The Myth of Rotisserie Sinners

 

Eternal hell and immortal sinner's torment is a false belief

God is Not a Torturer

Since Rome handed over power to the papacy, people have believed three great lies that have undermined the lives of Christians and attempted to frighten parishioners into the pews (along with their purses). These lies along with a flock of church “traditions” made up whole cloth by the church in order to keep church members under control through fear, cover three basic beliefs that are not supported by the Bible. They are:

1. Thou shalt not surely die. This was Satan’s first lie to Eve. That lie is still believed despite the witness of Scripture through the millenia. Tradition says the soul is immortal and therefore when we wicked folk are pitched into the lake of fire, we chicken fry for all eternity with full consciousness of the pain without it ever lightening up for all eternity. It’s no wonder so many people don’t buy the idea that God is a god of love. Eternal torment is not the act of a loving deity. Hitler wasn’t even that cruel. Jesus himself said “Don't be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell.” (Matthew 10:28) The most memorized text in Christiandom is John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life," In plain words this familiar text says that only whoever believes in him will have eternal life. When we die we basically sleep and “know not anything” (Ecclesiastes 9:5). We do not wake again until Christ’s second coming. “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.” (I Corinthians 15: 51-52) Turns out Colonel Jesus doesn't chicken fry sinners forever.

2. Thou shalt go to church on Sunday. Roman emperor Constantine said he had a dream that putting a cross on the shields of his troops would insure victory against his enemies. So he marched the troops through a nearby river to baptize them all and make them Christians. He legalized Christianity, recognized the pope as an authority, and to make it comfortable for the remaining pagans, declared the Sabbath to now be on “the venerable day of the sun.” In doing this Constantined ignored both the 4^th commandment to “Remember the Sabbath Day” and the command that the day should be the7^th one. Over the ages, Sunday-keeping have come to include football games, yard work and overtime, denying Christians the blessings of a Sabbath rest (shortening life spans according to recent studies of longevity comparing 7^th day sabbath-keepers to mainstream folk.

3. Thou shalt be saved by your works. In the midst of Rome’s attempts to make pagans feel more comfortable with joining the Roman church, the papacy proclaimed (without Biblical support) that priests could forgive sins, sell indulgences, and perform magic (see “transubstantiation as part of the eucharist). This doctrine does away with salvation by faith as the way to heaven and leaves you to slide your rosary beads and perform acts of penance and contrition under the authority of a priest whom they claim can forgive your sins or get you banned from heaven if you upset the church. We are saved in a direct relationship with Christ. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2: 8-9) God forgives us directly. No priest, bishop or pope is the gatekeeper of salvation between us and Him.

When you discover the truth according to the Bible, God comes off as merciful and loving. If you reject God, you die and your life and pain is done. You sleep for eternity. God gives no man power to control whether or not we are saved and given eternal life. God even promises to change you and wash away the uglier parts of your soul – the sort of things you wish you didn’t have to fight because on your own, you’re fighting a losing battle.

It’s and encouraging sign that here at the end of time, the ideas of the sanctity of the seventh-day Sabbath, salvation by grace, and the true state of the dead have begun to challenge toxic Christian traditions openly and it’s not just coming from one denomination. The last movements before Christ comes in the clouds and every eye shall see Him look to be rapid ones. That makes sense for these reasons:

• More people are alive now than have died in all of history. God we are told is a jealous God not willing that any should perish.

• Communication and transportation technology have made it possible to preach the Gospel in every part of the Earth.

• Another spurious doctrine is being challenged – the Jesuit idea of a secret rapture which was infiltrated into Protestant denominations in the 1800s in order to get Protestant reformers to stop saying the pope was the Beast/antichrist.

Lately, I’ve been watching what the preachers of my youth said was coming on the six o’clock news. There are a lot of end-time things covered in Scripture are happening in real time these days. I would recommend that all of us who love the Lord start setting out some extra prayer time.

Even so, come Lord Jesus.

© 2025 by Tom King