Will We Be Angels?

It’s a common question. I often hear people ask if they will become an angel when they die. Let me just say it - the answer is no. Death is a relocation of a person from one place to another. The place changes, but the person remains the same.

The Bible says “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” The same person who becomes absent from the body becomes present with the Lord. The Bible tells us that we will be given a new body, that we will not be spirits without a body. Unlike our present body, we’ll be given a body built for eternity.

Angels are angels, and humans are humans. Angels are beings with their own distinct identities. They even have personal names, such as Michael or Gabriel. Under God’s direction, they serve humanity and the earth. In Heaven, human beings will govern angels (1 Corinthians 6:2-3).

Can you imagine what it is going to be like to meet angels that served us on earth? It will be fascinating. The Bible tells us that they are with us throughout our entire life. An invisible world of angels is present in the circumstances of our life. They have witnessed what we’ve experienced. They even intervene at times to save us from disaster. It will be quite an experience to one day in Heaven hear the angel’s perspective on our life circumstances. It makes me wonder if we’ll find ourselves laughing at the stories they tell.

For some who have had near death experiences or feared for their life and suddenly their circumstances changed, hearing angels describe what really happened in their invisible world will be amazing. Talking with angels or hearing these stories will have to wait until Heaven. There is no biblical evidence for trying to make contact with angels now, despite popular books that say otherwise. Our communication is directly to God. Our prayers are directed to God and not to angels.

Be aware that just as there is an invisible force of angels at work under God’s direction, there are also dark angels who “masquerade as servants of righteousness.” They bring us messages that appear to be from God but are not (2 Corinthians 11:15). Petitioning a connection with angels opens the door for this masquerade. Their desire is to mislead you and deceive you.

God’s angels work completely under the control and direction of God. The source of power on earth is gifted to us through God’s open door of prayer. Because of the sacrifice of Jesus, God’s Son, we have been given direct access to God the Father. We talk to God, and he directs his angels.

If you are disappointed in not becoming an angel one day, don’t be. We won’t be angels, but we’ll be with angels - and that will be far better.

Learn more at www.newlifeonline.com or follow Steve Lingenfelter on Twitter, @stevOLL.

Heaven Is For Real?

I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie “Heaven is for Real,” and I don’t know what you think of the testimony of a young boy who testifies that heaven is for real because he’s seen it.

What I do know is that there are a lot of misconceptions about heaven. So many descriptions and pictures of heaven are so far off from what the Bible teaches us is actually true about heaven. We’re all familiar with the cartoon pictures of a man sitting all alone on a cloud playing a harp. He has the expression of someone marooned on a desert island with absolutely nothing to do.

Some people believe that heaven is going to be an unending church service. Now, I have to be honest with you, I love church, but the thought of an unending church service doesn’t really get me excited about heaven.

We have settled on an image of the never-ending sing-along in the sky, one great hymn after another, forever and ever, amen. Really? Forever and ever? That’s it? That’s the good news?

We think these thoughts and sigh, feeling guilty that we aren’t more “spiritual.” We think, if we were just more spiritual than we would be more excited about the never-ending sing-along in the sky. I love to sing, and I hope that somehow in heaven I’ll have the singing voice of Bono. However, not only is that not exciting, it isn’t what the Bible teaches us about heaven.

Heaven is a place where God makes things right. The life we experience now is not God’s original plan for us. When mankind invited sin - disobedience to God - into our experience, the world was tainted by the ugliness of sin. Heaven is a place where no sin exists.

One of the ways the Bible describes heaven is in the book of Revelation, where it says: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away … Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

This was written by a man named John, who wrote the book of Revelation and testifies to us that heaven is for real.

What will heaven be like? It will be exactly what God promised: A resurrected life in a resurrected body, with the resurrected Christ on a resurrected earth. It will be as God intended for us from the beginning. Because the Bible says that Satan will be bound, there will be no more influence of sin in our lives. We’ll finally get the life that God so desires for us. It’ll be heaven.

Learn more at www.newlifeonline.com or follow Steve Lingenfelter on Twitter, @stevOLL.

It Is Written

Have you ever wondered why, when Christ was tempted in the wilderness, the angels didn’t come to minister to Jesus until after Satan left? I think that would have been a pretty exciting supernatural battle. The answer is simply because Jesus had what he needed to win the battle.

Suppose an intruder invaded your house. The intruder forces himself into your house and tries to take control of your home. Your entire family is terrified as the intruder battles for control. All of a sudden, you remember 911. If you can just get to the phone, you know that help is near. You manage to get to the phone and make the call.

Moments later, two police officers arrive and enter the battle to defeat the intruder and win your home back. The intruder proves to be extremely strong, and the two officers find themselves unable to subdue him. They make a call of their own, and several other officers arrive. Soon the battle is over and the intruder is taken away and locked up. Calling 911 proved to be the answer to your problem. Because you called 911, the victory became yours.

As Christ-followers, we possess a 911 number to dial when we find ourselves under attack from Satan and his minions. Our 911 number is “it is written.” That’s the same “number” Jesus dialed when he found himself attacked by Satan. In Matthew chapter four in the Bible, the battle is recorded for us. Satan went on the attack, trying to tempt Jesus when he was tired, hungry and most vulnerable. That is what he does.

The event played out this way: Jesus was in the desert after fasting 40 days and nights.

The Bible says, “The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is written, Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Jesus was tempted two more times after that and every time his answer was the same: “It is written.”

When we are attacked and challenged, our response is to be the same as Jesus – “It is written.”

You see, Satan can handle you, but he cannot handle the Word of God. When we respond with the Word of God, it is as though we have a direct line to the power of the Holy Spirit and the very Throne Room of God.

The problem is when we try to fight the battle ourselves. We are no match. In the same way, Satan is no match for the power of God. When the intruder forces his way into your life, don’t try to win the battle yourself - make the call. When we call upon God’s Word, we are reminded that God has spoken and he didn’t stutter. Memorizing the number is pretty important when you need it.

Learn more at www.newlifeonline.com or follow Steve Lingenfelter on Twitter, @stevOLL.

There's More To The Story

Have you ever tried to tell a story and for, whatever reason, you left parts out? We’ve all done it and the result is always the same - the story gets confusing. The story of God’s desire to save mankind is not different. Too often we tell the part of the story about forgiveness and how that cleanses us from our sins, but fail to share the rest of the story. Let me illustrate by using canning as an example.

Let’s say that you are going to preserve some peaches. The first thing you have to do is to sterilize the containers. This is an important step because sterilizing the containers preserves the peaches from spoiling.

Someone comes into your kitchen while you are cleaning the containers and asks why you’re cleaning them and your response is, “I just like to keep them clean.” The story doesn’t make sense. Cleaning jars for the sake of just having clean jars makes the story incomplete. It’s only part of the story, but this is exactly what we’ve done with the story of God’s salvation for mankind. We typically only tell about God’s sterilizing process - the cross - and neglect to share about God’s filling process - Christ living in us.

Too many times we are guilty of teaching only half the gospel. We teach about how the cross of Christ brings forgiveness of our sins, but fail to communicate a big part of the story that involves receiving the life of Christ. Christ’s paying the penalty for sin on the cross was so that we could be cleansed from our sins. That was done so that he could then fill us with Christ “without spoiling.”

There’s even more to this story. Like canning, cleaning the container is just the beginning. It’s cleaned so that it can be filled. Just as a fruit container is sterilized so that it can be filled with fruit without spoiling, we are cleansed from all unrighteousness by Christ’s cleansing power so that we can be filled with the life of Christ.

However, there is one more piece to complete the story. After sterilizing and filling the jars with fruit, they are sealed. Sealing keeps the good things in and the bad things out.

The Bible says: “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.”

Cleansing, filling, and sealing tells the whole story of God’s salvation. The Bible says that this seal is a guarantee that we will be preserved until our inheritance is complete.

There is so much more to the story of God’s salvation than simply being cleansed and forgiven. The very life of Christ fills us so that we can live free from the destruction of sin. Being sealed by God’s Spirit guarantees that we belong to him. There’s the whole story.

Learn more at www.newlifeonline.com or follow Steve Lingenfelter on Twitter, @stevOLL.