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Saturday, January 26, 2008

The Celtic Cross


The Celtic Cross is a sacred symbol of some Churches. Wikipedia says,
"In Ireland, it is a popular myth that the Celtic cross was introduced to the island by Saint Patrick during his time converting the pagan Irish. It is believed that he combined the symbol of Christianity, a cross, with the symbol of the sun, to give pagan followers an idea of the importance of the cross by linking it with the idea of the life-giving properties of the sun"
But a Scottish researcher somehow discovered that this cross was no more than an instrument used for sea nagivation by people long long ago!! Read more about this at this site:
From my own research, it seems that more and more evidence keep coming that suggest that religion is no more than beliefs in some kind of advanced technology which was seen by the ancient people, who then treated them as sacred symbols of god as they did not understand the technology used. I have tried to show how this is true in the Bible in my previous posts.
The nagging question is, why is it that we do not see something today that makes us think that there is a God?



The Mysterious Voynich Manuscript

The Voynich Manuscript is the name of a book discovered in 1912 by an American antique book dealer and collector, Wilfrid M. Voynich. It is written in an unknown language (some think it is a hoax), and contain information which are largely unknown to mankind, such as plants, charts, astronomical objects, recipes, etc. It is written in a language that is not found elsewhere on earth (so far?). Not even the use of our supercomputers can decipher this language.

Take a look at the manuscript for yourself at this site:

http://highway49.library.yale.edu/photonegatives/SetsSearchExecXC.asp?srchtype=ITEM

Whenever I read of new unsolved mysteries, it tickles my mind and causes me to wonder how such issues affect the my belief or disbelief in the existance of a Supreme God. Christians take the Bible as their end-all in their beliefs, so they tend to ignore such facts or attribute it to the devil.

Could it be the language of an advanced alien race?

Friday, January 4, 2008

A joke about hell - good one

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term exam paper:
"Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat), or endothermic (absorbs heat)? Support your answer with a proof."

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools off when it expands and heats up when it is compressed) or some variant thereof. One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So, we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.

As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since, there are more than one of these religions, and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and all souls go to Hell.

With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell, because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:
1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

If we accept the postulate given to me by Ms. Krissy Jones during my Freshman year that "it will be a cold night in Hell before I sleep with you" and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then (2) cannot be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic.

This student got the only A.

Heaven and Hell - What Buddhists Believe

Read the Buddhist's teachings on heaven and hell for a comparison.

Click here.

In short, Buddhist believe in a temporal heaven as reward and hell as punishment, but not permanent damnation like what the Christians believe. The aim in life is not to live out of the fear of hell, but to aim at living a good life and keep developing in the positive direction. Human weakness is taken into consideration.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

7 Youths Who Saw Hell

Read this article here.

I find it unbelievable! 1000 times worse than what an imperfect human being can imagine!

How can a God of Love, Jesus Christ who loves the world, allow such atrocities to happen ???

I just wonder...

"23 Minutes in Hell" -Bill Wiese

This person Bill Wiese claims that as a non-Christian, he experienced hell and came back, then decided to believe in the Bible.

His book is here online. Pl note this from the pdf file:

Transcribed from the Audio CD, NOT from his book. For the most complete story, please purchase his book! This was from a
convention in Kansas City, KS called “Kansas City for America”. The experience in Hell happened on November 23, 1998.


(I wonder again why we must purchase the book and someone makes the money? Without money can the world come to know Jesus and be saved? If hell is that terrible, why is he worried about money? )

Summary of the file
As he makes a lot of quotes from the Bible in between his narration and adds a lot of other thot, I will summarise his actual experience here in point form to that it won't sound so sensational.

1. He (or his soul, as he was out of his body) was dropped into a prison cell one day, at 3am.
2. He felt very hot , but the Lord was with him. (I thot he was not a Christian yet?)
3. There were 4 horrible looking, 12 feet tall creatures with him in the cell. They were cursing God.
4. One of them picked him up and threw him around, then bit his flesh off.
5. The place smelled very very bad, rotten.
6. The cell became pitch black.
7. He manage to crawl out of the cell.
8. He heard billions of people screaming.
9. He felt fear.
10. He realised that he was naked.
11. He could not find water.
12. One of the demons pulled him back into the cell. Someone (now he says it is the Lord) pulled him back out.
13. He saw people being burned and tormented in the fire.
14. You need sleep in hell but cannot do it.
15. He somehow know that hell is in the centre of the earth, 3700 miles down.
16. He saw many types of demon, including huge rats, spiders, etc.
17. He then began to ascend upwards.
18. The people were begging another chance but got none. (a forgiving Bible-god?)
19. Suddenly Jesus showed up, in the form of a man.
20. He was overwhelmed by the love of Jesus.
21. Jesus asked him to tell the world "I am coming very soon".
22. Then he saw all the demons become small as ants.
23. He left hell with God at this side, up a tunnel, out of earth atmosphere and saw earth from above.
24. He flew back to California and home, saw his body and entered it.


That is the gist of his story. After that he believed in Jesus.
At the end, again he asked the reader to purchase his book!
I wonder why his hell experience did not give him the urgency to reach the world and forget about money? It costs US10.39 at Amazon.com

Questions

1. I wonder also, that if such an experience had happened to someone in China, would that person decide that it was Jesus, and not Buddha?

2. When out-of-body experiences were first publiscised by researchers, they were immediately condemned by Christians as coming from the devil. But today, Christians embrace them just because of people like Bill who said they saw Jesus.

3. Again it happened to one person. No witnesses.

4. Now Bill is famous and making money from his book and sermons.

5. He mentioned on the website that he is also in Real Estate business, but not for the money. Amazing! Not for the money? Then why not go into full-time ministry? I thot Jesus commanded him to tell the world of hell, and he still has time for business!???

Judge for yourself.

Heavenly Claims - Views of Willaim M Alnor

Read this objective article by a Christian about people who claimed to have gone to heaven and hell.


Heaven Can't Wait
A Survey of Alleged Trips to the Other Side
by William M. Alnor
from the Christian Research Journal, Spring 1993, page 24. The Editor-in-Chief of the Christian Research Journal is Elliot Miller.


Charismatic leader Roberts Liardon said that one afternoon in 1974 -- when he was eight years old -- he was caught up into heaven where he met Jesus face to face. Liardon, who now directs his own worldwide ministry based in Laguna Hills, California, said that Christ was "about six feet tall, with sandy-brown hair, not real short and not too long."[1] In his book I Saw Heaven, Liardon said Jesus escorted him through the gates of heaven where he saw golden streets, dazzling looking flowers, plenty of mansions, trees that "swayed back and forth, dancing and praising as we passed," and a "knee-deep...crystal clear" river of life.[2]
Upon walking to the river, Liardon recounts the first thing Jesus did to him: "He dunked me! I got back up and splashed Him, and we had a water fight. We splashed each other and laughed."[3]

Later, Liardon claims, when Jesus walked him to the heavenly throne room of God, he noticed "three storage houses 500 to 600 yards" away. He explains:
We walked into the first. As Jesus shut the front door behind us, I looked around the interior in shock!
On one side of the building were exterior parts of the body. Legs hung from the wall, but the scene looked natural, not grotesque. On the other side of the building were shelves filled with eyes, green ones, brown ones, blue ones, and so forth.
The building contained all of the parts of the human body that people on earth need, but Christians have not realized these blessings are waiting in heaven. There is no place else in the universe for these parts to go except right here on earth; no one else needs them.
Jesus said to me, "These are the unclaimed blessings. This building should not be full. It should be emptied. You should come in here with faith and get the needed parts for you, and the people you will come in contact with that day."

The unclaimed blessings are there in those storehouses -- all of the parts of the body people might need: hundreds of new eyes, legs, skin, hair, eardrums -- they are all there. All you have to do is go in and get what you need by the arm of faith, because it is there.[4]
Later during the visit, Jesus allegedly ordained Liardon to the ministry. Jesus told him, "Roberts, I am calling you to a great work. I am ordaining you to a great work. You will have to run like no one else and preach like no one else. You will have to be different from everyone else."[5]

As strange as Liardon's story might seem, it is not unusual these days. In fact, many leaders from within the Pentecostal and charismatic movements (including the Word-Faith camp) claim that they too were taken to heaven (and sometimes hell) to consult with Jesus or deceased saints. Besides witnessing incredible sights, most of them claim (like Liardon) that they were commissioned for their ministries there, often by Jesus Himself.
During the past several months I have examined many of the most popular "I went to heaven" stories circulating through the church. As a result of my inquiry, I am throwing up a bright red flag -- urging extreme caution over believing any of the current heaven or hell visitation stories. To begin, the stories are mystical and unverifiable -- there's no way to be certain that a particular story is true. And there are several additional concerns which I will raise below.

DISTINCT FROM NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES
Before proceeding further, I need to make an important clarification. The types of experiences I am dealing with are related to near-death experiences (NDEs), but they aren't the same thing. In the Spring and Summer 1992 issues of this journal, researcher J. Isamu Yamamoto examined NDEs, which became popular following the publication of Dr. Raymond Moody's book Life after Life in 1976. In a typical NDE, a hospital patient who has been near death (e.g., the patient temporarily stopped breathing, or experienced a severe heart attack or trauma that caused the heart to stop beating) testifies -- upon awakening from the trauma -- that he (or she) experienced hovering above his body in the hospital, then propelling through a dark tunnel toward a bright light on the other side. This light turns out to be a being of unconditional love, and in his presence the patient reviews his entire life before being sent back to his body.
The "I went to heaven and hell" experiences are different first of all because those who claim to have experienced them are not necessarily near death when the event occurs. Often those who claim to have been to the other side were not sure if they were actually there or if they experienced a vision. The accounts are also more detailed than the typical NDE, often involving not just an encounter with a heavenly entity but a tour of the world beyond.

Second, these experiences are predominantly Christian in orientation, with a strong apocalyptic flavor (i.e., many of the images are straight out of the Book of Revelation and other biblical texts). They seem to be closely related to the continuing search for supernatural "signs and wonders" presently sweeping through the charismatic and Pentecostal movements. NDEs, on the other hand, are not necessarily Christian-based; they don't typically reflect a world view that portrays the Godhead (represented by the Holy Trinity) on one side and the Devil and his hoards on the other. In fact, they often have New Age overtones.

A HISTORICAL SURVEY
A historical survey of these types of mystical stories indicates that such alleged experiences are nothing new. According to Heaven: A History, by religious historians Colleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang, visionaries throughout the centuries have claimed to have been caught up to the other side. McDannell and Lang note that visionaries' pictures of paradise tend to differ depending on the era in which they were recorded.

Throughout the book they recount various stories -- some of them every bit as outlandish as today's stories -- from people who claimed to have been caught up into heaven. They state that images of heaven have generally fallen under three categories:
(1) "the compensatory paradise," which was a view favored by early church father Irenaeus that pictured the new world as a paradise restored, where "the human body will be placed in an ideal environment," and where women will bear many children in a plentiful, abundant earth;[6] (2) "the ascetic afterlife," favored by the early Augustine in which he indicated that heaven would be based on continuous contemplation on God in ecstatic rapture;[7] and
(3) the "ecclesiastical model" in which there would be remembrance of families, fellowship of the saints, and a new God-based society.[8] Visions of heaven throughout the centuries have been significantly conditioned by whichever view of the afterlife prevailed at the time.

ARE VISITS TO HEAVEN POSSIBLE?
Of course, it is possible for God's children to be caught up into heaven. No biblical passage expressly denies the possibility. But we need to be wary of leaders who claim an exclusive vision or experience in order to verify their ministries.
Christian leaders should point others to Christ and what He has done on the cross instead of to their own personal experiences. Most of the people claiming heavenly visitations seem to have a much different attitude than the apostle Paul when he discussed his trip (whether out of the body or in a vision) to the "third heaven" (2 Cor. 12:1-5). In the verses leading up to his account of heaven, Paul was clearly reluctant to discuss his experience because he thought he might be perceived as "boasting" about it.

WHO'S MADE THE TRIP?
Paul Yonggi Cho
Some of the biggest names in the charismatic movement claim to have been to the other side and back. Among them is Paul Yonggi [David] Cho -- controversial pastor of the largest church in the world (with more than 500,000 members) in Seoul, Korea. He said he met a blue-skinned, deceased missionary to Korea there who commissioned him to reach his country-folk for Christ.[9]
Cho has also stated that one of his assistant pastors at the Yoido Full Gospel Church died and came back to life after three days. During that time period, according to an interview Cho gave to Mary Stewart Relfe, he was reunited with his wife in heaven where he saw God and was able to meet various biblical figures -- including Abraham, Stephen, and David.[10]

Kenneth Hagin
Another big name who claims to have been to heaven and hell is prominent radio evangelist Kenneth E. Hagin, founder of the RHEMA Bible Training Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In his book I Believe in Visions, Hagin claims that as a young man in 1933, suffering from a deformed heart and an incurable blood disease, his heart stopped beating and his "inner man rushed out of my body...[and]...I went down, down, down until the lights of the earth faded away....And the farther down I went, the hotter and more stifling it became. Finally, far below me, I could see lights flickering on the walls of the caverns of the damned....I came to the entrance of hell."[11] Hagin stated that a voice from above, Christ's voice, rescued him from hell during this occasion (as well as two later occasions when his heart also stopped beating) as he lay deathly ill.
Hagin has also stated that during a 1950 tent revival meeting in Rockwall, Texas, Jesus appeared to him, standing in the air near the top of the tent. "Come up hither," Jesus allegedly commanded him. Hagin claims he then sailed through the air with Christ and was shown visions of both heaven and hell.[12]

Morris Cerullo
Well-known Pentecostal evangelist Morris Cerullo, like Hagin, claims to have been caught up into heaven during a service. Cerullo says the incident was a "vision" that later evolved into his "spirit lift[ing] from this earth and [being] taken right into the heavens."[13] There he saw a six-foot tall "manifestation of the Godhead" that didn't look human at all:
I am not going to tell you that I saw Jesus with long brown hair, a beautiful beard and [a] nice long white robe....Directly in front of that great mass of people, the height of an average man, about six feet tall and two feet wide, there appeared a great flaming ball of brightness and glory; it had no physical human features about it at all! There were no eyes, there were no ears, no nose, no mouth, no hands and no legs, but just a great flaming ball of brightness and glory.[14]
He called the entity "the Presence of God, for this light was not just the glory of Jesus but it was the glory of the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." The entity then showed him the fires of hell in which "were multitudes of lost souls,"[15] and it spoke these words to him in 1611 King James English: "My son, arise, shine, for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. Thou shalt not be afraid for thou shall not stand in thine own strength, neither shall you stand in thine own place but you shall stand in the place I have made for thee and My strength shall uphold and guard thee."[16]

Lesser-Known Travelers
Many lesser-known people claim to have visited the other side. Two who have each written a handful of books mentioning their experiences are Dr. Richard Eby of California and Betty Malz of Florida. Both authors have been the focus of enormous attention from the Christian media. Eby, author of the best seller Caught Up into Paradise (Fleming H. Revell), and its sequel Tell Them I Am Coming, has benefited greatly from the notoriety he has received as a frequent guest on Paul and Jan Crouch's Praise the Lord show on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
Malz, however, has recently been on the negative side of attention from the Christian media. Her first book, My Glimpse of Eternity (Fleming H. Revell, 1977), has sold around one million copies and has been printed in 11 languages. She has since written five other books, all of which mention her alleged trip to heaven during a death experience on July 31, 1959 at an Indiana hospital.[17] But in the June 11 issue of the Canadian publication Christian Week, reporter Lorna Dueck, who had investigated Malz's story, reported it to be flatly false.

Malz claims that after she had been in a coma for 44 days in the hospital, her heart stopped beating for 28 minutes, during which she went to heaven and witnessed many marvels. But she was allegedly sent back to earth when her father uttered a one-word prayer. Dueck retraced Malz's steps and interviewed officials at the Union Hospital in Terre Haute, Indiana, who told her that Malz never died during her hospital stay for a ruptured appendix. "Clark Boyd, the doctor for Malz referred to in the book, said he was surprised no reporters questioned him on Malz's story before. 'I knew...it didn't happen,' Boyd said."[18] The controversy over Malz's story was publicized worldwide in the news sections of numerous publications, including Christianity Today, but it did not result in Chosen Books, a division of Fleming H. Revell publishers, recalling the books.

Richard Eby's alleged trips to heaven and hell also deserve careful scrutiny. The problem with Eby is that there is evidence that he has added previously unrevealed (and highly suspect) details about his experiences years later. In Caught Up into Paradise Eby claims that after a two-story fall on his head in 1972 he briefly died and was ushered into heaven where he had a "fantastic cloud-like body!...I was clothed in a translucent flowing gown, pure white, but transparent to my gaze. In amazement I could see through my body and note the gorgeously white flowers behind and beneath me."[19] He claims he later came back to earth in a hospital room where Jesus assured him that he would be healed.

Later, the book relates, during a 1977 Trinity Broadcasting Network tour of Israel when Eby was visiting Lazarus's tomb in Bethany, the lights went out and Jesus took him to hell: "In the twinkling of an eye Jesus was standing beside me....I heard the same wonderful Voice that had spoken to me from the cloud in my hospital room five years before: 'My son; I showed you heaven, now I show you hell. You must know about them both...'"[20]

"Praise the Lord for only two minutes of hell!" Eby wrote. "Even so, it was too long....With terror came anger: hell-inspired curses flowed out in silence. My lips were silenced! Hate, wrath, cruelty, and insane rage rolled back and forth through me. Despite the utter silence I heard demons taunt me."[21] Eby then contradicted almost every other modern visionary claiming to have visited hell by stating that it is not a place of fire and flames: "And then I noticed the cold. The kind that sickens and chills every cell just enough to ache but not get numb. There was no way ever to get warm, not in that dank pit! And the smell! Horrid, nasty, stale, fetid, rotten, evil...mixed together and concentrated. Somehow I knew instantly that these were the odors of my Pit-mates. Stinking, crawling, demons seen mentally delighting in making me wretched."[22]

Actually, in Caught Up into Paradise Eby didn't devote much space to his heaven and hell visitations. In subsequent books and speaking engagements, however, he has added many new details. He even went on to claim that Jesus personally promised him that he would not die -- he would be raptured with the church; His return was that close. (Eby is now eighty years old.)
More recently Eby diverged from his original testimony of hell, claiming on the Trinity Broadcasting Network that during his visit he heard music and witnessed demons there gyrating to heavy metal rock n' roll "punk" music.

CONTEMPLATING THINGS ABOVE
Now, having said all this, it is critical to note that there's nothing wrong with Christians dwelling on the afterlife. In fact, God's Word tells us, "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:2-3). We are to live as "aliens and strangers in the world" (1 Pet. 2:11) because "our citizenship is in heaven" (Phil. 3:20). It is healthy, then, for Christians to contemplate their future home in heaven instead of laying their treasures in this world (Matt. 6:19-20). Jesus, in fact, comforted His disciples by assuring them that He was preparing a place for them in heaven (John 14:1-4).
From a personal perspective, an unexpected benefit in completing this article was that after reading so many "I went to heaven" stories, I found myself dwelling on the topic more, wondering what heaven is really like. Others, too, seem to have derived the same benefit from books like these. But, because they all contradict one another, if there is any validity to some of these visions they must be understood as symbolic and not literal depictions of what the afterlife is like.

CONTRADICTING GOD'S WORD
Whatever debatable value may be derived from these books, however, is clearly canceled out when they contradict God's revealed Word. Furthermore, even if a doctrinal contradiction is not apparent, these "special revelations" supposedly given to Christian leaders in heaven must never serve as a source or corroboration for doctrine, or they will undermine the authority of Scripture.
Roberts Liardon, for example, uses his heavenly revelations to promote the false "name it and claim it" prosperity doctrines. In talking about his "heavenly warehouse" visit, Liardon notes:
You do not have to cry and beg God to make the part you need. Just go get it. The doors to the storehouses are never locked. They are always open for those who need to go in. We should empty those buildings....Because of my visit to heaven, I never had any doubt that Jesus not only wants His people well and whole but that healing is available for any who will receive. I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that God did not put sickness and disease on people. I saw no sickness and disease in heaven during my visit, only provision for creative miracles.[23]
The End-Time Handmaidens -- a Jasper, Arkansas-based charismatic ministry headed by Gwen Shaw -- have published several contradictory books about trips to heaven which shoot wide of Scripture in significant areas.

In reprinting and distributing Intra Muros ("Within the Gates"), which was originally published in 1898, the Handmaidens became culpable in spreading false doctrine because the book supports the Mormon doctrine of eternal marriage between men and women in heaven.[24] Intra Muros is based on the 19th century vision of heaven by Methodist Rebecca Springer (1832-1904).[25] Contrary to Intra Muros, God's Word tells us -- in fact, Jesus Himself stated -- that there will be no marriage in heaven, and people will be "like the angels" (Matt. 22:30). Intra Muros also strays from Scripture in numerous other areas, including the advocacy of works righteousness as a way of attaining heaven, and the assertion that many in heaven will not be in a perfected state.[26] It also states that the saints in heaven can become "ministering spirits" to those on earth.[27]

Another book reprinted by the End-Time Handmaidens in 1984 (first published around the turn of the century) is Elwood Scott's Paradise: The Holy City and the Glory of the Throne. This account is hard to take seriously due to its fanciful portrait of heaven as being a domain of flying horseless chariots (resembling futuristic "Jetsons"-type cars) that are flown about by angels and the saints; its accounts of each saint being given a harp to play; and the ludicrous, worldly, and even racist thinking that permeates the book.
For example, the book asserts that all black people on earth will become white in heaven. The main character in the book, Seneca Sodi, who claims to have spent 40 days in heaven, gives an account of how he observed a group of singers in the distance and was told that "they were all colored people of America."[28] Drawing closer, Sodi asks one of the singers, "Are there no black faces in heaven?" He is told: "We are all white here and in de perfect image of de Lord....There's multitudes of dem here and dey sing in de choir wid de odder people and their voices are often de loudest."[29]

The End-Time Handmaidens also published a more respectable 13-page testimonial booklet by Aline Baxley of California who claims that after an automobile accident, "the Death Angel carried me out to that outer darkness. I found myself in Hell, screaming, hollering, gnashing my teeth, begging the Death Angel not to leave me in Hell. Souls were around me by the hundreds and thousands, screaming and gnashing their teeth, just trying to die."[30] After God also showed her the lake of fire, she woke up from a coma she'd been in for several days, so terrified that she asked Christ to save her from her sins.

There are other tales circulating through the church, some of which are more fanciful than others. For example, Howard O. Pittman speaks of the heavenly realm and the realm of demons in his books, Placebo (which is based on his alleged near-death experience in 1979) and Demons: An Eyewitness Account. In Demons (The Philadelphia Publishing House, 1982) Pittman includes line drawings of the many different types of demons he was shown by the angels as they escorted him through the spirit world. Some appeared like frogs, he reported, while others looked like soldiers, mythological creatures, and other forms.

In her book A Divine Revelation of Hell, Mary K. Baxter claims that Jesus took her on a 40-day personal tour of hell and later heaven in 1976. She claims hell is a place in the bowels of the earth where snakes slither and rats scurry about.[31] She adds that hell is where people are burning but cannot die, even though worms are crawling through their ignited corpses. She also pictures hell as being structured in the shape of a human: it has a left and right leg, belly, heart, right and left arm, and a jaw -- with each section constituting a slightly different torture chamber pocketed with many fiery pits.

Like many other modern-day visionaries, Baxter diverges from Scripture by portraying hell in terms of The Divine Comedy by Dante (A.D. 1265-1321). Thus demons and Satan himself function as supervisors in hell, responsible for inflicting pain (beyond the pain already inflicted by hell itself) on people under their charge.[32] In one scene demons are portrayed as dancing around a coffin "chanting and laughing" as they keep thrusting spears into a human victim.[33] The Bible, however, teaches that the Devil himself will be thrown into "the lake of fire" to face eternal punishment (Rev. 20:7-10). And Jesus added that "the eternal fire" will be specifically created for "the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:41).

Perhaps the most plausible book I read involved the visions of Marietta Davis who fell into a nine-day trance in the summer of 1848 at her home in Berlin, New York. During this time, she said upon awakening, she had been in heaven and had also been shown hell. Although her story was first published in 1856, it has since gone into at least 36 editions, including a recent edition published by Christ for the Nations of Dallas, Texas, and edited by that organization's late founder, Gordon Lindsay. According to this edition, called Scenes Beyond the Grave, when Davis returned to consciousness she accurately predicted the day of her death based on her otherworldly revelations.[34] In her vision Jesus was adorned with a crown of pure light and had golden hair.[35] She also stated that in heaven the angels educate and instruct earthly infants and young children who've died before reaching an age of reason. But she too paints a picture of hell as a domain of not only fire, but of demonic revelry and laughter.[36]
Heavenly Mansions?

Although these heaven and hell stories generally don't match each other in significant ways, almost all mention seeing large mansions -- often resembling multiroomed Victorian castle-like houses -- being constructed for God's people in heaven. This might appear to be justified on the basis of John 14:2 (in which Jesus tells His disciples in the King James Version that in His father's house are "many mansions...I go to prepare a place for you."). But a careful reading of the Greek wording in the passage reveals that there is little warrant for translators using the term mansions, which denotes a worldly picture of a lavish house.

According to Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, the Greek word mone is primarily a staying, or abiding, and it "denotes an abode." The same Greek word is translated as abode in verse 23. Vine's says "there is nothing in the word to indicate separate compartments in Heaven; neither does it suggest temporary resting-places on the road."[37] Modern translations tend to render the passage in a manner similar to the New International Version: "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you."

More Biblical Objections
Those who would unreservedly accept any of the "I went to heaven or hell" stories need to further consider additional scriptural factors. In my opinion, the most obvious problem with the "I went to hell" accounts that I've examined -- including the above-mentioned vision of Marietta Davis -- is that they confuse the biblical distinction between hades, a temporary holding-place of punishment where the lost go after death (see Luke 16:22-26) and gehenna or the lake of fire, the final and eternal abode of the damned (see Matt. 25:41). These modern-day visions of hell typically see the lost presently in gehenna.

The most obvious problem with the "I went to heaven" stories is the clear biblical affirmations that heaven is a place beyond our ability to describe. Paul, who was "caught up to the third heaven," "heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell" (2 Cor. 12:2, 4, NIV). With this in mind, then, the problems inherent with all the "I went to heaven" stories are: (1) If Christian leaders today have been caught up to paradise, why are they permitted to tell the world about it when the apostle Paul wasn't? (2) In mentioning his trip, Paul stated that what he heard was inexpressible. Why then are the sights and sounds of today's heavenly trips not only expressible for a growing number of charismatic leaders, but they are expressed in vivid detail, down to the color of heavenly grapes, grass, trees, and mansions -- and even to the color of Christ's hair?

I have deliberately mentioned the perceived hair color of Christ in this article to underscore another point about contradictions among these stories. We've heard about golden locks, brown hair, and dark hair -- but none of them have described seeing Jesus the same way the apostle John did when he received his vision on the Isle of Patmos. "His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire" (Rev. 1:14). When one reads the rest of John's description of Christ, the picture becomes almost -- as Paul put it -- inexpressible.
When considering these stories, we need to be aware of the possibility that they may only trivialize and demean the real heaven that will someday be the believer's home. Remember that heaven is the dwelling place of God, the Creator of the universe. Since we cannot fathom the wonders of our own world, much less determine the size of our own universe, how can we pretend to picture the next world?

Perhaps the symbol-laden picture the apostle John portrays in the Book of Revelation is as much of heaven as we are meant to see in this life. For if the apostle Paul, who was authorized to explain to us the fullness of God's riches in Christ, dared not describe what he saw in heaven, why is it that the Kenneth Hagins and Morris Cerullos of today feel called to do so?

NOTES
1 Roberts Liardon, I Saw Heaven (Tulsa: Harrison House, 1991), 25. 2 Ibid., 32, 38. 3 Ibid., 38. 4 Ibid., 42-43. 5 Ibid., 47. 6 Colleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang, Heaven: A History (New York: Vantage, 1990), 270. 7 Ibid., 48, 55. 8 Ibid., 48. 9 Cho discusses this experience in his book, Leap of Faith (South Plainfield, NJ: Bridge Publishing, 1984). 10 "Interview with Dr. Paul Cho," Mary S. Relfe, League of Prayer (P.O. Box 4038, Montgomery, AL, 36104), n.d. 11 Kenneth Hagin, I Believe in Visions, 2d ed. (Tulsa: Faith Library Publications, 1984), 5. 12 Ibid., 44-45. 13 Morris Cerullo, From Judaism to Christianity (San Diego: World Evangelism, 1962), 64. 14 Ibid., 66. 15 Ibid., 66-67. 16 Ibid., 69. 17 Lorna Dueck, "Dream Turned Fact Launches Best Selling Author," Christian Week, 11 June 1991, 8. 18 William M. Alnor, "In Brief...," Christian Research Journal, Fall 1991, 34. 19 Richard Eby, Caught Up into Paradise (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, n.d.), 203. 20 Ibid., 228-29. 21 Ibid., 229-30. 22 Ibid., 230. 23 Liardon, 43-44. 24 Rebecca Ruter Springer, Intra Muros (Jasper, AR: Engeltal Press, n.d.), 138, 158-59, 163. 25 McDannell and Lang, 48, 52. 26 Springer, 25. 27 Ibid., 46-47. 28 Elwood Scott, Paradise: The Holy City and the Glory of the Throne (Jasper, AR: Engeltal Press, 1984), 89. 29 Ibid., 89, 91. 30 Aline Baxley, I Walked in Hell and There Is Life after Death (Jasper, AR: End-Time Handmaidens, n.d.), 3. 31 Mary K. Baxter, A Divine Revelation of Hell (Washington, D.C.: National Press, n.d.), 17-20. 32 Ibid., 29-31, 42. 33 Ibid., 51. 34 Gordon Lindsey, ed., Scenes Beyond the Grave, 36th ed. (Dallas: Christ for the Nations, n.d.), 9. 35 Ibid., 24. 36 Ibid., 62. 37 W. E. Vine, "Mansions," An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, 1966), 39, 40.
End of document, CRJ0124A.TXT (original CRI file name), "Heaven Can't Wait: A Survey of Alleged Trips to the Other Side" release A, June 30, 1994 R. Poll, CRI
A special note of thanks to Bob and Pat Hunter for their help in the preparation of this ASCII file for BBS circulation.
Copyright 1994 by the Christian Research Institute.
COPYRIGHT/REPRODUCTION LIMITATIONS: This data file is the sole property of the Christian Research Institute. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety for circulation as "freeware," without charge. All reproductions of this data file must contain the copyright notice (i.e., "Copyright 1994 by the Christian Research Institute"). This data file may not be used without the permission of the Christian Research Institute for resale or the enhancement of any other product sold. This includes all of its content with the exception of a few brief quotations not to exceed more than 500 words.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Book Review of Paradise, the Holy City and the Glory of the Throne

Another book at the same website online, Paradise, the Holy City and the Glory of the Throne by Rev. Elwood Scott also contains hardly anything new for us to read. It goes almost in the same line as the previous book I reviewed. Almost all the information can be found in the Bible??? All the author talks about is meeting those who had died and gone before him. I am of the opinion that anywho who had studied the Bible can concort such a so-called vision (I am not saying that the author is lying).

Why would God give us a vision to give us information which are already in the Bible? Did Jesus not say men must have faith and believe?

Book Review at Divine Revelations Site

At the same site (http://www.spiritlessons.com/) mentioned in my previous post, there is review of the Book "Visons Beyong the Veil" by H A Baker. I have not read the book, but have a few questions about what the review says.

"
Visions Beyond the Veilby H.A.Baker Such a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit onto little poor Chinese Orphans, showing what is only possible when God's anointing is at work. This book documents the visions and miracles that happened when revival broke out in their midst. The children saw angels, demons, heaven, hell, etc. The visions changed the children's lives and behaviors. The children would lay or sit still for hours as if in a trance, and would reported their visions to the Bakers, who faithfully documented them. Young children (new believers) who were untrained and ignorant of spiritual truths, spoke in the 1st person of Jesus with such boldness and eloquence, and as powerful as any old testament prophet, demonstrating the power of God on those who are surrendered to Him.
"

1. When we go to court, the testimonies of children are often handled with extra care, as they may not be able to clearly tell the truth from deception or illusion. This book is based entirely on what happened to children. Hence, precaution should be taken.

2. The children reporting what they saw in a trance - is this acceptable to Bible-believing Christians? If we tell such stories of non-Christians, Christians will immediately label it as the devil and demons at work. But when it happens to them, it is God at work. Is that an objective perspective? In some studies, this practice is known as chanelling (labelled as from the devil by Christians).

3. How did the author Baker document them? Did the children speak word by word for him to record? Or did not write what he assumed he heard?

4. How can these new believers speak in the first person of Jesus? In non-Christian circles, it would classifed as demon-possession. Nowhere in the Bible do we read of Jesus possessing a human being and speaking as the first person.

5. Why was only the author present? Why is it that God presumably always manifests in some remote, unknown areas and only one person witnessess it, and have to write a book to tell the story?

If the Bible-god is true, why doesn't he just ask his son Jesus to appear in the sky so that everyone will believe in him without any need for arguments or indirect allegations of proof in isolated places in the world? Why bother to write texts all over the world, bury them somewhere in the wild, wait for thousands of years for some shepherd boy to find them, then wait for a council to compile the books as the Bible in one language, and then wait for many many years later for all kinds of translations, then let people interpret/misinterpret and fight over it and condemn each other to hell?

Up to today, it is still a belief that Jesus can save the world. When something is true, we need not believe, cos it is true. As long as it is a belief, it can be false.

After Reading

As I read the accounts online, I cannot believe it. It does not sound all Christian!!

First extract
Some of the visions seen were: Christ tied to a post and scourged; Christ bleeding on the cross while scoffers looked on; the body of Christ taken from the cross, carried to the tomb, placed in the tomb, and the tomb closed; an angel opening the tomb and Christ's resurrection; His appearance to the women, to the disciples by the sea, and to those in the upper room; the ascension of Christ and the descent of the two angels; heaven; detailed visions inside the New Jerusalem in heaven; angels; the redeemed; hell; the condition of the lost in hell; demons; the devil; the great tribulation and things pertaining to saints and to the subjects of the beast during that time; the battle of Armageddon; the binding and imprisonment of Satan in the pit; the binding of the Anti- Christ; the devil cast out of heaven; the Great Supper of God and birds eating flesh of kings and captains of the earth; the coming of Christ with his angels; the sun and moon changed; heaven quake and earth quake and destruction that attended the coming of Christ; the resurrection of the righteous; the marriage supper of the Lamb in Paradise; detailed views of our mansions in heaven and other heavenly scenes.

I wonder why would God wish to show them what has been described in the Bible? What does that achieve? It was like they were watching a film on the New Testament?

Second Extract
The Adullam children said they went to the third heaven.

I wonder how they know it was first, second, third?

Third Extract
On either side of the beautiful golden streets were buildings side by side, a room for each person, every room opening onto the street. Upon the door and about the front were precious jewels so resplendently brilliant that the building shone with light and glory. The name of each occupant was above the door. Angels led the children into the rooms. Within all the rooms were the same kinds of furnishings: a beautiful golden table upon which was a Bible, a flower vase, a pen, and a book; by the table was a golden chair; there was also a wonderful golden chest and a golden bed. In each room was a jeweled crown, a golden harp, and a trumpet. The walls were gold. From the Bible, made of such paper as had never been seen on earth and bound with gold, light and such brilliant glory shone forth that the whole room needed no other light. The visitors were told that when they came to stay after death they could go out into Paradise and pick any flowers of their choice to place in the beautiful vase on the golden table.23
In these visits to heaven the children could go to their rooms at pleasure to read their Bibles or to play their harps and trumpets. Sometimes they took their trumpets or harps out into the streets or out into Paradise to play and sing with the angels and the redeemed who are now in heaven.


Everyone has a room? So heaven is no different from earth? And the Bible is still existing in Heaven? Why do we need the Bible in heaven? Beside playing harps and trumpets, what will we do in heaven?

Fourth Extract
The first day when the Holy Spirit fell upon the children, and one of the boys was caught up to heaven, with angels who came to welcome him came also the two Adullam boys who were undoubtedly saved and who died the year before. These two, "Hsi Dien Fu" and "Djang Hsing," had with them in heaven a little girl who died in Kotchiu four years previous, whom our children had forgotten.
These who had died and gone on before led those who were caught up in the joys and wonders of heaven. They led them to see Jesus, first of all, and to worship and thank Him. After this they were shown their dwellings and escorted around the city or led out into Paradise to play.


I thought the Bible says only when the Rapture takes place then the dead will be caught up to be with God. But the author here records that someone who died 1 year earlier was already in heaven. It sounds more like a Chinese belief. Did the boys tell something out of their Chinese belief? And why did they only see these 2 boys? Were there no others/

Fifth Extract
One of the young men was in Paradise almost as soon as he entered the heavenly city. There he was met by the two Adullam boys who had died in Hokow. These boys, taking him through Paradise and the other parts of the Holy City, soon came to a great, lawn like, grassy, open plot surrounded by magnificent trees, golden and sparkling.

The whole scene was so entrancing the young man said to his two glorified friends, "This is good enough for me. There cannot be anything more beautiful. I will stay right here." The boys who had preceded him to heaven said, "No, do not wait here, for there are much greater marvels." Going on a little farther they came to still more wonderful trees, some of them bearing fruit. The whole park-like surrounding and the grassy lawn beneath the trees were enticing beyond any earthly understanding. The young man said, "I must stay here, I cannot go on and leave this great beauty. I am so happy." "Come on," said the others, "there are many things in heaven exceeding this." "You go," he replied, "but I shall remain right here for awhile." The others left him on the grass under the trees with the great, open, velvet-like grassy space before him. Floods of joy and happiness he had never known on earth flooded his whole being. He was in the land of joy, "joy unspeakable and full of glory," "the land that is fairer than day." Frequently an angel came walking by, playing a harp and singing. The angel smiled, offered him the harp. "I cannot play," he said. The angel passed by. Soon other angels came, smiling to him as they played and sang.

The angels were dressed in seamless garments of white; their faces were perfect; one was not more beautiful than another. "When they smiled—Oh, I can't describe that," the boy said, "there is no way on earth to describe the angels' smile."
Similar and surpassing beautiful scenes in Paradise were seen, repeatedly seen, by a large number of Adullam children. In Paradise they saw trees bearing the most delicious fruit, and vistas of most beautiful flowers of every color and hue, sending forth an aroma of surpassing fragrance. There were birds of glorious plumage singing their carols of joy and praise. In this park were also animals of every size and description: large deer, small deer, large lions, great elephants, lovely rabbits, and all sorts of little friendly pets such as they had never seen before.


This surely reads like a Harry Potter !! Any story writer can write such a story.

Sixth Extract

When hungry, the children ate of the wonderful fruit or gathered freely the sweet tasting, refreshing manna that was scattered all about. Were they thirsty? Here and there trickled little brooks of the stimulating and refreshing water of life.

So we still get hungry and thirsty and need food to live? Did the Bible say that?

Seventh Extract

When one man who did not know the Gospel died, his soul, after being liberated from the body, wandered about unhindered from place to place on earth, until one of the devil's angels, descending from the sky with chains, bound him and forced him down to hell. The death of a professing Christian who had known the Lord, but had not truly repented, was still more terrible. When this man was dying, demons by his deathbed waited in fiendish delight for the liberation of the soul of this hypocritical, one-time professing Christian. The demons began to bind him before he was entirely out of the body and completed the binding of their captive the minute he drew his last ungodly breath. The hypocrite did not enjoy one moment of freedom to wander about the earth. An object of ridicule to his demon captors, in terror he was at once dragged and pushed into hell.
One such ungodly man was the special sport of demons who, having bound him in chains, dragged him along on the earth, again and again jerking him up on his feet only again to drag him down and haul him along like a dead dog. After furnishing amusement for his captor the man was dragged down the dark road to the infernal regions.


The Bible says in the Book of Revelations that one day, God will free all the dead and all will be judged. The righteous will go to heaven, the other go to hell. But the author here says the unconverted dead is dragged to hell immediately upon death. Sure this contradicts what the Bible says. His description fits more of the Chinese belief that all of us who die will be chained and dragged to hell. So again, were the children lying?

The author then claimed that the whole book of Revelations was lived out as if in real life to the children.Hmmm...It read like everything was copied from the Bible without any new details or interpretation.

In conclusion, the book is almost 80% what is already found in the Bible. The rest are claims of the children expressed in the author's view. Nothing new or convincing, really.

Some Went to Hell and Came Back

My Christian friend Lucy Goh sent me a website address where many Christians share their real experiences about going to Hell and Heaven and then coming back to tell others about it.

http://www.spiritlessons.com/

If you have read my previous posts, you would know that I have made my stand that a true God of love would never ever be able to come up with the idea of a hell which will torture His creation with fire forever and ever. Only an evil being would think of it, and do it.Would a loving mother let her child be a prostitute? Would a loving father allow his children to suffer hunger and not do something about it?

So how should I look at these purportedly true experiences? We have to ask some fundamental questions.

1. Firstly, not only Christians tell such experiences. People from other faiths also do. So are they talking about the same hell and heaven, or those related to their own religions?

2. Are heaven and hell physical or otherwise? Can we go there in our physical bodies? The Bible says specifically that it is meant for souls, people after death.

3. Why are only selected people given the chance to go there and come back? If hell is so terrible, why doesn't God show it on a TV for us to see so that everyone can choose to obey Him? Even humans know how to warn others on all kinds of media about, say, the harms of smoking, which is not so terrible as burning in hell.

4. Are these people who make such claims using their stories to make money? Many such books are for sale. If they are serious about warning others, why not ask all Christians to pay for the costs of the books and then give them out free of charge? Instead we see Christians more worried about what they wear, what they eat, how to make more money to buy their dream houses, etc, etc. A communist once said that if hell and the gospel are true, he would crawl through broken glass just to tell the world about it. But I don't see any urgency from Christians today. In this aspect, the Buddhists are better, as many of their books are published and given away free, courtesy of some unknown donors.

5. With the use of books and websites, how long will it take to get their testimonies to everyone in the world? The website owner is also asking for volunteers to translate the books into other languages, which means that the whole world will not have the chance to read them. In the process, many people would have died and 'gone to hell'.

6. Who can be without sin? Who can be holy? Is sex sinful? Are sexual thoughts sinful? Which human being can say that he does not think about sex? So what is the criteria for heaven?

7. How do these people know that the being they saw was Jesus Christ? A Buddhist would say it is Buddha, a Hindu would say it is Vishnu, etc. Satan can disguise himself in any form, as the Bible says. It could be a kind of deception. Some aliens may also be able to control our bodies, minds and souls and make us go through some kind of imaginary experiences.

8. Is the size of hell fixed from creation? If it is, then will it be able to accomodate all the sinners going there? Or is God expanding it year after year as more and more people are sent there? Same questions for heaven.

9. Are Christians today going to church only for one reason - fear of going to hell? That is to day, if the Bible says there is no hell, will there be talk about holiness? Maybe there won't be churches at all!!

10. If hell is real and many are going to suffer there, will God be looking 'down' at them and enjoying Himself forever and ever, and won't even give a drop of water (as mentioned in the Bible) to ease their sufferings?

11. If we human beings can talk about giving people a second chance or third chance or more, why cant God do that?

12. Was the topic of hell part of the original texts, or was it added by some people along the way to frighten others into believing it? I notice that it was hardly mentioned in the Old Testament, where the Bible-god was more interested in leading Israel to a land flowing with milk and honey, and not heaven. He was also quick to kill those who disobeyed him.

13. Within the believers of the Bible are many different sects as the Bible can be interpreted or misinterpreted in thousands of ways (that is why there are many Bible-based cults too). So who is right? The Pentecostals? the Baptists? The Methodist? The Anglicans? The Catholics? Why is God quiet about this? So the Pentecostals condemn the rest to hell and they believe they will go to heaven, and same for the rest? If all of them can go to heaven, will they continue their bickering in heaven?

I challenge Christians to think about these points objectively, and not believe the Bible or some preachers blindly out of the fear of hell. I am sure the true God is able to reason with us and is not governed by fixed rules like 'sinners will go to hell and be burned forever and ever'. On earth, rules are set and changed by humans. So why not God?