Friends: Heaven and hell are real, and we've probably seen glimpses of them in this life. See the column below.  Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #913

May 14, 2024

Common Christianity / Uncommon Christianity

Almost Heaven

By Bob Walters

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” – Ephesians 1:3

Heaven isn’t that far away.

Christians see glimpses of it all the time; just like we routinely see glimpses of hell. Seeing heaven is as easy as accepting the saving grace of Jesus Christ; hell is no more distant than the sin nature of humanity.  We think heaven and hell are the exclusive province of the “afterlife.”  I beg to disagree.

Heavenly realms and hellish despair are eternal, and here we are living in the present. The “present” being the place, C.S. Lewis wrote, “where eternity touches time.”

Thanks to Jesus, we do not live – in this life – apart from eternal God.  We can certainly refuse to believe in God, and many ridicule the idea of Jesus Christ dying for our sins to restore fallen humanity’s relationship with its loving Creator God. But neither my faith, nor another’s disbelief, has any effect on the fact and truth of God, or Jesus.

God is Who He is regardless of what any of us think.  The truth that our faith in Jesus opens our lives, spirits, minds, and souls to a Godly, “heavenly” experience in the here and now is perhaps the most overlooked gift a Christian has.

Ephesians 1:3, above, is Paul’s greeting in his letter to Ephesus.  It was the first Bible verse I memorized upon coming to faith a few years back, probably because it spoke in my heart of a constant spiritual lift that faith in Jesus provides. Did it mean spiritual blessings after we die? No … I learned that as an heir in Christ, death no longer is the province of “blessings” but of sonship with God Almighty through the will of Jesus.

Once we get to heaven, I am saying, we no longer discern blessings; only love.

I once read a devotional by Ray Stedman about the verse. It spoke of “heavenly realms” as “… a reference to the invisible realities of our life now … realities that certainly reach into eternity but are something to be experienced in ones inner life, ones thought life, where we feel conflict and pressure; struggle and disaster. Dark spirits can frighten us, but the ‘heavenlies’ are not only a realm of conflict but also where God reaches us at the seat of our intellect, emotions, and our will.”

I’d venture that most Christians have had these deep-seated experiences, even if they weren’t sure what to make of them.  I wasn’t sure, but then as faith grew and life wrapped securely around Jesus, another of Paul’s great lines clicked: “Pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).  When we live life as a prayer – as a constant relationship with and faith in Jesus – we live each day, in grace, touching blessed heavenly realms.

Knowing these realms is the experiential bedrock of my faith.  It is an experience I assume of, and share with, other Christians.  Yet they are realms impossible to explain to a nonbeliever.  This living part of our faith is so personal in Christ, and so convincing.

“How do you know?” is, I believe, among Satan’s favorite questions.  The hell and doubt we discern amid our mortality can dependably be laid at the fiery altar of sin.  The peace, strength, and comfort we know in Christ are real, often invisible, and loving.

Never read “heavenly realms” as something out in space somewhere, beyond the grasp of our daily, living faith. These blessings are ours now in our inner experience.

And they come to us, Stedman assures, “in one great package in Christ.”

“Be not afraid,” Jesus constantly advises. Heaven is as close as our love.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) deeply appreciates the “thin spaces” communion meditation Ed Simcox did a few years ago; places where heaven and earth nearly meet. His new book, He Leadeth Me, includes that meditation (p. 224) and is available at the E91 Church bookstore, Indianapolis. BTW, the song bouncing around in your head because of this column’s title is “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver (1971).

Friends: No prisoner of shyness or doubt, the dependable advice and leadership of Ed Simcox has been a blessing to nearly 50 years of Indiana Christians. And now, he’s written a book, He Leadeth Me. See the column below. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #912

May 7, 2024

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Led by Faith

By Bob Walters

“Do you play golf?” “No, I visit prisons.” – Ed Simcox, from his new book, He Leadeth Me

A few years ago, a friend of mine – a Christian – was serving a federal prison sentence for business fraud complicity, and I had no idea how to encourage him.

Hence, I did the most normal thing I could think of: ask Ed Simcox for advice.

Ed’s advice – as a longtime board member of Prison Fellowship Ministries – was heartfelt, immediate, and simple: write letters to your friend.  Mail “on the inside” is treasured, Ed said.  So, for nearly two years I wrote weekly personal letters to my friend, and sent along a copy of my weekly column until his early parole – thank you, Covid.  Amid few positives of the pandemic, my friend’s early return home was one of them.

“Ed Simcox” is one of those Indiana names that rings a bell with most, let’s say, more mature Hoosiers, even if they can’t quite place specifics or where they heard it.  Ed, an attorney and perennial state Republican Party organizer and leader, was Indiana’s 55^th Secretary of State (elected, not appointed) from 1978-1986.

I know Ed from church, East 91^st Street Christian Church here in Indianapolis, where he has served multiple terms as an elder, elder chairman, fundraiser, Sunday school teacher, and frequent presenter of the church’s weekly communion meditation. Each meditation Ed presents is a master class on the body and blood of Christ.

But that’s local stuff. Ed has served in the big game of state, national, and international Christian issues.  He was a 29-year executive board member of Chuck Colson’s international Prison Fellowship Ministries, the longest serving board member in the organization’s history. I was thankful to lean on his counsel with my friend in trouble.

Ed, given his years of service, understandably affords Prison Fellowship Ministries top billing in the compilation of his life’s work, but there is so much more.  

He was the long-time chair of the annual Indiana Leadership Prayer Breakfast. He also chaired the 1999 Indianapolis Billy Graham Crusade, and was one of only a handful of Hoosiers, along with Vice President and Mrs. Mike Pence, who attended Graham’s North Carolina funeral, March 2, 2018.

Ed is a humble guy with a humbling CV.  Political, Christian, career, and legal entries abound. He was president of the Indiana Energy Association from 1986-2010, has been bestowed by Indiana governors eight – eight! – elite Sagamore of the Wabash citations for various leadership accomplishments. Ed was on Pence’s personal prayer team during his 2016 presidential election and subsequent term as vice president. 

Ed’s just-out book, He Leadeth Me – the title an obvious nod to Psalm 23:3, “He leadeth me beside still waters…” (KJV) – more-or-less chronicles Ed’s enormous leadership talents.  But the book isn’t about that.  It is a loving offering of his gifts for writing deeply perceptive Christian devotionals, meditations, and speeches.

The book is a gold mine of quotes and stories – highly relatable, often famous, and always intriguing – through the Kingdom lens of one of Christ’s front line soldiers.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is among the E91 communion meditation presenters (so is his wife Pam), but Ed is one of the guys they save for special occasions (Easter, Christmas, etc.), along with Ken Nelson, Rick Justice, and John Samples.  When any of them speak, Walters takes notes.