23 minutes in Hell

There is a pretty famous preacher in Gainesville, Ga. His name is Jentezen Franklin. He has a big church, and preaches 3 times on Sunday, and then flies to Orange Co. California and preaches there every Sunday night. He has 1400 people there on Sunday nights.
I've heard him a few times on TV, and he seems pretty good.

There are a lot of stories about people with near death experiences that say they went to Heaven. There are a few that claim to have gone to Hell.

Jentezen Franklin had some video clips of man who claims that he went to Hell. I don't think it was a near death experience, I think he says GOD took him there just to see it and bring back his testimony. He told everyone who would listen. People begged him to put it in book form, so he did. It has sold 500,000 copies. I heard the man speak a little last night on Jentezen Franklin's show. It was video clips, he wasn't there live.

The man has a wild story. He said that he researched everything that happened to him in the Bible and has found scripture that explains it.

He said he knew he was deep in the ground. He said it was a place, and it was deep in the ground. He knew people were on the surface of the Earth. He could think of his wife and knew she was up there, and lamented that she didn't know where he was and what was happening. He said that GOD blocked the fact that he was a Christian from his memory, so he was partly confused.

He said he was in a cell. He said there were 2 demons, each about 13 feet tall. He said he knew they hated GOD. He said he could feel it. He also said it was dark. He felt so alone. He said he could feel the dark, that's how dark it was. Then, he felt the anger that the demons had for GOD directed at him. He said they hurt him. He said he had a body..not quite like the body we have now but similar. He said it has bones, and he felt one of the Demons break his bones with a huge claw that it had. He said it hurt, but his body wasn't torn. It just kept hurting. There was no hope of being saved by death. He said they drug him out of the cell towards a vast firey pit. All he could think of was his family...wanting them to stay out and worried about them. He said the heat from the fire was the most intense thing you could imagine, and the screams he heard was deafening. He said that even though the fire was tremendous, it gave no light. He said he could see faces of people in there. He said it was the most exhausting thing, and he was so thirsty and so hungry and so tired. More than anything...worse that the loneliness and the pain...was the hopelessness. There was no hope of escape.

Jentezen Franklin then returned and preached some more.

I had heard of this man's experience before. I almost bought this book back when Gracie and I went to a Christian Bookstore at Christmas time.

The man was a real estate agent, or something. He might still be, I don't know.
I don't know what to think of his story. I feel like a sucker for believing it out of hand. It's one thing if it was one of those near death experiences...where there were doctors who confirmed that the person was actually dead at one point. I've heard those stories too, about the people being resuscitated and come back screaming, and that the doctors and nurses could smell smoke in the room. Those seemed believable, because the doctors and nurses say that they were saved because of what happened.

The man was talking constantly. It was like he couldn't even take time to breath. There was no emotion, though. Maybe that comes from telling the story 100,000 times. He kept citing scripture that back up what he was saying....so I suppose even if I didn't believe him, I could believe the scripture and accept his descriptions as being accurate. Either way, it's a sobering story.

I'm going to go ahead and believe him and his story. Like I said, he kept citing chapter and verse of things that described his story. I believe the Bible after all.

There is another thing, too. Who knows what heaven will really be like, but I see it as being like Earth, only perfect. Jesus said his father's house had many mansions. Sounds like Love, peace, friendship, and good living.

After the Bible has been fulfilled, and time has ended, I would like to ask GOD if we can go save everybody and rescue them and get them out. One final act of tender mercy, from our Father in Heaven who has already given all to us.