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29 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Reminds me of time I spent in prison, in many ways., December 7, 1999
This book is one of the strongest weapons against a common and subtle lie found in many Christian churches and other religions. The lie reveals itself as any way to evade mention of hell. If you press their theology, you find that hell is "just a concept" or "not eternal" or "not real."_A Course in Miracles_, which purports to be fully Christian, teaches this way, as do some of the eastern or Indian religions, especially the ones that rely on re-incarnation. This book gives such an honest picture of hell, just like something any ordinary person would write after seeing hell, that I cannot dismiss it easily. Baxter's writing style is simple and those reviewers who criticise the presentation or the images as deceptive or contrived have missed one of the beauties of this book. It is startling, as a Christian who has personally seen Jesus, to comprehend that God is capable of turning down the pleadings of a person burning in hell. But the reason why is confirmed by that pleading soul's response once he is denied: He immediately begins cursing Jesus. It is obvious that he had not yet repented--why should Jesus release a liar? An illustration: When I went to jail, I was a guilty soul. I resisted with all of my might as I was arrested, and well into the solitary confinement cell that they put me in because I was so angry. However, after two days in there, praying all the time, I began to comprehend what was happening was MY fault, and I became deeply humbled. I began to repent. As I was allowed to mingle with other prisoners, I found there were two kinds of prisoners: those who had been humbled, and those who weren't yet. Those who were humble were rare, gentle, patient, and looked forward with faith to their release. Those who were still fighting, who still thought they were wrongly arrested, these were dangerous, liars, and traitors who played power trips on each other. Unchecked, these kinds of souls are the ones who end up in hell--they'll pretend to be your friend until they get what they want from you, then they will turn and rip you to shreds. This is what Jesus walked away from with such stoicism. No matter what you think of this book, you will never forget it, as long as you live. I plan to read it again, not to scare myself, but to work on a closer understanding of the souls who end up in hell. I love people very much and do not want anyone to go to hell. I pray for the other reviewers who preferred to read this book on a superficial level, that they will comprehend its very clear, very eloquent, deeper message. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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