This book is one that definitely makes you think. If you believe in God (Which I do) it really helps you visualize what a terrible place Hell is. I loaned the book to the Youth Pastor at my old church. He told me that he was reading it in the bathtub and the water got so hot he had to get out. The visualizations in the book are good however a little repetitive. However, since this is the accounting of someone's vison of hell it is nevertheless frightening.

Eye opening!

I was gifted this by a friend who was worried when I told him I had left the church because of flaws in the minister. Everything I remember being taught as a child was in this: Including the lack of compassion towards those that are different. Sadly, this was a regurgitated version of the same misquoted/misused verses I was taught as a child, including disregard for any scripture that doesn't fit their version. Jesus is a beautiful example for all; but man's desire to control others through religious 'policy' that was never actually set down by God is truly tragic. The writer should heed her own words; judgement is nigh.

Whewww! I’m so glad this author was obedient. This book made me sit down and think, is my heart right with GOD. Also … no one is prefect but I strive to flee sin and stay in the world of GOD . I thank GOD for JESUS. This book made me soooo sick to my stomach, a good kind of sick I like had to breathe but it was me getting convicted and I thank GOD for it!

Well this woman shares what she says are visions Jesus gave her of both hell and heaven. While interesting in its nuts and bolts, I found parts of it offensive and that made me question its validity. In any case, I would not want to end up in the place she describes as hell.

Excelente!! Para que despiertes a la realidad, y te des cuenta que todos necesitamos a Jesús en nuestras vida!

i really want to understand the message of the book

Hey scholars, please do compare the book with the 35 scriptures found in the Bible and not just personal babble! I mean true critics would.....since everyone wants to preach everyone is saved and going to heaven. Road is Narrow! I will form my own opinion and from critics providing personal opinions as proof and with grave disrespect.

Foreword:

This book shook me to the very core of my being. Regardless of what you may think I believe this story speaks truth. I beg all who do not have Christ in their lives to read this with an open mind praying to the god so that they can read this with an open mind and an open heart. God gave us such a great gift but if we just to ignore or worse reject or turn from this gift and for lack of a better term spit in gods face he will leave you to your fate. I pray for all who read this review who do not know of Christ or know of him but have turned away from him. Come to the Lord and he will rid you of your sin no matter how great and peace will be with you everlasting. I warn the Christians who are resting on their laurels to keep searching for God's face, keep prayer and the study of his word in your life and you will be delivered.

Review:

Mary goes through an incredible Journey through the many facets of hell. Degrees of punishment are given based on your sin. She goes from the right and left legs of hell into the belly, jaws and heart of hell. Throughout this journey she sees and experiences most of the horrors that happen in hell. On two separate occasions the Lord leaves her side and lets her experience first hand what it is like to be a soul lost in hell and it is truly frightening to know that the torture endured is eternal. There is hope though, at the end of this book she is taken up to heaven and shown just some of the splendor that awaits us if we are faithful. This book spoke deeply to me and I urge any Christian or non believer to pick it up with an open mind and to let the Lord do the rest.

Just because you don't believe in it doesn't mean it doesn't exist, it only means YOU don't believe it doesn't exist. If Hell is true then it would be exactly like Baxter pictured the horrible, unimaginable pit of fire as he uses the scriptures to staff his descriptions. If hell is not true we don't have anything to lose when we die, if hell is true we have verything to lose when we die. "Is the risk of being ignorent worth the sacriice?"

If Dante's Inferno and a Tom and Jerry cartoon had a baby, it would be this book. As it just so happens, the hell the author claims to have experienced matches the generic version of hell often portrayed in popular culture complete with fire and brimstone, wailing spirits encased in living skeletons, and cackling demons armed with pointy sticks. So what's being revealed? Don't most Christians already believe this stuff, including the stuff that doesn't even have any sort of biblical precedent? And why didn't Jesus pick a better writer for these "revelations"? The writing is amateurish at best, not to mention PAINFULLY repetitive. Did I mention that the writing is repetitive? Speaking of Jesus, the Jesus in this book is a real jerk. The biblical Jesus preached compassion and forgiveness, but this Jesus just goes around chastising people who are already dead and in hell. This seems kind of petty, especially for the Son of God. And what are some of the wicked and awful sins for which these people are justifiably damned for all eternity? Among them are homosexuality, practicing witchcraft (yes, witches are real), and lust. The word "lust" must be used a thousand times in this book. Call it a hunch but I'm wondering if the author has some church-installed guilt regarding her naughty bits. Here are some things I learned from this book:

1) Hell is located at the center of the earth and is shaped like a giant body. Just like in the bible.
2) Hell is filled with cell blocks seventeen miles high. The manner in which the author measured these cell blocks is not recorded.
3) God allows evil spirits to wander the earth where they trick people into committing acts of unpardonable wickedness, like for example being Hindu.
4) Satan talks like a comic-book caricature of, well, Satan.
5) Heaven is a giant bureaucracy complete with overflowing file cabinets. Apparently God hasn't switched to electronic record-keeping yet.
6) Jesus won't hesitate to add insult to injury. And he seemed like such a nice guy.
7) The greatest sin of all isn't child-rape or mass murder. The greatest sin of all is using your God-given free will to choose not to accept God's love, His infinite, terribly confusing love.
8) The End of Days is near. Or at least nearer than it was yesterday.

The only thing I really learned from this book (aside from the fact that being a writer doesn't necessarily mean being able to write) is that fear is an integral part of Christian dogma, or at least the writer's version anyway. Apparently, God loves you with infinite compassion and infinite mercy but unless you acknowledge His greatness (sounds suspiciously like pride which is a sin, right?) He will not hesitate to condemn you to eternal torment for sins committed during a brief mortal lifetime. And then Jesus will pop up every once and awhile and say "I told you so".

This book is absolute bullshit.

God-awful bullshit.

Yet another reason for Christians to look like that weird kid down the street who put ants on his tongue and always smelled like congealed sweat.

Yet another piece of "theological" fiction that is grounded in nothing but the imagination of the (most likely) quite clinically disturbed author.

"Hmmm...I wonder what will sell? I will never make any money as a legitimate author, so howabout I write Christian fiction? That's it!!!!"

What you get, is a storybook written to scare the hell out of you, and turn you into a good, proper Christian again. again. again. again. again.

To give you a rundown, this crazy chick whose name just screams, "I grew up in a Mennonite cult!", Mary K. Baxter, claims that Jesus Christ Himself woke her soul up in the middle of the night, and took her down to hell over the course of a month or so, showing her the atrocities that await those who forget to bless their meals, indulge in oral sex, say words like "shit", and, worst of all - fail to tithe 10% to the First Baptist Church down the street. The scene-setting is described the way 'the Evil Dead' (starring the Almighty Bruce Campbell)((watch it!)) looked.

The only true hell found within this book, is the process of reading it.

File next to  Joel Osteen,  Pat Robertson, and other "Jesus-gonna-getcha" books like the 'Left Behind' series.


Throw this in the lake of fire.

Or, just your backyard weenie roast.

*ADDENDUM*

This book was a big hit in the Christian bookstore world back when it came out, and, to capitalize...err..I mean expound upon the blessing of this miraculous revelation supposedly given to Mrs. Baxter by Christ, the author went on to publish her further adventures with Jesus (a la 'Gullivers' Travels') under the titles, "A Divine Revelation of Heaven", "A Divine Revelation of the Spirit Realm", and "A Divine Revelation of Spiritual Warfare", (dis)respectfully. So, basically, after taking her to hell, Jesus shows her heaven, and then an up-closer look at angels and demons. Right. This just keeps better and better. Let me guess, next there's going to be some black riders, gay midgets, and a whole lot of friggin' walking?!
Nah. Just kidding, I love the 'Rings. And Gulliver's Travels. Come to think of it, I'm a fan of quality epic fantasy, in general. Kind of like Dante and Milton.

Which brings us full-circle, back to this review: Mary K. Baxter, your magnum opus is terrible. I mean, you're a bad writer and all, but the main thing, really, is that this story ALREADY FUCKING EXISTS; it's called 'Paradise Lost'. Perhaps you've heard of it. Probably not, though, as the only thing worth readin' is the word o' King James, right?
Nice attempt at capitalizing on something that was done a few hundred years before your great-grandfather was a tadpole, but your prose ain't poetic, and your writing sure ain't epic, bitch. It's ordinary. Is there much worse than that.

I imagine even Jesus hates your book - especially the part about you exploiting people who are susceptible to 'Christian' marketing ploys.

Here's my 'Divine Revelation', Mary Baxter: Go buy yourself a fucking title chef. And may God have mercy on your greedy black soul.