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It is rare to hear “hellfire and brimstone” sermons in modern-day churches. I’m not sure why we’ve steered away from scriptural teachings on that aspect of eternity. After all, there are only two destinations for those who die, and we are all destined to die, unless Jesus returns.

Even then, the Lord is coming back for a spotless, holy, blameless bride, according to Ephesians 5. So, shouldn’t we hear sermons about sin, redemption, and possible responses to those topics, responses that will determine life after death in heaven or hell?

I took that question and other ponderings on this topic to my usual internet research sites. One particular article that I found at Ligonier Ministries left no doubt that the lack of teaching on the two eternal destinations of mankind is (and has been) very real.

Written almost two decades back, in 2007, by author, editor, and teaching fellow, Dr. Burk Parsons, the article, “Hold the Fire and Brimstone, Please,” examined this perplexing lack of teaching.

In this thought-provoking piece, Dr. Parsons shared his findings from an informal, two-question survey he conducted on the first day of instruction in a class about heaven and hell that he had taught a few years earlier. First, he asked his middle-aged students to raise their hands if they could recall the last time they had heard a sermon on the topic of hell. No hands were raised. When asked the same question about a sermon on heaven, again, no hands were raised.

Dr. Parsons used these expected responses to emphasize the relevance of learning about heaven and hell:

Many Christians have left behind many of the biblical truths concerning things to come. In some cases it seems pastors have intentionally forgotten to preach on the eternal destiny of the unrepentant. Many pastors don’t preach on hell because they don’t want lost sinners to have a bad impression of themselves, and they certainly don’t want the message of the Gospel to offend anyone who might be “seeking” God, as if anyone sought God without God first seeking him.

Wow! That did not take long. In just this one paragraph, Parsons swiftly rebukes the modern-day concept of “seeker-friendly” church.

Yet, this article and similar ones were penned years back, so why are we still not hearing sermons on the one topic that is most important in terms of eternity? After all, Jesus repeatedly discussed the judgment of hell in the Bible. So, if He spoke of it, shouldn’t we do the same?

According to teacher, author, and blogger Leslie Schmucker of The Gospel Coalition, Jesus openly taught about the reality of hell. Aptly titled, “The Uncomfortable Subject Jesus Addressed More than Anyone Else”, Schmucker’s article explains that the biblical doctrine of hell can be a difficult teaching topic, even for giants of the faith such as R.C. Sproul.

But Schmucker also surmised that Jesus talked so openly about hell because, apart from Him, it is the fate awaiting us all:

Because of Adam’s sin, we’re all guilty and deserve God’s eternal punishment. Contrary to popular belief, hell is not a place where God sends those who have been especially bad; it’s our default destination. We need a rescuer or we stand condemned.

But it is hard to convince our world of the reality of that looming crossroad where all sinners must choose between the eternal redemption of heaven or hell’s eternal condemnation. In fact, a growing number of people do not even believe in the reality of heaven or hell.

In 2025, Pew Research reported that 67% of those polled believed in the existence of heaven, while only 55% believed in the existence of hell. Both numbers had dropped significantly since a similar poll taken in 2021, with 73% claiming heaven was real and 62% believing in hell.

Those are disturbing statistics and make my original question even more pertinent: Why are modern churches not teaching about eternity?

Maybe I am asking the wrong question.

Perhaps I should be wondering why Christians are not talking about heaven and hell outside of the church walls. Why are we not sharing the gospel message with those around us? Why do we not openly and aggressively discuss everyone’s mutual need for rescue from sin?

That question hit home for me this past week as my grandson and I took an almost 2-mile walking tour down into a beautiful mountain cavern. At the deepest point of our walk, the tour guide asked each tourist to shut off all phones in preparation for the tour’s finale.

She dramatically turned out all the lights in the cave and introduced us to total darkness. To prevent panic, she kept speaking softly about the scientific definition of darkness and the fact that humans can go blind and insane after only three weeks of total darkness.

She then let us experience total darkness in silence for just a moment.

Though it was only a momentary experience, I stood in that absolute pitch-black darkness, unable to even see my own hands, with just one coherent, pressing thought.

“So, this is what hell is like.”

Honestly, that was my only thought, as I imagined an eternity devoid of light, an eternity of total darkness and torment and separation from all I loved. And ultimately, I thought of a total separation from His love, an eternity without the saving grace of my precious Lord and Savior.

It was a shocking moment of reality for me. So much so that I wanted to shout and tell my fellow tour-goers that this was a living picture of hell. I really wanted to scream to them in that moment and push them out of that hellish darkness and into His marvelous light.

But I didn’t.

I remained silent until the lights were turned back on and we all headed back up to the contented and complacent reality of our dying, sin-filled, seeker-friendly world.

I discussed that darkness with my grandson as we rode back to our hotel. I openly admitted that I should have said something, even if I had just whispered aloud a prayer of thanksgiving to God for rescuing me from eternal darkness. Or maybe I could have just laughed and told the person beside me that I felt it was a very real example of an eternity in hell.

I missed the holiness of that opportune moment, and I will forever regret my silence in that darkness. But I will not make the same mistake twice.

In fact, let me share right now that hell is real, but so is Jesus. And He died in our place so that we do not have to live forever in the utter darkness of hell. Instead, He freely offers an eternity in heaven with Him.

But there’s only one way to exchange hell for heaven. So, act now, before it’s too late.

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved (Romans 10:9-10).

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