AS IT IS IN HEAVEN - We can ask God for healing, yes - we are free to ask for it boldly - and we should. But we ask humbly, knowing that this world is NOT our home. On this earthly shore, our vision and understanding is limited. Why would we want those we love so much to stick around this broken, rusting place when Jesus has prepared a heavenly home for them - a home that eye has not seen nor ear heard. We’ll miss them - our hearts will ache in their absence - the hole they leave behind will be profound and deep. But for those who belong to Christ, those who have confessed with their mouth Jesus is Lord and believed in their heart God raised Christ from the dead, they are citizens of heaven - their life is just beginning when they take their first breath in heaven - My dear friend, one who has taught me so much about the Kingdom of Heaven, is about to step into the Far Greater Country. The last message I received from her family said simply “she has her feet in the Jordan.” She is ready to depart this earthly existence. She has struggled with her mortality and concluded Paul’s statement in Philippians 1:23 is true, being with Christ is better by far. But leaving is hard. My friend is only in her 50s. She has a husband and children and grandchildren who love her dearly. People she longed to grow old with and watch grow and marry and become who God created them to be. But cancer is a sinister foe and death is a reality for us all.

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As It
Is In 
Heaven..

We can ask God for healing, yes - we are free to ask for it boldly - and we should. But we ask humbly, knowing that this world is NOT our home. On this earthly shore, our vision and understanding is limited. Why would we want those we love so much to stick around this broken, rusting place when Jesus has prepared a heavenly home for them - a home that eye has not seen nor ear heard. We’ll miss them - our hearts will ache in their absence - the hole they leave behind will be profound and deep. But for those who belong to Christ, those who have confessed with their mouth Jesus is Lord and believed in their heart God raised Christ from the dead, they are citizens of heaven - their life is just beginning when they take their first breath in heaven

Priceless Blog

I sit and wait. I occupy myself with the needful and the mundane.

I read to my son. I email instructions to my class. I text a grocery list to my daughter.

All the while my heart is in another place, another plane really.

My dear friend, one who has taught me so much about the Kingdom of Heaven, is about to step into the Far Greater Country.

The last message I received from her family said simply “she has her feet in the Jordan.”

She is ready to depart this earthly existence. She has struggled with her mortality and concluded Paul’s statement in Philippians 1:23 is true, being with Christ is better by far.

But leaving is hard. My friend is only in her 50s. She has a husband and children and grandchildren who love her dearly.

People she longed to grow old with and watch grow and marry and become who God created them to be.

But cancer is a sinister foe and death is a reality for us all.

A couple of years ago, she spoke prophetically and profoundly at our local Bible Study.

She talked about her journey with cancer and the crippling fear she faced.

She shared an analogy the Lord gave her to calm her fears. She recalled traveling when her kids were young.

The family would stop at rest stops along the way. The kids would play on the playground and run in the grass.

They thought the tall metal slides and squeaking chain swings were the most fun they could ever experience.

When it came time to leave, the kids cried and protested. And my friend just stood there perplexed.

She would tell them in frustration, “Don’t you know where we’re going? We’re heading to Disney World and you’re settling for an old rest stop playground.”

She said she knew she was only playing on the old playground right now.

She knew her final destination is infinitely more beautiful and breathtaking and overwhelming than anything her mind can grasp.

Paul says this earth is only a shadow of things to come. But knowing the truth and walking out the reality is too much for our earthly heart to comprehend.

She told me just a few months before her health declined so quickly that she didn’t want to go, but she was at peace.

She knew that God knew the number of her days and when she had finished what He needed her to do on earth, He would take her to her true home, and she knew it would be uncomprehendingly beautiful.

After that conversation, my prayers began to change. I asked the Lord to heal her, but more than that, I asked God to have His way.

I went back to the simplicity of the prayer Jesus modeled for his disciples, “Thy Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)

Ultimately, isn’t that the most powerful prayer we can pray over those in Christ who are sick and suffering?

We can ask God for healing, yes. We are free to ask for it boldly. And we should. But we ask humbly, knowing that this world is NOT our home.

On this earthly shore, our vision and understanding is limited.

Why would we want those we love so much to stick around this broken, rusting place when Jesus has prepared a heavenly home for them? A home that eye has not seen nor ear heard.

It’s because we selfishly want them here a little longer. We’ll miss them. Our hearts will ache in their absence.

The hole they leave behind will be profound and deep.

But for those who belong to Christ, those who have confessed with their mouth Jesus is Lord and believed in their heart God raised Christ from the dead, they are citizens of heaven.

Their life is just beginning when they take their first breath in heaven.

The sorrows and tears of this present place are left behind and complete healing and wholeness are ahead.

If, as a follower of Christ, I say this is what I believe. Then I have to walk it out in the hardest places.

Today that place of waiting is painful, but hopeful. I have prayed fervently that the Lord would take her quickly home, but I am resting fully that His will is best.

Asking Him to have His way and resting in His sovereignty and love is the only way to grieve with hope.

Because of the reality of Jesus Christ who defeated death, even death itself cannot overcome us.

In Christ, we are more alive than we have ever been before. May His will be done. I trust Him in life, and in death.

*Epilogue: My precious friend crossed the Jordan and walked into the Promised Land just a few days after this was written. Her memorial focused clearly on the hope we have in Christ. Her life and her death have spurred many on toward a deeper relationship with the One who saved her and made her broken soul whole once again.

We at the Priceless Blog celebrate the inestimable value of women!

We hope to INSPIRE women to desire a deeper relationship with their Father God, grow in the grace and knowledge of their Savior Jesus Christ, and live a Spirit-filled life.

We commit to CHALLENGE women to study the Word of God, pray in faith, walk obediently as Christ-followers, and love and serve others around them just as Christ did.

We long to ENCOURAGE women as they daily experience the good times and even the mundane, but also the difficult times: the obstacles, the tragic, or the unknowns in life.

Priceless Blog is a ministry of Gardendale First Baptist Church (GFBC). We support the basic beliefs of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) when it comes to theology and salvation. We are a group of individual writers with varying opinions. The opinions stated here do not necessarily reflect the exact opinions of GFBC or the SBC.

https://gfbcwomenslife.com/2017/09/21/as-it-is-in-heaven/

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https://puricarechronicles.blogspot.com/2018/06/precious-memories-unseen-angels-lonnie.html

WHO IS IN CONTROL OF DEATH? - Satan does not possess the power to directly take human life. If such were the case, all Christians would be dead, for he is our “enemy.” Ordinarily, when people die, it is not because the Lord intervenes and takes the spirit from the body regardless of whether the person was “good” or “evil” - it simply is a natural process, resulting from man’s rejection of divine law at the beginning of human history. The Lord, therefore, allows death to take us as a process - but we are not empowered to say, in any specific case, God “took” him or her, unless divine revelation indicates it - “Happy are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth, yes, says the Spirit, they may rest from their labors, for their works follow with them” (Revelation 14:13). God is both the author and sustainer of life. Since Jehovah is all-powerful, he obviously has the ability to terminate human life. Also, he has the power to lengthen life. He can even restore life, as he did by raising Jesus from the dead. While it is clear that in ancient times God occasionally operated directly, in manipulating the cessation or restoration of human life, these events were supernatural with very specific designs in view. Such are not to be considered as divine procedure for today. The Lord allows death to take us as a process. But we are not to say God “took” him or her, unless divine revelation indicates it.

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Who Is in Control of Death?

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Satan does not possess the power to directly take human life. If such were the case, all Christians would be dead, for he is our “enemy.” Ordinarily, when people die, it is not because the Lord intervenes and takes the spirit from the body regardless of whether the person was “good” or “evil” - it simply is a natural process, resulting from man’s rejection of divine law at the beginning of human history. The Lord, therefore, allows death to take us as a process - but we are not empowered to say, in any specific case, God “took” him or her, unless divine revelation indicates it

By Wayne Jackson

“Happy are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth, yes, says the Spirit, they may rest from their labors, for their works follow with them” (Revelation 14:13).

When a Christian loved one dies, folks often say, “God called him home.”

Yet scripture seems to say that the devil has the “power of death” (Hebrews 2:14).

Who does cause death?"

Let us first consider several general Bible truths.

God is both the author and sustainer of life (Acts 17:25,28; 1 Timothy 6:13).

Since Jehovah is all-powerful, he obviously has the ability to terminate human life, as he did in the case of Uzzah (2 Samuel 6:7).

Too, he has the power to lengthen life.

He extended Hezekiah’s time by 15 years (2 Kings 20:6), either providentially, more likely miraculously, or perhaps a combination of both.

He can even restore life, as he did by raising Jesus from the dead (Romans 1:4).

While it is clear that in ancient times God occasionally operated directly, in manipulating the cessation or restoration of human life, these events were supernatural (miraculous), with very specific designs in view.

Such are not to be considered as divine procedure for today (1 Corinthians 13:8-10).

For example, during the days of Moses, a man named Korah (who was Moses’ cousin) initiated a rebellion against the prophet of God and his brother, Aaron (Numbers 16:3).

As a result, they stood in opposition to Jehovah himself, because Moses and Aaron represented the Lord (see verse 30).

Accordingly, God determined to punish these rebels by taking their lives.

A sign was to be given to document the fact that the judgment was divinely imposed.

Moses said: “If these men die the common death of all men. . . Jehovah has not sent me” (verse 29).

Of special interest is the term “common.”

It signifies the ordinary end of human life in which God is not directly involved.

Ordinarily, when people die, it is not because the Lord intervenes and takes the spirit from the body (James 2:26) — regardless of whether the person was “good” or “evil.”

It simply is a natural process, ultimately resulting from man’s rejection of divine law at the beginning of human history (Genesis 2:17; 3:22; Romans 5:12).

The Lord, therefore, allows death to take us as a process.

But we are not empowered to say, in any specific case, God “took” him or her, unless divine revelation indicates it (cf. Genesis 5:24).

Having said that, what does the text mean which declares that the devil “has the power of death” (Hebrews 2:14)?

First, it must be stated emphatically that Satan does not possess the power to directly take human life.

If such were the case, all Christian people would be dead, for he is our “enemy” (Matthew 13:28).

The book of Job demonstrates this truth as well.

Satan could only afflict the patriarch as Jehovah allowed, and the Lord refused to grant permission for Job’s life to be terminated (Job 2:6).

God is greater than his adversary (cf. 1 John 4:4).

The reference to Satan’s “power of death” is doubtless an allusion to the Tempter’s role in the fall of humanity at the beginning of time.

Death reigns as a result of sin (Romans 5:12).

Since the devil introduced sin, he is characterized as the “murderer” of the human family (John 8:44).

Death, therefore, is an appointment for us all (Hebrews 9:27 — with the exception of those who are alive at the time of Christ’s return — 1 Corinthians 15:51).

Inasmuch as Satan ultimately shares a heavy responsible for the sin-death equation, in a manner of speaking, he thus is said to have “the power of death.”

Not in a direct sense, but only in an historical, associated sense.

The happy ending to this tragedy, however, is seen in the fact that Jesus, by his own resurrection from the dead, and the inspired promise that he is the “firstfruits” of those who are to follow, has, through the gospel, “brought life and immortality to light” (2 Timothy 1:10).

And that blessed “hope” (cf. Acts 24:15) has delivered his people from the slavish “fear of death” (Hebrews 2:15).

In our finer moments, therefore, we are able to say, “I desire to depart and be with the Lord, for it is very far better” (cf. Philippians 1:23).

Again, we “are willing rather to be absent from the body,” so that we may be “at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8).

Our sweet refrain can be, therefore: “Happy are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth, yes, says the Spirit, they may rest from their labors, for their works follow with them” (Revelation 14:13).

Let us, therefore, attempt to put these matters of this “life” and “death” into a sharper focus, and prepare for our own demise.

Boyd Wayne Jackson was born at Old Hickory, Tennessee on August 29, 1937. His parents were Harry Boyd Jackson and Rubye Hardeman (Porch) Jackson.

Wayne attended the College of Evangelists in Tupelo, Mississippi. His first full-time work began shortly thereafter in Delta, Colorado for two years. From 1961 until 2017, he preached for the East Main Street church of Christ in Stockton, California.

Wayne earned an A.A. degree from Stockton College, a B.A. from Sacramento Baptist College and an M.A. from Alabama Christian School of religion.

Wayne has written for and edited the Christian Courier since its inception in 1965. He has written more than thirty books on a variety of biblical topics including The Bible and Science, Creation, Evolution, and the Age of the Earth, and The Bible on Trial. He has written commentaries covering all books of the Bible, including a one-volume commentary on the New Testament.

The Christian Courier began as a small Bible study journal mailed to readers each month. It was designed to present the teaching of Jesus in a simple, lucid style not characterized by ostentation or inflated language. It is written for average Christians — to help them become more knowledgeable in God’s Word, to fortify their faith in the Savior, and to equip them for defending the truth and living righteously in a sinful world.

https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1083-who-is-in-control-of-death

KARMA AND REINCARNATION - the concept of reincarnation and karma is incompatible with what the Bible teaches about life, death, and the sowing and reaping of eternal life - “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment…” - Karma is the idea that how you live your life will determine the quality of life you will have after reincarnation. If you are unselfish, kind, and holy during this lifetime, you will be rewarded by being reincarnated (reborn into a new earthly body) into a pleasant life. However, if you live a life of selfishness and evil, you will be reincarnated into a less-than-pleasant lifestyle. You reap in the next life what you sow in this one. The Bible rejects the idea of reincarnation; therefore, it does not support the idea of karma. We are “destined to die once,” meaning that humans are only born once and only die once. There is no endless cycle of life and death and rebirth. After death we face judgment, meaning that there is no second chance. You get one shot at life and living it according to God’s plan, and that is it. The Bible talks a lot about reaping and sowing. It was Jesus whose death on the cross resulted in the reaping of eternal life for us, and that it is faith in Jesus that gives us this eternal life.

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Karma

And Reincarnation

What does the Bible say about karma

the concept of reincarnation and karma is incompatible with what the Bible teaches about life, death, and the sowing and reaping of eternal life and reaping of eternal life

Got Questions Ministries

 “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment…” - Hebrews 9:27 

Karma is a theological concept found in the Buddhist and Hindu religions.

It is the idea that how you live your life will determine the quality of life you will have after reincarnation.

If you are unselfish, kind, and holy during this lifetime, you will be rewarded by being reincarnated (reborn into a new earthly body) into a pleasant life.

However, if you live a life of selfishness and evil, you will be reincarnated into a less-than-pleasant lifestyle.

In other words, you reap in the next life what you sow in this one. Karma is based on the theological belief in reincarnation.

The Bible rejects the idea of reincarnation; therefore, it does not support the idea of karma.

Hebrews 9:27 states, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment…”

This Bible verse makes clear two important points which, for Christians, negate the possibility of reincarnation and karma.

First, it states that we are “destined to die once,” meaning that humans are only born once and only die once.

There is no endless cycle of life and death and rebirth, an idea inherent in the reincarnation theory.

Second, it states that after death we face judgment, meaning that there is no second chance, like there is in reincarnation and karma, to live a better life.

You get one shot at life and living it according to God’s plan, and that is it.

The Bible talks a lot about reaping and sowing.

Job 4:8 says, “As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.”

Psalm 126:5 says, “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” 

Luke 12:24 says, “Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!”

In each of these instances, as well as all the other references to reaping and sowing, the act of receiving the rewards of your actions takes place in this life, not in some future life.

It is a present-day activity, and the references make it clear that the fruit you reap will be commensurate with the actions you have performed.

In addition, the sowing you perform in this life will affect your reward or punishment in the afterlife.

This afterlife is not a rebirth or a reincarnation into another body here on earth. It is either eternal suffering in hell (Matthew 25:46) or eternal life in heaven with Jesus, who died so that we might live eternally with Him.

This should be the focus of our life on earth.

The apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 6:8-9, “The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Finally, we must always remember that it was Jesus whose death on the cross resulted in the reaping of eternal life for us, and that it is faith in Jesus that gives us this eternal life. 

Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Therefore, we see that the concept of reincarnation and karma is incompatible with what the Bible teaches about life, death, and the sowing and reaping of eternal life.

Got Questions Ministries seeks to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by providing biblical, applicable, and timely answers to spiritually related questions through an internet presence."
GotQuestions.org is a ministry of dedicated and trained servants who have a desire to assist others in their understanding of God, Scripture, salvation, and other spiritual topics. We are Christian, Protestant, evangelical, theologically conservative, and non-denominational. We view ourselves as a para-church ministry, coming alongside the church to help people find answers to their spiritually related questions.

https://www.gotquestions.org/karma.html