The Wayside Pulpit No.95
One Helluva Hole
The following story was
circulated in 1990 by M.E.Beirnes, the Editor of "The Midnight Cry",
an interdenominational and pre-millennial magazine which began in 1939. We received
copies of TMC for some years, but have no idea whether it still operates. The
story began in Volume 51, No. 4, April 1990, and continued in the June and July
editions. In relating this story, extracts will be taken from the magazines
before any comment is made. [Our editing is in square brackets.]
SOVIETS
ARE DISCOVERING THE REALITY OF HELL. [So began the article.] From a
translation of a newspaper article in Ammenusastia, a newspaper
published in
Dr.
Dmitri Azzacov, the Russian scientist in charge of the project to drill a 14.4
km hole in remote western Siberia, said, "As a Communist I don't believe
in heaven or the Bible, but as a scientist I now believe in hell."
Azzacov further commented, "At this depth [about 9 miles] the drill
suddenly began to rotate wildly, indicating that we had reached a large empty
pocket or cavern. Temperature sensors showed a dramatic increase in heat to
2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. We lowered a microphone designed to detect the sounds
of plate movements down the shaft, but instead of plate movements we heard a
human voice screaming in pain. At first we thought the sound was coming from
our own equipment, but when we made adjustments our worst suspicions were
confirmed. The screams weren't those of a single human being, they were the
screams of millions of humans. Luckily, we had the recorder going, so we have
the mightmarish sounds on tape. At that point we suspended the project and
capped the hole. It was obvious that we had discovered something beyond
comprehension. We had seen and heard things that were never meant to be seen
and heard."
Another
(Norwegian) scientist on the site, Chief Geologist Bjarne Nummedal (65)
described "a fountain-head of luminous gas shooting up from the drill
site," which took on frightening forms during the night. [This would
presumably account for Azzacov's statement about what they had SEEN as well as
heard.]
One
thing is certain. [writes Beirnes] Hell exists as a factual, literal place
within the earth, and that it is exactly as Jesus, the apostles and the
prophets described it, a place of fire and of everlasting torments for the
wicked. It is evident from the Biblical descriptions of heaven and hell that
this is the quietist world men will ever live in, and that it will be either
the bliss and joy of heaven, or the pain, torments and remorse of hell for every
soul on the face of this earth - "according to their works." Sinners,
backsliders and careless "Christians" should seriously consider this
evidence and repent! Hell is no joke.
We
will continue to print further verifications of this discovery as we receive
them. The following is from Age Rendalen, Jnr, Stjerneblokkvn 20,
Further
verification of the article which appeared on page 9 of our April 1990 issue,
was provided by Dr. Joseph Chambers, Senior Editor of The End Times and
Victorious Living, March-April 1990. (
[Beirnes
concludes the three editions on the "hell-hole" by saying] Every
person on earth, when they die, will either go up to heaven, or down to hell.
And the choice is yours to make, whether you will repent and go to heaven, or
refuse Christ and go to hell.
On first reading these
three editions of "The
However, in 1993 Kathryn
Lindskoog wrote a book entitled "Fakes, Frauds, and other
Malarkey", 301 amazing stories and how not to be fooled.
[Zondervan Publishing House ISBN 0-310-57731-4]It was not until recent
years that we were to contact Kathryn via correspondence. She was
kind enough to allow us to quote from pages 74-75 in her book, which deals with
the above story.
"In
1990 an English translation of a Norwegian newspaper article revealed an
amazing event in the
Biblical Archaeology Review published the news in
a tongue-in-cheek report in its November-December 1990 [sic. Should be 1989]
issue, likening the discovery of hell under
Editor
Herschel Shanks answered that the article had been concocted by a hoaxer to
test the American media and had never appeared in a Norwegian newspaper.
"We thought . . . our readers would get a laugh over the story, just as we
did. If hell is ever actually discovered, you may be sure that we will not
confine our announcement to an item in [our miscellany page]. We'll give it a
72-point head across a spread - with the first color pictures of the
place!"
"Outside the
city are all those who love and practise falsehood." Spoofs, scams and
hoaxes, call them what you like, are poverty-stricken devices which cause
a great deal of upset in life, even though many would argue that "April
fools" and "Practical jokes" are just good fun. Be that as it
may, to have a fictitious story purporting to be fact, circulated by a magazine
with such a high profile reputation as BAR was mischievous and
ill-conceived. In the event, the American media were certainly
"tested", and the hoax brought into the open those who persistently
preach the Gospel ("good news"???) of everlasting conscious torment
for millions. Many adhere to this teaching, simply because the wording of the
Authorised Version seems to imply it, but when questioned further they
refuse to face up to the moral issue, and the frightful blasphemy it causes to
the character of God. Take the horrendous attitude of a late 19th
century preacher (with a most applicable name!) the Reverend Joseph Furniss. He
specialised in taking children’s missions, but (to his way of thinking)
the most important topic he expounded was the literal reality of hell. These
were some of his words, recorded at the time of a mission to children. Just
imagine how a crowd of little tots would feel!
"You
are going to see again the child about which you heard in the Terrible
Judgement, that it was condemned to hell. See! It is a pitiful sight. The
little child is in this red-hot oven. Hear how it screams to come out. See how
it turns and twists itself about in the fire of the oven. It stamps its little
feet on the floor of the oven. You can see on the face of the little child what
you see on all the faces in hell - despair, desperate and horrible!"
And who propagates these
horrendous ideas? Is it the world? No, it's the
[P.S. Kathryn Lindskoog has
been a fearless author of many books, and possesses the same clarity of vision
as C.S.Lewis for exposing third-class thinking, tom-foolery and chicanery. She
lives in
2007 note. Since writing the above, we have learned of
the death of Kathryn. She has gone to be with the Lord.]