This Blog -
Moved To:
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*UNC is the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Specializing in a wide range of degree programs including:
B.A. A.H.F.(Advanced Hamburger Flipping), N.U.T., A.P.E., B.R.C.
(Bar Room Conversations), etc. Institution was founded in 1898
for sons/daughters of local Chapel Still politicians that were
unable to qualify for the more prestigious institutions of higher
learning such as Duke, Wake Forest, and N.C. State.
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GOOD QUESTION
Finding Heaven
Where is heaven, and how will we experience it before the final resurrection?
Answered by Arthur O. Roberts

Where is heaven, and how will we experience it before the final resurrection?
—Linda Montgomery, Wichita, Kansas

One popular view locates heaven in a separate, non-material world. In recent centuries scientists and clergy seemed to strike a bargain: science gets the body (and other physical substances), while religion gets the soul (and other non-material stuff). Social scientists claimed title to the psyche, however, leaving the church a wispy, anemic, spiritual realm congenial to neither scientific nor biblical insights about creation and human nature.

This view sidesteps the physicality of Jesus' incarnation and resurrection and their implications about heaven. It lacks the full force of the Christian hope for personal, conscious life after death.

Heaven is located within creation. It isn't tucked into a galactic corner. Rather, we can experience glimpses of heaven through ordinary senses, reason, and intuition. Heaven is behind us, among us, around us, within us, before us—eventually to be fully experienced eternally in our resurrection bodies. Heaven is as real as oceans and suns, winds and planets in a hundred billion whirling galaxies. It is as real as people with bodies, minds, and spirits.

We find intimations of heaven in stories of humankind, spiritual experiences, and nature, but in Scripture we get our fullest picture: The triumph of Christ over dark powers will release the cosmos from sin's bondage (Rom. 8:21). On the Last Day, we will become more, not less, embodied (note Rev. 21's highly physical description of heaven). Heaven is a dimension in which the cosmos is bathed in holiness (Rev. 21:22-27).

The apostle Peter understood Jesus' promise, "I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2), to mean not only his presence now but also a heavenly life with him. The present universe, Peter said, will be reconstituted—"a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness" (2 Pet. 3:13). The apostle Paul pictured the "whole creation" groaning like a woman in labor. Those having the "firstfruits of the Spirit" eagerly anticipated bodily redemption and sharing the glory of the risen Lord (Rom. 8:15-25).

In heaven, cultures from this world will be shaped toward divine purposes (Rev. 21:24). But for all these intimations, heaven is a place we simply cannot fully imagine yet: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor. 2:9).

What form will we have before the final resurrection? Even with his vision of "a man in Christ" who was caught up in "the third heaven," the apostle Paul did not know whether it was in or out of the body—"God knows," he wrote (2 Cor. 12:2-4). Nor do we know whether this vision refers to a state after the final resurrection. But we do know from Paul that, on the last day, we will bear the likeness of Jesus: "And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven" (1 Cor. 15:49).

We may take our cue from Jesus. Jesus' triumph over death signals our own victory. Jesus is first through the mountain pass, as it were. Death isn't the last word; life is—personal, conscious continuation beyond death. In post-resurrection mode, he moved between two dimensions. As earthly "children of the resurrection," we access one dimension of the kingdom of God in this life; in heaven we'll experience a new dimension of it, though still awaiting our glorified bodies. We will be with the risen Jesus (Phil. 1:23), and therefore we will be of some essence or form to perceive and reflect his likeness.

The dead in Christ aren't in limbo awaiting the end-time melding of modes. Given the relativity of time, in relation to us, they're already enjoying some form of the New Jerusalem. This "great cloud of witnesses" (Greek: "martyrs") hovers about us, mind touching mind, spirit touching spirit, and one day, at the final resurrection of the Last Day, hand grasping hand! Created in the image of God, in the new heaven and earth we will put on God's likeness. As John wrote:

"Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure" (1 John 3:2-3, NRSV).

Heaven is where Jesus is; and after death some form of ourselves, reflecting the risen Jesus, will function in dimensions of reality not now accessible to us.

Arthur O. Roberts is professor at large at George Fox University and author of Exploring Heaven: What Great Christian Thinkers Tell Us About Our Afterlife with God (HarperSanFrancisco, 2003).
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"How to See Through Your Blind Spot"
Proverbs 15:12

Listen to the audio broadcast!
http://www.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/ramhurl?p=pnm&f=/rhm/sounds/awwy/awwy5054.rm

When you drive in the New York City area, lane switching becomes a well developed art form. Of course, the danger zone in switching lanes is your blind spot. That one area in your rear vision where you can't see in any of your mirrors - that's pretty critical. Actually, the words blind spot have taken on new meaning for my wife and me. She had some vision problems and she developed what the doctor believed to be a temporary blind spot. He injected some dye to see how much of her vision was blocked, and I was surprised as the doctor showed us the results. He said, "Now, here is the blind spot that we all have." I said, "I do?" Right around the optic nerve, there are no rods and cones to produce a visual image, so we all have a blind spot.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to See Through Your Blind Spot."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from the great wisdom of the book of Proverbs - Proverbs 15:12. It's practical stuff. "A mocker resents correction. He will not consult the wise." Verse 5 says, "Whoever heeds correction shows prudence." This is mentioned three times in the same chapter, so it must be important. Verse 32 says, "He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding." It's pretty clear what God is saying here. Wise people know how to accept correction and criticism. You need the people around you who confront you; the people around you who challenge you and even criticize you. Why? Because you have a blind spot. We all do.

We all have weaknesses we cannot see. There are hurtful ways that we treat people, hurtful ways we say things, there are ways we act when we're busy or tired, there are ways we abuse the truth, where we step on people's feelings, or where we step across some Biblical boundary. Some of our most entrenched sins are often sins we can't see very well. We're so used to doing things a certain way, that we'll never see some sins without the help of someone else.

God doesn't want our blind spot to remain there. He knows a blind spot can make you crash, so He puts mirrors with two legs into our lives. Do you have some two-legged mirrors in your life? Those are people who love us enough, or maybe even dislike us enough, to tell us the hard truth about ourselves.

If you're married, are you letting your mate be your mirror? Sometimes a parent is your mirror. Your child, even a young child, can be God's un-blinding agent in your life. He may use a friend. Proverbs 27:17 says, "Iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens the countenance of his friend." Maybe he will even use an enemy. There's some measure of truth in their words or they wouldn't have said it. Keep the percentage that is true, and then throw out the rest.

If you're going to be a good mirror for other people by showing them their blind spots, be sure that you show people their strong points, too. Many times, we're blind to what's good about us, as well as what's bad. Make sure you give plenty of praise, as well as constructive criticism that says, "I love you enough to tell you the truth."

Even if our physical vision is perfect, we do all have blind spots. But because God loves you so much, He's not going to leave you blind. When someone shows you what you cannot see yourself, be wise enough to take a good look, and don't throw something at the mirror.

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Discuss today's "A Word With You," post your comments, or encourage others in our discussion forum!
http://forums.gospelcom.net/view/rhm/awwy



To find out how you can begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please visit YOURS FOR LIFE: HOW TO HAVE LIFE'S MOST IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIP at:
http://www.yoursforlife.net
Or, call 1-888-NEED HIM.

"A Word With You" by Ron Hutchcraft is a daily radio challenge, with slice-of-life illustrations and insights - providing practical help on the issues that matter most. If your local Christian radio station does not air "A Word With You," please let them know how much you value this program. Over six years of transcripts are available online, at http://rhm.gospelcom.net/awwy.php
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YOGA—A “happy” movement of health? Or an unholy movement from hell?



From fast-food franchise promotion to virtual video-game venues, yoga is revolutionizing the fitness movement worldwide—and is even extending its reach directly into the churches and the lifestyles of professing Christians. But is it simply stretching, as some Christians claim? Is it a way to “breathe out” the effects of sin and stress, allowing the believer to “breathe in” the Holy Spirit? Or, is yoga one of the greatest Trojan Horses of our time?

Promising to bring peace, healing, and wholeness (even prosperity!) to its practitioners, readers will be shocked to discover that yoga is, in fact, based on the worship of (and prepares participants for supernatural connection with) unholy spirits that manifest in extraordinary and dangerous ways. The author—an avid promoter of biblically based physical, mental, and spiritual wholeness—distinguishes pure truth from popular belief in this revealing exposé.



Every Christian should be informed of the true origins and effects of the practice of yoga and its ungodly roots in Kundalini energy—which, literally defined, means an awakening of the “Serpent Power.”



Chapters:



1. What Is It About Yoga?

2. Yoga For Christians?

3. The Aquarian Conspiracy

4. The Conquest Of The West

5. Beware The "Science" Of Yoga

6. "The Great Dragon...That Old Serpent"

7. Yoga's Kundalini Serpent Power

8. Yoga, Reincarnation, And Truth



Book Information:



· 176 pages

· <1 megabyte download

· pdf format

· published in 2006

· ISBN: 1-928660-48-7

· ISBN-13: 978-1-928660-48-4



Visit our website to preview Chapter One!



We will have the printed books in our warehouse in August, until that time we have a special offer:



Purchase the eBook – get the printed book for free!



If you are in the U.S.A. go to:

http://www.thebereancall.org/products/e60487u.php



If you are outside of the U.S.A. go to:

http://www.thebereancall.org/products/e60487i.php



The price outside of the U.S.A. is higher because of shipping cost.
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