Book 1 of Musings In Heaven or On the Earth

By ascending into Heaven, Jesus showed us that once our flesh and bones have been raised we can, at our will, be in Heaven or on the earth.

You know, we Christians need to give a lot more thought to being raised from the dead.

The original Gospel was the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth, the resurrection of the dead to be judged.

Then, because of Eastern influences, the Gospel was changed to the going of the dead to Heaven.

I don't know when the overemphasis on grace entered our religion, but the effect has been that Christians need have no worry of being judged after they die because their judgment was completed on the cross.

In the middle of the last century the doctrine of the "rapture" was added, completely wiping out any thought of the resurrection of the dead. Who needs to worry about being resurrected from the dead when we already have been eternally forgiven and are in Heaven walking on streets of gold?

The above is a witches' brew if there ever was one. Anyone with brains would predict that such a vision of the future would produce people of little spiritual and moral growth.

The Lord is restoring truth today. Now we understand, from the Scriptures, that the goal and destiny of the saints is not eternal residence in Heaven but on the earth: first on the present earth when the Lord returns, and then on the new earth.

As for the overemphasis on grace and the concept that the judgment of Christians was completed on the cross, the truth is our sins were forgiven on the cross, but our salvation consists of a baptism with fire that burns away our worldliness, our sinful lusts, and - most importantly of all - our self-will and self-centeredness.

As far as the "rapture" is concerned, it is a deception designed to keep the saints from preparing for trouble. We indeed shall be caught up into the air when the last trumpet sounds, but it is so we can meet Christ in the air and return with Him along with the victorious saints of history. The catching-up is not for the purpose of bringing us to Heaven.

The blessed hope of the Church is not the "rapture," it is the resurrection. It is the resurrection, the overcoming of the last enemy, that is the climax of redemption.

Perhaps the most needed of all the truths being restored is that how we have lived the Christian life will determine the kind of resurrection we experience. Some will experience incredible glory. Some will reap partial glory, and others less than that.

Some will receive no house from Heaven to clothe their resurrected flesh and bones and will be sent to whatever place Christ decides.

Christian, it is well worth your while to lay aside all else and serve the Lord with all your heart. You may not be alive tomorrow. But one thing is certain: you will be raised from the dead in your flesh and bones and you will receive at that time the eternal life, or the sin, that you have practiced.

This is what the Bible says.

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8)

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