 with all these stories about people dying and going either to heaven or hell and then coming back. Are any of those true? No. Hey smart Christians welcome back. One of the questions that gets asked quite a bit is about these stories where people say they have died and then either gone to hell and come back or have gone to heaven and then come back. The issue is or the question is are they telling the truth? Now first of all it's possible that a person can genuinely believe that they went to heaven or went to hell and came back and that they then have a purpose for coming back. Many people who say they went to heaven when they say they came back they came back to let us know about how great that heaven is and then many of the people who say that they have gone to hell and have come back have come back to warn us about the torment that awaits anyone who has not come to Christ. These accounts are not just specific to the Christian faith. There are people in other different faiths that have the same sort of accounts even atheists and it's always something different. Now is that true and what does the Bible say about that? We do have some passages that kind of shed light on this a little bit. Now I want to stick with the New Testament because there are some Old Testament examples, well some Old Covenant examples, examples that happened under the Old Covenant where there was someone who died and then came back. We think about Elijah, we think about Moses, we think about Samuel, but right now since the death burial and resurrection of Christ does that happen? Well one of the passages that tells us that gives us a little bit of insight on when a person dies if they go to heaven or hell there's a passage that we just cannot overlook when someone says they've gone to hell. Now they're coming back to warn us about the dangers or the torment that awaits someone who goes to hell. Recall the story of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke chapter 16 and we'll start at verse 27 and this is the rich man saying I beg you father to send me to my father's house for I have five brothers so that he may warn them lest they also come into this place of torment. But Abraham said they have Moses and the prophets let them hear them and he said no father Abraham but if someone goes to them from the dead they will repent and look what he says he said to them if they do not hear Moses and the prophets neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. So here we're told that even someone coming back from the dead to warn them they still won't repent if that's if the word isn't enough then you coming back from the dead won't be enough either and that if it was true then then wouldn't it be true now and so that kind of colors the way we would look at someone who would say something like that that they came back from the dead again not to say that they don't believe that they died and went to hell or to heaven again you can feel a certain way and that it not be true. Remember we are told in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 27 says that just as it is a point to man to die once and after that comes the judgment and so that seems to state that once you die there's judgment you are going to give an account at that moment and it doesn't seem like you're going to be coming back from that after that after death then comes a judgment and then also add in what Paul says Paul says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 80 says yes we are of good courage and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord and then other verses say to be added from the body is to be present with the Lord meaning that once you leave this shell this body once you die then you go to be present with the Lord that is if you are a believer. Now you don't get to heaven if you're not a believer so if anyone is making any statement about going to heaven having not become a Christian first well that's that's one reason why you would automatically discount that but then even here if you are a Christian you're not coming back to earth for any reason there's nothing that you could possibly tell them that is more than them having the gospel. Now I know what some people are going to say they're going to say what about Paul didn't Paul go to the third heaven well let's look a bit closer and see if we can find an answer in chapter 12 verse 2 he says I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven whether in the body or out of the body I do not know God knows and we could stop there the issue is was Paul taken up to heaven did Paul see heaven now he says either in the body either physically he went or as a vision out of the body well I'm going to say that what Paul was given was a vision and not an actual bodily experience for one Paul's body could not go to heaven because Paul has a corruptible body Paul has a sinful body and when we go to heaven we either go as a spirit or we take on an incorporeal body given a brand new glorified body well Paul hadn't been given that at that point and so what Paul I believe is saying is that this was very real and God is giving him basically a glimpse of what is going to come now does that mean that that's going to happen with anyone else well first of all Paul is a little different this is Paul after all but what people are saying that they have seen and what Paul is speaking of are two different things Paul is saying that he's gotten a glimpse of what's to come but I don't think Paul received the full glimpse a full view of what heaven is like unlike these other folks who are saying that they actually went to heaven and saw it maybe they even saw some people there maybe they saw God they saw they saw one of the Old Testament saints or one of the New Testament believers but there's another passage that I think that Paul says that would shed even more light on this and kind of make this even clearer now remember when Paul makes his statement in 2 Corinthians he's speaking about something that happened 14 years earlier so the passage that we're getting ready to read is after what Paul stated this is in 1 Corinthians and in chapter 12 verse 9 he says but as it is written what no eye has seen nor ear heard nor heart of man imagine what God has prepared for those who love him so what Paul is saying that no eyes or ear have seen uh who those of us who love the Lord what the Lord has in store for us so for someone to come back and say and this would even apply to Paul no one has been able to see this again this is after Paul's account this was after the time that he said that he uh was taken up in in in this vision and so even Paul is still stating that no eyes have seen nor or nor ears have heard uh that includes him and so for anyone else to say that they have seen or have heard uh anything from God while in heaven and then was sent back again how did you get there uh in the body that you're in and if they say it was a vision again Paul just addressed that and then certainly if a person would were to say that they went to hell and came back well no uh you go to hell you're staying there you go to heaven you don't want to come back you're not coming back and so I think it's a pretty safe bet to say that though someone may have had a what they felt like was a real vision a real occurrence that it's not true uh and here's the truth if the scriptures aren't enough to convince you of Christ if the scriptures aren't enough uh to convince you of the reality of hell and heaven well then someone going to heaven or hell and coming back that won't do it either amen