Why is hell and damnation so rarely preached these days?

[methinkshe]

I had a salutary reminder recently of the need to warn the unsaved of their ultimate end.

I was speaking to a young woman whom I know very well who has got herself into an awful mess through choosing to neglect her Lord and Saviour. Although brought up to know of and about God, at the age of 18 she chose thoroughly to live in, and be of, the world and of her father, the devil.

To cut a long story short, her relationship with her partner (yes, she did not even marry him) has finally broken down altogether and he has kicked her and their illegitimate son out of their home (he owns the property in his sole name). To be honest, the relationship has been breaking down almost from its beginning eight years ago. But what has brought things to a head is that during the course of their relationship she began to use alcohol to help her get through the times when her partner was unkind to her. Alcohol use turned into dependency and finally addiction. Her partner could no longer cope with the lies and deceit and irrationality that accompanies alcoholism so he told her to leave and take their son with her.

I have been speaking to this young lady of the Lord's love for her for many, many years, without much effect, but the other day, I was prompted to remind her of her ultimate end - hell.

She had just heard from the doctor that her liver function is abnormal - she is only 31 years old. She was terrified of dying or of losing her son and as confused and unhappy and miserable as it is possible to be. To some it may sound like it was about the unkindest thing I could have done - to add to her misery by telling her she was headed straight for hell - not only in this life but for eternity.

I warned her that if she were to die in her unsaved state, the chaos and misery and confusion that she is presently experiencing would become an eternal reality for her, and worse besides. That hell is eternal separation from God and all that He is - love, joy, peace etc. Instead she would exist in an eternal state of everything that is anti-God, tormented because there would be no way out. The time for choosing who she should serve would be gone. Instead of living eternally she would be dying eternally. Instead of eternal love she would experience eternal hatred. Instead of joy her constant experience would be joyless. Confusion, chaos, misery, perversion, self-loathing etc., would be her eternal reality.

And for the first time she really listened! She realised she has a choice, and her life - both in this world and in eternity - dosen't have to be the way it is and the way it is headed. She was able to see that it was her disobedience to God that had brought her to her present state and repent of it.

And then, for the first time, she was truly receptive to the Gospel. She went to see the Pastor of our local church, and the Lord has really started to move in her spirit. Please pray that she will continue to be receptive to the Holy Spirit's conviction of sin and righteousness and judgement and also to the boundless love and mercy of our Saviour Jesus. She still has a long way to go to vis a vis her alcoholism, but she is on the right track and I know the Lord will honour that first baby-step of faith.

As for me, I learned a valuable lesson - that it is an incomplete love that fails to warn of the ultimate reality of rejecting our Saviour Jesus.

[Arthur Durnan]

For two reasons: (1) Preachers don't wish to offend their parishioners; and (2) Many preachers are in the ministry mainly for their "bread and butter" (Romans 16:17,18).

[~candice~]

Anytime you preach it should be a balanced whole message delivered in love, not just of hell and damnation, or of salvation and eternal life, but both.

Joh 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Joh 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Joh 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Joh 3:19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

Joh 3:20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

Joh 3:21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."

Praying for your friend

[methinkshe]

For two reasons: (1) Preachers don't wish to offend their parishioners; and (2) Many preachers are in the ministry mainly for their "bread and butter" (Romans 16:17,18).

Sadly, I think there is some truth in what you say.

[methinkshe]

Anytime you preach it should be a balanced whole message delivered in love, not just of hell and damnation, or of salvation and eternal life, but both.

Joh 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Joh 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Joh 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Joh 3:19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

Joh 3:20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

Joh 3:21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."

Praying for your friend

I couldn't agree more!

So why is it that I cannot remember the last time I heard a sermon that preached hell and damnation as a precusor to delivering the good news of salvation through Jesus?

And why is it that so many preachers are now delivering an unbalanced message along the lines of: come to Jesus and be healthy, wealthy and happy? Jesus loves you............full stop.

It is a false gospel.

P.S. Thanks for your prayers...they really are needed.

[joi]

I warned her that if she were to die in her unsaved state, the chaos and misery and confusion that she is presently experiencing would become an eternal reality for her, and worse besides. That hell is eternal separation from God and all that He is - love, joy, peace etc. Instead she would exist in an eternal state of everything that is anti-God, tormented because there would be no way out. The time for choosing who she should serve would be gone. Instead of living eternally she would be dying eternally. Instead of eternal love she would experience eternal hatred. Instead of joy her constant experience would be joyless. Confusion, chaos, misery, perversion, self-loathing etc., would be her eternal reality.

No matter how happy we think we are this is the state we live in until we know Messiah.

Thank you for taking time to talk with this needy person. I appreciate that action because others in my past told me of Christ, now I do not experience a sense of loss, but one of salvation.

God is GOOD!

[Fraught]

because satan has the world under a delusion. this is what the scriptures said would happen. the time is ripe to deliver the true message of the Gospel. deluded because . . . people are worshipping the wrong god. there is a day of wrath coming from the Living God. this angry God does not line up with the god of unconditional grace that many worship today.

i myself went through a few months of wondering why this all-loving, benevolent god could line up with judgment or even the idea of hell. i thank the true God for not allowing me to be fully blinded from the knowledge of the True God.

[methinkshe]

I warned her that if she were to die in her unsaved state, the chaos and misery and confusion that she is presently experiencing would become an eternal reality for her, and worse besides. That hell is eternal separation from God and all that He is - love, joy, peace etc. Instead she would exist in an eternal state of everything that is anti-God, tormented because there would be no way out. The time for choosing who she should serve would be gone. Instead of living eternally she would be dying eternally. Instead of eternal love she would experience eternal hatred. Instead of joy her constant experience would be joyless. Confusion, chaos, misery, perversion, self-loathing etc., would be her eternal reality.

No matter how happy we think we are this is the state we live in until we know Messiah.

Thank you for taking time to talk with this needy person. I appreciate that action because others in my past told me of Christ, now I do not experience a sense of loss, but one of salvation.

God is GOOD!

Yes, indeed, God is GOOD!

You know, sometimes I think that as Christians we're like a team of beachball players on a familiar beach who, on seeing a crowd of newcomers sunbathing and doing very little, try to convince them that there's more to be enjoyed at the beach than just sunbathing, so why not join us in a game of beachball? But none of these regular beachball players mentions that when the tide comes in on that particular bit of sand, there's no escape as the exit is cut off by the rising tide.

There is no point in preaching Jesus as Saviour unless we also preach what He saves us from.

[glennagail]

I warned her that if she were to die in her unsaved state, the chaos and misery and confusion that she is presently experiencing would become an eternal reality for her, and worse besides. That hell is eternal separation from God and all that He is - love, joy, peace etc. Instead she would exist in an eternal state of everything that is anti-God, tormented because there would be no way out. The time for choosing who she should serve would be gone. Instead of living eternally she would be dying eternally. Instead of eternal love she would experience eternal hatred. Instead of joy her constant experience would be joyless. Confusion, chaos, misery, perversion, self-loathing etc., would be her eternal reality.

No matter how happy we think we are this is the state we live in until we know Messiah.

Thank you for taking time to talk with this needy person. I appreciate that action because others in my past told me of Christ, now I do not experience a sense of loss, but one of salvation.

God is GOOD!

Yes, indeed, God is GOOD!

You know, sometimes I think that as Christians we're like a team of beachball players on a familiar beach who, on seeing a crowd of newcomers sunbathing and doing very little, try to convince them that there's more to be enjoyed at the beach than just sunbathing, so why not join us in a game of beachball? But none of these regular beachball players mentions that when the tide comes in on that particular bit of sand, there's no escape as the exit is cut off by the rising tide.

There is no point in preaching Jesus as Saviour unless we also preach what He saves us from.

Humm I'm not sure that there should be a lot of hell and damnation preached in the church. There is so much more the church needs to hear. They already know that Jesus saved them from hell. On the other hand like Joi said you have to know that you need saving. It is hard for most people to understand that being good is not enough.We don't want to think of a kind good person going to hell. I think another reason it is not preached in the church is that it hurts. It makes us think of those we love who are lost. An example from my own life, my dad was raised in church but when he became an adult, he walked away from it and never went back. He would not talk about what he believed. I can not bear to think of him in hell. SO I have to believe that he just walked away from the church not Jesus. It just makes it hard to fool myself when someone preaches hell. I know myself what brought me to Jesus was discovering the love of Jesus. It was not the fear of hell. I'm sure others need to hell scared out of them. Maybe I'm just out of the loop But I don't hear about evangelists going around sharing salvation. They are the ones who should be preaching hell not your pastor he is there for the sheep. That's not to say that all of us should not be preaching the gospel.

[jodetoad]

As an AA myself. I worked with alcoholics and addicts for many years. You did exactly right. They must be confronted with the truth as you see it. The truth for addicts and alcoholics is tough, a life of horrors and despair, then we die young. We keep trying to tell ourselves things will get better, if we do a, b or c, it was somebody else's fault, on and on, anything but change our own behavior. I pray she turns around.