If This Isn't Heaven, I Don't Know What Is

Biblical Reasons Why We Should
And Practical Suggestions on How We Can
Create Heaven on Earth

America: Heaven on Earth

I love living in America. I enjoy the highest standard of living the world has ever known. I can attend Bible studies seven days a week without fear of arrest or government reprisals. Despite the best efforts of the ACLU, most Americans still believe in and observe "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God." This means my life and property are relatively secure.

I admire America's Founding Fathers. In support of the idea of Liberty Under God, "with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence," they mutually pledged to each other "our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor." Part of the "tyranny" against which they battled was a tax rate which scholars estimate at between 3 and 5%. We pay ten times more today. After giving military aid to Saddam Hussein when he was at war with Iran, and stinger missiles to Al-queda when they were fighting the Soviet Union, the sweeping powers of the unconstitutional PATRIOT Act were signed into law by legislators who didn't even read the bill before signing it into law. I believe America's Founding Fathers would be appalled to see how poorly we have taken care of the liberties they fought for. I say "we" because it's not the government's job to protect our rights against government intrusion. It's our job to fight the government.

In 1892 the U.S. Supreme Court declared that America was a Christian nation. But we have turned our backs on "Liberty Under God," and America now exports more weapons than Bibles. The same Congress that gave us the First Amendment created a blueprint for the constitutions of states that would be admitted to the Union, which declared that "Religion, morality and knowledge [are] necessary for good government and the happiness of mankind." In our day religion and morality have been stripped from schools and the Public Square. America's Founding Fathers would never have dreamed that the federal government would one day be keeping statistics on how many 13- and 14-year olds would be contracting "STD's" -- sexually-transmitted diseases.

What a tragedy. What an outrage!

Should we blame those nasty atheists for our loss of Liberty Under God? I think we should blame those who call themselves Christians.

America's Founding Fathers would not recognize today's Christians as Christians. Today's Christians are "couch potatoes," a product of television and the "ME-generation." They bear little resemblance to the Christians who were hunted down by the empire and fed to the lions in Rome's coliseum or nailed to crosses. The distinguishing feature of today's Christians is their belief that they will escape all pain and trouble in the coming "Great Tribulation" by being raptured to heaven before it starts. Being a Christian today means being able to answer the question "Do you know where you will spend eternity?" Being a Christian means feeling good about yourself.

Being a Christian does not mean

•  tribulation (Acts 14:22; Revelation 1:9)         •  diligence (2 Peter 1:10-11)         •  putting the self to death (Colossians 3:5)         •  re-birth (John 3:5)         •  poverty (Mark 10:24-25)         •  self-denial (Matthew 16:24)         •  forgiving enemies (Matthew 6:10-15; 18:21-23)         •  works of mercy toward the thirsty, the hungry, the homeless, and the incarcerated (Matthew 25:31ff.)         •  disarmament (John 18:36; Zechariah 9:9-10)

. . . at least according to most Christians in America today.

The Jews of Jesus' day expected a messiah who would triumph over the Romans and turn them over to the Jews for vengeance. Today's Christians expect the same kind of messiah and a Jewish millennium rather than a Christian one. Christ said His Kingdom was "at hand," but most Christians are looking for an entirely different kind of Kingdom:

•  one handed to them on a silver platter;         •  one which has no requirements, only entitlements;         •  one which promises self-gratification and political power, not service of others;         •  one which conquers evil with physical coercion rather than spiritual conversion;         •  an eternally static Kingdom, not one that grows.

If current trends continue, soon America will no longer be a Christian nation. China will. Chinese Christians are willing to risk imprisonment to follow Jesus. Americans will no longer risk "our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor" for anything less than designer basketball shoes and the final season of "Sex and the City" on DVD.  I am completely confident that this negative and "judgmental" verdict on American Christians would be the verdict of every single person who signed the Constitution or endured a winter at Valley Forge.

This book is being written in an effort to change this situation. It attempts to provide Biblical proof for the following:

• God's purpose for human beings on this planet is to create "heaven on earth."
• The kind of kingdom described by America's prophecy preachers -- a top-down bureaucratic police state that lasts for a shorter period of time than the Byzantine Empire lasted -- is the complete opposite of the Kingdom Christ said was "at hand."
• All the verses used by America's prophecy preachers to buttress the events of their prophecy timetables, including "wars and rumors of wars," famines, earthquakes, signs in the heavens, "the Great Tribulation," falling away and apostasy, lawlessness, the Gospel preached to the whole world, stars falling from heaven, the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, His coming in clouds, 666 and the mark of the beast, the "man of lawlessness," the antichrist, etc., etc., have all taken place. The verses which describe these events also emphatically and unmistakably declare that these events are "at hand" and must "shortly come to pass."
• The disciples asked, "Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?" (Mark 13:4).  Jesus answered, "When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled" (Matthew 24:33-34) .
• The meaning of the phrase "this generation" is unmistakable. Jesus said:

• Modern prophecy preachers say the phrase "this generation" cannot mean "the generation that witnessed the incarnation of the Messiah," because those events -- as understood by modern prophecy preachers --  did not occur before that generation died out. Therefore, since modern prophecy preachers cannot possibly be mistaken in their understanding of the nature of those events -- the United Nations, cobra helicopters, computer chips under the skin -- just as they cannot possibly have been mistaken for saying for the last 100 years that the Second Coming will occur "at any moment" -- Jesus and the Apostles must have been mistaken for believing that these events were "at hand" and "about to happen."
• Why is it bad news if the Great Tribulation was the destruction of the temple in AD 70 and the taking of the Kingdom from apostate Christ-murderers and giving it to those who would bear the fruit thereof? (Matthew 21:43-45)
• Why is it bad news if Satan's power to deceive the nations and prevent the expansion of Christ's Kingdom has been destroyed and all power has been given to Christ? (Matthew 28:18-20)
• Why is it bad if the Second Adam has undone the damage caused by the First Adam and restored human beings to their original "dominion mandate" to create heaven on earth?

America's Founding Fathers had never heard of "the rapture." Their goal was to fulfill the prophecy of Micah, of everyone dwelling safely under their "Vine & Fig Tree." That should be our goal as well.

This book is not an easy book. It is rigorous. It requires you to study the Scriptures, like the Bereans. It requires you to think. It requires you to pray. It's the spiritual equivalent of doing 500 push-ups and 1,000 crunches. These exercises are going to make you sore. But even if you don't agree with my conclusions, you'll be in better spiritual shape for having done all the exercises. America's Founding Fathers would agree.