Are There Christians in Hell?

       "God would never send a Christian to hell." This is what most people believe. Let us see what the Bible has to say about this fiery subject and see if there are Christians in hell.

       Works of the Flesh: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery (Jesus said if you look at a woman with lust, you have committed adultery with her in your heart), fornication (illicit sexual intercourse), uncleanness, lasciviousness (sexually unchaste), idolatry (putting anything or anyone ahead of God), witchcraft (horoscopes, Ouija boards, tarot cards etc.), hatred (the Bible says if you hate your brother you are a murderer), variance (strife), emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (Galatians 5:19-21 KJV).

       Are you a Christian and guilty of any of these "works of the flesh?" I encourage you to repent of such things and stop doing them because they will send you to hell. Don't be another one of the Christians in hell.

      Lukewarm: "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth" (The Book of Revelation 3:15-16 KJV).
It is very easy to be lukewarm. Just put other things ahead of God. Do not seek Him diligently. Do not love Him more than anyone or anything. Do not obey His Word. Have little or no desire to know Him intimately. Will you go to hell if you are lukewarm? What do you think your chances are of entering heaven if God spues you out of His mouth?

      Disobedient: "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21 KJV). Are you doing the will of God? The Word of God is His Will.

     Unforgiveness: Jesus states in Mark 11:26, "But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses."
If your sins are not forgiven by God, then you will not inherit the kingdom of God. Walk in God's love and forgive those who have wronged you. Ask God to bless those who have hurt you. Do not let the sin of unforgiveness send you to hell.

       Lying "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and
sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone:
which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8).
Can't keep from lying? Repent of this evil, it will surely send you to hell. God is not the God of liars. Do you lie to
your relatives? Do you lie to friends? Do you lie to strangers? Do you lie to the government? Is lying worth
spending eternity in the lake of fire? Immediately repent of lying and live holy.

      Unrepentant: Let me share with you a testimony. A pastor relates in his vision of hell how an angel explained to him, "There are two kinds of people in hell. One kind is those who did not believe in Jesus. Those who did not believe in Jesus come to hell 100 percent. The other kind is the people who went to church but died without repenting."
Charles Spurgeon said, "There is no going to heaven with one sin ruling within us."
Do not continue to live with even one sin in your life. Repent of it. Turn away from it. Is one sin worth missing heaven and spending eternity in the lake of fire?

     Will You be One of the Few? "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matthew 7:13-14 KJV).
I have not written this article to condemn you but to warn you to turn from sin and walk holy and obediently before God. Seek His presence and desire to know Him intimately.

      Love Him more than anyone or anything. If you do this He will unfold the perfect plan He has for your life which goes beyond anything you could formally think or imagine. God loves you and He wants you to spend eternity with Him in glory and not in the lake of fire. Not a Christian yet? Receive God's free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ now and begin fulfilling God's glorious destiny for your life. I don't want you to be another Christian in hell.

       Remember to always walk in love and forgiveness towards everyone, always obeying God's Word so you don't hinder His perfect will for your life. But if you don't read His Word how will you know what to obey? Please read His Word daily so you will know what to obey, thus fulfilling His will for your life.

The Biblical Hell

There are many different teaching today regarding the subject of hell. Not much preaching about hell, but a lot of teaching. Most of this teaching is not based off the Bible however, and most of it is far different then what God says. I would like to take a look at this subject from God's point of view.

       First off, the Bible teaches that Heaven and Hell are eternal. According to Matthew 25:46, Jesus said, "and these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal". We find this same truth in Romans 16:26, where Paul speaks of the everlasting God, and in Hebrews 9:14 where Scriptures refer to the eternal spirit.

      There are four expressions in these three verses to be considered. They are "everlasting punishment", "eternal life", everlasting God", and "eternal spirit". The only difference between everlasting and eternal in our language is a difference in spelling. They both mean the same thing. The Greek word translated as everlasting or eternal in these three passages is the same. They both mean, "eternal, everlasting, without end, never to cease, or indeterminate as to duration".

      So, if a person were to take the word "eternal" literally in regards to God and Heaven, they would have to do the same in regards to hell and punishment. If one took the position that hell were to last only a thousand years, to be consistent he would also have to contend that the Father, Spirit and Heaven will last for only a thousand years. The same word used to describe the duration of Hell's punishment is also used to describe the duration of the Father, Spirit and Heaven.
Because of this, it must be understood that the very moment the disobedient cease to be punished, the righteous will cease to be blessed and the Father and Spirit and Jesus Christ will cease to exist. Just as Heavens blessings last for an eternity, hell's punishment must also last for an eternity.

      There are two other arguments that arise regarding hell. First, some say that would make hell too long. They argue that it would not be right to punish one eternally for five years of disobedience. If that is true it would also be wrong to bless one eternally who had lived for only five years in obedience to God's will.
If not, why not? The same arguments used to rid the Bible of the doctrine of hell, can be used with equal validity against the doctrine of heaven.

       Those who feel that eternal punishment is too long, reflect upon every system of justice in the world. How does one determine the enormity of an act? By the time it takes to perform it? Or by the act itself? For example, in fifteen seconds, a man could kill a dozen people by throwing a hand grenade into a crowded store. If that were done, should the killer go to prison for only fifteen seconds? Should he be placed in the penitentiary for only sixty seconds? Would the demands of justice be satisfied if he served a jail sentence of two minutes? Oh, no, if he were able to escape execution, he would have to spend the rest of his life behind bars for an act which took only fifteen seconds to perform. The heinousness of evil is seen in the act itself, rather than by the time involved in its perpetration.

       The most horrible thing one can do is live in rebellion to the will of Almighty God. Those who live five years, five months, or five days in defiance of the Lord, and die in that condition will be punished in hell forever. The length of the sin is not the question.

       Second, there are those who believe the punishment of Matthew 25:46 means eternal annihilation. They maintain that the disobedient will be cast into the fires of hell and simply experience a cessation of all existence. When Revelations 21:8 speaks of a second death, they understand it to refer to a second physical death. In their view, when one dies the first time he goes back to where Adam was before he was created. Where was Adam before he was created? He was not. They believe that at the Lord's second coming, the dead will be re-created and those who have rejected the Saviour will be burned to death, experience a second physical death and be annihilated forever. Everlasting punishment to them means to be dead, like an animal, eternally.

       In response to that position, consider the word translated as punishment in Matthew 25:46. It is, "colason", which means to chastise, or torment. In I John 4:18, it is translated as torment. Read Luke 16:19-31, and notice that four times the rich man in the flames of Hades is described as being in anguish or torment. See Revelations 14:11 and 20:10, where the word torment is used to describe the fate of the unsaved. If those who leave this world unprepared to meet God go into eternal nonexistence, how could the words torment or anguish be used to describe their experience? Torment can only exist where there is consciousness. Where there is no consciousness, there is no torment.

       The Bible tells us that it is "appointed unto man, once to die, after that the judgment." This death is a physical death. Once you are resurrected to stand before God, you will have a spiritual body. This body can not die, or be destroyed. Once judged, you will be cast into the lake of fire. This is the "second" death. This death is not a physical one, but a spiritual separation from God for all eternity. This takes place in the Lake of fire. The unsaved shall go away into everlasting conscious, suffering, torment.

Here are some other things that the Bible says about hell...
- Hell is a place of fire
- The man in Luke 16:24 cries: "...I am tormented in this FLAME."
- In Matthew 13:42, Jesus says: "And shall cast them into a FURNACE OF FIRE: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
- In Matthew 25:41, Jesus says: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting FIRE,..."
- Revelation 20:15 says, "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the LAKE OF FIRE."

        THE BIBLE GIVES THE LOCATION OF HELL:
In Numbers 16, the Bible gives the account of people falling into hell alive!
"And THE EARTH OPENED HER MOUTH, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive INTO THE PIT, and the EARTH CLOSED."

       When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He descended into hell. In Acts 2, Peter is speaking, verse 31, "... seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in HELL"
And in Matthew 12:40, Jesus Christ says: "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly: so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the HEART OF THE EARTH."
My dear readers, Hell is a literal, eternal place of conscience punishment. It is real, and according to the Word of God, it is enlarging itself every day. You can escape this place simply by turning from your sins, and accepting God's salvation through Jesus Christ. Won't you do so today.

       Evangelist Paul Dodson is a full time Evangelist, preaching the Gospel in the North-Central United States. Evangelist Dodson is also a member of Baptist Circuit Riding Mission, and writes Biblically based articles during his off time

Is Hell a Real Place With Eternal Fire and Torment? Will Friends Have Parties and Fun in Hell?

        Hell is a real place, it's as real as the house or apartment that you live in, or the place where you go to work or School. Throughout the Bible Jesus tells us numerous times about the dangers of being placed in Hell.
Hell will be horrible; nothing like it can be experienced here on the Earth. If you suffer from some bad disease like cancer that causes extreme pain all the time, or if you burn 90% of your body in a house fire, it does not come close to what the torments of Hell will be like.

        If you die without knowing and believing in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you will find yourself in Hades, and at the last judgment you will be placed into Hell, where you will be forever.
The numerous verses the Bible uses to describe Hell, tells us that it will be for eternity, with no hope of reprieve. There will be eternal pain, without lessening, there will not be a few hours or even a few minutes where it won't be too bad, the torment will never cease.

        If we are allowed to be amongst others when we are placed in Hell, it will offer no comfort, there will be no parties, no laughter, no mindless talking or joking, nothing but screams and torment, forever.
Those that are placed into Hell will also be amongst creatures that are so horrifying, that their very presence will add to the torment of the constant burning of the flames. Satan himself and all of the falling angels that rebelled with him against God, will be there too. It will be worse than being in a den of starving lions, forever.

        As much as the torments of the fire and the eternal pain, the Bible even tells us that God himself will remove his very presence from you, in that you will know that you have absolutely NO hope of any kind. You will scream in agony and cry out, knowing that God does not even hear your pleas for help, and he never will again.
I was about to finish this section, when something made me think of the following.
How horrible is Hell? It's so horrible that the son of God, left Heaven where he is treated as the Lord, with continuous honor, praise and love. He came to the Earth and lived for 30 some years as a human man, he walked hundreds if not thousands of miles trying to warn people about Hell and telling them about his gift of salvation to save them from it, then he went through the tortures of being whipped, slapped, beaten, spit upon, had a crown of thorns pressed into his head, and then crucified, so we can avoid Hell.
I'd say that by Jesus doing all that he did for us, he is warning us that Hell must be a very terrifying place to be, forever.

Do You Believe In Hell?

Family, of the three categories we are writing about in this treatise, Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, the most frightening, and the one we really don't want to hear about is Hell! And Satan has been working overtime in this century denying his existence, and more than that, the actuality of a place where the damned will go to be punished, for their sinful way of life on earth, by being thrown into raging fires with demons hosting them for eternity.

       Hell is mentioned one hundred and forty-six times in the Bible. If we add Gehenna to the configuration, it's another twelve times. So, I think we are standing on good authority, when we speak of the existence of Hell. We hear Jesus Himself saying to Peter: "And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it." (Matt 16:18)

       And if that is not enough, in Revelation I, in the first Vision, we again hear Jesus say: "Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever. I hold the keys of death and the nether world (Hell)."
To repeat what we said many times, "Yes, my brothers and sisters, there is a Hell!" and it's not a place you want to visit. Hell has become a formidable term, so much so that it has been removed as a word from the modern Bibles. It has been replaced by the word "netherworld" in the New Testament, and "nether world" in the Old Testament. But no matter how anyone would like to remove it from sight, or soft-pedal it, it's there, and will always be there.

       In recent years, dissident theologians have dismissed the term Hell and its concept. But the Catholic Catechism has no problem addressing Hell, by its proper name, or by definition. It states: "To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from Him forever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the Blessed is called `Hell.

      "The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of Hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into Hell, where they suffer the punishments of Hell, `eternal fire'. The chief punishment of Hell is eternal separation from God, in Whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.

          In another section, the Catholic Catechism teaches: "God predestines no one to go to Hell; for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want `any to perish, but all to come to repentance.

       How did Hell begin?
We read in Scripture that the Angels were already created when God formed the Universe: When God created the Angels, He created them with free will! He gave them an opportunity to choose for Him or against Him. However, that choice was instant and irrevocable. Does that sound harsh? We are sure that with all the gifts God gave to the Angels, He allowed them to see the total picture at that time: what their obedience meant to Him and what their disobedience would mean. The decision by Michael and the Good Angels to follow the Lord, was immediate and forever, for all time in memoriam. For the fallen angels, their disobedience was the same.

      Why would angels go against God? Why do we choose false gods, at times, over the One True God, Who we know will never betray us? It is said, that if you were to go to Hell and invite the fallen to come out, they would refuse. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? Who would choose suffering over joy? Lucifer was the fallen angels' choice, the anti-god they chose to worship and now they know no other.

       When God put the Angels to the test, He allowed them to see Truth and deceit at that very moment of decision. The Angels were granted full understanding. God offered Himself, the Truth Who would never betray them. And the fallen angels chose Lucifer the great deceiver, and his lies which would always betray. Maybe, because of this there is no forgiveness for the fallen angels, as there is for us, right up to the last breath of our life.

      Whatever they chose, there was no turning back. "He commanded, and they were created; by His command they were fixed in their places forever, and they cannot disobey." (Psalm 148:6) In their pride, the followers of Lucifer had chosen to be instruments of pain and confusion, sin and destruction. In their poverty, no longer in the presence of God, these fallen angels would try to separate all God's children from Him and His unconditional Love for them, whenever they could.

     Scripture says: "He who commits sin is the slave of sin." The fallen angels chose the sin of pride, and they not only became the slaves of pride, but of all the other sins which quickly accompany that (pride) which is the greatest of the seven deadly sins. When Lucifer fell it was through pride. He couldn't stand it that God would choose Jesus to become Man. Man who is below the angels! He would not bow down before a Man who was beneath him! So he refused to obey God, and not satisfied to disobey alone, he led weaker angels to follow him. I can just hear Lucifer's arguments, can't you? "What a slap in the face to us. Did He not make us, specially? Are we not the closest to Him? He betrayed us!" This is probably the first time Lucifer called God imperfect. When he turned away from God, all the evil that was possible took over and he called God by the names, he, Lucifer, would live by: Betrayer, Liar.

      The account of the creation of Hell is given to us in two places in Scripture, once in the Old Testament, and then again in the New Testament. We will give you the account from the Book of Revelation, which is more descriptive than the vision of Daniel. "Then war broke out in Heaven; Michael and his Angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in Heaven. The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, which is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it.
"Then I heard a loud voice in Heaven say: `Now have salvation and power come, and the reign of our God and the authority of His Anointed One. For the accuser (the Hebrew word for Satan) of our brothers is cast out, who night and day accused them before our God. They defeated him by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; love for life did not deter them from death.' `So rejoice, you Heavens and you who dwell therein! But woe to you, earth and sea, for the Devil has come down upon you! His fury, knows no limits, for he knows his time is short.'" (Revelations 12:7-17)

      But, St. Paul tells us that if we put on the armor of God, and listen to our Guardian Angel, we will be saved from the fierce fires of Hell. Listen to your Guardian Angel! He is with you to guard you, guide you, protect you, light your way to Our Lord. God has sent him as a messenger to bring His Word to you. Listen to the Saints! You don't dare not listen! Don't let the world make you slide down the primrose path to Hell. Be aware of how Satan has been fighting for your soul since the beginning of time, and how his greatest accomplishment would be to make you believe there is no Satan or Hell. We have been given especially the gifts of our Angel and St. Joseph at the hour of death. Take advantage of these gifts. Thank You Jesus.