S2 - Week 4: July 15th

At Mark 16:15, we read Jesus telling His followers to "...Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." This week...in service and obedience to the LORD, the Young BUCKS shared the good news (Gospel) message of salvation in their local community. They went to a nearby shopping center as well as an apartment complex and handed out Million Dollar Bill gospel tracts.

If you would like to order the Million Dollar Bill tract or find out more information on other similar tools for evangelism, go to: http://www.livingwaters.com/ 

For detailed description of message on back, click on links above.

In the classroom, the BUCKS viewed portions of the documentary HELLBOUND? and then spent time talking about the 3 most common views on hell (i.e. everlasting torment/torture, annihilationism & universalism) as discussed in the documentary.

Everlasting torment is the view that all human souls are created innately immortal and thereby not subject to death. According to this belief...once God creates a person in His image, He cannot utterly do away with this person. Therefore, it is reasoned that a human soul or spirit HAS to spend eternity either in Heaven or in Hell. It is believed that once judged and condemned, the souls of evildoers will spend all eternity suffering in an ever-burning, but non-consuming Hell fire. These souls [according to this belief] will never have an opportunity for redemption or salvation due to sins committed and/or their rejection of Jesus Christ. It is said that "Sins against an infinite Being deserve an infinite punishment." When subscribers to this view read verses about "everlasting punishment" (Matthew 25:46), they conclude that it is God's punishing of the wicked (i.e. torture) that lasts forever as opposed to the result of the punishment (i.e. death by a consuming fire) lasting forever.

Annihilationism is the belief that once judged and condemned, the souls of evildoers will be completely destroyed by a Hell fire that utterly consumes them. The evildoer will not suffer forever because he or she will cease to exist (Obadiah 1:16). The foundation of this view is the principle of "conditional immortality" which states that a person is not born immortal, but rather inherits immortality through a covenantal relationship with Christ. This stems from verses like Romans 2:7 where the Apostle Paul mentions immortality being something believers "seek," rather than something they already possess. Elsewhere, Paul teaches that only God/Christ inherently has immortality (e.g. 1 Timothy 6:16 ) and that all sons of the first Adam are merely made of dust (1 Corinthians 15:42-49). Therefore, it is concluded that at the resurrection...the unrighteous will be raised from death as mortals (as were the men who came out of their graves at Jesus' death, Lazarus whom Jesus raised, Dorcas, etc.). Only the righteous will be raised as immortals. They will be raised by God's Holy Spirit (Romans 8:11) and given the same nature as Christ (1 John 3:2). And just as God flooded and purged the Earth by water in the days of Noah, God will purge the Earth from all wickedness in the form of His consuming fire nature (Hebrews 12:29; 2 Peter 3:5-13) when He makes His dwelling among the righteous at the end of the ages.

"The sinners in Zion are terrified, trembling grips the godless: 'Who of us can dwell with the Consuming Fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?'"
- Isaiah 33:14

Universalism is the general belief that God's love will ultimately win in the end and that not one part of His creation will ever be too far gone for Him to redeem. Universalists typically believe that all evildoers will eventually be won over to Christ [at some point or another]; even if this happens to be from the fires of Hell itself.

For more information on this film and to vote on your view of Hell, click HERE

For Fun & Fellowship, the BUCKS were treated to Papa John's pizza for lunch. Due to rainy weather, they were taken to see another movie of their choice (After Earth). Last week, they elected to see the movie Despicable Me 2. - LORD allowing and weather permitting, next week's Fun & Fellowship will be a trip to Dallas Zoo.