Jesse Duplantis - Heaven: Close Encounters of the God Kind

HEAVEN

Close Encounters of the God Kind by Jesse Duplantis

Contents

Introduction

1 The First Close Encounter With God

2 "Fear God, Boy!"

3 Saved, Then Called To Preach

4 My Experience With Angels

5 I Was Translated by God

6 My Trip to Heaven

7 I Saw Kids in Heaven With Jesus

8 Lessons From Heaven

9 I Saw God's Throne

10 God Will Wipe Away All Tears

11 Back Home Again

12 Everyone Was a Team Player in Heaven

Conclusion

Heaven: Selected Scripture References

Introduction

In this book I share some of the events that have happened to me personally in my relationship with God. I call them close encounters of the God kind. One of the events I share about in this book is my trip to heaven in 1988.

For a long time after it happened, I talked only a little about that trip until the Lord began releasing me to say some things. Sometimes people want to take an experience they hear like that and; because it's so glorious, so totally awesome; run with itconcentrate on it. I loved and enjoyed my trip to heaven and believe you'll be blessed reading about it. But what keeps us in relationship with the Lord is daily growing in the Word of God. Faith isn't created by hearing about an experience someone has had with God; Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).

From my trip, I understood heaven in a truly physical sense. It's a real place. I know that heaven is a fact. It's beyond a hope; to me it's the reality. But people don't have to believe methe proof of what I experienced is the fruit in the lives of the people who receive the message.

People have asked me, "Why did the Lord take you to heaven?" I didn't know. He could have taken one of them, and He may stillI'm not a unique individual by any means. But then one day it dawned on me why He took me to heavenI do just love my Jehovah God! I'm willing to give Him anything I have, and I know He's willing to give me everything He has.

I'm a man who believes in taking steps by faith. I won't stay in the boat; I'm going to walk on that water! My feet may get wet and I might sink a few times, but I know that Jesus will always be out there on that water, and He always is. Before I go down, I grab for His feet.

Then He picks me up, dries me off and sends me on across that sea.

There's nothing we can't do through Christ Jesus. As God's Word says, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth (Mark 9:23).

The description of heaven in this book is a prophecy. The Lord has wonderful things in store both on earth and in heaven for usHe blesses abundantly those who know, love and obey Him. He said, "Tell them I'm coming." He took me all the way to heaven to say that to me!

I saw the great compassion Jesus has for those who haven't received Him as Savior. I came back more compelled than ever to tell people about Him!

As you read, judge this message for yourself. Does it witness with your spirit? Does it minister to you? Does it bring fruit into your life?

If it does, then I know you will want to join me and tell them He's coming!

C H A P T E R O N E

The First Close Encounter With God

I call the types of experiences I relate in this book close encounters of the God kind. When God gets close to you, your spirit will know it, your soul will know it and your body will know it!

In Genesis 1:26-28 let's look at what we might call the very first close encounter of the God kind.

And God said, Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness.. Genesis 1:26

Do you want to know what God looks like? He looks like you and me. We're made in His image.

People who hear me preach sometimes ask me, "Why do you act the way you do, Brother Jesse? You're so expressive!" I act that way because I'm made in God's likeness.

Let me tell you something about God: He isn't quiet. He's a noisy God. He's theatrical in the things He does. He expresses what He feels.

Think about that. He is an all-consuming, powerful God.

So God said:

Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it. Genesis 1:26-28

It was odd to me that God would use a word like subdue in such a perfect society as was in the beginning. But God was hinting to Adam, letting him know what was to come. He was giving Adam a clue that, even in a perfect society, there would be things that got out of line.

That's why God used such a strong Hebrew word, telling Adam to subdue the earth.

God was warning Adam about the snake that would come with its mouth open. He was hinting to Adam: "That snake will start talking to your wife and try to mess up everything that was created. You have to shut him up! You have dominion over everything I have created, so subdue it! Put it down!"

But Adam didn't do what God told him to do. He missed God's hint. He was thinking about being fruitful and multiplying and replenishing the earth. He forgot about subduing.

In a sense, the first close encounter of the God kind came through Adam. Notice God didn't curse Adam and his wife; He blessed them.

Scripture says:

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.. (v. 28).

Adam is the only man in the flesh who actually saw Jehovah God face to face and lived. Adam had in him Jehovah Himself. Adam had the very essence of Who God is. God was two inches from Adam's nose when He breathed life into him, and Adam became a living soul.

The Bible says:

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7

It wasn't like God gave Adam CPR to fill his lungs with oxygen. If God had done that, He would have held Adam by the nose and breathed into his mouth. But this Scripture says God breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life. After life had been breathed into Adam, he opened his eyes; then he saw the Creator.

That was the first close encounter of the God kind.

Adam's physical body was not created; his body was formed out of the dust of the ground. It was his soul, or his spirit, that was created. That's when God instilled life into man.

When someone dies, the opposite occurs. God is there to receive that breath of life back to Himself. When God breathes out, things come alive. When He inhales, that life goes back into Him. Think about that.

When my mother died, I heard her breathe her last breath. God spoke to me then and said, "I just did to your mama the same thing I did to Adam." God had breathed life into my mother when she was coming into this earth. He then received that life-given breath back unto Himself as she was going out. That's a close encounter of the God kind.

If you go through the Bible, you'll find many of those encounters like with Noah, Abraham and Moses.

Jacob really had a close encounter of the God kind: Genesis 32:24 says that he wrestled all night long with a Man (as The Amplified Bible puts it). That Man was the angel of the Lord!

Gideon had a close encounter of the God kind. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.. Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? (Judges 6:12,14).

When he heard this, Gideon thought, Who is he talking to? It can't be me. Why would the Lord choose me to do this? I'm just trying to beat out a living here on this thrashing floor. My family is poor, and I am the least in my father's house. I'm not a likely person for Him to pick! (v. 15, author's paraphrase).