Heaven Is Beyond Imagination records the testimonies of several people who went to hell before coming back to physical life. In each case, they knew hell was not the place they wanted to go and that only God could keep them from going there. But they had to return to this life to make the changes needed to avoid hell: confess sins, repent, and accept Jesus as the Son of God who died to forgive their sins. No such decisions can be made in the spirit world; they had to come back to be saved. Here are glimpses of some of the testimonies from Heaven Is Beyond Imagination in which the person was able to turn to God when in hell and be allowed to go back to physical life so he or she could make the needed change.
Donald Whitaker, Ph.D., a research science specialist, was an atheist. He was very successful and didn’t need God. He had a Christian friend, Ron, who tried to tell him about being saved, but whom he ignored. Then he developed an acute hemorrhagic necrotic pancreatitis, a fatal condition. As he faced death, he decided he needed to listen to Ron, but Ron couldn’t be reached. Dr. Whitaker started losing consciousness, he faded away into a total darkness that invaded his soul like no darkness he had ever experienced. He saw no light or felt any warmth or love. Instead he felt untold terror. He frantically tried to keep from going any further because he knew that if he let himself go any further he would never get back from this deep terrible darkness. He had to hold on until his friend Ron could get there. He held on through the night until Ron could get to him in the morning and help him pray a prayer of repentance and be saved from that terrible darkness. Dr. Whitaker was a staunch atheist until he faced death for real and experienced temporarily the eternal consequences of atheism.
Dr. Rawlings tells of a woman who was struck by lightning on a camping trip and found herself with the answer to a question she had always had, is there a God? The totality and reality of His presence exploded in her in ways she cannot fully describe. She said every atom of her body was filled with His glory. But then she was horrified to see that she was going away from Him, not toward Him. She panicked and begged Him to spare her life. She did recover, but the rest of the story was not given.
Maurice Rawlings, M.D., has had many opportunities to resuscitate people who have clinically died. He has found that interviews immediately after the patients have revived reveals as many bad experiences as good ones.
Atheist B. W. Melvin was working outside Tucson on a very hot day and took a long drink of contaminated water from which he contracted Vibrio Cholerae and became deathly sick. Ultimately he left his body and traveled down an extremely dark tunnel toward an astounding light, which turned out to be a man in a white robe, and he was told it is Jesus. Rays of brightness came from Jesus’ hand, and he knew his fate appeared to be sealed. He was without excuse. He saw unspeakable horror, smelled an extremely putrid stench and felt intense heat. He heard intense screams and saw people being tortured in cages. He repeats a Name and a Title (Jesus Christ) over and over throughout his journey to ward off the taunting demons all around him. He is eventually shown his cube and told to go in. He refuses saying the Name and Title over and over with increasingly loud taunting by the demons that want him. But at that moment Jesus comes to him. He glimpses heaven from a far distance before returning to Earth. He was terrified and felt an eternal hopelessness until Jesus came and took him out of there. Suddenly he came back to physical life and was taken to the hospital and recovered. He abandoned his atheistic beliefs and became a follower of Jesus after his experience in hell.
Lori Haider, Saved from Hell, said she had a very painful brain aneurism and left her body. She saw a reptilian creature with its claws in her head. She saw a prison cell in hell that was for her, but fire was closing in on it. She was going to be burned alive, but dying is not an option any more there, so she would repeat the burning alive experience over and over forever. She saw ten sinister looking demons around her cell that were ready and eager to torture her. They had instruments with which they could torture her inflicting unimaginable pain. When her pastor prayed for her, the demon that had its claws in her head was ripped away and her spirit went back into her body. After she recovered, she repented of her sins and Satan left her for good.
Ron DeVera died during quadruple bypass surgery. He had gone to church regularly as a child, but now he attended only occasionally. Religion and salvation were not matters of importance to him. Even waiting in the hospital for his surgery, he only considered matters of insurance and taking care of his family, not what might occur to him after he died. He was basically a good person and thought that was enough. But when he died during the surgery, he had a rude awakening. He awoke with horror and dread. He was in a dark forest of dead, barren trees and an ashen sky. Sticky, black gook hung from the tree branches, and he knew it would harm him if he touched it. All around him among the trees were hundreds of demons, some with horns and claws, other like misshapen humans. One of the human-like demons sat down next to him and tortured him by pushing a claw into his hand to have joy seeing Ron’s pain. He knew he was going to be tortured like this forever if he didn’t get out. He thought, “I don’t belong here. I am a good person.” He started praying earnestly to God, pleading for help. As he prayed, the demons started to leave, the little horned ones first. The larger human-like ones required more intense prayer. But as some were driven away, others would take their place. He prayed so continuously and intently that he got tired and fell asleep. When he awoke he was in a small dark cave with the walls and ceiling pressing in on him. In spite of being so cramped in his situation, there were five or six demons pressing down on him. They were translucent and ghostly white. They had hideous, bright red eyes. They were doing disgusting things to each other and Ron knew they were intending to do those same things to him. But Ron didn’t give up his belief that he didn’t belong there and continued to pray to God for help. Suddenly a bright light came into the darkened cave, and he heard human voices. He had been delivered from that hell back into his body. When he came to, he immediately wanted to get baptized, but had to wait until he was out of the hospital. Needless to say, he made drastic changes in his life and made God a priority and became a faithful follower of Jesus, the only one that can save anyone from that hell. He now knows just being good is not enough.
Dr. Rawlings reports a story that appeared in a booklet by Thomas Welch, Oregon’s Amazing Miracle. Welch, a young man working at a lumber mill, went out on a conveyor belt to loosen a logjam, and fell, hitting his head on a beam. He tumbled down into the water in the pond below. It was about an hour before they found his body and took it to the house where he had been staying. His landlady had been praying fervently for him since he was not yet a believer. Then miraculously, he came back to life.
He said that after he died, he found himself beside a lake of fire, blue flames of fire and brimstone. There was no one in the fire, but many around the edge, like himself. He saw some others that he had known. Everyone was perplexed; they didn’t know how they got there and what they could do about it. He describes the scene was so awesome that there aren’t enough words to do it justice. The only way he can describe it is to say he was an eyewitness now to the final judgment. He saw that there is no way to escape, no way out. So you don’t even look for one. This is the prison out of which no one can escape except by Divine intervention. He said to himself in an audible voice, “If I had known about this, I would have done anything that was required of me to escape coming to a place like this.” But he had not known. Then he saw Jesus passing through. Somehow he knew Jesus was his only hope, but Jesus didn’t look in his direction. Just before Jesus left the scene, He turned and looked directly at Welch, and in that instant, he returned to his body. He now knows Jesus is alive; he has seen him and has forever been changed. He does not want to go back again to the hell he saw!