The subject on Hell has caught my attention these past few weeks. I managed to get hold of a few articles about Hell and recently someone posted on YouTube of a lady who shot herself and died. She was sent to hell and came back alive to tell her story. You can check it out by going to the link http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=KDPPZ7NX.
I know the topic on hell has been hotly debated by religious scholars and scientists; Christians and non Christians alike. Most people would avoid the subject on hell; no one likes to talk about death or the afterlife. Hell has become a subject of ridicule and a joke to many. People take hell lightly as though it is not real or superstition. And some Christians don’t even believe hell is real. But the topic on hell is a very important topic in the bible. In fact there are over 400 scriptures in the Bible in reference to Hell, the suffering there and also the final destination of the dead or the afterlife.
Jonathan Edwards the great revivalist of the 18th century had mass conversion from preaching the sermon, “Sinners in the hands of an angry God”. He spoke about hell and judgment for sinners. And many would repent and cried out to God for mercy. Today not many preachers preach about hell and the judgment of God because it is unpopular. But Jesus didn’t stop preaching about hell just because it was unpopular. In fact Jesus spoke more about hell than heaven. He spoke the truth to warn people about the horrors of hell and eternal judgment so that many will come to repentance.
Many people doubt the existence of hell but it doesn’t make hell less real. Jesus Himself taught hell as a real place. If we say hell is just imaginary or a state of the mind and not to be taken literally then we make Jesus a liar. And He cannot lie.
Hell is a place of punishment and torment. It is a horrible place to be in. The Chinese folks believe hell is a homecoming for close relatives and friends. My non Christian relatives don’t mind going there because they believe that when they die they will have a reunion with the ancestors in hell.
Each year during the Cheng Beng festival, the Chinese folks will burn paper notes, clothes, modern gadgets made from paper so that the ancestors receive them in hell. This is a deception of the devil. I don’t see how one can enjoy life in hell when everyone is in pain and anguish.Yes, God is good to all, both the good and evil in this life. But in hell, the goodness of God is no longer there. No love, peace, joy, hope, nothing. Someone said it appropriately the only heaven for unbeliever and the only hell for a believer is in this life.
The bible tells us that in hell the soul of dead people will be tormented with fire throughout day and night for all eternity. A couple of years ago, I burnt my hand while trying to handle the hot pot. The burning pain lasted for a few days and it really hurts. Those trapped inside a building during a fire would rather jump off from the roof than having to be burned alive. It must be extremely painful to be burned alive. One could imagine how painful it can be with hell fire.
Luke 16:23-24 and being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
And all of a sudden, something grabbed me and pulled me out of this cell. I know it was the Lord, but then I didn't know that. I was there as an unsaved person, so I didn't know these things. I just went there as if I had never accepted the Lord. I was placed over next to the fire that I had seen. I was standing alongside that pit. I was beneath a cavern, like a giant cave, with a tunnel going up.
Alongside the fire I could see through the flames, just enough to see bodies, people in the fire screaming, screaming for mercy, burning in this place! And I knew I didn't want to go in there. The pain I'd endured already was bad enough, but the heat from that flame I knew was worse. These people were begging to get out.
There were these big creatures lined all around the edge of this Pit, and as the people crawled up trying to get out, they would be shoved back in to the fire and not allowed to get out. I thought, "Oh, this place is so horrible, so horrible and horrendous."
All this was going on at the same time. You're thirsty, you're hungry, and you're exhausted. You don't get to sleep in Hell either. You need sleep just as you do now. Your body needs sleep. Rev 14:11 says, and the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, you never get to sleep. You can imagine how that is, never sleeping. Regarding the water, in Zechariah 9:11 I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein no water is. Absolutely there is no water in Hell. (A testimony by Bill Wiese)
Some religion believes that hell is only a temporary holding cell for sinners until the time when they have fully been instructed for heaven. And then they will be transported to heaven. But the bible teaches that there is no salvation for dead people who refuse to believe in Christ when they were alive.
The moment a person accepts Christ he or she becomes a new person from the inside. Though he or she may still struggle with old sins in this life yet has God’s life inside. When the believer dies he or she is freed from the flesh and attains perfection in the spirit.
But an unbeliever is spiritual dead. Spiritual death is the absence of God’s life in the spirit. When the unbeliever dies, he or she remains spiritual dead and retains his or her fallen state e.g. If the person is lustful, he or she remains lustful still in the afterlife. In hell, the rich man is as selfish and demanding as he was alive. He even had the audacity to ask Abraham to send Lazarus on an errand for him. It is impossible for a person to enter heaven with its present condition. He or she must be born again. Jesus came to give us a new life.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Once there was an evil man who died and entered into the spirit world. He was cursing and reviling God by saying “God is altogether unjust. He has prepared heaven for His saints but cast the rest of mankind into hell. Yet the saints call Him God is love.” As he was doing this suddenly there was a sweet voice of an angel speaking to him, “God has given permission for this man to enter heaven.” So the man stepped forward and accompanied by two angels into heaven. When they reached the door of heaven and saw the holy and glorious heaven with the blessed saints, he began to feel uneasy. The angel said to him, “See how beautiful heaven is. Go a bit further and look at the LORD sitting on the throne.” From the door he looked and as the light of the LORD revealed his impure estate and sin defiled life, he started to be in agony of self loathing, fled with such ease and threw himself into the bottomless pit. (Excerpt from the Spiritual World by Sadhu Sundar Singh)
The worse thing in Hell, the worse thing, worse than all the torments, was I understood that, first of all, that there was life going on up here on the earth. And that people up here, most people, had no idea that this world even existed down here! They don't even know this is a real world down here and there's billions of people suffering and begging for one chance, if they had an opportunity to get out. But they never get a chance to get out, and being mad at themselves for not taking the opportunity to have received Jesus, that they are stuck there forever.
This is the worst thing about Hell, that there was absolutely no hope of ever getting out. I understood that. I grasped eternity. I could understand eternity. Here on earth, we can't quite, can't get a hold of it. But there I understood it. I knew I would be there forever and ever, and had no hope of getting out.
I thought about my wife. I could never get to my wife! I've always told her that if we were ever separated by any kind of earthquake or something horrible, I said "I'll get to you. I will find you. I'll get to you if we're ever apart." But here I couldn't get to her. I could never see her again. She would never have any idea where I was, and I just could never ever talk to her again. That thought just absolutely bothered me terribly! To not be able to talk to her, get to her, and for her not to know where I was, and have no hope to ever get out! You understand, you never get out of here, ever! See on earth there's always hope. Even people in concentration camps had a hope of getting out, or dying at least, to get out of it. But we've never experienced a totally hopeless situation. In Isaiah 38:18 it says, "Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth." (A testimony by Bill Wiese)
Heaven and Hell are real. There is a heaven to gain when we believe Jesus died for our sins. So if you have not accepted Him as your personal Savior why not receive Him now before it’s too late. I have never been to hell before and I don’t have to. Jesus has saved me from hell. How awesome is Your grace for me LORD.
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