Wednesday, July 10, 2013

BEING DRAWN TO THE LIGHT

A friend wrote a reflection about his faith and in it, he said he didn’t believe that what someone wrote about Heaven as she perceived it during a near death experience (NDE) was biblical.  I almost died when I hemorrhaged after giving birth to my daughter on Good Friday of 1972.  The near death experience I had has been very important to my spiritual journey and my faith.  So I wanted to let my friend know how I feel about my NDE from a biblical perspective.  Below you find what I wrote to him plus some additional thoughts.

The NDE I had was very personal, use it is so subjective and I can’t prove anything about it.  I never talk about it to try to convince anyone of anything that I believe, but make sure they know I am just revealing what I remember about something that happened to me. For me it was a mystical experience like seeing angels, or dreaming about a beloved friend or relative the night he or she passes away, or on the anniversary of the death of a friend.  No one has ever told me that they don't believe me, but it’s okay if they don’t.  And there are a lot of things about those experiences I have had that are impossible to describe or share.

There are no words to explain certain spiritual realities. That's one of the reasons that Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of Heaven using parables. And the experiences go beyond what is written in the Bible, too. The Lord is infinite, but what has been written in the Bible is finite. In the New Testament it says that even if they could have written everything about what Jesus did on Earth, even the whole world would not have enough room to hold all the books (John 21:25).

Focusing only on what it says in the Bible and not being open to what the Holy Spirit might reveal to you as He reveals Jesus Christ to you so that you can know Him in person is like if a friend came to visit you and that instead of talking to him or her and enjoying the experience of being together, that you read some letters from him or her, ignoring the opportunity to interact.

Also, the Bible doesn't cover everything. In the thousands of years since the various parts of it were written and shared, God has continued to be in relationship with people, and they have written more books about their own relationships with God.

No one can experience what is beyond the material world except if he or she is given the experience as a gift. During my NDE the Lord told me that I had a choice -- to go back to my life on Earth or to stay with Him. He showed me a vision of my whole life so that I could make the choice. I chose to go back to my earthly life so that I could be with my daughter. But I also saw in the vision that I would have a son. (Tom is 2 1/2 years younger than Krista.) And the vision had different characteristics than the NDE.

As I watched the vision, it was like when you are having a dream, but you see yourself do things and know how you feel at the same time. The NDE seemed the same as any other experience that we remember, even though there were un-earthly things about it, like the impression that there was light all around me, that I communicated with a kind of telepathy, and that I was away from my body, moving toward a huge three-dimensional light which was where God is. There is nothing in the Bible about anyone being drawn up to Heaven and being given a choice whether to come back or not.

In 1 Tim 6:11-16, Paul writes:
"But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen."

The Lord said I wouldn't remember all of the vision and told me that if I chose to come back, that I wouldn't be able to change my mind and that I would go through everything I saw. Sometimes when I have been about to go through the tough stuff I have dreams about what is going to happen and then I remember that I had seen that in the vision.

And sometimes when I was really going through what I had seen in the vision and dreamed about, I would say to the Lord -- "It feels like I have to go through it all three times. Why are you putting me through it like that?" And He said, "It's because you need to remember that there is a going through and a coming out of the difficult times."

But even though Paul calls the place where Jesus/God dwells "unapproachable light" and says no one has seen or ever can see him . . . but Moses talked to Him face to face like a friend, although in the same passage even though God allows Moses to see Him, God tells Moses that no one can see God face to face and live.

Exodus 33:11-23
"The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.

Moses said to the Lord, 'You have been telling me, "Lead these people," but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, "I know you by name and you have found favor with me." If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.'

The Lord replied, 'My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.'

Then Moses said to him, 'If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?'

And the Lord said to Moses, 'I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.'

Then Moses said, 'Now show me your glory.'

And the Lord said, 'I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 

'But,' he said, 'you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

That all seems like a contradiction . . . and Paul certainly knew the Torah well . . . so it doesn't really make sense . . . especially in the light of what Jesus says in John 14 -- that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him -- so seeing Jesus is the same as seeing the Father (John 14:9). . . but of course Paul never saw Jesus while He was on Earth, but only knew Him through his experience on the road to Damascus and as the Spirit of the Lord revealed Him to Paul.  Certainly Paul believes that Jesus will come again (Philippians 2:10, Romans 14:11).  I think Paul is telling Timothy that we will not see Jesus face to face until He returns in Glory.

Some biblical scholars think that Paul wrote 2 Corinthians around 57 AD, and that 1Timothy was written around 62-66 AD. So it could be that if Paul was the "man who was drawn up to the third heaven," that the light he saw was "unapproachable" and he didn't see Jesus face to face.

Jesus told His disciples that He would send them the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, that would lead them into all Truth.  And the Lord still sends the Holy Spirit to those that believe in Him.  And we are in a new age, maybe like the time spoken of in Joel 2.  And maybe the Lord has now allowed the "unapproachable light" to be approached. 

I didn't see the Lord during the NDE, either, but He spoke to me from the light that I had been approaching from the time I left my body and turned toward it. God spoke to me from the light and for a long time I wondered where Jesus was and why I didn't see Him. But the Lord assured me that He was the Light/and was/is in the light

  And besides Moses seeing the Lord, in the Book of Job, after the Lord has gone on and on to Job about   all He does that humans can't do, Job proclaims to God:

“I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you declare to me.’
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.” [Job 42:2-6 (NRSV)]

In his Revelation, John "sees" Jesus along with a lot of other things . . . and maybe when Paul was writing about being drawn up to the third heaven in 2 Cor 12, saying he doesn't know whether "it was in the body or out of the body" -- "God knows," it's possible he is talking about his own experience, but is leery about saying that he has been drawn up to heaven. 

I don't tell just anyone about my NDE, either.  I only share it with people I know would be open to hearing about it, or who because of the passing of a loved one -- or because they are close to passing if I think I t might be helpful to them.  I believe we are in the time written about in Joel 2 and as Peter quoted in Acts 2 -- a time when the Holy Spirit is being poured out and more active -- and people are again "dreaming dreams and seeing visions.

I believe the Lord is in these times calling people to be closer to Him, to be used according to His purposes if they are willing, to be able to receive a word of knowledge, to be able to prophecy, to be able to have an NDE, and/or to use the gifts of the Spirit.

Whether or not we are living in the end times, we certainly are living during a time when there are huge challenges to the proclamation of the Gospel and so many people are so far off the deep end morally. Our whole society -- and so many people all over the world do not know God's love in Christ Jesus.

In order to have faith, no one necessarily needs to have an NDE, and in certain ways it's no fun to be on the brink of death, so it's not something to seek, either. Also, it's good to "test the spirits" and be discerning about what you believe that you hear from someone else.  I am just letting you know about my experience and how it fits in with my faith and my knowledge of the Bible.

May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and all those you love.




Tuesday, July 9, 2013

THE NAME OF THE LORD

Sometimes we don't understand why using the Lord's Name in vain is in the Ten Commandments.  And we can't even watch a television show or a movie without hearing people swear "Oh, my God!" or "Jesus Christ!" or variations on that like cursing someone using the Lord's Name.  

Of course God understand why people do that and forgives those who repent and ask Him to forgive them, but it is much more than just something we need to do to obey God and not break the commandment.  

There are many passages about the holiness of God and that talk about using the Name of Jesus when we pray.  We can call on God's Name and we ask God to grant our prayers in Jesus' Name.  But there is so much more than holiness about the Name of God.  

A good example is this verse in Proverbs:

"The name of the Lord is a strong fortress; the godly run to him and are safe."  [Proverbs 18:10 (NLT)]

No one can truly be godly or holy without God's help.  But the Lord is there for everyone who truly seek Him and who know His Name.

In Acts 2:13 and Romans 2:21 the Bible reads -- "And everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved."

At the same time, Jesus says in Matthew 7:21 -- ""Not everyone who keeps saying to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will get into the kingdom from heaven, but only the person who keeps doing the will of my Father in heaven."  This may sound contradictory, but it isn't because saying, 'Lord, Lord' is not the same thing as calling on the Name of the Lord.  When you know that Jesus is the Son of God -- Yahweh, the Creator, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the One True God -- you are choosing to be saved.  

Salvation is available to every person.  We receive it by believing that God is God and that Jesus is God's Son  -- the fullness of the Word by which everything that was created came into being, the sacrifice for our sins and for the redemption of creation from brokenness to the wholeness that is the Peace of God.

Just saying "Lord, Lord" and not doing the will of God is hypocritical.  It is works righteousness -- trying to do something in order to get God to save you.  In Romans 2:13 this is made clearer when St. Paul writes:  "For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous."

When my kids were little and they picked up the way people use God's Name in vain, I told them that God's Name should only be used when they were praying to God or when they were talking about God or Jesus.  They didn't have to understand more than that when they were little.  

I am so proud of them that as they have grown to be adults they have both developed a relationship with the Lord, and I thank God for answering prayers that they would come to know Him and serve Him.

If you are in the habit of using the Lord's Name in vain, just ask the Lord to help you.  He will replace what you say in curses with blessings and ways of praising Him as you get to know Him better and better.  

May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and all you love.  I pray this in Jesus' Holy Name.   

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