Listener Comment: Is everlasting fire prepared for unrepentant sinners, as well as for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41)? Does God torture for all eternity ... and is this the same punishment for those also who never heard the name of Jesus and His teachings? Most of the TV ministers believe and teach this. I wonder if Christian ministers know the Bible (or dictionary) definition of the word, "death", and as it is used in the term, "the second death" (Revelation 20:14 and Revelation 21:8).
   I've heard many ministers explain that the wages of sin is not death at all, but the exact opposite - - ETERNAL LIFE - - in a location where there is pain, torture, and agony.
   Are the words "perish" and "destruction" also related to the word "death"? What is “everlasting destruction” (2 Thessalonians 1:9)? The wicked become ashes under the soles of the feet of the righteous (Malachi 4:3). Do these ashes become conscious and continue to burn?
   Is ETERNAL DEATH the result of the "destruction" of both the BODY and the SOUL in hell (Matthew 10:28)?

Tsiyon Answer: You ask some excellent questions about hell. The best scholarly study on the subject I have ever seen is the book The Fire That
Consumes by Edward William Fudge. Read this book and all of the questions you ask will be answered.

Listener Comment: I’m listening many times to your teachings and am blessed. I rec’d insight re the “sun of righteousness rising with healing in his kanaph”. Recently I learned that the sagas of Israel teach that there are 70 layers or levels of understanding to every passage! So I can receive that Elijah is the Messenger…but also that Yahshua our Messiah is the Tsaddek that rises with healing in his kanaph. Father commanded we put tzit-tzit on the kanaph of our garments. Surely the woman (Israel) who had the issue of uncleanness for 12-years, knew this verse and reached out to take hold of the tzit-tzit (commandments) on the kanaph of Yahshua’s garment, and was healed. I am a widow, married many years before my husband was recently taken, one who loved YHWH and His Torah. It broke my heart. Nevertheless, my heart is to be a bondservant; for so long I’ve prayed this. As a woman, can I be one of 
the bondservants? Recently I was speaking to someone who was wronged, and saying the reason we can “turn the other cheek” is because we are not our own and we trust the Master that he, in his way and time will care for his own. Isn’t that part of the law of the bondservant? When I listen to your teaching, I feel very alone. I’m in the midst of a sweet messianic community, but you can go to many Torah studies, but be very alone. I do not understand.

Tsiyon Answer: Thank you for taking time to write us, here at Tsiyon Radio. We are encouraged that you are blessed by our programs. Indeed you are correct, there are ever-deeper levels of meaning in Scripture, which is why we always get more out of it, no matter how many times we consider the same passage. This is true of Malachi 4:2 as with other verses, as you point out.
   A great comfort is ours in serving as bondslaves of YHWH. Both men and women can serve in this way, though the experience of each is unique. The prophet Joel mentioned this, in speaking of the last days: "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids8198 in those days will I pour out my spirit." Joel 2:28-29
   The word translated here as "handmaid" (8198 - shif-khaw') essentially means a female slave as a member of the household, also called a bondwoman. Though totally given to the service of her Master such a woman is more than a slave only, she serves as a member of His household, in a place of security and safety close to Him. This is a lovely picture of the closeness to YHWH that faithful sisters serving YHWH can enjoy as they give their whole lives over to His service.
   Here, I would like to offer my sincere condolences regarding the loss of 
your husband of many years. Surely, such is a profound loss and one reason you naturally feel alone right now, even in the midst of brethren. Sister, I pray for you, that our loving Father might comfort your heart in this time of loss, and that He will draw you close to Him as never before. It is a sacred mystery that even while the righteous are afflicted they also are comforted and strengthened through Messiah. This puts me in mind of this prayer of Paul the apostle, which is very fitting of you as well. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Messiah abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Messiah" (2 Cor 1:3-5). May His joy, strength and fellowship comfort and uphold you in His service. (Friends, please be mindful to encourage the widows, such as this sister, and to hold them up in prayer. See James 1:27.)