By Isaac Wardell

Let me play a game with you for a minute. Here are the rules; I’m going to give you a well known phrase, song, quote, or poem. I’m going to quote part of it, and you have to fill in the blank with the first thing that comes to mind, alight? The first thing! That is essential to this game.

So if I say:

Mary had a little ______ (You obviously think the word lamb, correct? Mary had a little lamb) Ok, got the hang of this? Lets go! (The faster you are, the better).

Old McDonald had a ____.

Amazing Grace how sweet the _______.

May I help ___?

The Statue of _________.

For God so Loved the ______.

Four score and seven years ___.

FB_

God Bless _________!

For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou _________.

1, 2, 3, 4, __

Jesus Loves __.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday, _________

United States of _________.

Give me Liberty, or Give me _____!

Humpty Dumpy sat upon the _____.

Humpty Dumpy had a great _____.

The Lion, the Witch, and the __________.

The Da Vinci  _____.

September, October, November, ___________

What the _____?!

Wait a second, what was the first word that came to mind? If you’re like most Americans today, the word “Hell” probably came to mind. We have become so used to the phrase “What the Hell?” (or “What the heck?”), that we are calloused to it, we hardly even think about the word anymore. From the movie screen with John Wayne drawling “Awww, what the hell?” or “I’ll see you in hell”, to our everyday lives when the man next to us exclaims “What the Hell?!” or “Damn!”, we constantly hear words that are referred to as cuss words, or swear words to the point where we no longer give them any thought. Well, I gave you the article title above, because I didn’t want to spoil the game. The real title of this article is:

Hell, Damnation, & The Da Vinci Code.

As I pointed out, in our culture we don’t even really think about it any more when we hear God name used in vain, or scriptural words with vivid dark meanings, used callously. There used to be a time when a preacher could stand up and the very fire of Hell would almost seem to be in his voice as he would warn of judgment knocking at the door, the building itself would almost quake at the seriousness of the coming day of death and judgment, that those who refused to accept Christ payment for their sins were by their own choice damning themselves to an eternity in the Lake of Fire.

But over time we have become calloused to words such as hell. Hell now simply means a little rough spot in our lives. Were all going through hell…according to the generally accepted meaning of the word today. But as one firmly grounded Christian once said “We do not spend Hell on this earth and then go to Heaven.” The reality of Hell has lost its meaning. When searching the scriptures we see that it is a place of separation, of torment, gnashing of teeth, of punishment, and one day, death and hell will be cast into the Lake of Fire!

Now I know some people who justify themselves by saying “Heck”. Well I don’t know where you come from, but where I come from, that is used by a very large religious cult to describe Hell…it has the same meaning.

What about Damn? Again, same concept, we have been so calloused by the term that people use whenever something goes a little wrong (for instance that hammer that smashed my thumb) that they really give any thought what it means when a person is Damned.

That is part of why I consider it serious to use such words. Yes, I use them, but when I use them, they are in much the same way that the “Hellfire and Brimstone” preachers used them. They are not casual words; they are filled with authority & judgment! They cry out for the sinner to repent!

But in today’s culture how does one explain the concept of Hell when someone shrugs and says “Hell can’t be any worse then what I’ve been through, my life is a living Hell!”? It is very difficult, songs such as the one sung by Rodney Adkins only add to this misconception about Hell, one of the lines in his song states “If you’re going through hell, keep on going, you might get out before the devil even knows you’re there”.

My friend it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this…THE JUDGMENT! Were not talking about the laughable court systems the world has developed. We are talking about a Judge who is perfect and holy, who must punish sin. One who when he looks in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and sees that a name is not written there, must Damn a person to Hell, to the Lake of Fire. Or in other words, must condemn a person to everlasting punishment, though the reality is, Damn has a much more powerful meaning then condemn, but because its forcefulness has been loss over time, we are left with no other option to describe such horrifying realities! Is it any wonder that one of the ten commandments is not to use the name of our God in vain? God does have to Damn people! When we hear someone use the phrase “God Damn It!” one can assume that the person has no real concept of what he just said. To be forever Damned is the worst reality one could ever experience, and what is worse, each person has the option to be freed from that Damnation, but to many are choosing to accept that Damnation so that they can live their sinful lives which lead to death and destruction.

Oh that we fully understood what Damnation and Hell really meant! To fully understand what it means when a Sinner is Damned to Hell, it would make those of us who hold the answer to the deliverance from that Damnation want to cry out with the news to everyone we meet!

Now I have spoken about the callousness we have developed to such words, I wish it stopped there, but it doesn’t. The callousness and confusion reaches into many other areas of our lives. Many of you have heard of the new book published by Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, it has gained a lot of popularity, and controversy. I myself have been involved with numerous conversations about it, as I seek to present the gospel.

I have not read the book, and for many reasons. The main one being that I firmly believe it is a tool of Satan! What Dan Brown did was to write a book about Christ, the promised one, the one who WAS GOD! He made up a story about Jesus life, and then said “Yeah, but everyone knows its only fiction”. But the reality is, he is mixing a little truth, with a little fiction, and pretty soon, no one knows where to draw the line. And for those who know more about Britney Spears, then they do about the Bible, suddenly they are drawing whole new conclusions about the Bible, and they have never even read it, nor do they understand what is has to say about sin, judgment, and Jesus as a deliverer.

The book is “Historical Fiction” correct? I mean it takes some events that actually happened, and combines them with a made up story. Well to a generation that is becoming calloused to the Bible, this only adds to the confusion. We are a nation that fully embraces Syncretism, taking ones own view, another view (such as the Bible), and creating a whole new view which does nothing to change the truth! You can’t do that with the Bible, you can’t take parts you want, and leave the parts you don’t.

You can’t take Jesus, and deny creation. You can’t take his resurrection and deny his holiness. You can’t take the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” but not the one “Thou shalt not commit adultery”. To many people take this view on their life, and on the Bible! They use the Bible to justify why killing is wrong, but then deny the reality of the commandment that would keep them from enjoying they sinfully lustful pleasures! They excuse it by saying it was culture, or we don’t really know what it means there, or “some great pastor said that doesn’t apply today”.

The word of God is not like that! It is just as true now as when it was written!

Satan likes to twist things a little though, if he can cast a seed of doubt, or perhaps twist the truth just a little…it is his oldest trick in the book! He went to Eve and planted a seed of doubt, he asked “Did God really say that?”

Notice what Eve did, she added to the word of God! Her first mistake! She said that God said “Ye shall not eat of it; neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” God hadn’t said anything about touching it he had said “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”.

So she added to the word of God, suddenly there was confusion, what had God really said?  Satan saw his opportunity, she had added to the word of God! Now he added a little of his own words, and sold it as truth! “Ye shall not surely die for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil”.

Suddenly Eve was confused what had God said? Oh, look, how nice of Satan to point out what God had meant and said, it sounded good, it looked to be true, then it must be…she was persuaded it was, and she partook of the fruit.

Let me advance the clock a little bit, to the 1800’s A.D. A young man, Joseph Smith, set about writing a book, it didn’t discount the Bible at all, it just added to it, making a new and updated religion. In fact, this new religion, wasn’t new, it was just slightly revised from something that someone else had written over 1000’s years before, by a man named Mohammad. From these two men we have Muslims, and Mormons. Both claim the Bible is Gods word, and in fact, are basically the same religion at their core…but they did something that they weren’t supposed to do…they added to the word of God! Just like Dan Brown did. I personally believe that Dan Brown will have a lot to answer for to God. He has lead many souls astray, and he has broken a direct commandment of God. He has added to the word of God in direct violation of Gods command! I personally rank Dan Brown with Joseph Smith & Mohammad. All these men added to the word of God, in direct violation of Gods command!

Now you say, that is all well and good Isaac, but where does it actually say we aren’t supposed to add to the word of God? The command came from God himself, near the beginning of time as we know it, to the Israelites he gave them a firm warning:  

In Duet 4:2 we read “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.”

The Pharisees added to the word of God, the Sadducees took away from the word of God. Satan is up to his old tricks, it has worked for generations! For Centuries! For Millenniums! Since the beginning of man and woman! Why change his tactics now? Just update it a little, put a new twist on it…and you will find countless people ready to embrace a counterfeit truth. Something that takes a little truth, a little fiction, gives us a new world view. And because this syncretism appears to be truth, people accept it, or are confused enough about it that they become like Eve in the garden. Just what did God say? And then when an answer is present right before them, not bothering to check and see if it actually does match what God says, they embrace it!

Now if anyone who read this knows Dan Brown, they will argue that he is really a nice guy, and I should meet him before being so harsh on him. My answer to that is it doesn’t matter if he is a nice guy or not, the fact is that he had directly disobeyed Gods command, and for that he will be judged, in the same way that Joseph Smith, and Mohammad, will be judged. We do not have the liberty to taking the pieces of Gods word we want to hear, and ignoring the rest, as I pointed out earlier. This also applies in the area of judgment, just because we do no like the idea of Judgment, Damnation, Hell, does not meant they do not exists. Just because I deny the existence of Washington D. C., does not decide whether or not the place exists, it simply makes me right or wrong about its existence. In the same way, denying the coming Judgment does not mean it will not happen, it simply makes you right or wrong about its happening!