Heaven is Watching

 We all have lost dear ones.Yet,we have a sure hope, that as they trusted Christ, and we hold the faith, one day we will meet again. May the circle be unbroken. Having lost so many dear ones the last few years, I have come face to face with immortality and mortality. What happens to the believer when they die? The Apostle Paul said, "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" (1 Cor.5.1-9) He talked about the fact that our body is just the house we live in and that our spirit is eternal. Psalm 90.10 says our years are full of trouble, then we die and "fly away". When King David's baby dies he says, "He shall not return to me , but I will go to him" (2 Sam.12.23) Hebrews 11 talks about those who have died in the faith. Then chapter 12 says " since we are surrounded by these witnesses let us run the race set before us" The writer of Hebrews says clearly that those who have gone before are watching us and cheering us on.  

 People always tend to extremes. During the Middle Ages, the cult of the saints, became so predominant, that often Jesus was seen as distant and unapproachable. So people called upon the Saints to put in a good word for them. Jesus, is always near to us, and completely approachable because of the Cross. Yet, truly, when one dies, one does not cease to care for those left behind. In fact, they watch over us as Hebrews 12 indicates. Because people went to excess, calling upon the saints, the "reformers" threw the baby out with the bathwater. They constructed an "iron curtain" between heaven and earth. Any contact with those in heaven was seen as 'supersticious'. In so doing they negated the fact that the Body of Christ is one, on earth and in heaven. That our faith transcends time and space and the mystical Body of Christ is not divided. 

 We find an amazing passage in Luke 9.28-36. It begins, "Jesus went up the mountain to pray" His disciples found him in prayer talking to people who had died! Moses and Elijah. Jesus talking with the saints in his prayer time! Yet,now, so often in the Bible Belt, when you tell someone you feel the presence of a departed loved one, or that they visit you in your dreams, it is discouraged as nonsense. Often you are considered a nut. Yet Jesus was talking to the departed in his prayer time. There are of course dangers involved in attempting to contact the dead. The Bible forbids the use of mediums , with the death penalty attached. Demons pose as 'familiar spirits' and try to induce unhealthy obsession with the dead. But because Satan has a counterfeit, that does not mean that we are not in union and fellowship with those that have gone before. God really opened my eyes about this, when my sister-in-law Sandy described a visit from Dusty, her 4 year old grandson and our nephew who was murdered. She had a beautiful experience of Dusty's presence. 

 I have often thought of the Transfiguration, how wonderful it was, that Jesus was fellowshipping with those in heaven. Peter wanted to build tents and stay there. But Jesus wanted them to move on. Indeed, one may have a visit from a loved one in heaven. But we are not to build a tent and stay there, but move on with our lives and cherish the moment. A good rule is that we do not seek after these moments when our loved ones come to us in a vision or a dream. But we appreciate the moments God draws the curtain aside. I thank God for the times my grandmother visits me in my dreams. And sometimes I see my daddy smiling at me from heaven. We are all one in Christ. Heaven is real. The body of Christ is one.When your family and friends in heaven come to you in a dream, smile and know they are waiting for you, and have not stopped loving you

 And, you be good, so that the circle may be unbroken. Jack