The Doctrine of the
Annihilation of the Wicked
Pastor Rex Deckard
Calvary Apostolic Church
Where do the wicked spend
eternity?
 Is
death the end?
 Does a soul live on forever?
 Is a man conscious while in
hell?
 Why would a loving God send
anyone to hell?
 How long does hell last?
The truth can only be found in the Scriptures...
Annihilation of the wicked
doctrine
One of the most popular theories
to evolve since the time of the
Reformation is the concept that
the wicked dead are in an
unconscious state (soul sleep),
awaiting the final judgment.
This doctrine teaches that the
wicked will be annihilated, and
that their soul will cease to
exist.
Jehovah Witness teaching…
In "Truth That Leads to Eternal Life,"
(Watchtower Bible and Tract
Society, 1968, p. 41), it is asked,
"Is hell a hot place? Do sheol
and hades refer to some place
where the wicked suffer after
death?
It is plain that they do not, for we
have already seen that the
dead are not conscious and
therefore cannot suffer..."
Ellen G. White, the founder
of Seventh-Day Adventism
views this doctrine:
“How repugnant to every emotion
of love and mercy, and even to our
sense of justice, is the doctrine that
the wicked dead are tormented with
fire and brimstone in an eternally
burning hell; that for the sins of a
brief earthly life they are to suffer
torture as long as God shall live.”
Life Sketches of Ellen G. White,
page 49, paragraph 2
Separation from the Church
“The Bible gives us no proof
that there is an eternally
burning hell. If there is such a
place, it should be mentioned in
the Sacred Book."
The Jehovah's Witnesses have
similarly written:
“Hell could not be a place of torment
because such an idea never came
into the mind or heart of God.
Additionally, to torment a person
eternally because he did wrong on
earth for a few years is contrary to
justice. Would a loving God really
torment people forever?”
Their doctrine denies that the
human soul lives on forever
 This
doctrine denies that human
souls live forever. All the
teachings of Christ and the
Apostles concerning hell are
figurative, applicable only to the
lifespan of the hearer.
The Watchtower Society teaches that once
the Soul Sleep period has passed the
ultimate destiny of all Mankind is left to
one of three options:
 Either
Annihilation, for the
majority of Mankind;
 Paradise
Earth, for the majority
of the Jehovah's Witnesses
 Or
Heaven (for a select few at
the early part of the century)
New Heavens and A New Earth and also
From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained
(Watchtower Bible and Tract Society)
teaches that in 1918 Jesus “came to
Jehovah's temple” and resurrected the
144,000 remnant. Since then, Heaven is
closed to all others, and man now only
has hope of life on a new Earth.
It must be understood that of those in the
Jehovah's Witnesses two class salvation system,
only the 144,000 are to partake of the born
again experience.
This point is made clear by the
Watchtower magazine. "The `other
sheep' do not need any such rebirth,
for their goal is life everlasting in the
restored earthly Paradise as subjects
of the Kingdom" (15 February 1986,
p. 14).
Those who do not expect to go to
heaven do not need, according to
Watchtower theology, to be born
again! They have no heavenly hope,
so their relationship does not depend
upon the Savior's gift of the new
birth.
Let us study to see
where they are
correct, and where
they contradict
Truth.
All doctrines must
be held to the light
of God’s Word
See to it that
no one takes
you captive
through hoow
and deceptive
phiosophy,
which depends
on human
tradition and
the basic
principes of
What does the Bible say
regarding the future of the
wicked?

Ezekial 18:4 “The soul that sinneth, it
shall die.”

Matthew 25.46 .."And these shall go
away into everlasting punishment: but
the righteous into life eternal.."

Mark 9.43-48 .."And if thy hand offend
thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to
enter into life maimed, than having two
hands to go into hell, into the fire that
never shall be quenched: where their
worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched.
Rev. 14:9-12 adds to all of this:
A third angel followed them and said in a
loud voice: If anyone worships the beast
and his image and receives his mark on
the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will
drink of the wine of God's fury, which
has been poured full strength into the
cup of his wrath. He will be tormented
with burning sulfur in the presence of the
holy angels and of the Lamb. And the
smoke of their torment rises for ever
and ever. There is no rest day or night for
those who worship the beast and his
image, or for anyone who receives the
mark of his name.
And further…
2 Thessalonians 1.6-9
In flaming fire taking vengeance on
them that know not God, and that
obey not the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord, and from the
glory of his power"
On the wicked he will rain fiery coals
and burning sulfur; a scorching wind
will be their lot
Psalm 11:6, NIV
And cast the unprofitable servant
into the outer darkness. There will
be weeping and gnashing of teeth
(Mt. 25:30, NKJV).
For if we sin willfully after we have
received the knowledge of the truth,
there no longer remains a sacrifice
for sins, but a certain fearful
expectation of judgment, and
fiery indignation which will
devour the adversaries.
(Hebrews 10:26-29, NKJV).
Jesus taught more on hell than heaven
HEAVEN
HELL
matt 6:19-24
matt 5:21-30
matt 25:31-46
matt 10:28
matt 8:11
matt 8:12
matt:13:44-46
matt 13:24-30
matt 18:3-4
matt 13:35-43
matt 22:2-14
matt 13:47-50
matt 18:7-9
Does Hell and Sheol refer to the
grave only?
There is no debate on the point that sheol
and hades generally refer to the grave.
In this sense, Jesus went to hades or the
grave (Luke 23:53). David also went
there (Acts 2:29).
This does not, however, negate that for
the wicked there is punishment coming
immediately (Luke 16:23) and eventually
(Revelation 20:14) in the Lake of Fire
when death and the wicked dead will be
cast there (Revelation 21:8).
Do the wicked and
unbelieving live on in
eternity somewhere in a
conscious state?
Annihilationist, Clark Pinnock says
no, citing Matthew 10:28 :
Our Lord spoke plainly of God's
judgment as the annihilation of the
wicked when he warned about God's
ability to destroy body and soul in hell
(Matthew. 10:28).
Do not be afraid of those who kill the
body but cannot kill the soul. Rather,
be afraid of the One who can destroy
both soul and body in hell (NIV).
But to Destroy is not to
Annihilate
From Matthew 10:28 and Luke 12:4,
5, we must conclude that those who
get cast into hell have both their soul
and body destroyed there.
However, the word translated
destroy apollumi, as used in Matthew
10:28, doesn't mean annihilate.
Further, the Greek word for
destruction is olethros, which
primarily means to ruin
Let us examinee two other verses where this same
Greek word is used but rendered perish and lost
respectively:
Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the
bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles
perish [apollumi]: but they put new wine into new bottles,
and both are preserved (Mt. 9:17, KJV).
"For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost
[apollumi] and is found." And they began to be merry (Lk.
15:24, NKJV).
Again, this Greek word can't be equated with
annihilate. We know this because the wine bottles that
perished would still be in existence, but ruined for the
purpose for which they were intended. Moreover, the
prodigal was not annihilated when he was lost, but was
fully conscious in that spiritual state.
Are those in Hell conscious or
asleep?
“So man's senses of hearing, sight,
touch, smell and taste, which depend
upon his being able to think, all stop
working. According to the Bible, the
dead enter a state of complete
unconsciousness.”
You Can Live Forever in Paradise on
Earth, pp. 77
Compare this to:

“And in Hell he lifted his voice, being in
torment.” Luke 16:22-31
The rich man was in his afterlife, not
his present life, as was Lazarus. The
rich man was not unconscious, but
aware of what was happening, and
even spoke of his brothers who were
still living on the earth. He
communicated with Abraham who
had been dead nearly 2,000 years.
Clearly, he was not in an earthly
state, but rather, in a conscious
afterlife.
TORMENT: Basanizo
1. to test, to torture
2. to question by applying torture
3. to vex with grievous pains (of body or
mind), to torment
4. to be harassed, distressed
So is the soul of the wicked
simply asleep, or ‘soul sleep’
awaiting the judgment?
"no rest day nor night"
(Revelation 14:11)
People in hell never rest; they suffer day
and night. But annihilation is a state of
rest. Those who do not exist do not suffer
at all. The Bible clearly states they have
no rest, and so there can be no ‘soul
sleep.’
But He says to the righteous,
Blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the
Spirit, that they may rest from their
labours; and their works do follow them.
Revelation 13:14
How long does Hell last?

"everlasting" (Matthew 25:4-6)

"where the worm dieth not"

"everlasting destruction"
(2Thessalonians 1;9)

"their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever"
(Revelation 14:11)

"everlasting contempt," (Daniel 12:2)

"unquenchable fire"

(Mark 9:4-6)
(Matthew 3:12)
Daniel 12:2 –
"many of them that sleep in the
dust of the earth shall awake,
some to everlasting life, and
some to shame and everlasting
contempt."
If this is a literal reference to
resurrection of the just, it is
likewise literal for the unjust.
Note:
Then the beast was captured, and with him
the false prophet who worked signs in his
presence, by which he deceived those who
received the mark of the beast and those who
worshiped his image. These two were cast
alive into the lake of fire burning with
brimstone (Rev. 19:20, NKJV).
And the devil, who deceived them, was
thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where
the beast and the false prophet had been
thrown. They will be tormented day and
night for ever and ever (Rev. 20:10, NIV).
Clearly then, the devil, the false prophet and
the antichrist will all experience everlasting
punishment, that is, torment without end
forever, but not utter destruction, as some
teach.
This is even more clear when we notice that
"the beast and false prophet" were thrown
into the lake of burning sulfur 1,000 years
before the devil gets there, that is, at the
beginning of the Millennium (Rev. 19:20),
yet these same humans were not
annihilated in the lake of fire at the end of
the Millennium (Rev. 20:10)!
The wicked and unbelieving are
now waiting in Hell for the
final judgment, when they will
be cast into the Lake of Fire.
Notice….
The Lord Reserves The Unjust
Under Punishment
Note 2 Pet. 2:9:
... then the Lord knows how to
deliver the godly out of
temptations and to reserve the
unjust under punishment for
the day of judgment (NKJV).
The Greek word translated "reserve"
is defined below:
tereo, tay-reh'-o; from teros (a
watch; to guard, prop. by
keeping the eye upon; to
prevent escaping; and, which
implies a fortress or full
military lines of apparatus), by
impl. to detain (in custody; fig.
to maintain); by extens. to
withhold hold fast, keep,
watch.
2 Peter 2:8-10, the Sodomites are
reserved under punishment. This means
there have been thousands of years since
Sodom's destruction (Gen. 19:24) to the
present and they are still reserved or
preserved awaiting the day of judgment
cited in Rev. 20:11-15.
Their souls have not been annihilated
throughout the millenniums.
Jude comments on the same immoral
people that Peter stated were reserved:
Sodom and Gomorrah are set forth as
an example, suffering the vengeance
of eternal fire (Jude 7, NKJV).
The Greek word translated suffering is a
present active participle, which expresses
continuous or repeated action. A
continuous tense suffering for them would
be impossible if they were annihilated out
of existence.
Unbelievers and unrighteous
Go immediately to a place of
torment
 Await the final judment
 Are cast into an eternal place of
torment

Stages of punishment for the
wicked
Death of the wicked
Immediate punishment (hell)
Judgement seat
Lake of Fire (eternal)
Eternity
Is the Devil there? Not yet!
The Devil was cast to the Earth, not
to Hell
 In Revelation he will be put in the
bottomless pit, in chains, for 1000
years after the Battle of
Armageddon
 At the final judgment, he will be
cast into the Lake of Fire along
with the inhabitants of Hell

Why would a loving God send
anyone to a place like hell?

God does not send anyone! They are
already going

Hell was not prepared for man, it was
prepared for the fallen angels
Then shall he say also unto them on the left
hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels:
Matthew 25:41

God has given His own life in the flesh to
spare people from hell!
In the end…. Every soul
will spend eternity somewhere.
For the believer there is a Heaven to gain
For the unbeliever, there will be
retribution from a just God who
has shed His own blood to try
to try and save him
But the Choice is left up to us!