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Page 1: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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THE MOSTENCOURAGING BOOKON HELL EVER

Thor RamseyCruciform Press | January 2014

ldquoIt must be understood that there is risen up nowat length in this happy age of light and liberty a setof men of a more free and generous turn of mind amore inquisitive genius and a better discernmentrdquo1

ndash Jonathan Edwards during a rare moment ofsarcasm referring to the church leaders of his agewho were reinventing the doctrines of historicChristianity

ldquoYoursquore not going to believe this Mr Edwards but itrsquoshappening againrdquo

ndash Thor Ramsey customarily sarcastic

copy 2014 by Thor Ramsey All rights reserved

CruciformPresscom | infoCruciformPresscom

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ldquoIs the fear of God merely an Old-Testamentdoctrine Does hell glorify God Will we party withPol Pot Vlad the Impaler Stalin the Marquis de Sadeand Satan in heaven And what about Bill Maher Foranswers to these and other questions this thought-pro-voking bracing corrective to the soapy bromides of recentvolumes on this subject may be just the ticket And havewe mentioned that itrsquos entertaining and encouragingrdquo

ndash Eric Metaxas New York Times Best-selling authorofBonhoeffer Pastor Martyr Prophet Spy

ldquoThe Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever is also oneof the wisest This book is crammed with hilarious quips(ldquoWhere do Universalists tell people to go when theyrsquoreangryrdquo) but the message is deadly serious Losing thedoctrine of hell isnrsquot trivial It means losing truth righ-teousness and grace Ultimately it means losing GodThorrsquos book uses humor to disarm readers just enough todeliver this crucial and timely messagerdquo

ndash Drew Dyck Managing EditorLeadership Journal

ldquoPraise God for Thor The end must be getting nearas Christians are actually getting funny After a few pagesyoursquoll realize this ainrsquot your grandmarsquos book about hellhellipbut shersquod love it just the same Because itrsquos only funny inthe right placesrdquo

ndash Stephen Baldwin actor author radio host

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Dedication

Dedicating a book on hell is problematic Which ex-girlfriend do you choose To avoid any further threats oflitigation this book is dedicated to all the pastors who actlike men friends who stick enemies who point financialgurus with trademarked names rock band members whoread rappers who preach countrymen who think illegalaliens who pray widows who weep guilty divorcees whorepent San Diego Chargersrsquo coaches who win doubtfulChristians who seek and lay people with discernmentmdashespecially those from Grand Rapids Michigan who findgrace disabled by sentimental views of a morally lax andcomplacent God who winks at evil and has about as muchauthoritative oomph as the public school systemrsquos busdrivers not that they donrsquot do the best they can to keepthe little tyrants in order

May you all begin speaking about eternal punishmentagain with tenderness and clarity

Especially the bus drivers

ndashThor Ramsey

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell EVER

Print PDF ISBN 9789830851983085936760983085829830854 ePub ISBN 9789830851983085936760983085849830858

Mobipocket ISBN 9789830851983085936760983085839830851

Published by Cruciform Press Adelphi Maryland Copyright copy 2014 by ThorRamsey All rights reserved Unless otherwise indicated all Scripture quotations are

taken from The Holy Bible English Standard Version Copyright copy 2001 by CrosswayBibles a division of Good News Publishers Used by permission All rights reservedPassages indicating NIV are from New International Version Copyright copy 1984International Bible Society Used by permission All rights reserved Italics or bold textwithin Scripture quotations indicates emphasis added

Our Books Short and to the pointmdashabout 100 pagesClear Concise Helpful Inspiring Easy to readSolid authors Gospel-focused

Multiple formats Print and the three top ebook formats

Consistent Pricing Every title the same low price

Website DiscountsPrint Books (list price $999)

1-5 Books $845 each6-50 Books $745 eachMore than 50 Books $645 each

Ebooks (list price $750)Single Ebooks $545 eachBundles of 7 Ebooks $3500Ebook Distribution Program 6 pricing levels

Subscription Options If you choose print books orebooks delivered to you on a schedule at a discount

Print Book Subscription (list $999) $649 eachEbook Subscription (list $750) $399 each

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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Table of Contents

Preface 7 How to Read This Book

Introduction 11 What Do We Really Lose if Hell Freezes Over

One We Lose the Fear of God 19Two We Lose the Holiness of God 33Three We Lose the Gospel of God 49Four We Lose the Love of God 63

Afterword 81 The Worst Funeral Ever

Appendix A 95 A is for Annihilationism

Appendix B 101 A Word to Pastors About Preaching

the Doctrine of Hell

Acknowledgements 104 Endnotes 105

More books from Cruciform Press 107

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8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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7

Preface

HOW TO READTHIS BOOK

First pay for itThank youSecond as philosopher Mortimer Adler has aptly

explained any source other than the original is inferior Soas you read this book look up the Scripturesmdashgo to theoriginal source and interact with the Bible

Third while therersquos no poetry in this book this doesnrsquotmean couples canrsquot read it aloud to each other on date night

A few more thoughtshellipEvery Sunday I address four different types of

people Now if you donrsquot like being categorized braceyourself because Irsquom about to categorize you Sitting inthe pews (or stackable chairs) each Sunday morning areChristians who are sincerely pursuing Christ Christianswho have grown cold in their relationship with Christpeople who think they are Christians but are not andpeople who know they are not Christians but are open to

hearing about Jesus and the gospelIf you happen to be in the last category someonewho knows they are not a Christian there are two ways

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9

Preface

If yoursquore a pastor Irsquove left you some encouraging

words at the end of the bookIf yoursquore a child Irsquom guessing yoursquore probably home-

schooled

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11

INTRODUCTION

WHAT DO WEREALLY LOSE IFHELL FREEZES

OVEROr Why Hell is a Good Idea

Hell the doctrine of eternal punishment miserywithout end or as itrsquos often referred to ldquomother is movingin with usrdquo is not very popular these days On secondthought I canrsquot think of a time when the doctrine of eternalpunishment was popular (not that I donrsquot personally enjoymy mother-in-lawrsquos visits) In todayrsquos age of peace love and

misinformation the subject of hell seems to make churchleaders sweat even when theyrsquore not trying to be ironic

In response there is a swath of fashionable newpreachers with a mission to clean up Godrsquos nasty repu-tation as a bloodthirsty old clod Unfortunately in theprocess of doing God the big favor of helping with hisPR theyrsquore reinventing the doctrine of eternal punish-

ment with a new and improved gospel Itrsquos gospel-rifficDespite two thousand years of historic Christian inter-pretation these new gospel hucksters are questioning

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12

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

whether Jesus spoke of hell as a real place of eternal

suffering and torment at all But if hell isnrsquot real and onlya warning the biblical authors could just as well havepenned ldquoYou better not pout you better not cryrdquo Itbecomes a hollow warning with about as much sway as ashopping-mall Santa

ldquoBe good kidsrdquoldquoYou smell like beef and cheeserdquo

Buddy the Elfrsquos rebuke could be applied to these newteachers of hell as well ldquoYou sit on a throne of liesrdquo

Hellrsquos Makeover AssistantsIt seems as though Christians are always trying to helpGod out and explain hell (and other unseemly doctrines)in more culturally acceptable ways People often listen to

anyone who will tickle their ears with a new softer theologi-cal feather The one tricky thing that these preachers havein common is they say the name of Jesus a lot Sure theywant you to follow Jesus and if you donrsquothellipwell thatrsquos itNothing reallyThanks for coming See you next Christmas No hellfire and brimstone Just love and lattes The newdoctrine of hell as yoursquoll see is simply not effective ldquoRepent

orhellipnothing of serious consequence will happen to yourdquoOne opponent of eternal punishment said that if

God punishes people with eternal retribution then Godis a monster And if God is not a monster then you area monster for believing it But look if we all end up inheaven it doesnrsquot really matter if wersquore monsters or notnow does it Actually Jesus taught the doctrine of eternal

punishment because we are monsters I have former girl-friends who will confirm as much

Another bestselling Christian author says more of

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13

Introduction

the same in his book the preaching or teaching of hell is

ldquomisguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the conta-gious spread of Jesusrsquo message of love peace forgivenessand joy that our world so desperately needs to hearrdquo2 Ifhis viewpoint is truemdashthat ultimately everyone ends upin heavenmdashthen preaching eternal punishment subvertsnothing If we all end up in heaven why do we even needto find forgiveness here on earth Even us monsters who

believe in hell will end up in heavenI find it interesting that many contemporary

preachers want to save people from the idea of hell ratherthan from hell itself

The doctrine of hell is treated like the Christianrsquosdirty little secretmdashthe pock mark on the churchrsquos historyformed during its teenage years Maybe Christians are

afraid that if we preach hell people will think wersquoreignorant and simple-minded (Thankfully people todayno longer think Christians are ignorant and simple-minded They think wersquore ignorant and narrow-minded)As we lose sleep over social ostracism down at theneighborhood Target popular books on nuovo hell (oras the French would say nouveau hell) line the racks

claiming Christianity is compatible with postmodernsensibilities with an aim to make Christianity cooler Butthe single most troubling idea regurgitated by many oftodayrsquos authors is a second chance in hell after death Thisamounts to Christian universalism

The Strange Universe of

Christian UniversalismUniversalism is the belief that everyone will eventuallybe saved from hell (or just go straight to heaven period)

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14

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Many fashionable evangelicals profess to believe in hell

but itrsquos a sort of air-conditioned hell3 I would include inthis idea of universalism John Stottrsquos school of annihila-tionism (that God destroys the souls of the unrepentant)which effectively does away with hell altogether4 Whoneeds air-conditioning Save electricity At least annihila-tionism is green which is the one positive thing I can sayabout it

There are several variations of Christian universalismOne idea claims that everyone is already saved unless theychoose not to be saved5 As in yoursquore already in unlessyou choose to opt out You might be saved but you justdonrsquot know it If you remain ignorant I guess therersquos nochance of opting out of hell If this is the case then weshould just shut up about this whole gospel business

before someone accidentally loses his salvationAnother thread of Christian universalism suggests

that hell may not be the last word There might be a wordafter that and the word is that you eventually get intoheaven

Clearly proponents of these ideas have not come toterms with the greatest drawback to universalism where

do Universalists tell people to go when theyrsquore really madat them ldquoWhy donrsquot you just go tohellipah I guess Irsquoll seeyou laterrdquo

It has been said ldquoAnyone who is not a Universalistshould be at the very least a Universalist sympathizerrdquo6 But promoting the idea that hell might not be the lastword after you die is only good news for people involved

in the great insurrection against God Itrsquos great news forparents who neglected their kids for dads who desertedtheir families and moms who didnrsquot protect their children

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15

Introduction

for the pirates of the Caribbean and the pirates of Wall

Street for Hitler and Stalin and Vlad the Impaler Somuch for justice sympathizers

Before jumping to conclusions about whether hell isa reasonable doctrine or not every professing Christianought to consider what Scripture says about the natureand character of God The author of Deuteronomywrites ldquoHis work is perfect for all his ways are justicerdquo

(Deuteronomy 324) The Psalmist writes ldquoThis Godmdashhis way is perfect the word of the LORD proves truerdquo(Psalm 1830)

The Jagged Little Pills ofScriptureAccording to the witness of Scripture every Christian

should affirm that God is perfect in all his ways and willglorify himself in all he does If this is true (and Irsquom bettingmy life it is) surely there are doctrines that will be difficultto swallow The issue with any difficult biblical doctrine(election predestination reprobation eternal damnationetc) is that we are finite beings who donrsquot know what thenext thirty seconds will bring Yet somehow we always

think we know better than an infinite holy and all-wiseGod The self-revealed God of this universe does notshuffle his feet or mince his words regarding hell Butthe way the subject of hell has been handled of late theseteachers would have us believe God was second-guessinghimself As if he were saying ldquoYeah I wish there wasanother way I know hell seems mean and all but my

hands are tied Sorry about your nanardquoWe may waffle on the difficult doctrines but God

does not

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16

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

This might seem shocking to you but I delight in the

doctrine of hell Let me explain myself before you tell meto go there I didnrsquot arrive at this mindset overnight butnow I delight in everything that God has revealed to usabout himself Any glimpse into the workings of the mindof God should delight a Christian Now this doesnrsquotmean Irsquove made a list of people whorsquove wronged me andgleefully look it over thinking ldquoYoursquoll get yoursrdquo The

Bible clearly says ldquoHave I any pleasure in the death ofthe wicked declares the Lord GOD and not rather thathe should turn from his way and liverdquo (Ezekiel 1823)But just because itrsquos a difficult doctrine doesnrsquot mean thechurch should be embarrassed by it I have slowly cometo realize that to be embarrassed of hell is to be embar-rassed of God

When I began studying the doctrine of eternal pun-ishment I had this thought but I couldnrsquot bring myself tosay it out loud It sounded absurd It was too shocking tothink let alone say out loud The thought was this

Hell glorifies GodI know Exactly Itrsquos the halitosis of theological

thinking but it is truth nonetheless And that is the simple

premise for this book hell glorifies GodThatrsquos why I take delight in itI know itrsquos shocking I know it raises some questions

Personally one of the things I love about the Christianfaith is that itrsquos always shocking me with somethingReformed and always reforming Yes and amen But alsoshocked and always shocking

How could anyone ever be an endless-punishmentsympathizer How can eternal punishment glorify GodThe answer is pretty simple really Because belief in hell

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17

Introduction

affirms the holiness of God and other such attributes of

his like truth righteousness justice and grace Why doyou think superheroes steal their slogans from us TruthThere is one true God he is righteous in all he does andin who he is God will bring justice to those who do notapprove of him (which is the essence of sin) and who willnot confess they have committed cosmic treason There is

justice for those who have been harmed by the unrepen-

tant And thanks be to God there is grace for all us moralfailures who turn to him in reverence fear and repentanceGrace is not the elimination of hell and any idea thatcomforts people in their unrepentant state can in no waybe loving truthful or gracious and should be rejected(and this includes annihilationism)

These nuovo ideas are weak and shallow because

instead of wrestling with the paradoxes and complexi-ties of the doctrine they simply undermine the authorityof the Bible They may pay lip service to Scripturersquosauthority but as they reinvent hell theyrsquore bringing theBiblersquos credibility down to a much lower level somethingon par with Wikipediarsquos reliability

They simply lack depth

The aim of this book is not character assassinationInstead Irsquod rather take Francis Schaefferrsquos recommenda-tion when it comes to dealing with false teachers And thatis to focus on the false ideas not the person Letrsquos not beridiculous though If yoursquore familiar with the controver-sies surrounding this subject you know the personalitiesinvolved Itrsquos not that Irsquoll never mention a name but letrsquos

keep in mind that fifty years from now the names wonrsquotmean anything to anyone The person is not the pointThe bad theology is

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18

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

At the end of the day to lose the doctrine of eternal

punishment as it is taught in the Bible will result in theshrinkage of Godrsquos attributes and in the end a smallerGod We will suffer the loss of the fear of God theloss of a holy God the loss of a just God the loss of anextravagantly loving God and the loss of Godrsquos wisdomin the cross We canrsquot afford to lose the attributes ofGod Otherwise we have a meaningless gospel But the

greatest loss whenever Scripture is minimized is the loss ofknowing the self-revealed God of this universe The truthis hell glorifies God

Thus The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 2: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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THE MOSTENCOURAGING BOOKON HELL EVER

Thor RamseyCruciform Press | January 2014

ldquoIt must be understood that there is risen up nowat length in this happy age of light and liberty a setof men of a more free and generous turn of mind amore inquisitive genius and a better discernmentrdquo1

ndash Jonathan Edwards during a rare moment ofsarcasm referring to the church leaders of his agewho were reinventing the doctrines of historicChristianity

ldquoYoursquore not going to believe this Mr Edwards but itrsquoshappening againrdquo

ndash Thor Ramsey customarily sarcastic

copy 2014 by Thor Ramsey All rights reserved

CruciformPresscom | infoCruciformPresscom

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ldquoIs the fear of God merely an Old-Testamentdoctrine Does hell glorify God Will we party withPol Pot Vlad the Impaler Stalin the Marquis de Sadeand Satan in heaven And what about Bill Maher Foranswers to these and other questions this thought-pro-voking bracing corrective to the soapy bromides of recentvolumes on this subject may be just the ticket And havewe mentioned that itrsquos entertaining and encouragingrdquo

ndash Eric Metaxas New York Times Best-selling authorofBonhoeffer Pastor Martyr Prophet Spy

ldquoThe Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever is also oneof the wisest This book is crammed with hilarious quips(ldquoWhere do Universalists tell people to go when theyrsquoreangryrdquo) but the message is deadly serious Losing thedoctrine of hell isnrsquot trivial It means losing truth righ-teousness and grace Ultimately it means losing GodThorrsquos book uses humor to disarm readers just enough todeliver this crucial and timely messagerdquo

ndash Drew Dyck Managing EditorLeadership Journal

ldquoPraise God for Thor The end must be getting nearas Christians are actually getting funny After a few pagesyoursquoll realize this ainrsquot your grandmarsquos book about hellhellipbut shersquod love it just the same Because itrsquos only funny inthe right placesrdquo

ndash Stephen Baldwin actor author radio host

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Dedication

Dedicating a book on hell is problematic Which ex-girlfriend do you choose To avoid any further threats oflitigation this book is dedicated to all the pastors who actlike men friends who stick enemies who point financialgurus with trademarked names rock band members whoread rappers who preach countrymen who think illegalaliens who pray widows who weep guilty divorcees whorepent San Diego Chargersrsquo coaches who win doubtfulChristians who seek and lay people with discernmentmdashespecially those from Grand Rapids Michigan who findgrace disabled by sentimental views of a morally lax andcomplacent God who winks at evil and has about as muchauthoritative oomph as the public school systemrsquos busdrivers not that they donrsquot do the best they can to keepthe little tyrants in order

May you all begin speaking about eternal punishmentagain with tenderness and clarity

Especially the bus drivers

ndashThor Ramsey

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell EVER

Print PDF ISBN 9789830851983085936760983085829830854 ePub ISBN 9789830851983085936760983085849830858

Mobipocket ISBN 9789830851983085936760983085839830851

Published by Cruciform Press Adelphi Maryland Copyright copy 2014 by ThorRamsey All rights reserved Unless otherwise indicated all Scripture quotations are

taken from The Holy Bible English Standard Version Copyright copy 2001 by CrosswayBibles a division of Good News Publishers Used by permission All rights reservedPassages indicating NIV are from New International Version Copyright copy 1984International Bible Society Used by permission All rights reserved Italics or bold textwithin Scripture quotations indicates emphasis added

Our Books Short and to the pointmdashabout 100 pagesClear Concise Helpful Inspiring Easy to readSolid authors Gospel-focused

Multiple formats Print and the three top ebook formats

Consistent Pricing Every title the same low price

Website DiscountsPrint Books (list price $999)

1-5 Books $845 each6-50 Books $745 eachMore than 50 Books $645 each

Ebooks (list price $750)Single Ebooks $545 eachBundles of 7 Ebooks $3500Ebook Distribution Program 6 pricing levels

Subscription Options If you choose print books orebooks delivered to you on a schedule at a discount

Print Book Subscription (list $999) $649 eachEbook Subscription (list $750) $399 each

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Table of Contents

Preface 7 How to Read This Book

Introduction 11 What Do We Really Lose if Hell Freezes Over

One We Lose the Fear of God 19Two We Lose the Holiness of God 33Three We Lose the Gospel of God 49Four We Lose the Love of God 63

Afterword 81 The Worst Funeral Ever

Appendix A 95 A is for Annihilationism

Appendix B 101 A Word to Pastors About Preaching

the Doctrine of Hell

Acknowledgements 104 Endnotes 105

More books from Cruciform Press 107

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7

Preface

HOW TO READTHIS BOOK

First pay for itThank youSecond as philosopher Mortimer Adler has aptly

explained any source other than the original is inferior Soas you read this book look up the Scripturesmdashgo to theoriginal source and interact with the Bible

Third while therersquos no poetry in this book this doesnrsquotmean couples canrsquot read it aloud to each other on date night

A few more thoughtshellipEvery Sunday I address four different types of

people Now if you donrsquot like being categorized braceyourself because Irsquom about to categorize you Sitting inthe pews (or stackable chairs) each Sunday morning areChristians who are sincerely pursuing Christ Christianswho have grown cold in their relationship with Christpeople who think they are Christians but are not andpeople who know they are not Christians but are open to

hearing about Jesus and the gospelIf you happen to be in the last category someonewho knows they are not a Christian there are two ways

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9

Preface

If yoursquore a pastor Irsquove left you some encouraging

words at the end of the bookIf yoursquore a child Irsquom guessing yoursquore probably home-

schooled

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11

INTRODUCTION

WHAT DO WEREALLY LOSE IFHELL FREEZES

OVEROr Why Hell is a Good Idea

Hell the doctrine of eternal punishment miserywithout end or as itrsquos often referred to ldquomother is movingin with usrdquo is not very popular these days On secondthought I canrsquot think of a time when the doctrine of eternalpunishment was popular (not that I donrsquot personally enjoymy mother-in-lawrsquos visits) In todayrsquos age of peace love and

misinformation the subject of hell seems to make churchleaders sweat even when theyrsquore not trying to be ironic

In response there is a swath of fashionable newpreachers with a mission to clean up Godrsquos nasty repu-tation as a bloodthirsty old clod Unfortunately in theprocess of doing God the big favor of helping with hisPR theyrsquore reinventing the doctrine of eternal punish-

ment with a new and improved gospel Itrsquos gospel-rifficDespite two thousand years of historic Christian inter-pretation these new gospel hucksters are questioning

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12

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

whether Jesus spoke of hell as a real place of eternal

suffering and torment at all But if hell isnrsquot real and onlya warning the biblical authors could just as well havepenned ldquoYou better not pout you better not cryrdquo Itbecomes a hollow warning with about as much sway as ashopping-mall Santa

ldquoBe good kidsrdquoldquoYou smell like beef and cheeserdquo

Buddy the Elfrsquos rebuke could be applied to these newteachers of hell as well ldquoYou sit on a throne of liesrdquo

Hellrsquos Makeover AssistantsIt seems as though Christians are always trying to helpGod out and explain hell (and other unseemly doctrines)in more culturally acceptable ways People often listen to

anyone who will tickle their ears with a new softer theologi-cal feather The one tricky thing that these preachers havein common is they say the name of Jesus a lot Sure theywant you to follow Jesus and if you donrsquothellipwell thatrsquos itNothing reallyThanks for coming See you next Christmas No hellfire and brimstone Just love and lattes The newdoctrine of hell as yoursquoll see is simply not effective ldquoRepent

orhellipnothing of serious consequence will happen to yourdquoOne opponent of eternal punishment said that if

God punishes people with eternal retribution then Godis a monster And if God is not a monster then you area monster for believing it But look if we all end up inheaven it doesnrsquot really matter if wersquore monsters or notnow does it Actually Jesus taught the doctrine of eternal

punishment because we are monsters I have former girl-friends who will confirm as much

Another bestselling Christian author says more of

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13

Introduction

the same in his book the preaching or teaching of hell is

ldquomisguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the conta-gious spread of Jesusrsquo message of love peace forgivenessand joy that our world so desperately needs to hearrdquo2 Ifhis viewpoint is truemdashthat ultimately everyone ends upin heavenmdashthen preaching eternal punishment subvertsnothing If we all end up in heaven why do we even needto find forgiveness here on earth Even us monsters who

believe in hell will end up in heavenI find it interesting that many contemporary

preachers want to save people from the idea of hell ratherthan from hell itself

The doctrine of hell is treated like the Christianrsquosdirty little secretmdashthe pock mark on the churchrsquos historyformed during its teenage years Maybe Christians are

afraid that if we preach hell people will think wersquoreignorant and simple-minded (Thankfully people todayno longer think Christians are ignorant and simple-minded They think wersquore ignorant and narrow-minded)As we lose sleep over social ostracism down at theneighborhood Target popular books on nuovo hell (oras the French would say nouveau hell) line the racks

claiming Christianity is compatible with postmodernsensibilities with an aim to make Christianity cooler Butthe single most troubling idea regurgitated by many oftodayrsquos authors is a second chance in hell after death Thisamounts to Christian universalism

The Strange Universe of

Christian UniversalismUniversalism is the belief that everyone will eventuallybe saved from hell (or just go straight to heaven period)

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14

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Many fashionable evangelicals profess to believe in hell

but itrsquos a sort of air-conditioned hell3 I would include inthis idea of universalism John Stottrsquos school of annihila-tionism (that God destroys the souls of the unrepentant)which effectively does away with hell altogether4 Whoneeds air-conditioning Save electricity At least annihila-tionism is green which is the one positive thing I can sayabout it

There are several variations of Christian universalismOne idea claims that everyone is already saved unless theychoose not to be saved5 As in yoursquore already in unlessyou choose to opt out You might be saved but you justdonrsquot know it If you remain ignorant I guess therersquos nochance of opting out of hell If this is the case then weshould just shut up about this whole gospel business

before someone accidentally loses his salvationAnother thread of Christian universalism suggests

that hell may not be the last word There might be a wordafter that and the word is that you eventually get intoheaven

Clearly proponents of these ideas have not come toterms with the greatest drawback to universalism where

do Universalists tell people to go when theyrsquore really madat them ldquoWhy donrsquot you just go tohellipah I guess Irsquoll seeyou laterrdquo

It has been said ldquoAnyone who is not a Universalistshould be at the very least a Universalist sympathizerrdquo6 But promoting the idea that hell might not be the lastword after you die is only good news for people involved

in the great insurrection against God Itrsquos great news forparents who neglected their kids for dads who desertedtheir families and moms who didnrsquot protect their children

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15

Introduction

for the pirates of the Caribbean and the pirates of Wall

Street for Hitler and Stalin and Vlad the Impaler Somuch for justice sympathizers

Before jumping to conclusions about whether hell isa reasonable doctrine or not every professing Christianought to consider what Scripture says about the natureand character of God The author of Deuteronomywrites ldquoHis work is perfect for all his ways are justicerdquo

(Deuteronomy 324) The Psalmist writes ldquoThis Godmdashhis way is perfect the word of the LORD proves truerdquo(Psalm 1830)

The Jagged Little Pills ofScriptureAccording to the witness of Scripture every Christian

should affirm that God is perfect in all his ways and willglorify himself in all he does If this is true (and Irsquom bettingmy life it is) surely there are doctrines that will be difficultto swallow The issue with any difficult biblical doctrine(election predestination reprobation eternal damnationetc) is that we are finite beings who donrsquot know what thenext thirty seconds will bring Yet somehow we always

think we know better than an infinite holy and all-wiseGod The self-revealed God of this universe does notshuffle his feet or mince his words regarding hell Butthe way the subject of hell has been handled of late theseteachers would have us believe God was second-guessinghimself As if he were saying ldquoYeah I wish there wasanother way I know hell seems mean and all but my

hands are tied Sorry about your nanardquoWe may waffle on the difficult doctrines but God

does not

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16

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

This might seem shocking to you but I delight in the

doctrine of hell Let me explain myself before you tell meto go there I didnrsquot arrive at this mindset overnight butnow I delight in everything that God has revealed to usabout himself Any glimpse into the workings of the mindof God should delight a Christian Now this doesnrsquotmean Irsquove made a list of people whorsquove wronged me andgleefully look it over thinking ldquoYoursquoll get yoursrdquo The

Bible clearly says ldquoHave I any pleasure in the death ofthe wicked declares the Lord GOD and not rather thathe should turn from his way and liverdquo (Ezekiel 1823)But just because itrsquos a difficult doctrine doesnrsquot mean thechurch should be embarrassed by it I have slowly cometo realize that to be embarrassed of hell is to be embar-rassed of God

When I began studying the doctrine of eternal pun-ishment I had this thought but I couldnrsquot bring myself tosay it out loud It sounded absurd It was too shocking tothink let alone say out loud The thought was this

Hell glorifies GodI know Exactly Itrsquos the halitosis of theological

thinking but it is truth nonetheless And that is the simple

premise for this book hell glorifies GodThatrsquos why I take delight in itI know itrsquos shocking I know it raises some questions

Personally one of the things I love about the Christianfaith is that itrsquos always shocking me with somethingReformed and always reforming Yes and amen But alsoshocked and always shocking

How could anyone ever be an endless-punishmentsympathizer How can eternal punishment glorify GodThe answer is pretty simple really Because belief in hell

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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17

Introduction

affirms the holiness of God and other such attributes of

his like truth righteousness justice and grace Why doyou think superheroes steal their slogans from us TruthThere is one true God he is righteous in all he does andin who he is God will bring justice to those who do notapprove of him (which is the essence of sin) and who willnot confess they have committed cosmic treason There is

justice for those who have been harmed by the unrepen-

tant And thanks be to God there is grace for all us moralfailures who turn to him in reverence fear and repentanceGrace is not the elimination of hell and any idea thatcomforts people in their unrepentant state can in no waybe loving truthful or gracious and should be rejected(and this includes annihilationism)

These nuovo ideas are weak and shallow because

instead of wrestling with the paradoxes and complexi-ties of the doctrine they simply undermine the authorityof the Bible They may pay lip service to Scripturersquosauthority but as they reinvent hell theyrsquore bringing theBiblersquos credibility down to a much lower level somethingon par with Wikipediarsquos reliability

They simply lack depth

The aim of this book is not character assassinationInstead Irsquod rather take Francis Schaefferrsquos recommenda-tion when it comes to dealing with false teachers And thatis to focus on the false ideas not the person Letrsquos not beridiculous though If yoursquore familiar with the controver-sies surrounding this subject you know the personalitiesinvolved Itrsquos not that Irsquoll never mention a name but letrsquos

keep in mind that fifty years from now the names wonrsquotmean anything to anyone The person is not the pointThe bad theology is

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18

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

At the end of the day to lose the doctrine of eternal

punishment as it is taught in the Bible will result in theshrinkage of Godrsquos attributes and in the end a smallerGod We will suffer the loss of the fear of God theloss of a holy God the loss of a just God the loss of anextravagantly loving God and the loss of Godrsquos wisdomin the cross We canrsquot afford to lose the attributes ofGod Otherwise we have a meaningless gospel But the

greatest loss whenever Scripture is minimized is the loss ofknowing the self-revealed God of this universe The truthis hell glorifies God

Thus The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

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ldquoIs the fear of God merely an Old-Testamentdoctrine Does hell glorify God Will we party withPol Pot Vlad the Impaler Stalin the Marquis de Sadeand Satan in heaven And what about Bill Maher Foranswers to these and other questions this thought-pro-voking bracing corrective to the soapy bromides of recentvolumes on this subject may be just the ticket And havewe mentioned that itrsquos entertaining and encouragingrdquo

ndash Eric Metaxas New York Times Best-selling authorofBonhoeffer Pastor Martyr Prophet Spy

ldquoThe Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever is also oneof the wisest This book is crammed with hilarious quips(ldquoWhere do Universalists tell people to go when theyrsquoreangryrdquo) but the message is deadly serious Losing thedoctrine of hell isnrsquot trivial It means losing truth righ-teousness and grace Ultimately it means losing GodThorrsquos book uses humor to disarm readers just enough todeliver this crucial and timely messagerdquo

ndash Drew Dyck Managing EditorLeadership Journal

ldquoPraise God for Thor The end must be getting nearas Christians are actually getting funny After a few pagesyoursquoll realize this ainrsquot your grandmarsquos book about hellhellipbut shersquod love it just the same Because itrsquos only funny inthe right placesrdquo

ndash Stephen Baldwin actor author radio host

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Dedication

Dedicating a book on hell is problematic Which ex-girlfriend do you choose To avoid any further threats oflitigation this book is dedicated to all the pastors who actlike men friends who stick enemies who point financialgurus with trademarked names rock band members whoread rappers who preach countrymen who think illegalaliens who pray widows who weep guilty divorcees whorepent San Diego Chargersrsquo coaches who win doubtfulChristians who seek and lay people with discernmentmdashespecially those from Grand Rapids Michigan who findgrace disabled by sentimental views of a morally lax andcomplacent God who winks at evil and has about as muchauthoritative oomph as the public school systemrsquos busdrivers not that they donrsquot do the best they can to keepthe little tyrants in order

May you all begin speaking about eternal punishmentagain with tenderness and clarity

Especially the bus drivers

ndashThor Ramsey

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell EVER

Print PDF ISBN 9789830851983085936760983085829830854 ePub ISBN 9789830851983085936760983085849830858

Mobipocket ISBN 9789830851983085936760983085839830851

Published by Cruciform Press Adelphi Maryland Copyright copy 2014 by ThorRamsey All rights reserved Unless otherwise indicated all Scripture quotations are

taken from The Holy Bible English Standard Version Copyright copy 2001 by CrosswayBibles a division of Good News Publishers Used by permission All rights reservedPassages indicating NIV are from New International Version Copyright copy 1984International Bible Society Used by permission All rights reserved Italics or bold textwithin Scripture quotations indicates emphasis added

Our Books Short and to the pointmdashabout 100 pagesClear Concise Helpful Inspiring Easy to readSolid authors Gospel-focused

Multiple formats Print and the three top ebook formats

Consistent Pricing Every title the same low price

Website DiscountsPrint Books (list price $999)

1-5 Books $845 each6-50 Books $745 eachMore than 50 Books $645 each

Ebooks (list price $750)Single Ebooks $545 eachBundles of 7 Ebooks $3500Ebook Distribution Program 6 pricing levels

Subscription Options If you choose print books orebooks delivered to you on a schedule at a discount

Print Book Subscription (list $999) $649 eachEbook Subscription (list $750) $399 each

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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Table of Contents

Preface 7 How to Read This Book

Introduction 11 What Do We Really Lose if Hell Freezes Over

One We Lose the Fear of God 19Two We Lose the Holiness of God 33Three We Lose the Gospel of God 49Four We Lose the Love of God 63

Afterword 81 The Worst Funeral Ever

Appendix A 95 A is for Annihilationism

Appendix B 101 A Word to Pastors About Preaching

the Doctrine of Hell

Acknowledgements 104 Endnotes 105

More books from Cruciform Press 107

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8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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7

Preface

HOW TO READTHIS BOOK

First pay for itThank youSecond as philosopher Mortimer Adler has aptly

explained any source other than the original is inferior Soas you read this book look up the Scripturesmdashgo to theoriginal source and interact with the Bible

Third while therersquos no poetry in this book this doesnrsquotmean couples canrsquot read it aloud to each other on date night

A few more thoughtshellipEvery Sunday I address four different types of

people Now if you donrsquot like being categorized braceyourself because Irsquom about to categorize you Sitting inthe pews (or stackable chairs) each Sunday morning areChristians who are sincerely pursuing Christ Christianswho have grown cold in their relationship with Christpeople who think they are Christians but are not andpeople who know they are not Christians but are open to

hearing about Jesus and the gospelIf you happen to be in the last category someonewho knows they are not a Christian there are two ways

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8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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9

Preface

If yoursquore a pastor Irsquove left you some encouraging

words at the end of the bookIf yoursquore a child Irsquom guessing yoursquore probably home-

schooled

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11

INTRODUCTION

WHAT DO WEREALLY LOSE IFHELL FREEZES

OVEROr Why Hell is a Good Idea

Hell the doctrine of eternal punishment miserywithout end or as itrsquos often referred to ldquomother is movingin with usrdquo is not very popular these days On secondthought I canrsquot think of a time when the doctrine of eternalpunishment was popular (not that I donrsquot personally enjoymy mother-in-lawrsquos visits) In todayrsquos age of peace love and

misinformation the subject of hell seems to make churchleaders sweat even when theyrsquore not trying to be ironic

In response there is a swath of fashionable newpreachers with a mission to clean up Godrsquos nasty repu-tation as a bloodthirsty old clod Unfortunately in theprocess of doing God the big favor of helping with hisPR theyrsquore reinventing the doctrine of eternal punish-

ment with a new and improved gospel Itrsquos gospel-rifficDespite two thousand years of historic Christian inter-pretation these new gospel hucksters are questioning

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12

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

whether Jesus spoke of hell as a real place of eternal

suffering and torment at all But if hell isnrsquot real and onlya warning the biblical authors could just as well havepenned ldquoYou better not pout you better not cryrdquo Itbecomes a hollow warning with about as much sway as ashopping-mall Santa

ldquoBe good kidsrdquoldquoYou smell like beef and cheeserdquo

Buddy the Elfrsquos rebuke could be applied to these newteachers of hell as well ldquoYou sit on a throne of liesrdquo

Hellrsquos Makeover AssistantsIt seems as though Christians are always trying to helpGod out and explain hell (and other unseemly doctrines)in more culturally acceptable ways People often listen to

anyone who will tickle their ears with a new softer theologi-cal feather The one tricky thing that these preachers havein common is they say the name of Jesus a lot Sure theywant you to follow Jesus and if you donrsquothellipwell thatrsquos itNothing reallyThanks for coming See you next Christmas No hellfire and brimstone Just love and lattes The newdoctrine of hell as yoursquoll see is simply not effective ldquoRepent

orhellipnothing of serious consequence will happen to yourdquoOne opponent of eternal punishment said that if

God punishes people with eternal retribution then Godis a monster And if God is not a monster then you area monster for believing it But look if we all end up inheaven it doesnrsquot really matter if wersquore monsters or notnow does it Actually Jesus taught the doctrine of eternal

punishment because we are monsters I have former girl-friends who will confirm as much

Another bestselling Christian author says more of

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13

Introduction

the same in his book the preaching or teaching of hell is

ldquomisguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the conta-gious spread of Jesusrsquo message of love peace forgivenessand joy that our world so desperately needs to hearrdquo2 Ifhis viewpoint is truemdashthat ultimately everyone ends upin heavenmdashthen preaching eternal punishment subvertsnothing If we all end up in heaven why do we even needto find forgiveness here on earth Even us monsters who

believe in hell will end up in heavenI find it interesting that many contemporary

preachers want to save people from the idea of hell ratherthan from hell itself

The doctrine of hell is treated like the Christianrsquosdirty little secretmdashthe pock mark on the churchrsquos historyformed during its teenage years Maybe Christians are

afraid that if we preach hell people will think wersquoreignorant and simple-minded (Thankfully people todayno longer think Christians are ignorant and simple-minded They think wersquore ignorant and narrow-minded)As we lose sleep over social ostracism down at theneighborhood Target popular books on nuovo hell (oras the French would say nouveau hell) line the racks

claiming Christianity is compatible with postmodernsensibilities with an aim to make Christianity cooler Butthe single most troubling idea regurgitated by many oftodayrsquos authors is a second chance in hell after death Thisamounts to Christian universalism

The Strange Universe of

Christian UniversalismUniversalism is the belief that everyone will eventuallybe saved from hell (or just go straight to heaven period)

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14

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Many fashionable evangelicals profess to believe in hell

but itrsquos a sort of air-conditioned hell3 I would include inthis idea of universalism John Stottrsquos school of annihila-tionism (that God destroys the souls of the unrepentant)which effectively does away with hell altogether4 Whoneeds air-conditioning Save electricity At least annihila-tionism is green which is the one positive thing I can sayabout it

There are several variations of Christian universalismOne idea claims that everyone is already saved unless theychoose not to be saved5 As in yoursquore already in unlessyou choose to opt out You might be saved but you justdonrsquot know it If you remain ignorant I guess therersquos nochance of opting out of hell If this is the case then weshould just shut up about this whole gospel business

before someone accidentally loses his salvationAnother thread of Christian universalism suggests

that hell may not be the last word There might be a wordafter that and the word is that you eventually get intoheaven

Clearly proponents of these ideas have not come toterms with the greatest drawback to universalism where

do Universalists tell people to go when theyrsquore really madat them ldquoWhy donrsquot you just go tohellipah I guess Irsquoll seeyou laterrdquo

It has been said ldquoAnyone who is not a Universalistshould be at the very least a Universalist sympathizerrdquo6 But promoting the idea that hell might not be the lastword after you die is only good news for people involved

in the great insurrection against God Itrsquos great news forparents who neglected their kids for dads who desertedtheir families and moms who didnrsquot protect their children

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15

Introduction

for the pirates of the Caribbean and the pirates of Wall

Street for Hitler and Stalin and Vlad the Impaler Somuch for justice sympathizers

Before jumping to conclusions about whether hell isa reasonable doctrine or not every professing Christianought to consider what Scripture says about the natureand character of God The author of Deuteronomywrites ldquoHis work is perfect for all his ways are justicerdquo

(Deuteronomy 324) The Psalmist writes ldquoThis Godmdashhis way is perfect the word of the LORD proves truerdquo(Psalm 1830)

The Jagged Little Pills ofScriptureAccording to the witness of Scripture every Christian

should affirm that God is perfect in all his ways and willglorify himself in all he does If this is true (and Irsquom bettingmy life it is) surely there are doctrines that will be difficultto swallow The issue with any difficult biblical doctrine(election predestination reprobation eternal damnationetc) is that we are finite beings who donrsquot know what thenext thirty seconds will bring Yet somehow we always

think we know better than an infinite holy and all-wiseGod The self-revealed God of this universe does notshuffle his feet or mince his words regarding hell Butthe way the subject of hell has been handled of late theseteachers would have us believe God was second-guessinghimself As if he were saying ldquoYeah I wish there wasanother way I know hell seems mean and all but my

hands are tied Sorry about your nanardquoWe may waffle on the difficult doctrines but God

does not

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16

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

This might seem shocking to you but I delight in the

doctrine of hell Let me explain myself before you tell meto go there I didnrsquot arrive at this mindset overnight butnow I delight in everything that God has revealed to usabout himself Any glimpse into the workings of the mindof God should delight a Christian Now this doesnrsquotmean Irsquove made a list of people whorsquove wronged me andgleefully look it over thinking ldquoYoursquoll get yoursrdquo The

Bible clearly says ldquoHave I any pleasure in the death ofthe wicked declares the Lord GOD and not rather thathe should turn from his way and liverdquo (Ezekiel 1823)But just because itrsquos a difficult doctrine doesnrsquot mean thechurch should be embarrassed by it I have slowly cometo realize that to be embarrassed of hell is to be embar-rassed of God

When I began studying the doctrine of eternal pun-ishment I had this thought but I couldnrsquot bring myself tosay it out loud It sounded absurd It was too shocking tothink let alone say out loud The thought was this

Hell glorifies GodI know Exactly Itrsquos the halitosis of theological

thinking but it is truth nonetheless And that is the simple

premise for this book hell glorifies GodThatrsquos why I take delight in itI know itrsquos shocking I know it raises some questions

Personally one of the things I love about the Christianfaith is that itrsquos always shocking me with somethingReformed and always reforming Yes and amen But alsoshocked and always shocking

How could anyone ever be an endless-punishmentsympathizer How can eternal punishment glorify GodThe answer is pretty simple really Because belief in hell

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17

Introduction

affirms the holiness of God and other such attributes of

his like truth righteousness justice and grace Why doyou think superheroes steal their slogans from us TruthThere is one true God he is righteous in all he does andin who he is God will bring justice to those who do notapprove of him (which is the essence of sin) and who willnot confess they have committed cosmic treason There is

justice for those who have been harmed by the unrepen-

tant And thanks be to God there is grace for all us moralfailures who turn to him in reverence fear and repentanceGrace is not the elimination of hell and any idea thatcomforts people in their unrepentant state can in no waybe loving truthful or gracious and should be rejected(and this includes annihilationism)

These nuovo ideas are weak and shallow because

instead of wrestling with the paradoxes and complexi-ties of the doctrine they simply undermine the authorityof the Bible They may pay lip service to Scripturersquosauthority but as they reinvent hell theyrsquore bringing theBiblersquos credibility down to a much lower level somethingon par with Wikipediarsquos reliability

They simply lack depth

The aim of this book is not character assassinationInstead Irsquod rather take Francis Schaefferrsquos recommenda-tion when it comes to dealing with false teachers And thatis to focus on the false ideas not the person Letrsquos not beridiculous though If yoursquore familiar with the controver-sies surrounding this subject you know the personalitiesinvolved Itrsquos not that Irsquoll never mention a name but letrsquos

keep in mind that fifty years from now the names wonrsquotmean anything to anyone The person is not the pointThe bad theology is

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18

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

At the end of the day to lose the doctrine of eternal

punishment as it is taught in the Bible will result in theshrinkage of Godrsquos attributes and in the end a smallerGod We will suffer the loss of the fear of God theloss of a holy God the loss of a just God the loss of anextravagantly loving God and the loss of Godrsquos wisdomin the cross We canrsquot afford to lose the attributes ofGod Otherwise we have a meaningless gospel But the

greatest loss whenever Scripture is minimized is the loss ofknowing the self-revealed God of this universe The truthis hell glorifies God

Thus The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 4: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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Dedication

Dedicating a book on hell is problematic Which ex-girlfriend do you choose To avoid any further threats oflitigation this book is dedicated to all the pastors who actlike men friends who stick enemies who point financialgurus with trademarked names rock band members whoread rappers who preach countrymen who think illegalaliens who pray widows who weep guilty divorcees whorepent San Diego Chargersrsquo coaches who win doubtfulChristians who seek and lay people with discernmentmdashespecially those from Grand Rapids Michigan who findgrace disabled by sentimental views of a morally lax andcomplacent God who winks at evil and has about as muchauthoritative oomph as the public school systemrsquos busdrivers not that they donrsquot do the best they can to keepthe little tyrants in order

May you all begin speaking about eternal punishmentagain with tenderness and clarity

Especially the bus drivers

ndashThor Ramsey

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell EVER

Print PDF ISBN 9789830851983085936760983085829830854 ePub ISBN 9789830851983085936760983085849830858

Mobipocket ISBN 9789830851983085936760983085839830851

Published by Cruciform Press Adelphi Maryland Copyright copy 2014 by ThorRamsey All rights reserved Unless otherwise indicated all Scripture quotations are

taken from The Holy Bible English Standard Version Copyright copy 2001 by CrosswayBibles a division of Good News Publishers Used by permission All rights reservedPassages indicating NIV are from New International Version Copyright copy 1984International Bible Society Used by permission All rights reserved Italics or bold textwithin Scripture quotations indicates emphasis added

Our Books Short and to the pointmdashabout 100 pagesClear Concise Helpful Inspiring Easy to readSolid authors Gospel-focused

Multiple formats Print and the three top ebook formats

Consistent Pricing Every title the same low price

Website DiscountsPrint Books (list price $999)

1-5 Books $845 each6-50 Books $745 eachMore than 50 Books $645 each

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Subscription Options If you choose print books orebooks delivered to you on a schedule at a discount

Print Book Subscription (list $999) $649 eachEbook Subscription (list $750) $399 each

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Table of Contents

Preface 7 How to Read This Book

Introduction 11 What Do We Really Lose if Hell Freezes Over

One We Lose the Fear of God 19Two We Lose the Holiness of God 33Three We Lose the Gospel of God 49Four We Lose the Love of God 63

Afterword 81 The Worst Funeral Ever

Appendix A 95 A is for Annihilationism

Appendix B 101 A Word to Pastors About Preaching

the Doctrine of Hell

Acknowledgements 104 Endnotes 105

More books from Cruciform Press 107

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7

Preface

HOW TO READTHIS BOOK

First pay for itThank youSecond as philosopher Mortimer Adler has aptly

explained any source other than the original is inferior Soas you read this book look up the Scripturesmdashgo to theoriginal source and interact with the Bible

Third while therersquos no poetry in this book this doesnrsquotmean couples canrsquot read it aloud to each other on date night

A few more thoughtshellipEvery Sunday I address four different types of

people Now if you donrsquot like being categorized braceyourself because Irsquom about to categorize you Sitting inthe pews (or stackable chairs) each Sunday morning areChristians who are sincerely pursuing Christ Christianswho have grown cold in their relationship with Christpeople who think they are Christians but are not andpeople who know they are not Christians but are open to

hearing about Jesus and the gospelIf you happen to be in the last category someonewho knows they are not a Christian there are two ways

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9

Preface

If yoursquore a pastor Irsquove left you some encouraging

words at the end of the bookIf yoursquore a child Irsquom guessing yoursquore probably home-

schooled

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11

INTRODUCTION

WHAT DO WEREALLY LOSE IFHELL FREEZES

OVEROr Why Hell is a Good Idea

Hell the doctrine of eternal punishment miserywithout end or as itrsquos often referred to ldquomother is movingin with usrdquo is not very popular these days On secondthought I canrsquot think of a time when the doctrine of eternalpunishment was popular (not that I donrsquot personally enjoymy mother-in-lawrsquos visits) In todayrsquos age of peace love and

misinformation the subject of hell seems to make churchleaders sweat even when theyrsquore not trying to be ironic

In response there is a swath of fashionable newpreachers with a mission to clean up Godrsquos nasty repu-tation as a bloodthirsty old clod Unfortunately in theprocess of doing God the big favor of helping with hisPR theyrsquore reinventing the doctrine of eternal punish-

ment with a new and improved gospel Itrsquos gospel-rifficDespite two thousand years of historic Christian inter-pretation these new gospel hucksters are questioning

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12

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

whether Jesus spoke of hell as a real place of eternal

suffering and torment at all But if hell isnrsquot real and onlya warning the biblical authors could just as well havepenned ldquoYou better not pout you better not cryrdquo Itbecomes a hollow warning with about as much sway as ashopping-mall Santa

ldquoBe good kidsrdquoldquoYou smell like beef and cheeserdquo

Buddy the Elfrsquos rebuke could be applied to these newteachers of hell as well ldquoYou sit on a throne of liesrdquo

Hellrsquos Makeover AssistantsIt seems as though Christians are always trying to helpGod out and explain hell (and other unseemly doctrines)in more culturally acceptable ways People often listen to

anyone who will tickle their ears with a new softer theologi-cal feather The one tricky thing that these preachers havein common is they say the name of Jesus a lot Sure theywant you to follow Jesus and if you donrsquothellipwell thatrsquos itNothing reallyThanks for coming See you next Christmas No hellfire and brimstone Just love and lattes The newdoctrine of hell as yoursquoll see is simply not effective ldquoRepent

orhellipnothing of serious consequence will happen to yourdquoOne opponent of eternal punishment said that if

God punishes people with eternal retribution then Godis a monster And if God is not a monster then you area monster for believing it But look if we all end up inheaven it doesnrsquot really matter if wersquore monsters or notnow does it Actually Jesus taught the doctrine of eternal

punishment because we are monsters I have former girl-friends who will confirm as much

Another bestselling Christian author says more of

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13

Introduction

the same in his book the preaching or teaching of hell is

ldquomisguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the conta-gious spread of Jesusrsquo message of love peace forgivenessand joy that our world so desperately needs to hearrdquo2 Ifhis viewpoint is truemdashthat ultimately everyone ends upin heavenmdashthen preaching eternal punishment subvertsnothing If we all end up in heaven why do we even needto find forgiveness here on earth Even us monsters who

believe in hell will end up in heavenI find it interesting that many contemporary

preachers want to save people from the idea of hell ratherthan from hell itself

The doctrine of hell is treated like the Christianrsquosdirty little secretmdashthe pock mark on the churchrsquos historyformed during its teenage years Maybe Christians are

afraid that if we preach hell people will think wersquoreignorant and simple-minded (Thankfully people todayno longer think Christians are ignorant and simple-minded They think wersquore ignorant and narrow-minded)As we lose sleep over social ostracism down at theneighborhood Target popular books on nuovo hell (oras the French would say nouveau hell) line the racks

claiming Christianity is compatible with postmodernsensibilities with an aim to make Christianity cooler Butthe single most troubling idea regurgitated by many oftodayrsquos authors is a second chance in hell after death Thisamounts to Christian universalism

The Strange Universe of

Christian UniversalismUniversalism is the belief that everyone will eventuallybe saved from hell (or just go straight to heaven period)

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14

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Many fashionable evangelicals profess to believe in hell

but itrsquos a sort of air-conditioned hell3 I would include inthis idea of universalism John Stottrsquos school of annihila-tionism (that God destroys the souls of the unrepentant)which effectively does away with hell altogether4 Whoneeds air-conditioning Save electricity At least annihila-tionism is green which is the one positive thing I can sayabout it

There are several variations of Christian universalismOne idea claims that everyone is already saved unless theychoose not to be saved5 As in yoursquore already in unlessyou choose to opt out You might be saved but you justdonrsquot know it If you remain ignorant I guess therersquos nochance of opting out of hell If this is the case then weshould just shut up about this whole gospel business

before someone accidentally loses his salvationAnother thread of Christian universalism suggests

that hell may not be the last word There might be a wordafter that and the word is that you eventually get intoheaven

Clearly proponents of these ideas have not come toterms with the greatest drawback to universalism where

do Universalists tell people to go when theyrsquore really madat them ldquoWhy donrsquot you just go tohellipah I guess Irsquoll seeyou laterrdquo

It has been said ldquoAnyone who is not a Universalistshould be at the very least a Universalist sympathizerrdquo6 But promoting the idea that hell might not be the lastword after you die is only good news for people involved

in the great insurrection against God Itrsquos great news forparents who neglected their kids for dads who desertedtheir families and moms who didnrsquot protect their children

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15

Introduction

for the pirates of the Caribbean and the pirates of Wall

Street for Hitler and Stalin and Vlad the Impaler Somuch for justice sympathizers

Before jumping to conclusions about whether hell isa reasonable doctrine or not every professing Christianought to consider what Scripture says about the natureand character of God The author of Deuteronomywrites ldquoHis work is perfect for all his ways are justicerdquo

(Deuteronomy 324) The Psalmist writes ldquoThis Godmdashhis way is perfect the word of the LORD proves truerdquo(Psalm 1830)

The Jagged Little Pills ofScriptureAccording to the witness of Scripture every Christian

should affirm that God is perfect in all his ways and willglorify himself in all he does If this is true (and Irsquom bettingmy life it is) surely there are doctrines that will be difficultto swallow The issue with any difficult biblical doctrine(election predestination reprobation eternal damnationetc) is that we are finite beings who donrsquot know what thenext thirty seconds will bring Yet somehow we always

think we know better than an infinite holy and all-wiseGod The self-revealed God of this universe does notshuffle his feet or mince his words regarding hell Butthe way the subject of hell has been handled of late theseteachers would have us believe God was second-guessinghimself As if he were saying ldquoYeah I wish there wasanother way I know hell seems mean and all but my

hands are tied Sorry about your nanardquoWe may waffle on the difficult doctrines but God

does not

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16

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

This might seem shocking to you but I delight in the

doctrine of hell Let me explain myself before you tell meto go there I didnrsquot arrive at this mindset overnight butnow I delight in everything that God has revealed to usabout himself Any glimpse into the workings of the mindof God should delight a Christian Now this doesnrsquotmean Irsquove made a list of people whorsquove wronged me andgleefully look it over thinking ldquoYoursquoll get yoursrdquo The

Bible clearly says ldquoHave I any pleasure in the death ofthe wicked declares the Lord GOD and not rather thathe should turn from his way and liverdquo (Ezekiel 1823)But just because itrsquos a difficult doctrine doesnrsquot mean thechurch should be embarrassed by it I have slowly cometo realize that to be embarrassed of hell is to be embar-rassed of God

When I began studying the doctrine of eternal pun-ishment I had this thought but I couldnrsquot bring myself tosay it out loud It sounded absurd It was too shocking tothink let alone say out loud The thought was this

Hell glorifies GodI know Exactly Itrsquos the halitosis of theological

thinking but it is truth nonetheless And that is the simple

premise for this book hell glorifies GodThatrsquos why I take delight in itI know itrsquos shocking I know it raises some questions

Personally one of the things I love about the Christianfaith is that itrsquos always shocking me with somethingReformed and always reforming Yes and amen But alsoshocked and always shocking

How could anyone ever be an endless-punishmentsympathizer How can eternal punishment glorify GodThe answer is pretty simple really Because belief in hell

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17

Introduction

affirms the holiness of God and other such attributes of

his like truth righteousness justice and grace Why doyou think superheroes steal their slogans from us TruthThere is one true God he is righteous in all he does andin who he is God will bring justice to those who do notapprove of him (which is the essence of sin) and who willnot confess they have committed cosmic treason There is

justice for those who have been harmed by the unrepen-

tant And thanks be to God there is grace for all us moralfailures who turn to him in reverence fear and repentanceGrace is not the elimination of hell and any idea thatcomforts people in their unrepentant state can in no waybe loving truthful or gracious and should be rejected(and this includes annihilationism)

These nuovo ideas are weak and shallow because

instead of wrestling with the paradoxes and complexi-ties of the doctrine they simply undermine the authorityof the Bible They may pay lip service to Scripturersquosauthority but as they reinvent hell theyrsquore bringing theBiblersquos credibility down to a much lower level somethingon par with Wikipediarsquos reliability

They simply lack depth

The aim of this book is not character assassinationInstead Irsquod rather take Francis Schaefferrsquos recommenda-tion when it comes to dealing with false teachers And thatis to focus on the false ideas not the person Letrsquos not beridiculous though If yoursquore familiar with the controver-sies surrounding this subject you know the personalitiesinvolved Itrsquos not that Irsquoll never mention a name but letrsquos

keep in mind that fifty years from now the names wonrsquotmean anything to anyone The person is not the pointThe bad theology is

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18

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

At the end of the day to lose the doctrine of eternal

punishment as it is taught in the Bible will result in theshrinkage of Godrsquos attributes and in the end a smallerGod We will suffer the loss of the fear of God theloss of a holy God the loss of a just God the loss of anextravagantly loving God and the loss of Godrsquos wisdomin the cross We canrsquot afford to lose the attributes ofGod Otherwise we have a meaningless gospel But the

greatest loss whenever Scripture is minimized is the loss ofknowing the self-revealed God of this universe The truthis hell glorifies God

Thus The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell EVER

Print PDF ISBN 9789830851983085936760983085829830854 ePub ISBN 9789830851983085936760983085849830858

Mobipocket ISBN 9789830851983085936760983085839830851

Published by Cruciform Press Adelphi Maryland Copyright copy 2014 by ThorRamsey All rights reserved Unless otherwise indicated all Scripture quotations are

taken from The Holy Bible English Standard Version Copyright copy 2001 by CrosswayBibles a division of Good News Publishers Used by permission All rights reservedPassages indicating NIV are from New International Version Copyright copy 1984International Bible Society Used by permission All rights reserved Italics or bold textwithin Scripture quotations indicates emphasis added

Our Books Short and to the pointmdashabout 100 pagesClear Concise Helpful Inspiring Easy to readSolid authors Gospel-focused

Multiple formats Print and the three top ebook formats

Consistent Pricing Every title the same low price

Website DiscountsPrint Books (list price $999)

1-5 Books $845 each6-50 Books $745 eachMore than 50 Books $645 each

Ebooks (list price $750)Single Ebooks $545 eachBundles of 7 Ebooks $3500Ebook Distribution Program 6 pricing levels

Subscription Options If you choose print books orebooks delivered to you on a schedule at a discount

Print Book Subscription (list $999) $649 eachEbook Subscription (list $750) $399 each

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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Table of Contents

Preface 7 How to Read This Book

Introduction 11 What Do We Really Lose if Hell Freezes Over

One We Lose the Fear of God 19Two We Lose the Holiness of God 33Three We Lose the Gospel of God 49Four We Lose the Love of God 63

Afterword 81 The Worst Funeral Ever

Appendix A 95 A is for Annihilationism

Appendix B 101 A Word to Pastors About Preaching

the Doctrine of Hell

Acknowledgements 104 Endnotes 105

More books from Cruciform Press 107

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7

Preface

HOW TO READTHIS BOOK

First pay for itThank youSecond as philosopher Mortimer Adler has aptly

explained any source other than the original is inferior Soas you read this book look up the Scripturesmdashgo to theoriginal source and interact with the Bible

Third while therersquos no poetry in this book this doesnrsquotmean couples canrsquot read it aloud to each other on date night

A few more thoughtshellipEvery Sunday I address four different types of

people Now if you donrsquot like being categorized braceyourself because Irsquom about to categorize you Sitting inthe pews (or stackable chairs) each Sunday morning areChristians who are sincerely pursuing Christ Christianswho have grown cold in their relationship with Christpeople who think they are Christians but are not andpeople who know they are not Christians but are open to

hearing about Jesus and the gospelIf you happen to be in the last category someonewho knows they are not a Christian there are two ways

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9

Preface

If yoursquore a pastor Irsquove left you some encouraging

words at the end of the bookIf yoursquore a child Irsquom guessing yoursquore probably home-

schooled

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11

INTRODUCTION

WHAT DO WEREALLY LOSE IFHELL FREEZES

OVEROr Why Hell is a Good Idea

Hell the doctrine of eternal punishment miserywithout end or as itrsquos often referred to ldquomother is movingin with usrdquo is not very popular these days On secondthought I canrsquot think of a time when the doctrine of eternalpunishment was popular (not that I donrsquot personally enjoymy mother-in-lawrsquos visits) In todayrsquos age of peace love and

misinformation the subject of hell seems to make churchleaders sweat even when theyrsquore not trying to be ironic

In response there is a swath of fashionable newpreachers with a mission to clean up Godrsquos nasty repu-tation as a bloodthirsty old clod Unfortunately in theprocess of doing God the big favor of helping with hisPR theyrsquore reinventing the doctrine of eternal punish-

ment with a new and improved gospel Itrsquos gospel-rifficDespite two thousand years of historic Christian inter-pretation these new gospel hucksters are questioning

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12

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

whether Jesus spoke of hell as a real place of eternal

suffering and torment at all But if hell isnrsquot real and onlya warning the biblical authors could just as well havepenned ldquoYou better not pout you better not cryrdquo Itbecomes a hollow warning with about as much sway as ashopping-mall Santa

ldquoBe good kidsrdquoldquoYou smell like beef and cheeserdquo

Buddy the Elfrsquos rebuke could be applied to these newteachers of hell as well ldquoYou sit on a throne of liesrdquo

Hellrsquos Makeover AssistantsIt seems as though Christians are always trying to helpGod out and explain hell (and other unseemly doctrines)in more culturally acceptable ways People often listen to

anyone who will tickle their ears with a new softer theologi-cal feather The one tricky thing that these preachers havein common is they say the name of Jesus a lot Sure theywant you to follow Jesus and if you donrsquothellipwell thatrsquos itNothing reallyThanks for coming See you next Christmas No hellfire and brimstone Just love and lattes The newdoctrine of hell as yoursquoll see is simply not effective ldquoRepent

orhellipnothing of serious consequence will happen to yourdquoOne opponent of eternal punishment said that if

God punishes people with eternal retribution then Godis a monster And if God is not a monster then you area monster for believing it But look if we all end up inheaven it doesnrsquot really matter if wersquore monsters or notnow does it Actually Jesus taught the doctrine of eternal

punishment because we are monsters I have former girl-friends who will confirm as much

Another bestselling Christian author says more of

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13

Introduction

the same in his book the preaching or teaching of hell is

ldquomisguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the conta-gious spread of Jesusrsquo message of love peace forgivenessand joy that our world so desperately needs to hearrdquo2 Ifhis viewpoint is truemdashthat ultimately everyone ends upin heavenmdashthen preaching eternal punishment subvertsnothing If we all end up in heaven why do we even needto find forgiveness here on earth Even us monsters who

believe in hell will end up in heavenI find it interesting that many contemporary

preachers want to save people from the idea of hell ratherthan from hell itself

The doctrine of hell is treated like the Christianrsquosdirty little secretmdashthe pock mark on the churchrsquos historyformed during its teenage years Maybe Christians are

afraid that if we preach hell people will think wersquoreignorant and simple-minded (Thankfully people todayno longer think Christians are ignorant and simple-minded They think wersquore ignorant and narrow-minded)As we lose sleep over social ostracism down at theneighborhood Target popular books on nuovo hell (oras the French would say nouveau hell) line the racks

claiming Christianity is compatible with postmodernsensibilities with an aim to make Christianity cooler Butthe single most troubling idea regurgitated by many oftodayrsquos authors is a second chance in hell after death Thisamounts to Christian universalism

The Strange Universe of

Christian UniversalismUniversalism is the belief that everyone will eventuallybe saved from hell (or just go straight to heaven period)

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14

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Many fashionable evangelicals profess to believe in hell

but itrsquos a sort of air-conditioned hell3 I would include inthis idea of universalism John Stottrsquos school of annihila-tionism (that God destroys the souls of the unrepentant)which effectively does away with hell altogether4 Whoneeds air-conditioning Save electricity At least annihila-tionism is green which is the one positive thing I can sayabout it

There are several variations of Christian universalismOne idea claims that everyone is already saved unless theychoose not to be saved5 As in yoursquore already in unlessyou choose to opt out You might be saved but you justdonrsquot know it If you remain ignorant I guess therersquos nochance of opting out of hell If this is the case then weshould just shut up about this whole gospel business

before someone accidentally loses his salvationAnother thread of Christian universalism suggests

that hell may not be the last word There might be a wordafter that and the word is that you eventually get intoheaven

Clearly proponents of these ideas have not come toterms with the greatest drawback to universalism where

do Universalists tell people to go when theyrsquore really madat them ldquoWhy donrsquot you just go tohellipah I guess Irsquoll seeyou laterrdquo

It has been said ldquoAnyone who is not a Universalistshould be at the very least a Universalist sympathizerrdquo6 But promoting the idea that hell might not be the lastword after you die is only good news for people involved

in the great insurrection against God Itrsquos great news forparents who neglected their kids for dads who desertedtheir families and moms who didnrsquot protect their children

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15

Introduction

for the pirates of the Caribbean and the pirates of Wall

Street for Hitler and Stalin and Vlad the Impaler Somuch for justice sympathizers

Before jumping to conclusions about whether hell isa reasonable doctrine or not every professing Christianought to consider what Scripture says about the natureand character of God The author of Deuteronomywrites ldquoHis work is perfect for all his ways are justicerdquo

(Deuteronomy 324) The Psalmist writes ldquoThis Godmdashhis way is perfect the word of the LORD proves truerdquo(Psalm 1830)

The Jagged Little Pills ofScriptureAccording to the witness of Scripture every Christian

should affirm that God is perfect in all his ways and willglorify himself in all he does If this is true (and Irsquom bettingmy life it is) surely there are doctrines that will be difficultto swallow The issue with any difficult biblical doctrine(election predestination reprobation eternal damnationetc) is that we are finite beings who donrsquot know what thenext thirty seconds will bring Yet somehow we always

think we know better than an infinite holy and all-wiseGod The self-revealed God of this universe does notshuffle his feet or mince his words regarding hell Butthe way the subject of hell has been handled of late theseteachers would have us believe God was second-guessinghimself As if he were saying ldquoYeah I wish there wasanother way I know hell seems mean and all but my

hands are tied Sorry about your nanardquoWe may waffle on the difficult doctrines but God

does not

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16

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

This might seem shocking to you but I delight in the

doctrine of hell Let me explain myself before you tell meto go there I didnrsquot arrive at this mindset overnight butnow I delight in everything that God has revealed to usabout himself Any glimpse into the workings of the mindof God should delight a Christian Now this doesnrsquotmean Irsquove made a list of people whorsquove wronged me andgleefully look it over thinking ldquoYoursquoll get yoursrdquo The

Bible clearly says ldquoHave I any pleasure in the death ofthe wicked declares the Lord GOD and not rather thathe should turn from his way and liverdquo (Ezekiel 1823)But just because itrsquos a difficult doctrine doesnrsquot mean thechurch should be embarrassed by it I have slowly cometo realize that to be embarrassed of hell is to be embar-rassed of God

When I began studying the doctrine of eternal pun-ishment I had this thought but I couldnrsquot bring myself tosay it out loud It sounded absurd It was too shocking tothink let alone say out loud The thought was this

Hell glorifies GodI know Exactly Itrsquos the halitosis of theological

thinking but it is truth nonetheless And that is the simple

premise for this book hell glorifies GodThatrsquos why I take delight in itI know itrsquos shocking I know it raises some questions

Personally one of the things I love about the Christianfaith is that itrsquos always shocking me with somethingReformed and always reforming Yes and amen But alsoshocked and always shocking

How could anyone ever be an endless-punishmentsympathizer How can eternal punishment glorify GodThe answer is pretty simple really Because belief in hell

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17

Introduction

affirms the holiness of God and other such attributes of

his like truth righteousness justice and grace Why doyou think superheroes steal their slogans from us TruthThere is one true God he is righteous in all he does andin who he is God will bring justice to those who do notapprove of him (which is the essence of sin) and who willnot confess they have committed cosmic treason There is

justice for those who have been harmed by the unrepen-

tant And thanks be to God there is grace for all us moralfailures who turn to him in reverence fear and repentanceGrace is not the elimination of hell and any idea thatcomforts people in their unrepentant state can in no waybe loving truthful or gracious and should be rejected(and this includes annihilationism)

These nuovo ideas are weak and shallow because

instead of wrestling with the paradoxes and complexi-ties of the doctrine they simply undermine the authorityof the Bible They may pay lip service to Scripturersquosauthority but as they reinvent hell theyrsquore bringing theBiblersquos credibility down to a much lower level somethingon par with Wikipediarsquos reliability

They simply lack depth

The aim of this book is not character assassinationInstead Irsquod rather take Francis Schaefferrsquos recommenda-tion when it comes to dealing with false teachers And thatis to focus on the false ideas not the person Letrsquos not beridiculous though If yoursquore familiar with the controver-sies surrounding this subject you know the personalitiesinvolved Itrsquos not that Irsquoll never mention a name but letrsquos

keep in mind that fifty years from now the names wonrsquotmean anything to anyone The person is not the pointThe bad theology is

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18

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

At the end of the day to lose the doctrine of eternal

punishment as it is taught in the Bible will result in theshrinkage of Godrsquos attributes and in the end a smallerGod We will suffer the loss of the fear of God theloss of a holy God the loss of a just God the loss of anextravagantly loving God and the loss of Godrsquos wisdomin the cross We canrsquot afford to lose the attributes ofGod Otherwise we have a meaningless gospel But the

greatest loss whenever Scripture is minimized is the loss ofknowing the self-revealed God of this universe The truthis hell glorifies God

Thus The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 6: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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Table of Contents

Preface 7 How to Read This Book

Introduction 11 What Do We Really Lose if Hell Freezes Over

One We Lose the Fear of God 19Two We Lose the Holiness of God 33Three We Lose the Gospel of God 49Four We Lose the Love of God 63

Afterword 81 The Worst Funeral Ever

Appendix A 95 A is for Annihilationism

Appendix B 101 A Word to Pastors About Preaching

the Doctrine of Hell

Acknowledgements 104 Endnotes 105

More books from Cruciform Press 107

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7

Preface

HOW TO READTHIS BOOK

First pay for itThank youSecond as philosopher Mortimer Adler has aptly

explained any source other than the original is inferior Soas you read this book look up the Scripturesmdashgo to theoriginal source and interact with the Bible

Third while therersquos no poetry in this book this doesnrsquotmean couples canrsquot read it aloud to each other on date night

A few more thoughtshellipEvery Sunday I address four different types of

people Now if you donrsquot like being categorized braceyourself because Irsquom about to categorize you Sitting inthe pews (or stackable chairs) each Sunday morning areChristians who are sincerely pursuing Christ Christianswho have grown cold in their relationship with Christpeople who think they are Christians but are not andpeople who know they are not Christians but are open to

hearing about Jesus and the gospelIf you happen to be in the last category someonewho knows they are not a Christian there are two ways

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9

Preface

If yoursquore a pastor Irsquove left you some encouraging

words at the end of the bookIf yoursquore a child Irsquom guessing yoursquore probably home-

schooled

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11

INTRODUCTION

WHAT DO WEREALLY LOSE IFHELL FREEZES

OVEROr Why Hell is a Good Idea

Hell the doctrine of eternal punishment miserywithout end or as itrsquos often referred to ldquomother is movingin with usrdquo is not very popular these days On secondthought I canrsquot think of a time when the doctrine of eternalpunishment was popular (not that I donrsquot personally enjoymy mother-in-lawrsquos visits) In todayrsquos age of peace love and

misinformation the subject of hell seems to make churchleaders sweat even when theyrsquore not trying to be ironic

In response there is a swath of fashionable newpreachers with a mission to clean up Godrsquos nasty repu-tation as a bloodthirsty old clod Unfortunately in theprocess of doing God the big favor of helping with hisPR theyrsquore reinventing the doctrine of eternal punish-

ment with a new and improved gospel Itrsquos gospel-rifficDespite two thousand years of historic Christian inter-pretation these new gospel hucksters are questioning

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12

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

whether Jesus spoke of hell as a real place of eternal

suffering and torment at all But if hell isnrsquot real and onlya warning the biblical authors could just as well havepenned ldquoYou better not pout you better not cryrdquo Itbecomes a hollow warning with about as much sway as ashopping-mall Santa

ldquoBe good kidsrdquoldquoYou smell like beef and cheeserdquo

Buddy the Elfrsquos rebuke could be applied to these newteachers of hell as well ldquoYou sit on a throne of liesrdquo

Hellrsquos Makeover AssistantsIt seems as though Christians are always trying to helpGod out and explain hell (and other unseemly doctrines)in more culturally acceptable ways People often listen to

anyone who will tickle their ears with a new softer theologi-cal feather The one tricky thing that these preachers havein common is they say the name of Jesus a lot Sure theywant you to follow Jesus and if you donrsquothellipwell thatrsquos itNothing reallyThanks for coming See you next Christmas No hellfire and brimstone Just love and lattes The newdoctrine of hell as yoursquoll see is simply not effective ldquoRepent

orhellipnothing of serious consequence will happen to yourdquoOne opponent of eternal punishment said that if

God punishes people with eternal retribution then Godis a monster And if God is not a monster then you area monster for believing it But look if we all end up inheaven it doesnrsquot really matter if wersquore monsters or notnow does it Actually Jesus taught the doctrine of eternal

punishment because we are monsters I have former girl-friends who will confirm as much

Another bestselling Christian author says more of

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13

Introduction

the same in his book the preaching or teaching of hell is

ldquomisguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the conta-gious spread of Jesusrsquo message of love peace forgivenessand joy that our world so desperately needs to hearrdquo2 Ifhis viewpoint is truemdashthat ultimately everyone ends upin heavenmdashthen preaching eternal punishment subvertsnothing If we all end up in heaven why do we even needto find forgiveness here on earth Even us monsters who

believe in hell will end up in heavenI find it interesting that many contemporary

preachers want to save people from the idea of hell ratherthan from hell itself

The doctrine of hell is treated like the Christianrsquosdirty little secretmdashthe pock mark on the churchrsquos historyformed during its teenage years Maybe Christians are

afraid that if we preach hell people will think wersquoreignorant and simple-minded (Thankfully people todayno longer think Christians are ignorant and simple-minded They think wersquore ignorant and narrow-minded)As we lose sleep over social ostracism down at theneighborhood Target popular books on nuovo hell (oras the French would say nouveau hell) line the racks

claiming Christianity is compatible with postmodernsensibilities with an aim to make Christianity cooler Butthe single most troubling idea regurgitated by many oftodayrsquos authors is a second chance in hell after death Thisamounts to Christian universalism

The Strange Universe of

Christian UniversalismUniversalism is the belief that everyone will eventuallybe saved from hell (or just go straight to heaven period)

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14

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Many fashionable evangelicals profess to believe in hell

but itrsquos a sort of air-conditioned hell3 I would include inthis idea of universalism John Stottrsquos school of annihila-tionism (that God destroys the souls of the unrepentant)which effectively does away with hell altogether4 Whoneeds air-conditioning Save electricity At least annihila-tionism is green which is the one positive thing I can sayabout it

There are several variations of Christian universalismOne idea claims that everyone is already saved unless theychoose not to be saved5 As in yoursquore already in unlessyou choose to opt out You might be saved but you justdonrsquot know it If you remain ignorant I guess therersquos nochance of opting out of hell If this is the case then weshould just shut up about this whole gospel business

before someone accidentally loses his salvationAnother thread of Christian universalism suggests

that hell may not be the last word There might be a wordafter that and the word is that you eventually get intoheaven

Clearly proponents of these ideas have not come toterms with the greatest drawback to universalism where

do Universalists tell people to go when theyrsquore really madat them ldquoWhy donrsquot you just go tohellipah I guess Irsquoll seeyou laterrdquo

It has been said ldquoAnyone who is not a Universalistshould be at the very least a Universalist sympathizerrdquo6 But promoting the idea that hell might not be the lastword after you die is only good news for people involved

in the great insurrection against God Itrsquos great news forparents who neglected their kids for dads who desertedtheir families and moms who didnrsquot protect their children

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15

Introduction

for the pirates of the Caribbean and the pirates of Wall

Street for Hitler and Stalin and Vlad the Impaler Somuch for justice sympathizers

Before jumping to conclusions about whether hell isa reasonable doctrine or not every professing Christianought to consider what Scripture says about the natureand character of God The author of Deuteronomywrites ldquoHis work is perfect for all his ways are justicerdquo

(Deuteronomy 324) The Psalmist writes ldquoThis Godmdashhis way is perfect the word of the LORD proves truerdquo(Psalm 1830)

The Jagged Little Pills ofScriptureAccording to the witness of Scripture every Christian

should affirm that God is perfect in all his ways and willglorify himself in all he does If this is true (and Irsquom bettingmy life it is) surely there are doctrines that will be difficultto swallow The issue with any difficult biblical doctrine(election predestination reprobation eternal damnationetc) is that we are finite beings who donrsquot know what thenext thirty seconds will bring Yet somehow we always

think we know better than an infinite holy and all-wiseGod The self-revealed God of this universe does notshuffle his feet or mince his words regarding hell Butthe way the subject of hell has been handled of late theseteachers would have us believe God was second-guessinghimself As if he were saying ldquoYeah I wish there wasanother way I know hell seems mean and all but my

hands are tied Sorry about your nanardquoWe may waffle on the difficult doctrines but God

does not

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16

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

This might seem shocking to you but I delight in the

doctrine of hell Let me explain myself before you tell meto go there I didnrsquot arrive at this mindset overnight butnow I delight in everything that God has revealed to usabout himself Any glimpse into the workings of the mindof God should delight a Christian Now this doesnrsquotmean Irsquove made a list of people whorsquove wronged me andgleefully look it over thinking ldquoYoursquoll get yoursrdquo The

Bible clearly says ldquoHave I any pleasure in the death ofthe wicked declares the Lord GOD and not rather thathe should turn from his way and liverdquo (Ezekiel 1823)But just because itrsquos a difficult doctrine doesnrsquot mean thechurch should be embarrassed by it I have slowly cometo realize that to be embarrassed of hell is to be embar-rassed of God

When I began studying the doctrine of eternal pun-ishment I had this thought but I couldnrsquot bring myself tosay it out loud It sounded absurd It was too shocking tothink let alone say out loud The thought was this

Hell glorifies GodI know Exactly Itrsquos the halitosis of theological

thinking but it is truth nonetheless And that is the simple

premise for this book hell glorifies GodThatrsquos why I take delight in itI know itrsquos shocking I know it raises some questions

Personally one of the things I love about the Christianfaith is that itrsquos always shocking me with somethingReformed and always reforming Yes and amen But alsoshocked and always shocking

How could anyone ever be an endless-punishmentsympathizer How can eternal punishment glorify GodThe answer is pretty simple really Because belief in hell

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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17

Introduction

affirms the holiness of God and other such attributes of

his like truth righteousness justice and grace Why doyou think superheroes steal their slogans from us TruthThere is one true God he is righteous in all he does andin who he is God will bring justice to those who do notapprove of him (which is the essence of sin) and who willnot confess they have committed cosmic treason There is

justice for those who have been harmed by the unrepen-

tant And thanks be to God there is grace for all us moralfailures who turn to him in reverence fear and repentanceGrace is not the elimination of hell and any idea thatcomforts people in their unrepentant state can in no waybe loving truthful or gracious and should be rejected(and this includes annihilationism)

These nuovo ideas are weak and shallow because

instead of wrestling with the paradoxes and complexi-ties of the doctrine they simply undermine the authorityof the Bible They may pay lip service to Scripturersquosauthority but as they reinvent hell theyrsquore bringing theBiblersquos credibility down to a much lower level somethingon par with Wikipediarsquos reliability

They simply lack depth

The aim of this book is not character assassinationInstead Irsquod rather take Francis Schaefferrsquos recommenda-tion when it comes to dealing with false teachers And thatis to focus on the false ideas not the person Letrsquos not beridiculous though If yoursquore familiar with the controver-sies surrounding this subject you know the personalitiesinvolved Itrsquos not that Irsquoll never mention a name but letrsquos

keep in mind that fifty years from now the names wonrsquotmean anything to anyone The person is not the pointThe bad theology is

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18

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

At the end of the day to lose the doctrine of eternal

punishment as it is taught in the Bible will result in theshrinkage of Godrsquos attributes and in the end a smallerGod We will suffer the loss of the fear of God theloss of a holy God the loss of a just God the loss of anextravagantly loving God and the loss of Godrsquos wisdomin the cross We canrsquot afford to lose the attributes ofGod Otherwise we have a meaningless gospel But the

greatest loss whenever Scripture is minimized is the loss ofknowing the self-revealed God of this universe The truthis hell glorifies God

Thus The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 7: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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7

Preface

HOW TO READTHIS BOOK

First pay for itThank youSecond as philosopher Mortimer Adler has aptly

explained any source other than the original is inferior Soas you read this book look up the Scripturesmdashgo to theoriginal source and interact with the Bible

Third while therersquos no poetry in this book this doesnrsquotmean couples canrsquot read it aloud to each other on date night

A few more thoughtshellipEvery Sunday I address four different types of

people Now if you donrsquot like being categorized braceyourself because Irsquom about to categorize you Sitting inthe pews (or stackable chairs) each Sunday morning areChristians who are sincerely pursuing Christ Christianswho have grown cold in their relationship with Christpeople who think they are Christians but are not andpeople who know they are not Christians but are open to

hearing about Jesus and the gospelIf you happen to be in the last category someonewho knows they are not a Christian there are two ways

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9

Preface

If yoursquore a pastor Irsquove left you some encouraging

words at the end of the bookIf yoursquore a child Irsquom guessing yoursquore probably home-

schooled

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11

INTRODUCTION

WHAT DO WEREALLY LOSE IFHELL FREEZES

OVEROr Why Hell is a Good Idea

Hell the doctrine of eternal punishment miserywithout end or as itrsquos often referred to ldquomother is movingin with usrdquo is not very popular these days On secondthought I canrsquot think of a time when the doctrine of eternalpunishment was popular (not that I donrsquot personally enjoymy mother-in-lawrsquos visits) In todayrsquos age of peace love and

misinformation the subject of hell seems to make churchleaders sweat even when theyrsquore not trying to be ironic

In response there is a swath of fashionable newpreachers with a mission to clean up Godrsquos nasty repu-tation as a bloodthirsty old clod Unfortunately in theprocess of doing God the big favor of helping with hisPR theyrsquore reinventing the doctrine of eternal punish-

ment with a new and improved gospel Itrsquos gospel-rifficDespite two thousand years of historic Christian inter-pretation these new gospel hucksters are questioning

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12

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

whether Jesus spoke of hell as a real place of eternal

suffering and torment at all But if hell isnrsquot real and onlya warning the biblical authors could just as well havepenned ldquoYou better not pout you better not cryrdquo Itbecomes a hollow warning with about as much sway as ashopping-mall Santa

ldquoBe good kidsrdquoldquoYou smell like beef and cheeserdquo

Buddy the Elfrsquos rebuke could be applied to these newteachers of hell as well ldquoYou sit on a throne of liesrdquo

Hellrsquos Makeover AssistantsIt seems as though Christians are always trying to helpGod out and explain hell (and other unseemly doctrines)in more culturally acceptable ways People often listen to

anyone who will tickle their ears with a new softer theologi-cal feather The one tricky thing that these preachers havein common is they say the name of Jesus a lot Sure theywant you to follow Jesus and if you donrsquothellipwell thatrsquos itNothing reallyThanks for coming See you next Christmas No hellfire and brimstone Just love and lattes The newdoctrine of hell as yoursquoll see is simply not effective ldquoRepent

orhellipnothing of serious consequence will happen to yourdquoOne opponent of eternal punishment said that if

God punishes people with eternal retribution then Godis a monster And if God is not a monster then you area monster for believing it But look if we all end up inheaven it doesnrsquot really matter if wersquore monsters or notnow does it Actually Jesus taught the doctrine of eternal

punishment because we are monsters I have former girl-friends who will confirm as much

Another bestselling Christian author says more of

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13

Introduction

the same in his book the preaching or teaching of hell is

ldquomisguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the conta-gious spread of Jesusrsquo message of love peace forgivenessand joy that our world so desperately needs to hearrdquo2 Ifhis viewpoint is truemdashthat ultimately everyone ends upin heavenmdashthen preaching eternal punishment subvertsnothing If we all end up in heaven why do we even needto find forgiveness here on earth Even us monsters who

believe in hell will end up in heavenI find it interesting that many contemporary

preachers want to save people from the idea of hell ratherthan from hell itself

The doctrine of hell is treated like the Christianrsquosdirty little secretmdashthe pock mark on the churchrsquos historyformed during its teenage years Maybe Christians are

afraid that if we preach hell people will think wersquoreignorant and simple-minded (Thankfully people todayno longer think Christians are ignorant and simple-minded They think wersquore ignorant and narrow-minded)As we lose sleep over social ostracism down at theneighborhood Target popular books on nuovo hell (oras the French would say nouveau hell) line the racks

claiming Christianity is compatible with postmodernsensibilities with an aim to make Christianity cooler Butthe single most troubling idea regurgitated by many oftodayrsquos authors is a second chance in hell after death Thisamounts to Christian universalism

The Strange Universe of

Christian UniversalismUniversalism is the belief that everyone will eventuallybe saved from hell (or just go straight to heaven period)

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14

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Many fashionable evangelicals profess to believe in hell

but itrsquos a sort of air-conditioned hell3 I would include inthis idea of universalism John Stottrsquos school of annihila-tionism (that God destroys the souls of the unrepentant)which effectively does away with hell altogether4 Whoneeds air-conditioning Save electricity At least annihila-tionism is green which is the one positive thing I can sayabout it

There are several variations of Christian universalismOne idea claims that everyone is already saved unless theychoose not to be saved5 As in yoursquore already in unlessyou choose to opt out You might be saved but you justdonrsquot know it If you remain ignorant I guess therersquos nochance of opting out of hell If this is the case then weshould just shut up about this whole gospel business

before someone accidentally loses his salvationAnother thread of Christian universalism suggests

that hell may not be the last word There might be a wordafter that and the word is that you eventually get intoheaven

Clearly proponents of these ideas have not come toterms with the greatest drawback to universalism where

do Universalists tell people to go when theyrsquore really madat them ldquoWhy donrsquot you just go tohellipah I guess Irsquoll seeyou laterrdquo

It has been said ldquoAnyone who is not a Universalistshould be at the very least a Universalist sympathizerrdquo6 But promoting the idea that hell might not be the lastword after you die is only good news for people involved

in the great insurrection against God Itrsquos great news forparents who neglected their kids for dads who desertedtheir families and moms who didnrsquot protect their children

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15

Introduction

for the pirates of the Caribbean and the pirates of Wall

Street for Hitler and Stalin and Vlad the Impaler Somuch for justice sympathizers

Before jumping to conclusions about whether hell isa reasonable doctrine or not every professing Christianought to consider what Scripture says about the natureand character of God The author of Deuteronomywrites ldquoHis work is perfect for all his ways are justicerdquo

(Deuteronomy 324) The Psalmist writes ldquoThis Godmdashhis way is perfect the word of the LORD proves truerdquo(Psalm 1830)

The Jagged Little Pills ofScriptureAccording to the witness of Scripture every Christian

should affirm that God is perfect in all his ways and willglorify himself in all he does If this is true (and Irsquom bettingmy life it is) surely there are doctrines that will be difficultto swallow The issue with any difficult biblical doctrine(election predestination reprobation eternal damnationetc) is that we are finite beings who donrsquot know what thenext thirty seconds will bring Yet somehow we always

think we know better than an infinite holy and all-wiseGod The self-revealed God of this universe does notshuffle his feet or mince his words regarding hell Butthe way the subject of hell has been handled of late theseteachers would have us believe God was second-guessinghimself As if he were saying ldquoYeah I wish there wasanother way I know hell seems mean and all but my

hands are tied Sorry about your nanardquoWe may waffle on the difficult doctrines but God

does not

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16

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

This might seem shocking to you but I delight in the

doctrine of hell Let me explain myself before you tell meto go there I didnrsquot arrive at this mindset overnight butnow I delight in everything that God has revealed to usabout himself Any glimpse into the workings of the mindof God should delight a Christian Now this doesnrsquotmean Irsquove made a list of people whorsquove wronged me andgleefully look it over thinking ldquoYoursquoll get yoursrdquo The

Bible clearly says ldquoHave I any pleasure in the death ofthe wicked declares the Lord GOD and not rather thathe should turn from his way and liverdquo (Ezekiel 1823)But just because itrsquos a difficult doctrine doesnrsquot mean thechurch should be embarrassed by it I have slowly cometo realize that to be embarrassed of hell is to be embar-rassed of God

When I began studying the doctrine of eternal pun-ishment I had this thought but I couldnrsquot bring myself tosay it out loud It sounded absurd It was too shocking tothink let alone say out loud The thought was this

Hell glorifies GodI know Exactly Itrsquos the halitosis of theological

thinking but it is truth nonetheless And that is the simple

premise for this book hell glorifies GodThatrsquos why I take delight in itI know itrsquos shocking I know it raises some questions

Personally one of the things I love about the Christianfaith is that itrsquos always shocking me with somethingReformed and always reforming Yes and amen But alsoshocked and always shocking

How could anyone ever be an endless-punishmentsympathizer How can eternal punishment glorify GodThe answer is pretty simple really Because belief in hell

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17

Introduction

affirms the holiness of God and other such attributes of

his like truth righteousness justice and grace Why doyou think superheroes steal their slogans from us TruthThere is one true God he is righteous in all he does andin who he is God will bring justice to those who do notapprove of him (which is the essence of sin) and who willnot confess they have committed cosmic treason There is

justice for those who have been harmed by the unrepen-

tant And thanks be to God there is grace for all us moralfailures who turn to him in reverence fear and repentanceGrace is not the elimination of hell and any idea thatcomforts people in their unrepentant state can in no waybe loving truthful or gracious and should be rejected(and this includes annihilationism)

These nuovo ideas are weak and shallow because

instead of wrestling with the paradoxes and complexi-ties of the doctrine they simply undermine the authorityof the Bible They may pay lip service to Scripturersquosauthority but as they reinvent hell theyrsquore bringing theBiblersquos credibility down to a much lower level somethingon par with Wikipediarsquos reliability

They simply lack depth

The aim of this book is not character assassinationInstead Irsquod rather take Francis Schaefferrsquos recommenda-tion when it comes to dealing with false teachers And thatis to focus on the false ideas not the person Letrsquos not beridiculous though If yoursquore familiar with the controver-sies surrounding this subject you know the personalitiesinvolved Itrsquos not that Irsquoll never mention a name but letrsquos

keep in mind that fifty years from now the names wonrsquotmean anything to anyone The person is not the pointThe bad theology is

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18

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

At the end of the day to lose the doctrine of eternal

punishment as it is taught in the Bible will result in theshrinkage of Godrsquos attributes and in the end a smallerGod We will suffer the loss of the fear of God theloss of a holy God the loss of a just God the loss of anextravagantly loving God and the loss of Godrsquos wisdomin the cross We canrsquot afford to lose the attributes ofGod Otherwise we have a meaningless gospel But the

greatest loss whenever Scripture is minimized is the loss ofknowing the self-revealed God of this universe The truthis hell glorifies God

Thus The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

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7

Preface

HOW TO READTHIS BOOK

First pay for itThank youSecond as philosopher Mortimer Adler has aptly

explained any source other than the original is inferior Soas you read this book look up the Scripturesmdashgo to theoriginal source and interact with the Bible

Third while therersquos no poetry in this book this doesnrsquotmean couples canrsquot read it aloud to each other on date night

A few more thoughtshellipEvery Sunday I address four different types of

people Now if you donrsquot like being categorized braceyourself because Irsquom about to categorize you Sitting inthe pews (or stackable chairs) each Sunday morning areChristians who are sincerely pursuing Christ Christianswho have grown cold in their relationship with Christpeople who think they are Christians but are not andpeople who know they are not Christians but are open to

hearing about Jesus and the gospelIf you happen to be in the last category someonewho knows they are not a Christian there are two ways

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9

Preface

If yoursquore a pastor Irsquove left you some encouraging

words at the end of the bookIf yoursquore a child Irsquom guessing yoursquore probably home-

schooled

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11

INTRODUCTION

WHAT DO WEREALLY LOSE IFHELL FREEZES

OVEROr Why Hell is a Good Idea

Hell the doctrine of eternal punishment miserywithout end or as itrsquos often referred to ldquomother is movingin with usrdquo is not very popular these days On secondthought I canrsquot think of a time when the doctrine of eternalpunishment was popular (not that I donrsquot personally enjoymy mother-in-lawrsquos visits) In todayrsquos age of peace love and

misinformation the subject of hell seems to make churchleaders sweat even when theyrsquore not trying to be ironic

In response there is a swath of fashionable newpreachers with a mission to clean up Godrsquos nasty repu-tation as a bloodthirsty old clod Unfortunately in theprocess of doing God the big favor of helping with hisPR theyrsquore reinventing the doctrine of eternal punish-

ment with a new and improved gospel Itrsquos gospel-rifficDespite two thousand years of historic Christian inter-pretation these new gospel hucksters are questioning

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12

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

whether Jesus spoke of hell as a real place of eternal

suffering and torment at all But if hell isnrsquot real and onlya warning the biblical authors could just as well havepenned ldquoYou better not pout you better not cryrdquo Itbecomes a hollow warning with about as much sway as ashopping-mall Santa

ldquoBe good kidsrdquoldquoYou smell like beef and cheeserdquo

Buddy the Elfrsquos rebuke could be applied to these newteachers of hell as well ldquoYou sit on a throne of liesrdquo

Hellrsquos Makeover AssistantsIt seems as though Christians are always trying to helpGod out and explain hell (and other unseemly doctrines)in more culturally acceptable ways People often listen to

anyone who will tickle their ears with a new softer theologi-cal feather The one tricky thing that these preachers havein common is they say the name of Jesus a lot Sure theywant you to follow Jesus and if you donrsquothellipwell thatrsquos itNothing reallyThanks for coming See you next Christmas No hellfire and brimstone Just love and lattes The newdoctrine of hell as yoursquoll see is simply not effective ldquoRepent

orhellipnothing of serious consequence will happen to yourdquoOne opponent of eternal punishment said that if

God punishes people with eternal retribution then Godis a monster And if God is not a monster then you area monster for believing it But look if we all end up inheaven it doesnrsquot really matter if wersquore monsters or notnow does it Actually Jesus taught the doctrine of eternal

punishment because we are monsters I have former girl-friends who will confirm as much

Another bestselling Christian author says more of

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13

Introduction

the same in his book the preaching or teaching of hell is

ldquomisguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the conta-gious spread of Jesusrsquo message of love peace forgivenessand joy that our world so desperately needs to hearrdquo2 Ifhis viewpoint is truemdashthat ultimately everyone ends upin heavenmdashthen preaching eternal punishment subvertsnothing If we all end up in heaven why do we even needto find forgiveness here on earth Even us monsters who

believe in hell will end up in heavenI find it interesting that many contemporary

preachers want to save people from the idea of hell ratherthan from hell itself

The doctrine of hell is treated like the Christianrsquosdirty little secretmdashthe pock mark on the churchrsquos historyformed during its teenage years Maybe Christians are

afraid that if we preach hell people will think wersquoreignorant and simple-minded (Thankfully people todayno longer think Christians are ignorant and simple-minded They think wersquore ignorant and narrow-minded)As we lose sleep over social ostracism down at theneighborhood Target popular books on nuovo hell (oras the French would say nouveau hell) line the racks

claiming Christianity is compatible with postmodernsensibilities with an aim to make Christianity cooler Butthe single most troubling idea regurgitated by many oftodayrsquos authors is a second chance in hell after death Thisamounts to Christian universalism

The Strange Universe of

Christian UniversalismUniversalism is the belief that everyone will eventuallybe saved from hell (or just go straight to heaven period)

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14

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Many fashionable evangelicals profess to believe in hell

but itrsquos a sort of air-conditioned hell3 I would include inthis idea of universalism John Stottrsquos school of annihila-tionism (that God destroys the souls of the unrepentant)which effectively does away with hell altogether4 Whoneeds air-conditioning Save electricity At least annihila-tionism is green which is the one positive thing I can sayabout it

There are several variations of Christian universalismOne idea claims that everyone is already saved unless theychoose not to be saved5 As in yoursquore already in unlessyou choose to opt out You might be saved but you justdonrsquot know it If you remain ignorant I guess therersquos nochance of opting out of hell If this is the case then weshould just shut up about this whole gospel business

before someone accidentally loses his salvationAnother thread of Christian universalism suggests

that hell may not be the last word There might be a wordafter that and the word is that you eventually get intoheaven

Clearly proponents of these ideas have not come toterms with the greatest drawback to universalism where

do Universalists tell people to go when theyrsquore really madat them ldquoWhy donrsquot you just go tohellipah I guess Irsquoll seeyou laterrdquo

It has been said ldquoAnyone who is not a Universalistshould be at the very least a Universalist sympathizerrdquo6 But promoting the idea that hell might not be the lastword after you die is only good news for people involved

in the great insurrection against God Itrsquos great news forparents who neglected their kids for dads who desertedtheir families and moms who didnrsquot protect their children

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15

Introduction

for the pirates of the Caribbean and the pirates of Wall

Street for Hitler and Stalin and Vlad the Impaler Somuch for justice sympathizers

Before jumping to conclusions about whether hell isa reasonable doctrine or not every professing Christianought to consider what Scripture says about the natureand character of God The author of Deuteronomywrites ldquoHis work is perfect for all his ways are justicerdquo

(Deuteronomy 324) The Psalmist writes ldquoThis Godmdashhis way is perfect the word of the LORD proves truerdquo(Psalm 1830)

The Jagged Little Pills ofScriptureAccording to the witness of Scripture every Christian

should affirm that God is perfect in all his ways and willglorify himself in all he does If this is true (and Irsquom bettingmy life it is) surely there are doctrines that will be difficultto swallow The issue with any difficult biblical doctrine(election predestination reprobation eternal damnationetc) is that we are finite beings who donrsquot know what thenext thirty seconds will bring Yet somehow we always

think we know better than an infinite holy and all-wiseGod The self-revealed God of this universe does notshuffle his feet or mince his words regarding hell Butthe way the subject of hell has been handled of late theseteachers would have us believe God was second-guessinghimself As if he were saying ldquoYeah I wish there wasanother way I know hell seems mean and all but my

hands are tied Sorry about your nanardquoWe may waffle on the difficult doctrines but God

does not

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16

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

This might seem shocking to you but I delight in the

doctrine of hell Let me explain myself before you tell meto go there I didnrsquot arrive at this mindset overnight butnow I delight in everything that God has revealed to usabout himself Any glimpse into the workings of the mindof God should delight a Christian Now this doesnrsquotmean Irsquove made a list of people whorsquove wronged me andgleefully look it over thinking ldquoYoursquoll get yoursrdquo The

Bible clearly says ldquoHave I any pleasure in the death ofthe wicked declares the Lord GOD and not rather thathe should turn from his way and liverdquo (Ezekiel 1823)But just because itrsquos a difficult doctrine doesnrsquot mean thechurch should be embarrassed by it I have slowly cometo realize that to be embarrassed of hell is to be embar-rassed of God

When I began studying the doctrine of eternal pun-ishment I had this thought but I couldnrsquot bring myself tosay it out loud It sounded absurd It was too shocking tothink let alone say out loud The thought was this

Hell glorifies GodI know Exactly Itrsquos the halitosis of theological

thinking but it is truth nonetheless And that is the simple

premise for this book hell glorifies GodThatrsquos why I take delight in itI know itrsquos shocking I know it raises some questions

Personally one of the things I love about the Christianfaith is that itrsquos always shocking me with somethingReformed and always reforming Yes and amen But alsoshocked and always shocking

How could anyone ever be an endless-punishmentsympathizer How can eternal punishment glorify GodThe answer is pretty simple really Because belief in hell

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17

Introduction

affirms the holiness of God and other such attributes of

his like truth righteousness justice and grace Why doyou think superheroes steal their slogans from us TruthThere is one true God he is righteous in all he does andin who he is God will bring justice to those who do notapprove of him (which is the essence of sin) and who willnot confess they have committed cosmic treason There is

justice for those who have been harmed by the unrepen-

tant And thanks be to God there is grace for all us moralfailures who turn to him in reverence fear and repentanceGrace is not the elimination of hell and any idea thatcomforts people in their unrepentant state can in no waybe loving truthful or gracious and should be rejected(and this includes annihilationism)

These nuovo ideas are weak and shallow because

instead of wrestling with the paradoxes and complexi-ties of the doctrine they simply undermine the authorityof the Bible They may pay lip service to Scripturersquosauthority but as they reinvent hell theyrsquore bringing theBiblersquos credibility down to a much lower level somethingon par with Wikipediarsquos reliability

They simply lack depth

The aim of this book is not character assassinationInstead Irsquod rather take Francis Schaefferrsquos recommenda-tion when it comes to dealing with false teachers And thatis to focus on the false ideas not the person Letrsquos not beridiculous though If yoursquore familiar with the controver-sies surrounding this subject you know the personalitiesinvolved Itrsquos not that Irsquoll never mention a name but letrsquos

keep in mind that fifty years from now the names wonrsquotmean anything to anyone The person is not the pointThe bad theology is

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18

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

At the end of the day to lose the doctrine of eternal

punishment as it is taught in the Bible will result in theshrinkage of Godrsquos attributes and in the end a smallerGod We will suffer the loss of the fear of God theloss of a holy God the loss of a just God the loss of anextravagantly loving God and the loss of Godrsquos wisdomin the cross We canrsquot afford to lose the attributes ofGod Otherwise we have a meaningless gospel But the

greatest loss whenever Scripture is minimized is the loss ofknowing the self-revealed God of this universe The truthis hell glorifies God

Thus The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 9: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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9

Preface

If yoursquore a pastor Irsquove left you some encouraging

words at the end of the bookIf yoursquore a child Irsquom guessing yoursquore probably home-

schooled

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11

INTRODUCTION

WHAT DO WEREALLY LOSE IFHELL FREEZES

OVEROr Why Hell is a Good Idea

Hell the doctrine of eternal punishment miserywithout end or as itrsquos often referred to ldquomother is movingin with usrdquo is not very popular these days On secondthought I canrsquot think of a time when the doctrine of eternalpunishment was popular (not that I donrsquot personally enjoymy mother-in-lawrsquos visits) In todayrsquos age of peace love and

misinformation the subject of hell seems to make churchleaders sweat even when theyrsquore not trying to be ironic

In response there is a swath of fashionable newpreachers with a mission to clean up Godrsquos nasty repu-tation as a bloodthirsty old clod Unfortunately in theprocess of doing God the big favor of helping with hisPR theyrsquore reinventing the doctrine of eternal punish-

ment with a new and improved gospel Itrsquos gospel-rifficDespite two thousand years of historic Christian inter-pretation these new gospel hucksters are questioning

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12

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

whether Jesus spoke of hell as a real place of eternal

suffering and torment at all But if hell isnrsquot real and onlya warning the biblical authors could just as well havepenned ldquoYou better not pout you better not cryrdquo Itbecomes a hollow warning with about as much sway as ashopping-mall Santa

ldquoBe good kidsrdquoldquoYou smell like beef and cheeserdquo

Buddy the Elfrsquos rebuke could be applied to these newteachers of hell as well ldquoYou sit on a throne of liesrdquo

Hellrsquos Makeover AssistantsIt seems as though Christians are always trying to helpGod out and explain hell (and other unseemly doctrines)in more culturally acceptable ways People often listen to

anyone who will tickle their ears with a new softer theologi-cal feather The one tricky thing that these preachers havein common is they say the name of Jesus a lot Sure theywant you to follow Jesus and if you donrsquothellipwell thatrsquos itNothing reallyThanks for coming See you next Christmas No hellfire and brimstone Just love and lattes The newdoctrine of hell as yoursquoll see is simply not effective ldquoRepent

orhellipnothing of serious consequence will happen to yourdquoOne opponent of eternal punishment said that if

God punishes people with eternal retribution then Godis a monster And if God is not a monster then you area monster for believing it But look if we all end up inheaven it doesnrsquot really matter if wersquore monsters or notnow does it Actually Jesus taught the doctrine of eternal

punishment because we are monsters I have former girl-friends who will confirm as much

Another bestselling Christian author says more of

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13

Introduction

the same in his book the preaching or teaching of hell is

ldquomisguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the conta-gious spread of Jesusrsquo message of love peace forgivenessand joy that our world so desperately needs to hearrdquo2 Ifhis viewpoint is truemdashthat ultimately everyone ends upin heavenmdashthen preaching eternal punishment subvertsnothing If we all end up in heaven why do we even needto find forgiveness here on earth Even us monsters who

believe in hell will end up in heavenI find it interesting that many contemporary

preachers want to save people from the idea of hell ratherthan from hell itself

The doctrine of hell is treated like the Christianrsquosdirty little secretmdashthe pock mark on the churchrsquos historyformed during its teenage years Maybe Christians are

afraid that if we preach hell people will think wersquoreignorant and simple-minded (Thankfully people todayno longer think Christians are ignorant and simple-minded They think wersquore ignorant and narrow-minded)As we lose sleep over social ostracism down at theneighborhood Target popular books on nuovo hell (oras the French would say nouveau hell) line the racks

claiming Christianity is compatible with postmodernsensibilities with an aim to make Christianity cooler Butthe single most troubling idea regurgitated by many oftodayrsquos authors is a second chance in hell after death Thisamounts to Christian universalism

The Strange Universe of

Christian UniversalismUniversalism is the belief that everyone will eventuallybe saved from hell (or just go straight to heaven period)

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14

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Many fashionable evangelicals profess to believe in hell

but itrsquos a sort of air-conditioned hell3 I would include inthis idea of universalism John Stottrsquos school of annihila-tionism (that God destroys the souls of the unrepentant)which effectively does away with hell altogether4 Whoneeds air-conditioning Save electricity At least annihila-tionism is green which is the one positive thing I can sayabout it

There are several variations of Christian universalismOne idea claims that everyone is already saved unless theychoose not to be saved5 As in yoursquore already in unlessyou choose to opt out You might be saved but you justdonrsquot know it If you remain ignorant I guess therersquos nochance of opting out of hell If this is the case then weshould just shut up about this whole gospel business

before someone accidentally loses his salvationAnother thread of Christian universalism suggests

that hell may not be the last word There might be a wordafter that and the word is that you eventually get intoheaven

Clearly proponents of these ideas have not come toterms with the greatest drawback to universalism where

do Universalists tell people to go when theyrsquore really madat them ldquoWhy donrsquot you just go tohellipah I guess Irsquoll seeyou laterrdquo

It has been said ldquoAnyone who is not a Universalistshould be at the very least a Universalist sympathizerrdquo6 But promoting the idea that hell might not be the lastword after you die is only good news for people involved

in the great insurrection against God Itrsquos great news forparents who neglected their kids for dads who desertedtheir families and moms who didnrsquot protect their children

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15

Introduction

for the pirates of the Caribbean and the pirates of Wall

Street for Hitler and Stalin and Vlad the Impaler Somuch for justice sympathizers

Before jumping to conclusions about whether hell isa reasonable doctrine or not every professing Christianought to consider what Scripture says about the natureand character of God The author of Deuteronomywrites ldquoHis work is perfect for all his ways are justicerdquo

(Deuteronomy 324) The Psalmist writes ldquoThis Godmdashhis way is perfect the word of the LORD proves truerdquo(Psalm 1830)

The Jagged Little Pills ofScriptureAccording to the witness of Scripture every Christian

should affirm that God is perfect in all his ways and willglorify himself in all he does If this is true (and Irsquom bettingmy life it is) surely there are doctrines that will be difficultto swallow The issue with any difficult biblical doctrine(election predestination reprobation eternal damnationetc) is that we are finite beings who donrsquot know what thenext thirty seconds will bring Yet somehow we always

think we know better than an infinite holy and all-wiseGod The self-revealed God of this universe does notshuffle his feet or mince his words regarding hell Butthe way the subject of hell has been handled of late theseteachers would have us believe God was second-guessinghimself As if he were saying ldquoYeah I wish there wasanother way I know hell seems mean and all but my

hands are tied Sorry about your nanardquoWe may waffle on the difficult doctrines but God

does not

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16

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

This might seem shocking to you but I delight in the

doctrine of hell Let me explain myself before you tell meto go there I didnrsquot arrive at this mindset overnight butnow I delight in everything that God has revealed to usabout himself Any glimpse into the workings of the mindof God should delight a Christian Now this doesnrsquotmean Irsquove made a list of people whorsquove wronged me andgleefully look it over thinking ldquoYoursquoll get yoursrdquo The

Bible clearly says ldquoHave I any pleasure in the death ofthe wicked declares the Lord GOD and not rather thathe should turn from his way and liverdquo (Ezekiel 1823)But just because itrsquos a difficult doctrine doesnrsquot mean thechurch should be embarrassed by it I have slowly cometo realize that to be embarrassed of hell is to be embar-rassed of God

When I began studying the doctrine of eternal pun-ishment I had this thought but I couldnrsquot bring myself tosay it out loud It sounded absurd It was too shocking tothink let alone say out loud The thought was this

Hell glorifies GodI know Exactly Itrsquos the halitosis of theological

thinking but it is truth nonetheless And that is the simple

premise for this book hell glorifies GodThatrsquos why I take delight in itI know itrsquos shocking I know it raises some questions

Personally one of the things I love about the Christianfaith is that itrsquos always shocking me with somethingReformed and always reforming Yes and amen But alsoshocked and always shocking

How could anyone ever be an endless-punishmentsympathizer How can eternal punishment glorify GodThe answer is pretty simple really Because belief in hell

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17

Introduction

affirms the holiness of God and other such attributes of

his like truth righteousness justice and grace Why doyou think superheroes steal their slogans from us TruthThere is one true God he is righteous in all he does andin who he is God will bring justice to those who do notapprove of him (which is the essence of sin) and who willnot confess they have committed cosmic treason There is

justice for those who have been harmed by the unrepen-

tant And thanks be to God there is grace for all us moralfailures who turn to him in reverence fear and repentanceGrace is not the elimination of hell and any idea thatcomforts people in their unrepentant state can in no waybe loving truthful or gracious and should be rejected(and this includes annihilationism)

These nuovo ideas are weak and shallow because

instead of wrestling with the paradoxes and complexi-ties of the doctrine they simply undermine the authorityof the Bible They may pay lip service to Scripturersquosauthority but as they reinvent hell theyrsquore bringing theBiblersquos credibility down to a much lower level somethingon par with Wikipediarsquos reliability

They simply lack depth

The aim of this book is not character assassinationInstead Irsquod rather take Francis Schaefferrsquos recommenda-tion when it comes to dealing with false teachers And thatis to focus on the false ideas not the person Letrsquos not beridiculous though If yoursquore familiar with the controver-sies surrounding this subject you know the personalitiesinvolved Itrsquos not that Irsquoll never mention a name but letrsquos

keep in mind that fifty years from now the names wonrsquotmean anything to anyone The person is not the pointThe bad theology is

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18

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

At the end of the day to lose the doctrine of eternal

punishment as it is taught in the Bible will result in theshrinkage of Godrsquos attributes and in the end a smallerGod We will suffer the loss of the fear of God theloss of a holy God the loss of a just God the loss of anextravagantly loving God and the loss of Godrsquos wisdomin the cross We canrsquot afford to lose the attributes ofGod Otherwise we have a meaningless gospel But the

greatest loss whenever Scripture is minimized is the loss ofknowing the self-revealed God of this universe The truthis hell glorifies God

Thus The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

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9

Preface

If yoursquore a pastor Irsquove left you some encouraging

words at the end of the bookIf yoursquore a child Irsquom guessing yoursquore probably home-

schooled

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11

INTRODUCTION

WHAT DO WEREALLY LOSE IFHELL FREEZES

OVEROr Why Hell is a Good Idea

Hell the doctrine of eternal punishment miserywithout end or as itrsquos often referred to ldquomother is movingin with usrdquo is not very popular these days On secondthought I canrsquot think of a time when the doctrine of eternalpunishment was popular (not that I donrsquot personally enjoymy mother-in-lawrsquos visits) In todayrsquos age of peace love and

misinformation the subject of hell seems to make churchleaders sweat even when theyrsquore not trying to be ironic

In response there is a swath of fashionable newpreachers with a mission to clean up Godrsquos nasty repu-tation as a bloodthirsty old clod Unfortunately in theprocess of doing God the big favor of helping with hisPR theyrsquore reinventing the doctrine of eternal punish-

ment with a new and improved gospel Itrsquos gospel-rifficDespite two thousand years of historic Christian inter-pretation these new gospel hucksters are questioning

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12

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

whether Jesus spoke of hell as a real place of eternal

suffering and torment at all But if hell isnrsquot real and onlya warning the biblical authors could just as well havepenned ldquoYou better not pout you better not cryrdquo Itbecomes a hollow warning with about as much sway as ashopping-mall Santa

ldquoBe good kidsrdquoldquoYou smell like beef and cheeserdquo

Buddy the Elfrsquos rebuke could be applied to these newteachers of hell as well ldquoYou sit on a throne of liesrdquo

Hellrsquos Makeover AssistantsIt seems as though Christians are always trying to helpGod out and explain hell (and other unseemly doctrines)in more culturally acceptable ways People often listen to

anyone who will tickle their ears with a new softer theologi-cal feather The one tricky thing that these preachers havein common is they say the name of Jesus a lot Sure theywant you to follow Jesus and if you donrsquothellipwell thatrsquos itNothing reallyThanks for coming See you next Christmas No hellfire and brimstone Just love and lattes The newdoctrine of hell as yoursquoll see is simply not effective ldquoRepent

orhellipnothing of serious consequence will happen to yourdquoOne opponent of eternal punishment said that if

God punishes people with eternal retribution then Godis a monster And if God is not a monster then you area monster for believing it But look if we all end up inheaven it doesnrsquot really matter if wersquore monsters or notnow does it Actually Jesus taught the doctrine of eternal

punishment because we are monsters I have former girl-friends who will confirm as much

Another bestselling Christian author says more of

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13

Introduction

the same in his book the preaching or teaching of hell is

ldquomisguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the conta-gious spread of Jesusrsquo message of love peace forgivenessand joy that our world so desperately needs to hearrdquo2 Ifhis viewpoint is truemdashthat ultimately everyone ends upin heavenmdashthen preaching eternal punishment subvertsnothing If we all end up in heaven why do we even needto find forgiveness here on earth Even us monsters who

believe in hell will end up in heavenI find it interesting that many contemporary

preachers want to save people from the idea of hell ratherthan from hell itself

The doctrine of hell is treated like the Christianrsquosdirty little secretmdashthe pock mark on the churchrsquos historyformed during its teenage years Maybe Christians are

afraid that if we preach hell people will think wersquoreignorant and simple-minded (Thankfully people todayno longer think Christians are ignorant and simple-minded They think wersquore ignorant and narrow-minded)As we lose sleep over social ostracism down at theneighborhood Target popular books on nuovo hell (oras the French would say nouveau hell) line the racks

claiming Christianity is compatible with postmodernsensibilities with an aim to make Christianity cooler Butthe single most troubling idea regurgitated by many oftodayrsquos authors is a second chance in hell after death Thisamounts to Christian universalism

The Strange Universe of

Christian UniversalismUniversalism is the belief that everyone will eventuallybe saved from hell (or just go straight to heaven period)

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14

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Many fashionable evangelicals profess to believe in hell

but itrsquos a sort of air-conditioned hell3 I would include inthis idea of universalism John Stottrsquos school of annihila-tionism (that God destroys the souls of the unrepentant)which effectively does away with hell altogether4 Whoneeds air-conditioning Save electricity At least annihila-tionism is green which is the one positive thing I can sayabout it

There are several variations of Christian universalismOne idea claims that everyone is already saved unless theychoose not to be saved5 As in yoursquore already in unlessyou choose to opt out You might be saved but you justdonrsquot know it If you remain ignorant I guess therersquos nochance of opting out of hell If this is the case then weshould just shut up about this whole gospel business

before someone accidentally loses his salvationAnother thread of Christian universalism suggests

that hell may not be the last word There might be a wordafter that and the word is that you eventually get intoheaven

Clearly proponents of these ideas have not come toterms with the greatest drawback to universalism where

do Universalists tell people to go when theyrsquore really madat them ldquoWhy donrsquot you just go tohellipah I guess Irsquoll seeyou laterrdquo

It has been said ldquoAnyone who is not a Universalistshould be at the very least a Universalist sympathizerrdquo6 But promoting the idea that hell might not be the lastword after you die is only good news for people involved

in the great insurrection against God Itrsquos great news forparents who neglected their kids for dads who desertedtheir families and moms who didnrsquot protect their children

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15

Introduction

for the pirates of the Caribbean and the pirates of Wall

Street for Hitler and Stalin and Vlad the Impaler Somuch for justice sympathizers

Before jumping to conclusions about whether hell isa reasonable doctrine or not every professing Christianought to consider what Scripture says about the natureand character of God The author of Deuteronomywrites ldquoHis work is perfect for all his ways are justicerdquo

(Deuteronomy 324) The Psalmist writes ldquoThis Godmdashhis way is perfect the word of the LORD proves truerdquo(Psalm 1830)

The Jagged Little Pills ofScriptureAccording to the witness of Scripture every Christian

should affirm that God is perfect in all his ways and willglorify himself in all he does If this is true (and Irsquom bettingmy life it is) surely there are doctrines that will be difficultto swallow The issue with any difficult biblical doctrine(election predestination reprobation eternal damnationetc) is that we are finite beings who donrsquot know what thenext thirty seconds will bring Yet somehow we always

think we know better than an infinite holy and all-wiseGod The self-revealed God of this universe does notshuffle his feet or mince his words regarding hell Butthe way the subject of hell has been handled of late theseteachers would have us believe God was second-guessinghimself As if he were saying ldquoYeah I wish there wasanother way I know hell seems mean and all but my

hands are tied Sorry about your nanardquoWe may waffle on the difficult doctrines but God

does not

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16

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

This might seem shocking to you but I delight in the

doctrine of hell Let me explain myself before you tell meto go there I didnrsquot arrive at this mindset overnight butnow I delight in everything that God has revealed to usabout himself Any glimpse into the workings of the mindof God should delight a Christian Now this doesnrsquotmean Irsquove made a list of people whorsquove wronged me andgleefully look it over thinking ldquoYoursquoll get yoursrdquo The

Bible clearly says ldquoHave I any pleasure in the death ofthe wicked declares the Lord GOD and not rather thathe should turn from his way and liverdquo (Ezekiel 1823)But just because itrsquos a difficult doctrine doesnrsquot mean thechurch should be embarrassed by it I have slowly cometo realize that to be embarrassed of hell is to be embar-rassed of God

When I began studying the doctrine of eternal pun-ishment I had this thought but I couldnrsquot bring myself tosay it out loud It sounded absurd It was too shocking tothink let alone say out loud The thought was this

Hell glorifies GodI know Exactly Itrsquos the halitosis of theological

thinking but it is truth nonetheless And that is the simple

premise for this book hell glorifies GodThatrsquos why I take delight in itI know itrsquos shocking I know it raises some questions

Personally one of the things I love about the Christianfaith is that itrsquos always shocking me with somethingReformed and always reforming Yes and amen But alsoshocked and always shocking

How could anyone ever be an endless-punishmentsympathizer How can eternal punishment glorify GodThe answer is pretty simple really Because belief in hell

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17

Introduction

affirms the holiness of God and other such attributes of

his like truth righteousness justice and grace Why doyou think superheroes steal their slogans from us TruthThere is one true God he is righteous in all he does andin who he is God will bring justice to those who do notapprove of him (which is the essence of sin) and who willnot confess they have committed cosmic treason There is

justice for those who have been harmed by the unrepen-

tant And thanks be to God there is grace for all us moralfailures who turn to him in reverence fear and repentanceGrace is not the elimination of hell and any idea thatcomforts people in their unrepentant state can in no waybe loving truthful or gracious and should be rejected(and this includes annihilationism)

These nuovo ideas are weak and shallow because

instead of wrestling with the paradoxes and complexi-ties of the doctrine they simply undermine the authorityof the Bible They may pay lip service to Scripturersquosauthority but as they reinvent hell theyrsquore bringing theBiblersquos credibility down to a much lower level somethingon par with Wikipediarsquos reliability

They simply lack depth

The aim of this book is not character assassinationInstead Irsquod rather take Francis Schaefferrsquos recommenda-tion when it comes to dealing with false teachers And thatis to focus on the false ideas not the person Letrsquos not beridiculous though If yoursquore familiar with the controver-sies surrounding this subject you know the personalitiesinvolved Itrsquos not that Irsquoll never mention a name but letrsquos

keep in mind that fifty years from now the names wonrsquotmean anything to anyone The person is not the pointThe bad theology is

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18

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

At the end of the day to lose the doctrine of eternal

punishment as it is taught in the Bible will result in theshrinkage of Godrsquos attributes and in the end a smallerGod We will suffer the loss of the fear of God theloss of a holy God the loss of a just God the loss of anextravagantly loving God and the loss of Godrsquos wisdomin the cross We canrsquot afford to lose the attributes ofGod Otherwise we have a meaningless gospel But the

greatest loss whenever Scripture is minimized is the loss ofknowing the self-revealed God of this universe The truthis hell glorifies God

Thus The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 11: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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11

INTRODUCTION

WHAT DO WEREALLY LOSE IFHELL FREEZES

OVEROr Why Hell is a Good Idea

Hell the doctrine of eternal punishment miserywithout end or as itrsquos often referred to ldquomother is movingin with usrdquo is not very popular these days On secondthought I canrsquot think of a time when the doctrine of eternalpunishment was popular (not that I donrsquot personally enjoymy mother-in-lawrsquos visits) In todayrsquos age of peace love and

misinformation the subject of hell seems to make churchleaders sweat even when theyrsquore not trying to be ironic

In response there is a swath of fashionable newpreachers with a mission to clean up Godrsquos nasty repu-tation as a bloodthirsty old clod Unfortunately in theprocess of doing God the big favor of helping with hisPR theyrsquore reinventing the doctrine of eternal punish-

ment with a new and improved gospel Itrsquos gospel-rifficDespite two thousand years of historic Christian inter-pretation these new gospel hucksters are questioning

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12

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

whether Jesus spoke of hell as a real place of eternal

suffering and torment at all But if hell isnrsquot real and onlya warning the biblical authors could just as well havepenned ldquoYou better not pout you better not cryrdquo Itbecomes a hollow warning with about as much sway as ashopping-mall Santa

ldquoBe good kidsrdquoldquoYou smell like beef and cheeserdquo

Buddy the Elfrsquos rebuke could be applied to these newteachers of hell as well ldquoYou sit on a throne of liesrdquo

Hellrsquos Makeover AssistantsIt seems as though Christians are always trying to helpGod out and explain hell (and other unseemly doctrines)in more culturally acceptable ways People often listen to

anyone who will tickle their ears with a new softer theologi-cal feather The one tricky thing that these preachers havein common is they say the name of Jesus a lot Sure theywant you to follow Jesus and if you donrsquothellipwell thatrsquos itNothing reallyThanks for coming See you next Christmas No hellfire and brimstone Just love and lattes The newdoctrine of hell as yoursquoll see is simply not effective ldquoRepent

orhellipnothing of serious consequence will happen to yourdquoOne opponent of eternal punishment said that if

God punishes people with eternal retribution then Godis a monster And if God is not a monster then you area monster for believing it But look if we all end up inheaven it doesnrsquot really matter if wersquore monsters or notnow does it Actually Jesus taught the doctrine of eternal

punishment because we are monsters I have former girl-friends who will confirm as much

Another bestselling Christian author says more of

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13

Introduction

the same in his book the preaching or teaching of hell is

ldquomisguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the conta-gious spread of Jesusrsquo message of love peace forgivenessand joy that our world so desperately needs to hearrdquo2 Ifhis viewpoint is truemdashthat ultimately everyone ends upin heavenmdashthen preaching eternal punishment subvertsnothing If we all end up in heaven why do we even needto find forgiveness here on earth Even us monsters who

believe in hell will end up in heavenI find it interesting that many contemporary

preachers want to save people from the idea of hell ratherthan from hell itself

The doctrine of hell is treated like the Christianrsquosdirty little secretmdashthe pock mark on the churchrsquos historyformed during its teenage years Maybe Christians are

afraid that if we preach hell people will think wersquoreignorant and simple-minded (Thankfully people todayno longer think Christians are ignorant and simple-minded They think wersquore ignorant and narrow-minded)As we lose sleep over social ostracism down at theneighborhood Target popular books on nuovo hell (oras the French would say nouveau hell) line the racks

claiming Christianity is compatible with postmodernsensibilities with an aim to make Christianity cooler Butthe single most troubling idea regurgitated by many oftodayrsquos authors is a second chance in hell after death Thisamounts to Christian universalism

The Strange Universe of

Christian UniversalismUniversalism is the belief that everyone will eventuallybe saved from hell (or just go straight to heaven period)

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14

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Many fashionable evangelicals profess to believe in hell

but itrsquos a sort of air-conditioned hell3 I would include inthis idea of universalism John Stottrsquos school of annihila-tionism (that God destroys the souls of the unrepentant)which effectively does away with hell altogether4 Whoneeds air-conditioning Save electricity At least annihila-tionism is green which is the one positive thing I can sayabout it

There are several variations of Christian universalismOne idea claims that everyone is already saved unless theychoose not to be saved5 As in yoursquore already in unlessyou choose to opt out You might be saved but you justdonrsquot know it If you remain ignorant I guess therersquos nochance of opting out of hell If this is the case then weshould just shut up about this whole gospel business

before someone accidentally loses his salvationAnother thread of Christian universalism suggests

that hell may not be the last word There might be a wordafter that and the word is that you eventually get intoheaven

Clearly proponents of these ideas have not come toterms with the greatest drawback to universalism where

do Universalists tell people to go when theyrsquore really madat them ldquoWhy donrsquot you just go tohellipah I guess Irsquoll seeyou laterrdquo

It has been said ldquoAnyone who is not a Universalistshould be at the very least a Universalist sympathizerrdquo6 But promoting the idea that hell might not be the lastword after you die is only good news for people involved

in the great insurrection against God Itrsquos great news forparents who neglected their kids for dads who desertedtheir families and moms who didnrsquot protect their children

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15

Introduction

for the pirates of the Caribbean and the pirates of Wall

Street for Hitler and Stalin and Vlad the Impaler Somuch for justice sympathizers

Before jumping to conclusions about whether hell isa reasonable doctrine or not every professing Christianought to consider what Scripture says about the natureand character of God The author of Deuteronomywrites ldquoHis work is perfect for all his ways are justicerdquo

(Deuteronomy 324) The Psalmist writes ldquoThis Godmdashhis way is perfect the word of the LORD proves truerdquo(Psalm 1830)

The Jagged Little Pills ofScriptureAccording to the witness of Scripture every Christian

should affirm that God is perfect in all his ways and willglorify himself in all he does If this is true (and Irsquom bettingmy life it is) surely there are doctrines that will be difficultto swallow The issue with any difficult biblical doctrine(election predestination reprobation eternal damnationetc) is that we are finite beings who donrsquot know what thenext thirty seconds will bring Yet somehow we always

think we know better than an infinite holy and all-wiseGod The self-revealed God of this universe does notshuffle his feet or mince his words regarding hell Butthe way the subject of hell has been handled of late theseteachers would have us believe God was second-guessinghimself As if he were saying ldquoYeah I wish there wasanother way I know hell seems mean and all but my

hands are tied Sorry about your nanardquoWe may waffle on the difficult doctrines but God

does not

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16

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

This might seem shocking to you but I delight in the

doctrine of hell Let me explain myself before you tell meto go there I didnrsquot arrive at this mindset overnight butnow I delight in everything that God has revealed to usabout himself Any glimpse into the workings of the mindof God should delight a Christian Now this doesnrsquotmean Irsquove made a list of people whorsquove wronged me andgleefully look it over thinking ldquoYoursquoll get yoursrdquo The

Bible clearly says ldquoHave I any pleasure in the death ofthe wicked declares the Lord GOD and not rather thathe should turn from his way and liverdquo (Ezekiel 1823)But just because itrsquos a difficult doctrine doesnrsquot mean thechurch should be embarrassed by it I have slowly cometo realize that to be embarrassed of hell is to be embar-rassed of God

When I began studying the doctrine of eternal pun-ishment I had this thought but I couldnrsquot bring myself tosay it out loud It sounded absurd It was too shocking tothink let alone say out loud The thought was this

Hell glorifies GodI know Exactly Itrsquos the halitosis of theological

thinking but it is truth nonetheless And that is the simple

premise for this book hell glorifies GodThatrsquos why I take delight in itI know itrsquos shocking I know it raises some questions

Personally one of the things I love about the Christianfaith is that itrsquos always shocking me with somethingReformed and always reforming Yes and amen But alsoshocked and always shocking

How could anyone ever be an endless-punishmentsympathizer How can eternal punishment glorify GodThe answer is pretty simple really Because belief in hell

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17

Introduction

affirms the holiness of God and other such attributes of

his like truth righteousness justice and grace Why doyou think superheroes steal their slogans from us TruthThere is one true God he is righteous in all he does andin who he is God will bring justice to those who do notapprove of him (which is the essence of sin) and who willnot confess they have committed cosmic treason There is

justice for those who have been harmed by the unrepen-

tant And thanks be to God there is grace for all us moralfailures who turn to him in reverence fear and repentanceGrace is not the elimination of hell and any idea thatcomforts people in their unrepentant state can in no waybe loving truthful or gracious and should be rejected(and this includes annihilationism)

These nuovo ideas are weak and shallow because

instead of wrestling with the paradoxes and complexi-ties of the doctrine they simply undermine the authorityof the Bible They may pay lip service to Scripturersquosauthority but as they reinvent hell theyrsquore bringing theBiblersquos credibility down to a much lower level somethingon par with Wikipediarsquos reliability

They simply lack depth

The aim of this book is not character assassinationInstead Irsquod rather take Francis Schaefferrsquos recommenda-tion when it comes to dealing with false teachers And thatis to focus on the false ideas not the person Letrsquos not beridiculous though If yoursquore familiar with the controver-sies surrounding this subject you know the personalitiesinvolved Itrsquos not that Irsquoll never mention a name but letrsquos

keep in mind that fifty years from now the names wonrsquotmean anything to anyone The person is not the pointThe bad theology is

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18

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

At the end of the day to lose the doctrine of eternal

punishment as it is taught in the Bible will result in theshrinkage of Godrsquos attributes and in the end a smallerGod We will suffer the loss of the fear of God theloss of a holy God the loss of a just God the loss of anextravagantly loving God and the loss of Godrsquos wisdomin the cross We canrsquot afford to lose the attributes ofGod Otherwise we have a meaningless gospel But the

greatest loss whenever Scripture is minimized is the loss ofknowing the self-revealed God of this universe The truthis hell glorifies God

Thus The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

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11

INTRODUCTION

WHAT DO WEREALLY LOSE IFHELL FREEZES

OVEROr Why Hell is a Good Idea

Hell the doctrine of eternal punishment miserywithout end or as itrsquos often referred to ldquomother is movingin with usrdquo is not very popular these days On secondthought I canrsquot think of a time when the doctrine of eternalpunishment was popular (not that I donrsquot personally enjoymy mother-in-lawrsquos visits) In todayrsquos age of peace love and

misinformation the subject of hell seems to make churchleaders sweat even when theyrsquore not trying to be ironic

In response there is a swath of fashionable newpreachers with a mission to clean up Godrsquos nasty repu-tation as a bloodthirsty old clod Unfortunately in theprocess of doing God the big favor of helping with hisPR theyrsquore reinventing the doctrine of eternal punish-

ment with a new and improved gospel Itrsquos gospel-rifficDespite two thousand years of historic Christian inter-pretation these new gospel hucksters are questioning

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12

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

whether Jesus spoke of hell as a real place of eternal

suffering and torment at all But if hell isnrsquot real and onlya warning the biblical authors could just as well havepenned ldquoYou better not pout you better not cryrdquo Itbecomes a hollow warning with about as much sway as ashopping-mall Santa

ldquoBe good kidsrdquoldquoYou smell like beef and cheeserdquo

Buddy the Elfrsquos rebuke could be applied to these newteachers of hell as well ldquoYou sit on a throne of liesrdquo

Hellrsquos Makeover AssistantsIt seems as though Christians are always trying to helpGod out and explain hell (and other unseemly doctrines)in more culturally acceptable ways People often listen to

anyone who will tickle their ears with a new softer theologi-cal feather The one tricky thing that these preachers havein common is they say the name of Jesus a lot Sure theywant you to follow Jesus and if you donrsquothellipwell thatrsquos itNothing reallyThanks for coming See you next Christmas No hellfire and brimstone Just love and lattes The newdoctrine of hell as yoursquoll see is simply not effective ldquoRepent

orhellipnothing of serious consequence will happen to yourdquoOne opponent of eternal punishment said that if

God punishes people with eternal retribution then Godis a monster And if God is not a monster then you area monster for believing it But look if we all end up inheaven it doesnrsquot really matter if wersquore monsters or notnow does it Actually Jesus taught the doctrine of eternal

punishment because we are monsters I have former girl-friends who will confirm as much

Another bestselling Christian author says more of

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13

Introduction

the same in his book the preaching or teaching of hell is

ldquomisguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the conta-gious spread of Jesusrsquo message of love peace forgivenessand joy that our world so desperately needs to hearrdquo2 Ifhis viewpoint is truemdashthat ultimately everyone ends upin heavenmdashthen preaching eternal punishment subvertsnothing If we all end up in heaven why do we even needto find forgiveness here on earth Even us monsters who

believe in hell will end up in heavenI find it interesting that many contemporary

preachers want to save people from the idea of hell ratherthan from hell itself

The doctrine of hell is treated like the Christianrsquosdirty little secretmdashthe pock mark on the churchrsquos historyformed during its teenage years Maybe Christians are

afraid that if we preach hell people will think wersquoreignorant and simple-minded (Thankfully people todayno longer think Christians are ignorant and simple-minded They think wersquore ignorant and narrow-minded)As we lose sleep over social ostracism down at theneighborhood Target popular books on nuovo hell (oras the French would say nouveau hell) line the racks

claiming Christianity is compatible with postmodernsensibilities with an aim to make Christianity cooler Butthe single most troubling idea regurgitated by many oftodayrsquos authors is a second chance in hell after death Thisamounts to Christian universalism

The Strange Universe of

Christian UniversalismUniversalism is the belief that everyone will eventuallybe saved from hell (or just go straight to heaven period)

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14

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Many fashionable evangelicals profess to believe in hell

but itrsquos a sort of air-conditioned hell3 I would include inthis idea of universalism John Stottrsquos school of annihila-tionism (that God destroys the souls of the unrepentant)which effectively does away with hell altogether4 Whoneeds air-conditioning Save electricity At least annihila-tionism is green which is the one positive thing I can sayabout it

There are several variations of Christian universalismOne idea claims that everyone is already saved unless theychoose not to be saved5 As in yoursquore already in unlessyou choose to opt out You might be saved but you justdonrsquot know it If you remain ignorant I guess therersquos nochance of opting out of hell If this is the case then weshould just shut up about this whole gospel business

before someone accidentally loses his salvationAnother thread of Christian universalism suggests

that hell may not be the last word There might be a wordafter that and the word is that you eventually get intoheaven

Clearly proponents of these ideas have not come toterms with the greatest drawback to universalism where

do Universalists tell people to go when theyrsquore really madat them ldquoWhy donrsquot you just go tohellipah I guess Irsquoll seeyou laterrdquo

It has been said ldquoAnyone who is not a Universalistshould be at the very least a Universalist sympathizerrdquo6 But promoting the idea that hell might not be the lastword after you die is only good news for people involved

in the great insurrection against God Itrsquos great news forparents who neglected their kids for dads who desertedtheir families and moms who didnrsquot protect their children

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15

Introduction

for the pirates of the Caribbean and the pirates of Wall

Street for Hitler and Stalin and Vlad the Impaler Somuch for justice sympathizers

Before jumping to conclusions about whether hell isa reasonable doctrine or not every professing Christianought to consider what Scripture says about the natureand character of God The author of Deuteronomywrites ldquoHis work is perfect for all his ways are justicerdquo

(Deuteronomy 324) The Psalmist writes ldquoThis Godmdashhis way is perfect the word of the LORD proves truerdquo(Psalm 1830)

The Jagged Little Pills ofScriptureAccording to the witness of Scripture every Christian

should affirm that God is perfect in all his ways and willglorify himself in all he does If this is true (and Irsquom bettingmy life it is) surely there are doctrines that will be difficultto swallow The issue with any difficult biblical doctrine(election predestination reprobation eternal damnationetc) is that we are finite beings who donrsquot know what thenext thirty seconds will bring Yet somehow we always

think we know better than an infinite holy and all-wiseGod The self-revealed God of this universe does notshuffle his feet or mince his words regarding hell Butthe way the subject of hell has been handled of late theseteachers would have us believe God was second-guessinghimself As if he were saying ldquoYeah I wish there wasanother way I know hell seems mean and all but my

hands are tied Sorry about your nanardquoWe may waffle on the difficult doctrines but God

does not

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16

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

This might seem shocking to you but I delight in the

doctrine of hell Let me explain myself before you tell meto go there I didnrsquot arrive at this mindset overnight butnow I delight in everything that God has revealed to usabout himself Any glimpse into the workings of the mindof God should delight a Christian Now this doesnrsquotmean Irsquove made a list of people whorsquove wronged me andgleefully look it over thinking ldquoYoursquoll get yoursrdquo The

Bible clearly says ldquoHave I any pleasure in the death ofthe wicked declares the Lord GOD and not rather thathe should turn from his way and liverdquo (Ezekiel 1823)But just because itrsquos a difficult doctrine doesnrsquot mean thechurch should be embarrassed by it I have slowly cometo realize that to be embarrassed of hell is to be embar-rassed of God

When I began studying the doctrine of eternal pun-ishment I had this thought but I couldnrsquot bring myself tosay it out loud It sounded absurd It was too shocking tothink let alone say out loud The thought was this

Hell glorifies GodI know Exactly Itrsquos the halitosis of theological

thinking but it is truth nonetheless And that is the simple

premise for this book hell glorifies GodThatrsquos why I take delight in itI know itrsquos shocking I know it raises some questions

Personally one of the things I love about the Christianfaith is that itrsquos always shocking me with somethingReformed and always reforming Yes and amen But alsoshocked and always shocking

How could anyone ever be an endless-punishmentsympathizer How can eternal punishment glorify GodThe answer is pretty simple really Because belief in hell

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17

Introduction

affirms the holiness of God and other such attributes of

his like truth righteousness justice and grace Why doyou think superheroes steal their slogans from us TruthThere is one true God he is righteous in all he does andin who he is God will bring justice to those who do notapprove of him (which is the essence of sin) and who willnot confess they have committed cosmic treason There is

justice for those who have been harmed by the unrepen-

tant And thanks be to God there is grace for all us moralfailures who turn to him in reverence fear and repentanceGrace is not the elimination of hell and any idea thatcomforts people in their unrepentant state can in no waybe loving truthful or gracious and should be rejected(and this includes annihilationism)

These nuovo ideas are weak and shallow because

instead of wrestling with the paradoxes and complexi-ties of the doctrine they simply undermine the authorityof the Bible They may pay lip service to Scripturersquosauthority but as they reinvent hell theyrsquore bringing theBiblersquos credibility down to a much lower level somethingon par with Wikipediarsquos reliability

They simply lack depth

The aim of this book is not character assassinationInstead Irsquod rather take Francis Schaefferrsquos recommenda-tion when it comes to dealing with false teachers And thatis to focus on the false ideas not the person Letrsquos not beridiculous though If yoursquore familiar with the controver-sies surrounding this subject you know the personalitiesinvolved Itrsquos not that Irsquoll never mention a name but letrsquos

keep in mind that fifty years from now the names wonrsquotmean anything to anyone The person is not the pointThe bad theology is

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18

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

At the end of the day to lose the doctrine of eternal

punishment as it is taught in the Bible will result in theshrinkage of Godrsquos attributes and in the end a smallerGod We will suffer the loss of the fear of God theloss of a holy God the loss of a just God the loss of anextravagantly loving God and the loss of Godrsquos wisdomin the cross We canrsquot afford to lose the attributes ofGod Otherwise we have a meaningless gospel But the

greatest loss whenever Scripture is minimized is the loss ofknowing the self-revealed God of this universe The truthis hell glorifies God

Thus The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

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12

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

whether Jesus spoke of hell as a real place of eternal

suffering and torment at all But if hell isnrsquot real and onlya warning the biblical authors could just as well havepenned ldquoYou better not pout you better not cryrdquo Itbecomes a hollow warning with about as much sway as ashopping-mall Santa

ldquoBe good kidsrdquoldquoYou smell like beef and cheeserdquo

Buddy the Elfrsquos rebuke could be applied to these newteachers of hell as well ldquoYou sit on a throne of liesrdquo

Hellrsquos Makeover AssistantsIt seems as though Christians are always trying to helpGod out and explain hell (and other unseemly doctrines)in more culturally acceptable ways People often listen to

anyone who will tickle their ears with a new softer theologi-cal feather The one tricky thing that these preachers havein common is they say the name of Jesus a lot Sure theywant you to follow Jesus and if you donrsquothellipwell thatrsquos itNothing reallyThanks for coming See you next Christmas No hellfire and brimstone Just love and lattes The newdoctrine of hell as yoursquoll see is simply not effective ldquoRepent

orhellipnothing of serious consequence will happen to yourdquoOne opponent of eternal punishment said that if

God punishes people with eternal retribution then Godis a monster And if God is not a monster then you area monster for believing it But look if we all end up inheaven it doesnrsquot really matter if wersquore monsters or notnow does it Actually Jesus taught the doctrine of eternal

punishment because we are monsters I have former girl-friends who will confirm as much

Another bestselling Christian author says more of

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13

Introduction

the same in his book the preaching or teaching of hell is

ldquomisguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the conta-gious spread of Jesusrsquo message of love peace forgivenessand joy that our world so desperately needs to hearrdquo2 Ifhis viewpoint is truemdashthat ultimately everyone ends upin heavenmdashthen preaching eternal punishment subvertsnothing If we all end up in heaven why do we even needto find forgiveness here on earth Even us monsters who

believe in hell will end up in heavenI find it interesting that many contemporary

preachers want to save people from the idea of hell ratherthan from hell itself

The doctrine of hell is treated like the Christianrsquosdirty little secretmdashthe pock mark on the churchrsquos historyformed during its teenage years Maybe Christians are

afraid that if we preach hell people will think wersquoreignorant and simple-minded (Thankfully people todayno longer think Christians are ignorant and simple-minded They think wersquore ignorant and narrow-minded)As we lose sleep over social ostracism down at theneighborhood Target popular books on nuovo hell (oras the French would say nouveau hell) line the racks

claiming Christianity is compatible with postmodernsensibilities with an aim to make Christianity cooler Butthe single most troubling idea regurgitated by many oftodayrsquos authors is a second chance in hell after death Thisamounts to Christian universalism

The Strange Universe of

Christian UniversalismUniversalism is the belief that everyone will eventuallybe saved from hell (or just go straight to heaven period)

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14

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Many fashionable evangelicals profess to believe in hell

but itrsquos a sort of air-conditioned hell3 I would include inthis idea of universalism John Stottrsquos school of annihila-tionism (that God destroys the souls of the unrepentant)which effectively does away with hell altogether4 Whoneeds air-conditioning Save electricity At least annihila-tionism is green which is the one positive thing I can sayabout it

There are several variations of Christian universalismOne idea claims that everyone is already saved unless theychoose not to be saved5 As in yoursquore already in unlessyou choose to opt out You might be saved but you justdonrsquot know it If you remain ignorant I guess therersquos nochance of opting out of hell If this is the case then weshould just shut up about this whole gospel business

before someone accidentally loses his salvationAnother thread of Christian universalism suggests

that hell may not be the last word There might be a wordafter that and the word is that you eventually get intoheaven

Clearly proponents of these ideas have not come toterms with the greatest drawback to universalism where

do Universalists tell people to go when theyrsquore really madat them ldquoWhy donrsquot you just go tohellipah I guess Irsquoll seeyou laterrdquo

It has been said ldquoAnyone who is not a Universalistshould be at the very least a Universalist sympathizerrdquo6 But promoting the idea that hell might not be the lastword after you die is only good news for people involved

in the great insurrection against God Itrsquos great news forparents who neglected their kids for dads who desertedtheir families and moms who didnrsquot protect their children

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15

Introduction

for the pirates of the Caribbean and the pirates of Wall

Street for Hitler and Stalin and Vlad the Impaler Somuch for justice sympathizers

Before jumping to conclusions about whether hell isa reasonable doctrine or not every professing Christianought to consider what Scripture says about the natureand character of God The author of Deuteronomywrites ldquoHis work is perfect for all his ways are justicerdquo

(Deuteronomy 324) The Psalmist writes ldquoThis Godmdashhis way is perfect the word of the LORD proves truerdquo(Psalm 1830)

The Jagged Little Pills ofScriptureAccording to the witness of Scripture every Christian

should affirm that God is perfect in all his ways and willglorify himself in all he does If this is true (and Irsquom bettingmy life it is) surely there are doctrines that will be difficultto swallow The issue with any difficult biblical doctrine(election predestination reprobation eternal damnationetc) is that we are finite beings who donrsquot know what thenext thirty seconds will bring Yet somehow we always

think we know better than an infinite holy and all-wiseGod The self-revealed God of this universe does notshuffle his feet or mince his words regarding hell Butthe way the subject of hell has been handled of late theseteachers would have us believe God was second-guessinghimself As if he were saying ldquoYeah I wish there wasanother way I know hell seems mean and all but my

hands are tied Sorry about your nanardquoWe may waffle on the difficult doctrines but God

does not

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16

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

This might seem shocking to you but I delight in the

doctrine of hell Let me explain myself before you tell meto go there I didnrsquot arrive at this mindset overnight butnow I delight in everything that God has revealed to usabout himself Any glimpse into the workings of the mindof God should delight a Christian Now this doesnrsquotmean Irsquove made a list of people whorsquove wronged me andgleefully look it over thinking ldquoYoursquoll get yoursrdquo The

Bible clearly says ldquoHave I any pleasure in the death ofthe wicked declares the Lord GOD and not rather thathe should turn from his way and liverdquo (Ezekiel 1823)But just because itrsquos a difficult doctrine doesnrsquot mean thechurch should be embarrassed by it I have slowly cometo realize that to be embarrassed of hell is to be embar-rassed of God

When I began studying the doctrine of eternal pun-ishment I had this thought but I couldnrsquot bring myself tosay it out loud It sounded absurd It was too shocking tothink let alone say out loud The thought was this

Hell glorifies GodI know Exactly Itrsquos the halitosis of theological

thinking but it is truth nonetheless And that is the simple

premise for this book hell glorifies GodThatrsquos why I take delight in itI know itrsquos shocking I know it raises some questions

Personally one of the things I love about the Christianfaith is that itrsquos always shocking me with somethingReformed and always reforming Yes and amen But alsoshocked and always shocking

How could anyone ever be an endless-punishmentsympathizer How can eternal punishment glorify GodThe answer is pretty simple really Because belief in hell

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17

Introduction

affirms the holiness of God and other such attributes of

his like truth righteousness justice and grace Why doyou think superheroes steal their slogans from us TruthThere is one true God he is righteous in all he does andin who he is God will bring justice to those who do notapprove of him (which is the essence of sin) and who willnot confess they have committed cosmic treason There is

justice for those who have been harmed by the unrepen-

tant And thanks be to God there is grace for all us moralfailures who turn to him in reverence fear and repentanceGrace is not the elimination of hell and any idea thatcomforts people in their unrepentant state can in no waybe loving truthful or gracious and should be rejected(and this includes annihilationism)

These nuovo ideas are weak and shallow because

instead of wrestling with the paradoxes and complexi-ties of the doctrine they simply undermine the authorityof the Bible They may pay lip service to Scripturersquosauthority but as they reinvent hell theyrsquore bringing theBiblersquos credibility down to a much lower level somethingon par with Wikipediarsquos reliability

They simply lack depth

The aim of this book is not character assassinationInstead Irsquod rather take Francis Schaefferrsquos recommenda-tion when it comes to dealing with false teachers And thatis to focus on the false ideas not the person Letrsquos not beridiculous though If yoursquore familiar with the controver-sies surrounding this subject you know the personalitiesinvolved Itrsquos not that Irsquoll never mention a name but letrsquos

keep in mind that fifty years from now the names wonrsquotmean anything to anyone The person is not the pointThe bad theology is

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18

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

At the end of the day to lose the doctrine of eternal

punishment as it is taught in the Bible will result in theshrinkage of Godrsquos attributes and in the end a smallerGod We will suffer the loss of the fear of God theloss of a holy God the loss of a just God the loss of anextravagantly loving God and the loss of Godrsquos wisdomin the cross We canrsquot afford to lose the attributes ofGod Otherwise we have a meaningless gospel But the

greatest loss whenever Scripture is minimized is the loss ofknowing the self-revealed God of this universe The truthis hell glorifies God

Thus The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

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13

Introduction

the same in his book the preaching or teaching of hell is

ldquomisguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the conta-gious spread of Jesusrsquo message of love peace forgivenessand joy that our world so desperately needs to hearrdquo2 Ifhis viewpoint is truemdashthat ultimately everyone ends upin heavenmdashthen preaching eternal punishment subvertsnothing If we all end up in heaven why do we even needto find forgiveness here on earth Even us monsters who

believe in hell will end up in heavenI find it interesting that many contemporary

preachers want to save people from the idea of hell ratherthan from hell itself

The doctrine of hell is treated like the Christianrsquosdirty little secretmdashthe pock mark on the churchrsquos historyformed during its teenage years Maybe Christians are

afraid that if we preach hell people will think wersquoreignorant and simple-minded (Thankfully people todayno longer think Christians are ignorant and simple-minded They think wersquore ignorant and narrow-minded)As we lose sleep over social ostracism down at theneighborhood Target popular books on nuovo hell (oras the French would say nouveau hell) line the racks

claiming Christianity is compatible with postmodernsensibilities with an aim to make Christianity cooler Butthe single most troubling idea regurgitated by many oftodayrsquos authors is a second chance in hell after death Thisamounts to Christian universalism

The Strange Universe of

Christian UniversalismUniversalism is the belief that everyone will eventuallybe saved from hell (or just go straight to heaven period)

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14

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Many fashionable evangelicals profess to believe in hell

but itrsquos a sort of air-conditioned hell3 I would include inthis idea of universalism John Stottrsquos school of annihila-tionism (that God destroys the souls of the unrepentant)which effectively does away with hell altogether4 Whoneeds air-conditioning Save electricity At least annihila-tionism is green which is the one positive thing I can sayabout it

There are several variations of Christian universalismOne idea claims that everyone is already saved unless theychoose not to be saved5 As in yoursquore already in unlessyou choose to opt out You might be saved but you justdonrsquot know it If you remain ignorant I guess therersquos nochance of opting out of hell If this is the case then weshould just shut up about this whole gospel business

before someone accidentally loses his salvationAnother thread of Christian universalism suggests

that hell may not be the last word There might be a wordafter that and the word is that you eventually get intoheaven

Clearly proponents of these ideas have not come toterms with the greatest drawback to universalism where

do Universalists tell people to go when theyrsquore really madat them ldquoWhy donrsquot you just go tohellipah I guess Irsquoll seeyou laterrdquo

It has been said ldquoAnyone who is not a Universalistshould be at the very least a Universalist sympathizerrdquo6 But promoting the idea that hell might not be the lastword after you die is only good news for people involved

in the great insurrection against God Itrsquos great news forparents who neglected their kids for dads who desertedtheir families and moms who didnrsquot protect their children

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15

Introduction

for the pirates of the Caribbean and the pirates of Wall

Street for Hitler and Stalin and Vlad the Impaler Somuch for justice sympathizers

Before jumping to conclusions about whether hell isa reasonable doctrine or not every professing Christianought to consider what Scripture says about the natureand character of God The author of Deuteronomywrites ldquoHis work is perfect for all his ways are justicerdquo

(Deuteronomy 324) The Psalmist writes ldquoThis Godmdashhis way is perfect the word of the LORD proves truerdquo(Psalm 1830)

The Jagged Little Pills ofScriptureAccording to the witness of Scripture every Christian

should affirm that God is perfect in all his ways and willglorify himself in all he does If this is true (and Irsquom bettingmy life it is) surely there are doctrines that will be difficultto swallow The issue with any difficult biblical doctrine(election predestination reprobation eternal damnationetc) is that we are finite beings who donrsquot know what thenext thirty seconds will bring Yet somehow we always

think we know better than an infinite holy and all-wiseGod The self-revealed God of this universe does notshuffle his feet or mince his words regarding hell Butthe way the subject of hell has been handled of late theseteachers would have us believe God was second-guessinghimself As if he were saying ldquoYeah I wish there wasanother way I know hell seems mean and all but my

hands are tied Sorry about your nanardquoWe may waffle on the difficult doctrines but God

does not

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16

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

This might seem shocking to you but I delight in the

doctrine of hell Let me explain myself before you tell meto go there I didnrsquot arrive at this mindset overnight butnow I delight in everything that God has revealed to usabout himself Any glimpse into the workings of the mindof God should delight a Christian Now this doesnrsquotmean Irsquove made a list of people whorsquove wronged me andgleefully look it over thinking ldquoYoursquoll get yoursrdquo The

Bible clearly says ldquoHave I any pleasure in the death ofthe wicked declares the Lord GOD and not rather thathe should turn from his way and liverdquo (Ezekiel 1823)But just because itrsquos a difficult doctrine doesnrsquot mean thechurch should be embarrassed by it I have slowly cometo realize that to be embarrassed of hell is to be embar-rassed of God

When I began studying the doctrine of eternal pun-ishment I had this thought but I couldnrsquot bring myself tosay it out loud It sounded absurd It was too shocking tothink let alone say out loud The thought was this

Hell glorifies GodI know Exactly Itrsquos the halitosis of theological

thinking but it is truth nonetheless And that is the simple

premise for this book hell glorifies GodThatrsquos why I take delight in itI know itrsquos shocking I know it raises some questions

Personally one of the things I love about the Christianfaith is that itrsquos always shocking me with somethingReformed and always reforming Yes and amen But alsoshocked and always shocking

How could anyone ever be an endless-punishmentsympathizer How can eternal punishment glorify GodThe answer is pretty simple really Because belief in hell

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17

Introduction

affirms the holiness of God and other such attributes of

his like truth righteousness justice and grace Why doyou think superheroes steal their slogans from us TruthThere is one true God he is righteous in all he does andin who he is God will bring justice to those who do notapprove of him (which is the essence of sin) and who willnot confess they have committed cosmic treason There is

justice for those who have been harmed by the unrepen-

tant And thanks be to God there is grace for all us moralfailures who turn to him in reverence fear and repentanceGrace is not the elimination of hell and any idea thatcomforts people in their unrepentant state can in no waybe loving truthful or gracious and should be rejected(and this includes annihilationism)

These nuovo ideas are weak and shallow because

instead of wrestling with the paradoxes and complexi-ties of the doctrine they simply undermine the authorityof the Bible They may pay lip service to Scripturersquosauthority but as they reinvent hell theyrsquore bringing theBiblersquos credibility down to a much lower level somethingon par with Wikipediarsquos reliability

They simply lack depth

The aim of this book is not character assassinationInstead Irsquod rather take Francis Schaefferrsquos recommenda-tion when it comes to dealing with false teachers And thatis to focus on the false ideas not the person Letrsquos not beridiculous though If yoursquore familiar with the controver-sies surrounding this subject you know the personalitiesinvolved Itrsquos not that Irsquoll never mention a name but letrsquos

keep in mind that fifty years from now the names wonrsquotmean anything to anyone The person is not the pointThe bad theology is

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18

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

At the end of the day to lose the doctrine of eternal

punishment as it is taught in the Bible will result in theshrinkage of Godrsquos attributes and in the end a smallerGod We will suffer the loss of the fear of God theloss of a holy God the loss of a just God the loss of anextravagantly loving God and the loss of Godrsquos wisdomin the cross We canrsquot afford to lose the attributes ofGod Otherwise we have a meaningless gospel But the

greatest loss whenever Scripture is minimized is the loss ofknowing the self-revealed God of this universe The truthis hell glorifies God

Thus The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 15: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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14

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Many fashionable evangelicals profess to believe in hell

but itrsquos a sort of air-conditioned hell3 I would include inthis idea of universalism John Stottrsquos school of annihila-tionism (that God destroys the souls of the unrepentant)which effectively does away with hell altogether4 Whoneeds air-conditioning Save electricity At least annihila-tionism is green which is the one positive thing I can sayabout it

There are several variations of Christian universalismOne idea claims that everyone is already saved unless theychoose not to be saved5 As in yoursquore already in unlessyou choose to opt out You might be saved but you justdonrsquot know it If you remain ignorant I guess therersquos nochance of opting out of hell If this is the case then weshould just shut up about this whole gospel business

before someone accidentally loses his salvationAnother thread of Christian universalism suggests

that hell may not be the last word There might be a wordafter that and the word is that you eventually get intoheaven

Clearly proponents of these ideas have not come toterms with the greatest drawback to universalism where

do Universalists tell people to go when theyrsquore really madat them ldquoWhy donrsquot you just go tohellipah I guess Irsquoll seeyou laterrdquo

It has been said ldquoAnyone who is not a Universalistshould be at the very least a Universalist sympathizerrdquo6 But promoting the idea that hell might not be the lastword after you die is only good news for people involved

in the great insurrection against God Itrsquos great news forparents who neglected their kids for dads who desertedtheir families and moms who didnrsquot protect their children

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15

Introduction

for the pirates of the Caribbean and the pirates of Wall

Street for Hitler and Stalin and Vlad the Impaler Somuch for justice sympathizers

Before jumping to conclusions about whether hell isa reasonable doctrine or not every professing Christianought to consider what Scripture says about the natureand character of God The author of Deuteronomywrites ldquoHis work is perfect for all his ways are justicerdquo

(Deuteronomy 324) The Psalmist writes ldquoThis Godmdashhis way is perfect the word of the LORD proves truerdquo(Psalm 1830)

The Jagged Little Pills ofScriptureAccording to the witness of Scripture every Christian

should affirm that God is perfect in all his ways and willglorify himself in all he does If this is true (and Irsquom bettingmy life it is) surely there are doctrines that will be difficultto swallow The issue with any difficult biblical doctrine(election predestination reprobation eternal damnationetc) is that we are finite beings who donrsquot know what thenext thirty seconds will bring Yet somehow we always

think we know better than an infinite holy and all-wiseGod The self-revealed God of this universe does notshuffle his feet or mince his words regarding hell Butthe way the subject of hell has been handled of late theseteachers would have us believe God was second-guessinghimself As if he were saying ldquoYeah I wish there wasanother way I know hell seems mean and all but my

hands are tied Sorry about your nanardquoWe may waffle on the difficult doctrines but God

does not

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16

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

This might seem shocking to you but I delight in the

doctrine of hell Let me explain myself before you tell meto go there I didnrsquot arrive at this mindset overnight butnow I delight in everything that God has revealed to usabout himself Any glimpse into the workings of the mindof God should delight a Christian Now this doesnrsquotmean Irsquove made a list of people whorsquove wronged me andgleefully look it over thinking ldquoYoursquoll get yoursrdquo The

Bible clearly says ldquoHave I any pleasure in the death ofthe wicked declares the Lord GOD and not rather thathe should turn from his way and liverdquo (Ezekiel 1823)But just because itrsquos a difficult doctrine doesnrsquot mean thechurch should be embarrassed by it I have slowly cometo realize that to be embarrassed of hell is to be embar-rassed of God

When I began studying the doctrine of eternal pun-ishment I had this thought but I couldnrsquot bring myself tosay it out loud It sounded absurd It was too shocking tothink let alone say out loud The thought was this

Hell glorifies GodI know Exactly Itrsquos the halitosis of theological

thinking but it is truth nonetheless And that is the simple

premise for this book hell glorifies GodThatrsquos why I take delight in itI know itrsquos shocking I know it raises some questions

Personally one of the things I love about the Christianfaith is that itrsquos always shocking me with somethingReformed and always reforming Yes and amen But alsoshocked and always shocking

How could anyone ever be an endless-punishmentsympathizer How can eternal punishment glorify GodThe answer is pretty simple really Because belief in hell

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17

Introduction

affirms the holiness of God and other such attributes of

his like truth righteousness justice and grace Why doyou think superheroes steal their slogans from us TruthThere is one true God he is righteous in all he does andin who he is God will bring justice to those who do notapprove of him (which is the essence of sin) and who willnot confess they have committed cosmic treason There is

justice for those who have been harmed by the unrepen-

tant And thanks be to God there is grace for all us moralfailures who turn to him in reverence fear and repentanceGrace is not the elimination of hell and any idea thatcomforts people in their unrepentant state can in no waybe loving truthful or gracious and should be rejected(and this includes annihilationism)

These nuovo ideas are weak and shallow because

instead of wrestling with the paradoxes and complexi-ties of the doctrine they simply undermine the authorityof the Bible They may pay lip service to Scripturersquosauthority but as they reinvent hell theyrsquore bringing theBiblersquos credibility down to a much lower level somethingon par with Wikipediarsquos reliability

They simply lack depth

The aim of this book is not character assassinationInstead Irsquod rather take Francis Schaefferrsquos recommenda-tion when it comes to dealing with false teachers And thatis to focus on the false ideas not the person Letrsquos not beridiculous though If yoursquore familiar with the controver-sies surrounding this subject you know the personalitiesinvolved Itrsquos not that Irsquoll never mention a name but letrsquos

keep in mind that fifty years from now the names wonrsquotmean anything to anyone The person is not the pointThe bad theology is

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18

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

At the end of the day to lose the doctrine of eternal

punishment as it is taught in the Bible will result in theshrinkage of Godrsquos attributes and in the end a smallerGod We will suffer the loss of the fear of God theloss of a holy God the loss of a just God the loss of anextravagantly loving God and the loss of Godrsquos wisdomin the cross We canrsquot afford to lose the attributes ofGod Otherwise we have a meaningless gospel But the

greatest loss whenever Scripture is minimized is the loss ofknowing the self-revealed God of this universe The truthis hell glorifies God

Thus The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

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15

Introduction

for the pirates of the Caribbean and the pirates of Wall

Street for Hitler and Stalin and Vlad the Impaler Somuch for justice sympathizers

Before jumping to conclusions about whether hell isa reasonable doctrine or not every professing Christianought to consider what Scripture says about the natureand character of God The author of Deuteronomywrites ldquoHis work is perfect for all his ways are justicerdquo

(Deuteronomy 324) The Psalmist writes ldquoThis Godmdashhis way is perfect the word of the LORD proves truerdquo(Psalm 1830)

The Jagged Little Pills ofScriptureAccording to the witness of Scripture every Christian

should affirm that God is perfect in all his ways and willglorify himself in all he does If this is true (and Irsquom bettingmy life it is) surely there are doctrines that will be difficultto swallow The issue with any difficult biblical doctrine(election predestination reprobation eternal damnationetc) is that we are finite beings who donrsquot know what thenext thirty seconds will bring Yet somehow we always

think we know better than an infinite holy and all-wiseGod The self-revealed God of this universe does notshuffle his feet or mince his words regarding hell Butthe way the subject of hell has been handled of late theseteachers would have us believe God was second-guessinghimself As if he were saying ldquoYeah I wish there wasanother way I know hell seems mean and all but my

hands are tied Sorry about your nanardquoWe may waffle on the difficult doctrines but God

does not

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16

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

This might seem shocking to you but I delight in the

doctrine of hell Let me explain myself before you tell meto go there I didnrsquot arrive at this mindset overnight butnow I delight in everything that God has revealed to usabout himself Any glimpse into the workings of the mindof God should delight a Christian Now this doesnrsquotmean Irsquove made a list of people whorsquove wronged me andgleefully look it over thinking ldquoYoursquoll get yoursrdquo The

Bible clearly says ldquoHave I any pleasure in the death ofthe wicked declares the Lord GOD and not rather thathe should turn from his way and liverdquo (Ezekiel 1823)But just because itrsquos a difficult doctrine doesnrsquot mean thechurch should be embarrassed by it I have slowly cometo realize that to be embarrassed of hell is to be embar-rassed of God

When I began studying the doctrine of eternal pun-ishment I had this thought but I couldnrsquot bring myself tosay it out loud It sounded absurd It was too shocking tothink let alone say out loud The thought was this

Hell glorifies GodI know Exactly Itrsquos the halitosis of theological

thinking but it is truth nonetheless And that is the simple

premise for this book hell glorifies GodThatrsquos why I take delight in itI know itrsquos shocking I know it raises some questions

Personally one of the things I love about the Christianfaith is that itrsquos always shocking me with somethingReformed and always reforming Yes and amen But alsoshocked and always shocking

How could anyone ever be an endless-punishmentsympathizer How can eternal punishment glorify GodThe answer is pretty simple really Because belief in hell

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17

Introduction

affirms the holiness of God and other such attributes of

his like truth righteousness justice and grace Why doyou think superheroes steal their slogans from us TruthThere is one true God he is righteous in all he does andin who he is God will bring justice to those who do notapprove of him (which is the essence of sin) and who willnot confess they have committed cosmic treason There is

justice for those who have been harmed by the unrepen-

tant And thanks be to God there is grace for all us moralfailures who turn to him in reverence fear and repentanceGrace is not the elimination of hell and any idea thatcomforts people in their unrepentant state can in no waybe loving truthful or gracious and should be rejected(and this includes annihilationism)

These nuovo ideas are weak and shallow because

instead of wrestling with the paradoxes and complexi-ties of the doctrine they simply undermine the authorityof the Bible They may pay lip service to Scripturersquosauthority but as they reinvent hell theyrsquore bringing theBiblersquos credibility down to a much lower level somethingon par with Wikipediarsquos reliability

They simply lack depth

The aim of this book is not character assassinationInstead Irsquod rather take Francis Schaefferrsquos recommenda-tion when it comes to dealing with false teachers And thatis to focus on the false ideas not the person Letrsquos not beridiculous though If yoursquore familiar with the controver-sies surrounding this subject you know the personalitiesinvolved Itrsquos not that Irsquoll never mention a name but letrsquos

keep in mind that fifty years from now the names wonrsquotmean anything to anyone The person is not the pointThe bad theology is

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18

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

At the end of the day to lose the doctrine of eternal

punishment as it is taught in the Bible will result in theshrinkage of Godrsquos attributes and in the end a smallerGod We will suffer the loss of the fear of God theloss of a holy God the loss of a just God the loss of anextravagantly loving God and the loss of Godrsquos wisdomin the cross We canrsquot afford to lose the attributes ofGod Otherwise we have a meaningless gospel But the

greatest loss whenever Scripture is minimized is the loss ofknowing the self-revealed God of this universe The truthis hell glorifies God

Thus The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 17: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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16

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

This might seem shocking to you but I delight in the

doctrine of hell Let me explain myself before you tell meto go there I didnrsquot arrive at this mindset overnight butnow I delight in everything that God has revealed to usabout himself Any glimpse into the workings of the mindof God should delight a Christian Now this doesnrsquotmean Irsquove made a list of people whorsquove wronged me andgleefully look it over thinking ldquoYoursquoll get yoursrdquo The

Bible clearly says ldquoHave I any pleasure in the death ofthe wicked declares the Lord GOD and not rather thathe should turn from his way and liverdquo (Ezekiel 1823)But just because itrsquos a difficult doctrine doesnrsquot mean thechurch should be embarrassed by it I have slowly cometo realize that to be embarrassed of hell is to be embar-rassed of God

When I began studying the doctrine of eternal pun-ishment I had this thought but I couldnrsquot bring myself tosay it out loud It sounded absurd It was too shocking tothink let alone say out loud The thought was this

Hell glorifies GodI know Exactly Itrsquos the halitosis of theological

thinking but it is truth nonetheless And that is the simple

premise for this book hell glorifies GodThatrsquos why I take delight in itI know itrsquos shocking I know it raises some questions

Personally one of the things I love about the Christianfaith is that itrsquos always shocking me with somethingReformed and always reforming Yes and amen But alsoshocked and always shocking

How could anyone ever be an endless-punishmentsympathizer How can eternal punishment glorify GodThe answer is pretty simple really Because belief in hell

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17

Introduction

affirms the holiness of God and other such attributes of

his like truth righteousness justice and grace Why doyou think superheroes steal their slogans from us TruthThere is one true God he is righteous in all he does andin who he is God will bring justice to those who do notapprove of him (which is the essence of sin) and who willnot confess they have committed cosmic treason There is

justice for those who have been harmed by the unrepen-

tant And thanks be to God there is grace for all us moralfailures who turn to him in reverence fear and repentanceGrace is not the elimination of hell and any idea thatcomforts people in their unrepentant state can in no waybe loving truthful or gracious and should be rejected(and this includes annihilationism)

These nuovo ideas are weak and shallow because

instead of wrestling with the paradoxes and complexi-ties of the doctrine they simply undermine the authorityof the Bible They may pay lip service to Scripturersquosauthority but as they reinvent hell theyrsquore bringing theBiblersquos credibility down to a much lower level somethingon par with Wikipediarsquos reliability

They simply lack depth

The aim of this book is not character assassinationInstead Irsquod rather take Francis Schaefferrsquos recommenda-tion when it comes to dealing with false teachers And thatis to focus on the false ideas not the person Letrsquos not beridiculous though If yoursquore familiar with the controver-sies surrounding this subject you know the personalitiesinvolved Itrsquos not that Irsquoll never mention a name but letrsquos

keep in mind that fifty years from now the names wonrsquotmean anything to anyone The person is not the pointThe bad theology is

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18

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

At the end of the day to lose the doctrine of eternal

punishment as it is taught in the Bible will result in theshrinkage of Godrsquos attributes and in the end a smallerGod We will suffer the loss of the fear of God theloss of a holy God the loss of a just God the loss of anextravagantly loving God and the loss of Godrsquos wisdomin the cross We canrsquot afford to lose the attributes ofGod Otherwise we have a meaningless gospel But the

greatest loss whenever Scripture is minimized is the loss ofknowing the self-revealed God of this universe The truthis hell glorifies God

Thus The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

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17

Introduction

affirms the holiness of God and other such attributes of

his like truth righteousness justice and grace Why doyou think superheroes steal their slogans from us TruthThere is one true God he is righteous in all he does andin who he is God will bring justice to those who do notapprove of him (which is the essence of sin) and who willnot confess they have committed cosmic treason There is

justice for those who have been harmed by the unrepen-

tant And thanks be to God there is grace for all us moralfailures who turn to him in reverence fear and repentanceGrace is not the elimination of hell and any idea thatcomforts people in their unrepentant state can in no waybe loving truthful or gracious and should be rejected(and this includes annihilationism)

These nuovo ideas are weak and shallow because

instead of wrestling with the paradoxes and complexi-ties of the doctrine they simply undermine the authorityof the Bible They may pay lip service to Scripturersquosauthority but as they reinvent hell theyrsquore bringing theBiblersquos credibility down to a much lower level somethingon par with Wikipediarsquos reliability

They simply lack depth

The aim of this book is not character assassinationInstead Irsquod rather take Francis Schaefferrsquos recommenda-tion when it comes to dealing with false teachers And thatis to focus on the false ideas not the person Letrsquos not beridiculous though If yoursquore familiar with the controver-sies surrounding this subject you know the personalitiesinvolved Itrsquos not that Irsquoll never mention a name but letrsquos

keep in mind that fifty years from now the names wonrsquotmean anything to anyone The person is not the pointThe bad theology is

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18

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

At the end of the day to lose the doctrine of eternal

punishment as it is taught in the Bible will result in theshrinkage of Godrsquos attributes and in the end a smallerGod We will suffer the loss of the fear of God theloss of a holy God the loss of a just God the loss of anextravagantly loving God and the loss of Godrsquos wisdomin the cross We canrsquot afford to lose the attributes ofGod Otherwise we have a meaningless gospel But the

greatest loss whenever Scripture is minimized is the loss ofknowing the self-revealed God of this universe The truthis hell glorifies God

Thus The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 19: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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18

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

At the end of the day to lose the doctrine of eternal

punishment as it is taught in the Bible will result in theshrinkage of Godrsquos attributes and in the end a smallerGod We will suffer the loss of the fear of God theloss of a holy God the loss of a just God the loss of anextravagantly loving God and the loss of Godrsquos wisdomin the cross We canrsquot afford to lose the attributes ofGod Otherwise we have a meaningless gospel But the

greatest loss whenever Scripture is minimized is the loss ofknowing the self-revealed God of this universe The truthis hell glorifies God

Thus The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 20: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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19

One

WE LOSE THEFEAR OF GODDeath is Actually not Your Biggest Problem

The first death I remember even before a family petwas able to train me for loss was that of my grandmother

I was only 5 years old when Grandma crossed the greatdividemdasha phrase that makes it sound like she was killedby a math problem (All our euphemisms divulge ourfears) Because of my age my parents didnrsquot take me tothe funeral but my mother showed me a photographof my grandmother in her coffin I examined it carefullyThere was my deflated-looking grandma the life sucked

out of her (one of the side-effects of death) with her handsgently folded across her lap Is this the only pose for thedearly departed Just once Irsquod like to see their arms bentwith both thumbs up

Still I couldnrsquot stop looking at the photo I rememberbeing both fascinated and frightened

I asked my mom ldquoWhat happens when you dierdquo

My mother told me that Grandma went to heavenbut she didnrsquot say it with much conviction so I neverfound it comforting Irsquom not even sure it was death that

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

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20

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

frightened me I sensed there was something even more

frightening than deathAnd it wasnrsquot hell It was in reality a fear of GodA few years later when I was 8 I argued over the

existence of hell with a little relative named Eve of myapproximate age and height I canrsquot remember whatprompted the argument but we so strongly disagreedwith each other that I said ldquoLetrsquos go ask your momrdquo

She warned me not to ask her mom I pooh-poohed herwarning and walked straight to her motherrsquos doorstep andknocked She was angry when she opened the door

ldquoThis better be goodrdquo she saidI thought it was good Our eternal destinies seemed

vital ldquoWersquore having a fightrdquo I told her ldquoI say therersquos a hell

and Eve says there isnrsquotrdquo (Itrsquos ironic that her name wasEve ldquoDid God really sayhelliprdquo)

Eversquos mother waved her hands dismissively ldquoThis iswhat you disturb me for Hell Therersquos no hellrdquo

Then she shooed us away with some very strongwords about her own wrath We walked away from thedoorstep without wisdom though Eve had a face-split-

ting grin Little Eversquos grin said it all and was indicative ofan entire cultural landscape despite the biblical evidencewersquod rather make God in our own image

Does God Need New PRNot all hell-talk among believers is as brazen as Eve andher mother would have it Instead some Christians just

soft-pedal hellWhen I became a Christian during college hell was

gingerly called ldquoseparation from Godrdquo which sounded

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

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23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

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24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

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25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3333

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 22: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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21

We Lose the Fear of God

less scary than ldquoeternal firerdquo Those that evangelized me

tried to wrest the fear out of hell but I knew what theymeant It was symbolically pictured right there in thediagram on the tract I couldnrsquot get across that bridgebut I knew what was underneath I even understood thesubtle euphemism ldquoseparated from Godrdquo although atthe time it never occurred to me to ask ldquoWhere exactlycan we escape Godrsquos presencerdquo Since no one ever spoke

to me about hell in biblical terms I had no idea that thething that made hell hellish was the pouring out of Godrsquoswrath upon those being punished I wonder now if thosewho evangelized me were being squeamish about givingit to me straight Maybe they were hoping to do God afavor with his image by not overdoing the hell thing

How do we round off the edges of eternal fire

Is there a room full of conference speakers out theresomewhere brainstorming with a consulting PR firm

ldquoWait a second God makes hell hellish I thought itwas the devil This will never do Call in the marketingteam We need to change Godrsquos image Hersquos scary FearWrath Hell Any new ideasrdquo

ldquoHow about taking a hell is helpful anglerdquo

ldquoI like where yoursquore goinrsquo with this How is it helpfulrdquoldquoIt cleansesrdquoldquoItrsquos only temporaryrdquoldquoYes yes yesrdquoldquoHell makes people see the error of their waysrdquoldquoAnd in the endhelliprdquoldquoWe all get savedrdquo

ldquoPerfectrdquoldquoWe need to get this out right away Call Targetrdquo

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2333

22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2433

23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2533

24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2633

25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2733

26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2833

27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3333

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 23: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

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22

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fond Memories of HellThere was a time when you couldnrsquot sneak into an evangel-ical church without finding every head bowed and everyeye closed A piano would be playing a slow soft tunein the background accompanying the preacher while hegently instilled in the congregation a healthy fear of buses

ldquoIf you were hit by a bus walking home tonight (dramaticpause) do you know where you would spend eternityrdquo

Itrsquos still a valid question but Christians donrsquot ask itanymore because these days they feel the need to helpGod out with his bad reputation Questions about wheresinners will spend eternity sound unsophisticated andmake people uncomfortable Granted the standard ldquoIfyou were to die tonight do you know where you wouldspend eternityrdquo isnrsquot a great opener for funerals Thatrsquos

what you close with Goofy Still fear of God isnrsquot whatconcerns our culture Itrsquos death And we can make a goodcase for this by simply culling an example from TV reruns

The Last LaughTherersquos an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called

ldquoChuckles Bites the Dustrdquo In the episode an employee

of the TV station who plays Chuckles the Clown is onassignment one day at the circus Dressed as a peanutChuckles the Clown is killed by an elephant Thougheveryone loved Chuckles they canrsquot help making jokesabout his death They all find it troubling but canrsquot seemto stop making jokes Lou Grant Maryrsquos boss explainsthat itrsquos ldquokind of a defense mechanism Itrsquos like whistling

in a graveyard You try to make light of somethingbecause it scares you We laugh at death because we knowdeath will have the last laugh on usrdquo7

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2433

23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2533

24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2633

25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2733

26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2833

27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2933

28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3033

29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3133

30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3233

31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3333

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 24: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2433

23

We Lose the Fear of God

Actually Lou death is not the thing to be fearedmdash

God is The only thing that makes death fearful is facingalmighty God It all begins with the fear of the LordThatrsquos what I sensed as a child while looking at photos ofmy dead grandmother

God should be feared in every sense of that wordfrom respect to esteem from hallow to hold sacred fromadoration to awe from trembling to terror from dread

to distress When church leaders boldly say that they willeither interpret away or ignore altogether any Bible versethat presents a God of wrath it is painfully obvious thatevangelicalism has lost the fear of the Lord

The Fear of the LordChristians are not referred to as ldquoGod-fearingrdquo any longer

even in self-referential ways which is unfortunate becausewithout the fear of God grace is unintelligible Fear ofGod ought to be cultivated in pulpits and Sunday schoolcurriculums It teaches us wisdom it makes us morehumble and it replaces all the folly in the human heartthat is simply bent on sinful self-centeredness Fear of theLord is the lead-in for grace Fascinating shellfish curses

notwithstanding the one major emphasis of the OldTestament is fear of the Lord The emphasis of the NewTestament is certainly grace But also remember that theOld Testament makes up three-fourths of the Bible Thisshould tell us before we even get to grace that we shouldspend a very healthy amount of time expounding on thefear of the Lord Fear of the Lord makes grace lucid The

apostle Paul expounds on the wrath of God in the bookof Romans before he even mentions the grace of God inchapter five Wersquod do well to do the same

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2533

24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2633

25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2733

26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2833

27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2933

28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3033

29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3133

30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3233

31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3333

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 25: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2533

24

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fear of the Lord is CultivatedPsalm 3411 urges us ldquoCome O children listen to me Iwill teach you the fear of the LORDrdquo while in 2 Chronicles265 Uzziah was ldquoinstructedhellipin the fear of Godrdquo Ifwe stop cultivating a healthy fear of the Lord throughshallow preaching and teaching it will diminish amongGodrsquos people (Oh it has I guess wersquore here Letrsquos get towork)

Fear of the Lord is WiseThe fear of the Lord is bound up with wisdom andknowledge It is wisdom according to Job 2828 Itrsquosthe beginning of wisdom according to Psalm 11110Proverbs 17 and Proverbs 910 You canrsquot argue with atrifecta of Bible verses However something to keep in

mind as author Jerry Bridges explains in his bookThe Joy of Fearing God ldquoKnowledge and wisdom are not thesame though theyrsquore closely relatedrdquo8 The best definitionof wisdom Irsquove ever heard is that wisdom is the abilityto use the knowledge you have in a practical way Sobefore you can have any wisdom you have to have someknowledge Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

This is why a person of inferior intelligence can be wiserthan someone of superior intelligence The simple personwho applies the Word of God is often wiser than thesmarter person who doesnrsquot know or apply the Word ofGod There is no greater stupidity than a stupid intellec-tual Besides fearing God safeguards us from becomingpuffed up by our knowledge because when the wisdom

of God is in view we understand that we never know asmuch as we think we do This leads us tohellip

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2633

25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2733

26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2833

27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2933

28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3033

29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3133

30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3233

31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3333

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 26: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2633

25

We Lose the Fear of God

Fear of the Lord Produces HumilityHumble people are teachable people People who do notfear God do not listen to him ldquoThe fear of the LORD isinstruction in wisdom and humility comes before honorrdquo(Proverbs 1533) Humble people know that there aretruths in Godrsquos Word that may trump their own naturalinclinations Humble people are ldquoconscious of theirlimited facilities their ignorance of divine things and their

proneness to err through depravity and prejudicerdquo andtherefore they can be ldquoinduced to sit at the feet of Jesusand learn of Himrdquo9 That is why they are teachable Theyare conscious of their limited knowledge regarding bothnatural and spiritual things The know-it-all is always afool which leads us tohellip

The Folly of ldquoListening to Your HeartrdquoThe flip side of the fear of the Lord and the humility itproduces is the notion of ldquofollowing your heartrdquo Thisis something wersquore told to do by romance novels andLifetime movies and itrsquos the worst advice you can everbe given According to Jeremiah ldquoThe heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately sick who can understand

itrdquo (Jeremiah 179) The deceitful heart is often the reasonwomen sometimes end up marrying mean drunks but leavemy mother out of this The point is we need new heartsBy all means donrsquot follow your heart Theologian MichaelHorton has stated that the thing we all need to be saved fromis our subjectivity And as I look deep into my soulhellipwaitno Look to the Word of God God has given the Christian

a new heart which recognizes the truth of Scripture which isa light unto our path Not our hearts but the Word Chris-tians delight in the Word of God which leads us tohellip

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2733

26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2833

27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2933

28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3033

29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3133

30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3233

31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3333

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 27: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2733

26

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

The Idolatry of ldquoDoing Whatever Makes

You HappyrdquoRight behind the ldquofollow your heartrdquo descent into subjec-tivity is the old adage ldquodo whatever makes you happyrdquo Theself-fulfillment ethic is the opposite of Godrsquos glory and theepitome of self-glorymdashone of the greatest idols of our ageThe apostle Paul quotes Psalm 36 to describe the state ofhumanity by saying that none seek righteousness or have

the fear of God before their eyes (Romans 318) Christiansunderstand (or should) that life is not bound up in whatevermakes them happy itrsquos whatever makes God happy Theirony is that when you concern yourself with what delightsGod you find yourself happiest The Christian under-stands that hersquos made himself miserable by trying to makehimself happy Hersquos made himself miserable by following

his own wisdom Thatrsquos why he has changed his mind aboutldquofollowing his heartrdquo and now follows Godrsquos wisdom inGodrsquos Word instead And in doing so he has discoveredhappiness as the byproduct of obeying God People wholove God find their greatest joy in making him happy If thisidea doesnrsquot make sense to you well I hate to break the badnews to you but itrsquos probably a good sign that you may not

have a new heartmdashmeaning you may not be a Christianmy friend My advice to you is to embrace a healthy fear ofGod the real and living God which leads us tohellip

Lack of Fear Creates Mythical GodsOur culture (and much of the church) seems to preferan alternative sentimentalized Santa Claus god who

doesnrsquot judge anyone This imposter god is not good forhumanity This sham deity may seem much more com-passionate than the God of the Bible but instead this type

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2833

27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2933

28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3033

29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3133

30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3233

31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3333

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 28: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2833

27

We Lose the Fear of God

of god makes us less humane Let me paint a vivid picture

for you to illustrate my point

The Inhumanity of an UnjustGodMy father died when I was 11 During my freshmen yearof college my mother got remarried to a mean drunk(Whatrsquos ironic is that she was sober at the time) Like

most college kids I came home for the summer monthsand there were times when my motherrsquos mean-drunkhusband and I clashed Years later I found out that whenI did something to upset him instead of confronting mehe would take my mom for a drive in the car and poundher thigh with his fist This way no one would see thebruising You have to plan ahead to be a coward

In a universe where the sentimentalized non judg-mental Santa-god reigns all the mean drunks get awaywith it Every single one of them There is no justice formy mom or other abused women because there is no judgment period

But tell me this If there is nothing more than a non judgmental Santa-god out there why do human beings

desire justice in the first place If there is only a Santa-godwhy do I both judge my motherrsquos mean-drunk husbandand condemn him in my heart Woe is mehellipwhy canrsquot Ibe more like Santa Claus

The reality of this inner demand for justice meanseither a) Itrsquos sinful ever to judge under any circumstanceswhich amounts to being more like Santa or b) I can

experience righteous judgment in my heart because Godcreated me in his image so I long for true justice whichamounts to being more like God

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2933

28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3033

29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3133

30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3233

31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3333

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 29: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 2933

28

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

If I see God as made in the image of Santamdashmeaning

that there really isnrsquot any justice in the worldmdashthenwhen I experience that God-given sense of justice I willbe inclined to take justice into my own hands and thatrsquosnever a good thing The mean drunk should be thankfulthat I donrsquot believe in the no-justice Santa-god becausemy emotional instinct is to take him out to coffee andshoot him something even Starbucks frowns upon

Humans killing humans makes us less humane

The Humanity of GodrsquosWrathLetrsquos contrast this Santa-god with the biblical God ofwrath who declares that vengeance is his not mine Whenmy heart is captured by Godrsquos sense of love and justice I

realize that itrsquos not ultimately my place to take my motherrsquosmean-drunk ex-husband out to coffee and shoot him Irsquominstructed to love my neighbor turn the other cheek andpray for my enemy maybe even buy him a tall mocha-light because my anger does not and will not produce therighteousness of God So I can withhold my own wrathbut only because I know my God wonrsquot let mean-drunkhusbands get away with evil forever (Irsquom not suggest-ing we should ever sit on the sidelines while someone isabused) The mean-drunk husband will either be convictedby the grossness of his sin repent ask God for forgivenessask my mother for forgiveness ask me for forgivenessaskhelliptrust memdashtherersquoll be a bunch of people in line forapologies Or the wrath of God remains on him In anycase he will ultimately receive justice and as difficult as itis for me to withhold my own inferior (if more immediate)form of justice I can trust God with the outcome

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3033

29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3133

30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3233

31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3333

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 30: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3033

29

We Lose the Fear of God

Not only will God deal with the injustice of abusive

spouses but as I grow in the fear of the Lord myself Irealize that at one time the wrath of God abided on metoo The only difference is that Godrsquos wrath toward mewas absorbed by Jesus on the cross Therefore I donrsquotgiddily wait for Godrsquos judgment upon my motherrsquos mean-drunk ex-husband My hope is that he repents believesthe gospel and receives mercy just like me If it werenrsquot for

this realization the aforementioned Starbucks shootingwould be much more difficult to put out of my mind

In a world where there are unrepentant mean drunksthe wrath of God is not only justified but it makes himmore worthy of our love and trust because in the endGod doesnrsquot let mean drunks get away with it They eithergive their sin to Jesus or in self-justification they hold

onto their sin and incur Godrsquos wrath

As Goes the Church so Goes theCultureWhen the church loses the fear of the Lord so does thesurrounding culture But when we understand that Godis to be feared ldquowe persuade othersrdquo (2 Corinthians 511)

We understand the stakes when wersquore talking to someonewho is as the old-timers would put it ldquocareless for hissoulrdquo Evangelicalismrsquos preference for Santa-god and apenchant for heart-following happy-thought-isms isopposed to where-will-you-spend-eternity-type truth-telling People really have no idea how much danger theyare in

Contemporary preacher poets donrsquot scare peoplewith the wrath of God anymore They lure people intobecoming Christians with toothy promises of eternal life

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3133

30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3233

31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3333

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 31: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3133

30

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

Fashionable preachers think the hellfire and brimstone

preachers (the three that are left anyway) are chasingpeople off In reality theyrsquore being faithfully prophetic

Ezekiel writes ldquoThus will I spend my wrath upon thewall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewashAnd I will say to you The wall is no more nor those whosmeared it the prophets of Israel who prophesied con-cerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when

there was no peacerdquo (Ezekiel 1315-16)Ezekielrsquos point is that therersquos actually something

to worry about and the non judgmental Santa-god isa whitewashed god People will not throw themselvesupon the mercy of Christ unless they see that they arecompletely deserving of the wrath to come But thatrsquos notwhat we teach Instead we make Jesus out to be a buddy

who plays softball in sandals or a career-catapulting lifecoachmdashnot a crucified Savior and risen Lord We trivial-ize what Jesus has done

This trivialization of the cross is well put in a sermontitled ldquoThe Dark Gardenrdquo10 by Pastor Tim Keller Hesays this

If there is no wrath by God on sin and there is nosuch thing as hell not only does that actually makewhat happened to Jesus inexplicablehellipit trivializeswhat hersquos donehellipIf you get rid of a God who haswrath and hell yoursquove got a god who loves us ingeneral but thatrsquos not as loving as the God of theBible the God of Jesus Christ who loves us with a

costly loveLook what it cost Look what he did Look what

he was taking You get rid of wrath and hell hersquos not

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3233

31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3333

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 32: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3233

31

We Lose the Fear of God

taking anything close to this And therefore what

yoursquove done is yoursquove just turned his incredible act oflove into just something very trivial very small

Itrsquos the difference between Jesus dying for you or justgiving up his seat on the bus for you May we repent ofour trivializing of Godrsquos wrath of our sentimental ideas ofa false god and rightly fear God for his love and justice as

displayed in the crossEversquos motherrsquos response my motherrsquos well-meaning

but unconvincing answers regarding my grandmotherrsquosdeath when I was 5 death jokes about Chuckles theClown gun-shy evangelists our culturersquos obsession witha non-judgmental Santa-god the teachings of the nuovoUniversalists and Kellerrsquos astute observation of trivializ-

ing the cross all point to the same thing When we lack fearof God we end up fearing the wrong things

Advantages of a LingeringDeathAll these examples came full circle and culminated in avery truthful moment for me while listening to a lecturer

from Duke Divinity School Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas asked the audience how they wouldlike to die The responses ranged from ldquoquicklyrdquo to ldquoinmy sleeprdquo to ldquonot on stagerdquo (There was a comedian in thecrowd) Hauerwas then explained that medieval peoplefeared a quick and sudden death because it would notgive them time to be ministered to by the church Armies

even debated whether an ambush was immoral or notbecause it didnrsquot give their opponents time to prepare fordeath Medieval people wanted a lingering death because

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3333

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)

Page 33: Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

8142019 Sample from The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsample-from-the-most-encouraging-book-on-hell-ever 3333

The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever

this would give them time to reconcile with their enemies

Does this mean they wanted to see their mother-in-lawone last time Of course not

It means they didnrsquot fear deathRather they feared GodUnlike many preachers today

Who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name For

you alone are holy All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed

(Revelation 154)