23 minutes in hell

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“23 Minutes in Hell” by Bill Wiese

Published by Charisma House

A Strang Company

600 Rinehart Road

Lake Mary, Florida 32746

www.strangbookgroup.com

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., publishers. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Design Director: Bill Johnson

Cover design by Rachel Campbell

Copyright © 2006 by Bill Wiese

All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wiese, Bill.

23 minutes in hell / Bill Wiese.-- 1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1-59185-882-8

1. Hell--Christianity. 2. Private revelations. I. Title: Twenty-three minutes in hell. II. Title.

BT838.W45 2006

236’.25--dc22 2005031788

ISBN-13: 978-1-59185-882-9

08 09 10 11 12 — 20 19 18 17 16

Printed in the United States of America

Acknowledgments

My deepest appreciation to… The Lord Jesus Christ, who has saved me from the pit of hell, for which I am eternally grateful, and has greatly blessed my life. Thank You for giving me the privilege of sharing Your Word and this testimony. My wife and I are more than honored to be a part of Your great work.

Holly McClure, for your inexhaustible enthusiasm and unending support from the day Annette and I met you. It still amazes me how much God blessed that initial interview on your radio talk show in 1999. Your dedication, expertise, friendship, and commitment to us are most appreciated and highly valued. God’s way of granting you “unusual access” to share this message continues to amaze us!

Mike Paquette, for your unwavering commitment to this work and for helping me with so many aspects of this ministry. You are a most trusted friend who takes the words “loyalty” and “dedication” to a new level. Your “nothing is impossible” attitude is always admired. I thank the Lord so very much for having met you.

Hal Linhardt, for your commitment to the Lord and for sharing this testimony with countless others, which has resulted in many salvations. Thank you for your endless support and friendship.

Dane Bundy, for your excellent research on many of the scriptures and your humble attitude. Thank you, Dane!

My very good friend Greg, who is more like a brother. I value your friendship, support, and integrity more than you’ll ever know. Your character and ethics are exemplary. Over the years, the insight I have gained during our many “character” discussions has greatly impacted my life and has served as a reminder in some of life’s most difficult tests.

My father-in-law, Stan, whose assistance with the real estate business and computers I could not do without. Your excellent work ethic, dedication, and positive attitude have helped us both through many challenges and deadlines! I am proud to have such a godly man as part of my family.

The many others who have prayed for us: our families, our dear friends, especially Steve and Kelly, Lou, and Pastors Raul and Sharon—your friendship is valued beyond words. You truly are covenant friends.

Lastly, my beautiful and exceptional wife, Annette, who without her, the book would not have been possible. Your many hours of prayer, unwavering faith, commitment, and support have been invaluable. I have been blessed with truly the greatest wife a man could ever dream of. I will love you forever, my lady of honor.

It is my desire that this book will cause you to examine the single most important issue you will ever face, and that it will help you make the right decision.

—Bill

Contents

Foreword by Holly McClure

Introduction: A Word of Warning

Part I — My Experience in Hell

1 The Cell

2 The Pit

3 The Gateway

4 The Return

5 Confirmations

6 Can “Good” People Go to Hell?

Part II — Research After the Return: Questions and Answers About Hell

7 What You Believe Is Important

Why should you believe me?

Why should you believe the Bible?

Does God use dreams and visions?

Has anyone in the Bible experienced hell?

Has anyone else experienced hell?

Why would God take me to hell?

8 Important Facts About Hell

Why would God allow me to experience pain in hell?

Is hell a literal burning place?

Where is hell located?

Do you have a body in hell?

Are there children in hell?

9 Understanding What Happens in Hell

How could I “see” in hell?

Are there prison cells and bars in hell?

Are there degrees of punishment in hell?

10 Dealing With the Demons of Hell

Are there demons in hell?

Do demons have great strength?

Can demons torment people on Earth?

Can demons torment people in hell?

Appendix A: Scripture Index

Appendix B: Comments on Hell From the “Hall of Fame”

Bibliography

Foreword

There have been numerous times throughout my life when God has divinely appointed people who have forever changed and edified me. Meeting Bill and Annette Wiese was one of those “God moments” for me.

I met Bill and his beautiful wife, Annette, when I was a movie critic for several media outlets and had an evening radio talk show, “Holly McClure Live,” in San Diego, California. One day a mutual friend called and recommended that I interview a man who had come to her Bible study and told of an amazing experience God had given him in hell. At the time I produced my own show, and since Halloween was fast approaching, I thought the subject of someone claiming he went to hell and saw demons would, at the very least, make for a great radio show.

After agreeing to have Bill on without ever having met him, I naturally had some concerns about his story and wasn’t sure how he would come across to my listening audience. But after calling him and listening to a brief description of what he went through, I knew within minutes that he was telling the truth. His humble manner and godly character were immediately transparent as his soothing voice calmly relayed his harrowing experience. When I hung up, I knew that instead of simply doing a great radio show, Bill’s message would end up being so much more. God had a powerful plan and unseen purpose for not only that hour, but also for the friendship that lay ahead.

I opened my show with a sobering reminder that my guest and his subject were not a joke or a hoax. I mentioned how our culture has trivialized the subject of hell to such an extent that we, in fact, celebrate with devil costumes, demonic masks, and candy on Halloween, the second most commercialized holiday in America. I added that Bill’s experience was a different side of hell, one they’d never heard before, one that was terrifying, real, and permanent. I told them that Bill’s testimony would more than likely change their lives forever. Then we began the show.

For the entire hour Bill told about his journey to hell I was enthralled and mesmerized with his detailed account. I took no phone calls. At the end of the show we simply gave out his pager number because he didn’t have a ministry, Web site, book, or phone number for people to call. By the time I closed my show, Bill’s pager was buzzing nonstop. “Journey to Hell” was one of my most popular shows. I received numerous requests for tapes and a barrage of phone calls and e-mails asking me to replay Bill’s story in the weeks and months that followed. Bill received testimony after testimony of how his message had changed people’s lives. Some of those stories are featured in this book.

As the three of us sat in my studio that night, we knew something wonderful had just happened. Each of us felt the presence of God hovering over that show, and we knew that God was working to change the hearts, minds, and lives of those who had tuned in for even a few brief moments. We likewise knew God had divinely brought us together for a greater purpose than simply an “appearance” on a radio show. That night I pledged my willingness to do everything in my power to help Bill get his story told.

I’ve been a film critic since the late 1980s, so I’ve reviewed thousands of movies. I can assure you that just as there are countless people of faith who ask God to help them write or create a spiritual message in films, it’s not hard to imagine that there are likewise countless screenwriters and special effects artists who may have been influenced by the demonic realm to realistically portray demons and the hellish underworld. Our culture has become desensitized and conditioned to accept various forms of demonic creatures, caricatures of Satan, and glimpses of hell as simply “entertainment.”

Remember when the word “hell” used to be considered a curse word? My younger sister repeated what she learned from the neighborhood boys and got her tongue swabbed with a bar of soap—just for saying “hell.” Oh, how times have changed! These days the word has permeated our culture. “Hell” is hardly considered a curse word or even a “bad” word, and it has steadily become part of our cultural slang, a figure of speech that has crept into our everyday vocabulary. Television and movies have inundated us with the use of the word so that we hardly notice when it’s being used. How many times have you heard a character say, “Go to hell” or “Hell, no!”, or someone casually use a phrase like “hot as hell,” in everyday discussions?

Since the significance of the word has been culturally watered down, it would be reassuring to find the true definition, impact, and consequences of hell preached from our nation’s pulpits. But the hellfire and brimstone message of Dante’s “Inferno” that was taught years ago in various denominations is no longer a popular subject with modern-day “religiously correct” churches. In fact, hell is considered “too negative” for most preachers, who are afraid of scaring away their growing congregations. The idea that a person could actually spend eternity in hell seems to have been deleted from the church, along with moral absolutes.

Although America is generally considered a Christian nation, in fact, there are a large number of people who are non-Christian or practice no religion at all. A recent poll asked more than a thousand Americans about the subject of eternal life, and 67 percent believed that their souls would go to heaven or hell when they died, while 24 percent did not believe that either heaven or hell even existed. That statistic—the people who don’t believe heaven or hell exists—is why I’m passionate about sharing Bill’s story. God has sent Bill with a wake-up message for you and those you love, because God doesn’t want anyone to spend eternity without Him.

Hell is a real place, but telling people they might go there is not an easy or popular message. God knew what He was doing when He gave Bill the difficult task of sharing his story. He knew that Bill’s character, his integrity, his faith, and his godly wife who supports him with her amazing prayers would guard the message with truth and protect it with honor. I am blessed to have met Bill and Annette and to call them friends. I am privileged to be a part of this extraordinary gift from God.

—Holly McClure

Introduction

A Word of Warning

On Sunday, November 22, 1998, my wife, Annette, and I spent the evening at the home of one of our close friends. There was nothing unusual about that night. Annette and I headed home around 11:00 p.m., and we fell into bed shortly before midnight, unaware that my life was about to be changed forever by an event I still find hard to explain. Suddenly, at 3:00 a.m. on the 23rd, without any notice, I found myself being hurled through the air, and then was falling to the ground, completely out of control.

I landed in what appeared to be a prison cell. The walls of the cell were made out of rough-hewn stone and had a door made of what appeared to be thick, metal bars.1 I was completely naked, which added to the vulnerability of a captive. This was not a dream—I was actually in this strange place. Fully awake and cognizant, I had no idea what had happened, how I had traveled, or why I was there until it was shown to me and explained later during my journey.

The very first thing I noticed was the temperature. It was hot—far beyond any possibility of sustaining life. It was so hot that I wondered, “Why am I still alive? How could I survive such intense heat?”[2] My flesh should disintegrate from off my body at any moment. The reality was that it didn’t. This wasn’t a nightmare; it was real. The severity of this heat had the effect of taking every ounce of strength out of me.

I wasn’t yet fully aware of it—but I had fallen into hell.

If you are like most people, you probably opened this book out of pure curiosity. Somewhere in the back of your mind you may be thinking, “Did this man really go to hell—hell, as in fire, burning, and torment?” Or maybe you think I’m making the whole thing up, because no one could go to hell and live to tell about it. You might not even believe there is a hell. If you do believe in a literal hell, you probably think that the only reason God would send someone to hell was if that person was evil and deserved it, right?

Well, in my case, it’s none of the above. Yes, I was taken to a literal burning hell, and no, it had nothing to do with being good or bad. The reason I was shown this place was to bring back a message of warning. My story is not one to condemn, but rather to inform you that hell is a real place—it does exist. God’s desire is that no one go there. But the sad and simple fact is that people make the choice to go to hell every day.