*Matthew 18:28 Fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell*
My eyes opened. Disorientation soon set in on my frail and weak body. I was in a holding cell—15 feet by 15 feet by 15 feet. The walls were made of rough, hewn stone and there was a door before he constructed of thick, metal bars.
*Isaiah 24:22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison* *Proverbs 7:27 Her house is a way to hell, going down to the CHAMBERS OF DEATH* *Lamentations 3:6 He has set me in dark places like the dead of long ago*
I was naked, yet I was not cold. I was on fire. The burning hell fire that once had ignited my soul with passion and greed now burned my flesh. I looked around and saw two great, stone statues on each side of me. To my left stood a figure with the word EVIL on it, and on the other it said TERROR. Suddenly, the beasts started circling me. Fear jumped into my once I realized that these were no statues at all, but demon like. The first was tall, towering about thirteen feet over me. The second was ten feet tall. They were reptile type beasts, stealing the forms of humans. Their arms and legs were unequal lengths. The first had bumps all over its body and scales covered its face. It had a large, protruding jaw which housed gigantic teeth. Above its jaw were black, sunken in eyes. It paced around me, watching me like a starving animal about to pounce its prey. The second beast was thinner, with very long arms and razor-sharp fins covering its body. Coming out of its hands were claw-like fingers nearly a foot long. I stood in the center of them, when suddenly, like ravaging beasts, they jumped on me.
*Mark 5:3-4 ...no one could bind him, not even with chains…the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces*
The first picked me up and twisted my weak body. I felt my bones break under his strength. The second slashed at my skin with its long claws. My flesh hung from my body like ribbons as I fell to the cell floor in excruciating pain. Death penetrated me…yet it eluded me.
*Psalm 116:3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow*
Death would not come to me, as much as I pleaded for this torture to be over. Mercy was a foreign thing to this world. All was evil, from the very pillars to the walls, the gates to those who entered through…it was all pure evil.
*Edward Donnelly—The reality of Hell is so far beyond our experience that language cannot adequately describe it.* *John MacArthur—Hell is a place of enrelieved torment and horrible misery…a place of impenetrable darkenss…a place of fire…a place of unrelieved torment for both body and soul. Hell will be horrible for everboyd there, but some people will suffer more than others.*
The beasts continued to torment me till nothing but flesh and blood hung from my exposed bones. Death…this was death so it was impossible to die yet again. Instead, I would have to life this life…this life that I have chosen on earth. This was my eternal home now. The beasts quit tearing me apart, and soon left the cell. I lay there, wanting to cry, but even crying proved impossible. I crawled out of my cell and what my eyes beheld was indescribable.
*Exodus 10:21 …darkness which may even be felt*
Cell with beast tearing other humans bodies to shreds. Each creature different in its way, more horrendous and frightful than a humans mind can fathom. It was a large, stone land. Burning hot, the smell of sulfur running up my nose causing me to gag. There seemed to be no escape.
*Psalm 140:10 Let burning coals fall upon them; let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits, that they rise not up again*
I saw a chute, like a large slide, and on it were millions of souls sliding down into this dark place. A never ending line of poor souls to be brought under the same torment and eternal punishment as I.
*Ezekial 26:20 Then I will bring you down with those who descend into the Pit…and I will make you dwell in the lowest part of the earth, in places desolate from antiquity, with those who go down to the Pit.*
Edward Donnelly puts Hell in this manner. “The lost will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the LORD (2 Thess. 1:9) No one lives without God…He gives you every breath you take. His kindness surrounds…He makes the sun rise on both the evil and the good and sends rain on the unjust as well as the just (Matt. 5:45) He gives you the beauty of a summer evening, the coolness of a refreshing breeze…He delights you with the taste of fresh crusty bread or the juice of a ripe peach….These are God’s gifts…All of these are blessings of God…But in Hell, all this will be taken you…all the dignity that you now have as an image bearer of God will be stripped from you…the wicked with burn with fire but they will not be consumed.”
The wicked will burn with fire and yet they will not be consumed. A never ending death and torment, great suffering and agony. This is what awaits the wicked, those who have not followed the LORD. (Job 33:22 his [their] soul draws near the Pit, and his life to the executioners)(Romans 1:28-31 They did not like to retain God in the knowledge…being filled with all unrighteousness…murder…haters of God…unmerciful) This is their destiny. They will all burn in the fires and pits of hell, a never ending fear rushing through their bones.
*Franklin Graham—Hell is going to be eternity filled with grief and pain, an unquenchable fire, according to the bible*
As Christians, we are called to not be like these people, but to be different. In this ungodly nation there is never a break from needing to tell these people about our Savior. There are many who do not know the LORD and this is their punishment. Are we so afraid of what people will think of us in this life? When instead we will be rejoicing in the next life and they will be wishing that we had told them. The LORD is coming back, and He instructs us to tell them [as many people as we can reach] about Him so that they may not suffer this terrible fate described above.
(notes taken from the book by Bill Weise entitles 23 Minutes in Hell)
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