JOSEPH W. TKACH
PASTOR GENERAL

July 1987

Dear Friend:

Thank you for your inquiry about Mark 9:48.

Some believe that Jesus referred to sinners as worms and said that those PEOPLE would never die but would live on in agonizing torment. Those who say this fail to notice that Jesus did not call wicked people "worms," but spoke of "THEIR worm." The original Greek word means grub or maggot.

Jesus was referring to a local method of garbage disposal in order to emphasize the permanent consequences of sins not repented of. The margins of some Bibles show that the words "hell fire" in verse 47 should be translated "Gehenna fire." Gehenna, or the valley of Hinnom, is located outside Jerusalem. Trash, refuse, animal carcasses, and even the dead bodies of despised criminals were thrown there to be destroyed by the fires which were kept burning on the valley floor. If some animal or vegetable matter caught on one of the ledges below the rim, it would be devoured by maggots.

Jesus' point was that whatever was thrown into the valley never came out again; it was totally consumed. In other words, just as nothing and no one exterminated the maggots or extinguished the flames in the valley of Gehenna, so there will be no escape from the certain fate which God has decreed for all unrepentant sinners -- death in the "lake of fire" (Rev. 22:14).

Some of these same principles apply to Isaiah 66:24. The meaning is not that unrepentant sinners or worms live forever. In fact, just the opposite is true. If the worms which infest a dead body are not killed, the rotting flesh will be consumed until it is gone. The maggots go through a process known as pupation and turn into flies. Those flies, in turn, deposit additional eggs, and the process is repeated until nothing is left for them to feed on. Similarly, any fire which is not quenched -- not deliberately put out -- will last only as long as there is fuel to keep it burning and then go out. The whole point is that sin not repented of has absolute and permanent results -- eternal oblivion!

Our free brochure TO HELL AND BACK explains in greater detail. We would be happy to send you a free copy upon your request.

We hope you will let us know whenever we can be of additional assistance.

PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE DEPARTMENT