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Charles Spurgeon, the famous evangelist and theologian, was teaching young men in seminary how to preach. He told them, “Gentlemen, when you speak of Heaven, let your face be all aglow and smiling and lifted up and brilliant and let it be unashamed when you speak of Heaven. But when you speak of Hell, any old face will do.”

He was on target. It’s too bad we don’t have one of the great, old Puritan preachers to come visit our churches more often to present some fiery sermons about Hell. Here’s what one of them wrote about Hell:

"There is no way to describe Hell. Nothing on earth can compare to it. No living person has any real idea of it. No mad man in the wildest flights of insanity ever beheld its horror. No man in delirium ever pictured a place so utterly terrible as this. No nightmare racing across a fevered mind ever produced a terror to match that of the mildest hell. Let the most gifted writer exhaust his skill in describing the roaring caverns of unending flame and he would not even come close to the nearest edge of Hell. Hell was originally created for the devil and his demons, not for…man. Little wonder there is great joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. He is saved, redeemed, rescued. It makes the hearts of Heaven glad."

I wonder what would happen if we could visit Hell for just 10 seconds? I think it would change our perceptions of life, sin and evil. And I think it might just motivate us to share the good news about Jesus Christ’s redeeming work on the cross with anyone who would listen.

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