Anthony DeStefano - Hell: A Guide

Praise for Hell (a guide)

They say the devils greatest trick is convincing us that he doesnt exist. The same could be said for hell, which is most often seen today as a cartoonish land inhabited by comical figures with pitchforks and tails. But as Anthony DeStefano convincingly demonstrates in his page-turning new book, the reality of hell could not be more certain or more awful. Read this gripping and at times terrifying book to learn what Scripture says about helland discover the hope that exists for all to avoid it.

ERIC METAXAS, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR AND HOST OF THE NATIONALLY SYNDICATED ERIC METAXAS RADIO SHOW

Powerful, inspirational, and frighteningly realistic, this book explains in the clearest terms possible what the Bible has to say about hell. A must-read for all Christians.

MIKE HUCKABEE, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS AND HOST OF HUCKABEE

Certainly the best book on hell ever written. Profound, provocative, and deeply sobering, this remarkable book will help anyone who has ever wondered if hell is real. For Heavens sakeread it!

DR. DICK EASTMAN, INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT OF EVERY HOME FOR CHRIST AND FOUNDING MEMBER AND PRESIDENT OF AMERICAS NATIONAL PRAYER COMMITTEE

Also by Anthony DeStefano

ADULT NONFICTION BOOKS

A Travel Guide to Heaven

Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To

Angels All Around Us

A Travel Guide to Life

Inside the Atheist Mind

CHILDRENS BOOKS

This Little Prayer of Mine

Little Star

The Donkey That No One Could Ride

A Travel Guide to Heaven for Kids

The Sheep That No One Could Find

The Puppy That No One Wanted

Roxy the Ritzy Camel

The Miracle of the Bread, the Fish, and the Boy

The Seed Who Was Afraid to Be Planted

GIFT BOOKS

I Just Cant Take It Anymore!

OK, I Admit It, Im Afraid

The Love Book

Why Am I Here, Anyway?

All This and Heaven Too!

2020 by Anthony DeStefano, Inc.

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version. Public domain.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

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ISBN 978-0-7180-8062-4 (eBook)

ISBN 978-0-7180-8061-7 (HC)

Epub Edition April 2020 9780718080624

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020934937

Printed in the United States of America

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Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook

Please note that the endnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication

This book is dedicated to all victims of evil everywhere.

Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here

Midway through the journey of our life, I found myself within a dark wood, for I had wandered off the straight path.... How I entered there I cannot say.... But when I reached the foot of a hill that rose up at the end of the valley, my heart plunged in deep fear.... A figure presented itself to my eyes.... You will have to go by another road, he said to me.... If you want to escape this wilderness... I will be your guide and lead you from here to an eternal place, where you will listen to cries of despair and see ancient tormented spirits who lament forever their second death.... And I said to him: Poet, I implore you... help me escape this evil.... Lead me to the place you speak of so I may... see those whom you say are full of sorrow. Then he set out, and I kept close behind him.

FROM THE OPENING CANTO OF DANTES INFERNO (AUTHORS TRANSLATION)

Contents

T here are so many guides on the market today. Guides to romantic destinations, historic destinations, luxury destinations, religious destinations, culturally significant destinations, even poverty-stricken destinations. These guides vary greatly in nature and style depending on their subject matter, but they all have one thing in common: they all presume that people want to go to the places they describe.

This guide is different. Its about a place no one wants to go or, more precisely, a place no one says they want to go or thinks they want to go. Yet if you believe the Bible, the worlds major religions, and the greatest saints and spiritual leaders who have ever lived, people end up going there all the time.

Of course, were talking about hell. The Bible uses various Hebrew and Greek words that we translate as hell. These include hades, tartarus, and sheol, each of which has a different meaning. But the hell we are interested in is the place Christ referred to as Gehenna, that abominable lake of fire and second death reserved for the damned, that place of eternal pain, punishment, gnashing of teeth, and sorrow.

Christ spoke about hell eleven times in the Gospels, and he described it in the strongest possible terms.

Now why would anyone want a guide to somewhere so unpleasant? Because no matter how much traveling you do in life, there are only two destinations that ultimately matterheaven or hell. And thats why Ive written this book, because we have to begin in hell if we want to avoid ending up there.

Many other authors have attempted to write about this subject, most notably Dante Alighieri in The Inferno, John Milton in Paradise Lost, and C. S. Lewis in The Great Divorce and The Screwtape Letters. While my guide is not to be compared to those masterpieces, it does have one advantage: those other books are either epic poems or works of fiction, and as such they depict hell in symbolic and allegorical terms. The whole purpose of this book is to show you what hell is