During the “23 Minutes in Hell” vision from God, I thought of just three people, and each person was significant.
The first person I thought of was my wife. I knew she was on the surface of the earth, and I was far below. I would never see her again and could not even have the satisfaction of saying goodbye. To have no finality with your loved ones is extremely sorrowful, beyond what words can describe. She would never even know that I still existed in a place of torment.
The second person I thought of was a very large, muscular guy my wife and I would see at the gym. His strength was almost superhuman. We once saw him squat 1,000 pounds. He had 24-inch arms, and his legs were like tree stumps. We had never met him, but we were amazed at his size and massive build. When I was in hell being held down by these huge demons, I thought of him. I thought, “Even that big guy at the gym would be no match for these demons.”
Two weeks after the vision, my wife and I were at the gym, and he walked up and stopped right in front of us. He said, “Do you mind talking for a minute? I don’t know anything about God, but I feel like He is trying to tell me something. Do you know anything about God?
“Yes, we do, and would be glad to talk to you,” we responded. We had never spoken to him before.
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It was amazing that this man would not only sense God was trying to talk to him, but that he would ask us out of all the people in the gym. He began to tell us that he felt that God had something for him to do in life, but he felt he was too dirty to even talk to God. He had been a WWF wrestler who fought in cage fights, dated loose women, was very promiscuous and had never thought about God. He believed God could never use him in any way because his life was an ungodly one. We told him his past didn’t matter, and if he would turn his life over to the Lord, repent and turn from sin, the Lord would give him a new start and a clean slate.
We felt God could use him to influence many young people, as kids looked up to him because of his strength and size. We shared the way of salvation with him, and he repented and received Jesus as his Lord and Savior. God had me think of him in hell, and God had him think of me at the gym. This was a demonstration of the Lord’s great love for this man so he could receive His gift of salvation and avoid hell.
The third person I thought of in hell was a pastor we knew from the church we attended. When I first started ascending this long, dark tunnel, I could only see along the cavern walls when I was near the large pit of fire. There were huge demons aligned along the walls. I thought, “Who could possibly fight off one of these creatures?” But when Jesus suddenly appeared, the demons now appeared to look almost like ants on the walls. He said to me, “All you have to do is cast them out in My name.”
Even though a person is no match for a demon physically, in the spiritual realm, demons are no match for the Christian who knows his authority in the all-powerful name of Jesus. I thought of Pastor Raul and knew he understood that authority. He was a bold man with many experiences of casting out demons from those who needed it. He understood the authority Jesus gave to believers (Luke 10:19).
I believe I thought of these three people because God wanted me to realize three things:
First, to always take time with my wife and not neglect our personal time together by working too much. In addition, we need to appreciate our loved ones while we are gifted with time together.
Second, Christians must always be available to share God’s truth with others and trust how He will work in supernatural ways to lead a person to Jesus Christ.
And third, to appreciate and understand the authority God has given to us as Christians over demonic spirits, and to exercise that authority when needed.
May we have God’s heart for the lost and make ourselves available to share His love and truth at any time.
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Bill Wiese is the author of the New York Times best-selling book “23 Minutes in Hell,” the story of his life-changing visit to hell in 1998. Bill has since authored six additional book titles and continues to share his experience around the world. He and his wife, Annette, founded Soul Choice Ministries in late 2006 and have dedicated their lives to reaching the unsaved. For more information about Bill Wiese and Soul Choice Ministries, please visit us at: https://soulchoiceministries.org/.
You can find more of Bill’s teachings at: https://www.youtube.com/user/BillWieseTV.
