I visited heaven last night
1.
When I became interested in Christianity one of the
things that caught my attention was stories.
2.
People talked about actually visiting heaven and hell.
3.
I knew almost nothing about the Bible, but some of the
stories sounded fishy.
4. As the years have gone by,
more and more stories have surfaced about people going to heaven and hell.
5.
One such claimant is Choo (pronounced “chew”) Thomas.
6.
This lady has authored a book entitled “Heaven is so
real.”
7.
In this volume Thomas tells of her “many encounters
with Jesus Christ.”
8.
She claims that Jesus has taken her to heaven “17
times.”
9.
This just the start of her claims; listen to just one
of the things she has written:
10.
“He only used my body to write this book. He wants all
believers and unbelievers to read it and prepare for His coming. He said, He is
letting people know what it takes to enter His Kingdom, through this book” --
http://www.choothomas.com
11.
This claim puts her book on the same level as
scripture.
12.
God’s word tells us what is needed to enter the kingdom and Choo says
her book does the same thing.
13. What I want to take from
Thomas’ book is the idea that people are allowed to visit heaven and write
about it.
14.
Throughout the years many have claimed that God “let
them visit” paradise for a little while.
15.
Others have made similar claims about hell.
16.
I have had people in our area tell me about some of
these claims.
17.
The stories that are told may garner attention, but
they do not match up with the scriptures.
18.
Remember Rom. 1:16 – the gospel is God’s “power to
salvation.”
19.
The “word of the cross” is God’s power to save people
(1 Cor. 1:18).
20.
The word of God (1 Cor. 15:2) was preached at
21.
God did not intend to save the world by human
testimonials.
22.
He selected His word which is living, active and
sharper than any two edged sword (Heb. 4:12).
23.
Acts 4:4 says many “heard the word of God” and believed
(became Christians).
24.
God did not send Peter down to hell for a little while
and some other apostle to heaven.
25.
Time and time again the Bible tells us God used the gospel and not
human testimony to save people.
26.
We
never find in the Bible people being led into heaven by Jesus and then coming
back to tell about it.
27.
What we find in the world—with Choo Thomas and
others—is is a different gospel.
28.
Paul condemned this in places like Gal. 1.
29.
Before the destruction of
30.
People would say they knew where the Messiah was (Mt.
24:23-24).
31.
Jesus plainly said, “Do not believe them.”
32.
Jesus gave the truth and said people were to stick with
it. We now have that truth in written
form.
33.
If people are deviating from it, they need to be
rejected.
34.
Either the people making the claims about going to heaven and hell are
self-deceived or they are lying.
35.
People may claim whatever they want, but that does not
make it true.
HAVING
OFFERED SOME BASIC INFORMATION AS TO WHAT THE Bible SAYS ON HOW GOD SAVES PEOPLE, LET’S TAKE OUR
STUDY A STEP FURTHER.
a)
Let’s compare the “heavenly testimonials” to what the
Bible says.
b)
I did a simple Google search for “Jesus took me to
heaven.”
c)
What I found on the net is the same type of thing we
can find in book form.
i)
One man said he was taken through what he would call
“clouds.”
ii)
He claims he saw “meetings” going on in heaven.
d)
This man decided to look for his wife, but couldn’t
find her. He asked Jesus where she was.
e)
The Lord waved his hand, and the floor of heaven opened
up.
a)
The man crouched down, peered into the opening and saw
his wife in Hell.
2)
This fellow makes sound like a nice tour guide, not
deity who died for man.
3)
Ms. Thomas says that on her last trip to heaven she
cried.
4)
I wonder if she sings that hymn we have in our books –
“no tears in heaven.”
5)
She says she “walked out of the changing room” and an
angel hugged her once more.
6)
Heaven is a spiritual place, but the testimonials
described it in physical terms unlike the Bible uses.
a)
Indulge me for just one more testimonial.
b)
A person was having a medical procedure and was
believed dead.
c) This person recounts going
through a “long tunnel” and seeing a light that got brighter and brighter.
d)
Suddenly this patient said the light became “brilliant
gold.”
e)
After a bit this patient realized she was seeing
“Jesus’ hair.”
f)
According to her, Jesus’ hair is made of “curled gold
leaf.”
g)
Jesus had on a “Kelly-green sports coat and a beautiful
yellow-knit shirt.”
h)
One wonders what department store Jesus used to get
these items. Did He use cash or credit?
7)
This type of stuff is all over in the religious
world. It is not only outlandish, it is
completely false.
8)
It really falls into the category of blasphemy.
a)
To picture Jesus as some type of heavenly tour guide
misses the whole point of God’s word.
b)
Heaven becomes more of a joke than an environment for
sinners redeemed by Christ’s blood.
9)
All the stories also conflict with the information we
have about heaven.
a)
There are some instances in the Bible of people having
some degree of access to heaven.
b)
When
we study these accounts we find that they bear no resemblance to modern
heavenly testimonials.
c)
The balance of our lesson is going to concentrate on
these Biblical examples.
10) Consider
Acts 10, the place where we read about Peter and Cornelius.
a)
Peter did not “go to heaven” on this occasion.
b)
Heaven was “opened” (verse 11) and something big
descended.
c)
What is described is called a vision; it is referred to
four times as a vision.
d)
It is called a vision in Acts 10:3, 17, 19; 11:5.
e)
We are told something “descended” from heaven (Acts
10:11).
f)
Unlike the modern claims of so many today, Peter was
not “led around heaven.”
g)
A vision was all that was needed and given.
h)
Today people today claim they get receive more than
Peter got.
11) In
addition to Peter, we have some information about John, Rev. 1:10.
a)
John said he was “in the spirit on the Lord’s day” (Rev. 1:10).
b)
In the testimonies that are often given, Jesus meets up
with people and everything is great.
c)
Jesus just chats with people who are taken to heaven
for a little tour.
d)
John did not see Jesus as a tour guide in a green coat
and a yellow shirt.
e)
Listen to Rev. 1:12-16 - READ
f)
The Jesus John met up with was part of the Godhead –
Jehovah.
12) Jesus
was hardly some type of guide to take people from place to place.
13) Rev.
1:17 – READ
14) When
we look at the Bible, we find a contrast between what it says and the heavenly
testimonies.
15) The
discrepancies are so vast, we cannot accept both.
16) We
must either believe what the word of God says and reject the testimonies or
reject the scriptures.
17) Some
might say the examples given only tell part of the story.
18) Other
experiences with God and heaven are less dramatic.
19) Someone
might say a more typical example of divine visions and trips is found in Acts
22.
a)
Although this account might be cited, it would not be
advantageous to do so.
b)
In a moment I will read Acts 22:17-21 – here Paul
explains what he experienced in the temple.
c)
He does record what might be called a heavenly vision.
d)
Verses 18 and 21 specifically say God used this
experience to communicate commands.
e)
READ Acts 22:17-21.
20) There
is nothing like a guided tour in this account; Paul was a servant receiving
instructions.
21) This
is not what heavenly testimonials claim.
22) In
fact, they cannot claim this because the Bible is our instruction book.
23) Prophets,
apostles…the spokesmen for God are all gone.
We now have their recorded words.
24) Speaking
of Paul, I would be remiss if 2 Cor. 12 were not cited.
a)
Paul described a “man in Christ” who was taken up into
“paradise.”
b)
This is precisely what people today claim in their
testimonials.
c)
Do we remember what is said in verse 4 of this chapter,
especially the end of the verse?
25) These
words should be underlined in our Bibles and a cross-reference (Heb. 13:8) put
in the margin.
26) Let’s
first read 2 Cor. 12:2-4 – READ
27) There
is some discussion on who Paul described.
28) Many
believe (and I am of this persuasion) that Paul described himself.
29) Because
of what he was going to experience as an apostle, God gave him a glimpse of the
afterlife.
30) The
end of verse 4 specifically says this person was not allowed to share this
information.
a)
Some things that people are told to keep secret are
really not worth the name secret.
b)
Other secrets are really important and this one was
important.
c)
Let’s complete the information in 2 Cor. 12 with Heb.
13:8.
d)
That passage says Jesus is constant – He never changes.
e)
This piece of information creates a question.
31) If
a Christian was forbidden from telling about his seeing paradise,
and Jesus never changes…
32) Why
can people now go to heaven and tell about their experience?
33) This
means that Jesus (deity) has changed its position on heavenly visitors and
testimonials.
34) God’s
word says that deity does not change.
35) Someone
has gotten it wrong; are the scriptures in error or are the testifiers wrong?
36) As
I said earlier, we cannot accept the stories of men as well as the word of God.
37) Heavenly
testimonials are not the only issue where people believe things that differ
from the Bible.
a)
Testimonies about the afterlife
impresses a lot of people.
b)
Many will not stop to look at the word of God to see
what it says about this matter.
c)
They will read about or listen to a man’s wild stories
about visiting heaven or hell and believe that.
38) If
God had wanted to save the word through personal testimony, he could have done
that.
39) Think
about the man in Lk. 16 who had “five brothers.”
40) He
wanted to go back and testify to these relatives, but he was told “no.”
41) He
wanted Lazarus to go back and testify but was told “no.”
42) There
was not going to be a representative from heaven or hell to testify to people
on the earth.
43) Abraham
said, “your brothers have Moses and the prophets”
(God’s word).
44) This
is still true – we have the scriptures and these are the power – these are our
testimony.
45) Many
want something else, but as Abraham said, that will not happen.
46) We
can believe lies or God’s word. We hope
we have decided to choose the scriptures.
47) We
also hope that such a belief has led us to obedience.