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From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham

Dear Rev. Graham: I watched a documentary in school about the “tales” of the Bible and the afterlife. The one that bothered me the most was the lie about there being many roads to Heaven and that because Hell is a fictional place, there are no roads to this awful place. Most of the students believed the documentary over the Bible. Didn’t Jesus speak of Hell often? — T.R.

Dear T.R.: Many answers about life after death are deceiving and will lead people right into Hell; the very place they are told does not exist. Some people counsel that perhaps the Hell-bound will eventually be annihilated, put out of the misery of having to face the fact that they took the wrong road. “Hell,” some say, “is what Christians have used to scare people into converting to Christ.” But is this really true? Did Jesus use scare tactics? No. Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God is truth. Jesus spoke the truth because of His deep love for us. When the truth scares people, it may be a guilty conscience reacting to God’s truth.
Hell is one of the most daunting and repeated topics seen in art, read in literature, debated among educators, and heard in music. The world wonders about Hell every day. David Clayton-Thomas of the 1970s rock band Blood, Sweat & Tears famously sang that Heaven didn’t exist, but still he prayed there wasn’t a Hell. That’s a futile prayer.
Jesus spoke of two roads to eternity. One leads to Heaven, the other to Hell. It’s unbelief in the Lord Jesus Christ that shuts the door to Heaven and opens it to Hell. It’s unbelief that rejects the Word of God and refuses Christ as Savior. Those who receive Him as Savior in this life will spend the afterlife in the glorious presence of God.
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(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)