FACING ETERNITY
This post and the one below it share some glimpses into the spiritual realm unseen to the natural eye. I have written these articles to encourage Christians to be at peace knowing there is a glorious and wonderful eternity awaiting us beyond the veil of this flesh. My second purpose is to awaken the unbeliever to the realities of the spiritual realm and to the fact that each person must face eternity and give an account to God.
I pray these testimonies will have an effect even upon even those hard hearts who have had no desire, curiosity, or hunger to know God. I am sure that those whose hearts are inclined and open will be stirred knowing the spiritual realm is real and the risen Lord Jesus is calling them to a relationship with Him where there can be joy unspeakable and full of glory.
I encourage the reader to read this article and then scroll down to read the second one. Both contain some very interesting stories. ---Billy Long
Introduction
Dow Robinson
worked with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Mexico and translated the Bible into
the Aztec language. In the course of his
work there he discipled an Aztec named Sebastian Vasquez who became an apostle
to the Aztecs and planted many churches among them. Sebastian and his wife Lupe
loved and cared for an 8 year old daughter who was mentally disabled. Dow shared the
story of how Jesus came to Lupe one night in a dream or vision and said, “Do
you have a daughter named Naomi?” Lupe responded, “Yes, Lord, of course I do.”
He asked her the same question three times, and then said, “Come and see her.”
Lupe went
and saw Naomi seated at a table with the Lord. The child was mature, happy, and
talking with Jesus. From this Lupe knew that Jesus was going to take Naomi to be
with Him. The child died the next day. Though sad, the parents were at peace
knowing their child was in heaven and they will see her again someday.
Raised from the Dead
The
spiritual realm is real. There are many, including some friends of mine, whose
experiences prove there is more to life than what we see with our eyes and
touch with our physical senses. I am sharing some of these testimonies in the
paragraphs below.
H
A Baker was a missionary to China from 1919 to 1950. In his book Visions Beyond
the Veil he tells of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that fell upon the
children of his mission’s orphanage in China. The children saw visions of
heaven, hell, demons, and angels. I recently read the book Heaven Is
For Real, written by a pastor about the experiences of his pre-school son who
was taken to heaven and back during a surgery in which the child almost
died. The testimonies in these books are amazing.
I have an acquaintance in
Charleston, SC who was struck by lightning in his yard and was technically
dead. His spirit left his body and was lifted into the air above his house.
From there he looked down and saw his body being placed into an EMS vehicle,
and his wife standing in the yard asking the Lord not to take her husband. He
saw heaven, Jesus, and family members who were there. He was overwhelmed by the
beauty, peace, love, and wonders of it all, and did not want to leave. Jesus
told him he had to return, and suddenly he was back in his body. He tells how
he was upset and depressed for a couple years because he had to return. Then
realized he needed to rejoice and share his wonderful testimony.
I have a friend in California named
Marvin Ford who died of a heart attack and lay in the hospital dead for 30
minutes. His spirit left his body, and from above he could see the doctor and
people gathered around his body. He was suddenly in the presence of the Lord
and saw the overwhelming and inexpressible beauty of heaven. The Lord showed
him many things during that visit. Then he looked down and saw his
pastor entering the hospital to pray for God to raise him up. “Uh oh,
Lord," he said, “here comes trouble.” He knew he had to return but did not
want to. Nevertheless, the pastor prayed and God sent Marvin back. This was the
beginning of a preaching ministry that has taken him around the world.
I
had a professor in college who died and was raised from the dead when prayed
for by this same pastor.
A
Near-Death experience During Surgery
Below
are excerpts from a letter sent to me my by good friend Ashur Cordes from
Minnesota. He tells of his near-death experience that occurred during surgery
in which the doctors did not expect him to survive. A Christian nurse on duty
told the family, “The only thing that will save him now is prayer.” So the
family went into the intensive care area and prayed. They called on friends
around the world to pray. Then Ashur had a miracle. His spirit left his body
and he saw the Lord right there with him, and he saw heaven in the distance.
He
was so amazed that the Lord was right there like a brother hugging him and
healing him. Feeling he did not deserve to be in the Lord's
presence, he asked, "What about my sins?’ The Lord’s response was, "I
took care of that on the cross." The answer was explained by John 3:16.
For God SO LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."
Ashur
then saw what appeared to be a stream of crystal clear water flowing from the
Lord to his body along with a golden light that surround his bed. Suddenly he
was healed.
There
are medical records that verify and confirm his condition and recovery.
Ashur later spoke with a Christian friend in Fargo who was not at the hospital but who had prayed in his home about 10 miles away. Ashur in his vision actually heard his friend praying and a week later was able to quote the prayer back to his friend word for word. He also heard the prayers of others around the world praying for him. He describes it this way: “I was very aware of prayers flooding in for me. I heard those prayers. Then I heard the Lord's order that the prayers be answered. And those prayers were in His mighty and kind hands, and HE directed them into my heart while I watched from 8 feet above my bed. I was healed.”
Lonnie,
another one of my Christian friends, was in a hospital bed and close to
death. He could feel himself slipping away and knew he was one moment away
from eternity. God’s incomprehensible love and inexpressible peace were so real
that he actually wanted to go on and be with the Lord. He very profoundly
described his experience in this way: “It did not feel like death.” He
experienced the reality of the Apostle Paul’s word that death has lost its
sting, and the grave has lost its victory…and that victory is through the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The
thing that shone brightest to my friends who came so close to death was
the incomprehensible greatness of God's love and the awesome efficacy of the
blood of Jesus and the cross of Christ. God really loves us and wants us to be
at peace in Him.
Why Take
the Risk?
It
is very sad to be “without hope and without God in the world,” but it is even
more grievous to face an everlasting eternity without the Lord. There are many
who do not believe in God, and they assume that death is the end and everyone
at death enters some sort of oblivion. There can be no comfort or peace in this
ideology since, if true, it would mean the eternal loss of all we love, and
gives no hope for anything beyond this current life, which is so short and
in itself holds so much suffering.
There
are also those who believe there is a God, but who do not aggressively seek to
know Him. They take the risk that God grades on the curve. They think, “I have
been a good person. My good outweighs my bad, and so I’ll make it into heaven
because I am a good person.” The problem with this is that the scripture makes
it very clear we are not saved by our works or our own righteousness, but only
by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and by his grace (unmeritedd
favor) and by faith rather than good works. The problem with the “I am a good
person” approach is that it leaves a person unsure and simply not really knowing,
and with no real peace. The person who makes a firm commitment to Jesus Christ
as Lord is the one who faces death with true peace, hope, and certainty.
Live in Peace, Rest in Peace
Will
Durrant in his volumes on world history gives a vivid account of the difference
between the pagan Romans and the persecuted Christians of that era. It was said
of Christians that their lives consisted of persecutions above ground and
prayers below ground. Here are some very profound quotes from Durrant:
“In
the catacombs below Rome Christian graves tell the terrible tale. Heads were
found severed from the body, ribs and shoulder blades broken, and bones often
calcined from fire…But despite the awful story of persecution, note the
inscriptions on the Christians’ graves."
"Here lies Marcia, put to rest
in a dream of peace.”
"Lawrence to his sweetest son,
borne away of angels."
“Victorious in peace and in Christ.”
“Being called away, he went in
peace.”
Pagan Epitaphs
But look at the contrast in
the Roman pagan epitaphs:
"Live for the present hour,
since we are sure of nothing else."
"I lift my hands against the
gods who took me away at the age of 20 though I had done no harm."
"Once I was not. Now I am not.
I know nothing about it.”
"Traveler, curse me not as you
pass, for I am in darkness and cannot answer."
Our
assurance in Christ
It is a fearful thing to face
eternity without God. Knowing these spiritual realities we should cry
out to God to know Him and serve Him, and to intercede for our loved ones. I
pray daily for my family, friends, and others on my prayer list. I cry to God
for their salvation and for them to know Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. The
greatest grief for me would be to stand by the coffin of a loved one
without full assurance of his or her relationship with Jesus.
"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by
faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of
God." Romans 5: 1-2.
