Hellfire and Brimstone

 Hellfire and Brimstone

Sunday, October 31, 2021

The title, “Hellfire and Brimstone,” may be regarded by most as definitely not seeker-sensitive. But where did this teaching come from? And, where did it go?

I heard my share of judgment preaching as a child. Others have told me about being scared to death by such sermons. And, I’m not sure fear is the best reason to come to Christ. Love and wonder of who He is and what He has done are better. But fear was a factor for me, providing an urgency to come to Christ.

The phrase, “hellfire and brimstone,” probably comes primarily from the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: Gen. 19:24 “Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven.” Jesus Himself uses similar language: Mark 9:43 “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.”  And, not surprisingly, we find it in the final book of the Bible: Rev. 20:10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

So the important point is: it’s in the Bible. It’s not just in the past. It is predicted regarding the future. My other point is this: Preachers today aren’t supposed to talk about it. “Hellfire and brimstone” preaching is said to be out-dated and out-of-bounds. 

But I have another observation: there are many preachers preaching today, espousing their own kind of “hellfire and brimstone,” and they are followed by many of the same people who don’t want their preachers in church to talk about it. What am I talking about? I’m talking about political preachers who talk at length about the end of the world, or, the world as we know it. These (mostly) guys sound more like preachers than preachers do. They boldly catechize (rudimentary teaching). They repeat the same things over and over. And they paint the contemporary situation in the most dire of terms. “If this guy or that woman gets elected, we are doomed.”

I’m not saying elections don’t matter. I’m just saying that the real end is more to be feared than the one that has been predicted time and again on TV and hasn’t happened, no matter who got elected. But somehow, one group of preachers captivates listeners with their bluster, and the other group of Bible preachers is told to be nice.