I know what most of you will say, but hear me out. If a person on this earth were absolutely certain they were going to hell, is their anyway they could physically prepare themselves for such as place. I mean ways such as subjecting yourself to immense heat, burning yourself with fire, knawing on your own tongue and constantly immersing yourself in complete darkness? Would this help prepare someone for such a place?
Preparation, to avoid judgment and fire, wherever it comes from is found in the Gospel. 'Take in the homeless, give clothing to those without clothing, feed the hungry'... these things are normally considered to be "material and absolutely not metaphoric", but they are surely both. For everyday, we are asked to open our hearts to people.
And everyday, many close their hearts to people. And they close their minds.
'Take the lowest seat, not the highest.'
'Humble yourself and you will be exalted, exalt your self and you will be humbled.'
'Do not judge, because as you judge, it will be measured against you pressed down and heaping over.'
As you seem to be literally talking about literally going to Hell, there are many who claim to be authorities on that, but I would point out that no one knows when judgment will hit them.
Many go, "I am alive, doing fine, my career is going great, I have a spouse, and friends"... and they may think "I am protected from judgment". "I am still alive, I have not yet died, I do not know when I will die, and I am merely doing the same as everyone else". But, this sort of thinking is incorrect.
What is predicted can effectively be summed up as, in modern language, as "all of reality around you will suddenly change".
Reality challenging science fiction and fantasy is actually a very good model as to "what to expect".
What people tend to do is believe as they want to believe according to their preferences. That which they really, really want to believe -- they do so. Those who believe themselves intellectually superior to others who believe differently tend to get themselves in the worst of situations if they have used their vast intellect to close their minds.
It is literally a demonstration of power which will happen. People will have to accept many things they do not wish to accept. And they will have to do many things they would not wish to do.
If they have been very close minded towards others and closed heart, and have been quick to judge and dismiss others in their lives... they will be in a very difficult situation, because they will discover those people were not as they thought they were at all.
God is much smarter then people, and God is God. That is The Statement. But, what is most important to prepare one's self with is to understand God is love and merciful.
This is why it is very important to figure out who God is and realize how God has fed you, clothed you, protected you all of your years.
If a person is very strongly thinking, like Pharaoh did, that "there is no other", and that "I have created my own glory"... then, like Pharaoh was, they will be in a very tough situation. Because what they have been believing is what they want to believe.
And they will be persuaded what they wanted to believe is dead wrong.
The end comes like a thief, literally. There is plenty of disinformation out there specifically designed to hide this.
