During a recent Tuesday night prayer meeting, with the power of the Holy Ghost strong upon me, the Lord spoke those words: "Hell is silent." So simple, yet so profound! Hell is like a snare, a trap that has been set for the unsuspecting passerby. Just waiting, silently, and oh, so deadly. Poised in such a way that even the heat of its flames cannot escape to give away its hiding place. No light is generated, because Hell is a place of intense darkness. There are no screams or cries to warn the lost souls nearing its entrance.

Hell was designed to be the place of judgment for Lucifer and the other angels that followed him. They are not there, yet. They are walking about in this world attempting to lure sinners to go deeper. They are tempting Christians to compromise, and baiting the compromisers to get a little closer to the trap. Their job would be impossible if Hell were not silent.

One day, Hell will be filled with excruciating decibels of agony. No doubt, the screams will attain a volume and pitch unheard of in human history. The pain and misery will continue to multiply as insanity becomes the norm. Hatred and bitterness will reach its boundary and push beyond. Indeed, Hell will be Hot and Loud, but not yet. It still has victims to attract so Hell must remain silent.

If we ever hope to see our lost families, friends or anyone else saved, we need to force Hell to reveal its position. "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." [Matthew 16:18] Have we forgotten the simple message: Gates don’t do anything, but open and close. As long as the gates of Hell are left alone, they remain hidden and silent. The responsibility of the Church is to attack the ‘gates of Hell’.

We have an assurance from the Lord Himself that the Church will be victorious. But unless we reveal Hell’s location and uncover its hiding place, souls will continue to walk blindly into its flames.

The Church is the only hope sinners have left. People do not change direction without a valid reason. If you walk close enough to a bonfire, not only can you see the flame, but you can feel it, also. You know where the bonfire is and it is easy to avoid. You know how far back you need to stay to be safe. You know which course to follow to avoid it. But if the bonfire did not give off heat or light, or if you were blind and had no feeling, you could walk right into it and not know it until it was too late!

With 4 or 5 billion people alive in the world today, assuming they will all die within the next 100 years, people are dying at a rate close to 1 million deaths per week. 1,000,000! And statistics show us that most of them die without Christ and, as such, are lost forever! That is why Psalm 116:15 says, "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints." The saved are, perhaps, one in a million.

Hell has been silent for ages upon ages. The attitude has developed among Christians that, "as long as Hell is being quiet, there is no need for the church to make a scene." Nothing could be more damaging in these last days than for the church to be silent! We know where Hell is: It is at the end of an ungodly life!

Pastors, evangelists, preachers, we need to sound the alarm. And sound it LOUD and LONG, until Jesus returns and then "time shall be no more." [][][][]