If the righteous go to heaven when they die, from where will the Lord’s “firstfruits” rise when He returns? We are told that the righteous dead will rise first to meet Him in the clouds. How is this possible if the righteous dead–those who died “in Christ”–have been in heaven since the instant of death, as we have been led to believe? Read First Thessalonians 4:14-18.

If the righteous go directly to heaven upon their deaths, why did the Apostle Peter write that David, “a man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22) “IS BOTH DEAD AND BURIED (present tense) and his sepulchre is with us to this day …. FOR DAVID HAS NOT ASCENDED INTO THE HEAVENS (Acts 2:29,34).” Are those in “THE” church who have died more righteous than David? not to mention Moses, Noah, whom God called “a preacher of righteousness, the “holy prophets” whom God used to write much of the Old Testament, the patriarchs –Abraham, Isaac and Jacob–and others who walked the earth in holiness early on? No, modern day religionists are not better than they were. Yet millions are believed to have gone to heaven immediately following their deaths. This would include Abel, whom Jesus Himself called “righteous” (Mat. 23:35). If Abel was already in heaven at the time of Christ’s earthly walk, why did He (Christ) say: “NO MAN HAS ASCENDED UP TO HEAVEN, except He Who came down from heaven, even the Son of Man (Jesus) Who is (present tense) in heaven” (Jn. 3:13). Note that the Apostle John was quoting Jesus several years after Christ had died and ascended to heaven. Notable conservable Bible scholars place the date of John’s writings between 69 and 90 A.D., after the other three Gospels had been written. If those who had died, some martyred for their obedience to God, had not gone to heaven by that time, where had they been all that time?

Billions of people believe that the saved go directly to heaven upon their deaths. Yet, if we can believe the Scripture writers, Moses, Abel, Noah, the prophets, the patriarchs, David, the apostles, Aunt Sally and Uncle Joe are still in the earth (or have returned to earth from which they were made) awaiting their resurrections. Read The Three Resurrections. Key word–Three. Why have a resurrection of those who have died “in Christ” if they have already “gone to their reward” and are “with Jesus (and Aunt Sally and Grampa Joe) now”? I have heard people say that our dead ancestors are in heaven, looking down on us and cheering us on. Such religious nonsense is being presented to the world as “Gospel truth” when the Gospel itself declares it to be Satanic lies. Isn’t it time we learn from God’s Holy Word who is right and who is wrong? I have heard it all, seen it all, and done more of it than I care to admit, therefore I am not easily shocked. However, I have had people admit that I am right, then reject what I have quoted to them from their own Bibles. To this day, that still shocks me. NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF SATAN OVER HIS RELIGIOUS PLAYGROUND, KNOWN GLOBALLY AS “THE CHURCH.”

Without a resurrection, there is no future, neither in heaven nor in hell. And neither on the Earth in the future Kingdom of God. Read The Kingdom of God. Key word–Kingdom. No one can inherit the kingdom while in the bodily form consisting of flesh, bone, blood. etc. No physical entity, including Jesus of Nazareth, can enter God’s presence in his/her physical form. One must be born again–changed from physical to spirit bodily composition. Jesus was the first born again man. Note that He is called the first born among many brethren. We must all be born of God–converted–and later, at the time of Christ’s return, we must be born again in order to enter God’s Kingdom and His presence. Read Born Again. Key word–Born. Also read John 3:1-8 (note vss 3,5) and First Corinthians 15:50.

For this reason, a resurrection of both the dead and the living is required. In that, “It is appointed unto man once to die” (Heb. 9:27), those Very Elect saints who are living upon Christ’s return will die instantly and be changed from flesh to spirit upon their way up into the clouds where they will meet their Savior. The dead, who will have already joined Him, will have been brough back to life in their born again (spiritual) bodies. At Christ’s coming all who died and those who are living “IN (obedience to) CHRIST” will be changed from physical to spiritual bodily composition in an instant–in the “twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:46-54–and will be made immortal (not subject to death).

Jesus declared that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would–in the future–be resurrected (Mat. 22:31,32). This text is often twisted in an attempt to say that Abraham never died, but is in fact in heaven, along with all others who have died, having been supposedly saved. However, a little “fine print” study reveals that Jesus often spoke of the future as if it had already come to past (Rom. 4:17). For example, the entire Book of Revelation. He prefaced his statement about Abraham and his descendants, saying: “As touching (concerning) THE (FUTURE) RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD ….” At the first resurrection (of the firstfruits) Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will be resurrected, born again and rise to meet their Lord in the air. Without a resurrection, neither they nor any others among the dead would ever live again (1 Cor. 15:16,18).

Intense “fine print” study of the Holy Scriptures reveals that the “reward of the saved” is not heaven. The Truth is that heaven is going to come to earth, as the series titled The Kingdom of God plainly reveals. Jesus said in Mathew 25:34 that when He returns He will say to His Very Elect, born again saints: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you ….” May we all be among the blessed of the Father who will inherit the Kingdom of God on earth and share it with the likes of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Abel, Paul, Peter, John, etc.

The problem inherent in the universal misunderstanding and unbelief of the Holy Scriptures has a singular cause: Ignorance. Why, one has to ask, is this the case when Bible are so easily obtained? The answer to that question is also singular: Satan. Revelation 12:9 tells us that Satan has deceived the whole world and made its people his slaves. The crown jewel of his kingdom is the Catholic/Protestant Church System, out of which the gracious Lord pulled me some years ago. He has always owned the various religious “isms” that today are growing in popularity to due to the mental curse God is pouring out on rebellious mankind due to their rejection of His Law.–the Holy Bible which He condensed into the Ten Commandments which, “the church” tells us, is impossible to obey, thanks to Adam’s sin transferal miracle. Having two-thirds of mankind already under his power, he lusted for control over God’s church. His success has been, 99% successful. Jesus prophesied that this would be the case in Matthew 7:13,14; and 22:14. L.J.