Story 1 of Two Poe Tales. In the name of the prophet, figs, cry of the Turkish fig peddler. I presume everybody has heard of me. My name is the senora Psyche Zinobia. This I know to be a fact. Nobody but my enemies ever calls me Psyche snobs. I have been assured that Psyche is but a vulgar corruption of Psyche, which is good Greek, and means the soul. That's me, I'm all soul, and sometimes a butterfly, which latter meaning undoubtedly alludes to my appearance in my new crimson satin dress, with the sky blue Arabian mantlet, and the trimmings of green agrifas, and the seven flounces of orange-coloured auriculas. As for snobs, any person who should look at me would be instantly aware that my name wasn't snobs. Miss Tabitha Ternip propagated that report through sheer envy. Tabitha Ternip indeed. Oh, the little wretch. But what can we expect from a Ternip? Wonder if she remembers the old adage about blood out of a Ternip, etc. Memorandum. Put her in mind of it the first opportunity. Memoranda again. Pull her nose. Where was I? Ah, I have been assured that snobs is a mere corruption of Zenobia, and that Zenobia was a queen. So am I. Dr. Moneypenny always calls me the queen of the hearts, and that Zenobia as well as Psyche is good Greek, and that my father was a Greek, and that consequently I have a right to our patronymic which is Zenobia and not by any means snobs. Nobody but Tabitha Ternip calls me Sukey snobs. I am the Signora Psyche Zenobia. As I said before, everybody has heard of me. I am that very Signora Psyche Zenobia so justly celebrated as corresponding secretary to the Philadelphia Regular Exchange T. Total Young Bell's Letters Universal Experimental Bibliographical Association to Civilize Humanity. Dr. Moneypenny made the title for us, and says he chose it because it sounded big like an empty rum-punchin. A vulgar man that sometimes, but he's deep. We all sign the initials of the Society after our names in the fashion of the RSA, Royal Society of Arts, the SDUK, Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, etc., etc. Dr. Moneypenny says that S stands for stale, and that DUK spells duck, but it don't, that SDUK stands for stale duck, and not for Lord Browam's Society, but then Dr. Moneypenny is such a queer man that I am never sure when he is telling me the truth. At any rate, we always add to our names the initials P-R-E-T-T-Y-B-L-U-E-B-A-T-C-H, that is to say, Philadelphia Regular Exchange T-Total Young Bell Letter Universal Experimental Bibliographical Association to Civilize Humanity, one letter for each word, which is a decided improvement upon Lord Browam. Dr. Moneypenny will have it that our initials give our true character, but for my life I can't see what he means. Notwithstanding the good offices of the doctor and the strenuous exertions of the association to get itself into notice, it met with no very great success until I joined it. The truth is, the members indulged in two flippant tone of discussion. The papers read every Saturday evening were characterized less by depth than buffoonery. They were all whipped syllabub. There was no investigation of first causes, first principles. There was no investigation of anything at all. There was no attention paid to that great point, the fitness of things. In short, there was no fine writing like this. It was all low, very. No profundity, no reading, no metaphysics, nothing which the learned call spirituality, and which the unlearned choose to stigmatize as can't. Dr. M says I ought to spell can't with a capital K, but I know better. When I joined the Society, it was my endeavour to introduce a better style of thinking and writing, and all the world knows how well I have succeeded. We get up as good papers now in the P-R-E-T-T-Y-B-L-U-E-B-A-T-C-H as any to be found even in Blackwood. I say Blackwood, because I have been assured that the finest writing upon every subject is to be discovered in the pages of that justly celebrated magazine. We now take it for our model upon all themes, and are getting into rapid notice accordingly. And, after all, it's not so very difficult a matter to compose an article of the genuine Blackwood stamp if one only goes properly about it. Of course I don't speak of the political articles. Everybody knows how they are managed, since Dr. Moneypenny explained it. Mr. Blackwood has a pair of Taylor's shears, and three apprentices who stand by him for orders. One hands him the times, another the examiner, and a third a Collie's new compendium of slang wang. Mr. B. merely cuts out and intersperses. It is soon done.  But the chief merit of the magazine lies in its miscellaneous articles, and the best of these come under the head of what Dr. Moneypenny calls the bizarreries, whatever that may mean, and what everybody else calls the intensities. This is a species of writing which I have long known how to appreciate, although it is only since my late visit to Mr. Blackwood, deputed by the society, that I have been made aware of the exact method of composition. This method is very simple, but not so much so as the politics. Upon my calling at Mr. B's, and making known to him the wishes of the society, he received me with great civility, took me into his study, and gave me a clear explanation of the whole process. My dear madam, said he, evidently struck with my majestic appearance, for I had on the crimson satin with the green agraphas and orange-coloured oreculas. My dear madam, said he, sit down. The matter stands thus. In the first place your writer of intensities must have very black ink and a very big pen with a very blunt nib. And, mark me, Miss Psyche Zinobia, he continued after a pause, with the most expressive energy and solemnity of manner. Mark me, that pen must never be mended. Herein, madam, lies the secret, the soul of intensity. I assume upon myself to say that no individual of however great genius ever wrote with a good pen—understand me, a good article—you may take it for granted that when manuscript can be read, it is never worth reading. This is a leading principle in our faith to which, if you cannot readily assent, our conference is at an end. He paused. But, of course, as I had no wish to put an end to the conference, I assented to a proposition so very obvious, and one, two, of whose truth I had all along been sufficiently aware. He seemed pleased, and went on with his instructions. It may appear invidious in me, Miss Psyche Zinobia, to refer you to any article or set of articles, in the way of model or study, yet perhaps I may as well call your attention to a few cases. Let me see. There was, the dead alive, a capital thing, the record of a gentleman's sensations when entombed before the breath was out of his body, full of tastes, terror, sentiment, metaphysics, and erudition. You would have sworn that the writer had been born and brought up in a coffin. Then we had the confessions of an opium eater—fine, very fine, glorious imagination, deep philosophy, acute speculation, plenty of fire and fury, and a good spicing of the decidedly unintelligible. That was a nice bit of flummary, and went down the throats of the people delightfully. They would have it that Kolaridge wrote the paper, but not so. It was composed by my pet baboon, Juniper, over a rumour of hullins and water, hot without sugar. This I could scarcely have believed had it been anybody but Mr. Blackwood who assured me of it. Then there was the involuntary experimentalist, all about a gentleman who got baked in an oven, and came out alive and well, although certainly done to a turn. And then there was the diary of a late physician, where the merit lay in good rant and indifferent Greek, both of them taking things with the public. And then there was the man in the bell, a paper by the by, Mrs. Inobia, which I cannot sufficiently recommend to your attention. It is the history of a young person who goes to sleep under the clapper of a church bell, and is awakened by its tolling for a funeral. The sound drives him mad, and accordingly, pulling out his tablets, he gives a record of his sensations. Sensations are the great things, after all. Should you ever be drowned or hung, be sure and make a note of your sensations. They will be worth to you ten guineas a sheet. If you wish to write forcibly, Mrs. Inobia, pay my new attention to the sensations. That I certainly will, Mr. Blackwood, said I. Good, he replied, I see you are a pupil after my own heart. But I must put you to the details necessary in composing what may be denominated a genuine Blackwood article of the sensations stamp, the kind which you will understand me to say I consider the best for all purposes. The first thing requisite is to get yourself into such a scrape as no one ever got into before. The oven, for instance, that was a good hit. But if you have no oven or big bell at hand, and if you cannot conveniently tumble out of a balloon or be swallowed up in an earthquake or get stuck fast in a chimney, you will have to be contented with simply imagining some similar misadventure. I should prefer, however, that you have the actual fact to bear you out. Nothing so well assists the fancy as an experimental knowledge of the matter in hand. Truth is strange, you know, stranger than fiction, besides being more to the purpose. Here I assured him I had an excellent pair of garters, and would go and hang myself forthwith. Good, he replied, do so, although hanging is somewhat hackneyed. Perhaps you might do better. Take a dose of Brandrith's pills, and then give us your sensations. However, my instructions will apply equally well to any variety of misadventure, and in your way home you may easily get knocked in the head, or run over by an omnibus, or bitten by a mad dog, or drowned in a gutter, but to proceed. Having determined upon your subject, you must next consider the tone or manner of your narration. There is the tone didactic, the tone enthusiastic, the tone natural, all commonplace enough, but then there is the tone laconic, or curt, which has lately come much into use. It consists in short sentences, somehow thus. Can't be too brief, can't be too snappish, always a full stop, and never a paragraph. Then there is the tone elevated, diffusive, and interjectional. Some of our best novelists patronize this tone. The words must be all in a whirl like a humming-top, and make a noise very similar, which answers remarkably well instead of meaning. This is the best of all possible styles, where the writer is in too great a hurry to think. The tone metaphysical is also a good one. If you know any big words, this is your chance for them. Talk of the ionic and eliotic schools, of architus, gorgeous, and alchmian. Say something about objectivity and subjectivity. Be sure and abuse a man named Locke. Turn up your nose at things in general, and when you let slip anything a little too absurd, you need not be at the trouble of scratching it out. But just add a footnote, and say that you are indebted for the above profound observation to the critique der Rheinem fernumft, or to the metaphysith An funks grins der Notte Wissenschaft. This would look erudite, and, and, and frank. There are various other tones of equal celebrity, but I shall mention only two more, the tone transcendental, and the tone heterogeneous. In the former the merit consists in seeing into the nature of affairs a very great deal farther than anybody else. This second sight is very efficient when properly managed. A little reading of the dial will carry you a great way. Eschew, in this case big words, get them as small as possible, and write them upside down. Look over Channing's poems, and quote what he says about a fat little man with a delusive show of can. Put in something about the supernal oneness. Don't say a syllable about the infernal tunis. Above all, study innuendo. Hint everything, assert nothing. If you feel inclined to say bread and butter, do not by any means say it outright. You may say anything and everything approaching to bread and butter. You may hint at buckwheat cake, or you may even go so far as to insinuate oatmeal porridge. But if bread and butter be your real meaning, be cautious my dear Miss Psyche, not on any account to say bread and butter. I assured him that I should never say it again as long as I lived. He kissed me and continued. As for the tone heterogeneous, it is merely a judicious mixture in equal proportions of all the other tones in the world, and is consequently made up of everything deep, great, odd, peacant, pertinent, and pretty. Let us suppose now you have determined upon your incidence and tone. The most important portion, in fact, the soul of the whole business is yet to be attended to, I allude to the filling up. It is not to be supposed that a lady or gentleman either has been leading the life of a bookworm, and yet above all things it is necessary that your article have an air of erudition, or at least a forward evidence, of extensive general reading. Now I'll put you in the way of accomplishing this point. See here, pulling down some three or four ordinary looking volumes and opening them at random. By casting your eye down almost any page of any book in the world, you will be able to perceive at once a host of little scraps of either learning or bell espritism, which are the very thing for the spicing of a Blackwood article. You might as well note down a few while I read them to you. I shall make two divisions, first, peacant facts for the manufacture of similes, and second, peacant expressions to be introduced as occasion may require, right now. And I wrote as he dictated. Peacant facts for similes. There were originally but three muses, maliti, manimi, aodi, meditation, memory, and singing. You may make a good deal of that little fact, if properly worked. You see, it is not generally known, and looks ratio-ish. You must be careful and give the thing with a downright improviso air. Again the river Alpheus passed beneath the sea, and emerged without injury to the purity of its waters. Rather stale that, to be sure, but if properly dressed and dished up will look quite as fresh as ever. Here is something better.  Find that, and very delicate. Turn it about a little, and it will do wonders. We'll have something else in the botanical line. There's nothing goes down so well, especially with the help of a little Latin. Right. The epitandrum false iris of Java bears a very beautiful flower, and will live when pulled up by the roots. The natives suspend it by a cord from the ceiling, and enjoy its fragrance for years. That's capital. That will do for the similes, now for the peckant expressions. Peckant expressions. The venerable Chinese novel Jukau Li. Good. By introducing these few words with dexterity, you will evince your intimate acquaintance with the language and literature of the Chinese. With the aid of this you may possibly get along without either Arabic or Sanskrit or Chickasaw. There is no passing muster, however, without Spanish, Italian, German, Latin, and Greek. I must look you out a little specimen of each. Any scrap will answer, because you must depend upon your own ingenuity to make it fit into your article. Now, right. Aussi tendre casayir. As tender as xayir, French, alludes to the frequent repetition of the phrase latans or xayir in the French tragedy of that name. Properly introduced will show not only your knowledge of the language, but your general reading and wit. You can say, for instance, that the chicken you were eating, write an article about being choked to death by a chicken bone, was not altogether Aussi tendre casayir. Right. Va muerte tan escondida, que no te sienta venir, porque el plazar del morio no me estorne a dar la vida. That's Spanish, from Miguel de Cervantes. Come quickly, O death, but be sure and don't let me see you coming, lest the pleasure I shall feel at your appearance should, unfortunately, bring me back again to life. This you may slip in quite apropo when you are struggling in the last agonies with the chicken bone. Right. That's Italian, you perceive, from Ariosto. It means that a great hero in the heat of combat, not perceiving that he had been fairly killed, continued to fight valiantly dead as he was. The application of this to your own case is obvious, for I trust, Ms. Psyche, that you will not neglect to kick for at least an hour and a half after you have been choked to death by that chicken bone. Please, to write. That's German, from Schiller. And if I die, at least I die for thee, for thee. Here it is clear that you are apostrophizing the cause of your disaster, the chicken. Indeed, what gentleman, or lady either, of sense, wouldn't die, I should like to know, for a well-fattened capon of the right maluca breed, stuffed with capers and mushrooms, and served up in a salad-bowl with orange jellies on mosaic. Right. You can get them that way at tortonies. Right, if you please. Here is a nice little Latin phrase, and rare, too. One can't be too racerché or brief in one's Latin, is getting so common. Ignoratio ellenshi. He has committed an ignoratio ellenshi, that is to say, he has understood the words of your proposition, but not the idea. The man was a fool, you see. Some poor fellow whom you address while choking with that chicken bone, and who therefore didn't precisely understand what you are talking about, throw the ignoratio ellenshi in his teeth, and at once you have him annihilated. If he dares to reply, you can tell him from Lucan, here it is, that speeches are mere anemone verborum, anemone words. The anemone, with great brilliancy, has no smell. Or if he begins to bluster, you may be down upon him with insomnia jovis, reveries of Jupiter. A phrase which Cilius Italicus, see here, applies to thoughts pompous and inflated. This will be sure and cut him to the heart.  Will you be kind enough to write? In Greek we must have something pretty, from Demosthenes, for example. Anerho fugoin kai palin makasetai. There is a tolerably good translation of it in Hudabras, for he that flies may fight again, which he can never do that slain. In a Blackwood article nothing makes so fine a show as your Greek. The very letters have an air of profundity about them. Only observe, madam, the astute look of that epsilon, that fi ought certainly to be a bishop. Was ever there a smarter fellow than that omicron? Just tweak that towel. In short, there is nothing like Greek for a genuine sensation paper. In the present case, your application is the most obvious thing in the world. Wrap out the sentence with a huge oath, and by way of ultimatum at the good-for-nothing dunder-headed villain who couldn't understand your plain English in relation to the chicken-bone, he'll take the hint and be off. You may depend upon it. These were all the instructions Mr. B could afford me upon the topic in question, but I felt they would be entirely sufficient. I was at length able to write a genuine Blackwood article and determined to do it forthwith. In taking leave of me Mr. B made a proposition for the purchase of the paper when written. But as he could offer me only fifty guineas a sheet, I thought it better to let our society have it than sacrifice it for so paltry as some. Notwithstanding this niggardly spirit, however, the gentleman showed his consideration for me in all other respects, and indeed treated me with the greatest civility. His parting words made a deep impression upon my heart, and I hope I shall always remember them with gratitude. My dear Miss Zenobia, he said, while the tears stooled in his eyes, is there anything else I can do to promote the success of your laudable undertaking? Let me reflect. It is just possible that you may not be able, so soon as convenient, to get yourself drowned, or choked with a chicken-bone, or hung, or bitten by a— but stay. Now, I think me of it, there are a couple of very excellent bulldogs in the yard. Fine fellows, I assure you, savage and all that. Indeed, just the thing for your money. They'll have you eaten up, a recula, and all in less than five minutes. Here's my watch. And then only think of the sensations. Here, I say, Tom, Peter, Dick, you villain, let out those. But, as I was really in a great hurry, and had not another moment to spare, I was reluctantly forced to expedite my departure, and accordingly took leave at once, somewhat more abruptly, I admit, than strict courtesy would have otherwise allowed. It was my primary object upon quitting Mr. Blackwood to get into some immediate difficulty pursuant to his advice, and with this view I spent the greater part of the day in wondering about Edinburgh, seeking for desperate adventures, adventures adequate to the intensity of my feelings, and adapted to the vast character of the article I intended to write. In this excursion I was attended by one negro-servant Pompey and my little lapdog Diana, whom I had brought with me from Philadelphia. It was not, however, until late in the afternoon that I fully succeeded in my arduous undertaking. An important event then happened, of which the following Blackwood article, in the tone heterogeneous, is the substance and result. End of Story 1 of Two Poe Tales. Story 2 of Two Poe Tales. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Catherine Eastman. July 2009. Two Poe Tales. By Edgar Allan Poe. Story 2. A Predicament. What chance, good lady, hath bereft you thus! Comus. It was a quiet and still afternoon when I strolled forth in the goodly city of Edina. The confusion and bustle in the streets were terrible. Men were talking, women were screaming, children were choking, pigs were whistling, carts they rattled, bulls they bellowed, cows they load, horses they naid, cats they catterwalled, dogs they danced. Danced. Could it then be possible? Danced. Alas, thought I, my dancing days are over. Thus it is ever. What a host of gloomy recollections will ever and anon be awakened in the mind of genius and imaginative contemplation, especially of a genius doomed to the everlasting and eternal and continual, and, as one might say, the continued, yes, the continued and continuous, bitter, harassing, disturbing, and, if I may be allowed the expression, the very disturbing influence of the serene and godlike and heavenly and exalted and elevated and purifying effect of what may be rightly termed the most enviable, the most truly enviable, nay, the most benignly beautiful, the most deliciously ethereal, and, as it were, the most pretty, if I may use so bold an expression, thing, pardon me, gentle reader, in the world, but I am always led away by my feelings.  The dogs danced. I could not. They frisked. I wept. They capered. I sobbed aloud. Touching circumstances which cannot fail to bring to the recollection of the classical reader that exquisite passage in relation to the fitness of things which is to be found in the commencement of the third volume of that admirable and venerable Chinese novel, The Joke Goes Slow. In my solitary walk through the city, I had two humble but faithful companions. Diana, my poodle, sweetest of creatures. She had a quantity of hair over her one eye, and a blue ribbon tied fashionably around her neck. Diana was not more than five inches in height, but her head was somewhat bigger than her body, and her tail, being cut off exceedingly close, gave an air of injured innocence to the interesting animal which rendered her a favourite with all. And Pompey, my negro, sweet Pompey, how shall I ever forget thee? I had taken Pompey's arm. He was three feet in height. I like to be particular, and about seventy, or perhaps eighty, years of age. He had bow-legs and was corpulent. His mouth should not be called small, nor his ears short. His teeth, however, were like pearl, and his large, full eyes were deliciously white. Nature had endowed him with no neck, and had placed his ankles, as usual with that race, in the middle of the upper portion of the feet. He was clad with a striking simplicity. His sole garments were a stock of nine inches in height, and a nearly new drab overcoat which had formerly been in the service of the tall, stately, and illustrious Dr. Moneypenny. It was a good overcoat. It was well cut. It was well made. The coat was nearly new. Pompey held it up out of the dirt with both hands. There were three persons in our party, and two of them have already been the subject of remark. There was a third. That person was myself. I am the Signora Psyche Zenobia. I am not Zuki Snobbs. My appearance is commanding. On the memorable occasion of which I speak, I was habited in a crimson satin dress with a sky-blue Arabian mantlet, and the dress had trimmings of green agraphas and seven graceful flounces of the orange-coloured auricula. I thus formed the third of the party. There was the poodle. There was Pompey. There was myself. We were three. Thus it is said there were originally but three furies, melty, nimme, and hetty, meditation, memory, and fiddling. Leaning upon the arm of the gallant Pompey and attended at a respectable distance by Diana, I proceeded down one of the populous and very pleasant streets of the now-deserted Edna. On a sudden there presented itself to view a church, a gothic cathedral, vast, venerable, and with a tall steeple which towered into the sky. What madness now possessed me! Why did I rush upon my fate? I was seized with an uncontrollable desire to ascend the giddy pinnacle and then survey the immense extent of the city. The door of the cathedral stood invitingly open. My destiny prevailed. I entered the ominous archway, where then was my guardian angel, if indeed such angels there be, if, distressing monosyllable, what world of mystery and meaning and doubt and uncertainty is there involved in thy two letters. I entered the ominous archway, I entered, and, without injury to my orange-coloured auriculus, I passed beneath the portal and emerged within the vestibule. Thus it is said the immense river Alfred passed unscathed and unwetted beneath the sea. I thought the staircase would never have an end. Round, yes, they went round and up and round and up and round and up, until I could not help surmising with the sagacious Pompey upon whose supporting arm I leaned in all the confidence of early affection. I could not help surmising that the upper end of the continuous spiral ladder had been accidentally, or perhaps designedly, removed. I paused for breath, and in the meantime an accident occurred of two momentous nature in a moral, and also in a metaphysical point of view, to be passed over without notice. It appeared to me, indeed I was quite confident of the fact, I could not be mistaken, no, I had, for some moments carefully and anxiously observed the motions of my Diana, I say that I could not be mistaken, Diana smelt a rat. At once I called Pompey's attention to the subject, and he, he agreed with me. There was then no longer any reasonable room for doubt. The rat had been smelled, and by Diana, heavens, shall I ever forget the intense excitement of the moment? Alas, what is the boasted intellect of man? The rat, it was there, that is to say, it was somewhere. Diana smelled the rat, I, I could not.  The staircase had been surmounted, and there were now only three or four more upward steps intervening between us and the summit. We still ascended, and now only one step remained. One step, one little, little step.  I thought of myself, then of Pompey, and then of the mysterious and inexplicable destiny which surrounded us. I thought of Pompey, alas, I thought of love. I thought of my many false steps which have been taken, and may be taken again. I resolved to be more cautious, more reserved. I abandoned the arm of Pompey, and, without his assistance, surmounted the one remaining step, and gained the chamber of the belfry. I was followed immediately afterward by my poodle. Pompey alone remained behind. I stooled at the head of the staircase, and encouraged him to ascend. He stretched forth to me his hand, and, unfortunately, in so doing, was forced to abandon his firm hold upon the overcoat. Will the gods never cease their persecution? The overcoat is dropped, and with one of his feet Pompey stepped upon the long and trailing skirt of the overcoat. He stumbled and fell. This consequence was inevitable. He fell forward, and with his accursed head, striking me full in the breast, precipitated me headlong, together with himself, upon the hard, filthy, and detestable floor of the belfry. But my revenge was sure, sudden, and complete. Seizing him furiously by the wall with both hands, I tore out a vast quantity of black and crisp and curling material, and tossed it from me with every manifestation of disdain. It fell among the ropes of the belfry, and remained. Pompey arose and said no word, but he regarded me piteously with his large eyes and sighed. He gods that sigh, it sunk into my heart. And the hair, the wall, could I have reached that wall, I would have bathed it with my tears in testimony of regret. But alas! it was now far beyond my grasp. As it dangled among the cordage of the bell, I fancied it alive. I fancied that it stood on end with indignation. Thus the happy dandy floss heiress of Java bears, it is said, a beautiful flower, which will live when pulled up by the roots. The natives suspend it by a cord from the ceiling and enjoy its fragrance for years. Our quarrel was now made up, and we looked about the room for an aperture through which to survey the city of Edna. Windows there were none. The sole light admitted into the gloomy chamber proceeded from a square opening about a foot in diameter at a height of about seven feet from the floor. Yet what will the energy of true genius not effect? I resolved to clamber up to this hole. A vast quantity of wheels, pinions, and other cabalistic-looking machinery stood opposite the hole, close to it, and through the hole there passed an iron rod from the machinery. Between the wheels and the wall where the hole lay there was barely room for my body, yet I was desperate and determined to persevere. I called Pompey to my side. You perceive that aperture, Pompey? I wish to look through it. You will stand here just beneath the hole, so. Now hold out one of your hands, Pompey, and let me step upon it. Thus! Now the other hand, Pompey, and with its aid I will get upon your shoulders. He did everything I wished, and I found upon getting up that I could easily pass my head and neck through the aperture. The prospect was sublime, nothing could be more magnificent. I merely paused a moment to bid Diana behave herself, and assure Pompey that I would be considerate and bear as lightly as possible upon his shoulders. I told him I would be tender of his feelings, Aussie tender cabif steak. Having done this justice to my faithful friend, I gave myself up with great zest and enthusiasm to the enjoyment of the scene which so obligingly spread itself out before my eyes. Upon this subject, however, I shall forbear to dilate. I will not describe the city of Edinburgh. Everyone has been to the city of Edinburgh. Everyone has been to Edinburgh, the classic Edna. I will confine myself to the momentous details of my own lamentable adventure. Having, in some measure, satisfied my curiosity, in regard to the extent, situation, and general appearance of the city, I had leisure to survey the church in which I was, and the delicate architecture of the steeple. I observed that the aperture through which I had thrust my head was an opening in the dial plate of a gigantic clock, and must have appeared from the street as a large keyhole such as we see in the face of the French watches. No doubt the true object was to admit the arm of an attendant to adjust when necessary the hands of the clock from within. I observed also, with surprise, the immense size of these hands, the longest of which could not have been less than ten feet in length, and were broadest eight or nine inches in breadth. They were of solid steel, apparently, and their edges appeared to be sharp. Having noticed these particulars and some others, I again turned my eyes upon the glorious prospect below, and soon became absorbed in contemplation. From this, after some minutes, I was aroused by the voice of Pompey, who declared that he could stand it no longer, and requested that I would be so kind as to come down. This was unreasonable, and I told him so in a speech of some length. He replied, but with an evident misunderstanding of my ideas upon the subject.  With this he appeared satisfied, and I resumed my contemplations. It might have been half an hour after this altercation, when, as I was deeply absorbed in the heavenly scenery beneath me, I was startled by something very cold which pressed with a gentle pressure on the back of my neck. It is needless to say that I felt inexpressibly alarmed. I knew that Pompey was beneath my feet, and that Diana was sitting, according to my explicit directions, upon her hind legs in the farthest corner of the room. What could it be? Alas, I but too soon discovered. Turning my head gently to one side, I perceived to my extreme horror that the huge, glittering, scimitar-like minute hand of the clock had, in the course of its hourly revolution, descended upon my neck. There was, I knew, not a second to be lost. I pulled back at once, but it was too late.  The agony of that moment is not to be imagined. I threw up my hands, and endeavored with all my strength to force upward the ponderous iron bar. I might as well have tried to lift the cathedral itself. Down, down, down it came, closer, and yet closer.  I yelled to Diana, but she only said, bow, wow, wow, and that I had told her on no account to stir from the corner. Thus I had no relief to expect from my associates. Meantime, the ponderous and terrific scythe of time, for I now discovered the literal import of that classical phrase, had not stopped nor was it likely to stop in its career. Down, and still down it came. It had already buried its sharp edge a full inch in my flesh, and my sensations grew indistinct and confused. At one time I fancied myself in Philadelphia with the stately Dr. Moneypenny, at another in the back parlor of Mr. Blackwood receiving his invaluable instructions. And then again the sweet recollection of better and earlier times came over me, and I thought of that happy period when the world was not all a desert, and Pompey not all together cruel. The ticking of the machinery amused me. Amused me, I say, for my sensations now bordered upon perfect happiness, and the most trifling circumstances afforded me pleasure. The eternal click-clack-click-clack-click-clack of the clock was the most melodious of music in my ears, and occasionally even put me in mind of the graceful sermonic harangs of Dr. Alapod. Then there were the great figures upon the dial plate, how intelligent, how intellectual they all looked. And presently they took to dancing the Miss Zirka, and I think it was the figure V, who performed the most to my satisfaction. She was evidently a lady of breeding, none of your swaggerers, and nothing at all indelicate in her motions.  I made an endeavour to hand her a chair, for I saw that she appeared fatigued with her exertions. And it was not until then that I fully perceived my lamentable situation, lamentable indeed. The bar had buried itself two inches in my neck. I was aroused to a sense of exquisite pain. I prayed for death, and in the agony of the moment could not help repeating those exquisite verses of the poet Miguel de Cervantes. But now a new horror presented itself, and one indeed sufficient to startle the strongest nerves. My eyes, from the cruel pressure of the machine, were absolutely starting from their sockets. While I was thinking how I should possibly manage without them, one actually tumbled out of my head, and rolling down the steep side of the steeple lodged in the rain gutter which ran along the eaves of the main building. The loss of the eye was not so much as the insolent air of independence and contempt with which it regarded me after it was out.  Such a winking and blinking were never before seen. This behaviour on the part of my eye in the gutter was not only irritating on account of its manifest insolence and shameful ingratitude, but was also exceedingly inconvenient on account of the sympathy which always exists between two eyes of the same head, however far apart. I was forced, in a manner, to wink and blink whether I would or not, in exact concert with the scoundrel-y thing that lay just under my nose. I was presently relieved, however, by the dropping out of the other eye. Infalling it took the same direction, possibly a concerted plot, as its fellow. Both rolled out of the gutter together, and in truth I was very glad to get rid of them. The bar was now four inches and a half deep in my neck, and there was only a little bit of skin to cut through. My sensations were those of entire happiness, for I felt that in a few minutes at farthest I should be relieved from my disagreeable situation, and in this expectation I was not at all deceived. At twenty-five minutes past five in the afternoon precisely the huge minute hand had proceeded sufficiently far on its terrible revolution to sever the small remainder of my neck. I was not sorry to see the head which had occasioned me so much embarrassment at length make a final separation from my body. It first rolled down the side of the steeple, then lodged for a few seconds in the gutter, and then made its way with a plunge into the middle of the street. I will candidly confess that my feelings were now of the most singular, nay, of the most mysterious, the most perplexing and incomprehensible character. My senses were here and there at one and the same moment.  At another I felt convinced that myself, the body, was the proper identity. To clear my ideas on this topic I felt in my pocket for my snuff-box, but upon getting it and endeavouring to apply a pinch of its grateful contents in the ordinary manner I became immediately aware of my peculiar deficiency and threw the box at once down to my head. It took a pinch with great satisfaction and smiled me an acknowledgment in return. Shortly afterward it made me a speech which I could hear but indistinctly without ears. I gathered enough, however, to know that it was astonished at my wishing to remain alive under such circumstances. In the concluding sentences it quoted the noble words of Ariosto, il povere homi che non sere corti, and have a combat, tenti eri morti. Thus comparing me to the hero who, in the heat of the combat, not perceiving that he was dead, continued to contest the battle with inextinguishable valor. There was nothing now to prevent my getting down from my elevation and I did so. What it was that Pompey saw so very peculiar in my appearance I have never yet been able to find out. The fellow opened his mouth from ear to ear and shut his two eyes as if he were endeavouring to crack nuts between the lids. Finally, throwing off his overcoat, he made one spring for the staircase and disappeared. I hurled after the scoundrel these vehement words of Demosthenes. Andrew O'Flegathon, you really make haste to fly! And then turned to the darling of my heart, to the one-eyed, the shaggy-haired Diana.  Was that a rat I saw skulking into his hole? Are these the picked bones of the little angel who has been cruelly devoured by the monster? Ye gods, and what do I behold? Is that the departed spirit, the shade, the ghost of my beloved puppy, which I perceive sitting with a grace so melancholy in the corner? Arkin, for she speaks, and heavens it is in the German of Schiller. Unt stubby duck, so stubby done, duck she, duck she. Alas, and are not her words too true. And if I died, at least I died for thee, for thee! Sweet creature, she too has sacrificed herself in my behalf. Dogless, niggerless, headless, what now remains for the unhappy Senora's psyche's anobia? Alas, nothing I have done. End of a predicament, end of two po-tales.


prayer is that you would begin to become focused on the things of heaven and less focused on the things of this world because nothing in this world can offer anything that compares to the heavenly realm. Now first and foremost we have to understand that heaven is heaven because of the presence of Jesus. Heaven without the presence of Jesus is not heaven.  Well by contrast looking at what the Scripture describes concerning hell we see that it lacks in everything that's of the nature of God. You're alone because his presence isn't there. You don't sense that love that peace that joy. Why? Because it is the lack of his presence.  The only reason anyone could be offended by the idea of the existence of hell is simply because they're not offended enough by the idea of sin. We don't understand truly how evil, how wicked, how dark sin is and because we don't understand how sin violates the holy nature of God we become offended by the existence of hell.  Thank God that we've been saved not only from sin not only from self but from eternity in hell. Guys the Bible is still the word of God. I believe in God, I believe the devil exists and I believe in a literal hell. I believe in eternity and the difference being what you did with the free gift of salvation brought about by what Christ did upon the cross. Why do I believe that? Because the Bible tells me so. And our only true glimpse into eternity, our only true window into the afterlife is through the Scripture. We have to ground what we believe in the Scripture. Now I'm going to share with you a dream I had and before you go judging me and accusing me of saying that I took a trip to heaven let me preface this by saying I'm not asking you to believe my testimony about my dream. I'm asking you to believe the Bible. So why David are you sharing your dream with us? Because I believe that sometimes God can give us little glimpses and even if it's not a literal glimpse like a vision. When we think of the things of the heavenly realm it does something in us. It stirs our faith. It encourages us. It incites that hope within us. It causes that joy to bubble over why because we're focusing on the things of eternity. And so I share my dream with you and I share it as an analogy of what something might be like in heaven. Not saying I went to heaven, not saying this is what heaven is like but I'm going to share this with you and I'll say this.  No my friend when you step into eternity it's not going to be like falling asleep it will be more like waking up now I understand that the scripture tells us that those who have gone on before us they're referred to as being asleep we can talk about that but this doesn't mean that we're not aware of our surroundings when we come into the fullness of what God has for his children in the heavenly realm. So years ago I had this dream and you ever have one of those dreams that just kind of stick with you and you just can't shake it and there's something so real about it most of the time when we have dreams it's not really coherent is it it's all over the place there the sands are constantly shifting if you will and you know it's like trying to piece together a puzzle that has some pieces missing but not this dream this dream was very vivid very coherent very real to the point that I was able to make out details it was it was a stable dream a very stable dream and I was able to make out details and to this day I still remember it and I just can't shake it and so again I share this not as a replacement for the word not claiming that I took a trip to heaven not claiming that you have to believe my testimony it's just an encouraging dream I had and I want to share it with you so in my dream I'm standing on a seashore and I noticed that the sand was so fine that it almost looked like powder it was a light sand and as I began to look ahead I started to notice the waves crashing against that shore and the waters that were crashing against the shore were crystal clear like a turquoise blue these waters were clean and as I looked into the water I could see different coral structures and they were pastel colors like a light red light blue light green and the ocean was teeming with life the fish that were swimming around in there had scales that were so colorful and bright on some points of the fish it looked like they had little LED lights on them and then as I began to look up at over the expanse I noticed the sky and and I I I wish I had a better way of describing this part but when I looked up at the sky something about the sky just seemed bigger and I don't know how else to word that and through the sky faintly I can see spirals of galaxies and stars and planets just like you can see the moon sometimes faintly in the middle of the day I was able to see just faintly through the sky the blue sky the spirals of galaxies and stars and I remember that every breath that I took seems to fill every cell in my body with life you know how when you drink an ice cold glass of water on a hot summer day you can fill it well it was the same way every time I took a breath every cell in my body was invigorated brought to life refreshed like I was breathing in life itself and I remember that even as I was breathing I could sense the energy of that place not only that I sensed such peace such joy such love that it felt almost like a weight on me perfect peace not not a care in the world I wish I could have this dream again sometimes perfect peace not a thought in my mind racing just perfect peace joy overflowing you ever have that feeling where you want to laugh but you know you can't like sometimes in church that's what it was like like I want it to laugh but I was just on the verge of laughing constantly that's how that's how how consistent the joy was and the love love that I felt felt almost overwhelming like like like pressing on me you ever been in those services you know some services is like we're pressing into heaven worshiping praising and then in other services it's almost like the presence of god is pressing right back on us that's what it was like it was it was a thickness about it in the air I can sense his love overwhelming me and then off in the distance I saw a peninsula the peninsula was covered with grass and it was covered with these big stones like like they were like the size of this table but they were square in shape and they were big black rocks that were so shiny they were almost like glass and those lined up against the peninsula along with the green blades of grass and I saw on the very edge of the peninsula this massive home and I knew it was mine because it looked exactly how I would want my house to look in heaven and what was amazing was that when I saw it off in the distance I wanted to go to it but I did not have to walk I did not have to travel the moment I thought about being there I was in the house and this meant in my dream at least that I was traveling by thought and I get into the house it's filled with like gadgets and tech which I'm a bit geeky for things like that so it was it was perfect for me and and I remember just looking around going my goodness this is amazing then I got hungry and said do you get hungry in heaven I don't know this was just my dream and I was taken to this city it looked like an old city but but well taken care of and when I originally had the dream I thought for some reason I don't know I thought it was Italy but looking back on the dream now after having seen more architecture from Jerusalem I see now that it actually looked like Jerusalem the roads the archways and there were no like there was no commercialism in this place you ever go like on a trip somewhere and you're in this immersive moment where you're sensing the history and then all of a sudden there's like a Starbucks and it just takes you like they put a Starbucks really right here on an ancient site you know there was no McDonald's or Starbucks or or any any commercialism there were no signs and windows it was just there was a purity to the place and I go into this room and it's like a den it's a restaurant that went you stepped down into and I'm looking around and I could see that the tables were covered with cloth and they had I don't know anything about plates and cups but I'm sure they were nice they looked nice to me and I'm looking around this restaurant I'm thinking this is a nice restaurant so I go to sit down and I pick up the menu and I noticed on the menu that there were no prices listed which made me a little bit nervous because somebody once told me when you go to a restaurant with no prices I've never been to one but somebody told me that if you go to a restaurant with no prices on the menu it means that if you have to ask you can't afford it well I had to ask so I was I'm looking at this going like oh my goodness like I don't know if I can I'll probably go find somewhere else this looks pretty pricey and I remember this man comes up to me he's dressed in a tuxedo really really like polite and in my dream I just knew this was an angelic host and he asked me if I had any questions and I'm looking at it and I say well yeah I'm looking over at the menu I see I can still remember what the menu looked like I'm holding it and and I asked him how much does this cost when he answered me he wasn't just talking about the food items on the menu he was talking about everything he said everything has already been paid for and then I woke up now again for those who are heresy hunting I'm not saying I went to heaven I'm saying I had a dream about heaven and I'm sharing it as an encouragement encouraged me and I thought man I know for a fact my dream didn't even come close to what the reality of heaven is like but if it was even close to that what a wonderful thing we have to look forward to so we as believers and I want you to go for a second go to um Philippians 3 and hold your place there so we as believers have to begin to look to eternity I understand we have to have an effect here and now I mean God put us on this earth for a purpose and we are to do things that expand his kingdom we are to work in the spreading of the gospel and so forth all of that is absolutely necessary we have to we must we have a mission to accomplish but while we are here we mustn't become so preoccupied with the things of this earth that we become stressful I mean really if we begin to embrace the reality of heaven if we become fully convinced of this idea why are we ever stressed about anything at all no really think about it why are we stressed about anything at all ever if we truly believe that there's a heaven waiting for us now I'm not trying to be apathetic toward the struggle of any one individual the reality is we face things that are troubling we face things that are heartbreaking we face tragedies and trials and persecution of all sorts that's the reality of this life but think about the simple fact that even in death the believer is victorious why because we don't belong here anything you can take from us in this world we'll get back even more in the next life this is why the martyrs were able to give their lives with boldness because they trusted in the finished work of the cross and they knew that the hope of heaven was before them they knew that waiting for them was an eternity in the presence of Jesus unhindered by the things of this world we stress about things of this world what we'll eat what we'll wear where we'll live and if we're stressing about the things of this world it just means we're not focused enough on heaven I'm not saying we ignore our problems I'm not saying we don't acknowledge our troubles I'm simply saying that we must learn to put our troubles trials and responsibilities in their proper place in terms of perspective and priority the bible says in Philippians 3 verse 20 but we are citizens of heaven where the Lord Jesus Christ lives and we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior we don't belong here turn to your neighbor say I don't belong here you online watching write that in the comment section I don't belong here you may call me crazy but I'm not ashamed to say it I don't belong here those that believe were given the right the power to become sons of God I am of my heavenly father think about what we're saying for example when Jesus tells us in his prayer when you pray pray our father who art in heaven when you begin to pray it begins from acknowledging your citizenship and knowing who you belong to so many believers begin prayer with God do you hear me sheepishly approaching him wondering if he actually accepts them that's not how Jesus told us to pray he told us to pray from the place of citizenship and sonship from the place of recognizing who we are in him we come from a place of victory the scripture describes us as being seated currently seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus we are victorious the life of the believer is not one of bondage the life of the believer is not one of defeat trials yes persecution yes but defeat no why because even in those trials we are not defeated even if they destroy your body they can do nothing to your soul your soul belongs to the heavenly father and that is our citizenship so number one heaven is a place where we belong perhaps you've walked through this life feeling rejected unaccepted misunderstood maybe you feel like you can never really fit in anywhere maybe you feel like no one ever really understands you like in my case sometimes i think i'm just too charismatic for the baptist and i'm too baptist for the charismatic i wonder what denomination i even fit into sometimes misunderstood yeah people look to you as strange absolutely we are we are strangers in this world so we're going to be a little bit strange not on purpose just out of the very nature of who we are do you realize even if people in this world reject you society rejects you culture rejects you your parents maybe rejected you siblings friends maybe turned on you your father in heaven never does and he embraces you having prepared a place for you which is number two it's a place prepared for us by the lord himself think about wonder of heaven john chapter 14 verses one through three don't let your hearts be troubled trust in god and also trust in me there is more than enough room in my father's home if this were not so what i have told you that i'm going to prepare a place for you when everything is ready i will come and get you so that you will always be with me where i am the lord created this earth in six days on the seventh he rested six days he put this together jesus has been preparing a place for you for over 2000 years and when the time is right then he'll bring you to him do you realize that the earth is the lord's taste people say what will what will heaven be like it will be similar to earth but a much better better version of it why because he created the earth i mean i don't mean to get too philosophical here but i mean trees think about what is a tree what is the ocean what is the sky what are the planets and this comes from the mind of god he creates this place for us he says i've prepared a place for you don't let your heart because at the end of it all have a place for you now go to revelation 21 we're going to glean several different notes from this particular portion of scripture now maybe one day i'll do a full teaching on revelation but much much like my teachings on spiritual warfare and deliverance because i've really dug into the matter it will probably be very different than a lot of what you've been told and and and this is why we as believers have to dedicate ourselves to study study study and be led by the spirit those two keep you grounded the word and spirit word and spirit but anyway that's another time okay verse one and i saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea now this verse gives us an indication of where this would fall in the timeline verse one places the timing of this but look at verse two now and i john saw the holy city new jerusalem coming down from god out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her household so here we see in verses two and then let's read verse three and i heard a great voice out of heaven saying behold the tabernacle of god is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and god himself shall be with them and be their god so in verses two and three number three we see it's a place like a city there's activity there's movement there's interaction i think all too often we fall for the cliches of culture and culture creates cliches that are anti christ this is the mind of god who any who created anything that you could ever enjoy in this world this is the city of god teaming with life there's actual structure it's coherent you're walking around you are sensing you are seeing there are other people there as we'll see in a moment this is the new jerusalem the dwelling place of god's people it's a place like a city and then in verse three we see that it's a place filled with people the scripture tells us that heaven is occupied by the saints anyone who's ever put their faith in christ jesus in the old testament they look forward to the cross in the new testament we look back at the cross but we're all saved by grace through faith because of the work of the cross this means that we will be interacting with patriarchs with prophets they'll be in the city too i don't know maybe heaven has like maybe there's the celebrities of heaven we're all going to know who they are or maybe we'll all just all know each other place filled with people then look at verse four and god shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away verse four tells us very clearly that it's a place of joy and peace and it also tells us that it's a place where there is no death so number one a place where you belong number two a place prepared by the lord for us number three a place like a city number four a place filled with people number five a place filled with peace and joy number six it's a place where there is no death separated by by by the pain of death for those of you who've lost loved ones this is a place where there is no more death think about that well really for all of us but i'm especially making this point for those of you who have lost loved ones you know the pain of that separation you know that sense of finality the shock of having to deal with the reality that you're not ever going to see them on this side of eternity again that's shocking and this is why grief is a lifelong process in many cases because sometimes it's hard to comprehend the finality of that truth the the reality that this individual that you love so much is now separated from but in heaven there is no death death and the grave have been swallowed up our conquering king jesus has defeated death hell and the grave forever doing away with the consequence of sin verse 21 let's jump down there for a second and the 12 gates were 12 pearls every several gates was of one pearl and the street of the city was pure gold as it were transparent glass so there in verse 21 we see that number seven heaven is a place of prosperity this is why i can't understand why so many believers push back against the idea of prosperity now i'm with you in that i think the prosperity message has been greatly abused by people who either had good intentions or bad intentions it doesn't matter what their intentions were it was abused i think sometimes maybe even preachers under pressure will try to manipulate some of the word to to fulfill what they think is god's will but i'm of the belief that we should never do god's work the devil's way and so though i don't believe in what is traditionally called the prosperity gospel this this twisting of the word to use gimmicks and greed to get people to give i do know i do believe i do acknowledge that the scripture is quite clear on the fact that god is a god who brings prosperity now that's not the that's not the highest achievement in the christian's life that's not the goal of the gospel neither is that the core message of the gospel it's not the center of the gospel but prosperity is a biblical reality if prosperity is not the will of god why is heaven so heavenly if prosperity is not the will of god why is heaven so prosperous poverty brings sickness poverty brings death poverty brings sorrow none of these things we find in heaven and we are to establish on earth the kingdom of kingdom culture just as it is in heaven verse 23 jump down there and the city had no need of the sun neither of the moon to shine in it for the glory of god did lighten it and the lamb is the light there uh it's a place of light do you realize that this is the place where sin has finally been dealt with if you're like paul the apostle then sometimes you find yourself asking of yourself why did you do that why are you thinking why is it that the things i want to do sometimes i just can't bring myself to do them and why is it that the things i don't want to do i end up doing so often this is the struggle with the flesh of self and i've said this before but i think it's worth repeating here that when you are saved you're justifying justification is your position then you move into sanctification sanctification is your process glorification is the promise it's where you look like jesus you take on his nature you're not jesus you're not god but you take on that nature you become a reflection of his light not the source of the light itself now when you are justified you are freed from the penalty of sin when you are sanctified you are free from the power of sin but when we stand in glory people of god we will be liberated from the presence of sin once and for all it will never again become an issue for you why because it's a place filled with light the light of the lamb now go to first john chapter three verse two dear friends we are already god's children but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when christ appears but we do know that we will be like him for we will see him as he really is now watch this we're going to do some jumping around go to first grantians 15 now go to verse six first grantians 15 six are you receiving this tonight church do you online let me know live or replay what is blessing you the most what are you looking forward to the most in terms of what we're seeing here in the scripture first grantians 15 six says after that he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time most of whom are still alive though some have died so there it's talking about the bodily resurrection of the lord he came to this earth and resurrected bodily form now go down to verse 20 here of the same chapter first grantians 15 20 but in fact christ has been raised from the dead he is the first of a great harvest of all who have died now again be very careful of the little god's theology we are not little gods turn to your neighbor say you're not a god you can say that with boldness that's okay you guys kind of mumbled that but we're not gods we are reflections we are not the source of light we're the reflections of the light we are of his nature but we are not him and so I think that that this is what many have tried to say in the past that people misunderstand what they're saying but let me be clear you are not gods but you you begin to take on his nature in the heavenly realm his servant his son his child a reflection of that light now go to philippines 321 this is so powerful he will take our weak and mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control there's a lot there but i'll focus on the simpler aspect of the verse our bodies will be made new now i'm young okay i'm gonna i'm gonna i'm just gonna declare that okay i'm young but when i turn 30 i felt like the warranty expired and people tell me i was just having lunch with some friends of mine they said wait till 40 and 50 somebody said hey man but it's true we were these bodies they're decaying now we believe in healing here of course we do we pray for the sick and we trust that god will heal them but we also acknowledge the reality that sometimes people aren't healed do you realize that people's faith has been shipwrecked because they were taught that 100 percent of the time if you just put faith in that you'll get a miracle out and when we tell people that we're causing them to treat god like he's a vending machine god i put my faith in you owe me a miracle that's not biblical because even in believing even in trusting in him we have to acknowledge that he ultimately is sovereign you say brother david aren't you in the healing ministry yes don't you tell people to believe yes faith is our part but healing is his and and even if you disagree theologically none of us can ignore the reality that many people have prayed for their healing and not received it that's a fact we faith doesn't deny that reality that's a fact you guys it's not unbiblical it's not unspiritual it's not doubt filled to say that that is a reality i mean even the fact that somebody's believing for a healing is an acknowledgement that they're sick and so i think that sometimes we get things so twisted and we go so extreme on some ends that it ends up causing people to fall away from the faith because they become disillusioned they've been told it's 100 percent you just believe god has to do it and then when it doesn't happen like they were told it says in the bible then they begin to doubt the word of god we understand miracles do happen we understand the gift of healing is for today we understand that if we put our faith in god yes he can respond with the healing miracle but we also have to acknowledge his sovereignty any belief system or doctrine that does not acknowledge the sovereignty of god leaves room for heresy and this isn't to say that we don't have free will but that's a whole different discussion for a whole different time i say all that to say that the final defeat of sickness is the heavenly body your loved one who is sick even praying for them maybe it's your child maybe it's your sibling maybe it's your parent maybe it's a grandparent and and everything in your heart just says god please do a miracle he may do a miracle on this side of eternity but do you realize that even every single sick individual that jesus laid hands on and healed is either in heaven or hell right now the woman with the issue of blood she's in eternity line bar to mayors he's in eternity the lepers there in eternity the little girl who was raised from the dead she died again and she's in eternity the final hope is the physical glorified body and and when we when we come to this place that sickness won't have your loved one anymore i know of a woman whose whose daughter was born blind she told me she's believing for a miracle she trusts that god can do it she asks him to do it of course matthew seven seven keep asking no problem with that jesus but if he doesn't do it on this side of eternity the first thing my daughter will see is the face of jesus do you see how being eternally minded about these things shifts the perspective to her what would cause us dismay and and hopelessness turns into hope realizing okay we're on we're on this timeline it's it's it's it's just a a dot on the timeline it's not even a dash and and for this split second on this side of eternity we're suffering and then no more and then they'll see again and then they'll hear again and then they'll walk again and then the pain will be gone and the tumors will be gone the body will function as it should and for all eternity just a little bit of suffering not that sickness was brought about by god we can get into all the details later but what i'm saying is this the hope of heaven has with it the hope of that glorified body it's a place where we're like him now first Thessalonians 4 i'm going to show you two more things about heaven and i want to pray for you first Thessalonians 4 go to verse 13 and now dear brothers and sisters we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope for since we believe that jesus died and was raised to life again we also believe that when jesus returns god will bring back with him the believers who have died well we tell you this directly from the lord for the lord himself will come down from heaven with the commending shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of god first the believers who have died will rise from their graves then together with them we who are still alive will remain and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the lord in the air then we will be with the lord forever so i encourage you i encourage each other with these words matthew 17 3 the bible tells us that moses an allusion up here it's a place of resurrection it's a place of life matthew 8 11 look at this and i tell you this that many Gentiles will come from all over the world from east and west and sit down with abraham isaac and jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute i want to show you this here for a second this is powerful matthew 8 11 will sit down with abraham isaac and jacob second samuel 12 23 but why should i fast when he is dead this is david praying for his sick child can i bring him back again his child had died i will go to him one day but he cannot return to me here we see that david says i will go to that child one day luke 10 20 says but don't rejoice because evil spirits obey you rejoice because why your names are what registered in heaven what do all of these verses tell us what we read in matthew what we read in second samuel what we read in luke 10 all of them reveal the fact that we're going to recognize each other in heaven your name the name you have now registered the patriarchs you'll recognize them david was going to recognize his son think about that that david now is with his son who we read about who had died and who knows how this reunion will go this is where things become cloudy and when preachers try to give definite answers on timetables that's where they get into trouble because if you've ever noticed whenever anyone puts together a timeline to say here's how it all happens there's always a hole that can be poked in it i've tried there's a hundred different ways i've tried to arrange that timeline there's always something that i'm missing and this is because we cannot conceptualize what eternity is truly like in terms of how it relates to time here could it be that when we die hopefully decades from now that you'll be walking into heaven at the same time as your loved one who died years ago could it be that when we go up to meet him for them it was a split second and they turn around you're here it's a place of reunion it's a place of joy and number 11 it's a place where we reign go now revelation to 26 to 28 and he that over cometh and keepeth my works into the end him will i give power over the nations he shall rule them with the rod of iron as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken the shivers even as i received in my father and i will give him the morning star first grant the in six two and three or do you not know that the saints will be judged will judge the world think about that the saints judge the world do you not know that we are to judge angels how much more than matters pertaining to this life heaven is a place where the people of god reign this is why i want to fulfill my assignment here and now properly well think of the parable of the talents the master gives to each servant a talent or a portion of talents in proportion to their own abilities then he returns and finds that they've done different things with their various talents now here is the reality that scripture is talking about stewardship and the afterlife and then the master says well done i will give you many more responsibilities i cannot handle my responsibilities on this side of eternity how will i be able to handle my responsibilities on that side of eternity the question to you is this are you living for the now or are you living for eternity are you living for yourself or are you living for god's glory are you living for the kingdom of this heavenly realm to which we have been called or are you living for the kingdom of self you wake up each day and you live your life is it dedicated to the lord can you at the end of the day lay your head on your pillow and say to the lord lord take this day back as an offering unto you what has he called you how has he called you to do it what is he asking of you what cross are you carrying how are you walking according to what god has called you to do ask yourself does the way i live qualify me for more responsibilities in heavenly places does the way i live qualify me for the more i don't know about you but i want to live for eternity i want to live in the light of who he is and what he's called me to do i want to live in the light of the reality that there is a heavenly realm don't forget that you watching online don't forget that this life this life is up let's say you live to be a hundred years old well if you're 25 you live 25 percent of your life assuming you live to be a hundred if you're 50 you're halfway there and by the way the second half will go faster than the first half we have these slices of life that we've been given and then that's it will we be filled with regret because we as the church we don't stand in the judgment of the nations we stand the judgment seat of christ where he judges not our salvation but our works this is why the scripture says that some will enter but barely as escaping through a wall of flames i don't want to come out in the other side smelling like smoke i want to step into eternity and not only be told that i'm welcome with him but to be told that i did well as a good and faithful servant and to be given more responsibilities this life ask yourself that don't you don't have to say it out loud begin to ask yourself that what are you living what is the purpose of this season of your life now this is not a message of condemnation but we do need to challenge ourselves to think like citizens of heaven we are his ambassadors how are we treating that heavenly assignment lift your hands begin praying out loud in the holy ghost church you online just begin to pray pray with us come on church boldly and loudly now pray out loud in the holy ghost and you watching online i want you to begin to pray too join us and begin to surrender join us and begin to ask him to search your heart ask him to begin to reveal things in your life that are compromised that are not completely surrendered ask him to begin to reveal things in your mind ask him to begin to reveal things in your lifestyle in in your words in your relationships in your ministry ask him oh father remove anything from our lives that doesn't glorify you let us be the image bearers of christ lord forgive us for being so focused on the things of this earth that we forget about the things of heaven forgive us for being so focused on the earthly realm that we forget our responsibilities in the heavenly realm right now church it's time to repent i want you online in the comment section just begin to ask the lord to forgive you begin to surrender those things tell him you surrender come on church begin praying praying praying this is the power of the holy ghost he's convicting hearts right now i know that this was an encouragement but it was also a challenge to more it was also a challenge to begin to ascend to higher places in your heart and in your mind it's also a challenge to begin to give your life in a fresh way to the heavenly realm we honor you lord we bless you quenter yende robobo son told father begin to touch our lives afresh kondo robobo center this is the moment now don't don't wait for something to happen don't wait to be given the next directive you you right now in your own heart your own mind begin to repent you watching online begin to repent and as we begin to repent and refocus i believe that that joy of the spirit that joy and that peace will begin to flood our beings against some of us have been blocking that joy and peace because we've been so consumed by the things of this earth and so i want you now just begin to surrender that begin to surrender that we love you lord we thank you we bless you we bless you we bless you we bless you we honor you lord thank you jesus thank you jesus take that moment now holy spirit make your presence known holy spirit make your presence known kondo robobo center yende robobo son told holy spirit let your presence be made manifest no music right now gentlemen no music jesus we bless you now lord i pray this for everyone here and everyone watching right now let them be filled with the joy of the holy ghost oh father help us to place our focus and perspectives and the church said and the church said how many of you were blessed this evening by the message about heaven i want to take a moment now to talk to you about your support of this ministry i'll keep it real simple and i can still see by the way those watching online oh my goodness we have a an audience online from a what a what a global audience you watching live or on the replay i pray that you were blessed by this message as well and this challenge is for you too you know i talk a lot about i talked i should say a lot about heaven tonight and the fact that we should be focused on the heavenly realm and so i want to challenge you here and now and those you watching live or on the replay to begin to put resources into god's ministry this is not my ministry i'm a steward i'm a caretaker of this ministry but this ultimately belongs to the lord and we have to come back to the place as believers where we are so sold and convinced on souls that we are generous toward the work of the gospel now most of us we're generous toward the work of the gospel we give we support that's the average believer but i think many believers in this season because of the fear that's being thrown around on the airwaves and through the news and media and so forth many have begun to pull back when this is not the season to pull back this is the season to move forward this is a season of advancement and so i want to challenge you tonight maybe you're watching and the lord has put it on your heart to partner with this ministry but you haven't done it yet see many times our nature says god you show me i'll believe god says believe and i'll show you god if you bless me i'll start to give god says give and i'll start to bless you i'm asking you to trust the promises of god and his word and i know as i said you're generous you have that in your heart but sometimes fear can block us from doing so so you watching online i want you to go right now to david hernan's ministries dot com slash donate give a one-time gift or become a monthly ministry supporter or if the holy spirit should lead you do both but those of you who are here we're going to pass out some envelopes right this moment and we're going to get those to you and you can fill those out this is going to be one way that you can support the ministry also you can give using the qr code and the qr code is i believe on the screens and if it's not on the screen it'll be on the envelopes you can scan that image on your phone and when you scan it a link will pop up and then you'll be able to click that link and of course go right to giving but all of this is going to go toward the work of the ministry the ministry is advancing the ministry is growing we are seeing soul save bodies healed the oppressed being delivered we're seeing the believer empowered and it's happening on a massive scale and the ministry is growing from month to month the favor of the Lord is on this work so we want you to get connected with this ministry through your support of it and as i said those of you watching can use that link on the screen it's also uh being posted by our channel in the comment section and those of you here you can use the envelope i recommend honestly if you're giving here in person i recommend the qr code because it's faster it's easier and you don't have to fill everything out you know sometimes we as spirit-filled believers do unintentionally also write in tongues so it may not be as clear and so we're going to ask you if it's easier you can actually just use the qr code and it's it's a way that you can support just by punching in the numbers and it'll all be used on the back end and it's much simpler that way but i can see the various people giving online right now from all around the world i also see the many comments coming in again this is for you watching live or on the replay because i think sometimes we have the tendency to say oh well i'm just a viewer on youtube or on facebook and so we kind of just leave after that but no i'm challenging you to because everybody is doing their part people here are doing their part people watching online are doing their part everyone should do their part so that the gospel can continue to go forward so that we might continue to impact the nations of the world through media and events so i can see benjamin gave a one-time gift thank you benjamin and omar and mariam thank you for your support thank you tito for becoming a monthly partner thank you claire for becoming a monthly partner erica for your one-time gift thank you maribel for becoming a partner uh thank you to harriet who gave a one-time gift and i'm seeing these all coming on my phone rapidly so thank you for your support just go right now david hernan isministries.com slash donate your support makes all the difference in the world and you who are here in person you're using those envelopes or that qr code it's necessary and god will bless it i'm telling you i'm asking the lord to bless our partnership and by that i don't necessarily mean that god bless us because he'll do that he'll bless the giver what i'm asking is that the lord would bless our efforts for soul winning i'm going to pray that your resources become a weapon in the hand of the father that he might use them to break the power of the enemy in the name of jesus and the church said it's about the kingdom advancing we don't give to get we got quiet in here we don't give to get sure god will bless you we give the gospel might go forward plain and simple so one more time you're watching online david hernan isministries.com slash donate and i believe i've given everyone here enough time to fill that out can we do this can we begin to just pass the buckets around and i want to thank those of you for joining us online thank you for your viewership thank you for your support thank you for your prayers we honor we bless you and we pray that you were blessed by this message by this ministry if you enjoyed this content then i encourage you to head over to youtube.com slash encounter tv and subscribe to my channel it's under my name david digger hernan is if you haven't done so already make sure that you're subscribed