SONG OF GOD. Lecture 10. The Cosmic Pulse: Unconditional Love, Everlasting Grace

[Rebbe]

The Song of God

A Fresh Appraisal of the Christian Doctrine of the Ultimate Destiny of Humankind:
IMCF Lectures on God's Universal Salvation

by

Les Aron Gosling, Messianic Rebbe



Copyright © BRI, 1996
Lecture Format © 2016
All Rights Reserved Worldwide

Originally Produced as a BRI Study Manual




LECTURE 10

THE COSMIC PULSE: UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, EVERLASTING GRACE

When we look at the cross of Yeshua, what do we see? A young Jew crucified, suffering excruciating torments unjustly in shame and defeat? A Messianic Pretender nailed to a tree by order of the highest authority on earth for the criminal act of treason? To view Mashiach's cross as failure in any regard is to miss the purpose and the glory of that momentous event at Golgoleth on the Mount Olivet. For, in Yeshua Mashiach crucified, Deity was fulfilling a promise made to humankind at the very dawn of history. And the Self-emptying of the Creator God in crucifixion has far-reaching implications for every human being alive today, and indeed, for all who have ever lived on our planet.

The Scriptures are explicit concerning the cross event. They tell us in no uncertain terms that Our Lord Yeshua underwent the full and complete punishment of sins for everyone who has ever lived. Christ died for us all.

"In due time Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5.6). "We thus judge that if one [the Messiah] died for all, then were all dead" (2 Corinthians 5.14). "But God commends this love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, the Messiah died for us" (Romans 5.8). "Mashiach also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh" (1 Peter 3.18). "We see Yeshua, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour, that he by the Grace of God should taste death for every man" (Hebrews 2.9).

Arminius may have been in error with his doctrine of the free will of man in the acceptance of salvation in the Messiah (for he did not understand God's purposes in election) but Calvin was equally mistaken in his belief in an election of general humankind -- those outside the church -- to hell (for he also was ignorant of God's purposes in election).

Because the Constantinian church in the fourth century successfully did away with the Jewish thoughtform that brought us the Book in the first place, was thorough in its wanton destruction of anything and everything Jewish in ritual, ceremony and practice that had previously pertained to the church, had commissioned Eusebius and his bishops to rewrite the New Testament, persecuted any and all who refused to come under the authority of the Emperor Constantine's religious visions to the point of murder, effectively changed the Sabbath from Saturday to the pagan Sunday, brazenly altered the image of Yeshua as the Messiah to that exclusively of a Saviour, changed his physical appearance from possessing decidedly Semitic features into a transformation of an effeminate Gentile philosophical form replete with the garb he wore and the length of his hair, inculcated pagan images into public devotion to such an extent that today Christianity is the most idolatrous religion on the face of the earth second to none, and restored (albeit subtlety) the ancient cultic sex worship of antiquity.

Moreover, his church authorised the once-Manichean bishop Augustine to create a totally new theology which would justify the rejection of the Jews as the people of God replacing them once and for all with Christendom, remoulding the church as the theocratic Kingdom of God. Small wonder neither Arminius nor Calvin could grasp the idea that God should have a Messianic Community consisting of "Firstfruits" (Romans 8.23; 16.5; 1 Corinthians 15.20,23; 16.15; James 1.18; Revelation 14.4; Leviticus 23) as doctrinally understood against a Jewish backdrop of seasonal festivals regulated by the annual agricultural Jewish calendar! Jewish ideas were totally alien to them both.

There can be no doubt whatever that when the Gentile Christian community jettisoned the Jewish thoughtforms from the Hebrew Scriptures, they rejected both the concept and the meaning of salvation, replacing the essential idea of salvation with a crude view of "heaven" for the "good" and "eternal hell in torment" for the "damned." Yet this step was not doctrinally sound and this prime teaching of the current Christian church (in both the East and the West) cannot be located in any of the early church "Fathers," either located at Rome or Alexandria. But Mashiach died, not only for the elect, but for the sins of the entire world. This is the verdict of the Scripture, and is decidedly not an expression of personal opinion.

"For God so loves the world, that he gives his uniquely begotten Son, that everyone who is believing in him should not be perishing, but may be having everlasting life. For God sends not his Son into the world that he should be condemning the world, but that the world may be saved through him" (John 3.16,17 correct Greek tense).

Why do we insist on reading the church when the Scripture emphatically states the world?

"We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Yeshua the Messiah once for all... This man, after he has offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down at the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10.10,12). "(Mashiach) when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Hebrews 1.3).

Now we know that Rav Shaul wrote that death is the wages of sin (Romans 6.23). Well, actually it's not. Remember, what Paul wrote in the Greek was not wages but rations. You see, in the Jewish thoughtform of the day, Satan never was viewed as giving his slaves wages for the work of sin. He merely eked out rations. "For the ration of sin is death." But not content with this cover-up, the Constantinian church went a step further and confused the issue of sin altogether by suggesting that hell-fire as a form of death was the real wage (ration) for sin, transgression and iniquity. Fear was thus introduced by the bishops as a lever to control the masses.

And what an effective tool it has been!

But in no way can this teaching be seen to be the truth of the matter. For, if we peruse all the texts thus far presented in this series of lectures it is death and not hell-fire that Mashiach experienced in being our perfect Substitute in the face of a just God! Where do we locate one single verse of Scripture that teaches that Messiah Yeshua paid the necessary penalty of our sins by entering into a fiery hell on our behalf? In no way was this the price Messiah paid for our sins and the sins of the world. "Christ died for our sins," says the Bible. He told the repentant revolutionary who was dying on Golgoleth with Our Lord that they would be together immediately at death in the Paradise compartment, or state, in Sheol. The Messiah had no immediate plans of visiting hell (Gehenna) when he died -- not even for a tour of the location.

Yet the erroneous teaching concerning hell (Gehenna) persists. All the major divisions of the Christian church continue to promulgate, in one form or another, that the Lake of Fire is the penalty, or judgmental consequence, of sins against a holy God. But if this is so, and Christ paid the penalty of our sins for us, then he must have gone to hell when he died.

Those who believe that an eternity of fiery torment awaits the unforgiven sinner, then for Mashiach to have paid that penalty fully and completely he would need to be still in hell burning in torment. And for those who wish to believe that being burned up in a fiery holocaust so that nothing at all remains (not even an illusive "consciousness") as the penalty of sin, then for Christ to have properly paid the penalty he would have had to have been burned up completely in hell.

What a heinous thought! It is utterly repugnant to the converted Christian mind. But we know this is not the case at all. Mashiach did suffer in a fiery hell in his own body on the tree in separation (admittedly a state of death) from God but in no way did he go to some place called Gehenna to a fiery pit of sulphur and brimstone to appropriately be our Substitute! The very idea is ridiculous. The Scriptures openly declare that Mashiach died for our sins. It does not imply in any way, shape or form that he suffered in a fiery inferno for our offences.

TARTURUS
Many of our translations and versions of the Bible translate as "hell" three distinct Greek terms, Tarturus, Hades and Gehenna. The New Testament reference for the first of these, Tarturus or Tartaroo, is located only in 2 Peter 2.4. It is intriguing that the apostle Peter freely utilises a term found in classical Greek mythology which refers to a subterranean prison or penal colony wherein reside the Titans who rose up in rebellion against the chief of the gods, Zeus. Certainly, that such an underground vault does exist beneath the surface of our planet is attested to in the Apocalypse by another of Mashiach's very own chosen apostles, John. At least this was the belief held by many Jews in the time of the later Roman Procuratorships of Judaea.

"And I saw an angel come down from the heavens, having a key to the bottomless pit [Greek, abyss -- the underworld beneath the ground and the earth's oceans] and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that ancient serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him [as an act of imprisonment] a thousand years" (Revelation 20.1,2 See also Revelation 9.2 which mentions certain creatures from this region surfacing upon the earth in a menacing way).

We also know that Moses was well aware of this environment, for he postulated that this subterranean area was located in the vast oceans (Exodus 20.4) and many scholars point to further NT evidence to support this in Paul's recognition that "at the name of Yeshua every knee shall bow, of things in the heavens, and things in earth, and things under the earth" (Philippians 1.10).

In regards to this latter reference, we have some measure of hesitation, for this statement by the great emissary to the nations could very well refer to the region or state of Sheol and not necessarily be limited to the realm of the Titans. However, we do know that Enoch visited this region, thousands of years ago, for of him it is recorded from Jewish oral tradition (which finally found written expression in 1 Enoch chapters 12 to 16 and 2 Enoch 18) by none other than Peter himself who wrote -- "It was in the Spirit that Enoch also went and preached to the imprisoned spirits" (1 Peter 3.19 Moffatt). Scholar Goodspeed translates this verse accordingly: "...alive in the Spirit. In it Enoch went and preached even to those spirits who were in prison."

Bowyer, Rendel Harris, M.R. James, Spitta, Cramer -- these Greek specialists all agree that the original Greek manuscripts were in one accord that it was Enoch, not Our Lord, whom Peter had ascribed this journey into the subterranean world of the Titans. Be this as it may, Messiah will one day reconcile all things in this universe to himself, and this includes the presently imprisoned Titans (Colossians 1.20).

HADES
The second Greek word translated "hell" is Hades. Essentially our English word "hell" came from the Anglo-Saxon hel which meant, simply enough, a hidden place or the unseen. In medieval times the English would bury potatoes in "hell" (under the ground) for the winter. Today our familiar word "hole" is a derivative of this word "hell." A hole in the ground. But in the Hebrew Sheol is the equivalent of the Greek term Hades which goes beyond the Anglo-Saxon terminology. Hades simply means "not to see." It refers to that region in death that is not, and cannot, be seen. Men and women and children who pass into the state of death, pass into a field which is hidden behind a veil of dim mystery. In this field the souls of men dwell until the day of God's judgment. In this vast dark kingdom there were at least two provinces -- one region for the righteous and another for the wicked. But the entire province of the dead (both good and bad) was referred to as Hades or Sheol. To call this region "hell" is misleading as it implies, in popular mythological theology, the so-called final state or estate of the damned.

But in fact this state is a prelude to judgment. That this was the understanding of the Jewish people in the first century we have the testimony of Josephus (Josephus Flavius, Antiquities, VI, XIV, 2) who speaks of the righteous prophet Samuel as being summoned from Hades to warn Saul of his impending death in battle. We can rest assured that Josephus would not have even considered that the righteous prophet of God, Samuel, was doomed to an everlasting torment in Hades.

Of course, there is a tension within the Word of God itself concerning the teaching about Sheol. For one thing, according to Acts 2.27,31 and Luke 16.23,26 all of the dead, whether good or bad, are located in Sheol. But John, or his circle of disciples, disagrees for according to him, only the spirits or shades of the ungodly are presently in Sheol (Revelation 20.13f). It is in this prime section of Scripture that John tells us that at the resurrection Sheol must give up its dead, and therefore Sheol or Hades cannot be an eternal state or condition but obviously the implications are that it is purely temporal. One thing for sure, the basic idea of Sheol as a continued shadowy type of existence beyond death's doors is common to other contemporary peoples. The Babylonians called this place of the shades Arallu. The Egyptians referred to it as Amenti. It was, in a word, a view shared by other nations and not merely the Hebrew people.

The vicarious (substitutionary) death of Our Lord Yeshua is referred to no less than a total of 100 times in the documents that constitute the NT Scriptures. That Mashiach died as our Substitute, in order to pay the price of sin (a spiritual separation from God) shows the astonishing depth to which the Divine Heart stooped in order to reveal the nature of Self-sacrificial Love in his accommodation to humankind's greatest need, salvation. In the death of Yeshua the entire cycle of karma (the invisible, spiritual biblical law of retribution) was broken. In the cross event the burden of the past has been borne by Another. At Golgoleth, two thousand long years ago, a reconciliation took effect which ultimately will be cosmic in its scope. In the pains of grace and bleeding welts our holistic healing (salvation) took place. For the wounds of sin must be the Creator's wounds if they are to heal. Did not the poet write,

"The other gods were strong; but Thou wast weak;
They rode, but Thou didst stumble to a throne;
But to our wounds only God's wounds can speak,
And not a god has wounds, but Thou alone"
(Edward Shillito, Jesus of the Scars and Other Poems, 1919).

The apostle John, or his amanuensis, wrote "For God so loves the world that he gives his uniquely begotten Son that whosoever is believing in him should not be perishing but has everlasting life" (John 3.16).

As God is eternal, he did not send Our Lord to save the world, but rather he sends (continual present tense) Messiah to save humanity. God is truly and eternally the Alpha and the Omega. He is truly and eternally the Womb and the Tomb of the universe. His very nature is cyclic and all that comes from God is thus a reflection of that same propensity toward cyclicity. His accommodation toward humankind ever continues. There will never be a "time" when God will "write off" the human race. Once before, according to the Hebrew Scriptures, the earth was almost totally destroyed. And it is written that "God repented" (Genesis 6.5,6; 8.21,22; 9.11).

A full and total salvation is destined for our world and indeed the entire universe in God's plan of redemption. One thing for sure, however, authentic Christians now have eternal life and continual victory over death through Christ in his death, burial and resurrection (Hebrews 2.14,15). It was in his death, as we have pointed out, that Mashiach met a violent revolutionary in Paradise, a compartment, plane or dimension within the kingdom of Sheol (Hades), just as Our Lord promised (Luke 23.42,43). And it was at that "time" (if "time" be the occasioned word, for the dead are most assuredly out of time as we know it) that Messiah "led captivity captive" (Ephesians 4.8). An expanded transliteration of the Greek text says, "Wherefore he says, Having ascended on high, He led away captive those taken captive... Now, the fact he ascended, what is it except that also he descended into the nether parts of the earth. The One who descended, himself is also the One who ascended above all the heavens, in order that he might fill all things" (Ephesians 4.8-10 Kenneth Wuest Expanded Greek Translation).

Here is the record from the pages of the NT itself that bears witness that Messiah entered Sheol (as he himself said he would) and led away the righteous captives (when he later ascended to God) into heaven. This is why the Dark Lord no longer possesses the keys of death. As the conqueror of death, Yeshua alone now has "the keys of the Unseen [Sheol] and of death" (Revelation 1.18). Our Lord is in control of the entire unseen dimension. This is one reason Paul showed in his letters that for believers death was departure to be with his Messiah, which is a much better proposition than a life on earth, at least it was for Paul (Philippians 1.23). In no way did Paul expect to visit Sheol (the Paradise plane or dimension) at the moment of his death. Instead, he believed he would receive a spiritual body (a body of spirit) as soon as he expired (2 Corinthians 5.1-10). Mashiach led all the righteous out of the mysterious kingdom of the dead in a mass exodus from Paradise into heaven itself, but the "wicked" continue to linger in disembodiment, awaiting judgment. But Mashiach has in this way Salvifically accommodated to those who believe in him as their Saviour.

GEHENNA
The third word we are considering is Gehenna. This is the Greek form of the Aramaic gehinnam which in turn is reflective of the Hebrew ge-hinnom. Originally this denoted a valley lying to the south and the west of the walls of Jerusalem (today it is known as Wadi er-Rababi) the valley of the son, or sons, of Hinnom (Joshua 15.8; 18.16; Isaiah 31.9; 66.24; Jeremiah 32.35; 2 Chronicles 33.6). It was in this valley that child sacrifices were offered to the demonic god Moloch (2 Kings 16.3; 21.6; 2 Chronicles 28.3). An altar raised up for the murder of little children gave the region the appellation Tophet (Isaiah 30.33). King Josiah desecrated the region (2 Kings 23.10). This valley will be the place of God's judgment (Jeremiah 7.32; 19.6f) and Jewish apocalyptic expected that this general environment would become, subsequent to God's judgment, the fiery inferno of hell (Eth Enoch 90.26f; 27.1ff; 54.1ff; 56.3f). It was for this reason that Gehenna came to be identified with the eschatological fiery inferno, even when it was no longer localised at Jerusalem (2 Esdras 7.36; Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch 59.10; 85.13; The Syballine Oracles 1.103).

Up to and including the time of Mashiach the southeastern area of Jerusalem was utilised as a sewerage outlet and general garbage dump where fires continually burned. Into this area the corpses of criminals were tossed in order to be consumed by the heat as well as eaten by worms and maggots. This portrait of a fiery judgment on criminals also gave the idea of "immortal worms" for they generally propagated by living on dead body tissue (Isaiah 66.24 cf Jeremiah 7.31,32; 19.11-14).

Due to the progressive revelation of God in terms of apocalyptic literature concerning Sheol, the judgment of God, and the new teaching of a fiery hell (in the period between the conclusion of Ezra's -- Malachi's -- partial canonisation of Scripture and the emergence of John the Baptiser's Dead Sea sectarians at Qumran) the doctrine of a fiery purgatory arose in rabbinical circles (H. Bietenhard, New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol.II, 208).

Both Strack and Billerbeck acknowledge that alongside this fiery purgatory (we would refer to this as a degree of examination to be found in Sheol) we find the dawning concept of an eschatological Gehinnom judgment, after the "last" judgment, but plainly limited in time (H.L.Strack & P. Billerbeck, Commentary on the New Testament, with Talmud & Midrash, 1926-61., IV, 1022-1118). It was centuries later that the church would develop the idea of Satan as the prince of hell, to whom sinners are handed over for punishment in torment, and the equally blasphemous concept of an eternity of fiery damnation.

This latter vision certainly does not appear in the documents of the first century rabbis. In fact, the doctrine of eternal punishment or punishing is a reading back into these parchments ideals that are alien to the original Jewish thoughtforms. Of course, this of necessity brings us to some short, sweet comments on torment.

ON TORMENT
We have stated explicitly (rather than timidly suggest) that the very idea of eternal torment is right out of the vitriolic heart of the Dark Lord. In our opinion if Satan can make God out to be Grace and love on the one hand and a sadistic, diabolical fiend on the other hand, then he will have achieved a portrait of God made in his own image, both a creature of darkness and an angel of light. Our Ancient Foe has virtually succeeded in his aim of destroying Grace as the fundamental and essential characteristic of God as eternal Love. Most ministers of religion and their mindless mutants (who have willingly surrendered their independent ability to think for themselves) are in wholehearted agreement. In their theology there is no such thing as unconditional love. It is very much a love toward humanity with strings attached. They believe in a God of love, but tragically only up to a point. Beyond this point God becomes the proverbial Village Idiot burning up his mistakes on the Last Great Bonfire Day. It has been estimated that somewhere between 70 and 140 billion people have lived on this planet since the days of Adam. Considering that only a very limited few have ever heard of that "one name under heaven who can save" them and the vast majority remain ignorant of Our Lord then that is an awful lot of human flesh to ignite with everlasting fire!

Oh! Won't it be jolly to be sitting around on clouds making music with the angels, knowing all the while that your little son or daughter, or your elderly mother and father are meanwhile screaming in the everlasting dungeons in orgiastic torture prolonged forever without even being destroyed. These pangs will be the most exquisitely painful tortures ever devised, to endure always and always without end. This is what the vast overwhelming majority of ministers of the Christian church believe and multiple millions of their mindless faithful followers with them.

Now these people are sincere in their belief.

But they are sincerely wrong.

These people are worshippers of the Lord God and the praise of God is on their lips daily. This lecturer does not doubt their sincerity. But worship and praise aside, to believe in such doctrines is to believe in a devilish swan-song of the Pied Piper of hell, a melancholic melody of despair.

Why are people backward, or afraid, to voice the obvious?

The Greek for torment is basanos. It comes from an Egyptian word for a touchstone for gold (lydia lithos, Bacchylides Fragment 14, [5th century BCE]). This word did not always carry with it the idea of endless torment for torments sake. Rather, it originally signified a means of testing and then torture as a means of examination. It equally meant to oppress. Indeed, that this is truly the case can be seen from a simple perusal of the use of basanos by the NT writers themselves. Matthew Levi classifies basanos in the physical afflictions of the sick which, the record states plainly, Yeshua healed (Matthew 4.24). The centurion's servant from Capernaum was tormented by his sickness (Matthew 8.6). The demons were afraid Yeshua would torment them (Matthew 8.9; Mark 5.7; Luke 8.28). The disciples on the sea were hard pressed by the wind and the waves (Matthew 14.24; Mark 6.48). Righteous Lot felt his soul tortured and oppressed by his observation of the dissolute negative activities of the inhabitants of the city of Sodom (2 Peter 2.8). Miriam, the Mother of Yeshua, experienced normal labour pains as she gave birth to the Christ Child (Revelation 12.2). And, to top it off, the evangelist and physician Luke mentions the torments and afflictions experienced by the "rich man" in Messiah's parable (Luke 16.23,28). Needless to say, the "rich man" was suffering in a temporary Sheol as the place of the shades, he was not writhing in an ever burning hell. It is only now at the conclusion of this age that this knowledge has come to light to be utilised in such a way as to give appropriate honour, glory and praise to the Great Intelligence and Everlasting Love that brought forth this wonderful "Game of Salvation."

Certainly the idea of torment is associated with Gehenna (Revelation 20.10). There can be no escaping this conclusion. This is because it is a biblical fact. God's fiery judgments on a base and hostile humankind have not been limited to a prophetic eschatological scenario. In no way! God, said the prophet Jeremiah, would bring utter destruction upon the city of Jerusalem in the form of "unquenchable fire" (Jeremiah 17.27). This was accomplished in a precise way in the 6th century B.C.E. (2 Chronicles 36.19; Jeremiah 52.13). No local Hebrew or Jewish fire-brigade could extinguish these fires of God. They were absolutely unquenchable. They burned ferociously until they had performed their prophesied duty. There can be no escaping the fact that the Lord has used fire as a judgment often in times past. One has only to ponder briefly the fate of "the cities of the plain" in the story of Lot in Genesis to make the point. And the Scripture tells us explicitly that the Cosmic Lord will again use fire as a judgment upon this earth. Peter tells us that an intensity of fire of some enormous magnitude will finally melt the very elements of our planet (2 Peter 3.10-12). Today we can even view the fiery end of entire solar systems (no doubt along with unique and amazing civilisations) in our own Milky Way galaxy on television, as they erupt in a holocaust of combustible conflagration. We live in times of miracles and wonders. There can be no escaping the fact that all of God's judgments are purely intermediate. For, when those fiery judgments are over there will be "a new heavens [solar system or galaxy] and a new earth." For it is written, "We, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness" (2 Peter 3.13).

The God we serve is a consuming fire. He dealt with Ananias and Sapphira in a fiery way (Acts 5) because they were somewhat economical with the truth. But they were saved people, entirely and utterly. They cannot lose their salvation. But their Christian activities, and their lives, were forfeited. Yet God's judgments are always remedial, restorative. They are never judgments for condemnation's sake. They are never punitive. Even the "rich man" in Sheol was making important changes. In this enlightening parable of Yeshua (and it is only a parable) the rich man is a living miracle and wonder in himself! He calmly communicates with Abraham (who is a great gulf away) when he really ought to be screaming and yelling his pathetic, tormented lungs out.
 
And what does the "rich man" desire of Abraham? It is not a request to drag him out of the fire to safety! Nor is it a demand for a cold fire-hose or a bucket of cool, clear, thirst-quenching water (let alone a cold Aussie ice beer). No, he simply asks for a DROP of water on his tongue. Wouldn't it evaporate before it splashed on his tongue?  And why would he ask Abraham to send it with Lazarus? Apparently the "father of the faithful" wasn't good enough for the task.

Why do we Christians avoid the obvious? And why do we ignore the remedial aspect of the Afterlife in Sheol? Why do we only perceive God's judgments as necessarily negative? There is also another aspect to this parable concerning the "water" requested by the man of riches in his intermediate state of existence, which is not within the scope of this present work to pursue. But when the truth of this particular matter is made plain God's Grace toward humankind will become at once apparent. The answer to these questions, and others like them, is that for 1700 years the Constantinian church has failed to admit to the original Jewish thoughtforms that brought us the Bible we claim as our own.

Listen! The parable implies that he who cared only for self-interest and self-satiation, under the heavenly law of karma, has come to the place where he actually cares for others -- even if it is his own brothers (Luke 16.27,28).

Even Our Lord himself made it clear that judgment is not to be equated with a never-ending hell fire. For, Yeshua tells us that in the Great White Throne Judgment the Queen of Sheba (the Egyptian Hatseptsu) "will rise with this generation in the judgment and will condemn it" for rejecting him (Matthew 12.42). In the same breath he denounced those religious leaders who rejected his Messianic authority and stated that in this same judgmental period the people of Ninevah in Assyria "will rise and condemn" them (Matthew 12.41). There will be varying degrees of judgment and condemnation (Luke 12.47,48) but all of God's decisions are taken with the view of the ultimate salvation of man. God wills that no one will perish eternally (2 Peter 3.9). This is not a mere "desire" or "wish" on God's part. Mashiach died during the period of the Fifth Procuratorship of Judaea to save us, indeed to save the whole world (1 Timothy 2.4-6) and ultimately to save the entirety of the universe (Ephesians 1.10; Colossians 1.15-20). And while it is more than possible for the Lord God to destroy man's body and soul in Gehenna (Matthew 10.26) it is written "if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire" (1 Corinthians 3.15).

If there is everlasting fire it is a fire within God himself, a fiery righteousness that will continue to burn beyond space-time as we know it. For only God is truly eternal. And our God is in Himself "a consuming fire" (Deuteronomy 4.24; Hebrews 12.29).

FIRE PURIFIES
In previous lectures we have shown that to properly appreciate our role as Christians in God's redemption of the universe in Mashiach, we must first apprehend God's creation in Mashiach. And secondly, we must come to terms with the fact that in the Jewish thoughtform of the first century all creation dwelt in the very Mind of God, Infinite Intelligence. We are all merely God's thoughtforms. He is the only Reality there is.

We have said, too, that our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12.29). The prophet Ezekiel was given a vision of the very essence of God. He saw the heavens opened. He witnessed weird and wonderful four-faced creatures out of the fire. Isaiah, another prophet, enquired "Who amongst us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" (Isaiah 33.14). He then replies to himself, "He that walks righteously and speaks uprightly... he shall dwell on high" (Isaiah 33.15,16). This prophet's lips were purified with coals of fire (Isaiah 6.5,7). The Spirit of God descended upon the Apostolic company, including Miriam the Mother of Our Lord, as tongues of fire (Acts 1.13-15; 2.3). Fires are depicted in the Bible as having a purifying, purging effect in human beings (1 Peter 1. 7; 1 Corinthians 3.12-15).

To be lost in God's fires is to be lost in God himself.

Actually, even witches recognised that fire was their only friend. Not believing in the teaching of the resurrection, witches and warlocks preferred cremation. Burning to death at the stake, upon their conviction by representatives of the church during the Dark Ages, was demanded by the witches themselves -- many of them at their own request were burned in the open air, in the centre of a stone circle (Arnold & Patricia Crowther, The Secrets of Ancient Witchcraft With the Witches Tarot, 1974, 167,168). The stone circle, like the swastika, was a pertinent symbol of reincarnation. (Surprisingly, many Christians are blissfully unaware that in a simple funeral ceremony, they continue to perpetuate the belief in reincarnation each and every time flowers are placed upon a grave site, or on a casket at burial. Flowers presented to the dead are an ancient symbolic gesture to the cycle of life, known in reincarnation circles since the dawn of time, and a custom of medieval witchcraft. As a continuing modern practice of Christians it is a matter of unquestioning obedience to a custom bequeathed from a dark and sinister past.) We are told in the Bible that all who practice witchcraft, or sorcery, shall have their part in the Lake of Fire for purification purposes (Revelation 21.8). It is this purging, or purification element, that is missing from Protestant theology as far as a proper understanding of the Lake of Fire is concerned. Some Protestant churches emphasise the overcoming or purging side of the present Christian life, and this is understood as Orthodox teaching (1 Peter 1.6,7; Revelation 2.7,11,17,26; 3.5,12,18,19,21).

In similar manner Roman Catholics emphasise a fiery purgatorial state and can quote from the Scriptures quite adequately to substantiate their position. But once we grasp that all creation is to be found in Messiah (as Messiah is to be found in God) then we can readily appreciate that there can be nothing apart from the Lord God. God is the Totality of Existence. God is not merely the greatest Being that exists now or can ever exist. God is Being in Itself. Even nature in the first century Jewish thoughtform was not seen apart from God. The Hebrews had no word for nature. There was only God, and everything had its origin and continued existence and finality in him. And finality existed only in a change of form. The basic energy of the material creation would always find its return to the Source of All. Such was the basic premise of the Sh'ma. God was essential, and essentially, Unity and Oneness (Deuteronomy 6.4,5 Hebrew). "I am the Lord, there is none else" says God by the mouth of the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 45.5,6,14,18,21,22; 46.9).

If there was anything apart from God then it had to be in existence without God's creative activity bringing it forth into materiality. And such a stand goes beyond God's own Word. Clearly out of him and for him and toward him are all things (Romans 11.36). At least this is the teaching of the Jewish people in the first century of our Common Era. And Paul believed it thoroughly!

It almost goes without saying that if all things are in Christ then hell has to be located in Christ as well. "In what direction shall I go from your Spirit? or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend up into the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall your hand lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yes, the darkness hides not from you: but the night shines as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to you" (Psalm 139.7-12).

God's creative act in both creation and redemption cannot be separated. Both were creative acts by God, in Mashiach. If God's satisfaction in judgment for sin was to be found in the crucified Man at Golgoleth then hell cannot be a termination for any who therein enter.

The righteous Yeshua became the world's greatest sinner on the tree for you and for me and for the entire universe. More so, he actually metamorphosed as sin itself. God's wrath was against him as the ultimate Reprobate Man. God's anger at sin was abated in him and in him alone.

Christ therefore, and not hell, is our final and ultimate destiny.

God is no longer righteously angry with man. Hell does not exist to burn up any mistakes of God. The Lord of All does not make mistakes. Every human soul has a value in the eyes of God. For, Christ became every man, woman and child that ever lived or who ever will live. It was the cross that satisfied the Divine justice. It is not hell. It was Mashiach as a corpse on the cross who paid the penalty for sin, ours and the world's. It is not thus with hell. The cross of Yeshua satisfied God the Father. Messiah died for our sins and the sins of the entire world and the sins of the totality of the universe including the angelic powers.

Yeshua is a Satisfied Saviour! God is no longer angry. This being the case, hell cannot be the eschatological bonfire of God's mistakes. Or the mistakes of anyone else, for that matter.

The Lake of Fire will be for a purging and a purifying of those whose names are not found in the great Book of Life. We all need a new glorying in the cross. We all need to be stimulated to a new desire for sound biblical teaching based upon Jewish thoughtforms, and to a new love for the Messiah. For the crucified Jew, Yeshua, IS God's message of hope for today.

There is no other.

May God haste the day when purifying fire will come to a conclusion and its task will have been accomplished. For, at that time, "at the name of Yeshua every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should [gladly] confess that Yeshua the Messiah is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2.10,11).

QUESTIONS & ANALYSIS OF LECTURE TEN

The Messianic Rebbe wrote: "We are told in the Bible that all who practice witchcraft, or sorcery, shall have their part in the Lake of Fire for purification purposes (Revelation 21.8). It is this purging, or purification element, that is missing from Protestant theology as far as a proper understanding of the Lake of Fire is concerned. Some Protestant churches emphasise the overcoming or purging side of the present Christian life, and this is understood as Orthodox teaching (1 Peter 1.6,7; Revelation 2.7,11,17,26; 3.5,12,18,19,21). In similar manner Roman Catholics emphasise a fiery purgatorial state and can quote from the Scriptures quite adequately to substantiate their position."

Rome has always admitted the probability of having one's sins forgiven even after death based on their understanding (not far from the truth) of Yeshua's words in Matthew 12.32.

"Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven neither in this age nor in the age to come" (Mounce Reverse-Interlinear New Testament).

That this same text definitely teaches us that there are sins far too malicious to be forgiven "in this present age" and the one which follows, is nauseatingly overlooked by most Protestants who have rejected not merely the Catholic Church (fully one thousand five hundred years after it was founded) and all sections of the universal church other than its own small division, but many of the sacred Scriptures still held dear in most divisions of the global church, the treasury of history that exists in the writings of the Ante-Nicene Fathers and in the thoughts produced in Church Councils and conflicts, and Catholic tradition generally. (Traditions, it should be appreciated, began somewhere.)

Of course, Yeshua is not speaking necessarily about the life which follows death as such (which in the minds of most believers equates "heaven") but in Jewish thoughtform he is referring to the age which follows his second advent and which we call "the Millennium." Still, the very fact that sin will exist in the "next world" and therefore will need God's loving forgiveness -- the age which will follow the death of this world's civilisation -- is a fact away from which none of us can run, not that we would want to do so. The truth of God must be treasured above all else that matters. As it is written, "God exalts [or, magnifies] his WORD above all his Name" (Psalm 138.2). That's quite a feat in itself!

When one examines the Hebrew text of any Scripture and for that matter any text in the NT corpus -- for we often need to take the Greek back into its Hebrew or Aramaic equivalent and then bring it forward once more into English (and this becomes important in relation to the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory) -- we are more often than not confronted with a multiple layer of meanings. I stand in agreement with Christian scholar John Schoenheit on this matter at least when he writes,

"The Hebrew words in [Psalm 138.2] each have several definitions. Second, there is a custom involved. Third, the words themselves can be understood to be in different positions in the sentence. To properly relate to the verse, we must understand that had God wanted us to get a singular meaning from the verse, He could have worded it, or it and its context, in such as way as to get that one meaning. When God uses vocabulary and syntax in such a way as to allow for multiple meanings, which is not uncommon, very often all of them have some significance. The possibility of multiple meanings is a way God pulls the reader into a deeper relationship with Him, inviting us to pray, think, and ponder the depth of the meaning of the words, and thus the fullness of His Word."

To that statement I say a loud "Amen!" God exalts or magnifies his WORD above all for which his Name stands -- that is, his authority and sovereign power.

Schoenheit adds, again correctly: "It also occurs in Hebrew that when two noun clauses occur side by side, two things are being referred to rather than one of the nouns serving as an adjective. Thus the phrase, "your word your name," can legitimately have the sense given in the NIV and ESV: "for you have exalted above all things your name and your word," even though there is no "and" connecting the two nouns. According to that translation, God's Word and His authority are exalted above all Creation, and that is certainly true...  [but] if a translator believes that relationship is being emphasized in the verse, he arrives at a translation such as the NASB: "For Thou hast magnified Thy word according to all Thy name." In other words, God, in all His authority, has exalted His Word. This is not a literal translation, nor does it seem to be the primary meaning, but it can be an undertone in the Hebrew... One further translation can be reached by realizing that "promise" is part of the semantic range, the range of definitions, of imrah... in this case [an authenticity can be granted to the Catholic] Jerusalem Bible: "your promise is even greater than your fame."

Brethren, ignorance of God's word particularly is never bliss, and ultra-dogmatism has no place in an authentic Christian economy. God demands of all of us spiritual growth, and that growth is so often painfully slow is it not? That which we thought we knew oftentimes remains an issue clothed in darkness until further penetrated by the light that is dawning in each person's spirit. Yeshua promised that his Spirit "will lead us into all the truth" (John 16.13 Gk) and that procedure is a gradual process, one of progressive awareness and revelation. It cannot be any other way. God is meticulous and thorough in all his dealings with each of his sons and daughters. We ought all bear these principles in mind when we discuss certain doctrines which seem to appear to clash with our presupposed biblical notions.

The Modern Protestant Denial of the Doctrine of Purgatory

Purgatory was probably the first and foremost doctrine (next to the authority of the Pope) determined by the 16th century Protestant "Reformers" (let's call a spade a spade: they were really just a bunch of rebels, and mostly anarchists) as "utterly unchristian" and "unscriptural." As to the latter reference they largely gave Purgatory "the flick" due to Martin Luther's restoration of the great Pauline doctrine of "Justification by Faith (Alone)."

It may surprise some of us but Luther never ever denied the doctrine of Purgatory!

Still, according to the Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican Church, which sits smiling at me from one of my dusty BRI library shelves as I write, and Article XXII of the Thirty Nine Articles concerning which all Anglicans (High and Low) theoretically must endorse:

"The Romish doctrine concerning Purgatory... is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God."

The Seventh Day Adventists lead the modern charge against the Catholic belief, the voice of their founder Ellen White a corpse still railing from her bed of maggots: "(Purgatory is) an invention of paganism which Rome named Purgatory and employed to terrify the credulous and superstitious multitudes" (The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan, 1911, 53).

Millions read her works without realising most of them were plagiarised from serious scholars and authors of her own 19th century and certainly prior to that. This history recently revealed has created a scurry of cover-ups at the highest level of the Ellen G. White Estate and cautious management of explanations from the various SDA pulpits around the globe to explain their founders highly unusual "techniques" and "writing skills." It now appears the holy Spirit absent-mindedly repeated much of the original inspiration She (the Ruach HaKodesh) gave to other authors, in the case of Her lowly servant Mrs E. G. White (known affectionately in some quarters as "Mrs Egg White").

On the other hand, Catholics have generally been raised with an awe and appreciation toward Dante's Inferno which, when penned, dramatised the concept of Purgatory with the "aim of answering the age-old question: what is the "good" that our heart really desires? [There are those who have died] complacently believing that absolution without contrition would earn [them their] "coronation." [They] languish eternally in hell, because only there [do they] face reality: the fact that [they] never really wanted God in [their] life, and therefore [were] incapable of finding him in death... on the other hand [there were those who] died without absolution from a priest, but with the name of Mary on their lips, and [they] discover in Purgatory that despite [their] errors, inconstancies and the pressures of [their] environment, [they] never really ever wanted anything but God" (Dr Paul Stenhouse M.S.C., discussing Dante's Inferno in Catholic Answers to "Bible" Christians: A Light on Biblical Fundamentalism, 1988, 48,49).

What Catholics and Protestants both do not seem to realise is that Dante actually wrote his treatise with "tongue in cheek"! They entirely miss the point of his subtitle: "A Divine Comedy."

Consider also that when Protestant "daughters" reject certain books from the Bible (in their rejection of "Mother Church") they no longer have a leg to stand on in relation to which books should be considered "God's Word." By rejecting the church which for 1500 years INCLUDED these Scriptures along with all the other books of the Bible (and not at all as an "appendage" as in the case of Anglicanism) they have rejected the authority which canonised them in the first place. The only authority on which their faith rests in relation to the books of the Bible is that of their old "Mum," the tradition of the Catholic Church!

Facts About Purgatory as Understood by the Catholic Church

Firstly, it is considered by Rome that Catholics must believe "that there is a purgatory, and that souls detained in it are helped by the prayers of the faithful" (Creed of St Pius V). The Council of Trent on the occasion of the Reformation reaffirmed this ancient belief (1546) stating that Mass may be offered "for the departed in Christ who are not fully cleansed" and this was reaffirmed in 1563 as a determination that "the same doctrine of purgatory, handed down from the holy Fathers and the sacred Councils, is to be believed and taught."

Secondly, the great Canaanite church "Father" Tertullian (160-220 CE) referred to the efficacy of prayers on behalf of the dead as a long-established belief among Christians. This view is buttressed by the words of the Lord in Luke 12.59, "I tell you! You shall not depart thence, till you have paid the very last farthing."

Thirdly, "that there is fire in Purgatory has never been defined by the Church" (Stenhouse, op.cit).

Fourthly, Protestant Bishop Ussher (d. 1656) drew up a list of ancient Patristic and Liturgical texts which was reprinted publicly in the Oxford Tracts for the Times, No. 72, London, 1837. Included in it were prayers for the dead.

Fifth, we need to remove any misunderstanding about the so-called "silence on Purgatory" at Vatican Council II. It is true that this Council avoided mention of Purgatory as such but it stressed references to Masses for the Dead Decrees On the Liturgy, On the Church) which, to quote authority Stenhouse again, "plainly affirm belief in an intermediate state, as the souls of the departed which are in heaven have no need of prayer, and those in hell can derive no benefit from it."

Sixth, there is the testimony of the fathers. The primitive second century church was very slow to say that the apostles of Christ and the Christian martyrs who perished in the arenas had no need of God's mercy (Justin Martyr 100-165 CE in his Dial., 80). Irenaeus (130-202 CE) believed that martyrs ought to be prayed for, but Tertullian (160-220 CE) disagrees making martyrs an exception to the rule. When we come to the awesome and brilliant Origen (185-253 CE) urges prayers even for the apostles: "Not even the apostles have yet received their joy" (Hom. In. Lev., vii, 2).

Even Some Protestants Believe in Purgatory

But weren't the Reformers all in agreement in their rejection of the Apocryphal Writings which are held as sacred by all the divisions of the universal church (except for the Protestant variances)? Please bear in mind that such was never the case. The Anglicans continue to hold the Apocryphal Writings in a degree of reverence as a section between the "Old" and "New Testaments." Additionally, it was Luther who must be credited with keeping the Apocrypha out of the common Bible -- and in particular the books of Maccabees due to a mentioned inclusion of "prayers for the dead" (2 Maccabees 12.46; see also 1 Corinthians 15.29 in this connection). But Luther also wanted to rid the NT of such letters as James which he deemed as tainted with legalism and which he understood as contradicting Paul, and the book of Revelation which he deemed as totally spurious. Thank God others persuaded him against such action.

Peake's revised Commentary on the Bible (1962), which is a Protestant work of some magnitude, comments on 1 Peter 3.19 that the text infers that the dead are those who have died in previous ages. If their spirits or souls are not engaged in being tortured in an eternal hell, and they are not yet in heaven, they had to be in an intermediate state of existence some place. Furthermore, speaking on the subject of Lazarus and the Rich Man in Luke 16.19ff, Bishop Gore of the Church of England stated conclusively that this parable of Yeshua pointed to an intermediate state of purification upon death -- with which even we at BRI/IMCF agree (but with a different orientation to that of agreeing to a "Purgatory").

Epiphanius (315-403 CE) the early church historian, traces the belief in praying for the dead in their intermediate state to the apostolic period if not (as implied) to the apostles themselves (Haer., lxxv, 8]. Certainly, by the time of Augustine (354-430 CE) it is recognised that prayers for the dead and Masses for the dead was a universally accepted practice -- the only dissenters were the Arians, the followers of the Unitarian Aerius who bolted the church when he was overlooked for the "Bishoprick" (now known as bishopric). Apart from the 4th century priest Aerius (who denied God's triunity and made Yeshua a creation of God) we have to wait until the Reformers come alive in their denunciation of the Papacy to find any record of the denial of Purgatory as an intermediate state of the dead.

Speaking of those who have suffered the extreme of martyrdom, Cyprian of Carthage (200-258 CE) has this comment to share with us from the early third century: "It is one thing to be waiting for pardon; another to attain to glory: one thing to be sent to prison and not to go from there until the last farthing has been paid; and another to receive immediately the reward of faith and virtue: one thing to suffer lengthy torments for sin, and to chastised and purified for a long time in that fire: another to have cleansed away all sin by suffering [martyrdom]" (Ep.,52).

So Where Did the Idea of Purgatory Actually Originate?

The quite early Gentile Christian idea of Purgatory was spawned after the last revolt of the Jews against Rome (132-135 CE). At that time hostility toward anything and everything considered Jewish reached its peak. It was no longer popular to be Jewish or considered Jewish or to imbibe of Jewish traditions such as lighting candles on Shabbat evening etc., as it had been even after the 70 CE destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple which is a surprise for some. The Jews, you see, would not learn their lesson from history. They revolted again in 115 CE and incited revolution throughout the entire eastern Mediterranean and Middle East and then again under Bar Kochva and Rabbi Akiva in 132 CE. Enough was enough, even for the Romans.

It was during this turbulent time that the fourth commandment was exchanged for Sunday worship and Sunday attendance at "church" -- when the "church" lost the very notion of the meaning of "church" and exchanged the "church" (the people) for a meeting place ("church"). It was the age which also saw the rise of a priesthood as differentiated from the general mass of converts (now called "laity") and that same priesthood arrogated the offices of God to themselves, even beginning to call themselves by names which God deemed as His own ("Holiness," "Most Holy," "Your Grace," "Your Worthiness," "Reverend," ""Most Holy Reverend" etc). It finally and irrevocably led to the Great Apostasy of the fourth century when the Simonites seized power and authority at Rome and the history of apostolic descent was created with the introduction of false documents (the spurious details of which are now even beginning to be recognised by Roman Catholic scholars themselves).

As a consequence of early rejecting both the Jews who gave us the Scripture in the first place, the Jewish thoughtform by which we can better grasp the biblical revelation, and the Jewish customs and traditions which would necessitate a further understanding of the deeper meanings and intentions of (otherwise confusing) holy texts the Catholic priesthood also terminated the Jewish belief in the intermediate state of the dead called Sheol (Hades in Greek). Sheol is the place, state or dimension where the spirits of the dead depart and in which unearthly region the shades exist in various degrees and levels of continuity. According to Jewish rabbinics and other scholars Sheol has two basic apartments: one is "Paradise" where the righteous go until Mashiach's coming, and the other is a place where a certain fire burns deeply -- which is not by any means to be confused with "hell." In that place or condition of existence, we find Yeshua positioning the immortal life of "the Rich Man" while the Lord sees "Lazarus" in "Abraham's bosom" or embrace in Paradise (Luke 16).

While this is the case, scholars also recognise that there are alternative situations that arise in Sheol, including the opportunity (made by God in conjunction with the dead in that region who are uncalled, and unsaved, and unconverted) to return to this level of physical awareness in our transitory illusion called Earth (the material creation) in a reincarnated state, with another body ("a new body"), another name ("a new name"), another identity ("a new identity") and just maybe another sex (oh, no!). B'ruch HaShem that THIS is OUR last physical existence if we are authentically converted to the Lord and Saviour, Yeshua the Messiah and Son of God the Father.

Louis Berkhof details the rise of the doctrine of Purgatory:

"The Apostolic Fathers [the first "fathers" of the church after the death of the apostles and the Third Jewish Revolt against Rome] did not reflect on the intermediate state... It was only when it became apparent that Christ would not immediately return, that the Church Fathers began to reflect on the state between death and the resurrection. One of the first was Justin, who said: "The souls of the pious are in a better place, those of the unjust and wicked in a worse, waiting for the time of judgment." He denounced as heretical those who said that "their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven."

"The general opinion of the later Fathers, such as Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hilary, Ambrose, Cyril, and even Augustine, was that the dead descend into Hades [the Greek form of the Hebrew Sheol], a place with various divisions, where they remain until the day of judgment or, according to Augustine, until they are sufficiently purified. In the measure of which it became apparent that the parousia [presence] of Christ was a far-distant event, it became increasingly difficult to maintain the idea of hades as a merely temporal and provisional habitation of the dead. An exception was soon made for the martyrs who, according to Tertullian, were at once admitted into glory [an idea to which Justin would have responded in the negative]... [Over the decades and with the increase in speculation] Hades was gradually robbed of its righteous inhabitants. Finally, the wicked were about the only ones left, and it began to be regarded as a place of punishment, sometimes identified with gehenna. Origen taught explicitly that Christ transported all the righteous of former ages from hades to paradise, which from that time on became the destination of all departing saints.

"In connection with the idea that many Christians are not sufficiently holy at death to enter the region of eternal bliss, the conviction gradually gained currency that these are subjected to a process of purification beyond the grave."

This was essentially the understanding that was conveyed to the Jewish people in the days of Christ in relation to Sheol! Yeshua's parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16 conveyed both the idea of a newborn "concern for [the rich man's] brothers" and the idea of "the waters of forgetfulness" -- through which men and women pass in their transmigration in order to forget their identity and to prepare for a new birth. Sheol was really all about changes to essential character, nothing short of a level of intense purification and inward cleansing. Berkhof continues:

"The early Church Fathers already spoke of a purifying fire, which some of them located in paradise, and others associated with the final conflagration [hell]. They did not always have in mind a literal or material fire, but often thought merely of a spiritual test or discipline. Origen conceived of hades, including gehenna, and also of the final conflagration at the end of the world, as a purifying fire. Several of the later Greek and Latin Church Fathers... entertained the idea of a purgatorial fire in the intermediate state."

All of this notwithstanding, it was not until the arrival of Gregory the Great (d. 604 CE) that money was paid out to the priests as a means of oblation to enable escape of a loved one from the fires of Purgatory.  Says Gregory, again quoting from Berkhof:

"Says he: "It is to be believed that there is, for some light faults, a purgatorial fire before the judgment." Hence he is usually called "the inventor of purgatory." He was also the first one who clearly propounded  the idea, vaguely entertained by others long before him, of deliverance from this fire by intercessory prayers and oblations... It was in connection with this doctrine that the vicious practice of selling indulgences grew up in the Church" (L. Berkhof, The History of Christian Doctrines, 1937, 259-261).

Final Thoughts

For the Protestant segment of the universal church the continuation of the doctrine of Purgatory remains an ever-present evil of Romanism and must be rejected out of hand. Loraine Boettner insists that Catholic believers are forced "to live and die in fear of spending an unknown number of years in the pain and anguish of that place called purgatory" (Roman Catholicism, 1962, 220). This charge may or may not be true. We must be careful of generalising. It may well be true for some Catholics, but certainly not for all.

I would assume from the Catholics with whom I have had the pleasure of communicating (including some Catholic priests) that members of their church, unaware of the authentic Gospel of Grace, that the existence of Purgatory grants them a real sense of the loving mercy of God. It speaks to them of a God who has not set in stone an eternal torment of hell for the vast overwhelming majority. Their theology has an escape valve, a "Get Out of Purgatory Free Card." In my view -- and in the light of the Gospel we teach and preach -- Catholics become confused when it comes to their teaching that all who are saved are saved only because of the merits of Christ (and I am in total agreement to this juncture) but then they unfortunately add "as dispensed through the Church."  

Still, Protestants who damn Catholic doctrine as "unscriptural" in relation to Purgatory (and a host of other beliefs) and sternly legalistic and harsh in other matters on the one hand, then accuse the Roman Church as being "far too accommodating" when she refuses to consign the overwhelming billions who have never heard the Gospel or the Name of Jesus to an ever-burning hell of anguish and torment.

Frankly, Catholicism is at least logical, unlike Protestantism.

And, as far as Jewish rabbis are concerned, when considering the idea of Purgatory, they just smile.

Frankly, I'm sympathetic toward this Catholic doctrine. And as far as Jewish rabbis are concerned when considering the existence of Purgatory in the light of Sheol, I smile with them.

THUS CONCLUDES LECTURE TEN