What's the big deal?
Posted on 06/09/2012 3:18:12 PM PDT by GiovannaNicoletta
In part one of this article, I told you I wanted to share the stories of two different men who had literally visited hell and been allowed to come back to tell about their experiences. The first gentleman was Bill Wiese, who subsequently penned a book about what he saw and heard on his unexpected journey called, 23 Minutes in Hell. I highly recommend it, as well as giving a copy to your unsaved friends and family.
Let me briefly recap what happened to Mr. Wiese, who was a Christian at the time. He was awakened at 3am one morning by the sensation he was falling. He states he was fully awake and conscious of his surroundings when he landed, naked, in a dimly lit cell with stone walls and iron bars for a door.
He was totally confused and terrified as well as astonished at the suffocating heat and stench of his surroundings. All light disappeared from the room and he was left in darkness so profound, he felt it enter into him. Unfortunately, there were two huge, demon-like creatures in the cell with him who took turns throwing him around and shredding the skin of his torso with their monstrous claws.
Inexplicably weak physically, mentally and emotionally, he crawled from the cell only to shortly find himself standing by a massive pit filled with fire whose flames shot up high into a huge cavernous room. In the unbearable heat, he could see people writhing in agony, screaming in the flames. Hideous demons perched on the perimeter of the pit, preventing any hope of escape.
One of the most profound aspects of this nightmarish journey was the utter hopelessness of his situation because he was completely separated from God. He instinctively knew he would never leave, never be able to speak to or share the misery with another human being and was totally at the mercy of the demons who took delight in torturing the inhabitants. No rest. No peace. No moisture or water. Just continual suffering throughout eternity.
He was lifted up, out of that place of torment by Jesus, who explained that he was allowed to visit hell for just a few minutes because He wanted Bill to spend the rest of his earthly life telling others about his experience and warning the lost that hell is indeed a real place with real suffering. Jesus wants everyone to understand that He died so that NO one would ever end up in that place that was created for satan and his demons.
Now, you may not believe such a fantastic story from this first man because it IS such an incredible tale of horror. Although I don’t personally know Mr. Wiese and I’ve no reason to doubt his word, I freely admit that I can’t be 100% certain this actually happened to him in 1998 as he reports.
However, I can be 100% sure of the second man’s story because he was my grandfather and his personal tour of hell occurred 37 years earlier, in 1961!
Chester Herman Robinson was my mother’s father and he was not a nice man. He spent a great deal of his adult life as a cynical, critical, very angry man who, though never physical, was emotionally and verbally abusive to his wife and children. He was a hard smoking, hard drinking alcoholic whose hair-trigger temper caused him to quit job after job, cursing a blue streak at anyone who crossed him.
My grandmother, Roxie, was a Christian woman who took her children to church every Sunday and made sure they were brought up with the knowledge of the Lord and His Word. Chester, called ‘Jack’ by friends and family, refused to attend services with his family but he never prevented his wife from going or taking the children. However, he would get into heated arguments with Roxie about God and the Bible, especially when he was drunk.
He would taunt her with the fact that he’d heard that Jesus was coming back all his life but it hadn’t happened yet, so he didn’t believe it ever would. “Where’s your Jesus? When’s He gonna come back?” My grandmother answered with a soft, sad answer, “I don’t know, Jack." She faithfully prayed for her husband’s salvation for 30 long years, and stayed with him through thick and thin, enduring his abusive ways, trying to make the best home for her children she could.
In 1961, when Chester was 55 years old, he developed a life threatening torsion or twisting of his intestines, which quickly became gangrenous. He was deathly sick and rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. His family gathered the waiting room, preparing themselves for his probable death due to the doctor’s prognosis. Roxie sat there, head bowed, praying fervently for her husband and reminded God that He had promised her He would not take Chester’s life before he was safely saved.
Almighty God, being the highly intelligent person He is, knew it would be best not to disappoint Nana (Roxie), so He answered her prayer in grand fashion!
Because he had abused his body with cigarettes and hard liquor for years on end, Chester was not in the best physical shape to fight off a serious infection like gangrene, much less endure major, open abdominal surgery and while he was on the operating table, his heart stopped several times. He didn’t have a warm, fuzzy near-death-experience of traveling through a tunnel towards a loving source of light. Nope, he got a personal tour of hell from Jesus Himself.
In subsequent weeks, while he was recovering, he began to recount to his family and friends what he experienced while he was in cardiac arrest. He said he was fully awake and conscious and became aware that someone had taken his elbow and was escorting him downward into a place of darkness.
He said it wasn’t normal darkness as we know it, but a darkness that inspired a feeling of abject terror. The deeper they went and the darker it got, the more he wanted to fight and escape the unseen danger and mounting panic he felt. He found himself in a very large cavern like space, whose only light was from a huge fire. In the suffocating heat, horrible demon-like creatures kept crawling out of the flickering shadows to leer at him.
He described a huge pit filled with flames and he watched as many, many people were being shoved and pushed into it by these hateful creatures. Their agonized screams were deafening and constant but there was no one to help them escape or provide relief for their suffering. Although engulfed in fire, they were not being consumed by the flames. They just kept burning and burning…
He looked around and could see other people seemingly attached to the walls of the cave, though he couldn’t tell how. They were unable to move or escape. He watched as huge demons plunged their long, sharp talons into the prisoner’s chests, shredding their skin all the way down their torso, leaving the tissue hanging in ribbons like they were being filleted.
Somehow, their skin would mend itself, only to have the demons tear them apart again and again. He noticed the creatures of unparalleled evil seemed to take great delight in torturing the people and hearing their screams for mercy. However, even though these physical torments were beyond the stuff of nightmares they couldn’t compare to the worst aspect of the suffering.
Every human being is made in the image of God. There is a spark of the divine in all of us which allows our hearts to be touched with joy when we hold our baby for the first time or when we marvel at a gorgeous sunset or feel the touch of a loved one. Even the most evil serial killer on earth experiences fleeting moments of transcendent joy and wonder during their earthly lives. They may deny the existence of God and commit atrocities but their spirit is still connected to their Creator until the moment they die.
When recounting his tour of hell, Chester described what it was like to realize he was completely cut off from all contact with God forever; that he would never again, for all of eternity, have any connection to the One who made him in His image. Therefore he would never know light and peace and rest and joy again. He felt entirely orphaned.
The feeling was that of complete hopelessness, overwhelming grief, despair and the most profound loneliness beyond his wildest imagination. And it would last forever and ever and ever. No rest. Not one second of relief from the continual harassment and torture by the demons surrounding him. Unable to defend himself. Constant panic. No escape. No camaraderie or conversation with any other human being, ever. Totally alone.
NO. HOPE. FOREVER.
The tour guide holding his elbow told him, “I can leave you here if this is what you really want or you can go back and totally surrender to Me. What is your choice?” He quickly made up his mind to give his heart to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and knew he would not be given another chance if he didn’t live up to his promise.
2nd Corinthians 5:17 states, “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
That was certainly true of Chester Herman Robinson from then on! God answered Roxie’s faithful prayers and saved her husband. But God didn’t force his decision; Chester still retained his free will to choose. God simply made sure he understood the ramifications of making the wrong choice.
Before his hellish tour, Chester was not a man to ever be caught weeping! Afterwards, he was a broken, humbled, grateful man who was gentle and kind, whose heart was completely changed. For the remaining four years of his life, he was unable to recount his experience, especially the horror of being completely separated from God, without breaking down in tears. He and Roxie are now together in the presence of their Creator and Savior and will enjoy each other forever!
Why did I tell you these two stories? First, I want to make sure every single person reading this understands that they have a decision to make before they die and ignoring the issue IS deciding ‘no.’ We all have to decide whether we will accept the pardon for our sins that the Son of God, Jesus, died to freely provide for us. There are only two choices. Eternal life or eternal death. What kind of blithering, rebellious idiot would a person have to be to choose eternal death?
Second reason is this: I want you to notice the incredible, undeniable similarities between these eyewitness accounts, made 37 years apart, by two very different men who never met. What are the odds the details of their stories would match so closely? Zip. Absolutely zero odds!
Listen up, people! None of us are guaranteed another hour of life, much less another day. You could be in a car wreck today. You could contract a deadly disease. You could be the victim of murder. Don’t be a fool and assume you’ll live to a ripe old age!
2nd Corinthians 6:2 says, “For He (God) saith I have heard thee in a time accepted and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
Hell is a real place with real physical, emotional and mental suffering beyond our comprehension. Think about it. Two accounts, that similar cannot possibly be lies! Now, you’re correct when you claim a loving God would never send anyone to such a place.
Hell was never meant for men and women, but for Lucifer and the angels who participated in his weak, pansy rebellion against God. But people who join in that rebellion by rejecting Jesus will automatically join them in that place of punishment.
Christ died in our place, giving us a chance to choose to serve Him and live with Him in heaven forever. Therefore, the people who end up spending an eternity in hell freely CHOOSE to go there!
No excuses. No whining. No escape. Forever.
If they have metal and beer in hell, I’ll be fine.
Thanks for posting this.
I have read another account that referenced Hell being a writhing thing of great agony, along with its inhabitants.
Your post is an object lesson for us, regardless if we have been saved or not. It reminds us of the Adversary.
Thanks again for posting it. ‘Pod.
If you read the accounts, they clearly DO NOT.
So...what will YOU do with Jesus’ offer of forgiveness and eternal life?
I am willing to bet they will have it but you wont get it, consider it a your special chiding in Hell. Hopefully that is not the place you will find yourself in to find out first hand. Once there a reprieve is very unlikely.
God Bless
Let’s drink are beer here and make the right decisions in life.
That is a very powerful post.
Well, you can test this and put on quite a show too. Go to a metal concert and bring plenty of beer....and gasoline. Pour gasoline over yourself while the band is playing, grab a beer, and light up. Then determine if you are fine or not.
Ping to Hell.
Hell is waaaaaaaay overrated. Besides living through Texas summers is the closest I ever wanna be. Rejecting Jesus is beyond dumb, stupid and blind. Go to You Tube and see others who have had NDE of hell too. If one has to be scared to near death for salvation, then so be it.
I listened to a Barbara Streisand record once.
Confused and unlikely story. Total darkness, but observing demons. Iron bars for door, but crawled from the cell.
Just a nightmare.
Two men, who never met each other and who had basically the same nightmare over thirty years apart.
Sheer coincidence and should be completely dismissed.
Wait, I'm in Hell!
Thanks be to God for such grace. To even know when you will die is grace to prepare.
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; “ (Acts 3:19)
More vids here:
WATCH
http://www.cbn.com/700club/features/Amazing/ (various amazing testimonies)
NDE Research: Gary habermas Near Death Experiences and the Afterlife (Video File download) http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/context/lts_fac_pubs/article/1214/type/native/viewcontent
Glimpse of Eternity with Ian McCormack: stung by box jellyfish: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3682855866783766146
Download: http://www.divinerevelations.info/Documents/ian_mccormack/Glimps_of_Eternity_GoodQuality.mp4
Dr Maurice Rawlings - NDE – Interviews: To Hell and Back; including an atheist)Download: http://media.tbn.org/download/tbn/gallery/To_Hell_And_Back.wmv
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6547221602055506348&q=mickey+robinson&total=57&start=0&num=50&so=0&type=search&plindex=1 (
Mickey Robinson — air crash to Christ)
http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=390590177647370865&hl=en Heaven
& Hell Accounts - Final Destiny
Roman Gutierrez — “Twice” dead: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3754387560159309665
Channel 7 news — man raised from dead after 40 minutes: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-2334132798216105638&hl=en
Matthew Botsford - To Hell and Back http://www.cbn.com/700club/features/Amazing/Matthew_Botsford011206.aspx
Deerinda Lowe Gets A Second Chance http://www.cbn.com/700club/features/amazing/Deerinda-Lowe-120810.aspx
The Day Jeffrey Thompson Almost Died http://www.cbn.com/700club/features/amazing/Jeffrey-Thompson-072810.aspx
LOL! And you survived it just fine, sf. (I’d have put knitting needles into my ears to avoid that torture.)
Thank you for those links, daniel1212!
I have heard of Bill Weise before, have seen his video, and I bought his book (although I didn't read the whole account). His story is very convincing, and I believe his experience in Hell was real and permitted by God so that he could be a messenger to the doubters and scoffers in these troubled times that we live in.
Christ mentioned Hell more that He did heaven.
Think about that.
I have read many accounts of NDE and Hell. They all are horrible. I knew I was going to Hell before I accepted Christ. Once I knew I was saved from sin, death, and Hell itself, it was the most profound experience I have ever experienced. At once, I realized what Christ had actually done for me and for humanity, and at the same time I finally contemplated the true nature of the Holiness of God (and how far I was from Him).
Only Christ bridges that chasm.
To those who refuse to believe in Hell, contemplate this for a moment: your chance of eventual death is 100%. In fact, it is only a few years away no matter how old you are now.
Are you willing to gamble your eternity on the garbage that the media and the rest of our clueless citizens spew - that Christ isn't real, and Satan isn't real?
Are you really willing to gamble it all on the chance that the Bible isn't true - so you won't read it (really read it) and examine the evidence yourself of whether Christianity is true to not?
Hell is real. It is more horrible than we can ever imagine: the pain, the smells, the screams, the heat, the terror, the torture, the darkness, the separation from God - forever.
We can't "earn" out salvation - it is the gift of Christ.
And God has provided a way:
"9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."
Romans 5: 9-11
If you have never accepted the Lord Jesus - then say this prayer right now as you sit at your computer.
"God - I know that I have broken your laws and my sins have separated me from you. I am truly sorry, and now I want to turn away from my past sinful life toward you. Please forgive me. I believe that your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.”
Thank you for posting this!
Repent, and believe in Christ as Savior!
Thank you so much for posting. I had the opposite experience on 10 Jan 06, and met our Lord. He reachind into my chest and healed my heart after I passed from heart failure. I will never forget that feeling - or the surprised looks on the faces of the ICU team as I sat up before they were able put the paddles to my chest.
However, back in ‘85 I also met Satan - briefly - with his offer of ultimate power, saying “come to me, and I will give you everything”. I turned him down thankfully. But the experience was very disturbing.
How do I know that experience with Satan was real? My wife at the time was sitting there in the corner of the room scared to death after watching me hover in the air screaming “NO!!!!” at the top of my lungs, spinning in midair. I awoke wrapped up in our bedsheets wrapped up like a mummy when I slammed back into the bed.
Our Lord is real, and His love knows no bounds. Satan is just as real, and his evil also knows no bounds.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.