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.
Three kinds of believers
63-1124E §96
With our heads bowed, our hearts bowed, I want you to stop just a few minutes. When I saw the vision of hell, as a little boy; the horrors of it ... Then I may be wrong in this. That might just have been a premonition; it might ... I don't know; it seems I was somewhere. It was so natural. Then not long ago when I seen the realms of the blest. When I was in the realms of the lost, I screamed, "Oh, God, don't never let a person come here!" You can't ... There's no tongue can describe to you what the horrors of it is...
Questions and Answers, part 2
54-0103E §25
And then, all of that... How quick that God knows every thought that we think of. Everything that we do, He knows of it. So when the believer dies, he goes into the presence of his Maker, his God. And the sinner, when he dies, goes to his destination. Then at the return... Now, I'm talking now of the elect. But there's some that will come up in the second resurrection, that'll have to stand in the judgment with the sinner, to be judged with him. I want to be sure to get that, see.
Souls that are in prison now
63-1110M §14
Now, let's read over in the Book of Jude first. I believe I have marked down here for the first place in Jude, then over in II Peter, and then over in I Peter. Now Jude---I would like to read it all, but just to save time because it's 10:30 already, I'm going to begin with the 5th verse. Now, Jude was a brother---foster brother of Jesus Christ, as we all know. He was Joseph's son. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though you once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt,...
Unbelief does not hinder God
62-0128M §30
We hear so much today about God being a good God. And that's true. He is a good God. We believe that, but He's also a God of judgment. In order to be good He has to bring judgment. To keep his law there must be... There must be penalty to law, or law is non-effective. If there's a law that says, "To run a stoplight is against the law," then if there's no penalty to that law to be executed, then the law is no good at all. Just might as well run it, or anything you want to, 'cause there's no law. But when you trespas...
Hebrews, Chapter 7, part 2
57-0922 §75
Then, Abraham went to sleep. And when he went to sleep, what was the first thing he saw? A real horrible, spooky, dread, darkness; that's death that comes upon the whole human race. Then he looked a little farther than that, and he saw a smoking furnace; before you can have smoke, you have to have fire. That's the reason I believe in hell as a burning place. All right, He showed every one of us is subject to death, and every one of us should go to hell, because we're sinners. Now, but beyond that, he saw a little w...