Is the phrase "fire and brimstone" used by Americans or it is only in Bible?

I've seen "fire and brimstone" used to describe a certain style of preaching popular in 19th century America. Modernly, if the usage wasn't specifically historical, I would interpret it negatively – preaching (or more broadly, oration) that is loud and high in predictions of doom and gloom, but low in actual content.

I'd say that it is a fairly common expression. The Corpus of Contemporary American English returns 77 hits from the last 20 years, including uses by ABC's Nightline, CNN, USAToday, NPR, Forbes, and many others.

As Martha says, its original context is primarily religious, but it's often used for any sort of alarmist speechmongering.