Burning in Hell now: a false doctrine taught by demons, not Biblical.

Dear Brothers and sisters,
I would like to respond to this posting by making it clear that the content of the posting entitled POPE JOHN PAUL 2, IS BURNING IN HELL . First, matters of judgment on the last day are very clear in the Bible. There is no book in the whole world that has a cohesive treatise of God's dealings with not only Man His master piece but also his creation as a whole.

There are very many teachings that have come to be treated as gospel truth by many gullible people who never question what they read or hear. Topics that confuse many people include eschatology, prophesy, Spiritual warfare, angelology and demonology. In Africa for instance, our people have been confused much by the teaching that we have saints or spirits of good pious men who died long ago and were sainted. That is why you can hear other Christians praying and invoking the name of a Saint in prayer like
"St. Clementina pray us", "St. So and So pray us" and this goes on and on. This notion confuses African Christians because most African Traditional Religions or Faiths, we believed in the Living Dead, that is members of our families who died but still live with us although we can not see them.

The second confusion comes from the teachings of people like Dante Alighieri Who wrote a poem called the Divine Comedy in which he describes his journey through  hell (Inferno), or Purgatory (Purgatorio), and  Paradise (Paradiso),  Here is where the notions of people burning in Hell because of their sins comes in the fore. The questions we need to ask ourselves before we jump into matters we may not understand are:

1 What is Hell? 2. Where is hell located?
The English word "Hell" used by many Bible translators is defined by Websters dictionary as

a (1) : a nether world in which the dead continue to exist : hades (2) : the nether realm of the devil and the demons in which the damned suffer everlasting punishment —often used in curses <go to hell> or as a generalized term of abuse <the hell with it> b Christian Science : error 2b, sin

2

a : a place or state of misery, torment, or wickedness <war is hell — W. T. Sherman> b : a place or state of turmoil or destruction <all hell broke loose> 
 Given the above definition, many people think that there is indeed a place somewhere where condemned people live in continual torment.  That is why someone would shamelessly say that Pope John Paul II is burning in Hell. This is a fallacy because judgment has not yet taken place and there is none of us who can surely say that he knows for sure where the dead go to.

The word Hell in Hebrew is Sheol, it means

 a grave or pit, was the place where the dead gathered, as thought by the early Hebrews, and was believed located beneath the earth, perhaps at the roots of mountains. The dead were thought to lead a conscious shadowy existence there, they were not in torment, but had neither hope nor satisfaction. Some thought they remained cut off from God.(http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/s/sheol.html)

So this merely means the grave and even in the so called the Apostles Creed it is said that Jesus went there. So the reality is that when both man and animal die, they go to where they came from-to dust. That is a biblical truth and Jesus went there too but his body defied decay because he was God. If this offends my Muslim (i.e saying that Jesus was God) brothers and sisters, I am sorry I have no apologies to make because I know this is true.
Almost all our African faiths, taught that our dead went to another world where they communed with the living. That is why the teaching of Christianity and Islam appeals to may Africans and the issue of others claiming to be Atheists, is a hollow pipe dream that never exists. I would want those Africans who claim to be Atheists to tell me what we call an Atheist in Luhya, Gikuyu, Ekegusii, Dholuo, Turkana, Pokot, Kiswahili, etc. If we have no word for it, then it is foreign and untenable.

3. What does the Bible say about this place?
The bible mentions a place in the book of Jeremiah 19 called the Valley of the sons of Hinnom or simply the valley of Hinnom.

¹ This is what the LORD says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests ² and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you, ³ and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. ⁴ For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned incense in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. ⁵ They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind. ⁶ So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

This valley is still there even today jut outside Jerusalem where the rubbish from the city was thrown and burnt and the fires of the place never died because rubbish was thrown into it to keep the flames burning. In the Old Testament times, it is described in the following words;

The boundary then passed through the valley of the son of Hinnom, along the southern slopes of the Jebusites, where the city of Jerusalem is located. Then it went west to the top of the mountain above the valley of Hinnom, and on up to the northern end of the valley of Rephaim. - Joshua 15:8

several things happened there including the following

He offered sacrifices in the valley of the son of Hinnom, even sacrificing his own sons in the fire.* He imitated the detestable practices of the pagan nations whom the LORD had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites.1 - 2 Chronicles 28:3

Manasseh even sacrificed his own sons in the fire* in the valley of the son of Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and he consulted with mediums and psychics. He did much that was evil in the LORD's sight, arousing his anger.1 - 2 Chronicles 33:6

They have built the pagan shrines of Topheth in the valley of the son of Hinnom, where they sacrifice their little sons and daughters in the fire. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing! - Jeremiah 7:31

So beware, for the time is coming," says the LORD, "when that place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. They will bury so many bodies in Topheth that there won't be room for all the graves. - Jeremiah 7:32

They have built pagan shrines to Baal in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and there they sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing. What an incredible evil, causing Judah to sin so greatly! - Jeremiah 32:35

So when Jesus was teaching the people, he used this figure of speech as he admonished his listeners that the punishment for the unbelievers is eternal condemnation in the lake of Fire like that one in the valley of Hinnom. There is no place anywhere where sinners are burning now because Judgement has not taken place and Jesus the Righteous Judge has not come. Revelation 20;

⁷ When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison ⁸ and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. ⁹ They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. ¹⁰ And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

The Judgment of the Dead

 ¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. ¹⁴ Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵ Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

so I would say that all about who and who being in Hell is but a false doctrine taught by demons and it is not Biblical.

4 What is heaven?5.Where is heaven located?
Heaven on the hand is also known as a paradise. A place of peace and tranquility. Heaven is part of our universe and the Bible in Genesis states that

 ⁶And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

 ⁷And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

 ⁸And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

 ⁹And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

 ¹⁰And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

Whatever name God gave to anything in His creation must remain to be what it is. The part we call sky now where birds fly and Aeroplanes fly is called heaven and that is what it is because God called it that. In Mathew 5:24 we are given this picture that God's thrown is in Heaven and His feet on Earth( that does not mean that God has feet like man, this is just figurative)

³³Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:

 ³⁴But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:

 ³⁵Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.

So where did Jesus go to after resurrection? He went where he came from. In His fathers place. He is everywhere and that is why I worship Him because He is God and I have no apologies for that because I know it is true. So the Bible promises the believers a new life everlasting not in heaven but in the new universe comprising of a brand new earth and a brand new heaven where there is no Masinde Muliro gardens and no Hague and no PEV and no  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy038Nxqdxw&feature=player_embedded
This is recorded in Revelation 21

¹And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

 ²And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

 ³And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

 ⁴And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

 ⁵And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

 ⁶And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

 ⁷He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

 ⁸But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

  This is the word of the LORD and every believing Chritian say with AMEN and come now Lord .
Paul