How do you Sell Hell?

“I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. ”

How do you sell hell? By that I mean, if I look at the relative benefits of heaven and hell, of living forever in Paradise without pain, guilt, shame or needs, always in harmony with God and all creation —compared with an eternity of suffering in exile from God in a lake of fire: where is the difficulty in choosing? Why would anyone go to hell?

And yet, the scriptures and our very observation gives rise to an awful conclusion that most of us are going to hell in a hand basket. Jesus said it Himself: “ Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matthew 7:13-15

A priest once told me that when people complained to him about the weather, he would tell them: “That's a production problem. I'm in sales.” As a priest he saw his job in the kingdom as a salesman— one who promotes, as it were , a product . This analogy may be overdrawn, and too often we approach religion as consumers , rather than fleeing to an Almighty God for the salvation we desperately need. But a priest is one who declares the goodness of God, the truth of Jesus Christ, and the wonder of heaven so that people will know where to turn in their moment of truth. He, in effect, is in sales.

In the other corner, who is the salesman for eternal punishment? And why is he doing so well convincing multitudes to go that way? How do you sell hell? Calvinist thinking would say we are all going to hell, and that we deserve it—in a word, it's our default setting from birth. This thinking has its merits, but I believe Jesus was saying otherwise when He asked His belligerent audience: “Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” John 8:43-44 The devil has lied to us, and many of us have believed him. He lied to Eve in the garden and beguiled her into committing the first human sin. How does he do that, and what are the lies we are believing daily? It would be good to know what the enemy is up to in order to guard ourselves and our families and friends against it, wouldn't that be so?

There are many voices in society that are manipulating people into rebellion against God and taking them to hell. Of course, this is not how they say it. You obviously don't sell hell by calling it Hell —not right up front. You don't convince anyone that everlasting fire, worms that eat your flesh and never die, weeping and gnashing of teeth are really a lot of fun. You just offer fun , and then ever so gradually, imperceptibly, slowly turn the fun into hell.

No one will argue that certain sins aren't fun . There is a certain pay off to sin that makes it hard to resist. God knows that. He has better ultimate pay offs though He offers us a more difficult path to pleasure, and yet our pleasure will be infinitely better than the sinner's fun, and will last far longer. But the purveyors of sin, death, hedonistic fun and human degradation are doing a better job of winning people over than we are. Let's face it: more people are turning to crack cocaine than are coming to Christ . There are more people in prison than are in the Episcopal Church. More people went to see a slaughter movie than went to church last Sunday, at least in Chico. How does the enemy develop a taste for evil in his slaves? How does he do such a good job at selling hell?

One answer is the entertainment industry . I read with some amusement where the porno actors of Northridge wanted to unionize in order to get better health plans and fringe benefits. You've got to look after yourself when your vocation takes its toll on you like that. I look at movie listings at present and see that we are being led like sheep to cooperate with sinful and degrading entertainment. The crowds in the Roman coliseum never had this kind of thrills. In movie theatres now: Disturbia , rated PG-13, teen backyard violence; Fracture , R, a love triangle & murder plot; Vacancy , R, another motel horror flick; Hot Fuzz , R, funny bloodshed and law enforcement; In the Land of Women , a PG13 comedy about, you know...; 300 , high tech gore R movie of Thermopolae; Pathfinder , R rated about my people killing Indians; Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters , rated R, but who cares?; The Hoax , R rated for language; Perfect Stranger , R for rough sledding; Redline , a PG13 racing movie; Grindhouse , R for really horrible; The Reaping , R for the three r's in horror; The Lookout , R for rebellion; and oh, one G movie: Meet the Robinsons , a futuristic animation for the kids. Read the descriptions of these films: r ape, murder, serial killers, adultery, Satanism, revenge —and you have a world view being portrayed for our generation like the times on earth prior to the Flood, where “The earth… was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” Genesis 6:11

Studies have shown time and again that violent media leads to violent behavior in its viewers, especially the young. Every society that has introduced TV has had a 5-fold increase in felonious assault rates after 15 years. If TV can't affect behavior, then explain to me please why an advertiser would spend $1 million for one minute of Superbowl time. Good will?

But the most insidious inducement to evil in our youth today is sold and plugged into your children's Segas, Nintendos, Playstations and PCs. Interactive roll-playing violent video games are training our kids to kill. Surveys indicate that the majority of teenagers in our nation have played a game called Grand Theft Auto . “Okay, stealing cars is bad, but it might be a driving game,” adults may reason as Johnnie pleads with you to purchase this game for him. “It'll keep him occupied, and it seems to make him happy.” You lay down the $50 bucks and take it home. Hours later, you can see him engrossed in front of a video screen. Seems okay.

Grand Theft Auto pushes video violence to extreme. The player becomes a convict who steals cars, drives around avoiding police. Along the way, he kills pedestrians by running them over or getting out of the vehicle to shoot or beat them to death. He does virtually whatever he wants. Never has a game so glorified and rewarded violence, rewarded for each kill. This game has been banned in several countries. Not here . The player is shown graphic realism of his violence. In proportion to the depth of depravity with which he tortures and murders, a pile of money is laid beside his victim, with which he purchases pleasure. If he kills the prostitute afterward, he gets his money back.

I am sorry for the horror I have just described. I'm sorry it's available to your kids too, but it is, now in several versions and upgrades for better realism. And the game is far worse than what I have just said. How do you sell hell? You make it a video game. There are any number of such games that depict demons and put the player in a supernatural world of fighting, killing, stealing, and illicit sex . Have you really gone through your teenager's video game collection and found out what is there? There are websites where all such games are rated and described for you, so you don't have to view them yourself.

Hell sells very well. Grand Theft Auto has made well over $1 billion. Every school massacre shooter—like what we've just endured at Virginia Tech—first learns to kill in video games, spending hundreds of hours watching his victims die on screen. A cycle of violence is spiraling. If we comfort ourselves that the murder rate per capita in America has gone down to 1963 levels again, we ignore the fact that the aggravated assault level has skyrocketed . We are attacking each other 7x more often than in 1963 . It is medical response advances, and 9-1-1 system that have saved victims from dying, and thus reduced numbers of murders. We live in the most violent times in recorded history. Were the shootout at the O-K corral to have taken place in Oakland today, it wouldn't even make the newspapers.

How do you sell hell? We're so used to it, we don't notice, but it's being sold every day in the media— porn, crime, serial murder —sounds like the line up on TV tonight, doesn't it? “SC, N, V, and L” are letters that entice , not codes warn us from watching: isn't that true? What do we do? Satan is a liar. So: Tell the truth . God has already spoken it: tell others what He has said: “ These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.” Proverbs 6:16-19

We've been losing the war against hell for a long time. Our kids live in it, and now seek it because their tastes have been so trained. Responsible adults— parents, doctors and nurses, teachers, priests, police, and all of us —are charged with turning our culture around again. We have to stop selling hell to our kids and to each other. We have to walk the talk.

It's time to stop the bloodshed.

PFH+