I AM IN HELL

Thunderous applause comes from the pews. Each time I shout, the more they cheer and clap. It's almost becoming a chant now. I begin to shout it from the beginning once more, "Thieves burn in hell. Murders burn in hell. Pedophiles burn in hell. Homosexuals burn in hell. Rapists burn in hell. Liars burn in hell." The crowd has almost memorized the chant now. They're shouting along with me. "Thieves burn in hell. Murders burn in hell..." God is in the room. Renewal and revival sweeps across the sanctuary as I lead them in an uproar of repentance and redemption. "Thieves burn in hell. Murders burn in hell. Pedophiles burn in hell. Homosexuals burn in hell. Rapists burn in hell. Liars burn in hell."

I'm now closing the sermon with following remarks such as," God sees the evil in this world and in our country. He sees the gay marriage, the abortion, the corrupt politics...my friends, I tell you, judgement is coming. I encourage you, my fellow Believers, to rise above the evil. I encourage you to turn off your televisions...teaching our children that the behaviour in which our world is carrying itself is good and wholesome. I encourage you to rip the headphones from your childrens' music; full of foul language, hate, and sin. Evaluate your friends and co-workers, share the gospel, and lead a sinless life. Thieves burn in hell. Murders burn in hell. Homosexuals burn in hell. The rapists and the liars...all burn in hell." I close my Bible and leave the pulpit.

As I walk from the building to the parking lot, I'm greeted by my brothers and sisters in Christ. They shake my hand and compliment me on my sermon. I walk to the car with a certain prideful, satisfied feeling. My wife, Carrol, is waiting for me in the passenger seat. I sit down beside her, smiling and nodding my head back and forth.
"What are you so happy about , Dan?"
"Well honey, didn't you hear that sermon? Best one I've preached this entire year."
"I don't know. All it sounded like to me was an old, stubborn pastor, being hateful and judgemental."
"Maybe I am being hateful and judgemental...Somebody has to stand up for what they believe."
"I don't know, Dan, it just doesn't seem right to me. Besides, haven't you been reading the papers lately?"
"No, why would I be?"
Carrol opens up her purse, which is stuffed with newspaper originating back probably two or three weeks ago. She hands them to me. I open them, and I'm not too shocked what I find. Headlines read, "Local Louisiana Southern Baptist Preacher Crosses the Line," or, "Dan Brunton: Messenger of Christ or Messenger of Hate?" I set them down and chuckle to myself. Carrol isn't giving me the most pleasant look.
"Oh what Carrol, you think I'm crossing the line, you think I'm a messenger of hate?"
"Well..." she says, raising her voice a bit
"Listen, I'm just bringing honesty to the people. If they don't like it, that's not my problem."
"But Dan, it's not getting any work for the Lord done. You can't just alienate the ones we're trying to reach."
"Carrol if they want the Gospel, I'll give it to them. If not, that's fine. Besides, when judgement comes, they'll come crawling to me for it."
"Why do you have to be like that, Dan?"
"It's the way that God would want it, honey.Now, now, I'm hungry, let's go get some lunch.

It's now 8 o'clock. I'm tweaking next weeks sermon. This one's a killer; people won't know what hit them. I think of my wife's words now. She can be real stupid sometimes. She's one of those let's-all-get-along Christians. Please, gimme a break. She's hardly been speaking to me. She thinks I'm in the wrong here. She's being pretty dumb about the whole thing. The dog is outside and won't stop barking. It's really getting on my nerves. I slide open the screen door and throw a shoe at him. He yelps and runs inside the dog house. There, now I can get some peace and quiet.

I'm pretty bored. Carrol isn't here right now. She's out with some of her friends. I bet she's at one of her girlfriends' house, whining and complaining about me. I flip on the television and put on the news. It sickens me to listen to it, but I still need reference material. It's all "gay marriage" this, and "woman found dead" that. It makes me wonder why God hasn't rendered His judgement yet. It makes me feel ill. I shut it off and make my way for the kitchen. I'm not really hungry, but just bored. I eat a lot when I'm bored. You can it gluttony if you want, I just call it passing the time.

I hear the phone ring and go to pick it up. It's one of the deacons... Charles is his name. He's telling me about how his boy keeps getting in fights at school and asking what he should tell him. I basically tell Charles, "If they started it, let your boy finish it." We can't have sinners in public schools putting us Christians down. We haven to stand up and fight our battles, and God will be with us as we do it. He thanks me for my advice and we get off the phone. I'm starting to feel pretty tired, so I decide to lie down. It's been a good day and I feel like I've properly instructed my brothers and sisters. I go to my bedroom and lie in my bed.

I wake up and am now conscience. I haven't opened my eyes yet. I feel something pushing up against me. No, make that many somethings pushing up against me. I feel like I'm in water. I'm feel like I'm floating down a stream. I'm afraid to open my eyes now. I feel naked. I don't want to open my eyes. I feel heat. I smell...smoke? Where am I? I finally decide to open my eyes. I look around and see what must be hundreds of human beings. All of them are naked and frightened. I hear shivering, crying, moaning, and coughing. The stream is pulling us downward. It begins to turn violently. A whirlpool forms. It's sucking people in. I try my best to fight. I try to swim the opposite direction. The pool is too strong though! It keeps sucking everyone in. Great fires begin bursting out from the whirlpool. Human bodies are instantly torched beyond belief. I keep trying to swim away. It's swallowing me. I know where I am...I am in hell.
The waters swallow me up and spit me out into utter blackness. My body breaks as it smacks the rock-hard ground. I think I'm in a cave. It is silent right now. It is so silent that I can hear water drops hitting the ground. I feel very alone. I feel it in my chest. My chest is hallow and empty. All of the air has been sucked out of it. I start shouting, but I hear no reply. No one is here with me. I'm suffocating. I keep shouting, but no one will answer. Where did everyone go? I was with hundreds, maybe thousands, of people! Where have they all gone. I'm starting to hear cracking. I throw my head about trying to find the source of the breaking noises. I finally see a small slit on the cave wall. I'm starting to hear screaming! The slit starts opening. Hot air comes into my cold, wet cave. The slit gets bigger and bigger. It's now turned into a hole. The air is beginning to rush. The hole is sucking me in! I'm trying to run away but I can't. I just freaking can't!

The air finally pulls me out of my cave and I'm now big sucked into hell. I'm being carried by the wind. It throws me into waves of fire. I'm scorched by the intensity of heat and flame. The fire itself is over a thousand degrees. I could be swallowed whole by flames, but never, ever die. I could be scorched a billion times, but I would never see an end to it. The wind pushes me over a canyon where I see thousands of human beings being tortured with flame. I hear their screams and cries. The wind finally throws me into the canyon. I smash my head on sharp rocks as my body makes its way to the bottom. I fall down and am instantly tortured. Small bugs are running up and down my back; biting and scratching me wherever they may. The pain is so sharp! Some bugs make their way into my body from my mouth and nose. They're tearing me up from the inside. I can feel each individual bug bite a scratch. I can't stand the pain.

I try to make my way up and out of the canyon. But as I begin crawling up, a whole wave of flames comes crashing into the canyon. It seems that no matter how hard I try, I will fail. I'm constantly being defeated. I'm drowning in the fires. It burns my entire body from the outside and the inside. I think my stomach might actually explode. The fires throw me out of the canyon and into a dark corner. I can't see a thing. My stomach is cramping and my ears are ringing. The pain in my stomach increases rapidly. The pain is worse every single second. Then, I hear a popping my noise. I put my hands on my stomach, or lack thereof, and feel squishy organs and intestines. Thankfully, I can't see the gore.I feel things grabbing at my feet. Long fingernails are digging into my skin. Whatever these things are, they're now pulling me away from the corner.
I'm dragged over sharp, pointy rocks. I look and see I have cuts all over my naked body. The intense heat enters into the wounds. I begin going into shock. The things finally throw me into a stone wall. I hear voices now. They sound like giant monsters. They're mocking me now. I hear, "Good morning Pastor Brunton! Ready for your sermon?!" and "Preach pastor-man. I wanna feel the Spirit." The huge beasts chain me up to the stone wall. I can now see the beats. One is green, fat, and covered with warts. He has tangled horns emerging from his ear and his cheeks. The other is much skinnier. He has black and blue scaly skin. He hisses like a snake. The last is quite fat, orange, and even more beastly than the others. The three roll out some sort of machine. They turn it on...Oh no! I can hear saws.

They roll it up to me and begin digging into my chest. "Pastor Brunton, you got Jesus in your heart?" I hear one say. He takes my heart out and says, "Well, I guess not." He throws it to one of the beasts. The monster takes a huge bite out of it. "I've had better." The saw is now making its way up my throat. I'm choking. I can feel it cutting through everything. I can't talk or scream anymore because the machine has severed my vocal chords. Two of the monsters are ripping out my insides. The orange one is eating them. I can't help but cry. The tears roll down my face. "Oh look, Pastor Brunton is getting touched by an angel!" One of the monsters interjects, "More like touched by a demon." The beasts are cracking up now. The orange one is now speaking, "Let's go find something better to eat!" They leave me. They leave me chained and mutilated.

I've stayed chain to the wall for quite some time. There is no fire present right now, but I'm still being burned from the intense heat. I look down at my feet and notice that snakes have crawled themselves my way. They slowly slither up my body from my legs. Some begin digging into my legs, while others coil around my neck. I'm now suffocating from dry air and cobras and asps. The ones biting at my lower-half is surprisingly less painful than the ones about my neck. They squeeze and squeeze, but I can never die. They bite and bite, but I know it will never end.

The snakes leave me and go on to torment others. I'm still chained, but I'm starting to think that may be a good thing. I look to my right and left to see if there's anything coming my way. I close my eyes and lay back my head. I stretch my neck and let my head drop. I open my eyes and find a man staring at me, foaming at the mouth. I begin shouting, "What do you want from me?" He doesn't answer. He has a sharp rock in his hands. He takes the rock and begins slicing at my throat. He slits it over and over again. He puts cuts all over my neck and face. He's cursing now. He's cursing me...cursing God. He is now going up and down my abdomen. Heat enters the wounds, torching my insides. He keeps cutting away at me. He's now taking the rock to his own throat. He's chucking to himself. I begin cursing him. I imagine him killing me for all eternity. He could kill me over and over again, but I would never die. I'm beginning to see large tentacles behind him. Some hideous monsters grabs him and drags him away into darkness. I hear him screaming.
I am still on the wall. I have no idea how long I've been hanging here. For all I know, I may have been here for hundreds of years. I see hideous demons now. They're mocking me. I hear them talking amongst themselves. They want to take me down. They want to torture me. They hate me.

One fanged demon comes and and breaks the chains like glass. I fall into his reptilian arms. They carry me to a dark room. There's isn't any fire here either, but it's so hot there might as well be. They pund on heavy machinery and warehouse lights come on. I can now see their monstrous bodies in perfect lighting. They are hideous. Some look like lizards and others look like pigs. The leader of the pack looks like a demonic-type goat. The goat walks its way up to me. It draws its hand back and delivers a blow into my stomach. I feel ripping and hear splitting noises. The goat is now ripping out my intestines. He pulls me by them to a hook. He lifts me and wraps my intestines around the hook and my neck, forming a noose. I'm struggling for air, but the intestines have blacked up my throat. They gather around me in a circle and begin mocking and blaspheming.

It's almost become a chant now. Each time they say it, the louder it gets. They've all memorized it by now. With thunderous applause, they begin shouting it again. "Pastor Brunton burns in hell. Pastor Brunton burns in hell. Pastor Brunton burns in hell. Pastor Brunton burns in hell." I can't block out their voices. The chanting continues. I don't even want to say all the things they are doing to me. Some have been eating me, some have been violating me. They keep shouting it louder and louder. I'm begging God for mercy, but there is no mercy here. Pastor Brunton burns in hell.

I'm realizing how wrong I was. I never showed mercy and there is no mercy here. I never showed grace and there is no grace here. I never showed joy and there is no joy here. I never showed compassion and there is no compassion here. I never showed tolerance and there is no tolerance here. I never showed understanding and there is no understanding here. I never showed love and there is no love here. I never showed Jesus- and there is no Jesus here.

I can hear Carrol's voice now. She's crying out to me. She's asking me where I am. She's telling me everything will be alright. She's telling me to wake up. She telling me I'm asleep. She's saying I'm in a coma. She's telling I'm going to wake up soon. I can't feel her. I can't see her. I don't know where she is. I 'm shouting at her, but she can't hear me. She's not responding to me. She can never hear me. She's crying. She's begging me to wake up. She's begging for me to open my eyes. I can't open my eyes. I'm still shouting. I'm screaming now. "I was wrong!" I scream over and over again," I was wrong." I was wrong. I was so wrong. Judgement has come. I AM IN HELL.

**A note from the author**
I realize this story contains material that some may find offensive. But, please keep in mind that the views held by the characters do not reflect that of my own. I truly believe the content was necessary to communicate the ideas and message that goes far beyond the words; a very beautiful message of love and peace with fellow man. I hope you enjoy it and I hope you have a great day.
-Austin