Could the Dead Sea conceal an entrance to Hades?
Perry Stone is exploring that chilling possibility, drawing connections between the region’s desolate landscape, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and historical accounts of fire burning beneath the ground.
He calls it “the most mysterious place on earth that I’ve ever been to.”
“There’s a mystique about it, there’s a mystery about it, and there is a presence there,” Stone said in Episode 1357 of his program.
His teaching ventures beneath the familiar biblical landscape into a question with eternal implications: What lies below?
Beneath the lowest point
Stone begins with the Dead Sea’s exceptionally low elevation. He believes its position could place it closer to the underground chambers he associates with the biblical underworld.
“The Dead Sea, being the lowest spot on earth, would make it, make you closer to what’s underneath the crust of the earth itself,” he said.
The places he describes carry the weight of judgment.
“You’ve got Tartarus, you’ve got the bottomless pit. You’ve got the fire part of Hades, even possibly the lake of fire.”
Stone presents the proposed geographical connection as a possibility. The passages he cites do not identify the Dead Sea as an entrance to Hades.
But the region’s association with divine judgment drives his investigation deeper.
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Where fire fell from heaven
Stone places Sodom and Gomorrah near the southern Dead Sea, connecting their destruction in Genesis with the sulfur found in the surrounding region.
“They were destroyed with fire that came out of heaven,” he said.
Brimstone figures prominently in his argument.
“Brimstone is a combustible sulfur substance that can burn.”
Stone also points to historical descriptions attributed to Strabo, Diodorus, Philo and the explorer Volney. As he recounts them, those accounts describe sulfurous odors and smoke, with fire beneath the region’s surface.
“So, it tells me that there is a fire, subterranean fire of some kind that is underneath the Dead Sea,” he said.
He interprets those reports as clues to a deeper mystery, although they do not establish the location of Hades.
The wilderness where Satan tempted Jesus
Stone’s attention then shifts to the Judean wilderness, where he places Jesus’ confrontation with Satan.
“The Bible says he was led into the wilderness, and that’s the Judean wilderness, to be tempted,” he said.
He connects that setting with Matthew 12:43, which describes an unclean spirit passing through dry places in search of rest.
“Now he there, doesn’t refer to the man. It refers to the evil spirit which has left the man’s body,” Stone explained.
Those passages contribute to his view of the surrounding wilderness as a place associated with spiritual conflict.
Then his teaching takes a more personal turn.
A descent into darkness
Stone recounts Bill Fishel’s testimony about an experience during a medical emergency. According to Stone, Fishel described leaving his body and descending through a dark tunnel before reaching a barren field filled with people.
A figure presented itself as an angel offering peace and rest. In the account Stone relates, its appearance concealed something horrifying.
“It looked like a good angel, but when you got up to it, it was a demon, and people began to fall into a pit.”
Stone continued recounting Fishel’s description: “You could see flames, you could see burning, you could hear people screaming.”
“There was darkness above the hole. It smelled like burning sulfur.”
Stone said he interviewed Fishel three times.
“The story never changed. The story was the same.”
According to Stone, Fishel returned from the experience with a lasting commitment to God.
“He served the Lord from that moment on, steady and dedicated to God, until he departed and left this earth.”
Stone’s final warning leaves the mystery of the Dead Sea behind and confronts the destination of the human soul.
“This place exists. You don’t want to go there,” he said.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
