I just read that Tammy Faye Messner died at the age of 65. For those who do not recognize the name she is the ex-wife of Jim Bakker. They were televangelists that did all sorts of dirty stuff… so the stories read. I am not here to bring judgment on her or Jim.
The purpose of this blog is to continue the Heaven vs. Sleep Chronicles.
Tammy’s ex-husband Jim said of her after her death, "She is now in Heaven with her mother and grandmother and Jesus Christ, the one who she loves and has served from childbirth," he said. "That is the comfort I can give to all who loved her."
In approximately July of this year during an interview with Larry King, Tammy Faye was quoted saying, "I believe when I leave this earth, because I love the Lord, I'm going straight to heaven."
Anyone who reads my blogs knows I have to ask! Tammy and Jim have both ‘known’ the Lord since childhood. Let’s round it off and say about 50 years give or take whatever. So… you’re going to tell me that in that 50 year span of ‘loving the Lord’, serving the Lord, in church, in ministry, as televangelists, as authors and a whole bunch of other stuff I probably don’t know about, that they never read 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17?
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
If we all believe that Tammy is in Heaven … right now… the moment after death… presuming that she was the follower of Christ that she claimed to be… then Heaven must be on Earth?? Her body is here on earth. (Cremated but somewhere.)
I hear you say indignantly, but she has a spirit. It is her spirit that went to Heaven. Ok cool, but can someone show me where the scriptures say that our body stays in the ground and our spirit goes to Heaven? And if our spirit in fact does go to Heaven then when Jesus comes down… what exactly will be rising up to meet him in the air… if we are already there?
As you can tell, I am confused. This Heaven vs. Sleep blog chronicle is not just for the purposes of stirring up the body of Christ to it’s entirety in the truth. At least not the redundancy of the questions. They are for me! I want to know. I don’t want to be like Tammy and Jim and assume that just because the church taught it was thus and thus, that it is the truth.
I need to rightly divide the word myself. I am the only one that will be facing God in a judgment against myself. I don’t want to be babbling silly excuses about how I thought it was this way or that way. Maybe God will… not say anything. He will just stand there looking at me with love but in my heart I will know that I did a disservice and injustice by not searching the scriptures to discover his basic and final truths for myself.
Not wanting to know the absolute truths about God’s desires is like not wanting to know if you owe taxes, if you spouse is truly happy, if your boss is pleased with your performance, etc. That’s just sheer ignorance and laziness at its best. I want to be all I can be for my Lord. Heck, we have slogans about being the best that we can be for the Army. Why not for our Maker and lover of our soul?
{A dear brother and friend read my last blog and expounded upon it. Very interesting reading. It can be found at http://gospelapostle.blogspot.com.}
(Also, does anyone know where in the bible it actually says that Jesus or God is the ‘lover of our souls’? I would love to find it! I hear it and it sounds so nice but I am not sure where it is found. Is it one of those great sayings like, ‘God helps those who help themselves’? It’s been passed around from generation to generation alas to be discovered an not having any biblical truth?)
No comments:
Post a Comment