A STARTLING statement is found in Mark 9:48. In this passage of Scripture, Christ spoke of a worm that "dieth not." Who ever heard of the immortality of worms? What did Christ mean? Some PEOPLE think that Jesus was referring to people as worms and was trying to say that these "people" never died - but lived on in agonizing torment. Those who say this fail to notice that Jesus does not call the wicked people "worms" but instead speaks of THEIR worm. The Lexicons define the Hebrew (Isa. 66:24) and Greek (Mark 3:48) words translated "worm" as a grub or maggot and in no way refers to a man. Christ was not reaching the immortality of people or worms! What "Hell Fire" Is. Actually, Jesus was here warning his listeners that those who would "offend" - who would live a life of rebellion against God and His children - would be cast into "hell fire." Most Bibles show in the marginal rendering that this was "Gehenna fire." Jesus was referring to Gehenna as a type of the second death in the "lake of fire" which will befall the ungodly.
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