Hell Is A Place Of Punishment In Everlasting Fire

Revelation 20:11-15, “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

The Holy Bibles teaches irrefutably that there is a literal place called “Hell,“” which burns with fire and brimstone (Revelation 21:8), where all Christ-rejecters will spend eternity suffering in torment. Our text passage of Scripture makes this horrifying truth very clear. 

One of the biggest false prophets on YouTube is a loudmouth boisterous unlearned woman named Renee Roland. She is woefully ignorant of the Word of God, denying the existence of everlasting punishment in the Lake of Fire. The Seventh-Day Adventist religious cult similarly denies the reality and existence of eternal punishment in fire and brimstone. Renee says in her video that she is not an Adventist, because she believes the wicked will suffer for a while, and then be annihilated. There is absolutely nothing in the Word of God about anyone being annihilated. You either go to Heaven or Hell. That is true of the angels as well.

So also do the Jehovah's Witness cult deny a literal burning Hell. Kindly said, Renee wrestles (twists) the Holy Scriptures to her own destruction. 2nd Peter 3:16-17, “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.” Renee requests for people not to call her a heretic and false prophet, but she is a HERETIC and a FALSE PROPHET! In her video she claims that her denial of everlasting punishment in hellfire is based upon 50 BIBLE VERSES! She is deceived!

The Story Of The Rich Man And Lazarus Is a Factual Account

In the video link I just provided to Renee butchering the Bible, she errantly claims that the story Jesus' told in Luke 16:19-31 of the rich man, Abraham and Lazarus is a mere parable. She is wrong! This story is a literal account of something that happened. We know it is NOT a parable for the following reasons:

1. Jesus did not say that is was a parable. The Lord ALWAYS announced when He was telling a parable.
2. Jesus didn't explain afterwards what it meant, which He always did when telling a parable.
3. Jesus uses proper names (Abraham and Lazarus) which He never did when telling parables. In parables the Lord uses vague terms; such as, a certain man took a journey into a far country, giving no specifics.
4. Jesus said in John 14:2, “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.” The Lord said what He meant, and meant what He said. If Hell is not a literal place where Christ-rejecters go to suffer in everlasting torment and fire, then He is a dirty deceiver!

The story of the rich man and Lazarus is a factual account. 

Sodom And Gomorrah Destroyed As Example Of Everlasting Punishment

Jude 1:7, “Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.“”

Renee butchers this passage in her horrible video, claiming that this verse does not refer to everlasting punishment. Dear reader, look for yourself at the word “EXAMPLE.” God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and three other cities in the plains of Sodom, as an EXAMPLE of the eternal fire in Hell for the wicked. The “wicked” are all those of humanity who knowingly reject Jesus Christ as their Savior (John 8:24). No one ever went to Hell who didn't choose to go there by willfully rejecting God's free gift of eternal life through faith alone in His only begotten Son (John 3:16). All small children go to Heaven. All mentally disabled people who cannot comprehend sin and the Gospel go to Heaven. The choice is yours!

Renee foolishly rationalizes that since Sodom and Gomorrha are no longer still burning today, she says Hell is not forever. That is foolish conjecture. Revelation 14:11, “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” The Bible is abundantly clear here that Hell is FOR EVER AND EVER! In Hell there is NO REST DAY NOR NIGHT. There is TORMENT. You cannot be tormented if you cease to exist by being annihilated (destroyed). The Scriptures plainly teach that Hell is FOR EVER AND EVER!!! How can anyone debate those direct statements? 

The following Scripture passage would make no sense if death means ceasing to exist. Matthew 10:28, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Psalms 9:17, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” Again, this Bible passage makes no sense if Hell is merely the grave. Clearly the wicked go to a DIFFERENT place than the righteous. 

Renee Roland Is Judging God Based On Her Level Of Holiness

In the video Renee (at about 22:45 minutes) claims that teaching everlasting punishment “hurts God's character.” No, Renee is corrupting the truth, perverting the Scriptures. She says that it hurts God's character to say that He would burn someone in Hell for all eternity. No it hurts her character! Renee is foolishly judging God based upon her own finite human understanding. In Renee's eyes she cannot comprehend a God who would take a blow-torch to someone (that's the term she uses). Dear reader, God is more holy than either you or I could ever understand. If we judge God by our own sinful human nature, then we start saying ungodly things as Gene Roddenberry (the creator of the Star Trek television series):

“We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes.” —Gene Roddenberry

Woe unto Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991), who died and no doubt went to Hell in his unbelief. Romans 9:20, “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” Renee is a false prophet! What concerns me most is that she has a lot of supporters on the internet who gives her thumbs up on her videos, and tell her how great a job she is doing. No, she is hurting people with her lies, perverting the Scriptures. Hell is a literal place that burns with fire and brimstone forever and ever and ever and ever and ever!

The Righteous And Wicked Go To Different Places

I had an unsaved Mormon boss many years ago, when I worked as a truck mechanic, hand me a piece of paper with some Old Testament passages on it. We hadn't been talking about religion, so I am not sure why he handed me the verses. On the paper he also wrote the word “Sheol,” which is the Hebrew word for hell throughout the Old Testament. He said, “I think of you'll look up these Scriptures, you'll see that Hell is just the grave.” Well, that is what the word Sheol means, but it doesn't limit the afterlife to just the grave. This is made abundantly clear by Psalms 9:17, which tells us that the wicked go to Hell, but the righteous unto life eternal. If the righteous and the wicked both go to the SAME place, then this Bible verse is meaningless. Obviously the wicked go to a very different place of suffering, and the righteous to a place of blessing. 

Beware Of False Prophets In Sheep's Clothing

A lot of Christians are giving Renee a free pass on her heresy that everlasting punishment doesn't exist, because she has done a good job preaching the Gospel. Something is VERY WRONG with that picture! Satan knows that the most effective deception is the HALF-TRUTH. The Gospel is the remedy for the curse of the law, but if there is not everlasting punishment, then what is the curse? I implore you not to listen to Renee, at all! She errantly claims that the phrase “twice dead” in Jude 1:12b refers to annihilation. What saith the Scripture? 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.” Could the Bible be any plainer? I think not. 

Interestingly, Renee left Revelation 21:8 out of her 29 minute video presentation. She claims to have spent “a long time” studying the subject of Hell in the Bible. If that be true she is not a very good student. 2nd Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Kindly said, Renee lacks spiritual discernment and wrongly divides the Word of God! She says her study of people being consumed in the Old Testament led her to conclude that annihilation is Biblical. She cites this passage from Psalms 37:20, “But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.” Renee makes the error of taking passages out of context, failing to take into consideration the whole counsel of God.

Renee keeps apologizing throughout her video if people disagree with her, but she disagrees with God's Word! There is no controversy if you believe the Bible! She disregards Revelation 14:11, which teaches Hell is a place of smoke and torment, as merely being metaphoric (that's the word she uses). Who is Renee to decide what parts of the Bible are metaphoric or not? Metaphoric means to “express one thing in terms normally denoting another.” So according to Renee Roland “fire” doesn't mean literal fire. “Smoke” doesn't mean literal smoke. “Torment” doesn't literally mean torment. That is some dangerous speculation Renee! I am only refuting her theological heresy, not her personally. Renee is very loud and bold to express her heretical views, which is why I felt compelled to write this article to counter her boldness to preach a bunch of lies!!! 

Kindly, Renee is arrogant to say that it hurts God's character to believe in everlasting punishment. She claims to believe in different degrees of punishment for mankind, but absolutely not everlasting punishment. The Bible 100% calls Renee a heretic and liar, theologically. At the end of her video she makes an appeal for people not to call her names like heretic, but that is exactly what she is. She asks people to agree to disagree. That is fine as far as loving and being “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3). Since Renee is publishing YouTube videos with the intent to teach people her views, she is open game for criticism from others. It is fine to agree to disagree, but learned believers must still expose her falsehoods. Nobody gets a free pass. If I teach heresy, people come after me with the Bible, and they should! Proverbs 9:8, “Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.” 

I Am Writing In A Spirit of Christian Love

I did NOT write this article to rebuke Renee; but rather, to help everyone else not to be deceived or confused by her false teachings. The Bible teaches Hell is forever! We must never interpret the Holy Bible by our own human understanding and standards. Renee rationalizes that since the worst sentence a human court could give a criminal is the death penalty, why would God burn someone in Hell forever and ever? You see, she is judging God by humans standards, which is very wrong to do. Dear reader, we must let the Bible correct us, and not us the Bible. 

I admit that I don't think God is fair to burn someone in Hell forever. You'd think after a trillion years that someone would have served their time in Hell. But it doesn't matter how I feel or think, because the Bible is God's Word, and I am commanded to lean not unto my own understanding, but to trust the Lord (Proverbs 3:5-7). Did you ever stop to wonder why God releases the Devil after 1,000 years from his chains (Revelation 20:7), to go out and deceive the world once more? Could it be that God wants to prove to humanity that giving someone a second chance doesn't make a difference? I mean, you'd think after 1,000 years of being bound in chains in the Bottomless Pit, that the Devil would be reformed. Yet, we see in the Scriptures that Satan's vile nature is still the same. Likewise, if God were to release a lost sinner from Hell after 1,000 years, would they be any different? I don't have an answer to that question, but it may explain why Hell is forever.

Regardless, we DO KNOW that the Bible teaches everlasting fire. There are many Scriptures that teach everlasting punishment in Hell fire for the wicked. Matthew 25:41, “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:” It is difficult for me to understand how Renee could dismiss all this solid Scriptural evidence as merely being “metaphoric.” That is exactly the error of Pastor John MacArthur, who in his 'The MacArthur Study Bible' says that, “BY HIS OWN BLOOD” in Hebrews 9:12 is metaphoric and actually refers to Jesus' “DEATH” on the cross instead. If you believe Mr. MacArthur you've got a hole in your head big enough to drive a semi-truck through! Likewise, Renee is very wrong. Fire means fire. Torment means torment. Smoke means smoke. Worms means worms. Unless the Bible says otherwise, we should ALWAYS interpret the Scripture at face value.

Is Renee saved? John 20:31 says that the Gospel of John is God's Gospel tract. John 20: 31, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” The word Hell does not appear once in John. I could be wrong, but I do not find any requirement in the Bible to believe in everlasting punishment to be saved. You must know that you are a needy sinner (1st John 1:8-10). Why would you want to be saved if there is no penalty for sin? Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Renee said she believes in varying degrees of punishment in the afterlife, but not everlasting punishment. In my humble opinion she is saved, but confused on Hell. That doesn't make her unsaved, it just makes her a poor student of the Holy Bible.

Hell Is Real (Pastor Danny Castle)