But what of Revelation 20:10 about the Devil’s being “tormented day and night for ever and ever”? In Jesus’ time jailers were called “tormenters.” So when the Scripture says he will be “tormented day and night for ever and ever” in the “lake of fire,” it means that the Devil will be restrained in a never-ending detention of destruction. Indeed, it will be “for ever and ever.”

The Bible has answered our question. It has shown that Hades, Sheol or hell is the common grave of mankind. At the resurrection hell gives up its dead. Jehovah destroys hell, for it is cast into the “lake of fire.” Gehenna represents the state of destruction that lasts forever and ever. There is no hope of a resurrection for those in Gehenna. So the fiery hells are only pagan hells. The Bible hell (Sheol-Hades) is not hot, but is the dark, silent grave.

The Unchristian Caste System

TO MANY persons the term “caste” at once calls to mind the land of India, where the caste system has been a curse for for so many centuries. However, this subject of caste is not merely of theoretical or academic interest to those residing outside India. On the contrary, when considered in all its ramifications, it will prove to be most pertinent to all who would be guided by God’s Word, the Bible.

The English word “caste” comes from the Portuguese word casta, meaning “race,” and, by implication, unmixed or pure race. According to Webster’s Dictionary it is “a more or less separate order or class of persons in society who chiefly hold intercourse among themselves, the separation being based on such things as difference of wealth, hereditary rank or privileges, profession, occupation, etc.” It really is a false principle of social divisions into selfishly exclusive groups of persons (cliques), according to supposed social rank of persons having the same status or possessing common characteristics. Manifestations of the caste system would therefore include racial discrimination, the clergy-laity distinction, any clannishness because of “blood,” wealth, learning, etc., as well as any favoritism shown because of having in common an admiration for certain human leaders, or sectarianism, or because of belonging to certain age groups.

The caste system appears to have had its origin at the time the ruling and priestly classes were organized at Babel following the Deluge, when dynasties were developed as a subversion of the patriarchal family divisions authorized by Jehovah God and also illustrated in the family of Noah and the descendants of Jacob. In India the caste system goes back to more than a thousand years before Christ, instituted, it appears, by the light-skinned Aryan invaders to keep themselves as a superior class. This is borne out by the