Should I?

[nightmare sasuke]

My mother wants me to go with her to church tonight to hear some guy deliver a sermon about him having a near death experience, in which he went to a hell-hole, and thus "willed" to see the light. I know that it's Satan appearing as an angel of light, trying to deceive people into believing in a pagan hell, but I'm wondering if I should go anyway. I figure it would be good to know the enemy (the adversary, the beast in the temple of God) and what he has to say, and perhaps I could witness to the man who thinks he went to hell; perhaps, link him to bible-truths? What do you guys think? Should I not associate myself with the heresy at all?

[hillsbororiver]

Good question. What mindset is your Mom going in there with? Is she open to your position? Would you be going there to help her sort things out or to attempt to change this speakers mind, remember he is getting at the very least some attention and maybe exalted status within the church. He may not be open to being told he is deceived.

On the other hand I do not see anything wrong with planting seeds (of scripture) in this person. But I would not expect to receive any thanks for it, most likely just the opposite.

I myself would not be going unless a family member or friend  requested it and I saw the opportunity to refute heresy that might be taken in by the person inviting me.

This is just my opinion and I truly don't think either choice is inherently bad.

Joe

[rvhill]

A near death experience is caused by the brain having a lack of oxygen. My father was killed by a doctor once, and live to tell the tell. He had no near death experience, but my father is a fairly spiritual man. I would say that either the hell or heaven near death experience is a delusion of the cardinal mind. Now whether the person see heaven or hell is a  sign of their mental state. I believe you can tell things about the person by whether they see heaven or hell.

[Alan]

Just pretend your at a comedy club.

JUST DON'T LAUGH OUT LOUD!:lol:

Alan

[jennie]

Hey Nightmare, I don't want to throw cold water on any attempt you are led to make in telling others about the grace of God.  Hopefully the person you are going to hear is open to God's direction but don't be disappointed if they aren't open. You might remember that when I first signed up here I shared my testimony to make sure it was okay for me to be here. As you remember, my husband is a minister so in the past years we used to have to go to lots of places and listen to lots of people. Most, not all, would hear nothing but their own words. They were not open to even the sweetest people you could imagine. We had a saying when I was a child, "gettin' too big for our britches". Unfortunately that seemed to be the case with a lot of the traveling evangelists we had to go and hear. Good Luck and keep the faith!

[nightmare sasuke]

I ended up going. However, I was late, and the guy either didn't or I missed him preaching about hell. The whole time he talked about physical healings. I didn't bother witnessing to him about any of the meat of the scriptures, because I didn't feel the need to. However, I did give my pastor two small papers I had written. My pastor believes in the eternal torment doctrine, by the way.