A Divine Revelation of Hell Book

What a challenge this book was. Of course the biggest part of this was deciding whether to spend $6.00 at Starbucks or on a used copy of this babble?! I went with the babble and got my money's worth in pure entertainment value.

I attempted to trust/critique this book from a purely theological stance. The ultimate test for me (A Christian) was that it has to match the Biblical scriptures perfectly. Honestly it didn't even make it past the 1st page. And by 1st page I mean the copywrite information. Published in 1993 by Dr. T. L. Lowery - from Whitaker House Publishing. That puts Mommy Mary Baxter right alongside Smith Wigglesworth and many many other charismatic healers and ridiculous story tellers and fruity visions holders.
If Jesus was about to change the world with this message of utmost importance he would have been wise to do it with some credibility. How dare this company publish some of Charles Spurgeon's works? Oh well.

Anyway, on to the book.

Wouldn't it be fun if this book was all true? Well no actually. But either way I was quickly relieved to find many flaws in it theologically. The very first thing that hit me was: I've heard some of this type of Hellish horrors described before; it was in the Islamic Quran. The God of Islam seems to favor this type of torture. Sura 4:56 "we shall soon cast into the fire. As often as their skins are roasted through we shall change them for fresh skins, that they may taste the penalty."
Nasty eh? The problem is: the Bible doesn't say anything like that. Sure it says many very interesting things about hell...but NOT that. Maybe Mary has been double dipping into Horror movies and Demonic religions?

It appears that Muhammad and Mary have a few things in common. They are both pathetically poor theologians with over-active imaginations, as well as self importance issues. Both demanded that they rise to the top of their respective religions and be listened to by the entire globe.

Which takes us to the next issue:
What does this book say generally about God and his word? That it just wasn't enough. The Bible says a lot about HELL. Jesus gave us many incredible descriptions about this eternal dwelling. Luke 16:19-31 for instance. Jesus even goes as far as saying in his story,

"Abraham says, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them'...Lazarus says, 'but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'
Abraham says, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone rises from the dead.'"

Well it seems Mary just accomplished what Jesus and Abraham said was NOT necessary. Mary went to Hell and came back to tell everyone so they will repent. In the Bible, we have an amazing book filled with writings by Moses and the Prophets. Mary thinks God has changed his mind. Or maybe God screwed up and realized in 1976 that he should write a better book - maybe scarier this time. With Mary's help of course.

So is Mary lying? I don't think so. Just like Bill Wiese and his book: 23 minutes in Hell. Muhammad and his book: the Quran. And numerous others. I don't think they are pretending, they just have no discernment or abilities to challenge properly what is before them. This is what blind faith does to people. Weird eh? God does not get upset if we critique anything that sounds questionable.

On the funny side:
My wife and kids summed up this book by declaring - "Mary is wearing the CRAZY pants."



It begins with her "praying in the Spirit for days" when she felt the very presence of God. Maybe she should have eaten something! :)
_____________________

2016 Addendum:
I was at my favorite Christian bookstore recently...
And behind the cashier's shelf was a stack of 10 Mary Baxter's A Divine Revelation Of Hell - that somebody ordered (probably for a Book Bible study). What the HELL? I sure hope it was to teach people how to critique and not be Blind, Charismatic, lack of discernment, type demon chasers - but I seriously doubt it. Most likely they were gobbling up every word Mary spewed out. (like some goodreads reviewers.)
I was about to go and buy 10 small Bibles to place amongst those Baxter offerings. Just so they can see the difference.