Heaven & Hell, are they real?

Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

Here’s a question and don’t think I’ve lost my senses in asking this but it’s a serious question to consider how many Christians truly believe in a heaven and hell after death? KLOVE asked the question at Christian conventions all over the country and 79% of the Christians polled weren’t sure of a literal heaven and hell concept. WHAT!?!?! I believe these Christians have lost their senses. How can you have the Holy Word of God, read what He says about heaven and hell and still not be sure there is a literal heaven and a literal hell?

I had done some research on the Internet one day this past spring and I was shocked by the profound number of people who truly say they are Christians but believe in the ‘ashes to ashes, dust to dust’ concept of life here on earth. That God made us from dust with Adam and to dust we return, soul and all. They truly believe that once our time on earth is finished in the physical body the soul returns to the earth as well. I remember when I watched the Disney movie, Big Brother I thought they fantasized the idea or concept of our ancestors returning to the earth and then coming back to us in spirit or soul to help guide our lives at pivotal moments. Cute movie but I reminded myself it was just a cartooned movie and whatever theme I felt was being conveyed was just my overactive imagination.

God speaks of heaven throughout His Holy Word and I’m going to share a few of my favorites about heaven and then I’m going to share some relevant truth about what He says about hell. In Isaiah 66:1 the Lord not only tells us what heaven is but also what earth is to Him. “This is what the Lord says: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?“ And continues in verse 2 of the same chapter, “ ‘Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?’ declares the Lord.” The dictionary defines the word declares as to announce officially; proclaim. So if the Lord declares it, I’d say it is so. And in 2 Corinthians 5:1 Paul reminds us of the home we have in heaven when he says, ”Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” The next verse I’m sharing with you reminds me that I am not a part of this world but of another. “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord, Jesus Christ,” Philippians 3:20. I teased someone about saying that they ‘stay’ somewhere instead of using the politically correct word ‘live’ and I now have to realize that we all ‘stay’ in our earthly homes and one day we will live in our permanent homes in heaven. One last scripture about heaven and it is the first scripture written in His Holy Word, Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” I’d say heaven exists if He chose to tell us about creating it first and it was the first thing He said. That kind of importance with God is not to be taken lightly.

The 2 verses I’m sharing about hell were scripture spoken by Jesus. One involves a warning about the way we treat others and the other scripture speaks of a literal instance of a man in hell and what he looks up into heaven and sees. If you can’t believe hell is a literal place then you have say that you believe what Jesus said about it is untrue. In my opinion Jesus is not a liar and never has been. In Matthew 5:22, Jesus says, “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” In the book of Luke the story about the rich man and Lazarus will break your heart. “In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.” Luke 16:23 I’ve heard many preachers and evangelists say that Jesus had more to say about hell than He did heaven during His 3 year ministry on earth. I would then have to tell my audience and any Christian who may doubt a real hell that if our Savior found it was more of a topic of discussion than His home in heaven was, then it must exist.

Heaven and hell are real, literal places. In the beginning God created the heavens as well as the earth. Then after the fall of one of His praise angels, actually the praise leader of His angels, God created hell for that fallen angel and the angels who went along and followed the fallen one. God never intended hell to be for his beloved creation of mankind. He longs to have a personal relationship with you and it starts by accepting His beloved son, Jesus as your Savior and getting your sins forgiven through true repentance. If you would like more information about how to make Jesus your best friend please contact me. I will answer any and every question you have about this decision. If I can’t answer your question, I’ll find someone who can and I would love to help get you in touch with a Bible teaching church family. Please don’t wait another day b/c hell is not where you want to live your eternity.