I would like to share with you a sermon from Douglas Hamilton, preacher at the Junction City Church of Christ, Junction City, KS.

By Douglas Hamilton, Junction City Church of Christ, Junction City, KS
Douglas Hamilton Video link

Summary from First Two Lessons

So far in this series, we examined the foundational teaching that we are triune (ie. three-in-one), just like the Trinity, God the Father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit, we are body, soul and spirit (1Thessalonians 5:23). Our body is temporary, the souls is eternal and the spirit is the spirit of life, which is what brings our soul life (Genesis 2:7; 7:22).

It’s the soul of man that goes on to live permanently, because it always has the spirit of life in it. And the soul is the real you. That’s who the real you is.

Okay, so what you saw in the mirror before you got to church today…​ that’s not you. That’s all going to rot away. Don’t worry about it. Some of us it’s already doing that. Okay our body is a testament to the second law of thermodynamics, all things are in the process of decay, disintegration, and destruction.

Part 3: Hades

Additionally, we have already entered a discussion of Hades. Hades is the greek word, Sheol is the hebrew word for the same thing, which is the first stop to eternity. When we die, our soul becomes disembodied and goes to the location referred to in the Bible as Hades. There are two sides to Hades, Paradise and Tartarus, being the location of the saved and lost respectively.

It’s like when you’re in the waiting room at the doctor. Okay, nobody goes right in. You notice you don’t have a door that goes right into the doctor. You have to wait. You’re paying to wait for the actual appointment. Sort of like the military isn’t it? Hurry up and wait. Or going through Burger King at the drive-in, you wait longer than you do eating the food anymore. Everybody’s waiting.

Well, this will be a good wait or a bad wait, depending on whether you’re waiting in tartarus or paradise. So there’s [essentially] two waiting rooms.

In this lesson, we will focus on the permanency of the hadean realm. Or how bound we are to the waiting room we’ve entered. Which brings up the question:

Can one switch sides (rooms) in Hades once entered?

For centuries, even before Christ, there were practices of purification for the dead. The hope was that you could potentially sway God in the afterlife and switch sides, allowing those in condemned Tartarus to cross over in Paradise.

Where are they getting this from? Now [imagine] a picture of the Grand Canyon. Now if you said you were going out for a three mile walk after supper and you came to [the Grand Canyon] you could technically cross it, but you’re going a mile down, a little bit over a mile up. You just added some time to your trip, but I want you to imagine for a second, there’s nothing in between these two [canyon sides]. You can’t jump across it, that’s what impassable means. Now with that in mind,…​

Jesus revealed His personal belief on the topic in the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, found in Luke 16:26,…​ but before we read that, let me remind you, we claim to be Disciples of Christ, followers of Christ, so if Christ says something about something we’re talking about and we’re saying something different, that makes what we’re saying [mean] nothing! Okay? We want to conform to His thinking.

Luke 16:26, the master of the universe, the creator of mankind,…​ He said this, "and besides all this between us and you there is a great Chasm fixed so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able and that none may cross over from there to us."

Jesus said, there’s a great Chasm, a separation, a great Gulf affixed, as the King James says. It’s impassable. You can’t cross it. So when you see it, whatever it is, you say, I ain’t getting over there. The Grand Canyon looks more inviting than that place. And it’s pretty much nothingness. It’s a lifeless void of great expanse separating the saved from the lost.

Now, wouldn’t it be neat,…​ you know location, location, location…​ Okay, if you could somehow redefine what that Chasm is,…​ do a Chasm hijacking. Rename it. Throw some conditions on it.

It’s amazing what you can do…​ To say this was the only doctrine circulating on the topic would be an understatement. There are always people of every society and time-period who struggle to accept the teachings of the Scripture. That even included people of Jesus' day, and even centuries before Christ came to his earthly ministry, man had tried to hijack that chasm and make it a new product. Don’t call something new and improved if God’s already perfected it. All you can do is mess it up.

For example:

  • Prior to Christ, Chasm hijacking is nothing new. Chinese Buddhists made offerings for the dead, being in search for a better outcome. They have hijacked it, hoping that you could sway somebody from the bad to the good side, with offerings of food and incense. Let’s just throw them into the chasm, that middle category. God hasn’t made his mind up yet, they say, that’s what chasm hijacking is about. Oh we could put them in limbo. They learned that from the Greeks!

  • Plato and other Greek writers recorded from nearly 400 years prior to Jesus the mentioning oftentimes of celestial Hades. This teaching laid claim to the great Chasm of the dead being trapped, awaiting purification hoping to be able to go to paradise instead of tatarus.

    Boy they were bad! But right now, they’re in…​ limbo.

  • This in turn began to seep into Jewish teachings and practices and by the time of the second century BC, the Jews were offering prayers for the dead. Prayers for the dead attempted to change the outcome of the deceased. That was not what the Old Testament taught, but they did it anyway. See there’s always a group of people who want to do, Chasm hijacking. You know there’s a major religious cult in our country where they teach terrestrial and Celestial heaven. And that you could go and baptize for the dead. You can do things that will change their outcome. It’s all about the same thing, Chasm hijacking.

  • Later it crept into Christianity on a major front with man-made teachings like purgatory, limbo, perdition, purging, all those are words that are used for, that’s right, Chasm hijacking.

And they teach that just as metal is purged of impurities in the smelting process, so also must a deceased person be purged from their sins in the afterlife. You see, they say, everybody goes into that middle section, It’s just like neutral. And then, if you can light enough candles, say enough repetitive incantations, pay enough money, that you can absolve those sins, purify, Purge…​ and they get that saying from the purging of metal, when you smelt metal. When you’re purifying metal, you put it all in together and you just heat that thing up big time. And you know what happens to the impurities? They just kind of evaporate. They boil over, they get off it and then you end up with purification. And that’s why they call it: purging, oftentimes.

And so, they say if you do those things, you can have a soul purged of enough sins, that God would be swayed. This purification process would allow passage for the lost soul to go from the inevitable, Tartarus to Paradise. Later on they extended it to prepaid sins which are called indulgences.

Beware of the chasm-hijackers!

What is the "Biblical" foundation of their argument?

Chasm hijacking is a big sign there’s something wrong with their doctrine.

As Biblical Christians, we must always ask concerning the emergence of strange doctrine, “What does the Bible say about this?” We seek biblical backing to hold to our beliefs, but simply quoting a Bible verse out of context does not justify one’s teaching. Those putting forth “purging” doctrine also throw in a few Bible verses, seeking endorsement from God’s word. That’s called "proof-texting." The dictionary says, proof-texting is quoting a passage of the Bible to which appeal is made in support of an argument or position in theology. Wikipedia adds, Such quotes may not accurately reflect the original intent of the author and a document quoted in such a manner, when read as a whole, may not support the proposition for which it was cited. So their argument falls short upon examination. As we go in, instead of proof texting, we just want to know what the context says.

→ Proof texting, Doug says, is like taking a bow and arrow and you shoot an arrow right into that wall. Then you go over to the arrow and you draw the target around it. You’re going to hit a bullseye every time.

And so, the people who teach these type of doctrines, like to proof text as well. Here are the three top verses that they put forth.

  • "Purged…​"

    Isaiah 4:4,

    When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning,

    So they say, "oh there’s the arrow let me go get this, Isaiah 4:4 paint and I’ll paint a target around, it’ll look like a bullseye."

    Notice the focus on the word "purge". That’s the word they drive in, because that’s the word they use to support their redefinition of the hadean realm. The purging. It’s a place of purging. They latch onto that and then they start talking about: "look, there it is, right there,…​ purging." Well, first of all, that isn’t what that passage is talking about.

    The context for the verse is actually talking about the natural consequences of life that God’s going to turn you over to the natural consequences of your actions.
    → And notice: context counters proof-texting
    Israel became a sinful nation and God purged them through the natural consequences of life.

    • You lost your country

    • Half your people were killed

    • You went through a purging here on Earth, so that you would be rethinking things

    And that’s what God’s talking about. It’s not talking about the Hades or the in between, but they went ahead and ascribed it to that and hoped you didn’t notice. But just in case, if that one didn’t fool you, here’s another one. (By the way, this one is the ancient teaching of Perdition, the place of the smelting of human Souls.)

  • "Tested by fire"

    1 Peter 1:7,

    so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

    They’ll often cite this to prop up their teaching, drawing attention to "tested by fire." They say, there’s that Metallurgy term, right there. See that’s talking about purification of Souls. But this is completely out of the context for sure! Not only does the passage not talk about the chasm there, but if you read the verse right before that one, verse 6 says, "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,"

    This is happening on Earth, not in the Hadean realm. The passage is saying, if necessary you have been distressed by various trials now. Peter is saying the trials you’re going through are going to make you a stronger Christian. And now add what James said, "The trying of your faith works patience but let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire lacking in nothing." Jesus purifies us on this Earth.

    If you have entered the Covenant with Jesus Christ you’re cleansed right then and then he helps you unpack your luggage. Now to him who is able to keep you from falling to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding Joy. (Jude 1:24) There is a purging that occurs here on Earth NOW and it is our trials and that’s what Peter’s talking about.

    So then they go to this passage. Now I wish I could give you a lot of verses, but these are the best ones. They got one in Maccabees which is even worse than these, but because we don’t use the inter-Testament history books, it really is a fact, Jesus didn’t recognize them, why should we?

  • "Revealed with fire"

    1 Corinthians 3:12,13,

    Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.

    See, they say, right there, there it is. That’s the chasm, that’s Purgatory, that’s Perdition, that’s limbo.

    So they attempt to gravitate towards the purging terminology again. This passage is a natural attraction for that teaching. Their argument says that following death the deceased will pass through a purging process leading to the ability to be transferred into Paradise. This doesn’t align with the text either.

    In the preceding verse, 1 Cor 3, verse 11, refers to the expected foundation of every Christian, which is the gospel, not works.

    1 Corinthians 3:11,

    “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which IS Jesus Christ.”

    There were those in the Corinthian church who abandoned the true gospel, basing their salvation on spiritual accomplishments, and not grace.

    Paul addressed this in the Ephesian church as well.

    Ephesians 2:8,9,

    “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

    Paul’s argument to the Corinthians was that we will all stand before God’s judgment seat, not on the basis of works, but of gospel grace.

    The Corinthians were trying to build up big things for their own life. Look at us! We’re the fancy Church. Look at me! I can speak in more tongues than y’all. Look at me I was baptized by Paul, I was baptized by Apollos, I was baptized by Peter. Some were saying I was baptized in Jesus. And what Paul was saying is, listen, the foundation IS Jesus. All these other things are stupid things. They’re going to fade away. You might think it’s hay, straw, rubble. You might think it’s gold or silver or stone. You might think it’s big things down here on Earth, but in the afterlife, what’s going to matter is what was your foundation. That’s what Paul was saying.

    Jesus said in John 14:6,

    “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

    We either trust in His grace or we do not.

But that leaves us with the question:

Why was the Doctrine of Purgatory put forth?

You read about the chasm. You know the chasm is there. Everybody knows the chasm is there. Why hijack it?

Well for two reasons, this is why the doctrine of purgatory, Perdition, limbo, praying for the dead, Buddhist rituals, all these, this is why it comes forward…​

  1. Unhealthy grief support

    When people are grieving, somebody they loved has died, it already hurts. It truly, truly hurts. Now couple that with, let’s say it was your cousin Joey. And Joey worked in the mafia all his life. Joey enjoyed intimidating people, Joey lived like a heathen, and he wore a pinky ring. I mean Joey wore fancy suits and Joey always would say, oh, I’m not gonna go anywhere about Jesus. I’m running the show down here, they call me the boss.

    Well now, when someone you love is dead and when someone you love, like Joey, is dead and you know what the scriptures say,…​ Now you got to process it a different way don’t you. (or accept the truth)

    The second reason is:

  2. Monetary Funding According to Christianity Today, there was a Pope named Leo the 10th. He lived from 1475 to 1521. He was a member of the financial household of the high-living Italian family by the name of medicis. He famously said, "Since God has given us the papacy let us enjoy it." He commissioned many family members to become bishops and they lived an extravagant lifestyle, draining the funds of the Catholic church. When the money to support his lifestyle ran out, he propagated a fund-raising scheme of selling forgiveness of sins, called indulgences. By convincing people to pre-pay for sins, bereaved relatives could get a deceased loved one out of Purgatory. Since purgatory was a man-made doctrine, it could be exploited by the same men. It took off big time, but that which is Christ cannot be exploited by man, but yet…​

Hollywood Influence

Hollywood to this day, has made a fortune attempting to implant their ideas & feeling into the theology of Christians. Movies like Betelgeuse, Ghost, Gabriel and Ground Hog Day all cater to a middle processing phase between life and eternal destination. Where they have you work out your salvation after death. Once again, that is the Hollywood Bible, not Jesus' Bible. Other than the fact that the Christian Scriptures do not mention purgatory or anything like it, the Scriptures actually teach the opposite.

I mention it again, but if you want to see the difference between Hollywood’s and a believer’s depiction of Scripture, watch "The Chosen" streaming TV series. A series Hollywood could never have produced. It’s beyond them.

There is no Switching Sides period

Once you leave this earth, there’s nothing in between. There’s nothing in between that lets you still have options. Your choices are done at that point. Think about these.

Let’s look at some of these verses here:

  • Luke 16:26, And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able, and {that} none may cross over from there to us.

    → There is NO crossing over!

  • Hebrews 9:27, And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this {comes} judgment,

    → Judgement is final.

  • Jude 1:6, And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great day.

    → Even the angels that have been judged, they are in tatarus

  • 2 Peter 2:9, "then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment"

    → Those things are set. It is set. There’s no switching sides. If anybody in any religious organization, any Hollywood movie, your buddy, anybody, indicates that you leave from here and go somewhere where there’s still freedom to change,…​ It’s just NOT so. No, you’ve made a surrender of that freedom in this life.

Closing Thoughts

Jesus said in John 3:18,

"He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

→ If one has chosen in this life to not place their belief in Jesus, then their present reservation is in Tartarus. If they do trust Jesus, then they have their present reservation in Paradise.

Now think about this, we get to choose where we go. Whether we go to heaven or not. God already chose his part. He already said, I want you in heaven. But he’s not going to force you against your will.

It all boils down to personal decision. If your reservation in the afterlife is in the condemned side, then you must change it today through the covenant which Jesus provided. Remember, today is the only time you are given to make the change. No one (no human) knows the future, you have no guarantee of the future, only today.

Invitation

We are extending the invitation, now, to anyone who is subject to it. Come,…​ while we stand and sing.