Perhaps you know about the later life of the Eskimo in the picture. Did he turn and repent and believe the good news of his salvation through Jesus? Or did he wander off remaining in his natural unsaved state?
Without hearing the priests' response I don't think we can know.
If the priest was honest he would of replied "I told you that because it's a fear ploy we use to encourage new members to join up. Our main agenda is to maintain the power and wealth of the church, and we will stop at nothing to achieve that."
A much more likely scenario however is he would of lied, "Join us this Sunday and be saved or burn forever in eternal flames. Oh, and remember to bring your wallet."
It's not generally that simple. Consider the life of a priest. While there are a few of them that live in luxury, it's very few. Odds are that a priest/missionary to the Eskimos has real faith in what he believes. Why? He might get his meals on a regular basis. He might be supplied by the Church with enough furs to make it through the cold lands. He might even have a roof over his head at all times that he wants. But other than the basics, odds are he is living in poverty. Why move to the cold lands to start a church? Odds are he believes what he is teaching.
If a priest believes what he is teaching to be true, does that make it the truth? Not necessarily. A lie is a lie even if it is told in good faith. So, we are back to square one.
The fact that the universe and nature operate with machine-like properties that are way beyond our understanding in some cases, and the fact that machines have makers, suggests that the Maker of the universe is God, simply by the dictionary definition of the word God.
The fact that everything in the universe that we have seen operates by cause and effect shows that, whatever It was that was great enough to cause things of such complexity as life, and the human mind and understanding, especially after thousands of years of causes that have effects which are the causes of other effects, and so on, right down to this day, must be the Absolute King of billiards.
Couple the above with the fact that peoples of most nations feel sin and God in their hearts enough that they invent all kinds of religions worldwide, shows us that there is definitely a God, and that He is definitely extremely powerful.
The fact that there are proclaimed atheists who seem to believe their own atheism proclamation, shows that God is way beyond our understanding, except that He reveals Himself to us. The atheist realizes that he can't recognize anything about God on his own, so, because he doesn't like the discipline required by the religions, he just gives up on God.
When an atheist gives up on God, he is turning his back on the one thing that can save him from death. And since nobody really understands the depth of human consciousness, nobody really realizes the depth and fury of the destruction that will happen to him if he allows Himself to die. But God knows all about this, and that is why He sent the Savior, Jesus, to give mankind the chance to be saved.
Often a priest knows about some of this. He may not understand the machine-like quality of the universe. He may not understand the ultra-complex cause-and-effect workings God set up in the universe. But he DOES feel God in his heart. And he knows about death. And that is often his reason for becoming a missionary in the hard life, because he empathizes and sympathizes with those who have not had a chance to hear that there is hope in the Savior, Jesus.
