Visiting Hell

Mary Baxter, an ordained Church of God minister, claims to have received new revelations and to have been commission by Jesus himself to write these so that the “world” will know them. Her book is replete with first person, direct quotations from Jesus, which she claims to be true and authoritative. She quotes Jesus, “My child, I will take you into hell by My Spirit, and I will show you many things which I want the world to know. I will appear to you many times; I will take your spirit out of your body and will actually take you to hell.” The book is a best seller and contains the content of her experiences. Perhaps it is selling so well because people think that they could scare themselves and their loved ones out of hell, if a more graphic description of it were given than the one in the Bible.

Baxter claims that Jesus revealed to her that hell is shaped like a woman’s body and resides in the middle of the earth. She writes, “Jesus spoke again, ‘Hell has a body ( like a human form) lying on her back in the center of the earth. Hell is shaped like a human — body very large and with many chambers of torment.’” Didn’t He inspire the Biblical writers to include this information in the Bible? And also, why wait until the twentieth century and reveal this to an American Pentecostal?

Since hell is supposedly in the form of a human body, Jesus took Baxter on a tour, one anatomical component at a time, starting with the left leg. In this compartment of hell are many individual pits with fire and brimstone with each pit holding a lost soul in the form of a skeleton crawling with worms, with a grey mist inside. On their tour, Jesus would bring Mary Baxter to individual souls in torment and they would conduct what amounted to an interview. The interviews reveal how and why these people were in hell. Here and elsewhere in the book, people in hell either reveal what they had done, or Jesus would tell them what they had done. They would also cry out to Jesus for mercy, but He would tell them it was too late and they should have repented when they were alive. As a result, His presence and discussions with them added to their torment and they often cursed Him when He refused to help.

The compartments of hell did not contain human inhabitants alone. Satan himself dwelt there with a mass of demons each having appearances such as grizzly bears, monkeys, and various grotesque forms. However, in contrast to the tormented human souls, the demons seem to be having a good time. Essentially, they are able to go about their evil business, be it discharging the commands of Satan or tormenting the souls of the damned.

Preachers are often found tormented in hell for various reasons. One in the right leg of hell was there because he did not believe there was a hell. There was even one preaching the gospel. Another preacher was in the “belly” of hell in a coffin being tortured by twelve demons with spears. Unlike the others, the preacher in the coffin bled as he was tormented. Jesus told Mary Baxter that this preacher had preached God’s Word, served God with his whole heart, and led many to salvation. Yet he was in hell because, among other sins, “before he died he said the Holy Ghost baptism was a lie. . . .” Even Satan himself spends a lot of time tormenting this preacher in a coffin. Herein lies a veiled threat: do not question Baxter’s particular theology lest you end up in hell. This is reminiscent of Hagin and his veiled threat to dissident preachers.

Is Satan in Charge of Hell?
An interesting aspect of Baxter’s version of hell is that Satan is in charge of it and he seems to be enjoying his job. He laughs as he rips the flesh from bones of tormented souls. He toys with people who had served him during their lives by doing occult activities, Satan worship, and bringing other people to Satan in hopes of being part of his kingdom. However, once he has them in hell they receive no kingdom, only torment. They are sent to the “fun center,” where the people who had been led into following Satan are allowed to torture and torment those who had so led them. Not only do Satan and demons have their fun torturing lost souls, but other lost souls get to join in. This “fun center” dwells in a section of hell with cell blocks “seventeen miles high” We learn that Jesus had gone down to this section years ago and taken the Old Testament saints out of cells and the vacated cells are now used by Satan.

Consider this description of Satan in hell: “Satan was standing with his back to us, and he was all aflame. But he was not being burned; rather, it was he who caused the fire. Now he stood engulfed in the flames, enjoying the cries of these poor, lost souls. As Satan moved his arms, great balls of fire shot from him.” She further describes the situation: “Satan walked through the flames, and they could not burn him.” Contrast this with the Gospels where Jesus indicated that the fire of hell was prepared for the devil, not that he was in charge of it and not touched by the fire. For example, “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels’” (Matthew 25:41). Also, the evil spirits who encountered Jesus were concerned about themselves being tormented: “And behold, they [the demons speaking through the men] cried out, saying, What do we have to do with You, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?" (Matthew 8:29). There is no indication here that the demons are going to be having a good time in hell, taking people to the “fun center” and tormenting them; but rather they themselves are facing torment.

The idea that Satan is in charge of hell and enjoying the process of inflicting various torments on people is a fictitious notion that comes from popular folk religion but is not taught in the Bible. Part of the problem with Baxter’s book is that it never makes a clear distinction between hades and gehenna. Hades is the Greek word in the New Testament that is used for the place where the lost go upon death, awaiting the resurrection of the body for the final judgement. Gehenna is the final abode of the lost, which is also called the “lake of fire.” In Revelation 20 we find that hades is thrown into the lake of fire: “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:13,14).

Mary Baxter alludes to this, but persists in using “hell” to describe a place where souls already are, though technically it is the place of final punishment for the wicked, both human and demonic. The first two inhabitants of hell shall be the Antichrist and the false prophet: “And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone” (Revelation 19:20). John Walvoord comments on this passage: “By comparison with other scriptures, it seems that the beast and the false prophet are the first to inhabit the lake of fire.”

Even assuming that Baxter is speaking of hades when she uses the term “hell,” it still does not follow that Satan is quite happy there, unscathed by any form of punishment, and actually the one dishing out the punishment. Luke 16:23 describes Hades as a place of torment and distinguishes it from “Abraham’s bosom.” But the fanciful details outlined in Baxter’s book are missing from the Bible as is the idea that Satan is in charge of hell and handing out torments. The Biblical descriptions of the devil show him doing his evil work on earth, or else appearing before God (like in Job 1:7) as the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10). The world is said to lie in the power of the evil one (1John 5:19) and he is considered the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). None of this relates to tormenting lost souls in hell. The only way we “know” that this is Satan’s role is by the new “revelations” found in Mary Baxter’s book.

Christians in Hell
There are lots of ways of ending up in hell, according to this book. The various interviews that Jesus conducts with the damned for the benefit of Mary Baxter’s book, reveal every sort of sin. It is true that unforgiven sin alienates us from God and if persisted in even until death will result in a lost soul consigned to hell. This we are not disputing. However, Mary Baxter makes a point of highlighting Christians whose “sins had been was hed away” who end up in hell. From preachers who don’t teach “the Holy Ghost Baptism,” to gossips, ones who do not forgive, ones who are not generous, to people who don’t listen to modern day prophets. Though the basic idea of the gospel is presented in the book, the overall impression I got from reading it is that one’s salvation is tenuous and likely to be easily lost.

For example, Baxter overheard the conversations of two fellows who lived their lives as Christians but ended up in hell. A person in hell is quoted as saying: “I know Jesus, He washed my sins away. In fact, I don’t know what I’m doing here. Nor do I, [another said]” We find out that one of them would not loan money to a neighbor for the man’s wife’s funeral because he didn’t believe the neighbor would use it for that and another would not buy clothes for a boy from church because his father was a drinker. So for these sins the two Christians whose sins had been washed away by the blood of Jesus are in hell being tormented for eternity. It is right to give generously and to do everything else Jesus commanded. But the notion that some oversight, some moment of selfishness rather than selflessness, might send us to hell even if we are Christians is likely to leave no one with assurance of salvation. Any lapse and we go right to hell if we die before we get a chance to repent. That is the message I got from reading this book.

This type of teaching arose in the early church after the death of the apostles and eventually resulted in the Roman Catholic system of penance, purgatory, etc. The idea was that any sin committed after baptism would be a blot in the account of the Christian and would stay that way unless the Christian and/or others did some works to resolve the guilt. They imagined (contrary to 1John 1:7) that the blood of Jesus only cleansed the sins committed before baptism. Though Mary Baxter has no clear explanation about just which sins and how many of them cause Christians to lose their salvation, that they are likely to lose salvation if they die at the wrong moment is clear. This is worse than the Catholic purgatory, because at least Catholics suppose people eventually can get out of there. It is true that many evangelicals do not believe in the perseverance of the saints. However, those (like Mary Baxter) who believe true Christians can lose their salvation should argue their case from the Scriptures. Can Baxter “prove” that the doctrine of perseverance is wrong on the basis that she personally talked to people in hell who are damned and at one time were true Christians? How is this any better than the extra-biblical revelations of the Roman Catholic Church?

Are New Revelations Authoritative?
There are other similarities with Rome. Mary Baxter presents us with the exact words of Jesus, in direct quotations, claims they are true, and dangles her readers over the pit of hell if they might decide not to listen to her. For example, she quotes Jesus as He admonishes Mary’s readers: “You have not hearkened to the words of My servants, the prophet and the prophetess. Curses instead of blessing have come upon you. . .” So which prophets and prophetesses are we cursed for not listening to — Joseph Smith and Mary Baker Eddy? Maybe it is the Popes speaking ex cathedra. Once you allow new revelations to be added to the Bible, all these and more are on the table. This is nothing new. Historically, people who claim to speak for God condemn all those who refuse to listen, including the various cults and false religions. Only the Bible provides solid evidence that its writers really did speak for God.

A Divine Revelation of Hell claims to give new, authoritative revelation to the church. It even adds material to that provided in the book of Revelation, which Revelation itself forbids (Revelation 22:19). In Mary Baxter’s version, the Mystery Babylon, the mother of harlots, has “seven heads and ten horns.”31 In Revelation it is the beast with the seven heads and ten horns (Revelation 13:1 & 17:3). She tells us that the beast will have a high tech “mind-destroying machine”that will mellow people out and make them happy with Antichrist and also a “big bother machine” that will be invisible and let the beast watch every move people make. This is information that is not given in the book of Revelation but directly pertains to it. To make matters worse, listen to what Mary Baxter says about this information: “All these things were revealed to me by the Lord Jesus Christ in an open vision. They are the words of His mouth, and they concern the times of the end.” She has just added to the words of the Biblical prophecy of Revelation which the Bible forbids.

The underlying problem of all books of this type (where the author makes direct quotes of Jesus and claims new revelations) is that they undermine the authority of Scripture. Paul told us not to even listen to an “angel from heaven” with a different gospel: “But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8). Once we get away from the Reformation principle of “Scripture alone” as our authority, we shall be faced with a multitude of competing voices, each claiming to speak authoritatively for God. Today in America there are hundreds of supposed prophets who are publishing material that claims to be directly inspired by Christ and authoritative to the church. But the Scriptures teach that God “has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world” (Hebrews 1:2b). The tense of “has spoken” indicates a full and final revelation. Everything we will know about heaven and hell during this life and in this age is contained in Scripture. Even if the purpose of books like Mary Baxter’s is to motivate us to repent, they do more harm than good in that they undermine the final and complete authority of Scripture.