Is There Any Hope in Hell?
Dear Brother Bob,
My friend's father just died. She doesn't believe he was saved but wants to believe that even after death that God is with the people in Hell. She sites Psalms 139 where it says that even in the depths of Hell You are with me. I think David meant the trials and tribulations of this earthly life is sometimes considered Hell. What would you say to her? I don't want her to grieve for the decisions of her father, he was 91 when he died and had many chances to accept Christ, but I don't want her to go on believing that even when you are not saved it is OKAY. Help! M.
Dear M,
I am sorry, but dealing with someone who has lost someone to hell is impossible. Do you or I want to give her false hope? I don't think so. This is a violation of the truth of the scriptures and perhaps may cause her to miss out on a greater blessing..that is to let the death of the lost one drive her forward to share Christ with everyone she can because she knows first hand the horror of losing someone to the depths of hell. This is one of the reasons God will have to wipe away the tears of the redeemed in Heaven, as they mourn for those who are forever lost.
I believe the passage you mentioned about God knowing what goes on in hell does not mean that God is somehow with them to comfort them. In Psalm 139, he is talking about where can I hide from God's Spirit if I wanted to not be seen by God? The answer is "Noplace" because God can find you anyplace, even in the depths of Hell. But that does not mean that if He finds you that He is going to comfort you. This would be an unwarranted extension of the scriptural truth that is being presented. People who are in Hell are there because they don't want to be where God is. They love the pleasures of sin more than the grace of God, which they consider foolishness. There is nothing more that God can do with them once the finality of death occurs, because God will not violate a person's individual choice and force him kicking and screaming into Heaven. He gives them what they longed for...being away from God. Unfortunately, where God is is where the blessings of etenity and a new body are. Being away from God.....is HELL.
Consider this: Hell is God's "garbage dump". Sorry but there is no other way to say it. I say that because the greek word for hell(=the lake of fire) is Gehenna, which is a garbage dump outside of the city of Jerusalem which burns with an unquenchable smelly dump fire that never goes out. This is the picture that Jesus gives by the very word for Hell. Gehenna is an abominable place where all that is evil is tossed to be consumed forever by the fire and the burning sulfur and the eternal worms.
People who choose against God unfortunately receive their heart's desire, and that is to be away from God in this life when there still was a chance to change their destiny. And so now their destiny is to be away from God forever. There is no hope of rescue or change of condition or cessation of torment. Their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. This sounds very finaland eternal and admittedly horrible to me.
There is no comforting either because in the story of the rich man and Lazarus, the beggar Lazarus is "comforted" with Abraham in the paradise of God, while the rich man who rejected God in favor of his lavish lifestyle was in such torment that he wished for even one drop of water to cool his tongue from the suffering. By the way, he never got the water. And this was not a "parable" talking hypothetically about some "supposed person", he was a real dead man in the real hell suffering a real torment. How do I know? because none of the Parables give a Name (Lazarus) for any of the characters in the story. This is history because Lazarus was named.
So, I am sorry that I can't give any positive encouragement to you or your friend in this case. In our age, we are so wrapped up with "political correctness" and "not wanting to say anything to hurt people's feelings" that we choose to swallow the truth and thereby unleash the consequences of error. Quite frankly, the first sermon I ever heard when I was 5 years old was a message describing Heaven and Hell, and it was at the hearing about hell that I decided that no matter what, I didnt want to go there and I wanted to be in Heaven with Jesus. Praise God for His telling me about Hell. It was a kindness of eternal consequence and is probably one of the main reasons I am a Christian evangelist today.
To your friend I would say, as cold and callous as this sounds, learn from this experience. Mourn for your father until your eyes run out of tears. Then understand that each person must make a decision for or against Christ which will determine their eternal destiny, and that decision can only be made between God and that person. If your father had man chances to accept Christ but would not, he must now live with the consequences of that decision. God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, and neither should we. Pray and ask God to use this trauma in your life to make give you an unstoppable urgency to win more people to Christ. I had to do this with the death of my two year old son. God answers this prayer, my ministry is proof of that to me.
God Bless you and your friend, my Sister. May God's Word and His grace flood your life with peace and joy.
In Christ......brother bob.......<><
-Bible verses to Ponder-
Jer 18:11-12 (TLB)
"Therefore, go and warn all
'Hear the word of the Lord. I am planning evil against you now instead of good;
turn back from your evil paths and do what is right.'"
{12} But they replied, "Don't waste your breath.
We have no intention whatever of doing what God says.
We will continue to live as we want to, free from any restraint,
full of stubbornness and wickedness!"
Josh 24:14-15 (KJV)
Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth:
and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood,
and in
{15} And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD,
choose you this day whom ye will serve;
whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood,
or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell:
but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
Ezek 18:23 (KJV)
Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD:
and not that he should return from his ways, and live?
Ezek 18:32 (KJV)
For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD:
wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.
2 Pet 3:9 (KJV)
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness;
but is longsuffering to us-ward,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Deu 30:15-20 (KJV)
{15} See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
{16} In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways,
and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments,
that thou mayest live and multiply:
and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
{17} But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear,
but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
{18} I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish,
and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land,
whither thou passest over
{19} I call heaven and earth to record this day against you,
that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing:
therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
{20} That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice,
and that thou mayest cleave unto him:
for he is thy life, and the length of thy days:
that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers,
to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
Mat 10:28 (KJV)
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul:
but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Luke 16:22-26 (KJV)
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;
{23} And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments,
and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
{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.
{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.
{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.
Rom 10:13-15 (KJV)
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
{14} How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
and how shall they hear without a preacher?
{15} And how shall they preach, except they be sent?
as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace,
and bring glad tidings of good things!
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