Passed from death unto life
Last post we read how Jesus merely reiterated His Father’s Word. Jesus repeated this many times.
He 
continuously throughout his ministry let his followers know that he spoke His Father’s Word and didn’t make anything up himself.
What follows is another promise by Jesus. He tells us that anyone that hears and lives according to His teachings and anyone that believes in His Father, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, can lay claim to the promise of eternal life.
Out of this world!
That promise of eternal life is just out of this world! Who can wrap their mind around it?
Going to heaven? Sure, when I grew up in a Catholic family we all believed that we’d go to heaven; that is unless we were naughty and then we would end up in hell.
But this is a different thing altogether. This is God’s Word laying it out in detail: Eternal life, everlasting life, living forever … If you want to, you can sign up for it … yeahh! I like it. We’re actually given a choice and this choice is not just for the religious but open to anyone.
Are you comfortable?
I often enough hear people say that heaven … yeah whatever. And I’ve come to understand that this is what some people believe because they enjoy all the comforts that life has to offer and they have no longing for a better place. Why don’t these people long for a better place? Because life is quite enjoyable for them as it is. This reminds me of the following verses,
“There was a certain rich man who clothed himself in purple and fine linen, and who feasted luxuriously every day. At his gate lay a certain poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. Lazarus longed to eat the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Instead, dogs would come and lick his sores.
“The poor man died and was carried by angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. While being tormented in the place of the dead, he looked up and saw Abraham at a distance with Lazarus at his side. He shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I’m suffering in this flame.’
But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received good things, whereas Lazarus received terrible things. Now Lazarus is being comforted and you are in great pain. Moreover, a great crevasse has been fixed between us and you. Those who wish to cross over from here to you cannot. Neither can anyone cross from there to us.’
“The rich man said, ‘Then I beg you, Father, send Lazarus to my father’s house. I have five brothers. He needs to warn them so that they don’t come to this place of agony.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets. They must listen to them.’
The rich man said, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will change their hearts and lives.’
Abraham said, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, then neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’” Copyright 2011 Common English Bible(CEB)
Listen to Moses and the Prophets
Once more we’re told by Jesus to listen to Moses and the Prophets if we’re interested in the Good Afterlife. By telling this parable, Jesus even prophesied that people who don’t pay attention to what the prophets had to say, won’t pay attention to someone (such as Himself) who was raised from the dead either.
Don’t worry if you’re comfortable in this life, there is nothing wrong with that in itself. Just make sure that you take care of all the people around you as well.
And then as you take care of those around you, no need to tell the world about it because as Jesus said, the praise you receive for your good deeds will be all the reward you can expect.
“When you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.”
and also
Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
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ABOUT THIS BLOG – We’re researching the truth of living forever according to GOD’s Holy Word; Sola Scripture. Popular opinion tells us that everyone who ‘believes’ and has ‘faith’ will go to heaven. Is this true? I decided to ask the prophets about the truth of it all.
ABOUT THE CONTENT – All content on this website is copyrighted and you can read more about this here. Please also read the disclaimer about my authority and qualifications.
ABOUT SCRIPTURE CARDS – If you want to send free Scripture Cards to your friends click here and you you want to buy hard copies of Scripture Cards you can click here. To download a free copy of my Story of Survival click here.
What about those people doing wonderful work?
What about those people who do wonderful work in Jesus’ name? What did Jesus say about them? What about the people healing and donating and preaching and creating wonderful music all in Jesus name? Do any of these activities give us any brownie points?
Not funny!
It never ceases to amaze me how religious people tell me that all their sins are forgiven and their ticket-in is guaranteed. There must be many different heavens that I do not know about because the Prophets and Jesus’ words tell me that, regardless of your religion, unless you try your hardest to do the right thing, you’re gonna be toast.
Just the other day I was talking with an internet buddy and once more I was told that ‘following the commandments is not recommended’ or something like that. And her words implied that, ‘A curse is attached to the commandments and you should pray over it.’
You may think this is funny but it is not to me. I take my faith seriously and continuously bump into people who call me cursed because I choose to follow the commandments. Not funny!
So let’s have another look at this and see what the Bible has to say about the commandments.
I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses
So I prayed and opened my Bible once more on the subject of following God’s Commandments. Very early on in the Bible heaven and earth are called as witnesses against us,
Life and death, blessings and curses … What was all this about? Let’s have a closer look at these words and the context in which they were given. I’ll give a synopses of Deuteronomy Chapter 30 where Moses prophesied, warned his tribe and told them to do the right thing.
Choose life … keep His commandments
Obey His voice, do all His commandments
For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off … But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
Life and Good, Death and Evil
See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
Blessing and Curses
I don’t know about you, but it is pretty clear to me that Moses says that following the commandments is ‘a blessing and life.’
Moses pronounces a ‘curse and death’ over those who don’t attempt to do the right thing, and he calls this ‘evil.’
I’m sorry if this annoys you. The whole purpose of this blog is to highlight all the cases and instances where promises and prophesies are made for eternal life.
I know that there is church doctrine which disagrees with this and I respect that there are people who prefer to follow church doctrine.
I am quoting the Bible. And according to Moses and Jesus it is considered a blessing to follow the commandments.
On this blog I list where promises and prophesies are made with regards to eternal life in the Bible. And as we can see above, Jesus merely reiterated Moses’ words. Jesus said something to the effect of, ‘it doesn’t matter how religious and holy you think you are. And it does not matter whatever good deeds you think you are doing … if you don’t do my Father’s will and follow his commandments … you’re not part of my posse.’
The bottom line is that, according to the Son of God, calling yourself a Christian means nothing unless you’re prepared to abide by the house rules.
Is Heaven just for Jesus’ friends?
Not according to my Bible. As we say here in Australia, ‘do the right thing and she’ll be right mate!’
It’s all about love. By following the commandments we show love for our Creator and each other. Not that complex really.
What is love? This is love according to the prophets with a little help from ‘Moments in Love.’ Music courtesy of Art of Noise.
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ABOUT THIS BLOG – We’re researching the truth of living forever according to GOD’s Holy Word; Sola Scripture. Popular opinion tells us that everyone who ‘believes’ and has ‘faith’ will go to heaven. Is this true? I decided to ask the prophets about the truth of it all.
ABOUT THE CONTENT – All content on this website is copyrighted and you can read more about this here. Please also read the disclaimer about my authority and qualifications.
ABOUT SCRIPTURE CARDS – If you want to send free Scripture Cards to your friends click here and you you want to buy hard copies of Scripture Cards you can click here. To download a free copy of my Story of Survival click here.
Do you need to believe in Jesus to go to heaven?
Not according to my Bible and not according to the Pope either. Think about it. If only ‘Jesus believers’ were to go to heaven … what about all of the ancient prophets and the people called righteous and just? For instance Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Job, Zachariah and Elizabeth are all mentioned as righteous and good people. But Jesus hadn’t been born yet when they where alive. So even if they would have wanted to believe in Jesus they couldn’t have.
Jesus himself indicated that, when he was alive, there were plenty righteous people around, I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Sure it is true that Jesus said if anyone disowns Him before others they will be disowned before the angels of God. This was Jesus talking to and about his own posse. A little bit I guess like how some kids will disown their parents in front of their friends. That’s not cool and Jesus says that there will be consequences for that.
His commandment is life everlasting.
But Jesus also said, And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
Jesus spoke his Father’s Word, just like the ancient prophets.
Do we need to believe in Jesus to go to heaven? This is what Jesus said about it:
Thank you for visiting.
My name is Mimi and I am the editor of the Live Forever how to blog. Welcome and thank you for stopping by.
What is this blog about?
There is only one authority on living forever and to find out about eternal life I decided to go to The Authority. This blog is about the truth of it all according to Scripture, God’s Holy Word.
This may turn out to be different from what the different denominations, church doctrine and religious leaders tell us. It may not line up with the popular understanding of ‘everyone [sort of] goes to Heaven.’ Some common myths will be dispelled on this blog and any potential treading on toes will be unintentional. Don’t shoot the messenger, I’ll be merely quoting from Scripture and list together all the occasions where references are made to Living Forever.
There is only One who knows
There is only One who knows, Our Creator, and He wrote a manual. This manual is easily understood by the average layperson who has genuine interest and takes the time to read it, and this book really does not need a massive amount of interpreting. This howto manual is freely available to all of us and I’ll be quoting from this manual, which is also known as the Bible.
To view all posts so far on this topic click in the right column under ‘Categories’ the words ‘Live Forever.’
According to God’s Word
This blog is about living forever according to GOD’s Holy Word; Sola Scriptura. Not according to my own personal opinion or anyone else’s opinion either, but simply looking at what Scripture tells us about living forever. We all have an idea, or more accurately stated; we all have a personal opinion of some kind, of what Heaven is all about. But the intention of my blog is that I note wherever in the bible references are made to the words ‘living forever’ and variants thereof, so that eventually an understanding will emerge of the Truth of Living Forever according to Scripture.
Please don’t get me into trouble and read my disclaimer with regards to my authority on this subject.
Thank you LORD!
Over the past decade I’ve reflected on issues of life and death because of various close calls and because, days before he took his own life, my favourite cousin asked me, ‘How long do you expect to live for?’
I started this blog because … I am still alive!
Praise to GOD, thank you LORD for answering our prayers. Yep, GOD made me laugh alright! My entire life has been rebuild with the help of my faith and specifically GOD’s Word.
I doubt that I need credentials to be grateful and share with the people close to me, but I dug deep and found some just the same to share with anyone who wants to hear about my qualifications. I love nothing better than to share the joy, love and peace which my family and I enjoy because of the blessings of GOD’s Word. I truly am head over heels.
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ABOUT THE CONTENT – All content on this website is copyrighted and you can read more about this here. Please also read the disclaimer about my authority and qualifications.
ABOUT THIS BLOG – We’re researching the truth of living forever according to GOD’s Holy Word; Sola Scripture. Popular opinion tells us that everyone who ‘believes’ and has ‘faith’ will go to heaven. Is this true? I decided to ask the prophets about the truth of it all.
ABOUT SCRIPTURE CARDS – If you want to send free Scripture Cards to your friends click here and you want to buy hard copies of Scripture Cards you can click here. To download a free copy of my Story of Survival click here.
Why would any one write a blog on Living For Ever?
That’s a good question and I’ll tell you why. Exactly ten years ago my favourite cousin Les asked me this question during one of his visits to my house: ‘How long do you expect to live for?’
To be honest I had never given it any thought. So I reflected on his question briefly and told him that a clairvoyant’s crystal ball once portrayed me at a ripe old age with hair as white as snow. ‘I’ll sign up for that,’ I said, at a time when I still believed in soothsayers.
‘What about you Les?’ I asked.
Les and I had great rapport, which may have had something to do with the fact that we were of the same vintage.
‘Me,’ he said, ‘I’ll be living forever.’
He grinned at me with a smile bigger than the sun, ‘Me,’ he said, whilst poking his finger at his chest, ‘I’ll be living for ever!’
A week later he had taken his own life. I wrote a small article about it in 2005 as part of a feature story on teenage depression, you can read about that below.
The concept of living for ever somehow sounded different to ‘heaven.’
Like most people I had heard about heaven but it was my cousin Les who introduced me to the concept of living for ever. The concept of living for ever somehow sounded different to ‘heaven.’
The passing of my favourite cousin combined with several near death experiences experienced by myself were some of the reasons that prompted me to study living for ever intensely for the next decade.
Les wrote poetry during his lifetime but this particular poem as printed above was artistic licence from the author to fit in with the story and convey Les’ mood on his last visit to his cousin (me). For help with or information on depression visit beyondblue.org.au, the black dog institute, pressonaustralia or phone Lifeline on 131 114.
all rights reserved copyright myemmanuel 2014
How Many Of Us Get To Go To Heaven?
Who is it that gets to live forever? Do we even want to live forever? A little while ago Daily Post’s Scott Berkun posed exactly that question, ‘Do you want to live forever?’ and received widely varied responses.
Did you know that Americans Stand a Better Chance To Get to Heaven?
First of all you need to know that Americans stand a better chance than others to get into heaven, it is a mathematical fact and you can read more about that here.
Only Two People Entered the Promised Land
Secondly you need to know that out of the whole Hebrew nation, which 3500 years ago was around one million people, only two out of one million got to enter the promised land. After a long forty year journey through the wilderness, only two.
Why Only Two Out Of A Million?
Why was this? Because these were the only two that obeyed God. Yep. That’s what the bible tells us. Even Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land. Who were the two that were allowed to enter the promised land?
Caleb and Joshua. It is good to keep in mind that the Jewish people are meticulous record keepers. And there you have it, Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun were the only two out of the original tribe which entered the promised land because they were the only two that followed God.
Many seek to enter in.
Many Seek To Enter In. Most people I know expect to go to heaven, just because … They have faith and all that. They reckon they’ll be fine.
This doesn’t correlate with what the Good Book tells us. The bible tells us that two were kicked out of paradise for not obeying God and two out of around one million entered into the promised land because they were the only two who obeyed God.
What are your chances that you’ll end up in heaven?
So, what are your chances that you’ll end up in heaven? Unless you’re an American … the bible tells us that only two out of a nation of around one million people entered the promised land.
Reading the above made me wonder what the parameters are.
all rights reserved copyright myemmanuel 2014