A few weeks ago while doing street evangelism, I met a young woman who had heard a message called "23 Minutes in Hell" by Bill Wiese.  The message scared her so much that she decided to get serious with God again and started going to church.  The weekend that I talked with her, she had been scheduled to be baptized, but had decided to wait because there were still a lot of things that she was struggling to let go of.  I had the opportunity to talk to her for almost an hour about the justice and love of God and what repentance really means.  I haven't heard the end of her story.  I'm praying that she was able to take the final step in repenting of her sins - whatever the cost - and fully trusting Christ.

I was impressed by the effect that this testimony about Hell had on her.  Many in the American Church today have a disdain for "hellfire and brimstone" evangelism.  Certainly, there are bad ways to preach about Hell.  But we cannot afford to dismiss the topic entirely - after all, Jesus preached about Hell more than anyone else in the Bible!  Using fear to motivate people to repent is not God's highest purpose, but it is absolutely a Biblical thing to do.

Bill Wiese - 23 Minutes in Hell

This is a testimony given by a man named Bill Wiese who had a visionary experience in which God let him experience Hell for 23 minutes. He backs up the things he witnessed with Bible verses, as he appropriately checked his experience against what the Bible says.

It is powerful, it is scary, and it ought to be strong motivation for all of us to make sure that we have sincerely repented and trusted in Jesus Christ, as well as to make sure that family and friends have heard an accurate presentation of the Good News about Jesus.