You have heard people say, “WHY SHARE JESUS IF EVERYBODY IS SAVED” The following testimony is one of many great reasons. It was written to Gerry Beauchemin, the author of “Hope Beyond Hell”. As you read this amazing testimony, wonder how many thousands of Tanya’s are still out there? Have you ordered your 10 books yet?
Dear Mr. Beauchemin;
How can I thank you for your book Hope Beyond Hell? It is literally the best book I have ever read and has changed my life in so many ways. I believe that God led me to your website while I was looking for the answer to a crossword puzzle about Dante’s Inferno. It cannot be a coincidence; this is my story.
When I was four years old my mom told me that if I didn’t say the sinners prayer and accept Jesus into my heart that I would burn in Hell. I remember kneeling down in front of my dad’s plaid green armchair and accepting Jesus as my Savior right then and there. In the years that followed I tried very hard to do everything the bible said but I became proud and judgmental like the Pharisees. I lived a very sheltered life attending only Christian schools, having Christian friends and doing “Christian” activities. When I left home however my world began to expand and I made non-Christian friends and found that they were, in many ways, more loving and accepting than I was. A defining moment was when I went to a family member’s Sikh wedding and I was confronted with hundreds of people joyously dancing and celebrating all of whom I believed were going to Hell. It was devastating.
After that I realized that according to what I had been taught many loving and genuine people were going to Hell for all eternity. I guess before I assumed that non-Christians were just not good people. In subsequent years I tried to reconcile what I had been told about God’s love and the idea that we only get one chance on this earth to figure it out. After years of struggling to come to terms with what I believed, I finally concluded that God must be evil and Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was a joke. I used to pray at night begging God not to send anyone to Hell for eternity. I cried and tried to convince him that it was too much, too long, too terrible, but I had no hope that he would ever answer my prayer.
Then one day while doing a crossword puzzle I was looking up information on Dante’s Inferno and came across a website with a link that asked the question “Is Hell Real?” It began with the argument that the Greek word aion cannot mean eternal. I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders and began to search for every bit of information that I could find on the internet about Hell. I don’t believe in accepting everything I hear but gather all the information and test to see what is true. Eventually I came across your book and knew it would be the defining argument based on the introductory story of a Muslim man named Abdou.
I was afraid to read the book, however, because I had decided that if Hell was eternal with no chance of it ever ending, or if people only had one chance on this earth to accept Christ I would reject God completely (which ironically would send me to Hell for eternity). I was terrified and put off reading the book. I spoke to anyone who would listen and asked them what they believed about Hell. The response was overwhelmingly that Hell was eternal and that there was only one chance on earth to avoid being sent there. My terror and sadness rose and finally broke one night at my pastors house as he expounded on God’s holiness and sin and how a gift has to be opened and that even aborigines in the jungle are without excuse because nature testifies about God the creator. I cried for four hours straight at the overwhelming coldness of that stone-hearted holy God.
Then God whispered in my ear and said, “Read the book.” In it I encountered an amazingly loving and responsible creator. One who knows our sins and weaknesses and overcomes them all. Your book did convince me that God will save everyone – I was not simply relieved, I was overwhelmed with God’s love. Your book assured me that God could be trusted to accomplish his work and that he WILL accomplish it. My fears and judgments of others melted away as I felt for the first time that I might actually be able to love my neighbor and my enemy if God is really that loving himself.
I read your book online and immediately ordered 10 copies (which I have received –thank you very much). I have given away four already, and I plan on putting one in my church library. It is all I can talk about. I am going to talk to my church about this as well, and I bring it up in conversation whenever I can. You have brought relief and hope to so many people already and to me especially. I wish I could better express more fully how the idea of an eternal hell has tormented me and how much hope your book has brought to my heart, but God knows and he is all that matters. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Saved by grace, Tanya Keil
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