HELL OR HEAVEN? I received a call this week from a friend who was very concerned about someone who was dying. She wanted me to go see him because someone had told her that the man knew he was dying and going to Hell and he didn’t care. Obviously, the man is not a believer in the Scriptures and has no idea what awaits him in that terrible place. Anyone who has read the Bible, knows Hell is no place to wind up for all eternity. I’ve often said that whether there is no Heaven, no Hell and even no God, I wouldn’t trade the blessed and fulfilling life I have had while believing in all three. If the Bible is true, believers have nothing to lose. On the other hand if a person chooses not to believe and the Bible IS true, they have everything to lose, including their soul. Mary K. Baxter wrote a book in 1976, entitled Divine Revelation of Hell. She says she was chosen by God to let the world know of the reality of Hell. She says, that Jesus Christ appeared to her on 40 consecutive nights and took her on a tour of Hell and Heaven. She later wrote, Divine Revelation of Heaven. Baxter shares this testimony at churches and is passionate about her message. I actually heard her speak in Thomaston, GA and although I firmly believe in the region called Hell, it was hard to take when described by someone claiming to have been there in person. Bill Wiese, a California real estate agent wrote a book in 1998, entitled “23 Minutes in Hell” in which he says he was lying in bed when he was ‘plunged into hell’. Wiese believes that Jesus showed him the awfulness of the regions of the damned. Since this experience he has been a sought after speaker in certain circles; he shares his experience and warns people of what happens to those who reject Christ as their personal Savior. Dante Alighieri wrote Dantes Inferno and though termed a comedy, the entire sequences of trips into the lower parts of Hell is no laughing matter, at least as far as I’m concerned. Alighieri was only 56 when he died. His classic work was written sometime between 1308 and his death in 1321. Without claiming, as Baxter and Weis did about a literal trip to hell, nonetheless his descriptions of the chambers of hell are eerily similar to theirs. The ‘comedy’ opens on the evening of Good Friday in 1300 AD. Dante is traveling through a dark wood and has lost his way. He runs into the ghost of Virgil, the great Roman poet, who says he has come to guide him back to the top of the mountain. The path back will lead them through the regions of the damned. The last of the horrific scenes leads to Lucifer (aka Satan), who has three heads and each head is chewing on the three greatest sinners in history: Judas, who betrayed Christ and Cassius and Brutus who betrayed Julius Caesar. Eventually Virgil leads them to the river of forgetfulness and from there they travel out of Hell and back to Earth just before sunrise on Easter Sunday. You might say they experienced a Resurrection! You, as the reader, will have to judge between these three books which is truth and which is fictional. I for one will stay with the Biblical account that Jesus Christ told to some from the sect of the Pharisees and to his disciples as recorded in Luke 16:10-31. Jesus gave the account of a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus. Lazarus, covered with sores, positioned himself at the gate of the rich man’s home, begging for alms. Eventually they both died and the rich man went to Hell, while Lazarus went to Paradise where Abraham and all the faithful were temporarily staying until the death and resurrection of Christ. Various emotions and feelings were felt by both men. Lazarus was in a place where he felt comforted. On the other hand the rich man was not so fortunate. Plagued with thirst, discomfort, memories of his life on earth and a feeling of tremendous thirst, the worst of all emotions was felt: there was no way out. Total hopelessness was his worst nightmare fulfilled and being experienced for all eternity. Jesus finishes the story by answering the rich man’s request to send Lazarus back to Earth to tell his five brothers about the awful place of torment so they will become true believers. Abraham, who had the discourse with the rich man, answers this request by saying, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.” (v. 31) There may be differing opinions as to whether this was a parable or an actual account, but one thing is for sure, being separated from God for all eternity is something I do not want to experience. How about you?
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 16:09:35 +0000
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