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The Eternal Fire

This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.  In Matthew 24-25, Jesus is on the Mount of Olives with his disciples, responding to their questions about the future destruction of the temple and the end of the age. He closes out the Olivet Discourse with the parable of the sheep and…

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The Ministry of Holy Angels

This is the third in a brief series of posts on angels. Most of the work of holy angels is performed in heaven, where angels minister to God with praise and worship (Ps. 148:2; Rev. 5:11-12). At the same time, angels carry out important duties on earth. In Angels Dark and Light, Gary Kinnaman says this earthly ministry falls into at least eight broad categories. Angels are messengers Angels…

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Names and Ranks of Holy Angels

This is the second in a brief series of posts on angels. If God calls the stars by name (Isa. 40:26), do all angels and demons have names? Are some more important than others? Do they have different responsibilities? Various levels of authority? Is God’s angelic host a true heavenly army – with each soldier assigned a name, rank, and serial number? Our study this week focuses on how angels are…

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A Brief Introduction to Angels

The Bible provides specific references to angels in 34 of its 66 books, and the word “angel” appears nearly 300 times in Scripture. The Bible classifies angels as either good (“elect” or “holy”) or evil. Good angels worship God and serve him faithfully. Evil angels include Satan and demons, who oppose God and his servants.  In Angels Elect & Evil, C. Fred Dickason writes, “These two armies…

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Thrown into the Lake of Fire

This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.  While followers of Jesus enjoy everlasting life in glorified bodies on a restored earth, the ultimate destiny of the wicked is the same habitation created for Satan and demons: gehenna. It’s a place in English we call “hell,” and a…

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Armor for Spiritual Battle (Part 2)

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here. In the previous post, we began exploring the full armor of God — the offensive and defensive means of engaging in battle with the evil one. Now, we complete our review with the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. The helmet of salvation The…

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Armor for Spiritual Battle (Part 1)

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here. In the previous post, we introduced God’s plan for engaging the evil one: the full armor of God. Now, let’s turn our attention to the individual pieces of armor. The order in which they are described generally is the order in which soldiers put them…

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Engaging the Evil One

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here. Throughout this study, we have explored various names and titles for the archenemy of mankind. Satan stands defiantly against God and God’s creatures. He appears as a beautiful and seductive “burning one” in Genesis 3. Then, across the pages of Scripture,…

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Glory in Restoration

This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.  The glorified body of Jesus easily navigates a world still under the curse of sin. After his emergence from the tomb, Jesus eats, travels, speaks with befuddled eyewitnesses of his resurrection, passes through closed doors, transports…

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Does God Plan to Save Satan?

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here. Scripture is clear that Satan’s eternal destiny is the unrelenting lake of fire. It is the place into which the antichrist, the false prophet, and all unbelievers are cast as well. It does not appear there is any reversal of fortune for those in hell.…

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The Goodness of Hell

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here. Hell is an awful prospect for anyone. C. S. Lewis once shuddered at the concept of hell: “There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this, if it lay in my power.” But let’s consider for a moment that the notion of a…

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Two Questions about Hell

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here. When we consider the final destiny of Satan, demons, and the unrepentant wicked, at least two questions often arise. In this post, we briefly address both of them: Is hellfire literal? And, Is hell forever? Is hellfire literal?  We might ask: When Jesus…

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The Lake of Fire and Sulfur

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here. Revelation 20:10 reads: “The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” In this verse, John describes Satan’s ultimate…

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Glory in Resurrection

This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.com.  The glory we experience now as Christ lives in us, and the glory we experience in death as our souls and spirits ascend into heaven, are partial works of glorification. But full glorification for followers of Jesus takes place when…

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The Millennium

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here. If the abyss is a real but temporary place in which Satan is bound, we might also ask whether the thousand-year period of his imprisonment should be understood literally or figuratively. The thousand years, or millennium, of Revelation 20 is a much-debated…

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The Abyss

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here. Before Satan is cast into the lake of fire to be tormented forever, Revelation 20:1-3 details a thousand-year imprisonment: Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand. He seized the dragon, that…

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Why Is Hell Eternal?

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here. We should clarify that only God is truly eternal. That is, only the uncreated Father, Son, and Holy Spirit share the unique attribute of being without beginning or end. So, in what sense are we to understand the final destinies of the sheep, goats, Satan,…