Articles
Believing a Lie
There are two “after death” conditions revealed in the scriptures: (1) Heaven, “Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-4). (2) Hell, “And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him” (Luke 12:4-5).
Everything and all things that are known about these two abodes are contained in the scriptures, and apart from the scriptures, nothing is known.
There have been, and probably will be individuals that claim to have “gone to heaven” and seen many things, that the Bible itself refutes. Nevertheless, in 2004 a young man claimed he visited heaven. As a result of his claim, a book emerged: “The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven”: then after ten years the young man publicly recanted his experience, saying, “I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention.
When I made the claims that I did, I had never read the Bible." He further said, "People have profited from lies, and continue to. They should read the Bible, which is enough. The Bible is the only source of truth.” When he attempted to “tell a 'pastor' how wrong the book was and how it needed stopped, he was told that the book was blessing people.” The fact that people are willing to put their hope in the words of a six-year old is evidence of a society grasping for some mystical way to heaven.
What is interesting about this event is not so much that the young man confessed to his error, but that responses such as “Unfortunately, this has brought doubt to the entire genre of books and movies detailing stories of Heaven” emerged.
If there was ever a man qualified to reveal such an event, it would have been the man, of whom the Apostle Paul spoke, saying, “I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not; or whether out of the body, I know not; God knoweth), such a one caught up even to the third heaven. And I know such a man (whether in the body, or apart from the body, I know not; God knoweth), how that he was caught up into
Nevertheless, individuals put their hopes and trust in books and movies motivated by the whims and imaginations of children and reject the only source of truth: what God has to say about heaven and hell.
Remember the words of the Apostle John, saying, “Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31). ret
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