Crosstalk: December 1, 2017

Dr. Gary Frazier is founder and president of Discovery Missions. He is a respected speaker and writer on the subject of Bible prophecy. He is author of numerous books, some of which were previously discussed on Crosstalk. He joined Jim to discuss, 'Hell is for Real: Why It Matters'.

Gary believes Satan's greatest hurdle is to overcome the idea among people that there's ultimate judgment and condemnation by a holy God. If he can do that, it would be the greatest deception of all time.

Some interesting statistical information from George Barna would seem to confirm that, at least in America, this project of Satan has gained significant traction. For example, among 6,000 respondents who answered over 40 questions, only 10% of those who claim to be Christian have what would be considered a biblical worldview. Among millennials age 18-30 that number dropped to 4%. For those in their 60's, it's only 17%.

Amidst all of this, about 60% of people in America would say they are casual Christians. About 10% would say they're serious, integrated disciples of Christ. 9% would say they have no Christian faith at all. All of this shows we've abandoned the teachings of God's Word and have adopted concepts, false ideas and patterns that are in contradiction to what God teaches.

The result of this is that Americans have 'flipped the coin'. Today, while people might make exception for rapists or mass murderers, many believe that virtually everyone that dies goes to heaven. That includes the ungodly who have no use for the truth of the Word of God, could care less about church and have lived lives in contradiction to what the Bible says.

Gary brought out many solid, Bible-based facts that point assuredly to the existence of hell. For example:

--The Bible teaches that there are far more non-believers than believers. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14 that broad is the road that leads to destruction and most people go that way. Narrow is the road that leads to eternal life and few there are that find it.
--Hell is mentioned 32 times in the Old Testament and 22 times in the New Testament.
--There's the teaching of Jesus in Luke 16 regarding the story of the rich man and poor Lazarus.
--Jesus spent more time teaching about hell than he did about any other subject with the exception of salvation. 13% of everything Jesus uttered had to do with judgment and hell.

So why would a loving God send people to hell or even create hell in the first place? Questions like these are answered along with some interesting challenges presented from Crosstalk listeners.