Hank Hanegraaff - AfterLife: What You Really Want to Know About Heaven

After Life

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HEAVEN,

THE HEREAFTER & NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES

HANK HANEGRAAFF

Copyright 2013 by Hank Hanegraaff

Published by Worthy Publishing, a division of Worthy Media, Inc., 134 Franklin Road, Suite 200, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027.

H ELPING PEOPLE EXPERIENCE THE HEART OF G OD

eBook available at www.worthypublishing.com

Audio book distributed through Brilliance Audio; visit www.brillianceaudio.com

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012950269

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.

Scripture quotations marked RSV are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Copyright 1946, 1952, 1971, 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from The Holy Bible, King James Version, and are public domain.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Italics added in Scripture quotations are the authors emphasis.

Before reading the book, you may find it helpful to look at the glossary for explanations of terms that may be unfamiliar.

For foreign and subsidiary rights, contact Riggins International Rights Service, Inc., www.rigginsrights.com

ISBN: 978-1-61795-081-0 (hardcover w/jacket)

ISBN: 978-1-61795-208-1 (international trade papaer)

Cover Design: Christopher Tobias, Tobias Outerwear for Books

Cover Image: Neo Edmund/Fotolia

Interior Design and Typesetting: Kimberly Sagmiller, Fudge Creative

Printed in the United States of America

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To Paul Stephen
a son who puts a smile on my face
and a healthy dose of pride in my heart

My wife, Leslie, walked into our bedroom one August nightand there she saw me, unconscious on the floor. She immediately called the paramedics, and I vaguely remember being loaded into the ambulance. At the hospital, I was sufficiently conscious for the physicians words to register with full force: Youre one step away from a coma, two steps away from dying.

A cascade of medical issues had put me on the edge of death. And I can tell you from personal experience that at times like this the subject of the afterlife is more than just a dry academic topic. When you might very well be on the verge of leaving this world, it becomes critically urgent to know what awaits you in the next.

By Gods grace, I was released from the hospital after more than a week of intensive treatment, and today my overall health has been restored. But that frightening episode was a stark reminder that someday I will close my eyes for the final time in this world. What will happen when I reopen them? And how about you: what will you face when you pass from this existence into the one that follows?

My friend Hank Hanegraaff provides clear, concise, and compelling answers to questions like these in his book AfterLife. He explores the topics that typically befuddle people, such as: Is there really a heaven? Is so, what will it be like? What about hell? Is the popular portrayal of fire and brimstone accurate? Is there such a place as purgatory? Most important of all, how can I know for sure that I will be in the presence of God forever?

Building on a strong foundation of biblical teaching, Hank covers these questions as well as an impressive array of related subjects, ranging from whether ghosts are real (dont bet on it); whether near-death experiences reveal anything certain about eternity (not so much); and even whether we will enjoy sex in heaven (youll have to read the book!). While a few issues in this book fall outside my scope of expertise, such as how the end times will unfold, I always find Hanks perspective to be provocative and worthy of full consideration.

Lets face it: nothing is more important or relevant than how you will spend eternity. Rather than traffic in speculation or unanchored opinions, Hank consistently turns to the Book that offers the ultimate answers. As he does on his Bible Answer Man radio program, Hank measures his answers by the teachings of Scriptureand then he explains them in terms that each of us can understand and apply.

I dont want to spoil the ending, but theres good news in this book: hope is available to each of us through Christ! As you journey toward that encouraging conclusion, youll find cogent responses to many of your pressing questions about the world to come.

As someone who came within two steps of death, Im thrilled to know there are answers that will calm our mindsand satisfy our souls.

L EE S TROBEL
AUTHOR , T HE C ASE FOR C HRIST AND T HE C ASE FOR F AITH

Aim at Heaven and you will get earth thrown in; aim at earth and you will get neither.

C. S. L EWIS

You and I are designed to live forever.

Put another way, death is not the end. Death is, in reality, entrance into a brand-new sphere of existence. For like the caterpillar, we will be transformed. The analogy is both breathtaking and instructive. For though the caterpillar dies, yet will it live. Indeed, its chrysalis is in essence a casket in which the caterpillar experiences both ruin and resurrection. During this intermediate phase, constituent parts devolve into a mysterious molecular mixture. Then the extraordinary happens: eyes that once could only distinguish between light and darkness are transformed into majestic orbs with a field of vision and color acuity that exceeds our own. Wings appear as if by magic. An indescribably complex reproductive systemwholly absent in the caterpillaremerges mysteriously. An unimaginable strawlike proboscis emerges, allowing the resurrected creature to indulge in the nectar of a brand-new life. The transformed being that emerges is simply beyond belief!

Correspondence to our death and resurrection is remarkable. For, like the caterpillar, we, too, will experience a majestic metamorphosis through three distinct phases of life.

First, there is life in the present. When your mother conceived you she did not merely conceive your body; she conceived both the physical and the metaphysical aspects of your humanity. From the moment you were knit together in your mothers womb you manifested all the criteria of biological life, including metabolism, development, cell reproduction, and the ability to react to stimuli. Moreover, you were endowed by your Creator with a distinct genetic code. Though your personality was far from fully developed, you were fully a person from the moment of your conception. From that moment to the moment of death you can rightly be said to be experiencing the nectar of life. But death is not the end!