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HEAVEN TWELVE
BEDFORD, Nova Scotia, November 9, 2015 – As in every other type of job, working in God’s kingdom on Earth requires preparation. Very few people are ready to preach the Word immediately after rebirth. Most need intensive trial-and-error training, followed by a lengthy apprenticeship period. If the apprenticeship works out, God will hire you to work on a probationary basis. If you make it through the probationary period, then you’ll be hired full-time.
In contrast to the world’s system, the higher up the employment ladder you go in God’s kingdom, the fewer financial rewards you’ll reap. In fact, with each promotion, the less money you’ll earn. Nabbing a coveted full-time position means you’ll be earning a whopping nothing in terms of worldly wealth because you won’t need to earn anything. One way or another, God will provide for all your needs.
Look at Jesus during his ministry years, or Paul during his final travels. These are our examples of what full-time work in God’s kingdom on Earth looks like. Neither man had any income to speak of, yet their housing, food, transportation, clothing and miscellaneous needs were completely taken care of. They were also ferociously, even supernaturally, energetic. They didn’t just grudgingly put in their 40 hours a week and then kick back for a weekend of R&R with their buddies – no, they were always working. There’s no such thing as “overtime” when you accept a position in God’s kingdom on Earth. You work every day, from the time you get up in the morning until the time you close your eyes at night, and you keep on working until you either fall down dead or are killed. There is no retirement in God’s kingdom on Earth. The phrase “retired minister” is an abomination to God.
At any point, of course, your training or employment can be terminated, if you show yourself unworthy to the task. Being born-again isn’t a guaranteed ticket to Heaven, but it is a prerequisite to getting into Heaven. And being born-again necessarily means that you’re either working in God’s earthly kingdom or preparing to work in it.
All of you reading this blog should either be training, or apprenticing, or in your probationary period, or working full-time. If you don’t identify with one of those phases, you’re not born-again.
Jesus said that you cannot serve God and mammon. During your training, apprenticeship and probationary years, God will allow most of you to continue working in the world, but only enough to keep body and soul together. Your focus, during those years, should not be on increasing your income or on upgrading your skills to get a “better job” with “better benefits”; your focus should be on doing God’s work in preparation for full-time employment in the kingdom. Your goal is not to earn more money but to earn less, until you’re finally released from the need to earn money altogether.
What a blessed day that is, when God calls you to work full-time!
His spirit is with you powerfully from that point onwards, and you have the same focus and drive that Jesus and Paul had. Every incremental increase in God’s spirit (which comes with every incremental increase in your faith) brings you greater insight into God’s ways as well as enhanced pleasure in everyday life. The higher up the employment scale you advance, the closer you grow to God and Jesus, the more they entrust in you, and the more likely you are to get to Heaven.
The job does get tougher, however, and the physical comfort level decreases with each advancement. If you’re looking just to slide by as a lowly bench warmer in God’s earthly kingdom – forget it. There’s no such position available.
No genuine born-again wants to be bench warmer. That’s one way you can tell the real born-agains from the fake ones – the genuine ones can’t wait to get out there and start spreading the Word, whereas the fake ones either don’t want to do it or will only do it after attending theology school. These latter types see preaching as a career opportunity, and they’re in it mainly for the income security.
No genuine born-again preaches for a paycheck. No genuine born-again expects payment for sharing God’s Word.
Jesus filed professional preachers and Word-sellers under “hypocrites”.
Don’t get on that file.
Working for God can be exhausting and demanding and take everything you have to give, but even your worst day working for the kingdom will be infinitely better than your best day working for the world..
HEAVEN ELEVEN
BEDFORD, Nova Scotia, November 6, 2015 – One thing you can bet your bottom dollar on when you start seriously following Jesus is that you’ll be broke.
Flat broke.
No savings to speak of. Not even enough for an ice-cream on a hot day.
That’s because God’s weaning you off your wants and getting you used to having only enough for your needs. Burning off the excess. Refining the gold. Getting you to focus on what matters. Having money to buy things you don’t really need takes your focus off doing God’s work.
You prayed to have only your daily bread, so don’t be surprised if it doesn’t come with a steak and fries.
Or an ice-cream.
Most of us, however, don’t go gently into that economic good night. I speak from experience when I say it’s a shock to the system when God takes the money away, even if you think you’ve prepared yourself for it psychologically.
It’s at times like these that you have to remind yourself, over and over again (in between crying fits), that Jesus had no money, either. People would donate to him, but otherwise he was a freeloader during his ministry years. He never begged, but he graciously accepted what was offered him by way of meals and transportation and housing. Nothing wrong with that, if it’s what God wants for you. Even as a freeloader, Jesus always had enough for his needs and then some.
“Blessed are those who look after the needs of God’s freeloaders.” I’m sure that’s in the Bible somewhere, though perhaps worded slightly differently. Remember what Jesus said about how God rewards those who give even a cup of cold water to one of his children? That would be us, God’s children. His dear little thirsty freeloaders. His dear little thirsty and hungry freeloaders.
God bless us, and God bless those who look after us!
Huge blessings come the way of those who look after God’s children, especially when they’re in their seriously-following-Jesus freeloading years. But that’s always the way – those who help get more than those who are helped. It’s a wonderful law. Unfortunately, it’s been perverted by some “wolves” to insinuate that God will reward people MATERIALLY for helping others, but that’s not God’s way.
The best rewards are always spiritual.
What keeps me going as I stare into my empty wallet (and try not to cry) is thinking about Heaven. I can have all my wants here now, on Earth, if I choose to, or I can wait and get them in Heaven, where they’ll be infinitely better and last forever.
Most people, sadly, have chosen to get their wants now. It’s tempting, that’s for sure, but it’s best to do what Jesus did, and he waited to get his wants in Heaven. So did Paul, and so did all the prophets.
In this, as in everything else, we should choose as Jesus did. As long as we’re doing God’s work, we’ll have enough for our needs while we’re here on Earth. And then, if and when we get to Heaven – PARTY TIME!
As my grandmother used to say: “The good Lord provides.”
And that’s something else you can bet your bottom dollar on.
HEAVEN TEN
BEDFORD, Nova Scotia, November 5, 2015 – I am rabidly areligious. I hate all religions equally, and I hate them with a passion.
In my mind, ‘freedom of religion’ just means freedom to bow down to whichever demon you fancy, because all religions are demon worship, every single one. It’s better to live where religion is outlawed than to live where all religions are welcome.
Take Christianity, for instance. It’s loosely based on Jesus’ life and teachings, but it’s polar opposite to what Jesus intended. When he warned us: “Many will come in my name”, he was referring to the multiplicity of denominations that would spring up like weeds after a hard rain. None of these denominations reflect the true teachings of Jesus, and yet all claim to be “Christian”. Like the other demon-worshiping cults they mimic (Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.), denominational Christianity is based on creeds and a rigid system of beliefs rather than raw live faith.
Jesus wanted us to experience faith raw and live, and he showed us how we can do that. Rather than institute a religious system that requires us to mouth “vain repetitions” (by reciting certain words over and over at certain times of the day) or perform deeds that were disconnected from our daily lives (like attending worship services), Jesus demonstrated how faith in God should not be something separate from what we do every day but instead should be life itself. He constantly referred to God as “the living God”, and invited us to live along with him. We don’t need to go into a building to worship God because our worship is the choices we make, every day, all day. We are our faith, we don’t just “practice” it.
If you follow Jesus as you should be following Jesus, your faith is indistinguishable from your life. In fact, if you follow Jesus as you should be following him, you could live in a Muslim country where Christianity is outlawed, and still openly live your faith 24/7. This is what is so astounding about what Jesus accomplished: he not only conquered death by paying our sin-debt on the cross, but he also conquered religion and the need for religious worship by turning everyday life into worship.
If you follow Jesus, you automatically are worshiping God.
If you follow Jesus, you live your faith real and raw by the choices you make, every day, all day.
Following Jesus is the highest calling a human being can aspire to; it’s also the most natural and the most rewarding. Jesus was a cool guy who lived a cool life. He was answerable to nothing and no-one but God, whose values he fully shared and fully espoused. He was areligious in the extreme.
So should you be.
HEAVEN NINE
BEDFORD, Nova Scotia, November 3, 2015 – One topic that makes many born-agains intensely uncomfortable is earthly possessions.
You know – your stuff. Your belongings. The ‘treasures’ you cherish and the things you use daily that you can’t imagine doing without, like your car, your furniture, your pots and pans, your dishes, your phone.
Your stuff.
Jesus had no stuff. Whatever he’d accumulated in Nazareth before leaving home to preach, he likely left behind in Nazareth. He had only the clothes on his back when John baptized him. As a preacher, he roamed from village to village, using what he found along the way but taking nothing with him.
Jesus is our model on how we are to live our lives. All born-agains accept this as God’s truth, but when it comes to earthly possessions, some get very touchy.
People can get really attached to their stuff.
The rich young ruler was attached to his stuff, too, and Jesus saw that it was preventing him from doing God’s will. That’s why he told him to get rid of it.
All of it.
Yikes.
Some of you reading this are probably feeling distinctly uncomfortable right about now. Maybe you’re thinking that getting rid of your stuff doesn’t apply to you because you can do God’s will well enough WITH all your stuff in tow, thank you very much.
That’s between you and God, but Jesus is our example, and he had no stuff. Before he left Nazareth, he likely had lots of stuff, but as soon as he started preaching, he let it all go. It would have slowed him down and redirected his energy and attention. Stuff can do that to you. Possessions can possess you even more than you possess them.
Better to live each day as if it were your last, because it could be. We came into this world empty-handed, and we’ll leave empty-handed. When we become born-again, we die to this world. What does that mean, to “die to this world”? When you die, you no longer have any stuff. Other people get what had been yours. If we are to live our born-again lives as if we died to the world, then our stuff has to go, just as the cursing, the fornicating, the lying, the stealing, the coveting, etc., also have to go.
When we become born-again, we leave the world spiritually and enter into a transition zone between Heaven and Earth. Our body is still in the world, but our spirit is not. What the world holds dear, we no longer value. That includes our and everyone else’s stuff.
I know this is hard for some of you to read. You might even point to clever arguments that show you can have your stuff and still do God’s will, have your cake and eat it, too. As long as your possessions don’t possess you, you can keep them, right?
Right?
Jesus is our example. He had no stuff.
“Sell what you have, give to the poor, and come follow me.”
HEAVEN EIGHT
BEDFORD, Nova Scotia, October 30, 2015 – I’m a born-again Christian. I love God with all my heart. I follow Jesus’ example on how to live my life. To the best of my ability, I make the choices that he made.
And I give treats to children on Halloween.
(Oh, the horror!…)
Some of you reading this are likely shaking your head. Don’t I know the pagan roots of Halloween? Don’t I know it’s an ancient Celtic festival based on demon-summoning and child sacrifice?
Yes, I’m aware of the roots of the festival. But I’m also aware of how it plays out in real life:
Little kids get dressed up and go door-to-door looking for free treats.
Now imagine Jesus turning off his porch light at his house in Capernaum. When I was a kid going trick-or-treating, a turned-off porch light meant that that house wasn’t “shelling out”, so we didn’t waste our time going there. We also noted which houses did and didn’t shell out, and how generous they were or weren’t.
So did our parents.
Jesus wouldn’t have turned off his porch light. He would have thrown open his door wide to each and every child who came begging, and he would have had a special and kind word for each.
Because these are children we’re talking about.
Remember how the disciples asked Jesus to tell the kids to scram when he was preaching, and Jesus instead told the disciples where they could get off?
Jesus loved having kids around. If they wanted to be there, they were welcome.
Children love treats. They also love dressing up in costumes and being allowed to run around the streets after dark. When you combine free treats with dressing up and going outdoors after bedtime – well, you get one honkin’ big happy occasion in the mind of a child, almost as good as Christmas and birthdays.
There’s a time and a place for preaching God’s word, but doing it on Halloween through a turned-out porch light is the wrong time and the wrong place.
The kids want a treat. Give them a treat. Give them lots, give them freely, and give them with a big warm smile.
God gives us treats, even when he knows it’s not the best thing for us.
He gives them to us for no other reason than that we want them and he loves indulging us.
Born-again or not born-again, atheist, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, agnostic, whatever – Halloween is not the time to preach.
It’s the time to give kids treats, so give ’em treats.
HEAVEN SEVEN
BEDFORD, Nova Scotia, October 28, 2015 – As born-agains, the spiritual tools we value the most, use the most, and need the most have no place in Heaven.
Imagine that!
The Ten Commandments are obsolete.
The directives God gave us through Jesus don’t apply.
We don’t have to pray.
And there aren’t even any Bibles (King James or otherwise).
Imagine that!
Faith, hope and charity have value only in this life.
We don’t need faith in Heaven because, as Paul told us, we’ll see and know God fully as he is.
We won’t need hope, either, because we’ll have everything we want and there won’t be any adversities to overcome.
And we won’t need charity, the self-less love that’s expressed by obedience to God’s will. There won’t be any need for charity in Heaven because we’ll all have the mind of God, so we’ll all be doing God’s will automatically.
As for praying, we won’t need to do that any more because we won’t have to talk to God and Jesus in faith, trusting they hear us; we’ll be able to talk to them face-to-face.
So you see, there’s no ‘faith, hope and charity’ or praying in Heaven because there’s no need for them.
And there’s no free will, either (to which I say: THANK GOD FOR THAT!).
I’m glad God gave me free will, but I’ll be even gladder to kiss that double-edged mother good-bye.
It’s caused me a lot of problems.
Bye-bye, free will!
Bye-bye, Bible!
Bye-bye, faith hope and charity!
Bye-bye, loving your enemies!
Bye-bye to everything but God’s will and God’s goodness, because that’s all we’ll need when we arrive in Heaven. God will provide us with everything else, just like he provides for us on Earth.
And the last thing we’ll say good-bye to is good-bye itself, because there are never any partings in Heaven. Everything and everyone are there to stay.
HEAVEN SIX
BEDFORD, Nova Scotia, October 27, 2015 – If you had any idea how much God loves you and how much he does for you every second of every day, you’d never get off the floor, you’d be crying so much, face down, in total gratitude.
But God doesn’t want you on your face crying. He wants you looking up and laughing and running around and playing and listening to him and hugging him and sitting on his lap. He wants you to pay attention to your big brother, Jesus, and to follow his example in everything you do. And he likes it when you think of him every so often, not as an obligation, but just to say “hi”. In fact, he loves it when you drop by in prayer for no other reason than to say “Hi, Dad”. That means everything to him, just like it does to earthly parents. He doesn’t want anything from you. He just wants you to make the right choices for your own benefit, not for his.
He just wants you to come home.
HEAVEN FIVE
BEDFORD, Nova Scotia, October 26, 2015 – Every born-again believer has three main jobs while they’re here on Earth – the first is to tell people about Heaven, the second is to show them how to get there, and the third is to “endure to the end”.
If you’re reading this, your end hasn’t come yet, so you’d better keep enduring. Otherwise, Heaven is no guarantee for you, any more than it is for anyone.
As for telling people about Heaven and showing them how to get there – the best way to find out about Heaven is to read scripture and ask God questions, and the best way to show people how to get to Heaven is to point to how Jesus lived his life and to make the choices he made.
Jesus is not just our example of how to live a good life – he’s everyone’s example, no exceptions.
One thing we need to clear about is that Earth is a knock-off of Heaven – a very small, very imperfect knock-off. Earth is bound by time and space, whereas Heaven is boundless and eternal. Earth can corrode and rot, but Heaven cannot. There is no death, disease or decay in Heaven. Everything and everyone are perfected, but not in a mindless or automaton kind of way. On the contrary: Imagine the best day you’ve ever lived on Earth, when your mind was clear and sharp, your body was primed and invigorated, and the weather was exhilarating. That’s a foretaste of how you’ll live every day in Heaven. Now combine that with the emotional ecstasy you experienced on being reborn, at that instant when the demons exited and God’s spirit entered in. There are no words on Earth to describe that ecstasy because it is not an earthly sensation; it’s Heaven.
So this is what Heaven is like – perfect senses, perfect body, perfect feelings, perfect weather. Every day, all day.
And the sleeps at night – like nothing you’ve ever experienced on Earth! Absolutely perfect sleeps, without exception.
When you ask people what they think Heaven is like, they usually talk about clouds and harps and angel wings. This is not Heaven; this is satanic propaganda to make Heaven look alien and boring and dissuade you from wanting to go home. Because that’s what Heaven is – home: The true homeland of all souls. We’ve already been there because we were created there. And every iota of our being wants to go back.
In fact, we want to go back so much, we try to recreate Heaven here on Earth. We do it through social systems (where everyone is equal and is watched over by allegedly ‘benign’ leaders who strive for the ‘common good’) or through medical care (where people are injected with chemicals to appear ‘beautiful’ and ‘youthful’ and ‘healthy’) or by living beyond our means. We are goaded to strive for artificially ‘perfected’ bodies, to live in a dream home with a dream kitchen, and to take occasional breaks from our dream jobs to go on dream vacations, sometimes in our dream cars. None of these things are, of course, anywhere near perfect, and none of them ever truly satisfy us, no matter how “dreamy” we or our surroundings become. Other than for the presence of God’s spirit, it’s impossible to recreate the ease and perfection of Heaven here. God made it impossible so that we wouldn’t get too comfortable on Earth and lose sight of our true destination.
There is nothing on Earth that can compare to Heaven, except for the presence of God’s spirit and the beauty of God’s creation.
In Heaven, everyone believes in God and everyone follows Jesus. Everyone is young and beautiful and healthy. There is no pain, either physical or mental, no regrets, no bad memories, and no bad thoughts Everyone is athletic and everyone can “sing like the angels”. There is only love in Heaven; no fear. Nothing rots. There are no conspiracies against God; no grumbling; no doubters. Think of the best day or best moments you’ve ever experienced, and then expand that into infinity. That’s Heaven.
As Jesus reminded us, we each have our own personal space in Heaven. It’s our real forever home. God has shown me mine. It’s everything that I’ve ever wanted in a home, and all my “treasures” are there. It’s small and cosy, and there’s a beautiful garden out back with all my favourite trees and flowers and butterflies and birds. My cats are there, too (they even have their own wing!), along with all my favourite foods. And there’s a huge skating surface to the rear of my property where I can figure skate to my heart’s content, performing tricks and manoeuvres that I could never do while on Earth in my imperfect, non-athletic body.
By the way – you’re all invited to come visit me in Heaven, if you make it and I make it. Just drop by and say: “You invited me on your blog”, and we’ll sit down and have a big slice of whatever you fancy the most, washed down with your favourite beverage. And then we’ll have a good old chat, because we’ll instantly be the best of friends in a way we could never be on Earth.
Only those who love God and choose his way will make it to Heaven. Maybe some people we knew on Earth will be there, but maybe not. Those who don’t make it, we have no recollection of when we’re in Heaven. We don’t mourn them or miss them because, for us, it’s as if they never existed.
They, on the other hand, can never forget us or what they’ve forfeited by their wrong choices while on Earth. That’s one of the most horrendous aspects of Hell – never being able to forget or overcome regrets or escape the consequences of bad choices. Hell is one long tortuous panic attack that never ends. And that’s on a good day in the Pit.
God’s shown me my little piece of Heaven so I’ll know what’s waiting for me if I keep on the right path. This helps me endure what’s going on here now and also provides a powerful incentive to make the right choices, especially when the temptations are strong. Paul was shown Heaven; everyone who’s born again is shown Heaven. All you have to do is ask God and he’ll show you, when you’re ready. Bug him enough, and he’ll show you a little sneak-peek, even if you’re not quite ready. He loves showing you what he’s got “stored up” for you. He just doesn’t want you to get ahead of yourself and assume that Heaven is a given.
Because Heaven is not a given, not for anyone.
Hell still remains an option as long as you’re here.
Our best experiences on Earth are a foretaste of Heaven. Don’t mess it up for yourself.
Follow Jesus all the way home.
HEAVEN FOUR
BEDFORD, Nova Scotia, October 23, 2015 – God looks for sincerity in those who say they are his.
Jesus told us that God wants people to worship him in spirit and in truth.
Sincerity means more to God than every word of praise or worship ever written.
A simple – even unspoken – “thank you” or “I’m sorry” or “Help!”, when it comes straight from your heart, sends God rushing in.
Nothing on Earth compares with a hug from God.
It’s peaceful and energizing at the same time.
Being in close relationship with God is all that really matters.
To get there, be honest with him, as Jesus was.
Trust him. Lean on him.
Hug him back.
That’s how you stay close to God.
And that’s how you get his hugs.
HEAVEN THREE
BEDFORD, Nova Scotia, October 22, 2015 – Whining as a born-again believer has to be the most ridiculous waste of time that any of us can indulge in, and yet we still do it. I stand as guilty of this silly offence as the next person. Whining is an indication that faith is momentarily weak, that we’ve forgotten that God is in control, and that things are as they are not because God is vindictive and wants us to suffer, but because we’ve either brought the ‘suffering’ on ourselves, or we’ve had expectations that were not to our benefit and so were nixed by God.
In other words, we chose against God’s will.
This is not necessarily the end of our or anyone else’s world, but it is a wake-up call.
Following Jesus means living more or less opposed to everyone who isn’t following Jesus. In case you haven’t noticed, that’s pretty much the whole world that we’re living opposed to, so it shouldn’t be surprising to us (and it certainly isn’t to God) that sometimes we’ll want what the world wants, not what God wants. Just call it peer pressure.
When that happens, don’t be too hard on yourself. Recognize it for what it is, and go to God for help. Yell at him if you want to (he’s got industrial-grade earplugs for moments like these), but remember who’s the source of all good. It’s not you, it’s not me, it’s not the government, it’s not anyone or anything but God.
Think of how Jesus lived. He was for all intents and purposes homeless. He had no money and no possessions beyond the clothes on his back. And yet other than for the odd time when he resorted to eating corn out of a farmer’s field or tried to eat figs from a fruitless tree (and then cursed it for its barrenness), he always had plenty of food and a place to sleep. He was healthy. He was physically vigorous and fully employed in God’s work. And he apparently had such a kick-ass cloak that the soldiers threw lots for it while he was dying on the cross.
This kind of life is where we’re all headed, if we’re true followers of Jesus. We won’t have a home to call our own, we won’t have possessions beyond the few we can carry with us (and I’m not talking U-Haul or RV here), and we won’t have any money beyond what we need for our ‘daily bread’. Our work will be fully for God and his kingdom, and our only friends will be those who, like us, love God and follow Jesus.
Needless to say, we won’t have many friends on Earth, but the one or two that we do have will be true friends, not facebook friends or fair-weather friends.
In any case, the only friend we really need is Jesus. He understands what we’re going through because he went through it himself.
“What a Friend We Have in Jesus” is not just a song. “Give us this day our daily bread” is not just a line from scripture. These are directives on how to survive in this world and overcome temptations. Whining is a temptation. Get past it. Many of those who followed Moses into the desert didn’t get past their whining and never made it to the promised land because of it.
Don’t end up like them. Next time you’re tempted to whine about something, remember: “This too shall pass.”
A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER 