Dear Friends in Faith,
    In F. W. Farrar’s book Mercy and Judgment, pages 407-408, he had this to say about “eternal punishment” in Matthew 25:46: “The word kolasis (incorrectly rendered ‘torment’ in 1 John 4:18) means “punishment,” and although the accurate distinction between it and timorea may have been partly obliterated in Hellenistic Greek, it is still confessedly the milder word. It is only used in 1 John 4:18, and in Matthew 25:46. Now timorea is “vindictive” or retributive punishment, and is used once only (Heb.10:29) of the most violent apostates, the most deadly conceivable offenders; and in the same Epistle (12:10) were expressly told that God does not punish for His pleasure, but for our profit. Everywhere else kolasis is used, and accurately kolasis means, as Grotius says, “that kind of punishment which tends to the improvement of the criminal.” Hence the kolasis aionios of Matt.25:46 is “the correction in the future state of being.” “Do we want to know,x” says Professor Max Muller, “what was uppermost in the minds of those who formed the word for punishment, the Latin poena or punio, the root pu in Sanskrit, which means to cleanse, or purify, tells us that the Latin derivative was originall formed, not to express mere striking or torture, but cleansing, correcting, delivering from the stain of sin.”
    The Concordant Literal New Testament has “chastening eonian” in Matthew 25:46. This correcting of those nations which treated Christ’s brethren poorly is for their good. Being “eonian,” the chastening is pertaining to the eon. This will have a salutory effect on the nation that must endure it. It is not meant to save anyone. This chastening cannot be eternal due to the fact that once the 1000 year eon ends, all the people of the nations must appear before the great white throne and be judged. Those not found in the book of life enter death. Though the thousand years of enduring such a chastening as those goat nations must endure seems long, how incredibly short it will seem when compared with unending life which all will eventually get due to what Christ accomplished in His death on the cross for all mankind.
    We are glad to announce the following schedule of conferences for the first half of this year. The three-day meetings in Richmond and Willard begin Friday evening, concluding at noon on Sunday.
    February 22: At the Holiday Inn-Lexington South, Lexington, Kentucky (for further information phone Bob Evely, 859-858-3652).
    March 15,16: At the Pilgrim Manor Chapel, 2000 Leonard St. NE, Grand Rapids, Michigan (for further information phone Orville Hunt, 616-457-2213).
    April 4-6: At the Days Inn, 2100 Dickens Rd., Richmond, Virginia (for motel reservations phone 804-282-3300).
    May 3: At the home of Tom and Joanne Hough, 7170 Hough Rd., Almont, Michigan (phone us at Saviour of All Fellowship, 810-798-8131).
    June 6-8: Willard, Ohio (for further information write to J. P.

Yours in God’s grace and peace,
Dean Hough and Tony Nungesser