‘Hell: A Final Word’, by Edward Fudge, Reviewed: 13 May

Edward Fudge is a world-leading expert on hell. He set himself a considerable challenge – to condense his 420 page scholarly book The Fire that Consumes into a 186 page popular book Hell, A Final Word (Leafwood 2012). The new book, as its title suggests, is a summary of Fudge’s lifetime’s thinking about eternal punishment. He also responds to some criticisms of The Fire that Consumes and includes how he came to investigate and write about this unpopular subject. The personal story was partly to coincide with the movie of his life, Hell and Mr. Fudge, also produced in 2012. Edward Fudge is to be admired for taking on the whole challenge. He has, in many ways, succeeded.

‘This is my goal in writing Hell: A Final Word – to put the same biblical data and historical facts into the hands of serious Bible students and readers in general that the scholars have had for at least thirty years.’[1] The biblical data and historical facts prove that the traditional doctrine of hell as eternal torment is wrong. Hell is, instead, a place of utter destruction, annihilation, for the bodies and souls of the wicked. This is the truth which Fudge has been explaining and championing for many years. In this book he summarises the teaching with confidence and conviction.

 ‘I went to the Old Testament asking if it had anything to say about the end of the wicked. To my great surprise, it answered with principles, prototypes, and prophecies.’[2] ‘Evildoers… are totally burned up – nothing is left, neither root at one end nor branch at the other. Nothing but ashes remains to remind that the wicked ever existed.’[3] ‘Jesus’ teaching on final punishment, as on other subjects, was rooted in Old Testament revelation, which it sometimes advanced but never contradicted.’[4] ‘In fact, those three words – die, perish, and be destroyed – are the very words that the New Testament writers use most often to describe the final end of the wicked. Isn’t it interesting that most modern believers think they are sure that those who go to hell will not die, will never perish, and certainly will never be destroyed.’[5]

 Fudge recognises that believers think according to the teaching they have received . He details how the Church came to teach an unbiblical doctrine, through the influence of Greek philosophy. The majority of the book is an expert, convincing, accessible explanation of teaching throughout the Bible about the ultimate annihilation of the unrepentant wicked.

 Fudge dismantles what he sees as the Four Pillars of Eternal Torment:

1. The Old Testament says nothing about hell
2. There was one ‘Jewish view’ in the time of Jesus [ie torment]
3. New Testament writers follow Jesus. [in teaching torment]
4. The Immortality of the soul

 Fudge mostly succeeds in conveying his teaching pithily and memorably. His structure and style is also a bit rambling. The Four Pillars form the framework of the book, although not highlighted in the contents. Personal accounts and response to critics come up along the way. The chapter ‘Refreshing Our Memories’ is an excellent summary but it comes before he has addressed the final pillar.

 A more major flaw is that Fudge does not properly address what Jesus and the New Testament writers taught about Hades, as well as about Gehenna. Jesus used both words, which have been translated by the one word ‘hell.’ The whole traditional concept of hell’ is therefore a combination of what Jesus said about Hades and what Jesus said about Gehenna. Combining these two terms, assuming that they are two different names for the one same place, is not only a pillar, but the foundation of eternal torment.

 Fudge focuses on Gehenna. ‘When the New Testament refers to “hell” as the place of final punishment it translates the Greek word gehenna.’[6] ‘Jesus uses the word “hell” (gehenna) eleven times and is the only person in the Bible who uses it at all to speak of final punishment.’[7] Fudge should also have included references to Hades as references to ‘hell’, for all who argue for eternal torment include them.

 Fudge does mention hell in terms of  Hades ‘In fact when Jesus talks about hell, he pictures it as a place of weeping, or a place of defiant anger…’[8] Fudge argues that gnashing of teeth denotes extreme anger. ‘Weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth’ in the Gospels are features, however, not of Gehenna, but of Hades.

 Fudge writes about the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus: ‘In fact, the “hell” in this story in the King James Version, the “hell” that has caught so many eyes and captured so many imaginations through the centuries, is not the hell of final punishment at all. It is simply hades, sheol, gravedom, the unseen realm of the dead. If the parable proved anything about post-mortem circumstances, it would still say nothing about final punishment in hell or gehenna.’[9] He explains what Hades is not, without saying what it is. He ignores that in this very parable Jesus opens a window into the ‘unseen world of the dead’ from which we can learn more than from the Old Testament.

 Late in the book Fudge writes: ‘Based on Old Testament comments about Sheol, the wisest way to understand Hades is simply as a symbol for the invisible realm of the dead. To say more than that becomes very troublesome when one recalls that Jesus is pictured as in Hades (or Sheol) between his death and his resurrection. (Acts. 2:27,31)’[10] Fudge relies too much on the Old Testament and seems to dismiss New Testament teaching on Hades as ‘troublesome.’ It would be better to look more carefully and coherently at what Jesus and the New Testament writers teach about Hades. Fudge rightly sees that Hades and Gehenna are distinct. He needs to go further and investigate Hades as he has investigated Gehenna.

 I hope, therefore, that Hell: A Final Word will not be Edward Fudge’s final word on the subject. I hope that, as part of Fudge’s further investigations, he will look more at Revelation 14:9-11. This is a passage which some take as another pillar of eternal torment.[11] Fudge, surprisingly, does not address these verses, in which we read ‘the smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever.’ The whole description in Rev. 14:9-11, however, is a description not of Gehenna, but of Hades. This is torment ‘in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb’, something very different from the fate of the wicked after the Final Judgement. It would be good also to read Fudge expounding Rev. 1:18, Jesus saying ‘I am alive for ever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and Hades.’

 Edward Fudge’s detailed attention to the Bible, his ability to summarise and convey its main points, his determination to argue, publish and speak the truth as revealed in Scripture, place him at the forefront of the scholarly saints of our age. Hell: A Final Word is an excellent summary of his teaching so far. Many people would profit from reading it, not put off by its somewhat frightening title. I hope also for more Fudge to come.

 Roger Harper

---

[1] p19, 20

[2] p79

[3] p78

[4] p96

[5] p135

[6] p21

[7] p36

[8] p23

[9] p115

[10] p142

[11] eg Gregory Beale in Hell Under Fire (Zondervan 2004)

The Welsh Outpouring, Cwmbran Forget Revival: 1 May

‘I knew it was the Holy Spirit – I started crying as soon as I entered the building.’ My daughter, a junior doctor, was talking about her visit to the new Welsh Outpouring at Victory Church, Cwmbran. Her experience there was similar to other experiences of the Holy Spirit, the same but a bit more so. She was excited by the testimonies of healing and impressed by the leadership policy of talking openly about what is happening while minimising exaggerated claims.

‘The wind blows where it chooses…’ Over recent years several places have enjoyed similar outpourings of the Holy Spirit. I know of Dudley and Whitby in this country and the great, continuing, outpouring in Toronto. In these places at these times the Holy Spirit is blowing more strongly, touching people more definitely. 20 years ago I visited the church of a vicar friend in which the fresh wind from Toronto was blowing strongly. As I stood and people prayed for me, I felt a gentle warmth falling on my head, like a faint warm shower. It was similar to other Holy Spirit experiences, but happily distinctive. From that day onwards my body clock changed 2 hours. I now wake every day at about 6am instead of 8am. A great gift for prayer.

‘The wind blows where it chooses…’ I see this as a sailing metaphor (although I’m not sure how much Nicodemus, the Jerusalem Pharisee to whom Jesus addresses these words in John 3, knew about sailing.) We aren’t in control of the wind. But we are in control of our sails. It’s up to us to put up the sails to catch the wind when it comes, to make the most of it for our journey of faith. So people are travelling to Cwmbran with their sails up. Judging by the stories from visitors to Toronto, people who feel stuck in a marsh, or slough of despond in their faith or Christian ministry are much boosted by the fresh wind. How many of us couldn’t benefit from a fresh gust of Holy Spirit?

Now is the time for Cwmbran. Now is the Outpouring. What will happen in the future is not for us to know. Unfortunately there seems to be a British habit not to enjoy the now, but to look instead to some ‘Revival’ about to happen. Already some people are writing that the Welsh Outpouring in Cwmbran could be the herald of the long hoped for Revival. The wind blows where it chooses, not where we expect or hope it will blow. Let’s give up all talk of a Revival which may or may not come and enjoy the beautiful, powerful fresh Welsh breeze now. Whether it makes us cry or laugh or wake up early, it will do us good.

Roger Harper

Gay Marriage Maybe: 12 April

Today I created http://gaymarriagemaybe.wordpress.com

‘A robust middle ground in Christian debate.’

Please join the conversation.

Roger Harper   

Forever and a day: 2 April

Here’s a song which has been in my head for a while. I think this is close to the final version:

Forever and a day

 Of your goodness and kindness for ever I’ll sing,

For your love lasts forever and a day

You’re as sure as the sunrise, so old and so new,

You’re more pow’rful than earthquakes, more gentle than dew,

You count hairs on our heads, both many and few,

For your love lasts forever and a day

 

Of your goodness and kindness for ever I’ll sing,

You’re alive now forever and a day.

You are close by so peaceful, my brother and friend.

You’re the way to the good life, your people you tend,

You’re the power of God’s love, the whole world you’ll mend

You’re alive now forever and a day.

 

Of your goodness and kindness for ever I’ll sing,

For your grace flows forever and a day.

We are washed in your river, made clean in your sight,

We are polished and filled up, and made to shine bright,

We are guided through death and raised up to the light

For your grace flows forever and a day.

 

Roger Harper

Uganda Highlights: 14 March

Two weeks in Uganda, followed by my mother’s funeral, with all the work before and after, have meant a long break from writing here. Here are a few highlights of this time. If you want to know more about anything, please write a comment.

A young Ugandan woman imagined herself sitting by her parents’ home in the country. An ordinary Ugandan herdsman came and sat quietly next to her. He said ‘Don’t be afraid. I will be with you always.’ I was teaching ‘Seeing Jesus With Us.’

Watching water swirl down a plug hole a couple of yards north of the equator, then swirl the opposite way a couple of yards south of the equator, then go straight down without swirling when on the very equator. Makes me feel a child again, excited about this amazing world.

Seeing a young Ugandan woman with withered legs dance on her hands in worship.

Hearing another lovely Ugandan who hardly knows English, speak fluently to me in my tongue, ‘Go into all the world and preach the Gospel.’ A memorable word of prophecy.

Seeing an Archdeacon sitting in his official chair, his arms shaking like mad, as he enjoyed seeing Jesus stand next to him. His shaking arms were also a sign to me of how long to continue the period of being open to the Holy Spirit.

Wanting to talk about Jesus with a white man I had met the day before. He began our conversation with ‘You’re not one of those Bible bashers are you?’ Not a bad start as it turned out…

Seeing maize and sorghum growing abundantly in a plot that had deliberately not been ploughed or dug, but carefully mulched. ‘Farming God’s Way.’ And seeing a fuel saving earth stove, about which I have read over the years, in the house of a poor farmer.

Enjoying watching the waiters at the restaurant of a posh hotel having to control their urge to shout at / turf out our driver who was eating with us, at the head of the table.

‘Seeing’ Jesus in a rural parish church, a huge, black, muscular body.

A leopard crossing the road 50 yards from the gate of our safari lodge.

Praying briefly with a young woman with AIDS. My English companion said he could see the Holy Spirit moving in her.

Praying in a group with a mother for her son, suffering from a puzzling long-term illness. Hearing that the son had since walked further than for a good while.

Seeing many people touched, blessed, excited with the comforting, healing, presence of the Holy Spirit.

Ideas to pursue: solar power in schools, a building society, rural business development, facilities for healing those wounded in heart.

Roger Harper

Unbiblical Evangelicals: 25 January

‘I read everything else in the Bible now through the lens of Jesus, not the other way around. He’s the incarnate and so that’s my home.’

So writes Sarah Bessy commenting on Rachel Held Evans’ blog The Scandal of the Evangelical Heart. http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/scandal-evangelical-heart#comment-777014646

Rachel wrote that she is horrified at the apparent callousness of Evangelicals who are not troubled by the genocide in the book of Joshua, nor by the prospect of non-Christians being tormented forever in hell. They think that if that’s what the Bible says, it must be OK. It sounds horrible but it must be God’s will so there’s nothing to be worked up about. What is in these Evangelical hearts?

Sarah rightly points to the core of the problem – reading the Bible the wrong way. When you read ‘through the lens of Jesus’ you start knowing that cruelty and violence are wrong, enemies are to be loved not massacred and the love that flows from our hearts is supremely important. Anything that does not fit into what we know about and from Jesus is to be rejected or to be put on the shelf until we can integrate it with Jesus. Parts of Joshua fall into this category.

This ‘Jesus lens’ approach is the Biblical approach. (The technical term for ‘approach to reading the Bible, or other literature’ is ‘hermeneutic’. Just in case you have come across the word and wonder…) This is surprising because the Evangelicals who do not use the ‘Jesus lens’ think they are being entirely Biblical. They aren’t. Where does the Bible itself say that the Bible is to be read their way, treating all of it as equally authoritative? Nowhere. Where does the Bible itself say that the Bible is to be read with a ‘Jesus lens?’ Several passages in the New Testament.

Mark 9:5-7 recounts the Transfiguration:
Then Peter said to Jesus, `Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, `This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’ (NRSV)

A voice from heaven (what could be more authoritative than that?) tells them, and us, to listen to Jesus, not to Jesus alongside Moses and Elijah – ie not alongside the Old Testament. Jesus is the Son, not a prophet. He is of a completely different order. (Hebrews 1) Pay attention to him, him alone!

Jesus himself confirms this by saying that wise men hear his words and act on them – not the words of the Old Testament. (Mth. 7:24-27) Jesus said his disciples are to learn to obey all he commanded, not all Scripture. commanded. (Mth 28:20) Paul and Peter write that Jesus is the foundation and cornerstone. (1 Cor. 3:11, 1 Peter 2:6,7) You start the building with Jesus. If you start with Joshua you end up with a skewed building.

Jesus also said that we are to read the Old Testament entire and follow what it says. Jesus had a way of saying two almost contradictory things. We start with Jesus, listen to Jesus and then we look carefully at all of the Old Testament. Reading with a ‘Jesus lens’ is another way of saying the same thing.
.
Conservative Evangelicals object to the Jesus lens. The more theological say that it is illegitimate to form a ‘canon within the canon.’ The canon of the whole of Scripture is the main thing. It cannot be subdivided in any way. Where, though, does the Bible itself say this? The voice from heaven and the New Testament give a different message. Conservative Evangelicals are reading Scripture in an unbiblical way. This needs to be said more clearly and more often.

Further, the voice from heaven and the New Testament do not say ‘pay attention to the recorded sayings of Jesus’ but ‘Listen to him!’ The record of what he said is of great importance, but he is also alive and speaking today through the Holy Spirit. It is vital that we have a personal relationship with Jesus today, having our hearts warmed and healed by his, abiding in him, in his love. So Sarah Bessy writes: I just like to sit with my head resting on Jesus while I figure it out. That’s just what we are all supposed to do. It is the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth, including telling us things that Jesus could not say before, (John 16:12-14) We read Scripture not only having read the Gospels but with Jesus with us, his heart and his mind alongside ours.

Has this Jesus lens, Jesus priority, been explained and argued elsewhere? I would love to know more. Has Gay Marriage been looked at fully with the Jesus lens, the Jesus priority? I am working on this at the moment and am keen to compare with others. Please comment.

If you want to know what happens when you use the Jesus lens to look at Hell, see The Lie of Hell http://www.laddermedia.co.uk You see that Jesus used two different words which have been translated by the one word ‘hell’ and that changes everything.

Roger Harper

Hell Interview and Pictures: 7 January

http://www.rethinkinghell.com now has an interview with me about my book The Lie of Hell (www.laddermedia.co.uk) For about 40 minutes, you can hear some of the background, main points, and recommendations. Chris Date, the interviewer, says that he wants to encourage people to buy a copy for themselves.

Chris asked me about my assertion, new to theology, that the traditional doctrine of hell was finally fixed by the influence of Islam. In the early Middle Ages hell was often seen very differently to how Dante or Jonathan Edwards saw it:

This is part of the front of Lincoln Cathedral. It is hard to date exactly, as the early Cathedral suffered fire and earthquake, and was rebuilt, probably incorporating elements of the original. This carving was probably made by 1250 AD, and could be earlier.

Hell’s jaws have been opened wide by the King, Jesus, and his adjutant. Jesus has bound up and gagged the puny devil and trampled on him. Central to the picture and the message is Jesus pulling people out of hell.

A very similar picture, and message, is on the cover of The Lie of Hell. This is part of the great fresco in the Chora in Istanbul. It is probably somewhat earlier than the Lincoln carving.

From one end of Europe to the other we see Jesus the Saviour saving people from hell. This message was also seen, and heard, in the medieval Mystery Plays, popular in Western Europe, routinely including a scene of Jesus proclaiming freedom to souls in hell and releasing them. This rescue in art and drama is known as ‘the harrowing’ of hell.

By the time of Dante (c1315 AD), and with the help of Dante, the dominant picture was very different. Over the door of hell were fixed the words ‘Abandon hope all you who enter here.’ People in hell were there forever, with no way out. Jesus was nowhere near. He was now solely enthroned in heaven. The devil was no longer puny, bound up and under Jesus’ feet. The devil was huge, menacing, powerful, free to endlessly torture and munch the ‘souls’, with Jesus watching, or at least knowing, unconcerned.

This is the oldest painting of its kind in England, in St Thomas’ in Salisbury. It was painted around 1475 AD (see http://www.stthomassalisbury.co.uk/content/pages/documents/1296212454.pdf )

A significant change took place in understanding and pictures of hell between 1250 and 1475. At that time the biggest influence on Christianity and the source of major developments was Spain, where Christians and Moslems lived and studied together. In the Qu’ran, in virtually every Surah from the earliest to the last, hell is proclaimed, taught, warned of, as the fiery place of eternal torment from which there is no escape. This overwhelming Islamic certainty about hell significantly strengthened Christian teaching of a similar hell. Christian teaching about Jesus rescuing people from hell faded into the background.

One specific influence was The Night Journey of Mohammed to Heaven by Ibn Arabi, which many historians consider helped Dante form the plan of his Divine Comedy – Hell and Purgatory and Heaven.

You may notice that, in the Salisbury painting, the people being taken to hell are chained together. Nowhere in the Bible is there a description of the condemned chained together. Instead, the Bible talks of each person being judged according to their own deeds, implying no lumping of people together. Surah 14 of Qu’ran, verse 49, reads ‘Thou wilt see the guilty on that day linked together in chains.’

The hell of eternal torment is originally more Islamic than Christian.

Roger Harper

Pray for the peace of Bethlehem: 20 December

Bethlehem has always been a little place that people and armies blunder into. Jacob was just passing through after the disaster of allowing his sons to murder the Shechemites, looking for somewhere else to live. Genesis tells us that God had just left him. In Bethlehem Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin. When David was fleeing from Saul, Bethlehem had a Philistine garrison. Then there were the Romans blundering around, not understanding the chaos their census rules would create in this culture and these people. The magi blundered in having alerted Herod. To their own understanding, asking the way seemed just sensible. It turned out to be a disaster.

I have some sympathy with the not so wise magi. In January 1997 my wife, daughters and I were in Israel for a family reunion. My father was a refugee to Britain from Nazi Germany. His brothers and sisters settled in Israel and America so the main way for us to know our cousins has been occasional grand reunions. While in Israel we decided to visit Bethlehem, just as we had visited other towns with great Cathedrals. We had an Israeli hire car. I drove out of Jerusalem, ‘knowing’ it was a short straight journey and it wouldn’t be hard to find Manger Square in a small place like Bethlehem. It was probably the most stupid thing I have ever done in my life.

We blundered into the outskirts of Bethlehem. From the European order of Israel, we were plunged in the Third World bustle of Palestine. There were no road signs, just minor roads that all looked the same. One wrong turn and we were lost in the back streets, assailed by shouting smiling lads who each wanted us to use their parking place. In desperation I decided the only thing I could do was trust one of them, pay him well, ask someone to walk us to Manger Square and hope that the car was still there, not too defaced, when we returned. We had a wonderful welcome, thank God, and were perfectly safe. Today the same journey would be probably be suicide. At the time I didn’t realise that in Bethlehem everyone arrives by coach and organised tour. I was just blundering in, following my own European understanding of what you do when you are a tourist, which was of no use in Bethlehem.

Armies have blundered into Bethlehem less innocently, – Herod’s massacring soldiers, the Moslem and then Crusader armies, now the Israeli troops of the Occupation. It is ironic that 2000 years after the Romans, today’s army of occupation is Jewish. They may have allowed a Palestinian Authority, but the Israelis still send in their troops whenever they deem it necessary. All the armies have cared little for the people of the town, concerned only about how Bethlehem fits into their own strategic understanding.

For years Bethlehem has been a Christian majority town. In more recent years radical Palestinian Moslems have been targeting it, partly as a base to attack Israel. We were there on a Friday and Manger Square was filled with the blaring of the loudspeakers from the Mosque. The pervasive noise felt intimidating. Israeli soldiers respond to terrorist threats with harsh security. They too think not of the ordinary local people and only of their enemies. Today there is a section of the Separation Wall between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. There is no peace.

Some people are working and calling for peace, thank God. Some of the strongest critics of the Israeli Occupation are Jewish. This is not just that for every three Jews there are always four opinions. Many Jewish critics see the Occupation as both deeply immoral and working against the long term security both of Israel and of Jews across the world. (Jews for Justice for Palestinians jfjfp.com Independent Jewish Voices ijv.org.uk) There are still prophets in Israel calling those in authority back to morality and justice. Some of the critics of the way that the Palestinian leadership has failed to stand against their own violent radicals are themselves Palestinian.

These courageous people give us pointers as to how we can pray. “Thank you Father God for your prophets of peace and justice today. Please give them persistence, the support of friends, boldness, imaginative ways of bringing the critical message of peace. Please send the Holy Spirit to the leaders of Israel, Palestine, America and Britain to confirm in their hearts the message of the prophets.”

God speaks in the hearts and dreams of people like magi, blundering pagans caught up in their own ways, ways which just lead to more violence. It is not too hard to believe that the same God will give to those in authority today dreams that will guide them in the paths of peace.

But the magi didn’t hear God speaking to them until after they had seen Jesus. I think all along God must have been saying “No! Not Jerusalem! Please not Jerusalem. Just follow the star won’t you? Let me guide you, not your own understanding.” They couldn’t hear God speaking then. It was only after they had seen Jesus and recognised Him as King, that they were able to hear God in their dreams.

We pray that leaders today will also see Jesus. This is hard for them after centuries of Crusaders both military and evangelistic. My own liberal Jewish family don’t want to talk about Jesus; they see him instinctively as their enemy. “Father God, please forgive us for our violent ways which have hindered people from seeing Jesus. Please open the eyes of the leaders to see Jesus, to recognise Him for who He is and, like the Magi, to see the way that leads to peace. For He is the Prince of Peace, now and for ever.” Amen?

Kindle and YouTube: 6 December

The Lie of Hell is now available on Kindle. It might make a challenging Christmas present.

www.rethinkinghell.com continues carefully to explain that the wicked will not end up burning forever like a glowing coal, but will be burnt up, utterly destroyed, for ever, like stubble in a furnace. Chris Date, the genial intellectual interviewer for the website, grilled me warmly about The Lie of Hell today. This interview will be on www.rethinkinghell.com in a few weeks.

Another American source of information on hell is YouTube. Several people have posted their testimony of having been to ‘hell’ and back. (Search ‘near death experience hell.’)

Tamara Laroux’s interview with Pat Roberston on the 700 Club shows her telling the story which she also wrote about in her book Delivered.

As a 15 year old Tamara was determined to end her painful life which had no prospect of happiness. She pointed her mother’s .38 calibre pistol directly at her heart and pulled the trigger. Travelling faster than light she found herself, falling, falling until she experienced an explosion of pain. She was in a sea of people in intense pain. Like them she had become a being of fear, in total isolation and intense regret. She could also see heaven, across a great gulf of black nothingness. She ‘knew’ that she was never going to experience that glorious place.

But God’s hand reached down, lifted her up and out, and brought her to heaven. She realized that to God the great gulf was no distance at all. Before she pulled the trigger, Tamara has asked God to forgive her. She regretted never having accepted Jesus as her Lord and Saviour. In heaven she experienced indescribable unity with Christ, in a place of love, grace, mercy, wholeness, beauty and understanding. Her soul was laid back in her body. Now she had surrendered to Jesus. She called out to her mother who called the emergency paramedics. In hospital she made a quick and remarkable physical recovery. The journey of emotional healing through taking in the truths of God’s Word took longer.

Tamara’s story closely mirrors that of the Rich Man in Luke 16, in the place which Jesus specifically calls Hades. Tamara’s experience is of Hades, which is not the same as Gehenna. Tamara’s experience shows Jesus having the divine ability to save from Hades those who repent and are looking to live with Him.

Angie Fenimore also committed suicide after years of intense depression following an abused childhood. She believed the common suicide’s lie that those closest to her, especially her children, would be better off without her. She felt her spirit powerfully leaving her body. Then she saw all her life from being held as a baby by her mother, and she felt all the feelings of everybody connected to her. Most importantly she knew that her mother, who had left home when she was 9, loved her. Angie also sensed another person with her, male, reviewing her life with her.

Then the review reached her suicide. Angie was surrounded by darkness. She heard other spirits all mumbling to themselves, completely self-absorbed, caring nothing for anyone else. They, and she, were living continually in the turmoil and agony of their death. A voice from above said ‘Is this what you really want?’ Looking up Angie saw a pin point of light, like a star. It came  swiftly towards her. As it came closer she knew it was a person – this was God. ‘You can’t take your life it’s not yours to take,’ He said. ‘Life is meant to be tough. That’s how you learn to care.’

Then there was another presence next to God, just the same as God. This was the same being who had been with her in her life review. Angie felt incredible love, peace, pain, compassion from Him.. ‘Don’t you understand, I’ve done this for you?’ He said. Angie knew she was In the presence of the Saviour of the World.

Then Angie was shown what would happen to her children if she stayed dead. She saw her oldest son terribly harmed by grief and pain. The desire to die disappeared. She was ready to come back and work through the pain of living. She accepts the need to overcome what has been done to her, with the help of the beings of light whom she met. Angie has written a book: Beyond the Darkness.

Carl Knighton also died and went to a place of horrendous torment. He called out with all his might ‘Jesus! Jesus! Help me Jesus!’ The hand of God came and put him back in his body.

Some of those speaking on YouTube saw ‘hell’ and were brought back to life without, they say, specifically calling on Jesus. But, back in life, they turned to Jesus and now live with Him instead of without Him.

You can also listen to Howard Storm and Christine Eastell whose stories I quote in The Lie of Hell.

The complete picture and understanding is the one Jesus gave us: not the one place called hell, but two places Hades and Gehenna.

Roger Harper

 

Why no Women Bishops? 27 November

Last week the ‘parliament’ of the Church of England failed to agree how to move to having women bishops. A proposal was put which needed a 2/3rds majority among the bishops, clergy, and laity – church members. Among the laity the 2/3rds majority was not reached. A significant number of those voting against the proposal were Conservative Evangelicals who read the Bible as saying that women should not be in ‘headship’ over men. They argued that the details of the proposal would not have ensured them, as conscientious objectors, a secure continuing place within the Church of England.

Dear Conservative Evangelicals, who voted or argued against the Measure.

We are fellow evangelicals within the Church of England. Please allow me to explain why I think your voting against last week’s proposal was not Biblical. Please will you reflect on these matters? There will be no further decisions for at least 3 years, but it is good to consider while the issue is fresh in our minds

We probably disagree about how we read the Bible. What we agree on wholeheartedly is that the Bible is the foundation of all doctrine and the authority by which all Church decisions are guided. Some of us give greatest weight to the Biblical principles which Jesus taught and demonstrated in His life. We do this because the whole of the New Testament points us to Jesus as the foundation and cornerstone, the one to whom we are to listen. We are emphatically not to listen equally to Moses, Elijah and Jesus. We are not to listen even to Paul equally with Jesus.

Listening to Jesus means that we pay greatest attention to the ‘weightier’ matters of the Law – justice, mercy, faith – while not neglecting the others. Listening to Jesus means that what happens in the heart has to have priority over external rules and regulations. Listening to Jesus means that we recognise how He fostered the role of women to the edges of the limits of current convention. Paul followed Jesus in proclaiming the absolute equality before God of men and women. Paul followed Jesus in explaining important principles by which we make our decisions – such as the principle that avoiding hindrance to the Gospel in a particular culture is to be foremost in our thinking, or that faith, hope and love are primary over what we allow or encourage in our churches.

You may well not read the Bible in exactly the same way. Please be assured that the division over women bishops is not between those who believe in the Bible and those who do not, but between different ways of reading the Bible.

Please consider again: What is going to promote or hinder the spreading of the Gospel in our society – the good news of God’s coming to seek and save the lost among all humankind? Was this uppermost in your thinking as you voted? Did you vote in faith, hope and love, ie Biblically, or in suspicion, fear, anger, resentment?

I would agree that you have been treated with less generosity than you could have been. Too many supporters of women bishops have argued stridently for no concessions to those opposed to women bishops. Arrangements for conscientious objectors have been granted grudgingly. More security could have been ensured had the proposals of the Archbishops, among others, been accepted by Synod. The treatment of Conservative Evangelical Anglicans in the US has been unsympathetic and rejecting, with too little criticism of that rejection by the English Church Establishment. All this is no reason, Biblically, to respond with suspicion and fear for your future position.

The better way would be to trust that there are enough of us fellow Evangelicals in the Church of England to make sure that you will always be treated decently. The better, Biblical, way is to trust the leaders, the bishops, God has put in place. Trust God and your fellows Christians, not the best legislation you can secure for yourselves.

 Roger Harper