A Relational Problem
In Hell, I knew and understood the Bible perfectly. Every word of God that I had ever read was now completely clear. And I knew exactly how much I had disobeyed in comparison to my biblical understanding. I was keenly aware of everything about myself and my body. Stuff like my blood moving, my eyes seeing, and how all parts of my body work. I have never been in such awe of the creation of a human body. Everything I learned in eighth grade science I recalled perfectly. But even more, a supernatural knowledge filled in the blanks that I did not already know.
My knowledge about Hell, from the Scriptures, was also at the front of my awareness. I knew that everything I had read was true. All heartbreakingly true. I knew all of the scriptures on Hell, how much information was provided to me in the Bible about it, and how those scriptures fit with the rest of the Bible. I was fully awakened to the terrible reality of this place. The panic of knowing that I was in Hell grew. I was not a visitor.
We think someone goes to Hell because they sinned, but really it is about disobeying and disrespecting God. The Bible says, “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way” (Ps. 2:12). That kiss is about love, affection, and obedience. We think that because people mess up, God sends them to Hell. But that is not true. How can we think God is bad? People go to Hell because they refuse to be in a relationship with God. Hell is about a refusal to love God and have a relationship with Him.
Although God literally forgave me everything, I chose to refuse to forgive certain ones. I was like the unmerciful servant in one of Jesus’ parables (see Matt. 18:21-35). When the servant refused to forgive the debt and stood before the king again, he was called wicked. It wasn’t because he simply made a mistake; it was because he wouldn’t enter into the relationship of mercy and grace and obedience to the King. It wasn’t only about what a person does; it is all about who they are in their heart.
In Hell I already knew the complete truth from God’s perspective. The ways of God are righteous, always righteous! Even though I wished it were not so, I knew that it was. The judgment of God is true. Everyone knows that truth there. The judgment of me being in Hell eternally for not forgiving people on the earth was completely righteous. In my own knowledge, being in Hell was completely righteous. I can’t tell you what that did to me then, or the soberness that it puts in me even today. It’s not like on the earth where innocent people have gone to jail for something they didn’t do. That never happens in Hell. Everyone in Hell is there because they are guilty. Because they would not love and obey God.
As I faced the reality of my judgment, I was in overload. I was inundated with an ever-increasing fear and knowledge that Hell is not only everything that I had read in the Bible but so much worse. But there is no overload shut-down mechanism in Hell. No shutting off, no taking a break, no passing out, and no quitting. The horribleness and pain in Hell accelerated and continued to get worse. I was literally experiencing inside my body the truth I had read in the Bible.
I experienced many other horrors during this vision, which I talk about further in my book The Hell Conspiracy. For the sake of brevity, I’ll cut it short…
Back to the Visible Realm
At the end of the vision, I reentered the earthly realm yelling. The worship was still going on, but I took center stage from the back of the room with my screaming.
I had no idea how much trouble I was in or that I would be forever changed. I had no grid for the loss or the gain that would surround my life from that day forward. Today, I still have an eerie weightiness whenever I share about Hell. It is a very important topic that everyone should take seriously.
It hurts to tell you this. It hurts to tell you about the punishment that was mine. It was Jesus’ mercy and love that picked me up and brought me back from Hell. If I had died in that vision, I would still be there.
The fact is that there are many people in Hell. Too many people! We can’t do anything about that. But how many of our family are going there? You know what? Most of us really don’t care. The Bible says Hell is getting bigger to hold all the people who are coming (see Isa. 5:14; Deut. 32:22). We should be doing something about it.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love (1 John 4:7-8 NIV).
Keep yourselves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh (Jude 1:21-23).
Powerful !!