Defending the doctrine of the existence of Hell, refuting Annihilationism, and refuting the “Jesus went to Hell” heresy
1 Corinthians 6:9-10) “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:19-21) “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
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.”
Revelation 22:14-15) “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”
- The reality and details of Hell will have many people having differing opinions and beliefs, but what must remain true regardless of personal opinion is what the Scriptures teach.
- The fact that Christ Himself taught more about Hell than He did Heaven says a lot about the truth of the existence of it despite how many hate the thought of it and try to deny it or prove it away. And no the Devil does not control it as many think, he roams the earth as a roaring lion leading astray as many as he can, who is the “spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience“, and “the god of this world who hath blinded the minds of them“, just like the rest of the demons do as well. No demons are in Hell, and we see that with the recalling of the story of the demoniac “Legion” that fell at Jesus feet and said “We know who thou art, Jesus thou Son of God, have you come to torment us before the time?“. They know that their time is coming, that they will be cast into the Lake of Fire, so they try to cause as much damage on earth as they can before “the time“.
Revelation 20:10-15) “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. And 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. And 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. And 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. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
John 5:28-29) “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” – we are resurrected to eternal life and they to eternal damnation
Matthew 13:41-42) “The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
Matthew 25:46) “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” – eternal condemnation vs eternal life
Revelation 14:9-11) “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”
- Hell as people think is majorly different than the actual truth, whereas Hell is not just one single place. First there is the “holding place of the wicked” where those that die unsaved will go and stay until judgement day. Christ gave us a picture of that in His recounting the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man in Luke 16:19-31, where the rich man asked Lazarus to cool his tongue because he was tormented in flames. Many though reject that because they say that it was just a parable, but the fact that Christ said “There WAS a certain rich man” and did not say it was a parable, nor does he even allude to it being a parable lends to the truth of the event. Also the Rich Man upon death IMMEDIATELY opened his eyes in torment, he was sent to Hell as soon as he died.
- The Bottomless Pit is a completely different thing, it was a created holding place for the extremely powerful and wicked ones of the fallen angels that God had to lock up, and they are reserved there and will be let out in their time in Revelations. We see this in the book of Jude, and in Revelations when the angel unlocks the pit the hordes of these go up like a thick cloud and they look like beasts.
- The Lake of Fire is the ultimate and final punishment, this is the “Hell” the second death, the second separation, the final prison. This is the place that God created for the Devil and his angels, and this is where the souls of the damned will be sent after the final Great White Throne Judgment. “Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire and torment” this is that Hell, and not the temporary “holding place Hell” where people go when they die. They will be brought up body and soul for a final judgment and then cast into the lake of fire like they were cast into Hell, and they will be just as aware there as they were in Hell.
- Annihilationism is a false doctrine, as Scripture is very clear that they will be tormented forever and not just go into oblivion. We were made in the image of God, and a part of this is eternal life – either in Heaven or in Hell depending on your belief in Christ for salvation from your sins. The idea of mortal souls, souls that can be destroyed, was made up by the cults – like Charles Russel of the JW’s and Ellen White of the SDA.
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.”
- 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.”
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.”
Mark 9:48) “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”
Hell in general however has become synonymous with one single great and horrible place, but in truth is actually 2 places. First there is the holding place of the wicked which is temporary, and finally the Lake of Fire which is eternal and there is no coming out of. Once a person dies they will go to “Sheol” the place of the dead/damned, and then on the day of Judgment they will be taken out and Judged by God and then cast away into eternal damnation in the Lake of Fire for all eternity, and then Satan, Death, Hell, and all the forces of the Demonic will be cast into the Lake of Fire as well for all eternity.
- Also on a side note, Purgatory is a made up lie, it does not exist and never will. Purgatory was made up by the Roman Catholic Church as a way to get around the truth of the real Hell. Purgatory according to Catholic doctrine is a place that ALL people go and suffer and atone for their own sin, and after a while they ALL get out and go to Heaven. Purgatory doctrine teaches that NOBODY goes to Hell, that all people go to Heaven eventually. This is a lie of the devil and doctrine of demons, a false Gospel that preaches that there ultimately is no real consequence for sin and Christ’s death was actually pointless.
Did Jesus go to Hell? NO. But He did go to Sheol.
Many actually believe He did actually go to Hell, but this is just all a confusion and misunderstanding of the details of Sheol “the place of the dead“.
When it says that His spirit went down “He that ascended is the same that descended“, this is referring to the Hell that was Sheol. Sheol WAS a 2 part holding place, one side being paradise and across the gulf was the place of torment, and Christ paints this picture with His story of Lazarus and the Rich Man.
Christ went to paradise where He preached to the souls to explain to them the reason they were there (1 Peter 3:19), and He did so from the Paradise section.
- 1 Peter 3:18-20) “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.“
And after He rose again He “led captivity captive” meaning that those souls in Paradise in Sheol were taken up to Heaven when He rose to life.
- Ephesians 4:8-10) “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)“
The suffering that He did was the death on the Cross and the separation from the Father when the sin was imputed upon Him. But when He died it was over “It is finished” and after that He was reunited to the Father. Christ never suffered for our sins in Hell, He suffered on the Cross. The main misunderstanding of this comes from the confusion around the details of Sheol.
And to say that Christ suffered in Hell would then mean that the work of the Cross was insufficient.
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