K____ wrote:
Why do people insist on people burning forever?  It boggles the mind now that I see clearly.  They would actually be the ones that would do the tossing if they could.  It’s simply amazing.
A guy that I recently befriended asked me a question.  He said do you think that Mike would agree that the things he writes about are all about the spiritualness of the word?  I was shocked, I mean what a question.  I waited a moment to collect my thoughts and replied, “He would tell you without hesitation that the word is spirit.  What is it if it is not?  Physical?  It is the spirit that quickens not the flesh.  Gods word is spirit and those that worship Him must do so in spirit and in truth.  When you look at the word and only see the physicalness of it, you fail to see the fullness of it.  Who was the tree of life in the Garden?  It was a literal tree, yes, but there is a deeper meaning – a spiritual one.  Christ is the tree of life.”  He said that he could not say for certain what the tree of life was because he had not done an indepth study of the word to come to that conclusion.  Huh? Duh, to me that is Bible study 101.  I just said oh, ok and didn’t proceed any further because I know that God works on his timetable not mine, and if it is his will that he sees it then he will.
That’s why I put the subject of this email the way I did.  It’s because God created all and saw that is was good even those that didn’t yet see.  I see that my flesh wants to become prideful in things that I know, but I remain grounded because I know that it is Christ’s Faith in me.  That is the reason I can see.  I hope and pray that I do not become puffed up with pride and He places me back in darkness.
Brother in Christ,
K____

Hi K____,
It is true people will give up Christmas sooner than they will relinquish that idol of the heart call eternal torment. But the reason for that is that there is a connection among all of these false doctrines. The one thing that ties together the doctrines of the immortality of the soul, eternal torment and free will, is the doctrine of the trinity. Take away the teaching that God is a triune being, and you have taken away the triune makeup of man. Without an immortal soul there is no eternal hell. And the false doctrine of being a “free moral agent” is essential to justifying the need for eternal torment. So you will find that the trinity is the ‘holy grail” of orthodoxy.
Your friend’s attitude toward the things of the spirit is entirely natural:

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [ them], because they are spiritually discerned.

It is the gift God has given me to see the things of the spirit which has cost me the friendship of this world and of many of my brothers in Christ. ‘To Mike Vinson everything is just spiritual” is an epithet I have heard many times. The word ‘just’ portrays the value these people place on the things of the spirit.
Knowledge does puff up. There is no way to avoid that fact. But a ‘thorn in the flesh’ is all it take to deflate that balloon, and the Lord knows just how to deflate us all and bring us to see exactly what is this corruptible flesh.
Stay in His Word. It is guaranteed to burn out all the wood, hay and stubble.
Mike