“Does he believe in hell?”

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Romans 10:13

Many years ago, my neighbor invited me to a Bible study at her house. I was the only man there, the rest were middle-aged ladies.

After the lesson we shared prayer requests with one another, and I distinctly remember one red-haired lady mentioning that her husband needed to get saved.

I could sense that this was an ongoing request of hers, as the ladies nodded with an understanding of her situation.

She mentioned that she tried to get him to go to church, she tried to get him to read the Bible, she tried to get him to come to the Bible study…all to no avail. He was just uninterested in all of it.

I listened and then felt led to ask a simple question…
“Does he believe in hell?”

You could hear a pin drop.
One of the ladies kind of scoffed,
“Does he believe in HELL? What difference does THAT make?”
Then they carried on as if I hadn’t said a word.

I was taken aback that this “Christian lady” didn’t see the importance of understanding hell. When a soul calls on the name of the Lord and “gets saved”, what exactly are they saved FROM?

Personal Condemnation for sin.
God’s Judgment for sin.
Eternal Destruction in hell.

That’s what awaits every soul who hasn’t exchanged their sin for the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
My first thought was that maybe her husband didn’t understand that Jesus Christ died to save him from the torment of paying for his own sins in hell.

Sharing the gospel without mentioning hell removes the very point of the gospel. The “good news” is that mankind doesn’t have to spend eternity separated from God because Jesus Christ conquered death, HELL, and the grave.

Anyone and everyone CAN freely call upon the name of the Lord, SHOULD call on the name of the Lord, and MUST call on the name of the Lord to be saved from hell.

Not many preach on hell anymore…
But there’s no gospel without it.

Keep your armor on.