The term "hell" is not an adjective or verb, grammatically speaking, but rather a noun. The most common form of education teaches that a noun denotes a person, place, or thing. Hell is a noun, and hell refers to a place.

The 3rd of the 12th Fourth Infantry Division, is the unit I was with in Viet Nam. This tract tells the story of my brush with death while with my outfit.

June 17th, 1970, I was lying on a mountain side in the central highlands of Viet Nam, seriously wounded by a Russian AK-47 round that had entered my body about an inch below my left shoulder blade. It struck my spine and followed the spine down for a few inches until it crossed over to the opposite side of my spine, and continued its course until it came to rest behind my right knee.

The impact of the round hitting my spine was comparable to having your arms tied to a dragster pointed North, and the legs of your body tied to a dragster pointed South, and at a given command, both speed away in their respective directions posthaste; and, at that simultaneous instant, your body, stretched and torn, sends a thunderbolt of information to the brain: PAIN.

After the pain subsided, still leaning on my weapon, the firing continuing around me, I thought to call the medic, Paul McCombie, to help me. But I could not think of his name. So, just like in the movies, I yelled, "Medic."

After saying that word, the most wonderful sight I can remember entered my vision. Amid the firing, out in the open, unprotected, came the medic on his hands and knees, with his little bag of supplies swaying back and forth under him.

I could never tell you in words what it meant for me to have that brave man risk his life, under fire, to help me. Wounded very seriously and knowing it, helpless, fearful that I would be shot again-I found comfort because this fellow soldier was beside me.

Eventually other soldiers came up to be with me. Then, I was given shots of morphine. Those two things took the edge off my fears enough so I was able to give my valuables to my friend, Louis Brown. He was to send them home to my mother.

After that, my consciousness of events taking place around me faded as a consciousness of God enveloped my thoughts. I knew that I was going to hell. I had a conversation with God, and I told him that I knew that I was going to hell because I had never asked Jesus to be my Saviour when I was healthy. I didn't want to be a hypocrite (In reality, even though I was in serious trouble, I was too proud to turn to God).

Before June 17th, 1970, and for almost seven years after that date, I could not have told you that there was a God. How I had this conversation with God, not knowing that there was a God, is a mystery to me. Further, after I had had that conversation with God, I never remembered the conversation with Him until seven years later, when I read a book called, The Bible Believer's Commentary On The Book Of Revelation, by Pastor Peter Ruckman, PH. D.

After being shot, I spent about the next six months in various hospitals. Then for two years I tried to drown my sorrows in pills and booze. I lost most of my friends. I finally came to the realization that I had to do something constructive with my life. So I decided to go to college.

I met my wife Susan at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, where we lived on campus in the residence hall. I was attending WSU because it was ideally set up for people in wheelchairs, and she came to take a special course of study not offered elsewhere in Ohio. The first day I saw her, I told myself that if I had her, I wouldn't need anything else. After a somewhat stormy start, we eventually fell in love and got married. It was about two years later that Susan brought the book home that was to change my life: The Bible Believer's Commentary On The Book Of Revelation.

Before we met, my wife Susan had been in a cult called "the Way International" (I say they are a cult for the simple reason that they do not believe that Jesus Christ is God). When she started dating me, "the Way" organization, objecting to the fact that I was not one of them, gave her the option of staying with them and leaving me; or, leaving them and dating me. She had to make a choice. Fortunately for me, she chose to continue to date me. However, I was never aware that she had to make such a decision.

Unknown to me, my wife had started feeling bad about herself because she felt that when she left "the Way International," that she had left something that was of God. She was considering going to some kind of church in an effort to fill an empty space, a void, that she had in her life.

Meanwhile, in the providence of God, He allowed Susan's sister Pat to get saved, and she began to send Susan material to show her that "the Way International" was a cult.

Realizing that "the Way" was not the right way, but a cult, Susan began to feel better about herself. She went to a Christian bookstore in Beavercreek, operated by Pastor Greg Estep and his wife Judy, to find more material that would refute the false teachings of "the Way."

Browsing through the books, she saw books about the book of Revelation. The things in the book of Revelation deal with prophecy, and I had somehow shown enough interest in the book, that Susan decided to get me a commentary to read! So Pastor Estep showed her which commentary that he thought would be best, and she brought it home to read before she gave it to me. She was not sure how I would receive the material. My wife tells me that before I got saved that she couldn't even open a Bible in front of me. I don't know, I don't remember. Maybe I was that bad.

Susan read part of the book and brought it in to me one day saying, "Read this book and see what it has to say."

I began to read the book and this is what it showed me from the Book of all books, the King James Bible and this is what it showed me:

[1] ". . .all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23 When I read that verse, I had to agree that indeed, I had done things that were wrong. I had sinned.

[2] It said that all people who die unsaved go to a place called hell: "But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him." Luke 12:5 When the word "hell" was mentioned, I thought back to the day that I lay seriously wounded on that mountainside in Viet Nam, on my way to hell, without any hope. "It's true," I thought, "there is a hell." I kept on reading. The book said that Jesus Christ was God, and that He died on the cross for my sins, was buried, and rose again the third day according to the scriptures-and, if I would believe that He did die for my sins, and ask Him to save me, I would be saved from going to hell.

[3] This may seem strange to you, I knew hell existed, but I wasn't sure that there was a God. On the other hand, I knew that I had been headed toward hell, and nothing since I was shot had changed my course from that direction. Needless to say, I didn't want to go to hell, so in the best way that I could, I told God that I was willing to believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, was buried, and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. I then asked the Lord Jesus Christ to be my Saviour, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10:13  I called upon His name and asked Him to save me from going to hell. He saved me at that moment. And I have been saved ever since. I could never go to hell because I've trusted in God's word. He made the promise, I took Him up on His promise. The term for such action is called "faith." Without "faith" it is impossible to please God. (my wife also prayed and asked the Lord to save her the same day I prayed.)

Dear Friend, have you ever placed "faith" in what God has said about the salvation of your soul? Have you ever trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ to be your personal Saviour? If not, let me tell you that He loves you, and is not willing that you perish and go to hell when you die. He wants you to trust in Him, in His word, and in what He did for you on Calvary almost 2000 years ago.

Hell is a noun. It is a literal place that people go to when they die if they are not saved. I want you, my friend, to be prepared to die with the assurance that you will go to heaven. And not be like I was on June 17th, 1970, at the gates of death and hell, with no hope of salvation. That is why I'm telling you about Jesus. He is the way to heaven. Just ask Him, and see for yourself.

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Acts 16:31 "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

A prayer you can pray: God, I know that I am a sinner who should go to hell for the sins I've committed. But I want to trust in what the Lord Jesus Christ did for me, dying for my sins so I could be saved, and rising again the third day according to the scriptures. Lord Jesus Christ, please save me. I accept the promise that you made to me in the Bible: "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10:13