Is There Really A Hell?

Psalms 9:17, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”

Many years ago, General William Booth (founder of The Salvation Army) warned, “The day will come when they will preach Heaven without preaching Hell.” Ladies and gentlemen, we're now living in that generation. I dare say that the average Baptist pastor preaches on Hell once every two years. Sadly, it is rare to find a full-length sermon on Hell anymore. Dear reader, everyone needs to hear Bible preaching about Hell.

We need to hear about Hell, so that the lost can be warned and get saved by faith in Jesus Christ before it is too late. We need to hear about Hell, so that we will be convicted and reminded by the Holy Spirit to stay busy soulwinning. We need to hear about Hell, because billions of lost souls are crying out from the depths of Hell beneath, for a Christian to go share the Gospel with their loved ones (Luke 16:19-31). Everyone needs to hear preaching on Hell. The lost need it. God's people need it. Impressionable children need it.

Two of the most common subjects for our Lord Jesus to preach on were Hell and giving. Yet those are two of the most neglected topics in our pulpits today. For those of you who have followed my ministry writings over the years, you know that I am against tithing 10%, simply because it is unbiblical. If you are unemployed or struggling to make ends meet, then you cannot and shouldn't even try to give 10%. You give only what you can feasibly give, so that your family doesn't suffer. God doesn't need your money friend, but men want it. The amount you give will vary considerably, depending on your income, financial obligations and life's circumstances.

It is a crying tragedy in most independent Baptist churches today, that they believe in a burning Hell where Christ-rejecters will spend eternity suffering in torment, yet they don't preach on the subject of Hell. There are over 300 references in the New Testament to the fires of Hell. The Lord Jesus gave 22 discourses in the New Testament on the topic of Hell. The Bible has more to say about Hell than it does Heaven.

I've heard people foolishly say, “I don't believe a loving God would ever send someone to Hell. The Bible says that God is love.” Yes, 120 times times the Bible says God is love. But God's love is a holy love. God's grace is a holy grace. God's mercy is a holy mercy. God's wrath is a holy wrath. What God's holiness cannot and will not endure, His love cannot embrace either. Sin must be paid for. If you don't accept the payment for sin that Jesus made, you'll have to pay for it yourself in Hell forever. That is a horrifying thought! Have you ever heard Pastor Joel Osteen warn anybody that Hell is real, and that if you don't get born again you'll go there? I haven't, and neither has anybody else, because Joel Osteen is a false prophet.

I once talked to a lost man about being saved, to which he replied: “Preacher, I don't believe in Hell. How could I go to a place I don't believe in?” Dear reader, that's like going down to your local train station and standing on the tracks, because you don't believe that a train is coming. Just because a person may not believe that Hell exists, doesn't mean that it doesn't. Isaiah 5:14, “Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.” Perhaps you are familiar with the true story of The Rich Man and Lazarus...

Luke 16:19-31, “There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And 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. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”

We know that this is a true account, and not a parable, for a few reasons:

1. Jesus didn't say it is a parable. He always announced when telling a parable.
2. Jesus didn't explain afterwards what the story meant, which He did with parables.
3. Jesus used proper nouns (Abraham and Lazarus), which He never did in parables.
4. Jesus would be a deceiver if Hell doesn't have fire, because in this story He says it does.

Isn't it strange that people have God's mercy available to them for a lifetime and spit on it, and as soon as they die, they want it. As soon as they get to Hell and begin to suffer, they want what they rejected when it was available to them for free. Jesus Christ—the most reliable human being who ever walked the face of this earth 2,000 years ago, said that there is a placed called Hell.

Could you imagine someone saying, “Why, I cannot believe that loving people believe in prisons!” Isn't that exactly what people say about God? Dear reader, if wrong doing is punished in this sinful world, do you actually believe that a holy God doesn't punish sin? Revelation 21:27, “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.” Why? Because if God allowed even one sin into Heaven, it would not be Heaven anymore. Adam and Eve just ate a piece of fruit, but it caused the downfall of the human race. Their greater sin was disobeying God. There is not a person who is not guilty of violating the law of God worse than Adam and Eve did. We have all sinned.

Countless billions of people throughout history have been wronged by others. Could you imagine going to a park one day with your children, so they can play. But then you notice that one of your children is missing. You frantically search for your child, but cannot find him. So, you call the police and an Amber Alert is sent out. Weeks pass and you child is still missing. Months and then years pass, and you have no idea where your child is, or if your child is even alive. Thousands of grieving families are suffering this horrifying living nightmare today.

Just last week in New York, it was reported in the news that a 9-year old little girl went missing. Thankfully the police traced a fingerprint and found her safe. Some evil nutcase kidnapped her, and sent a ransom letter to the girls' hurting parents, demanding $50,000. I shudder to think what would have happened to that little girl, if the assailant hadn't sent that ransom letter, and that the police did a good job dusting for prints. Those parents are so fortunate to have their daughters back, because most kidnapped children end up tortured and then murdered. We live in a wicked world. I listened to a needful MP3 sermon today by Pastor Steven Anderson titled: "THINGS ARE WORSE THAN YOU THINK." He's sure right about that!

Dear reader, do you honestly think that on behalf of all the abducted, tortured and murdered children in the world, that there is no place of Hell where God punishes them? You better believe there is a Hell. Granted, God is willing to forgive the vilest sinner who comes to Him by faith in Jesus Christ, but John 3:20 teaches that those who do evil refuse to come to Christ. That is why a sinner must repent to be saved, that is, a sinner must change his or her mind to acknowledge THE TRUTH that they are a guilty sinner, so that they will trust what Jesus did for them on the cross to be forgiven and saved.

Did you know that the center of the earth is a molten inferno? The Bible even says that Hell burns with “fire and brimstone.” Revelation 21:8, “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.” Brimstone is sulfur, the primary element in volcanic lava. The Bible says that people descend into the earth—or go down—into Hell (Matthew 12:40; Ephesians 4:9). I humbly believe that Hell (Greek: Hades) is compartmentalized, with the place of Torment on one side, and the place of Paradise on the other. We see this truth confirmed in the true account of The Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. Abraham told the rich man (who is now so poor) that there was a Great Gulf fixed between them, which was impossible to cross over to the other side. My friend, Pastor Max D. Younce (1935-2023), has authored a helpful book titled: 'A BIBLICAL EXAMINATION OF HELL" on this very topic.

There is a Hell dear friend, of that you can be assured. Science evidences that there is a Hell, as I just mentioned about the center of the earth being a molten sphere. Actually, scientists cannot drill down 4,000 miles into the earth's core, so they cannot determine if the center of the earth is solid or liquid lava. Considering that scientists do know that the earth's inner mantle is in fact liquid brimstone, it would only seem logical that so also is the innermost core. One thing is for sure, the Bible teaches that Hell is located beneath the earth. Proverbs 15:24, “The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.” Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, and he knew that Hell is located “beneath.”

Something else to consider is that the wicked world has always known there is a Devil. 

Infamous Satanist, Aleister Crowley

Elvis making a 666 hand sign

Masonic occult imagery on every U.S. one dollar bill

George W. Bush flashing the El Diablo (I love the Devil) hand sign

Bohemian Grove's mock human sacrifice 'Cremation of Care' ceremony

Infamous Satanist, Anton Lavey, flashing El Diablo hand sign

I could show you thousands more photos of famous people showing their allegiance to Satan. Do you really think dear friend that the Devil doesn't exist? Well, these people above all sure do. When I look at nature, the moon and stars, all the awesome foods that I eat, the incredible way that our human body was fashioned, and so much more, I am 100% fully convinced that God made all of this (Psalms 19:1-3; John 1:3; Romans 1:20; Colossians 1:16 - Note: All Scripture references are only to the inspired King James Bible).

It was British Prime minister Winston Churchill who rightly said, “The moral landslide in Great Britain is due to the fact that Heaven and Hell are no longer proclaimed throughout the land.” After visiting most churches today, from their dead pulpits you'd never get the impression that a place of Hell even exists. Shame on the pastor who refuses to preach the reality and horrors of Hell. In the year 1869, Fanny Crosby wrote these mighty words:

Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.

Dear reader, please make sure of Heaven today while you still can. Once you've breathed your last breath, it will be too late. I am saddened when I think about Apple Computer founder, Steve Jobs (1955-2011), who died as a Buddhist. Mr. Jobs couldn't take a single penny of his amassed $10,200,000,000 with him into the grave. So sad and tragic.

The same can be said of David Bowie (1947-2016) who also died in his Buddhist faith without Christ. If a man dies in his sins, Hell will be his everlasting home, damned without hope.

One of my favorite Hollywood actors is Gene Wilder (1933-2016), aka, Willy Wonka. Very sadly, Mr. Wilder was a self-professed Jewish, Buddhist, Atheist. Jesus plainly warned in John 3:3, “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Neither Steve Jobs, David Bowie or Gene Wilder were born-again believers. Almost assuredly (unless they repented of their dead works on their death bed) they all died in their sins, and their Buddhist religious faith could not save them from God's wrath against all Christ-rejecters. John 3:36, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Oh, the loss of souls is so heartbreaking!!!

The aforementioned famous men could have gone to Heaven and had eternal life, just for the taking. Eternal life is a free gift from God (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 5:15-18), because it was paid for with the precious blood of His only begotten Son, Jesus. All God asks is that you believe Jesus did it all for you. That's it.

Hell is full of people who thought they had one more day, one more service, one more sermon, one more invitation, one more chance, but they ran out of time and went to Hell. The way to Hell is paved with good intentions. I love you unconditionally whoever you may be, and I want you to be in Heaven with me for eternity. Will you by faith receive Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for your sins? Will you trust the risen Savior? The choice is yours alone to make friend.

The Clear Gospel In 4 Minutes
(Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold)