A Real Visit?
People who have actually been to Heaven or even experienced an actual Angel took days or weeks or more to recover from it and had great difficulty finding words in their native language to describe the experience. They did not make themselves a celebrity out of the experience or go into great length about fantastical visions taken from American Pop-Culture.
Several Christian and Pseudo-Christian and even Jewish Movements describe levels of Heaven (up to 10 of them) with differing beings and types of people being assigned to each for a habitation. But there should be some level of congruency with those in the Scriptures at the very least to be legitimate encounters.
" I know a man in Messiah (whether in the body I don’t know, or whether out of the body I don’t know—God knows)—fourteen years ago, he was caught up to the third heaven.
I know such a man (whether in the body or outside of the body I don’t know—God knows)— he was caught up into Paradise and heard words too sacred to tell, which a human is not permitted to utter. "
2nd Letter To The Congregation in Corinth.
Chapter 12 Verse 2
Brain Science?
Near Death Experiences
Is the Light an invitation from The Creator to seek Him out in life?
Are the Peace and the Colors and the Sounds a taste test of what endless life will be like if we choose to be Redeemed and restored beyond the Glory of our ancestors? What is we given our full capacity to see All the Color and hear All the frequencies and the Intellect to access All the Understanding that was intended for us?
Or is it just the brain and optic nerve taking us to a state of calm while our body perishes?
"But as it is written, “Things no eye has seen and no ear has heard, that have not entered the heart of mankind— these things God has prepared for those who love Him.”
1st Letter To The Corinthians
Chapter 2 Verse 9
All Analogy?
The Parable was it just an Analogy?
In Greek Thought the choices are "either this or that" but in Hebraic Thought there are up to 4 layers of Interpretation of any verse all at once called (Pardes)
The Literal, The Figurative, The Hint and The Mystical.
“It happened that the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. Then the rich man also died and was buried. And from Sheol, as he was in torment, he raised his eyes. And he sees Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his side. So he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me! And send Lazarus so he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, because I am suffering torment in this flame.’
“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your life you received your good things, even as Lazarus received the bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are tormented. Besides all this, between us and you a great chasm is firmly set, so that those who want to cross over to you cannot, nor can those from there cross
over to us."
The Good News As Told By Luke The Physician
Chapter 16 Verse 22
Sooth Saying
The "Fire Insurance" Theology ensures the listener that they only need to say a prayer and they have absolutely certainly of never facing the wrath of The Creator. This Theology is used to gain False Converts for applause and numbers and ego stroking.
In many of these false dreams and visions of Heaven, everyone was welcomed into the Kingdom despite proudly rejecting The King Himself. It's a modern version of playing the "Pied Piper" to lure seekers into the Church Auditoriums for a Motivational Speech.
"Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:
“Do not listen to the
words of prophets
who are prophesying
to you.
They are leading you into illusion,
speaking a vision of their own heart
and not out of the mouth of Adonai.
They keep saying to those who despise Me,
‘Adonai has said, you will have shalom.’
To everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say:
‘No evil will come on you.’”
The Prophet Jeremiah
Chapter 23 Verse 16
Brimstone Preaching
Certain Religious leaders use stories of Hell Fire to strike fear into the heart of the listener as a form of Religious Abuse. These entertainers and orators use fear of Hell as a means of controlling the listener and coercing them to follow the speaker or the speaker's religious or political group out of sheer terror.
This was a common means of controlling the populace in the Middle Ages and in Colonial America. It still persists in some of the Southern States and the Mid-West.
When the dreamer supposedly arrived in Hell because they had failed to ally themselves with a certain denomination or a certain ritual or tradition from a denomination instead of simply with the Redeemer and His Instructions that is a huge problem in Biblical Interpretation. It is then we know it was either a false dream or a false retelling of the dream.
"For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall again into fear; rather, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Letter To The Romans
Chapter 8 Verse 15
Dante's Inferno
If we carefully observe dreams and visions of Heaven and Hell from those who claimed to visit them. Those who created a celebrity status from the experience all have similar descriptions to literary sources such as Dante's Inferno, the Book of Enoch or Paradise Lost, Greek Mythology and popular Christian Bookstore novels as well. These are the sources that have greatly influenced popular culture on the topic but they don't match the accounts that were selected by The Creator of this World That Is (Olam Haze) or the World That Is To Come (Olam Haba) in the Scriptures.
"Therefore here I am against the prophets”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“who steal My words from each other. Indeed, I am against the prophets”, declares Adonai, “who use their tongues to utter a prophecy, ‘It is a declaration!’ Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,” declares Adonai, “and tell them, and so lead My people astray with their lies and with their reckless boasts. Yet I never sent them or commanded them. Nor do they benefit this people at all.” It is a declaration of Adonai. "
Jeremiah The Prophet
Chapter 23 Verse 30
Recommended Video Resources On
Dreams And Views About The After Life
What The
Church Fathers Believed About The After Life
Remnant Radio
A Dream
About Hell
Recie Saunders
Near Death Experiences And The Bible
Do They Align?
Remnant Radio
Getting To Know
The God Of
Time And Space
John Paul Jackson
Soul Sleep And The Afterlife
(In Middle Eastern Context)
Dr. Michael Heiser
The Mystery Of Infants In Paradise
Perry Stone
What About Hell
And Eternity?
Perry Stone
Secrets Of Paradise
Perry Stone
Recommended Written Resources
On The After Life
The Bible Among
The Myths
Unique Revelation Or
Just Ancient Literature?
By John S. Oswalt
Chronicles of the Sacred Mountain: Revealing the Mysteries of Heaven's Past, Present and Future
By Perry Stone
The Case For Heaven
A Journalist Investigates Evidence For
Life After Death
Lee Stobel
Films About The After And Before Life
"Heaven Is For Real"
Film Trailer
"Remembering Heaven" Documentary
"Miracles From Heaven"
Film Trailer
Alternative Looks At The After-Life Via Books
Restoring The Woven Cord Strands Of Celtic Christianity For The Church Today
By Michael Mitton
Journey Of Desire
The Journey We
Must Take To Find
The Life God Offers
By John Eldredge
Love Wins
A Book About Heaven Hell And The Fate Of Every Person Who Ever Lived
By Rob Bell
Alternative Looks At The Afterlife Via Film