One of the great mysteries that
mankind has had to contend with is life after death. Almost every society or
religion has a specific way in which it tries to explain what happens to people
after they dies. Those who have been instructed by evolutionists and ungodly
scientists tend to believe that when a person dies that is the end of them. I
also used to think that when I would die that would be the end and I would be
annihilated but I came to learn the truth form God's word in the Bible.
The Bible
speaks about a place called hell where the spirits of those who have rejected
Jesus Christ go after death. The scriptures also speak about a place called
heaven or paradise where the spirits of all those who have received Jesus as
their Lord and Savior go after death. Jesus spoke about the true story of a
beggar named Lazarus and a rich man who is sometimes referred to as Dives. When
Lazarus died he was carried directly into paradise where Abraham was. When Dives
died he was carried straight into hell. The condition of Dives is described
vividly how that, "in hell he
lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus
in his bosom. 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" (Luke 16:23-24). In this scripture
hell is described as a place where a blazing inferno rages and no water exists
to cool those tormented by its flames. Further on in the same chapter Abraham
tells Dives that no one can cross from hell to heaven or the other way round.
This shows us that hell is a place for eternal torment where the captives do
not escape. The true story of Lazarus and Dives clearly shows what happens to
the righteous and the unrighteous at their death.
Many people
wonder how a God of love and mercy would allow human beings to go to a place of
eternal fire and torment. They try to reason that since God is all loving he will
simply take everyone to heaven. That thinking is wrong because these people do
not understand why hell was created. When the Devil sinned and rebelled against
God together with a third of the angels, God created hell to punish him. That
is why Jesus describes hell as being a place of, "everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels"
(Matthew 25:41). Hell was not originally created for human beings. But since
God is a God of justice he can not permit those who reject his way of salvation
through Jesus Christ and side with the devil to get away scot free (2 Thess
1:8).
The Greek
word translated as Hell in most parts of the New Testament is Gehenna. This was
the name of a place just outside the walls of Jerusalem where in the Old
Testament times children were sacrificed to the god Moloch by passing them
through fire. This place was also called the valley of the children of Hinnom
(2Ki 23:10). King Josiah destroyed the temple of Moloch and defiled the valley
of Gehenna by turning it into a garbage dump and dumping the bodies of dead
animals and criminals there. A fire was kept constantly burning in this valley
to incinerate the rubbish from the city. This garbage dump still existed during
Jesus' days so he used the name Gehenna to refer to hell where a flame burns
continuously. Jesus said that the unbelievers are, "cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is
not quenched" (Mark 9:47-48). Gehenna was a place where worms fed on
the remains of the dead animals in the dump.
Hell is described
as a place where a fire keeps on burning and worms keep on tormenting those in
it. The fires of hell are kept burning by various chemicals including sulphur
or brimstone (Rev 21:8). Hell has bars and gates to further increase the
feeling of seclusion of its inmates (Job17:16, Mat 16:18). It is a place of
darkness where the wicked harbor feelings of loneliness, regret and misery.
Jesus further described hell as, "a
furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth"
(Matthew 13:42).
Basing on
the scriptural studies I have done it is my opinion that hell is located in the
centre of the earth. Various scriptures confirm that hell is located below and
those who go there descend into it. Jesus said that the Capernaum would be "thrust down to hell" (Luke
10:15). Another amazing scripture describes that some people would even drill a
hole reaching to hell, meaning that it is under the earth, "Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them"
(Amos 9:2).
The
existence of hell is confirmed by the findings of a team of Russian geologists
in Siberia in August 1989. A Soviet oil drill had descended to bore a hole in
the earth's crust to a record depth of over 12 miles. The drill reached a point
where it began rotating wildly, indicating that they had reached a pocket or
cavern in the earth. The temperature recorded was over 1000º C. The scientists
lowered a heat resistant microphone and initially expected to hear the movement
of the earth plates but were shocked to hear other sounds. Dr. Dimitri Azzakov,
one of the world’s greatest geological authorities was present at the site and
he said, “We lowered a microphone, designed to detect the sounds of plate
movements down the shaft. But instead of plate movements we heard a human voice
screaming in pain! At first we thought the sound was coming from our own
equipment. But when we made adjustments our worst suspicions were confirmed.
The screams weren’t those of a single human, they were the screams of millions
of humans! As a communist I don’t believe in heaven or the Bible but as a
scientist I now believe in hell.”
Hell is
very real. The only way you can avoid it is to receive Jesus Christ by
confessing Him as Lord and Savior of your life. When a person is born again
they will see heaven after they die and not hell, “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 3:3). Flee hell and press into
heaven; they are both more real than the earth we are on.
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