The Valley of Hell (Gehenna) — Keith Malcomson

The Valley Series and the Burden of Preaching

I want you to turn in your Bibles with me here this morning to 2 Chronicles chapter 28. How you find that is 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, then 1 and 2 Chronicles. Just an easy way to remember that and the flow of scripture.

2 Chronicles chapter 28, and I think I always have to say that because I hope by God's grace, I am not dictating what we preach and where we go. I try to hear, listen, be led. That's always my desire.

And so I think this is gonna be our last message on the valley series. We've done an entire series on the God of the valleys. In the church, we emphasize mountaintops. And I actually believe we passed through an extraordinary series on valleys.

I have never heard this taught in my life, not even remotely close. But it's a seed planted maybe 30 years ago, maybe less. One little seed, one little thought, and it's rolled for all that time. That's what this comes out of.

See, I believe preachers like farming and gardening, you plant the seed, just water it. It doesn't happen immediately. It takes time, cultivation, rain, sun, all of the elements, pressure, all of that at work to bring forth.

I believe preaching is like that. Ministry is organic. It is natural. It is God-given. And so we come to the last message, part 11. And I almost reluctantly go to this message this morning, not because it's the last or I have to finish.

I've been greatly blessed through this series. God has spoken to me in really profound ways. He really has. Don't think I'm just preaching. I'm actually receiving. I'm just giving you what he gives to me.

And I'm telling you, if it affects me, I know it's gonna affect you. He is speaking to me. He is opening up the word of God. He's showing me things. That's what I bring here. Don't just think that I understand or see all of this.

God ministers it to me and it's life. I need it in my life. But in coming to the last part, part 11, it's the subject of it. And don't in any way think that I rashly or gladly come to it. I hesitantly.

It's not because I don't wanna preach truth, I do. It's because it's so sobering and serious of how we're finishing this series. My message here this morning is the valley of hell. Or as it is in our Bibles, the valley of Gehenna.

Ahaz, Gehenna, and the Warning of Judgment

I'm gonna read from 2 Chronicles 28, verse one. And then we're gonna turn to Matthew chapter five in the New Testament for two verses of what Jesus Christ says. But 2 Chronicles, concentrate on this for a minute.

2 Chronicles 28, verse one. Ahaz, or King Ahaz, was 20 years old when he began to reign. And he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. But he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord, like David his father.

For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and made also molten images for Balaam. Moreover, he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom. Notice that. The valley of the son of Hinnom, that's Gehenna.

And burnt his children in the fire after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

Wherefore, or because of that, the Lord, his God, delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria. And they smote him and carried away a great multitude of them captive and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter.

Then read in Matthew chapter five, verse 22. And these are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of judgment.

And whosoever shall say to his brother, raka, shall be in danger of the council. But whosoever shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger. Of hell fire or Gehenna fire. Let's pray here this morning. Father, we know every word of this book, every letter, every comma was inspired of the Holy Spirit.

Lord God, some things encourage us, some challenge us, some make us to rejoice and shout. Lord God, some of these valleys have been profound. The valley of weeping, the valley of the shadow of death. Lord God, the valley of victory.

There are amazing things that you've opened up to us. And Lord God, yet we find ourself on this last message. Lord God, at this valley of Gehenna, this valley of hell. Lord God, all of this is written for our learning, for our warning, for our edification, for keeping us and preserving our faith.

Lord God, there are serious things in this book as well as things that make us glad. There are things that make us tremble when we really understand them, because they're very serious. And none of us are ignorant of our own weakness or our own heart.

Lord God, our hearts are naturally wayward. Apart from the grace of God, we would not be here. We would not seek you. It makes me tremble to think that if for one second, for one hour, that you lifted your hand or your grace from off this creature, where he would go, where my mind would go, my emotions, my decisions.

But oh God, I am desperate to have your grace on my life. I tremble at the thought of where flesh would take me, even to the valley of Gehenna. Lord God, even to the very gates of hell and into hell itself.

Lord God, we don't play games with your word because we know that hell is a reality. Those that go there do not escape and do not come again. Lord God, we know that Christ himself warned men repeatedly, earnestly, desperately to flee from hell and the wrath of God.

And Father, we're asking of you today, open our eyes, open our ears as a church. Teach us as a church, as Christians, what it means to inherit this valley, to possess it, to own it, to understand it, to be taught about it, to consider it.

Teach us as a church right here in the center of this city of Limerick, stab city, this wicked city. Lord God, teach us what it means to understand the valley of Gehenna. You put this here that we might know what Gehenna is, this valley, that we might, Lord God, consider it and ponder on it.

And Lord God, how it affects our short time here in this city, in this church. Lord God, help this preacher by your grace and mercy in Jesus' name, amen. My message this morning, part 11, the valley of hell.

Gehenna as a Reality, Not a Manipulation

Are you gonna see this word hell is the Greek word Gehenna, Gehenna. Jesus also used this word, Gehenna, fire. He wasn't trying to scare. He wasn't trying to use it to manipulate. It's a reality. If I warn a child about the danger of cars on the road or strange men that may pick you up in a car, I'm not trying to scare that kid.

I'm trying to protect that kid from danger. This is a vile day we live in. And you know what? I would have no love in my heart if I didn't warn. If I had a five-year-old girl, if I didn't warn her, I would have to try and communicate things to her I would rather she didn't know and that I would rather not say.

But because they are, we live in, I go, I've gotta warn her, I've gotta tell her. Even if I do it simply, I don't do it to scare her. It's not to manipulate her or to use her emotions or to get her to do what I want her to do.

None of that. I'm actually communicating something real because it's so dangerous and I care about her. I love her. It's the same with preaching on hell. I don't do this to scare you, alarm you, not to have an extraordinary sermon or to have something that stirs the emotions.

I don't do that. I preach on hell because it's real. And you know what? If I didn't speak on it, I don't love you. I don't care about you. I'm not concerned about you. Whether you're a sinner here or a saint.

In fact, Christ preached more on hell to saints than he did sinners. But if you're a sinner here, I need to warn you. If you're a saint, a born again Christian here, you need to hear about hell. I need to preach to you about hell.

Do you realize Christians need to hear about hell? And the Valley of Gehenna isn't just for sinners, isn't just for them to consider. The entire church, a local church, every Christian, every preacher needs to understand the Valley of Gehenna.

It's a place that Israel had to inherit. When Joshua led the people in, this is one of the valleys they were to inherit. They were to make it their own. It was to be a boundary place between two tribes.

I believe Judah and Benjamin. They were to own this valley, take it over, understand it. It was to become part of their inheritance. And see this teaching on hell. It's part of your inheritance. Every Christian needs to understand hell, needs to consider hell, needs to hear about hell, needs to be taught on hell.

It's very, very important. This is a real valley today in the city of Jerusalem, in the land of Israel, and it was then. Jerusalem is not inside a valley. Jerusalem's actually on a few different hills.

Some try to say seven, it's not. There's only three main hills there. But Jerusalem is built on hills, small hills, but hills nevertheless. But it is surrounded by valleys. And Jerusalem has three main notable valleys in around it.

And I have to get my left and right here because you're looking differently than what I'll explain it. But to the side of Jerusalem, to the east of Jerusalem, you have the Kidron Valley, one of the most famous valleys in around Jerusalem.

And we know that Jesus often walked through the Kidron Valley on his way either to Gethsemane or the Mount of Olives. He went down out of Jerusalem, through this valley, through Gethsemane, and then up onto the Mount of Olives.

So it was one of those valleys. There's also the central valley, or they call it nowadays Tyrophium Valley, which means cheese valley, cheese maker valley, or something like that. But really that's not its proper name.

It's a central valley. And so you have the Kidron Valley and this central valley come down and make a third valley. And this is the valley I'm gonna deal with. It's called the Valley of Hinnom or the Hinnom Valley.

It's actually at the southwest point of Jerusalem. And as you look at the map, it makes an L shape in around Jerusalem, down the west side and the south of Jerusalem, you have this Hinnom Valley. And it joins up where the other two valleys join.

That's where this valley joins. And you know what? It's at the lowest point in all of Jerusalem. The very lowest point in this whole area is in the Valley of Gehenna. That's where you find it. And you'll remember that I said a few weeks ago, when we preached on the Valley of Giants, how the giants come up, there's an entire valley stretching up and it reaches up to Jerusalem and it has its end.

The Valley of Giants has its end, the Valley of Rephaeum where? In the Valley of Hinnom or Gehenna. That's where it actually ends. So the Valley of Giants brings the giants when they're attacking Jerusalem right the way up.

It carries them straight up into this valley to attack and besiege Jerusalem. This is where the enemy attacks the city of God from, from this valley. I wanna preach to you this morning about this valley because this valley represents hell, Gehenna, the place of torment, the place of punishment where sinners go, hypocrites, unbelievers, atheists, Christians who play games with the gospel, who say, oh, I'm saved and I can live like a sinner.

It doesn't matter. They go there just as much as an atheist. It's a very real place. When you come to the Bible, hell is real. Hell is very real. In the Old Testament, there's various words like the New Testament for hell.

In the Old Testament, there's the word Sheol. It's used some 66 times, Sheol, the place of the dead. It's not just the grave. It's not. It's more than that. It's a spiritual place. There's also a place called Tophet, which when you study, it is in Gehenna, in this Valley of Gehenna.

It's not the entire valley. Tophet is the worst, lowest place in the Valley of Gehenna. Tophet is a very serious and dark place. So the Bible talks about that. Then when you come to the New Testament, you have the Greek word Hades, which is used 11 times in the New Testament, 11 times.

Four times by Christ. Christ uses it more than anyone else. Hades, twice in the Big Acts, once in 1 Corinthians, and four times in Revelation. Hades, a real place. And then there's a place called the Abyss, and another called Tartarus.

So there's various names for the one place, hell. It's the one singular place, but different names are used for it. I'm not gonna re-deal with any of those. I'm just gonna bring you to one single word, the word Gehenna.

See, the word Gehenna in the New Testament, it's not talking about a valley. It's talking about something more than that. We know Gehenna in the Old Testament is an actual place, a valley, just outside of Jerusalem.

But when we come to the New Testament, we find Jesus talking about the eternal place of punishment as Gehenna. And Gehenna was still a valley outside the walls of Jerusalem. But now Jesus takes that and begins to talk about something else concerning Gehenna.

Do you know the word Gehenna is mentioned 12 times in our New Testament? And 11 of those times, guess who uses it? Jesus, He is the one using it. So it's very, very serious what we have here. Let me give you three points about this valley.

You see, this isn't a message essentially about sinners going to hell. Oh yes, we'll deal with that. That is what hell is. That's what Gehenna is. But this is even more than that. This is what the valley of Gehenna, what we're gonna learn from it.

How the church is to respond to it. How it should affect your individual life. And that each one of you here, young or old, ought to understand something about this place. I've got three things I wanna deal with this morning concerning this valley of Gehenna.

Three things. Number one, the history of Gehenna. I wanna take you for a moment back into the Old Testament because Jesus preached from the Old Testament. Why is He using Gehenna more than any other preacher?

Are all other preachers in the New Testament put together? Why does He use it more than all of them? Put Paul, Peter, James, John, all of them together. Jesus talks about Gehenna more than any. That's extraordinary.

That's to be noted. You know what? He preached out of the Old Testament. And so I wanna take you for a moment back into the Old Testament to look at the history of this valley of Gehenna. What does the Old Testament say about it?

You see, this name Gehenna comes from the Hebrew word. And when you look in the Old Testament, we read about the Valley of Hinnom. It's called the Valley of Hinnom. Also the Valley of the Children of Hinnom or simply the Valley of Hinnom.

13 times it is mentioned in the Old Testament. And you would do well to go through your Bible concordance and look up those 13 times that Gehenna is mentioned or Hinnom is mentioned in the Old Testament.

When you come to the New Testament, again, Gehenna is used 11 times in the New Testament. So we're gonna begin looking at this, but you cannot understand Jesus talking about hell or Gehenna if you don't look at Hinnom or Gehenna in the Old Testament.

Let me explain about the physical valley of Gehenna in the Old Testament. And I want you to notice this, the very first time that we read about this Valley of Hinnom is in the book of Joshua when they were coming into the land and the land started getting separated out between the tribes.

It was used as a marker so that you knew where one tribe ended and another tribe started. It was a physical place, a literal place, a real place called the Valley of Hinnom. And it marked out boundaries.

It was outside this great city of Jerusalem. And Joshua said, this is all part of the land that we're to inherit. Do you realize while you're not going to Gehenna? I hope so. I hope not one person here is gonna go to Gehenna.

I'm gonna beg you not to go to Gehenna. You don't wanna go to Gehenna. Or if you likely would even think that or consider that, you won't be there one second until you're saying, please send someone to warn my family, my brothers to not come here.

Please send someone from the dead. I cannot get out of here, but please send someone to stop anyone I know coming here. You know, in the days of Joshua, we see that the people of Israel were to inherit this valley like every other valley.

It's not always the Valley of Blessing. There is a valley of Hinnom, Gehenna, that we the people of God need to inherit. It belongs to us. The knowledge of hell belongs to you and I. We have a clear teaching, an accurate understanding.

This message belongs to us. We're meant to live it out, live in the reality of it, warn people about a real hell. It's not to be left. You know, most preachers never preach on hell. You could sit in a church for years and no one ever preaches an entire sermon on hell.

Why is that? Why is it we've come to a generation where we have pastors who say, we love people too much to preach on hell or they won't preach on hell themselves? They barely mention it in passing. Hell is real.

So that's the first mention of Gehenna in the Old Testament. But let me move into the real understanding of it in the Old Testament. Do you know what this Valley of Hinnom was? It was a place of apostasy.

What do I mean by that? It is a place where when you move away from God, this is where you end up. It's a place of apostate religion. The real faith gone wrong. Do you know when Christianity goes wrong, begins to leave the Bible, leave truth, it really gets bad.

It gets worse than the world. Even in Corinth, Paul said that to the church of Corinth. He said, why is it there's things happening amongst you that aren't even mentioned in the world? You see, when you get away from truth, Christianity goes really bad.

Look at the Catholic church. Do you know the church at Rome started well? Read the book of Romans. One of the most extraordinary books in the Bible is written to the church in Rome. The first two or 300 years, certainly 250 years, they raised up remarkable leaders, dynamic leaders who are my heroes in the faith.

It was a real genuine church. Let that church go off track. What do you have today? You've got an abomination for some thousand years or 1500 years. You've got something that is utterly unrelated to Christ.

That's what happens. You see this valley of Gehenna is a place of apostasy. As soon as you start moving away from God, this valley becomes your abode. It becomes your place of worship. Who could imagine that hell would become a place, hell on earth would become where you practice your religion.

That's what apostate Christianity is. That's where it'll take you. This Gehenna, this valley became a place of worship when the people left the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do you know they moved their worship out into this valley?

It was in January that for the first time I visited Ephesus in Turkey. And just outside of the small community of Ephesus where Paul preached and raised up a great church, I went to that temple of Diana, Diana, the mother goddess.

It's an enormous building. And it's only the ruins, the foundations are left. But I'm telling you, my hair stood on the back of my neck as I stood there. This great temple, it's worship dominated all of Asia, all through the Mediterranean.

It dominated the mother goddess worship. That's where its headquarters were. It was a real place that dominated. Do you know the worship in Jerusalem? When they left the God of the Bible, they began to set up worship in this place, worship to other gods, false gods, another Jesus, another Holy Spirit, another God, the Father.

The church is filled with it. They preach a Jesus I don't recognize. And I know my Bible. I begin to hear them and go, what are they preaching? I mean, most of the preaching in this hour in generation.

And I'm not extreme. I'm just a simple Bible believer. I'm very broad in my convictions for those who may differ from me in some way. I'm very broad, very gracious, very understanding. But I'm telling you, very few preach the real Jesus in this hour.

The one who died on Calvary. But this valley was also a place of child sacrifice. Do you know they've done archeology in this valley and found hundreds, several hundred graves? Lots of people say, who are trying to destroy the truth of hell.

Do you know what they say? No bodies have been found, no archeology. That's a lie. I want to tell you, I've heard from the mouth of archeologists who actually worked there, who had the evidence. There are hundreds of graves of little children that have been burnt in that grave and in that valley, especially in one area of it.

See where we read an opening from 2 Chronicles 28 and verse one here this morning. I read to you about King Ahaz, about what he did in that valley. Ahaz was 20 years old and he began to reign in the city of Jerusalem.

It says that he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He followed Balaam. Then listen to what it says. Moreover, he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom. Incense is worship. This is spiritual.

He had a whole heritage of real biblical faith in God. And yet one short step and he begins to veer off and the worship begins to change and he begins to worship in this valley. He is worshiping God, Yahweh.

It's another God. He begins to burn incense. There's an awful lot of this across the church of our day. We worship, we give the missions, we send, we go to other countries. We do all of this. Do you realize you could be in Gehenna?

Do you realize you could have a church Christianity and you're worshiping, offering incense in the very valley of Hinnom as Ahaz did? He's a young man. He started to reign at a very young age. He's gonna be there for a while.

During most of these movements, last 16 years, a decade or so, then something else arises. Ahaz is gonna have his day. It says also that he offered incense in the high places and the hills and under every green tree where for the Lord, his God delivered him into the hand of his enemies.

He was a vile, vile young man. Do you know who his son was? Hezekiah, the king who seen revival, cleansed Jerusalem in seven days. You have Ahaz is destroying Jerusalem. Apostate, he removed the altar of God, removed the blood.

No more shedding the blood on the altar. We don't believe in the blood anymore. Let's bring in new worship in Gehenna. Do you see this is more than just about going to hell eternally. Gehenna is something right at your doorstep that is a warning when you see it.

It is so hellish. Do you know those sinners that say, oh, I'm in hell now. I believe hell is on this earth. And we're very quick to correct them, aren't we? And say, oh no, hell's a real place eternal to come.

Don't be so quick. Hell is a place here as well at your door. Hell's real and literal and eternal, but don't miss this. There is Gehenna at your doorstep, at the city gates, just outside the church. There is Gehenna here and now.

And you know what, when religion goes wrong, here's Ahaz, his son will bring a revival. They'll cleanse Jerusalem in seven days. He'll sweep the nation in three months. National revival. This little boy, guess what?

His father Ahaz took him down to the valley of Gehenna and dedicated him to Moloch in the fires. Do you know Ahaz had more than one child? We don't read about the others. We get told that he dedicated his children to Moloch in the fires in this valley of Hinnom.

Do you realize how hellish that is? This is hell coming down in Jerusalem at the very gates, a place that should be filled with worship. Now the worship goes wrong. Let the worship in the church go wrong and you'll see things that you'd never imagine.

Imagine, I wanna tell you, Ahaz began this worship. He took his children down there. You know what I believe? And scripture hints at it. He killed his other children. But Hezekiah, he dedicated him. He's the next king of Israel.

He dedicated him to Moloch, to false worship in the fire in Gehenna. Can you imagine young baby Hezekiah? You mothers that are dedicating your children in this church, what a wonderful blessing. And yet here's Ahaz with his false religion in Jerusalem going down into the valley, holding up his child, going through the fire saying, I dedicate my child to Moloch.

You know who Moloch was? You can Google it and see. That false god made out of iron or some other material and his hands would be out held and they'd sacrifice the babies there in the burning hands of Moloch.

This is a very real thing. But you know what? That little boy dedicated to Moloch in the midst of the fire, dedicated to false religion. He grew up in that house. But thank God there was a real prophet of God in the land called Elijah, sorry, Isaiah, who eventually got sawn in two.

But you know what? He was preaching and a young boy heard the preaching. See yous children, see yous younger ones. I pray God meets with you and that you make a difference in your generation from the very youngest in here.

Hezekiah wasn't too young. He's surrounded by false religion, perversion, corruption, the destruction of the real faith. And he grows up in that, but he's got a heart for God. As soon as his father dies and he ascends the throne, he cleans the city.

In one week, in one week he purged everything. What a remarkable young man Hezekiah is, but he was dedicated in Gehenna to false religion, amidst fire burning to false religion. But thank God, God got his heart on fire, set him on fire.

And out of all of that corruption raised him up. Let me tell you about modern children in our generation. Most of yous know about Elton John, the very gifted singer, writer, extremely famous and rich.

I think he's about 73 years old now. Do you know in the 1990s, he got into a relationship with a man, married him. They then went on to adopt. In more recent times, two children, Elijah and Zachary, both biblical names, two men married, blatantly doing this.

Who would, who hates God, call their son Elijah? Do you not think that's strange? It's not accidentally, he calls his son Elijah. Do you know for years I prayed for Elijah, Lord, take him back to scripture, make him a Hezekiah.

For years I've been praying this. I've been very burdened for these kids that are being brought into all of this confusion. The other day I heard about a mother, weeping, crying over her little boy, how she wants to go through a sex change.

She doesn't want any restriction, says he's got to go through all the drugs. Messing up a five-year-old in body. Who would have ever thought we had reached an hour? Don't you realize hell is let loose on the earth?

Hell is real and eternal, a place of punishment. But I want to tell you more than that, hell comes to earth through individuals, systems, and at certain times, it's at the gate of the church. I want to tell you.

Do you know who Elijah and Zachary's godmother is? Any of you know? Lady Gaga. And you know what? They're shipped out to stay with Lady Gaga, one of the most wicked, vile, publicly. Do you know what? People like that are chosen and trained and prepared to go after your children.

After a whole youth generation, Lady Gaga is an accident. Look at this Elton John, Lady Gaga. Do you think this is a joke? And here's poor little Elijah and Zachary, little baby boys adopted and being raised.

I looked at a picture of them this morning. They are beautiful boys, dressed beautifully. It is hard to believe. What a wicked hour that we are living in. Do you know, sadly, Hezekiah had a son called Manasseh, and in 2 Chronicles 33 and six, he went back to child sacrifice in Gehenna again.

Do you know what real false religion is? It sacrifices our children to this world. You say, oh, the church of this generation would never do it. I'm gonna tell you, people calling themselves Christians will blatantly vote for politicians who wanna murder kids up to nine months old.

Do you know, I watched just yesterday, just a very short bit, and I'm not pro-negative anything, not saying that, I'm just telling you. I watched, listened to Trump's speech announcing that he's gonna stand for the presidency in 24.

I'm gonna tell you, he said a statement that is so true that you won't get the Democrats saying. Do you know what he said? Do you know what his appeal to this generation and to America was? To vote for me.

Do you know what it was? This nation of America is going to hell, and only the real God can help us. No matter what you think of Trump, that statement, you don't even get pastors saying that. We live in a vile, vile hour, and so Manasseh, the grandson of Ahaz, he took them back.

Then you've got Josiah, a young king, a young godly king. He arose, God set him on fire, and listen, he went immediately to Gehenna as soon as he becomes king, and it says, and he defiled Tusheth. That's a word for Gehenna.

It's the lowest, darkest, most despicable place in the valley of Gehenna. He went straight there. This is the first thing he'd done, and he defiled it. You know what? There were statues, there were idols, there was worship, there was incense, all of that there.

First thing he'd done, he went right back there, and he destroyed it. He broke everything up. What a godly king, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Moloch again.

You go to Jeremiah chapter seven, and Jeremiah there mentions about they have built the high places of Topheth, and he mentions this several times, eight times, I believe it is, Topheth. Topheth is that same lowest place in this valley, and you know what Jeremiah says about it?

He calls it the high place. Did you think high places in the Bible were always on mountaintops? No, they're not. Here's a high place in the lowest place around Jerusalem. It's a high place that exalts itself, but it's in the lowest point, right in the valley of Hinnom, and Jeremiah says, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I commanded them not to.

Neither came it into my heart. Topheth, the word means drum, or to smite the tambourine loudly. Do you know why it's called that? Because as they sacrifice the children, they up the worship, the drums, the tambourines, the shouting, the singing.

Let's just drown out the noise of the little children. And so we're worshiping God, but all the time you're sacrificing the children. When Christianity goes wrong, we're sacrificing the young people. They're going off into false religion.

The world compromise. We don't warn them about a real hell. Do you see how Gehenna is more than an eternal place of hell? And I believe it is an eternal place of hell. Listen, in Psalm 9, verse 17, King David writes, the wicked shall be turned into hell.

The wicked should be turned into hell. See that word turned, very interesting word. In the Old Testament, we read about King Saul when the Holy Spirit first came on him. It says he was, when the spirit came on him, he was turned into another man.

In other words, he changed, his nature changed. He become a different man. Spirit of God comes on, he is turned into another man. What's it say in Psalm 9, verse 17? The wicked shall be turned into hell.

It's not just on about cast into hell. He says the wicked in. That man was more of a key man than you can ever imagine. Yes, the lid come off, this immorality, all the great people of the earth are connected to him.

He could phone a Clinton. It's not that he desired to, he could phone any of the great men of the world. Prince Andrew, just phone him up, get straight through. And here's a man that wants to connect the young generation and in certain areas, certain countries, he was experimenting on a whole young generation and they would target the orphan.

Don't tell me there's a normal hour. I wanna tell you, you know what? I know there's a real hell. Hell is drawn very near in the nature of our nations. Our nations are being turned into hell. You wanna play with us, go ahead.

Time is running out. Do you realize hell is coming to your schools, your politicians, to your city centers. Hell is being unleashed, it's not being restricted anymore. This is unbelievable. Do you know this Gehenna was a place where they dumped dead bodies.

Also, there was a dung gate in the city of Jerusalem and it went out into Gehenna. This is the entrance way, all the rubbish, all the trash, all the dung from the city, all the waste went into this valley.

You know, today, if you go there, next time you visit Israel, go for a walk in Gehenna. Do you know what it looks like? It is a beautiful green field, park, trees. It is stunningly beautiful. Go for a walk there.

Isn't that what's happened to the church of this hour? Hell's not that bad. God's too loving. I couldn't preach in hell, someone might get scared. We don't believe that anymore. In fact, there's some doubts about the Greek.

Well, eternal doesn't mean eternal. That's my first point, the history of Gehenna. I hope you're seeing something about this valley. This is what the Bible says. And you know what? When revival comes to God's people, they invade Gehenna.

They impact Gehenna. They ravage Gehenna. Point two, Christ's teaching on Gehenna. Christ's teaching. I'm not even dealing with what he says about Hades or other things. I'm limiting myself. You see, in our English Bible, hell in the New Testament is mentioned 23 times in the English.

My Bible, it does 23 times. If you have a new version of the Bible, probably about 13 times. Mine 23, yours probably 13. Selah, stop and think on that. When you come to Christ in the New Testament, 13 of all the words recorded in the New Testament that Christ speaks, all those red words in some of your Bibles are about judgment and hell.