs.
The Light universal keeps shining. As it intensifies, it absorbs the shadows of human belief; nothing matters, yet, everything does. It transform the Temple-body into a tenuous substance, through which it can shine forth, - assuming any attribute of God at will. Healing is not, then, some wonder projected through human thought, but rather the enveloping of the Golden Shadow. It is a natural blending with LIFE which rules out the narrow confines of health and strength in humankind. I AM suddenly submerged in a sea of LIFE - eternal, golden, and all redolent with the LOVE of God.
For the first time, the mystical becomes the intensely practical - the only real thing you have ever known. Sight becomes a capacity to peer through the dense midnight of thought, by means of the Light which projects its Golden Shadow from the "Mind which was also in Christ Jesus" and which you realize is the mind that is also in you.
No longer will you compromise with this power and put it through a thousand and one beliefs concocted by the mind of man. Instead, you permit it to take shape and form, even as the air takes the shape automatically of any vessel, yet never congeals or becomes set in that form, but lasts only for the moment of the duration of the desire.
"Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing" - it is a carte blanche releasement of HIS Love, and it has to be received naturally and not as some special dispensation. It is as though the Golden Shadow has cleared away all obstruction between you and His Love, and you can hear, and really HEAR what is being communicated to the earth plane; now you can really know the full dimensions of His Love, and that all manifestation will take place, independent of your thought and without any effort.
As a sudden heavy rain falls upon a parched desert and is instantly absorbed, so does this descent of spirit come upon you. It instantly changes the nature of the desert and the very seeds already there begin to stir. Something is to take place - "the desert is to blossom as a rose" - because of the downpour of His Love, and because of the Recognition. You are being conditioned to a new dimension.
The Golden Shadow is the Golden Fleece which you have sought for so long and which has been guarded by the Gorgon, with her snaky locks of human devices, ways and means. Upon whomsoever this Golden Shadow rests, something - a quickening, takes place - without effort, and without any of the old ideas of healing and helping. It is entirely impersonal and natural and has nothing at all to do with human thought. Nothing can stay it, nothing can project it; it is a natural movement or urge in the mind of God passing through the temple-body (man) casting the Golden Shadow of Love and doing the things called "miraculous" by its revealing Light.
"Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing." Heaven and earth are full of thee - full, pressed down, and running over - there is not one empty vessel left, - even the borrowed ones are full. The Love of God keeps flowing until everything is satisfied. And all the while the Golden Shadow keeps revealing the intensely practical angle of it. It is not a mystical intangible thing, but something to be experienced and something to be handled with the hands and something that causes the wine of inspiration to flow through the body-temple with the rush of a pure mountain torrent. Health is absorbed into the LIFE of GOD, which knows no limitations.
"Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing." You must be ALIVE to participate in this benefit. You have to come out of the tomb of human thinking into the clean, fresh and almost fierce tides of LIFE. You have to be ALIVE in the recognition and the instant response to HIS Voice.
To human thought His word is almost unbearably stimulating, breaking its limitations. The Spirit refuses to be longer held in the narrow confines of the letter. The grandeur, the ma

#20 – Dr. E.W. Bullinger, THE COMPANION BIBLE

“We have not an impotent Father, or a disappointed Christ, or a defeated Holy Ghost, as is so commonly preached; but an omnipotent Father, an all-victorious Christ, and an almighty Holy Spirit, able to break the hardest heart and subdue the stoutest will.”

A snippet from THESIS ON THE EONS – Travis Ogletree

Travis wrote, “Many find it difficult to see that the God Who is willing that none should perish has made atonement, not just for the sins of the elect, but for the sins of the whole world, will succeed (2 Peter 3:9 & John 1:2).”

Anyone who reads this thesis will probably find it less difficult and will have a much better understanding of why some of us believe that the Bible, literally (not interpretively) translated, teaches the eventual salvation of everyone because of what Christ accomplished by His death and resurrection.

Good job Travis! I’m sure it will be a blessing to everyone who reads it, even if it only causes them to begin to rejoice in the hope that the point of view your thesis presents is true.

A snippet from THE PRESENCE – Walter Lanyon

Do you feel the' Presence and understand what it is to recognize for a moment
that nothing----no, not anything -----is to be destroyed, but everything is to be fulfilled with the Love of God which only has to be recognized to change the imagination and shatter the belief that held it into its outline of ugliness?

Formerly we went out to battle with the thing called evil ----now we have reduced it to the vacuum of belief in the absence of God. No matter how rampant it may be, and how destructive in its manifestation, or how terrible in its dimensions----it is in the final analysis the absence of God, and this absence of God can only exist in the imagination,
for God is omnipresent.

"I come not to destroy but to fulfill" will thrill you and relieve you of all the hateful warfare with evil that has been going on------it will bring you to a true understanding of
the non-resistance of the Christ Mind within you and make you understand the height and depth and majesty of this Presence.

It is wonderful-----it is glorious------it causes the Hosannas to rise from the very centre
of your being and magnify the Lord of Lords and Host of Hosts.

AN EXCELLENT SHORT WRITING BY MARTIN ZENDER

MEET THE WOMAN WHO SAVED HERSELF – by Martin Zender

http://www.martinzender.com/ZWTF/ZWTF12.pdf

THE MESSAGE FOR THE WORLD – Gary Siglar

The message for the world today is only one --- that God has reconciled you back to Himself. He didn't just redeem a few. He didn't just forgive a few. He didn't determine that a few would be saved and the rest would be eternally lost. God has a plan that is so perfect and worked out to restore all of mankind back to their source.

If you understand that no matter where you are today God chose you, before the foundation of the world, that you would be holy and without blame before Him in love. If you can believe this simple word you will rejoice.

I know the condition of carnal humanity. I know the condition of some people who love God. I know the carnal condition that most of us are in. The truth is --- and the truth will set you free --- you are holy, unblameable, and irreprovable in His sight. Not in your carnal adamic life, but in Christ. Christ is holy, unblemished, and undefiled. If you can accept that you will be that experientially. If you can't accept that you won't yet experience it but you still will eventually as God brings you into the knowledge of your true identity.

God has never, ever, made one human being that will fail except for a good purpose, because He works all things after the counsel of His own will. Known by God are all His works from beginning unto end.

Gary Sigler
http://sigler.org/

REDEMPTION ALL IN ALL - RAY PRINZING (my earthly hero and mentor)

“Aionian punishment means of the age, or age during. It is a period of time designated by God for the bringing to naught that which is wrong. God will mete out exactly the amount of time necessary for correction, but it will not be prolonged beyond that which is needed. All of God’s punishments are corrective in nature, motivated by His love, and used to work into our good and His praise.”

1

ALL IN ALL – A.E. KNOCH

“The terms translated ‘forever’ and ‘everlasting’ and ‘never’ are human perversions which could never have deceived us if they had been consistently rendered. They denote definite divisions of time called ages or eons. All together they form a distinct portion of time called eonian times. Destruction, like salvation, is eonian. It is not the end or aim of God. God destroys nothing that He will not restore. He loses nothing that will not return to Him laden with praise and glory for Himself. Destruction is a passing process, not a finished goal. Through God it will work out the welfare of all of His creatures and the glory of our Saviour."

(Editor’s note: Scriptures that seem to disagree with this conclusion are addressed in chapter four of his book ALL IN ALL)
http://www.lighthouselibrary.com/read.php?sel=2586&searchfor=||KNOCH, ADOLPH E||&type=&what=author

2

THE PROBLEM OF EVIL AND THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD – A.E. KNOCH

“I, for one, freely confess that, without a knowledge of the consummation, when God will reconcile all and become All in all, I could not have confidence in a deity who allowed the world to work itself into such a mess, and who can do little more for most men than to sweep them into destruction, extinction or torment.

But now, how can I distrust God? Mankind is just where He has brought it. The effect of all the present evil and distress will be salutary. God will get glory out of it, and men will be prepared by it to appreciate the gifts He has in store for them all.”

3

THE INESCAPABLE LOVE OF GOD – THOMAS TALBOTT

“The corrective effects of kolasis aionios last forever. But as a means to an end, it will not last any longer than is necessary to produce the end for which it exists in the first place.

When we finally weary of our own selfishness, petty jealousies, and lust for power; when we learn at last, perhaps through bitter experience, that these lead only to ruin and cannot bring enduring happiness, that nothing short of union with God and reconciliation with others will satisfy our own deepest yearnings; when we discover that the Hound of Heaven has finally closed off every alternative to such a union, we shall then, each of us, finally embrace the destiny that is ours.”

4

A TREATISE ON ATONEMENT – HOSEA BALLOU

“We are told of a god who created millions of beings whom he intends for endless torments and puts His whole design into execution; and this is called supreme goodness.
In millions of cases this god finds it most for his glory to make his rational, hoping, wanting creatures endlessly miserable.

We are likewise told of a devil who acts for his own gratification, and who delights in making God’s creatures miserable; and this is called badness.

Shall we thus represent our kind and merciful Father from Whom streams of goodness continually flow to His wanting, needing creatures? No; let every vibration of sense within us acknowledge His bountiful hand which will never close.”

5

SALVATOR MUNDI: OR, IS CHRIST THE SAVIOUR OF ALL MEN? – SAMUEL COX

“By insisting on an interpreted translation of a Greek word, would you have the vast majority of men ****ed to an everlasting torture in order that you may feel quite sure that your timid soul will sit and sing itself away in everlasting bliss?

The main object of this book is to encourage those who faintly trust “the larger hope” to commit themselves to it wholly and fearlessly by showing them that they have ample warrant for it in scriptures of the New Testament.”

6

GOD’S RULES FOR SCRIPTURAL INTERPRETATION AND MAN’S PLACE IN GOD’S PURPOSE – CHARLES J. PEART

“Sinners do not go away into everlasting punishment. They go into eonian correction. Thank God for the Concordant literal translation, which some in their blindness are condemning. When leaders in the church today condemn something I would be the first one to rush out and get it and examine it for myself. Do not make the mistake of thinking that the majority have the truth. It has never been that way and it is not now.

The unscriptural tradition assigning a limit beyond which Christ has no power to save the obstinate sinner has spread universally. It is worldwide. It claims that the will of man can successfully oppose the power and will of God. “God wills all mankind to be saved” (1Tim.2:4). Let us follow our Lord in His denunciation of tradition that makes void the word of God. Let us revel in the full extent of Christ’s work and God’s victory for all mankind.”

7

THE PURPOSE OF GOD’S WILL – GUY MARKS

“God prearranged it all, from the fall of man to the glory of the consummation. Not one thing was left to chance. All was founded on His wisdom.

To some, evil is never to cease. God is never able, as they see it, to bring about so much good that all evil will vanish. They try to justify God with the false teaching that man is a free moral agent, whereas the only freedom of man which the scriptures affirm is the freedom of deliverance we find alone in Christ Jesus.”

8

A CLOUD OF WITNESSES – J.W. HANSON

“The deliverance of the whole human family from sin and sorrow, its final holiness and happiness, has been the thought of multitudes, even when the prevailing doctrines around them were wholly hostile.”

A book of quotes by more than 500 believers in universal salvation.

9

TRUTH AS I SEE IT – W.F. SALTER

“Does God not love His enemies, even as He has taught us to love ours? If He fails to reconcile even one, must it not be due to a lack of love, or of power? These qualities find their source in Him! So of a certainty He shall bring circumstances to bear which shall ultimately cause all to know, with understanding, His great love manifested in the gift of His Son, and this in turn shall fill each heart with adoration and love, and praise to God.

When God’s plans for the ages of time (eonian times) have been accomplished, every experience of man will, under the guidance of His wisdom, work together with every other experience for man’s highest ultimate good, and thus redound to God’s honour and glory.”

10

A SHORT HELP AND INCENTIVE TO AN UNBIASED INQUIRY INTO THE SCRIPTURE TRUTH OF UNIVERSALISM OR THE FINAL RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS – R. ROE

“The adjective aionios, in the case of the wicked, is restricted to a limited period by its noun kolasis; of which the literal sense is clipping or pruning. It means the kind of punishment which tends to the improvement of the criminal. If endless were the sense of the adjective describing chastisement, it would represent God as acting under the influence of an endlessly vain expectation.

The belief of the Universalist includes a reconciliation of the tenets of Calvinism and Arminianism, by uniting the leading doctrines of both as far as they are found in the Scriptures; from which union they believe that the sentiment of Universal Restoration naturally flows.”

11

THE FIVE SMOOTH STONES OF THE KINGDOM – IRENE LINDSAY

“It is a great giant, this one called eternal hell!!! It can only be killed by the stone of truth taken from the running waters of God’s word. These waters have been running for a long time, but the stone to kill the giant is ready now.

God told Israel to set everything free in the year of Jubilee. God is going to have a Jubilee in totality over all sin, all death, and all destruction in this world. This world belongs to God and it shall be restored and shine with glory. God’s tapestry is unrolling bit by bit, and when it is all unrolled, the great Jubilee of rest for the entire universe will be unveiled.”

12

TIME AND ETERNITY A BIBLICAL STUDY - G.T. STEVENSON

“Many plain direct statements in the sacred scriptures declare that the purpose of God through our Lord Jesus Christ is to bless all humanity and to bring the whole universe into harmony with Himself.

How can this be if myriads of mankind whom He so loves were to be kept alive forever in hopeless misery? And what kind of a god could love the sinner with Calvary love until he died, and then leave him in indescribable suffering eternally?”

13

THE DIVINE DESTINY – K. ROSS MCKAY

“The great enmity of mankind is but a background to magnify and display the far greater love of our God. Such love is as measureless as it is timeless; a vast portion being yet unrevealed. ‘And having made peace through the blood of Christ’s cross, by Him to reconcile all unto Himself, whether those on the earth or those in the heavens.’ This plan of the ages is our Lord’s ultimate purpose according to the declared will of Almighty God. This is the divine destiny of all in His creation. This is love that never fails.”

14

IS HELL ETERNAL? – MIKKEL DAHL AND JON R. WELKER

“Many Christian ministers seek only to search out passages of scripture that corroborate the eternal hell school of theology to which they belong; and whatever passages are unfortunately found in conflict are put through the required interpretations and contortions to disqualify for entry. Christian ministers all have posts to fill; they have a job to hold down; wherefore they dare not reach out for truth lest they should see too much and their conscience disturb them and their livelihood be imperilled.”

15

THE DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL TORMENTS OVERTHROWN – by Samuel Richardson, edited by Thomas Whittemore, and published by him in 1833. On page 85, Whittemore says that Richardson wrote this book nearly 200 years before 1833.

First of all, there is what Richardson wrote nearly 200 years before 1833: “The doctrine of endless hell torments hath caused many to murder themselves, taking away their own lives by poison, stabbing, drowning, hanging, strangling, and shooting themselves, casting themselves out of windows, and from high places, to break their necks and by other kinds of death, that they might not live to increase their sin, and increase their torments in hell.”

Now here is what Whittemore the editor, wrote at the bottom of the page nearly 200 years later in 1833:
“Here we see the same dreadful effects attended the doctrine of endless misery nearly 200 years ago which attend it now. It was then the cause of anxiety, despair, and suicide, as we suppose it always was before, where fully believed, and as we know it has been of late years. Let posterity know, that within the last ten years, there have been a large number of suicides, which must be attributed to the doctrine of endless torment. That doctrine makes men melancholy; it drives them to despair; they know not what to do; and they sever the brittle thread, Fathers and Mothers, in repeated instances in the United States, have murdered their children, lest they should grow up, and commit sin, and be ****ed. Can a doctrine which produces such dreadful consequences be the doctrine of God?” End of Quote.

16

THE GREEK WORD AION – AIONIOS TRANSLATED EVERLASTING – ETERNAL IN THE HOLY BIBLE SHOWN TO DENOTE LIMITED DURATION – JOHN WESLEY HANSON

“The word aidios (not aionios) was in universal use among the non-Christian Greek Jews of our Savior's day, to convey the idea of eternal duration, and was used by them to teach endless punishment.

Jesus never allowed himself to use it in connection with punishment, nor did any of His disciples but one, and he but once, and then carefully and expressly limited its meaning. Can demonstration go further than this to show that Jesus carefully avoided the phraseology by which His contemporaries described the doctrine of endless punishment? Jesus never adopted the language of His day on this subject. Their language was aidios timoria, endless torment. His language was aionion kolasin, age-lasting correction. They described unending ruin, He, discipline, resulting in reformation.”
See this link.
http://hellbusters.8m.com/upd3.html

17

A LETTER OF THE CELEBRATED JOHN FOSTER TO A YOUNG MINISTER ON THE DURATION OF FUTURE PUNISHMENT AND AN EARNEST APPEAL TO THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY IN REGARDS TO THE CHARACTER OF ITS PUBLICATIONS – JOHN FOSTER

“The original terms translated everlasting, eternal, forever, are often employed in the Bible, as well as other writings under various limitations of import and are thus withdrawn from the predicament of meaning endless duration.

Since the terms do not necessarily signify an interminable duration, and since there is in the present instance to be pleaded for admitting a limited interpretation, a reason in the moral estimate of things of stupendous infinite urgency involving our perceptions of the divine goodness, and leaving those conceptions overwhelmed in darkness and horror if it be rejected, I therefore conclude that a limited interpretation is authorized.”

18

IS HELL ETERNAL OR WILL GOD’S PLAN FAIL - CHARLES H. PRIDGEON

“The plan of God, or as it literally reads ‘according to the plan of the ages’ (Eph.3:11) will work out as God purposed; It will not fail. God shall be All in all (1Cor.15:28). The saving work of Christ will continue throughout the ages, for Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and for the ages (Heb.13:8). God’s purpose and plan in creation, redemption, and new creation will then be clearly apprehended by all, and His character will be unveiled and vindicated.”

19

THE GOSPEL FROM OUTER SPACE – ROBERT SHORT

“The gospel of love heard from the churches is at bottom a gospel at gunpoint. This gospel claims to speak of a great love, but only one step behind this “love” is an unspoken, or often very vocal great threat – the threat of eternity in “hell” if we refuse this love. What a travesty of love, even human love, not to mention God’s! For one would think that God’s love ought to be at least as great as what human beings are capable of. It is precisely the implied or expressed threat of eternal perdition that compromises the churches’ ‘gospel of love,’ and gives this ‘gospel’ the lie to ordinary people, and is in fact behind by far, most of atheism.

On the other hand, this is not the quality of mercy I see in God. I get the strong feeling of an infinite, unconditional, no-strings-attached love for all people. At the same time this love is all-powerful and sovereign. It is not so flimsy and pitifully weak that it can be finally frustrated or defeated by mere human whim or by meagre man’s arrogant illusion called ‘free will.’ ”

20

THE GREAT REVELATION OR GOD’S LOVE, PURPOSE AND PLAN – JOHN H. PATON

“Some say that if it can be proved that the punishment of the wicked will have an end, the same argument will prove that the life of the righteous will also end. But this is too much to take for granted on such a premise. Aionios does not of itself indicate either the limited or unlimited duration of anything, but its duration in each case depends on the nature of that to which it is applied.

Colored glasses give color to whatever men look at, and it is difficult for many to divest themselves of the influence of former teaching so far as to be willing to look at a thing from the standpoint of another.

Some of us have done this however. Though trained in the old school of thought, we have been enabled, by a careful examination of the Scriptures, to throw off the old idea and to accept the larger and better hope. And we are assured that the plan of the ages with its progressive revelation, and the general scope and spirit of the gospel as a revelation of the infinite love and wisdom of God, are far stronger evidence of the final victory of Christ in saving all men, than the mere definition of any word could be.”

21

AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF WORDS – LOUIS ABBOTT

In the forward to his book AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF WORDS, Louis Abbott wrote, “One key area various denominations are divided over is the final destiny of the ungodly, the wicked, the unsaved, the unregenerate, or however one wishes to phrase it.
There are three views on this subject. Each position claims Scriptural support: (1) eternal torment; (2) eternal destruction; and (3) the ultimate salvation of all. It is obvious that all cannot be correct.
I pray this book will be a blessing to all who are struggling with this subject.” (unquote)

This book can be read online at this link
AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF WORDS
http://www.tentmaker.org/books/asw/index.html

ENJOY!

Gary Amirault interviews Greek scholar Louis Abbott about his belief that the Bible teaches universal salvation (in eight parts)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJoNxjUAAi8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuoRnAsugew
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAsVTXJYEHY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_sblmYiX4I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfx6tcwq3M4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM5fSRDxVwg
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3213148682308877255#
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoWeKXdNhyg

22

DARE WE HOPE THAT ALL MEN BE SAVED – HANS URS VON BALTHASAR
(These 254 pages are essentially an explanation of why he makes the following statement)

“The whole of scripture is full of the proclamation of a salvation that binds all men by a Redeemer Who gathers together and reconciles the whole universe. That is quite sufficient to enable us to hope for the salvation of all men without thereby coming into contradiction with the Word of God.”

23

GOD’S ULTIMATE – A.E. SAXBY

“We do not wish to belittle the awful judgments of God. They will be terrible enough. But we desire to get all the perspective of Scripture and look to the end God has in view.

We do not believe that orthodox theology has done this. It has stopped short in the ages themselves and has misnamed them eternity, and has therefore presented the vision of a heaven full of saints and a hell full of tortured sinners in endless existence. In such a survey of the ultimate there is no place for the vision that Paul gives when God shall be All in all (1Cor. 15:28).

We contend that nothing less than the reconciliation of all would satisfy the heart of God and be a fitting consummation to the shedding of the blood of His Son.”

24

A SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY – WILLIAM BARCLAY

“I am a convinced universalist. I believe that in the end all men will be gathered into the love of God.

The Greek word for punishment is kolasis, which was not originally an ethical word at all. It originally meant the pruning of trees to make them grow better. There is no instance in Greek secular literature where kolasis does not mean remedial punishment. It is a simple fact that in Greek kolasis always means remedial punishment. God's punishment is always for man's cure." (unquote)
This is his comment regarding Matthew 25:46.

25

THE GOSPEL OF OUR SALVATION – ADLAI LOUDY

“The crowning glory of the ‘good news’ or evangel of the untraceable riches of Christ which Paul was granted the grace to bring to the ‘gentiles’ or nations, is the revelation that He will reconcile all to God.

What a marvellous outcome of God’s purpose! What a wonderful Christ Who can accomplish such a complete and glorious reconciliation! All creatures, whether those on the earth or those in the heavens, reconciled in perfect peace to the great love of God through the Son of His love.

More of these untraceable honours and glories of Christ which Paul was granted the grace to reveal, could be pointed out with delight, but these will suffice to increase our faith, enrich our joy and brighten our expectation ‘in Him in Whom our lot was cast also,’ Christ Jesus our Lord, Life, and Head!”

26

CHRIST TRIUMPHANT – THOMAS ALLIN

It is true that aionios may be applied as an epithet to things that are endless, but the idea of endlessness in all such cases comes not from the epithet, but only because it is inherent in the object to which the epithet is applied, as in the case of God.

‘This is life eternal’ should be ‘the life of the ages,’ i.e. peculiar to those ages in which the scheme of salvation is being worked out. The ‘eternal covenant’ is the ‘covenant of the ages,’ the covenant peculiar to the ages of redemption. The ‘eternal purpose’ is really the purpose of ‘the ages,’ i.e. developed and worked out in ‘the ages.’

We who teach the larger hope believe that not in this brief life only, but through future ages, Christ’s work shall go on till the last straying sheep shall have been found by the Good Shepherd. Then, at the expiry of these ages ‘cometh the end’ when Christ shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, and God shall be All in all (1Cor. 15:28).

27

THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF UNIVERSALISM – HOSEA BALLOU
From the time of the apostles to the era of the reformation 1498.

“I have been careful to state, in his own words, the opinion of every Christian author extant concerning future punishment and the eventual salvation of the world. This history contains an account of every individual of note whom we have now the means of knowing to have been a universalist.”

THE MODERN HISTORY OF UNIVERSALISM – THOMAS WHITTEMORE
Contains the writings of several hundreds of Christian Universalists from 1498 to 1830.

A snippet from Thomas Whittemore reads, “I cannot permit this opportunity to pass without expressing my heart felt acknowledgements to that Being Who has preserved my health and enabled me to finish this work in the midst of other pressing and incessant duties. May my confidence in Him never be diminished.”

28 & 29

THE RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS – ANDREW JUKES

“It is argued that whatever be the meaning of the word aionios in the case of the lost, the same must be its meaning in the case of the saved; and our certainty of never-ending bliss for penitent believers is gone if the word bears not the same signification in the case of the impenitent and unbelieving. But the truth is that this word describes not the quantity or duration, but the quality of that which it is predicated.

The word which in Matt. 25:46 we translate punishment, in its primary sense means ‘pruning’ and is always used for corrective discipline which is for the improvement of him who suffers it. Even those who hold the common view of the endlessness of punishment are obliged to confess this; and this of itself proves that their doctrine is untenable; for any punishment, be it for a longer or shorter time would not be corrective discipline, but quite another thing if it left those who were so corrected unimproved and lost forever. But from the fall till now the changeless way of the Lord is to make even the curse a blessing.”

30

YOU SAID IT LORD – ALINE TALSMA

“Lord, did you really say in Your word what I used to believe You said? Is it actually ok with You that people will spend eternity in hell? No, no, a thousand times no! You do not say that - and I am so relieved. Because had You said that, it would follow that I would have to think of You as worse than a murderer, that is, as a tormentor. If a person is murdered at least the possibility of torture and torment is past. But if I were to believe that You have prepared an eternal hell for some, I would also have to believe that You can be happy while you are tormenting people eternally.”

31