Yes. Hell is a real place.  I feel compelled to share my thoughts because I've discovered a recent book and related articles that claim hell doesn't exist.  They’re not the first to dismiss the reality of hell and won’t be the last, but I urge people not to believe them – they’re deceptive. 

 

But hasn’t hell been relegated to the ash heap of mythology along with organized religion?  No.  Some modern secular scholars postulate that the "concept" of hell is no longer "needed" in contemporary society, but as one sage observer pointed out, hell either exists or it doesn’t. What we need or find fulfilling or logical is interesting, but ultimately irrelevant. Hell isn’t an “idea” or “concept” – it’s a physical location.

 

Another trend that’s hastened the exclusion of hell from the present-day discourse is the almost complete elimination of hell from sermons coming from the pulpit today. 

 

The mass media is also playing a large part in accelerating our culture’s rejection of the reality of hell – and God in general.  Anyone who claims that hell is nothing more than a mythical concept gets primetime coverage, while those who try to trumpet the truth are shunned or ignored.

 

The collective campaign to remove hell from our cultural psyche is having an impact.  The Pew Research Center's 2014 Religious Landscape Study found that roughly seven-in-ten (72%) Americans say they believe in heaven.  At the same time, only 58% of U.S. adults reported believing in hell.

 

But a careful examination of the evidence will reveal that the Bible is true and hell is real.  Where’s the proof?  In some likely and some unlikely places.

 

First, let’s look at the Bible.  Many reject the Bible as a factual historical document.  Some claim it's merely a musty old collection of myths written by men.  Others disagree. A growing number of bible experts are discovering that the Bible is a self-authenticating document.  As the late Dr. Chuck Missler so beautifully explained, it’s a carefully crafted integrated message with multiple layers of meaning that must have originated from a source outside of our time/space continuum.

 

Seriously?  Yes.  Written over 1600 years by some forty authors – many of whom did not know each other, the Bible describes events that came to pass centuries later.  We're not talking about vague, generic predictions that anyone could reasonably guess, but specific graphic descriptions of Jesus Christ's crucifixion, death, and resurrection, as well as many other events.

 

In 1957, Moody Press in Chicago, Illinois, published a book by Professor Peter W. Stoner, called SCIENCE SPEAKS, An Evaluation of Certain Christian Evidences. In his book, Stoner points out that through his peer-reviewed mathematical computations, he calculated the odds of just eight of the Messianic prophecies in the Bible about the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ occurring – and they did – was one in 10 to the 17^th power.  He also demonstrated that many other prophecies that the Bible made came true, and the odds of their occurrence, as predicted, was astronomical.  The Bible is a book of supernatural origin.

 

What’s the Bible’s evidence for hell’s existence?  Biblical documentation and, most recently, eye witness testimony provide a substantial body of evidence that can’t be ignored.  Jesus Christ talked more about hell than heaven while he was on earth. The Bible is replete with graphic examples of the conditions in hell, and no amount of grammatical or analytical chicanery can gloss over the gruesome warnings contained in the scriptures.

 

What are some examples of Biblical warnings?

 

“Then He (the Son of Man – Jesus) will say, depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matthew 25:41

 

“And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:46

 

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Mathew 10:28

 

“And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes and be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” Mark 9:47-48

 

“Let us swallow them up alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down to the Pit.” Proverbs 1:12

 

“Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.” Luke 16:24

 

“Let burning coals fall upon them; let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits, that they rise up not again.” Psalm 140:10

 

“And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night.”  Rev 14:11

 

“All liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstones.”

(Revelation 21:8)

 

In total, at least 130 Old Testament verses mention hell. The New Testament also contains twenty-three references to hell. Jesus talked about hell fifteen times during his life on earth.

 

What’s the modern-day evidence? 

 

Modern-day evidence comes from the eye witness accounts of near-death-experience survivors who’ve come back from clinical death.  Additionally, those who’ve experienced out-of-body journeys or vivid visions provide a growing body of corroborating eyewitness accounts that should give even the most jaded atheists pause.  Some, compelled by a sense of urgency to warn others, have written books and gone on speaking tours. Their unequivocal message: I know that hell exists because I’ve been there.

 

To get the information from the horse’s mouth, I recommend that concerned individuals read the accounts of near-death experience and out-of-body experience witnesses and judge for yourselves.  Start with Bill Wiese’s 23 Minutes in Hell.  Howard Storm‘s, My Descent into Death, and Bryan Melvin’s A Land Unknown: Hells Dominion are both excellent testimonies from former atheists.  For a more balanced view of both heaven and hell, Richard Sigmund’s My Time in Heaven, Jim Woodford’s Heaven: An Unexpected Journey, and Donna Rigney’s Divine Encounters have enough graphic detail to give you an idea of what will lie ahead for some.  For a scientific review of the subject, Dr. Jeff Long’s God and the Afterlife is an excellent resource.

 

Do any of the NDE or out-of-body witnesses provide unique observations that corroborate the Bible?

 

Yes – many.  In his book, 23 Minutes in Hell, Bill Wiese provides a vivid example on pages 9 and 10 of the chapter entitled The Cell:  “As I stood outside the cell, I actually felt the darkness…it was though the darkness has its own power…I looked off to my right and could faintly see flames from afar that dimly lit the skyline…The flames were intense, but the darkness seemed to swallow up the light."

 

Hell is described as “gloomy darkness” in Jude 6 yet “an eternal fire” in Jude 7.

 

But that’s just someone’s story.

 

Witnesses give testimony under oath in local, state, and federals trial courts nearly every week about events they've participated in or witnessed. Their accounts are given vigorous cross-examination so that the deciders of fact, the judge or jury, can determine whether their testimony is reliable, true, and accurate.

 

We, as disinterested outside parties, can also receive and evaluate witness testimony in the form of NDE accounts from a variety of witnesses who have no connection with one another.  A review of recorded NDE witness accounts discloses a pattern of events and a similarity of information.  While the anecdotal accounts of a few individuals might be dismissed as mere stories, when many scores of individuals report similar data, it begins to gain credibility.  The number of accounts of those who have visited hell cannot be dismissed as mere stories.

 

Where exactly is hell?

 

To answer that question, we must first recognize that we are bi-dimensional beings. Since we inhabit a soul and spirit body that is interwoven into our temporary biological earth suit called a human body, we have to consider that our soul and spirit, which we can’t see, exist in another time/space continuum simultaneously while we inhabit the earth.

 

For those who reject the concept that heaven and hell can exist in another time/space continuum because science can’t prove that they exist, I recommend they consider for a moment that modern science can’t account for more than three-quarters of all matter in the universe.  Through ongoing research, scientists can infer that a substance called dark matter exists, but they can’t directly observe it.  The origin of dark matter is a mystery, although researchers are attempting to find a source.  Scientists have also determined, through mathematical calculations that one can infer that at least ten dimensions exist. Plenty of space for heaven and hell.

 

 Why don’t people believe?

 

First and foremost, many reject the reality of hell out of fear.  The thought of being relegated to an eternity of horrific torture is more than most people can stand.  To deflect their thoughts from a fate beyond comprehension, they put up a brave front, call on the “logic” of fellow disbelievers, and go through life “whistling through the graveyard.”  Out of sight, out of mind.  Free from reminders of hell for those who reject Jesus Christ, people can go through life, hoping that they’re right while secretly dreading what the future might hold.

 

Another contributing factor is that in the western world, many are smothered by comfort and have little incentive to consider the potential horrors of an afterlife separated from God.  Most conflate their comfortable standard of living with an imaginary stasis – they believe their present pleasant circumstances are the reflection of how the universe works in perpetuity.

 

Deniers believe no supreme being would ever mete out justice and consign the apathetic or rebellious to a never-ending existence of suffering. That's not how a rational person could ever conceive of an “all-loving God” behaving.  No need to worry about the fire and brimstone mumbo jumbo – just look around and see that life’s not so bad, and an eternity in hell is just nonsense.

 

Many can’t fathom that the comfort in this life is a fleeting condition that will evaporate upon death when God will judge us. 

 

What’s the Answer?

 

Intense fear of hell is a healthy and reasonable response.  We should fear it, learn how to stay out of it, but not let it paralyze us, or cause us to try and reject it with our limited human logic.  God created hell for Satan and his angels, and unless you reject God and Jesus Christ, you have no reason to worry. Claiming that hell can’t exist because it makes no sense for God to create such a place doesn’t negate the reality of its existence.

 

No one curses God for creating gravity because we need it, yet every year gravity causes severe injuries to more than 2.8 million people through falls. More than 27,000 people a year die from falls. We know that gravity can cause injury or death if we ignore it, yet we go on about our lives without dwelling on its danger or claiming that it doesn’t exist because we can’t see it.

 

Likewise, we need but instinctively fear fire. Over 1.1 million people a year require hospital treatment for burns, and almost 15,000 a year die in the U.S. from burns or burn-related infections.  Fire is a known danger that we need, yet we admire it when it graces our fireplaces or cooks our food.

 

Hell is no different.  It exists – with all its horrors – but we know we can avoid it if we humble ourselves, pray to Jesus Christ, confess our sins, and ask him to be our Lord and Savior. We can go on about lives like we usually do while loving Him, trying to do our best to obey Him, and pushing our thoughts about hell to the back of our minds.  One day, it'll all be worth it. Heaven is beautiful beyond imagination and worth the temporary struggles we endure here on earth.

 

For a more in-depth discussion of near-death experiences, go to https://jeffwaltonbooks.com/blog/35.

 

The numbers are building.  People are dying and coming back to life with a story to tell.  Near-death experiences (NDEs) are increasingly being reported as an identifiable physiological and psychological reality of clinical significance.

 

Yet many Christian pastors hold the topic of NDEs at arm's length – and for understandable reasons.  Called a pseudo-science by some, the field is riddled with a panoply of confusing, conflicting, and many anti-Biblical accounts.  For some secular scientists, NDEs are dismissed as a mere chemical reaction in the brain – an unknown mechanism of the body that engages during clinical death or grievous injury or shock.

 

Why the Christian Clergy push-back?  NDE witnesses report a wide range of experiences - from full-on encounters with Jesus Christ - to ethereal experiences where the witness feels joined with an enveloping non-personal light that emanates an unconditional love.  The Near-Death Experience Research Foundation (NDERF) website has posted thousands of reported incidents that run the gamut from simple experiences of a person leaving their body and hovering near an operating room ceiling to blissful visits to heaven and horrific descents into hell.

 

Since some reports do not square with the content of the Bible, some Christian pastors tend to dismiss all of them with a single broad brushstroke.  They believe they are the product of demonic encounters or the work of fabricators who hope to profit from their claims.  Still, others believe NDE witnesses are simply mentally disturbed or deluded. I contend that ignoring NDEs and the people who report them is a mistake. I also recommend that a term other than NDE should be used to allow for a fuller understanding of the phenomenon within Christian circles.

 

But why should Christians be talking about them at all? 

 

1.  They’re happening whether we believe it or not. 

 

Regardless of what you call them, roughly 5% of the American population, or roughly 13 million people, report experiencing an NDE every year according to a poll taken by Gallup in 1992.  More recently, an article published in the Journal of Near-Death Studies cited a survey of 2,000 people in Germany in 2011 that found 4 percent had experienced an NDE. 

 

In June 2019, a new study by European researchers found one in 10 people has undergone a near-death experience. The findings were presented at the fifth European Academy of Neurology Congress.

 

The study analyzed 1,034 people from 35 countries and found that 289 people reported a near-death experience with varying spiritual and physical symptoms.

 

Of those 289 people, 106 of them reached the threshold for a “true” near-death experience as quantified by the 16 points in the Greyson NDE Scale which "measures the depth of an individuals' near-death experience." An experience reaching 7 on the scale is considered "true."

 

The Greyson NDE Scale is the most widely used standardized tool to “identify, confirm and characterize” near-death experiences.

 

2.  NDE is an inaccurate term for an actual event that is a reflection of a person’s combined physical and supernatural structure as described in the Bible. 

 

The event, not the term, needs to be taken seriously.

 

Better term?  The Bible teaches that man is composed of a physical body, a soul, and a spirit. Several verses, such as 1 Thessalonians 5:23, which states, "Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again," make clear that man has a triune structure. Recognition of those components is vitally important when considering what is termed an NDE.  One of the common occurrences reported by NDE witnesses cited in peer-reviewed studies is that they distinctly experience being "out-of-body." As Christians, we should take the wisdom of the Bible as a cue to devise a new term that more accurately describes what is taking place in our physical world daily.

 

When does dead mean dead?  Near-death experience is a term that was created to label an unknown phenomenon.  The expression “Near-Death Experience” (NDE) was introduced into the modern medical lexicon by Raymond Moody, a philosopher, psychologist, physician and author, most known for his book Life After Life, that popularized the term NDE in 1975.  While the term has stuck, it's inaccurate, as many of the witnesses' experiences result from being clinically dead. In other words, they had no vital signs – no pulse or respiration.  That's not near-dead, that's dead. 

 

Since NDE has become a label that is used and misused regularly, I suggest a better term for the Christian community would be a spirit/soul separation event, or SSE.  For reasons only God knows, certain circumstances trigger the soul and spirit to separate from the physical body – our earth suit.  Sometimes, the soul/spirit hovers above the person's body, and in other cases, they travel together through a tunnel or vortex.  In some cases, the person's soul and spirit arrive in an otherworldly location almost instantly. SSEs vary significantly in content and intensity. 

 

In some reported cases, a person has had no pulse or respiration for more than an hour before “self-resuscitating.”  In his fascinating book, My Time In Heaven, the late Richard Sigmund reported being dead for more than eight hours and finding himself being wheeled to a hospital morgue when he re-entered his body.  He displayed no signs of brain damage after he came back to life, and his fatal injuries healed spontaneously. Clearly, he went beyond being “near death.”

 

3. The Bible documents events that mirror NDEs or SSEs.

 

In Isaiah 6, the prophet Isaiah describes being in the presence of the Lord sitting on a throne in heaven and hearing seraphim calling "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts."  Some may attribute Isaiah's description to a vision, but since the passage does not specifically describe it as a vision but does describe Isaiah talking, seeing, and touching, one could make the case that Isaiah underwent an SSE and traveled to heaven. 

 

In Ezekiel 8 through 11, Ezekiel describes a vision in which a supernatural being lifted him between heaven and earth and brought him to the entrance of the gateway of an inner court that faced north in Jerusalem.  Unlike Isaiah 6, Ezekiel used the term "vision," although one could make the case that his vision was an out-of-body experience or SSE.

 

In 2 Corinthians 12:2, the Apostle Paul describes a man who was “caught up in the third heaven – “whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows. And I know this man was caught up in paradise.”  Most Christian scholars agree that Paul was describing his own experience, and although Paul equivocates whether he had an out-of-body experience or a vision, he presents the out-of-body experience as a distinct possibility.  For Christian teachers who say that the Bible does not mention NDEs or SSEs, I humbly disagree.  Paul's testimony confirms that he visited heaven in some capacity while he still had a physical body on earth that was alive. 

 

Finally, in Revelation 1:10, John describes being in the spirit on the Lord's day and being in the presence of Jesus Christ, who directs John to record what he observed.  The faculty of sight is associated with the physical and the spiritual body. 

 

4. Members of the New Age movement and witchcraft practice induced SSEs. 

 

While some in the body of Christ reject the concept of NDEs/SSEs, members of the occult and the New Age movement have practiced a form of an induced SSE - astral projection – for many years.  Practitioners of astral projection report their out-of-body experiences on websites such as The Astral Pulse, which is devoted to guest posts and articles about out-of-body experiences and astral projection experiences.   New Age movement adherents seem to understand the concept of the detachable conscious element of the human body, i.e., three-part construction of man - better than most Christian clergy.  Christian pastors, teachers, and researchers who are self-avowed former witches, warlocks, Satanists or New Age movement practitioners have acknowledged either personally engaging in astral projection or being aware of others who have.

 

5. NDEs or SSEs help our understanding of what’s written in the Bible. 

 

Accurately and honestly reported NDEs/SSEs could confirm God's inspired Word, not replace it.  They do not add or take away from the Bible any more than the archeological discovery of a specific artifact never mentioned in the Bible, such as a coin or piece of pottery that bears the name of a particular person revealed in the Bible - but contains some new detail not described in any Bible verse - in any way conflicts with the scriptures.  They simply add detail that amplifies and clarifies what is written in God's inspired Word.

 

Put another way, SSEs are events that allow individuals to observe and to experience details about the supernatural properties of heaven and hell.  NDEs/SSEs shouldn't be the basis for our faith, but they can reinforce our faith.

 

I’ll be the first to admit that one does not need to study a single NDE/SSE to learn about God.  The Bible is truly fully sufficient. However, the eyewitness testimony of honest and careful NDE/SSE witnesses can aid the Christian in better understanding parts of scripture. 

 

For example, the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all document the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.  Although none provide any specific details about how Jesus was nailed to the cross, the readers of the Gospel have a general understanding of what happened to Jesus on Golgotha. However, a popular misconception memorialized in countless paintings and graphic depictions is that the Roman soldiers drove spikes through the palms of Jesus' hands into the wooden cross.

 

In his book, The Case For Christ, Lee Strobel documents an interview with Alexander Metherell, MD, and Ph.D., a man with the medical and scientific credentials to explain the crucifixion.  As explained by Dr. Metherell, when the Romans conducted a crucifixion, they used 5 to 7-inch metal spikes that were driven through the wrists and feet of the victim.  The wrists had to be used because the flesh and small bones of the hands could not support the weight of the victim.  As explained by Dr. Metherell, the wrist was considered part of the hand in the language of the day of Jesus' time.

 

Why is this important?  In B.W. Melvin’s book, A Land Unknown: Hell’s Dominion – an account of an extensive NDE/SSE that landed Melvin in hell – Melvin describes on page 67 standing in the presence of Christ, who reached toward Melvin to wipe his tears with the hem of Christ’s robe and “revealing an ugly gnashed scar near His wrist displaying that the very joints had been ripped from their place.”  He describes later in his book observing the same wounds on Christ.  At the time of his NDE/SSE that had been precipitated by cholera, Melvin was an avowed militant atheist. Like any careful witness, he simply recorded what he saw.

 

In Jim Woodford’s book, Heaven, an unexpected journey, he documents an NDE/SSE in which he travels to an entrance of hell and then is escorted to heaven by three angles after dying of an accidental medication overdose.  He writes about being escorted into Jesus' presence, and on page 127, he documents, “But when Jesus held out his hand, I saw the radiant light of his garment shining through a hole in his wrist – the wrist that had been nailed to the cross for me. For all of us.  It was not a bloody or jagged hole, but clearly an odd-shaped scar."

 

Did Jim Woodford learn about the use of wrists in crucifixions from others and attempt to mislead his readers with a false account?  Possibly, but highly improbable. 

 

Another part of the Bible that is supported by NDEs/SSEs is the book of Genesis, which describes God's creation of man.  NDEs/SSEs confirm the existence of the soul and spirit and demonstrate that they are separate and distinct components that make up our total being.  They further confirm that our soul/spirit contains all of our senses and that our body is simply a biological interface organism that allows the soul and spirit to function in the earth's time/space continuum.  They help refute the notion that we have all evolved from pond scum and developed into prescient beings capable of abstract thought. 

 

6. NDEs or SSEs have become a legitimate field of scientific study that has amassed large quantities of data and numerous peer-reviewed studies. 

 

Since Raymond Moody wrote his pioneering book in 1975, the field of study of NDEs/SSEs has grown dramatically.  Dr. Jeff Long, a radiation oncologist who is a scientist and medical researcher, created the Near-Death Research Foundation (NDERF) and its corresponding website, NDERF.org in 1998.  Today, the foundation has a library of more than 4,000 self-reported NDEs/SSEs accounts posted on the website.  Each account is information inputted, anonymously, into a scientifically designed questionnaire that is structured to weed out fabricators and fakes. While the NDERF is a neutral secular foundation, Dr. Long wrote God and the Afterlife in 2016, which affirms NDE/SSE witnesses have had encounters with a spiritual being that they knew, intuitively, was God.

 

Over 900 articles on NDEs have been published in scholarly literature before 2005, and since then, many more.  In the 30 years after Moody published Life After Life, 55 researchers or teams published at least 65 studies of over 3500 NDEs.

 

Dr. Pim van Lommel et al. have conducted excellent longitudinal NDE studies that have been reported in the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet. Dr.  Kenneth Ring has conducted studies on near-death experiences, along with a later study of near-death experiences of the blind, where those with no sight reported observing activities during their NDE/SSE.  Dr. Melvin Morse’s study of near-death experiences of children (reported in two articles in the American Medical Association’s American Journal of Diseases of Children) reports that children who were too young to have known of the term NDE reported having the experience.

 

When one peruses the extensive archives of the NDERF, one cannot help but notice that many NDE/SSEs have a well-defined structure that fits a specific pattern.  Dreams and hallucinations are composed of random and almost chaotic mental experiences that rarely have any clearly-defined content with vivid detail and a linear quality to them.  Very few individuals remember dreams for any length of time, while the experiences of NDE/SSE witnesses seem to be permanently etched into their minds, and in some cases, have transformative effects on their lives.

 

What about the contradictory experiences that cause witnesses to proclaim that hell doesn’t exist or we’re just all one with the universe?  The perceptions of NDE/SSE witnesses are colored by their age, life experiences, culture and general frame of reference.  For a Buddhist, the glowing figure of an approaching Jesus Christ could be misidentified as Buddha.  For the New Age movement practitioner, a short NDE/SSE that exposes the witness to sensations of light and love could confirm their belief that we’re all part of a collective and impersonal field of universal loving energy.

 

With the foregoing said, I believe some NDE/SSE witnesses are deceived by demons and evil spirits. Bryan Melvin documents in this book witnessing human soul/spirits arriving in hell and being met by demons who changed their shape to appear to be benign beings or one of the person’s family or circle of friends.  Those who were resuscitated before their residency in hell became permanent would understandably be deceived into believing they had visited heaven. 

 

Individuals who have engaged in astral projection also report meeting and being deceived by demons during their out-of-body experiences.

 

As scripture tells us in 2 Corinthians 11:14, And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an “angel of light.”  Without question, Satan and his minions can and do deceive man, and NDEs/SSEs, as well as encounters with astral projection practitioners, allows them to do so.  Skillful and patient interviews of NDE/SSE witnesses may help unmask deceptive experiences or help dispel confusion.

 

7.  NDEs are legitimate eyewitness accounts that include, in some cases, verified veridical perceptions.

 

Veridical means truthful or coinciding with reality. Some studies have reported corroborative veridical out-of-body experiences that have been categorized as NDEs/SSEs. The experiences enabled the patients to have sensorial knowledge that they would not have been able to have through their physical bodies.

 

In Dr. Van Lommel's studies, he has referenced a Dutch study that has documented that a man who had been in a deep coma later told a nurse that he recognized her and saw where she had placed his dentures during resuscitation efforts.  He even described the cart into which she had placed them.

 

In another case, researchers report that a woman who left her body during a cardiac arrest found herself floating out of the building, up three stories, and over to the north side of the building, where she spotted a tennis shoe on a ledge of the third floor of the building. She described the shoe as a worn dark blue tennis shoe on a window ledge that had one of its laces stuck underneath the heel. The shoe’s location was not visible from the ground and not near the room where the patient had been resuscitated. Psychologist Kim Clark managed to locate the shoe and verify the claim – down to the details about the position of the lace and the location of the wear marks. 

 

Raymond Moody also reported similar veridical out-of-body experiences of subjects he studied. 

 

If we are only cells, then we cannot see or hear and move around when our bodies are unconscious and technically dead. 

 

But it happens.  We do have a soul and a spirit, and now we have eyewitnesses who can tell us how our spiritual bodies function. It’s a truth that can be verified.  A truth that was also written into the scriptures centuries ago.

 

 

8.  A select number of NDE or SSE witnesses claim they have been sent back to tell others about heaven or hell. 

 

Several NDE/SSE witnesses report being told specifically by Jesus Christ or angels to "tell others about what you have seen."

 

My first exposure to an account of an out-of-body trip to hell was Bill Wiese’s 23 Minutes in Hell.  On page 34, he describes being lifted out of hell by Jesus Christ. He writes, "Jesus said to me, 'Go and tell them about this place. It is not my desire that any should go there.'"

 

In his book, Beyond the Gate of Hell, Martin Telezing, Ph.D., writes about an unsolicited out-of-body trip to hell that included an angel escort.  On page 91 he writes, "One of the final instructions that my guiding angel gave me before departing from me was to write a book later to testify to the existence of hell in order to warn humans against lifestyles that would lead them here and to encourage them to choose the path that leads to heaven." 

 

In I Met God In Hell, Tim Ehmann describes his struggle with drugs and his descent into hell after injecting his fifth "speedball of the day."  On page 82 of his book, he describes being rescued by Jesus Christ, who told him, "I'm going to send you places where no else can go." 

 

Howard Pittman, a retired law enforcement officer and current pastor, documents in his book, Placebo, his near-death experience in 1979 and his subsequent angelically-escorted journeys to the Second Heaven and ultimately to the Third Heaven, where he pleaded with God to be returned to his physical body. He reports on page 44, "God gave me the command to repeat to the world my experience and this entire message."  Pittman went on to write other books related to his NDE/SSE.

 

In his incredible account of one of most extensive visits to heaven and also hell, the late Richard Sigmund writes in his book, My Time in Heaven, about being taken by Jesus from heaven down into hell at the direction of God. Sigmund, who had been dead for eight hours, describes on page 1266 of the Kindle version that “Jesus urged me to tell people what I saw (in hell).  ‘I want you to tell others of this place and warn them that unless they are washed in my blood, unless they are born again, this is where they will spend eternity.’ ”

 

Did the authors concoct their stories to sell books?  Possibly, but one has to ask, why would they go to all of the trouble to fabricate a story that would cause them to be ostracized? Other than Bill Wiese, the many witnesses who have come forward and documented their experiences do not appear to have become best-selling authors.  Yet each author reports being commanded by the Lord to go tell the world about the horrors of hell and the joys of heaven.  For those who reject and deride the authors, I ask one simple question.  What if the writers are telling the truth? 

 

Bottom line.

 

A book about an out-of-body trip to hell brought me to Christ.  If a written account of an NDE/SSE can open my eyes and heart, it can do the same for others.

 

The late astronomer Carl Sagan once stated, “I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But as much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking.”  Perhaps had he studied NDEs/SSEs, Sagan might have opened his mind and heart to God’s message and the evidence of his creation.

 

For a more comprehensive version of this article, visit www.evidenceforeternity.com and select the evidence tab.