Hell Is Real

In his most recent bestselling book "Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.", Rob Bell asks Christians to "rethink hell", and to rethink such notions as "Gandhi is in hell". Now it’s hard to tell exactly what he believes, he does a lot of flip flopping and he kind of beats around the bush. I’ve never read the book, but from the excerpts I’ve read, it appears he espouses the Universalism view, and at the very least says it’s a good idea. The universalism view is this: basically, that everybody is saved. That God loves us all too much to send any of us to hell, that if there is a hell, it was just meant for Satan and his army.

     Now I know that Mr. Bell probably isn’t going to read my blog, but if anybody reading this thinks that the church is wrong on it’s stance on hell, maybe this will change your mind. I am just going to say this. Not everyone is going to heaven. 1 Peter 4:18 says “And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
I’m going to break it up like this. Now there are some theological issues between the difference of “hell” and the “lake of fire”. I am not going to touch that, we all know what we are talking about here. I am speaking of hell in a general term, meaning death, the pit, the grave, the lake of fire, hell meaning eternal death. It’s the place where the unsaved go to die an eternal death.

1. Hell is real, and the Bible supports it!

We know when we read the Bible that Hell (lake of fire) is scripturally supported; overwhelmingly, in fact. Revelation 19: 20"And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him,
with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." See the book of revelation speaks of a beast, and a false prophet filled with the spirit of anti Christ rising up in the last days. It

proclaims in this scripture that they are thrown in the lake of fire burning with sulfur. There is no mistranslation from the Greek here; it means what it says it means; lake of fire. Revelation 20: 10 says this 10And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Now, it is tempting to believe at this point that the lake of fire is just meant for the devil, but when we read this verse in context; we understand that it is not just meant for Satan. Verses 1-3 John the revelator sees Satan being bound up during the millennial reign in the bottomless pit, and then verse 4 talks about a judgment.

This Judgment is given from God, and it is for those that had denied the mark of the beast, and had been persecuted for Christ. They are the ones that will rule and reign with Christ on the earth for the thousand years. It then says that the rest of the dead remain sleeping for the thousand years. This Judgment is given from God, and it is for those that had denied the mark of the beast, and had been persecuted for Christ. They are the ones that will rule and reign with Christ on the earth for the thousand years. It then says that the rest of the dead remain sleeping for the thousand years.

Then it says that Satan is loosed and deceives the nations, until He is finally destroyed and thrown in this lake of fire. The Bible then goes on to say in the following verses "11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

The Bible clearly says that anyone who’s name was written in the Lamb’s book of life was cast into the same lake of fire Satan was cast into. This is what will happen. The Bible says that to be written in the book of life, you must not take away from the words of the Book (Bible) or add to it, and that nothing enters in that commits abominous works, lies, or defiles. The word defiles means to make unclean. If you have anything in your life that makes you unclean, you are not written in the lamb’s book of life. (the only thing that can cleanse you is the blood of Jesus).

Now this is only taking scriptures from revelation for times sake, but there are more I will list for your personal study if you like.

Jesus spoke of it in Matthew 8:11-12, Matthew 22: 12-13, and Matthew 25:29-30, Matthew 13:41-42, Matthew 13:49-50, Luke 13:27-28.

           2.   Sin not washed away by the blood of Jesus will send you to hell

I only need one scripture for this point, though there are many more. Romans 6:23 says for the wages of sin is death. It’s interesting how this scripture in the context says wages of sin, meaning more than one payment. The Bible speaks of 2 deaths, the first death- on the earth, and the second we just read – in the lake of fire.

          3.  You want to avoid hell!
A best selling book was written called: "I hope they serve beer in hell". It seems that our western culture has made eternal death a joke. I’ve witnessed to some young people using Tim Down’s heaven or hell method(asking if you want to go to heaven or hell), and they say hell. When I asked them why they said that’s where all the partiers, good music, and my friends will be. The lake of fire is no joke! The Bible says that the flames will be so hot, yet will not kill you, you will constantly wish you were dead. Imagine being in so much searing pain forever, with no end, ever, the rest of eternity wishing you were dead. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Now some people may ask, why would a loving God, send people to hell? The answer is this: sin sends us to hell. The Bible says it separates us from God. We can’t live with God for all of eternity without having our sin washed away by the blood of Jesus. Sin is literally the substance of Satan. All sin is rooted in pride, b/c Satan was the first to sin. Sin is rebellion to God, when we sin, it is b/c our pride tells us we know better than God. We then become just like Satan. 1 John 3:8 says: "He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil."And get this:

The truth is eternal death will happen not just to evil wicked people like Hitler, Bin Laden, and Genghis Kahn - if they haven’t been or don’t get saved before they died -perfectly good people will go to hell too! Matthew 7:22-23 Jesus says “²²Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
 ²³And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
Not only did these people not do anything bad, but it says that in Jesus name they did “MANY WONDERFUL WORKS”. And they will be cast out of the presence of God! Now how can this be? Well easy, the wages of sin is death. You can be a Christian all your life sitting on the front pew and still go to hell. God is more concerned with you knowing Him. The only way to know Him is through salvation, dying daily, being full of the Holy Ghost. The blood of Jesus is what gives you a relationship with God.

Jesus died, was buried and resurrected from the grave.

We must repent, dying to our fleshly ways, bury our old sinful man with Christ in baptism (Romans 6:4) (acts 2:38), and be resurrected with Him through the Holy Ghost. (Acts 1:8, Acts 2:4, Acts2:38, Romans 8:11). Then after that we must continue to live in consecration to Him, b/c the truth is, hell is not going to be worth it. Trust Jesus, let Him save you from Hell. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 says "For I delivered unto you first of all that

which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:" Revelation 1:8 Jesus says this: "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."

Amen.