You're going to hear the vision of Hell, but even more important, you're going to hear a vision of intimacy with Jesus Christ and the love He has for this whole world. Bill was in Hell. He wasn't a casual observer, as so many people have been in legitimate visions, but He experienced the torments of Hell for about a half an hour with absolutely no hope of ever escaping.
But first I want to address a couple things, questions that might be in your mind. The first question that would be in mine, if I was listening to me, would be, "How do you know it wasn't just a dream that you had? A Bad dream?" A couple points to make, first of all, I had left my body. I saw my body when I returned, lying on the floor. So I know for sure it was an out of body experience. Some Christians have said, "Oh a Christian can't leave his body." But that's not true, In 2 Corinthians 12:2, when Paul was caught up into the third heaven, He said, "whether in the body, or out of the body I do not know." So if he didn't know that must mean it's possible. And also he said in verse 1 that it was a vision, so I believe this comes under the classification of a vision.
In Job 7:14 it says, "thou scarest me with dreams and terrifieth me with visions." So this is definitely what the Lord did, terrified me through a vision. Also in returning from this, it took me a year to calm down, and become like a normal person again. I was so upset and traumatized from the fear that it's changed my whole viewpoint on how to witness and how much to appreciate what God saved us from.
I asked my wife to come up for a minute so that she could just share with you what happened when she found me in the living room, because I don't remember that part. So I want her to say a few words. Thank you.
(Bill's wife Annette speaking) It was about 3:23 in the morning when I woke up. I just remember that because I looked at our digital clock, and I noticed Bill was not next to me, and I heard screaming coming from our living room. I proceeded to go down the hallway. I found my husband in a way I'd never seen him before. If anyone gets to know Bill, he's very conservative by nature, very calm, and a professional man. He's just not the type to get excited or get real emotional over anything, unless it's God at times. But, anyway, I saw him there traumatized, literally traumatized holding his skull, holding his head between his hands and crying out and screaming. He was in a fetal position on our living room floor. I didn't know what to do. I thought he was having a heart attack. I just started to pray and he cried out and said, "Pray that the Lord would take this out of my mind! The Lord took me to Hell. I feel like my body is dying, I can't handle this." So I proceeded to pray over him, and in about ten to twenty minutes he began to calm down. He was literally in a traumatized state, like someone who went to Vietnam and has a reoccurrence, or a horrible car accident where they're reliving it. It was not just someone who had a bad dream and woke up. So I just wanted to testify to that.
(Bill Wiese speaking) I'm so blessed with a good women. I'm really grateful to God. I've been married for four years, and have known her for six, and it's been the best six years of my life, I have to say, so praise God.
I wanted to find out when got back from this experience, if there's any body in the Bible who has ever experienced Hell. So I began research. I listen to Chuck Missler a lot. He's a Bible teacher across the nation, a real scholar and he had said that Jonah had experienced Hell. In Jonah 2:2 it says, "in Hell he cried out." And In Jonah 2:6 it says, "the earth with her bars was about me forever, yet thou has brought up my life from corruption." So at least there was somebody in the Bible that experienced Hell, Jonah.
I also wanted to find out, because I was raised in the early days of Calvary Chapel, that any spiritual experience that you would go through should already be in the Word of God. So I knew that if what I experienced was true, it would already be there in the words. So I began to research and I found over 400 scriptures that depicted everything I saw, heard, felt, everything to do with Hell. It's already in the Bible, so whatever I'm telling you it's already there. I'll make reference to some of the scriptures as we go. I can't quote all 400, but I will for some of them. I also found out there were about 14 other people that had experienced some portion of Hell. Most of them were near death experiences, people in the hospital dying and were brought back.
So to get right into it, quickly: My wife and I were at the Sunday night prayer meeting that we always attend with our pastors. And we went home like any other normal night and went to bed. About 3:00 o'clock in the morning I was taken. I did not know how I got there until I returned. Then the Lord explained. But I was just dropped into a prison cell, just like a regular prison cell, like you imagine, with rough huge stone walls and bars on the door. I didn't know where I was yet. All I knew was that it was extremely hot, terribly hot. It was so hot, I couldn't believe, that I was alive. I felt like I should have disintegrated with this heat, but I was still alive. It was light in the room for a little while, and I believe the Lord's presence was there for me to see the scenery better, but then it got dark after about a minute.
In Isaiah 24:22 it says: "And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison...." Proverbs 7:27 "they shall go down to Hell in the chambers of death" By "Chambers" it means rooms. So part of Hell has prisons cells, chambers, pits of fire, and big areas of fire, so I was just in a prison cell at this time.
Also in Jonah 2:6, "the earth with her bars was about me for ever...." And Job 17:16 "They shall go down to the bars of the pit..." So again, everything I saw was in The Word. Stones are talked about in Isaiah 14:19.
I found myself in the cell, and these 4 creatures were in the cell with me. I didn't know they were demons at the time, because I went there as an unsaved person. God took it out of my mind that I was a Christian. I didn't understand why, but He explained it to me on the way back. These creatures, I didn't realize that they were demons, but they were enormous. They were about 12 or 13 feet tall, one you will see in the video. One of the people that gives their testimony, he saw the same demon that I did. So you will see what one actually looks like. There is a really good picture of it in the video where one guy was drug up to the bars of Hell. It's Kenneth Hagan's testimony.
Anyway, it was all scaly. This one had scales all over its body, giant jaws with huge teeth, and claws sticking out, along with sunken-in eyes. They were just enormous. And the other one didn't looked like this at all, but it had razor sharp fins all over with one long arm and out of proportion feet. Everything was deformed and twisted and out of proportion, out of symmetry, no symmetry, one arm longer and one shorter and just odd looking creatures, horrible, horrible looking things.
And they were blaspheming God. The whole time they were cursing God. I wondered, "Why are they cursing God? Why are they hating God so much?" And then they turned their attention to me, and I felt the same hatred they had for God, they had for me also, and again I thought: "Why do they hate me? I haven't done anything to them." But they hated me with a hatred that I have never experienced on earth; way beyond what man has the ability to hate with. They absolutely hated me, and I knew they were assigned to torture me.
There were things that I am going to say, that I don't know how I knew. In Hell your senses are keener, you are just aware of more than our physical bodies are. I was aware of distances, I was aware of time, and so forth, much more than you are here. I knew these things were assigned to me, to torture me forever in this place.
I was lying on the floor in this cell and I had absolutely no strength in my body. I wondered, "Why can I hardly move, what is wrong with me?" I was just aware of no strength, and I was helplessly lying there. One Demon just grabbed me and picked me up, and threw me into the wall like a glass. He just picked me up like a glass. That was how light I was, or how strong he was. And threw me into the wall, and every bone in my body just broke. And I felt pain! I just began to lie on the floor there, crying out for mercy, but these creatures don't have any mercy at all, absolutely no mercy.
The one picked me up, and the other one, with his razor-sharp claws; he just shredded my flesh right off. He just tore it off, and had absolutely no care what so ever for this body that God so wonderfully made. It had a hatred that was so intense against me. I wondered, "Why am I alive, why am I living through this? I don't understand why am I not dead." My flesh just hung there in ribbons. And there was no blood, just flesh hanging, because life is in the blood, and there is no life in Hell. And there is no water in Hell.
In Isaiah 14:9-10 it says
Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us?
Psalms 88:4
I am counted with those who go down to the pit; I am like a man who has no strength,
And we know that the devil does have strength, in the scriptures were there was a demon-man running through the graveyard, it says: Mark 5:1-4
Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him.
They couldn't bind him; he had broken the chains into pieces. And that was just a man with a demonic strength. I understood these demons had about 1000 times the strength of a man. So even if I had my natural strength, I could not have fought them off anyway. So I was absolutely at their mercy, which they don't have any mercy. The Demons run your life in Hell.
The smell of these demons and the smell in Hell were so atrocious; I can't even describe it to you. There was a smell of burning flesh, of sulfur. The smell of these demons was like an open sewer, putrid, rotten meat, bad eggs, sour milk and everything you can imagine. Take it in, times 1000, and put it up to your nose. And you just breathe it in. It was so toxic, that it would kill you, if you were here in this body, you would die. And I wondered, "Why am I living through this smell, it is so horrendous?" But again you don't die, you have to endure it.
The profanities, that they were cursing at God is mentioned in Ezekiel 22-26 "I am profaned among them"
Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
Profaning, degraded vulgar language and blasphemies.
The torment they were doing on me was mentioned in Deuteronomy 32:22-24.
For a fire is kindled in My anger, And shall burn to the lowest Hell; It shall consume the earth with her increase, And set on fire the foundations of the mountains. ‘I will heap disasters on them; I will spend My arrows on them. They shall be wasted with hunger, Devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction; I will also send against them the teeth of beasts, With the poison of serpents of the dust.
So there are teeth of beasts upon you.
2 Samuel 22:6 states:
The sorrows of Hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;
And in Micah 3:2 there is an interesting scripture where the Philistines, who hate the Israelites says:
You who hate good and love evil; Who strip the skin from My people, And the flesh from their bones;
That was what they did to the Jewish people. That was in the natural, but where did they get that idea from? That comes from Hell. That is what the Demons do, and the mercy? There is only mercy in Heaven. Mercy comes from God, and the devil has no knowledge of any kind of mercy, he is totally against that. Psalms 36:5
"Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds."
It is defiantly not in Hell. And in Psalms 74:20 it says:
Have respect to the covenant; For the dark places of the earth are full of the haunts of cruelty.
It is just a cruel, miserable, horrible place that you have to endure. You have to endure all these things.
God has made mankind the highest form of creation, and these demons are the lowest form of creation. As men we work hard to get ahead in life, we better ourselves, we study. But in Hell, your life is run by demons. These creatures have a zero IQ, absolute ignorant creatures. All they know is hatred for God, hatred for you and torture. And they run your life, and you can't do anything about it.
There are scriptures about the humiliation you have to endure. "This thing is going to run my life, I can't stop it!" In Isaiah 5:14-15
Therefore my people have gone into captivity, Because they have no knowledge; Their honorable men are famished, And their multitude dried up with thirst. Therefore the grave enlarges its appetite and opens its mouth without limit; into it will descend their nobles and masses with all their brawlers and revelers. So man will be brought low and mankind humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled.
Isaiah 57:9-16
You went to Molech with olive oil and increased your perfumes. You sent your ambassadors far away; you descended to the grave itself! You were wearied by all your ways, but you would not say, 'It is hopeless.' You found renewal of your strength, and so you did not faint. "Whom have you so dreaded and feared that you have been false to me, and have neither remembered me nor pondered this in your hearts? Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear me? I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not benefit you. When you cry out for help, let your collection of idols save you! The wind will carry all of them off, a mere breath will blow them away. But the man who makes me his refuge will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain." And it will be said: "Build up, build up, prepare the road! Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people." For this is what the high and lofty One says—He who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. I will not accuse forever, nor will I always be angry, for then the spirit of man would grow faint before me— the breath of man that I have created.
Ezekiel 32:24
There is Elam and all her multitude, All around her grave, All of them slain, fallen by the sword, Who have gone down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, Who caused their terror in the land of the living; Now they bear their shame with those who go down to the Pit.
On and on it goes. That was a horrible thing, to have your life run by these creatures, that have no mercy for you whatsoever.
(The darkness and screaming in Hell) I was lying in the cell and it went dark, pitch, pitch black. I mean a darkness I have never ever felt before. And I have been down in caves, way down in iron mines in Arizona. There was a blackness that you couldn't even imagine. I managed to crawl out, somehow I was able to crawl and they let me apparently. I remembered where the door was so I crawled towards it and I felt my way, and I got outside the cell. I looked one direction, all black, and all I heard was screams, billions of people screaming in this place. I knew there were billions, and it was so loud. If you have ever heard someone scream before, it is so annoying. Well if you hear billions of people screaming, you can't imagine how it affects your mind. You just can't stand it. You hold your ears because it is so loud and penetrating. You can't get away from the screams.
And the fear that overcomes you is unbelievable. Everything is dominated by fear. There is no presence of God in this place, so you have to endure the fear and the torment and the blackness. You can't see anything. You can't even see what is coming up against you. Scripture talks about this darkness in Psalms 88:6
You have laid me in the lowest pit, In darkness, in the depths.
Revelation 16:10
Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain.
Jude 1:13
Raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
And there is a darkness which may be felt, as shown in Exodus 10:21
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt—darkness that can be felt."
You can feel this darkness.
(The fear in Hell) The fear, I got a tell you, was so powerful. It grips you. If you have ever seen some scary movie, where the fear jumps up in your throat, if you can take that and multiply it by at least a thousand, and hold it there, that is how you stay all the time! And I know something about fear. When I was young, I use to surf. When I was really young we were in Coco Florida surfing and there was a school (group) of sharks coming around me. And a 9 foot Tiger shark came up and bit my board right in a half. And it grabbed me by the leg and pulled me down. So my leg was in the mouth of this giant shark. I wasn't a Christian then; it was before I was even saved. And all the sudden, it let me go. I know God opened that shark's mouth. But for a few moments, the fear that comes into you is absolute overwhelming. If anybody ever saw JAWS, that fear was NOTHING compared to actually going through it. The fear was terrifying. The guy next to me was just a couple of feet away, and a shark ripped his leg right off! And they dragged him up on the beach, with blood everywhere. He was screaming and had no leg. So I understand fear, but that fear was nothing, absolute nothing compared to the fear I felt in Hell, no comparison at all. I think the fear I felt from the shark attack was one of the greatest fears we could experience on earth.
So these are some of the things we have to endure in Hell. In Isaiah 24:17 it says:
Fear and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall be that he who flees from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit, and he who comes up from the midst of the pit shall be caught in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.
Ted Koppel, during a presentation he did on "Night Line" a year and a half ago, visited some of the prisons in our country and spent the night there. He couldn't believe how loud it was, that he couldn't sleep, everybody screaming at the top of their lungs. He said on TV that he was shocked by how people just scream and whining all night long. So even in our earthly prisons, people are screaming, how much more in Hell. In Job 18:14 it says that the wicked ways of a man, a persons who rejects the Lord...
He is torn from the security of his tent and marched off to the king of terrors.
The devil is certainly the King of terrors.
(Desolate in Hell) I was now outside the cell and I looked this direction and as I looked this way I could see there was flames of fire, about 10 miles away from me. I knew it was 10 miles. And a pit of fire, about 3 miles across, had flames that lit up the skyline enough to see the landscape of Hell just a little bit.
The darkness was so heavy; it just eats up any light. But there was enough to just see some of the skyline. It was all brown and desolate! I mean absolutely not one green leaf, not anything of life of any kind, just stone, dirt and black sky, and smog in the skylight. The flames were really high, so I could see it. There was a scripture in Deuteronomy 29:23
The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger and His wrath.
There is no life whatsoever in Hell. It is so strange to be in a world where there is no life. Here we enjoy trees and fresh air, but there it is absolutely all dead.
(Heat) The heat was so intense, you can even describe it. It says in Deuteronomy 32:24
They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
Jude 1
as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Psalm 11:6
Upon the wicked He will rain coals; Fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup.
That's what is going on in Hell, it is so hot. All these things should kill you, but you don't die! You had to keep enduring all these things. I wanted peace of mind, to get away from the screams and to get out of there. It's like when you want to go home at night, when you had a rough day, you just want peace of mind. But there you endured all the screaming and all the torment. And you never ever get away from it, ever. In Isaiah 57:21 it says:
"There is no peace," Says my God, “for the wicked.”
You are also naked in Hell. It is just another thing to have to endure. Shame! In Ezekiel 32:24 it talks about shame in the pit.
There is Elam and all her multitude, all around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who have gone down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, who caused their terror in the land of the living; Now they bear their shame with those who go down to the Pit.
And in Job 26:6
Sheol is naked before Him, and Destruction has no covering.
That means God can see into Hell, so it is observable to Him. But also you are naked in Hell, just another thing you have to go through.
(Dry) There is no water in Hell, at all, no water. There's no humidity in the air and no water of any kind. It is so dry; you are desperate for a drop of water, just one. Just like the scripture says in Luke 16:23-24,
And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’
Abraham said, "Son remember", and then he went on to talk about his brothers. He wanted him to just dip the tip of his finger in water, just to get one drop. That would have been precious, one drop, but you never, ever get a drop. It's hard to imaging how dry your mouth is. If you can imagine doing a marathon run through Death Valley and having cotton in your mouth and staying there for days, and it just continues like that, just dry, absolute, desperate for a drop of water.
Another thing this scripture revealed to me was we knew there was a great gulf fixed between them, in Hell; between Paradise and Hades. And the rich man saw Abraham far off. In the natural, how could he recognize Lazarus and Abraham? First of all he never met Abraham and then to see someone that far away, you wouldn't really know who they were. But there are just certain things you know in Hell. You understand, like I was saying, the depths, how far away and so forth.
Then one of the demons grabbed me, and drug me back into the cell and began all these torments again, which I really hate to talk about, because I don't like to have to re-live the torment. They began to crush my skull. One demon grabbed me and tried to crush my head. I was screaming and begging for mercy, but no mercy! About this time they each grabbed an arm and a leg and were about to tear off my legs and my arms. I thought, "I can't endure this, I can't endure this!"
(Next to the Pit) And all of a sudden, something grabbed me and pulled me out of this cell. I know it was the Lord, but then I didn't know that. I was there as an unsaved person, so I didn't know these things. I just went there as if I had never accepted the Lord. I was placed over next to the fire that I had seen. I was standing along side that pit. I was beneath a cavern, like a giant cave, with a tunnel going up.
Along side the fire I could see through the flames, just enough to see bodies, people in the fire screaming, screaming for mercy, burning in this place! And I knew I didn't want to go in there. The pain I'd endured already was bad enough, but the heat from that flame I knew was worse. These people were begging to get out.
There were these big creatures lined all around the edge of this Pit, and as the people crawled up trying to get out, they would be shoved back in to the fire and not allowed out. I thought, "Oh, this place is so horrible, so horrible and horrendous."
All this is going on at the same time. You're thirsty, you're hungry, and you're exhausted. You don't get to sleep in Hell either. You need sleep just as you do now. Your body needs sleep. Rev 14:11 says,
And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night,...
You never get to sleep. You can imagine how that is, never sleeping.
Regarding the water, in Zechariah 9:11,
...I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.
Absolutely no water in Hell.
I knew that Hell's location is in the center of the earth. That's were it's at, in the center of the earth. I understood that I was about 3700 miles deep in the earth. We know that the earth's diameter is 8000 miles. Half way would be about 4000. I was about 3700 miles down. In Ephesians 4:9 it says that Jesus descended into the lower parts of the earth.
In Numbers 16:32 says,
and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods.
That's were Hell is right now. Later Hell and Death will be cast into the Lake of Fire and then cast into Outer Darkness. That's after Judgment Day, but right now it is in the earth.
(Demons) I was along side this pit of fire and I saw all these demons all lined up along the walls, all sizes and shapes of every kind, deformed, ugly creatures, you can imagine. They were twisted, deformed creatures, huge ones, small ones. There were giant spiders, huge spiders this big. (5 feet tall) Rats, snakes and worms, because the Bible talks about worms that cover thee (Isaiah 14:11). There are all kinds of abominable creatures everywhere and they seemed to be chained to the walls. I wondered "Why are these things chained to the walls". I didn't understand that, but there's a scripture on that in Jude 1:6 says,
"And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;"
And so maybe that's what I saw, I don't know, but that is what it appeared to be. I was glad because I didn't want them to get to me. They all hated me with a passion! That was another thing I didn't understand, they weren't just creatures, they had hatred towards mankind. So I was glad they were chained to the walls.
I began to ascend up this pit in this tunnel, and to leave the flames. Soon it got darker, but I could see all these demons along the walls and they had such awesome power. I thought, "Who could fight off these creatures. No one could fight these things." But yet, that fear was so overwhelming, I just couldn't even stand the tolerating this fear.
(No Hope) The worse thing in Hell, the worse thing, worse than all the torments, was I understood that, first of all, that there was life going on up here on the earth. And that people up here, most people, had no idea that this world even existed down here! They don't even know this is a real world down here and there's billions of people suffering and begging for one chance, if they had an opportunity to get out. But they never get a chance to get out, and being mad at themselves for not taking the opportunity to have received Jesus, that they are stuck there forever.
This is the worse thing about Hell, that there was absolutely no hope of ever getting out. I understood that. I grasped eternity. I could understand eternity. Here on earth, we can't quite, can't get a hold of it. But there I understood it. I knew I would be there forever and ever, and had no hope of getting out. I thought about my wife. I could never get to my wife! I've always told her that if we were ever separated by any kind of earthquake or something horrible, I said "I'll get to you. I will find you. I'll get to you if we're ever apart." But here I couldn't get to her. I could never see her again. She would never have any idea were I was, and I just could never ever talk to her again. That thought just absolutely bothered me terribly! To not be able to talk to her, get to her, and for her not to know where I was, and have no hope to ever get out! You understand, you never get out of here, ever! See on earth there's always hope. Even people in concentration camps had a hope of getting out, or dying at least, to get out of it. But we've never experienced a totally hopeless situation. In Isaiah 38:18 it says,
"Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth."
No hope, and the truth is Jesus. He is the truth.
(Jesus appears) About this time, I'm going up this tunnel, and I'm just in absolute fear, hopelessly lost, and fearing these demons. All of the sudden, just all of the sudden, Jesus showed up! "Praise you Lord", Jesus showed up. This bright light lit up the place. I only saw His outline, the outline of a man. I couldn't see his face, it was so bright. I just looked into this light and saw His outline. And I just fell on my knees and collapsed. I couldn't do anything but worship Him. I was so grateful. One second ago I was lost forever, and now all of the sudden I'm out of this place, because I had already known Jesus. Those people can't get out, but I could because I was already saved. I knew and understood that there was no way out of this place, only by Jesus. He is the only way to keep from going to this place.
In Rev 1:6 it says John, when he went to heaven, he saw Jesus, that His countenance was as the sun shining in its strength. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet as a dead man. That's just how I did. I fell at His feet like a dead man. Now you would think that I had a million questions to ask him, but when you're there, all you can do is worship Him and praise His Holy Name, and thank Him for what He saved us from.
When I got my composure, at least enough to start forming thoughts, I thought about saying to the Lord, I don't even think I asked Him out loud, I just thought it and He answered me. I said, "Lord why did You send me to this place? Why did you send me here?" He said to me "Because people do not believe that this place exists." He said "Even some of my own people do not believe this place is real." I was shocked at that statement. I thought every Christian has got to believe in Hell. But not everyone believes in a literal burning Hell. I said Lord "why did you pick me?" But He didn't answer me on that question.
I have no idea why He picked me to go there. I'm the least likely to go to this place. My wife and I hate evil movies. We hate anything bad. I don't even like the summer time, much less heat. It's filthy. There's no order. It's all chaos and disorder and disgusting. And I love everything orderly and excellent. He didn't answer me on that question. He said to me, "Go tell them that I hate this place, that it's not my desire for one of my creation to go to this place, not one! I never made this for man. This was made for the devil and his angels. You have to go and tell them! I've given you a mouth, you go and tell them."
I thought to myself, "but Lord, they're not going to believe me. They're going to think I'm crazy or had a bad dream." I mean wouldn't you think that? As I thought this the Lord answered me and He said, "It's not your job to convince them. It's the Holy Spirit’s job! You just go and tell them!" And it was just inside, "Yes Sir!" Absolutely, I have to go and tell them." You can't worry and fear what man is going to think of you, you just have to go and do it and let God do the rest. Amen? And I said, "Lord, why did they hate me so much?" "Why did these creatures hate me?" He said, "Because you're made in my image, and they hate me." You know the devil can't do anything against God. He can't hurt God, per say, but he can hurt His creation. That's why the devil hates mankind, and deceives him into taking him into Hell. And he inflicts diseases upon him, anything he can do to hurt God's creation.
(The Peace of God) And then God flooded me with His thoughts. He let me touch a piece of His heart, of how much He loves mankind. Unbelievable, I couldn't even take it. It was so overbearing. The love He has for man, you can't take it in this body. You know how much we love our wives and our children? Well the love we have can't even be compared to the love God has for us. His love is infinitely greater than our love and our ability to love. It's just the same as it says in Eph 3:19, ”...to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge...” It goes so far past knowledge, you can't even grasp it. I couldn't believe how much He loved mankind, that He would die for just one person to not go to this place. And it hurts Him so much to see one of His creation going to this place. It pains the Lord, He weeps to see one person going. And I felt so bad for the Lord.
I felt His heart, He let me just touch a piece of His heart. He felt such sadness for His creation going there. And I thought "I've got to go out and witness and take every last breath I have and go tell the world about Jesus, How good He is." I mean, we have the gospel. It's good news. It's good news, and the world doesn't know. They have to be told! You know, we have to share this knowledge. People just have a lack of knowledge in this area. God wants us to share with them how good He is, and how He hates this place.
He said to me also, "Tell them I am coming very, very soon." And He said it again, "Tell them I'm coming very, very soon." Now I think, why didn't I say to him, "What do you mean Lord? What's 'soon' to you?" That's how we think. But I didn't ask. You just don't think to ask those things then. You just want to worship Him so much. The peace of God that comes over you being next to Him is unexplainable. I've been in anointed services, but there is no comparison to the love and the peace of God you feel being next to Him.
And then I looked up and I saw those demons on the wall, that were so ferocious, they looked like ants on the wall! They just looked like ants! They were still big, but with the power of God next to you, all of God's creative power, they looked like ants on the wall. I couldn't get over it. I thought, "Lord they're just ants!" And He said, "You just have to bind them and cast them out in my name." I thought "boy, the power He's given the church." These things that were so ferocious, we were no match for a devil without Jesus, none. They're ferocious, but with Him, they are nothing! A boldness rose up in me right then, when I saw these creatures I felt like saying, "you creatures were the ones torturing me, wanting to tear me apart? Come on! Come on now!" Maybe a little bit of my flesh rose up or something, you know, I thought,”Jesus get 'em."
(Leaving Hell) As we left, we went up above the earth’s surface. We went above, because we were still in a tunnel. Soon I couldn't see it any more, but it was like a whirlwind, a giant whirlwind we were in. We kept going up. We had to go up, to get out of it apparently. When we got to the top of it, I looked down at the earth and it was about this high. The curve of the earth was like that. It's awesome to look back at the earth! I know God allowed that for me. He could have left that tunnel any which way He wanted. He knew in my heart, as a kid I always wanted to see what the earth looked like from space. Maybe I watched too much Star Trek or something, you know? I just thought it would be really neat to see the earth, and to see it hung on nothing. Like the Bible says. It says in Job 26,
He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.
As you look, you think, "What's holding this thing up? What's making it turn so perfectly?" God is in such control. The power of God that flooded me, that He has, it's awesome. He has so much power. Every single thing is in His control. Not a hair on your head falls to the ground that He doesn't know about. Not a bird hits the ground that He doesn't know about. I was flooded with these thoughts. God has so much power. It overwhelmed me. There's scripture in Isaiah 40:22 that says the Lord sits upon the circle of the earth. There I was upon the circle of the earth. I even thought, "Lord, how come before Christopher Columbus they could have read that scripture and known the earth was round." You know? People wondered, they thought it was flat?
Anyway, as we came back down we passed through the shields; I knew we were passing through the heat shield that was around the earth. I just knew it. I even thought stupid thought, here I am with God, and I thought, "I wonder how He's going to go through that shield?" You know how in space they have to penetrate it at just the perfect angle. We went through it with no problem what so ever. No surprise! I'm sure the Lord must have rolled His eyes and said 'I can handle that one'. There is a scripture is Psalm 47:9 that says,
...For the shields of the earth belong to God...
He is in control of everything, everything. I just didn't want Him to leave. I just wanted to be in His presence. We were coming up fast on California. Just coming real fast, we were moving so quick, and came up to our house. And I looked and I could see right through the roof of our house. And I could see myself lying on the floor. This really hit me strong, right here because I saw my body lying there and I thought, "That can't be me, I'm here, this is me!" You know, you've never seen two of yourself. Here I was laying there and I thought, "That's not really me." And that scripture that Paul says, were we are just in a tent (2 Corinthians 5:1), that hit me so strong. I thought "that's just a tent, that's nothing. That's temporary. This is the real me." This is what eternity is all about. That life that we worry about, it also hit me that we're a vapor, that life is just a vapor as in James 4:14 it talks about and how short this life is. It's short. A hundred years if you live, it's nothing! It goes up like a vapor. And I thought, "We’ve got to live for God." What we do now, here, counts for eternity. We've got to witness. We've got to get out there and save the lost. We can't worry about all these little petty things that we all get so tied up in and hung up on. We need to really get out there and preach the gospel and the good news, because this is over real quick.
But I saw my body lying there and I thought it was just as if you got out of your car and looked back at your car. That's not you, it's your car. It just gets you around. That's how it looked to me. It just gets me around here on the earth, but this is the real me. And I thought, "Lord don't leave, don't leave". I just want to stay with You for a while. But He left. I came up to my body, and something pulled me back into my body, like I was sucked back into my nose or my mouth.
Right then, when He left, that's when all the fear, the torture, and the torment came back into my mind! Because it says in the Bible (1 John 4:1, "Perfect love casts off fear." So I was next to perfect love all that time, so that left me, and when He left, all of the sudden all of the fear and the horrors of Hell entered my mind. I couldn't stand it, I couldn't stand it! I was screaming. I was in agony. I couldn't live with it. I knew that this body was not capable of withstanding that kind of fear. You can't hold up under that kind of pressure. Your body isn't strong enough. So that's when I prayed and I was able to pray, "Take it out of my mind!"
In the natural, you would have to go through all kinds of counseling to get through this kind of trauma, but God took it out, instantly took it out, the trauma. He left the memory, but took the trauma and the fear out. I was so grateful.
Anyway, after this, so many things happened, I wish we had time to go into all that God confirmed would happened to me.
If there's someone here tonight, that doesn't know the Lord; you have to ask yourself a question. You have to say, "Do I believe these people, that what they saw is real, all these people and myself?” But more importantly, what the Word of God says about Hell. Do you want to take that chance and say, "No I don't believe it, I don't believe that's real." You have to throw out all the Word of God, and all of us trying to tell you. Are you willing to take that chance with your whole eternity? That would seem pretty foolish to me. You can't let the devil deceive you. That big creature in the end there, that was laughing. (shown in the video) That's how the devil would be when you got to Hell. He would laugh, because you had an opportunity to receive the Lord and you missed it. But once you're there, there is no turning back. There's absolutely no turning back. You would be there lost for ever.
You might be saying to yourself. "I'm pretty good. I'm a pretty good person. I don't deserve that place." And you probably are pretty good, compared to most people. But that's not what you need to compare yourself to. We need to compare ourselves to God's standard. His standard is so much higher than ours. He says in the Word that if you lie once, just once in your whole life, that makes you a liar. If you've stole one thing in your life, a paper clip, a couple minutes of your boss's time, anything, just once. That makes you a thief. If you were angry without cause, if you didn't forgive someone that did something wrong against you, if you lusted after a women, any of these things, if you just did it one time, that makes you a sinner, and you can't make it to heaven. So you see all of us come short. We all fall short and can't get there on our own works. Titus 3:5 says,
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us...
Amen, so it depends on how you compare. It's like a woman that saw a flock of sheep on a hill, and they were all so white and beautiful against this hill. She said, "Look at those white sheep, look how beautiful they look, so white." She went to bed and overnight it snowed. She looked up the next morning and saw the sheep and they all looked dull, dingy and gray compared to the white snow. So we need to compare ourselves to God. His standard is way higher than ours. So we have need of a Savior. We can't get there on our own. God made it a free gift. He said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man come unto the Father but by Me." He's the only way out of this place.
So if there's anyone here who doesn't know the Lord, anyone here who really has never asked Jesus to be Lord and Savior of your life. You never really came to that point where you really had to voice it out your own mouth and ask Him to come into your life, would you stand up? If there's anybody here would you stand up now, for Jesus? Don't let the devil, that creature laugh at you. Stand up now, when you have the chance, cause you don't know how much time we have. You don't know that you might die tomorrow, and end up in that place.
Let me tell you, that place, just the heat alone would be horrible to endure. Those people that we saw jump out of the New York towers. They held hands and jumped. How horrible that must have been. You know if you've ever been up high and looked down, to jump would be unthinkable. But they had to face that heat. And that was only for about five seconds, it would have incinerated them and that was about two thousand degrees. Scientists say that in the center of the earth is about twelve thousand degrees. So you have to endure that for eternity. If you're willing to go through that, that would be awfully foolish. Now is the time....
(announcer speaking) The Bible is real plain, we are all sinners, and whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Jesus said if you will confess me before men, publicly, then I will in turn; confess your name before my heavenly Father and the Holy angels. But if you deny me before men, I will deny you before my Father. I want to ask you to do something. If you've never publicly, in front of other people, if you've never publicly declared Jesus Christ as your Savior, and made Him the Lord of your life, or if you're unsure whether heaven is your eternal home, remember Jesus hung naked on a cross, in a market place, he hung there for you, He endured your shame.
If you'll pray this prayer from the depths of your heart, God will save your soul, and He'll give you an opportunity in the not to distant future for you to make it public. Pray with us, especially those who are in the congregation and know you should. "God I believe in You. You are my Creator. I am a sinner. I sinned in many points, willfully, and unconsciously. I've fallen short. I've missed the mark. I'm stained with sin. Jesus I believe in You. You are the eternal Son of God. You're the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, who takes away my sin. I believe You died on a cross. Shedding Your innocent blood for my guilty soul. I believe You were buried and on the third day You arose. You are alive forever more. I call You my Lord. I call You my Savior. I give You my life. I will love You, serve you for the rest of my days. I belong to You, the good parts, the bad parts, the sinful parts, all my plans, all my dreams, I give everything to you. Thy will be done in me. I believe I'm saved. Not by good works, but by faith, by trusting in You. In Jesus I pray. Amen."
>>>>> LOUD, LONG APPLAUSE<<<<<
That response is perfectly appropriate. The Bible says heaven has no greater joy than when one sinner repents. And we only know a pale example of what goes on in heaven when it witnesses what you've done today. I want to address the rest of you, and then I'm going to drop out of this. I want to give an alter call for those of us who've witnessed this. We're really most fortunate to hear brother Bill tell what he experienced. I'm going to issue a challenge to you and I really would warn you, don't accept this unless you're ready for some activity of the Spirit in your lives. I'm not trying to be flippant, I'm just saying don't make this your confession unless you really mean it, and here's what it is. It's got two parts. One, I will no longer fear the face of man. The biggest single inhibitor to us acting like you really know there's a Heaven and there's a Hell. I will no longer fear the face of man. Two, I will talk to everyone I know, the rest of my life about Jesus, and Heaven, and Hell. That is a huge commitment. Every person I know who reached people for Christ came to these two points of commitment. Why else have a relationship with anyone, if not to share with them the glorious good news that saves their soul from Hell. It's a felony in the Spirit to know someone, to converse with them, to entertain yourselves with them, to enjoy their presence, and never tell them that, without Christ, they are going to Hell. Every relationship is to be a doorway to communicate the truth that you've witnessed today. That's logical. If you're not ready to do that, I understand. But if you're ready to make those two commitments, if you agree, say this to God, "God I believe in You. I believe in Jesus Your Son, Your precious Holy Spirit. I receive the challenge of the hour. I declare of myself, this is my confession. I will no longer fear the face of man. I will not concern myself with the opinion of man. My reputation is of no importance. I hate the fear of man. I will tell everyone I know for the rest of my life about You Lord Jesus. About Heaven and a place called Hell. I step over the line. I will no longer be indifferent, preoccupied, not caring. I accept Your word. I will not fear, and I will speak up. This is my confession to Almighty God." Raise up Your army God, all over this city, nation, and world, a people who have rightly discerned the times in which they live. A people who have come to understand eternity is the next moment away, to see with clarity into the glory of Heaven and the horrors of Hell, and order their priorities to obey God. Now, we ask for grace. They've made a bold confession God. Without Your grace, it will not come to past. We believe Your grace is sufficient to do what the word of God tells us to do. Grace, Grace, Grace upon Your people here, in JESUS name.
I kneeled down on the ground and said, "O Thou invisible, eternal Power, which though unseen by men, beholdest all his actions, and who has now withheld me from defacing Thine image, I give Thee humble thanks. Yes, O, Thou sovereign BEING of all beings, I give Thee thanks that I am still alive and able to acknowledge there is such a being. Oh, Let the Sun of Glory shine upon me and chase away the blackness of my soul that I may never more question Thy being or omnipotence, which I have this moment so greatly experienced.
Then, rising from my knees, I sent and sat down on a bank, my mind being greatly taken up with the adoring thoughts of that Eternal Goodness that had saved me from the dreadful gulf of everlasting ruin when I was just going to plunge myself into it. And now I could only wonder that I should be such a fool as to call in question the being of the Deity which every creature was witness of, and which a man's own conscience could not by dictate him.
Now while my thoughts were taken up thus as I sat upon the bank, I as suddenly surrounded with a glorious light, the exceeding brightness of this was such as I had never seen anything like it before. This both surprised and amazed, and while I was wondering whence it came, I saw coming toward me a glorious appearance, like the person of a man, but circled round about with beams of inexpressible light and glory, which streamed from him all the way he came. His countenance was very awful, and yet mixed with such an air of sweetness as rendered it extremely pleasing, and gave me some secret hope that he came not to me as an enemy. And yet I knew not how to bear his bright appearance; and endeavoring to stand upon my feet I soon found I had not more strength in me, and so fell down flat on my face, by the kind assistance of his arm, I was soon set upon my feet again and new strength was put in me. Then I addressed myself to the bright form before me saying, "O my shining deliverer, who hast strengthened my feeble body and restore me to new life, how shall I acknowledge my thankfulness, and in what manner shall I adore thee?"
To which he replied, both with an air of majesty and mildness, "Pay thy adorations to the Author of thy being, and not to me who am thy fellow-creature. I am sent by Him Whose very being thou has so lately denied, to stop thee from falling into that eternal ruin whereinto thou wert going to throw thyself."
This touched my heart with such a sense of my own unworthiness that my soul melted within, and I could not forbear crying out, "Oh, how utterly unworthy I am of all this grace and mercy!"
To this the heavenly messenger replied, "The divine Majesty does not consult, in showing mercy, thine unworthiness, but His Own unbounded goodness and vast love. He saw with how much malice the grand enemy of souls desires thy ruin, and let him go on with hopes of overcoming thee, but still upheld thee by His secret power; through which, when Satan thought himself most sure, the snare is broken and thou are escaped."
Beyond The Sun and Stars
"Well," said this heavenly visitor with a pleasing countenance, "that you may never doubt any more the reality of eternal things, the end of my coming to you is to convince you of the truth of then; not by faith only but by sight also. For I will show you such things as were never yet beheld by mortal eye; and to that end your eyes shall be strengthened and made fit to behold immaterial objects."
At these surprising words of the angel, I was much astonished, and doubted how I should be able to bear it. I said to him, "O my lord, who is sufficient to bear such a sight?"
To which he replied, "The joy of the Lord shall be your strength." And when he had said thus, he took hold of me and said, "Fear not; for I am sent to show the things thou hast not seen." And before I was aware I found myself far above the earth, which seemed to me a very small point in comparison with that region of light into which I was translated.
Then I said to my bright conductor. "Oh, let it not offend my lord if I ask a question or two of thee."
To this he answered, "Speak on. It is my work to inform thee of such things which thou shalt inquire of me. For I am a ministering spirit, sent forth to minister to thee and to those that shall be heirs of salvation."
I then said, "I would fain be informed what that dark spot, so far below me, is, which has grown less and less as I have mounted higher and higher, and appears much darker since I have come into this region of light."
"That little spot," answered my conductor, "that now looks so dark and contemptible, is that world of which you were so recently an inhabitant. Here you may see how little all that world appears, for a small part of which, so many do continually labor, and lay out all their strength and time to purchase it. Yea, this is that spot of earth, to obtain one small part thereof so many men have run the hazard of losing, nay, have actually lost their precious and immortal souls; so precious that the Prince of Peace has told us that though one man could gain the whole, it could not recompense so great a loss. And the great reason of their folly is, that they do not look to things above. For as you ascended nearer to this region, the world appeared still less and the more contemptible; and it will do the same to all who can, by faith once get their hearts above it. For could the sons of men below but see the world just as it is, they would not covet it as they now do, but they, alas, are in a state of darkness; and which is worse, they love to walk therein. For though the Prince of Light came down among them and plainly showed them the true Light of Life, yet they go on in darkness and will not bring themselves into the light, because their deeds are evil."
I asked him further, "What were those multitudes of black and horrid forms that hover in the air above the world? which indeed I would have been much afraid of, but that I saw, as you passed, they fled; perhaps as not being able to abide the brightness with which you are arrayed."
To this he answered me, "They were the fallen and apostate spirits which for their pride and rebellion were cast down from heaven and wander in the air by the decree of the Almighty, being bound in chains of darkness and kept unto the judgement of the great day. From thence they are permitted to descend into the world, both for the trial of the elect, and for the condemnation of the wicked. And though you now see they have black and horrid forms, yet they were once the sons of Light, and were arrayed in robes of glorious brightness, like what you see me wear, the loss of which, though it was the effect of their own willful sin, fills them with rage and malice against the ever blessed God Whose power and majesty they fear and hate."
"Tell me" I said, "O happy conductor, have they no hopes of being reconciled to God again, after some term of time, or at least some of them?"
"No, not at all. They are lost forever. They were the first that sinned, and had no tempter; and they were all at once cast down from heaven. Besides, the Son of God, the blessed Messiah by Whom salvation can be had, took not upon Him the angelic nature, but left the apostate angles all to perish, and took upon Himself only the seed of Abraham. And for this reason they have so much malice against the sons of men, whom it is a torment to them to see made heirs of heaven while they are doomed to hell."
By this time we were above the sun whose vast and glorious body, so much greater than the earth, moved round the great expanse wherein it was placed with such a mighty swiftness that to relate it would appear incredible. But my conductor told me this mighty immense hanging globe of fire was one of the great works of God. It always keeps its constant course, and never has the least irregularity in it daily or its annual motion; and so exceeding glorious is its body that had not my eyes been greatly strengthened, I could not have beheld it. Nor were those mighty globes of fire we call the fixed stars. less wonderful; whose vast and extreme heights, so many leagues above the sun, makes them appear like candles in our sight. And yet they hang within their spheres without any support, in a pure sea of ether. Nothing like but His Word that first created them could keep them in their station.
"These words are enough," I said to my conductor, "to convince anyone of the great power of their much more adorable Creator, and of the blackness of that infidelity which can call in question the being of a Deity, who has given the whole world so many bright evidences of His power, and glory, that if men were not like beast still looking downwards, they could not help but acknowledge His great power and wisdom."
"You speak what is true," replied he. "But you shall see far greater things than these. These are all but the scaffolds and outworks of that glorious building wherein the blessed above inhabit that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, a view of which (as far as you are capable to comprehend it) shall now be given you."
What I had been told by my conductor I found good in a few moments, for I was presently transferred into the glorious mansions of the blessed, and saw such things as it is impossible to represent and heard that ravishing melodious harmony that I can never utter. Well, therefore, might the beloved apostle John tell us in his epistle, "Now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be." Whoever has not seen that glory can speak out very imperfectly of it, and they that have cannot tell the thousandth part of what it is. And therefore the great apostle of the Gentiles, who tells us he had been caught up into paradise, where he had heard unspeakable works which is not possible for a man to utter, gives us no other account of it, but that "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man to conceive they things that God has laid up for those that love him." I will give you the best account I can of what I saw and Heard of the blessed discourses I had with some of the blessed, as near as I can remember.
"I have," said the angel, "a commission to re-conduct you to the world below; not only to the earth from whence I took you, but to the regions of the prince of darkness, that you may there see the reward of sin, and what incensed Justice has prepared as the just judgment of their rebellion who would exalt themselves above the throne of the Most High. But do not therefore be afraid, for as I have a commission to take you thither so have I likewise to bring you back again, and leave you in the world from whence I took you."
To leave heaven for earth was extremely distasteful and would have rendered me unhappy but that I knew the divine will was such. But to leave Heaven for hell was that which turned my very heart within me. However, when I knew that it was the divine good pleasure that I should be returned from thence to earth again, and there put off mortality, and then be re-conducted up to heaven. I was a little comforted, and found within myself as entire resignation to the will of God. Therefore I said with some assurance to my bright conductor, "That which the blessed God has ordered I shall be always willing to obey, of whose great mercy I have already had so very large experience, that even in hell itself I will not fear, may I but have His presence with me there."
To this my shining guardian answered me, "Wherever the blessed God grants His presence, there is heaven, and while we are in hell He will be with us."
Then bowing low before the Almighty's throne, swifter then thought my guardian angel carried me more than ten thousand leagues below the imperial heaven.
By this time we were come down to the lowest regions of the air where I saw multitudes of horrid forms and dismal dark appearances fly from the shining presence of my bright conductor.
"These sure," said I, "are some of the vanguard of hell, so black and so affrighting are their forms."
"These are," said my conductor, "some of the apostate spirits that wander up and down in the air and on the earth like roaring lions seeking whom they may devour. And though they are led hence you will see them quickly in their own dark territories, for we are now upon the borders of the infernal pit."
I quickly found the words of my conductor very true; for we were soon surrounded with a darkness much more black than night, which was attended with a stink more suffocating far than that of burning brimstone; my ears were likewise filled with horrid yellings of the damned spirits, that all the most discordant notes on earth were, in comparison of this, melodious music.
"Now," said my guardian angel, "you are one the verge of hell, but do not fear the power of the destroyer, for my commission from the Imperial Throne secures you from all dangers. Here you may hear from devils and damned souls the cursed causes of their endless ruin. And what you have a mind to ask, inquire, and they shall answer you. The devils cannot hurt you, though they would, for they are bound by Him that has commissioned me, of which themselves are sensible, which makes them rage and fret and roar and bite their hated chains, but all in vain."
There, in a sulphurous lake of liquid fire, bound with the adamantine chain of heaven's fixed decree, sat Lucifer upon a burning throne, his horrid eyes sparkling with hellish fury, as full of rage as his strong pains could make him. Those wandering fiends, that as we came from heaven fled before us, had (I perceived) given notice of our coming, which put all hell in an uproar and thus made Lucifer to vent his horrid blasphemies against the blessed God, which he delivered with an air of arrogance and pride.
I was amazed to hear his impious speech, and could not forbear saying to my conductor, "How justly are his blasphemies rewarded!"
"What you have heard from this apostate spirit is both his sin and punishment; for every blasphemy he belches against heaven, makes hell the hotter to him."
Tortures of Hell
We then passed on further, among dismal scenes of unmixed sorrow, and saw two wretched souls tormented by a fiend who without ceasing plunged them in liquid fire and burning brimstone, while they at the same time accused and cursed each other.
One of them said to his tormented fellow sufferer, "O cursed be your face, that ever I set eyes upon you! My misery is due to you; I may thank you for this, for it was you who ensnared me thus. It was your covetousness and cheating and your oppression and grinding of the poor that brought me hither. If you had but set me a good example as you did an ill one, I might have been in heaven, and there have been as happy as I am now miserable. But, O wretch that I was! My following your steps has made me in this wretched state and ruined me forever; O that I never had seen your face, or you had never been born to do my soul that wrong that you have done."
The other wretch replied, "And may I not as well blame you? For do you not remember how at such a time and place you did entice me and drew me out and asked me if I would not go along with you, when I was about my other business, about my lawful calling? But you called me away, and therefore are as much in fault as I. Though I was covetous, yet you were proud, and if you learned of me your covetousness, I am sure I learned of you my pride and drunkenness; and though you learned of me to cheat, yet you taught me to lust, to lie, and scoff at goodness.
"Thus, though I stumbled you in some things, you stumbled me as much in others; and therefore if you blame me, I can blame you as much. And if I have to answer for some of your most filthy actions, you have still to answer for some of mine. I wish you never had come hither; the very looks of you do wound my soul, by bringing sin afresh into my mind. It was with you, with you it was I sinned. O grief unto my soul! And since I could not shun your company there. O that I could have been without it here!"
From this sad dialogue I soon perceived that those who are companions upon earth in sin shall be so too in hell in punishment. And though on earth they love each other's company, they will not care for it in hell. This, I believe was the true reason why Dives seemed so charitable to his brethren, that they might not come into this place of torment; it was love unto himself and not to them that was his motive; because had they come hither, his torments would have thereby been increased.
But there were yet more tragic scenes of sorrow, for leaving these two cursed wretches, accusing each other for being authors of each other's misery, we passed on further, beholding several woeful spectacles; and among others, one who still had flaming sulphur forced down her throat by a tormenting spirit; which he did with such horrid cruelty and insolence I could not but say to him, "Why should you so delight in the tormenting of that cursed wretch as to be thus perpetually pouring that flaming, infernal liquor down her throat?"
"This is no more but a just retribution," replied the fiend. "This woman in her life time was such a sordid wretch that though she had gold enough, could never be satisfied, and therefore now I pour it down her throat. She cared not who she ruined and undid, so she could get their gold. And when she had amassed together a greater treasure than ever she could spend, her love of money would not let her spend so much of it as to supply herself with what the common necessities of life required; for she then went often with an empty stomach, though her bags were full, or else she filled it at another's charge. And as for her apparel, it either never grew old or it was always so supplied with patches that at last it was hard to say which piece was on original. She kept no house because she would not be taxed; nor keep her treasure in her hands for hear she should be robbed; nor let it out on bands and mortgages for fear of being cheated; although she ever cheated all she could, and was herself so great a cheat she cheated her own body of its food and her own soul of mercy. Since gold then was her god on earth, is it not just that she should have her belly full in hell?"
When her tormentor had done speaking, I asked her whether what he said was true or not. To this he answered me, "No, to my grief it is not." "How! to your grief?" said I.
"Yes, to my grief," said she. "Because were that which my tormentor tell you true, I should be better satisfied. He tells you that it is gold that he ours down my throat; but he is a lying devil and speaks falsely. Were it but gold I never should complain. But he abuses me, and in the stead of gold he only gives the horrid, stinking sulphur."
I could not forbear telling my conductor I was amazed to hear a wretch in hell itself so to dote upon her riches and that too, while in the tormentor's hands.
"This may," said he, "convince you it is sin that is the greatest of all evils; and where love of that prevails - the love of gold (to which this cursed creature is given up) is a more fatal punishment than that which the apostate spirits here inflict on her."
We had not come much farther before we saw a wretched soul lie on a bed of burning steel, almost choked with brimstone; who cried out as one under a dreadful anguish, with a note of desperation; which made me desire of my conductor to stay a while that I might listen more attentively to what he said and hereupon I heard him speak as follows:
"Ah, miserable wretch! Undone for ever, for ever! Oh, these killing words for ever! Will not a thousand thousand years suffice to bear that pain which if I could avoid it I would not bear one moment for a thousand thousand worlds? No, no my misery will never have an end; after the thousand thousand years it will be for ever still. On, hapless, helpless, hopeless state indeed! It is this forever that is the hell of hell! O cursed wretch! Cursed to all eternity! How willfully have I undone myself? Oh, what stupendous folly am I guilty of to choose sin's short and momentary pleasure at the dear price of everlasting pain! How oft have I been told it would be so! How often pressed to leave those paths of sin that would be sure to bring be to the chambers of eternal death! But I, like the deaf adder, lent no ear unto those charmers though they charmed so wisely. They told me often that my short-lived pleasures would quickly issue in eternal pain; and now too sad experience tells me so, it tells me so indeed, but it is too late to help it for my eternal state is fixed for ever.
"Why had reason been given me? Why was I made with an immortal soul, and yet should take so little care of it? Oh, how my own neglect stings me to death, and yet I know I cannot, I must not die! But live a dying life, worse than ten thousand deaths; and yet I might once have helped all this and would not! Oh, that is the gnawing worm that never dies! I might once have been happy, salvation once was offered me and I refused it. Ah, had it been but once, yet to refuse it had been a folly not to be forgiven, but it was offered to me a thousand times, and yet (wretch that I was) I still as often refused it. O cursed sin, that with deluding pleasures bewitches mankind to eternal ruin! God often called, but I as often refused; He stretched out His hands, but I would not mind it. How often have I set at nought His counsel. Hot often have I refused His reproof! But now the scene is changed, the case is altered; for now He laughs at my calamity, and mocks at the destruction which is come upon me." He would have helped me once, but then I would not, and therefore those eternal miseries I am condemned to undergo are but the just reward of my own doing." [Proverbs 1:26]
I could not hear this doleful lamentation without reflecting on the wondrous grace that ever blessed GOD has shown to me; eternal praises to His holy name! For my heart told me that I had deserved as much as that sad wretch to be the object of eternal wrath; and it is His grace alone that has made us differ! O how unsearchable His counsels be! and who can fathom His divine decree?
After these reflections, I addressed myself to the doleful complainer, and told him I had heard his woeful lamentation, by which I perceived his misery was great, and his loss irreparable; and told him I would willingly be informed of it more particularly, which might possibly be some lessening of his sufferings.
"No, not at all; pains are such as can admit of no relief, no not for one small moment. But by the question you have asked, I do perceive you are a stranger here; and may you ever be so. Ah! had I but the last hope still remaining, how would I kneel and cry and pray forever to be redeemed from hence! But ah! it is all in vain, I am lost forever. Though that you may beware of coming hither, I will tell you what the damned suffer here."
A Lost Soul Speaks
"Our miseries in this infernal dungeon are of two sorts; what we have lost, and what we undergo. And these I will name under their several heads. First then for what we have lost.
In this sad dark abode of misery and sorrow, we have lost the presence of the ever blessed God. And this is that which makes this dungeon hell. Though we had lost a thousand worlds, it would not be so much as this one loss. Could but the least glimpse of His favor enter here, we might be happy; but we have lost it to our everlasting woe.
Here we have likewise lost the company of saints and angels, and in their place have nothing but tormenting devils.
Here we have lost heaven too. The seat of blessedness. There is a deep gulf betwixt us and heaven, so that we are shut out from thence forever. Those everlasting gates that let the blessed into happiness are now for ever shut against us here.
To make our wretchedness far yet more wretched, we have lost the hope of ever being in a better state, which renders our condition truly hopeless. The most miserable man upon earth still has hope. And therefore, it is a common proverb there that were it not for hope, the heart would break. Well may our hearts break then since we are both without hope and help. This is what we have lost; which, but to think on, is enough to fear and rend and gnaw upon our miserable souls forever. Yet, oh, that his were all! But we have sense of pain as well as loss. And having showed you what we have lost, I am trying to show you what we undergo. And first, we undergo variety of torments: we are tormented here a thousand, nay, ten thousand different ways. They that are most afflicted upon earth have seldom any more than one malady at a time. But should they have the plague, the gout, the stone, and fever at a time, how miserable would they think themselves? Yet all those are but like the biting of a flea to those intolerable, pungent pains that we endure. Here we have all the loathed variety of hell to grapple with. Here is a fire that is unquenchable to burn us with; a lake of burning brimstone ever choking us; eternal chain to tie us; here is utter darkness to affright us, and a worm of conscience that gnaws upon us everlastingly. And any one of these is worse to bear than all the torments mankind ever felt on earth.
But as our torments here are various, so are they universal, too, afflicting each part of the body, tormenting the powers of the soul, which renders what we suffer most unsufferable. In those illnesses you men are seized with on earth, though some parts are afflicted, other parts are free. Although your body may be out of order, your head may yet be well; and though your head be ill, your vitals may be free; or though your vitals be affected, your arms and legs may still be clear. But here it is otherwise: each member of the soul and body is at once tormented.
The eye is here tormented with the sight of the devil's who do appear in all the horrid shapes and black appearances that sin can give them. The ear is continually tormented with the loud yellings and continual outcries of the damned. The nostrils smothered with sulphurous flames; the tongue with burning blisters; and the whole body rolled in flames of liquid fire. And all the powers and faculties of our souls are here tormented. The imagination, with the thoughts of the present pain; the memory lost with reflecting on what a heaven we have lost, and of those opportunities we had of being saved. Our minds are here tormented with considering how vainly we have spent our precious time, and how we have abused it. Our understanding is tormented in the thoughts of our past pleasures, present pains, and future sorrows, which are to last for ever. And our consciences are tormented with a continual gnawing worm.
Another thing that makes our misery awful is the extremity of our torments. The fire that burns us is so violent that all the water in the sea can never quench it. The pains we suffer here are so extreme that it is impossible they should be known by any one but those that feel them.
Another part of our misery is the ceaselessness of our torments. As various, as universal, and as extremely violent as they are, they are continual, too. Nor have we the least rest from them. If there were any relaxation, it might be some allay. But this makes our condition so deplorable that there is no easing of our torments, but what we suffer now we must for ever suffer.
The society or company we have here is another element in our misery. Tormenting devils and tormented souls are all our company; and dreadful shrieks and howlings, under the fierceness of our pain, and fearful oaths, is all our conversation. And here the torments of our fellow sufferers are so far from lessening our misery that they increase our pain.
The place in which we suffer is another thing that increases our sufferings. It is the abstract of all misery, a prison, a dungeon, a bottomless pit, a lake of fire and brimstone, a furnace of fire that burns to eternity, the blackness of darkness for ever; and lastly, hell itself. And such a wretched place as this must needs increase our wretchedness.
The cruelty of our tormentors is another thing that adds to our torments. Our tormentors are devils in whom there is no pity; but being tormented themselves, do yet take pleasure in tormenting us.
All those particulars that I have reckoned up are very grievous; but that which makes them much more grievous is that they shall ever be so; and all our most intolerable sufferings shall last to all eternity. 'Depart from Me ye cursed into everlasting fires' is that which is perpetually sounding in my ears. Oh, that I could reverse that fatal sentence! Oh, that there was but a bare possibility of doing it! Thus have I showed you the miserable situation we are in, and shall be in forever."
This wretched soul had scarcely made an end of what he was saying before he was afresh tormented by a hellish fury, who bid him cease complaining, for it was in vain. "Besides," said he, "do you know you have deserved it all? How often were you told of this before, but would not then believe it? You laughed at them that told you of a hell; nay you were so presumptuous to dare Almighty Justice to destroy you! How often have you called on God to damn you. Do you complain that you are answered according to your wishes? What an unreasonable thing is this that you should call so often for damnation, and yet be so uneasy under it. You know yourself you had salvation offered you, and you refused it; with what face then can you complain of being damned? I have more reason to complain than you, but I was turned into hell as soon as I sinned. You had salvation offered you, and pardon and forgiveness often tendered you; but I never had any mercy offered me but was consigned was soon as I had sinned to everlasting punishment. If I had had the offer of salvation I never would have slighted it as you have done. And it had been better for you that you had never had the offer of it either; for then damnation would have been easier to you. Who do you think should pity you that would be damned in spite of heaven itself?" This made the wretch cry out, "Oh, do not thus continue to torment me. I know that my destruction is of myself. Oh, that I could forget it! The thoughts of that is here my greatest plague. I would be damned, and therefore justly am so."
Then turning to the fiend that Tortured him he said, "But it was through thy temptations, cursed devil. It was thou that tempted me to all the sins I have been guilty of, and dost thou now upbraid me? You say you never had a Savior offered you; but you should call to mind you never had a tempter either, as I have had continually of thee."
To this the devil scornfully replied, "I own it was my business to decoy you hither! and you have often been told so by your preachers. They told you plainly enough we sought your ruin, and went about continually like roaring lions, seeking whom we could devour; and I was oft afraid you would believe them, as several did, to our great disappointment. But you were willing to do what we would have you, and since you have done our work, it is but reasonable that we should pay you wages." And then the fiend tormented him afresh, which caused him to roar out so horribly I could no longer stay to hear him.
"How dismal," said I then to my conductor, "is the condition of these damned souls. They are the devil's slaves while upon the earth, and he upbraids and then torments them for it when they come to hell."
"Their malice against all the race of Adam," said my conductor, "is exceeding great. And because many souls are ignorant of their devices, they easily prevail upon them to their eternal ruin. And how they treat them here, for listening to their temptations, you have seen already and will see more of it quickly."
Passing a little further we saw a multitude of damned souls together, gnashing their teeth with extreme rage and pain, while the tormenting fiends with hellish fury poured liquid fire and brimstone continually upon them. They, in the meantime, cursing God themselves, and those about them, in blaspheming after a tremendous manner. I could not forbear asking of one fiend that so tormented them who they were that he used so cruelly?
Said he, "They are those that very well deserve it. These are those cursed wretches that would teach others the right road to heaven, while yet themselves were so in love with hell that they came hither. These are those souls that have been the great factors of hell upon the earth, and therefore do deserve a particular regard in hell. We use our utmost diligence to give every one their utmost share of torments, but will be sure to take care these shall not want; for these have not only their own sins to answer for, but all those, too, whom they have led astray both by their doctrine and example."
"Since they have been such great factors for hell, as you say, methinks gratitude should oblige you to use them a little more kindly."
To this the impudent fiend answered me in a scoffing manner. "They that expect gratitude among devils will find themselves mistaken. Gratitude is a virtue, but we hate all virtue and profess an immortal enmity against it. Beside, we hate all mankind, and were it in our power not one of them should be happy. It is true we do not tell them so upon earth because there it is our business to flatter and delude them. But when we have them here where they are fast enough (for from hell there is no redemption) we soon convince them of their folly in believing us."
From the discourse I had heard of this and other of the devils, I could not but reflect that it is infinite and unspeakable grace by which any poor sinners are brought to heaven, considering how many snares and baits are laid by the enemy of souls to entrap them by the way; and therefore it is a work well worthy of the blessed Son of God to save His people from their sins, and to deliver them from the wrath to come. But it is an unaccountable folly and madness in men to refuse the offers of His grace, and to close in with the destroyer.
Going on a little farther, I heard a wretch complaining in a heartbreaking strain against those men that had betrayed him hither.
"I was told," said he, "by those that I depended on and thought could have informed me right, that if I said but 'Lord, have mercy on me', when I came to die it would be enough to save me. But oh, wretchedly I find myself mistaken, to my eternal sorrow! Alas, I called for mercy on my deathbed, but found it was too late. This cursed devil here that told me just before that I was safe enough, then told me it was too late and hell must be my portion."
"You see I told you true at last," said the devil, "and then you would not believe me. A very pretty business is it not, think you? You spend your days in the pursuit of sin, and wallow in your filthiness, and you would go to heaven when you die! Would any but a madman think that would ever do? No! he that in good earnest does intend to go to heaven when he dies must walk in the ways of holiness and virtue while he lives. You say some of your lewd companions told you that saying, 'Lord, have mercy of me' when you came to die would be enough. A very fine excuse! You might have known, if you'd given yourself but leisure to have read the Bible that 'Without holiness there is none shall see the Lord.' Therefore this is the sum of the matter. You were willing to live in you sins as long as you could, you did not leave them at last because you did not like them, but because you could follow them no longer. And this you know to be true. And could you have the impudence to think to go to heaven with the love of sin in your heart? No, no, no such matter. You have been warned often enough that you should take heed of being deceived, for God would not be mocked, but such as you sowed you should also reap. So that you have no reason to complain of any thing but your own folly, which you now see too late."
"This lecture of the devil was a very cutting one to the poor tormented wretch," said my conductor, "and contains the true case of many now on earth as well as those in hell. But oh, what a far different judgment do they make in this sad state from what they did on earth."
"The reason for this is," replied my guardian angel, "that they will not allow themselves to think what the effect of sin will be, nor what an evil it is, while upon the earth. It is an inconsideration that is the ruin of so many thousands, who think not what they are doing, nor where they are going until it is too late to help it."
An Atheist in Hell
We had not gone much farther on before we heard another tormenting himself and increasing his own misery by thinking of the happiness of blessed souls.
We were diverted from giving any further ear unto these stinging self-reflections of this poor lost creature by seeing a vast number of tormenting fiends lashing incessantly a numerous company of wretched souls with knotted whips of ever burning steel while they roared out with cries so very piercing and so lamentable I thought it might have melted even cruelty itself into some pity, which made me say to one of the tormentors, "Oh, stay your hand, and do not use such cruelty as this is to them who are your fellow creatures, and whom perhaps you have yourselves betrayed to all this misery."
"No," answered the tormentor very smoothly, "though we are bad enough, no devil ever was a bad as they, nor guilty of such crimes as they have been. For we all know there is a God, although we hate Him! but these are such as never could be brought to own (till they came hither) that there was such a Being."
"Then these," said I, "are atheists, a wretched sort of men indeed, and who once wanted to ruin me, had not eternal grace prevented it."
I had no sooner spoken, when one of the tormented wretches cried out with a sad mournful accent, "Sure, I should know that voice. It must be Epenetus."
I was amazed to hear my name mentioned by one of the infernal crew; and therefore being desirous to know what it was, I answered, "Yes, I am Epenetus. But who are you in that sad lost condition that knows me?"
To this the lost unknown replied, "I was once well acquainted with you upon earth and had almost persuaded you to be of my opinion. I am the author of the celebrated book so well known by the title of 'Leviathan.'"
"What! the great Hobbs?" I said. "Are you come hither? Your voice is so much changed I did not know it."
"Alas," replied he, "I am that unhappy man indeed. But so far from being great that I am one of the most wretched persons in all these sooty territories. Nor is it any wonder that my voice is changed; for I am now changed in my principles, though changed too late to do me any good. For now I know there is a God. But oh! I wish that there were not, for I am sure He will have no mercy on me. Nor is there any reason that He should. I do confess I was His foe on earth, but now He is mine in hell. It is that wretched confidence I had in my own wisdom that has thus betrayed me."
"Your case is miserable, and yet you needs must own you suffer justly. For how industrious were you to persuade others, and so involve them in the same damnation. None has more reason to know this than I, who had almost been taken in the snare and perished forever."
"It is that," said he, "that stings me to the heart to think how many perish by my means. I was afraid when first I heard your voice that you had likewise been consigned to punishment. Not that I can wish any person happy, for it is my plague to think that many are so while I am miserable; but because every soul that is brought hither through by seduction while I was on earth, doubles my pain in hell."
"But tell me, for I fain would be informed and you can do it. Did you indeed believe when upon earth, there was no God? Could you imagine that the world could make itself? And that the creatures were the causes of their own production? Had you no secret whispers in your soul that told you it was another made you and not you yourself? And had you never any doubts about this matter? I have often heard it said that though there are many who profess there is no God, there is not one that thinks so; and it would be strange there should, because there is none but carry in their bosom a witness for that God whom they deny. Now you can tell whether it is so or no, for you have now no reason to conceal you sentiments."
"Nor will I, Epenetus," answered he. "Although the thoughts thereof sting me afresh, I did at first believe there was a God, but falling afterwards to vicious courses, which rendered me open to His wrath, I had some secret wishes there was none. For it is impossible to think there is a God, and not withal to think Him just and righteous, and consequently that He is obliged to punish the transgressors of His law. And being I was conscious of myself as obnoxious to His justice, it made me hate Him, and wish that there was no such Being. But still pursing the same vicious courses, and finding justice did not overtake me, I then began to hope there was no God; and from those hopes began to frame in my own breast ideas suitable to what I hoped. And having thus in my own thoughts framed a new system of the world's origin, excluding thence the being of a Deity, I found myself so fond of these new notions that I at last prevailed upon myself to give them credit, and then endeavored to fasten the belief of them on others. But before I came to such a height as this, I do acknowledge that I found several checks in my own conscience for what I did, and all along was now and then troubled with some strange uneasy thoughts, as if I should not find all right at last; which I endeavored to put off, as much as in me lay. And now I find those checking thoughts that might have been of service to me then are here the things that most of all torment me. And I must own the love of sin hardened my heart against the Maker, and made me hate Him first, and then deny His being. Sin, that I hugged so close within my bosom, has been the cursed cause of all this woe; the serpent that has stung my soul to death. For now I find, in spite of my vain philosophy, there is a God. I find, too, now that God will not be mocked, although it was my daily practice in the world to mock at heaven and ridicule whatever things are sacred, which were the means I used to spread abroad my cursed notions, which I always found very successful. For those I could but get to ridicule oracles I always looked upon to be in a fair way to become disciples. But now the thoughts thereof are more tormenting to me than all the torments I sustain by whips of burning steel."
Fire and Darkness
"I would ask another question. I heard yourself and others cry out of burning steel and fire and flames; and yet I cannot discern it. Where there is fire there just be some degree of light; and yet from what appears to me you are still in utter darkness."
"O that I could but say I felt no fire! How easy would my torments be to that which I now find them! But alas, the fire that we endure ten thousand times exceeds all culinary fire in fierceness; and is of quite a different nature from it. There is no light at all attends it, as goes upon such fire as burns upon earth. But not withstanding all the fire in hell, we are in utter darkness. But then the fire you burn on earth is of a preying and devouring nature; for whatsoever it takes hold of it consumes to ashes; and when it meets with no more fuel it goes out. But here it is not so. For though it burns with that tremendous fierceness, which none but those that feel it know, yet does it not consume, not never will. We shall ever be burning, yet not burned. It is a tormenting, but not a consuming fire. Here the fire seizes upon our souls and puts them into pain so tormenting as cannot be expressed. It was my ignorance of this when upon earth that made me ridicule the notion of immaterial substances being burned by fire; which here, to my own cost, I find too true. And then another difference betwixt the fire that burns us here and that which burns on the earth is this, that you can kindle that whenever you please and quench it when you will. But here it is otherwise; this fire is like to a stream of brimstone and it burns for ever. And this is what I have to answer to the last sad question that you asked me."
"Sad indeed," said I. "See what Almighty Power can inflict on those that violate His righteous law." I was making some further observation on what I heard, when the relentless fiend who was before tormenting them, thus interrupted me.
"You see by him what sort of men they were when in the world; and do you not think that they
