Down, down, down into burning rings of fire

“Texas was ungodly hot. Like the circles of hell kind of hot.” – J. Lynn 

A story making headlines the other day was about how one of the world's most unusual tourist spots, sitting in Turkmenistan's remote Karakum Desert and named the Darvaza crater, a gigantic pit of burning gases often referred to as the “Gates to Hell,” is losing its intensity.

“The crater has been burning for decades, but recent data suggests the flames are slowly going out,” reported one news site.

I was reminded of how there are “rings” to hell with varying heat levels. In a study, Richard Jordan says this on the subject:

“People argue, ‘Well, if my grandmother’s going to hell, and Hitler’s going to hell, and they get the same end, and my grandma was a wonderful, sweet, kind old gal who lived good all her life, there’s no justice in that.’

“That’s right, there’s not any justice if they get the same punishment, so God isn’t going to give the same punishment to both of them. Hitler’s going to have white hot heat and maybe grandma will just have it a little reddish white. It’s still going to be hell, though. It’s going to be awful.

“God will reward men based on the accumulation of their guilt, and the more guilt there is—the more hardness against God’s goodness, the more impenitence, the more lack of sorrow and contrition, the more rebellion of heart there is—the more wrath there’s going to be.

“Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:14, 'Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.’

“He’s saying the people of Sodom and Gomorrha won’t have eternal judgment as bad as the people who reject the Kingdom.

“The more light, the more responsibility. The more opportunity, the more judgment. The greater the light and the greater the privileges given, the greater the sin and the greater the wrath obtained. It’s all degrees of punishment.

“Just as Believers have the opportunity to lay treasures in heaven for themselves by living godly lives, unbelievers are laying up their own treasures in hell and it’s all about degrees of indignation, tribulation, anguish and wrath.

“God’s judgment is on the basis of divine justice. God doesn’t put people in hell because they don’t deserve to be in hell. He puts them in hell because they DO deserve to be in hell and He puts them there on the basis of their activity and what they’re seeking after. Judgment is on the basis of the man’s deeds—what the man seeks after.”

*****

Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, starts in chapter 4 with, [1] For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

[2] But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
[3] And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.

“When something burns as an oven it burns very hot and the Lord’s going to burn them up as stubble.

“Notice these people are physically burned up. This is not hell and the lake of fire; this is Jesus Christ’s coming at the end of the tribulation period when He pours His wrath out on those fighting against Israel.

“Sometime people use these verses and say, ‘Well, this is a description of hell and in hell people burn up.’ But this is not hell; this is the Second Coming of Christ, literally, back to the earth to destroy His enemies and to ‘recompence tribulation on them that trouble you,’ and He’s going to do it with a physical burning that just leaves ashes where they were.

“As an unsaved person you get cast out of your body and your soul goes to hell and stays there until it faces the Great White Throne Judgment.

"After that it’s cast into the lake of fire, so this verse isn’t talking about that, but you see people take this and say, ‘Ashes will be all that’s left so there’s no soul; you’re sleeping in the dust of the earth.’

“That thing in II Thessalonians 2 about the Antichrist, who will ‘destroy with the brightness of His coming and with the breath of his mouth’ is a direct allusion back to the passage in Isaiah 30:

[27] Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
[28] And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.
[29] Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.
[30] And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.
[31] For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.
[32] And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.
[33] For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.

“You talk about earthquakes. This is going to be the Lord Himself ‘treading the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of the Almighty God.’

“In verse 33, when it says it’s prepared, that means it’s prepared for the Antichrist. Actually it’s prepared for the devil and his angels.

“Revelation 19: [19] And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
[20] And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

“When Christ comes back at the end of that tribulation to personally destroy Satan and his host, Satan’s revealed with his angels in flaming fire. That’s the personal pouring out of God’s wrath and indignation at the end of the 70^th week, and that’s what Paul’s alluding to when he talks about God ‘recompencing tribulation.’

“What God’s going to place upon them is ultimately going to lead them through their following of the Antichrist right here to the place where He destroys the Antichrist and all those who’ve joined with him.

“He’s going to put that hook into their bridal (their jaws) and cause them to believe the Lie—send them a strong delusion that they might believe it. Why? Because they received not the love of the truth.

“Deuteronomy 32:

[22] For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
[23] I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.
[24] They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
[25] The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
[26] I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:

“Look at verse 22 and take a dare for a minute to believe that verse means what it says. It’s not symbolic or a metaphor; it just means what it says. In the center of the earth is hell. That verse says God is going to light a fire in His anger. He does that right there.

“Isaiah 30 tells you that the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, is going to come out of His mouth, right there when He comes and it’s going to LIGHT Tophet.

“Deuteronomy 32:22 reminds you of Jonah, who said the bars of the mountains compassed him about and when he died and went to hell it was like going down to the bottom of the mountains.

“Well, hell, if it’s in the center of the earth, would be down at the foundation of all that. If you’re up here, and you set a fire and consume the earth, you would burn out this opening that would take you right down into hell.”