The Two Sides of Eternity

This is a very sobering and true story about my own sister, who died at the age of 50. It brings me no delight to tell this story. However, this story is an important one, and I believe it can be used by God to help prevent some people from ending up in hell. Thus, I write this story with a very heavy heart.

The last thing I remember my sister saying to me was, “Why can’t my way be right?” She said this from her wheelchair, as I tried to explain to her how God had healed me of a very debilitating disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis, which is the same disease that she had. However, I want you to know that even though I had been severely affected, she was even more severely affected and had had the disease for a much longer period of time.

Graciously, God healed me. But it took time and there were a lot of lessons that I learned. It’s not something that I could easily impart in a very short period of time. Also, if the person didn’t want to listen, then it was pretty difficult to talk to them at all.

This was not the first time I had tried to talk to my sister about Jesus. There had been many other times, as well. But it all seemed to be in vain.

I had told her how I had trusted in Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. I had told her how I had been diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis about five years after that. I had told her how God had shown me that there were some serious issues in my heart that needed to be dealt with before I was able to receive my healing.

But she was angry. She had a lot of bitterness inside of her. And bitterness really is the killer. Her knees had been replaced. Her hips had been replaced. Her neck was frozen solid and she could not turn it. She had been diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis, but this had been going on for a very long time — since she was 14, in fact (about 36 years).

Instead of thinking about, or considering, Jesus, which was “my way,” she pursued beliefs that were not from God at all. One man was supposed to help her, and promoted his practice of healing through the New Age movement, which is a form of Hinduism. This further alienated my sister from the true God, the God of the Bible. She would even pay considerable amounts of money to visit this man, a seven hour drive away, so she could receive counselling from him. But he led her astray.

Instead of getting better, she grew worse. The New Age movement was no help at all. My sister was on a desperate search to find healing, but Christ was not at the center of her search. All the while, I was right there. But she didn’t want Jesus.

I loved my sister very much. She was very dear to me. To this day, I have fond memories of her. She was my dear friend growing up. To this day, I still wonder if I could have done something differently to win her to Christ. And I’m not convinced I did everything I should have. This is one of the most tragic losses I will ever know. How dear and special a person she was to me.

In my own search to find healing, the Lord had shown me the roots of this disease. And it was rooted in fear and condemnation.

It’s possible to grow up in a household where there is a lot of fear or condemnation or both. Usually, if you have fear, you also have condemnation. They work together.

The Lord had done such a great healing work in me. But there were certain complexities in explaining it. In trying to explain it to her, my sister said, “Why can’t my way be right?”

My father had the same disease, and he grew up in an environment where there was also a lot of condemnation, for his father had been an alcoholic. Hence, problems, even physical ones, like certain diseases, can run in families. But it may be surprising to find out that these diseases can have spiritual roots. In other words, where fear and condemnation rules, so too do some and probably many diseases.

Fear and condemnation is a great evil. God does not want us being ruled by fear and condemnation. Fear and condemnation happen when we are not properly aligned with Jesus. Fear and condemnation can express themselves in many ways, including physical disease, and spiritual problems.

To help you understand how fear and condemnation can cause physical disease, consider this. Anxiety can cause ulcers. Ulcers is a physical problem, but anxiety is a spiritual and emotional problem. There are links in the body between our emotions and our physical health. Therefore, some problems that may appear to be purely physical in nature, actually, can come from spiritual problems. And this was the problem in our family. The Lord had shown me this, and I wanted my sister to see it, as well. However, my sister didn’t want Jesus. And that is the tragic part.

Gehazi, Elisha’s Servant

In the Bible, we read of a man named Gehazi, who was a servant to the prophet Elisha. This man Gehazi had rebelled against God, and had become proud in his heart. Elisha then told him what would happen:

“Therefore the leprosy of Naaman will cling to you and to your offspring forever.” (2 Kings 5:27)

This happened because Gehazi coveted the gold and silver of Naaman who was the commander of the Syrian army. The result was a curse. And by all reasonable judgments, this is the type of thing that happened in our family, as well. My father’s father was an alcoholic. He also joined the Rosicrucians. Rosicrucianism is not Christianity. It does not come from the God of the Bible. It is very very far away from what the Bible teaches.

There are so many problems that came into our family line because we did not worship the true God of the Bible. My own father was a very hard worker, but he constantly cursed God, and used the name of Jesus as a curse word. Fathers, or mothers, if you do this, you are setting up your own family for failure. I cannot warn you too strongly how my own father’s cursing put fear and condemnation into our whole family.

I love my father. And I look forward to seeing him at the resurrection of the righteous. And that’s because, in the end, shortly before he died, he repented and trusted in Jesus as his personal Lord and Saviour. But he caused a great deal of trouble for our family by his constant never-ending cursing. The most pronounced memories I have of my father are of him cursing. It should not be that way.

Thus, a curse does not only propagate in the family because of a pronouncement (like happened in the case of Elisha pronouncing a curse of Gehazi), but because of chosen behavior.

Curses are both pronounced and learned. If you feel you are under a curse, learn to do right, worship only the God of the Bible, seek him alone, and watch him break that curse in front of your eyes. It may take a while. You may need to persevere and prove to God that you are not going to choose any other way, except Jesus Christ, and him alone. Therefore, you may and will be tested in your resolve to see this curse broken. Jesus became a curse for us so that we could become the righteousness of God (see 2 Corinthians 5:21 and Galatians 3:13).

Through much effort, and many tears, I found the solution to the disease that I was suffering from. The doctors said there was no cure, but there actually was. The cure was found in Jesus.

I found the answer, and only wanted to share it. My sister wanted none of it. That was the sad part.

As hard as I tried, I could not seem to break through to my sister. I had prayed for her.

Then, the dreaded phone call came.

“Your sister has died.”

I thought, “Wow, I never expected this. She was only 50 years old. I thought she had so much longer to live.”

What had happened? Though she had this disease, it was not fatal. Yet, sadly, a tragic accident occurred which, under normal circumstances, was entirely preventable. A table which had been specially constructed for her (because of her inability to move), had malfunctioned and fallen on her, breaking her neck suddenly in the middle of the night. It has been surmised that perhaps the cat jumped on the table, and it then suddenly fell over and broke her neck. Of course, this should never happen, even if a cat jumps on a table.

How come this table fell over? I actually tested the table after the fact, and found it to be completely unstable. Yes, it had been specially constructed for her, but no, it had not been properly constructed. The base was completely unstable. It could easily tip over, if even a small amount of pressure was applied at a certain spot. Evidently, this is what happened. In the middle of the night, she either hit it, or the cat jumped on it, or something of that nature, and it tipped over, breaking her neck suddenly.

That table had actually been constructed to act like a hospital table, hovering over her bed. Her phone was on that table. The legs of that table had wheels on it. She had something like a backscratcher that she used to pull the table closer to her when the phone rang. It was not a cell phone. It was a regular landline phone that was on that table.

One of the last things I remember her saying to me before she died was, “Why can’t my way be right?”

My sister was upset that I was telling her that Jesus was the only way.

And then, the tragic dream.

The Tragic Dream

I had this dream after she died, but I can’t remember exactly how long afterwards (perhaps about 6 months or so). In the dream, my sister was speaking to me from the other side of eternity. She was “beyond the veil” — she was on the “other side.” Yet she was communicating with me.

You will understand later what actually happened, but for now, this is what I observed. This dream was actually an allegory, given to me by God. My sister was not speaking to me at all in the dream, but God was.

In the dream, my sister was lying down on her side. The “gist” of the dream was that my sister was experiencing physical discomfort as she lay on her side. In real life, before she died, she was in physical discomfort all the time. So it would have been normal for her to ask someone to help her. But this dream had another meaning. It utilized her former discomfort to speak about her current discomfort.

In the dream, she said to me, “Do you think it would be possible to turn me over?” For she was in pain on the side that she was on. She asked this in a very gentle voice. She was hoping that someone could please help her, if it was at all possible.

This dream was an allegory of how my sister was actually on the wrong side of eternity (in hell), and wished to be on the other side (in heaven). This dream was not about her being on the wrong side of her body at all. Her body was in the ground (buried). But her soul would live on for all eternity.

Lazarus and the Rich Man

A very similar story is actually found in the pages of the Bible, and it is the story of the rich man, who went to hell, and then wanted to get out. However, he could not (see Luke 16:19-31).

This story is actually very explicit. It says,

“There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” (Luke 16:19-24)

Notice how the rich man, in hell, now wants out. He is asking the same question that my sister asked in the dream.

She said, “Do you think it would be possible to turn me over?” In other words, “Is there any way to get out of this place?” This question is answered in the Bible. Being in hell, the rich man now wanted mercy. For he said, “I am tormented in this flame.”

The story continues:

“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But now here he is comforted and you are in anguish. Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that no one may cross over from there to us.’” (Luke 16:25-26)

Notice carefully that Abraham says that it is impossible to go from one place to another, once you have died. Yes, the rich man and Abraham were able to communicate in the story. But neither Abraham, nor God, was able to alleviate the pain and suffering of the rich man who went to hell once he went there. The doors were shut and the suffering was eternal.

There was a reason that my sister said to me in the dream, “Do you think it would be possible to turn me over?” God was speaking to me. He was telling me that it was not possible to cross over once you have died. In other words, you have to make your decision now. And that is why the Bible says,

“now is the day of salvation” (see 2 Corinthians 6:2).

I believe the goal of this communication is that I could write this article and warn you. God did not do this for my sake, he did it for yours.

Only One Way

In the dream, my sister wanted to know, “Is there any way to get out of this place?” No, there is no way to get out once you are there. But there is a way to avoid going there in the first place. That way is Jesus Christ, who said,

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.” (See John 14:6)

From this, we see that Jesus is the only way to God the Father. There is no other way.

Jesus sternly warned those who did not believe in him, saying,

“I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24)

These same people had rejected him. They said he was not the Son of God. They said he was not God’s chosen Messiah. They said he was not the only way to God. They rejected his authority, and who he said he was, being God with us, even as we read in Matthew 1:23.

God calls each person to be saved. And only through Jesus can we be saved. It is through his shed blood that the door has been opened. Peter writes,

“... you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a faultless and pure lamb, the blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).

Consider what Paul writes,

“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:17)

Your eternity rests in the finished work of Christ on the cross. All your efforts, all your works, all your pain, and all of your suffering, are of no effect, if you do not trust in Christ. If you reject Christ, or think that a mere prayer will save you, when in fact you are expected to live a holy life, then will that save you? Jesus said,

“Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33)

My sister did not confess Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. Instead, she rejected him, and paid the ultimate price.

A Common Misconception

It is a common misconception that God sends people to hell, much like a parent would send his young son, or young daughter, to his or her bedroom, for misbehaving. This is an incorrect picture of God. God does not send people to hell, but people choose to reject God, because their deeds are evil, and they do not want to submit themselves to God’s holiness and perfection (see John 3:19-20). They do not want to confess that they are sinners, in need of a Savior. This is the reason people go to hell. When you portray God as sending people to hell, what you are really doing is blaming God for the problems of other people. Does God actually want people to go to hell? Absolutely not! God says in his word,

“For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Therefore turn yourselves (meaning, repent), and live!” (Ezekiel 18:32)

And again,

“The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but he is patient with us, not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

In another passage (namely, Matthew 25:41), we find out that hell is an eternal place of torment that was created for the devil and his angels (meaning, demons). And if we hold to ways that are in keeping with the devil and his angels, then we will by necessity end up in hell, as well.

The Bible says,

“... it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27).

About 150,000 people die every day, and what day has your name written on it? Are you ready to meet the Lord?