Heaven Is For Real, But So Is Hell

Why did someone as good and loving as Christ spend so much time warning us about “the fire that shall never be quenched” and the place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth?”  Is hell for real?  According to Jesus it is.
 
In October many will participate in Halloween fun by watching scary movies, going through haunted corn mazes and spook houses, and dressing up as devils, ghouls and ghosts as they trick-r-treat.  While it might be fun to do that stuff, the follower of Christ must remember that hell is real and it’s not a fun place to go to—even if people say they want to go there because “that’s where all their friends will be.”
 
Let’s say you’re eating in a popular restaurant and you need to excuse yourself for a moment while you take a phone call.  On your way to a more private area you look into the kitchen as you pass by, and you notice a huge fire that’s out of control.  What would you do?
 
You would immediately rush back to your family and usher them out.  You would shout, “There’s a fire in the kitchen and everybody needs to leave now!”  You’d be interrupting people’s meals and conversations.  Nobody would like to hear a message like that, but if you were a person of compassion and integrity, you would sound the warning in some way.  Some might not believe you and challenge you, but many would believe you and they’d be saved by your boldness to tell the truth.
 
The Bible warns that the wages of sin is death, and that God’s judgment is imminent.  A lake of fire awaits those whose names are not written in the book of life (Revelation 20:14-15).  Even though some people don’t believe the warning, or don’t want the truth to interrupt their lifestyle, every Christian has a responsibility to warn those within their realm of influence of the impending disaster.
 
We often speculate about what people will say if we speak up.  We excuse our silence saying that we’re waiting for the right time.  We rationalize that we don’t want to turn people off.  While it’s true that sharing the gospel needs to be timely and tactful, we need to make sure we’re not making so many excuses that people die and suffer the consequences of their sin.
 
John 3:16 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  God provided the solution to hell through His Son, Jesus, but He calls on us to sound the alarm.
 
Working together to win together,
Tyler