Heaven and Hell
Good Morning!
Several folks have asked me questions about what happens when we die and will there be a day of judgment. They want to know if some of the teachings that they learned as a child were true.
As you already know, if you have been reading the Bible Ascension Blog, I do not believe that salvation is only about heaven and hell. I believe that salvation is about being born into a new species of Divine Supernatural Beings of Light… immortal beings who look and act as Jesus did.
Jesus said that he was the first born of many. When we are “saved” we are born into this new kingdom and we begin the process of becoming… maturing into this new species.
As I have written earlier, the gift of the Holy Spirit was the ultimate purpose of the death and resurrection of Jesus. By paying the penalty for our karma and cleansing us of the old negative energies we are prepared to receive the Holy Spirit.
It is the Holy Spirit that brings us into this new birth.
The new birth is the birth of the children of God. We are no longer children of Adam living in the human condition. We have been translated from the kingdom of darkness… or separation from God, into the kingdom of the Son… the Christ.
We are saved from the human condition with all of its limitations and born into the Divine freedom that we have in Christ.
Questions on Heaven and Hell
I don’t spend much time thinking about heaven and hell in the traditional sense. So it is hard for me to answer the questions I have received. I don’t have a revelation on these topics. I have opinions but my opinions are not any more important than anyone else’s opinion.
I promised you when I began this blog that I would always tell you the truth as I understood it. I also promised that if I got a new revelation on something that I had been teaching, I would tell you about that too.
Praying For Revelation
I have been praying for insight into the day of Judgment, the Rapture and other end time prophecies so that I could add something of value to the way these events are interpreted.
I did not get any revelation on the meaning of these events that are spoken of in the Bible. I could share with you what tradition folks believe or what many metaphysical teachers have to say about these topics. But I did not hear any new revelation from the Spirit on these areas of interest.
My Answer
Here is what I did get. A few days ago I picked up the Bible and it opened to the book Philippians. I noticed that I had underlined some passages so I read them. I chuckled to myself because I knew that this was the answer the Holy Spirit was giving to me about my questions and it was what I needed to share with you.
This is from a letter that Paul wrote to the church in Philippi.
Phillipians 3:10 – 21
“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.
For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
The Message
This reminded me that what was most important was the effort to attain the “prize of the high calling.” Paul was not yet perfect. But he knew what his goal was. He challenged his readers to keep their eyes on the heavenly things and not on the earth. He teaches us not to be like those that have their mind on the earthly… the way that leads to destruction.
He also says that if you see things differently or if you have questions about what you read (my addition to Paul’s words), God will make it clear to you.
He encourages us to live up to what we already know. This says to me that we should not get lost in what we are confused about but instead to go after what we do understand.
For me the most important thing is to focus on the new birth… living as a Christed being. I want to keep my eyes on the high calling and not get lost in the confusion of those things I do not understand.
Yesterday, while I was driving around town I saw a church sign. It said, ” Jesus did not come to give us religion but to give us Life!”
That is so true. Many of the ideas we spend so much time contemplating and arguing about are the issues of religion. I suggest that we all turn our attention to the Life we have in Christ. Focus on what you know. Focus on the spiritual realms and not on the earthly arguments about religion.
If you have a burning question, pray and God will answer you.
Be blessed,
Marty Dow
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