Walk With Me
Christian discussion of biblical topics, and a dose of daily application. Yes the Bible is still relevant, and we find out more and more each day how relevant it has always been.
Walk With Me
Where do I mail this letter to Hell? part 1
What if the key question isn't just "where is hell?" but "what is hell?" Join me, JJ, as we embark on a thought-provoking journey to unravel this often misunderstood concept. Inspired by a co-worker's question, we explore the significance of comprehending what hell truly represents before attempting to pinpoint its location. Together, we delve into the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, challenging the common misconception that hell is a place of eternal revelry. Through a meticulous examination of scripture, we emphasize the spiritual nature of hell as a realm of separation from God and eternal suffering for those who neglect compassion and kindness.
This episode invites you to reflect on the moral implications of our choices and the importance of spreading love and positivity. By examining the rich man's disregard for Lazarus, we highlight the dangers of ignoring the needs of others and how such actions can lead to eternal consequences. Moreover, we discuss the notion that hell was intended for Satan and his angels, and how our choices, not divine decree, lead us down our spiritual paths. With heartfelt gratitude, I encourage you to share God's love and message, reminding us all of the power of positivity and compassion in shaping our own destinies.
Hello my fellow walkers and welcome to today's episode of Walk With Me. I am your host, jj. Thank you all for joining us on this journey. If you're new here, have a seat, get comfortable, stay a while, go back to some of our previous episodes. I really do appreciate each and every one of you. You guys can be listening to any other podcast there's thousands of them out there but you've taken a few moments to enjoy us on this podcast and I really do appreciate you and I thank God for you. Thank you all so much. I really do appreciate you. Thank you to my sponsors.
Speaker 1:Two Bars Lyricist with the intro and the outro. He's on spotify. He's had just a huge blessing. Uh, just recently he's got a new house and everything's wonderful. Isn't god amazing? Thank god for exquisite creations. God is healing her, god is blessing her and, because god is blessing them too, god is blessing me. Amen, that's how it, all right. So thank you all for joining us. Thank you, thank you, thank you and I. Yes, we do have the new sponsor coming. Things have been delayed, but we will have another sponsor, all right, thank you all so much. Thank you all so much. I really do love and appreciate each and every one of you.
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Speaker 1:This is about getting the word out to you. This is about getting, uh, getting us prepared and to be able to live, live right and live for God. Okay, this is not about me making any money. God has already blessed me with a wonderful job that I really love. Okay, so I thank God for each and every one of you. All, right, love each and every one of you. And no, I'm not a pastor yet. I keep saying yet, or I'm saying yet now, because maybe that may happen, maybe not. Just whatever God wants, okay, so, but I am, I will tell you all. I am a minister. I don't like bragging about it, but you know what God is soft, fit to call me to this. So here I am Today. We are going to take a small detour. I know we're talking about denominationalism and things of that nature, but we're going to take a small detour, because I had a co-worker ask me a question and, believe it or not, this question is more common than we would like to think and when people fail to answer this question directly, or even logically speaking, or even biblically speaking, it creates more denominationalism. So it sort of feeds back into what we're doing.
Speaker 1:Now. If you do have questions, send them to all comments or anything like that. Send them to walkwithmebiblestudy at gmail. Walkwithmebiblestudy at gmail. I will acknowledge the email and if it's a question like this that will take more than like a couple of scripture answer, I will respond. I'll let you know that it's on. If you want to remain anonymous, just leave the subject line blank. If you want me to address you so that you know that I'm addressing you, or you go ahead and put your name, your first name, only in the subject line. Ok, but the email is walk with me, bible study at Gmail.
Speaker 1:So what is that question that was spoken to and said to me JJ, I was talking to Pastor Deacon, apostle Bishop, so-and-so and, and I asked them where was hell? And they couldn't answer it. Or maybe you asked that question and the answer you got didn't really seem to make a lot of sense. Um and this is this is more common. These kind of questions that people ask come from actually a good place, and I know some people do not like to answer questions. Some people feel like when you ask questions they're sort of threatening their authority. Listen, I didn't write this book, so I didn't write these series of books, so I have no authority over what it says. So I have no authority over what it says. The only thing I can do is behind this microphone or if I'm in a church building or standing behind a pulpit. The only thing I can really do is tell you what it said. If you don't like the way I said it, I will turn it around and let you read it for yourself. Oh and, by the way, we do have a rule on this podcast. Before I forget, we have a rule on this podcast.
Speaker 1:When we talk about scripture, we will be covering quite a few of them. This may actually go into two episodes, right? We may actually, whenever we talk about scripture, always read the verse, or two above the verse or two below, but preferably the whole chapter. Why? Because context is key. This is how we get into a lot of theological trouble. We take a scripture, we take it out of context and then all of a sudden, when we realize it's out of context, we become too proud and try not to fix it. So the question is where is hell Now? When I started to try to answer that question where is hell? You first had to kind of figure out what is hell and the reason why you have to figure out what is hell, because then it'll make sense as to where is hell Now.
Speaker 1:Just for the sake of conversation, I'm not going to talk about the earthly references to hell. In other words, in the Bible I think it's like 10,000 mentions of the word hell, but there are only a few mentions of the word hell with capital letters. And then there's other references to the capital H, hell in small letters, and then there's only the other. There's other references to the capital H, hell in small letters, the small H. So I'm not going to talk about okay, I'm going through heck today or anything like that, because this is where we begin to kind of diminish what hell is All right. So first thing we're going to do is I like to take the Bible in order. Okay, so we talk about taking it in order.
Speaker 1:We're going to start from Deuteronomy 32 and 22. Well, this is where your first mention of hell is, and it's going to say For a fire is kindled in mine, anger and shall burn, burn into the lowest hell and shall consume the earth with her increase and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. Now, this is where the earthly sort of connotation of hell is. If you notice, there it's a lowercase L and it's speaking of low, as in geographically low, and where a lot of people do and they try to put hell in sort of like the center of the earth, somewhere or maybe just below the crust of the earth, where we have fire and we have molten lava. But we're going to see, because it's not exactly that, because when Jesus talks about hell in the New Testament, he talks about it in a way that says that this is not what hell is.
Speaker 1:And we're going to go to Matthew and we're going to talk about the rich man. Now, the rich man, a lot of people talk about the rich man and we don't, we don't? We just sort of kind of glaze over it, but because we think, oh well, being rich is evil, that you're somehow going to hell, but let's talk about it's actually not going to be in Matthew. It's going to be in Luke, luke chapter 16. All right, and we're going to start at 16 and 19.
Speaker 1:Now I want to have everything in context Matthew 16 and 19. And there was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. This is not a sin. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate, full of sores and desiring to be fed from the crowns of the rich man's table. And, moreover, the dogs came and licked the sword. That alone will not get you to heaven. So I want to establish that and we can talk more about that on another episode. I'm trying to stay within subject here. And it came to pass when the beggar died. This is 16 to 22. It came to pass that when the beggar died, he was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom, and the rich man also died and was buried.
Speaker 1:Now this is where people get the idea that hell is somewhere just below the ground, but the very next verse will destroy that Luke 16 and 23. And in hell he lifted up his eyes. Well, wait a minute. Well, if he's in hell and he lifted up his eyes, being in torment and seeing Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. Well, wait a minute. You can't look up from underground and see heaven. No, that's not how it works, and Jesus is very careful in describing how this works. Jesus is very careful in describing how this works. In hell, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, which means he is not on the ground anymore, he's somewhere else and seeing Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom, which means remember, if you look back up, he was carried by angels in Abraham's bosom. Bosom doesn't necessarily say heaven, but it was not a place of torment, and this will be further explained later, because jesus is talking about it and he cried father abraham, have mercy on me and send lazarus. He may dip the finger, his finger in water and cool my tongue, but for I am tormented in this flame.
Speaker 1:Now you have two things that are being introduced here. Number one the idea that you can look up and see up, which means your eyes work, which means you're not exactly asleep and don't know anything. Your eyes work and you feel heat, which means your nerves anything. Your eyes work and you feel heat, which means your nerves work, your flesh works, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame, which means now you can hear flames, you can see flames, you can smell flames, you can comprehend that this is actually fire. This is not going to happen to you when you're six feet underground. That's not where hell is Now.
Speaker 1:Jesus goes on to say but Abraham said son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between us there is a great gulf fixed. Stop, right there. So that tells me that there is a, even though he can look and see. He can look up and see Abraham's bosom, which for all intents and purposes is pretty much like a pre-heaven, and we'll talk about that in Revelation. We go deeper into this. It's like a pre-heaven. It ain't purgatory. Stop that. It ain't purgatory, it's more like a heaven holding spot. There's no purgatory. It's more like a heaven holding spot. There's no purgatory. All right, abraham's bosom is about as close as you can get to heaven until heaven happens Right. So until space is prepared Right.
Speaker 1:Besides all this between us there is a great gulf fixed mental mind kick to really wrap your mind around. To really wrap your mind around People who would want to come from heaven or from this place, this place of comfort to you, can't go. So when we let's just say, if you go to Abraham's bosom and this is where a lot of theologians suggest that the Jews that are living under the Mosaic law and following the Mosaic law, this is where they are going, so they're not going straight to heaven, they're going to this place. This is where a lot of theologians suggest so, but I say this because I just don't want to cause any confusion. Say this because I just don't want to cause any confusion. So they can actually look down and or let me rephrase that look over, because Abraham does not use an up or down reference. He said there is a great gulf and that would mean there's a big space, a big gap, a big barrier that is fixed, that people who would want to come and help you can't come and help you. And the real mind kick is that you will be in hell and be able to see people who made it. You will be able to see them and hear them and communicate. They won't communicate back Because Lazarus never answered.
Speaker 1:And here's where the problem of Lazarus the rich man was. He thought that, even when he was in hell, the rules would not apply to him. That's where the rich man's problem was and that's probably why he ended up going to hell. He thought rules didn't apply, he thought standards didn't apply. He thought that, you know, he might go to hell, but it might be just a big party. And I know you and I have heard this before. People say this oh, when I go to hell, it's gonna be a big party. And I know you and I have heard this before. People say this but when I go to hell, it's gonna be a big party. No, no, no, it is not. So we've already discussed.
Speaker 1:You will be able to see, you'll be able to hear, you will be able to speak, you will also be in torment. But jj, you just said he lifted up his eyes. He may have been on his knees, he may may have been face down Under a boulder, under a burning boulder, we don't know. Okay, but here's the kicker when you talk about where hell is, it cannot be Inside the earth, because if he can look up or look over and see and communicate with Abraham, then that will put heaven inside of earth too, and the Bible clearly speaks about Jesus being ascended into heaven, going up into heaven, which I want you to stop and think. Stop thinking about the word up and down, but remember earth is a sphere, so it's more, instead of inward and outward. Jesus ascended outward from our world, our peripheral of my perception of being up.
Speaker 1:Paul spoke about being lifted into the third heaven, which means it's a completely different heaven than you and I could ever think about the heavens, the first heavens being the sky, the second heavens being what we call space, but then there's another heaven, there's another, there's another realm. So, so to speak, okay. So if the people in hell can look and see all the way over there, and you and I can't see it here, that means hell has to be in a different place, a place where some rules do not apply. Rules of death do not apply. Your flesh doesn't rot, but you will feel torment forever, you will feel flames forever. You will experience separation from God forever. As a matter of fact, one of the things that people talk about is that, well, you know God wouldn't really send us to hell, because you know God is love, right? Well, this is true, because God never intended for you to go to hell. He never sent, never meant for you to go to hell. As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us that that the hell that we know of was created for Satan and his ain't. So if you go to hell, you go there as an imposter.
Speaker 1:Matthew 25, 41. And of course we're going to go, we're going to talk about and there's something else I want to bring out too. Okay so, matthew 25, let's go up to, for the sake of time, let's just stay 25 and 40. And the king shall answer and say unto them not by king, we're talking about the Lord Jesus. The king shall answer and say unto them Verily, I say unto you In this, much as you have done unto the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me. And then she shall say unto them with her left hand Depart from me. You cursed into everlasting fire. There's that term again everlasting fire. Prepare for the devil and his angels, prepared for the devil and his angels, and what's and why, why, and remember.
Speaker 1:Now we're going to going back to talk about the rich man, lazarus. The rich man never gave Lazarus anything. The crumbs fell from his table and Lazarus begged for those crumbs. Man 25, 42, just gonna touch this, we're gonna move on. But I was hungry and you gave me no meat. I was thirsty, you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you took me not in, naked and you clothed me not, sick and in prison and you visited me not.
Speaker 1:Now, this is a conviction on JJ right here, because people beg out on the street JJ, I don't. I don't like giving them my best excuses. I don't have any cash and this is something that I have to do. I have to fix me JJ. This holds right now. I have to go back and fix this. When somebody says, hey, can you give me some money for food? Hey, I may not have cash on me, but I can go in the gas station to get you a bag of chips or something I can donate. I can pay my tithes to church and we can set a food bank up and feed the homeless, feed the hungry.
Speaker 1:So this is this, was it? This is all it was. There was no commandment that you have to go out, but this is what Jesus said and this is why people were sent into this. What was that word? Again, everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. So that means it can't be six feet under and it also can't be the lake of fire, and we're going to talk about that when we get further into it, because we're going to see what happens to hell in the lake of fire. So understand this further into it, because we're going to see what happens to hell in the lake of fire. So understand this that hell is not on this plane. Hell is a spiritual place, a spiritual place where you will experience everything. The same way, you will experience everything in heaven on a spiritual level. But and the Bible says something about the worm not dying your flesh being torn again and again and again, you will feel these things, you will see these things, you will hear these things Smell, these things. I'm going to tell you a quick story and then we'll wrap it up for today.
Speaker 1:And I kind of, after starting to study this, I realized what God was showing me was not what I asked him. So when I first got the Holy Ghost back in 94, and yes, if you know me, you know that I backslid for a while I was caught myself mad at God. But I, I got, I was in. I got the Holy Ghost in 94, right, and not soon. Not long after that, not long after that, I asked God for to show me heaven and to show me hell. Um, and I'm not sure why I did something so stupid. It was really stupid, all right. So, um, that couple of nights later, I had a dream and, uh, god showed me heaven.
Speaker 1:And I remember what I had on. I had on this, this, this polo shirt, this long sleeve polo shirt, and these overalls and the. The polo shirt was the shirt I used to love to wear. It had a green patch and a red part and a black part and a white collar and the the wrist parts were white, okay, and the overalls were dickie overalls, because I used to love wearing dickie overalls. And, no, not hanging down, I mean like up over, like farmer john style, with one with one one thing done, one shoulder done, the other shoulder hanging down. That I used to love wearing, that I don't ask me why.
Speaker 1:So I woke up. Oh, I came to myself. I won't say woke up, I came to myself. I won't say woke up, I came to myself sitting on this street corner, right, and I can't really describe it any other way. And this is where let me just pause, right here, because this is where we have a problem with the Bible, because the Bible people in the Bible can only describe things the way they knew them, describe things the way they knew them. Okay, so I can only describe this by terms that you and I know.
Speaker 1:So it was. It was more like a street corner and there was there was light there, but there was no sun. It was like having on the brightest, uh, fluorescent lights you'll ever see in your life, but it didn't hurt, it wasn't painful, it didn't hurt your eyes, but I remember sitting there and I didn't know where I was. I just got up and I started walking around and everyone there was smiling and talking to each other and they were all going somewhere, right, and they were all going somewhere, somewhere right, and they were all going somewhere and somehow I ended up next to this one. I guess you would call it a building. Again, this is only terms that you and I can understand.
Speaker 1:So I ended up next to this building inside this, as bright as the light was outside. The light inside was like three times, 3,000 times brighter, right, but the door was slightly open. It wasn't all the way open, so it was slightly open. So the light came out and there was a man standing next to me smiling at me, and I was like, okay, okay, oh, is this where he is? It was like my spirit knew, finally figured out where I was. Is this where he is?
Speaker 1:And um, the guy kind of smiled back and he went inside and I said, oh, and I stood there like I was stupid. So I, I this, listen, I had this dream back in 94 y'all. And it's 2024. This is 30 years later and I never remember my dream. But I'm standing there kind of stupid, and um, and I said, oh, wow, he's in there, he's, he's in there, he's in there. I could go in and I could see him. And you know, there's a song I still love. Oh, I want to see him look upon his face. So I have to go. Oh, my God, I could finally sing this song and really really do it. And so I went to go and step in.
Speaker 1:The same guy who went inside Now there's a mind kick for you the same guy who went inside suddenly grabbed me by the arm from behind me and he shook his head. Now he was still smiling, but he was shook his head. Now I said, come on, I just want to go, I just want to see him. I just want to see him. I just want, can I, can I just see his big toe? I'm for real, y'all. I? I remember saying can I just see his big toe? I just want to see his big toe. Just can I see his little toe. Can I see the corner of his sandal? Can I? Can I just see like a little piece of his robe, can I just see?
Speaker 1:And woke up Like I was literally trying to negotiate with what I later found out in my mind. I started to put together that while I was begging to see God, that means whoever stopped me was an angel. And I will tell you, paul, that I felt the biggest. I cried. I cried At first I was happy. I was happy that you know, hey, heaven does exist. But I cried. I cried because I was not there.
Speaker 1:And I woke up next to my then wife and I was just sitting there looking at her and I was trying to figure out a way to get back there. And I was trying to figure out a way to get back there. And it's kind of a funny thing because I was watching Star Trek. What was it called? Star Trek Generations? Is it when they had this Nexus deal and Nexus was kind of like them, trying to describe heaven to us and how this guy, this doctor, was busy destroying planets and worlds to do anything he could to get back to the Nexus. And that's how I felt. I literally felt like I would do anything to get back there. I would I.
Speaker 1:Then my mind is quickly, my spirit is quickly telling me well, you can't sin and get there. So think of, if you're thinking about, you know, deleting yourself, you know that's a sin and you won't go there. So I mean, literally, I ran through like 5,000 options and and like, wow, I, I just want to go back. So, and next week, next week, we'll talk about the other dream I had where I went to hell. But yes, we will continue to talk about hell, because now we've got the fact that hell is not really intended for us. It's intended for the devil and his angels. We also have established the fact that when we're in hell, we will be able to see heaven, which is the biggest mind kick ever. You will be able to see heaven. In your torment, in your flame, you will be able to see heaven, and you can't get there. So, if there's anything, anything, any reason, any reason, and we're going to talk about this more next week.
Speaker 1:When I was doing the lesson, when I was trying to research it, I said hey, co-worker, this is going to take more than one episode, so be patient. So, yeah, it's an amazing thing. And even now, sitting here, my eyes are tearing up. I know I've gone over time. I really hope this starts to begin to answer some questions. It may even produce more questions, and that's okay too, because you know how to send me emails.
Speaker 1:All right, I love you, each and every one of you, I love. Thank you. Thank you all for joining us. Thank you for your attention. Thank you for listening to the Spirit of God. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for you. I thank God for you. When you're out and about telling somebody. Just, you don't have to tell somebody. I mean, yeah, thank you for telling them about this podcast, thank you for sharing the episode, thank you, thank you, but at least tell somebody that God loves them. God does not want them to go to hell, the only reason why we end up in hell. God doesn't send us there, we send ourselves there. We'll talk more about that, okay, and again, I'm over time. Love you all, thank you all. See you on the next one.