Tours of Heaven
In our day there are many accounts of visiting heaven or hell. Books have been written. Testimonies of such have been recorded on video. So many people have claimed that these are fakes, frauds, and liars. Many times, the basis for determining the experiences of others is our own experience (or lack thereof). It has to be the depth of arrogance, to judge someone's experience as not valid because we did not have it. Unbelievable. This is childish, a conclusion reached based upon zero knowledge.
Having said that, there are some testimonies that do not seem to have the ring of truth to them. A semi-hypothetical example:
“It was a dark and stormy night when I was suddenly taken up from my bedroom to a beautiful place. A huge angel was there to meet me. He said I was to have a tour of heaven. We saw a petting zoo. Every dog who had ever existed was there, playing. The angel told me there were 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 puppies there. Next, we went over to a ring toss. I won a huge stuffed teddy bear. My tour guide said we have to hurry because there were many more places to see. I asked the angel at the ring toss if He could keep it for me. He said that my teddy bear would be here waiting when I got back.”
If you can sense what I mean, the “ring of truth” seems to be missing here.
A missionary told me about another supposed tour of heaven. He may have flavored the story a bit.
A man who claimed to have visited heaven was telling of this experience at a church. He told about seeing many children and a nursery. A grieving woman in the crowd, who had recently lost a small child to death, wanted some clarification about children being in heaven. The dead child's name was Rachel or something. The man said, “Was Rachel a small person, who sort of looked like you?” The mother said yes! The man continued, “I saw Rachel!”. The woman screamed and went into hysterics. Several other people did, too.
I want to be the last person to call someone else a liar but this is stretching all credibility beyond its limit. Maybe the report was not faithfully repeated to me. It still leaves a giant question mark over this incident.
Another thing that is commonly reported is seeing Christians and demons in hell. Interesting, especially since Christians and demons cannot be in hell. Of course, I am referring to real, genuine Christians. The fakes, the frauds, the pretenders, the deceived, and the wannbes, yes. Perhaps that is what they mean.
Many report seeing demons in hell laughing and having a great time, like a party. When I read the Bible, I see demons shaking with fear as they consider their eternal fate. They are terrified of the pit and, apparently, of something that is in there. There is no laughing on the part of demons when they are threatened with hell. There probably are some other creatures in the pit, the Tormentors. These things are so terrible that God will not let them have any contact with people...normally. At the very end, God will allow something to be released from the abyss that has never been loose upon the earth. Maybe that is what people with hellish experiences actually are seeing.
This may be a little subjective but I believe that real spiritual experiences may have some common traits.
If a visit to the spiritual plane is for God's purpose to use someone to announce a truth or warning about something, He will usually give the person great enunciation and clarity. But, one possible characteristic of a genuine spiritual experience is that the person may not be able to talk about it. Paul, reluctantly relating his trip to heaven, heard unspeakable things (2 Cor 12:4). John also could not write some of what he heard spoken in heaven (Rev 10:4). Some people who claimed to have visited heaven, felt that they could not speak of it for several years or decades, if at all.
Another trait common from most people who claim a trip to heaven is the colors. Almost everyone, upon first seeing the invisible, is shocked by the intensity and the variation of the colors of that place. There is almost nothing to compare them to. Our everyday life looks like a 1930s black and white film compared to the visual senses of the spirit. I had a friend from many years ago that died and was resuscitated. His attempt at describing the colors of heaven fits with the description others have tried to give.
I have watched some videos of persons that are going to be interviewed about their visit to or view of hades. They say something like, “ It was like...was like...sort of like...it reminded me of...kind of like...” They stumble and stammer around and soon the half hour program is out of time. It does not seem like they have said hardly anything. They want to describe the horrors they saw but it not like anything. They cannot find anything to compare it with.
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man... (John 3:13)
Some of the apostles have seen heaven. Others and some prophets may have been granted a view of the spiritual realm. There are many liars and deceivers. Many times people with near-death experiences (NDEs) are “sent back” with teachings and doctrines that claim to be authoritative. With all the fraud mixed in with the genuine, whom can you trust? Jesus said He alone has been sent from heaven, in an authoritative sense. (That does not mean that His servants, apostles, and angels do not have a valid message.) That means that Jesus Christ is alone in His claim to be God's way to eternal life. In this specific context, John chapter 3, that involves being born the second time, from above (v. 3, 5, 7).
May 30, 2024