God has given mankind the opportunity to be saved from death and live victoriously on the earth. Many Christians don't want to think about the reality of hell, because their focus is on the reason God gave us His Word—so we could be delivered from death. He gave us His Word so we could walk victoriously.

But the victory can be emphasized to the point that we forget about the reality of hell. Hell is a real place.

God didn't give us the opportunity to walk in His victory and prosperity just so we could drive a luxury car or live in a wonderful home. Now there's nothing wrong with that as long as your priorities are right concerning these things.

The real reason God prospers us is so we can put as much money as possible into making sure the Gospel message gets out and seeing that as many people as possible are saved from the place where the fire is not quenched and the worm dieth not!

That is what life is all about. And if we really believe that hell is real, it will make us talk to our relatives about it even if they don't like it. It will make us tell other people about hell, because we will want to do everything we can do to save someone from hell's fire.

Let's look at a verse in Mark 9:46. "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

This is the second time in this passage in Mark 9 that Jesus said this about hell. Anytime you find the same thing twice in the Word of God, God is emphasizing the point. Hell is real. It's hot and it's eternal.

Source: What On Earth Are We Here For? by Keith Butler.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers