Live Now Live Later

There are a lot of profane curse words that are frequently used everyday by many people, but I can’t think of any that are more OFFENSIVE even to many who profess christianity than the word….HELL. Yea I said it.

In early church history, It used to be only offensive to non-believers, but nowadays it’s a word that even believers wish wouldn’t get brought up.

I often wonder to myself why is that?

I believe this is one of the most successful tactics of the devil since the ascension of Christ. The devil and his subordinate demons for centuries have been getting people to believe it isn’t real or that it’s not as bad as Jesus said it was. Also by getting preachers to never bring it up and just focusing on the “positive aspects” of following Jesus. The side of Jesus that won’t offend people especially the ones sitting on Sunday mornings within the walls of the sanctuary. Jesus “the SAVIOR” mentioned and referenced Hell more than anyone in the whole bible. Over 40 times throughout the gospel accounts. How is it that Jesus knew so much about this place?

                                                    He created it…….

Yes you read that right. That was not a typo. And not only did he create it but he will be the judge of everyman and woman on judgement day and will cast some people into hell and will grant eternal life to others (Revelation 20:11-15, 21:1-8).

Hell was NEVER intended for people.

It was ONLY intended for the Devil and other angels like himself  who chose to rebel against God. Several places throughout the bible give us a glimpse of the demise of the devil/lucifer (he has many names asserted to himself throughout the scriptures), but Jesus clearly states it in Matthew 25:41

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels“.

Many believe that because “God is Love” (1 John 4:8) that he would never send anyone to an eternal tormenting place of destruction away from Him. But the very people who believe this don’t have an accurate view of God and our sin that separates us from Him. They’ve created an image of God that works for them. The kind of god that they are comfortable with. This is called IDOLATRY.

Hell is not a place just for those really really really bad people like Adolf Hitler. Hell is also not an eternal SLEEP/NON-EXISTENCE the like Jehovah Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists teach. It is not a period of purgatory that you eventually get out of like the Catholics believe. It is not the “negative experiences” that we go through in our earthly lives as Buddhists, Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam teaches (www.noi.org/muslim-program). It also is not like I’ve heard from some people as a fun place where “all their friends will be having a good time”. All their friends might be there, but according to Jesus they won’t be having a “good time”.

I would looooooove to believe EVERYONE is going to Heaven as we hear at almost EVERY funeral and that Hell doesn’t exist. In reality, despite society’s belief, Hell according to Jesus is a real ETERNAL place and according to Jesus ALOT of people will go (Matthew 7:13-23, 13:3-23, Mark 4:2-20, Luke 13:23-28) and it’s the Christians job (Mark 16:15, Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 5:11, Ephesians 4:11-16), not just the pastor as many believe, to let them know what Jesus has done so that they NEVER have to experience it and can in turn experience the rich, vast, and glorious love of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit for all of eternity.