Awesome Truths and Amazing Facts
Richard Vaughn

Today: “Hell. Are people there and is it burning now?” Part 1
Today we will explore another cornerstone lie of Satan regarding the subject of hell. This is just as much a misunderstood subject as was the topic of the dead we just finished last week. People have such a twisted understanding of it and I believe it is due largely to the fact that they are not studying God’s word, which makes it perfectly clear. 
Many people believe that the devil is in charge of hell and that’s just what Satan wants you to think. The very reputation of God is involved in the correct understanding, as too many former Christians have become Atheists because of the general teaching in the churches today. 
How many lost souls do you think are in hell today? 2 Peter 2:9 “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.” On the authority of the Word of God, there is not one single soul in hellfire today. The Bible says that God reserves, or holds back, the unjust until the Day of Judgment to be punished. So, when will sinners be cast into hellfire? Matthew 13:40-42 “…so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire.” So the lost sinners will be cast into hellfire at the end of the world, not when they die. God will not punish any person until his case was decided in court. In our previous study we learned that the dead know nothing, nor will they have consciousness again until one of the two resurrections spoken of by John in John 5:28,29 “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”
The Bible is clear, both the righteous and the wicked that have died are in their graves “sleeping” until their appropriate resurrection day.
Let’s look at what the end result of sin is. “Sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4; “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” These two verses tell us that sin is breaking God’s commandments and the penalty or payment is death. That is verified in James 1:15 “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” We will all die the first death because of Adam’s transgression, but if we die with unforgiven sin, we will die the second death because of our sin. That is the death spoken of in the last two verses. The death of Jesus on the cross is the second death paid for every redeemed child of God and only the righteous will have eternal life as we read in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Do you see? Those who are the forgiven believers have eternal life; all the rest will perish in the second death, which will be the hellfire. We read that in Revelation 21:8, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
The teaching that sinners are immortal in hell originated with Satan when he told the first lie to Eve in Genesis 3:4 “…Ye shall not surely die.” Those who do not study the Bible will believe about anything and are most prone to deception. 
The Bible is very clear about the fate of the lost, as they will suffer “destruction” (Job 21:30); “shall perish” (Psalm 37:20); will burn up (Malachi 4:1); “shall be destroyed together” (Psalm 37:8); “will consume away” (Psalm 37:20); “shall be cut off” (Psalm 37:9); “shall be slain” (Psalm 62:3); God will “destroy” them (Psalm 145:20); and “fire shall devour them” (Psalm 21:9). Note, that all of these references make it clear that the wicked die and are destroyed. They do not live forever in misery. They will have chosen to be lost and it is a merciful God to end their existence.  
We will continue this subject in our next article. 
Next Week: “Hell. Are people there and is it burning now?” Part 2