Bill Wiese, author of the New York Times bestselling book 23 Minutes in Hell, delivered an urgent warning about eternity during a recent appearance on Sean Hannity’s podcast.
Wiese joined pilot Jim Woodford, author of Heaven: An Unexpected Journey, and former Buddhist monk-turned-pastor Steve Kang, author of Eight Hours in Hell, for an episode of Hang Out with Sean Hannity examining heaven, hell and the afterlife.
While Woodford and Kang shared their own experiences, Wiese recounted the vision that forever changed his life and launched his decades-long mission to warn people about the biblical reality of hell.
Wiese clarified that he did not have a near-death experience. He said he was a Christian when God pulled him from his body and allowed him to experience hell for 23 minutes.
“I found myself falling through the air down this long tunnel,” Wiese told Hannity. “And I was getting hotter and hotter, and I landed on an actual stone floor in a prison cell in hell.”
Wiese described the cell as a filthy, smoke-filled dungeon containing enormous, reptilian demons. He said one threw him against a wall while another tore into his chest.
“It’s not metaphorical. It’s not a state of the mind,” Wiese said. “It’s real, literal pain you’re going to feel in hell.”
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‘There’s No One Going to Come Rescue You’
Wiese said he was later taken near a massive pit of fire filled with thousands of suffering people. Beyond the physical torment, darkness and inability to breathe, he said the most unbearable part of hell was its complete hopelessness.
“There’s no one going to come rescue you,” Wiese said. “You’re never getting out. This goes on for all eternity. That thought is really too much to even bear in your mind.”
According to Wiese, God temporarily blocked his awareness that he was a Christian so he could understand the despair experienced by those condemned there.
Wiese said the vision began when he got out of bed for a glass of water at 3 a.m. When he returned to his body, his screams awakened his wife, who looked at the clock and saw that it was 3:23 a.m.
Although Wiese had been a Christian for years, he said he knew relatively little about hell before the experience. He subsequently spent seven years studying biblical passages and listening to hundreds of teachings to determine whether what he had witnessed agreed with Scripture.
“It doesn’t matter if people believe my experience,” Wiese said. “I’m just a signpost to point them to the Scriptures and by those be persuaded.”
Wiese told Hannity that God allowed him to experience hell because many people no longer believe it exists.
“He said, ‘Many people do not believe hell is real,’” Wiese recalled. “He said, ‘Even some of My own people do not believe hell exists.’”
Wiese specifically warned against universalism, which teaches that everyone will ultimately be saved, and annihilationism, which teaches that the unsaved will cease to exist rather than experience eternal punishment.
He said hell was prepared for the devil and his angels, not humanity. However, those who reject God will experience existence separated from everything good that comes from Him.
“You can’t have the good without God,” Wiese said.
A Warning Rooted in Salvation
As Wiese was removed from hell, he said he encountered Jesus in a brilliant light. Wiese recalled that the presence of Christ brought overwhelming peace after the terror he had experienced.
Wiese initially resisted telling others about the vision because he feared people would think he was crazy or had experienced a nightmare.
“He said, ‘It’s not your job to convict their hearts. It’s the Holy Spirit’s,’” Wiese recalled. “He said, ‘You just go and tell them.’”
Wiese spent the next seven years traveling and sharing his testimony before publishing his book. He told Hannity that the purpose of his ministry is not merely to describe hell but to point people toward the salvation available through Jesus Christ.
He also rejected the belief that being a good person or performing charitable acts can earn someone a place in heaven.
“Good works are not the cause of salvation. They’re the effect of salvation,” Wiese said. “They’re not the root. They’re the fruit.”
Wiese said every person will ultimately enter one of two eternal destinations. The only way to avoid hell, he explained, is to repent, receive God’s forgiveness and acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
“He made a way where there was none,” Wiese said.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
