SID: There’s no hope.

IVAN: No. There’s no hope. None.

SID: Why do the demons keep penetrating people with pain and suffering? Why do they keep it up?

IVAN: Sid, they enjoy it. That’s what makes them happy. They enjoy doing that kind of stuff to us. They do it especially—

SID: They’re like sadists.

IVAN: Exactly. But especially if you were a Christian at one time, oh, then they really thrive on that because that’s something that now they can tease you for all eternity. Listen, that demon was laughing at me, making fun of me, and it was doing the same thing to all these other people. All these demons were because I bought it. I bought the lie.

SID: All of a sudden you heard a voice.

IVAN: Yes. Sid, that was the most wonderful thing that happened to me in Hell is I’m there and all of a sudden I heard a voice that rang out and says, “it’s not his time yet. You must let him go. I made a promise to his mother.”

SID: Ivan went to Heaven and saw the future of many countries. You want to find out about that promise and why it worked. Next.

SID: My guest died. He found himself in Hell, but all of a sudden he heard a voice and the voice said, “It’s not your time.” The next thing you knew, you were in the Gate of Heaven.

IVAN: I was.

SID: Why? Why? You were at that point a backsliding, non-believing person.

IVAN: Exactly. I’d still be in Hell if it wasn’t for two things. One, it wasn’t my time. The second thing, I had a mother that prayed for me. Now, my mother prayed—

SID: Yeah, but everyone has people pray for them.

IVAN: Well, that’s good. Keep it up. Because my mother prayed for me three times a day, at least, all the time. By the time I’m 26, that’s over 22,000 prayers. My mother was a praying woman of God, and she hung onto God and said, “God, you got to make me promise. None of my children to go to Hell.” She asked God to make her a promise, and she believed God made her that promise. He did. That’s why I went to Heaven.

SID: Tell me the first thing that you … First of all, did you know that you were at Heaven in that point?

IVAN: Actually Sid, yes, I did. I knew I was in Heaven. The reason why I knew it was Heaven, first of all, I saw what it looked like. And it was just the opposite of Hell. It had to be Heaven. When you got there and how beautiful it was. Your spirit knows these things, and I’m greeted by an angel. So that’s the first clue I had. This was an angel. As bad as it was and as hopeless as it was there in Hell, I now had this most euphoric feeling. Everything was wonderful. It was beautiful. Here I am. I’m up in Heaven. This angel’s greeting me and this angel’s talking to me, explaining things to me about it. Yeah, it was great. I knew I was in Heaven.

SID: What’s about the first thing you remember seeing that had an impact?

IVAN: The first impact of course, was the angel because the angel was so tall and so big. The voice that that angel had was so powerful, but yet he was gentle. I say he, because it looked like a man. Was very gentle and he took me by the hand. And then I walked through the gate, and as I walked through the gate of Heaven, I saw these buildings. I saw these like white stone, like I’ve never seen before. Sparkling white stone. It was unbelievable. I saw streets of gold, the softest gold. This gold, you could step on, it was so soft and beautiful, but it was gold. You knew it was gold. It was beautiful. And then there was a river flowing right through the city and this river was crystal clear. It sounded like children. Ever hear babies laugh? It sounded like babies’ laughter. It was so beautiful.