Second Death - Tumblr Posts
The Two Crow Roads and Second Death
Neil Gaiman “Google can bring you back 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one.” They also look at you funny when you request 2 copies of the same book through the inter-library loan. Even funnier looks when you insist on a hardback and paperback copy.
My quest inspired by @crowleysbookshop for the differences between versions of The Crow Road ended with: 1) two different publishers (Scribner vs. Abacus) and 2) different cover work artists. So not allot. If there is a difference, I missed it.
But there's double-meaning of Crow Road.
Crow Road is a street in Glasgow.
Crow Road is also a metaphor for death.
Two Crow Roads. Two Deaths. A second death.
Photo credit: @daria-meoi
Second Death
The phrase "second death" appears 4 times in the Bible, specifically the Book of Revelation. The one Nanny Ashtoreth and Brother Francis read to Warlock.
There's a first physical death. You've shuffled off this mortal coil and gone to meet your maker.
The second death is a reference to an eternal separation from God for non-believers and a swim in the Lake of Fire. Where bad folks go when they die.
A traditional interpretation is that the "lake of fire" and the "second death" are symbolic of eternal pain, pain of loss and perhaps pain of the senses, as punishment for wickedness.
Revelation 20:11-15
“Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
If I read that right those who experience this death are all those whose names have been removed from the Book of Life.
There's Hemingway's quote, "Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name. In some ways men can be immortal." Is that also a Book of Life reference? The power of a name.
I don't understand the Book of Life yet. It's just something you scare cherubs with. I've seen some great meta from @beebopboom on it and the Guardian of the Eastern Gate.
Photo credit @fuckyeahgoodomens
I'm still wondering about these seats. Left Crow Road has rabbit seated. Rabbits are a Fibonacci reference. Then the empty seat. Then second Crow Road with Elspeth's hat over the back.
Why is there an empty seat?
Is it for Death?
A missing book? A book between two deaths. That seat is for the Book of Life.
I hate to break it to you, but one day we are all going to die, but here’s something you may not of thought of before.
When you come into this world, your SOUL is united with your BODY and after living a (hopefully long life) one day your body will die and at that point your soul will then be separated from your body. This physical death is what the Bible calls 'The First Death,' but the question is - what THEN happens to your SOUL?
The Bible teaches at death that your soul will go one of two places. If you are “in Christ” it will go directly to be with God, and you will not die again or face condemnation. However if you are NOT in Christ, your soul will be separated from God and you will wait in hell until the end of time, and at that point will be judged for your sins and faced a self-imposed condemnation where you will go into “..the Lake of Fire.” This is the SECOND DEATH - the death of your soul - but a death that will never end and continue for all eternity.
Wow!! That message is really brutal! ... and YES it is, and perhaps the most harsh word I have ever written, but before you get angry at me, THIS IS WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS, but here is the GOOD NEWS and the Truth!
You have been offered an acquittal - a full pardon for everything you’ve ever done wrong or evil in your life. There is no reason why you or anyone should experience a 'Second Death!' It is entirely up to you to believe or NOT BELIEVE what the Bible says, so if you have read this far, here is the conclusion of the matter.
Either: A) You will believe God’s offer of forgiveness, believe what His Word says in the Bible about avoiding this second death and take His offer of deliverance from this Second Death -or- B)You will come to your own conclusion that this is some stupid, superstitious, imaginary religious fairy tale not worth your consideration.
It is going to be one or another, but either way it is YOUR CHOICE.
Friend, THIS IS SERIOUS. You really do have a soul that will live forever, and YOU have a CHOICE how many DEATHS you believe you’ll have.
WILL IT BE ONE DEATH OR TWO?
God Bless Your Day, Jesus Loves You
Pastor-Teacher Wayne Estrada
NotesOnLife.org/archive
🚫 Millennialism Debunked
By Eli Kittim
The Contradictions of Millennialism
Millennialism is a belief that there will be a paradise here on earth before the final judgment. There are, of course, various scriptural discrepancies within this view, as I have often pointed out in my other papers. For example, how will people live here on earth if the earth itself will be destroyed in a great conflagration? 2 Pet. 3.10 reads:
“the heavens will pass away with a loud
noise, and the elements will be dissolved
with fire.”
Besides, there are other contradictions. For instance, how could the same people who would not be resurrected “until the thousand years were completed” (Rev. 20.5) simultaneously live and reign with Christ for a millennium? (Rev. 20.4). They cannot be both dead and alive at the same time! There are other contradictions as well. For example, Millennialism directly contradicts scripture by implying that there will be at least 2 additional comings of Christ, 2 appearances by Satan, 2 Great Wars, 2 Great tribulations, 2 resurrections, 2 apocalypses, 2 Armageddons, 2 judgments, 2 Great Ends, and so on. This is preposterous. In Scripture, there is only one of each. Scripture mentions only one resurrection (Dan. 12.2) and only one Armageddon (Rev. 16.16)! Where else does it mention a second resurrection or a second Armageddon? Besides, 1 Thess. 4.17 says that after the rapture “we will be with the Lord forever,” not just for 1,000 years. And the Book of Daniel is clear that both the Saved and the Damned will be resurrected simultaneously, not successively (12.2). Therefore, this DOUBLING of scriptural events is unwarranted and without merit! It is worth mentioning that the doctrine of millennialism was formally condemned at the Second Ecumenical Council in 381 AD.
Millennialism Repeats Events a Second Time; But Revelation is Recording Single Events
The same event that is mentioned in Ezekiel 38 is repeated in Revelation 20. The endtime Gog/Magog war that Satan is said to unleash at the end of the millennium (Rev. 20.8) is the exact same Gog/Magog war that is mentioned in Ezekiel 38, which is also alluded to in Luke 21.20! The Book of Revelation isn’t saying that the exact same Gog/Magog war of Ezekiel will repeat 1,000 years later. That’s ridiculous. It’s actually talking about one and the same Gog-Magog war; not 2. In fact, the phrase that is used to indicate that Satan will be released “for a little while” (Rev 20.3) is actually a reference to the Great Tribulation, which only lasts for “a little while,” namely, only 3 and a half years, or 42 months, or 1,260 days, or a time, and times, and half a time (cf. Rev. 11.2; 12.6, 14; 13.5)!
Moreover, the narrative in Rev 19 & 20 is basically telling the reader what will happen when God no longer restrains Satan (see 2 Thess 2.7)——that is, when the restrainer is removed——and the Antichrist is finally revealed at the end of a thousand years. That’s when Satan will be unleashed, once and for all, to wreak havoc “for a little while” (i.e. for 3 and a half years, during the Great Tribulation)!
Why would the Book of Revelation REPEAT the exact same story TWICE, like the film “Edge Of Tomorrow”? Why would Satan (Incarnated; Rev. 12.9) come out TWICE “to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth [from the exact same location, Gog & Magog (Ezekiel 38)] in order to gather them for the [exact same] battle” (Rev. 20.7-9)? And why is it that “fire came down from heaven and consumed them” (Rev 20.9) exactly as it did in Ezekiel 38.22? And why is it that they “surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city” exactly as they did in Luke 21.20? Are you kidding me? What is this, a repeat of “Groundhog Day”?
There’s an Interpretive Mixup: Millennialists Conflate Scenes that Occur Before 1,000 Years with Scenes that Occur After 1,000 Years
If Jesus appears BEFORE the millennium on a white horse, and the beast and his armies are killed, and the beast is then captured and “thrown alive into the lake of fire” (Rev 19.19-21), then how does Satan manage to escape “the lake of fire” and mount a comeback? Notice that following Christ’s FIRST encounter with the Beast, BEFORE the millennium (Rev. ch. 20), the Beast was captured & immediately “thrown alive into the lake of fire” (Rev. ch. 19)! But the lake of fire is the second death! It’s game over! No one survives the lake of fire and comes back to to tell stories about it. That’s another red flag. It would be a scriptural contradiction to state that AFTER being “thrown into the lake of fire,” the Antichrist escaped and mounted a comeback. That would constitute a scriptural contradiction. Notice the description of the “lake of fire” in Rev. 20.14:
“Then Death and Hades were thrown into the
lake of fire. This is the second death, the
lake of fire.”
This event is final! It is the final separation of life and death. So, it’s completely bogus to say that Satan survived the lake of fire in chapter 19 & came back physically to fulfill chapter 20. It’s complete nonsense! Moreover, Satan’s activities in Rev. 20 suggest that he’s incarnate, otherwise how does a nonphysical being fight a war on earth? Besides, Rev. 12.9 tells us that Satan will be incarnated on earth! So, the Millennialists are mixing apples with oranges. They’re conflating scenes that happen BEFORE the 1,000 years (Rev. 19) with scenes that take place AFTER the 1,000 years (Rev. 20)! And if the description in Rev 20.10—-concerning what happens to Satan AFTER the supposed 1,000 years——turns out to be the exact same version of Rev 19.20—-about what happens to Satan BEFORE the 1,000 years——then we obviously have one story, not two!
Conclusion
The Bible never mentions the alleged “thousand-year reign of Christ on earth.” Only 2 verses mention those who “reigned with Christ a thousand years.” These are temporal signs that reveal the timing of Christ’s coming and of the apocalyptic events! In other words, when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be loosed for a little while (a reference to the 3 and a half year Great Tribulation). Then, the resurrection will occur, followed by the rapture, and the believers will henceforth reign with Christ forever!