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On the 21st day of April, 1933, Saturday night, 7.30 o'clock, at McKinney, Texas, 32 miles north of Dallas, my heart stopped beating and the spiritual man that lives in my body departed from my body. I went down, down, down, until the lights of the earth faded away. The further down I went, the blacker it became, until it was all blackness. I could not have seen my hand if it had been one inch in front of my eyes. The further down I went, the more stifling it was and the hotter it was.
Finally, way down below me, I could see lights flickering on the walls of the caverns of the damned. They were caused by the fires of hell. The giant orb of flame, white crested, pulled me - drew me like a magnet draws metal unto itself. I didn't want to go! I did not walk, but just as metal jumps to the magnet, my spirit was drawn to that place. I could not take my eyes off it. The heat beat me in the face. Many years have now gone by, and yet I can see it with my eyes just as I saw it then. It is just as fresh in my memory as though it happened last night.
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And then it was too late. I knew I had really done it. I was going to die! It was a sin - but so was living! As I got drowsy, I remember going down this black hole, round and round. Then I saw a glowing red-hot spot getting bigger and bigger, until I was able to stand up. It was all red and hot and on fire. The earth was like slimy mud that sank over my feet and it was hard to move. The heat was awful and made it hard to breathe. I cried: "Oh Lord, give me another chance." I prayed and prayed. How I got back, I'll never know.
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That night I was called to his home in Beverly Hills and found him on the floor with a bullet wound through his mouth. He revived to consciousness and responded to resuscitation for a while before he died. I asked him if he hurt. He shook his head: no. I told him we were going to try to save him. He nodded in agreement. His last words were, "I'm scared. Don't let me go back to hell. I can see it now!" I don't know what he saw.
Have you ever asked yourself the same question that the Old Testament man of God, Job, asked?
"If a man die, will he live again?"
Job 14:14
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Maybe you have never seriously considered what happens to a person at death. The Bible tells us:
When he dies, he shall take nothing with him; his glory shall not descend after him. He comes naked out of his mother's womb, and as he comes, so shall he depart. He shall take nothing from his labour that he can carry in his hand.
Psalm 49:17 Eccl. 5:15 |
Does this mean that we just cease to exist, or is there a life after death, a "world to come" as Jesus called it?
The testimonies you have just heard are three of many eye-witness reports that life does continue after death. Thanks to medical science and modern resuscitation methods, there are many more testimonies of this kind today than ever before from people, who having once been declared dead, have been brought back to life again.
But not only through medical science. Some have been returned to life through the power and authority of Jesus Christ, as men and women have acted in obedience to his specific command to his disciples to "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers and raise the dead..." In 1965 in the village of Amfoana in Indonesia, a man who had already been dead two days was brought back to life in this way.
We went and stood around this dead person. We began to sing. But after the first song, nothing had taken place. So we started to wonder: "Lord, if you're going to raise him up, please do it quickly, because we can't stand staying around this stinking man. We just can't sing any more songs by this terrible smell."
Then we sang a second song and nothing happened. On the fifth song nothing happened. But on the sixth song, that man began to move his toes - and the team began to get scared. When we sang the seventh and eight songs, that brother woke up, looked around and smiled.
And this is the message that this man brought back with him from beyond the grave.
"Jesus has brought me back to life. Brothers and sisters, I want to tell you something. First, life never ends when you die. I've been dead for two days and I've experienced it. Secondly, hell and heaven are real. I have experienced it. The third thing I want to tell you is, if you don't find Jesus in this life, you will never go to heaven. You will be condemned to hell for sure".
It is not surprising then that the Bible also confirms this continuation of life after death. Jesus taught that God was not the God of the dead, but of the living, and at one point explained that Moses, in addressing God as the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, was thereby acknowledging that these men who had died, were still alive. On another occasion, Jesus was transfigured before the eyes of three of his disciples, and was seen talking with the Old Testament prophets, Moses and Elijah. Furthermore, the Apostle John in his vision of the last times, records:
I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice: "How long, Sovreign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers, who were to be killed as they had been, was completed.
Rev.6:9-11
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However it is not only the God-fearing who continue to live after death. The book of Proverbs tells us that the dead which go down to hell are also alive... and whole too, that is to say, without any bodily defects anymore.
Let's swallow them alive, like hell does, and whole, like those who go down to the pit.
Prov.1:12
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Hear now the testimony of a lady who was fatally struck by lightning while out camping.
In the moment that I was hit, I knew exactly what had happened to me. My mind was crystal clear. I had never been so totally alive as in the act of dying.
Dr. Wiltse from Kansas, USA, who in 1889 experienced a four hour death, also recalled:
How well I feel, I thought. Only a few minutes ago, I was horribly sick and distressed. Then came that change called death, which I have so much dreaded. This has passed now, and here I am, still a man, alive and thinking, yes, thinking as clearly as ever.
Dr. Maurice Rawlings, a specialist in cardiovascular diseases at the Diagnostic Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA, is an expert in resuscitation techniques, and has witnessed many cases of resuscitation. From his varied experiences in this field and his interviews with patients who have been revived, he has been able to put together the following general description of what usually happens when a man dies.
A dying person simply faints or painlessly loses consciousness as death occurs, and yet he is still able to hear himself being pronounced dead by his doctor. He then discovers that he is out of his own body, but still in the same room, looking on as a bystander and observing the procedures. He watches himself being resuscitated and frequently is compelled to walk around other people who might be obstructing his view. Or he may look down upon the scene from a floating position near the ceiling, in which he sometimes finds himself. Often he is standing or floating behind a doctor or a nurse looking down on the back of their heads as they work to revive his body. He notices who is in the room and knows what they are saying. He has difficulty believing that he is dead, that the lifeless body used to be his. He feels fine! The body has been vacated as if it were a strange object.
After he becomes more accustomed to this odd condition, he notices that he has a new body which seems real and endowed with superior senses. He is not a ghost. He can see and feel and think and talk just as before. But now fringe benefits have been added. He notices his body has infinite capabilities of transportation and thought-reading, and he is capable of doing almost anything. He may then hear a peculiar noise after which he finds himself moving through a long dark passage with walls. His speed may be fast or slow, but he doesn't touch the walls and is not afraid of falling. As he emerges from the tunnel, he may see a brilliantly lighted environment of exquisite beauty, where he meets and talks with friends and relatives who have previously died. He may then be interviewed by a being of light or a being of darkness. This environment may be inexpressibly wonderful, frequently a rolling meadow or a beautiful city; or it may be inexpressibly horrible, frequently a dungeon or a huge cave. His whole life may be played back as an instant review of all the major events of his life, as if anticipating a judgement. I have never seen one such person remain agnostic or atheistic!
But are these people really dead? Maybe they just see a vision or are suffering from hallucinations. From an extensive survey made by Dr. Karlis Osis in USA, the following was discovered:
(a) Patients taking either seditives or drugs that are known to produce hallucinations are less likely to have after-death experiences than those who take no medication at all.
(b) Illnesses that produce hallucinations are associated with fewer encounters with an after-life than other diseases.
(c) Drug-induced hallucinations deal more with this present world than with visions of another world or existence.
(d) What patients see and experience does not appear to relate to wishful thinking for three main reasons:
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Dr. Charles Garfield, assistant professor of psychology at the University of California Medical Centre, also concludes from his observations that the whole quality of life after death experiences are entirely different from drug-induced hallicinations or the kind of dissociated sensations that patients in a great deal of pain may experience.
Furthermore, the Bible tells us that the body is dead without the spirit, and this separation of the spirit from the body is characteristic of practically all these experiences.
The Bible also tells us:
Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgement. For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Heb. 9:27 2 Cor. 5:10
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Dr. Rawlings, in his description of what happens at death, mentioned how sometimes a person's whole life may be played back in an instant as if in anticipation of a judgement. This was Stephen Board's experience.
Then it was light. I awoke and knew it was real. In front of me, I watched my whole life pass by. Every thought, word, and every movement I had made in my life since the time I knew that Jesus was real. I saw things I had done which I had forgotten, but remembered as I watched them pass before me. This experience was, to say the least, unbelievable. Every detail, right up to the present time. It all took place in what seemed just a fraction of a second, and yet it was all very vivid.
But, you may ask, how could a God of love want to judge and condemn somebody. Listen to what Jesus tells us about this:
God, my Father, judges no-one, but has entrusted all judgement to the Son, that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. If a person hears my words, but does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.
John 5:22-23 John 12:47-48
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The following experience shows us vividly how God's love and justice do blend in judgement, and illustrates clearly what Jesus meant when he said, "That word which I spoke will condemn him".
On 20th December 1943 at Camp Berkeley, Texas, in USA, Dr. George Ritchie, who is now a medical doctor and practising psychiatrist, died of lobular pneumonia and remained dead for nine minutes. He was only 20 years old at the time...
I backed toward the doorway. The man in that bed was dead. But... if that was my ring, then... then it was me, the separated part of me lying under that sheet. Did that mean that I was...
It was for the first time in this entire experience that the word "death" occurred to me in connection with what was happening.
But I wasn't dead! How could I be dead and still be awake? Thinking. Experiencing. Death was different. Death was... I didn't know. Blanking out. Nothingness. I was me, wide awake, only without a physical body to function in. Was this what death was? This separation of one part of a person from the rest of him?
I wasn't sure when the light in the room began to change; suddenly I was aware that it was brighter, a lot brighter than it had been. I stared in astonishment as the brightness increased, coming from nowhere, seeming to shine everywhere at once. It was impossibly bright; it was like a million welders' lamps all blazing at once. "I'm glad I don't have physical eyes at this moment", I thought. "This light would destroy the retina in a tenth of a second!"
No, I corrected myself, not the light. He. He would be too bright to look at. For now I saw that it was not light, but a man who had entered the room, or rather, a man made out of light.
The instant I perceived him, a command formed itself in my mind. "Stand up!" I rose to my feet, and as I did came the stupendous certainty: "You are in the presence of the Son of God". Far more even than power, what emanated from this Presence was unconditional love. An astonishing love. A love beyond my wildest imagining. This love knew every unlovable thing about me - the quarrels with my step-mother, my explosive temper, the sex thoughts I could never control, every mean, selfish thought and action since the day I was born - and accepted and loved me just the same.
When I say that he knew everything about me, this was simply an observable fact. For into that room along with his radiant presence had also entered every single episode of my entire life. Everything that had ever happened to me was simply there, in full view, contemporary and current, all seemingly taking place at that moment.
Every detail of 20 years of living was there to be looked at. The good, the bad, the high points, the run-of-the-mill. And with this all-inclusive view came a question. "What did you do with your life?"
It was obviously not a question in the sense that He was seeking information, for what I had done with my life was in plain view. It seemed to be a question about values, not facts: what did you accomplish with the precious time you were allotted? Hadn't I done anything lasting, anything important? All at once rage at the question itself built up in me. It wasn't fair! Of course I hadn't done anything with my life? I hadn't had time. How could you judge a person who hadn't started?
The answering thought, however, held no trace of judgement. "Death", the word was infinitely loving, "can come at any age!"
If I'd suspected before that there was mirth in the Presence beside me, now I was sure of it: the brightness seemed to vibrate and shimmer with a kind of holy laughter - not at me and my silliness, not a mocking laughter, but a mirth that seemed to say that in spite of all error and tragedy, joy was more lasting still.
And in the ecstasy of that laughter, I realised that it was I who was judging the events around me so harshly. It was I who saw them as trivial, self-centred, unimportant. No such condemnation came from the Glory shining around me. He was not blaming or reproaching. He was simply... loving me. Filling the world with Himself and yet somehow attending to me personally. Waiting for my answer to the question that still hung in the dazzling air. "What have you done with your life to show me? How much have you loved with your life? Have you loved others as I am loving you. Totally? Unconditionally?
I hadn't known love like this was possible. Someone should have told me, I thought indignantly! A fine time to discover what life was all about - like coming to a final exam and discovering you were going to be tested on a subject you had never studied. If this was the point of everything, why hadn't someone told me?
But though these thoughts rose out of self-pity and self-excuse, the answering thought held no rebuke, only that hint of heavenly laughter behind the words: "I did tell you!"
"But how?" - still wanting to justify myself. "How could he have told me and I not heard?
"I told you by the life I lived. I told you by the death I died."
Yes, death can come at any age.
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.
No-one has power over his spirit to be able to retain it, neither does anyone have power over the day of his death.
Prov. 27:1 Eccl.8:8
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Job asked a second question too.
Man dies and wastes away, he breathes his last, and where is he?
Job 14:10 |
Where is man when he dies? Jesus indicates this very clearly in the story he told about Lazarus and the rich man.
The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, "Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.
But Abraham replied, "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us."
He answered, "Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment."
Abraham replied, "They have Moses and the prophets, let them listen to them."
"No, father Abraham", he said, "but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent."
He said to him, "If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."
Luke 16:22-31
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Yes, the Bible clearly tells us:
The righteous have hope in death, but the wicked shall be turned into hell, alongwith all the nations that forget God.
Prov.14:32 Ps.9:17
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Job vividly describes hell as a place of darkness.
... a land of gloom and deep shadow, the land of deepest night, of deep shadow and disorder, when even the light is like darkness.
Job 10:21-22
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Stephen Board's testimony also confirms this.
I felt the presence of some sort of power, but I didn't see it. Next, I was drawn into total darkness. Then I stopped. It felt like a big hollow room. It seemed to be a very large space, and totally dark. I could see nothing, but felt the presence of this power.
Jesus sometimes referred to hell as "the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth".
I was going through this long tunnel and I was wondering why my feet weren't touching the sides. I seemed to be floating and going very fast. It seemed to be underground. It may have been a cave; but the awfullest, eery sounds were going on. There was an odour of decay like a cancer patient would have.
I didn't want to go, but I had to. Outside was darkness, but I could hear people moaning all around me. I could feel things moving about my feet. As we moved on through this tunnel or cave, things were getting worse. I remember I was crying.
Kenneth Hagin, whose testimony you heard at the very beginning of the message, describes the outer darkness in the following way:
I would that I had words to describe that place. People go through this life so self-complacent, and as though they will not have to face hell, but God's word and my own personal experiences tell me differently. I know what it is to be unconscious, and it is black when you are unconscious, but I want to tell you that there is no blackness like the Outer Darkness.
However, the Bible tells us:
If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me", even the night shall be light around me. The darkness can hide nothing from you. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. God will bring every deed into judgement, including every hidden thing, whether it be good or evil.
Ps.139:11-12 Luke 8:17 Eccl.12:14 |
Are you prepared to stand before God on that day of judgement? Or do you make light of this fact? The prophet Amos warns us:
Prepare to meet your God!
Prepare to meet your God!
Amos 4:12
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Listen to what the Apostle John has to say about that coming day of judgement.
And I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was also opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and Hell gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then Death and Hell were thrown into the Lake of Fire. The Lake of Fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire.
Rev.20:12-15
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This lake of fire is no myth. It is what the Word of God says it is - a lake burning with fire and brimstone. Jesus referred to it as "the everlasting fire" and as "the fire that shall never be quenched, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched" - a place of torment day and night for ever and ever!
It was this lake that Thomas Welch saw with his own eyes when he died. At the time, he was working as an engineer's helper for Bridal Veil Lumber Company thirty miles east of Portland, Oregan, in USA. Then the fatal accident occurred.
All I could remember is falling over the edge of the trestle. The locomotive engineer watched me go all the way down into the water.
The next thing I knew, I was standing near a shoreline of a great ocean of fire. It happened to be what the Bible says it is in Revelation 21:8 - "the lake which burns with fire and brimstone". This is the most awesome sight one could ever see this side of the final judgement.
I remember more clearly than any other thing that has ever happened to me in my lifetime every detail of every moment, what I saw and what happened during that hour I was gone from this world. I was standing some distance from this burning, turbulent, rolling mass of blue fire. As far as my eyes could see it was just the same. A lake of fire and brimstone. There was nobody in it. I was not in it. I saw other people whom I had known that had died when I was thirteen. We recognised each other, even though we did not speak. They too were looking and seemed to be perplexed and in deep thought, as though they could not believe what they saw. Their expressions were those of bewilderment and confusion.
The scene was so awesome that words simply fail. There is no way to describe it except to say we were eye-witnesses now to the final judgement. There is no way to escape, no way out. You don't even try to look for one. This is the prison out of which no-one can escape except by divine intervention. I said to myself in an audible voice, "If I had known about this, I would have done anything that was required of me to escape coming to a place like this. But I had not known.
It's easy to talk about and describe something you have seen. I know there is a lake of fire because I have seen it. I know Jesus Christ is alive in eternity. I have seen Him.
This is the prison out of which no-one can escape... except by divine intervention. Except by divine intervention. Yes, this is the hope that the righteous has when he dies. As the psalmist says:
God will deliver my soul from the grip of hell; He will surely take me to himself!"
Psalm 49:15 |
The Apostle Paul triumphantly proclaims:
Where, o hell, is your victory? Where, o death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Cor.15:55-57
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The Old Testament prophets also rejoiced in this same hope. The prophet Isaiah records:
He, the Lord, will swallow up death for ever, and the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces.
Isaiah 25:8
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And the prophet Hosea:
I, the Lord, will ransome them from the grip of hell. I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be your plagues. O hell, I will be your destruction.
Hosea 13:14
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And this same hope can be your hope too. Jesus has broken the power of death and taken away its sting. The sting of death is sin. Jesus came, the Bible tells us, to take away our sin and to destroy the works of the devil. He appeared that he might do away with sin by giving himself as a sacrifice.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has laid all our iniquities upon him, Jesus.
Isaiah 53:6
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He that had no sin was made sin for our sakes, that in Him we might be the righteousness of God.
2 Cor. 5:21
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The Apostle John instructs us:
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:8-9
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It is your sin which God wants to forgive and wash away. It is your sin which Jesus took upon himself when he died. Listen to what the prophet Isaiah says:
He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. For the sake of our peace, the punishment was laid on him.
Isaiah 53:5
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It is also your sin which has separated you from God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. Your sin will find you out and, if you let it, your sin will drag you down into the torment of hell and of the lake of fire for eternity.
Sin is not a light matter, and there is no way in which you or anyone else can save you from it. Your religion and good works won't be able to help you. Only the blood of Jesus is able to wash away sin. As Thomas Welch said, standing before the lake of fire:
This is the prison out of which no-one can escape... except by divine intervention.
As God declared through the prophet Jeremiah:
Look, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.
Jer.21:8
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The wages of sin are death, but the free gift of God is eternal life.
Rom.6:23
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We each have to choose. Do we want death or life? Do we want sin or Jesus?
Jesus said: "He who is not with me, is against me." The choice is straight. There is no third alternative path. That's why the Apostle John warns us:
He who has the Son has life: he who does not have the Son does not have life.
1 John 5:12
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God's desire is not that you should be destroyed and cast into hell. He wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.
God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:16-17
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Only when your sins have been forgiven, and you have been cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, will death lose its fearful sting for you. Only then as you turn from being a servant of sin to being a servant of righteousness, will you be able to rejoice with anticipation in the face of death.
For me to live is Christ, to die is gain. But if continuing to live in the body will mean fruitful labour for me, then I don't know what I shall choose. I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is better by far, but for your sakes it is more necessary that I stay in the body.
Phil.1:22.24
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Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
Ps.116:15
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Jesus said to the repentant thief on the cross, just before he died:
Truly I say to you, this day you shall be with me in paradise.
Luke 23:43 |
If the fate of the wicked and those who forget God is to be cast into hell, then the hope that the righteous has in death is being together with Christ in paradise. Paradise is the name given to the beautiful holy city of God in heaven, the New Jerusalem, in the middle of which is the tree of life.
The Apostle John describes this wonderful city for us as he sees it coming down from heaven to the earth after the final judgement.
And he carried me away in the spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
Rev.21:10-12
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It had a great high wall with 12 gates, and at the gates were 12 angels. The 12 gates were 12 pearls, each gate was made of a single pearl. The street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.
I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light; and the Lamb is its lamp.
Rev.21:21-23
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Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
Rev.22:1-4
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Just as the eye-witness reports of life after death which we have heard up until now confirm to us what the Bible says about hell, so there are also several testimonies which confirm the Bible's description of paradise and heaven.
Suddenly I felt relief from my terrible chest pains. Now I felt exhileration. I can't fully express it. I was floating into an area that looked like heaven. It was wonderfully bright with buildings and streets of gold and I saw a figure with long hair in a brilliant white robe. A light radiated all about him. I am sure that it was Jesus. As he took hold of my hand, the next thing I remember was a jerking on my body. You were shaking me and then the pain came back. I was back on earth again! I will never forget that moment of happiness. I want to recapture that moment again. I am not afraid of death. I really am not! I look forward to seeing Jesus again.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
There was a river below me, and it was becoming dawn. Everything was getting brighter. I noticed that I was crossing over a beautiful city below, as I followed the river like a soaring bird. The streets seemed to be made of shining gold and were wonderfully beautiful. I can't describe it. I descended onto one of the streets and people were all around me - happy people who were glad to see me! They seemed to be in shining clothes with a sort of glow. Nobody was in a hurry. Some other people were coming toward me. I think they were my parents.
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I was floating over this beautiful city, looking down. It was the prettiest city I have ever seen. People were there. All in white. The whole sky was so lit up, brighter than sunshine. I was about to drift down and walk around in this city when I found myself back in the body.
In 1971 in Kerch on the Black Sea, Ukraine, USSR, a young Moldavian army recruit, Ivan Moiseev, serving in the Soviet army, also had an experience of heaven. He wasn't dead, but in the night an angel came and took him as he was in the body up to heaven. At first Ivan thought it was a dream, until his room-mate started asking him where he disappeared to in the night:
The angel's gaze was so full of love, he felt no fear. In an instant they began to rise and effortlessly the ceiling opened, and then the barrack's roof, and Ivan and the angel flew through time and space to another world.
The grass was deep and lush and seemed to stretch to the very horizon of this unfamiliar planet. It was a fresh and vivid green. Dazed, Ivan followed the angel and after what seemed a long time they came to a brook. Its waters were as clear as glass, so Ivan could see to the bed of the stream, and the brightness of the water dazzled his eyes. In the brilliance of this world, every detail of blade of grass and petal of flower stood out as if floodlit. Instinctively Ivan lifted his eyes to the sky, gazing in every direction. There was no sun.
Then the angel said, "I wish to show you the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem. But if you see it as it is, you can not remain in the body you now have. And there is still much work left for you on earth." There seemed a silence before the angel resumed speaking. "We will fly together to another planet and I will show you the light of this city for you to know, while you are yet alive in your earth body, that in certainty there is a new Jerusalem.
In an instant they flew to another planet where there were high mountains. Again, the glory of the light illuminated every detail of this world. Ivan's gaze rested on diamond streams coursing down the mountain slopes into the mists that rose from vividly green valleys.
"Vanya, look upwards and you will see this light of the New Jerusalem!"
At first glance Ivan recoiled in dismay. The brilliance was so intense that even though he had seen it only for a second, he was sure he had been blinded. The angel spoke immediately. "Nothing will happen to you. Look."
No man rescued from a desert ever drank water more thirstily than Ivan drank in the splendour of that light. So great was its power, it could be felt, tasted, heard. The sight of it was not a sensation of his eyes, but of his whole being. Ivan could have wept with grief and disappointment when the angel said: "The time has come to fly back to the earth".
Finally, let us listen to one more eye-witness account of what heaven is like, this time from a 70 year old accountant.
The next thing I remember was going through this dark passage. I didn't touch any of the walls. I emerged, but into an open field and was walking towards a big white wall which was very long. It had three steps leading up to a doorway in the wall. On a landing above the stairs sat a man clothed in a robe that was dazzling white and glowing. His face had a glowing radiance also. He was looking down into a big book, studying.
As I approached him, I felt a great reverence and I asked him, "Are you Jesus?" He said, "No, you will find Jesus and your loved ones beyond that door". After he looked in his book, he said, "You may go on through".
And then I walked through the door, and saw on the other side this beautiful, brilliantly lit city, reflecting what seemed to be the sun's rays. It was all made of gold or some shiny metal with domes and steeples in beautiful array, and the streets were shining, not quite like marble, but made of something I have never seen before. There were many people all dressed in glowing white robes with radiant faces. They looked beautiful. The air smelled so fresh. I have never smelled anything like it.
There was a background of music that was beautiful, heavenly music and I saw two figures walking toward me and I immediately recognised them. They were my mother and father; both had died years ago. My mother was an amputee, and yet that leg was now restored! She was walking on two legs!
I said to my mother, "You and father are beautiful". And they said to me, "You have the same radiance and you are also beautiful".
As we walked along together to find Jesus, I noticed there was one building larger than all of the others. It looked like a football stadium with an open end to the building where a blinding light radiated from it! I tried to look up at the light, but I couldn't. It was too brilliant. Many people seemed to be bowed in front of this building in adoration and prayer.
I said to my parents, "What is that?" They said, "In there is God."
I will never forget it. I have never seen anything like it. We walked on as they were taking me to see Jesus and we passed many people. All of them were happy. I have never felt such a sense of well being.
Yes, Job, in answer to your question: a man does live again after he dies, and heaven and hell are definite realities to be reckoned with. Jesus said:
It is better for you to enter the Kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.
Mark 9:47 |
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matt.10:28 |
He who believes on the Son has eternal life. But whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.
John 3:36
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He who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God and he will be my son, but the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practise magic art, the idolators and all liars, their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This is the second death.
Rev.22:7-8
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After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no-one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."
All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honour and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!"
Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes - who are they, and where did they come from?" "Sir, you know". And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes anmd made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
Rev.7:9-17
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Acknowledgements
The majority of the testimonies and factual information has been taken from "Beyond Death's Door" by Dr. Maurice Rawlings.
The Indonesian's testimony was taken from "Like a Mighty Wind" by Mel Tari.
Dr. George Ritchie's testimony was taken from "Return from Tomorrow" written by himself and Elizabeth Sherrill
Ivan Moiseev's testimony was taken from "Vanya" by Myrna Grant.
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