The Anti-Feminist Woman

Finding Joy in who you are

Barbara Henderson – the anti-feminist

There are a lot of totally unhappy people in this world.  One that comes to mind often because she stays in the news is Hillary Clinton.  She could win all sorts of awards as an unhappy unattractive person. Obviously, I can’t stand her.  If you like her you probably won’t like this article, although it isn’t really about her.  It is about claiming who you really are and being content in living your life.

First of all, you are either male or female.  There are thought patterns and medical procedures that can appear to alter that, but no matter what surgeries one has, or what hormones they take, they are still the same gender as they were born.

Neither gender is better or worse than the other.  Both are good.  Both are blessed by God.  Both are created to fill certain roles.  Women are better at being mothers than men.  Men are better than being fathers than women.  Duh!  This doesn’t mean that one parent can’t raise a decent child, because he/she can.  But, it does mean that a father who is standing in as both parents will still always be a father.  A mother who is standing in as both parents will still function as a mother.  There is no shame in that.  There is nothing wrong with that.  What is wrong is that men and women are being pushed to be more gender neutral.  This is an impossibility.  You are a man or a woman.  Enjoy being yourself!

Ladies, young women, old women, teenage girls, young girls, YOU were created by God Himself.  Don’t try to be who you aren’t.  Accept being born female as a specific gift from God to you personally. Sadly, there are people today, and especially some women, who hate women.  They hate themselves because they aren’t men, and they hate men even more.  These women have very loud mouths.  Honestly, looking at them and listening to them makes you wish there was a third choice for gender – kidding of course.  The older feminist crowd is obviously miserable.  The younger feminist crowd is just as obviously quite slutty.  They think they are really showing the world how free they are by sleeping with anyone who is willing to take what they give away free.  There may be some in-betweens there that sort of look like they are something between a hag and a slut.  This group may have to pay someone to take what the younger women are giving away free. I really don’t care to have all the details on just how that actually works.  As you can see, I find feminists totally disgusting.  I do acknowledge that God loves them.  He wants them to turn to Him for salvation.  I know some of them claim to be saved, but their actions do point in the opposite direction.

So, what are women who want to actually act like women supposed to do? 

First, they are to see what boundaries are set for proper Christian behavior in the Bible.  The Bible doesn’t say a woman has to get married.  It doesn’t say she has to be a slave to a husband if she does get married.  It does say sex is for inside a marriage of one man and one woman.

A woman is supposed to obey the commandments, follow the instructions of Jesus to love others the way He loves us, and to treat others the way we want to be treated.

Second, within the boundaries of proper and right behavior set by God a woman is free to do whatever she wants to do and is physically and mentally able to do.  Feminists would love to restrict women from doing what they want to do unless it goes along with their agenda.  If you happen to be a woman who has been blessed with a husband who is able to provide for you and your children, maybe you do not plan to have a job that contributes to the family income.  Maybe you actually do want to stay home and raise your own children.  Nobody is stopping you Go for it!  Of course you definitely will be ridiculed and looked down on by the likes of Hillary Clinton – and her sort – you know the ones I am talking about.  Hillary didn’t decide to stay home and bake cookies.  She doesn’t want you to be able to make a different choice. 

So ladies of all ages, it is time for a little self-definition. Just exactly who are you? ( see my article on self-definition here    http://tobarbara.blogspot.com/2011/06/self-definition-who-are-you-really.html )

Second, it is time for a lot of self-discipline.  After you figure out who you are, then you need to figure out what is required to actually live the life a person with your self-definition is supposed to live.  Here’s a hint.  If you are a Christian, God has clearly set down the boundaries within which you are supposed to live.  In a nut shell it is love one another as Christ loves you. 

Within these boundaries there are many many choices that you are free to make.  Do you love fishing?  Personally I don’t, but I do know a lot of women who actually love fishing.  How about hunting?  Yes?  No?  There is no wrong answer.  Do you think you would like a career in science?  Teaching?  Auto racing?  Motorcycle repair?  Then go for it.  But don’t’ be pushed into doing what has traditionally been considered a man’s occupation simply because you have to prove that women can do anything a man can do.  Confident women are born knowing that anyway.

OR – perhaps you actually want to be a married woman who stays home and raises her children.  This requires skill, ability to live on a budget, patience, and a ‘get the job done’ attitude.  You may wind up doing handy-man repairs on a daily basis, cleaning like a cleaning lady, cooking like an overworked chef, stain removal of dirty laundry, mowing the grass, and even painting the house.  I have no doubt you can do anything that you are physically able to do if you actually want to do it.  I can also guarantee that if you chose to stay home you will be looked down upon by many women and society in general.  You will be seen as a relic of the past, a woman who is dominated by a man, a woman who is afraid to try to make it on her own, and any other insult that can be thrown at you simply because you were brave enough to just do what you want to do with your own life.  Don’t let social or political pressure cause you to do things that are wrong or things that you simply don’t actually want to do.

I recently read an article about women being given preference in science fields, only to drop out of their particular field of science at a rate much higher than men.  It is a clear case – at least it is to me – of women being pushed into going into a field of study that has been traditionally male dominated simply because they can.  There was no real deep love of their work and no personal calling to go into that field.  If they had stuck with it they would have wound up hating their job and probably deeply in debt.  The same thing probably happens quite often to men or any human being who goes into a field of work for any reason other than they feel called to that type of work.

Many years ago after finishing high school, my grandmother went to ‘teaching school’ at the age of seventeen.  The school lasted six weeks.  She started her first job that fall.  Grandmother said that the first week of teaching school was spent being counseled on whether or not each student should be there in the first place.  The instructors said, ‘A teacher must be called to teach just a preacher is called to preach, or they should find another profession.’  Wow!  But we Christians can add more to that.  We should be called to do whatever we decide to do as our profession.  A basic way of determining your calling is first decide what is possible within the boundaries of your self-definition.

Then decide what things actually interest you.

Then look at your actual opportunities.

Then you make a choice and go for it.  
(An aside here is that Grandmother taught 4 years before she married Gramps. She also taught again during the war years. She said she had 72 students one year, and every student learned because: 
the material was presented clearly
She required them to learn
Parents backed her up - the poor kids had no where to hide.  It was 'get your lessons done - or stay up all night until you get with the program'.) 

My husband Jerry is a multi-talented guy.  He will tackle anything.  He is good at everything.  I realize he is unusual and I am very thankful for him.  His interests are automobiles, (the faster the better), all manner of carpentry and wood working, and some sports that are not really safe.  He could have built his own  race car and then been a professional driver, but he never really had the opportunity.  It came down to mechanics or carpentry.  The Air Force trained him as a mechanic.  Carpentry is his hobby.  I think he would have been equally content in carpentry but auto-repair was the opportunity that presented itself.  If he had actually been determined to be a carpenter he could have pursued carpentry, but he is took what was offered.  He has never regretted it.    That is how it often works.  It could have been bad if he had spent his life regretting being a mechanic instead of a carpenter.  Personally for me it has meant that I always have had a dependable vehicle, and I have also had someone who does all sorts of building projects for me.  (I am getting a new hardwood floor this month installed by my sweet husband, AND he is adding a back porch to the house after that.  What a wonderful blessing!)

A single woman does have to support herself.  She does need an education or training for a good paying job. Ladies I highly recommend that you get technical training or a college degree in some field that interests you to the extent that is possible. It isn’t in a woman’s best interests to sit around and wait to be rescued by a man.  If she does get married then there are more choices to make.  I will tell you flatly that the best choice for women with children is to do what is best for their children.  This does not mean that you must give your children the best.  It means you must do what is best for your children. That means you give them as much of your time and attention (and discipline) is possible.  It may mean your career will be interrupted.  Big deal! 

There is true freedom in Christ Jesus.  Don’t be led into bondage by women who don’t know Christ.  You are not obligated to fight against men. You are not obligated to feel sorry for yourself because some discontented feminist thinks women are not treated fairly.  Really – give me a break.  I freely admit I am not treated fairly.  My poor husband works all the time to support a wife who has been too sick to actually bring in an income for most of our married life.  In return I try to spend money wisely and stay cheerful.  How is that fair to him? Our main difficulty is that I love spaghetti and he hates it.  He is sorry I have been sick.  He never feels sorry for himself.  I know he would be a rich man if he hadn’t chosen to support his family all these years.  I love being his wife.  I don’t bake cookies because I really don’t especially care for most cookies.  I sit around and type on the computer for recreation.  I have a good life.  I am thankful to God for His blessings.

Ladies, teenage women, old women, young women, sisters, aunts, and friends, just concentrate on being the person God created you to be.  You have specific gifts.  One of those gifts is being born female.  It doesn’t make you better or worse than men.  God made you female because that will be most helpful in whatever tasks He has for you in this life.  It is sort of like skin color.  It doesn’t make you better or worse to have more or less pigment in your skin.  It makes you better suited to take the gospel to those Christ puts in your life.  That is all there is too it.  Enjoy who you are.  Tell the world ‘Jesus Saves’.  That is not limited to any age or gender.  Love your family.  Do what is right according to the word of God.  Remember, ‘For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.  Psalm 100:5

False Advertising Specialist - He Has Names

The King of False Advertising

Barbara Henderson

What a friend we have in Jesus.  Christians through the ages could give wonderful testimonies to why Jesus is the best friend available.  They would be right!  Jesus is the best friend anyone could ever have.  Do you know the hymn ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus’?  The lyrics are wonderful.  ‘What a friend we have in Jesus – all our sins and griefs to bear’.  If you are in need of an instant pick-me-up I suggest you listen to this song and then apply the words to your current situation.  Jesus is the Friend that sticks closer than a brother.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt-BowzYzLw

As time goes by there are so many things for which believers can thank Jesus.  But, the best thing is that Jesus tells the truth.  He never lies.  You can trust Him.  His word is good.  In the words of Jesus we can find the peace that passes understanding.  We can rest in the storm, even when it seems like we are facing a full scale hurricane with only a 99 cent rain poncho to keep us dry.  In addition to Jesus being the actual truth and telling the truth Christians also come to appreciate fellow Christians and others who tell the truth.  Just tell the truth.  Don’t sugar coat it.  Don’t make it better than it is.  Don’t make it worse than it is.  I want the unvarnished truth.  Now, I do admit that I prefer the truth stated in a way that is pleasant as possible, but I still want the truth.  Does anything hurt worse than finding out you have been deceived by someone that you trusted?

There are laws requiring truth in advertising.  Advertisers are supposed to only tell the truth about their product.  They aren’t required to tell the whole truth.  They aren’t required to show average results.  Alcohol commercials just show young people acting like they are having a good time.  They don’t show people who have been drunk for years.  People can be pulled into the grab all the gusto you can by drinking beer.  They can also lose everything they have or wanted to have when they become alcoholics. There are diet pills that may make someone thin.  There are money making schemes that promise wealth without much work or just a little seed money.  There are web sites that promise to find your ‘soul mate’ – whatever that is supposed to be.  Regardless of how any of that stuff is advertised I can guarantee that the truth of the matter is that those who believe the advertising will wind up disappointed.  Trust in Jesus and you will not be disappointed in Him.  Yes, you will face disappointments in your life, but Jesus Himself will not disappoint you.  He will be with you to the very end of your life.  He will take you to heaven when you die.  He will take you through the front gate of heaven.  You will be adopted by God Himself.  You will be a joint heir with Jesus.  You will rule and reign with Christ.  That is the truth. 

On the other hand…..

There is the king of false advertising.  His name is the devil, that old dragon, Lucifer, Satan, the deceiver, the destroyer, and any other bad name you can think of.  What an enemy we have in Satan.  Without the Lord Jesus Christ we would have no way of even recognizing him, much less defeating him!

The dragon really is the king of false advertising.  His focus is to distort the truth that there are two very clear cut choices regarding eternal destiny.  There is the narrow way through Jesus Christ.  There is the broad-way that leads to destruction.  That’s it.  There are two choices.  All choices besides the narrow way equal choosing the broad-way.

Never underestimate the devil’s abilities.  He is only one being.  He is limited in what he can actually do.  However, he is still extremely powerful.  Furthermore he has a massive army of followers at his disposal.  It is entirely true that his fate is sealed.  He will be utterly and totally eternally defeated.  However, he is not going quietly to his doom.  He is deceiving and hurting as many people as possible on his way down.  Obviously, given his end, the devil is not going to be honest about where he is going or where his followers are going.  He uses all sorts of smoke and mirrors to disguise the entrance to hell.  He offers more ways to hell than we can actually count.  It is sort of like the tentacles of a giant squid.  Once a tentacle gets its suckers attached to its prey it winds up in the belly of the beast. 

I am sure you can list a number of false ways.

: New Age, good works, Wiccan, Hindu, Tao, Any eastern mystical religion, humanism, reincarnation, and blah blah blah.    They are all the same old tired stuff.  They all lead to the same old place of eternal torment.  You know, at least Islam has a sort of uniqueness about it in that it admits people who go to the kingdom of Allah are going to a place where murderers are exalted.  That seems like a dead give away that it isn’t a place anyone would actually want to go, but that doesn’t seem to bother its followers does it?  We are definitely at a point in time where people can do what is right in their own eyes and expect the rest of the world to accept their way as perfectly fine

Perhaps even more chilling than people rejecting Jesus are people redefining Jesus.  If you want Jesus then the devil will give you Jesus.  He simply won’t be the actual Jesus.  He will be an imposter without power or authority.  Even Jesus said there would be many who claimed to do works in His name that were workers of sin.  Even God’s children can be deceived temporarily sometimes.  The way to avoid falling into Satan’s trap is to really know who Jesus is, and then refuse to compromise.  So, who is Jesus?  And who is Lucifer?

Jesus is the Son of God.  Jesus Christ is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient.  He is fully God and fully man.  He is the ONLY begotten Son of God.  He has adopted siblings. 

Lucifer/Satan is a mighty being created by God.  He is not omnipotent, omnipresent, or omniscient. 

Do you believe half a truth is a lie?  In some cases the answer is yes.  In the case of Jesus Christ we often hear half the truth.  Jesus loves you.  That in itself is very wonderful and comforting.  It is also only half the story.  Because of His great love for us – while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.  Now if ‘love’ was all there was to it there would have been no reason for Christ to die.  The king of false advertising wants the truth to stop right there because it is the rest of the truth that actually brings people to repentance.  The rest of the story is that God in His righteousness requires that we become righteous as well.  Knowing that we are incapable of doing that on our own Jesus died to make a way for His righteousness to be given to us.  Accepting the righteousness of Jesus requires that the individual does more than simply acknowledge ‘Jesus loves me’.  It requires repentance of our sins.  It requires turning from our sins.  It requires surrendering our will to the will of Jesus Christ.  The Bible tells us clearly that our works will not save us.  Salvation is through Christ alone.  However, evidence of our salvation is provided through our obedience to the instructions for living written down for us in the Bible.  A truly saved person takes obedience to the rules of Jesus Christ very seriously.  It is entirely true that if Jesus allowed unrighteous unrepentant people into his perfect home His home would no longer be perfect.  A poor comparison would be someone who lives in an extreme mansion with two dozen domestic employees finding a disease infested stray dog and taking it home without stopping at the vet first to get it cleaned up.  Pretty soon there would be fleas and other disgusting stuff all over the once spotless home.

Another false advertising claim made about Jesus is ‘Jesus wants me to be happy’.  Boy is that one wrong!  Jesus wants you to be obedient.  There is joy in obedience.  There can be happiness.  But, the goal is not happiness.  The goal is pleasing God, which of course does bring joy. 

‘We can become gods’ is one of Satan’s best lies.  It appeals to very worst in us.  Truthfully, through Jesus Christ we can become better than we are in this life, but we are not destined to become a god.  If we change the definition of ‘god’ from omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent to something like ‘at least slightly improved’ then some people might make it.  Seriously, Jesus is God because that is who He is.  His nature is utterly continually perfect.  Any honest fool can see that they just don’t have what it takes to become a god, unless the term ‘god’ is reduced to something meaningless.  I see people today who think they are gods.  Yet, with every passing day they become older, uglier, and frailer.  They try to make up for the obvious by thinking that their minds are more enlightened than others which somehow ‘proves’ they are really gods.

Since Jesus says He is the only way into heaven then it is smart to believe that Jesus is the only way into heaven.  It is either not smart OR intentionally deceptive to preach many ways to heaven.  It is a very simple truth that the one way to heaven made by Jesus Christ is not only adequate but also perfectly wonderful.  If Jesus had made 100 ways to heaven everyone would still take the way through Jesus Christ.  As I have mentioned many times in the past through Jesus Christ sinners are given a first class invitation to heaven.  They are invited in through the front gate of heaven. They have an audience with the God of creation.  They are adopted by God.  They are made joint heirs with Jesus.  They rule and reign with Christ.  There is no better way into heaven possible.  Why would God go to the time and expense of making a second way to heaven for which there is obviously no need. 

Jesus Christ is the head of the Christian church.  He has representatives who shepherd his flock, but Christ alone is head of the church.  Don’t fall into rituals and traditions that elevate a man to the so-called position of head of the church.

There is no Christianity without the real Jesus Christ.   The real Jesus is not a spirt brother to Lucifer.  The real Jesus does not need Mary as a co-redeemer.  The real Jesus does not need our good works to complete His work on the cross. 

The king of false advertising wants nothing more than to deceive people into following one of his ways to his eternal home.  As much as the devil works at getting people to reject Jesus, many people will ultimately reject Jesus without help from the devil.  This will be apparent during the thousand year reign of Christ on earth.  The devil and his followers will be chained up during this time and not allowed to tempt people.  Still, some people will fall away from the truth.  So, while we do have to watch out for the devil, we also have to watch out for our own sin nature.  Even without the devil we are prone to sin.  That is why it is so important that we follow Jesus closely.  The details do matter.  Take His love seriously.  But also take His righteousness seriously.  There is no way into heaven except through Jesus. 

Jesus Paid it All

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bPaXN9j9yQ&list=PL2018498757FD7A76

I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”

Refrain

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

For nothing good have I
Whereby Thy grace to claim,
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.

Refrain

And now complete in Him
My robe His righteousness,
Close sheltered ’neath His side,
I am divinely blest.

Refrain

Lord, now indeed I find
Thy power and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone.

Refrain

When from my dying bed
My ransomed soul shall rise,
“Jesus died my soul to save,”
Shall rend the vaulted skies.

Refrain

And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete,
I’ll lay my trophies down
All down at Jesus’ feet.

Refrain

More wonderful hymns!

Rejoice in the Lord

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwSOrRrOtoU&index=24&list=PL2018498757FD7A76

When We All Get to Heaven

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qf1JSCiml0&index=40&list=PL2018498757FD7A76

Standing on the Promises of Christ My King

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poi2ClN0pSU&index=46&list=PL2018498757FD7A76

To God be the Glory – Great Things He Hath Done

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmSBP22pgcU&index=51&list=PL2018498757FD7A76

There is Power in the Blood – the wonder working blood of the Lamb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4tsjUxAzMU&index=80&list=PL2018498757FD7A76

 

New Life in Heaven Begins When This Life Ends For Believers in Jesus Christ

In the Beginning He Died

Barbara Henderson

How can loving someone bring so much joy and so much pain?  The love is a gift from God.  I am not talking about romantic love, although that is also a gift from God.  I am talking about love that inspires someone to lay down their own life for others.  I don’t mean literally physically die, although that has happened.  I mean give up what you want for the good of those that you love.  Or, do more than is required of you because you love those who are in need.  Loving someone makes a connection that isn’t daunted by time or space.  The love remains.  But part of love is loneliness.  You can’t be with the ones you love all the time.  You can’t provide for their every need.  You can’t stay in a cheerful humor as long as they are in the line of your sight.  A part of loving others is admitting that love causes stress. 

Possibly the most overwhelming pain caused by love comes when someone you love dies.  If they die suddenly and unexpectedly a time of unparalleled grief smothers you.  If they die of a lingering illness grief smothers you just the same, but it is sort of spread over time.  When it is an older person who has lived a long and satisfying life it is still very hard.  When it is a younger person who seems to have so much left to do, it seems impossible. 

For Christians, there is sure knowledge of a reunion in heaven with our loved ones.  That is comforting, but it doesn’t stop the pain that comes with the loss of a loved one.  We don’t sorrow as those who have no hope of a reunion, but Christians still mourn the loss of loved ones.  Really we are mourning for ourselves.  We are left to face a lonely future without someone we wanted to keep with us.  Hopefully, when there is a loss, we don’t waste any time being angry at God.  We should just be thankful that God has our loved one in a place that is not only safe but also wonderful.  If there is anger let it pass away from you.  We can direct it toward the devil.  The entire death fiasco was brought about when he beguiled Eve.  But, the Bible tells us to let the anger, bitterness, and wrath pass away from us.  How much more so if we are foolish enough to direct anger at God Himself?

I tell you the truth: the dead Christian is just far away.  It seems like a million miles or more.  There is no communication what so ever.  Even trying to communicate is sin.  It is forbidden. Suffice it to say that we will know our family and loved ones in heaven.  I don’t know what we will look like.  I don’t know what we will be like.  But we will know each other.  It is even a greater truth that the person who has ‘died’ is actually living in heaven.  What we are really adjusting to is the distance between the living and the dead.  I have heard it said that death is just a part of life, to which I say ‘baloney’.  God made the world perfect with no death.  THAT is the reality.  The next reality was that sin entered in.  Death came along with sin.  So, while death happens all the time, it will never be ‘normal’ or ‘just part of life’.

My illness this past year has caused me to look at death more closely than ever before.  There was a time when I thought I was not going to stay in this body much longer.  I did not want to go, but the thought of no more pain was so compelling that if I had had a choice at one point I would have just gone straight to heaven.  I couldn’t have helped myself.  Death for me at that time would have been a way out of a great deal of pain and a body that was growing weaker by the day.  My main prayers through my cancer were for my husband and family.  I would much rather be the one who is sick than to watch someone else going through it.  Besides, I know the loneliness that comes from the loss of a loved one.  I wasn’t going to be the one who had to face that! 

A dear friend of mine has been a widow for nearly ten years now.  Watching her and her children go through the loss of their loved one was as much grief as I have had to bear.  My friend told me that her husband (a preacher) often told people wondering how someone was getting through a loss that, ‘God don’t give you dying grace on un-dying days’. (Baptist preachers use bad grammar when they want to ‘emphasize a point’) That means that we can’t understand how we will get through the loss of a loved one until we have to go through it.  Actually, even then we don’t understand everything that went on.  It seems like we would just die from grief sometimes, or that at least the world would stop and mourn with us for a while.  Instead, nothing really changes except our own lives and the lives of those closest to us.  Everything else seems to go on just the same.  So, how people get through the loss of loved one is really a mystery.  God just takes us through the grief.  There is no other answer.

But, I do wonder what it is like when we pass from this life into the next.  In this world we are born and we die.  When we die Christians go to heaven where their eternal life begins.  Non-believers go to hell where their eternal torment begins.  There is that moment when one reality changes into another and permanent reality.  That moment when we slip into eternity is sort of a big question mark.  When I didn’t know what was going to happen with the cancer I wondered what it would be like to die.  I guess the main thing I wondered was if it was going to hurt.  I was already in a lot of pain, and I really did not want more pain to go with what was already going on in my frail body. 

I began to think about that moment when this life would be changed for the new beginning. Heaven is under construction I suppose because Jesus said He was going to prepare a place for us.  Sometimes when I pray I say, ‘So Jesus, how is the building project coming along?’  I am hoping I will get a bell ringing in my head saying something like, ‘I’m almost finished.  I will be back for all my children shortly.’  However, the closest I have come to getting an answer is what seems like a little voice in my head saying, ‘Nun’ya – meaning none of your business.’ Seriously, I can’t imagine what God is preparing for us in all this time since He made so much in six days.  When we get to heaven we will begin life in a wonderful place.  We can be certain of that.  It will be new since Jesus is working on preparing it now.

I do not want to slide down into the valley of ‘trying to prove something by experience and feelings’.  However, I don’t think it is doing that to mention that through the ages there have been many witnesses to Christians dying who may have seen a glimpse of something or someone from beyond this life.  This isn’t scriptural.  This does not prove anything.  It is just something that has been reported. We don’t have to have anything like this because we have a more sure testimony to the heaven of Jesus Christ.  We have the written word of God.  Never the less, there is sometimes a glimpse of something beyond when someone dies.  No, I don’t mean we should all go lurking around the death beds of Christians trying to see a glimpse of eternity.  It is just something that occasionally happens. I was not there for the death of either of my grandfathers.  My dad was there both times.  Both grandfathers were professing Christians.  One was coughing out his last breath when – according to my dad – he smiled the most beautiful smile.  Then he was gone.  The other grandfather, also a professing Christian died without anything out of the ordinary.  Dad said that death is most certainly not something anyone would seek to be around. Just do whatever your duty may be.  Don’t look for something out of the ordinary.  I know at the end of their lives my father in law and my dad both seemed to be seeing people who had been in heaven a long time.  Were they really there?  I don’t know.  Whether their family was waiting for them the instant they died or a few minutes later in heaven doesn’t really matter.

Personally, during the darkest part of my cancer treatment it did seem like I saw my dad a few times.  It seemed very normal and not like it was something amazing.  At one point I almost followed him somewhere – I have no idea where – but something stopped me.  I was in a lot of pain so I don’t really know what was real and what wasn’t real.  I didn’t do narcotic pain medicine, so I don’t think it was anything to do with prescription drugs.  It was just something that seemed to be going on.  It seemed so natural to see dad.  Life after death for Christians is actually when life begins.  And what a life it will be!  Our eternal life will be filled with joy.  We won’t be separated from loved ones ever again.  We won’t know sorrow.  We won’t know any emotional or physical pain.  We won’t know disappointment anymore. We shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 

My conclusion after facing a year of cancer treatment is this.  Dying – as in the actual dying - is not going to be that hard for the one dying.  I think it will be sort of like walking from one room to another room.  Except – the new room will be eternally neat and clean with dinner always ready.  The difficult part of dying is for those who are still alive.  They have to face the separation that comes with death.  All anyone can do is cling to Jesus.  Jesus is the one who will take us through the illness if we are the one who is sick.  Jesus is the One who will take us to heaven when we actually do die.  Jesus is the One who will take us through the grief if we are the one who loses a loved one to death.  Jesus is the One who will take us through whatever trials befall us as we run our race.  The long and short of it is something like ‘fear God and keep the commandments; OR, cling to Jesus.  Cling to Him when you are getting up, when you are lying down, when you are walking, when you are sitting, and so on.  Cling to Jesus all the time.

I love the line from the old hymn that says, ‘There’s a land that is fairer than day, and by faith we can see it afar.’  I think of the beautiful days I have seen in this life.  The overwhelming beauty of God’s creation is not something to take lightly.  But, heaven is fairer than the most beautiful of days we have ever seen on this earth.  Heaven is a very real place.  Heaven is filled with very real people who once lived on earth but now live in heaven.  They are doing very real things, although we don’t know exactly what they are doing, but it is definitely something wonderful and fulfilling.  The dead in Christ have entered into the joy of the Lord.  Until then we cling to Jesus and look forward to what the Lord is preparing for those that love Him.  Death is the beginning for them that love God.

In the Sweet Bye and Bye

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSP5GfAG1yI