Lies about Satan and Hell every Christian believes

Today we’re going to look at some surprising  things about Hell you might not know.   Most people believe things about  Hell that aren’t even in the Bible.  and you might be surprised at what the Bible  actually says about Hell. I know I was. When people think about Hell, they picture  a place of fire and torment, complete with   demons holding pitchforks. Many even think that  Hell is the home of Satan and that he’s the one   in charge of dealing out punishments. But, the  Bible never mentions Satan having such authority.   In Fact, the Bible says that God is the  one who punishes the wicked, not Satan. The Bible also never tells  us that Satan lives in Hell.   It says he dwells on earth and his throne is on  earth (Revelation 2:13), and that he was cast   down to earth from Heaven. (Revelation 12:9  and Luke 10:18) The Bible also describes him   as going to and fro on the earth and looking  for people to devour. (Job1:7 and 1 Peter 5:8) Satan is not the god of Hell either.  The Bible calls him the god of this   age, (2 Corinthians 4:4) the ruler of this  world, (John 12:31 John 14:30 and John 16:11)  and the god of the air, (Ephesians 2:2) but  the Bible never says he’s in charge of Hell. It actually says that Hell was created  as a punishment for Satan and his demons. “Then He will also say to those  on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me,   you cursed, into the everlasting fire  prepared for the devil and his angels:”  – Matthew 25:41 The Bible also   says that he will be tormented in the lake of  fire. He’s not going to be tormenting others. “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into  the lake of fire and brimstone where the   beast and the false prophet are. And  they will be tormented day and night   forever and ever.” – Revelation 20:10 The idea that Satan is the god of the   underworld actually comes from pagan mythology  and is completely unbiblical. In Egypt, Osiris   was the god of the underworld and Anubis was  the guardian of the dead. In Greek mythology,   Hades was not only the god of the underworld  but also the name of the underworld,   and in Norse mythology, Hel, the daughter of  Loki ruled over the underworld, also called Hel. Many pagan religions believe in a  deity who rules over the underworld,   and over the centuries these pagan  doctrines have slowly crept into the Church. Satan is not currently in Hell, it’s not his  home, and he’s not in charge of torturing sinners.   In fact, the Bible says that  Satan will be thrown into Hell   after the thousand-year reign of the Messiah. “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the  lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the   false prophet are. And they will be tormented day  and night forever and ever.” – Revelation 20:10  It’s also a common belief that sinners  go immediately to Hell when they die,   but you might be surprised to learn that this is  not Biblical either. The Bible tells us the wicked   will be judged at the Great White Throne judgment,  at the end of the age, after the thousand-year   reign of Messiah, and it’s only at that point  when they will be cast into the lake of fire. “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat  on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven   fled away. And there was found no place for them.  And I saw the dead, small and great, standing   before God, and books were opened. And another  book was opened, which is the Book of Life.   And the dead were judged according to their works,  by the things which were written in the books. The   sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death  and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them.   And they were judged, each one according to his  works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the   lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone  not found written in the Book of Life was cast   into the lake of fire.” – Revelation 20:11–15 The Bible never says that people go directly   to heaven or hell when they die. Instead, the Bible describes all   the dead as if they are simply sleeping in the  grave, waiting for the resurrection to happen. “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is  coming in which all who are in the graves   will hear His voice and come forth—those who  have done good, to the resurrection of life,   and those who have done evil, to the resurrection   of condemnation.” – John 5:28–29 It’s at this point that the righteous   receive eternal life and the wicked  are condemned to the lake of fire. People also believe that the wicked will be  tortured in Hell for eternity, but you might   be surprised to find out that the Bible actually  says the wicked will be destroyed in the fire. “And do not fear those who kill  the body but cannot kill the soul.   But rather fear Him who is able to destroy  both soul and body in hell.” – Matthew 10:28  We see this concept in many  famous Bible verses, such as “For God so loved the world that He gave His only  begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should   not perish but have everlasting life.” – John 3:16 and in “For the wages of sin is death,  but the gift of God is eternal   life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 6:23 In both of these verses, we see the contrast   between eternal life or death. We also see that  the lake of fire is even called the second death. “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable,  murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters,   and all liars shall have their part in the lake  which burns with fire and brimstone, which is   the second death.” – Revelation 21:8 So why does the Bible say the   fire is everlasting if the wicked  are destroyed by it? That’s actually   pretty simple. The fire is everlasting  because there is no coming back from it.   Once you die the second death, you will never live  again. There’s no more hope. The punishment is   final and lasts forever. The Bible even shows us  an example of what this eternal fire looks like. “as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around  them in a similar manner to these, having given   themselves over to sexual immorality and gone  after strange flesh, are set forth as an example,   suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” – Jude 7 The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed   by fire, and those cities have never been  rebuilt. They’re not still burning with fire,   yet the Bible says they were  destroyed by eternal fire.   The destruction that occurs from that fire is  permanent. That’s why its called eternal fire. Another popular belief about Hell  is that Hell is the absence of God,   but you might be surprised to find out  that the Bible says God is even in Hell. “If I ascend into heaven, You are  there; If I make my bed in hell,   behold, You are there.” – Psalm 139:8 King David wrote this Psalm, so it   should cause us to wonder why he would  be speaking about making his bed in hell.   It should also make us wonder why God would  be there with him. The word translated hell   in this verse is the Hebrew word Sheol. So,  by simply using logic, we must conclude that: A) Sheol isn’t Hell, or B) Hell isn’t the absence of God, or  C) neither of these things is true David had no problem with the idea that he   would make his bed in Sheol because he understood  that everyone eventually dies and goes to Sheol.   The word Sheol occurs 65 times in the  Hebrew Bible. The King James Version   translates 31 of those occurrences as hell  another 31 as grave and three as a pit.   Why would Bible translators use different  concepts to translate the same word? That brings us to the big surprise. The word  “Hell” doesn’t even come from the Bible. It   actually comes from Norse mythology and refers  to the place of the dead. According to Mythology,   Hel was ruled over by Loki’s daughter, who  also happened to be named Hel. The word   “Hell” was adopted later by Christians as  the translation for several different words   such as Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, and Tartaroo. Sheol is the Hebrew word for grave or underworld  and refers to the location of everyone who dies,   both the wicked and the righteous.  Hades is the Greek equivalent of the   word Sheol and has similar context  and meaning, referring to death,   the grave, and the resting place of the  dead. In Greek Mythology, Hades refers   to the underworld or dwelling place of the dead  and is ruled over by the pagan god named Hades. The word Hell has also become synonymous with the  lake of fire. However, the Bible says that Hades   will be cast into the lake of fire. So, how can  both hades and the lake of fire be the same thing? “Then Death and Hades were cast into  the lake of fire. This is the second   death.” – Revelation 20:14 So, according to logic,   Hades and the Lake of Fire cannot both  be Hell, since Hades is cast into the   Lake of fire. This is one of the reasons  why there is so much confusion about Hell   because that word is used inconsistently  to refer to different things in the Bible. The next word translated “Hell”  is Gehenna, and it means “valley   of whining” or “valley of lamentation”, and  it refers to the valley south of Jerusalem,   also known as the valley of Hinnom, which in  ancient times was a place of child sacrifice,   but at the time of the New Testament, it had  become a garbage dump where trash was burned. The final word translated as  Hell is the Greek word Tartaroo,   which appears only once in the Bible. “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned,   but cast them down to hell (tartaroo) and  delivered them into chains of darkness,   to be reserved for judgment;” – 2 Peter 2:4 This is the only place in the entire Bible   that the word Tartaroo is used, and it refers  exclusively to a prison for fallen angels. Tartaroo means an abyss or a bottomless pit, and  although it’s not mentioned by name, it’s most   likely the same bottomless pit where Satan will be  imprisoned for thousand years (Revelation 20:1-2),   as well as the abyss into which the Legion of  demons begged Yeshua not to send them. (Luke 8:31) In Greek mythology, Tartarus is a deep abyss   that was used as a dungeon of torment  and served as a prison for the Titans. Plato said that Tartarus was the place where  souls were judged and punished after death,   which might be where we get the  idea that humans could end up there.  However, the Bible never says that humans  will go there and it’s presumptuous   to jump to any such conclusions  without scriptural evidence. We must always let the scriptures guide our   understanding and not allow ourselves  to be influenced by pagan mythology. The Bible simply describes Tartaroo as a temporary  prison, not a place of fiery torment or judgment.   If the demons were terrified  of the temporary prison,   what does that say about the punishment  they will receive in the lake of fire? I’m not sure why Bible translators decided  to translate so many different words and   concepts with the word Hell, but it sure  has caused a lot of confusion. Honestly,   I don’t even see a need to translate any of those  words. What’s wrong with saying Sheol or Hades,   or Gehenna? It would sure make it a lot easier  to understand what was being spoken about.