23 minutes in hell (12 page)

—Job 38:17

You who lift me up from the gates of death…

—Psalm 9:13

… to the gates of death.

—Psalm 107:18

I shall go to the gates of Sheol.

—Isaiah 38:10

The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; yet You have brought up my life from the pit.

—Jonah 2:6

… and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

—Matthew 16:18

… the keys of Hades and of Death.

—Revelation 1:18

… having the key to the bottomless pit…

—Revelation 20:1

Billy Graham said:

The description of Satan’s great power ends with the words, “who opened not the house of his prisoners” (Isa. 14:17). This undoubtedly refers to the prison house of Satan, Hades or the abode of the dead so clearly pictured in Luke 16:19–31.[2]

Are there degrees of punishment in hell?

Yes, Scripture is very clear in regard to this point. During my experience, I remember sensing that there were varying degrees of punishment. Some people were in worse situations than others—even though no area in that place would be even remotely tolerable. I remember thinking that it would also be far worse in the fire than in the cell. Again, examine the scriptures for yourself. I have also included some quotes from the theologians.

This is the portion from God for a wicked man. [God is the one who appoints or assigns those who reject Jesus as their Lord and Savior to their rightful position in hell.]

—Job 20:29

… the sorrows God distributes in His anger…

—Job 21:17

You have delivered my soul from the lowest depths of Sheol.

—Psalm 86:13

You have laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the depths.

—Psalm 88:6

Just as the LORD of hosts determined to do to us, according to our ways and according to our deeds, so He has dealt with us.

—Zechariah 1:6

It will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. [Verse infers a less tolerable situation in hell.]

—Matthew 10:15

He will reward each according to his works.

—Matthew 16:27

Therefore you will receive greater condemnation [inferring there is a lesser].

—Matthew 23:14

… ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

—Matthew 23:15, KJV

… and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites.

—Matthew 24:51

[One servant beaten with many stripes, another with few.]

—Luke 12:42–48

Who will render to each one according to his deeds.

—Romans 2:6

Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot… ?

—Hebrews 10:28

And they were judged, each one according to his works.

—Revelation 20:13

… shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.

—Revelation 21:8

[Referring to Ezekiel 32:21] These heroic personages speak from the midst of Sheol, which may suggest that they are located in the heart of the netherworld, perhaps a more honorable assignment than “the remotest recesses of the pit.”[3]

—Daniel I. Block

The holiness and justice of God demand that there will be different degrees of punishment that will accurately reflect the different evil deeds and motives of those who reject Christ’s forgiveness.[4]

—Grant R. Jeffrey

There will be degrees of separation, isolation and emptiness in hell.[5]

—Dr. J. P. Moreland

God’s judgment will be intensely personal and individual. God will accurately weigh each person’s individual responsibility. He will “give to each person according to what he has done.”[6]

—Sinclair B. Ferguson

Chapter 9 Notes

1. John Wesley, “Of Hell,” Sermon 73 (text from the 1872 edition), http://gbgm-umc.org/UMHISTORY/Wesley/sermons/serm-073.stm (accessed September 16, 2005).

2. Graham, “Angels: God’s Secret Agents,” 105.

3. Morgan and Peterson, eds., “Hell Under Fire,” 50.

4. Jeffrey, “Journey Into Eternity,” 219.

5. Lee Strobel, “The Case for Faith” (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000), 180.

6. Morgan and Peterson, eds., “Hell Under Fire,” 223.

Chapter 10

Dealing With the Demons of Hell

Are there demons in hell?

The Bible states that there are demons in hell. I saw many by the pit, in the tunnel, and in the cell. They were all deformed and grotesque, and they ranged from small to enormous in size. The Bible says:

Yet you [Satan] shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.

—Isaiah 14:15

Who did not open the house of his prisoners? [This is speaking of Satan in Sheol.]

—Isaiah 14:17

Then He will also say to those on the left hand, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

—Matthew 25:41

For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment…

—2 Peter 2:4

And he opened the bottomless pit… out of the smoke locusts came… to torment them for five months…. In those days men will seek death…. The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle… their teeth were like lions’ teeth. And they had breastplates like… iron… the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots…. They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit…

—Revelation 9:2–11

On an audiocassette recording of John MacArthur, he quotes a comment from the great saint John Bunyan, saying, “In hell thou shalt have none but a company of damned souls, with an innumerable company of devils, to keep company with thee.”[1]

Erwin W. Lutzer points out, “If it is true that angels await those who have been made righteous by Christ, it is understandable that demonic spirits would await those who enter eternity without God’s forgiveness and acceptance.”[2]

In Pastor Chuck Smith’s book “What the World Is Coming To,” he speaks about a book called “Through Forbidden Tibet” by Harrison Forman. Pastor Chuck mentions the chapter titled, “I Saw the King of Hell.” Pastor Smith relates: “He talks about an annual religious rite in Tibet where the religious men of the nation gather and call forth various demons. At the conclusion of this weeklong ceremony, they call forth the King of Hell. What he saw was uncanny. He actually saw demons as they materialized, and he describes them and their various forms. His descriptions of the demons are much like those in Revelation.”[3]

Some have asked me, “Does the Bible support demons that are twelve or thirteen feet tall?” On a tape series by Chuck Missler, he gives an explanation for the height of some of the demons I saw in hell.[4] He speaks of the portion in the Book of Genesis that describes “giants on the earth,” which came about as a result of the fallen angels that slept with women and bore children who were called “mighty men” (Gen. 6:2–4). He also refers to Jude, which talks about angels (fallen) who didn’t stay within their proper domain, but who left their abode and then gave themselves over to sexual immorality.[5] “The remnant of the giants” is mentioned in Deuteronomy 3:11, where it specifically calls out a man whose iron bed was approximately 13½ feet long.

I’m sure you have heard the story of David and Goliath. Goliath was over nine feet tall, and he wasn’t alone. The Bible says that Goliath had four other brothers, all giants, and one even had twelve fingers and twelve toes (six per hand and six per foot). (See 2 Samuel 21:20!) It is reasonable to conclude that the unusually large size of men was a direct result of contact with the fallen angels. The fallen angels themselves were probably also very large. These evil angels were cast down to hell as mentioned in Jude 6–7 and 2 Peter 2:4. This is very well explained in Chuck Missler’s tapes, who in my opinion is one of the most exceptional scholars and teachers on the earth today.

Do demons have great strength?

I believe the Bible indicates that demons have enormous strength. I can tell you from my experience that they exhibited great strength with me. They picked me up as if I weighed nothing. I had a sense that they were a thousand times stronger than the strength of a normal man. Please examine the verses for yourself.

… His angels, who excel in strength…

—Psalm 103:20

… two demon-possessed men… exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way.

—Matthew 8:28

There met Him… a man with an unclean spirit… and no one could bind him, not even with chains, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces, neither could anyone tame him.

—Mark 5:2–4

Angels, who are greater in power and might…

—2 Peter 2:11

There may be some differences in fallen angels and demons, but that is another topic. Both demons and angels (not fallen angels, but angels in general) are addressed in the above verses, both exhibiting great strength. Therefore, it seems reasonable to conclude that it would be possible that demons in hell, or fallen angels, would have great strength also.

“Your bodies shall be tormented in every part in the flames of hellfire… the pains of hell fire will be a thousand times more horrible and tormenting. Your bodies cannot now endure much pain without expiring… but hereafter God will strengthen your bodies to endure; they shall have… quicker sense and so much more capacity for pain… Your bodies shall roll and tumble in flames, and burn with horrible pain and yet never be consumed… I believe that the space of one quarter of an hour in hell will seem longer to the damned than a whole life of misery in this world.”[6]

—Thomas Vincent

Can demons torment people on Earth?

Yes, they most definitely can and have done so, as you can see in Scripture. However, they cannot arbitrarily torment just anyone. They have to have a point of access, an entrance into an individual’s life someplace. But that is another topic in itself. I have also cited one documented case for your review. The Bible gives evidence of the torment demons can cause to people on earth.

So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them.

—1 Kings 18:28

So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and struck Job.

—Job 2:7

… there met him two demon-possessed men coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce.

—Matthew 8:28

… cutting himself with stones [the demoniac].

—Mark 5:5

Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid…. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him.”

—Mark 9:17–18, 22

“… a spirit seizes him… it convulses him… bruising him….” The demon threw him down and convulsed him.

—Luke 9:39–42

Then he goes [unclean spirit] and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

—Luke 11:26

And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.”

—Luke 22:31

… bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

—Acts 5:16

… a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me…

—2 Corinthians 12:7

… quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

—Ephesians 6:16

… their power was to hurt men [referring to demonic creatures out of the bottomless pit].

—Revelation 9:10

Demons cause pain and inflict people. Why? The Bible says, “The thief [Satan] does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10).

In Lester Sumrall’s book “Run With the Vision,” he talks about a girl named Clarita Villanueva, a very famous case in the 1950s. This young girl was in a prison cell in Manila and was being bitten by devils right before the eyes of her captors. Lester Sumrall writes: “The Metropolitan radio and press of Manila, and the world press carried the sensational story. The “Manila Chronicle” stated on May 13, 1953: ‘Police medics probe case of girl bitten by Demons.’ The article then stated, ‘At least 25 competent persons, including Manila’s Chief of Police, Col. Cesar Lucero, say that it is a very realistic example of a horrified woman being bitten to insanity by invisible persons. Villanueva writhed in pain, shouted and screamed in anguish… teeth marks, wet with saliva… all the time, all witnesses aver she was never able to bite herself. Other persons were excitedly saying, “The girl is being choked by some unseen thing.” Another would say, “Look, the marks of teeth appear.” Doctors, scientists, professors, legal experts, and even spiritualists had tried to help her, and all had failed.’”

Lester Sumrall “was granted an interview with Mayor Lacson of Manila to come to help her. The Mayor was visibly shaken by the hopelessness of the doctors before such strange phenomena.” Lester was given permission to pray for her. He then cast the devils out, they left, and she recovered.[7]

Can demons torment people in hell?

The Bible says that demons will be in torment along with the people after Judgment Day when death and hell are cast into the lake of fire and into outer darkness.[8] The Bible states in Revelation 20:10 (KJV): “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” •8

However, I believe Scripture indicates that currently in hell (Sheol or Hades), God does allow the demons to torment the lost souls. I have listed the verses that seem to infer this torment. This may not be absolutely conclusive in Scripture, and some theologians may disagree; however, I believe there are enough verses to consider this torment to be more than conjecture. What Scripture states is all that matters, not what I have to say. I am simply reporting the events that took place. I did experience this torment, and you can choose to believe me or not. Examine the verses, as Acts 17:11 states, and then decide for yourself.