And the Fool Has Said in
His Heart—No, God!
If you’re familiar with my work, you know I believe the end is very near, that
judgment and eternity in hell awaits anyone who has not accepted the gift of
salvation, who does not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The
Bible tells us so.
Revelation 20:10-15 (NAS) says:
And the
devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where
the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and
night forever and ever. And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it,
from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.
And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and
books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and
the dead were judged from the things that were written in the books, according
to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and
Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every one of
them according to their deeds. And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of
fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not
found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
That scripture speaks for itself, but if you need an eye-witness testimony to
that fact, it’s now available in an amazing book called
23 Minutes in Hell, by Bill Wiese.
In his book, Bill desrc
ibes the terrible events that occurred on
Now Bill was already a born-again Christian, but during the time in question,
that fact was hidden from his conscious awareness.
Not certain of where he was or how he had arrived, he was horrified to find
himself lying naked on the floor of a hard stone cell, made of craggy rocks and
metal bars. He was not alone. Two scaly, misshapen creatures, looking like the
undead we see on television, stood between ten and thirteen feet tall, one
furiously pacing back and forth, but both with venomous hate in their eyes as
they looked at him.
He felt inordinately weak, scarcely able to lift himself off the floor. At the
outset, there was light in his cell, but it soon went out, leaving him in total
darkness. He desrc
ibes the darkness as something that seemed to absorb the light
instead of reflecting it. The only light was from flames licking high in the
distance.
The heat was unbearable, and somehow he understood it was 10,000 times hotter
than what would have been possible for man to endure with a normal human body,
but this would be his eternal destiny.
One of the demons picked him up and mauled him trying to kill him, swiping
foot-long talons through his midsection, leaving his skin and organs hanging in
ribbons. Excruciating pain, again 10,000 times greater than he had ever known on
earth, enveloped him. This alone should’ve caused him to die, but there was no
death. His body held no fluids of any kind: no water, no serum or blood, so no
injuries were severe enough to cause death, because
this was death.
He looked around in the dim light of flames licking high into the air from a pit
in the distance, from which came the echoing sounds of millions of never-ending
src
eams from souls forever lost in torment. As a person who had compassion on
others, he would’ve tried to help had he been on earth, but there was absolutely
nothing he could do. In fact, he worried he might be next. The sounds of those
src
eams haunt him to this day.
Taking in his surroundings, he looked beyond his cell to see that there was not
one living thing. No water, no sky, no light, no sunshine, no green vegetation,
and worst of all, absolutely no hope.
There was no sleep, rest, or distraction there. There were no problems to solve;
there was no business to conduct, no one to talk to or sympathize with, as each
was isolated in his own terrible, endless misery. There was no reason to live,
no sunrise to mark the start of a new day, and no hope for an end to the
heartache.
There was no partying going on,
as some men have imagined. There was only pain, torment, src
eaming, terrible
heat, endless desolation and, ultimately, hopelessness.
He desrc
ibed the smell as a combination of every terrible, putrid thing that
ever existed, magnified 10,000 times. In fact, he said he knew the smell alone
was toxic enough to kill a human being, but he was no longer flesh and blood,
and as a result could not die.
He had a momentary flashback to the memories of his life on earth, memories of
the ocean, the warm sunshine, cool breezes, and the beautiful blue sky, of his
loving wife and comfortable home. For those who might believe that life is hell
now and that death would be a relief, this should be a wake-up call.
Hell is the final and permanent
destination of those who die without Jesus Christ.
Hell, Bill testifies, is at the center of the earth, and lining the perimeter of
the tunnel that led there he saw endless rows of demons, chained to the walls.
More demons stood at the edge of each pit, where people were src
eaming and
clawing unsuccessfully to get out.
He was horrified beyond belief, realizing that this was his eternal destiny.
Now understand this. Hell was not created for man, but as the eternal destiny
for Satan and his angels. God does not choose to send man there; his sin does
that. It breaks God’s heart for a single man to perish, according to scripture,
and, in fact, He did everything necessary to help man escape that terrible,
endless fate. It’s up to each man to accept the gift of salvation that will
alter his fate forever. The choice is heaven or hell. What will it be?
After a time, Bill felt himself rising, and knew he was no longer alone. As they
ascended the tunnel, he felt his horror recede as hope once again took root. He
knew Jesus had come to escort him out of this terrible place, and he was
thrilled and relieved beyond words.
As they rose higher, he asked Jesus why he had sent him to hell. Jesus said it
was because few people, including Christians, believe in a literal hell, and he
wanted Bill to come back and tell the story, so there would no longer be any
doubt.
At that moment, Bill fell at Jesus’ feet, suddenly aware of his sin and
unworthiness. He wept in gratitude as he grasped the incredible love of God, who
had sent Jesus to die in our place, to take our sin, and, when we least deserved
it, offered us eternal life in heaven with Him.
Jesus touched his shoulder and helped him stand, then said, “Tell them I’m
coming soon.” Ever louder and more urgently, He repeated the words, “Tell them
I’m coming soon!”
After Jesus left Bill lying on his living room floor, the horror of the whole
event returned, and he began to src
eam and tremble like a post-trauma victim.
His wife ran to see what had happened, and he shouted at her to pray for him,
because he couldn’t live with the reality of what had happened, unless the Lord
buffered and protected him from the knowledge.
The instant she began to pray, God took away the horror, leaving him able to
share the facts of that awful experience.
Now if this story doesn’t give you pause, I will say you have a very hard heart.
As an author and a reviewer, I have read many, many books, but never has a
single book influenced me in the way this one did. My heart’s desire, like God’s
is that no one should spend eternity
in hell.
I would urge you to read for yourself the book
23 Minutes in Hell and tell me there
is no judgment for sin.
Just because human beings refuse to believe reality doesn’t mean reality doesn’t
exist.
The fact is that Jesus Christ is coming soon, and after that comes judgment.
Don’t wait a moment
longer to grab onto the Lifeline you’ve been offered—His name is Jesus, and He’s
waiting for you…
You can be sure you
are going to heaven by following these simple, but essential steps:
1.
Pray, admitting to God that you have sinned, falling short of His standard of
perfection.
2. Accept His wonderful gift of salvation, and tell Him you exchange your sins for
His righteousness.
3.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, and tell Him you want to become
His child. Once you have done this, your name will be written in the Lamb’s Book
of Life in heaven, without which no man will escape the awful flames of hell.
Read your Bible
and pray everyday. Get into a sound, gospel-teaching church, and grow in the
knowledge of God and His Word. Tell other people that Jesus is coming soon and
that after that comes judgment. Urge them to accept His gift of salvation.
Don’t wait. Today is the day of
salvation. We’re not guaranteed tomorrow.
Copyright ©2012, Nancy Arant Williams. Used by permission