Something Like Hell

I once saw a horrible sight at the coffee shop while discussing the Bible with a friend. A man, obviously in an advanced stage of dementia, gnashed his teeth, shook violently in anger, and cringed with fear for several agonizing minutes.

I’m often moved by the plight of mental anguish. My mother died of Alzheimer’s. We cannot always tell which direction dementia will take. Will it turn a person angry or will he be docile?

So, with respect, and with no knowledge at all of this man’s eternal state, I want to share with you the alarming thought that I had when seeing him. I thought of the awfulness of hell where, according to Jesus, men writhe in agony, tossed back and forth between their own insidious fear and unstoppable rage. I longed for people to be converted to Christ, to escape a world where “their worm [likely their conscience] does not die.” We do not know much about hell, but Jesus painted an intense word picture of “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Only in Christ will you escape hell’s horrors. And, if you think I am too dramatic, consider that Christ himself warned us with vivid depictions of hell’s agonies. If you are casually walking along the lip of hell, please think again about what’s ahead.