In Depth Analysis — Full Article

Endless Punishment

Among the ancient pagans, the belief in a hell of some sort was very general, if not universal. It was known by various names, as Orcus, Erebus, Tartarus, and Infernus or Inferna, whence our expression "infernal regions." The views current respecting it were different at different periods, and among different nations, according to the degree of civilization, and the genius of the people. What follows will have respect mostly to the Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians.

1. Its Location. It was supposed to be as far below the earth (or as deep down in it), as the heavens are above it. Hesiod, the Greek poet, who lived 850 B.C., is very precise in his statement, and says a mass of iron would be nine days falling from heaven to earth, and nine more in falling from earth to hell. So say Apollodorus, Virgil, and others.

2. The Inhabitants. Some idea of the natives of the country may be gathered from the following description, taken from the Aeneid of Virgil.

"At Hell's dread mouth a thousand monsters wait; Grief weeps, and Vengeance bellows in the gate; Base Want, low Fear, and Famine's lawless rage. And pale Disease, and slow, repining Age: Fierce, formidable Fiends the portals keep, With Pain, Toil, Death, and Death's half-brother Sleep. There Joys, embittered by Remorse, appear, Daughters of Guilt; here storms destructive War. Mad Discord there her snaky tresses tore; Here stretched on iron beds the Furies roar; And close by Lerna's hissing monster stands Briareus dreadful with a hundred hands; There stern Geryon raged; and all around Fierce Harpies screamed, and direful Gorgons frowned." — Pitt's Aeneid, vi 385, &c.

The gate of Hell was guarded by the dog Cerberus, of three heads (Hesiod says fifty), who prevented all egress from the infernal regions. Once in, there was no escape. To make it still more sure, the horrid prison of hell was surrounded by a river of fire, called Phlegethon, within which was another security in the shape of a triple wall. Hence Virgil says: "Here rolls the roaring, flaming tide of hell, And thundering rocks the fiery torrent swell."

3. Of the Punishments. Virgil gives us a brief account of these in the book already quoted from: "And now wild shouts, and wailings dire, And shrieking infants swell the dreadful choir. Here sits in bloody robes the Fury fell, By night and day to watch the gates of hell. Here you begin terrific groans to hear, And sounding lashes rise upon the ear. On every side the damned their fetters grate, And curse, 'mid clanking chains, their wretched fate."

A few examples of individual torments will better illustrate the subject, and reveal at the same time how inherent in them is the idea of perpetual duration. Ixion, for a certain monstrous sin, is bound to a wheel of fire, ever in continual motion, in swift revolution of torment. Tantalus, for having attempted to deceive some of the gods who visited him by placing roasted human flesh before them, was tortured with endless hunger and thirst. He was placed in a lake up to his chin in the water, and over his head bent the branches of a tree loaded with the most delicious and inviting fruit. Agonizing with hunger and thirst, he stretched out his hand to seize the fruit, when it was instantly withdrawn just above his reach; he stooped to drink of the cooling waters, and immediately they sank away, and no drop touched his lips; but they rose again to his chin, when he rose. (From this comes our word "tantalize.") The fifty Daughters of Danaus, or rather forty-nine, for murdering their husbands on the night of marriage, were condemned to fill a leaky tub with water drawn from a deep well with a sieve. Of course there was no end to such a task. Sisyphus was condemned to roll a huge stone to the summit of a high hill in hell, but always, just before he reached the top, his strength failed, and it rushed down again to the bottom of the steep, compelling him to begin his labours again, always to end the same way. Another miserable wretch had a mighty rock suspended over his head, threatening every instant to fall and crush him. Tityus, for his crimes, was chained to a rock, while a vulture fed upon his heart and entrails, which were ever renewed as fast as devoured.

These examples are sufficient to illustrate the doctrines and teachings of the heathen respecting future punishments, and they show, more graphically than any words could do it, how essential to their completeness is the element of perpetuity, of endlessness. There can be no doubt in respect to their belief in the torments of the wicked after death, or of their opinion respecting the duration of them. The fact, then, being established that the dogma is thoroughly heathen in its character and developments, this question presents itself: where did the heathen get it? Whence came their fables respecting the infernal regions? The next section will answer this inquiry.

These descriptions are not that much dissimilar to many that have filled the pages of the various books that occupy the bookshelves of Christian bookshops and Christian homes.

A Divine Revelation of Hell by Mary K. Baxter is one such Christian book, detailing a series of supernatural visions. Baxter claims that in 1976, Jesus Christ appeared to her for 40 consecutive nights, taking her spirit out of her body to tour the realms of the damned. The book presents itself as a literal warning about the reality of eternal damnation, emphasizing the urgent need for spiritual repentance before death.

Book Summary. The narrative maps out hell as a literal place located in the centre of the earth, uniquely shaped like a massive human body lying on its back. Escorted by Jesus, Baxter journeys through various body parts, or "chambers," each hosting distinct categories of sinners and specific modes of torture. The Left Leg is filled with countless individual pits of fire where ordinary people — those who rejected the Gospel, backslidden believers, and the unrepentant — are burned as living skeletons. The Right Leg contains specialised cells of torment where sorcerers, occultists, and idol worshippers are tortured by demons. The Belly of Hell is portrayed as the literal headquarters of demonic power, where Satan rules, coordinates global deception, and subjects souls to ritualised cruelty.

Throughout the account, damned souls recognise Jesus and beg Him for mercy. Jesus is described as weeping but telling them it is too late, since their earthly choices fixed their eternal destiny permanently. A recurring theme is the psychological agony of remembrance — the damned perpetually forced to recall the opportunities they bypassed to choose salvation. The book contains highly graphic, sensory-heavy descriptions of physical decomposition and demonic abuse, describing in vivid and disturbing detail the suffering of a woman consumed by fire, her flesh falling away, reduced to a crying skeleton reaching out toward Jesus even as the flames continue their work.

Truly is the God of the Bible, and is this the destination of the lost at the conclusion of life. You may be shocked, and even considered a heretic by some, to discover the truth concerning this most important of biblical doctrines. To gain a concise, unbiased biblical summary of what man is, what Hell is, and a true revelation about the Rich Man and Lazarus, get a copy of Hell of a Doctrine.

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