"... For their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh" (Isaiah 66:24).

What a HORRIBLE fate! For decades, revivalists, evangelists and preachers have shouted threats of a ghastly fate, describing to their frightened audiences the horrifying torments that allegedly await one in "hell." Among those torments is the promise that (shudder) worms will be a part of that eternal torment! But are there "worms" of some kind—like "spiritual worms" which never die—in hell? Is that what this scripture in Isaiah is telling us? You will be surprised to see the true answer from the pages of your own Bible!

By Garner Ted Armstrong

"The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the worms play pinochle on your snout . . ." So went the childhood rhyme I well remember singing.

But surely these "innocent" childhood songs are not as ghastly as the pronouncements of fundamentalist preachers who threaten sinners in their audience with the alleged punishments of Isaiah 66:24!

My wife has told me many times of her experiences with such sermons as a young girl. When she was taken by her parents to church (always fundamentalist, and now and then one of the more "charismatic" in nature), she would hear graphic (and horrifying) descriptions of HELL!

She had nightmarish dreams of the torments of this terrible place, as the minister described it, where people shrieked and screamed, sizzled and popped, burnt and burnt and burnt! Hell was described as a place of ETERNAL TORMENT where people continued to burn but never quite "burnt up"—never really DIED, but were somehow continually ALIVE—on fire, in terrible, excruciating pain and torture!

Millions have heard similar descriptions; most of the main-line fundamentalist churches, including the most "respected" of the major denominations, teach the doctrine of an "ever-burning hell."

But is this doctrine TRUE—and are there "immortal worms" in hell?

If there are—if this doctrine is true—then we should be able to see ample biblical proof. Further, such biblical proof must be ironclad; positive, absolute!

As we study deeply into the Word of God concerning this doctrine of an ever-burning hell and "immortal worms," we must keep certain basic principles carefully in mind.

First, we are dealing with the very WORD OF GOD!

That written Word will judge each one of us; in it are contained the laws, commandments, statutes and judgments of God; the outline of the entire plan, purpose and program of God; the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, plus a graphic description of His death, burial and resurrection; the examples and preaching of the early apostles; what the Christian life is all about and how to live it; Bible prophecy, and a complete outline of history written in advance, plus the tumultuous predictions of the rapidly approaching end of this age, and the second coming of Jesus Christ!

Our study into "immortal worms" is no mere human investigation of clever arguments, or the attempt of someone to "prove a point," or to reason around what appears to be an unpalatable, unthinkable teaching!

Remember! "Thus says the Eternal, the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye built unto me? And where is the place of my rest?

"For all those things hath my hand made, and all those things hath been, says the Eternal: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor [humble] and of a contrite spirit, and TREMBLETH AT MY WORD"! (Isaiah 66:1, 2).

Do you tremble before the very Word of God? Do you hold it in AWE, as the very divinely inspired, holy record which is judging you every day?

Unless you tremble before the Word of God and desire to be obedient to the will of God as expressed in that sacred, written Word, you can never know the real TRUTH!

He said, "And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another comforter [advocate, Greek] that he [Greek, ekeinos] may abide with you forever; Even the spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive (John 14:16, 17).

Jesus said, ". . . Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32).

The Word of God is TRUTH. If you cannot trust the Word of God, what can you trust? It is our faith and trust in the Word of our God that gives us hope; that gives us the knowledge of salvation, the faith and confidence in the forgiveness of sin, and the positive assurance of the soon-coming return of Jesus Christ.

The Bible stands or falls on any of its parts.

If there is one place in the Bible that is not the TRUTH, if there is one error in Scripture, then how can you trust any of it?

But there are no errors.

However, the Bible itself contains warnings on HOW it is to be understood.

We are told it is "line upon line, line upon line, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, and that we should be "workmen that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." We are told to "study to show thyself approved unto God," and admonished to "prove all things."

In order to truly understand the most important passages of the Bible concerned with life after death; the resurrection, and the great day of judgment, we must first be submissive to God; repent and be converted, receiving the Holy Spirit, which will then "lead us into all truth."

Only then can we "tremble at His word."

It is only when we are through arguing with God, attempting to distort and twist Scripture to our own advantage to promote our own ideas and arguments, that we can truly understand.

No, the Bible does not contradict itself.

So, when you see many plain, clear, impossible-to-be-misunderstood scriptures, there is a vital and yet simple Bible principle you must follow.

That principle is that these PLAIN, clear scriptures must be used to help you understand the more "vague," seemingly ambiguous, puzzling or doubtful scriptures. A vague, puzzling scripture must not be used to "interpret" or alter the meaning of a PLAIN scripture!

Several times, as we go through this vital subject of an ever-burning "hell fire," and "immortal worms," you might be tempted to fall back on old arguments you heard as a child; impassioned sermons you heard from revivalists or evangelists; the kind of biblical teaching you have heard all of your life from the church to which you had belonged or attended, or perhaps certain alleged "scriptures" you heard quoted sometime or other.

An important key for your understanding of this important subject is to believe the Word of God; believe what your own eyes tell you out of the Word of God, and to know that the Bible does not contradict itself!

The Bible tells us "God is love," and in many of the Psalms David expresses that God’s mercies "endure forever." God is described as good, kind, gracious, forgiving, gentle, loving, compassionate, longsuffering, and anxious and willing to forgive our sins.

Jesus Christ urged people to come and learn of Him for, He said, "I am meek and lowly," and promised those who were "heavy laden" with their mental and physical problems that He would "give them rest."

How, then, do these biblical descriptions of our Savior, Jesus Christ, together with the many descriptions Jesus Himself gave of the Father, fit with the concepts of excruciating torture by not only being singed, scorched and burnt, but also having the ghastly sensation of some sort of "immortal worms" crawling through one's flesh for ALL ETERNITY?

At this point, some died-in-the-wool so-called "Bible believer" who has heard about these "immortal worms" all his life might sarcastically retort, "Well, maybe we can't understand it, but that is what the Bible says, so I believe it!"

But does the Bible really say that? (The real proofs will come just a little later in this article.)

Is God the author of torture? Since God is the very Designer and "Inventor" of our human bodies and minds, and, since He gives us our capacity for reasoning, for understanding, knowledge and wisdom, should not the very plan and purpose of God be something which is not only understandable to the mind of man but palatable and acceptable as well?

Think about it!

What would go through the minds of a family if they had certain knowledge that one of their own beloved family members was being held by a group of terrorists who at this very moment were torturing their loved one? If their minds could imagine all sorts of fiendish methods of inflicting pain upon their own beloved family member, how could they cope with it? How could they stand it?

Be logical, and think about this ghastly doctrine! Are millions of people "in heaven" going to be living throughout eternity with the knowledge (and they will have perfect knowledge and even perfect eyesight—capable of seeing the afflictions of the wicked) that their loved ones are shrieking and screaming in grisly torture? What kind of "heavenly existence" would it be for a "saved" mother to behold the writhings and shriekings of her lost child in hell?

What about the literally hundreds of millions of human beings who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ? We know there is none other name given under heaven whereby men must be saved! It is only through the shed blood and broken body of Jesus Christ; through His death, burial and resurrection; through our repentance of sins and acceptance of Jesus Christ as personal Savior, that anyone can be saved!

Hundreds of millions of human beings have lived and died in such nations as Japan, China, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Bangladesh, many nations in Africa, etc., who have never once even heard the phonetic sound "Jesus Christ" in any language! Where are all these supposed "souls" of these hundreds of millions of hapless human beings?

Remember, they live in the so-called "third world"; occupying those nations that are the least developed, where poverty, squalor, sickness and infant mortality are rife. Not only have they lived a wretched physical life in polytheistic, animistic or satanic ignorance, but, according to many of the mainstream Protestant fundamentalist beliefs, they are even now suffering the agonies of torture in hell!

Is that fair? Does it make sense to your logical mind?

Is it literally the TEACHING OF THE BIBLE?

For years, on the radio and television broadcast, I have asked the question: "Do Chinese babies suffer for all eternity in hell fire because missionaries have flat tires?"

Let me explain: Suppose some zealous missionaries were struggling to reach a Chinese town or village on the faraway border of Southern Mongolia. They supposed that the only way to get these Chinese people "saved" was to take to them the "story of Jesus"; to somehow teach all of these people about Jesus Christ as Savior, and get them to accept His name!

However, as they were traversing some of the unpaved, rocky roads in their ancient automobile, they had a sudden blowout!

Forced to stop to change the tire, they arrived at the village hours later than they had intended, and a beautiful little Chinese girl, age about 5, had died of malnutrition and yellow fever!

If they had only arrived a few hours earlier that little Chinese baby might have "heard the name of Jesus," and, as many Protestants suppose, could have "been saved." But now it was too late! The missionaries had a flat tire! What happened to the Chinese baby when it died?

According to Protestant doctrine, the soul of the baby went immediately into hell, where the graphic description of "their worm dieth not" would apply! Multiply this unfortunate circumstance by all of the other parameters, such as a lack of funds for missionary activity; closed borders due to communism and the inaccessibility of hundreds of millions of human beings to American or Protestant evangelists; savage tribes living in remote, completely inaccessible areas, etc., and you have a fair concept of the difficulties of such a belief.

If God is good, fair, merciful and love personified, HOW COULD HE send the so-called "souls" of these millions of innocent victims down into hell to suffer torture and torment for ALL ETERNITY, merely because they had the misfortune to be born into the wrong race, to the wrong parents, at the wrong time?

Remember, in these "third world" countries infant mortality is very high.

Actually, the Catholic doctrine concerning these infants makes a lot more sense than the Protestant doctrine—even though the Catholic doctrine is equally WRONG!

Once given the false doctrine of the "immortality of the soul" (which is as false as any of the other of Satan’s great lies and deceptions), the Catholic doctrine seems to be somewhat fairer, and more in keeping with what one might imagine would be the judgments of God.

For example, one might reason as follows:

Since we know no human being is perfect, is it logical that any human being, even a converted Christian, is so perfect and flawless in character that he could ascend immediately to the very presence of God (what the Catholics call the "beatific vision")?

The answer is certainly not! (Remember, this reasoning is based on the false doctrine of the immortality of the soul!)

Therefore, Catholic scholars reasoned, there must be some "intermediate phase" through which these departed souls must travel—and they came up with the doctrine of purgatory.

Purgatory is defined, loosely, as that place of departed spirits where through perhaps aeons of time the final impurities, imperfections, little innocent venal "sins," etc., are expunged and expurgated until one is finally pure, and can be released from purgatory to achieve the "beatific vision."

So much for the departed "souls" of the so-called "Christians."

But what about non-Christians? What about pagans and heathens? What about our Chinese babies, or even the ancients who lived prior to the time of Jesus Christ?

No problem. The Catholics merely came up with a couple of other "compartments" of these various imagined intermediate phases or stages, and dubbed them "limbus infantim" (a limbo or state of "suspended animation" for children) and "limbus patrium" (limbo for "the fathers").

Make no mistake! The Catholic teaching is in error, and absolutely contradictory to the Scriptures!

Nevertheless, if you admit into your mind the grave error of the alleged "immortality of the soul," you must maintain that the Catholic idea makes more sense, and presents a fairer picture to the inquiring mind concerning the state of the "souls" of departed Chinese babies, than does the mainstream Protestant, fundamentalist argument.

Actually, both Catholic and Protestant doctrines on the subject of an imagined "ever-burning hell" are false.

To understand what happens at death, you need to understand what is life—what are You, what is MAN?

When Almighty God created the first parent of the human race, Adam, He said unto the conscious man "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for DUST THOU ART, and unto dust shalt thou return"! (Genesis 3:19).

God did not say that Adam's body was composed of "dust" (meaning the elements of the earth; the very same elements of which matter, in a different form, is composed), but He said Adam was dust!

Notice the Bible account! "And the Eternal God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man BECAME a living SOUL" (Genesis 2:7).

The Hebrew word for "soul" is nephesh. It is translated in many ways in the Old Testament, and can be rendered "that one," "beast," "creature," "life," "person" and in many other ways.

God said Adam BECAME a living soul—that is what Adam was; it was not something Adam had.

God did not say, "You, Adam, are a body in which a 'living soul' resides," but He said, "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt THOU [you, Adam, the conscious man] return"!

Actually, the same word (nephesh) is used in the first chapter of Genesis for lower life forms! Notice verse 20 (moving creature), verse 21 (living creature), verse 24 (living creature; beast), verse 25 (beast), for the very same Hebrew word "nephesh" is used of various forms of life, land and sea alike, before the word "nephesh" is ever used Of MAN!

Turn to and read Numbers 19:11: "He who touchest the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days." In this scripture, some of the laws of purification under the Levitical priesthood are discussed. Notice verse 22: "And whatsoever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the soul [nephesh] that touches it shall be unclean until even."

The same word that is rendered "soul" in verse 22 is used for the expression '"DEAD BODY" in verse 11!

In other words, the Hebrew word" nephesh," which can be expressed in our English as "person," "being," "individual" or" living person," is used in many different ways in the Old Testament to connote various forms of life. It is also used when a person DIED, as in the case of Numbers 11:19! Here, in this scripture, the word which elsewhere is translated "soul" is translated "DEAD BODY"!

Now turn to and read with your own eyes Ezekiel 18 verses 4 and 20. "Behold all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth IT shall die."

Notice that the Bible clearly says that the SOUL that sins shall DIE!

Do "souls" die? YES! The Bible plainly says a soul can DIE! The soul is not "immortal," but is human, physical and subject to death!

The same Hebrew word is used, "nephesh." It should far better be rendered: "Behold, every individual is mine; as the life [personality] of the father, so also the life of the son is mine: the individual that sins, he shall die"! If these other alternative usages of the Hebrew word "nephesh" had been used by the translators, the scripture would be even more easily understood than it presently is in the old King James English of 1611.

The Hebrew word nephesh always means mortal man—temporal, temporary, fleshly man, subject to death, which may occur in any number of several ways. Man, being mortal, can be saved and delivered from death and have his physical life prolonged. Man—as mortal, subject to death, but also subject to being saved from death—is described in many biblical passages by usage of the word nephesh.

Nephesh is found in 243 different Bible passages, and translated in 11 different ways. It is rendered "soul" (and this is also used in dozens of passages in connection with man's spirit, attitude, feelings, state of mind, emotions, desires or even physical infirmities) on many occasions.

"Nephesh" is also rendered in the following ways: "life," "lives," "ghost," "person," "tablets," "deadly," "himself," "me," "they," "themselves," "yourselves," etc.

Of particular interest is the fact that the word nephesh is used of man as already and actually dead in these passages!

The expression "the dead" is translated directly from "nephesh" in Leviticus 19:28; 21:1; 22:4; Numbers 5:2; Numbers 6:11.

It is rendered "dead body" in Numbers 9:6, 7, 10.

It is translated "body" in Leviticus 21:11, Numbers 6:6; 19:11, 13, and in Haggai 2:1, 3.

Any serious Bible student could easily research the many meanings of the Hebrew word "nephesh," and satisfy himself completely that by no stretch of the imagination does it EVER mean anything "immortal," or "spiritual." It always means physical, air-breathing, temporal creatures, whether speaking of lower life forms crawling about on the ocean floor; small, furry quadrupeds or mammals on the dry land; birds that fly in the air, great creatures such as elephants and hippopotami, or of man as a fleshly, air-breathing, temporal being!

In literally dozens of places, all of the varieties of the emotions of man are also used in connection with the word "nephesh."

As an example, man's "soul" (nephesh, meaning his being, body, psyche, state of mind) is described as "joyful," "thirsty," "poured out," "cast down," "bowed down," "waiting," "chastened," "longing," "rejoicing delighting," "full of troubles," "satisfied," "melted," "cleaving unto the dust," "seeking desiring," "hating," "removed," "loathing," or "abhorred"!

Actually, there are 231 passages rendered in 20 different ways where nephesh, from which the English word "soul" is taken, is used in connection with certain feelings, affections, passions or emotions of man!

The Greek word psuche is the only word that is translated "soul" in the New Testament. You will find the word 105 times in the New Testament, of which it is translated "soul" only 58 times, but can also be rendered "life" (40 times), "mind" (three times), and "heart," "heartily," "us" and "you" (one time each).

The Greek word psuche is the exact Greek rendering of the Hebrew word nephesh, and is used in the same way throughout the New Testament.

For example, psuche is used of the lower animals, just as you have seen nephesh used of lower life forms in the first chapter of the book of Genesis! In Revelation 8:9, the Greek word "psuche" (remember this is the ONLY word which is ever used for the word "soul" in the English language) is rendered "life." Notice also Revelation 16:3, where lower life forms are spoken of, yet the word "soul" is used. Read that last scripture carefully! It describes one of the horrible plagues yet to fall upon the land and the sea, and says "every living Soul DIED"! Here is one more New Testament proof that the word "soul" as it found its way into the English language means a being, or living thing, which can DIE! In this case, it is used of various forms of life (of which there are thousands) in the sea!

The Greek word "psuche" is also used for an individual. On many occasions, in making out a flight plan when I was piloting a jet airplane, we would have to include the information of how many persons were aboard that flight. All airlines dispatchers do the same things. Oftentimes, many pilots calling in their flight plans would say they had so many "souls on board," using the word interchangeably for individuals, or persons. When a newspaper headline speaks of so many "souls" being lost in the sinking of a ship, it is using the word in much the same way as it occurs 14 different times in the Bible! For proof, read Acts 2:41-43; 3:23; 7:14; 27:37; Romans 2:9; 13:1; I Corinthians 15:45; James 5:20; I Peter 3:20; II Peter 2:14; Revelation 6:9; 18:13; 20:4.

In those passages, the Greek word psuche is used for the life of man, which can be destroyed, or lost.

A classic example of where the translators have tampered with the English in translating from the Greek is found in Matthew 16:25 and 26.

Notice the way it is rendered in the King James Version: "For whosoever will save his life [psuche] shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life [psuche] for my sake shall find it.

"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul [psuche]? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul [psuche]?"

Obviously, since the identical Greek word is used in both passages; and since it is rendered differently in verse 26 (soul) from the way it is used in verse 25 (life), it was a translator's decision as to changing the way he rendered this Greek word psuche in the two verses!

To be honest, and to be fair with the word, it should have been rendered the same in both passages! Here, it is obvious the word should better be rendered "life," just as it was rendered in verse 25! For, after all, it is your life you can lose—and what can you give in exchange for your LIFE?

The point is, the Greek word psuche is capable of nearly as many applications as is the Hebrew word nephesh, and can even be used of man's moods, passions and feelings!

The word psuche, for example, is translated "mind," "us," "you heart" and "heartily."

By no stretch of the imagination can this Greek word EVER connote anything which is immortal, or "extraphysical," in the sense of being spiritual.

The English word "soul" in the Old Testament is always taken from the Hebrew "nephesh" and does NOT mean anything immortal; just as the English word "soul" in the New Testament is taken from the Greek word "psuche," and only means mortal, temporal, human, physical MAN, who is subject to death.

The Catholic Church attempts to use human reason to advance their doctrine of souls in "hell."

The Catholic Encyclopedia says, "The existence of hell is, of course, denied by all those who deny the existence of an ever-burning hell with those who would also ‘deny the existence of God.’" Much of the lengthy article on the subject of "hell" contained in the Catholic Encyclopedia is human reason. A few examples of the type language used in the article follow: "Where is hell? Some were of opinion ... However, that opinion is universally and deservedly rejected; for it is more in keeping with their state of punishment that the damned be limited in their movements and confined to a definite place. As to its locality all kinds of conjectures have been made; it has been suggested that hell is situated on some far island of the sea ... Holy Writ seems to indicate that hell is within the earth ... However, no cogent reason has been advanced for accepting a metaphorical interpretation in preference to the most natural meaning of the words of Scripture. Hence theologians generally accept the opinion that hell is really within the earth. The Church has decided nothing on this subject; hence we may say hell is a definite place; but where it is, we do not know." Notice the use of human reason to justify major doctrines: "If we abstract from the eternity of its punishment, the existence of hell can be demonstrated even by the light of mere reason" (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 7, page 208). Notice the next shocking quotation! "For it is IMPOSSIBLE that, in regard to the fundamental questions of their being and their destiny, all men should fall into the same error; else the power of human reason would be essentially deficient, and the order of this world would be unduly wrapped in mystery. . ." (ibid., page 208, emphasis mine).

Still, based upon quite a number of scriptures which refer to "hades" (which always means THE GRAVE in the Greek language), the Catholic Encyclopedia continues to build the fabric of its doctrine of "eternal suffering" in a place called "hell."

Notice: "Hence, beyond the possibility of doubt, the Church expressly teaches the eternity of the pains of hell as a truth of faith which no one can deny or call in question without manifest heresy" (ibid., page 209).

Then follows a lengthy argument that the fear of such excruciating punishment acts as a deterrent; and that without such a deterrent many sinners would not fear the consequences of sin. Surprisingly (and it is doubtful that most Catholics know their church teaches thus), the Catholic Encyclopedia argues: "In itself, it is no rejection of Catholic dogma to suppose that God might at times, by way of exception, liberate a soul from hell" (ibid., page 209).

However, even the Catholic Encyclopedia was forced to admit that the word "hell" has absolutely nothing to do with fires, conscious torture, torment or continual, unrelieved pain!

Notice! "The term hell is cognate to 'hole' (cavern) and 'hollow.' It is a substantive formed from the A.S. helan or behelian, 'to hide.' . . . Thus by derivation hell denotes a dark and hidden place." A fairly thorough explanation of the meaning of "Gehenna" then follows, and includes the ancient application of the term. Notice: "Gehenna is the Hebrew ge-hinnom (Neh. 11:30), or the longer form ge-ben-hinnom (Jos. 15:8) and ge- bene-honnom, 'valley of the sons of Hinnom.' Hinnom seems to be the name of a person not otherwise known. The Valley of Hinnom is south of Jerusalem and is now called Wadi Er-Rababi. It was notorious as the scene, in earlier days, of the horrible worship of Moloch." Brief reference to "tartaru" (to be covered later) is also made.

Remember, at the basis of every false doctrine or false belief is one central assumption, usually carelessly taken for granted!

Thus, if one ASSUMES that the soul is immortal, one must immediately ask, "What happens to the soul when the body dies?" As was mentioned earlier, once this ASSUMPTION is carelessly taken for granted (as it is in the Catholic and the Protestant world), then it would appear "logical" to the questing mind that there must be "some place" those departed souls "go" after death!

Naturally, at the root of the false doctrines of saints going immediately either to heaven or to various compartments in "hell" is the false doctrine of "the immortality of the soul"!

But make no mistake! The Bible DOES SPEAK OF A VERY HOT "HELL FIRE" (Gehenna), and describes it as a "lake [sea] of fire"; as if a vast cauldron of superhot flames.

Notice! "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul [Greek 'psuche,' meaning destroy the spirit in man; the life and personality; the character that has been built]; but rather fear Him which is able to DESTROY both soul [psuche] and body [Greek 'soma'] in hell [Greek 'Gehenna']" (Matthew 10:28).

This is a vitally important scripture.

Men may take your human, physical life—but they cannot destroy your life for all eternity!

Remember the cautions about Bible knowledge; Bible study, and trembling before the Word of God at the beginning of this article?

Many deceived persons, not knowing anything about all the Bible proofs you have seen; not knowing the real meanings of the Hebrew and Greek words, would assume from reading Matthew 10:28 that Jesus is saying a man cannot kill an "immortal soul"! But the Bible does NOT SAY that! It says God CAN DESTROY the human "psuche" (life) in GEHENNA FIRE!

What happens if one is thrown into that fire?

Let the Bible answer: "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, SHALL be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up; saith the Eternal of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch ... AND YE SHALL TREAD DOWN THE WICKED: FOR THEY SHALL BE ASHES UNDER THE SOLES OF YOUR FEET in the day that I shall do this, saith the Eternal of hosts"! (Malachi 4:1-3).

Read II Peter the third chapter, which describes this same fire—and which says: ".. . The elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (verse 10).

When Jesus spoke of FIRE destroying the wicked, He used the "type" of the Valley of Hinnom, or Geena, from which "Gehenna" derives.

The Greek word Gehenna comes from a transliteration of a Hebrew word "gai hinnom." This meant "the Valley of Hinnom," or, simply, "the valley." It was named after a valley purchased by the sons of Hinnom, where, anciently, there were fires lit, used in the pagan practice of passing children "through the fire" in the worship of the heathen god Moloch.

By the time of Jesus' day, the Valley of Hinnom had long since ceased to be used for this idolatrous practice, but there were still fires burning there, for it was a narrow, deep valley immediately adjacent to the city of Jerusalem, and was used as a garbage dump. Refuse, trash and even the bodies of dead animals or criminals were simply pushed off the steep precipice, where they fell to the ledges and rocks or to the bottom of the valley below. The horrible odors of this unsanitary method of trash disposal (outlawed in most modern cities today) must have been terrible to endure—but, because of the perpetual nature of the fires burning in the Valley of Hinnom, it came to be characterized as a place of the ghastly end of criminals, for, after either being stoned to death or crucified, their bodies would be dumped onto the piles of trash and refuse, and finally, after some days or weeks, consumed by the slowly moving flames and smoldering embers which were gradually devouring the trash.

The Greek equivalent of the Hebrew is "geena." This word occurs only l2 times in the New Testament, and is always rendered "hell."

But the English word "hell" comes, as you have already seen proved, from an ancient Nordic term, stemming from belief in a goddess called "Hel," or "Behelian," and having to do with the place of the dead. Its usage in Nordic mythology, and in early Anglo-Saxon times, merely connoted the dank, dark, earthy place of the dead—the grave—into which the dead descended! It was a later addition of the fables and traditions of the false churches which took this common usage and began applying it to a place of infernal regions, where eternal suffering, and a conscious state of the dead, was maintained, rather than its earlier usage which merely meant "the grave."

The Greek word "hades" was always used by the Greeks for the unseen or hidden "world" of the dead, through their own practice of burying the dead when they died! It originally had nothing to do whatsoever with living forever, or conscious punishment, but merely meant "the grave." It had to do with "the state of being dead," and was always rendered thus in the Greek passages in the New Testament.

The Greek word "hades" (the GRAVE) is the exact Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word "sheol," which means the same thing! "Hades" is the word most commonly translated "hell" into the English language.

The third and final word used for the English word "hell" in the New Testament occurs only once (II Peter 2:4) and comes from the Greek "tartaru." This is referring merely to a place of restraint or imprisonment. As it is used in II Peter 2:4, it refers to the evil spirits (demons) that were cast down to this earth at the time of the expulsion of Satan the devil (Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, Revelation 12:9), in which one third of the rebellious angels followed Satan. Jesus Christ is said to have witnessed to these evil spirits "when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah." The time setting of the witnessing of Jesus Christ was when once "God's longsuffering was manifested by saving the family of Noah, yet destroying the entirety of ancient mankind by a global flood!

In II Peter the second and third chapters we are given a picture of the future destruction of the entirety of the globe, at the final culmination of this first phase of the plan of God, by FIRE! We are given a description of the very elements being "on fire" and "melting with fervent heat"! Thus it is seen that Jesus Christ witnessed to these departed spirits during the very time the waters covered the entirety of the earth, warning them that, even as they had attempted to wreck the plan of God in that preflood period and had seen everything destroyed by an overflowing of water, so in the future they would see their final attempts to wreck and destroy the plan of God finally consumed by a global fire!

The Greek word "tartaru" is merely referring to the surface of the earth, which is the "place" of "restraint" to which the demonic spirits are bound, for the present time.

Thus we have the following three words which were unfortunately all translated "hell" in 1611: "Hades," which means the GRAVE; "Gehenna," which means a final lake of fire, which destroys the wicked until they become ashes beneath the feet of the righteous, and "tartaru," which is this earth, as a place of "restraint" or "imprisonment" for evil spirits.

And what of the mysterious "worm" that "dieth not"?

The Hebrew word for "worm" (Isaiah 66:24) is "tola," and means a maggot, which is hatched from the eggs deposited by flies on putrid substances! One only need turn to any encyclopedia, look up the word "maggot," and discover the proof about what kind of worms are implied by this statement in Isaiah and the one repeated by Jesus Christ in Mark 9:44! When it says "their worm dieth not," it is referring to the larva stage or phase of the cyclical life of flies!

Even as the bodies of criminals were pushed off the edge of the precipice above the Valley of Hinnom, where they may have lodged part way down, gradually decomposed, only to be finally consumed by the slowly advancing fires, so the Bible uses this horrifying destruction of human flesh as a somber warning to those who refuse to repent Of SIN!

But it is decidedly not a warning about eternal punishing; it is a warning about eternal punishMENT—and that punishment is DEATH for eternity, from which there is no resurrection.

No, the "worms" spoken of in Isaiah 66:24 are not "immortal worms" at all, but normal, healthy, average, everyday maggots one will find on any vegetable or animal substance left out in the open air where it is accessible to flies!

Those worms do not die, but gradually become the pupal phase of the maggot, and finally hatch as brand—new flies!

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance says the word "worm" is ". . . a maggot, as voracious [devouring], specifically the 'crimson grub'. .

Now you know the truth about so-called "immortal worms," and you know that a kind, loving, merciful God could NEVER inflict "torture" on anyone!

Yes, the penalty for sin is HELL FIRE; Gehenna fire! But it shall burn up and destroy the wicked. If some bodies are only partially consumed at first, as in the ancient Jerusalem dump, then, certainly, "their worm [maggot] dieth not . . ." but turns into the pupa, and a new fly; but the victims of this terrible fate are DEAD—not living forever in torture! Thanks be to God for His wonderful TRUTH, and for delivering us from pagan fables!

For additional related knowledge and understanding,
may we suggest the following titles:

When I die, What Happens Next?

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