Is Hell a Real Place?

Many have suggested hell is imaginary, and therefore pay it no heed and proceed with business as usual, whatever that may be.  Probably billions of others try to follow GOD's Will as best they can, moving on the Road to Heaven. 

It’s also been fashionable among the unthinking  to dismiss visions of hell as fantasies in the mind of the observer, or something else, so long as consideration of the possible truth of the visions is avoided.  

Are such visions true?  What does the Bible say about hell?  Questions worth contemplating with oneself before life’s end.  For GOD told Saint Catherine:  “Therefore let no man trust to this, putting off his finding of the key of obedience to the moment of his death, for although everyone may and should hope as long as he has life, he should not put such trust in this hope as to delay repentance.” The final Word of GOD. Repent today not tomorrow. Obtain forgiveness quickly. One knows not the place or hour of death. Pray to Mary for aid in the final hour:

“Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord with Three. 

  "Blessed art though among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy Womb, JESUS.  

"Holy Mary. Mother of GOD, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.” 

Iterare in infinitum. 

Since hell is place for those who have died, it cannot ordinarily be experienced those still living.  Many saints and others throughout history, however, have had vivid mystical experiences of hell and written about it. 

The Vision of Hell at Fátima

One of the most compelling visions of hell was experienced by Lúcia dos Santos of Fátima, Portugal, whose veracity was proven soon thereafter by the “Miracle of the Sun.” She was 10 years old when an apparition identifying Herself as “Our Lady of the Rosary” gave the three yoing shepherds the “First Great Secret of Fátima,” Lúcia later wrote: 

“What I do remember is that Our Lady said it was necessary for such people to pray the Rosary in order to obtain these graces during the year.  And she continued:  ‘Sacrifice yourself for sinners, and say many times especially whenever you make some sacrifice  “O Jesus, it is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”’

“As Our Lady spoke these last words, she opened her hands once more, as she had done during the two previous months.  The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth and we saw as it were a sea of fire.  Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. (It must have been the sight that caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me.)  The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals.”  Fatima1, p. 178.  Our Lady then told the children:  “You have seen hell, where the souls of sinners go.  It is to save them that God wants to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.  If you do what I tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace.”  For more, see: 

“All Was Thick Darkness” – Saint Teresa of Ávila, Spain

Saint Teresa (1515-1582) of Ávila, Spain, was a Carmelite nun and is one of only 35 Doctors of the Church.  In her autobiography, she describes a vision of a hell she believed God gave her to help her turn away from her sins:

“The entrance seemed to be by a long narrow pass, like a furnace, very low, dark, and close.  The ground seemed to be saturated with water, mere mud, exceedingly foul, sending forth pestilential odors, and covered with loathsome vermin.  At the end was a hollow place in the wall, like a closet, and in that I saw myself confined.  All this was even pleasant to behold in comparison with what I felt there.  There is no exaggeration in what I am saying. . . . 

“I felt a fire in my soul.  I cannot see how it is possible to describe it.  My bodily sufferings were unendurable.  I have undergone most painful sufferings in this life . . . yet all these were as nothing in comparison with what I felt then, especially when I saw that there would be no intermission, nor any end to them. . . . 

“Left in that pestilential place, and utterly without the power to hope for comfort, I could neither sit nor lie down: there was no room.  I was placed as it were in a hole in the wall; and those walls, terrible to look on of themselves, hemmed me in on every side.  I could not breathe.  There was no light, but all was thick darkness.

“Afterwards I had another most fearful vision, in which I saw the punishment of certain sins. They were most horrible to look at . . .  I have read of the diverse tortures, and how the devils tear the flesh with red-hot pincers.  But all is as nothing before this; it is a wholly different matter.  In short, the one is a reality, the other a picture; and all burning here in this life is as nothing in comparison with the fire that is there.  I was so terrified by that vision –and that terror is on me even now while I am writing – that though it took place nearly six years ago, the natural warmth of my body is chilled by fear even now when I think of it. . . . 

“It was that vision that filled me with the very great distress which I feel at the sight of so many lost souls, especially of the Lutherans – for they were once members of the Church by baptism – and also gave me the most vehement desires for the salvation of souls; for certainly I believe that, to save even one from those overwhelming torments, I would most willingly endure many deaths.”

Saint Faustina’s Vision of Hell

Less than 100 years ago, a Carmelite nun in Vilnius , Poland, Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska – now known as Saint Faustina – had a series of visual interactions with Jesus, who asked her to write down His Words.  For instance, Jesus dictated to her the popular devotion known as the Divine Mercy Chaplet. 

In the late 1920s, Sister Faustina experienced the life review that occurs upon death:   “Once I was summoned to the judgment seat of GOD. I stood before the Lord. JESUS appeared such as we know Him during His Passion. After a moment, His wounds disappeared except for five – those in His hands, His feet and His side.  Suddenly I saw the complete condition of my soul as GOD sees it. I could clearly see all that is displeasing to GOD. I did not know that even the smallest transgressions will have to be accounted for. What a moment!  Who can describe it?”  Diary of Saint Faustina, 36.  

In October 1936, Sister Faustina was given a vision of hell:   “Today I was led by an Angel to the chasms of hell.  It is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is!  The kinds of tortures I saw: the first torture that constitutes hell is the loss of God; the second is perpetual remorse of conscience; the third is that one’s condition will never change; the fourth is the fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it – a terrible suffering, since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God’s anger; the fifth torture is continual darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and, despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own; the sixth torture is the constant company of Satan; the seventh torture is horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies.

“These are the tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of their sufferings.  There are special tortures destined for particular souls.  These are the torments of the senses.  Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable  sufferings, related to the manner in which it has sinned.  There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another.  I would have died at the very sight of these tortures if the omnipotence of God had not supported me.  Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use of to sin.  I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like.

“I, Sister Faustina, by the order of God, have visited the abysses of hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence.  I cannot speak about it now; but I have received a command from God to leave it in writing.  The devils were full of hatred for me, but they had to obey me at the command of God.  What I have written is but a pale shadow of the things I saw.  But I noticed one thing: that most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell.  When I came to, I could hardly recover from the fright.  How terribly souls suffer there!  Consequently, I pray even more fervently for the conversion of sinners. I incessantly plead God’s mercy upon them.  O my Jesus, I would rather be in agony until the end of the world, amidst the greatest sufferings, than offend You by the least sin.”  Diary of St. Faustina, 741, bold and emphasis added.

Above:  Citations to some of the many references to hell in the scriptures. 

With the inexplicable Miracle of the Sun shown to thousands of astounded onlookers in Fátima in 1917, Our Lady of the Rosary fulfilled Her promise of a miracle for all to see.  The miracle not only corroborated the veracity of the testimony of the children concerning the promised miracle, but also the veracity of the earlier secrets – most notably the "First Secret" – the astonishing vision of hell shown to the children. 

Why would anyone willingly chose an eternity of the pain Our Lady revealed or even the possibility of an eternity of pain far beyond that could experienced on earth?   Pride (self-love) – one of the seven deadly sins – is a prime candidate.  Relying on the fruit of a deadly sin for one's eternal fate is probably the ultimate act of self-love, and support for the admonition that the wages of sin is death, as Saint Paul advised in his Letter to the Romans 6:23.

Below:   A refutation of the arguments contending hell does not exist.  

Hell Is a Real Place.  Jesus Himself  Confirmed “Hell Fire” in His Sermon on the Mount 

Hell Fire 

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Explicitly Mentions "Hell Fire"

  “The fifth chapter of Matthew is the Sermon on the Mount.  The liberals love the Sermon on the Mount, but you’ll never hear a liberal preach what I'm about to preach to you from the Sermon on the Mount.  Matthew chapter 5, verse 17:  

“‘Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

“‘For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

“‘Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

“‘For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

“‘Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:

“‘But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.’  Emphasis added. 

“Father, add your blessing to the reading of your word and give me unction to preach this now in Jesus’s Name.  

“The last two words of verse 22 came from the lips of the Blessed Son of man.  ‘Hell fire’ – and there are two words not just one – where it could be misunderstood as to say hell is the grave, but He said hell fire, so in saying that he gave a descriptive term to what hell is about.  There are those who like to point out the compassion of Jesus Christ – and rightly so – the Shepherd carrying a lamb.  There are those who based their ministry upon his miracles and talked much about the One who raised the dead and healed the sick and cleansed the leper and cast out demons – and rightly so.  There are those who say much about the kingdom that Christ came to build and how He offered himself as a sacrifice for us and went to the Cross and died that we could be saved – and rightly so.” 

Discussion of "Hell Fire" Has Been Abandoned by Many Nowadays    

“But in this day and time it’s not popular at all – 2008 as a matter of fact – it’s not popular at all to take everything that Jesus Christ said and preach on it.  For the Son of man is the one who said hell fire.  If you could take hell from the Bible – which most churches have today – then you could accommodate people a different way.  You could make them comfortable, for there would never be a fear of a future judgment.”

"Hell Fire" Is Two Words

“But according to the New Testament, there is no doubt that Jesus Christ – of all people that ever lived on the face of this earth – preached more on hell than anyone else.  And he told us about hell, described it, laid it out in simple terms, where it’s unmistakable as to what kind of place it is.  Here in Matthew chapter number five He said that it is hell fire.  Therefore the word ‘fire’ is included in this place called hell.  He spoke of it in the simple sense that you accept it for what I say it is hell fire.  In plainer words, it does exist.”  

The Bible Speaks of Hell as an Actual Place 

“The Bible makes declarations – definitive statements – declares things to be so.  You can believe it, or you can reject it.  The Bible does not set about to prove anything.  It simply says ‘in the beginning God . . . .’  You can say there is no God until you turn blue in the face.  That will not change the issue.  One day we’ll all stand before God.  The scripture says God created the heavens and the earth.  It doesn’t make any difference to me if your professor at some college or university – in anthropology, archeology and what-have-you – it doesn’t change the fact that God created the heavens and the earth.  God became man 2,000 years ago.  He came into this world and told us things that we had never heard before.  

“We know in the Old Testament that hell is a place.  The Bible said the nations that forget God shall be turned into hell.  We know that and we know it is mentioned time and time again throughout Old Testament Scriptures.  It even says that hell has enlarged itself apparently – it is never full.  But when the Lord Jesus Christ showed up 2,000 years ago – the lowly Galilean, the carpenter – and all of that, my friends, he preached about hell, and in Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount – which is supposed to be the great liberal sermon – He brought him the doctrine of hell and He said it is ‘hell fire.’  So according to the scriptures, hell is a place that literally exists.  That’s not a Baptist doctrine.  That’s not a Methodist doctrine.  That’s a doctrine of the Bible.  It exists, friends, and there’s nothing you can do to change that this morning.  Hell does exist.  It is a place.  It is somewhere and it awaits those that leave this world unprepared to meet God.  Hell exists.  It is a place that was created, the Bible says, for the devil and his angels.  That’s what the scripture says and the Bible says that then when it says it was made for the devil and his angels.,  It was made therefor as a place of punishment, and not a place simply to go to – it’s designed for punishment.  So the Bible says it is a place that’s called hell fire."  

It Is Worth Thinking About Where One Goes After Death 

“If you’re very smart today – have half-intelligence – you ought to be doing some thinking about where you’re going when you leave this world.  There’s one thing that is absolutely certain – and you ought to know this – you should know it and come to face it – come to the facts and settle this: you are going to die and you will leave planet earth.  I know you think that you’re going to live forever – you’d like to put this out of your mind – and not think of the fact that one day you’ll draw your last breath; your heart will beat its last time.  There’ll be no more life left in your body.  Where is your soul going?  Are you prepared?  

“I know you prepared your house.  I know you prepared your income.  I know you prepared your marriage your children.  You planned out your whole life, but you’ve made no plans whatsoever for where you’re headed when you leave this world.  Hell is a place.  It is a place that existed before you were ever born.  It is there.  It’s going to be there and there’s nothing you can do to change that one bit whatsoever.  It doesn’t make any difference if the churches today have stopped preaching on hell – if the preachers don’t preach on hell – if the seminaries and Bible colleges don’t teach the young about hell. 

“If  if they extricate hell from the Bible, it makes no difference whatsoever.  It is still a place that you must deal with one day.  My friend died this morning and went to hell.  Somebody took their last breath this day – July the 20th, 2008.  They drew their last breath and awakened in hell.  What a shock it must have been!  

“There are those that deny that it exists but that doesn’t change it.  One day you’ll lift up your eyes in hell.  It’s a prescriptive talk in Luke chapter 16, when the rich man died and was buried, and the Bible says in hell he lifted up his eyes – it’s almost as if it says he awakened in a place that was absolutely beyond his wildest imagination.  He never for one time thought that such a place like that could exist.  He lifted up his eyes in hell.  He became aware of his presence.  He knew where he was and from that moment on there was not a thing he could do to change his circumstance or his situation.”

Hell Patiently Awaits Many Souls 

“There’s no salvation in hell.  There’s no Savior in hell. There’s no Bible in hell.  There’s no blood in hell.  There are no altars in hell.  There’s no forgiveness in hell.  Whatever goes to hell stays in hell.  It is permanent.  It’s settled.  It’s settled.  It’s over with.  What you’ve done in this life is what determines where you go when you die.  Without God, you go to hell.  Hell is a place, therefore, that awaits you at the end of your life.  It’s waiting.  It’s a place that has plenty of patience.  It doesn’t matter if you live 150 years, it won’t bother hell one bit.  It’s waiting.  It has much patience for it knows that every so lost without God that departs from this world will enter into its mouth.  It will take its clutches – as Joel said – and wrap themselves around it and pull it down into the midst of hell itself.   It gives it an identity – a personality – almost like hell takes glee in the fact that those that died without God are entering into its presence.  

“That’s why Jesus came 2,000 years ago that’s why he died at the Cross at Calvary.  He didn’t die to make you rich.  He didn’t die because of who you are.  He didn’t die to create this hell hole you know about.  He died to keep you out of hell.  That’s why He went to the Cross.  That’s why it’s so horrible.  That’s why it took the precious Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.  That’s why the Bible said God made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.  That’s why Calvary was so horrendous because He would keep you out of hell.” 

Many Are Desensitized to Hell 

“There’s only one Name on the face of this earth that can keep you out of hell.   It’s not Baptist.  It’s not Methodist.  It’s not Presbyterian.  It’s not Catholic.  It’s not Jew.  There’s just one Name that can keep you out of hell and it’s the name of Jesus.  Folks use the word hell day in and day out.  They become desensitized to it.  It has no meaning anymore.  It has no punch to it.  It doesn’t grab the soul and the spirit.  And that, my friend was born in hell itself.  Satan created that.  You become so familiar with the word that’s just part of the average language of people who walk to and fro on the street.   But hell is still existing and nothing has stopped it.   It burns to the lowest hell.  The Bible says in Hebrews chapter number 12 and verse 29:  ‘Our God is a consuming fire.’

“There’s holiness about God.  If you could go into the presence of God unsaved He would literally annihilate you.  You’d rather be in hell in a heartbeat than to come before a Holy God.  Thrice Holy Holy Holy.  Dare I walk into the presence of God without the blood covering your soul.  You’d scream for hell; you’d beg for hell;  you’d cry for hell.  And yet I firmly believe hell burns because of the holiness of God.  That’s what hell is about.  It’s about a place that you go to without God.  

“Somebody said ‘hell is separation from God.’  Who told you that?  Where’s that in the Bible?  Find it from Genesis to Revelation.  What does the Bible say?  We’re judged by the Book, my friend, what does the Bible say?  ‘Well preacher I want to tell you the truth.  I’ve never read it.’  That’s the truth.  Most Christians haven’t read it.  They’ve never read it through from Genesis to Revelation.  The sad state is that in the church today most people are as ignorant of the Bible as they can be.  That’s why they can be tossed from one church to the next church, one doctrine to the next doctrine.  It’s because we are such a flim-flam bunch, because we don’t know anything about God or His Word.  It’s a sad commentary but the Bible has not changed.  Hell is real.  Am I going there?” 

What Facts Prove Hell Is Imaginary?  

“Jesus Christ said in Matthew chapter number five: ‘hell fire.’  What if I thought for a moment I was going to hell?  I don’t think I could sleep tonight if I thought for a moment that I may die.  I may die.  My body may cease today.  Maybe this may be my last day planet earth.  It may be your last day on planet earth.  You may be totally, completely physically healthy right now but something takes your life away.  You could die before the sun goes down.   Your body will be lying dead in the morgue somewhere, having your funeral a couple of days from now.  Where will you be?  Where will you be?  Where will you be?  ‘Well, preacher, I don’t care about all that.’  Well what do you base it on, dear friend?  What do you base the fact that you don’t believe in hell?  ‘Well, I just don’t believe God’s like that.’  

“What do you know about God?  What God are you talking about?  Have you ever bothered to read His Word?  Have you ever bothered to read the Word of the God that you say you know about?  What did he say in his Word?  He said my spirit shall not always strive with man.  He brought a flood upon this earth one time thousands of years ago.  The layers upon planet earth proved that flood was universal from one end of the globe to the other.  Water covered this earth.  Water was all over the planet.  You find it everywhere if you want to look.  It’s  there!  He destroyed at one time with water never to do it again.  But next time he’s coming with fire.  The Lord Jesus Christ said the elements are going to melt with fervent heat.  ‘Where’s that at?’  It’s in the Bible, friend.  Read the Bible and you’ll find out that God’s not too happy with what’s going on around us.  We live in a generation is literally brainwashed.  I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.  This generation will embrace anything.  They’ll believe anything, embrace anything.  This is the most relativistic bunch that ever lived on the face of the earth.  They marvel in it.  They’re in your face with it.  In your face constantly, and it’s gotten to the point where everybody’s desensitized.  Nobody’s convicted of anything anymore.”  

Wanton Crime in Chicago Proves Few Think About Hell

“In Chicago, Illinois they call out the National Guard.  Children are dying daily in Chicago, Illinois.  On the streets they’re shooting them down,  dead, by drug dealers and drive-by shootings and all the rest of that.  It’s gotten so bad that the governor of Illinois has called out the National Guard.  They’re gonna have to turn it into a police state city to keep kids from being shot to death.  Murders day in and day out.  Murderers in this town right now would blow your brains out for enough money for a fix of crack cocaine.  It’s never crossed their murdering minds that they’re going to burn in hell.  They’ve never thought about the fact that they’re going to burn in hell one day.  We’ve gotten to the point now where it’s just simply passé.  It doesn’t matter anymore, there’s no meaning to anything.  You feel good about doing it, do it.  Here’s the situation I see it today: my goodness, Satan is so smart.  Satan has brainwashed a whole nation.  He’s brainwashed them to the point to  where sin is no longer sin; death is no longer death; human life has no value. They’ve got them locked up in our jails.  Right now they perpetrate some of the worst crimes in history this nation.”

Crime in Knoxville Further Proves Fear of God and Hell Has Waned 

“Right here in Knoxville, Tennessee, families have been going through hell now and will be going through hell.  They keep postponing the dates of the trials time and time again.  Some of the worst murdering that ever happened.  If those men had felt that one day they’re going to die and drop off into hell and burn forever, it might have caused them to take note.  

“Without Jesus Christ they will drop off into hell and they will burn forever.  Hell is full of murderers!  One man was just recently sentenced to 40 years and in Knoxville Tennessee 40 years for raping four women on Chapman Highway at knife point.  Raping them.  And he’s just 26 or 27 years old himself.  There’s no fear among anybody today to take a woman and rape her.  Pull a knife and just rape her.  He’ll go to hell without Jesus Christ.  You didn’t hear about that in the news – you don’t read that in the the paper.  You live in an insane society for there is no fear of God in their eyes.  Nobody fears God anymore.  Hell is not full.  Hell is full of multi-millionaires and multi-billionaires.  There are old men in this world in their eighties in their nineties who that are so rich they could buy and sell Knoxville, Tennessee.  My friends, they are going to die and go to hell.  Yes, they will they’ll die and they’ll go to hell.  They’re politicians running this world right now that one day they’ll step down from the kings and the queens and the presidents and the parliamentarians, and they’ll go to hell one day.”  

Hell Knows No Identity

“Hell is full of kings.  Hell's full of queens.  Some of the biggest and greatest who ever lived among men are in hell right now.  Hell knows no identity.  Hell is no respecter of persons.  The young and the old go to hell.  The rich and the poor go to hell.  The black and the white and the red and the yellow go to hell.  Hell knows no distinctions.  Baptists go to hell.  Methodists go to hell. Presbyterians go to hell.  Catholics go to hell.  Episcopalians go to hell.  Russians go to hell.  Jews go to hell.  Americans go to hell.  Englishmen go to hell.  Portuguese go to hell.  Africans go to hell.   

“Without Jesus Christ there is no way out of hell.  ‘There is hell, preacher.  Hell is a place at the end of your life.  That’s where it is.  That’s at the end of your life.  Some say it’s in the heart of the earth.’ 

“Let me tell you this:  hell is a place for a soul to go to that doesn’t know God.  Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father.  He that hath the Son hath life.  He that hath not the son hath not life.  Can you imagine what the greatest religious leaders of this world dying without Jesus Christ?  Where they go?”

No One Leaves Hell

“But now let’s get home here, the small.  I’m not preaching 10,000 miles from here.  I didn’t get up here and say ‘listen America.”  I'm saying:  ‘Listen Woodrow Drive.’  Some of you in here are going to hell.  You’re going to hell.  And here’s the saddest thing about hell: when you get there it’s too late.  Nothing can be done for you. You’re going to hell and when you die it’s too late.  The rich man said ‘let me go back and warn my brethren.  Oh Abraham, let me go!  This place of torment.  I’ve got to warn them.’  They said you’ve got Moses and the prophets, but you’re not Moses or the prophets and you’re not one that comes back from the dead.  The rich man said, ‘O Abraham would you just please take old Lazarus and just send him here with a drop on his finger to drop it on my tongue.  O Lazarus, just a drop!’” 

Walking through Cemetaries and Wondering "Where Are They Now?"

“Hell is at the end of a Christ-rejecting life.  Where’s hell?  It’s waiting.  It’s been around a long time.  Your little 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 years is not even a breath to hell.  It was there when your great great great great grandfather and grandmother were alive.  

“I’ve often thought about this when I walked through old graveyards.  I look at the old tombstones.  We’ve got Revolutionary War soldiers buried around here.  We’ve got soldiers from the from the War between the States.  We’ve got soldiers from the Spanish-American War.  We’ve got a huge military cemetery with its old graves and huge military crosses everywhere.  You’ve got some of the finest of Knoxville, Tennessee that ever lived.  Governors are buried over there in the old gray cemetery.  You’ve got mausoleums in this town.  You can walk by these mausoleums and you know at the time they built them late 1800s and early 1900s, they cost thousands of dollars.  These people had money.  You can walk through a graveyard and all you’ve got to do is look around and you’d be amazed at the history lessons you can learn just walking through a graveyard.  I’ve often said to myself ‘I wonder where he is, I wonder where she is, where they are? I wonder where they are.  I wonder where they are?’  Right over here, there’s a lieutenant.  I used to run by his grave all the time.  Lieutenant from World War One.  Mausoleums – captains, majors, generals, governors, mayors, doctors, lawyers buried right here within 200 feet of where you sit.  Right here – just a stone’s throw.  I can walk out that door right there and I can throw a rock to one of the biggest graveyards in this town.  Every one of them lived their life and died and went somewhere.  And if the Lord doesn’t come back soon, you’ll live out your little short life, you’ll die, and you’re gonna go somewhere.  Are you ready?”  

The Only Way to Avoid Hell 

“‘How do I stay out of hell, preacher?’  That’s a good thing.  ‘I don’t want to go to hell, preacher.’  Pretty sure that’s a good thought.  ‘It worries me preacher.  I don’t want to go to hell.’  That’s good.  That’s good.  That’s real good.  ‘How can I not go to hell, preacher?’  One name.  One name given among men whereby we must be saved.  Only one name.  Only one name.  That’s the name of Jesus.  He that hath the Son hath life.  He that hath not the Son hath not life.  What does it mean to have him?  That means you've embraced Him.  You believe in Him.  He’s in you.  He’s your Savior!  Is He?” 

“. . .  

“Father, in Jesus’s name I preached what You gave me Lord.  He gave me this a long time ago.  I preached it and that’s all I’m going to say.  I preach the Word now.  Lord use it for whatever purpose you intend to do with it this morning.  In Jesus’s name we pray.  Amen.”