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Introduction
Those who faithfully preach and teach the Word must include the subject of Hell. Just as Jesus did (Mat. 10:28), we warn people about Hell and its torments. We tell all who will listen about God’s grace through Christ’s death. We tell them what the Bible teaches they must do in order to be saved from the practice and eternal consequences of unforgiven sin. We urge Christians to live such a life of purity and service that the Lord will not have to send them away into everlasting punishment at The Judgment (25:46).
As awful as the Bible depicts it to be, it is only right for us to consider another fact about Hell: Along with its evil environment (Rom. 1:26–27; 1 Cor. 6:9–10; Gal. 5:19–21; Rev. 21:8; et al.) and unending torment (Mat. 25:46; 2 The. 1:8–9; Rev. 20:10; et al.), it is nonetheless a place of eternal shelter and relief. It will provide a haven for its inhabitants from many of the things that so greatly irritated them and that they despised and rejected in their earthly sojourns.
Bothered by the Bible
History revisionists are zealously denying the obvious when they deny the Bible’s influence on our founding fathers and on the Constitution and Bill of Rights upon which our republic rests, yet they boldly proceed to do so. A populace ignorant of history has seemingly believed their lies on a large scale. Principalities in high places have launched an all-out attack against the Bible which they so despise. It stands directly in the path of the wicked agenda they are pursuing.
The day will come when the Bible will forever be prevented from aggravating them. When that day arrives Atheists, Humanists, and all other Bible-haters will never again have to deny or attempt to explain away what the Bible says about God and His marvelous work of creation of the universe (Psa. 19:1–6). Those fools who delight in saying in their hearts (or with their mouths) that “there is no God” (Psa. 14:1) will no longer have any disputants. The grand and sweet story of redemption through the grace and love of God and the blood of Christ will never again grate on their ears.
Those who pontificate that “there is no objective standard of right and wrong,” and that “all ‘truth’ is relative” will be protected at last from the Lord’s declaration, “Thy Word is truth” (John 17:17) and “ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (8:32). Those who have so loudly declaimed that it matters not what one believes as long as he is sincere will never again be disturbed by Jesus’ words, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mat. 7:21). They will be in a place where the Bible is outlawed, banished, and prohibited. What bliss can the souls in Hell anticipate in forever being free from that terrible book, the Bible!
Bothered by Biblical Morals
Our nation’s cultural and moral meltdown is threatening its very foundations. An apparently large percentage of the populace of our nation has little, if any moral conscience left. Loud and influential voices are doing their best to convince us all that what the Bible calls “unnatural” and “evil” behavior is actually “normal” and “innocent.” Few folk seem to associate any moral negatives with such things as drinking, dancing, gambling, and public nakedness any more. Filthy four-letter words, once rarely uttered in public even by grown men, one can now hear at almost every turn—often from the mouths of women and children.
Magazines, books, movies, and television sitcoms have discarded all standards and limits in their frenzied efforts to make money. Divine law concerning marriage, divorce, and remarriage, once upheld by civil law, is unknown to most folk, and ignored by a large number of those who know it (including many brethren). Fornication and adultery are foreign concepts to the masses who are so accustomed to seeing the entertainment media portray them in a favorable light that they accept them as harmless behavior, defending them, if not engaging in them. Moreover, the news media, along with many politicians and large corporations, insist that everyone accept without a whimper the abominable and unnatural sexual behavior for which God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. That President Bill Clinton could remain in office in spite of his outrageous amoral philosophy and behavior is sadly symptomatic of the moral decadence of our nation.
Folk who thus think and behave do not appreciate Biblical morals. They cannot abide the Bible’s consistent condemnation of their behavior (e.g., Rom. 1:26–27; 1 Cor. 6:9–10; Gal. 5:19–21; Rev. 21:8; et al.). They despise its elevation of righteousness and self-control and its warnings of judgment of all unrighteousness (Acts 24:25). These people cannot tolerate the Bible’s consistent condemnation of wickedness, evil, corruption, and sin which would restrict and restrain their animalistic ungodliness. It does not require the IQ of a genius to see the correlation between ascending rates of crime and immorality in and the removal of emphasis upon Biblical morality from the schools—replacing such with courses in how to commit fornication and not get caught.
Eventually, these godless people will at last achieve that for which they have so earnestly striven in this life—an atmosphere utterly devoid of condemnation of their immorality. There will be no one emphasizing godly behavior where they will be forever. They will have at last attained protection and shelter from that “goody-goody” way of life upheld by that despicable book. Its influence will no longer interfere with their lifestyle as it sought to do during their earthly lives at every turn. Biblical morals will exist only in their tormented memories, for there will not be anyone in Hell advocating them.
Bothered by Faithful Children of God
Those who hate the Bible and the teachings of the Bible generally have little use for those who believe in and live by the Bible. The politically correct thought police (i.e., liberal academics, politicians, entertainers, religionists, et al.) have done all in their power in recent years to demonize anyone who indicates respect for the Bible and “Christianity,” even in the broadest sense of the term. To hear such folk talk, one might think those who try to pursue lives of integrity, righteousness, peace, and decency are the very cause of our national declension. To them, our world would be much better off if there were no Christians in it at all and if every Bible were burned. Such folk are insulted and annoyed by anyone who might ring their doorbell and invite them to worship or to engage in Bible study. They think that all religion is a racket just because some of it is, and they fasten on this assumption as an excuse to berate and blaspheme genuine saints of God.
One day, all such Christian-haters will have the relief they seek. When they awaken in Hell, they will not find any of those despicable and radical sorts to bother them. None of them will ever get a visit, a phone call, or a piece of mail from a Christian or from a congregation of the Lord’s people. They will no longer have to associate with those who live and love the Truth of God’s Word. They will at last be in a much better place than this world was, which had those narrow-minded, pharisaical, judgmental folk who were too good to lie, steal, commit fornication, use profanity, and do all of those other enjoyable things. Surely, Hell will bring sweet and welcome relief to those who hate God’s people.
Bothered by Faithful Gospel Preachers
According to the Bible, there will be plenty of preachers in Hell (including some who were once faithful to God) (Mat. 7:15, 22–23; 15:13–14; Rom. 16:17–18; 1 Tim. 1:18–20; et al.). They will have an eternity to regret the false doctrines they have preached and/or the evil lives they have lived. However, the Hell-dwellers who have despised the Bible and those who have faithfully preached it, as they sought to persuade sinners to live for Jesus and thus avoid Hell, will be forever shielded from any further work of these men. The Gospel story of love, grace, faith, and obedience which so many ridiculed and rejected on earth will never bother them again.
Residents of Hell will not have to put up with listening to good men publicly and privately plead for them to obey the Gospel and be saved. They will never again hear a preacher say, “Repent or perish” (Luke 13:3). There will be no preacher in Hell quoting the Lord’s words: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned” (Mark. 16:16). In Hell they will never again have to tell a preacher, “Leave me alone; it is none of your business how I live.” These folk can look forward with great anticipation to one day being rid of all faithful preachers of the Gospel of Christ, who were nothing more than a nuisance to them on earth.
Bothered by Faithful Elders
Members of the Lord’s body sometimes become irritated with godly elders who are trying to help them go to Heaven (Heb. 13:17). Such brethren resent being called, visited, led, or taught by these good men. They resent all attempts to try to get them to attend worship faithfully, give generously, study seriously, serve sacrificially, and live purely. They want to be known as “Christians,” but they want to be left alone when it comes to involvement in the good work Christ calls us to do in His church.
There is a place where elders will never visit or call them again—a place where no elders will challenge them to seek first the Lord’s kingdom (Mat. 6:33) or remind them of their spiritual responsibilities and obligations. They will find shelter at last from those meddlesome men who seem always to be telling them what to do and what not to do. They can look forward to Hell where there will not be one faithful elder to ever bother them again.
Conclusion
While those who find themselves in Hell for eternity will at last be rid of those righteous things and people they have despised on earth, the shelter from them will hardly be any consolation for their misery. They will all still possess the fulness of memory (Luke 16:25) of the very influences, persons, and opportunities—and the Bible—they rejected, which, if accepted would have spared them their misery and torment. All such memories will but multiply their eternal suffering. The account of the evil rich man’s experience in Hades indicates that those who sentence themselves to Hell will yearn in vain to warn others to live for God, instead of rejecting Him (vv. 27, 29–31).
We should all shudder at the awful prospect of the eternal fire that awaits those who despise God, His Word, His church, His people, and His way of life for mankind. Let us never cease our efforts to persuade and lead as many as we can to submit to God and His Son while they live here and now. When they awaken in Hell, their first cry will be, not one of thanksgiving that at last they are free of all such influences, but that they may have one more opportunity to embrace them.
[Note: I wrote and published this MS as my “Editorial Perspective” in the July 2001 issue of THE GOSPEL JOURNAL, of which I was editor at the time.]
Attribution: From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.
