Scared to Death

Q: Several weeks ago I read 23 Minutes in Hell (by Bill Weise). For the past couple of nights, nightmares have caused me to wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. Is the biblical Hell as horrible as I think it is?

v Lyle D., Orlando, FL

A: The Bible describes Hell as a place of choking smoke, and blazing heat (from the lake of fire), which can cause unquenchable dehydration and excruciating skin blisters. There will be a constant smell of rotten eggs (from the sulfur also known as brimstone) and burning flesh. A person’s lifestyle can make the path to Hell is wide and easy to travel on.

As much as one might find death a welcome thing in this abode of everlasting torment, that option is unavailable from the prisoners in this God-forsaken place. (Once you’re in Hell; your soul is eternally lost.)

The poor unfortunate beings present here may break their teeth due to the extreme grinding that their jaw is doing as a result of the horrid physical issues their bodies are currently experiencing. There is never a moment of rest from all this doom and gloom.

Because Hell is a bottomless pit, its inhabitants will experience the instability of forever falling. Maggots (or worms) will never die as they burrow into anyone’s flesh. In regards to your emotions, there will be everlasting regret, loneliness, fear, depression, and anxiety. It is better to go into Hell maimed than with all your body parts intact.

Other moaning tortured souls and fallen angels will be somewhere in your vicinity, but you’ll have no way of knowing where due to the total darkness. (The fiery furnace below will provide little light.)

The once heavenly angels here that have fallen are now turned into mischievous, grotesque demons. Who knows the atrocities they and their boss, the Devil, might do on the inhabitants fragile physiques.

 Just as those written in the Lamb’s Book of Life are safely protected in Heaven (see Out of this World), the names of the unsaved not recorded in the Book of Life are currently rotting in Hell.   

Author Julie Ferwerda believes that the above traditional view of Hell is not consistent with the message of love of Jesus Christ portrayed in the gospels. Instead, she has a very different opinion about this subject in her book, Raising Hell: Christianity’s Most Controversial Doctrine Put under Fire. You may find it a valuable reading venture.

Hell is not a place one has to end up in when they die. It does not matter how bad they have been in their earthly life. There is no way I will spend one moment in this unpleasant place. What about you? Make a choice now for a different afterlife before it’s too late (See Salvation by the Book). 

*Biblical passages used for the Hell summary: Matthew 7:13, 13:50, 16:26-27, 18:8-9, Mark 9:48, Luke 16:19-31, II Thessalonians 1:9, II Peter 2:4, Revelation 9:2, 14:11, 20:1-15, 21:8