Paradise Lost

As I pondered Friday's post, I began thinking about people's need to think the best of their dearly departed. After all, who benefits from thinking their loved ones are not "in a better place." Funeral after funeral, I heard things like, "at least he's not suffering anymore," or "she's got her wings and she's singing with the angels." Mind you, these are funerals for unbelievers, those who have no hope without Christ.

I don't want to seem unsympathetic here. I know the loss of a loved one is difficult for both believer and unbeliever. However, as a believer, the last thing I want to do is give false hope.

I remember years ago my mom asked me to represent our family at Earl's memorial service and say a prayer or read a verse. According to my mom, Earl's wife, Helen, w a believer...Earl was not. Most, if not all, of Earl's friends were unbelievers as well who paid tribute to him in song (Helen and Earl were part of SongMakers). Helen sang a Hawaiian hymn called Kanaka Wai Wai, but changed a few words. She sang,

Let Earl walk to paradise with you Lord,
Take his hands and lead him there

Again, Earl was not a Christian nor claimed to be.

According to God's Word, the unbelievers lot in eternity will not be paradise but will be consistent with his rejection of the only begotten of the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ; for "there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

Somebody's Watching Me

If that songs not already coursing through your mind, perhaps Concetta Bertoldi's new book Do Dead People Watch You Shower? will get you singing...or not!

Bertoldi, who supposedly communicates with dead people, has gotten in touch with some from the Other Side and asked them the questions man has been eager to know for ages- questions like, What happens to us when we die? What do we look like? What is there to do on the Other Side? Will my teddy bear be there to greet me?

According to Bertoldi's sources, death is a transition into a blissful light, whereas here we can spend life in the dark. What we enjoy here we will enjoy there: boardgames, sports, fishing. and voyeurism (unfortunately for some it is the non-entertainment form where you will just smile and be happy, happy that [someone is] experiencing love or maybe just one-night-stand pleasure). The Other Side also offers dancing, regeneration, self-forgiveness, and anger-management courses. All of this created for us by whom...Bertoldi's version of God.

But for those of us interested in rational and truthful answers to the questions of life after death, Bertoldi is definitely not the source of such info.

So where do we look...that's right...to God's Word. We are told by the Apostle Paul, contrary to Bertoldi's house guests, while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, knowing that when we are absent from the body we will be present with the Lord. We = those who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. So what about the rest? We read about them in Luke 16:19-31. They are not dancing, nor playing backgammon, nor frolicking in sparkling lakes. And that's just temporary until Rev. 20:11-15.

Nothing good awaits the unbeliever, the atheist, the fornicator, the idolater, the homosexual, etc. (I Cor. 6:8-10). He has nothing to look forward to but torment. This is why our plea to repent and turn from your sins and turn to the Living God who gives life. Don't be mislead by Bertoldi. Her "people" have nothing to offer us but lies, deciet, and utlimately, eternal torment.