by Don Ruhl

Think of someone you know who has been in Christ a long time, is gracious, patient, pleasant, forbearing, mature, that is, someone who has all the traits that you believe the Bible teaches a religious person should have. My guess is that he or she has been doing the three things revealed in Psalm 111:10.

10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever. (Psa. 111:10, NKJV).

 First, this person no doubt fears the Lord. 

Second, he or she eagerly and delightfully does the commandments of God. Third, this Christian praises God. Am I right? Do not be surprised then that this disciple of Christ has the wisdom of God and is a person of good understanding just like Jesus. I wonder then what I should do to be like that member of the church?

Don Ruhl 441 Damont Street Klamath Falls, Oregon 97601-2311

by Don Ruhl

Let Christians excel in tolerance! However, let us be tolerant in the right ways. Yes, let us be kind, gentle and patient, working with people who want to come out of sin, but we cannot tolerate in the church one who has no intention of repenting. Listen to Paul.

 1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles--that a man has his father's wife! (1 Cor. 5:1, NKJV). 

 Our ancient Corinthian brethren misunderstood the proper application of tolerance and were willing to tolerate a fornicating member among their number! Tolerance by Christians should be of such a nature that people want to change their lives, but if we are showing tolerance that encourages someone to continue in sin, then we have misapplied the teachings of our Teacher Jesus Christ. Examine the way you treat people, in particular members of the church and be sure you are following the example of Jesus. 

Don Ruhl 441 Damont Street Klamath Falls, Oregon 97601-2311

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by Michael E. Brooks

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live" (John 11:25).

The Church in Bangladesh was saddened recently at the untimely death of one of its young people. Thirteen-year-old William Hasda died after suffering through a brief illness with one of the fevers so common in flood-time Bangladesh, possibly Malaria or Typhoid. William was the son of Noren Hasda, a Gospel preacher from Naogaon district in the northwest. Every possible effort was made to provide medical care, and many prayers were offered, yet death came.

Death is sad, under almost all circumstances. No matter how old a person may be, or how ill, if they are loved they will be missed and their passing is grieved. The death of young people brings even greater grief. We mourn the unfulfilled potential their future promised. We mourn our inability to guide and help them as they mature and then become blessings to others.

Death is also certain. "It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). We don't know when, nor under what circumstances, but death will come to all. And in that certainty there is solace. It is not death that is tragic, but death which does not leave the promise of eternal life.

No story in the Bible is more relevant or needed than the resurrection of Lazarus. When Jesus shared in the mourning of Lazarus' sisters, he demonstrated compassion and complete identification with the human condition. But when he raised Lazarus from the grave, he showed Divine power. He also promised to use that power on behalf of all who believed in and obeyed him. Through faith in Jesus, we will all have life. Not just for a time on this earth, but throughout eternity.

The Apostle Paul placed the resurrection at the very center of the Gospel message.

"But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty ... If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable" (1 Corinthians 15:13,14,19).

We do have hope in Christ, because he was raised from the dead. And not only that, but he has demonstrated his power to raise the dead. Death remains real and sad, yet it is not tragic. Not when it comes to those who love the Lord, who have hope in His coming.

by Kevin Cauley

A few weeks ago on a Bible Study Forum (www.preachersfiles.com) we received a question about hell. Basically the question was how can the lake of fire described in the book of Revelation be hell if hell is going to be cast into the lake of fire? It's true that in Revelation 20:14 (KJV) we read "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." The person who was asking the question was suggesting that there really isn't such a place as hell because this verse says that "hell" was going to be destroyed. What would someone say to that?

One must understand that the King James translators didn't draw a distinction between two Greek words. These words we know today as "Hades" and "Gehenna." The word Gehenna has a historical reference to a valley on the southwest side of Jerusalem where human sacrifices once occurred. After the Babylonian captivity, the place was deemed unclean and turned, more or less, into a "city dump." Fires burned there day and night, consuming the waste and the place became metaphoric for the eternal destruction of the wicked.

Rabbinical tradition used this history and the word "Gehenna" to refer to an afterlife of punishment and torment. The Babylonian Talmud refers to the fires of Gehenna as being different from fire created by men. "The fire which we use was created at the close of Sabbath, while the fire of Gehenna was created at twilight on the eve of Sabbath" (Chapter IV, pg. 93, www.sacred-texts.com). The Talmud also records that wicked men would suffer punishment in Gehenna. "If one is meritorious and righteous, he receives his own portion and also the portion of his neighbor in the Garden of Eden. If he has incurred guilt, he receives his own portion and also the portion of his neighbor in Gehenna." (Chapter II, pg. 33, www.sacred-texts.com). This is important to understand, because it is in this sense that Jesus speaks about hell (Gehenna) in the New Testament, namely, as place for the wicked (Matthew 5:22, 10:28, 23:33, Luke 12:5).

On the other hand, the word "Hades" is not necessarily used to describe the place of the wicked, but merely the realm of the dead. This is the place that describes where the rich man and Lazarus went after death (Luke 16:23). This word is also used to describe where Jesus went after death in Acts 2:27, 31. We know that Jesus went to paradise (Luke 22:42) and that the rich man was in "torments" (Luke 16:23) yet both of them were in "Hades." How could this be? It is simply the case that Hades refers to a general place where the spirits of the dead go, not heaven, and not hell either.

So what was it that was cast into the lake of fire in Revelation 20:14? The word in the Greek New Testament is "Hades" not "Gehenna." Hence, it is perfectly reasonable to understand that "Hades" being the place of those who are dead, is no longer necessary after the judgment as the souls of all men have been resurrected to die no more (John 5:29). So, the place of the dead, "Hades" will be destroyed in that day, along with death itself. However, the place of eternal punishment for the wicked, "Gehenna" is the lake of fire as we see from Revelation 21:8.