That great preacher at City Temple in London, Leslie Weatherhead, made this profound observation: "Jesus Christ, the person with the gentlest lips in history, said the most terrible words about sin ever spoken. It was gentle Jesus who referred to people as 'lost.' He described hell as the everlasting fire, the shut door, and the outer darkness where there are endless tears and gnashing of teeth." Jesus did not slant judgment and hell toward those who were broken and imperfect, but toward those who proudly refused God's mercies, those who were too self-satisfied to repent.

John Wesley, our Methodist founder, pulled no punches in talking about judgment and hell. He referred to hell as banishment from God. He declared, "There is no company in hell, no respite from pain, no interval of relief, only uninterrupted night with uninterrupted misery. The term of the sentence is forever."