In this excerpt from your critique on John Hagee's The Seven Wonders of Hell, you seem to be stating that humans are annhilated or rendered unconcious in the lake of fire (and I'm not saying I think you mean permanent annhilation, for obvious reasons.)
Kat thinks what you mean is a thousand-year purification process. If that's what you meant, then, I'm sorry, but that was a horrible way to state it. You're saying humans are killed in the lake of fire, there.
Dear Paul: Well, I certainly can agree with you that this comment in my letter to John Hagee is "horribly" written. My statement that: "The humans who are resurrected are judged and thrown into the lake of fire, where they do die. "This is the second death! Death," is certainly open to criticism, as it can easily be interpreted that those judged in the Lake of Fire are "killed" and "unconscious" to use your words, although I didn't use those words.. They die to the flesh, but they are not "killed" or rendered "unconscious," or else their judgment would be of no consequence.
So Kat also is correct in stating that this has to do with their "thousand years" of judgment and purification. Although they do "die," and it is a "death," (as it is called the second "death"), that doesn't mean they are literally and physically killed. They die the death of self and their carnality the same as God's Elect are now experiencing. But clearly, I did not expand on this theme at that time. I have not, however, believed in everlasting torment or annihilationism for 30 years now.
Actually I never had a clue that this paper which I wrote 9 years ago would ever be on the Worldwide Web. I commented on many doctrinal and Scriptural subjects in that long (originally almost 200 pages, edited down to 150 pages, and then edited down again to about 80 pages) critique of Hagee sermon on hell, but I couldn't be thorough on any of them, as it would have been a 500 page book. I have learned a good bit since writing that first paper which Dennis Vogel later wanted to be posted on an Internet site. The main criticisms of Hagee's sermon are absolutely justified and Scriptural, but there are areas that could have been written much better and more Scripturally accurate. For this I apologize.
We can remove areas such as this that are confusing, but we cannot add to or correct anything in that original letter or else it will not even be the same material that I sent to Hagee and Kennedy. We would remove the whole letter before we would ever "change" anything.
Fortunately, I have recently completed my Installment in the Lake of Fire series on "Hades and The Second Death," which goes into much much greater detail and is decidedly easier to read and follow in the Scriptures. I believe my last Installment is Scripturally sound and readable. Check it out for a much more comprehensive and accurate study on The Lake of Fire/Second Death Judgment.
God be with you,
Ray
