"They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all remembrance of them to perish."
In order for me to consider switching from annihilationism to the Augustinian lie of "eternal conscious torment" you would have to show me a verse anywhere in scripture that clearly and plainly backs up that view as clearly and plainly as this verse backs up annihilationism.
Do not rely on deceitful wealth, for it will be no help on the day of wrath. Ben Sira 5:8
Lose your money for relative or friend;
do not hide it under a stone to rot.
11 Dispose of your treasure according to the commandments of the Most High,
and that will profit you more than the gold. Ben Sira 29:10,11
44:9 For everything will pass away which is corruptible, and everything that dies will go away, and all present time will be forgotten, and there will be no remembrance of the present time which is polluted by evils.
44:10 For he who runs now runs in vain and he who is happy will fall quickly and be humiliated.
44:11 For that which will be in the future, that is what one will look for, and that which comes later, that is what we shall hope for. For there is a time that does not pass away.
44:12 And that period is coming which will remain forever; and there is the new world which does not carry back to corruption those who enter into its beginning, and which has no mercy on those who come into torment or those who are living in it, and it does not carry to perdition.
44:13 For those are the ones who will inherit this time of which it is spoken, and to these is the heritage of the promised time.
44:14 These are they who prepared for themselves treasures of wisdom. And stores of insight are found with them. And they have not withdrawn from mercy and they have preserved the Truth of the Torah.
44:15 For the coming world will be given to these, but the habitation of the many others will be in the fire. 2nd Baruch 44:9-15
Mammon is the a master we cannot serve. Consumerism, coveting is the god over this nation (USA) and many have fallen and will fall pursuing this at the cost of their soul.
This chapter is so perfect and God is so good, I am simply going to recommend that you read it.
Ask God to speak to you through it. There will be a verse or a section that speaks to your heart.
I know it is not easy to leave comments but maybe message me if you are touched by this chapter.
“ God wants exuberant, chaste, virtuous souls who testify of His reality, and live with remarkable freedom in the power of the new life, because they have acknowledged that in the old life there is no man good, no not one. ” Art Katz “David’s Cry For Mercy”
Years ago a friend coined the term “wage mercy”. As I read Art’s words about the beautiful Psalm 51, it seems to me we have only one job, to give away the mercy that has been given to us.
This will involve real spiritual warfare in the coming days when showing mercy to a Jew could cost you your life.
Let’s practice, look for opportunities to wage mercy.
