“Judas Iscariot – where is he? I know we don’t know who’s in heaven and hell, but I always wondered because Christ selected him and Christ had to die on the cross, so where do you think he is?” asked Kathy from New Jersey.

Have you ever wondered this? Where did the man who betrayed Jesus and handed him over to be tortured and executed end up? “I think he’s in hell—I think there’s no question that he’s in hell. Now, I can’t say that with definitive certitude, but since you’re asking me where do I think he is, I think all the evidence points to the fact that he’s in hell,” responded Patrick Madrid, host of The Patrick Madrid Show on Relevant Radio^®.

“There are those who say no, no, no, no, he was saved or at the very least he maybe went to Purgatory. But that seems to fly in the face of everything that Scripture says and certainly the Church’s posture toward Judas Iscariot has always been until recent times—some people, anyway, have deviated from the traditional view which is that Judas went to hell,” said Madrid.

So, what does Scripture say about it? “In Luke 22 beginning in verse 3 we’re told, ‘Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot who is of the number of the Twelve. He went away and conferred with the chief priests and the officers how he might betray him to them. They were glad and agreed to give him money. So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of the crowd.’ Take note of the fact that he was possessed by Satan. So he had fully given himself over—the devil can’t possess you in that full sense unless there’s some task of permission.

“John 13:2, the Last Supper, ‘The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray him.’ So instances like this. Jesus calls Judas a devil in John 6. Jesus says it would be better for that man never to have been born than to do the things he has done. So I suppose we could multiply many examples from Scripture alone that point to the fact that Judas did not go to heaven, and if he were in purgatory then he would be on his way to heaven. And there seems to be no indication of that happening. So … based on the evidence, my opinion is that it suggests that Judas is in hell.”