Author: elizabethprata

Christian writer and Georgia teacher's aide who loves Jesus, a quiet life, art, beauty, and children.
Posted in theology

Back to Basics: What is prayer?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Prayer is a privilege and a responsibility for every Christian. Why? It is the way Jesus taught us to communicate with Him.

Rather than the wrathful gods of the Aztec era of human sacrifice, or the ancient Middle East where child sacrifice was required, or the Muslim god who is demanding but mercurial and untrustworthy, the One True God creates us to have a love relationship with Him. He wants to redeem us from our sinful state to dwell with Him in heaven. His Holy Word tells us who He is and how to love Him back, and His promises never fold.

In His Bible, He explains how to communicate with Him. Unlike the gods of old, all other gods as a matter of fact, (who are no gods at all) we can speak with Him at any time. He has told us He listens. From Genesis to Isaiah to Philippians, we’re told to pray to God.

“And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD” (Genesis 12:8)

“Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:” (Isaiah 55:6)

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” (Philippians 4:6)

So what IS prayer, exactly? Why do we pray? How do we pray?

As Christian Research and Apologetics Ministry (CARM) explains, “Prayer is the practice of the presence of God. It is the place where pride is abandoned, hope is lifted, and supplication is made. Prayer is the place of admitting our need, of adopting humility, and claiming dependence upon God. Prayer is the needful practice of the Christian. Prayer is the exercise of faith and hope. Prayer is the privilege of touching the heart of the Father through the Son of God, Jesus our Lord.”

Why pray? “For one thing, prayer is a form of serving God (Luke 2:36-38) and obeying Him. We pray because God commands us to pray (Philippians 4:6-7). Prayer is exemplified for us by Christ and the early church (Mark 1:35; Acts 1:14; 2:42; 3:1; 4:23-31; 6:4; 13:1-3). If Jesus thought it was worthwhile to pray, we should also. If He needed to pray to remain in the Father’s will, how much more do we need to pray?”

He has made Himself known in three Persons, God, Jesus the son, and Holy Spirit. We can pray to all three or to one or to two. He is all the same. Any or all are appropriate to pray to. However, the Triune God is the ONLY appropriate person to pray to. The first Commandment says that He is the one true God and we shall have no other gods before Him (Exodus 20:2-3). We do not pray to angels. (Revelation 22:8-9). We do not pray to saints such as the Catholic Church worships. (1 Timothy 2:5) We do not pray to Mary the mother of Jesus. (Luke 11:27-28). We do not pray to the dead, whose final condition is fixed. (Luke 16:19-31; Hebrews 9:27). We pray to God only.

How, then, shall we pray? Jesus answered this exact question in Matthew 6:9-13.

“Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]”

It is not to say that unconscious repetition of this exact phraseology is the way to pray. Jesus pray ‘in this way‘. He began with a statement to whom He was addressing. He led with a praise. It is always proper to praise the Lord at any time but especially in prayer because it sets our heart condition rightly and reminds us of our position as submissive supplicants. This reminder helps us when the prayers are answered in a way we do not expect or in a timing we are uncomfortable with.

Give us this day our daily bread is a statement from Jesus telling us it is all right to ask for things to sustain us while we are living on earth. (Matthew 6:32-33). But you notice the prayer doesn’t say pray in a way where you ask for surplus, He is asking for daily bread. Not weekly bread. The manna that was given to the Hebrews in the desert was given daily. Asking for daily bread helps us not become greedy hoarders, too self-reliant, and it also is a way for the Lord to bless us daily!

Asking the Lord to forgive our sins is a way to remind us that before any prayer can be answered we need to ensure we are on the right side of God and not accumulating sins, and also that if we forgive others we are also on the right side of God. (Matthew 6:14-15; Mark 11:25). Why should He bless a bitter heart? He will not. (1 John 2:9).

“Lead us not into temptation” must be understood correctly. Barnes Notes: “God tempts no man. See James 1:13. This phrase, then, must be used in the sense of “permitting.” Do not “suffer” us, or “permit” us, to be tempted to sin. In this it is implied that God has such control over the tempter as to save us from his power if we call upon him.“

 So don’t mindlessly repeat Jesus’ prayer exactly but let the power behind the concepts conform your heart to your own words. Know to Whom you are praying. Praise Him. Understand you position before Him as penitent, His kingdom within you and also your external destination someday. Ask for what earthly provision you need in humility, trusting Him to answer in faith.  Ask for unearthly provision such as release from temptation or protection from temptation.

Is there a proper bodily position in which we pray? Some prefer head bowed, others prefer to look up. Some pray with eyes closed, others keep them open. Still others pray silently, some prefer aloud. Standing, sitting, kneeling, walking,…all these postures are in the Bible. Here is a very short answer to the question of whether there is a commanded posture for prayer, at Grace to You.

The most important thing about prayer is that in order to communicate this way with God, you must be saved he does not listen to nor answer the prayers of the unsaved. (John 9:31; 1 Peter 3:12). The entire Christian faith is based on the fact that Adam’s sin separated us from our holy and righteous God. That separation includes communication and intimacy, including prayer. The most important utterance you will ever emit is the confession to Jesus, plea, or prayer for forgiveness of your sins God WILL hear that one.

that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

If you are new to prayer, don’t worry about fancy words or proper phrases. That is the utter beauty of our God. He hears the heart cry, understands the motivation behind what we are asking. He listens to all words fancy or not, as long as they are sincere. Don’t worry, just pray! It is a way to talk with Him. He doesn’t change by your prayer, but you are changed by praying. So don’t put it off another minute!

Further Resources

Praying the Bible by Donald S. Whitney

The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions by Arthur Bennett (Editor)

Spurgeon Quotes on Prayer, selected quotes from his sermons

Posted in back to basics, born again, holy spirit, regeneration, sanctification

Back to Basics: Hello, Holy Spirit

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I’d mentioned that I had wanted to get back to basics and do some blog entries on the foundational things. The Holy Spirit is near and dear to me. But He is often overlooked in the Trinity, in favor of prayers to Almighty God and to Lord Jesus. But the Holy Spirit has an important ministry we’ll take a look at in this essay. We’ll also see how He is prophesied to minister in the last of the last days and in the Tribulation.

The last days are the entire Church Age. They began at Pentecost and they will end after the Rapture/Tribulation/Millennium Kingdom. So Paul was in the last days. Martin Luther was in the last days. Charles Spurgeon was in the last days. We are in the last days. But I believe we are in the last of the last days, the moments remaining perhaps but few. Well, we are 2000 years closer, anyhow!

However the ministry of the Holy Spirit has been with us since Genesis 1:2 where we’re told “the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Don’t you visualize Him as a dove, his wings outstretched and fluttering over the waters almost hugging the world as it was being formed? He is referred to again in Genesis 1:26 when God said “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” Therefore we can conclude the Holy Spirit is God.

He has a personality. In Genesis 1:2 and Job 33:4 we read that He creates life. He inspired the Bible writers. He comforts (Acts 9:31) and He teaches (John 14:26). He imparts the love of God to the saints and joy too. He maintains the church in edification (Acts 9:31). There is so much more I could write about the Spirit, books have been written, but turn to this one,

“Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.” (Proverbs 1:23). He is the Spirit of wisdom and understanding! (Isaiah 11:2). And we need Him for that, desperately. Without Him we cannot understand the Word of God.

“But as it is written, no Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). Without Him we cannot understand the Word.

God reveals the things God wants us to know and to have by His Spirit. That is huge. God revealed Himself to us in creation, then He revealed Himself to us in Jesus on earth as His Son, now He reveals Himself to us through His Spirit bringing understanding of the Word, which is Jesus. Kind of circular, you say? Yes, that is the Trinity. They are God but they each are a Person distinct from the other, with different ministries, which are harmonized perfectly and completely in holiness in One. If you don’t understand that, it’s OK, I don’t either! It is one of the mysteries of God that He can be three in one…

The Spirit’s ministry in some ways remains the same and some ways changes throughout the course of the covenants. In most cases in the Old Testament, the Spirit “came upon”, He did not indwell. John the Baptist is an exception. John the Baptist is considered an Old Testament prophet because he died before the cross. Nevertheless, John was filled with the Spirit in the womb. Another example of God filling someone with the Spirit prior to the cross is Exodus 31:1-2, filling Bezalel to know how to build the temple. But normally, the Spirit came upon them for the period necessary to fulfill the task set before them (2 Chronicles 24:20, Judges 3:24).

God could and did take away the Spirit. The Spirit came upon Saul as King (1 Sam 10:6) but God removed it when Saul rebelled (1 Sam 16:14). David begged God not to take away the Spirit in his rebellion with Bathsheba. (Psalm 51:11).

When Jesus told the Disciples that He was going away but He would send a Comforter, it was the Spirit He was referring to. The Spirit descended on the Apostles at Pentecost, filling them. (Acts 2). However that portion of the Spirit’s ministry changed, He now indwells us permanently. He is the deposit of guarantee of our inheritance and His seal of ownership on us. (Ephesians 1:14 and 2 Corinthians 1:22). If we confess our sins and believe by faith Jesus is Lord, He sends the Spirit into us and we can never lose Him (John 10:29). This doctrine is called “Once Saved, Always Saved” and I believe in it. If we could lose the Spirit as in OT days then there would be no guarantee, would there? If God sends the Spirit to indwell but takes it away, He breaks His own seal, doesn’t He? No, it cannot be so!

One ministry the Spirit inhabits is the restraining ministry, and it is that one that I’ll finish with. In Genesis 6 we read that God tell us that “My spirit will not strive with man forever…” This is the chapter of the conditions leading up to the worldwide judgment of the Flood. It seems to be telling us that at a certain point, He removes the restraining ministry from man when sin has reached a certain point, or that he removes Him prior to a worldwide judgment. However, He never removes His Spirit from the earth completely because how would we be drawn to the cross, otherwise? The verse goes on to say ‘nevertheness his days are 120 years’.

We know He is the restrainer of lawlessness because Paul tells us in 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8.

“And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”

He restrains Lawlessness. The Greek word is defined “lawlessness, iniquity, disobedience, sin”. He restrains sin.

Doesn’t it seem like things are getting worse and worse in terms of morality, crime, greed, apostasy? I’m 60 years old and I look back and think on the formative images I saw on the news during the 1960s and 1970s. I saw the riots, the advance of the homosexual agenda, political upheaval, the assassination of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, the Viet Nam war. Women’s rights and abortion and Planned Parenthood and the Pill came in too. When I saw the Democratic National Convention riots, I thought the world was coming to an end, literally. It seemed to my young eyes and heart that everything was crashing down. It looks to me now from the vantage point of half a century on earth, that each new generation was exponentially worse than the previous one, and that lawlessness is compounding.

Romans 1 describes a progression of sin and when it saturates a society enough it seems that God lifts His hand, because we read several times in Romans 1 “God gave them over.” When enough people have been given over in a society, sin reigns more and more and the society runs rampant with sin.

I have no clue if He is lifting His hand fast or slow. I do not know at what rate the restraint is being removed. But my opinion is that the sudden change in society in the 1960s, and with the lurch forward into sin in America this past year, is evidence that He had lifted it some, because such a flood of lawlessness came in all at once. In the last year, the cravenness of apostasy and false doctrine in the church is another indicator to me that His hand is going up, faster and faster now.

I think the worldwide judgment is very close, and one of the reasons I believe so is that the lawlessness (sin) has increased to such a degree, and that is because the Restrainer is restraining less and less until the moment in 2 Thessalonians He does not restrain at all. The Thessalonians verse says the antichrist will not be revealed until the Restrainer is removed, and that is in the middle of the Tribulation, and what a time that will be! No time in human history will be worse, because sin will be given free reign to do its worst.

You can avoid being on earth, and be purified and refreshed if you appeal to Jesus in repentance for sins and trusting in Him. It is the Spirit that brought you here to read this, He draws one and all to the cross, and then convicts you of your sins. Read Galatians 3:1-5, and this commentary says of it, “The two are linked: the cross opens the door for the Spirit, and the experience of the Spirit is the result of faith in the message of the cross of Christ.” Kind of circular you say? That’s the Trinity, of which the Spirit is a part!

If you are an unbeliever, appeal to Jesus for your sins to be forgiven. This is repentance. You’re sorry for your wrong things you do and you understand that they are crimes against Jesus. He will forgive you if you are sincere, and then He will send the Spirit to come inside you and help you resist more sinning. This is called regeneration, literally being born again as a new creation.

You can never escape sinning but when you do (and we all do, Christians too) appeal to the Spirit for help resisting them and repent to Jesus for them. We repent after we are saved, too. As you submit more deeply to the Holy Spirit’s ministry, though, you will find that you want to sin less and less. The Spirit is making you a new creation, in His likeness and in holiness. This is sanctification.

Posted in theology

Steve Kozar on Beth Moore: The moment she laid her Charismatic cards on the table…

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

There are many resources online to help the Christian believer strengthen her faith. We live in times where we’re blessed with being able to access some of today’s best preaching and teaching, and also can become familiar with the Divines from the past. We have podcasts, sermons, blogs, videos. What a bounty!

I always try to connect you to the most solid ministries that I can. I came across Steve Kozar’s youtube podcast the other day. His channel covers many different topics in different ways, and I stumbled onto his “Hit the Bar” portion of the channel. He and his lovely wife present a video, allow the viewer to watch for a bit, then the ‘hit the space bar’ and pause it while dissecting it off the cuff.

I was familiar with Steve Kozar’s name from having read the Pirate Christian (Chris Rosebrough) for many years. The two do a lot of apologetics and discernment work together. But I never really delved into Kozar’s own website “The Messed Up Church” until I listened to his Hit the Bar youtube/podcast and he mentioned the website with all its resources.

He was doing Hit the Bar about Beth Moore. It was the more famous clip of her 2014 speech where she talked about receiving personal revelation about a coming ‘downpour’ and ‘awakening’, that people would scoff at, where she called any disbelievers in her pronouncement ‘bullies’, and used no scripture.

Though this was an older clip of Moore, the discussion between Kozar and his wife was new. I had never listened to Kozar or his wife. In my opinion, if you really want to get a sense of a person, watch a podcast of a husband – wife team discuss something together.

Kozar and his wife were sweet together. I loved their calm and sweet interplay. It was kind. Steve’s insights on Moore were terrific. He raised many points I had never considered, even though I’m quite familiar with that clip and Moore in general.

He said in this speech Beth Moore was laying her Charismatic cards on the table. It was 2014 and she really came out of the Charismatic closet so to speak, with being bold in speaking FOR Jesus. Kozar said, “She has no fear of speaking prophetically,” and this is a problem. He hit the bar at the points where she shuts critical thinking down, and explains how. Kozar said she was a very good actress, the entire speech felt memorized and staged, and showed that. He demonstrated how she uses false dichotomies to divide rather than unify, and how that is the beginning of a cult. Moore uses vague terms so that people can individually interpret for themselves rather than unify around a clarifying scripture or doctrine she is presenting. He noted the points at which she basked in adoration of the audience, instead of pointing to Jesus. [As a side note, Steve also has an issue with her wild eyes, as I myself noted recently.]

The Hit The Bar discussion about Beth Moore is here.

All in all, it was wonderfully insightful. I recommend Steve Kozar’s website and his youtube channel with the various types of videos and discussions.

Kozar noted that at The Messed Up Church website, a plethora of resources await the reader. In “Cornucopias“, there are links to a myriad of resources about many different false teachers. There are definitions and explanations of what apologetics is, what discernment is, and more.

The Messed Up Church: About

Our Purpose
–Confronting & Exposing Apostasy.
–Explaining Biblical Orthodoxy.
–Rebuilding Shattered Faith by the Light of the Gospel from God’s Word.
–Returning to the Reformation principle of:
–Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura (Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Scripture Alone)

Please check out The Messed Up Church website and/or the Youtube channel. It’s helpful.

Posted in theology

My Last Word on Ravi Zacharias, and a discernment reminder

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

In 2016 I wrote a discernment essay raising troubling concerns about Ravi Zacharias. I noted his slide downward, his praising of Catholic mystics, some untruths regarding his credentials, and his refusal to take a position on whether the Catholic Church is false (saying the two churches have merely ‘doctrinal differences!), creationism vs evolution, the Doctrines of Grace, or most of eschatology.

A Christian Apologists’ job is to take a stance on the doctrines of the Bible and proclaim and defend them, so the refusal to be clear on 40% of the Bible seemed a nonstarter to me. I’d also noted that I had attended a live speech event, and had listened to many of Ravi’s other speeches online. I said that he seemed to me more of a spellbinding anecdotal storyteller and secular philosopher than a Christian Apologist or evangelist. Lots of mentions of Jesus, not a lot of talk about sin, wrath, and repentance.

I wrote later that year that Ravi had spoken at false teacher Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church and called Warren’s church “one of the greatest”. I’d noted that he had also appeared on false teacher Joyce Meyer’s television program, and said Joyce puts out “great Bible teaching.” His partnering with false teachers spoke volumes both about his lack of discernment and his lack of courage.

Two months ago, in December 2020, I updated the situation when the Ravi Zacharias International Ministry (RZIM) itself had investigated their founder (who had recently passed away). They announced confirmation of newly revealed sins Mr Zacharias had performed. RZIM made this preliminary report public. The RZIM organization promised to be forthcoming with the conclusions of their hired investigation ended. I attached the RZIM updated facts to a discernment lesson, here.

RZIM’s hired investigators submitted their final report this past week and what they found was disheartening in the extreme.

Continue reading “My Last Word on Ravi Zacharias, and a discernment reminder” →
Posted in bible jesus, end time, prophecy

Back to basics

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I wrote this series in 2011, ten years ago. Things are worse now, as we know. Things have worsened exponentially. So I’m bringing back this series for another round in hopes it might help someone in this decade.

bible with glasses

I’ve been mulling over some things about apostasy. This is because in the course of my online and real life discernment and encouragement ministry, I see that the essential doctrines of our faith not only are being eroded “out there”, but also “in here”, in Christian places and in people close to me. I am horrified at the depth and breadth of the erosion of what I believed were the obvious givens. I am grieving over the adherence of many people to the destructive heresies.

Continue reading “Back to basics” →
Posted in theology

This is how a church resists tyranny

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

We’ve all heard and seen how Grace Community Church led by Pastor-Teacher John MacArthur has continued to meet and preach despite California’s attempts to shut them down, or to enact measures that would be so onerous it would effectively shut them down. They resisted, and have paid the price. The price is literal, there is an accumulation of fines they’ve set aside for the day they must pay it to the government officials, and they’ve paid by having come to the notice of scandal mongers, cacklers, and yellow journalists who smear the church and disrespect the pastor and elders continually.

We know also that there are many other churches that are resisting shutdowns and over-the top infringes on religious liberty in America and abroad. One such church came to my attention when a friend up in Canada sent me the link to their church’s statement on why they remain open and preaching.

Before I share the statement, here is what the Bible has to say about churches and preaching. Paul urged Timothy to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and exhort, with great patience and instruction.” (2 Timothy 4:2).

Continue reading “This is how a church resists tyranny” →
Posted in theology

Is having money or wealth, a sin?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Photo from Unsplash, by Jingming Pan @pokmer

Recently an article was published by a yellow journalist against a well-established, reputable ministry, charging its leader with the sin of wealth, hypocrisy, and comparing him to false teachers. The organization she wrote negatively about is Grace Community Church, Grace To You, and John MacArthur.

There are two issues with the article. One is the brand of “journalism” displayed in the article, and the other issue is whether a well-known pastor or teacher having money or wealth presents an immoral problem in and of itself, which is what the yellow article intimates.

Continue reading “Is having money or wealth, a sin?” →
Posted in theology

Bullet points on why Joyce Meyer is a false teacher

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Joyce Meyer is a very popular female Bible teacher and preacher. She has been on the scene for decades, and shows no signs of slowing down. She has 10 offices around the world and employs 500 people. Her brand of charismatic/name-it claim it religion has deceived many. This is sad, but the Bible says that many will be deceived by false teachers. I pray that anything here will spark a further Berean investigation by the reader and through prayer, come to the other side of discernment in understanding why Meyer should be avoided.

  1. Joyce Meyer preached that Jesus was a sinner, had been born again, stopped being the Son of God, paid for our sins in hell (from 1991 Booklet called The Most Important Decision you Will Ever Make), and was tormented there. Meyer preaches a different Jesus. She is a heretic.
  2. Joyce Meyer preaches to men and mixed gender audiences in violation of 1 Timothy 2:12.
  3. Joyce Meyer operated as an associate pastor in a church in violation of 1 Timothy 2:12.
  4. Joyce Meyer preaches that it is normal and expected to hear directly from God, when contrary to her claim, the scriptures claim they are sufficient (2 Timothy 3:14-17), and the Word is closed. (Revelation 22:18-19). Yet she teaches that God speaks individually to people today. Example, in essay “It’s not that complicated” she wrote -“Do you ever wonder if God speaks to people? You’ll be happy to know the answer is yes. But first let me explain how distractions can hinder His voice” and taught more from her book How to Hear from God or in this video.
  5. Joyce Meyer claims she is not a sinner. This is in violation of 1 John 1:8, which says that such people are deceived and the truth is not in them.
  6. There’s more, but these should suffice to illustrate to the reader that Joyce Meyer’s teaching is not edifying.

Please do not allow a teacher’s longevity lull you into thinking they must be good. Please do not allow a ministry’s global breadth to lull you into thinking he or she is good. In fact the Bible says that popularity is often a mark of falsity. (Luke 6:26). The world wants their ears tickled. In 2 Timothy 4:3 we read

For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires,

If you follow Joyce Meyer, please consider these things. Please stay in the pure, undefiled faith, and find some good Bible teachers to follow, beginning with your own pastor and elders at your own church.

Posted in theology

One minute after you die

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The title of this essay is the name of a book by Erwin Lutzer, but I want to explore the concept today. I’d seen a blog recently (I’m sorry, I forget where) but I’ve read the book and combined with the recent blog I’d read, made me think even more about heaven. We should have an eternal perspective and think about our heavenly home as home, and this earth as a temporary sojourn. Because it is. Here is the blurb for Lutzer’s book,

“One minute after you die, you will either be elated or terrified-and it will be too late to reroute your travel plans.
When you slip behind the parted curtain, your life will not be over.  Rather, it will be just beginning-in a place of unimaginable bliss or indescribable gloom. One Minute After You Die opens a window on eternity with a simple and moving explanation of what the Bible teaches about death.”

I think a lot about heaven. I named this blog The End Time because we are in the end time, and the next event on the prophetic plan of Jesus is the rapture. After that, the Tribulation, the Millennium Kingdom, then the Great Throne Judgment where everyone is judged in front of Jesus, then sent to their final destination in a body that can withstand either the due punishment in hell )lake of Fire) or the glory of the Lord in heaven.

But even before that, the right now times, means that people are dying every day and they are sent to their temporary destination. Let’s be real. There is a hell and there is a heaven.

If a person dies as an unforgiven sinner, if they had not repented of their sins to Jesus and submitted to His Lordship of their life, then they go to hell to be punished for their sins. This happens immediately when a person dies, as in, the body becomes dead. No blood pumping. Yet there is a soul in each one of us, and the soul lives on forever. When the body dies, the soul and body are separated and the soul goes to heaven or hell, with a temporary body (probably) until the time of final judgment at the end of ALL things when you are fitted for a body that will withstand the place you’re destined to dwell. As Lutzer said, you are either elated with boundless joy, or you are distressed beyond understanding, to the point of gnashing your teeth (Luke 13:28) for all of time.

If your destination is hell, you will live in utter darkness. (Matthew 8:12, Jude 1:13).

The newly restored and fortified body will undergo fire for all time. The fire is variously called a blazing furnace (Matthew 13:42), the fire of hell (Matthew 5:22), an eternal fire (Matthew 18:8), unquenchable fire (Mark 9:43; Isaiah 66:24). or tormented with fire and brimstone (Revelation 14:10).

Of course, the people populating the lake of fire are separated from God (but not His wrath). Even while on earth unbelievers are not separated from God totally in their fleshly lives. They receive blessings from Him just by virtue of living in the creation, receiving rain for their crops, being gifted with children, and being sustained in this life for however many days are allotted to them. However, in the Lake of Fire there is no laughter, no joy, ho hope, and no blessing of any kind.

There is eternal weeping. (Matthew 13:42).

They are an abhorrence to all who see them, (Isaiah 66:24). They are a shame and a contempt. (Daniel 12:2).

On a more joyful note, those who die in Christ arrive in heaven to much brighter future.

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4).

Imagine, a place where there are no tears, no crying, no grief, no pain, and no death. Wow!

The place is unimaginable! “But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

It is a better country and a better city! (Hebrews 11:16)

It is a city where nothing unclean will EVER enter it, nor anything detestable nor anything false! (Revelation 21:27)

The place He is preparing for us is bright, crystal, light glinting off crystal walls and no darkness at all! (Revelation 22:1-5).

The city is pure gold, clear as glass as well as its street! (Revelation 21:18). The walls of this better city are adorned with every kind of jewel! (Revelation 21:19) 

The Lamb is present, and we worship Him! (Revelation 22:1-5)

Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:32).

What must we do to enter this glorious kingdom, whose designer and builder is God, (Hebrews 11:10) where everything is perfect, where we dwell WITH our savior? First recognize you and I are sinners. We rebel from the moment we are born, even in the womb our very flesh is already saturated with sin. Sin means thinking, saying, or doing anything that breaks God’s Law. He is holy and pure and perfect. We are not. Therefore we cannot dwell with Him. Moreover, He is a just Judge, and cannot let the guilty go unpunished. (Exodus 34:7).

But He is also merciful and loving, and He sent His Son Jesus to live the perfectly righteous life He demands. Jesus was obedient, lived that life, and was sacrificed on the cross. His shed infinite blood atoned for our infinite sins, but even more, He transferred His righteousness to those who will repent of their sins. If we repent of our sins, and claim Jesus as our Savior from that place of torment and darkness, we will live with Him forever. God declared us righteous, He justified us as ‘not guilty by way of Jesus.

Jesus is the ONLY way to heaven.

John 14:6 says, Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:1–4).

Heaven and hell are real places, not metaphors. All flesh will dwell forever in one or the other. Please consider these things.

“Robe of Righteousness” by Lars Justinen