DEATH, SOUL AND HELL  

HADES

NEXT to the Old Testament Hebrew word SHEOL, this New Testament Greek word,

HADES, is one of the most important.

    Our present object and desire is to discover the way in which the Holy Spirit uses it;

and to find out the sense in which He intends us to understand it. Apart from this, all

our study of the word is useless.

   It matters not what men may say, whether Pagan or Christian. Heathen Mythology,

Human Tradition, and Christian Theology have no place in this study. They will lead

us astray instead of guiding us : they will hinder us rather than help us. 

   The Old Testament has one advantage over the New. Its Hebrew words are the words

of the Holy Spirit  and all knowledge of Hebrew starts with the Hebrew Bible. It is the

 fountain head of that language; and  there is no previous Hebrew literature behind it. 

   But when we come to the New Testament, the case is entirely different. Here, the

Holy Spirit takes up human words which had been used among the Greeks for centuries,

and had already acquired senses, and meanings, and usages; human in their development

as they were human in their origin. [MORE]

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THE GRAVE

Few words call for more careful study than this; because few words are more obscured in

translation, or are more important in their teaching.
    Moreover, it is peculiarly a word of Divine origin : a word coined, so to speak, by the

Holy Spirit Himself. It can therefore be understood only by our observing the way in

which He has used it; learning there from the meaning He has thus given it.
    It is different with the Greek word Hades, which is used in the New Testament to represent

the Old Testament word Sheol. Hades is a Greek word. It belongs to Greek mythology, and

comes to us surrounded with heathen traditions. These are all discarded, and set for ever

 aside, the moment the Holy Spirit takes it up and uses it as the substitute and equivalent

for the Hebrew word Sheol. The Holy Spirit has, in doing this, "purified" it (in accordance

with Ps. 12: 6). Whatever Sheol means in the 01d Testament, that .Hades means in the New

Testament. In Greek works, of course,it still bears the meaning the Greeks put upon it; but

that meaning has no place in Scripture.
    It matters not, therefore, what Heathen Mythology may have imagined; or what Tradition

 has handed down; what man may say; or what we may think. There is only 1 one question :

and that is a matter of supreme importance -What does God say about it; and How does the

Holy Spirit use it in the Word of God? [MORE]

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THE WAGES OF SIN  [Part 2]  [Part 3]  [Part 4] [Part 5]  [Part 6]  [Part 7]  [Part 8]

In a previous article we sought to exhibit the meaning of the words commonly
translated "for ever" and "eternal" in our A.V., and this naturally leads us
on to a consideration of the nature of the punishment of the unsaved. It is
held by many that "eternal conscious suffering" is a fundamental, and many
have been put out of meetings for being what is called "non-eternity" men. A
most important reason why we should be convinced of this matter is the awful
libel it must be on the name of God should it turn out to be untrue. [More]

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DO YOU HAVE AN IMMORTAL SOUL?
Is it true that we human beings go either to heaven or to hell when we die? Hundreds

 of millions say YES! One of the fundamental beliefs of the mainstream "Christian " 

religions is that of the immortality of the soul! On this belief is based the concept 

of an ever-burning hell fire as punishment for the wicked, and heaven as the reward 

for the saved. Belief in an "immortal soul " in some form or another was commonplace

 among heathen nations long prior to Christianity. The pagan Greek and Roman 

philosophers speculated about the "soul, " as did ancient Babylonians, Egyptians,

 Persians, and Chinese.  [More]

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IMMORTALITY

Some Christian teachers say that the immortality of the soul is so self-evident a truth that there was no need for the Bible

 either to teach it or to deal with its denial, for it must be admitted by all, whatever their persuasion, that the doctrine of

the immortality of the soul is entirely absent from the Scriptures. First, Christian teachers have assumed that man possesses

a soul, instead of "being" a soul, then they assume that this "never dying" part of man must necessarily live on somewhere,

 and consequently there must be a never-ending "hell" for all who are unsaved; and finally, the door is thereby opened for

the deceitful teaching of spiritism, which by its own confession needs nothing more than the acceptance of the doctrine of

the immortality of the soul, for it to function. We leave the Scriptural doctrine of the soul for an article under that title, and

concentrate here on the meaning of the term "immortality". The word does not occur in the O.T. and in the N.T. it is represented

by three Greek words. [More]

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HELL: TORMENT OR ANNIHILATION?

Samuele Bacchiocchi, Ph. D.

[Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9]

Few teachings have troubled the human conscience over the centuries more

 than the traditional view of hell as the place where the lost suffer conscious

 punishment in body and soul for all eternity. The prospect that one day a vast

 number of people will be consigned to the everlasting torment of hell is most

 disturbing and distressing to sensitive Christians. After all, almost everyone 

has friends or family members who have died without making a commitment

 to Christ. The prospect of one day seeing them agonizing in hell for all eternity

can easily lead thinking Christians to say to God: "No thank you God. I am not

 interested in Your kind of paradise!" [More]

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BIBLICAL VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE

[Part 2 BIBLICAL VIEW OF DEATH]  

The belief in conscious life after death is one of the greatest deception of our

 times. Such a belief is promoted today not only by the Catholic and Protestant

 teachings on the immortality of the soul, but also by the polished image of

 mediums and psychics, the sophisticated "scientific" research into near-death

 experiences, and the popular New Age channeling craze with the alleged spirits 

of the past.

The vast majority of people have come to believe Satan's lie that no matter what

 they do, they "shall not die" (Gen 3:4) but become like gods by living for ever.

This lie has fostered a host of heresies such as spiritualism, communication with

 the spirits of the dead, praying for the dead, the intercession of the saints, 

purgatory, eternal hellfire, the worship of Mary, indulgences, etc. All of these

 heretical beliefs fall automatically like dominos when we expose the fallacies 

of conscious life between death and resurrection. [MORE]

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THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS   By Otis Sellers

THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS  PART 2

THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS PART 3

The portion of Scripture which is examined and interpreted in this study is certainly not the most important passage

 in the Word of God. Nevertheless, it is apparent that many make Luke 16:19-31 to be the preeminent passage of all

Scripture because of the great number of doctrines which they found upon it and which they establish by it.

       When a passage is appealed to again and again in support of ideas that are held or are being declared, that passage

automatically becomes one of great importance. And there is no single passage in the Bible that is appealed to in support

of as many beliefs as the one that is now before us for consideration. The commonly accepted and popular belief that is

held by the self-styled orthodox concerning man's nature and destiny has entrenched itself within this story. From this

supposedly impregnable fortress it calls upon all to drop arms and surrender if they dare to believe or teach contrary to

the generally accepted views. For many centuries ideas have been read and preached into this passage so that now men

are reading them back out as if they were actually there. Many preachers are no longer able to distinguish between their

sermons on the rich man and Lazarus and the record written in the Word of God, even though they are poles apart. [MORE]

THE GATES OF HELL  By Tom Ballinger

The student who will allow the Word to speak for itself should now have 

impressed upon his mind the fact that the Holy Ghost has chosen to use the 

word "hell" interchangeably with the word "grave." In this paper we only

purpose to show the word "hell" in its relation to the expression "the gates

 of hell." If we gain an understanding of its usage in its relation to different 

thoughts or expressions in the Word of God then we can come to a Scriptural

 understanding of the word "hell." By so doing, we will be free from the teachings

- of men. It is surprising, when we examine ourselves, how much of what we 

believe has been received from the traditions of men. How little has really been

 derived from personal study of the Word of God itself. Generally we believe

 what we have heard and been taught by man, then go to the Bible to try to get 

what we believe confirmed. We need now to make some conclusion on the Holy

 Spirit's use of the word "hell" in the expression "the gates of hell." [More]

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THE SOUL AND DEATH   by B.A. Livingstone                         

The single most important question one can ask is, "What happens to me when 

I die?" When we die, is that it? Or do we float in some ethereal world of limbo.

 Or as others would suggest, do we have a soul that goes to heaven when we 

die if we were good, or possibly conscious everlasting torment in flame if were 

bad. Still others suggest reincarnation. But which are we to believe? [More]

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SLEEP
If it is to be truly profitable, all true ministry must be "a word in season", and it is not possible nor expedient to at1 to teach

 all the truth, or witness to every doctrine, time.
    The fact that within a week we have received more inquiry concerning the teaching of Scripture regarding death as a sleep,

leads us to see that it would be a word in seas devote some of our limited space to a consideration a1 subject. In the first

place let us turn to John 11:14, "Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead" (Lazaros apethanen).  Greek verb here translated

"is dead" is from apothnesko. John 11:21 and 41 well show, the word thnesko means "to "The addition of the prefix apo

intensifies the cone representing the actions of the simple verb as consummates finished, to die out, to expire, to become

 quite dead" (Dr. E.W. Bullinger's Lexicon). In John 8:52 we read: "Abraham is dead." (Abraham apethanen). Here, therefore,

is fact one. Lazarus was literally and completely dead as was Abraham. [More]

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WHAT IS HELL?
It is obvious that the view that most of humanity are destined to spend eternity

 in misery in hell cannot be reconciled with those scriptures which predict God 

shall be all in all: yet the word 'hell' occurs thirty-one times in the Old Testament

 and twenty-two times in the New Testament in the Authorized Version. This one

 English term has been made to represent the Hebrew 'sheol' and the three Greek

words 'hades', 'gehenna' and 'tartarus'.

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THE VISIBLE HELL  By Tom Ballinger

In the article, "The Gates of Hell," the conclusion was reached that the gates

 referred to the power the grave has to maintain its captives. The Lord Jesus

 Christ is said to have the keys to open the gates of the grave and release those

 who are held captive, thus bringing them up from the power of "hell" by means

 of resurrection. The grave would be the visible hell. But there is to be a "visible" 

one prior to and during the millennium. [More]

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THE WAGES OF SIN  By Charles Welch

[Part 2]  [Part 3]  [Part 4] [Part 5]  [Part 6]  [Part 7]  [Part 8]

In a previous article we sought to exhibit the meaning of the words commonly
translated "for ever" and "eternal" in our A.V., and this naturally leads us
on to a consideration of the nature of the punishment of the unsaved. It is
held by many that "eternal conscious suffering" is a fundamental, and many
have been put out of meetings for being what is called "non-eternity" men. A
most important reason why we should be convinced of this matter is the awful
libel it must be on the name of God should it turn out to be untrue. [More]

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 A HISTORICAL GLIMPSE OF THE BELIEF IN THE 

SURVIVAL OF THE SOUL

Throughout human history, people have refused to accept the finality that

 death brings to life. Death brings an unacceptable, sudden interruption to 

one's work, plans, and relationships. Though the inscription on many tomb

 stones often reads "Rest in Peace," the truth of the matter is that most people

 do not welcome the peaceful rest of the grave. They would rather be alive and

 productive. Thus, it is not surprising that the subject of death and afterlife always

 has been a matter of intense concern and speculation. After all, the death rate is

 still one per person. Each of us at the appointed time will face the grim reality of

 death. [More]

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THE NATURE OF DEATH

The Death of Socrates and of Christ. To illustrate the Biblical view of death, 

Oscar Cullmann contrasts the death of Socrates with that of Jesus.³⁶ In his book

  Phaedo, Plato offers an impressive description of the death of Socrates. On the 

day of his death, Socrates taught his disciples the doctrine of the immortality of the

 soul and showed them how to live out such a belief in dying. He explained to his 

disciples how to liberate the soul from the prison of the body by occupying oneself

 with the eternal truths of philosophy. Since death completes the process of liberating 

of the soul, Plato tells us that Socrates went to his death by drinking the hemlock in

 complete peace and composure. For Socrates, death was the soul’s greatest friend 

because it sets the soul free from the shackles of the body. [More]

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THE STATE OF THE DEAD IN THE O.T.
Belief in life after death seems to have come back from the grave. News

weekly covers it. Talk-show hosts discuss it. Popular books such as Moody

and  Kübler-Ross' Life After Life and Maurice Rawlings' Beyond Death's

Door examine case histories of out-of-body experiences. Even a few pastors

 have begun preaching it again. Once regarded by the secular community as 

a relic of a superstitious past and by believers as something too difficult to 

comprehend, belief in life after death is regaining popularity. In spite of a

 significant decline in religious beliefs, according to a recent Gallup Poll, 71

 percent of Americans believe in some form of life after death.1 "Even many

 who claim no religious belief expect life to go on after death: 46 percent believe

 in heaven, 34 percent in hell." [More]

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THE STATE OF THE DEAD IN THE N. T.

The New Testament says very little about the state of the dead during the

 intermediate period between their falling asleep and their awakening on the

 day of the resurrection. We must agree with G. C. Berkouwer that what the

 New Testament tells us about the intermediate state is nothing more than a

 whisper.33 The primary concern of the New Testament is with the events 

that mark the transition from this age to the Age to Come: the return of Christ 

and the resurrection of the dead. [More]

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TWO BASIC VIEWS OF HUMAN NATURE AND DESTINY
There are two basic Christian visions of human destiny which originate from two 

fundamentally different views of human nature. The first is based on the belief of

 the immortality of the soul, and the second on the belief of the resurrection of the

 body. In his scholarly study The Nature and Destiny of Man, Reinhold Niebuhr

 suggests that the fundamentally different Christian beliefs about human nature and

 destiny derive from two basic views: (1) the Classical and (2) the Christian.2 The

first derives from Greek philosophy and the second from the teaching of the Bible.

 The term "Christian" for the latter view may be misleading, because, as we shall 

learn, the vast majority of Christians throughout the centuries have been greatly 

influenced by the classical view of human nature which consists of a mortal body 

and an immortal soul. Therefore, I prefer to call the second view "Biblical," because, 

as this study shows, it reflects the teachings of the Bible. [More]

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The Old Testament View of Human Nature

[Part 2 HUMAN NATURE AS SOUL]

[Part 3 HUMAN NATURE AS BODY AND FLESH]

[Part 4 HUMAN NATURE AS HEART]

[Part 5 HUMAN NATURE AS SPIRIT]
The question posed by the Psalmist, What is man that thou art mindful of him?

(Ps 8:4), is one of the most fundamental questions that anyone could consider.

It is fundamental because its answer determines the way we view ourselves, this

world, redemption, and our ultimate destiny. 
No age knows so much and so many things about human nature as does ours,

 yet no age knows less about what man really is. Having lost their awareness of 

God, many people today are concerned primarily with their present existence. 

The loss of awareness of God makes many people uncertain about the meaning 

of life, because it is only in reference to God and His revelation that the nature and

destiny of human life can be truly understood. [More]

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The New Testament View of Human Nature

[Part 1 HUMAN NATURE AS SOUL]

[Part 2 HUMAN NATURE AS SPIRIT]   

[Part 3 HUMAN NATURE AS BODY]      

[Part 4 HUMAN NATURE AS HEART]

In our Bibles, the first page of the New Testament follows immediately the

 last page of the Old Testament. This may suggest to uninformed readers

 that there is no time gap between the two Testaments. In reality, about four 

centuries separate them. During this inter-testamental period, the Jewish people

 were exposed, both at home in Palestine and abroad in the diaspora (dispersion),

 to the very influential Hellenistic (Greek) culture and philosophies. The impact of 

Hellenism on Judaism is evident in many areas, including the adoption of Greek

 dualism by some Jewish literary works produced at that time. [More]

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DEATH, NO GATEWAY TO HEAVEN   By E.W. Bullinger

In the Christian realm today there is unscriptural teaching concerning the death

 of the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are constantly being told by well-meaning Christians that at death, "We go

 to be with the Lord." This phrase is used especially at funerals where preachers

 misquote or take the Scriptures out of context to reassure the sorrowing that their 

loved ones are not really dead, but are really enjoying Heaven in God's presence. 

 This teaching promotes belief in the lie of Satan, rather than what God told Adam

 and Eve when He placed them in the Garden. [More]

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A REFRESHING STUDY ON RESURRECTION  By E.W. Bullinger

  Scripture shuts us up to the blessed hope of being reunited in resurrection. That is why the death of believers is so

often called "sleep"; and dying is called "falling asleep"; because of the assured hope of awakening in resurrection.

It's language is, "David fell on sleep" (Acts 13:36), not David's body, or David's soul. "Stephen ... fell asleep" (Acts 7:60).

"Lazarus sleepeth" (John 11:11), which is explained, when the Lord afterward speaks "plainly", as meaning "Lazarus is dead"

 (v. 14). [More]

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THE SOUL AND DEATH By B.A. Livingstone

The single most important question one can ask is, "What happens to me when I die?" When we die, is that it? Or do we

float in some ethereal world of limbo. Or as others would suggest, do we have a soul that goes to heaven when we die if

we were good, or possibly conscious everlasting torment in flame if were bad. Still others suggest reincarnation. But which

 are we to believe? 

Let us consider for a moment who might know best. Who better than the one who created us! It matters not in the end

what we or anyone else may think. In the end, what matters is what has God said. [More]

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"ABSENT FROM THE BODY, PRESENT WITH THE LORD"

The Scripture in 2 Corinthians 5:8 is often misquoted and misunderstood. Many like to use this as if it's proof that we

 are immediately in the presence of the Lord upon dying. Satan wants us to believe that we don't really die. (Gen.3:4)

This is in direct conflict with what the scriptures teach about death and what God said, "thou shalt surely die." Whom

do you believe? [More]

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BETWEEN DEATH AND RESURRECTION    By Oscar Baker

This period of time, referred to as the naked state by Paul, is quite often spoken of as a sleep in the Bible.

However in the original languages, the word sleep is used only of those who are believers and hope to awake.

You can check this with the lexicon in the back of Strong's Concordance.
Let us see what Job has to say about this period of time. See Job 14:12-15.
12. Man lies down. That is death. It is unfortunate that this is translated sleep in many places spoiling the difference

 maintained as mentioned above. Man does not rise up or awake until a certain time. That time, in the Hebrew is described

as when the heavens become unstitched. There is no statement that all will rise, awake, or be raised out of sleep. See Da 12:2

and compare. Here is pretty good evidence that Job was a Gentile and did not have the hope of Israel, the resurrection at the

 last day which Martha knew about (Job 11:24). This resurrection in Job is after the millennium is over. Compare with the time

of the great white throne judgment (Re 20:11).  [More]

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DEATH   D. B. Moore
Long ago, the Psalmist asked the question: What is man? Ps 8:1-5. Many people still ponder this question. Some even

find the answer and refuse to believe it because it is contrary to traditional teaching. Shall we accept the ideas of tradition?

No! We will search and see, and believe the Word of God that is forever settled in heaven.
   The question concerning man is found in the Genesis section of Psalms (see CB), and we read the Scriptural answer in Gen. 2,

The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living

soul. God formed man of the dust of the ground, but he was not yet a living soul. He became a living soul, just as Lot's wife

became a pillar of salt (Gen. 19:26). She was not a pillar of salt until she was disobedient and looked back. Man was not a living

 soul until he received the breath of life.
Note that Gen. 2:7 does not say that man has a soul, but rather that he is a soul. [More]

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THE SUPREME PENALTY   By Oscar Baker
Many of you do not have access to any libraries of much size. You might be interested in what some of the earlier writers

believed. Such a study will show the beginnings and spread of apostacy and the creeping in of heathen philosophies into

the churches.
    In THE DURATION AND NATURE OF FUTURE PUNISHMENT by Henry Constable (1868), we find a little table of the

 early writers and their views on this subject. The death date of each is given.
    Barnabas (90), Clement of Rome (100), Hermas (104), Ignatius, Martyr (107), Polycarp, Martyr (147), Justin, Martyr (164),

 and Theophilus, of Antioch (183), all held to the Scriptural view that the supreme penalty for all who did not have life was

eternal death.

[More]

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PARADISE

Contrary to popular teaching, Paradise has nothing to do with heaven. It is the name given to "a garden planted with trees".

The word has come through the Greek from the ancient Sanscrit. Socrates says that the king of Persia, wherever he is, takes

particular care "to have gardens and enclosures, which are called paradises, full of everything beautiful and good that the

earth can produce". The original Persian word pardes occurs in Nehemiah 2:8; Ecclesiastes 2:5 and Song of Solomon 4:13.

The LXX almost constantly renders the Hebrew gan "garden" when it relates to the garden of Eden by paradeisos. Such is

the language and testimony of Holy Writ. We have to go to Josephus and to Rabbinical tradition to discover that Paradise

 is a place. for the intermediate state "and that under the earth there will be rewards or punishment", although even Josephus

in the opening of his Antiquities uses the word "paradise" for the Garden of Eden.  [More]

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SCRIPTURES CONCERNING DEATH, RESURRECTION AND ETERNAL LIFE

By E. Burch

THE PENALTY OF SIN IS DEATH

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CONCERNING HELL

As concerning the doctrine of hell and matters of judgement the following should be considered,

"I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you ALL the counsel of God." Acts 20:26,27

Ezekiel 33 declares that it was the responsibility of the watchmen to declare unto the people judgement to come. If Paul failed to declare eternal punishment, he is guilty before God.

No where does Paul teach an eternal conscious punishment in all his epistles. Epistles which I might add are the establishing of FUNDAMENTALS to the new believer.

We are even told of Paul to "Preach the Word" and in so doing, rightly divide that we may hold fast the form of sound words, which we have heard of Paul.

Paul establishes time and again, that the consequences of Sin is DEATH. No more, no less.

"The wages of sin is DEATH." [MORE]

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FACTS CONCERNING DEATH AND THE BELIEVER

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THE DOCTRINE OF THE IMMORTAL SOUL

Another obvious crack in Israel's armour, where heresies of spirit-beings or ghosts crept into our Christian faith, was at the point where our ancestors began to accept the pagan doctrine of the "immortal soul." That is the doctrine which teaches that "a soul" is one-third of the component parts of a man, and that it is immortal: an entity which cannot die. God's people fell for this false teaching starting in the book of Genesis, chapter 3 Where the first false prophet bamboozled Eve by telling her:

'You shall not surely die. " Genesis 3:4

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BIBLE HELL

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"Sheol". Hebrew, Sh^eõl.This Is Appendix 35 From The Companion Bible.

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TRANSLATING THE WORD SOUL  

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HELL CHART 1

HELL CHART 2