A Walk Through Eternity

Copyright © 2011 Bill Belter

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-1669-1 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-1668-4 (sc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011928748

Printed in the United States of America

WestBow Press rev. date: 5/13/2011

Contents

Introduction and Purpose of this Book

How to be Saved from Your Sins and Spend Eternity in Heaven

A Sample Salvation Prayer

How You Can Know for Sure You Are Saved

God’s Purpose for Mankind

God’s Purpose for Our Lives

Why People Do Not Believe God

God’s Purpose for Mankind as it Relates to Eternity

Our Bodies, Souls, and Spirits

Our Five Senses are in Our Souls

A Study of the Fallen Cherub, Lucifer

Our Battle is with Fallen Demons and with Satan

The Requirements for Rebellion and Sin and for Reconciliation

God Judges Righteously

Heaven and a Believer’s Resurrected Body

The Judgment Seat of Christ

Eternal Damnation

Eternal Life

Summary of God’s Purpose for Mankind

The Case for Creationism, Design, and Order in the Universe

God Created Time and Directs All History

The First Sentence in the Bible

The Creation Points to a Creator; Therefore, There is No Excuse Not to Believe God

Trinities in the Universe

All Living Things Bring Forth Only their Own Kind

Intelligent, Purposeful Design is the Only Possible Explanation for the Universe

The Miracle of Life, the Simple Cell, and the Complexity of Life

The Impossibility of the Jump from Non-life to Life

Sweeping Claims of Evolutionists

Sweeping Claims Concerning Whales

Sweeping Claims about Pond Scum and Us

Sweeping Claims of Life Coming from Meteorites

The Gap Theory

Earth’s Magnetic Field and the Diffusion of Helium from Rocks

Mutations

The First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics

Continental Erosion

The Fossil Record and No Evidence of Plant Evolution

The Impossibility of Simple Cell Creatures Splitting into Distinctively Male and Female Animals

Anthropocentricy

Quotations from Scientists

Biblical Statements of Science in the Bible

Summary

An Overview of the Old Testament—4000–3 BC

The Creation of Heaven, Seraphim, and Cherubim

Lucifer, the Anointed Cherub; the Archangel Michael; Gabriel, an Angel; and Angels

The Creation of the Universe in which we live

Numbers in the Bible

Basic Bible Chronologies (Approximate Years)

Instructions to Adam and the Fall of Adam and Eve

Cain Kills Abel

The Puzzle of the Advanced Ancient Cultures

Noah’s Flood and Noah’s Ark as a Type of Christ

The Tower of Babel

The Puzzle of Ancient Man

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and Other Great World Empires and Monuments

The Lives of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob—1980–1800 BC

The Life of Joseph

Joseph as a Type of Christ

Moses and the Exodus

The Feasts of the Lord

The Feasts of the Lord as Fulfilled in Jesus Christ

Moses as a Type of Christ

The Old Testament Laws

The Cities of Refuge as a Type of Christ

Summaries of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, II Samuel, and I Kings

Summaries of Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon

The Kings of Israel and Judah and the Twelve Tribes of Israel

Summaries of II Kings, I Chronicles, II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Ester

Other Non-Biblical Philosophers

A Chronology of Old Testament Prophets and to Whom They Prophesied

Prophecies of the First Coming of Christ in Chronological Order of the Life of the Prophet

The Seventieth Week of Daniel

An Overview of the New Testament

The Reasons I Believe the Bible

The Themes of the Four Gospels

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

The Birth and Early Years of Jesus Christ

The Ministry of Jesus Christ after Age Thirty—AD 28

The Purpose of Parables

You Must Be Born Again

The Triumphal Entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem—AD 30–32—The Spring Feasts of the Lord

The Last Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane

The Trial of Jesus Christ

The Last Seven Statements of Jesus Christ on the Cross

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

The Feast of Pentecost

The Martyrdom of Stephen and the Conversion of the Apostle Paul

The Church Age

The Church of Ephesus—AD 30–95

The Church at Smyrna—The Age of Persecution Under the Roman Government—AD 30–316

The Martyrdom of the Apostles

The Church at Pergamos—AD 316–present

A Short History of Islam

The Church at Thyatira—The Dark Ages—AD 500–1500

The Church at Sardis—The Age of the Reformation—AD 1500–the end of this age

The Church at Philadelphia—Beginning the Age of Missionary Activity—AD 1700–the end of this age

The Church at Laodicea—AD 1860—Modernism and Liberalism to the End of This Age

The Fruits of the Church Age

The Institution of Slavery

The Christian Foundation of the United States of America and the Effects of Non-Christian Beliefs on the USA

Summary

Signs of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ

Why We Should Study Bible Prophecy

The Battle is for Souls

Major Signs of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ:

The Introduction and Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and Man’s Ability to End Mankind

The Increase in Knowledge and Understanding in Science and of the Bible

The Rebirth of the State of Israel

The Increase in Earthquakes, Famine, Disease, Deception, Wars, Rumors of Wars, Abortion, and Cloning.

The Gospel Preached to the World and the Dramatic Rise of False Religions

The State of Humanity

Jerusalem Surrounded by Its Enemies

The Empires of the World and the Alignment of the Nations

The Abomination of Desolation Prophesied by the Prophet Daniel

A Comparison of Jesus Christ to the Antichrist

The Battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ

One-World Economy and Debt

Summary of Second Coming Events

The Millennium

Summary

Introduction and Purpose of this Book

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:11, NKJV).

Generally speaking, people want peace and joy in their lives, and they desire to love and be loved. God has written eternity into our hearts. We all understand in our souls that there is life after death.

I was born in 1954 and was raised in Warren, Ohio. I graduated from Cornell University in 1976 with a degree in Industrial and Labor Relations.

On the third Sunday of June in 1986 at about 4:00 a.m., I became a born-again Christian. For the previous six months, I had been studying various religions. I was surprised to find that most religions had a lot to say about Jesus Christ, and all of those religions seemed to have a different Jesus. I studied and investigated, and I came to believe that the Jesus that was prophesied in the Old Testament of the Bible was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. God changed my life. I used to be afraid of dying. I knew if God really created everything, I was in big trouble.

After salvation and over the past seventeen years, I have worked hard for the cause of Christ. After coming to the Lord, I have read hundreds of books, listened to thousands of audio tapes, and watched hundreds of video tapes. I have worked in a church nursery, taught Sunday school, headed a singles ministry, worked in a radio ministry, and helped clean churches. I have conducted teen Bible studies, been active in Wycliffe Bible Associates, and was also active in the pro-life movement.

For four and one half years, I was a bi-vocational pastor of a satellite church of Houston’s First Baptist Church. We baptized thirty-two people in these four and one half years and were part of leading about one hundred people to the Lord. This church was located in an apartment complex. At all times, I have been in full-time employment in the paper merchant industry.

My desire is to enable the new believer in Christ to come up to speed quickly concerning the Word of God—the Bible. I want to condense major facts, Bible verses, and Biblical knowledge and wisdom in this book.

For an unbeliever, my desire is for you to come to the point—as I did in 1986—to understand that it takes more faith to believe in evolution than it does to believe in the God of the Bible. One purpose of this book is to prove that mankind is created in the image of God. God has written eternity in our hearts and given all men light to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This book is written in order to study and explain the truths that affect your life here on earth and in eternity.

1. Salvation—how you can know you will spend eternity with God in heaven after your death.

2. God’s purpose for mankind, why evil exists, and a discussion about our bodies, souls, and spirits.

3. The case for creationism and design and order in the universe.

4. An overview of the Old Testament from 4000 BC to the birth of Christ. I will focus on types and shadows of Jesus Christ, the feasts of the Lord, truths of the Jewish Temple, and prophecies of the first coming of Jesus Christ. World empires and chronologies are also included.

5. An overview of the New Testament from 3 BC to the present with chronologies.

6. Signs of the second Coming of Jesus Christ, the future millennium, and eternity.

7. A summary.

I will attempt to summarize and describe heaven and eternity. I will also put into chronological order events that have occurred in the time, matter, space, and universe in which we now live. I believe it takes more faith to believe in atheism than it does to believe God. The purpose of creation is for God to show His attributes—that would be impossible in any other plan—and to show His manifold wisdom to all in heaven and in the earth.

There are logical reasons for pain and suffering. Evil, rebellion, and death will be allowed by God to exist for only a short period of time (six thousand to seven thousand years). Sin and rebellion will collapse under their own weight and by the Word of God. The increase of the government of God will be from everlasting to everlasting, with created beings with a free will being in the perfect will of God forever.

Basically, the purpose of this book is to answer four questions:

1. How did we get here?

2. Why are we here?

3. Where are we going?

4. Why does evil exist?

All of these questions and more will be examined.

Answers to the above four questions:

1. God created mankind abruptly. He created Adam and Eve, and thus all people are ultimately related to each other.

2. To love God with all our heart, mind, strength, and soul and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are further exhorted to love our neighbors as God loves us.

3. After death, we have eternal life with God, or we will be eternally separated from God. God calls us to choose life.

4. Any being created with a free will such as mankind, angels, and archangels have the free will option of being in God’s perfect will, acceptable will, good will, or to be in rebellion to God. When a being that has a free will chooses rebellion to God, evil, pain, and suffering will exist.

A Salvation Message

How to be Saved from Your Sins and Spend Eternity in Heaven

Jesus, speaking of Himself, said, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me (John 14:6).

Jesus is the truth, and the truth is that everyone needs to be saved or rescued from the consequences of sin. Salvation is having your personal relationship with God the Father restored by accepting what Jesus Christ accomplished for you on the cross so that all of your sins are forever forgiven and there is no longer anything standing in the way of that relationship any longer. Salvation is also being saved from eternal punishment and shame. Salvation for you means the difference between spending eternity in heaven with God and spending eternity separated from God. Waiting until you are on your deathbed is not the time to try to determine what the truth is.

Evangelism Explosion is an outstanding program that teaches people how to lead others to a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Their Bible tract asks two insightful questions:

1. If you were to die today, do you know for sure that you would go to heaven, or is that something you would say that you are still working on?

2. If you were to die today and stand before God and He were to say, Why should I let you into My heaven? what would you say?[1]

If you don’t know where your soul will go after death, read on to learn how you can know for sure how to inherit eternal life. If you ever have the opportunity, I strongly suggest taking the Evangelism Explosion course.

The reason God would let you into His heaven will be explained in this book. However, should you desire to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior immediately, you may in the next few minutes. If not now, at any time while reading this book or at any time that God is calling you, you may call upon the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved.

To be saved, it helps to understand these truths:

1. Know that you are a sinner.

2. Know who Jesus Christ is and what He did for you.

3. Know that the nature of God is that God is love and God is just.

4. Salvation is by the grace of God through faith not of your own works.

It is God’s desire that none should perish and all have eternal life (I Peter 3:9).

God’s desire is for all people to be saved.

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

Everyone is a sinner.

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23).

The consequence of sin is death and eternal separation from God. However, God has a plan for our redemption.

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep (I Corinthians 15:3–6).

Over five hundred people saw Jesus after His resurrection. This resurrection displays the creative power of God and gives us hope for a meaningful life after death.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, what whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16–18).

Believe in Jesus, and you will have everlasting life.

Jesus, speaking in the first person, stated, Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me (Revelation 3:20).

We have to open the door of our soul (heart) to God’s Holy Spirit.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8–9).

We are saved by the grace of God through our faith; we must believe God.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (John 10:10).

Jesus said the above verse about Himself; He wants to give us an abundant life.

Jesus answered and said unto him, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God’ (John 3:3).

A person is born again when they receive the Holy Spirit of God.

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10:9–10).

We must believe in our hearts and verbally confess our sins to the Lord Jesus to be saved.

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13).

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become sons of God, even to them who believe on his name (John 1:12).

Whoever calls on the Lord will be save,d and God calls the believer in Christ a son of God.

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to talk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them (Ezekiel 36:26–27).

At the time of salvation, God puts His Holy Spirit within you. That is what is meant by being born of the spirit or being born again.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (II Corinthians 5:17).

When a person gets saved, he is able to start his life over again.

To be saved, you must come to the point that you are broken and convicted of your sins. The Holy Spirit of God will be moving in your life, and you must have the faith to believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

The following is a sample salvation prayer. However, you can pray a prayer of salvation however the Lord leads you.

A Sample Salvation Prayer

My Heavenly Father, I am a sinner.

I believe Jesus Christ was God in the flesh and lived a sinless life.

I believe Jesus was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead on the third day.

I make the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of my life.

I ask for your Holy Spirit to be put into me and that I will be born again.

I turn from my sins and accept the free gift of eternal life.

Thank you for saving my soul.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

How You Can Know for Sure You Are Saved

1. Has the Holy Spirit of God revealed to you that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh and was crucified and raised from the dead on the third day?

2. If you died today, do you know for sure you would go to heaven?

3. Do you believe that God has the power to speak the universe into existence?

4. Is the Bible alive to you and understandable, and not just another book?

5. Do you believe the Bible?

6. Does the Holy Spirit of God direct your soul?

7. Can you pray to God, and do you obey the voice of God?

8. Can you praise God in a church service?

9. Has anyone made fun of you or rejected you because you are a Christian?

10. Was there a time in your life when you were able to get away with sin easily; is this no longer the case?

11. Do you know the date or general time you became a Christian?

12. Was there ever a time you started to get new friends because you were a Christian?

13. Have you told others about Jesus Christ?

14. Do you go to a Bible-believing church?

For there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in the earth, the Spirit and the Water, and the Blood: and these three agree in one (I John 5:7–8).

The same Holy Spirit that bears witness on the earth is in the believer on the earth and is the same Holy Spirit that lives in heaven.

God’s Purpose for Mankind

God’s Purpose for Our Lives

Jesus told us what must be the major purpose of our lives: Jesus said unto him, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets’ (Matthew 22:37–40).

In this chapter, I will discuss the purpose that God has for His created beings, who have a free will and/or are created in His image. I will investigate the spirit world and the soul, and I will discuss our bodies. I will also discuss heaven, hell, and many other interesting subjects. All of us make life more complicated than it needs to be; all we need to do is love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and love our neighbors as Jesus loved us. This is one of the many exciting purposes we have in life.

Why People Do Not Believe God

Before we tackle these issues, we need to discuss why many people have a problem believing in God or believing God. I believe there are seven main reasons people do not believe God:

1. People do not physically see God with their eyes while they are on earth.

No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him (John 1:18).

If a man say, ‘I love God,’ and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? (I John 4:20)

Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls (I Peter 1:8–9).

Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you (John 14:17).

The Bible tells us that the way we can show that we love God—who we cannot see with our eyes—is to love our fellow man who we can see with our eyes. This is one of the most important points in this book. When I was a young child in church, I wanted God to prove Himself by moving an object on a wall in the church sanctuary. God did not do this, because if He had, I would have just raised the bar and asked for more proof. However, ultimately one of our main purposes on earth is to show love to God—who we do not