Is the Unbeliever Not Being Judged Twice - First in Burning Hell and Then Second at the Lake of Fire?
No. It’s not two judgments. The unbeliever is condemned already, held in a place of torment now, and then brought up for one final judgment at the Great White Throne and cast into the lake of fire—the second death.
The Bible says, “He that believeth not is condemned already” (John 3:18). After death there is a holding place of torment—“in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments” (Luke 16:23–24)—and Scripture speaks of “spirits in prison” (1 Peter 3:19). But the formal judgment is future: “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). At the Great White Throne, “the dead…were judged… and death and hell delivered up the dead… and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death” (Revelation 20:11–15).
Now notice the simple truth: prison is not the court. A man may be held in jail awaiting trial—that’s not a second judgment. So the torment in hell is the holding of the already-condemned; the Great White Throne is the court where the sentence is set and executed; the lake of fire is the final end, the second death. The wicked are burned up, not given eternal life in flames (Malachi 4:1,3; Ezekiel 18:4).
So it’s not double judgment. It’s one condemnation carried from prison to court to execution: hell now as a holding place, the White Throne as judgment, and the lake of fire as the final, second death.
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What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Hebrews, Chapter 3
57-0901M §56
Now the word here is used: sin, provoked; made... The reason they did it, they disbelieved. They never went out and got to shooting craps, now, and things like that. They never run around with somebody else's wife, and went out and told lies. That wasn't what they were doing. But that's not sin to begin with. Living in adultery is not sin. Smoking, chewing, drinking, gambling, cursing, swearing and so forth---that's not sin. That's the attributes of unbelief. You do that because you're an unbeliever. If you are a b...
Questions and Answers, part 2
54-0103E §93
Here not long ago I was talking... It's perhaps maybe a Jehovah Witness. The man come up and he said, "Brother Branham, do you mean to tell me that you believe there is a burning hell?" I said, "It's not what I say; it's what the Bible says." He said, "Do you mean to tell me that a loving heavenly Father would burn His children up? Why," said, "you wouldn't burn your child." I said, "No, sir!" "Well then, if you as a human has that much love (See how people can twist the thing around?) ... if you as a human have th...
Future home of the heavenly Bridegroom and the earthly Bride
64-0802 §57
...has to go through a baptism of fire---holy fire from God which cleanses the earth and the heavens around it. Then it's purchased so that the redeemed can live on it---live in it in peace. Notice, the baptism of fire is to cleanse it from sin, from sickness, from disease germs, from sinners, from the devil and all of his group. He's to be cast out into the lake of fire. Holy fire from God comes down from God out of heaven and burns it up (notice) to make it ready for God to dwell in. For God, in the new world that...
What think ye of Christ?
54-0321 §15
I want to take the subject, if it would be called a text, What Think Ye Of Christ? Now, that's a very flat thing to give to a congregation of people, yet it must be so. God is going to judge you for your attitude towards Jesus Christ. No man... Hell wasn't made for Christians; hell was made for unbelievers. And God has did everything that He can to keep people ... to bypass hell so that you won't have to go there. He sent the law, He sent the prophets, He sent His Son, He sent the Holy Spirit, He sent the churches,...
Three kinds of believers
63-1124E §57
Ahab, he was an unbeliever, though he acted like he wasn't. No, no, he was amongst the believers, but he was a unbeliever. What did he do? He married an idolatress and brought it ... idolatry right into Israel. He was an unbeliever; we know that. They deny the whole of the Word of God to be true. The unbeliever is ... See, now remember, he's a hypocrite. And he acts like that ... He says he believes it, but he denies it. He said, "Well, so much of it is well," but if all of it isn't right, then that makes him an un...