Hell is a real place

Hell is where their worm does not die, and the fire of their torment is not put out! Mark 9:48. People in hell cry out to Jesus for mercy and long to be free from their torment. Luke 16:23, 24. It stinks. Jesus always referred to gehenna or the valley of hinnom when speaking of hell. Hell is always down. It's in the earth. Matt.11:23, Luke 10:15, Luke 16.23, Matt. 12:40. Jesus calls it outer darkness. How dark can that be? Have you ever been in a cave deep inside the earth and then turned out the lights? The feeling can't be explained. It has to be experienced, but I tell you, it's dark! Jesus says hell is a place of unceasing torment. He said that people there cry out for deliverance, but it's too late. Their fate is sealed. Hell is down in the earth and it stinks. Jesus referred to Gehenna or valley of Hinnom when talking about hell. This valley, s/sw of Jerusalem, has quite an infamous past. Here was Topheth where children were offered to the fire god Molech. The people of that time were given to pleasure and not God's word. They would give themselves to sexual indulgence and then conveniently dispose of the fruit of their sin in the fires of Molech. In that time, it was acceptable social behavior. The youngster was viewed as a choice, not a life. This place was later to be called "the valley of slaughter." The Hebrew name ge-hinnom transliterated into Greek geenna (or gehenna) becomes the word for hell which Jesus talks about in our English translations. During Jesus' time, gehenna was a dumping ground for all the refuse of Jerusalem. It was a place of continual burning. Smoldering stench must have filled the air. Matt. 8:12, 23:13, 25:30, Mark 9:48, Luke 16:28, 24 & 25 Matt. 18:34, 11:23, 2 Kings 23:10 My wife and I had just finished reading Mary K. Baxter's "A Devine Revelation of Hell". We were pondering the different things in the book like the smell and how the souls in that place were in continual torment. They cried out to Jesus for deliverance but to no avail. We considered the demons and their roll in tormenting the people. The book states that hell is down in the earth and that the flesh of the people there seems to be full of worms. As we were pulling onto the freeway on our way home from church, we saw a man standing on the side of the road hitch hiking. I said "shall we pick him up?". She said "yes." This is something we rarely do. As he got in the car we noticed his broken English speech. He said he was a Christian Jew. He said the Lord had told him to tell people about hell. We couldn't believe what we were hearing. He said that he had died. It was some type of swimming accident. He had a picture of his dead body lying on the beach. During the two hours that he was dead he was in hell. Jesus was with him and asked him if he knew why he was there. Our hitch hiker could say nothing to Jesus. The first thing he noticed was the incredible stench. He said it was like rotten eggs. The next thing he saw were the people. Their flesh hung loosely from their bones and it seemed to be full of worms. They cried out to Jesus to deliver them from the torment of the place but it was too late. They had sealed their fate by not repenting and trusting in Jesus in their lifetime. Then he talked about the demons. He said in his broken English "they eat the fear of the people". At first we didn't understand. Then we realized what he was saying. The demons of that place are strengthened and energized through the torment and fear of the souls there. We don't have to experience this place! Click here...