Death Is the Segue into Heaven for the Believer’s Homeward Journey

Click for Full Image Size

Before President Harry Truman ordered the United States Armed Forces to drop two atomic “fat boy” bombs on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and another one on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 following Japanese attacks on American soldiers at Pearl Harbor, he gave instructions that all Americans living in Japan should be evacuated from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Before ordering the bomb on Hiroshima, President Truman told the world that; “The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor and they have been repaid in many folds.” On August 9, 1945 after those two Japanese towns were obliterated, President Truman once again told the world: “Having found the bomb we have used it. We have used it against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war, against those who have abandoned all pretense of obeying international laws of warfare. We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young American lives.” That decisive action to punish the Japanese for its aggressions against us in WWII saved human lives as Germany and Japan capitulated. Those two actions heralded the military and super-power might of the United States in the world. Fast-forward to 2003, again when President George Bush was about to “kick the ass” of Saddam Hussein in March 2003, the president ordered all Americans and nationals of Western nations to evacuate Iraq forty eight hours before war began. These worldly events have spiritual dimensions. When the True Lord God Almighty was about to deliver the Israelites from Egyptian thralldom, He separated His people from the idol worshippers. He plagued the land to judge the gods of the Egyptians and spared the Land of Goshen populated by the Israelites and God finally pulled all the stops when He killed the first born sons of all Egyptian households and their cattle, which eventually forced Pharaoh to cave in. These are obvious dialectics of history that the human race still doesn't understand. We are all created by God Almighty but not all of us are His children. As we have the true children of God Almighty on earth, so also we have the children of Satan. Our Lord Jesus Christ told the religious leaders of His day they belonged to Satan, their father. “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies,” (John 8: 44). Many religious racketeers and angels of Satan deceiving and hoodwinking their ignorant followers would take umbrage these days if you call them out as our Lord and Savior did to those religious honchos, who thought they were doing God's work.

As President Harry Truman separated the enemies of the United States who attacked America in 1945 from her friends and George Bush did the same in Iraq in 2003, the Sovereign Lord of the heavens and earth and all that are in them will soon separate those who truly belong to Him and those that have gone to the side of the enemy of God and the human race: Satan. Death is the Maginot Line separating the overcomers from the damned, it's the parallel line separating Heavens from Hell and it begins right here on earth. Make no mistake about it; the earthly existence of every human being here is not a voyage of Discovery but of Decision. Each and every one of us must make a decision right here on earth who we will serve: the Lord God Almighty or the Bad Satan, lord of the Underworld. No one goes to heaven without preparing for it and no one enters heaven unconsciously or serendipitously. When the 18th Century English slave dealer and convert to the True Way, Mr. John Newton who composed the popular hymn, Amazing Grace was asked what would amaze him in heaven the first time he enters the Eternal Abode of Peace, he listed three things: to see those he didn't expect, not to see those he expected, and finally, to find himself there. Mr. Newton was correct on the two but wrong on the third. No genuinely-repented, regenerated born—again Christian and Holy Spirit-filled child of the Most High God should be surprised to find him/herself in the Presence of the Lord and Savior. If we are not sure of our eternal destination and all we are doing here is a guess-work, then we born-again Christians must be the most pitied indeed. To grope in the Dark like the rest members of the human race who have rejected the Saving Grace of God through Jesus Christ and who have no hope for the future beyond the grave is not part of the teaching of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I told a story here some time ago in this column of an incident that occurred when I was living in New York and the pastor of my local church asked a simple question: “How many of you here can say with confidence you'll make it to heaven?” No one raised his/her hand but yours truly, which elicited a raucous laughter from fellow worshippers. I was taken aback and I expressed my disgust. If a redeemed child of God is still debating whether he or she will make it to heaven or not, something is wrong. But in accordance with the revealed Word of God, Jesus Christ told us plainly those who belong to Him. Apostles Paul and Peter also exhorted every believer to make his/her election sure. In other words, make sure you are a child of God and you know where you're going. Jesus said in John 3: 16: 18: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life … Whoever believes in him is not condemned.” The question then is, do you believe in the Virgin Birth, Death by Crucifixion, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ? This is the only “work” that God requires from every human being on earth. It is not rocket science. God says He doesn't want rituals; ten times daily prayer, uttering gibberish and phony religious coyness and false humility, rather, do you believe that God Almighty Himself had come in the likeness of a human being on earth through the Virgin Mary to pay the price for the disobedience of the human race? If you say; “Yes,” you've passed the first grade. But what is the demonstration of your sincere belief? God stated the demonstrative action in Romans 10: 9-10: “That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” Because God Almighty sees your heart, so with that heart you believe, but the devil doesn't see your heart but only hears and knows what you say with your mouth, so when you verbalize your confession openly in the presence of the world, like married couples do on their wedding day, Satan and his demons now take note that you no longer belong to them. You fulfilled what the Savior says: “"I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God,” (Luke 12: 8). Now that you have satisfied God's requirements for salvation, you're now saved from going to Hell and are on your way to heaven. But because God Almighty is a dependable God and trustworthy, and He is “…God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time…” (Titus 1:2), He will give you an assurance that you belong to Him. What is this assurance from God Almighty that you're going to heaven? Again, God said it in His Words: “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession - to the praise of his glory,” (Ephesians 1: 13 & 14). Can you read that again? Three words stood out from that quotation: seal, guarantee and Holy Spirit. When you promise something, in order for the person to know you will surely redeem your promise, you fulfill a portion of that promise with a deposit. For example, if I promised to give you $100,000, how I can assure you I will definitely give you the money in my honor is to give you a part-payment say $20,000 as a deposit. But you may still be in doubt whether I will renege or not, change my mind later and won't give you the remaining $80,000 so to convince you that I will fulfill the total pledge of $100,000, I ask you to follow me to the court house in downtown and enter into an agreement, then a seal is affixed unto it. In Biblical times, to seal a document is to authenticate it as “done deal.” In fact, without the Holy Spirit, you're not a Christian, because “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, (Holy Spirit), he does not belong to Christ, (Romans 8: 9).

This Holy Spirit is Jesus Christ Himself and He lives in our individual spirit. The Holy Spirit is like a Visa that a foreign embassy issues to intending travellers to their host/home countries. This Holy Spirit is like the Course of Study you are admitted to study in a college or university. Your admission letter is issued after you've satisfied the admissions requirements for being a member of that college or university. The two requirements God Almighty has stated in the Hoy Bible for being admitted into heaven are the two requirements above: John 3: 16-18 and Romans 9: 9-10 and your admission letter is waiting in Ephesians 1: 13 & 14. As it is the practice with colleges and universities, potential students do not have the power to set their own admissions requirements and similarly, intending travellers to another country do not have the power to set the Visa Requirements. Admissions to any college or university to read any discipline is set by the authorities of each college and university; ditto, whether or not to grant a visa to an intending traveller to a country is at the discretion of the host/home country through its various embassies around the world. Those who say, no we want to set up our own requirements to make it to heaven are the religionists and our Lord Jesus Christ had harsh words for them: "I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber….Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. ..I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved,” (John 10: 1, 7 & 9). Apostle Paul elucidated further in Romans 3: 21:“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify,” because no human being born through the polluted genes of Adam and Eve after the fall can claim to be sinless and can become right on his/her own merit before the Sovereign Lord of the heaven and earth thus, those who are His own are those that are submissive and believe in Him to make them right before Him, for, ““But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope,” (Galatians 5: 5). Thousands, and if not millions of foreigners are turned back from entering the United States every year because of visa fraud. Millions of colleges and universities purge their institutions annually of students who obtained fraudulent admissions to enter into those institutions, and millions more are asked to withdraw from their courses of study annually, because of poor academic performances. Those who are performing religious services and are sincere in monotonous religious obligations will find out one day that all these sincere sacrifices would not take them into heaven. Yes, they are sincere but they were sincerely wrong because, like the Israelites who refused the Saving Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul told them: ““For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge,”(Romans 10: 2).

Once you've passed through these three stages, just as you are admitted into your host nation with a genuine visa, and you begin to acclimatize yourself and go straight to pursue your legitimate business in the country for which your visa was granted. Similarly, as soon as you are granted admission into the college or university to read the discipline you applied for, after satisfying the admission requirements, you proceed to your course of study. Now the Holy Spirit too expects you to study a course in His University which is called the Holy Spirit University of Life. There are many courses in this HSUOL-Holy Spirit University of Life-and we listed about 24 courses obtainable in that university last week. These courses are divided into three schools or faculties: schools of spiritual gifts; spiritual works and spiritual services (1 Corinthians 12). But that is not where the story ends. In the university, you must graduate no matter the numbers of years. For people like us who spent extra years during our undergraduate years, we thank God, we didn't quit, no matter the numbers of years, we made it and today, we raised the stakes to the highest level, thus as God Almighty says, it's not how far but how well. In the Holy Spirit University of Life, you must graduate and have the confidence to say, as you are about to leave the world; “I came, I saw, I struggled, Jesus found me, He gave me His Holy Spirit, I went to His University; the Holy Spirit University of Life, I studied and graduated and now I overcame and I am back home, Glory be to the Sovereign Lord of the heavens and earth.” This is the overcomer's life; this is a Christian and this is the one who goes to heaven. This is not serendipitous, it is known, felt, assured, conscious and it is lovely. The Christian Life is experiential, it's livable, it's known and it can be tested. It is not a labyrinthine maze and a façade. Anyone who has passed through the academy through rigorous intellectual works and has earned academic credentials as proofs of his/her intellectual voyage and accomplishments just didn't acquire them serendipitously. As the academy has its own dialectics so also the spiritual journey of life has its spiritual dialectics couched I the Pauline literature. Consequently, death to the believer is a win-win situation. When the Holy Spirit has vouchsafed your calling-which is your mission on earth just as you've completed your course of discipline in a college or university-your graduation wouldn't come to you as a surprise. The same with Christians and this is what Apostle Peter meant by making your election sure (2 Peter 1: 10:“Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall,”

The Graduation Ceremony of the Believer: Every believer in the Bible announced the time for their graduation, which we human beings called Death. For the believers, death is our time to leave the journey of life and go home and rest. Papa Abraham announced his departure (Genesis 24: 1-8); Isaac also announced his departure (Genesis 27: 1-4); Jacob knew when he had finished from the Holy Spirit University of Life, he announced his graduation (Chapter 49: 1-33). Moses was so highly favored, God Almighty announced his graduation to him (Deuteronomy 31: 16); Joshua, David and the rest able messengers and true followers of the True Lord God Almighty knew when they were about to graduate and go to rest. As every final year student prepares to graduate and as every intending traveller prepares for his/her journey after obtaining a visa, so also every Christian who by the way is a pilgrim here on earth ( Genesis 47: 9, Psalm 84: 50); should and must know when it is time to return home-heaven. If you aren't sure of your departure, there are three reasons: you're not carrying out your mission on earth; you've veered off from your mission or purpose and unplugged; or are pre-occupied with the world and have wittingly forgotten you were here on assignment and have thus forsaken your permanent home-heaven. If you're not bugged down by and with any of these sins which easily entangled or choke your growth, you'll surely know when it is time for your exit as Apostle Paul audaciously announced: “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering and the time has come for my departure” (2 Timothy 4: 6). Similarly, if you've not lost focus and haven't been distracted by earthly pre-occupations by taking off your eyes from the ultimate prize, the Holy Spirit would also make known to you when you should return home just as Apostle Peter was told. ““I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me,” (2 Peter 1: 13 & 14). Throughout the revealed Word of God, no man or woman who discharged his/her earthly mission with monomaniacal focus and determined commitment died accidentally. It's not part of the Gospel, and contrary to the meme in religious circles that no one knows who will make it to heaven, it's contrary to what our Lord Jesus Christ said in the Bible. If Jesus Christ comes today and the Trumpet sounds, if you have the Holy Spirit, He will give you a heads up because, “But when he, the (Holy) Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come,” (John 16: 13). And one of the major things that is yet to come is the Second Coming of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which is called Rapture. The Holy Spirit prepares the redeemed child of God for his earthly departure, at least a minimum of 12 months before the whole world knows. “In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, "This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover." (2 Kings 20: 1). Although God added 15 more years to Hezekiah after he pleaded his case, today we don't need Isaiah, the prophet because one who is greater than Isaiah, the Holy Spirit, is with us. If you're focused and not distracted and working in His Will here on earth; three things are expected of you in the final 12 months of your earthly departure: choose a successor for your mission; put your house in order, or in another words, write your will or give your final words as David did when he was departing (1 Kings 2: 1). Finally, wait for your two guarding angels to manifest themselves at last to you after so many years and at times they may be joined by many hosts of heavens to manifest themselves waiting to escort you home-to heaven. It is good to die the death of the righteous. Some in the world say, once a person has carried out the work of the Lord, but the Bible sys once you have carried out the Will of the Father to the fullest while here on your pilgrimage, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself will call on and for you and with all innumerable angels to take you home. This is the Death of the Righteous, the Journey Home of the Overcomer and this is the Christian Life.

Beginning Next Week, we start a series on Spiritual Gifts and how to exercise them. These are series you don't want to miss.

WORLD PROPHECY: This is huge! Something of global importance, an earth-shattering event and a cosmic occurrence is in the offing in the world. I don't know what it is but the Holy Bible has predicted it and we shall all see it with our very eyes soon. This event is part of end-time prophecy and it's about to take place very, very soon in the next 12 to 24 months. I don't know what it is; I repeat again, I wasn't shown what it is but again, it's HUGE. The whole world will be shocked; from the rising of the sun to the setting of the sun; from the East to the West; from the South to the North, the planet earth is about to witness a catastrophic event. The Divine Hand of God Almighty, the Creator of the heavens and the universe, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is about to intervene in the affairs of humanity. The world media, the commentariat, the scientists, the astrologers, the men and women of earthly wisdom and their ilk will be talking their heads out but will not be able to explain but those who know the True God will be unshaken and unperturbed. What is it? I wasn't shown but was only told (Luke 21:11 & 25).


NOTE: The much-awaited biography of Mr. Aliko Mohammad Dangote of Nigeria, which I co-authored with Dr. Margie Marie Neal, was released to the market by our Houston, Texas-based publishers four weeks ago. Please before you make any comment about the book; positive or negative, read the book first. It's rather long; 520 pages but it contains a lot of nuggets about Nigeria and Africa, which you may not find elsewhere. It isn't because I co-wrote it but because it is a good book. Don't take my words for it but check out our official website and read what others have said about the book (http://sbpra.com/MoshoodAdemolaFayemiwoandMargieMarieNeal/). Meanwhile, my co-author and I will be using the whole of this year's summer to promote this important book, which will take us to towns and cities across the United States. Please watch out as we may be in your neck of the woods one of these days and I will surely keep you posted.

NOTE: My forthcoming book: “The Kingdom of Satan Exposed: Activities of Principalities and Demon Worship In Our World Today and Inside The World of Witchcraft, Voodoo, Warlocks and Spiritual Warfare” will be out in the summer. If you want a copy at a discount of 15 percent before official release, please send an email to [email protected] now for more information. For those that have reached out and are on the lists of our pre-paid customers, our Colorado-based publishers are working round the clock to release the title this summer. The volume is long –about 500-plus pages-so they're taking their time and I will break the news here as soon as it is released.

I am also happy to announce the debut of a new book authored by my co-author, Dr. Margie Marie Neal published by the Saarbrücken-based Scholar's Press in Germany. Titled: “The Roles of Professional Organizations in the Effective Teaching of Reading in Chicago Public Schools: the International Reading Association and Illinois Reading Council as Case Studies,” the book is now available throughout the world. The scholarly work has been accepted for official presentation at the 59th Annual Conference of the International Reading Association taking place in New Orleans, LA in summer 2014. Please let's extend our congratulations to Dr. Neal for yet another feather to her large hart.

• Dr. Fayemiwo, co- author of the newly-released; “Aliko Mohammad Dangote; the Biography of the Richest Black Person in the World,” is CEO, Christ-Alternative Lifestyle Communication, DBA Chicago, USA.


Disclaimer: "The views expressed on this site are those of the contributors or columnists, and do not necessarily reflect TheNigerianVoice’s position. TheNigerianVoice will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements in the contributions or columns here."

Articles by The Christian Walk