Beware Of Pastor Cliffe Knechtle Who Denies A Literal Hell

Revelation 20:15, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Kindly said, Pastor Cliffe Knechtle of the Grace Community Church in Canaan, Connecticut, is a darn fool. Mr. Knechtle denies a literal burning Hell. The Holy Bible calls Pastor Knechtle a bold-faced liar!!! He errantly thinks being separated from God is what Hell means, and nothing more. If God allows suffering and death in this temporary life, there's no reason to believe that He won't in eternity. Something is very wrong with the theology of a professed Christian who denies the reality of an everlasting burning Hell. The Bible says the unsaved (those who die in their sins without the Savior) will go straight to Hell to be tormented in fire and brimstone forever. ...

Revelation 21:8, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Moreover, the inspired Word of God has more to say about Hell than it does Heaven. No one can honestly claim to believe the Holy Bible while denying the reality of a literal place of fire and brimstone where the wicked are punished forever in Hell. Revelation 20;15, "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

Jesus continually spoke about a literal burning place of Hell. It is very wrong and bad Bible scholarship for anyone to claim that Jesus was merely speaking metaphorically. Matthew 5:29-30, “And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.”

2nd Thessalonians 1:8-10, “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”

I've heard foolish Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons (both cults that deny a literal burning Hell), allege that the following Scripture passage merely refers to the grave. Psalms 9:17, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” However, if “hell” in this passage only refers to the grave, then the Bible makes no sense. Why would the wicked and the righteous go to the same place? What would be the point of God warning the wicked? I mean, if the wicked go to the same place as the righteous, then this warning is meaningless. Clearly, the Bible is warning that once in the grave, the wicked go to a very different place than the righteous do. That is the whole point of this Scriptural warning.

The word “hell” throughout the Old Testament is the Hebrew word Sheol, which means, “realm of the dead.” Death was a mystery to folks in the Old Testament, just as it still is today in modern times. No one knows what happens after death, since no one has ever died and come back to talk about it (although many con artists have been paid millions of dollars by making false claims which led to a book deal, selling movie rights and umpteen television appearances).

As a Christian, I have always been equally amazed and disturbed that people won't believe what the inspired Holy Bible says about the afterlife, but they'll believe what some charlatan says on television. John 5:43, “I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.” Isn't that something? I don't know about you dear reader, but I am going to believe the Word of God. I don't believe the bizarre claims of what con artists say on radio, television and in books.

For example: An evangelist named Bill Wiese for decades has made millions of dollars by claiming that he died and went to Hell for 23 minutes. Mr. Wiese bizarrely claims that in Hell he saw 10-foot tall green demons with large fangs and claws. I don't believe anything that Bill Wiese says!!! People are so gullible aren't they? People will fall for anything! That is exactly what Jesus said in John 5:43—that people will believe anyone with a crazy story to tell, but they won't believe the inspired Word of God.

Dear friend, please run from anyone who denies the existence and reality of a literal burning Hell, where Christ-rejecters will be punished by God almighty for ever and ever. Revelation 14:11, “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” There is no place of Purgatory taught in the Bible. There are biblically only two places you can go in the afterlife—Heaven or Hell. If you die in the Lord, you go to Heaven (Revelation 14:13); if you die in your sins, you go to Hell (John 8:24). The choice is yours alone to make.