News of great joy to all people

I want to ask you something. By your present beliefs and knowledge of the Bible, are any of your close family members going to hell? .................... Does it appear that just a few people in the world today are going to hell or a great number? .................. Do you have the traditional belief that all who go to hell will never get out and live in torment for eternity? Does this give you great joy knowing this?

So, where is this great joy told by the angle to the shepherds when Jesus was born?

Luke 2:8-10

New International Version (NIV)

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

Do you actually believe that our Loving Father God would hinge everything on your accepting Jesus Christ to be your “Lord and Savior?” and if you don't, you will go to that place traditionally said to be hell?

Do you ever make wrong choices? I know I have; many. Well, according to traditional belief, you better make the right one on this because if you don't, you are going to a place to be tormented or live in torment for ever and ever, never a possibility of ever getting out. Does God leave this critical choice to us when we don’t know our right hand from our left (Jonah 4:11) or know what we are doing (Luke 23:34) or understand or even seek for God (Romans 3:11).

We’ve all heard about the concentration camps during our wars. I would say that the ones put in those concentration camps went through great torment, wouldn’t you? Well, every one of them had their torment ended, either by death or release. You want to say that God has something worse than these concentration camps? It is absolutely ludicrous to think so.

The Bible teaches that it’s Father God’s will to save us all.

1 Timothy 2:4

King James Version (KJV)

⁴ Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

That Father God delights in exercising loving-kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth.

Jeremiah 9:24

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

²⁴ but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.

 

That Father God takes no pleasure in our death.

Ezekiel 18:32

New Living Translation (NLT)

³² I don’t want you to die, says the Sovereign Lord. Turn back and live!

That Father God is slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintains love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin.

Exodus 34:6-7

New International Version (NIV)

⁶ And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ⁷ maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished…….

I've chosen but a few scriptures that shows that God is LOVE. Does the “Christian” traditional belief of hell being a place of unending torment match the God in these passages I’ve quoted? I say, “NO”, it can’t be. How can you possibly match “God is Love” to a place of unending torment? It makes no sense!

The God who created all things is bigger than our traditional belief of hell, much bigger.

I would like to bring to mind something Jesus said. Jesus had just finished talking to a rich man who went away from Him sad because he could not find it in himself to sell all that he had so that he might enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew19:16-22) Jesus talked to His deciples after the man left and told them how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. He said that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. The disciples, hearing this, were very astonished and asked, “Then who can be saved?” Here is Jesus' response:

Matthew 19:26

New International Version (NIV)

²⁶ Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

This is the God I believe in. He will not allow ANYONE to go into a place of unending torment!

We have accepted this traditional belief of hell being a place of unending torment far too long. It is time to find out what hell really is. We have to go back to the original Hebrew and Greek for this.

This is what I have done and I now believe that this hell talked about in the Bible is the shame I will have when I see my true self.

1 Corinthians 13:12

New King James Version (NKJV)

¹² For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

James 1:23-25

New King James Version (NKJV)

²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴ for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ²⁵ But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

Yeshua (Jesus) IS THE messiah, the anointed mediator, who restored us to Father God, but He is also our teacher (our ONLY teacher). The Holy Spirit is like the conduit between Yeshua and us, so that Father God’s truths, His teachings which will restore peace, can enter into our hearts.

There are so many warnings in the New Testement for us to stay in Jesus Christ or keep the faith. This is so we won’t feel ashamed when that day comes. Shame is the hell talked about in the Bible.(1Peter 4:12-19).

What more can our loving Father God do? He provided the payment for all our sins (THANKS BE TO YESHUA), He teaches us His truths so we can know Him, through Jesus, and he provides a helper to stay on the right path, the Holy Spirit. This is the “good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”