25 Mar 2024

Going to Hereafter with a Smile

It was almost like going home. Only we had just come from home and were here in the Christ In Prophecy studio. And there were smiles to go around. We had a joyous time being together in a physical setting for the first time in quite a while.

My friend Mike Hile and I travel together and have done so for many years because I’m now blind and have to have Mike to help keep me between the ditches. So we were in McKinney, Texas, near Dallas to shoot TV programs for Lamb-Lion Ministry and their Christ In Prophecy weekly program.

It was like a homecoming –great to be again with my great friends Tim Moore, the program’s host and head of Lamb-Lion Ministry, and with Dr. Nathan Jones, TV co-host and Lamb-Lion web minister. And it was doubly great to sit right beside my wonderful friend of many years, Lamb-Lion and Christ In Prophecy founder Dr. David Reagan.

Dave, Tim, Nathan and I caught up on things of our lives apart from each other for those intervening years. We did so, even while taping the programs, but especially between the sessions of doing the programs. It was, for me, a heartwarming time of being with those who have been so special in my ministry life.

In retrospect, thinking on the topic for our television get-together, the wonderful time spent there appropriately sparks just an inkling of what that Grand Reunion will be like once in the Hereafter following the Rapture.

Dave and I were in the studio to do programs about two of our books –each of which involves Bible Prophecy, as you might expect. But these books have at their centers the theme of the future for Christians in eternity. These books focus on that Glorious Place Jesus said He was going to go in order to prepare a place for those who believe in Him for Salvation.

Dr. Dave Reagan’s book’s title is How To Die With A Smile On Your Face. My and my co-author Jonathan Brentner’s book has the title HEREAFTER: It’s Far Better than You Imagine.”

Dave, in his unequaled way of presentation, expounded on the marvels that await those who have accepted God’s Grace Gift of Salvation through Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world for the Redemption of fallen mankind.

My title comes from years ago hearing the great radio broadcast personality Paul Harvey expounding on one of his sponsor’s products. He said something like: “If you want to keep your pearly whites from here to hereafter, you should (use whatever toothpaste he was promoting.) The word hereafter made me think what a great title that would be for a book about Heaven.

Dave and I were precisely on the same page from the very start of the program’s taping. As a matter of fact, I accused him of stealing my thunder in using exactly the scripture I was going to use. He was first to speak, and he quoted the following.

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Cor 2:9-10).

In our book, HEREAFTER, we further look at the Joyous future that awaits each and every believer when their time on earth is through.

[Book Excerpt]

In Psalm 16:11, David wrote:

“You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

When the day described in Revelation 19:1-10 arrives, our joy will know no bounds. Our fondest moments in this life will pale by comparison.

During the TV taping, I was asked to recount my brief clinical death visits to that Sphere that is the Hereafter. I can’t tell you what a joy it always is to do just that. As a matter of fact, I recount that Good Friday experience of April 22, 2011, most every morning when I awake. For some reason those Moments spent in that Realm flood back into my thoughts upon awakening to a new day.

Dr. Reagan brought up during the programs that Heaven isn’t just some ethereal realm or dimension of existence where saints will be floating around as disembodied spirits. He said it is a real place, according to all we know from Scripture.

Again, in our book HEREAFTER, we address this place called Heaven, about which Jesus said the following.

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).

A Physical Abode

The Greek word for “place” in John 14:2-3 is topos, which denotes a physical location in almost all its usages throughout the New Testament. It frequently denotes a specific location such as a city, village, or area. Jesus is preparing actual “rooms” in His “Father’s house” for the multitudes that would come to know Him as their Savior since that evening. Our new home will be visible with many amenities that will please our immortal resurrection bodies. Not one saint will feel any disappointment when he or she sees their heavenly accommodations.

The word Jesus chose for “prepare,” hetoimazo, also depicts a tangible, physical preparation. Paul used this same term when asking Philemon to “prepare a lodging place” for him (Philemon 22).

Although my own trip to somewhere on the periphery of Heaven didn’t take me to that final place that the Lord Jesus is preparing, the trip itself was exactly as the Apostle Paul said it would be. He said to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor 5: 8).

I.e., when the last heartbeat happens upon passing from this life, we who know Christ for Salvation are instantaneously in that Heavenly Sphere. To this, I can attest firsthand, although it was obviously not yet my time to go all the way to the place prepared for me in the Hereafter. The trip was, however, instantaneous –in the twinkling of an eye speed. I was sent back, among other reasons, to tell you about that Abode that is, as our book subtitle has it, far better than you can imagine!

If you are not yet in God’s Family, for whom Jesus Himself is preparing places of unimaginable splendor where we will live in Glory Forever, here is how to become part of that Family. You will then be certain to go to the HEREAFTER with a smile on your face.

“That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).

–Terry

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Going to Hereafter with a Smile

It was almost like going home. Only we had just come from home and were here in the Christ In Prophecy studio. And there were smiles to go around. We had a joyous time being together in a physical setting for the first time in quite a while.

My friend Mike Hile and I travel together and have done so for many years because I’m now blind and have to have Mike to help keep me between the ditches. So we were in McKinney, Texas, near Dallas to shoot TV programs for Lamb-Lion Ministry and their Christ In Prophecy weekly program.

It was like a homecoming –great to be again with my great friends Tim Moore, the program’s host and head of Lamb-Lion Ministry, and with Dr. Nathan Jones, TV co-host and Lamb-Lion web minister. And it was doubly great to sit right beside my wonderful friend of many years, Lamb-Lion and Christ In Prophecy founder Dr. David Reagan.

Dave, Tim, Nathan and I caught up on things of our lives apart from each other for those intervening years. We did so, even while taping the programs, but especially between the sessions of doing the programs. It was, for me, a heartwarming time of being with those who have been so special in my ministry life.

In retrospect, thinking on the topic for our television get-together, the wonderful time spent there appropriately sparks just an inkling of what that Grand Reunion will be like once in the Hereafter following the Rapture.

Dave and I were in the studio to do programs about two of our books –each of which involves Bible Prophecy, as you might expect. But these books have at their centers the theme of the future for Christians in eternity. These books focus on that Glorious Place Jesus said He was going to go in order to prepare a place for those who believe in Him for Salvation.

Dr. Dave Reagan’s book’s title is How To Die With A Smile On Your Face. My and my co-author Jonathan Brentner’s book has the title HEREAFTER: It’s Far Better than You Imagine.”

Dave, in his unequaled way of presentation, expounded on the marvels that await those who have accepted God’s Grace Gift of Salvation through Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world for the Redemption of fallen mankind.

My title comes from years ago hearing the great radio broadcast personality Paul Harvey expounding on one of his sponsor’s products. He said something like: “If you want to keep your pearly whites from here to hereafter, you should (use whatever toothpaste he was promoting.) The word hereafter made me think what a great title that would be for a book about Heaven.

Dave and I were precisely on the same page from the very start of the program’s taping. As a matter of fact, I accused him of stealing my thunder in using exactly the scripture I was going to use. He was first to speak, and he quoted the following.

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Cor 2:9-10).

In our book, HEREAFTER, we further look at the Joyous future that awaits each and every believer when their time on earth is through.

[Book Excerpt]

In Psalm 16:11, David wrote:

“You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

When the day described in Revelation 19:1-10 arrives, our joy will know no bounds. Our fondest moments in this life will pale by comparison.

During the TV taping, I was asked to recount my brief clinical death visits to that Sphere that is the Hereafter. I can’t tell you what a joy it always is to do just that. As a matter of fact, I recount that Good Friday experience of April 22, 2011, most every morning when I awake. For some reason those Moments spent in that Realm flood back into my thoughts upon awakening to a new day.

Dr. Reagan brought up during the programs that Heaven isn’t just some ethereal realm or dimension of existence where saints will be floating around as disembodied spirits. He said it is a real place, according to all we know from Scripture.

Again, in our book HEREAFTER, we address this place called Heaven, about which Jesus said the following.

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).

A Physical Abode

The Greek word for “place” in John 14:2-3 is topos, which denotes a physical location in almost all its usages throughout the New Testament. It frequently denotes a specific location such as a city, village, or area. Jesus is preparing actual “rooms” in His “Father’s house” for the multitudes that would come to know Him as their Savior since that evening. Our new home will be visible with many amenities that will please our immortal resurrection bodies. Not one saint will feel any disappointment when he or she sees their heavenly accommodations.

The word Jesus chose for “prepare,” hetoimazo, also depicts a tangible, physical preparation. Paul used this same term when asking Philemon to “prepare a lodging place” for him (Philemon 22).

Although my own trip to somewhere on the periphery of Heaven didn’t take me to that final place that the Lord Jesus is preparing, the trip itself was exactly as the Apostle Paul said it would be. He said to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor 5: 8).

I.e., when the last heartbeat happens upon passing from this life, we who know Christ for Salvation are instantaneously in that Heavenly Sphere. To this, I can attest firsthand, although it was obviously not yet my time to go all the way to the place prepared for me in the Hereafter. The trip was, however, instantaneous –in the twinkling of an eye speed. I was sent back, among other reasons, to tell you about that Abode that is, as our book subtitle has it, far better than you can imagine!

If you are not yet in God’s Family, for whom Jesus Himself is preparing places of unimaginable splendor where we will live in Glory Forever, here is how to become part of that Family. You will then be certain to go to the HEREAFTER with a smile on your face.

“That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).

–Terry

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