What happened to Hell?

"And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched - 'Where there the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.'"

-Mark 9:43-44 (Isaiah 66:24)

I've had pastors, both directly and indirectly, deny preaching on the subject of Hell and even if those who indirectly deny preaching it so dare to mention it, its in passing or is a quick reference and then their message continues onward. I even spoke with a young pastor over a month ago who claimed that he both believed in Hell and man's sin yet he refused to preach on either subject because "people's lives are already hard enough, and so many people are depressed, so I just want people to know about the love of God."

Furthermore, there are high-profile pastors who have written books on the subject of Hell only to deny that such a place even exists. You will hear arguments such as, "When Hell was spoken of, it was in reference to the trash heap outside of the city of Jerusalem, called Gehenna" or "Hell is simply a description of what eternity will be like for the lost when they are separated from the presence of God. Hell isn't a fiery place of torment, but simply a place where God's presence is eternally absent."

In today's seeker-sensitive church culture, Hell has been rendered to a metaphorical place functioning as nothing more than a scare tactic to get people to come to church, to control them, to bully them, and/or to take their money. Pastors who do preach on the subject of Hell are deemed as pulpit bullies who wield their power wrongly and lord it over their congregation to keep everyone in line.

I recently came across a quote from esteemed theologian and pastor, Dr. Voddie Baucham who stated: "The modern church is producing passionate people with empty heads who are in love with a Jesus they don't know very well." No truer statement could have been made pertaining to the plight of many modern churches. Why is this the case? Partly, its because there is no healthy respect or fear or even a recognition of a literal place of judgment called Hell, anymore. I'm told that I can simply believe in Jesus and I'm good to go with God. Oh, and where are those blessings you promised me?

I would like to turn your attention to the story of the jailer in Acts 16. In verses 30-31 we read, "Then he brought them out and said, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' And they said, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.'" This is a fascinating scene which took place after Paul and Silas had been arrested for upsetting the Jews in Philippi when they cast out the demon of a medium, which hurt business for some men in town. Thrown into the inner part of the prison, they were held in foot shackles and placed under Roman guard. At midnight, while singing hymns and praising God, supernaturally an earthquake happened causing the jail cells to open and the chains to break off of the prisoners, including Paul and Silas. The prison keeper had been sleeping up to that point, but once aroused and figured out what had happened, he assumed all his prisoners had escaped and he decided to commit suicide. Suicide would have been far more humane than what the Roman officials would have done to him for losing prisoners. Paul assured the jailer that everyone was still there and accounted for, and to not take his life. The jailer rushed in with a torch, saw Paul was telling the truth, and immediately fell to the ground and asked what he must do to be saved.

It isn't dogmatically known what motivated the jailer to ask such a question at such a time. It has been suggested that through the praising of God by Paul and Silas, the jailer overheard and that ministered to him in some way. 'How were these guys at such ease in the inner prison, especially after being heavily beaten?'' he may have wondered. Perhaps he felt he needed to know this God whom they deemed praiseworthy despite their dire circumstances.

Another suggestion is that he simply realized that the situation would at least warrant an investigation by the Roman authorities, a group he certainly did not want to face. As a jailer or guard in Rome, if you were to lose a prisoner, much less multiple, not only would you be executed, but you would be horrendously tortured as punishment.

Regardless of the reason why, there was a very real sense of fear in either case.

The jailer needed to have that dose of fear to be driven to seek the Savior.

You've likely heard it said that "Jesus spoke more about Hell than He did Heaven" and that is true. You may also be thinking, 'Well, that's just one story where fear for one's life and well-being drove someone to respond to the Gospel call.' At the sake of length of this post, I will leave it at this one, along with the Mark passage at the start, but there are others.

In 2009, world famous magician, and also known atheist, Penn Jillette, said of Christians: "I've always said that I don't respect people who don't proselytize. I don't respect that at all. If you believe that there's a heaven and hell and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think that's not really worth telling them because it would make it socially awkward....How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?"

These are words from an atheist....this is a better sermon than what comes out of many pulpits today.

Here's the point I'm trying to make: In an attempt to make the Gospel more palatable for people today, many of us have run so far away from the concept of Hell that its turned into a word of profanity (it seems) in the Church. Its as if Hell is a dirty word that Christians shouldn't talk about. This is unbiblical and sorely mistaken. We cannot truly appreciate all that salvation is, that Heaven is, that the future Kingdom is, and who Christ is, if we don't have a healthy understanding of what Hell is.

*A Gospel message without Hell is the mission of a divine handout.

*A Gospel message with Hell is the mission of a divine rescue.

Now granted, there have been some poor examples of how to preach about Hell such as those who choose to rant and rave, pointing fingers of indictment and screaming at listeners from the safety of a pulpit. There are also those standing on the street corners who scream phrases like "Turn or burn!" which, in this day and age, will likely reach no one.

There is certainly an art to crafting a message for today's audience. As Paul makes clear, we need to be sensitive to cultures and people groups, what works and what doesn't work (1 Cor. 9:20-23). But what we must NEVER do is short-change or edit the Gospel message. We can't just talk about Heaven and love. We also need to talk about Hell and judgment. And quite frankly, Hell and judgment make Heaven and love all the sweeter!

A God who loves me and wants me to go to Heaven is one thing, and that thing is very good, but a God who came here to die for me and divinely rescue me from a real Hell out of His great love for me is even greater!

So, what happened to Hell?

Hell is still there, it still burns today, and there are still people there right now.

People need to be warned about this place, in a healthy and right way, so that they can understand that danger that awaits them, but also so they can truly appreciate all that the Gospel has to offer.

P.S. - When Jesus referred to Hell, the word was in fact "Gehenna" which was a literal trash heap outside the city where trash was burned. The trash heap remained aflame constantly.

As Jesus often did, He used real world examples from what His audience would understand to drive home His bigger point.

This was an illustration - not a replacement of what Hell truly and literally is.

Jesus died to rescue us from such a place, so the least we can do is tell people about it.

All of it.