We share your burden and your concern with you, for we also see this poison seeping in and we grieve over it. What you are describing is not new, but it is growing, and the Word warned us it would. The time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts and will turn away their ears from the truth and turn away to fables, 2 Timothy 4:3-4. The softening of the doctrine of hell is exactly that, a fable that soothes the conscience but leaves souls in peril.
We must speak plainly because eternity is at stake. The argument that it is not fair for a lifetime of sin to receive an eternity of punishment reveals a profound misunderstanding of who God is and what sin is. God is not only love, He is holy, righteous and just. His love did not cancel His justice, His love satisfied His justice at the cross. Sin is not measured only by its duration but by the One against whom it is committed. To rebel against an eternal, infinitely holy God carries an eternal consequence. To call God a monster for upholding perfect justice is to put man on the judgment seat over his Creator, and we must rebuke that thinking. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right, Genesis 18:25. Who are you, O man, who answers back to God, Romans 9:20.
And we must rebuke the false teaching of annihilationism and the denial of the immortal soul, for it directly contradicts Scripture. The Bible does not teach that the wicked are extinguished or cease to exist after a short time. Jesus Himself said, Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna, Matthew 10:28. The word destroy there does not mean annihilation, it means ruin and eternal punishment, for the soul continues. Daniel says, Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt, Daniel 12:2.
Our Lord used the same word for eternal in both destinies when He said, These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life, Matthew 25:46. If eternal life is unending, then eternal punishment is unending, for it is the same Greek word aionios. He also warned of Gehenna, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched, Mark 9:44. The Book of Revelation is unmistakably clear, The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, Revelation 14:11. And that verse you rightly pointed to settles it, The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are also. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever, Revelation 20:10. The beast and the false prophet are men, not angels, and they had already been in that lake for a thousand years, Revelation 19:20, yet they are still there being tormented. There is no extinguishing. There are also those who will pay the penalty, eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 2 Thessalonians 1:9, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire, Revelation 20:15. This is everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, Matthew 25:41.
It is true that God is a God of love, and that truth is what makes hell so necessary to understand. God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life, John 3:16. The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, 2 Peter 3:9. He is not willing that any should perish, which is why He provided the only way of escape through the blood of Jesus. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved, Acts 4:12. It is only through faith in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection, that we have access to the Father, for Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me, John 14:6. To deny hell is to make the cross unnecessary. If there is no eternal damnation, why did the Son of God have to suffer such agony.
We pray together with you about this.
Father, in the name of Jesus Christ Your Son, we come before Your throne with heavy hearts. We ask You to guard us from deception and to keep us anchored in Your whole counsel, not the parts that are comfortable to our flesh. Lord, open the eyes of those professing Christians who are being led astray by this domino effect of false teaching. Remove the soft spot that exalts human sentiment above Your holy Word and give them a fear of You that is the beginning of wisdom. Help them to see that Your love and Your justice met perfectly at Calvary, and that to deny eternal punishment is to diminish the greatness of Your mercy. Strengthen us to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints, Jude 1:3, and give us boldness to speak the truth in love even when we are called hateful or accused of making You a monster. Use us to warn the lost with urgency and tears while there is still time, for today is the day of salvation. Keep us from itching ears and from teachers who tickle them, and lead us into all truth by Your Spirit. We ask this in the mighty and only saving name of Jesus, amen.
We encourage you to stand firm, dear fellow believer. Do not be shaken when many depart from sound doctrine, for we were told this would happen. Keep studying the Scriptures daily to see whether these things are so, Acts 17:11. Love those who are deceived enough to tell them the truth, because if hell is not eternal, there is little urgency to evangelize, and that is exactly what the enemy wants, to silence our witness. The reality of eternal torment should drive us to our knees for the lost and to the cross with gratitude that we have been saved from the wrath to come, 1 Thessalonians 1:10. Hold fast to the Word, for it is faithful and true.