On the Doorstep, But Don't Get to Enter-Part 27

In Part 25 of this On the Doorstep, But Don't Get to Enter series, we considered the idea of families being together in the post earth regions; especially in the City of Light.  We realized that only those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will be together 'with Christ'; thus we may well find family members devastatingly missing from there in time to come.  This brings us to the subject today which we will see from The Eternal Journey by Craig R. Lundahl, Ph.D. and Harold A. Widdison, Ph.D who wrote about Near Death Experiences (NDE) and what people had run across therein.

From Pages 178-179 we see that...

"Some individuals were surprised to discover that not all members of their families were there.  Jedediah Grant, however, learned the reason for these significant voids."

"To my astonishment, when I looked at families there was a deficiency in some, there was a lack, for I saw families that would not be permitted to come and dwell together, because they had not honored their calling here..."

Another fellow by the name of...

"James LeSeuer was taken by his guardian angel to the City of Light and into a very large building...he saw his brother teaching vast multitudes of people..."

He was...

"preparing them to be brought to a state where they would eventually be ready to hear and accept the Gospel..."

Most of the multitudes were...

"quarreling and jangling...a veritable hub-bub of confusion..."

 "LeSeuer saw many rooms in that large building.  He said "those in the last room lived upon the earth during the dark ages and at the period of great wickedness and ignorance.  It would take ages to redeem them."  

>   That sounds funny but perhaps the state of some people was rather thick headed and/or stubborn to learn.

Not sure whether to take this as an allegory or not.  Need to go back to Scripture and find the descriptions of the "goings on" in Heaven.  Revelation is a good place to start.  Give a read through. Just off the top of my head, I don't recall anything about people being taught while being in Heaven.   All that teaching and "preparing" needs to be done here and now, upon the earth, during our lifetime on earth.  God's Word informs us in 2 Corinthians 6:2 that...

"Behold now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of grace."

NOW is the time for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ; His death and resurrection; His paying the penalty and making atonement for our sins.  It is the time to realize and admit we human beings are sinners and need redemption and that on a personal basis.  I can't do this for you, nor you for me.  It is the time to realize God's goodness that can lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4).  It is time to follow in Jesus' footsteps and do as he did and as He would likely do now.

There is certainly plenty of disorder within families; many being dysfunctional in one way or another.  Jesus said He came, not to bring peace but to bring division (Luke 12:51)!  What!?  That's surprising since one of His names is "Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9: 6).  Whatever did He mean?!!

I believe when one or two family members come to Christ and live for Him, the rest of the family may well be opposed especially if the family is staunch, this or that religion.  The 'status quo' has been adversely affected; the boat has been rocked.  It will be difficult for that one or two believers in Jesus to live.  They may even be ostracized from the family.

We need to pray earnestly for our non-believing family members that they too will receive the Prince of Peace into their life; heart and soul and mind.  Pray more earnestly for their salvation because we know their end will be Hades en route to Hell.  This we DO NOT want even for our most irritating relative.

This could be the meaning for the "significant voids" in families.  A very sad, significant void indeed!!  Pray, Christians, pray, for your family in the here and now!!  There's no time to lose.

                                                             ~ERC  2017~