Do Christians Immediately Go To Heaven After Death? Millions of them Believe They do! What About You?

   

  I would venture to say that 95% of those who call themselves Christians believe that Heaven is their final destination. I can't understand why because the Bible never states nor claims that going to Heaven is our ultimate goal!         

    Unfortunately, through Sunday school, catechism and synagogue classes, we have been taught this doctrine that we go to Heaven when we die or when the Messiah returns back to earth. At most funeral ceremonies throughout the world, we see and hear sermons about our dear friends and relatives are now in Heaven looking down upon us, hanging out with angels as they wait for our own eventual trip to Paradise.
     However, for those studious and devoted ones who trust the specificity of God's word (who do not add nor subtract one jot or tittle of God's Holy Word) know for a fact that Heaven is not our destination when we die. As a matter of fact, while we do enter the Kingdom of God, its eternal location is not heavenly, and scripture always confirms the obvious.
     In our book, The End Times Passover, we devote a lengthy chapter 10 (Heavenly Minded) to this entire subject, broken down with tons of scripture to verify that we do not go to Heaven after death, nor upon the final return of Jesus Christ.
     The End Times Passover was written in 1986 but was not published until 2006. The reason for this is our commitment to Bible accuracy as we spent twenty years going over and over the original manuscript to insure our scripture facts were clearly spelled out. Also (and interestingly enough) we read a book written by the highly esteemed Anglican bishop scholar and author, Nathaniel T. Wright, who published a book in 2003, Surprised By Hope , which confirmed the data we present in Chapter 10, almost word for word. Obviously we were delighted that our research was confirmed by one of the great Bible scholars of our time. Following are a few of the scripture groups that validate our claim that believers do not go to Heaven after death, nor anytime in their future.

...and scripture always confirms the obvious:

Hebrews 11:8-10 (NIV)
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Hebrews 13:11-14 (NIV)
11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

Revelation 21:1-4 (NIV)
21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell 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.”

Revelation 21:22-27 (NIV)
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Psalm 37:11 (KJV)
11 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

Matthew 5:5 (NIV)
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.

Psalm 37:2(NIV)
The righteous will inherit the land
and dwell in it forever!


John 14:23-24 (NIV)23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

2 Corinthians 6:16 (NIV)

16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will live with them
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”

Revelation 7:13-17 (NIV)
13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”
14 I answered, “Sir, you know.”
And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.15 Therefore, “they are before the throne of God
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne
will shelter them with his presence.
16 ‘Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,’
nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne
will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’

For more information about the author's web sites and blogs, and his books, please click on the following link>>Joe Ortiz