Current Whereabouts Unknown

Bill Brinkworth

I remember clearly how we would laugh about going to hell.

“Yea, we’ll be together in hell. We’ll just have a good time partying,” I laughed.

“Sure,” my friend scoffed as he guzzled down another beer. “Yea, just one big party — forever and forever!”

Years went by. After heartaches, learning the hard way, and a lot of God’s grace and mercy, I got saved. I accepted Christ as my Saviour and tried to live for Him. My friends could tell there was something different about me. I did not want to party with them anymore. They got more uncomfortable around me as I had a burden to share with them what I had learned from the Bible. Soon we grew completely apart, and seldom spent time together.

As I grew in the Lord, and studied the Bible, I learned more about the reality of Hell. All the things that I had heard about the place of torment were true. It was a place where the fire would never stop burning one’s flesh, and a place of eternal loneliness

What a horrible, terrible place. It was a place that should not be taken lightly! Then I remembered the friend with whom I had scoffed at hell. I was burdened to see and warn him of the place; so he would not have to go there.

I visited his home. He was still living with his parents even though he was 35 years old. We went up into his bedroom to talk. Sin had taken a toll on his life. The drugs and booze were a constant companion in his life — over 15 years of non-stop abuse. He was not the same friend with whom I had grown up.

He was searching. I could tell. He had tried Buddhism for a while. He even memorized a very long chant from one of their books, but that religion still did not fill the empty spot he had in his life.

He got involved with the Jehovah Witnesses, hoping they had the answers he sought. I remember his telling me that they were real nice to him. He was impressed that they spent time with him and started attending their meetings.

I told him what the Bible says one must do and believe to have God’s promise of eternity in heaven. He admitted to me, “I thought the Witnesses had something, but as I got closer I found that nobody had any real peace. “Bill, I still haven’t found any yet, and I don’t have the promise you have.” His voice was sorrowful. He had looked and looked, but found nothing to fill the emptiness his soul had.

“You know how I was, and you know how the Lord has changed me. He’s given me peace. He’ll give it to you too, if you’ll just accept him as Saviour,” I pleaded. But, the other cult’s teachings he had been involved in brought doubt and confusion to his thoughts.

I explained and explained. I did everything but beg, but he was even more confused. Man-made religion had done much damage to his thinking. When I left, he was still unsaved. I urged him to at least visit the church that I had gone to. I’m not sure he ever did.

From time to time, I heard tidbits about my friend. He had gotten involved in some indecent sin, probably the fruit of all the pornography he used to pollute his mind with. Once the law had required him to go to a psychiatrist and he had put my friend on prescription drugs. His mental problems were probably from years of taking drugs. (I remember his bragging how “pot will never hurt me”.) It certainly sounded like he was getting lonelier. His behavior became very bizarre. He hardly had any friends and never married. What a lonely, empty life he lived.

I thought about him much. Sometimes I even prayed for him.

It was years since we had seen each other, when I got a telephone call from my mother. Her voice was sad as she read me a story from her newspaper: “Last Wednesday, the body of a 40 year old man was found at the foot of a 100 foot cliff at …. He was rushed to the … Hospital. The man’s name …”

I interrupted my mother’s voice, “It’s my buddy , isn’t it?” I knew it was he, before she had even finished. His sad, hard life had come to an end after an accident.

The hardest thing to grasp at that time was, where did my life-long friend go: heaven or hell? Unless he got saved since the last time I talked with him, and I hope he did, he is in hell.

Hell is a real place. There’s no party there! There’s no way out. It may be too late for my friend, but maybe his life can teach you something. Are you absolutely sure that if you were to die right now that you you’d go to heaven? You can know for sure!

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9

If you do not know for sure that you would spend eternity in heaven, ask a preacher, or a saved friend. If you do not know of one that can tell you what the Bible says, please e-mail me at:
brinkworth@frontier.net. I would be honored to share the biblical way to heaven with you.

This article was featured in The Bible View #96.