Tommy Mann

  Do we know that we are saved now, or do we only hope we are? I frequently hear people say they hope they will go to heaven one day, but I know I am going.     But some like to point out that the New Testament uses the word hope in association with our salvation; Titus 3:7, for example, speaks of “the hope of eternal life.” It is important that we understand what hope means.   When believers speak of hope we are not using it as a verb (“I sure hope so!”). We are using it as a noun. Hope is not something we do, it is something we have. Hope is an intangible object we possess in our spirit, something in the future that we are so sure of now that it is thought of as a done deal.   Charles Spurgeon once said, “Unbelief begins weeping for the funeral before the man is dead; why should not faith commence piping before the dance of victory begins?”    Hope is like faith. For the child of God, the dance of victory has not yet begun, but that doesn’t mean we c...

  Many years ago people used to talk about the importance of keeping our minds on heaven. This evidently led to people becoming so focused on the life that is to come that they neglected the life that now is. The great preacher D.L. Moody began to preach that the church had become “so heavenly minded that they were no earthly good.” Things like personal holiness, loving ones neighbor, and evangelism were out of sight and out of mind.    When the call came to stop being so heavenly minded, I’m afraid the pendulum has swung too far the other way. I believe the problem with the church now is that we are so earthly minded that we are no heavenly good. We are too wrapped up in our political parties, our sports teams, and our social events, and we rarely think about heaven. Because we are so earthly minded, we are not doing anything for the kingdom of heaven—we aren’t inviting people to church, sharing our faith, or reaching out to those in need. When we focus so much on the he...

Q. What is heaven? A. Heaven is where God lives, where the dead in Christ are, and where all believers will go after death.   Heaven is (technically) the place where God lives. In Jesus’ model prayer He began, “Our Father in heaven…(Matthew 6:9).” God’s presence is everywhere (Psalm 139:7), and Paul reminds us that our bodies are the dwelling place of God (1 Corinthians 3:16); but God’s throne is in heaven. In addition to God, Jesus, and the angels, heaven is also the home of all believers who have died in Christ. Before Jesus left earth He promised that He would prepare a place so that He could be with His followers forever (John 14), and Paul spoke of an event known as the rapture where Jesus would come gather all believers to heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:16). We need to be careful when we try to describe heaven because most of the often-cited descriptions aren’t actually about heaven. The streets of gold, the glassy sea, even the references to no tears being shed a...

Have you ever wondered where Jesus went after He died? Did He go to heaven or hell? Did His soul remain in the tomb? Where Did Jesus Go? explores where Jesus spent the time between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, and it offers an in-depth look at many places that people are curious about, including Heaven, Paradise, and New Jerusalem Hell, Hades, and the Lake of Fire; and Gahenna, Tartarus, and Purgatory. Come find out for yourself where Jesus’ soul was while His body was in the tomb. Get the book on sale, with free shipping, here.  

"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast  love toward those who fear him." Psalm 103:11 " For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and  my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9 Christians do not believe that God's throne is sitting 5 feet from the edge of Earth. In fact, the word heavens  (plural) refers to multiple heavens, as in levels; most people believe this to mean the sky, outter space, and eventually the place we call heaven (or what Paul called the "Third Heaven" in 2 Corinthians 12:2). Furthermore, to see "no God" in the vastness of space is willful ignorance as "the heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above shows His handiwork (Psalm 19:1)." Space--and all creation--is a masterpiece of God that cannot be accounted for by evolution. A better line would be "I see no Darwin up here."  If one wants to...