One Truth

I conducted a query of my own not to long ago, of people who have an interest in the paranormal. The replies I received were as interesting as they were unique to the individual.

The Question: I’m curious as to how those who believe in “Heaven” envision it. Is it a real place? If so, what does it look like? How big is it? Where does it exist? Can you leave Heaven once you get there? Why would ghosts hang around here when they can be there? How do you relate your belief or non-belief in Heaven to your interest in the Paranormal?

The Answers:

“Well since I’ve heard you can’t enter Heaven until Judgment Day, and that day hasn’t come yet, ghosts or spirits, or whatever you want to call them can do/go any thing/any place they want. As for what it looks like, maybe it’s whatever you idea of it is. Where it’s at ... I got no clue.”

“I know what the other side is like. At least what part of it my family perceives it to be. Every time I’m there, it’s beautiful and perfect. I imagine heaven to be the same place. The place that gives you more comfort than anywhere that you know. That it is perfect for all. It would be utopia. The place we all dream and strive to be at. I believe we all have different opinions about how to get there, but I think the message is the same all over. When the time is right we will ascend into heaven to be with our heavenly family, our ideal. It is different in different religions, but the message is always the same. We will join our heavenly families and friend, and be a whole new type of society. One of love and peace.”

“For years I went to church and was Christian, and for the most part just believed what I was told about heaven: streets of gold and jewels aplenty. Until recently, I didn’t think much of it. Then it hit me. That’s really not very appealing to me. Gold and jewelry? I can take it or leave it and to be surrounded by that 24/7 just isn’t that great. Then I remember back to the scriptures, it talks about a place called “Paradise” and the apostle Paul speaks of several different heavens, 7 layers I think. It never says that Paradise and Heaven are the same place. It was Jesus whom had spoken about Paradise to the thief on the cross beside him. I just wonder if heaven is different for each individual, what is appealing to some, may not be to others. Which may in fact, be the very reason we have some spirits amongst us. Their heaven is being able to watch over their loved ones and help out from the other side. Maybe this makes no sense, but I just don’t think that it’s as cut and dry as it’s made out to be. God created us to be creatures of free will, and by doing this He knows that that makes us vary in every way. I find it hard to believe that He would disregard that, having made us to be this way and then after our life as we know it is finished, just herd us all into a place together where some may not be so happy.”

“I wouldn’t consider myself a particularly religious person, but I believe in heaven. I believe that heaven is either whatever you want it to be and it’s a place where you are finally home and can see others that have passed before you. I also believe that all questions you have ever had will be answered. I believe that it is endless; it would have to be to encompass all those that have decided to cross over. I think that it is another realm; different from earth and that when someone does pass away they can go towards the light and cross over I think that those who do not are spirits or ghosts, if you will, who have unfinished business here on earth. Maybe they were not ready to leave or some did not know they passed away or what happened to them. I think that if you have crossed over, then you can leave and come back, such as to visit an old friend or family member that is still here that misses you and needs you because they are going through a significant life event-a birth, wedding, etc. My interest in the paranormal relates to this because, I’ve lost friends and had two miscarriages and I’ve had experiences that I believe to be paranormal and I’m looking for proof that those whom I have lost are still there and not just gone forever.  I think that there is a heaven and I think that sometimes they come back.”

“I don’t know where Heaven might be at but the Bible does mention a third Heaven. But I believe that it is going to be so peaceful and beautiful. I think that the colors will be so vivid that it will make the colors here on earth look like shadows. I think that we will have jobs there and will love doing them as they will all be centered on worshiping and honoring God and Jesus. All hate and pain will be gone forever. That is how I picture it. Only love will survive.”

“Yes I believe in Heaven and I believe that it is whatever you want it to be and you can change what you want it to be also. I also believe that you can “cross over” back and forth whenever you wish. Have you ever had a dream of a loved one that has passed, or smell a familiar scent or just plain get the feeling that a passed one is near. I was very close to my mom and I truly believe that she visits in my dreams and sometimes just get the feeling of her touch. I think that some of the ghosts or spirits here are visiting and some are bound to earth by something that happened while alive.”

“Because I was raised Christian (united Methodist) I believe in Heaven. I believe in Purgatory although I’m still not sure about that completely. As for hell....I don’t want to believe in that...then again maybe that is purgatory. Waiting kills me....”

“I don’t really believe in heaven. I want my energy recycled when i die... that is after I figure out a way to prove my own existence.”

 Socrates, the classical Greek Philosopher said, “Moreover, you must not wonder that those who attain this height are unwilling to descent to human affairs; for their souls are always hastening into the upper world where they desire to dwell…”

The English scientist Michael Faraday (1791-1867) is considered to have been one of the greatest experimental physicists. When Faraday was questioned on his speculations of a life after death, he replied: “Speculations? I know nothing about speculations. I’m resting on certainties. I know that my Redeemer lives, and because He lives, I shall live also.”

Edgar Cayce said, “You grow to Heaven. You don’t go to heaven.”

David Brandt Berg said, “It certainly seems like a good idea to talk about Heaven, meditate about Heaven and read about Heaven, because, after all, that’s where we’re going to spend eternity. It’s an important place – our eternal home. So it’s only natural to want to know what it’s like and what we’re going to be like when we get there.”

And finally, C.L. Allen said, “If we really understood Heaven, we would be most unhappy and unsatisfied with life on Earth. We would rebel against our earthly limitations. If we saw Heaven, we could not bear this earth. That’s why Heaven is forever: we cannot bear to leave it after we get there.”

While I truly agree with C.L. Allen, the fact of the matter is that the human mind simply cannot comprehend what Heaven, or the Spirit Realm, looks like because we are limited by our own realities.

The truth is that the Spirit Realm existed even before the physical or visible realm. Everything is layered on top of each other. When you are on the Astral Planes, you are in the Spirit Realm and it in its most simplistic terms, opposite of the visible realm. The scientific mind cannot grasp the invisible realm because they think in terms of human logic.  However, the thing to remember is that a spirit is no longer human. They have excelled above flesh and blood. That’s why the Creator says they cannot come to fully know or understand how it works. They are stuck in a rut of simplistic human minds. What they seek to find out scientifically does not exist on a chart or scale that they can ever come to understand. It is beyond their comprehension, because compared to the spirits and their home in the Spirit Realm, those that are science minded are on the scale of a monkey. For example, can they understand spirit manifestations? They think it’s a trick of the mind, so how can they ever understand the Spirit Realm if they can’t even comprehend a simple thing like spirit manifestations?

The Spirit Realm (Heaven) is a plane of existence, with other planes interwoven within the Spirit Realm’s fabric. Even if you go to one of the upper planes, you are still on the primary plane of the Spirit Realm itself. In the Spirit Realm, the spirits refer to other planes as “Planes of Existence” but they are all connected to and a part of the Spirit Realm’s plane of existence. Here’s an example. If you roped and pulled the moon against the earth, it would still be a different place than the earth, but now it would also be part of it, simply because the two are now connected to each other. But, when you stepped onto the moon, you would be in a different place than the earth. Both are a part of the physical plane we all live within.

As far as what it looks like, you have to remember that everything in the Spirit Realm is also here in the Physical Realm. What is there, is here because it was there before here existed. The thing to remember is this; there are many on this earth may feel in their minds that they are above us average people in a level of intelligence. For instance, one example would be the scientific community. To them, intellect is the prime thing to have and boast their claims of “We are smarter than all of you. We can figure everything out with a slide rule.” In my line of work within the paranormal community, there are people who believe that the existence of spirits will only be proven when we can produce results on demand. They want everything to be explainable, predictable and measurable when that’s not what it’s meant to be or ever will be.

I asked a non-believer once, what would constitute enough proof for him to believe that a Spirit Realm exists. His reply in part was, “Only when humans can understand the Spirit Realm well enough to be able to manifest it on the spot under controlled conditions will it make a believer out of me.” That’s why Christ said he will bring the mighty asunder but the meek will inherit the Kingdom. A child can see the truth because their minds are unimpaired by years of believing they are more intelligent than the Creator or equal in understanding His wisdom.

And what about Hell? Is there really a Hell? Due to symbolism in the Scriptures, people often take it literally to mean something aside from what is meant to drive home the point. In an example, I will show you why people believe in a burning Hell; then I will show you what the burning Hell they conceive really is.

“When the 1,000 years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea. They came up over the surface of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints, the beloved city. Then fire came down from heaven and consumed them. The Devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelation 20:7-10 (HCSB)

Hell is not fire and brimstone. Hell is an abyss. It is total and complete darkness, solitude and separation from God and all others. It’s solitary confinement in the Spirit Realm and there is no escaping it. Think about it. When you die you leave the container we are in while on the Physical Plane which is your physical body. When you leave that container you are then transformed into your Spiritual Body. Fire and brimstone are physical elements that cannot harm a spiritual body. So what would the point would there be in Hell being fire and brimstone if it cannot harm you? The above Scripture’s 10th verse is where the misconception arises. To fully understand the torment of forever, you have to understand what the “lake of fire” really symbolizes. That is given without symbolism. Now let’s look at Revelation 20:14-15 “Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And anyone not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.” (HCSB)

So, what is the Lake of Fire? “This is the second death, the lake of fire.” The “second death” is a death of annihilation from existence. You don’t get reanimation from that death. You have simply been completely destroyed, and are out of creation’s existence; that also means out of Yahweh’s memory, for He is the one with the power to reanimate. Because of eternal annihilation, they have lost the chance to live for eternity; but it does not mean they are in a place of actual torment. The torment is what Satan and his demons feel right now. They know they cannot be forgiven, because the fall from perfection is one you cannot climb back up to under Yahweh’s Sovereign Laws. Mankind is under secondary sin from the first human couple that were perfect. Adam and Eve cannot climb back up to perfection either, so they too are lost just like Satan and his angels that fell from perfection. That’s the reason the Ransom Sacrifice had to come through someone perfect that had not sinned. Neither Adam, nor Eve qualified to take the sin away they had committed; and Christ could not forgive their trespass against Yahweh’s Laws, because just like the fallen angels, they to had fallen from a position they could not ever go back to. That’s why we offspring of the first humans were redeemed through Christ; because he accepted the secondary sin that we are all born into, unto himself. It did not make him imperfect; instead, he bore that sin unto death on the Cross, for those that have faith in him and his Father.