Hell

What of this Hell? Is it real? Is it eternal? Some say no, others say yes, and the rest of them could just care less.

Let's start here. A 1996 survey gave this return: 31% of Americans believe hell is a literal place; 37% believe hell is not a literal place, but represents a state of permanent separations from the presence of God; 19% believe it is merely symbolic; and 10% were undecided on the issue of hell.

So, now that we have seen how people feel about this hell, why did it ever come into being?

Who was the first to defy God? It was Satan and one third of the angels in Heaven who rebelled against God. We are told what happened to some of those angels, in II Peter 2:4, when they sinned: “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.”

Really? So this is a holding tank before judgment? Yes, it is. In the original Greek. The word for ‘cast down to hell’ is tartaroo.

[All Greek definitions are in red.]

Tartaroo; from Tartaros (the deepest abyss of Hades); to incarcerate in eternal torment: – cast down to hell.

Well that was the fallen angels, but what about humans that go to hell? A perfect example of this is the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man. (Luke 16:19-31). Let's see what happened to the rich man in hell.

Luke:16:22: 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;

Luke:16:23: And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

Luke:16:24: 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.

Luke:16:25: 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.

Luke:16:26: 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.

Luke:16:27: Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house:

Luke:16:28: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

First take a look at verse 23 and the word in the Greek for hell. The word is hades, found in several different passages of the New Testament. (Matt. 11:23; 16:18; Luke 10:15; 16:23; Acts 2:27,31; I Cor. 15:55; Rev. 1:18; 6:8; 20:13,14)

Hades; prop. Unseen, i.e. “Hades” or the place (state) of departed souls: – grave, hell.

What was this man's state? A state of torments! It is Torture. And in that condition, what did the rich man ask for? He wanted a drop of water to cool his tongue. For what reason? Because he was being ‘tormented in this flame.’ Let's examine...

The word for tormented in Greek is odunao. And the word for Flame in the Greek is phlox.

Odunao; to grieve: – sorrow, torment.

Phlox; from a prim. Phlego (to “flash” or “flame”); a blaze: – flame (-ing).

Now what have we learned so far? This man, for his unrighteousness, was cast into hell after his death. His physical body was decomposing in the ground, but his soul could see, hear, feel, taste, realize, beg for mercy and fear for his brothers. Anything else? Yes, the man was being tormented IN flames. He was NOT close to the flames or simply seeing flames, he was IN them!!! The scriptures do not lie.

One more little tidbit. What is this place? A “place of torment!” (Luke 16:28)

The majority of references to Hades and Gehenna (15 out of 23) come from the lips of Christ. [Vincent, Robert D., Frontline Magazine]

Now we must make a decision about two different words. Hades and Gehenna. And we must also realize a generalized word. Hell, throughout the Scriptures, has been placed as the English word for both Hades and Gehenna. But in the original Greek we see that one of these words is cast into the Eternal Lake of Fire and the other is not. (Rev. 20:14) The other, Gehenna, is “fire that shall never be quenched” (Mark 9:43). Therefore, what must Gehenna be? It is the Eternal Lake of Fire.

Reve:20:14: And death and hell [hades] were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Death [our physical bodies in the grave] and hell [hades where souls go after physical death] are both cast in the Eternal Lake of Fire. But isn't death at the beginning of the verse and the end of the verse the same in the original Greek? Yes, but the distinction is made by two sentences. This sentence “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire” defines the second one – the SECOND death. The second death is not annihilation. How could it be? The second death is the body and the soul going into an ETERNAL lake of fire.

In Mark 9: 43-48 Christ tells explicitly that it would be better to remove the part of the body that causes one to stumble, then to enter into Gehenna physically whole and burn for eternity. From this we fully realize that Gehenna is a real physical fire to burn the physical body for eternity, as well as the spiritual soul.

Still, what of those who say that the duration of Gehenna is NOT everlasting or NOT actual hell fire? Ahh yes, there are those who do say that, but they deny the very words of Christ when they claim this.

Who are these people? There is to much to write on what they have said so I encourage you to go to this web page: Taking The Fire Out Of Hell

One of the clearest verses on the Eternal Lake of Fire is Rev. 20:10:

“And 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.”

Let's examine this verse. Fire and Brimstone in the Greek are pur and theion, respectively.

Pur; a prim word; “fire” (lit. Or fig., spec. lightning): – fiery, fire.

Theion; prob. Neut. Of Theios (in its original sense of flashing); sulphur: – brimstone.

The Greek word for tormented is Basanizo.

Basanizo; from Basanos; to torture: – pain, toil, torment, toss, vex.

Aion is the Greek word used for our word ‘ever.’ It is repeated as is the English.

Aion; from the same as Aei; prop. an age; by extens. perpetuity (also past); by impl. the world; spec. (Jewish) a Messianic period (present or future): – age, course, eternal, (for) ever (-more), [n-]ever, (beginning of the, while the) world (began, without end).

Aei; from an obs. prim. noun (appar. mean. continued duration); “ever;” by qualification regularly; by impl. earnestly: – always, ever.

So we have the Greek analysis, lets put it together. What do we know of sulphur? It is a very destructive element to our physical body. What do we know of fire? I think everyone can answer that themselves. This is what the lake of Gehenna is like. Those who go there are tormented painfully by the sulphur and fire, day and night, everlasting!

Now we KNOW that Gehenna will be an everlasting place of torment “where the worm dieth not” (Mark 9:44,46,48) and the fire “never shall be quenched” (Mark 9:43).

Hades and Gehenna are described in these ways:

Mark 9:47: "Hell fire"

Mark 9:43: "the fire that never shall be quenched"

Mark 9:44,46,48: "where the worm dieth not"

Luke 16:24: "tormented in this flame"

Matt. 25:46: "everlasting punishment"

Rev. 20:10: "tormented day and night forever and ever"

Rev. 20:15: "cast into the lake of fire"

Rev. 14:10: "tormented with fire and brimstone"

Matt. 13:42,50: "cast into the furnace of fire"

Matt. 25:41: "depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire."

Matt. 22:13: "cast him into outer darkness"

Let us all remember these words:

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.

Wouldn't it be great for the sinner to know that he could live like the Devil, fulfilling all his lusts, his hate, and his denial of Christ; And in the end know that he would not have to spend an eternity of punishment by God, but only have to spend a little time of punishment until he was annihilated or cleansed of his sin? Wouldn't it be Grand for him?

This is what some believe today. They are known as Universalists and Conditionalists. They preach this falsehood and expect people to care about the lost, when they say the lost won't suffer eternally but only for a time.

[Greek words and definitions come from the Greek dictionary of the New Testament, James Strong, S.T.D., LL.D.; Zodhiates Complete Word Study N.T.]

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UNIVERSALISM contends that an endless Hell is inconsistent with the character of God and will not be necessary. A God of love will not allow any to perish unendingly. Instead, God will bring all men to repentance either without Hell or by means of a purgatory-like Hell. Universalism has a broad appeal because of the positive nature of its message: everybody wins. [Millard J. Erickson, "Is Universalistic Thinking Now Appearing among Evangelicals?" United Evangelical Action, Sept./Oct. 1989, pp. 4-6. Erickson is not a universalist. He identifies the growing problem.]

CONDITIONALISM holds that a believer receives immortality at salvation. The wicked, however, remain mortal and thus are either extinguished at death or annihilated in Hell. [Within conditionalism two primary groups have emerged. Some insist that the wicked suffer prolonged punishment in Hell prior to being annihilated. Others believe the wicked are annihilated almost immediately after they are judged at the end of the age.] The popular attractiveness of this view is that it initially appears to be much closer to the Biblical view than Universalism. Straddling between the traditional view and Universalism, conditionalism seeks to supplant them both as the solution for those who recognize the Scriptural deficiencies of Universalism but who find endless punishment too distasteful. Conditionalism and Universalism have the same goal: both desire an eschatological universe completely free of sinners. They differ only in how to get there. Universalism saves everybody. Conditionalism annihilates the unsaved.

[Vincent, Robert D., Frontline Magazine]

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This heresy must be stopped and pushed back by all of Christendom, lest the true doctrine fall to man's own invention. Christ's own words warn of the everlasting punishment that is to come to ALL unbelievers. But for those who say nay to the words of Christ, I say that they must answer to God for all those they mislead.

Let us come together with God's Word and heed its warning!

I have given you God's Holy Scripture and shown you what Christ said to all who would listen. It is up to you to decide what you will believe, but I warn you, do not let yourselves be mislead! Believe the sound doctrine of God's Word and separate yourselves from the unsound inventions of man.

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