I left my body... my descent to the gates of hell
by Annette Capps
I want to share something I have not talked about much. My own family barely knows this story. But I’m telling it now because hell is real, and I don’t want anyone to go there.
When I was thirteen years old, I needed to have two wisdom teeth removed. The procedure took three hours, and the dentist only got one tooth out that day. It was one of the worst experiences of my life.
When it came time to go back to have the second tooth removed, my mother and I had a royal knock-down, drag-out fight. She kept saying, “You have to have this done.” And I told her flat out, “I would rather go to hell than go through that again.”
Those words would prove significant.
Eventually, my mom found a place that would put me under by using gas for the procedure. Using gas today is common, but in those days, it wasn’t. The second dentist’s office we went to was in a dark old house that looked like something out of The Addams Family TV series. It was a rather scary-looking place. But since the dentist used gas, I thought getting the second wisdom tooth removed would surely go better than the first one.
They put me in a chair, and at some point while they were extracting the tooth, I left my body. I began descending down, down, down, down, down. It felt like I was being pulled by a magnet down to the center of the earth into a black tunnel, a pit. There was no sound; there was no light; and there were no choices.
The darkness was unimaginable, a palpable thing that defied the senses. It was a real place where seemingly nothing could escape.
I had lost all ability to make a choice about anything. I could not move — I didn’t have a body to move. I only had awareness and consciousness. Consciousness of myself and the others that were with me. Some were going down in front of me and others were behind me. I could also sense them beside me as we descended this abyss. Although I knew others were descending with me, there was no ability to communicate with each other.
In this life, you can make a decision to move your hand, to get a drink of water, to turn your head, to sit down and stand up, and to speak. But every autonomous thing about me was gone. I had no ability to stop my descent, scream, or communicate with those around me. It was as if the darkness itself had penetrated my entire being and captured all of us. I was paralyzed in totality, with no control of my destination.
As we neared the bottom, we all began to slow. There was an opening. It wasn’t exactly like a gate as we would describe it, but it was a barrier separating the pit from what was on the other side, and it extended throughout the entirety of the dimension of the pit below me. It was waiting to be opened.
I knew with absolute certainty that what was on the other side of that opening was the prison of hell itself. And I knew if I passed through it, I would never come back — ever.
As I was pulled closer to that entrance, I knew the gate or barrier was being opened. I became aware of a being whose focus was on getting me through to the other side. I tried to scream, but I couldn’t — I had no voice. I had only awareness. So in my innermost self, I screamed, “Jesus, help me! Help me, God!”
Suddenly, I was pulled up from that place . . . whoosh. When I came to, I was back in my body sitting in that dentist’s chair in that creepy house.
I had no idea what had just happened to me. Mother took me home, and for weeks I was not myself. As I relived that experience again and again, I did not tell anyone what had happened to me. I had no words to describe the horror of that place. Although I was only thirteen years old, I knew beyond a certainty that I had left my body and that this was not a figment of my imagination. This was a real place inhabited by disembodied spirits without God.
I’ll tell you this: hell is real. It is a place of eternal, total loss — loss of every choice and loss of every connection to anything good. There is no freedom there, only imprisonment. I didn’t even reach the worst of hell. I only experienced the descent and the loss of my soul, and that was enough to mark me for life.
Hell is a place you never want to go to. You don’t want to lose your soul and be in a place where you don’t have any choices.
Oh, I can’t tell you what it was like when I returned to this life! Although I had experienced something so dark, disturbing, and horrific, the sweetness of life, light, and God’s presence took on extraordinary meaning for me.
I was raised in church with people of goodness, yet I took it for granted that it would last forever. I rose in the morning on the farm as the light dawned across the land — the brilliant green cotton and soybean leaves illuminated by the breaking light. How I appreciated that daily greeting of the light of the sun!
That place was so dark! One thing I knew: I never wanted to go there again! The Light of the World, Jesus Christ, is in me now, and when I depart, I will be joined with the Savior who brought me light and life. He will take me to Himself and reunite me with my dear sweet grandparents who love Jesus.
Four years after this experience, which I had shared with no one, I read an article in The Reader’s Digest about a man who died and was miraculously brought back to life. He described his experience in detail, including leaving his body and descending into this dark pit.
As he described exactly what I had experienced in intimate detail, I realized that this terrifying experience had happened to someone else who also came back from that place.
Two years later, I was given a book by a man named Kenneth E. Hagin who related the same experience when he died in 1933. He descended into that pit and was pulled by the darkness. As he called on God, he came back up out of that pit.
These are two other witnesses that have described a descent to the gates of hell, a journey the unbeliever takes after death.
God sent His Son, Jesus, so you could escape the torments of hell. Jesus Himself said, “God loved the world this way: He gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life” (John 3:16).
What sends people to hell?
1. It is not your sins and misdeeds that send you to hell.
2. It is not God who sends you to hell.
3. It is your own choice or lack thereof.
4. It is refusing to accept Jesus Christ who paid for your sins.
5. It is refusing to make Jesus the Master of your life.
6. It is refusing to ask Jesus Christ to live in you.
Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the grave paid the penalty for your sin and bridged the gap between you and God. Romans 10:9 says, “You will be saved, if you honestly say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and if you believe with all your heart that God raised him from death.”
It’s by receiving Jesus into your heart and making Him Lord of your life that you never have to experience what I did when I was a teenager.
Do you want to be certain you will go to heaven?
You can have peace with God and make heaven your eternal home by making these declarations of faith from your heart. Speak them out loud:
1. I believe Jesus is the Son of God and died for my sin.
2. I believe Jesus rose from the dead.
3. I believe Jesus is alive.
4. I now ask You, Lord Jesus Christ, to live in me.
5. I now receive your Holy Spirit to guide me in every area of my life. Amen.
Congratulations! You are now a brand-new person with a brand-new start in life!
“Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
As you start on your new journey, get to know Jesus through His life and sayings. Begin by reading the book of John in the Bible. You can also find videos at lifeoffaith.net/grow to help you in your new life in Christ.
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