Hell’s Terror

Hell has long been a favorite Good News Club theme, as evidenced by the narratives of multiple authors. (Click on the thumbnails in the Introduction).

Good News Club does not advance a sterilized or metaphorical concept of Hell. According to a “non-negotiable” point in CEF’s Statement of Faith, Hell is a very real place of eternal conscious torment:

That the souls of the lost remain after death in misery until the final judgment of the great white throne, when soul and body re-united at resurrection shall be cast “Into the lake of fire” which is “the second death,” to be “punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.”

In addition to 52 explicit mentions of the word “Hell,” the Good News Club curriculum includes at least 200 other allusions to Hell, ranging from the very specific (e.g., “a terrible place of darkness and suffering”) to the more general (e.g., “eternal separation” from God). The average Good News Club lesson book includes more than two references or allusions to Hell per lesson, an obsessive and compulsive overkill given the lasting traumatic impression that just a single mention of Hell has on many children.

The Good News Club also talks about Heaven, frequently describing it as an alternative to Hell. One lesson describes “belief in Jesus” as “a ticket” (click it!) to gain admission to Heaven.

Citing Matthew 7:13-14, a Good News Club Esther lesson also advances a narcissistic view of salvation, telling children that only a “few” are going to Heaven, and the rest are going to Hell.