Hell is Real...Logical...Scientific. And You Don't Want to Go There! Here's How:
"A Christ not in us is the same as a Christ not ours.
If we are only so far with Christ as to own and receive the history of His birth, person, and character, if this is all that we have of Him, we are as much without Him, as much left to ourselves, as little helped by Him, as those evil spirits that cried out "We know who you are, the Holy One of God!" William Law
Have you ever heard or even said yourself about someone "They just "get it""? When someone "gets it", it means that they have a real good understanding of something. And, they can usually also explain those things in such a way that others can "get it" too. It is the ability to grasp the essence of something and then be able to pass that on to others that they can perceive as well.
Of course no one "get's it" more than Jesus. He didn't just come to teach principles but to demonstrate the very One of Whom all principles refer to and are the reflection of. Jesus "gets it" about everything...seen and unseen...and has communicated that knowledge to us. He has taken the mystery out of spiritual realities. And every day we should be thanking Him for it. Jesus explained things in such a way He actually celebrated that God the Father designed it so that to understand these "mysteries", we would have to become as "children". “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3
I have tons of books in my library. Of course all of us have almost limitless access to information through the internet. But information alone does not necessarily mean we will understand or grasp the realities of things. Yet with all these resources at our fingertips and infinite amounts of "experts"...in all my years of study and research and experience...for me anyway, I can filter down to a handful of people I personally have found "get it" when it comes to spiritual realities. And have an ability to take what can seem to be the most abstract subject and yet make it so that a "caveman can understand it." I have made it my life's endeavor to be able to do the same as well.
William Law has that ability I am referring to. He was an English clergyman that was very well known for his incredible intellect and wholehearted devotion to Christian religion. He had such a way of communicating that you can read a paragraph...even a sentence...understand what he is saying...and yet know that you aren't even coming close to grasping everything that can be gleaned from his observation. His writings greatly influenced some of the most renowned thinkers of the Christian world to include the Wesley's...Andrew Murray...and many others.
I have known the Lord for over 37 years. I have seen many wonderful things...the blind see...cripples walk...the deaf hear...financial miracles...emotional miracles...I say regularly "This stuff is real" for many reasons...
and yet...
…in genius simplicity, William Law described that one principle that beyond all others will be the research and marvel and celebration of the entire creation for eternities to come. All gospel blessings to be experienced are founded in this one reality of which he so eloquently and succinctly describes above. It is the most plainest description of what Jesus said..."Unless a man is born again...he cannot...will not...see or enter the kingdom of heaven." John 3:3, 16
It is this literal...and the Scriptures insist...LITERAL...new birth Jesus not only instructed concerning...but demanded that a person experience...were he to be under the influence and favors of the kingdom of God. All of the realities of heaven or the curses of separation from it, are hinged on this one experience and therefore out of necessity must be considered thoroughly.
The "born again" experience and its realities is the greatest and the highest of all the miracles of God made available and then brought to pass in us. There is nothing allegorical about the term Jesus used. It is as real a birth in as much reality as what any of us reading this article experienced when we entered this world from the womb.
To embrace and discover its realities will open the door to infinite and everlasting graces...to ignore it is to plunge yourself into the greatest miseries and torment that will never end. And you will share the company of those most hideous creatures that at one time knew those blessings God is now holding out to mankind...to you and I.
Jesus "gets it" about these things and held nothing back in His warnings of its reality.
I wrote this article to discuss the reasonableness of these matters.
A Lesson From History
Let's take note of the encounter Jesus had with a demonized man that William Law used as an illustration to his point.
“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” Mark 1:24
Notice that the devils themselves without hesitation declared plainly "We know who you are!” They knew who He was, what His job was, and Who was in charge. And yet, even with their surgical like accuracy and understanding concerning Who Jesus is, they had not nor ever will have any benefit of heaven and are forever retired to that place of eternal punishment called "hell". And any sane individual will take the time to consider deeply why this is so.
It is for this one plain and most sensible reason alone: They do not have working within them that nature and life of God which only has one source...God Himself and His will to grant it.
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned." John 15:5-6
These unclean spirits are like branches snapped off of the vine. In that separation, there is no availability….no joining…with that life of the Vine (John 15:5) that could animate and cause life and blessing to spring toward them. They know God historically more intimately concerning His nature than any human...and yet will suffer torment forever as they are void of the ONE thing that allows heaven to be everywhere within and without the entirety of God's creation.
And I will also submit...they are the embodiment of that which Jesus taught concerning "branches separated from the vine". And any individual that finds themselves in the same condition of separation from God experienced through no other reason than a persons own conscious rejection of these things...will find themselves in that very exact state of anger and torment and resistance to all that is God. Reject Him now...and when life passes from here...with no more to restrain you through any imposed sensibility...that same fire of wrath within a devil you will find to be your life and very nature as well. The rage and torment and fear and hopelessness will be as uncontrollable for you as for them.
Light doesn't "work" to be light...it is unrestrained in its properties and freely enjoys itself within its nature. It is the same with darkness. And without a body to "anchor" or resist these natures...the full forces of wrath and anger and fear and coldness and all else contained within that darkness...will be the sole nature of your complexion.
It is as scientific and natural a result as joining hydrogen and oxygen molecules and getting water.
Understand that no creature...including man himself after that awful day in the garden of Eden...has been able to relieve that terrible and forever haunting detestation that resides in every person’s heart known as “original sin”. And as surely as the fig leaf in no way could hide the shame of what had become of man when this life of God was rejected and subsequently forfeited when eating the fruit...please don't think for a second that any self-made morality developed by you or your greatest teachers...even if they are biblical...can provide that one and only life that cannot ever and forever be found outside of this birth and gift from God Himself through Jesus Christ.
Have we ever considered that someone can mimic most of the biblical virtues and yet have not said one single "hello" to the God whom we would want to perform such virtues for?
You can copy attributes of God without saying a single word to Him your entire life!
Please...I really mean it...please....do not think your accurate historical knowledge and even agreement of spiritual things...even Biblical things...are alone that which gets us into heaven and can save us from an eternity of "void". Not a state of non existence...but a condition where there is no God or even a hint of His attributes. Remember again, the devil himself can pass any history test concerning God...His nature...the kingdom of heaven...
Satan has..
-been there
-he has "done that"
-he even bought the T-shirt
And he is still so totally screwed and that without any hope whatsoever!
I love what my friend Pastor Greg Winslow said...
"How is it you want to live forever with God and yet in this life you have no time for Him?
Herein is why hell is as necessary a part of the creation as the air you breath or the sun that has risen every day of our lives to give us light and heat in the day. The rejection of this "new birth"...this life of God...must necessarily leave one though "alive", no more closer to God or even remotely within His vicinity, than darkness is found when the light is turned on in the room. When a person consciously rejects the grace of God, the scientific result is that this individual simply “goes” to that place where the darkness retreats when light is introduced.
A person is blatantly wrong…no matter whom…to think there is no life after this time on earth. That mankind carries no more of eternity in him than the worm we put on the hook to catch a fish or the spinach we had for breakfast.
The "I believe only what I can see" mentality is stupid and hypocritical. Our eyes can't see ultraviolet light...our dogs hear things we can't...we can't feel radiation. Though our five senses can't experience these things, we still do not deny their reality. In the same way that scientists show that things exist though we cant see them...make no mistake...there are scientists and experts...Matthew and Peter and Paul and Jesus...that in this domain and realm are as schooled and accomplished...and have proven beyond all doubt the realities of the spirit though they extend beyond our senses.
That individual…or you if you are as described above…will certainly go to hell as surely as the darkness dissipates at the introduction of light. To say that I or anyone else is "being judgmental" in repeating these things is as ridiculous as to say I am judgmental toward the darkness in which I smashed my big toe upon the bed when I flip the light on and vanquish it by “light”. It is the “nature of things” that the Scriptures so relentlessly explain to us that we may be educated in the ways of God and not experience the demise that is so certain to come to those that refuse to heed the Scriptures’ warnings.
The only reason one may think they have a choice in these matters of determining their reality is because we have bodies that we animate ourselves through which in this life grant us choice and control. That moment the spirit leaves the body and has no more access to implement their will on earth...will instantly be at the mercy without complaint or objection or appeal to that world we…you…chose to live from while here for whatever duration on this planet.
There will be no means available to resist that kingdom to which you chose to be enjoined while on the earth. You will instantly be welcomed with unspeakable joy into that place that angels and saints together enjoy the blessings of God…or thrust upon and into the refuse pile (Gehenna) just as I tossed the garbage bag full of leftover Super Bowl party trash into the garbage bin.
This very thing will happen in the same way that night has absolutely nothing to grab a hold of should it try to resist the morning sunlight coming upon the earth...
To help, here's a quick word study so you know where Jesus got His imagery concerning hell:
[The word Gehenna is the Greek equivalent for “the valley of Hinnom” (Josh. 15:8; 18:16; Neh. 11:30). It thus originally referred to the Valley of Hinnom, which was just outside the city of Jerusalem. According to Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon (p. 111), it was the place where idolatrous Jews gave human sacrifices to pagan deities (2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chron. 28:3; 33:6).
Because of these horrible idolatrous practices, the Valley of Hinnom was hated and considered “unclean” by pious Jews. In Christ’s day, this hatred of the Valley of Hinnom caused the valley to become the town dump where all the garbage of Jerusalem could be thrown. Unclean corpses as well as normal garbage were thrown into it. Because garbage was constantly being thrown into the valley, the fires never stopped burning and the worms never stopped eating.
This picture of an unclean garbage dump where the fires and the worms never died out became to the Jewish mind an appropriate description of the ultimate fate of all idol worshipers. Gehenna came to be understood as the final, eternal garbage dump where all idolaters would be thrown after the resurrection. The wicked would suffer in Gehenna forever because the fires would never stop burning them and the worms would never stop gnawing them.] Faith Defenders
My friends...any of us will go to hell without this “new birth” the Lord was so adamant about experiencing. All His instructions take root and have their foundation within this. This new life enjoins itself with its Author as surely as the light we see today is enjoined with the sun though millions of miles away. The further you honestly and without bias investigate these things...you will find that “hell” is as natural and necessary as the air you depend on to breath or the light that allows us to see. Its about the very nature of the thing...not our "do's and don'ts".
Hell is darkness without restraints!
As a result of understanding these things more than ever, I spend time in my studies not learning the Lord's history as much as Him. Not simply His biography as much as enjoying that as surely as light is grateful for the sun from which it continually emanates freely and without self effort from...that new life and divine nature is forcefully projecting forth into my heart right now and forever. And I want to be forever discovering the wonders He is producing in me and those that have called on His name. We can enjoy the blessings of our God and be possessed by them as surely as the sun envelops us while laying on the beach with a cold drink in our hand.
"...nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” Luke 17:21
You want miracles? Go to where He is...right in our midst! Heaven and all its powers and realities are as in our midst as the light that is allowing you to read this article! Do you need peace and joy and freedom from anxiety? Go there and “drink” freely of those rivers that are within the child of God and are as real as the oxygen is absorbed within the person the moment he breaths.
And where is "there"? It is no further than the depths of your own heart the second you call on the name of Jesus to save you and grant this life of God He equated to "living water."
All the graces and demonstrations of God are found in this nature…this God life that is Him and now forming in you. They are produced as surely as our DNA has produced and modeled us as unique and full of potential as the stars above. It is unchangeable and sure….dependent ONLY upon the individuals heart and faith to cooperate with it.
Think on these things...please...the Lord is clear that there is a heaven...there is a hell...and people...everyone...will go to either one or the other.
You...yeah you...will go to one or the other. There is nothing you can do about the options...but you can decide which one you will choose. Please do it now...welcome Him into your heart as your Savior and your Lord...that means He's the boss!
And on that day of departure from this earth...you will be welcomed into that eternal home in heaven as surely and effortlessly as you welcomed that first glimpse of the morning when you awoke from the dreams of the night.
