''23 Minutes in Hell'' is a personal book written by

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Bill Wiese and published in 2006. The book recounts what the author claims were his experiences in

Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

in 1998. The book and the underlying story within it are the topic of a series of speaking tours given by Wiese, predominantly to Protestant churches and other Christian organizations. He says his visits to Hell were

out-of-body experiences An out-of-body experience (OBE or sometimes OOBE) is a phenomenon in which a person perceives the world from a location outside their physical body. An OBE is a form of autoscopy (literally "seeing self"), although this term is more commonly use ...

that were also

visions Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain un ...

, one lasting 23 minutes and the other 10 seconds.

Description

Wiese states that he had been a Christian since 1970, but had never studied Hell before his experiences on the night of November 22, 1998. According to the book, Wiese, then a real estate broker, found himself in a cell approximately high and by in area, where there were two foul-smelling beasts, personifications of evil and terror, who spoke in a blasphemous language. Wiese says that the creatures had strength approximately one thousand times greater than a man's strength. Wiese states that he heard the screams of the billions of damned people in hell. He states that he then encountered

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

, who told him to tell other people that hell is real. Wiese states that his first experience ended with him lying on the floor of his living room, screaming in horror.

Response

''23 Minutes in Hell'' spent at least three weeks on the extended ''New York Times'' Best Seller list for paperback nonfiction. Lawrence Yang, a columnist for the Filipino-American newspaper ''Asian Journal'', devoted two columns to Wiese's book, treating it as an accurate description of hell. Freelance writer Billy Bruce wrote in the ''

Ironton Tribune ''The Ironton Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Ironton, Ohio. The newspaper is owned by Boone Newspapers. The ''Tribune'' originated in 1928 as a merger of existing publications ''The Irontonian'' and ''The Ironton Register''. ''The Regis ...

'', "I totally believe Bill Wiese’s vision and hope that many others will read his book, along with the Bible ... Read Bill Wiese’s book, ''23 Minutes in Hell''. Then, live your life like you don’t want to spend one second in that place."

Criticism

The claims in Wiese's book have received sardonic reactions from some writers, both in the Christian and secular press. Rob Moll of ''

Christianity Today ''Christianity Today'' is an evangelical Christian media magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. It is published by Christianity Today International based in Carol Stream, Illinois. ''The Washington Post'' calls ''Christianity Today'' "evange ...

'', noting Wiese's statement that hell "was hot – far beyond any possibility of sustaining life", commented, "Thankfully, it being hell, everyone but Wiese had already died." John Sutherland, writing about Wiese's book in the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'', remarked that Wiese "rather lamely" describes the sound of billions of people screaming as "annoying". Other writers have expressed even harsher views. Steven Wells wrote in the ''

Philadelphia Weekly ''Philadelphia Weekly'' (''PW'') is a website based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a newspaper in 1971 as ''The Welcomat'', a sister publication to the ''South Philadelphia Press''. In 1995, the paper became ''Philadelphia Weekl ...

'' that "Wiese is either wrong or he's right. And if he's right, then God is an insane tyrant." A writer for the ''Northern Iowan'', a student newspaper at the

University of Northern Iowa The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) is a public university in Cedar Falls, Iowa. UNI offers more than 90 majors across the colleges of Business Administration, Education, Humanities, Arts, and Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences and grad ...

, described the book as "23 minutes of nonsense" and portrayed the book's success as a sign of the faults of Christianity and religion in general.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Soul Choice Ministries: Bill Wiese's official websiteExcerpt from the book at Beliefnet.com
(reprinted by permission of the publisher)
A critical review of the bookA critical evangelical review of the book
Christian literature 2006 non-fiction books Hell in popular culture

Description

Response

Criticism

See also

References

External links