Privileged Visit

“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 may be also.”  -John 14:1-3 (KJV).

Several books have been written recently on near-death-experiences in which a person dies for a little while, is transported to heaven, and returns to earth to tell the story.  A friend has suggested that instead of “n. d. e..—near-death-experience,” this journey could be called “privileged visit.”  Here are some of the books that tell of the “privileged visit,” and the return of persons to earth to tell about their journey to the extra-dimensional spiritual realm we call heaven—the place Jesus spoke of so positively and with such anticipation of having all believers gathered into that place of heavenly bliss.

Heaven Is For Real is about little Colton Burpo, not quite four, who went to heaven and returned to earth to tell in his extraordinary way about whom he saw there, persons he had never known in his life, like his grandfather who died before Colton was born, and his little sister who did not even make it to birth because of his mother’s miscarriage.  Colton’s parents began to take notice of his astounding story and his father wrote a book about what Colton told them of heaven.

To Heaven and Back by Dr. Mary C. Neal is an orthopedic surgeon’s story about dying in a kayak accident while cascading down a waterfall in Chile.   She encountered the peace, beauty and angels in heaven but was sent back because her work on earth was not finished. She became much more aware not only of God’s providence but of her purpose in life.

Proof of Heaven by Dr. Eben Alexander, neurosurgeon, is by a doctor who did not believe in God or life after death.  He said that those with near-death experiences only had fantasies produced by the brain under severe stress.  Then he himself had a terrible brain illness and was in a deep coma for seven days.  About the time the doctors decided to declare him dead, he awoke.  His life was never the same after the experience.  While he was in the after life, he was accompanied by an angelic being who guided him to super-physical realms of existence.  He met the Divine.  In addition to his book, he now speaks widely and declares that “true health can be achieved only when we believe that God and the soul are real and that death is not the end of life but a transition.”

Don Piper’s story is 90 Minutes in Heaven:  A True Story of Death & Life.  His life, too, has been one of positive impact as he tells the story of going to heaven and returning with a message and mission.

Two books from the Grahams are not of near-death experiences but of looking forward in faith to Heaven.  Billy Graham’s Nearing Home and Ann Graham Lotz’s Heaven, My Father’s House  are permeated with joy in anticipating heaven and finishing well the earthly journey so the Lord can say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy reward” (Matthew 25:21).

Honoring Mothers

Much has been written in the course of time regarding mothers.  Here, at Mother’s Day, 2013, I add my few thoughts to wish all mothers—and all those who honor their own mother and other significant ones who have been in a “motherly” role in their lives a “Happy Mother’s Day.

We see mother mentioned early in Genesis when God created Eve to be a helpmeet for Adam.  He instructed Adam, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife…” (Genesis 2:24, ESV).  Later we read of Adam naming Eve, and of her role as  a mother:  “”The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20).  In the course of time, God gave a commandment concerning the role of children in relationship to parents:  “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Genesis 20:12).  This commandment had a promise for those who obeyed--long life.  I remember my dear grandmother who so honored her parents and other elders that her days on this earth numbered nearly 102 years. The Psalmist joined in praise of mothers, saying, “He (God) gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children.  Praise the Lord!” (Psalm 113:9).  The writer of Proverbs added his praise to mothers, saying:  “Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old…Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice!” (Psalm 23:22, 25).  In Mary’s “Magnificat”, her Song of Praise soon after the angel’s announcement to her that she would be the mother of the Lord, in the Spirit she said”  “For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name” (Luke 1:49, ESV).

Having a day set aside to honor mothers has a long history.  We can trace its roots back into Greek and Roman times when Greece honored Rhea, wife of Cronus and in Rome Cybela, a “mother” goddess.  “Mothering Sunday” was begun in England in the 1600’s.  In America, Julia Ward Howe, author of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” wrote a Mother’s Day Proclamation as early as 1870 in Boston.  Anna Jarvis of Grafton, West Virginia is credited with starting Mother’s Day as we know it, with the first official Mother’s Day event in 1908 to honor her sainted mother, Anna Marie Reeves Jarvis who had started work with mothers to teach them sanitation and better health practices after the Civil War.  Julia Jarvis’s petitions for a special day finally reached the ears of President Woodrow Wilson who signed a resolution May 8, 1914 making the second Sunday in May officially “Mother’s Day.”  Later, Anna Jarvis rued the commercialization of the day, for that had not been her intention.  She wanted to call attention to the important role of mothers and to set aside a day to say thank you to them.

I had an honored and loving mother to whom I am grateful for my early rearing, up through age fourteen.  At that tender teen-aged time in my life, I lost her to a serious illness.  My life was never the same afterward, because I at that age became a sort of surrogate mother to my then eleven-year-old younger brother.  But my having to grow up in a hurry taught me responsibility, appreciation and a sense of developing in maturity and insight that I may not have had otherwise.  I am very grateful that I am privileged to be a mother, a grandmother and a great grandmother.  On Mother’s Day let us honor those faithful women who have made a difference in who we are today.

Needs vs. Wants

“And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.  To our God and Father be glory forever and ever.  Amen.”  -Philippians 4:19-20 (ESV).  “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” –Hebrews 4:16, ESV. 

Oftentimes a great gulf exists between what we need and what we want.  Webster defines “need” as “a lack of something requisite; a condition requiring supply or relief.”  On the other hand, “want” is defined as “to have a strong desire or inclination for.”  In the cited verses, the Lord does not promise to supply our wants but our needs, not to fulfill our desires but to provide what will be best for us while at the same time bringing glory to the Father.  It is through His mercy and grace that our needs are met.  In Jesus Calling by Sarah Young (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2004, p. 132), the author has Jesus saying, “Come into My Presence with thanksgiving, for thankfulness opens the door to My treasures.”  This is reminiscent of what we read in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (ESV):  Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  Even in our direst needs, if we can find the grace to give thanks, then we are fulfilling God’s will.  And the thankful heart, even while awaiting God’s blessing and anticipating that the need will be met, can, as Young so aptly states, “relax in the knowledge that the One who controls your life is totally trustworthy” (Young, p. 132). 

Prayer for Our Nation

“And His name will be the hope of all the world.” – Matthew 12:21 (citing “The Lord’s Chosen Servant” passage from Isaiah 42:1-4).  NLT

Our National Day of Prayer is set for Thursday, May 2, 2013. A national day of prayer was called in 1775 by the Continental Congress.  In 1952, Congress passed a bill calling for a National Day of Prayer.  President Harry S. Truman signed the bill into law.  In 1988, the law was amended to make the National Day of Prayer the first Thursday in May, annually. The 2013 observance will be the sixty-second consecutive annual National Day of Prayer.

“Pray for America” is the theme and the cry for the 2013 National Day of Prayer.  How desperately our nation needs the earnest, seeking, intercessory prayers of Christian people.  Mrs. Shirley Dobson, wife of the minister who has led in Faith for Families is serving as chairman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force.  She urges that prayer leads us to know God better, to experience a fuller relationship with Him, to model ourselves after Christ, and to give ourselves to continued prayer. In his book, Prayer on Fire, Fred Hartley states:  “Prayer is what we do.  It is our initiative to meet God.” 

May we pray earnestly for these areas of America, seeking God’s forgiveness, intervention and leadership in (1) government, (2) business, (3) education, (4) the media, (5) the military and national and international affairs, (6), churches and  (7) families.  Let us join in community groups and pray individually.  May we invest in hope through prayer and ask God to transform our nation to one that fears Him and seeks His will and way.  –Ethelene Dyer Jones  04.28.2013.

Resurrection Day!

“Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.  And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.  His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.  And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.  But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus Who was crucified.  He is not here, for He has risen, as He said.  Come, see the place where He lay.  Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him.  See, I have told you.  So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell His disciples.  And behold, Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!” and they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.  Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.” –Matthew 28:1-10 (ESV).

It was not yet good light; the dawn was just breaking and shadows of darkness played about the garden tomb.  Sorrow and fear walked with the two women, Mary Magdalene ‘and the other Mary,’ female disciples of Jesus, last at the tomb on Friday, first at the tomb on Sunday.  They were afraid.  I would have been too, going early before good day, and then being shaken by a reverberating earthquake!  How strange to be greeted by such shaking and clattering of the earth.  And fear overtook them again, for seated there upon the great gravestone was an extraterrestrial being whose garments glowed in the half-light like lightning.  Even the strong, burly Roman guards lay on the ground, out cold, like dead men!

But when the angel spoke, for by now the women realized the person meant them only good and not harm, they listened, for his message reechoed what Jesus Himself had told them before He died:  “Fear not!...He is not here, for He has risen, as He said.  Come, see the place where He lay.”  And with that I can imagine that the angel stepped aside, inviting Mary Magdalene and Mary to step up to the tomb and look in.  Accounts of the resurrection in other gospels tell us that the grave clothes lay there on the rock ledge where the body had been—as though the corpse of Jesus, now alive, had just escaped from them and left the clothes lying in the tomb.  And folded, the napkin, or handkerchief, that had covered Jesus’ face was placed neatly to the side.  With all the excitement of the angel’s message, the women would not have had time to give more than a precursory glance into the tomb.  But later, they would remember an important aspect of the neatly-folded napkin:  It lay folded in readiness, a sign that the Master would be back again; He had not gone far away.  For Mary Magdalene and Mary, the angel had directions, an important errand for them to run: “”Go quickly and tell His disciples He has risen from the dead! Tell them to go to Galilee; there He will meet them!” What joy, what delight!  The Marys did not need their urns of burial ointment and spices they had so lovingly brought to embalm the body.  No dead body was there to receive the embalming.

They left the garden grave, excited and exulting that they had such a message to give to the disciples!  And as they rushed through the garden, behold, Jesus Himself met them and said, “Greetings!”  There was no mistaking that voice!  No one ever spake like Jesus speaks.  They fell to His feet, worshiping Him! But He, like the angel, had a message for them to bear, “Go!  Tell My disciples that I am alive.  I will meet them in Galilee!  Do not be afraid!”