Zion Train: My Trip To Heaven And Hell

My trip to Heaven and Hell

By Obed Peña 

God bless you dear brothers and friends who are reading this, I want to tell you through this testimony the wonderful experience that God allowed me to have which God used to save my soul. I know that it will be a great blessing to you. God showed us His great love when He sent His Son, who died on the cross, giving His own life so all men that believe in Him should be saved. 

I am part of a Christian family, and during my childhood my mother tried her best to introduce me to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Later in my adolescence, I began to be curious and wanted to know about the pleasures of the world and I wanted to experience the things that life could offer me. I got involved in a sinful life apart from God. I stopped going to the church that I was attending when I was young. 

Everything began on the Sunday of August 24, 1974 after a while of being far from Jesus Christ. On this day, I had this wonderful experience that I will describe to you in which I understood the great love that God has for me and all of you who read this.

That day I was desperate, depressed, and downcast. I was involved in all manner of sin and my whole life was just a tragedy. I had been in the United States for 7 years, residing in New York City. I had tried to find the peace and happiness in alcoholism and all other forms of sin, but never found it. When I came back to Puerto Rico from New York City, I began to work jobs in different places, and I just got into trouble in every workplace. Because of this, I started looking for a secure office position working for the government. In 1968, I found a job in the police department in Puerto Rico and was recruited in the police force in August 19th. After I took the corresponding training, I worked for 8 years in the police department. I continued living a sinful lifestyle far from God while working in the police department in Puerto Rico. I was involved in many illegal activities, and many times I used my authority and police uniform to do evil things, knowing that it was very difficult to be caught.

Dear brothers and friends, God can see all things. Nothing is hidden from His presence. Even if men try to go to the deepest parts of the ocean, or even try to soar up to the stars, God is there. Fortunately, God had been calling me in spite of all my rebellion.

I knew all the things of life but I did not know the life in all things, my dear brother. However, Jesus Christ intervened in my life and let me live through the experience that I am about to elaborate upon so all of you dear brothers can see and understand that what the Word of God says is nothing but the truth. 

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:9 "But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him".

On the night of Sunday of August 24, 1974 I was desperate. I had gone out with my wife to a party with the intention of discussing issues and see if we could come to an agreement of who would take legal custody of our children. We had already been planning on getting divorced. I am the father of 4 children, and this was a tragedy because these children were going to lose their father. They were going to lose the guidance and the love from their father. That was the condition that the enemy, the devil, had me in. The devil wanted to tear me apart from my family and lead me away from God. He even wanted to separate me from my friends and the rest of my family. Ultimately, the devil tried to make me continue in a life full of  lasciviousness, immorality, and all manner of sin. Who knows, maybe one day in the near future my soul was going to end up in hell, a place God has reserved for those who don't serve Him or don't humble themselves.

That is why, dear brothers, that the Bible is fullfilled when it says:"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life".

That night Jesus crossed my path. The party that my wife and I attended ended up being cancelled so we had to come back home. I then invited a friend that had been with us that night with his wife to go out and have fun, just the two of us. We left our wives together at my house while the other man and I went out. We did not know if we would come back that night, but it never crossed my mind that God was going to reveal Himself to me on the way and was going to cleanse me of all those evil works that I had done. He was going to take me out of that hole of sin in which I had been, and He was going to show me His glorious salvation. I want to say to all those who can read this, that only in Christ you find life and health, and that only in Christ there is happiness and peace of mind. While I went out with my friend to a far place that night, I understood that the peace that I was looking for. I could not find it in liquor, women, or in any of the things that the world offers because Jesus said clearly that He was going to give us peace, not like the world gives it. I was looking for peace through worldly pleasures, and for this reason, I could not find it. When I was in that place, near the town of Ceiba in Puerto Rico, I began to hear a voice, a very subtle voice that was talking to me and told me to depart from sin. The voice asked me to repent and to give my soul to Jesus Christ and then, and only then, I would find the peace that I was longing for.

That voice was strange to me because I had never heard it before. I tried to avoid that voice and was afraid of it, but as I was running away from that voice, it just got closer and closer to me to such a point that I was terrified. I tried to get my gun to face that person who was talking to me, but it was useless. That person just suddenly grabbed me and pressed me in his arms. I was in his arms defenseless. I could not move or do anything. This person spoke very clearly in my ear and said, "Repent and go back to the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will have peace from now on."

I was in a situation that I just had to accept because I was in the arms of a person that I could not see. Something amazing was happening to me at that moment.

I called my friend, but he just told me that there was no one close to me. However, I continued feeling that person next to me. That person urged me to come back to church and repent.

When I accepted, he told me, "Leave this place immediately, pick up your wife at home, and go to a church and repent tonight."

Before I left, this person told me,"I will show you the path you are walking in and its destination". While I was having this vision that the Lord was giving me, I left that bar. On the way out, I saw a person sitting at a table in the bar pull out a revolver and point it at my body. I ran towards the exit door, but I felt the bullet hit me and I fell on the floor. I knew that the bullet had come through my back and had gone out from the upper part of my chest.

While I was in the floor, I began to cry out desperately to God for help because I knew that no man could help me in that moment. I felt the pain and the anguish of death that was upon me. Oh dear friends, how sad is the death of a sinner! When I was crying out to my friend for help, he came towards me, stood me up from the floor. I felt that everything inside of me was detached, and the floor that was under my feet was removed. I fell inside an abyss. As I fell inside this abyss, I heard the laughter of an evil being that was making fun of me. In that abyss of pain and darkness, I was crying out to God and asking Him to forgive me and to have mercy on me. I realized, however, that it was in vain. I knew that I was in hell.

The only way to escape that place is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you don't, you will also end up there. If you accept Jesus Christ, I can assure you by the Word of God, that He will save you from going to that awful place. Suddenly, I felt that a being took my body and told me that what I was experiencing was only a vision! Then, I opened my eyes and realized that I was already driving my car on the way back home. I started to shout hysterically and noticed that my friend was sitting next to me on the passenger seat of my car. I began to ask him, "What happened? Why did I feel the sensation of being shot and that I was falling into an abyss and that my body was in hell?" My friend told me, "You are delirious! You drank too much tonight and now you are having hallucinations."

My friend was wrong that night... I was not crazy or drunk. It was Jesus Christ showing me that my destination was hell because I did not want to repent and trust Him. I was arguing with my friend about the experience and decided to just go home. My friend told me, "You are too drunk tonight, go home and sleep". My heart was still burning from that sad and terrible experience, that horrible abyss of darkness. As I was continuing my drive home, I asked God, in my mind, "If that experience really had come from You then let me see a little more light. Help me to understand it better so that I can give my heart completely to You." At that same moment, I could see a person  appear in front of my car. I tried to stop the car so I would not run over him, but it was useless. I hit him with the car. What was really strange is that when the car touched this person, he sat down on the hood as if nothing had happened. I realized that I was face to face with an angelic being from heaven. I was totally amazed and didn't know what to do. The angelic being told me, "I have come to show you what you just asked for. I have come to show you a place where you will see the wonders of God; you will see the very glory of God!"

Immediately my vehicle lifted up from the ground and began to fly up as if it were a plane. I was trying to find some shelter in the arms of my friend, and asking him, "Where are we going? What is going on? This car has lifted up from the earth!" My friend could not understand or see anything I was seeing because this experience was just for me. I am explaining this story to you so you can understand that everything the Bible says about the salvation of God is truth. There is no other way to come to heaven but by Jesus Christ. 

I was transported to heaven and my face began to feel very cold. I tried to warm myself by getting closer to my friend but he had disappeared!  

As soon as I arrived in that beautiful place, I saw that heaven doesn't shine the same light that we experience on the earth. It is not a light like the sun or the light of lamps. This light is a pure, marvelous, white light... totally different! I had come to a city like unlike any on earth.

Immediately, God caused my old mother to appear to me in heaven. I ran into my mother's arms and wept. I asked her why she was in this place. As you know, my mother had been a servant of God even before I was born. That night that I had gone out to party and look for the pleasures of the world, to look for peace, who knows if my mother on earth spent that night on her knees crying out to God in heaven, asking God for the salvation of her son who was lost?

While I was crying out in the arms of my mother she just kept saying, "Thank you my God for bringing my son here!" It was such a beautiful experience! Immediately after, I saw my mother disappear and the angel that escorted me to heaven appeared. I began to see the golden streets and heavenly gardens which the Bible tells us about. The angel then told me, "Come. Enter these gardens. See that they are real!" I was walking among those flowers and could see the great wonders of God. I could understand finally that I was totally lost.

When I was inside the wonderful gardens touching those beautiful flowers I began to hear the marvelous melody of a music that permeated the air. There were no speakers or any other device where the music could originate from. It was as if the air was carrying this music. I marveled and asked the angel, "Who is playing that music? Where are the musicians who are playing that glorious melody?" He took me immediately before a band of angels in heaven. I was there in utter astonishment as I was looking at all the wonders of the living God! These angels were playing different instruments with such a harmony that the melody was glorious! This was a music that I can not explain with words! I also heard an angelic choir harmonize their voices with the music. It was too precious to describe!

The angel escort then transported me to a place where I could see a multitude of people dressed in white robes who were singing praises to the living God. The angel told me, "Look and see if you can recognize anyone in that multitude". I thought it would be impossible because that multitude was huge! However, there before my eyes, the faces of people who I had known and that had served the Lord appeared. They had been faithful Christians and they had died 10, 12, or 15 years ago. I was amazed when I saw people from my community there singing praises to the Lord, I could understand at once that all those were the "holy-roller Christians," the saints of the Lord. The angel told me, "These are the ones who have died in Christ and who served Him". Then I asked him, "Why are they there?" He answered me, "Because they are waiting for the door that you see over there to be open". A huge, ornate door appeared in front of me. This door was carved so exquisitely that it can not be compared with any door on earth. This door was shut. Then the angel told me, "This multitude that you are watching, and many more will come and walk through that door into the presence of the living God."

Then I told the angel, "And what is this place where we are at now?" He replied, "This is the paradise of God, where all the ones who die in Christ are resting; those who believed on Him and gave themselves to Him. These people had faith and they have served Christ. In this hour, you can also participate and be part of all these wonders if you repent to the Lord; otherwise...look behind you and you will see the place that awaits you."

I turned around and I saw hell. I was standing right on the edge of that terrible abyss of darkness and I could hear the cry of the souls who were in that place. I could hear with my own ears people who were there crying, shouting, and begging for mercy. As I listened to those people I began to weep. I asked my angelic host, "Why are there people in that place? It is unbelievable!" He firmly replied, "Because they have been disobedient to God; they have been ungodly men, and they did not serve the Christ of the heavens." Then he told me once more, "If you repent this night, and if you right now give your soul to Christ, you won't go to that place. If you don't repent tonight, one day you will be one of those in that place". Oh dear friends! I made up my mind at once to serve God from that moment.

Immediately after I made that decision, the place where I was standing was removed, and I began to fall into a void. I was descending down from heaven. I have no idea what happened with the car that I had been taken to heaven in. I felt like I was using a parachute and approaching the earth's surface. Suddenly, some arms caught me in the air, and placed me very gently into my car. I found my self sitting in the car again beside my friend. Restless, I asked my friend, "Did you see all the things that had just happened?" He told me, "No, it has been around 20 or 30 minutes that you have been talking and talking about heaven and God. You have been talking about Jesus Christ, angels, music and melodies but I don't understand! Are you crazy?",my friend  asked. And I just told him, "Oh no my friend, I am not crazy! Christ has shown me His glory! Christ has transported me to heaven to show me all the heavenly places!"

My friend simply told me, "Well, just do what ever you think is best." I told him, "Lets go at once back home, and there I will tell my wife about this experience." That is what I did. I just drove the car back home praising God for the salvation that He had shown me. I explained this experience to my wife and she told me, "Leave it for tomorrow! You are crazy and too drunk!". I told her, "Wife, I will go right now to accept Jesus Christ, and if you want to be saved, come with me!" She accepted the call and told me, "Ok, I will go." We drove at once to a place where I knew a pastor of an evangelical church lived.

At 3 o' clock in the morning of that Saturday, August 24th, 1974, we humbled ourselves before the living God. While we drove there to the pastor's house, I had another experience. I suddenly lost my sight and felt like a blind person. When we came to the pastor's house, I could not see the car or my wife... I couldn't see anything. I just saw something like a very strong light from the sky that was shining over the house of that pastor. I started crying out and shouting the name of the pastor to open the door so I could repent before Christ and felt that a very heavy burden came to my head. This burden was so heavy that it knocked me to the ground. As I was laying there with that heavy burden, the pastor came out and put his hand over my head, and I felt deliverance from that burden at once. I heard the voice of my pastor that said, "My son, right now I write your name in the Book of Life." I asked my pastor afterwards why he said those words as he put his hand on my head. He told me that he did not know what he said because he was speaking in unknown tongues. The Lord allowed me to have an interpretation of those tongues so I could understand that the Lord Jesus Christ had written my name in the Book of Life. I give thanks to the Lord for doing this! Also I give thanks to the Lord because my wife accepted Christ too! 

After this encounter with the Lord, we drove to the house of my old mother to give her the precious news. It was a glorious moment! When I knocked on her door, I shouted, "Open the door! I have great news!" My mom shouted from inside, "Oh my son! What has happened? Has something tragic happened?" She opened the door I told her, "Mother, just right now I have just received Jesus as my Savior!" Her words were, "Thank you my God for bringing my son here, thank you my God for bringing my son here!"

The End

If you want to be part of that Body of Christ, please pray this prayer from your heart:

Heavenly Father, I come to You admitting that I am a sinner (Romans 3:23). Right now I choose to turn away from sin, and I ask you to cleanse me, by Your blood, of all unrighteousness. I believe that Your Son, Jesus, died on the cross to take away all my sins.

I also believe that He rose again from the dead so that I may be justified and made righteous through faith in Him (Romans 6:23). I call upon the name of Jesus Christ, to be the Savior and Lord of my life (Acts 2:21). Dear Lord, I choose to follow You, and I ask that you fill me with the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:3).

I hereby renounce the power of Satan and sin over my life, declaring that I am now a born-again child of God (Romans 10:9-10). I am free from sin and full of the righteousness of God, in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

If you just prayed this prayer by faith, the Word of God has promised that you are now BORN AGAIN! (II Corinthians 5:17). Welcome to the Kingdom of God! Now you have brothers and sisters all around the world. This is the most important decision that you have ever made. Take full advantage of it. Don't go back into the world. The world leads to death, but the fear of God leads to eternal life. At each moment you need to live like it is the last day, and the last time of your life.

Four steps will help you to grow in faith and grace:
1. Read the Bible (I Peter 2:2)
2. Pray (Romans 12:12)
3. Attend Church (Hebrews 10: 25)
4. Share Christ with others (II Corinthians 5:18-20)

http://www.allaboutgod.net/group/ziontrain