fusionatl

When I was in 6th grade, my grandmother let my mom read a book called A Divine Revelation of Hell by Mary K. Baxter. She claimed to have been taken by Jesus' spirit so she could see what happens to people who die in their sins and write about it. I had never talked about it, but was had believed that what she was saying was true. After talking with a close friend about the book, she brought it to my attention that this woman is a false prophet. It peeves me to think that I had been deceived for 14 years, and I was wondering how you guys felt about this, and if there are Bible verses which speak out against it.

For reference, I found that somebody had posted the entire book online, here's the website:
http://spiritlessons.com/Mary_K_Baxter_ ... f_Hell.htm

Bro I don't know if I would go so far as to call her a false prophet... In fact I know someone whose life was changed by that book.

You said that your grandmother let your mom read it... have you read it though. Our generation often takes someone else's word and don't do to much digging ourselves.

I encourage you bro do some digging you may find that there is more supporting what she is saying than there is discounting her

Samrezzal wrote:Bro I don't know if I would go so far as to call her a false prophet... In fact I know someone whose life was changed by that book.

You said that your grandmother let your mom read it... have you read it though. Our generation often takes someone else's word and don't do to much digging ourselves.

I encourage you bro do some digging you may find that there is more supporting what she is saying than there is discounting her

Yes, I have read it before. It scared me when I was in 6th grade and ironically, it taught me what happens to non-believers when they die (I thought they just roamed the earth as spirits, then when the Rapture hits they'd get thrown into the lake of fire with the devil). But my friend was telling me that only Jesus knows what Heaven & Hell are like, and no one on earth knows what it's like.

Hey man, there are numerous people who have written/spoken on this subject, speaking from the viewpoint as someone who "was there"...Mary Baxter, Kenneth Hagin, and Bill Wiese to name a few off the top of my head.

I don't know anything about Mary Baxter, so I can't agree or disagree with what your friend said. And I haven't read her 26 chapter book either so again, can't really comment specifically. But I would like to know why your friend stated her as a false prophet.

It does seem a little young to read an intense book about hell though... that might have been why it freaked you out a little... plus the fact that it's a book about hell!

You said that your friend told you that only Jesus knows what Heaven & Hell are like and that no one on earth knows (Is that his way of saying "God alone knows?"). The only thing that comes to mind that we are told that God alone knows, is when Jesus is coming back. To me, that means that God is available to give divine revelation to prophets or even ordinary people of what Heaven & Hell would look like or what the experience would be.

But I do believe that, for the most part, there is limited value in taking a personal vision from God & making a universal statement saying "This is officially what hell is like." If people get these visions it might be something personal for them or it might be "Here's what God showed me & here's the concepts I saw in the vision/experience." I really have problems when I hear or read people say, "This is exactly it." Because I truly believe most of these things are personal revelations from God, plus the hell ones usually include demons/Satan as running the place. Satan's authority is GONE & he is not running on hell with a corner office. Hell is the place of punishment for all who have chosen darkness: many people, demons & Satan himself. If someone has a vision of hell & demons are running the place I'm not going to immediately discount it, but try to see the message in it. Many visions aren't verbatim "exactly it" but visual pictures of the experience/feeling of the place.

But we aren't totally clueless: I think Jesus does talk a little about the Hell experience (refers to it as Gehenna as a visual picture for Jews, Mark 13, Matt 25, Luke 16) & talks a little about the Heaven experience too. We see more revealed especially in the book of Revelation. So I think we can glean a lot from these words from Christ. I do think there's a reason why Jesus didn't specifically break out into a monologue of exactly what Heaven & Hell look like. Some of it is mystery. Some of it doesn't matter.

I do think the message Jesus is trying to get across is, "You don't want to go to hell! It wasn't created for you... fire, worms, death, separation, loneliness, etc." "You want to go to Heaven! It was created for you... love, acceptance, no tears, no regret, life, community, etc."

But as far as your question was stated, my point is that that might look different to different people through a visual picture. So I think maybe God could give snapshots to people to reveal to the church for our edification or discipline. But in the end... God alone knows!

She also did a book called a divine revelation of heaven. Did you read that too?

I have not read Divine Revealation of Heaven, and I'm not too sure if my grandmother has that. But she has a book called "I Saw Heaven" by Roberts Liardon, where he talks about seeing Heaven. I'm beginning to think she's pentecostal, cause I got the word "pentecostal" when I googled Roberts Liardon, and my friend asked if my grandmother was pentecostal.

I'm catching that "pentecostal" is being used as a derogatory term here maybe. What do you think that has to do with the Heaven/Hell book? Just curious.

Honestly, I don't know if she actuallly visited Heaven and Hell, but why isn't that possible? The book of Revelation is full of a heavenly encounters.

There is a story in Luke about the rich guy who went to Hell and wanted water from the tip of lazarus' finger,after being told no, he requested if Lazarus could go back and warn his family so they wouldn't follow after him.

The story goes on to say that

Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. 28 For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’

29 “But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’

30 “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’

31 “But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even if someone rises from the dead.’”

I think that even if she did visit both places that vs 31 speaks volumes. I know it's not talking about her, but we are a bit too skeptical at times and not enough at others. Does your friend second guess anyone who claims to be a prophet or have a prophetic vision?

I'm with Johnson, what does the pentecostal thing supposed to mean?

Johnson wrote:I'm catching that "pentecostal" is being used as a derogatory term here maybe. What do you think that has to do with the Heaven/Hell book? Just curious.

Pentecostalism involves a direct personal experience with God, and it sounds like this is what she went through.

Hey man, it does sound like she had a personal experience with God. But, for clarity's sake, Pentecostalism isn't really about experiences like this. Pentecostalism could definitely include stuff like this but other denominations of Christianity could as well.

Pentecostalism places a high place on the person of the Holy Spirit and experiencing God through the power of the Holy Spirit, in things like listening to the guidance of the Spirit, praying in tongues and the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor 12). It finds its origins in Acts 2 where the Holy Spirit is poured out on the early believers, they are baptised in the Holy Spirit & then they go out to evangelize & perform many signs & wonders.

So Pentecostalism would include an experience like what you described in the book or what your grandmother was feeling, but it definitely isn't contained to that. In fact, that experience would be the 1% as compared to the other 99% of living life with God through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Many people at Victory, including me, would easily say that we are Pentecostals. Because we place high importance on the Holy Spirits work within our lives.

So, I guess what I'm trying to get across is that Pentecostalism isn't just an "experience" thing... it's about living life 24/7 through the power/guidance/gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Our mind should be totally open to God's word alone. Everything else we take in must be filtered through the word of God before we accept it. I can't comment on whats in these books but I can comment on what the bible says. It it was Johnson stated earlier, Satan nor his angels has no power in Hell.


So if what you are reading is teaching you something else, then you are right to question it.

The bible teachs us that Hell is a place of torment prepared for Statan and his angels.

Matthew 25:44 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."

I guess what I am saying is, the innmates don't run the jail house. If you encounter things like this in these books then that should bring up a red flag.

We need to apprach everything other than the Word of God with cautious skepticism before we accept it as true.

2 Peter 1:20-21

(v20)Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. (v.21) For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Scripture will not contradict itself. So if you find a teaching that is unsettling, either you don't understand yet and you will find that there is no contradiction. Or, the contradiction is real and that person is a false prophet.