Saviour of All Fellowship
April 2007

Dear Friends in Faith,
     In his book: Rescue for the Dead, Jeffrey A. Trumbower, on pages 40 and 41, writes a rather gloomy picture of what he believes to be Paul’s thoughts on the eternal destruction of the wicked. He writes: “The Christian dead are variously waiting patiently for Jesus’ imminent return (1 Thess.4:16) . . . . Paul believes that ‘death’ (Rom.6:23) or ‘wrath and fury’ (Rom.2:8) await the wicked . . . .
     “For it is indeed just of God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to the afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will suffer the punishment (diken) of eternal destruction (olethron aionion) from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength.” (2 Thess.1:6-9)
     “Note the element of reversal in this passage: The justice of God demands a stern future punishment for those who are wicked now and demands a future reward for those who are now suffering unjustly. But the punishment named is eternal destruction, i.e., annihilation, not necessarily torment. This coheres with the eschatological annihilation of all evil powers in 1 Cor.15:24-28.”
     If God’s judgment demands the eternal annihilation of some sinners, how does that display His justice in view of the fact Christ died for all? What is fascinating here is that the author can take one of the most triumphant passages in Scripture (1 Corinthians 15:24-28) which concerns the successful operations of God subjecting all mankind to His Son and becoming All in all, and somehow make that same passage teach the eternal destruction of the wicked! Paul taught in this passage that there will be the nullifying of all governmental structures of sovereignty, all authority and power and the abolishment of the last enemy: death. All that keeps mankind from being subjected to Christ will be nullified and abolished, not the human. That is true justice based upon the obedience of Christ to the cross for all mankind.

     Tony and Gerry Upton attended the Richmond (Virginia) conference earlier this month. It was a refreshing time of fellowship around the Scriptures. A special thanks to all the ecclesia there in making it such a great success.

     A day of fellowship is scheduled on April 14, beginning at 11:00 A.M. in Kitchener/Waterloo, Ontario (phone: 519-745-3154 or 519-744-4844).
     Our brother, Martin Rynders, of Fort Wayne, Indiana was put to repose on March 18 at age 91. He was staunch in faith, rejoicing in what His Lord accomplished for all mankind in His death, entombment and resurrection. Our condolences go out to his family, of whom we especially mention Martin’s sister, and our good friend, Wilhelmina Packard.
     Just as we were finishing this newsletter we learned of the death of Brother George (“Bud”) McDivitt of Windham, Ohio. He was the father of our fellow worker, T.M. Those who knew him will feel a great loss, as we do. He loved God’s Word and fellowship with others who took it seriously and found it full of good.
     Robert E. Macklin, a personal friend and longtime reader of our newsletter, has authored a book entitled: Jesus: The Final Journey. We do not have copies here at our office, but it can be obtained through amazon.com. Robert journeyed to Israel and traveled the same route Jesus took during the last year of His life on earth. He writes: “Think of Jesus: The Final Journey as a mystery story, not so much as a “whodunit,” but rather a “whydunit.’ ”

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

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