Written to: The Public,

or,

To Whom It May Concern.

Dear Ones on Earth:

Since I shall never be able to see any of you people back in the world, I am writing you this letter. I would like to say that everything is still the same as when I first came here, during the time of Moses. Yes, all is still the same except I hear new voices as they weep and wail which is a constant thing here in hell.

I hope you can read what I am writing. It is very hard to keep my thoughts separated because of the loud screaming and blasphemous cursing of my fellow subjects. All of us in hell have no excuse for being here. We were warned and warned not to come here. We were told to trust in Jesus' shed blood for salvation, but we didn't, and here we are. You just can't imagine how bad hell is. You've never been here, and I hope you never come. One thing that makes this place so extremely confusing is the millions of lost souls cast here every day. But don't be surprised, the Bible says, "Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in there at." The mouth of hell has stretched herself in order to hold all of the people that are cast into her. You may think it strange that I know so much about what the Bible says, especially since I didn't care about the Bible when I was alive on the earth. But down here things are different. I just can't help thinking about the Bible and the many wonderful things it says. These things just come automatically to my mind.

Oh! Here come some more screaming souls into this place of torment. That just goes to show--there is open-house in hell twenty-four hours a day.

Man! What I would give for just one tincy wincy drop of water; but it is forever settled in Heaven, there will never be any water in hell. Listen, dear reader: lay hold on the one who is the "Living Water". I cannot get the words of Jesus off my mind, "And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely". I know I will never be able to call upon Him as my Lord and Saviour, but you still have that opportunity. Those words certainly mean a lot, but it's too late for me.

I often think of the days of my life time, or I should say I always think of them, how that I had everything my evil heart could wish for. Those wonderful days when I sat clothed in purple and fine linen, until my days came to an end. Yes, it was I who sat on top of the world. No one mattered but old number one, myself. I remember Lazarus sitting at my gate full of sores. It would have cost me very little to give him the proper medical attention. I could have laid him in one of my soft beds and nourished him back to health, but I wouldn't. I could have given him half my goods and not missed them. But no! Now Lazarus is comforted and I am tormented, as Father Abraham has reminded me. I was having a ball, but now the ball is over! Are you having a ball, dear reader? Are you underestimating the valuableness of time and letting the Devil deceive you down to my eternal home of the damned? Flee this place while you can! What a crying shame! What horribleness! What deprivation!

Something else while passing. I'm writing this letter in the midst of an unquenchable FLAME. This flame is a source of constant torment. If those who think the 16th chapter of Luke's account of me is a parable were with me now, they would soon get some convictions that hell is a real live place for the dead lost. My soul has been dying all the time I have been here, but it just can not get the job done. The Bible says that hell is a place where "the fire is not quenched, and the worm dieth not."

There are many bothers and aggravations down here and no relief from any of them. One of these is that I can look into heaven. Do you know what I see? If you read and study your Bible as you should, you know the answer. The scene is perpetual. I see Lazarus! No longer a beggar, but a rich man in heaven! "Oh for shame" that I treated him so terrible when I could have lightened his heavy load, but now the haunting words, "Too late, too late."

I have a thing or two to say about prayer request in hell. I made a request to Father Abraham about 3500 years ago and to this day my request has not been granted! Why I keep up this dead hope that he will someday grant it I cannot understand. Dear reader, you had better do your praying and calling on God while you are living. After death is the judgment, not salvation. I say these things hoping someone will give earnest heed but we in hell have no influence with God, nor can we change anything on the earth. My prayer was that Father Abraham would send Lazarus back into the world to warn my five brothers not to come to this place of torment, even as I do not want you, dear reader, to come. Please take advice from one who has learned the hard way that experience is the best teacher. Abraham told me "They have Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them." Don't forget, God saves by His plan in His Bible, and by rejecting His plan I have eternally sealed my doom and have learned that zero prayers are answered in hell. After it is definitely too late, I have also learned that the place to repent and believe on Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour is while you are living in the world. Do you believe in a literal hell? If so, this should not be dull for you.

I must close this letter knowing that it is the first and last letter written from hell. Yet if opportunity allowed me, I could write for eternity and not be able to tell all the sufferings of this place of FIRE and BRIMSTONE------

Lost Forever,

The Rich Man

P. S. Please read this letter to as many as you possibly can.

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Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden by disobeying God's command. We are all made in the "image" of Adam. Romans 5:12, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."

Therefore, every person is a sinner in the sight of God. This includes you. God saw only sinners when He looked upon the earth, Psalms 14:1-4, 53:1-4. Romans 3:10,11, "As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one; There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God."

Everyone is condemned by God to an eternity of torment because of their sinful condition. But John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life."

So it is by the power of Jesus Christ that our spiritual state is changed from death to life.

But how is our spiritual state corrected?

Jesus said in Mark 1:15, "...The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel."

What do you repent of?

Repent because you are a sinner, with the nature of Adam. It is impossible to repent of all the sins we have committed because we don't even realize what all our sins are. We repent because we are sinners by nature.

Repent does not mean to cry and weep and carry on because of our sins. It means "to have another mind toward". In other words, we see our sinfulness like God sees it. We see ourselves as a complete sinner with no hope for heaven except through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

Next, believe the gospel. What is the gospel?

I Corinthians 15:3,4 states that the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, He shed His perfect blood for our sins. After Jesus was resurrected from the dead, He took this same perfect blood to heaven, and offered it as an atonement for our sins. God the Father accepted this perfect blood atonement as a covering for our sins. Therefore, when you believe the gospel, you are believing that Jesus blood cleanses your sins.

So salvation comes by repenting of having a sinful nature and believing that Jesus is able to forgive you of your sins.

When should you repent and believe?

II Corinthians 6:2 says, "(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)"

Preached by Freeman Lacefield

Sometime in the early 1970’s