THE FIRST 6 DAYS IN HELL!

Most vacations include an itinerary.  You have an idea what you will see and do before you reach your destination.  The Bible has enough information to project an itinerary for those who is seeking a permanent vacation in HELL, this will be your first 6 days. 

DAY 1…

The trip originates at the gates of death.  Since departures are made daily, you are called upon to begin your trip on short notice.  Since you have booked a one way journey, there will be no concern for your return trip.

Your initial point of departure may prove more than a little frightening, as you suddenly realize the finality of your destination.  The trip itself will leave you with little time to contemplate what awaits.

As you pass through the doorway of death, you will notice almost immediately that your direction is taking you away from the light toward what appears to be complete and utter darkness.  With each passing moment the darkness becomes more intense.  At first the absence of light is only annoying, but you feel it becoming more ominous and frightening.  You think you hear screams and moans but you are not sure , it sends a chill up your spine.

At this point the intensity of the darkness is only matched by the absence of any joyful sounds, no music except the deafening sound of torment and torture.  No laughter, no sounds of merriment.  As you move farther, the faint sounds of the moaning and wailing become more detectable.  They seem to becoming out of the darkness from every direction.  You become aware of a faint light, it flickers like a flame, yet thick clouds of black smoke dances all around it, keeping the flame from casting off any real hope of light.

Suddenly you find yourself obsessed to know what what day and hour it is.  Already it feels like you’ve been here for an eternity…and its only day 1.

DAY 2…

The continuing darkness is stifling.  It’s as if something is lurking in the veil of night that surrounds you.  You yell, you threaten, you even plead, but to no avail.

As you eyes struggle to adjust to the dark, you become aware of a new sensation.  THE HEAT.  It’s right at the edge of unbearable.  Hot, searing, intolerable heat.  Your body craves water, you would give anything for a drink, and you try unsuccessfully to push that desire out of you mind.

The air is thick, choking, miserable…and that’s just day 2.

DAY 3…

At least you think its day 3.  It seems like its already been forever.  You’ve not been able to sleep.

You still can’t believe you’re here.  Where are your friends you thought you would see?  The knowledge that they would be here too had brought you some comfort in your lifetime. Where is the fun you thought you would have?  It isn’t at all like what you were led to believe!

You stumble upon a group of others.  You pour out a litany of questions.  As they open their mouths, no words come out… only the sounds of weeping and wailing.  Some in the group don’t even try to respond.  They gnash their teeth, as if in some invisible pain.

You wonder when this nightmare will end.  You wonder why somebody can’t make it stop… and it’s only day 3.

DAY 4…

How you wish you could send a message to those you left behind.  To warn them about this place.  You would tell them what its really like, so they would never come.  The thought of your loved ones coming to a place like this becomes more and more unbearable.  You can’t help but think back to that day when you made your decision to come here.  You wish you could choose again.

You find yourself hoping that your loved ones will choose differently, even though you realize such a choice means you will never see them again…never touch them… never speak to them.  What a horrible realization… and it’s only day 4.

DAY 5…

You’ve become acutely aware of the absence of any good in this place.  There is no love, for God is love, and He cannot be found here.  There will never be joy, peace or goodness, because all these comes from God also.  There is nothing sacred, nothing holy, nothing of God anywhere to be found.  Your mind can’t imagine how evil, evil can be.

For the first time since you arrived, you begin to sense the great gulf that is fixed between where you are and where God is.  The span is beyond your comprehension as you try to realize the degree of distance that will separate you from God and those that choose to serve Him.  God is on the other side of the gulf.  Your loved ones in Christ are also on the other side of that gulf.  What a lonely realization.. .and its only day 5.

DAY 6…

Through the darkness you saw a new face today.  A new arrival.  He stopped to speak to you.  You could see the terror in his eyes.  As he asked questions that you had been asking only days earlier.  Your mouth opens to reply, but all that comes out is agonizing groans, blood curdling screams of sorrow,  The weeping and wailing from the pits of hell.

You have just spent your first 6 days in HELL.  You now know, you are doomed to spend all eternity here.  All because you rejected JESUS.  If only…..

BUT wait.  The fact is, since you are reading this, its not to late to change your mind.  In His mercy you have found this message.  Now you once again have the opportunity to change your eternal itinerary. 

“Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved”   Acts 2:21.

(This scenario is based upon verses found in Revelation 20:14,15; Luke 16:20-31; Mark 9:43; Matthew 22:11-13.)

~ D.E. Rabineau.

D.E. Rabineau is pastor of Evangel Chapel (Assemblies of God) in Bridgewater, New Jersey. This article originally appeared in the PENTECOSTAL EVANGEL, MAY 4, 1997.