Written by Joseph Nimeskern and edited by Daniel L. Baker, Assistant Pastor, 5th
Street Missionary Baptist Church.

Submitted by Dr. D.R. Baker

Revelation 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire.
 

For a moment let us try to imagine what it would be like to die and go to hell.
Try to imagine that for every single moment, throughout all eternity, a time with
out end, every inch of your body will be  in absolute pain. It will be more
suffering than anything you have ever had before, worse than the most excruciating
sunburn. It will be like having scalding, boiling water poured over your body
every single second.  You might possible say to yourself, "Surely the pain will
subside!", but it never comes.  An eternity without rest or relief. Now added to
your torment is the agony of your body moving. It is the writhing pain of a sin
drenched, eternally undying person. Because, as the skin stretches, untold daggers
of pain flash through you. You want so badly to hold still, but the burning of the
flames is so great that you just can't bear it. The bubbling of the brimstone
makes you scream in horror. Your feet and hands blister, and your hair catches
fire and you begin to gnaw your tongue, trying desperately to relieve the torment.

Your throat becomes raw from  screaming and wailing as spasms of anguish drop
you into the molten lava. You go under the surface gnashing your teeth. As you
gasp for air the burning brimstone flows into your mouth, running down your throat
and into your stomach. You are on fire inside and out. Lava, red hot and smoking,
flows in your ears. You try to focus your eyes in the endless, everlasting,
permanent dwelling place of total torment and tortures surroundings but they burn
with such pain as though they were melting in the sockets. Through the smoke and
flame, you finally focus on the worms that have begun to totally engulf your body.
They are crawling all over you, and you realize in horror that they are feasting
on you. You can feel them as they crawl in and out of you, but you are not
consumed. A pleading scream comes from your burning, flaming, fiery lips. A cry
for "Water" is felt throughout your whole being as you begin to bitterly weep.

With out warning, you find yourself falling in the darkness. You can feel
something solid next to you and you grab on. `Oh, if only I could stop falling!'
you think and you try to cling to the solid surface, but the lava is too
much...you are slipping. Again, you fall into the bubbling lake and you swallow
another mouthful of burning slime. The horrid smell of blazing sulfur combine with
the sickening odor of burning hair and scorching flesh linger in you nose and nausea overwhelms you.

Something suddenly reaches out of the darkness and grabs you. In terror, you cry
out as you begin to feel teeth sinking into your flesh.You violently struggle,
desperate to shake the gnashing person off in the darkness.  A scream deafens your
ears as the tormented person cries out in agony. You can only echo theirs and you
both scream out in the darkness. Breathing heavily from the concentrated
exertion,   your lungs fill with smoke. You cough and gasp, and the word
"WATER!!!" escapes    your inflamed lips again, but quieter this time as your
throat is on fire from the molten brimstone. Your tongue feels like a white-hot
iron against the parched roof of your mouth. Your gums pulsate with  agony, while
every nerve in your teeth stabs you with flashes of indescribable torment.

The roar of the flames and the piercing screams of the damned seem to tear at your
eardrums. Oh, for just a moment of silence! But that silence never comes. You
can't run away this time. Thoughts of  law-abiding so-called Christians didn't
tell you of this place, or did you just not listen? Additionally, your thoughts go
to and  from the time you were in a Bible-believing, preaching church. Memories
that are so clear and vivid. You can still remember the time when the preacher was
talking to you about this hopeless place of darkness and pain, but you didn't want
to listen. He talked about Jesus and His saving Blood...... "He told me that I was
a sinner! Now I accept Jesus as my Savior. I accept what He did for me on the
cross. Can't you hear me? I want to be saved! You know, born again! What the
preacher said!  Won't you listen? Can't you hear? Another scream escapes your
burning lips.!" For eternity you will scream those words again and again, over and
over, repeating them for eternity, but alas, they go nowhere.

Words, meaningless words that can't be heard by God Almighty, but by the doomed only. I want to be born again! Can't you hear me! Why didn't someone tell me! Why didn't they continue to tell me when I had ignored them! Didn't they care! The doomed tell you it won't work. Your words are not heard. You see, this isn't imagination, this is reality.  The living and their prayers can't help. Their money won't help you here. You are condemned here for eternity just as we are. Another scream escapes your burning lips,  "NO!"  This isn't fantasy or imagination.  No, this is reality, and your reality without Christ.

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