I must say, this is me...not talking about anyone else or what they need to do...if warning bells go off in my spirit then I become cautious about accepting what I've heard, read, watched or come across.

One person who saw hell said it had people who didn't pay their bills or didn't give enough to the church.  Hmmm...Lazarus was a beggar at the gates and he went to heaven.  I don't think he paid back all the people who had given him food...he died before he could pay anyone back.

Some people's testimony is amazing and very seems very truthful.  If the person focuses on Jesus rather than on their experience I think that is a big clue.  If the testimony sounds more like, "God told me you're going to hell because of such and such..." then I tend to think it's not God.

Just my thoughts...I'm not perfect and don't claim to be; just don't want to waste my time on "stories" if that's all they are.  Some people just tell stories to get attention so it's not glorifying God not matter how plausible they seem.

Brave topic to initiate, as so many today live and die by their dreams & visions.  TEST every spirit, every dream, vision and "word from the Lord"!!!  As they say, better to err on the side of caution, than to entertain "seducing" spirits. 

With regards to rapture dreams & visions, we seem to get the two extremes.  Either these are recieved years in advance, saying soon and very soon.  And these just seem to fizzle out.  Then the other extreme, where dates are given, but left open-ended as to which year.  Either way, we are left hanging in the wind.  Some have even gone so far as to be totally specific, and end up being totally wrong! 

This is why, I insist that the Lord will either tell all of us, or none of us!

Love & blessings...Tender Reed

Believer in the Word, I know what you mean. By we are saved by Grace, and not of ourselves. It is a free gift from God that we don't deserve and can't work for. Otherwise Jesus' death would not have been sufficient. And we know it was. That doesn't give us license to do as we wish, but that's another topic for another day.

I don't know why people pass things like that around. I remember someone posting here in great fear that somehow their faith and trust in Jesus was not enough. They were terrified that for some reason they were going to be left behind. I felt their fear and felt so sorry for them. Everyone ran in with great scriptures so it was soon taken care of, but why do they have to go through that?

We are human, and we are going to fail Christ...daily... He knows that. Remember the thief hanging with Jesus. He was a pretty crappy guy, but he recognized Jesus for who He was and asked Him to remember Him, acknowledging His Lordship. He got a personal invitation to be with Him in Paradise.

"It is finished!" —Jesus

BelieverInTheWord said:
I remember Paul in one of his Apistles talking about things that a follower of Christ will have. one of them was that they hated their sins!

Yep! That's it exactly... We try and fail and try and fail, but we keep at it, doggone it (!!) until the end of our days. Gonna crucify that thing if it's the last thing I do! And still here comes tomorrow with all it's failings too.... *sigh*

Half the stuff I've fought (with the Lord's help), and most of the stuff I've conquered in my life were things I had no intention of giving up or thought they should be given up. God is so patient, and loving. That's all part of the knowing what we can handle. And that still small voice...

beleiverintheword, those videos have tripped me up too. I know the ones you are talking about. I am glad you started a thread on them.

Bluebird, that was **edited by mods** and yes- that disturbed me greatly too. She also said she said those who did not tithe in hell. That book really threw me for a loop.  The fact that when she talks about her experiences, she rocks and rocks her body and is not still bothered me too- she has youtube videos. Her books are sold in Christian stores.

Hi believerintheword, like you I like to read accounts of people who have had visions of heaven or hell.  But it is extremely important to have discerning of spirits in these visions, because so many of them were not from the Lord. 

There have been a few that have rang true to me, like Bill Weiss "23 Minutes in Hell", Jesse Duplantis visit to heaven, and the book by Mary Baxter called "Divine Revelation of Heaven" are a few that rang true to me.  But the one about the African pastor who was told that if he died that same day he would have gone to hell because he was mad at his wife and had unforgiveness for her, or the one that talked about a child in hell for disobeying his parents and watching violent video games did not bear witness to my spirit at all.  Like Bluebird, some of them leave me upset, heavy in my spirit, or just plain depressed after reading them.  That is a red flag to me that there is something terribly wrong with their accounts of going into hell.

This is a really good thread, I have had many many dreams, and have stopped even thinking of them after I wake. I think you have to be careful as to  what you belive is form the Lord and what is not. Of that person, I will not mention her name, rocks with dance of the Holy Spirit ? It really bothers me, she also says Jesus visits her every Monday at midnight, without fail. Even predicted rapture in 2009? I don't see what good it would do for anyone to have visits from Jesus every Monday at midnight ? I just don't see the point of helping her salvation in regards to this. Are we not meant to have blind faith to a certain degree ?

I also have been inspired with Jesse Duplantis' visit to Heaven, it really does ring true, except, there is one place I saw a whole lot of pride in him. He tells you the differnce in robe of salvation and robe of reightouness, like he is above most people or something, I saw a lot of pride right there. And also, in one of the videos, he mentions that God moved His pinky finger and an Angel went flying, yet he says he did not put that in the audio ? I thought something like that was great bit of info in regards to power ?

I even question Mary Baxter's visit. There  is alot in there that just did not sit right. However, when I saw Bill Weise, I felt him to be extreamly genuine. I did not see any pride, anything of self importance in there at all. 

There is also a little boy something Coulton, I read his account and it totally contradicted Jessie Duplantis'.

Colton saw Holy Spirit in Heaven and Duplantis did not as He (Holy Spirit) was on Earth implying He will be there until rapture ? I feel one of them is telling fibs, or worse case scenario, both of them. But that is not the matter. Fact is I was highly inspired by Duplantis' visit to Heaven, just need to take it with a grain of salt...

Stay Blessed...

I'm glad you mentioned this.  I saw the video about the guy who went to hell because of unforgiveness.  This was right around the time when I believe there was a sweeping through the watchers of an attack of Satan on our feeling of security in Christ.  There was a big emphasis on the parable of the 10 virgins and weather or not we'd have enough oil...and an uprising of a belief that not all Christians would be worthy of the rapture, but only the elite christians.  those who were backslidden would have to be left behind to be purified in the trib.  I heard all of these ideas and satan tried to convince me personally that I was possibly not going to be found worthy.  hogwash, guys.  when we recieved Christ, he SEALED us with his holy spirit.   his sheep know his voice and they follow him.  Baaah! I am his sheep and I know him!

also...during that time i had a rapture dream. i was so bothered because in the dream i was taken up...but on my way up I stopped climbing and drifted back down and started just bumping along the ground.  i was like...what?? 

i think satan can influence our dreams just as God can.  Ever since that night I have begun a nightly ritual of binding satan and his 'friends' and throwing them out of my house and inviting the presense of God to fill the atmosphere in my room and post angels around me and my family members to protect us while we sleep.  I havent had a suspicious dream since then. 

As with all things, I think God allowed a few to truly experience Heaven and Hell, to warn those who would listen - and then Satan came right behind Him with false dreams and visions to confuse everyone.  There is another man who claims to have been to Heaven innumerable times - it sounded good, until he got to a part where he says an angel pointed to a beautiful young woman, and asked "would you like to share eternity with her?" His response was typically male "yeah, sure (big eyes, crooked smile...)" and my immediate thoughts were: what about his wife? (he had a daugther who claimed to go even more often than he did). why would God assign someone else to be his companion - what about the girl? Would SHE want to be with HIM all through eternity? and so on. We SO long to be with Him, it's hard not to grasp at anything that gives us a glimmer into our "next" life - but, be careful, decerning.  I think Bluebird has the best idea - don't read many, and don't swallow everything you read.  The old prophets were tested in whether they were true prophets or not by whether they had even ONE false report.  Test these visions the same way: even ONE false/ungodly/unbiblical portion cancels all the rest.

PS love you all - new to here, but enjoying every minute!

Welcome to RITAN, John316Me!!  Good to have you join us.  Looking forward to more of your posts.

Lisaleenie, was the child you mentioned referring to that girl's story about visiting heaven and hell? I just read it the other day and it made such an impact on me. I felt heavy and uneasy in the spirit but because I believed every word of it.

To answer your question, yes, that was the story you were refering to.  The same girl who testified that she saw Selena and Michael Jackson in hell.  It did not bear witness to my spirit and I felt a heaviness and uneasiness as well.  That's ususally a red warning to me that there is something wrong.

Freddie, I like to proof read my posts before posting, but I almost always will read my post after posting them and I am horrified to find so many errors.  My fingers have minds of their own at times.  I will then edit the posts and then keep proof reading until I'm happy.  Sometimes 6-7 edits per post, but I'm obsessing here anyway.  I figure it gives others time to write something I can read.

Just click on the little "edit" at the bottom of your post and it will allow you to change it within the first hour.  Like this addendum. 

Discerning the spirits means we know the voice of the Lord.  Does what this post says reflect Him or another voice?  The voice of the enemy, the voice of self,  or the voice of the world.  How do we know the difference?  There are articles to help in the basic teaching subsection and the Devotions section.  Check out the purple stickies at the top first.  You will find much in the archives to help you here.  Mostly your close walk in the Lord has taught you how He thinks, and how He acts.  If we know Him, we will be able to tell the difference.  For example, He doesn't condemn.  He may lovingly correct but he does not falsely accuse or condemn.  If the voice is doing this, then you know it's not from him.  What are satan's M. O.s?  If you note this then it isn't the Lord's voice but satan's.

Also, ask the Lord for confirmation that something is true or from Him.  He will confirm if it's from Him.  He told us to do this and honors confirmation.  He'll be glad to show you it's from Him.  Ask Him for the gift of discernment.

I think the principle used to train agents to discern counterfeit money can be useful here.  They learn to spot the false by studying the true very diligently, so that they know it so well that any discrepancies are instantly noticed.

So what's our true?  The Word of God.  As VC said, if we study the Word diligently, we come to have an understanding of the nature of God, because it pleased Him to reveal it to us.  Then, when someone claims something contrary to His revealed nature, we can spot the counterfeit.  

Very well said, Tom! And it's learning to trust Christ in us in being able to discern truth from lies. His power, His wisdom, His abilities, working in and through us. We can rest in that truth and let go of the need to lean on our own or someone else's understandings.