The "H" Word

No one talks about the “H” word anymore.  Hell.  What is it?  A curse word? A myth? Or . . . is it actually real? According to Jesus it is.  He spoke of hell many times.  Here are two examples: Mark 9:43-44 “”And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” And in Matthew 10:28 He says, “”And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Chilling isn’t it?

Then there are numerous people who, either through a near death or other experience have seen hell for themselves, and returned to tell about it, like Bill Wiese who in numerous interviews and in his book, 23 Minutes in Hell, talks about his journey there and describes the people in unbelievable torment, their horrible screams of anguish, the disgusting stench, the unbearable heat, the grotesque demonic creatures, and finally the broken heart of Jesus as He watched.

Why is it important for those of us who truly believe in Jesus to also believe in a literal hell?  After all, it’s not a place we need to bother with.  We’re not going there.  Well, it’s important because some of our family and friends and neighbors are if they leave this world as enemies of Christ. An evangelist once said if we really understood the nature of hell, really believed Jesus when He said NO man comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6) and that hell awaits those who try to go by any other way, we would crawl through broken glass to preach to our loved ones in order to spare them the horrors that await.

I don’t know why I feel such an urgency to get down on my knees and cry out to God for the salvation of those I love who have yet to come to the Lord.  Perhaps it’s because after watching the graphic TV footage of the Japanese disaster, it brings home just how tenuous life is. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. Today is the day of salvation.

Until next week,

Sylvia