Book 2 of Musings Home At Last!

How unbelievably glorious upon entering the spirit realm to realize we finally are home, that we did not fail in the test We may have stumbled many times, but we got up again, like a soldier, and pressed forward, trusting in God to forgive and help us. God loves this attitude.

Do you ever think about dying? Being an older person, I do.

I can remember when I was being carried in an ambulance to a hospital that specializes in heart operations. How glad I was that I have chosen to serve God! How wonderful to think of going home!

I survived, with the addition of two stents in the left descending artery. It would have been awful to be so close to dying, knowing that you had disobeyed the Lord.

Speaking of going home, one time the Lord gave me the briefest of sensations about what it means to go home to be with the Lord. We may think we have found a place on the earth that is our home. But I tell you, any such place does not measure up to what it will be like to be home with the Lord.

We Christians often talk about going home to Heaven. The Apostle Paul talked about going home to be with the Lord. There is a great difference between these two concepts.

Just to die and go into the spirit realm would not be home. It is Jesus who is home. Wherever Jesus is, is home.

What is it like to be home? It is to know that one is where he belongs. There is a sense of security, of deeply settled joy.

In addition to being home with the Lord, which, for the true disciple, is the most important part of being home, there also are those loved ones whom we haven't seen for awhile.

For myself, there are authors and composers who have given me pleasure that I would like to thank.

I am not certain what the environment will be like when we pass into the spirit realm. Perhaps much of what we imagine Heaven will be like is really Christian mythology. Actually, it does not matter what the things around us will be like. It is God, Jesus, the saints, the holy creatures such as angels, that will constitute home for us, not the surroundings. Isn't that so?

All Christians are on a pilgrimage. This world is not our home, we are just passing through, as the old hymn says. Therefore we need to be very careful in these days that we do not become bemused by the world.

I notice reading in Newsweek this morning (11/21/2002) of the new games available on computers and the Internet; and also the devices that will be installed on new cars, such as ceiling-mounted DVD players and microwaves so you can have hot popcorn. The new Internet and computer games will be extremely attractive to people and have an enormous influence on them, young and old alike. But it is an unreal world. It certainly is not home!

The Tower of Babel came to my mind as I was reading the articles. The Lord said that since nothing was impossible for man to do He would give the people different languages to slow them down. The confusion of languages is one of the bases of war. God does not always respond in a way we understand.

I think it will not be long before America is at war, and the chaos will be sufficient to remove our minds from the electronic gadgets so we become human beings once again.

The human being who is pictured by the inventors of the new devices is no one I want to be near. He will be an unreal, amoral robot controlled by the masters of the media. He won't be a human being at all! He will be nothing like we picture home to be but a creation of godless artists and inventors.

People will find the new world of technology fascinating-indeed, fascinating enough to draw them away from the intense seeking of the Lord that the Holy Spirit is calling for in these days. Many, many people will be drawn into the surreal world-especially when virtual reality is added to the Internet and computer games.

What is the answer! The answer can be given only by an individual who is intensely dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ. He can use the cyberspace world as I do, to communicate and receive the Gospel. But after that he or she must shun this surreal world, recognizing that it can steer the individual away from the reality of Christ and what home really is.

We need to keep the vision of our true home ever before us. We must fight! fight! fight the good fight of faith. We are in this world but certainly not of it. The world spirit is a master deceiver. It is Antichrist, and numerous American Christian are far too much a part of it.

You know, the Muslim terrorists recognize the evil in the Western way of life, especially that of America. They are trying to tear down the false gods we worship, that they feel destroy spiritual values. Of course they are going about it in the wrong way. They are murdering innocent people, particularly young people and children, without accomplishing their goals. They will stand before the Court of Heaven as the murderers they are.

But we need to remember that their actions are driven by their ideals, which reject Western materialism. We are not guiltless. We are rapidly supplanting human values with the frantic pursuit of fleshly fun. This is true of America, England, and other Western nations.

God is lifting His hand of protection from us because we are not using our abundant resources to establish His righteous Kingdom in the earth. Our resources shall be given to another and we will be driven into the darkness.

Let us press, press, press toward our true home, the home that the Lord Jesus is. Right now it is in Heaven above. One day, after the Lord returns, it will be on the earth.

Then there will be no more virtual reality computer games that remove us from genuine reality. There will be the righteousness, peace, and joy that only the Kingdom of God can bring to us.

When the Muslims, the Hindus, the Buddhists, and the others see the true righteousness, the true peace, and the true joy of the Kingdom of God, and not the religious façade of today that does not produce truly godly people, they will be drawn to the Lord Jesus. For they also are God's children.

I am not at all suggesting there are many roads to the Father. There is only the Lord Jesus Christ. Rather I am saying that God loves these people whom we tend to reject and despise. They will never come to our Lord Jesus until we begin to reveal His Life instead of our religious evasions of righteous behavior.

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)

In the Lord Jesus Christ we have the only reality there is. Our problem as American citizens is that we are not recognizing this sufficiently. Instead of bringing to the Muslim world and other ethnic groups the reality that is in Jesus, we are pumping out the black filth of Hollywood and of other sewer lines of moral degradation.

We are to be pressing forward each day. When we stumble we are to get back on our feet, confess our sins and foolishness, receive our forgiveness and renewed grace, and fight on. If we will do this to the end of our life, we will arrive home one day. Then, as the old song says, the toils of the road will seem as nothing. Our personal cross will be lifted from our back, and we will be home with Jesus for eternity.

We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8)

All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. (Matthew 10:22)