Trumpet Ministries The Second Death
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There are eight behaviors over which the second death maintains authority:
Cowardice
Unbelief
Vile practices
Murder
Immorality
Sorcery
Idolatry
Lying
These eight behaviors bring the one who practices them to torment and eternal separation from God.
What Christians may not always understand is that the Lake of Fire, which is the second death, always maintains authority over these behaviors—even when they are practiced by a Christian.
Cowardice always belongs in the Lake of Fire.
Unbelief always belongs in the Lake of Fire.
Vile behavior always belongs in the Lake of Fire.
When we receive the Lord Jesus Christ as the atonement for our sins, the Lake of Fire is forced to withhold its claims for a season while the Lord seeks to assist us in overcoming the specified behaviors. Those who conquer these unlawful behaviors can no longer be tormented by the second death. The second death has no authority over them. They could walk on the Lake of Fire without being harmed.
But if we refuse to permit the Lord to remove such behavior from us, then we eventually will find ourselves in the Lake of Fire even though we profess faith in Christ. Divine grace provides us with the opportunity to be forgiven and delivered. But after we have been forgiven, if we do not bear the fruit of righteousness and holiness that God is looking for, then we are in clear danger of having our name blotted from the Book of Life and being thrown into the Lake that burns with fire and sulfur.
It truly is appalling that the Divine warnings concerning wicked behavior are hidden from the understanding of Christian believers because their teachers and pastors are so willing to curry favor with them. But the fact remains: the second death always retains authority over these eight behaviors whether or not we are taught the truth of the Scriptures.
In the Book of Daniel we are informed that God has determined to make an end of sin. This means when the new Jerusalem descends from Heaven through the new sky and finds its eternal rest on the new earth, there will be none of the eight forbidden behaviors practiced by any member of the new Jerusalem or any member of the saved nations.
All who practice the eight behaviors, including Satan, Antichrist, the False Prophet, the rebellious angels, and people who have refused to be delivered by the Lord Jesus, will be present in the new world but incarcerated in the Lake of Fire.
In the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Matthew we are told that in the last days the Lord's messengers will remove from His Kingdom all behavior that offends God, and then all people who offend God. The idea is that if we will not surrender the behavior, then we ourselves will be cast into the Lake that burns with fire and sulfur.
How would you like to live in a new world in which there is no sin whatever?
I think sometimes that Christians believe we still will be sinners while we are in the new Jerusalem but we will be forgiven by "grace." No, this is not the case. This would mean the new world would be no different from the churches of today. And we certainly do not desire this!
All sin will be removed from the creation, not by virtue of dying and going to Heaven but by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. This work of the removal of sin, which is the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish Day of Atonement, has begun today and I think will continue throughout the thousand-year period sometimes referred to as the Millennium. Every believer in Christ can now present himself or herself as a candidate for complete release from worldliness, lust, and self-will. It is a slow but thorough process.
If you doubt this is taking place today, I invite you to pray and ask the Lord to start you on the program of reconciliation to God through deliverance from the love of the world, from the lust and passions of the flesh and soul, and from self-will. Then cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He begins to set you free from every behavior over which the Lake of Fire retains authority.
"He who overcomes shall not be harmed by the second death."
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. (Ephesians 5:5)
Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6)
But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)
Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. (Revelation 22:15)
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