Law and Gospel Responds to “23 Minutes In Hell” by Bill Wiese
By Tom Baker (www.lawgospel.com)
The purpose of this series is to use the Biblical distinctions between Law and Gospel to analyze theologically the claims of various articles and books. This piece will first summarize our general response to the book “23 Minutes in Hell” by Bill Wiese and then provide specifics from a Law and Gospel perspective.
Generally speaking, the content of the book mirrors a view of hell based on the Theologian of Self-Glory rather than the Theologian of the Cross. Biblical verses are taken out of context and the proper distinctions between Law and Gospel are thoroughly confused. I would not give this book to an unbeliever because just the opposite might occur from what the author intended. Rather than a person deciding to believe in Jesus Christ after reading “23 Minutes in Hell” the unbeliever would be persuaded even more so to remain in his unbelief. The bottom line is that the view of hell and its purpose portrayed in “23 Minutes” is not that of the Bible.
Specifically speaking the following theological problems are found in the book with the appropriate page number noted.
Though the author insists that this was not a dream and that he actually was in hell (p. xv), there were no serious injuries sustained when he returned home if he truly had had the “razor-like claws” “plunged into his chest and ripped them outward.” (6) In fact, he states that “my flesh hung from my body like ribbons as I fell again to the cell floor.” Yet when he “awoke” in his house a few minutes later, there were no such wounds. His experience was therefore superior to that of Jesus who truly experienced a crucifixion as was evident from the wounds which the disciples saw.
The theme that he forgot about God is not one substantiated in the Bible in regard to those who suffer the pangs of hell. (9) It is true that God in His grace is absent from Hell; it is not true that those in Hell have no knowledge of God.
The most dangerous part of this book is the revelation of that which theologians speak of the hidden God. The Bible reveals only a tiny fraction of 1% of Who God is and what He does. However, in “23 Minutes” there are specific details never found in the Bible about hell that appear to be written by the devil himself (22, 25, 26, 30) for the purpose of seeing that unbelievers never want anything to do with the god of “23 Minutes.”
The idea that God needed someone to “experience” hell for real for the purpose of bringing back a message of warning (xvi) so that “whoever reads this story will be able to take the proper measures to steer clear of this place at all costs” (xviii) ridicules the power of the Word and a primary distinction between Law and Gospel. The author ridicules the power of God’s holy Word by concluding that his personal experience told to others is something that God needed to have because the Word of God is not powerful enough to convince people of the truth. That is a denial of 2 Timothy 3:16 by writing this book with the assumption that the Scripture is not sufficient. Remember the verse, “if even an angel…let him be accursed.”
Moreover, from a L&G point of view, the Law makes clear first of all that God demands perfect obedience which no one can do as we all fall short of the glory of God. Second, the Bible makes clear that no unbeliever has the ability to take any measures—let alone the proper ones—to “steer clear” of hell. (xviii) Instead, salvation is a gift which requires neither change of behavior nor obedience as a prerequisite. In fact, until one has been totally saved, it is impossible even to do one proper work.
The book therefore is a refutation of one of the primary rediscoveries of the Reformation that no unbeliever has any free choice in matters spiritual. What is needed is not information about hell to motivate one to become saved but rather a heart transplant and a new spirit (Psalm 51). As with most evangelical theology today, the book is the reverse coin of Roman Catholic thought that even unbelievers are responsible for making the right choices before they are saved. The author appears imprisoned in this pre-Reformation thinking by insisting that God had him experience hell so that unbelievers “could instead choose life with Him.” Does no one remember the clear passage, “You did not choose Me; I chose you.” (John 15:16) In other words, the author’s opinion on page 35 that he had to share with others his experience so that they would know “what they need to do to avoid that terrible place” is nothing else than the lies of the devil himself.
Though the author claims that the Bible verses on hell confirmed “everything I had experienced,” there are numerous items that find no Biblical data such as the description of the two enormous beasts (page 2) as well as other details too numerous to mention through page 38.
The bottom line is that the author is basing his knowledge about hell on some “experience” Our message needs to be based on the Bible and it alone because experience will always confuse us and draw us away from the Word of God. Why is that? Because our experience is based on commonsense such as when you are bad, God punishes you and when you are good, He rewards you. So do the good thing, accept Jesus as your Savior and go to heaven instead of hell. Such teaching is from the pit of hell as it denies salvation by grace through faith on account of Jesus Christ and not because of the threat of hell.
The greatest confusion of Law and Gospel is that apparently unknown to the author is the Biblical fact that the Law can never lead to salvation. It can only inform us that there is nothing we can do to be saved. However, in “23 Minutes” the fear of the Law in pointing out the reality of hell supposedly motivates someone to do the impossible; that is, decide to become a Christian. Once more we find ourselves back in pre-Reformation days with no knowledge that an unbeliever has no power at all to make such a choice.
Because the author bases his book on his experience, and not on trusting the Word of God, such experience will never be sure. Thus, it is no surprise at all that the author himself begins to doubt his experience and demand from God another experience to provide him with more evidence of his time in hell (56). The devil is only too happy to serve up as much experience as he loves to draw you away from the sure truth of God’s Word.
The very fact that the author has an entire chapter on “Confirmations” exposes the weakness of his own faith in the veracity of what he “experienced.” For the believer, no evidence is needed for true faith; for the unbeliever, no amount of evidence is ever sufficient. For what keeps the unbeliever from making a decision for Christ is not simply ignorance of hell but original sin and a will that is totally incapable of making such a decision. Page 78 and 79 demonstrate the pre-Reformation, pro-Roman Catholic theology of this theologian who apparently is totally ignorant of the discoveries of the Reformers that contradict much of what is on those pages.
There are many other theological errors such as the unbiblical view on page 112 of how all children will be saved and thus the implicit denial of the importance of infant baptism. In fact, there is hardly any mention of the sacraments as the proper means of grace to create and confirm faith which again militates against Reformation and biblical theology.
In regard to whether I believe that the author made all this up or had a dream, I have no problem in agreeing with the Scripture that in the last days the devil himself will be given miraculous signs and wonders so that even the elect might fall from the faith as they forsake the Word of God and cling instead to their experiences. I will give the author the benefit of agreeing that he had this experience through a dream instigated by Satan and permitted by God. The purpose? So that theologians of Law and Gospel might point out the unbiblical details and theology behind such a book as “23 Minutes” for the sake of the believer’s growth in the one true faith that is only found in the written Word of God and in the incarnate Word of God; namely, Jesus Christ.
Name:Tom Baker
Pastor Tom,
Does your assessment of “23 Minutes in Hell” have any similiar application to Jonathan Edward’s classic sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”?
Yes, there is similar application to Edward’s sermon. In fact, I will point that out in a forthcoming blog.
thanks for your insight. My friends at work were talking about this book. i don’t have enough time to read books like this when there so many books like
“The seduction of Extremes” to read
Notwithstanding I am student of Law and Gospel and primarily because of you, Pastor Tom, I do say what I find missing.
I think of two “True” Biblical accounts of Hell, one a literal observation, and two, an imagination, both from the Old Testament portion of the Bible. I also think of the one and only account of an actual event, by some argument and a parabolic event, by some argument, but an event, nevertheless that Jesus tells of Lazarus and the rich man. Note that nowhere in that accounting in the New Testament does it appear Jesus is giving the rich man opportunity to leave the place of judgment he was assigned by the Grace of God. I would think that if God wanted us to “believe” there is a possibility for us to be retrieved from there after going there He would have made it plain somewhere in the Gospels that there is a second chance?
Here are the two Old Testament events I am thinking about that, definitely in my mind, “refute” 23 minutes in hell as an actual event. They are when Korah, Dathan and Abiram and all their own bloodline experience the judgment of God when the earth opens up and Scripture records they fall into Sheol, warts and all, men, women and children, into the everlasting judgment of God, and at Job 18, where Bildad describes what happens to the “soul” of a person being “torn” from their tent:
Num 16:28 And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord.
Num 16:29 If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the LORD has not sent me.
Num 16:30 But if the LORD creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the LORD.”
Num 16:31 And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart.
Num 16:32 And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods.
Num 16:33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.
and
Job 18:14 He is torn from the tent in which he trusted and is brought to the king of terrors.
Job 18:15 In his tent dwells that which is none of his; sulfur is scattered over his habitation.
Job 18:16 His roots dry up beneath, and his branches wither above.