Common Questions About Hell

What is hell?

Simply put, hell is eternity without God.

Fire and torment are things we often associate with the concept of eternal damnation, and they are indeed Biblical descriptions – Jesus Christ says, “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Luke 12:38), and the apostle John writes of his vision of the Judgment before the Great White Throne, “anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15). But what makes hell truly hell is the complete and irrevocable absence of the love, mercy, and Spirit of God.

In that respect, hell is an extension of how one lived his or her life on Earth. So too is eternal life in heaven. If a person gives their life to Christ and lives and abides in Him in their temporary, mortal life, they will share that same fellowship with Him, in His eternal presence, in “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1). On the flip side of this coin, one who lived their mortal life on Earth in an unrepentant state of disbelief and rejection of the salvation offered to them by Jesus Christ, accomplished through His blood on the cross, will continue to live without Him and the light and love for which He once suffered to attain for them. This absence of God's love is manifested in the form of everlasting agony. The non-believer continues to have it their way – an existence without God.

The phrase “hell was not made for humans” is often used. This refers to Jesus’ words about those who will be turned away from entering heaven. He describes a place “prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). It’s not necessarily as if God has said, “let there be a place of torment for people who don’t believe in Me.” But even so, there remains a hideous place of everlasting anguish to which the wicked and unbelieving will go.

Where is hell?

The caricature often painted of hell is a pit at the center of the earth. In fact, many Christians who lived during the first century and the years following believed that Sodom and Gomorrah were still burning far below the earth's surface.

But if we look at this from the eternal viewpoint, we see that this cannot be the case. Eternity for those who accepted Jesus Christ involves, again, “a new heaven and a new earth” in the eternal city of New Jerusalem. Being that the currently existing planets, galaxies, and their elements will be no more when Jesus returns to judge all souls, hell cannot exist under the earth's surface, not even in its very molten core. So we must think of hell as another realm, so to speak, not unlike the concepts of “Hades” or “the Netherworld.”

A notable difference between the Biblical concept of hell and those of pagan religions is that hell is not simply a “land of the dead” – not only will the dead rise for the Judgment, but so too will those who are alive at the unknown hour when Jesus Christ returns: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). Concerning the Lord's second advent, the apostle Paul comforts believers who despaired at the thought of their fellow believers who had died: “I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17).

This makes it clear that Jesus' return will not be seen only by the dead, but by the living as well.

A place of spiritual torment exists while we on Earth still live. Jesus says just as much in a harrowing tale He tells found in Luke, chapter 16, wherein He describes what happens after the deaths of a sinful rich man and a poor man named Lazarus. (This passage is often incorrectly thought of as a parable, but unlike other parables, the text never indicates that Jesus means this story as a fable or a metaphor, as the New Testament so often does with His actual parables; it does not conclude with Jesus Himself speaking a coda or summary of the parable or its meaning, as that is found in the words of the people involved in the story themselves – including one Jesus refers to by his specific name rather than strictly “a certain beggar.”)

In this story, the merciless rich man finds himself in fiery damnation. The rich man, realizing he has no hope of escape, begs Abraham, to whom he speaks from his agony, to send Lazarus to warn his brothers of this danger: “'I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.'”

(It is also worth noting that Abraham tells the condemned rich man, “between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us”).

Who goes to hell?

The answer to this question is not: gays, addicts, suicide victims, or saved people who backslide or make mistakes. 

It has often been erroneously said that suicide in the “unpardonable sin.” This is not true. The Biblical “unpardonable sin” cannot be committed today, as it applied to the Pharisees in Jesus' generation who attributed His power to demons rather than to God. Jesus proclaims, and Mark commentates, in Mark 3:28-30: “'Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation' – because they said, 'He has an unclean spirit.'”

As that sin cannot be committed today, as the Pharisees of that day are all dead, the “unpardonable sin” is more of an unpardonable state – the state of disbelief, the denial of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the only way to salvation. This rejection come by atheistic means, by the denial of Jesus through the worship of other, false gods, or empty-hearted or heretical use of His name (those who unrepentantly blaspheme God by teaching false doctrines that are not found in Scripture, those who twist and distort God's word and teach lies. Revelation 22:15 mentions “whoever loves and practices a lie” as among those who are “outside” New Jerusalem).

It should be noted that when “sinners” are mentioned as those condemned to hell, this refers to unrepentant sinners: those whose flagrant disregard for God's warning attempts to make a mockery of His commands; those who have been rebuked and taught many times, but deny that God is against their doings and continue in them with abandon and delight.

Those who use the name of Jesus in an empty and insincere manner for personal gain, but whose hearts are far from Him, will find themselves in hell. Jesus declared, “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’” (Matthew 15:7-8).

Jesus describes those who emptily use His name but do not heed His commandments, and what awaits them at the final Judgment: ““Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked” and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life”” (Matthew 25:41-46).

How can a spirit feel physical agony?

This question comes from our limited perception of spiritual things. We cannot help this limitation as we are in our current condition, spiritual but bound by flesh and elements, though we look forward to a day when we will be free of our earthly limitations and understand wonders and mysteries of God. As Paul writes, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Paul later writes, concerning this dichotomy and rigor of living spiritual lives in physical bodies, “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee” (2 Corinthians 4:1-5).

We, being so used to thinking of things physically and materially, are often baffled by the idea of a spirit – in theory not limited to physical things – experiencing pain. Pain, which we only know in physical and psychological ways. But we forget that torment is not limited to the physical. Think of the worst emotional times of your life. Did it not feel as though something deeper than just a psychological, chemical reaction was happening? Did it not feel as though your very being was held in the grip of pain? Did you find yourself thinking a physical ailment would be a relief compared to your sorrows, regrets, fears, and anxieties?

Think of this and multiply it by eternity.

As previously mentioned, what makes hell truly hell is the permanent absence of God. And that would truly render any soul in a state of eternal agony.

If there are already people in hell,

why will they be judged again?

Much like the heaven that exists now, the hell that exists now is not the “ultimate version.” Jesus tells the believing thief who was crucified with Him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). In the aforementioned story of the rich man and Lazarus, He describes in beautiful terms what happened to Lazarus upon his death: “So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom” (Luke 16:22). This is a "temporary heaven," so to speak, that will be immensely overshadowed by the final residence of those saved by Jesus Christ, that is, New Jerusalem: “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 21:22 – 22:1-5).

The afterlife for believers that exists now is no doubt a beautiful place, but it surely pales in comparison to the one where all believers will ultimately live forever. This New Jerusalem comes after the Judgment at the Great White Throne.

But those souls for whom a true Christian should weep are likewise in a temporary place: a horrible form of torment indeed, but their current place of agony will be outdone by the “lake of fire,” the ultimate and everlasting punishment, as mentioned earlier. This fate too comes after the Great White Throne.

It must be stressed that the “temporary hell” is not purgatory. The false doctrines of purgatory and other similar ideas imply that these lost souls can be refined or purified after death, or prayed for and saved after death, and that their spiritual state is more of intermediacy than agony. However, there is absolutely nothing in Scripture to suggest such a state after death for the atheist, agnostic, or unrepentant sinner. Death is permanent, as are one's choices and beliefs they held at the time their soul departed. These cannot be atoned for in the afterlife. One must accept Christ while they live on Earth.

What happens between death and final Judgment?

The notion of purgatory brings us to a question often asked and debated among Christians and non-believers alike: when we die, are we in a state of “spiritual sleep,” a kind of unconsciousness in which our souls are reserved for the Day of Judgment? Or are we, as described, sent to bliss or banishment?

Ecclesiastes 12:7, after describing the difficult final days of a human being and their approaching death, states, “the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.” Paul, as we have already seen, refers to the dead who lived in Christ as being “asleep.” Chapter 12 of the book of the prophet Daniel tells us, while describing an end and a rising of the dead, uses similar language: “many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.”

These verses certainly suggest that bliss or damnation are not found immediately after death, but rather that the soul is kept in a sort of rest or reserve until Judgment. Other verses however, support the notion that one's soul tastes their ultimate eternal fate right away. Jesus' account of Lazarus and the rich man, which the author has already asserted to be a true story and not a parable, describes a complete consciousness and torment while those who still live on Earth continue to do so - the rich man mentions his brothers who have not yet died.

This debate could go on for days between two Christians, or between a Christian and a non-believer, but debating and arguing never led a soul to Jesus. Whichever scenario is correct, the bottom line is made clear by Scripture: there is an eternal paradise and an eternal damnation that exist for the believer and the non-believer respectively. Whether the soul is taken to the bosom of Abraham or to the bosom of fire as soon as its body ceases to live, both are permanent, one is amazing, the other is abhorrent.

What this author believes on the debate is clear, but there are things in Scripture that even a believer cannot be absolutely dogmatic about. However, this does not apply to issues of salvation – that God's Word is inerrant and Divinely Authored, and that repentance from sin and acceptance of His Son Jesus is the only way to eternal life. Christians can disagree on non-salvational points in Scripture without having to accuse one another of heresy: “is the soul conscious after death?”, “did Jesus die only for 'the elect'?” “is the 'behemoth' described in Job an elephant or a dinosaur?” These are not core issues of the doctrine of Christ.

Is the soul simply destroyed in hell?

The Scripturally unsound “annihilationist” view of hell contends that, after a punishment equal to one’s degree of wickedness, the soul simply “dies” and ceases to exist, or that the afterlife for unbelievers is simply the annihilation of the soul. Proponents of this view will note that the lake of fire described in Revelation is referred to as “the second death,” or will twist the meaning of Romans 6:23 to make a summary of their view of the contrast of hell and heaven – “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

But what the annihilationist fails to understand is that this verse, with the rest of the fifth and sixth chapters of Romans (and Bible verses must be understood in context, as with any other document), is not telling us a life lived in unrepentant sin leads to merely the end of one’s soul after physical death. It is actually describing the result of sin on Earth; that the reason death reigns in our world is because of the transgression of Adam and Eve (Romans 5:12-21). These passages tell us that sin and death go hand in hand; it was a result of sin in the Garden of Eden that death came into the world – “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” This did not mean Adam and Even would instantly drop dead, but rather that they would surely become subject to decay and death, contrary to the life God had given them in His Garden.

But as Romans 6:23 tells us, it was as a result of sin that Christ died to atone for our wrongs, to offer us the free gift of everlasting life.

The death described in this verse does not refer to a simple snuffing out of the soul. Jesus Himself refers to eternity for the unrepentant as “everlasting punishment” (Matthew 25:46).

In fairness, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Jesus' words in Matthew 10:28. Though I don't believe it describes the soul's end, the text is as follows (NKJV) - "do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

Are there “levels” of hell?

Concerning a question many people ask, “is hell the same for everyone who goes there?”, I’d have to say no. There are different rewards in heaven, and I believe there are different degrees, so to speak, of hell. Jesus tells the village of Capernaum, because of their unbelief even after the miracles He performed, that it will be “more tolerable” for Sodom and Gomorrah than for Capernaum on the Day of Judgment.

I don’t believe the average agnostic or atheist will experience the same kind of torment as people like Nero or Stalin. Some people, like Osama bin Laden or Hitler, might find themselves cast into a much more agonizing form of eternal damnation.

This is another non-salvational issue that does not affect the doctrine of Christ or His Scripture. I could very well be wrong about different “degrees” of suffering in hell.

But, again, the bottom line is that hell is eternal, unbearable anguish for anyone who goes there, be they the passive one who never found time or reason to repent, or the tyrant who suppressed the name of Jesus and killed their own citizens. And the reason, again, is the absence of God and His rich mercy.

Is Satan in charge of hell?

No. Satan will be cast into the lake of fire and be subject to eternal torment: “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).

He will not reign in hell. The Bible says that Satan's dominion is actually our world. Paul mentions the devil's spiritual activity in this world: “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience...” (Ephesians 2:1-2). “The prince of the power of the air” refers to Satan and his demonic influence and battles against those in Christ.

Paul also calls Satan “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4). John says, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19).

Addressing the church in Pergamos, Jesus refers to the evil spiritual dominion Satan has established: “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells” (Revelation 2:13).

It must be remembered that God is not the “good God” and Satan “the bad god.” Satan is a created being, and is subject to the will of God, who is sovereign. The devil can only go so far as God allows, and is only given what God allows. See the beginning chapters of the story of Job for an example.

Did Jesus mention hell?

Jesus talks about hell more than other figure in the Bible. A term often translated “hell” when spoken by Jesus in the New Testament is “Gehenna.” Gehenna was once the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and became a synonym for abomination and wickedness. It was there that two of Judah’s most wicked kings, Ahaz and Manasseh, sacrificed their children to the false god Molech. Gehenna became a place for burning refuse, a landfill, and in Jewish apocalyptic literature, a synonym for hell itself. In the ninth chapter of Mark’s account, Jesus, speaking to Jews who would be familiar with the connotation of the name of the valley, says that the fire of hell (“Gehenna”) “shall never be quenched.” Also in this chapter, Jesus quotes from Isaiah 66:24, describing a worm that does not die, and a fire that is not quenched.

Jesus also describes eternal torment in His condemnation of those who proclaimed Him but did not love Him: “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:46).

Perhaps most stirringly, He says in John 5:28-29: "for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."

How should a Christian feel about hell?

Unrelenting sorrow. Not delight or glee at the thought of anyone spending their eternity there. To get to hell, one must deny and never know Jesus. And why would a Christian want that for anyone?

How should a Christian tell others about hell?

They shouldn't. A Christian's focus should be sharing the good news – that is, the Gospel – of Jesus Christ. Our focus should not be the damnation that awaits those who reject this Gospel. Undoubtedly, in conversations about Jesus and the Bible, the subject of hell can arise, and a Christian should not be hesitant to be honest about the reality of hell. But no one will listen to those who only rave about fire and brimstone.

The center of Christian evangelism must be centered on Jesus and the light and life He offers, both on Earth and in eternity.

"Conscience: Judas" by Nikolai Ge

Jesus Dreams of Egypt

 A strange thought occurred to me. 

About when You were in Egypt. When Joseph and Mary took You and fled to Egypt because of Herod and the massacre of the innocents. When You were there, on Earth, in the flesh, in the form of a small Child, in Egypt - what did You think about?

I mean, there You were, a helpless Child in the place You once...just, ravaged with plagues and death. More than once, actually. Egypt felt Your wrath many times. Maybe not always in the form of frogs and hailstones, but always in death. But that first time, the big one, the time everybody remembers, when You slew the firstborn of Egypt...and now, there You were, kept safe, harbored like a fugitive, by the people You terrorized.

It made me think about myself. We're like that here. You know that. I thought of You as a Child, stirring on a bed of straw or something, dreaming...did You ever dream of Egypt? Did You ever dream of when You turned the river to blood? 

Did You think about it when You were wide awake? Maybe when You were playing in a field or something. Maybe You saw some place, some barren little patch, and remembered some Egyptian child You struck down on that spot a thousand years before?

I thought about myself, like I said. And how You have the divine right, the sovereignty, to absolutely obliterate me if You saw fit. Just like You had the right to drown Pharaoh's army. Just like You had the right to slay the firstborn. You give power and You take it away, and You had the right to send the Persians and anybody else You saw fit to conquer Egypt. 

And there You were, snug and secure, safe from that madman Herod, safe in Egypt. Of all places. Knowing You'd broken them in pieces so many times. Knowing someday somebody might say You were the madman.

I think of Your right to destroy. I think of Your right to destroy me. Not just my body, but to send me to hell. I know they say I'm not supposed to say that, that You send people to hell. They tell me I'm supposed to say, "people send themselves to hell when  they choose to reject Jesus." And I get it, but it just makes it sound like I'm apologizing for You. Like I'm apologizing for the whole idea of hell. But I just can't bring myself to believe You're wrong. There are plenty of people long dead who it would make me very upset to know they're not in hell right now. 

So I don't apologize for You. And if You're not wrong, then You wouldn't be wrong to harden my heart and abandon me to evil. To just stop giving me strength, to cut off all Your help. 

The Calvinists like to talk about it a lot. About how You "predestine" some people for hell. Like they don't ever have a chance. I don't think I agree. But I know You'd have the sovereign right to do such a thing. 

I'd dread telling the Calvinists I think they're right. Knowing how they are, they'd probably tell me, "yeah we already know."

A guy told me once that when You drowned Pharaoh's army, the angels rejoiced, but You rebuked them. You told the angels that the Israelites could rejoice, because the Egyptians had tried to destroy them, but that You, You didn't want to rejoice over drowning the army - they were people You'd created, people You'd given life. And You mourned having to destroy them. 

Is that true? Or is it just some extra-Biblical thing, like a fable? I like to think it's true. After all it, it does fit You. You mourned a lot. You mourned on the mountains by Yourself, You mourned when they killed John the Baptist, You mourned when Lazarus was dead. 

And You mourned on the cross. Talk about sovereign choices. You chose to suffer and die for me. For everybody, even for Egypt. 

Did You weep while You slept on Your bed of straw? Did You dream of how many Egyptians You'd destroyed, and it knotted up Your guts, Your very human guts, to dream of those slain firstborn? Did You mourn when You woke up from the dreams, knowing what You'd do when You were grown up, knowing what they'd do to You on that cross, knowing it was the only way You'd never have to brutalize anybody again?

Unless, like I said, You send them to hell for rejecting You. In Egypt, did You dream about everybody, Egyptian, Jew, Gentile, that someday You'd destroy in hell? Did You dream of someone somewhere two thousand years later, screaming at the sky that You don't have any right? 

What did You dream? I wonder. But I know I don't really want to know. 

I'd go mad if I knew the things You had to bear in Your dreams.

Christians, Stop Apologizing For Hell

I've often told the story of the Bible verse that freed me from the wrong kind of apologetics. That is, the idea that if I explained the more difficult parts of the Bible in just the right way, or depicted them in just the right light, a skeptic or non-believer would accept those things in the Christian doctrine that are, even for many Christians, hard to accept. The verse was Genesis 38:7 - "But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord killed him."
A simple and unassuming verse. Unassuming except for the part where God kills a guy. But there it was, in plain black and white, with no footnote added, no theological context to remind the reader of God's sovereignty and right to give and take life, no information on the degree or manner of Er's wickedness to try and make God seem more justified in taking his life. It was simple: "The Lord killed him."

Somehow, this verse reminded me that God does not need a dullard like me to defend Him, explain Him, or try to make Him look right - He's God and He is above such requirements. He is above the need for human approval or justification; this is why Jesus tells the Pharisees who were indignant at the praise the people were giving to Him, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out" (Luke 19:40). I don't mean "defense" in the same sense as Peter does when he instructs us to give a defense for our faith - a reason we believe, a reason for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15). I mean this in the sense that for years I thought my articulation and logic would lead people to Christ; and what I was essentially thinking was, the only way to God was through Christ, but the only way to Christ was through me and my awesome apologetics and speeches.

I think that as Christians we sometimes feel a need to explain certain parts of the Bible in a way to make them seem less abrasive, less uncomfortable. The doctrine of eternal damnation for non-believers is one of the hardest, saddest truths we face as believers in God's holy Word. No Christian should desire for anyone to go to hell, and that should therefore be one of the reasons we must strive to show love and share the good news of Christ before the Judgment: "And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:15). What kind of hatred could a believer have to not share the Gospel that leads to eternal life? Why would we want anyone to spend eternity without God's love and presence? That's what hell is, after all. The permanent absence of God is worse than the fire.

So, many times we find ourselves using this shopworn expression to try and explain God's actions as if they were wrong, or at least suspect. We say:
"God doesn't send people to hell - people choose to go to hell when they deny Him."

In essence, this is basically true. People choose to deny Christ, and in doing so mark themselves for eternity without Him. But when we say this, we gloss over the sovereignty of God. We try and sugarcoat the fact that, being an omnipotent and perfect Creator, He is the only Being with the right to save or to damn, to kill or to give life.
This morning I happened to be reading about the destruction of Jericho in the book of Joshua. A verse even more troubling that God's sudden destruction of Judah's wicked son made me groan and think, "Lord, You're not making this easy on me." The verse was: "And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword." This verse is not unique in the Old Testament, as many times in ancient Israel's various wars, this was standard protocol.

Yeah, I know.

But I don't need to apologize for God (and I'm not talking about the practice of apologetics). My God is sovereign and perfect, with the right to direct life and death for His Creations. I could go into detail about how, under the New Covenant of Jesus, God's wrath has been satisfied through His sacrifice on the cross. I could make winding and longwinded explanations about the Mosaic Law and how it's been fulfilled through Jesus, so there's no more need for stoning adulterers and adulteresses to death. I could use semantics and theological terms to explain why, if God's wrath was satisfied through Christ, there is still a hell and not everyone will go to heaven. But if I did so with the thought that it would lead a person to accept Him, I would only be fooling myself and, worse, trying to paint a picture of a God that I like, rather than accepting His sovereign judgments, no matter how difficult they may be to accept sometimes (many times).

Hell is a real place. I don't want anyone to go there, but I know they will. I would have thrown up had I seen the bloody destruction of Jericho. But if I want to accept God as He is - and He is perfect - I must accept that He has the divine right to ordain such gutwrenching things. And I must remember that He played by the rules you and I face, suffering on the cross the wrath shown to Jericho so that a New Covenant could be made, a peace could be made, that you and I would have the chance to know Him. And knowing Him, we know more than an angry God, but a God with such depth, mercy, kindness, and love, all of it wrapped in an unbreakable holiness: mercy, kindness, and love we often think is absent when we read of the things He did in ancient times - and will do at another foreordained time.

And, after all, who would want to lower themselves to only worship a god they can understand?

Cpt. Bud's Devotionals, 11-22-15: "Bin Laden Blues: Thoughts On Hell"

A few years ago, I wrote (very "green") blogs and online sermons under the guise of the character Strother Lee Fiddlebear, a recovering laudanum addict from Big Spring Station, Nebraska. On April 19, 2011, Strother, filled with thoughts of eternity, posted a plea titled "Bin Laden in the Bouquet." It was a somewhat naive challenge to other Christians to pray for Osama bin Laden, then the most wanted terrorist in the world, that he would come to know Christ, and turn himself in to authorities.

Just a dozen or so days later, Osama bin Laden was killed after almost a decade of being the most wanted murderer in the world.

Across America, celebrations broke out at the news of bin Laden's death. Chants of "USA!" filled the air. The man who had devised the murders of thousands was dead. But in addition to those patriotic chants were the disgusted rebukes of some - I heard others say it was a shameful display that we would celebrate so openly for the death of an enemy. I suppose it was, in a vague way, in the same vein as Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox; when news reached the Union troops, celebratory cannon fire began, but Ulysses Grant, being the class act he was, promptly ordered it to be stopped.
I don't know what Strother Lee Fiddlebear thought of it, but at the time, I was irked by those voices. I thought of them as pseudo-intellectuals, obnoxiously struggling to find something else wrong with America.

But now, I feel those voices were right to object to the cheering and champagne. Their reason might not be mine, but the fact is this: Osama bin Laden has gone to eternal condemnation. Why should I be glad that he, or anyone, denied Christ who saves?

For a moment, let's think about what hell truly is. I'd often heard the phrase "hell was not made for humans," which puzzled me, until I realized it referred to Jesus' words about those who will be turned away from entering heaven. He describes a place "prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41). It's not necessarily as if God has said, "let there be a place of torment for people who don't believe in Me." But even so, there remains a hideous place of everlasting anguish to which the wicked and unbelieving will go. Those who believe in a doctrine of "universal salvation," or any belief that after death everyone goes to some happy or neutral place, might say God would never allow those He loves to go there. But, again, let's think about what hell is, and who goes to hell - it's a place where God is forever absent, and the place where evil and unbelieving people go. So, if someone lives their life denying Christ and His love, His mercy, His providence, in hell they now find themselves where all those things are true - where this is no God, none of His mercy, none of His love, none of His providence.

Hell, and heaven, are in a way extensions of how one lived their life on Earth. If I deny Christ, I go to a place where He truly is not. If I embrace Him, I continue to live in His presence and love in heaven.

As for the agony of hell, I think pain and torment are the only things that can result from God being absent. If God were to remove His presence from the entire city of Amarillo, Texas, and His Spirit from everyone in it, the city would naturally fall into a place of "weeping and gnashing of teeth."

The universalist might also argue that God's wrath fell on Jesus as He died on the cross, that He has taken the punishment for our sins, in our place. Indeed He has. This is absolutely true. But, again, a gift that is made possible must also be accepted - if a child rejects a birthday gift, it doesn't mean the gift doesn't exist. It means the child has rejected the gift and is without it and its benefits. And hell is a place where the blessings of the gift they denied are indeed not there.

Those I found to be obnoxious dilettantes in May 2011 were right. It's no laughing matter or occasion for delight that Osama bin Laden, or anyone, is in hell - if we delight in the thought of anyone in hell, we delight that they've rejected the one and only Savior. Hell is a place that, if we truly believe in God's love and the splendor of eternity with Him, we should never desire for anyone to go. And if we believe in Him and the salvation He offers, we must let His light shine through us; we must sacrifice, we must love, we must risk the breaking of our hearts to point just one more person to the bliss of His everlasting arms.

OHMS,
Cpt. Bud Sturguess

"And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt." -Daniel 12:2

Wolves in Wolves' Clothing: Last Thoughts on Fred Phelps

In 2011, I watched as many condemned other Americans for celebrating the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed.
Now in 2014, I watch as many of those same people celebrate that Fred Phelps, founder of the notoriously anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, died last night.

At first I was irritated by those who scolded the people who rejoiced at bin Laden's death, but they were right. I was glad that a terrorist and enemy to the sanctity of human life had been eliminated, but why should I rejoice that someone is now in hell - the only place where God's love is perpetually absent, and no chance to repent is ever found again? That's what makes it hell, after all.

I'd hesitate to make the blatant assumption that Mr. Phelps did not repent on his deathbed; I hope he did, but I can't prove it. If he didn't, I'm sorry to say I believe he'll be sent to everlasting condemnation on the Day of Judgment. I don't think anyone who unrepentantly does things that mislead people about the doctrine of Christ, about God Himself, enters the kingdom of heaven. And Mr. Phelps, and the hypocrites like him, have driven so many away from the Savior by their hatred.

Fred Phelps' death should rightly only bring Christ's disciples sorrow and a churning in our stomachs. Hopefully, we recognize that churning as the Spirit groaning inside us, convicting us to "do good and put to silence the ignorance of foolish men," as the apostle Peter wrote, so that the illusion of the Great Deceiver, the devil himself, might be shattered, even if that illusion is worked through wolves in sheep's clothing - or in the case of Westboro Baptist Church, wolves in wolves' clothing.
"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’" -our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Matthew 7:21-23