Heaven: Close Encounters of the God Kind (excerpts & commentary)[Open]

Following are some brief excerpts from Bro Jesse's book. I've read a number of Heavenly Visitation narratives. They are all different in some respects. Some folks might think that they are so different that the individuals must be visiting a different place. I don't feel that way. There's usually some things that are essentially the same.

Virtually always, there's some aspect of the narrative that some group of Christians gets all up in arms about being unBiblical. I've never found any of the more convincing narratives that way, personally.

I have observed that there's virtually always some part of the narrative that folks FEEL IS UNBIBILICAL BECAUSE--THEIR assumptions and private interpretations were jangled. So, it's not the Scripture that is being contradicted but it's individual ASSUMPTIONS and extrapolations about Scripture that's being challenged.

One of the other most impressive narratives to me is that of ROLAND BUCK of the Buck knives family. He was A of G pastor of First Assembly in Boise, Idaho. His book: ANGELS ON ASSIGNMENT is available free for downloading at:

I post these excerpts for discussion, not contentiousness. I post it as an open thread instead of a Charismatic caucus thread because I believe that a more free wheeling discussion is likely to be more productive and interesting.

I post such particularly as an encouragement in these challenging, darkening times.

The book is available at the website. There is a package of DVD, book and audio CD's available. I suppose there are some few details in one media not in another. But on the whole, all 3 media types have essentially the identical content--at least 98% or so.

I encourage you to prayerfully consider buying one of the versions. I think it's worth it.

Probably the DVD video set is the most worth it. Jesse is a Cajun. He used to be a rock star. He's fairly funny and quite down to earth. That all comes across best in the video set.

The first part of his life is a narrative about his mother praying for a preacher. And God pointing out that Jesse was the one of the 3 sons and 1 daughter that was chosen of God to be a preacher. Mother was incredulous that God would pick Jesse but prayed accordingly.

Following were many years of Jesse running from God and engaging in all manner of drugs and sin as a rock star etc. and God 'dogging' him in the process.

His Heavenly visitation began after Jesse felt constrained to get up from a steak dinner at a nearby restaurant with a pastor who's church he was to speak at, IIRC . . . and just after the steaks arrived, Jesse got up and excused himself because he felt constrained in his spirit to go to his hotel room.

There, he knelt and noticed that the digital clock said one o-clock. He said "God, what's the matter?"

He felt sucked up out of his room . . . he didn't know at the time whether he was in his body or out of it. I think later he felt he was in his body. He heard a Whoosh.

He found himself traveling in an enclosed cable car type enclosure at a very fast speed.

"Then I looked up. There stood another being. I realized it was the blond-headed angel who had visited me in the bedroom that night in Jonesville. . . 'Where are we going?' "

"I felt the chariot slowing down; then it came to a stop. When the door opened, I experienced the shock of my life: I was in heaven!"

He recounts similar things all Heavenly visitors have said about the flowers etc. . . . such as colors unseen here; fragrance unknown here; flowers truning and following you as you walk by . . . etc.

He was still dressed in his jeans and a shirt but saw others dressed in robes and others dressed in gowns. He goes into a distinction--evidently Biblical--about robes of righteousness and I forget what the gowns were mentioned as in Scripture.

And, folks were eating fruit from trees to strengthen them and enable them to stand before The Throne--as Jesse himself was destined to do--though not really stand, much being mostly on his face like most people.

Evidently the folks with gowns believed in God and made it in but still had a lot to be taught about God that they didn't learn on earth. He refd Is 61:10,11 about the 2 types of garments.

He asserted that Abraham is the first one folks meet--not Peter--that all believers are Abraham's kids.

All the aborted babies and kids that died before the age of accountability were there. Evidently many more Chinese kids without parents than other races.

". . . I thought there would be scars in His hands and feet. But it wasn't like He had been cut and scarred. I coudl see the holes in his feet. They were so big--about the size of a nickel--that light was shining through them. . . ."

p89 "I said. "Jesus!" He said simply, "Do you like this place?" I said, "Yes, Sir."

'But they won't believe me,' I said. "They didn't believe it for centuries, but I came, and I'm coming again."

. . . "I said, 'They know that'" "'No, they don't know that. I brought you here so that you would go tell them I'm coming. Do you hear Me? I'm coming. Go tell them."

"'Our affliction is but for a moment. People have made it a lifetime. Change it back to a moment.'"

He said David was the only one he saw in Heaven with a crown besides Christ Jesus.

David p100: "I did write songs of my experiences, like a lot of other people do. But the better ones are when I allowed the lordship of God in me to come out more than the trouble that I spoke about."

" . . . I wish I had written more songs about God's answers than about my problems."

Jesse was given a tour of his house in Heaven. He was shocked to find it had high ceilings, moldings and furniture just like he likes here on earth. And he was surprised to see mountains and snow in Heaven though there was no cold.

"Jesse, the earth is God's creation. His taste there is His taste here. Every desire you could possibly think of has been met to your specification for your home, plus God put a few of His own. . . "

David explained. 'You have preached their sermons. God blesses them with knowing their messages are still reaching people."

"I had to keep eating more of that copper-colored type of fruit because I felt weak."

p 111 "I saw twenty four empty seats near the Throne. . . " "Jesse, we're servants here," David told me . . ."They're out in the city and in Paradise blessing and helping people. We help people here. Everyone serves. Somebody is always trying to do somethign for you. Someone will always ask, 'What can I do for you?'"

p128, 129 "I felt that He [Jesus] was saying our eyes should be on Him, Jesus, instead of on the great tribulation period."

"But as His Body, we are in disobedience by fighting each other. We're not coming together with the witness of Who He is. Satan's greatest ally is our division in the Body of Christ. I thinkn Jesus wants us, the Church, to be looking more at Who He is instead of focusing on our differences."

"If the Body of Christ, the Church, would begin to reveal Who Christ is, and lift Him--the Person of Jesus Christ--up for the world to see, people will be drawn to him. . . ."

I don't think there are any startling revelations about Heaven in this book. But it is an encouraging read.

It also includes a narrative about how he began worshipping as he was driving from one place in Louisiana to another--that took a minimum of an hour and a half or some such to drive.

His car filled up with a fog and he was lost in worship raising both hands . . . when he realized what he was doing and grabbed the steering wheel and pulled over to a pay phone, he was already at the destination and his wife noted on the phone call what time it was--he could not have traveled that distance by that time by car short of Holy Spirit moving him along supernaturally. He has proof of when he left etc. Fascinating case of such.

END TIMES/ DREAMS/ VISIONS/ PROPHECY PING LIST PING. Please let me know if you want on or off this list

As do I. I should ping the list. And maybe I’ll put Joel Rosenberg’s email he sent Joya in on this post, too . . .

Interestingly, it notes that Netanyahu is likely to be the next leader of Israel. There is a Bible code indicating he may well be assassinated as Israel’s leader. Been a long time since I checked that site. I should check it.

Thanks, Liberty for your kind msg.

LUB

From Joya | 06/06/2008 1:17:26 PM PDT new

http://joelrosenberg.blogspot.com/

AHMADINEJAD VOWS U.S., ISRAEL WILL BE “ANNIHILATED” SOON

Senior Israeli official says war with Iran may be “unvoidable.” Meanwhile, Olmert’s government on verge of collapse.

By Joel C. Rosenberg
(Washington, D.C., June 6, 2008) —

Using some of his most apocalyptic rhetoric yet, Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is vowing that the United States and Israel will soon be “annihilated,” even as he refuses to abandon Iran’s nuclear program.

Marking the 19th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, Ahmadinejad said: “Today, the time for the fall of the satanic power of the United States has come and the countdown to the annihilation of the emperor of power and wealth has started.”

He also insisted that “I must announce that the Zionist regime (Israel), with a 60-year record of genocide, plunder, invasion and betrayal is about to die and will soon be erased from the geographical scene.”

Are Israeli leaders thus planning to launch a massive air
attack on Iran before the end of the year, or even before new national elections in Israel which may take place as early as November? Or are they trying to persuade the U.S. to do it before President Bush leaves office? Perhaps both. Which underscores the point I’ve been making for some time — while we intensify our efforts to pray for peace in the epicenter, we also need to be intensifying our efforts to prepare for war.

“An Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites looks ‘unavoidable’ given the apparent failure of Western sanctions to deny Tehran technology with bomb-making potential,” Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz said Friday, according to Reuters report. “If Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The sanctions are ineffective,” said Mofaz.

“It was the most explicit threat yet against Iran from a member of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s government, which, like the Bush administration, has preferred to hint at force as a last resort should United Nations Security Council sanctions fail to achieve the desired abandonment of nuclear development by Tehran. Iran, which denies seeking nuclear weapons, has defied Western pressure to abandon its uranium enrichment projects. The leadership in Tehran has also threatened to retaliate against Israel — believed to have the Middle East’s only atomic arsenal — and U.S. targets in the Gulf for any attack on Iranian turf. Mofaz also said in the interview that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, ‘would disappear before Israel does.’”

“[T]he White House sidestepped questions about the Israeli threat to attack Iranian nuclear sites, saying it would not respond to hypothetical question,” reported Ynet News in Israel. “’The world community, I believe, is united in the desire to make sure that Iran doesn’t develop a nuclear weapon and have a severe threat that we don’t want to see come to fruition,’ White House spokesman Scott Stanzel told reporters. But asked specifically whether the United States would support an Israeli strike on Iran, he said, ‘I’m not going to talk about hypotheticals. I think we’ve been pretty clear in recent weeks and months about our approach on Iran.’”...

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is warning that Israel may soon be forced to launch a major military operation in Gaza to stop thousands of rockets, mortars and missiles which continue raining down on the southern cities and towns of the Jewish State....

Reports the Jerusalem Post: “Prime Minister Ehud Olmert returned to Israel from the US on Friday morning and, echoing the previous day’s remarks by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, hinted that Gaza’s day of reckoning was fast approaching. ‘We are constantly evaluating between the possibility [of a deal] to reach complete quiet and the lack of a possibility of reaching such an agreement,’ he said. ‘The absence of the latter option will draw us closer to an operation that will be much harsher and tougher against the [terror] groups.

“According to the information we have now, the pendulum is closer to a decision to embark on a harsh operation in the Gaza Strip than it is to an agreement with the terror organizations,’ continued Olmert.

Olmert’s comments came a day after Amnon Rozenberg, 51, a father of three, was killed by a Gaza shell that hit the Nirlat paint factory at Kibbutz Nir Oz. The Security Cabinet is set to convene on Tuesday to discuss a response to the incessant attacks from Gaza. Olmert told an Israel Radio reporter that Israel was exploring all the options available in order to achieve complete quiet for southerners without the need to enter into a violent and severe confrontation with terror groups in the Strip, adding, however, that there was a distinct possibility Israel would need to embark on an offensive and extensive operation against Palestinian terror groups.”

Weighing heavily on Olmert as he makes decisions about Iran and Gaza is his own precarious political position, and the fact that both he and President Bush will be out of office soon. Olmert was in Washington earlier this week, meeting with President Bush and other senior administration officials, as well as addressing the annual conference of AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. But Olmert’s trip may be his last to D.C. as premier.

The buzz out of Israel is that early elections are increasingly expected, perhaps this November or December. While this is not yet official — and Israeli politics are notoriously turbulent and unpredictable — leaders and field workers of the major parties are working under the assumption that the Olmert government, tainted by the failed Second Lebanon War and new allegations of corruption, is on its last legs and that they need to be ready for snap elections in the fall. For now, all eyes are focused on June 18th, the dates the Knesset could vote to dissolve itself, automatically triggering new elections.

New polling indicates the Likud Party, led by former Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu is not only far ahead but surging. Were elections held this month, Likud would be expected to pick up as many as 35 parliament seats, up from an estimated 30 seats last November. The Labour Party, by contrast — led by current Defense Minister Ehud Barak — has lost significant ground since last November, garnering support for only 19 seats currently, down from 23. Olmert’s Kadima Party, meanwhile, continues to slide. Current polls show Kadima — likely to be led by current Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni after Olmert’s departure — would receive only 11 Knesset seats, rather than 15.

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