Jesus taught the existence of a literal Heaven and Hell.

"Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into the fiery hell." (Matt 18:7-9).

The first mention of hell is in Deuteronomy 32:22 "For a fire is kindled in My anger, and burns to the lowest part of Sheol, and consumes the earth with its yield, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains." The first mention of Hell in the New Testament is Matthew 5:22 "Whoever shall say, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fire of hell."

The words in the Hebrew and Greek for Hell are the following:

1. Sheol, l/av in the Old Testament; and Hades, Adh" in the Greek Septuagint⁹⁷ (O.T. translated into Greek) and in the New Testament. So called because of its devouring and ever craving character.^{92, 93} The Greek Septuagent makes it plain that the O.T. word "Sheol" and the N.T. word "Hades" are one and the same thing.^99/493

"Sheol and Abaddon lie open before Yehovah, How much more the hearts of men!" (Prov 15:11)

"And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day." (Matt 11:23)

2. Abaddon, @/Dba meaning: destruction, place of destruction, abyss.⁹⁴

"Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, Nor are the eyes of man ever satisfied." (Prov 27:20)

3. Gehenna, !Nh ayg in Hebrew⁹⁵ and geennan in Greek⁹⁶ meaning: Valley of Hinnom.

This was a valley south of Jerusalem, once celebrated for the horrid worship of Moloch, and afterwards polluted with every species of filth, as well as the carcases of animals, and dead bodies of criminals which were burned in order to prevent pestilence and disease. These fires were kept burning continually. Thus, when the Bible refers to Hell it refers to Gehenna also known as the fires of Tartarus, the place of punishment in Hades. Gehenna is a compound word: Geya, ayg meaning: Valley, a low plain and Hinnom, !Nh meaning: the name of a person of whom nothing is known but that he had a son whose name is not given, from whom a valley that lay on the W. and S.W. of Jerusalem was named, and in which human sacrifices and filth were burned.^{5/484, 95} Joshua 15:8 reads:

"Then the border went up the Valley of Ben-Hinnom to the slope of the Jebusite on the south (that is, Jerusalem); and the border went up to the top of the mountain which is before the Valley of Hinnom to the west, which is at the end of the valley of Rephaim toward the north."

Jesus said:

"And if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into Gehenna, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." (Mark 9:47-48)

Jesus taught that hell is a real place where lost souls are and where they never die for eternity. He further taught that Hell is a place of fire, a fiery hell, a fire that is eternal and will never be quenched or put out.¹⁰² The Apostle Paul said about hell, "And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." (1 Thess 1:9)

The Apostle Peter described hell as a pit of black darkness, therefore it is an eternal fire that does not give off light.¹⁰³ Jesus not only described it as outer darkness but said that there would be there weeping and gnashing of teeth.¹⁰⁴

Jude, in the Book of Jude described hell as black darkness and an eternal fire.¹⁰⁵

James, the brother of Jesus, in the Book of James states that the tongue will be set on fire by hell.¹⁰⁶

One man who had a visit of hell said that when a non-saved person dies he passes through the gates of Hell. Deep groans, cries for water are heard. A person hears the horrors of Hell, then is taken to an open plain where he sees what he might have enjoyed instead of what they must suffer. Here the person's strength leaves so he cannot move. They then see in the distance the beautiful city spoken of in the Bible, vast plains of beautiful flowers, the river of life and the sea of glass, vast multitudes of angels passing in and out of the city, singing beautiful songs, they see loved ones. On the door through which one enters is written: "This is your doom; Eternity never ends."⁸⁰

A man condemned to hell described the hell of hell to a visitor:

"Our miseries in this infernal dungeon are of two sorts: what we have lost, and what we undergo. And these I will name under their several heads. First then for what we have lost.

"1. In this sad dark abode of misery and sorrow, we have lost the presence of the ever blessed God. And this is that which makes this dungeon hell. Though we had lost a thousand worlds, it would not be so much as this one loss. Could but the least glimpse of His favor enter here, we might be happy; but we have lost it to our everlasting woe.

"2. Here we have likewise lost the company of saints and angels, and in their room have nothing but tormenting devils.

"3. Here we have lost heaven, too, the seat of blessedness. There is a deep gulf between us and heaven, so that we are shut out from it forever. Those everlasting gates that let the blessed into happiness are now forever shut against us here.

"4. To make our wretchedness far yet more wretched, we have lost the hope of ever being in a better state, which renders our condition truly hopeless. He that upon earth is the most miserable, has yet hope left as a reserve. And therefore, it is a common proverb there that were it not for hope the heart would break. Well may our hearts break then since we are here both without hope and help. This is what we have lost; which, but to think on, is enough to tear and rend and gnaw upon our miserable souls forever. Yet, oh, that this were all! But we have sense of pain as well as loss. And having showed you what we have lost, I am now to show you what we undergo.

"1. And first, we undergo variety of torments; we are tormented here a thousand, nay ten thousand several ways. They that are most afflicted upon earth have seldom any more than one distemper at a time. But should they have the plague, the gout, the stone and fever at a time, how miserable would they think themselves? Yet all those are but like the biting of a flea to those intolerable, pungent pains that we endure. Here we have all the loathed variety of hell to grapple with. Here is fire that is unquenchable to burn us with; a lake of burning brimstone ever choking us; eternal chains to tie us; here is utter darkness to affright us, and a worm of conscience that gnaws upon us everlastingly. And any one of these is worse to bear than all the torments mankind ever felt on earth.

"2. But as our torments here are various so are they universal, too; afflicting each part of the body, and tormenting all the powers of the soul, which renders what we suffer most insufferable. In those distempers you men are seized with on earth, though some parts are afflicted, other parts are free. Although your body may be out of order, your head may yet be well; and though your head be ill your vitals may be free; or though your vitals be affected, your arms and legs may still be clear. But here it is otherwise; each member of the soul and body is at once tormented.

"The eye is here tormented with the sight of devils who do appear in all the horrid shapes and black appearances that sin can give them. The ear is continually tormented with the loud yellings and continual outcries of the damned. The nostrils smothered with sulfurous flames; the tongue with burning blisters; and the whole body rolled in flames of liquid fire. And all the powers and faculties of our souls are here tormented. The imagination, with the thoughts of present pain; the memory lost with reflecting on what a heaven we have lost, and of those opportunities we had of being saved. Our minds are here tormented with considering how vainly we have spent our precious time, and how we have abused it. Our understanding is tormented in the thoughts of our past pleasures, present pains, and future sorrows, which are to last for ever. And our consciences are tormented with a continual gnawing worm.

"3. Another thing that makes our misery awful is the extremity of our torments. The fire that burns us is so violent that all the water in the sea can never quench it. The pains we suffer here are so extreme that it is impossible they should be known by any one but those that feel them.

"4. Another part of our misery is the ceaselessness of our torments. As various, as universal, and as extremely violent as they are, they are continual, too. Nor have we the least rest from them. If there were any relaxation, it might be some allay. But this makes our condition so deplorable that there is no easing of our torments, but what we suffer now we must for ever suffer.

"5. The society or company we have here is another element in our misery. Tormenting devils and tormented souls are all our company; and dreadful shrieks and howlings, under the fierceness of our pain, and fearful oaths, is all our conversation. And here the torments of our fellow sufferers are so far from lessening our misery that they increase our pain.

"6. The place in which we suffer is another thing that increases our sufferings. It is the abstract of all misery, a prison, a dungeon, a bottomless pit, a lake of fire and brimstone, a furnace of fire that burns to eternity, the blackness of darkness for ever; and lastly, hell itself. And such a wretched place as this must needs increase our wretchedness.

"7. The cruelty of our tormentors is another thing that adds to our torments. Our tormentors are devils in whom there is no pity; but being tormented themselves, do yet take pleasure in tormenting us.

"8. All those particulars that I have reckoned up are very grievous; but that which makes them much more grievous is that they shall ever be so; and all our most intolerable sufferings shall last to all eternity. ‘Depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire,’ is that which is perpetually sounding in my ears. Oh, that I could reverse that fatal sentence! Oh, that there was but a bare possibility of doing it! Thus have I showed you the miserable case that we are in, and shall be in forever."^62/44-48

The book of Revelation describes Hell as only a temporary holding place until the great judgment.

"And I saw a great white throne and Him [Jesus] who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds." (Rev 20:11-13).

After the judgment, those whose names are not found in the Lambs book of life are thrown into a permanent eternal lake of fire which the Bible describes as the second death.

"And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." (Rev 20:14-15).

A man by the name of Thomas Welch, living in Brida Veil, Oregon was working for a logging operation as an engineer’s helper in July 1924. One day He was on a trestle fifty-five feet above a dam. He went out on the trestle to straighten out some timbers. When he did he fell off the trestle and tumbled down between the timbers and into the pond which was ten feet deep. He landed on his head on a beam thirty feet down and from one beam to another until he landed in the water. The mill was stopped and seventy employees searched for forty-five minutes to find his body. He was finally found by M. J. H. Gunderson.

During this forty-five minutes to an hour he was physically dead but alive in another world. After falling into the water, Thomas found himself suddenly, instantly at the shoreline of a great ocean of fire. It was a burning turbulent rolling mass of blue fire. No one was in the lake of fire. He saw people he knew on the shore who had died. An uncle who had died when he was thirteen of tuberculosis. He goes on:

"Another was a boy I had gone to school with who had died from cancer of the jaw that had started with an infected tooth while he was just a young lad. He was two years older than I. We recognized each other, even though we did not speak. They too were looking and seemed to be perplexed and in deep thought, as though they could not believe what they saw. Their expressions were those of bewilderment and confusion.... We were eyewitnesses now to the final judgment. There is no way to escape, no way out. You don’t even try to look for one...."⁷⁸

Hell and the Lake of fire are an ABSOLUTE reality.