23 Minutes in Hell...or 120 Minutes in Hell Reading It!

OK...here is the promised review of Bill Wiese's book, 23 Minutes in Hell- several bloggers were asking for a review and I've finished the book and watched one of Mr. Wiese's presentations as well. In the review below I will put page numbers that correspond to where I found the info in his book.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the book. Mr. Wiese's claim is that the Lord sent him to hell for 23 minutes with the following purposes:

• "The reason I was shown this place was to bring back a message of warning" (p. xiv)


• The Lord Jesus supposedly told him he was sent there, "Because many people do not believe that hell truly exists." (p. 33)


• Lastly he says, "I believe the only reason God took me to hell was to draw attention to His Word on this subject...He is imploring people to listen to His Word." (p. 98)

So here is a summary for why this book is on the shelves, "God is imploring us to listen to His Word and is warning us about hell since many don't believe in its existence." The author claims that he's added nothing to Scripture and that everything he experienced is backed up 100% by the Word of God.

OK. So here's my first issue. If this adds nothing to God's Word, why do we need this revelation to convince us about the reality of hell? Is God's Word not enough to do that? I believe it is...but I'll get to my real refutation toward the end regarding that matter.

First let me say that there are many things in the book that are true...the author rightly says that many today don't believe in God and eternal judgment. For example, "Our culture has become desensitized and conditioned to accept various forms of demonic creatures, caricatures of Satan, and glimpses of hell as simply 'entertainment.'" (p. ix). Very, very true, I couldn't agree more. In addition, I watched one of the author's video presentations on the Web (you can listen and watch at the following link, http://www.ccc.org.au/default.asp?page=MCcurrentservice). The author seems sincere and he seems to believe what he's saying.

Here is my purpose for writing. I am also warning people about something...and it's the dangers of this book and what the author is doing. I am not questioning his sincerity and I am not belittling the dangers of eternal punishment at all. I believe in a literal hell and the lake of fire, I believe that God will pour out His wrath on all unbelievers, the devil and his angels...I believe eternal punishment is forever (duh!) and that it is literal flaming torment. Here's what I don't believe; I DON'T BELIEVE MR. WIESE'S "VISION" WAS FROM THE LORD!

Now I know that I'm goint to be attacked as not being open, limiting God, etc etc, yada, yada. Hear me out. The author rightly makes the following claim that I wholeheartedly agree to: "It is not my experience that is important for you to believe, but what the Word of God has to say about the matter." Yes, but when I'm through I wonder if this statement will still hold true for the author? What if it can be shown Scripturally that the entire premise the book is written upon is a flawed and unscriptural foundation? Would the author admit that he received a vision from someone other than the Lord? Is it possible that this revelation is Satanic? Consider the following:

• Matthew 24:24- "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."
• Ephesians 4:14- "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;"
• 2 Corinthians 11:13-14- "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light."

My point is simple, just because we see or hear of a vision doesn't mean it's from the Lord...just because someone says "I'm Jesus" doesn't mean it's true...even if they appear as an angel of light. Aren't we supposed to try (test) the spirits to see if they're of God?

• 1 John 4:1- "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."

Those who read the book or watch the presentation may say, "But he reads very many passages of Scripture! How can it be wrong?!" This brings me to my first point of contention:

#1- Death by Cross-Reference: To put it mildly, the book and presentations drown you with quoted Scripture verses...given in rapid machine-gun succession. To the casual (or lazy) it may be convincing. This abundance of Bible verses seems to give it credibility. My beef is that many of the supposed support verses are out of context and that there is very little actual contextual exegesis (explanations in context) to support the assertions. Since this is not my main focus for this article I'll only quote a few examples:

Example 1: (p. 95) "Now the Lord gave visions to these great men [he's speaking of the prophets and Apostles], and, although my experience is not in any way to be compared to them, the Bible says that 'God shows no partiality' (Acts 10:34)" Now let me ask you a question...is Acts 10:34 dealing with God's impartiality in choosing prophets? NO! It's about Peter's revelation that God is not partial to just the Jews...but also to the Gentiles with respect to His redemptive plan. This is horrible eisegesis (reading your meaning into the text).

Example 2: How about Job 31:3 &12 which he uses to support the idea of eternal destruction? Verse 3 says, "Is it not destruction for the wicked, and disaster for the workers of iniquity?" ; Verse 12 says "For that would be a fire that consumes to destruction" This passage is not talking about eternal flaming torment, it's talking about the destructive dangers of adultery, etc.

Many other verses are suspect...even the author admits this several times.

#2- Demons torture people in hell: The author goes to great length depicting demons sadistically ruling over hell and torturing people. Here's the discussion on pages 130-132. First the author acknowledges that demons will be tormented in the lake of fire (Rev 20:10)...then he says "However, I believe Scripture indicates that currently in hell (Sheol or Hades), God does allow the demons to torment lost souls ...this may not be absolutely conclusive in Scripture, and some theologians may disagree; however, I believe there are enough verses to consider this torment to be more than conjecture. What Scripture says is all that matters, not what I have to say. I am simply reporting the events." (p. 130-131) BUT HE SAYS HE WAS THERE and he says that the demons were torturing him and others. Scripture doesn't teach this theme...and the supporting verses don't either!

#3- Denial of the Sufficiency of Scriptural Revelation: Flat out- the author, intentionally or not, denies the sufficiency of scriptural revelation. On page 83 he says "truth if found in the pages of the Bible. But there are many who do not want to recognize God's Word as truth because of the light it sheds on our sin." On page 34 Jesus Christ supposedly tells him "Go and tell them about this place. It is not my desire that any should go there." Well according to this book God's Word and God's Spirit are not sufficient...we need someone to come back from the dead, from hell itself, to validate the truths of Scripture. The idea is that they won't believe unless there's proof.

There are many other issues I have that time will not permit a thorough discussion- for example, his views that God's presence is not in hell (isn't God omnipresent and isn't he the focus of the outpouring of wrath and torment?...not demons!), the hugely Arminian, man-centered focus on God and man (God is basically begging people to be saved and He can't accomplish His will to save them...unless they are talked into believing Hell is real), huge charismatic overtones (I felt, I sensed, my experience, etc, etc).

If you've rejected all I've said, please pay attention to my main rebuttal of the entire book. One particular passage came to mind when I heard of the book. What's sad is that the passage I'm going to mention is never mentioned in the entire book...although verse around it are "cherry-picked" with great precision...and apparent understanding. Read this passage very clearly and do it a couple times:

Luke 16:23-31- "And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And 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. 25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. 27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: 28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

The author loves to quote verses 23-24 to support his experience...isn't it curious that he omits and never, ever references verses 26-31? I can't help from believing this is intentional and the reason is obvious; the author's whole experience is not biblical and the verses almost speak specifically against the notion!

Why would God tell him to warn us of the reality of eternal torment by sending someone back from the pit of hell to try and persuade us when the Lord Jesus in Scripture vehemently denied the notion and instead, affirmed the sufficiency of the SCRIPTURES ALONE?!

If you are a believer you have "Moses and the Prophets"- you have the Word of God to warn people of the dangers of eternal judgment if they don't repent of their sins and helplessly turn in faith to the God-ordained Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. You need nothing else...the Scriptures, opened by the Holy Spirit, are the tools with which a blind and dead sinner are brought to life, not in a personal testimony of experience. If you want your loved ones, friends, coworkers to repent and believe then preach the Word of God to them!

This is not "23 minutes in hell", it's 23 minutes in heresy. This is dangerous folks! If you watch his presentation you realize how dangerous it can be. Here is the formula:

Emotion/Fear...overwhelming death by cross references...plus watching a horror film clip (shown at the churches) and then shallow, man-centered, ABC-repeat-after-me psychologically tainted and decisional regeneration-type techniques equals what? Many decisions by man and very few salvations by the Lord. Disagree all you want, but when did the Lord Jesus Christ ever do this? When a presentation's main thesis is totally unbiblical should be just say "but people are making decisions" comfort us and make us think it's OK. A presentation based on a lie is nothing but a lie. If anyone gets saved at these meetings you can be assured it's not because Bill Wiese came back to us from hell...it's because someone heard Scripture and the Lord used it despite what man attempted to do.

Think folks, be careful, we need to be accurate and truthful (BIBLICAL!) in our presentations.