23 Minutes in Hell? Say whaaaa?

Driving in to work this morning, I heard a commercial on KLTY about an upcoming speaking engagement at a local church with gentleman named Bill Wiese who claims to have spent 23 minutes in hell. From what I can tell, he wrote a book entitled 23 Minutes In Hell and goes around discussing his experience in churches. Heaven and hell are mysterious and I think naturally, we are initially drawn to anything we can get our hands on regarding either subject. Anyway, I made a note to Google him and his book when I got into the office because, well, I was curious as to what all this was about and I usually tend to be a bit skeptical on stuff like this.

Of course, when searching his name on Google a video came up in the results. It is about a 1.5 hour video of him giving his presentation and telling his story. Because it's Friday and things are slow at work, I pulled it up just to see what he had to say.

In short, he claims that while he and his wife were sleeping one night after returning home from a prayer meeting, he suddenly found himself dropped into a prison cell which he soon realized was the bowels of hell. He said that God hid from him the fact that he was saved during his ordeal so he took it in as if he were an unbeliever. He then talked about the smells, sights and sounds of hell, not leaving out the description of several demons and the torture they mercilessly inflicted on him. He talks about the lack of water, the extreme heat, the gut-wrenching smells, the pain, the fire, etc.

I watched the video for about 15 minutes and was feeling kind of... off about the whole thing so I turned it off.

First, I don't doubt that God can reveal things to us, whether physically or via dreams, but a couple of things about Mr. Wiese's story really bother me.

1. The fact that he claims God hid his salvation from him. I take issue with this. From the moment Mr. Wiese said that in his spiel, it bothered me. He claimed to know everything else about his life, even to the point of knowing his wife was lying in bed asleep at the moment with no idea where he was. Why would God hide the fact that he was saved from him if he chose to allow him to keep every other aspect of his mind? I don't see the purpose in allowing one of His children to supposedly experience hell, even briefly, if he/she has already been saved from that. How does that "help" his story other than to add a new dimension of fear? I can find nothing scripturally that can back up his claim that he "lost" (for lack of better word) his salvation for 23 minutes. Furthermore, if God did in fact hide Mr. Wiese's faith from him, would that not make God a deceiver or a liar in a sense? Something that God absolutely is not??(Hebrews 6:16-20; Titus 1:2; NLT) (John 10:28-30; Romans 8:38-39 NLT - Not even the powers of hell!)

2. I do not like how he seemed to be adding to the scripture by giving his account, giving so many detailed descriptions about hell. While we do have some insight into what hell is like throughout scripture, God chose not to give us specific details. (Matthew 13:49-50; Mark 9:48; all throughout Revelation NLT)I take comfort in the fact that he did this for a reason. If we were to know all these details, I really think it would be in Scripture. I believe with all my heart that I have been saved by my faith in Jesus and his death and resurrection. Snatched away from the devil's grasp by God's mercy and grace alone, therefore I will never see hell (though I most definitely deserved it). I do not need an elaborate description of every facet of hell. I believe that he revealed just enough of a glimpse for us. While I cannot fathom the mind of God, I just feel as though had he revealed all the horrors of hell to us, people would be coming to Him based solely on their fear of going to hell, not because of the amazing gift in Jesus Christ. I think that is the wrong motive. Yes, we are to fear God, but fear of hell is different in my opinion. Please someone correct me if I'm off base here!

I have no doubt that hell is a very real, terrible-beyond-description place, but my focus is not on hell.. it is on Christ and the sacrifice he made for me. And how I can be a light so that others can see his love and mercy and humbly come to know him. Of course, I do not want anyone to experience hell! I pray that people come to know the joy and Truth that is Jesus! I guess my focus is more on the peace and ... well, joy.. that comes from knowing Jesus, rather than the torments of hell. A healthy amount of fear is good of course, I mean he IS God and he IS to be feared!!!, but I think God draws us to him in love, not in total fear. If he was going for fear, it would've been better to just open the pit of hell for 10 minutes for the entire world to see/experience it rather than go through the excruciating pain of allowing his only son to be murdered and die for us. I mean, show people the bowels of hell and I bet you get instant believers... know what I mean?

None of this is to say that God can't or won't reveal things to people. He has done it in the past (the apostles Paul, John...) and I believe he still speaks through dreams, but I think we have to be so cautious about such things and approach them with much prayer, earnestly seeking wisdom and discernment... especially, in my opinion, when the person receiving the vision or dream has so much to gain by discussing it. That's also not to say that the Lord can't work through people he reveals things to. It's a matter of discernment in my opinion. There are a lot of false prophets out there. Satan himself will do anything to fool people (Mohammad, Joseph Smith...). He's a roaming lion and preys on us constantly...

So, whether Mr. Wiese's experience was a true experience, a vivid dream, a vision, or a ploy I don't know. I haven't finished the video detailing his experience and I probably won't to be honest. I prefer to get my information from the Bible and I feel as though if God wants me to know other details, he would've revealed them in scripture. That's just my opinion and I'm sticking with it!

90 Minutes in Heaven (which I have read) and Heaven is for Real (haven't read) are two other stories similar to this in that they are stories of people detailing their afterlife experiences. Because heaven and hell are so mysterious, I think we are drawn to them. I've yet to meet anyone that doesn't fear the unknown to some extent. Even believers... I don't fear hell because I have faith that because of my belief in Jesus, I am going to heaven, but the thought of actual death and exactly what happens when I die (do we just *poof* show up? do we rise up to meet him? does Jesus physically come take our hand and lead us?) is slightly unnerving. (maybe "fear" isn't the best word, but I can't think of another way to put it). I am one of those who likes to know what the plan is when I do things. If I am driving somewhere, I need to read through the entire route first (left on Street A, go through 3 lights, right on Street B, merge onto C, exit D and arrive at E which is on the left after about 2.5 miles) and then stay a step or two ahead as I'm going. Not knowing exactly how it all goes down is a huge hurdle for me. AND, as an anxious and panicky person, I over think things. It's something I'm working on and I'm trying so hard to let go of my fears and rely on God alone. Sorry, tangent. All that to say, I think we as humans are naturally curious and are drawn to explore the unknown, whether it's a healthy curiosity or out of fear, and we often cling to stories like this regardless of whether they are indeed fact or merely embellished stories.

Good cow, this has gotten long. Wrapping up... all that to say, anyone else heard of this guy or have any opinions on his story or any other life and death story out there? I'm curious as to what others think of stuff like this.