This post is a day newer than the post just above it but I wanted it here because it is an extension of the thoughts from that post....those being that when I do not personally know the reader....I can be more direct....because they cannot assume that my posts might be in some way directed at them:
"They Are In A Better Place:
If I had a dollar for every time I heard or read that statement....or a statement essentially expressing the same thought....I might be a rich rich man. It can be very hard for a Christian....a Christian anyway who actually understands what redemption in Christ means....to give condolences to someone....and to hear them say that their loved one is in a better place....when there had been no indication whatsoever in the past that their loved one ever even thought about Jesus Christ....anymore than the thought they might give to whether or not their life insurance policy is up to date.
On a national level....concerning celebrities of one sort or another....how many times have we heard comments such as....'Oh they are singing in Heaven now'....or....'Oh he is making them laugh in heaven now'....when in this life they might be in between wife number six and wife number seven....and never in fifty years of making people laugh....ever mentioned God other than at God's expense in a joke?
A celebrity dies.....and they are automatically in heaven....their last film might have glorified the occult and violence and drugs and even atheism....but they are in heaven....and heaven help the person who implies otherwise.
These are egregious examples....but with people that we know personally it may not be as obvious....but every bit as serious. The church of today has in essence given up on this truth....that one has to be born again....ransomed.....redeemed.....adopted....in favor of that one only has to be breathing one moment....and not breathing the next....to be in heaven.
There has been yet another....'I died....went to heaven....talked to Jesus....and he sent me back....man was he cool'.....report from a major Christian ministry. Reports like this....over the decades....do nothing but keep people away from biblical truth on the afterlife. Our knowledge of God....and His Word....through His Word....is so thin today....that every experience is automatically accepted....and every opinion considered....except possibly opinions such as are in this post....which I am thankful to be able to give....where they are directed to readers anywhere....and thus that reader....anywhere....might take the words at face value....and not as words personally directed to them.
