When someone is 100% certain of something that they do not see ever happening, something they think can never actually happen, they might say, “not in a zillion years.” I vaguely remember saying that somewhere in the past.

Then I got to thinking about how long of a time period a zillion years actually is, and how that compares to eternity.

The way time moves along upon the earth, a thousand years, which is also known as a millennium, seems like a pretty long time even though a millennium is as one day to the Lord according to Psalm 94 and 2 Peter 3:8.

A million years seems like a ridiculously long time. What about a billion years? Or a trillion years?

A zillion years makes a trillion years seem like a quick jog around the block.

So then, what about eternity?

God, our Heavenly Father, has promised eternal life to all who believe in Him and trust in Him through His beloved Son Jesus.

Eternal life is forever and ever and ever. That would make a zillion years seem like a three-week vacation.

Eternal life means to live forever and ever and forevermore without end.

Not for even one second will living forever be boring.

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and it has not entered into the hearts or minds of men what God has planned for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

What has been revealed is that we will receive eternal bodies free of corruption of any kind and not subject to temptation. Our new bodies will never get sick, never grow old, and never die.

We as believers, will have these new bodies to experience all of the wonderful things God has prepared for us in eternity.

Somewhere along the line, a false concept of eternal life in heaven slipped into the collective consciousness of humanity. It is the false belief that those who make it to heaven will be bored out of their minds for all eternity while forced to sit on a cloud playing the same sad tune on a harp, over and over and over again forever.

This false vision of heaven was infused and inserted into the collective mind of humanity by none other than guess who? For those who recall, the old SNL church lady portrayed by Dana Carvey had the answer. Do I even need to say the name of the one who came up with the concept of boredom in Heaven? Could it be you know who?

To be sure, being condemned to eternally play the same sad tune repeatedly on a harp while perched on a cloud sounds much more like a punishment in hell rather than a reality in heaven.

Not in a zillion years, or ever, would our Heavenly Father impose anything resembling boredom on any of His forever family.

We will all be far too busy doing wonderful things to be bored, or to take part in anything so silly and redundant.

There might very well be harps playing in Heaven; however, it will be by amazing harp players inspired by God to take harp playing to whole new levels of brilliance and beauty. And, these heavenly harpists will have an endless repertoire of songs and melodies to choose from, as well as being able to sit anywhere they want to, including on a cloud, to worship and glorify our awesome God.

Clouds, by the way, are very beautiful. I once had an amazing dream about surfing a 200-foot cloud wave in super slow motion.

After paddling into the wave, it took a very long time to drop all the way to the bottom of the wave where I was able to carve a gigantic bottom turn that projected me far down the line and into a humongous cloud wave tube ride. I was so far inside that giant barrel, only a tiny opening was visible at the far end about a mile away. Again, the entire ride was in super slo-mo, so it took what seemed like an hour or so to complete the ride. I finally rode my surfboard up over the top and off into a deep blue sky.

I have ridden some amazing actual waves on planet Earth, but that cloud wave topped them all.

Was it a preview of what is to come? I do not know but would not be at all surprised. The possibilities are endless, much like eternity itself.

Bible scriptures make it crystal clear that God, our Heavenly Father, Jesus, our Lord and Savior, and the Holy Spirit, who guides all believers, love us more than we can even comprehend. Truly, the creative abilities of God are unlimited.

This amazing love for us was proven to be an actual fact on the cross at Calvary.

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13).

It is unthinkable that God, who loves us that much, would impose a thing such as boredom, or anything at all that could be construed as bogus, upon His beloved children to whom He had just bestowed life eternal.

Almighty God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has always lived forever.

The only difference between eternity before the creation of the physical universe and earthly history, and eternity after the creation of a new heaven and a new earth, will be that an entire forever family of redeemed humans will accompany God and all of the good angels into that next phase of eternity.

Simply put, God came out of eternity for a little time and created a visible universe with a life-sustaining planet called Earth, and living breathing humans to whom God gave an amazing thing called free will.

The free will to choose between good and evil. The free will to choose to love God or to reject Him. The free will to choose whether we want to be with God forever throughout eternity or not.

God created the angels first and also gave them free will. One of the angels made a poor choice with the gift of free will and chose to rebel against the One that created him.

It was the very first sin.

The wayward angel who was named Lucifer was banished to Earth. This coincided with the timeframe of Adam and Eve living in and being caretakers of the Garden of Eden.

Lucifer, who also became known as Satan, assumed the form of a snake and slyly confronted Eve with the first known lie. Lucifer was attempting to induce Eve to rebel against God the Creator just as he had already done. It worked.

Eve believed the lie and convinced Adam to do the same. He did.

Together, they bought into the untruth that God was to be disbelieved and Lucifer, the inventor of lying, was to be believed.

They bought the lie that if they ate the forbidden fruit, which would allow them to know all about good and evil, they would and could become like God, and that they would not surely die as God had said they would.

It was a lie, but they believed it.

As a result of that poor choice by the world’s first couple, the virtue that God had created them with became tainted, became compromised. Thus the Godly nature that God had originally created within them in His own image became fallen.

All of their descendants, including you and I, inherited the fallen nature of Adam and Eve and have had to choose of our own free will between good and evil. Between God and the devil, between light and darkness, between bitter and sweet, and between truth and deception.

It seems fair to surmise that if both Adam and Eve had obeyed God and rejected that lie from Lucifer, the Garden of Eden would have remained undefiled, and Adam and Eve would have remained virtuous and uncorrupted, continuing in a state of being as to where they would never die, and the first creation would have remained perfect forever.

Hence, no need for a new heaven and a new earth.

The only thing that would have been missing is the multitudes of human beings that have chosen of their own free will and continue to choose to be a part of God’s Forever Family.

Oh, and two other things that would have been missing. You and me.

Almighty God is the sovereign creator, and He did the whole thing His way. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and His ways are higher than our ways.

Neither I nor you nor any ancestor of Adam and Eve has ever possessed the ability to create life or is in any way capable of sustaining life for even one second, let alone for all eternity.

God is not being egotistical in claiming all of the praise and glory. The simple truth is that only He deserves it, and truth is a vital part of who God is.

When we humans give Him all of the praise and the honor and the glory freely, of our own free will, and in a spirit of gratitude and thankfulness and graciousness, our precious Lord – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – loves us all the more for it.

The most beautiful blessings imaginable as well as amazing blessings we have no concept of quite yet are in store for all who love God.

And such blessings are promised by Him to us for all eternity.

All eternity is, believe it or not, uncountable light years longer than a zillion years.

That is forever and ever and ever without end.

I pray that whoever may read this, if they have not already done so, will choose Jesus and receive the eternal blessings of He who has lived forever and will continue to live forever.

Romans 10:9-10 explains simply and beautifully how to call on our Heavenly Father and become saved, and how to become a welcome addition to the eternal family of our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Shalom in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Rick Segoine

 

It looks like the Iranian Muslims (Shiites) have discovered the secret weapon that the nation of Israel has been using to defeat its enemies.

They did not find this secret in the Bible; they found it in the writings of a seventh-century Arab who decided to take it upon himself to update the Bible. The founder of Islam was the inspiration for other ‘great thinkers,’ like Joseph Smith, who also received extra-biblical revelations from a dubious source.

These angels of light taught Muhammad that Jesus, his disciples, and the prophets got it all wrong. This lends credence to the idea that those religions created as a result of ‘new revelations,’ that are designed to replace the old revelations, should be viewed with extreme suspicion.

History teaches that Muhammad was highly in tune with the supernatural. His communion with spiritual beings was the source of his other-worldly visions and arcane knowledge.

There was a time when Muhammad thought the spirit he was using to update the Bible was Satan. In Surah 53:20, Satan convinced Muhammad to elevate the daughters of Allah (Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat) to be on par with Allah himself.

When Satan delivered this message to Muhammad, he assured him that this was all on the level.

Muhammad eventually saw through this guise and, when another ‘angel of light’ corrected him, demoted these goddesses again. No one is really certain how Satan managed to deceive the prophet, peace be upon him, by pretending to be Allah himself, but it was not all that difficult.

Apparently, Muhammad had a really hard time telling the difference between the two.

Not only was Muhammad conversing with ‘angels of light,’ he was also in communication with the fabulous Djinn. Muhammad asserted that these mystical creatures, who are made of fire, were created before men and are active in human affairs.

The Koran records that the Djinn heard Muhammad preach the Quran and were delighted with his wondrous recitation of the words of Allah.

This has given rise to a mystery. An Iranian cleric, a disciple of Allah, has assured the world that the Jews have had access to genies since Davidic times. What’s more, these genies are assisting the Israelites, who are not Muslims, in defeating their enemies using their magic powers.

This cleric teaches that the Jews were able to introduce the terrorist Nasrallah to his seventy-two virgins by employing the aid of these mystical creatures. This hidden power, in conjunction with their advanced technologies, has allowed the Jews to win numerous military victories over the last 3,000 years.

So, this cleric admits that this land has belonged to the Jews for the last 3,000 years? I guess he didn’t get the memo that this narrative was no longer operational.

These people need to update their bulletin boards.

This cleric believes there is no way the Jews could consistently kick their Persian butts without the assistance of magical creatures that exist in the lore of ancient Arabia.

However, he fails to explain how or why these ambivalent, mysterious creatures, who were delighted with Muhammad’s preaching, could be coerced into joining with the Jews.

The Jews have rejected the worship of Allah since the time of Muhammad.

Some Islamic researchers have explored the possibility that the Jews found a lamp deep in a cave and are using it against their enemies. Apparently, all they need to do is rub the lamp, and the genie emerges and grants their military wishes.

Iranian scholars are still investigating exactly how many wishes the Jews get.

According to an Iranian opposition news site, an Iranian cleric close to the Ayatollah’s regime accused the Jewish people of trapping and using djinn for three thousand years to gain unchecked power. This is quite a feat, given the fact that the genies are made of fire and difficult to catch, even with advanced technology.

I think this assertion pretty much explains why many Iranians would like to get rid of their current leadership.

According to the Iranian Shia seminary teacher Mostafa Karami, the Zionists have a history of subjugating genies and using them to carry out their nefarious designs. He has accused the Jews of controlling a secret army of demons.

The Jews could make a lot of money for their military if they published the book How to Subjugate a Genie. I bet it would blow away any sales of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Karami continued, “They (the Jews) have had access to genies and cosmic science since the time of David and Solomon.” Karami did not just make this baseless accusation; he even brought receipts.

“Historically, they have always used genies; their documents and traditions proved that. They have used genies and demons for warfare to promote their intelligence operations throughout history.”

Well, no sane person could argue with that.

If Mr. Karami had read the Bible instead of the Koran, he may have developed a better understanding of what is happening here. He could have reviewed such verses as the following:

“Even if you [Israel] have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens [diaspora], from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back [to the land I promised Abraham]. He will bring you back to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you [Israel] will take possession of it” (Deuteronomy 30:4-5).

“He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant; To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit (I Chronicles 16:15-18).”

“‘Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,’ declares the Lord, ‘will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me'” (Jeremiah 31:36).

“I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them”(Amos 9:14).

If those passages were insufficient, Mr. Karami could have read the words of the prophet Ezekiel. Many people, including Christians, have often said that the bones of Israel were dried up, and their hope was gone. They were cut off, never again to be restored.

In 1948, these sayers of nay were forced to eat their words. All they can do now to defend their foolish theological position is engage in Scriptural obfuscation as they lounge around that river in Egypt (de-Nile).

The Lord opened their graves and brought them back to the land of Israel. They settled in the land of their forefathers and have begun to understand that it was God who made this happen.

If the words of the prophets are not sufficient for Mr. Karami, he may want to consider the words that God spoke to Abraham, whom Mr. Karami also claims to revere:

“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2-3).

That quote alone should just about put this genie stuff to rest.

There is one other major point Mr. Karami may wish to consider. Soon, his nation will join a host of other nations who will gather to destroy the nation of Israel.

God accuses these nations of ravaging and hounding his people from every side, so Israel became a possession of the rest of the nations. The nation of Israel has, for years, been the object of people’s malicious talk and slander in their attempt to profane and destroy God’s tiny state.

The prophet Ezekiel prophesizes that in ‘latter days’ Iran (Persia) will join Gog and Magog in an all-out assault on the nation of Israel. They will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel.

Israel will not need to employ the services of the fabulous djinn to put a stop to this mindless evil.

The hot anger of the Lord will be aroused, and there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The armies of Gog and Magog, including Persia, will tremble in fear at the presence of the Lord.

God will execute judgment upon them all with plague and bloodshed, pouring down torrents of rain, hailstones, and burning sulfur on the invaders.

In other words, Mr. Karami, genies are the last thing that you should be concerned about.

God will show you his greatness and holiness and make himself known to you and your fellow pagan assailants.

Then you will know that the God of Israel, not Allah, is the Lord.

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