The Seventh Trumpet

The Book of Revelation gives us many of the pictures we have about life after death. In this article, I want to look at short passage with plenty of content. This is part of a series of revelations that starts with seven seals being broken on a critical scroll, is then followed by seven trumpets sounding, and finally seven incense burners being poured on Earth. These visions are not to be understood as being in chronological order, but rather each set of seven run parallel between the time of Jesus re-entering Heaven and His return to Earth.

The section I will write about today is Revelation 11:15-19:

15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying,

“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
    who is and who was,
for you have taken your great power
    and begun to reign.
18 The nations raged,
    but your wrath came,
    and the time for the dead to be judged,
and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,
    and those who fear your name,
    both small and great,
and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

Revelation 11:15-19

The seventh trumpet is sounded in the midst of Judgment Day. Perhaps it is the trumpet spoken of in Matthew 24:31 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16. It marks the transition from the Earth being Satan’s kingdom to it being God’s Kingdom once again. Once this happens there will be no more falling away again, for it says that He will reign forever and ever. “Forever and ever” is a bit redundant, but it emphasizes the point and makes for great music lyrics.

In what sense did God not reign? He is the Almighty. But operating under God’s own laws, Satan had seized control through Adam and Eve and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That event changed the genetics of creation at a minimum. Now God’s Word will be coded in the flesh of all living things.

The inhabitants of God’s throne room give Him praise, for now Judgment Day will begin. What does it involve?

The list of those being rewarded is curious. First, anyone being rewarded on Judgment Day has to be someone forgiven through the death of Jesus (John 14:6) They are made clean by Jesus’ blood (Revelation 7:14b). Then building on that forgiveness people can have a reward. The list breaks out prophets, saints (literally holy ones, not the Roman Catholic definition of saint) and those who fear God’s name. This would seem to be overlapping categories. The point I would make is that it is a comprehensive description of God’s people, as opposed to Revelation 6 and 20 which only enumerate the martyrs. The reward is some aspect of living in the New Heaven and Earth.

The final bullet is the destroying of the destroyers. Who is this? People have defiled the planet through pagan worship and sin, but they would be included in the judgment of the dead. Judgment Day also brings the final destruction of Satan and the demons that follow him. They have been fundamental in ruining God’s creation for Him. Now they will get theirs.

In the final verse, God’s temple in Heaven is opened. This is to distinguish between the former earthly temple (gone since 70 AD) and the arrangement of the New Jerusalem which will have no temple. Within it is the ark of the Covenant. So it is not in a church in Ethiopia https://nypost.com/2021/02/20/at-least-800-ethiopians-killed-after-defending-ark-of-the-covenant/ , nor is it in a US government warehouse like in Indiana Jones. God’s most holy relic is His. Its unveiling is merely to show that God’s people will have direct access to God.

The Glory I Had with You

In Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer in John 17, Jesus speaks of returning to a “glory I had with you before the world existed”. What would Jesus consider to be glorious? Is it a glory that we will be able to see? Is it something that will be experienced in other ways?

The first thing to note is that “glory” is probably not the same in God’s eyes as in ours. We think in terms of power, praise, pleasure, and authority. I expect that such categories would also be a part of God’s definition. But God would add love to that list.

In His prayer, Jesus asks the Father to glorify Him. This request is focused on what would happen before Jesus ascended back to Heaven. Crucifixion is not glorious. Being forsaken by God is even more inglorious. Being crucified with the purpose of fulfilling God’s Law for others because you love them and honor the Father, that is very glorious. Paying the ultimate price when you didn’t owe it out of love, that is the pinnacle of glorious.

Prior to the crucifixion James and John and their mom went on a glory-seeking mission. Having been enculturated to see glory in terms of praise and power they approached Jesus about sitting on His right and left when He entered into His glory.

20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. 21 And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” 22 Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23 He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

Matthew 20:20-23 (ESV)

James, John and mom definitely were thinking in terms of some sort of throne arrangement. Jesus indicates that this isn’t what you are thinking. His ultimate glory would be on the cross. The thieves to the right and to the left are the ones “chosen” for roles. These are not necessarily coveted positions. None-the-less, James and John would be chosen for the glory of suffering for the Gospel and, in James’s case, martyrdom.

This brings me back to the idea of heavenly glory. Is it all just bright lights, beautiful music and praise? I expect the glory of love will remain a big part of it. Will there be a necessity for sacrificial love in Heaven or the New Earth? Maybe. It will be nothing like the cross and nothing near forsakeness. The need to care for each other, to give to each other is not just limited to a world with sin and the curse in it. We will experience God’s love for us and a love for each other in many ways.

For me, this emphasizes the importance of our current life. Because sin, the curse, and the work of Satan are such influential forces, the need for genuine, sacrificial love is so important. The need and the opportunities abound. This won’t be so in Heaven or the New Earth. Living in a world that incorporates evil is terrible and I want no more of it than I have to take; but I am willing to stay as long as I can be useful and exercise my “glory” which is the love of God working in me.

This point-of-view can also illustrate why Sheol and Gehenna are so bad. Yes, the description of fire and maggots is mortifying. But the absence of the glory of God is worse. There is a growing absence of love.

In the one story about Sheol that we have, that of the beggar Lazarus, at least the rich man has compassion on his living siblings. He cares whether they arrive in Sheol. This indicates to me that being forsaken by God has not yet set in. In Gehenna, post-Judgment Day, I don’t expect any hope or unselfishness to be found. It is completely inglorious.

The glory of God, in Jesus’ crucifixion, enables the experience of the broader glory of God in eternal life. We will observe His glory in astounding beauty and power. We will live in the midst of the light of His glory in the New Jerusalem. We will experience and express His glory in a great love for each other. We can get a head start on it now.

That Can Never Perish, Spoil or Fade

When we do funerals at our church, we often start the service with a verse from 1 Peter 1. It reads, in part:

In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 Peter 1:3b-5 (NIV)

Keep in mind, that our existence past the grave is not just a simple Heaven or Hell https://wordpress.com/post/afterdeathsite.com/131. The wording of this passage does raise some questions. First, and this may surprise you, this is one of the few passages that suggests that Heaven is a destination for human beings. There is no promise of Heaven in the Old Testament. There is more mention of the resurrection and the New Earth even in the New Testament. This passage suggests that our inheritance is in Heaven. Does it mean that we go there to get it? Does it say that we must wait until Judgment Day to have it?

I conclude that we do go to Heaven upon our death and receive at least part of our “inheritance”. I back that up with a passage in Revelation 7:9 that speaks about the location of the victorious dead:

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,

Revelation 7:9 (ESV)

They are standing before God’s throne which was shown to be in Heaven to this point in Revelation.

What is the “salvation that is ready to revealed in the last time”? Isn’t this something that happens on the last Day–Judgment Day? I always read it that way. I see it differently now. God’s plan of salvation for human beings was only partially revealed prior to Jesus. They knew about the resurrection of the dead. They might have had an inkling that God would provide a way of forgiveness of sins that was permanent. They didn’t expect to go to God’s throne room. It wasn’t promised.

That didn’t mean that Heaven wasn’t in the plan. Heaven wasn’t officially on the table until Jesus had atoned for sin with His completion of God’s Law, paying the penalty of forsakeness https://wordpress.com/post/afterdeathsite.com/2234, and the casting of Satan out of Heaven (Rev. 12:7f). You could really say that it was contingent on Jesus’ success. But now that Jesus has prevailed, God’s full plan of salvation can be rolled out. It does say “last time”, not last day. Now is the last time, not Judgment Day.

The good news is not only will we have a resurrection of our bodies in perfected form and a New Earth after Judgment Day, but we a have immediate access to Heaven and glorious things within it, because God has “given us new birth”, connecting us to Jesus.

When you think about the best things in life now, they all will perish, spoil or fade. A new car will eventually be a boring old car and then rust. Exciting experiences lose their excitement. Everything declines either physically or in our reaction to it or both. Not the stuff of Heaven.

Relationships remain exciting. Seeing God never gets old. Our adventures remain fresh.

In the mean time, all these will keep. We have a job to do here and a certain amount of time to do it. While here, we remain in a danger zone. In Revelation 7 the inhabitants of Heaven refer to our current world as the Great Tribulation. This is hard to appreciate unless you are in a war zone, are chronically ill, or are trapped in dysfunctional relationships. But even if things are good, they are not Heaven good.

While here we are exposed to sin and the curse. God protects our connection to Christ, but we can still walk away from it.https://wordpress.com/post/givingchrist.com/843 We may suffer quite a bit while here. But God will support us and transform us. God will use us in powerful and unique ways. All of the trouble associated with the Great Tribulation will seem small once we move to our home. The one thing that I expect will fade, will be our memory of our struggle here.

What Is It Like To Be Forsaken?

One of the things I often force myself to do during Holy Week is to watch The Passion of the Christ. This movie is a very graphic depiction of what happened to Jesus. I suspect that Mel Gibson got it mostly right. It is rough.

There is one aspect of Jesus’ crucifixion that one can never fully capture on film. It is the most important part–Jesus being forsaken by His Father. I don’t think people understand this in general. God’s Law needs to be fulfilled. God is not inclined to compromise or change any part of it. As it stands the wage of sin, (being contrary in any way to the way we were originally meant to be), is death.

Death is the “destruction” of the parts that make us. Our bodies are segregated from our souls and our bodies break down to the elemental level. Our souls, which cannot be similarly destroyed would first go to Sheol and eventually would be forsaken by God in Gehenna (Hell). This required consequence of sin, Jesus absorbs willfully himself, so that humans can have eternal life and Creation can be remade.

Jesus experiences the elements of death in a different order than we would. While still physically alive, He experiences being forsaken. I would guess that this is connected to the three-hour period of supernatural darkness. What does He feel? Hopelessness, horror, physical dysfunction, the absence of love, and I don’t know what else. Jesus knew this had to happen. It scared him. To know about it and to experience it is two different things. The Son of God, fully prepped, determined to do this thing, still is crushed.

46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Matthew 27:46 (ESV)

These words are our only window into being forsaken. It is the only window I want. Jesus knows why. But in such a state of abandonment, He can’t make sense of His condition.

We may not acknowledge it, but God is with us in multiple ways all the time. God makes our body function. God oversees our minds. We may feel far from God, but we have never been forsaken. Not yet.

Jesus is forsaken so that I will never know what it is like.

What did that mean for the Trinity? I don’t understand the type of unity that makes God one and still three persons. Likewise, I can’t fathom what it means when the Father forsakes the Son. But I know it isn’t easy and I know it is a big deal, and it happened for me.

The classic picture of eternal suffering is being in fire. Those who know Jesus’ words also include a kind of perpetual form of decay (…the worm does not die). These apply to Sheol as well as Gehenna and therefore create confusion between the two. The final, distinguishing factor is forsakeness. Sheol seems to lack this. There is nothing funny about forsakeness.

All good things come from God. Hell is not the party spot for the wicked. There is no party, no friendship, no comfort, no hope. And by the grace of God there doesn’t have to be us either.

Jesus’ forsakeness, His death applies to us and satisfies the legal requirements of God’s law for us when we are connected to Christ. We become part of His body and consequently His death through baptism. Not so much what we do in a baptism, but what God does in the spiritual realms.

It is still good that we should remember, at least once a year, the tremendous cost of saving us. We should look with grateful wonder at Jesus forsaken.

Will Many Be Saved?

Have you gone to many, or any, funerals where you assumed a negative eternal destiny for a person? This is so hard to think about that we simply hope for the best, even in cases where there is little evidence that this could go well.

We are not to judge. We don’t have the ability to know what interactions a person has had with God. But even with the fact that Jesus died for the sins of everyone, and that God desires all people to be saved, one sobering verse stands out for me. I call it my least favorite passage of Scripture:

13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Matthew 7:13-14 (ESV)

The word “few” devastates me. It is a relative term, so against the billions of people who have lived and currently live “few” could still be a vast number. Still, to imagine an even larger number going to eternal damnation is staggering.

How can this be? Isn’t God love? Isn’t God all-powerful? Yes, He is. But He is also a God of justice who abides by what is “written”. So, He will not do a compromising end run around the Law, even for this. If Scripture is to be believed at all, people are damned and they are damned in vast numbers.

I would love to wrong about this. Perhaps, “few” is 49.999%. Or it could be “few” relative to the 100% that could have been saved. Maybe 95%. Or maybe the key is the word “destruction”. If destruction refers only to Sheol and not necessarily Gehenna, then perhaps Jesus would have a mechanism to evangelize the dead and to do so in mass. I’m not saying that any of these could not be, but the most natural way to read this verse is to expect many losses.

Who would make up the many? Good works can’t make up for sins. There would be many “good people” by our standards who would miss out. Many consider Jesus to be irrelevant and hold on to a “let’s see what happens” approach to death. They reason that either they just cease to exist, or it will be O.K. because they are nice.

Many hold on to an alternative worldview with an alternative means of salvation, even if they have heard the Gospel. Muslims hold on to a somewhat vague hope of Allah’s mercy if they follow the Five Pillars of Islam well enough. Hindus cling to gradual ascension through reincarnation if they live well. Cultural Christians cling to being “good enough” if they don’t understand the Bible. Then there are the atheists who expect to disappear. That is a lot of people.

Maybe there are multiple paths to salvation?

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6 (ESV)

It makes sense. If there were other ways, would God have made Jesus do what He did? If you don’t like it, speak to Jesus. I didn’t say it.

Many people have not even heard the Gospel of Jesus. What about them? I personally think that 1 Peter 4:6 alludes to how God deals with the Church’s failure to get the Word out.

6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

1 Peter 4:6 (ESV)

It is a somewhat vague, one passage testimony; but it makes more sense to understand this passage as Jesus or somebody preaching to the dead than all of the other weak explanations I have seen. If this were so, what sort of fool would reject the Gospel while toiling in Sheol? The mystery of faith is great. You would be surprised at how dense people can be.

When you add it all up it is sadly easy to imagine how the many end up in destruction. Can we move the needle in any way? Yes. Our witness to people matters. The few will still be a “great multitude that no could count.” (Revelation 7:9) I want to be in that multitude. I want those I love to be in that multitude. I want to have some role that many others will be in that multitude. And I still hope that the obvious way of understanding Matthew 7:13-14 is wrong.

Who Are the Elders?

They only show up in a few spots in the Bible, but their veiled identity is intriguing. In case you don’t know to whom I am referring, here is one spot:

 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
    to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
    and by your will they existed and were created.”

Revelation 4:10-11 (ESV)

All of the references to this group come from Revelation. They talk but they are never explained as to who they are. Since they are not identified in Isaiah’s vision of God’s throne room, it is possible that they have been added since then. Perhaps they are 24 chosen representatives of the Old Testament righteous. The number 24 seems significant since that is twice the number of the tribes of Israel. This could be 12 from Israel and 12 from the nations.

One significant reference to Elders among the tribes of Israel is at Mt. Sinai. Here the number is not 12 or 24, but 70. These men are allowed to go up the mountain and to “see God”. Their experience ends up with an explanation of what was under God’s feet. It would seem that these men didn’t get the best view and are shielded from God by some type of floor. It is unlikely that there is connection between these two groups.

Another possibility for the 24 is a representative for each of the twelve tribes plus the 12 Apostles. This would include either Paul or Matthias in replacement of Judas, but it should also include John who is observing the group. To this I can’t say “no”, but I am not inclined to say, “yes”.

The elders do not permanently remain in a circle formation around God. In Revelation 7, one comes to speak to John:

 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,… Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb

Revelation 7:11,13-14 (ESV)

First, this Elder doesn’t include himself as someone who has come out of the Great Tribulation. The Great Tribulation may be a specific time period or event during which persecution is or was intense. I would also entertain the possibility that the Great Tribulation is how the inhabitants of Heaven refer to Earth. In that case, the Elder would not have been an inhabitant of Earth. He is also not identified as something other than a human, though that does not absolutely rule out some type of angel.

Why would we be told about these beings without an explanation of who they are? Even the Cherubim are given a brief explanation. What is their function? Do they only praise God from the front row? All we see are the Elders in action within the throne room of God. Their function within the room is connected to worship.

Since Revelation is an apocalyptic vision, it is possible that the elders are symbolic. Their likely symbolism is that they are the Church. So if that is the case, we circle the throne of God, we throw down our crowns of glory and give praise to God. We are enthroned and given some measure of authority. That would be my first choice if not for the conversation in Revelation 7.

I would still say that these are 24 actual individuals chosen to represent the church as a whole. The message they silently give is that we, as members of the church, are given close access to God in Heaven. We will no longer be separated by a floor, vision, cloud, curtain or anything else that necessarily isolated us from direct contact with God.

Just One Life

About twenty years ago, I traveled to India. It was both a cultural experience and a place of many surprises. We landed in Hyderbad in the middle of the night. As our bus drove to the hotel, the streets were dark. I could vaguely make out the shadows of something on the sidewalk. I didn’t figure out until the next morning that it was all people who were homeless.

India is a nation that is primarily Hindu. A core belief of Hinduism is that this life’s situation is the just product of a previous life. Consequently, if you are homeless you deserved that fate.

You could even return as another living thing. The consequence was that roads would go around a tree. Still, this isn’t exactly a respect for nature. There was litter everywhere.

Another likely result of believing that you are on a journey through multiple lives was the extremely dangerous traffic situation. Overcrowding and poverty no doubt contributed to the situation, but it is easier to face death if you expect to be born again.

The Bible doesn’t take on the topic of reincarnation directly. It does speak of eternal existence for all, but it denies that this existence will be here–at least not immediately.

27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Hebrews 9:27-28(ESV)

We die once, not over and over. Death is the separation of body and soul. Something that would never happen except for sin. We don’t lapse into non-existence nor even unconscious existence, we consciously continue in either Heaven or Sheol.

In this article, I am interested in the implications of this fact for this brief life. Is this life a throw-away, because something better is beyond it? Is it a time to pursue hedonistic pleasures because something worse is next? Is it as the famous polka says, “In Heaven there is no beer, that’s why we drink it here.”? Certain pleasure are earthly pleasures, so pursue them now. Some embrace this philosophy because they feel that the truth about our fate after death is unknowable. I obviously disagree. To the skeptic, I would point out not only Scripture, but Near-Death Experiences. What happens at our death is only unknowable if you don’t try to know. For something as important as this, denial is a fool’s strategy.

Far from an approach that neglects this life, the set of promises that come with connection to Jesus Christ makes this life brief but valuable and life-after death the true prize. Jesus takes the pressure of saving ourselves off of our shoulders and places it on His. Forgiveness of our sins, our inability of fulfilling God’s Laws are all settled by His life. Heaven and beyond that a New Earth are ours for the taking. They are God’s gift.

This life becomes valuable because of what we can accomplish here with the presence of God within us. We can make an eternal difference in another person’s life. We can be a visible representative of God Himself. These things are worthy enduring the finite amount of grief that this life will throw at you.

So what are some of the consequences of knowing what God has given to us? First, I protect my life and try to be a good steward of my health and time, because I won’t get the same kind of opportunity to serve once I die. It isn’t beer that I have to get here, it is sharing God’s promises and His love in an environment that lacks knowledge of God. Besides that, they probably do have beer in Heaven.

Next, I value other people, even my enemies. They are potentially savable. They would be transformed by a connection to Jesus. They can be a reward to me. Life is cheap in many places, but it is not cheap to me.

The circumstances in which people live can be the product of many things: misfortune, bad parenting, limited natural abilities, poor education, poor government, injustice, bad decisions. The list goes on and on, but I can be a source of positive change. Their circumstances are not set by a previous life.

I will get older and closer to death every day. I am neither concerned about death nor a loss of purpose on the way. I know where I am going next and why. I am going to Heaven because of Jesus. My purpose may change as I lose abilities, but I will have a God-given purpose to the end.

Communicating With the Dead

Jesus was unequivocal, the people who have physically died still exist. They are just not here:

32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”

Matthew 22:32 (ESV)

When you lose somebody, especially if it was unexpected, there can be a powerful desire to communicate with them again. We can have questions about their wellbeing, how to survive without them, and possibly how and why they died.

There are also less pure motivations for communicating with the dead. People may think the dead have some sort of profitable knowledge or can provide some sort of assistance to the living. For some it is just the attraction of dark arts or having some form of mastery over death.

Of course, communicating with the dead is impossible. Right? I wouldn’t be so sure. The Old Testament has strong statements against such a practice. Communicating with the dead is one of the reasons that the Canaanites were dispossessed from Palestine in favor of the Jews. Deuteronomy lists their sins and warns the Jews not to follow their example.

“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God,

Deuteronomy 18:9-13 (ESV)

Abomination is a pretty strong word. Why? The first set of motives listed above are not impure. Part of it is no doubt how this is possible in the first place. This is not using the power of God, nor utilizing something inherent in nature; this is using the power of Satan and his kingdom. As such it is dangerous. It can also be the source of twisted truth. It may also leave a person open to other manifestations of evil, like possession. It would seem that such practices were common in the ancient world and possibly the source of some modestly twisted information about life after death.

Keep in mind that at this time, everybody went to Sheol (for more information) https://afterdeathsite.com/2021/05/11/an-expectation-of-sheol/. This may matter. The righteous were segregated from the unrighteous. The one biblical story about communicating with the dead was communication with the righteous as King Saul summoned the prophet Samuel using the “Witch of Endor” in 1 Samuel 28.

13 The king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a god coming up out of the earth.” 14 He said to her, “What is his appearance?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe.” And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage.

15 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul answered, “I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do.” 16 And Samuel said, “Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy?

1 Samuel 28:13-16 (ESV)

Samuel was not pleased, and the desperate attempt of Saul did not help him.

Some would dismiss this as simply a mythical story and consulting the dead as a form of fraud. Certainly, charlatans exist in this area who are willing to take advantage of peoples’ grief. Another theory is that demons masquerade as the dead. This is not how it is presented in 1 Samuel however.

What about modern-day mediums? Are they just frauds? I expect that most, if not all, are frauds. It may also be possible that a person can have an equivalent to a “spiritual gift” (1 Corinthians 12), but one that is not from God. Using such a service remains forbidden by God.

How should we handle devastating grief? https://wordpress.com/post/afterdeathsite.com/734

First, we need to trust the promises of God about forgiveness through Jesus and eternal life. https://wordpress.com/post/afterdeathsite.com/884 If we are not confident about our loved one being saved, then it is not forbidden to continue to pray for them. In the case of suicide, we need to understand how God’s grace actually works. We do not need to confess our sins as the last thing we do. https://wordpress.com/post/afterdeathsite.com/778

Trusting the matters of life after death to God is the right thing to do and leads to healing. Losing purpose from the loss of relationship is something we can actively pursue. We fill the void in our lives by helping others.

The Value of Now

As I write about what the Bible has to say about what can happen after our deaths, I often struggle to find a word or words that refer to our current state of existence. If I use the word “life”, I collide with how the Bible uses the word “life” to refer to our eternal existence with God. Paul even says that our existence with God after our deaths is “life that is truly life”. It implies that our current existence doesn’t really deserve the title of “life”.

There are many negatives that are true about existence as we know it. We all possess a sinful nature. This is probably a corruption of our God-given genetic code that makes understanding God without help impossible. It also leaves us with behaviors and desires that are contrary to what is truly good. Put sinful people on a planet together and you get family dysfunction, crime, war and many forms of misery.

This “life” also is diminished by “the curse”. I’m not sure if it is a punishment from God or just what happens when the original couple of humans reject God. The result is a separation from God that clouds our relationship with Him, an uncooperative environment, natural disasters, illness and many other forms of danger and frustration.

One last scourge is that this world is “given” to Satan. Satan himself claims this as he tempts Jesus in the wilderness. Beyond this Satan and his cronies are cast out of Heaven (Revelation 12:7-9), and where does he land? Here. Can’t be anywhere else away from us? This gives the extra kicker to human misery.

With this toxic stew, it should not be surprising if life has its challenges. Do not assume that this life will be fair, safe or happy. If we manage periods of any of these then we are truly blessed. They are not promised.

That said, we are not kept here for the sake of misery. Life has its purpose. First and foremost, it is during our brief stay here that Christ will connect with us and give us something better. Still, we are not translated into Heaven the moment we become Christians.

We have work to do. Our God-given purpose will be unique to this period of our existence. In Heaven and the New Earth, we will have purpose, and we will enjoy that purpose thoroughly. But our current purpose has a unique quality that makes now valuable.

Here, when we worship God in spirit and truth, we do so in an environment with none of the advantages of being with God in Heaven, and God knows it. He values worship like that. When we maintain a personal, respectful, trusting relationship with God despite the curse, it is a big deal.

This world is filled with the wounded who need help. There won’t be any in Heaven and the New Earth. This planet is out of sync and all living things suffer in some way because of it. When we are good stewards of the Earth, we bring healing.

Here is where you will be in contact with the spiritual lost. Your words and example can help to lead people to Christ. No one will need that in Heaven.

This world is a mess and it can be painful to live in it, but because it is a mess there is extra value to our service here. If, foolishly, you live here as if this is all there is and you neglect your God-given purpose to simply live to entertain yourself, then you are blowing it. Your pleasures will be limited. Your deeds will not follow you.

Because of the uniquely needy nature of this world and the creatures in it, I am asking for a long and productive life. I am willing to stay here as long as God wants me here, and no longer. I cherish what good times and good relationships I have here, because they help me through. I know that there will be much better to come. But I make the most positive difference now.

The Fear of Death

The fear of death is a common theme and the motivator for many actions. We will all face death and, in a way, we are slowly experiencing it through aging. The final day of our lives can seem like a big, impenetrable wall through which even our imagination cannot go. One of the reasons for this blog is to help people think beyond death.

During the holidays, my wife and I decided to watch the old movie, Moonstruck. I think we heard the theme song in an Olive Garden. Anyway, during the movie the father of the family (Vincent Gardenia) is having an affair. His wife (Olympia Dukakis) asks, “Why do men chase women?” The conclusion is this is because they fear death. We are moving inexorably toward becoming old and then dying. An affair may deceive oneself that you are not aging.

In another setting, I heard Aaron Rodgers (the quarterback of the Packers) explain some of the benefits he obtained from trying the hallucinogenic drug Ayahuasca. One he noted was that he no longer fears death. Why? He claims the drug helped him see beyond death. How might this be so? Ayahuasca and other methods like Transcendental Meditation (TM) definitely alter the functioning of your brain. Your experience may be completely an illusion created by your brain or you may have access to a place that is not here nor is it Heaven or Sheol. I once read the testimony of a high-caste Hindu who later converted to Christianity. He practiced TM and found himself in an alternate reality that he would later discover to be dangerous and deceptive. Where it is or what it is, is not clear.

Near Death Experiences (NDE) can have a similar affect. Are they simply a product of the dying brain, or a genuine experience of Heaven or Sheol, or could they be something real but deceptive? It sounds like Paul had an NDE that he refers to in 2 Corinthians 12:3-4. Do we know what we are experiencing in any of these states and what even exists beyond our current reality?

I am open to the idea that an NDE could give you an actual trip (not an illusion or even a vision) to Heaven or Sheol (https://afterdeathsite.com/2021/05/11/an-expectation-of-sheol/. With the completion of Jesus’ atoning death, humans are not excluded from Heaven and there may be conditions that cause a temporary excursion there. The Bible also shows the permeability of what separates this world from Sheol with the story of the Witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28) and the summoning of the soul of Samuel. Non-God inspired peeks beyond the vail of death might be possible and the source of semi-accurate information about life after death found outside of Christianity.

But God gives a much clearer and trustworthy picture. Knowing the nature of God (His love, His honesty), the promise of forgiveness of sins and eternal life, the nature of eternal life (Heaven, a New Earth https://afterdeathsite.com/2017/06/13/the-new-earth-in-revelation-part-i/), and the reason we can have these things (Jesus’ death and resurrection) can minimize if not eliminate any fear of death. Making a big transition into something new and largely still unknown is still a little scary. But the firmer your faith in the source of eternal life, the more you are likely to not be scared at all.

How about fear of the process of death? The process of dying is still the consequence of sin. It is not as things should have been. Obviously, death comes in many ways, some painful and slower and some quickly. Knowing that God is near and cares for us all the way matters.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

Psalm 116:15 (ESV)

We must and can live knowing that death is a reality that can come at any time. Last night’s football game between the Bills and Bengals had a frightening reminder of that. Bills safety, Damar Hamlin, suffered cardiac arrest likely caused by a perfectly timed blow to the chest. It was scary and hopefully Damar will fully recover. Should we let the fear of death stop us from sports where we might suffer such a blow? Every day we do risky things. Driving, talking while eating, and many more activities could result in a fatal accident. It is better to understand our temporary nature here and know that there is more.

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