Postcards from Heaven: Heaven imagined & reported

8/14/2019 Postcards from Heaven: Heaven imagined & reported

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Postcards from Heaven

www.postcardsfromheavenbook.com


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Also by Martin Van Horn

When He Speaks:Deciphered Scripture, Inspired Poetry, andan Outpouring of Blessings.

www.whenhespeaks.com


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f r o m H ea v enHeaven imagined and reported

Martin Van Horn

Life Connections MediaLouisville, Kentucky


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Postcards from Heaven Copyright 2011 by Martin Van Horn. Allrights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoeverwithout written permission except in the case of brief quotationsembodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, visitwww.postcardsfromheavenbook.com or address Life ConnectionsMedia, 657 South Hurstbourne Pkwy, Suite 259, Louisville, KY 40222.

Life Connections Media books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. For information please write:Life Connections Media, 657 South Hurstbourne Pkwy, Suite 259,Louisville, KY 40222.

To book Martin Van Horn for a speaking engagement, visit www.whenhespeaks.com.

For more information about this book or other materials from LifeConnections Media, visit www.lifeconnectionsmedia.com

FIRST EDITION

Designed by Joel Van Horn

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-PublicationData has been applied for.

ISBN-13: 978-0615518015


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Acknowledgements

It pays to ask God your questions. I was reading Romans chap-ter 8 and I asked Him, What is my inheritance with Christ?There was no immediate answer, but in the following monthsI was privileged to dialog with Him further. I asked, Why isrevival singing so loud? Because Heaven is loud, He said.Receiving immediate answers to questions makes for excitingBible study! Each new insight led to another, expanding mysense of the holy rock concert, love feast, garden library and

military training camp that is Heaven.I want to thank some of the people who encouraged me asI turned the Bibles descriptions into my stories and poems.Sharon Van Horn and Mary Thompson, my fellow directors at

would be a blessing to many. Joel and Rebekka Van Horn pro-vided invaluable editing, graphics and layout services. Don and

Whitney Moore, Pat and Debbie Pazdziora and Mike Hendrengave me vital feedback. Thanks go to countless friends who

-tria. I also want to thank Dr. Brian Simmons of Gateway Chris-tian Fellowship for providing a spiritual atmosphere where myreceptivity to Gods communication was cultivated.

My privilege has been to share my pictures of our futureHome with dear ones preparing to go there. I think of David

with us but ready to go any time the Lord comes for them. If I

for His children then I am grateful.


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Foreword

A Foreword by Simon Peter, one of The Twelve and an Apostle,a Sent One, who is enthralled by Jesus Christ:

Written to all of you, who are equally precious to Him,because you trust in the righteous life of our God and Rescuer, Jesus Christ. May you experience more and more of the graceand peace in God and Jesus, our Lord.

Each of us has experienced this Person, who wooed us by

His own glory and beautiful character. He decided to entrustto us everything He had in His divine power to make our livesexciting and godly. We have read of His precious commitmentto us in His overwhelming promises: in fact He has workedout a way to have us share in His divine nature. We have

-stroying the world through our human lusts.

But dont let your experience stop at your decision totrust your life to the Lord; you need to grow into this divinepotential. Dont fall back into the enticements of the world.You need to actively apply yourself to expanding your faith.You fell in love with Jesus wonderful character, His love and

develop your character to be like His. Of course, you will need

-


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Martin Van Horn xii

pline and self-control to keep learning and developing.

would like, so you will need patience and marathon-runningendurance. Eventually your human resources will run out,so you will fall into the Lords arms and receive His graceand power. This will bring you into new depths of prayer andworship. As you worship Him, He will give you His heart for your believing brothers and sisters. You will open yourself tothem and learn to love them, but when you get hurt, turn tothe Lord, who is the great Lover, and the only source of the

divine love that never quits.I am describing a process, not just a goal. In your grow-ing, you will not dry up or be unproductive. In fact you willexperience more of our Lord Jesus Christ, learning to see touch you, which has not already hurt Him. We dare not be-come religious, just setting up rules for ourselves, as though

out how wonderful He is in His love and how much He has to

cleansing you from old feelings, habits, and unholy ways.Dont stop growing. Remember how He wooed you and

alive every day. I dont want you to stumble and fall, no mat-

at Home in the Eternal World than in this one. All of your-

warded. You will be greeted by all those who have been blessedby your life, when you enter the gates of the Eternal Kingdom

rich you were down here on earth, in His kingdom you willbe welcomed and recognized and richly rewarded by the KingHimself.

Rejoice today in the people along the parade route, who

beautiful divine character and glory.We are awaiting the new heavens and a new earth with

which He promised to replace this one. They will be through


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Postcards from Heaven xiii

and through right and lovely. Therefore, my beloved brothersand sisters, actively cleanse your lives of any spots and blem-ishes Jesus points out. That way you will already be at peacewith Him when He comes back to earth to do away with theold and bring in His new world.

Peter was encouraging believers to persevere and growand look forward to arriving in heaven. I wrote Postcards fromHeaven to my son and daughter and to you for the same pur-poses. I want to thrill to my grand entrance through the Pearly

Gates of Jesus Kingdom. Thats why I seek to mature in pleas-ing my Lord every day. My joy on that day will only be an ouncecompared to the Heavenly Fathers ton of excitement.

This book represents my invitation along with the call of the Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit to come join us andcelebrate your arrival at our eternal Home.


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Prologue

This is it! My end is near. You only know where you put yourhope when there is nothing left to hope for.

Lying here looking up at the patchy ceiling of the clinicroom, I can think of all the things I want to happen that arentgoing to happen. I want to get out and tell people the truth. Iwant to see you again and hug you and tell you I have alwaysloved you dearly and I always will. I want to be healthy andpain-free again, just like in the days of jogging and sleeping and

healthy food. But that will be no more....I always said, I put my hope in God, in what His Son Jesusdid for me. Today it had better be real. No more trying to be-lieve. Either I do or I dont. I prayed so often to change peopleand circumstances. Now I cant change anything. No health, nomoney, no freedom are left. Whats done is done.

What will happen when I die? Will I be condemned for fail-ures? For missing the goals I wanted to set? Will I be ashamedto see Him and be compared to all the heroes of heaven? Willthe King give me thumbs upor thumbs down?

nearer by the hour. The tormentors voices whisper, All invain! Woe to you, weak fool! Lecherous glutton! What makesyou think youre going to have it any better now? You lose!Patients are kept separated, so we cant encourage each other in

our end of life desperation.But I know who my hope is. He has always been there forme. We have walked together all these years, since He came tome with good news. My sin, my crookedness, my shame, myweakness were taken away. How? He took them upon Himself!He wont change when I see Him face to face. Thats why I havehope, when there is nothing else to hope for.


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Martin Van Horn xvi

I feel weaker. Cant think very well. Should I say I give in?

But, look! I can see them! Theyre coming for me!


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Postcards from Heaven


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D e a r

B e k k a & J o e l

P o s t c a r d s

f r o m

H e a v e n

H e a v e n I m a g

i n e d a n

d R e p o r

t e d

b y M a r

t i n V a n

H o r n

W o w , k

i d s , I

c a n

h a r d

l y b e l i e v e I v e a r r i v e

d !

O u t o f

t h e d a r k n e

s s

I n t o t h e l i g h

t

L e a v i n g

t h e f a m i

l i a r

B u r s

t i n g i n t o a n e w w o r l d o f

l i f e

W h e r e a m I

? W h o w i l l I

b e ?

L i k e a

b a b y b e i n g b o r n

I m a n a d u

l t r e

b o r n

i n t o a w o r l d o f

l i g h t

E y e s a s

t o n i s h e d

M o u t h a g a p e

B e t t e r

t h a n I c o u l d h a v e i m a g

i n e d

T h i s i s r e a

l i t y

H e a v e n

i s o u r H o m e


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Martin Van Horn 2

The last few minutes were terrible! I was weak and disori-

into awareness. Soon the pain drifted from my consciousnessand everything around me seemed far away. As I closed myeyes, I was not sure what I was seeing. I said I was ready to go,and then Someone else took over. I just went along for the ride.Light came at me, from in front or above, I cant say. Two angelswere suddenly on either side of me. Their sense of authorityand peace rolled over me like a breaking wave. I was in goodhands, supremely sturdy hands.

You know the descriptions: young, manly, dressed in blaz-ing white with gold bands across their chests, a sword at theirwaists. It was a shock to see and touch them: they were real! It

dont sense it. In my situation, the angels werent the only invis-ible characters coming after me.

The Dark Angels had assigned some demons to try one lasttime to grab me and drag me down to darkness with them. Theyare so damnably persistent, even though they know I belongto the One who bought me and keeps me. I could look downand see the gray-green, shadowy hounds of darkness snarlingat my feet, trying to hold me with their claws and intimidate mewith their fangs and cold breath. They are ugly gargoyles, dark,cold, smelly and nasty. As though I were like all the mortals be-ing dragged into the maw of their Prince with the heart of ice,

about me, they tried one more time to paint me as black as theyare. I would indeed have been a lecherous glutton, a waveringcoward, a puny failure, if I had not been cleansed. By myself Iprobably would have fainted into their wide-open fangs.

Praise God, they are no match for holy angels. There was

of Satan! And it was over. The two angels had their swordsdrawn, but were just as serene as if the demons were not thereat all. All in an eternitys work for them, I guess. Grace andMercy introduced themselves as my Companions. They said itwas their privilege to escort the Fathers child to His Home. I

amount of time. Always more light, brighter and brighter blue-


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Postcards from Heaven 3

white light gave the only direction.Instead of staring up at the ceiling, I was looking down at

my body and wondering who that was down there on the cot.In the permeating white light: earth and you, my loved ones,were far away. I even forgot I was leaving everyone behind.That time seems so long ago, so much has happened.

I have no idea how long it has been for you since I left you behind. I decided to send you a few postcards describing whatthe human heart longs for: this place called Home. Because ithas always been Gods Home and He is a big God: it is a vast

place, busy with fascinating scenery, people, Beings, music, per-fumes and activities. Earth was always intriguing, but Homegoes beyond human imagining, so please be patient.

Its all Ive ever dreamed! And its so much more besides!No wonder the others, who wrote before me, said that theirwords couldnt describe this place. So how strange that I amtrying to tell you what it is like up here. Now that Ive settledin, I know this is where Ive always wanted to be. People ev-erywhere below have longed to be in this place, but never werequite sure it was real. Well, it is real, more real than anything onearth. There is such harmony among all the people and Beingsand the plants and animals, that we are all glad it will always be this way.

it would take a lifetime to describe. But thats your lifetime Im

talking about. I have the time. Mine will be a life of unending, joyful surprises. Its a good thing I left my old body behind. Itwas getting pretty tired, and Im sure it couldnt stand the pace.

First, the light: everywhere Im penetrated by light. Forcenturies visionaries have exclaimed over the loving, peace-ful white light of glory. That is what visitors experience whohave to go back to earth. Paradise is a garden where everythingshines so brightly that the air and the mountains all look whiteto earthlings. But there is more. The Lord of Glory has a thronefrom which He rules the universe. He shines like brilliant bluelightning. The throne is surrounded by a rainbow of light thatlooks like the sparkling green of an emerald.

Ever see a healthy plant with not just shiny leaves, but also a bright light inside? Of course not! Well, here the trees shine be-


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Martin Van Horn 4

cause they too are penetrated by light: polished bronze, brass,gold. They are not dark trunks, green leaves, and bright blos-

the Throne itself. Its the opposite of Earths yellow sun and

yielding precious jewels for blossoms!The rocks sparkle green, blue, yellow, white, and on and

bulb. On earth, if the sun went dark, there would be no light. AtHome you dont see any sun, because everything shines. Back

then I would have had to put on sunglasses to stand this glare, but here I have new eyeballs, built for this radiance. My skinwould have scorched but now I have a new body that glows

Are the rocks and trees and grass hot from glowing? I canttell any more. If you touch the photograph of hot, glowing redcharcoal, is the photo hot? No, but you know the coals are sup-posed to be burning hot. Thats what this place looks like. Its just that I must be as hot as every object around me.

And then theres the sound, the music in the air. My earsmust be new as well, because how could you stand a 24-hour

power this concert for more than a million ticket holders. Whenthe Source of All Power thunders His love and the lightning bolts dazzle our hearts, the waterfall voices vibrate our bodies

up without ever wearing us out. Back at Madison Square Gar-den I wore earplugs to make that music livable. Joel, you saidyour ears were ringing afterward. In your friends truck, hissubwoofer boomed but crushed my lungs so I couldnt breathe.Think how much our new bodies have to endure in the concertof glory. Worship streams from the beautiful Composer into ourhearts and back out again through our lips. Together our voices

We all can hear and sing along all the time. And the Leadersvoice! Sweet and overwhelming at the same time, we all stop tolisten and sing along. Then every so often a whole group ar-rives. Their Enemy on Earth released them to come Home andthey get together to sing a New Song. I never get tired of being


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Martin Van Horn 6

and my mortal friends behind. People used to call my leavingmy birthday, but now we just call it death. They used to rejoice, because we are following our Lord, who died but roseup from the grave and went to heaven to prepare the way forthe rest of us. So departing earth actually means birthdayin heaven. We used to celebrate you kids, bringing togetherfriends, food, decorations, fun and presents. Well, thats the cel-ebration that surprised me here.

Ive only given you hints of the life here. I have to bring you

into contact with the Host, whose Home this is. We humansare invited children, formed by Him to share His love and Hiswork. We can only enter in if we have been prepared. Wantingto come or trying to be good enough for the guest list dont cut

Himself.

reality said, Aha! to the lure of delight beyond any passing

Him. Here I come! In my heart I knew the One who created me also loved me.

to have me: not a thing, but instead His dear child, His son.

was enough, I trusted it was enough for me. The Host invitedme and cleansed me, so I knew I would get through the door.But just as my mortal body could not stand up to the light, heat,

I must tell you how He made me adequate, not just for thisplace but also for His presence.


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D e a r

B e k k a & J o e l

P o s t c a r d s

f r o m

H e a v e n

H e a v e n I m a g

i n e d a n

d R e p o r

t e d

b y M a r

t i n V a n

H o r n

I m

s o g l a d m y

i n s e c

u r i t i e s w e r e

u n j u s t i f i e d .

N o w

I c a n r e l a

x .

F e a r a n

d T r e m

b l i n g

L i v i n g i n g o d

l y f e a r o f t

h e O n e w h o

J u d g e s a l l m e n a t

H i s T h r o n e

A h e a

d , s e e i n g

t h e g a

t e o f p e a r

l

T h e w a

l l s o f

d i a m o n d

T h e

s t r e e t s

o f g o

l d

W h a t w i l l I

h a v e t o h e a r

?

S u r p r

i s e P a r

t y !


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Martin Van Horn 8

Dear Bekka and Joel,

Somehow I knew when we three had arrived. The white

people clothed in shimmering white robes. I also knew the Onethere to meet me.

-

-

most knocked me over. Jesus! was all I said. Like his friend John visiting heaven, I wanted to fall on my face. I wanted topour out thanks for loving me, cleaning me, rescuing me fromthe Dark Angels and their prince, bringing me to his Home, be-ing there for me. All these feelings exploded in me at once. Outof my mouth came only, I love you.

with wonder at His glory and beauty. I wanted to spend therest of my days with Him. Then I fell down on my face, over-whelmed, if not crushed, with the privilege of being here andseeing Him as He really is. Seeing Him meant seeing me, a poorcreation out of dust, now a friend of the Almighty Friend, theRuler of the universe.

Then His voice washed over me, Get up, Martin. Hereached down to lift me. His touch and His voice made me

sparkle inside. I laughed, I cried, I leaped up and spun around,arms in the air. Only as I was spinning did I start to notice mysurroundings.

My Lord Jesus was in front of me and I had the impressionwe were in a vast open colonnade with a wide avenue leadinginto the distance. My Hosts face glowed golden brown with

-fully vigorous. Everyone I had ever met on earth wanted some-thing from meapproval, love, help, words or whatever. Nowin front of me stood One who wanted and needed nothing fromme, but only poured out eagerness and understanding. Heloves me because He wants to, and He acts as though He reallylikes me. Because Hes glad Im here, I am too. I just love Him


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He gestured to come with Him down the avenue. As wewalked, I stared at him. Jesus glows with life, and everythingaround us shines, but we were heading toward a more gloriouslight. I can only compare it to standing in a sunlit forest, walk-ing toward the sunrise coloring the sky with more and more

impression was false. We were not surrounded by mere stonecolumns, but by rows of people of all races and expressions, all

glad they were to see me.

We couldnt be strangers, even though some of us weregrandfathers, my great-grandparents too. They did not look old, or frail, or old-fashioned. They looked as they must haveappeared in their twenties or thirties. As we hugged I heard,We knew youd come. Weve been praying for you and thefamily a long, long time. I want to hear their life stories. Yetwhile they are special as family, its as though our family had boomed a million times.

Antoine and Piquet thanked me for sending money so theycould have food in Haiti. Zhang thanked me for praying forChina, so he could preach the Gospel. Karl gripped me andthanked me for handing him that tract in the market square inAustria. If you can believe it, I remember everyones name as I

who each one is and what they mean to me. I dont have spaceto write about all of them. We have time to share our glory sto-ries. But now my parade was headed for the Throne.

Even with Jesus leading me by the hand, I found my foot-steps getting heavier, my skin warming, my eyes burning, myknees weakening. Surrounded by this incomprehensible loveand overwhelming light, I felt completely out of place. I wasnobody, surrounded by somebodies. I was weak, but they were

-

that is not like Him. I was starting to fear. Jesus roared to an angel ahead. We now had not only thou-

sands or more people around us, but also more and more an-


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Martin Van Horn 10

were robed in short white robes, belted with gold. Some wereawesomely impressive. Kabodaiah! Bring the hot coal! One of the big, impressive angels went closer to the Throne, where an

and removed a glowing coal. Then I saw him coming towardme. Yikes!

burn me up? Words cannot describe what He did. On earth youwant things. You try to make life go your way. You want to behappy, even if not everybody is happy with you. Right? Thats

the way I was. I wanted you to love me and listen adoringlyto me. I wanted to have money to buy whatever I desired, andgive you gifts to make you happy. I used to pray to God to domy will. I searched the Bible to make me a wise person, so Icould convince people of the way I believed. I wanted people toknow how great I was, but not trap me or show up my weak-nesses. Sound familiar? Basically, I wanted to be the center of my own kingdom.

But now I was in the presence of The King, the King of theUniverse, the king over all kings everywhere and always. No

white, yellow. It contacted my lips and my whole body burst

felt dizzy and about to fall into a bottomless emptiness. I lost.

I lost what I thought I had to have. Burned up were my desire,my grasping, my reputation, my accomplishments, my substi-tute things that could not satisfy. Shriveled to nothingness wereawards, possessions, titles, resentful thoughts and grandioseplans. King Me had lived in perpetual frustration, and now hewas gone. The sound of FOOMP! sums it up best.

with a childs open hand to let Him plunk into my life all thegood gifts He has treasured in His heart since Forever. GodsWord describes things God hates and forbids. I had grown toagree with Him, but I could not always shake loose from mylife these plagues neither of us wanted. They seemed glued tome even though I pled with the Holy Spirit to purify me. My


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Father saw my heart and heard my groans. Now my begging isover. All I down deep desired, all I longed for, all of God Him-self came pouring into my new self. How can I describe blessedpeace, piercing joy and arousing anticipation all at the sametime?

Now I knew I could stand the Glory Fire of the One on theThrone.

Odd as it seems, the more tears shed on earth, the fewer

how unbelieving I have been. I could weep over the goodness

of God shown to miserable King Me. He wanted me, createdme, redeemed me, and taught me about real life. All that so Icould be ungrateful? accusing Him of not listening, not caring?Many times I wept down there. I could weep again, but Jesus ishere, right by my side. Do not weep, Martin. I have seen yourtears. Now you shall be comforted. And it was as though allmy sadness were wiped away when He wiped away my tears!

Martin, I put a new heart in you. Its a heart like mine. Youstruggled to express it, but I was with you through it all. Nowyour body is acceptable to my Father and your heart is pure, soyou get to see Him. This is what eternal life is all about!


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D e a r

B e k k a & J o e l

P o s t c a r d s

f r o m

H e a v e n

H e a v e n I m a g

i n e d a n

d R e p o r

t e d

b y M a r

t i n V a n

H o r n

I t u s e d

t o b e a

s t r u g g l e

t o b e g o o d .

N o w

I s e e h o w

i t i s w o r

t h i t .

I t s

w a r : M e

v s . M e !

W i l l

I e v e r

b e p u r e

?

J a c o b w r e s

t l e d w i

t h G o d

s a n g e

l

B u t s i s t e r

C o r r i e

s a i d

D o n

t w r e s

t l e , j

u s t n e s t l e

O u r F a t

h e r , w

h o a r

t i n H e a v e n

H o l y i s Y o u r N a m e

A t l a s t ! H o l i n e s

s p a y s !


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Martin Van Horn 14

up who I am. People can even hear my robes telling them mystory, my activities that pleased God. My body is so alive! Myskin glows too. My eyes can take the light. My ears can take theroar of the crowds. And roar they did. This time it was for me!

I was the star of heavens crowd. The people and the angelsshouted together, Praise to our God and to the Lamb. Theychose Martin and made him worthy to live forever. The planof God is coming to completion. The Bride of Christ is mak-ing herself ready. Glory to the Lamb, who is our Bridegroom!

Suddenly we were all singing together, and I knew the words.It was the same as when I communicate up here, I know whatthey mean and they know what I wanted to say. We all joinedin the song of the Lamb:

Great and marvelous are your works,Lord God Almighty; just and true are your ways,

O King of saints.

Incredibly delicious has everything been this far. But morehappened to blow my mind, even though it has all been prom-ised to the saints for thousands of years, earth time. Jesusstarted walking forward, toward the Throne. The One who sitsthere is all energy, pouring out light, lightnings, speaking thun-ders, shining as a rainbow. Looking up I saw wings and faces

all around us. The four living Creatures tower 90 feet over theThrone. Each has four faces: a gentle ox, a regal lion, a sharp-eyed eagle, a glorious man. Their wings reached out to one an-other over the Glory. Their glowing gold bodies build a wall of strength.

I glanced down and saw an ocean, clear as glass, except

of clear liquid mixed with pink liquid, it was as though some-

only blazed for a second until another area lit up in its place.

Now I know what happened that night back on earth, while


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the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had remained back on land that night.The men were afraid for their lives on the stormy lake, whilehe spent the night up here on heavens water with his father

just kept walking on the water, like he was still back Home, ex-cept now it was the water the twelve followers were sailing on.Of course, the men in the boat freaked out when they saw himstrolling across the waves. (Only Peter wanted to try walking

all walk on water, on the crystal sea of Home.

Our Fathers throne is like the snowy, blinding peak of Hisholy mountain. Just as we see clouds driven by the wind andstorms on the summits, so He boils with life, rumbles withthunders of love and judgment, pours out clouds of glory and being, and the waterfall of Spirit sprays. The geyser never stops.

billions of worshippers on its glassy wavelets.I could tell Jesus felt entirely at Home here as he led me to

the seat of His Father, our Father. Where the energy and thun-

reassuringly calm and homey. The center of the universe is alsothe fatherly lap of my Creator and my best friend. As far as Iwas concerned the galaxies stopped spinning and the angelsmusic was all for me. This is the One to whom I have given

-forts and now He is glad to see me. He knows me and I knowwhy I love Him. He has done everything all for me: a planet, asun, weather, birth, health, you and Sharon, family and friends,fellow saints, work to accomplish, problems to solve, books towrite, and on and on. Bless Him, bless Him forever! My joy is

too.Wait till I tell you about what He gave me that He couldnt

share until I got here.


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D e a r

B e k k a & J o e l

P o s t c a r d s

f r o m

H e a v e n

H e a v e n I m a g

i n e d a n

d R e p o r

t e d

b y M a r

t i n V a n

H o r n

J e s u s

S e r m o n o n

t h e M o u n t

s e e m e d

s o u n r e a l i s t

i c . N o w

I s e e w h a t

H e

w a s t a l k i n g a b o u

t .

B l e s

s e d a r e t h e

K i n g d o m

d w e l l e r

s

O n e a r t

h

F o r t

h e y h a v e t a s t e d

A n d I t i s g o o d

!

C o m e

K i n g d o m o f

G o d !

C o m e o n e a r t

h !

W e

c a n h a r

d l y w a

i t


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Jesus told us about our Father in heaven from his per-sonal experience. On earth I could only begin to creep up on anapproximation of what he meant. Now I have sat on the lap of my heavenly Father. I have sat with Him on His throne. You can

Veil that sets apart the Holy of Holies, where He lives. Take ad-

you get here too.

Have you ever wondered how our Heavenly Father can at-tend to the prayers of billions of people, all at the same time? Istill dont know how it works, but while I was sitting with Him,

myself, but if I told you everything we talked about, it wouldprobably take weeks. Earth time is a narrow thread of disap-pearing moments. Here it is a broad plain of rest. There is no

to the next can be a thousand years, if needed.

Father con ded, Now you may enter into the eight blessings of heaven that my Son, the King, explained about. He described hiskingdom in that sermon on a mountain in Israel.

Because you recognized the emptiness of everything temporary,everything visible, you knew you were poor. I love it when you recog-

nize yourself to be empty-handed, but open hearted, so I can bestow the riches I have always intended for you. Now you will receive my promised glory, knowledge, purity and unspeakable joy at my hand.I have given you family and wealth and your own domain to ruleforever. ats why the poor are blessed: I give them my Kingdom torule with me.

belly. This Fathers desire to give his children the Kingdom wassuch an overwhelming gift. I felt gratitude, humility, wonder,and excitement. My human heart had always been too small.How could God love so many people? It was too much for mynarrow, hard heart. But now I burned with a new love, the Fa-thers love. A brand new, eternal body to enjoy my Home came


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pain.

Second, while you were on earth you were all torn up aboutyour shortcomings and excesses, your sin, the evil in your heart. Youmourned for what sin had done in your life, your family, your society and in the world. You cried out to me for my will to be done on earthand rule there as I rule in heaven. My son took your pain as his ownsu ering. I comforted him with my peace and my joy. Now you too

will be comforted by the joy in my heart. Everything you endured

in the kingdom of the Deceiver will disappear into faint, momen-tary nothingness. Instead you will feel the overwhelming weight of my glory. But I have made you strong. Your new, eternal body is aspiritual body. You are no longer weak in your esh. My heart of con dence will give you delight in my every word instead of doubt-ing and you will please me in every work. We will live and work andfeast together forever and ever.

more.

On earth you submitted to me in faith. My Spirit was strongin your weakness and He made you trustworthy so I could give you

work in my kingdom. e third blessing is happiness I only giveto the meek. Just as I gave the land of Israel on loan to the nation

of Abraham to cultivate, utilize and defend, so also I have much togive you as well. Each tribe and family received an allotment in theland. is was their inheritance forever, but it belonged to me and I

watched over it closely. e earthly land was a down payment on thisheavenly property. You get an inheritance too.

All believers in Jesus my King will receive an eternal allotmentin our heavenly land, but this time it will not be on loan. On earthyou were a faithful administrator to the One who lent you tempo-rary things like air, food, land, possessions, work, health, family andfriends, etc. Now you get to keep the things that are truly yours. Iknow what will delight your heart, because I made you and know you through and through. I saw the owers you planted and the

weeds you pulled and the water you sprinkled, just to celebrate a bedof da odils and marigolds for a few days. You tried to preserve some


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beauty by taking photos. I know some projects that will challengeyou and ful ll you for a long, long time. Relax and enjoy! No one will steal it, or make fun of it, or pressure you. Its yours. When you

see your domain, you will see how you have been giving my Son Hisbuilding materials.

Your every act of trust, your every obedience was like a jewel,a pillar of gold, a table of silver, a tile of marble to be used in youreternal house. ose times you forgave your betrayers are now pearlsof great price, made from your su ering. Because you let me be youravenger, instead of taking things into your own hands, those sur-renders are now brilliant crystal. Harsh circumstances brought youto the point of agreeing with me about your neediness. Your willing-ness to be vulnerable has created for you a garden of strong trees anddelicate vines. And because you still worshipped me and sang songsof faith in your pain, you have created windows to let my glory intoyour permanent Home. Your glimpses of my joy have now becomemy blossoms of ecstasy.

I wanted to cry, not from pain, but from seeing Fathers sen-sitivity, the way He knows how I feel and wants me to have

something good for something bad. Gratefulness for blessingslet Him be God, where I could have invented idols. Now Hewants me to have what I want and I enjoy. He can trust my newheart, my heavenly desires, my yielding to Him in all things.

Once you knew things were not the way they should be. Yougot mad. You tried to change people and circumstances. But thenyou saw all humans are faulty and society is oppressive, stuck in theclaws of the Oppressor. You cried out to me for divine, heavenly righteousness, such as you seldom see on earth. Desperate for a betternature in yourself, and better relationships around you, you put yourhope in what only I could accomplish, even if I chose to use you to

work with me. In heaven your dreams are going to be fullled. efourth happiness of heaven is to see everything being right, happy,

owing and growing. My Spirit pervades everything. All things rejoice to be the way they are and enjoy being together. Everything tsharmoniously and grows. is includes you; you t in, and everyonelikes you. e little parade on the way to my throne gave you a taste


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Martin Van Horn 20

of your welcome.

On earth I had a few friends and the times we had together

took us to low points, but also to heights of sharing that madeit so worthwhile. We cried, but we also laughed. Here I am sur-rounded by a billion friends without any more tears.

Formerly strength, speed and deception seemed to rule. Peopleeven used generosity like a tool. You thought, Good people seemto deserve good things, but bad people de nitely deserve bad thingsto happen to them. However, you were willing to see all people asneeding love and goodness, no matter how they might look. Yourecognized that even people who do bad things need mercy, not sim-ply justice. You were willing to show mercy to dangerous people,miserable people, people who could not repay you. Now your Fatherin heaven will repay you out of my merciful heart that you were ex-pressing. You have experienced for yourself why the throne of God iscalled e Mercy Seat. e fth blessing is to meet the One who

cares. I have known you forever and my Son delights over you as agift from me. e Spirit res you up and makes you the person you

were created to be. You now know what it is to be loved! Judgmenthas been passed and I give you mercy unending.

Despite all pleasures and possibilities of earth, you decided toseek God beyond everything else. You rejected whatever distractedand sidetracked you from my Beautiful One. I, Jehovah, was yourdelight and now you get to see me face to face. Your happiness is tohave more of the Person you sought after, but could not see. I amthe center of heaven. My Home is your Home. What I like, youlike too. I look out for your best and delight you and I see your joy.Nothing will ever come between you and me. Your name will neverbe removed from the Lambs Book of Life.

Back on earth you risked your own status and security so otherpeople could experience peace instead of war, chaos, enmity, and de-

struction. You believed I do not take sides, but that I could introducea better way, so all could live together peaceably. e next happinessis your rewardsecurity, prosperity, peace. Paradise was once lost,but it has now been restored. Enjoy my pleasure garden! Lets feasttogether, one eternal family!

e remaining happiness was counted strange by most; it is


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for those who risked reputation, possessions and health to stand by Jesus among his enemies. You su ered pain and loss, you su eredvoluntarily as my Son did, to bene t other people by his o er of a

better life. Now you will join in a fellowship of war veterans. Youkept heavens perspective on earths torments. You believed what Isaid about you, rather than what people said. I consider you worthy to work equally with Abel, Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Hosea, Agabus,my pioneer prophets of the past.

e King promised to reward faithful servants. You can enterinto the Kings reward. Jesus did it all to see many brothers and sisterslive with him together in his heavenly Home. You helped him ac-complish his goal, so you get to share his joy. You will see the peopleyou brought to faith in Jesus through your words and deeds. ey will thank you and rejoice with you. Party on!

Life on earth is short. Happiness does not last and it is tainted with regrets. Heaven is forever. Here everyone is happy permanently. Whenever anyone joins us, our happiness becomes even greater. You will receive more than you ever desired and by receiving you will also

be giving. Everything you have is a gift, and here we all are givers.ats why everyone here is so happy! You will never be poor again.

Father, O Father! What can I say? Strength, wisdom, caringare a real fathers attractions and He showed them to me. I canrest in His love. He wont change. There are no shadows in Hislight. I could feel a song bursting from my mouth because myheart was too full to keep it inside.

Ive seen beyond the glory.Ive seen beyond the light.

Ive seen your heart of love to meAnd Ill sing of my delight.

The more I see, the more I want to see:Your beauty once glimpsed, now a blaze;Your truth, Your goodness, Your mercy

Calling forth thunderous praise.


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Thank You I can see with wondering eyes:Treasures of Your Fathers heart displaying,

Blessed saints, our crowns before You laying.

O Jesus, you saw me in Fathers sweet visionAnd went forth to make me Your man.

O Father, what power in humble apparel:Defeating the Evil by trusting Your will.

You are our Home: forever together well dwell.

I know its hard to imagine being here and seeing Fatherin all His glory, but in your spirit you can hear Father callingyou and all His children to come Home. Im sure youve hadmoments in worship, where you know in your spirit that Godis pleased and you sense a connection. Its unseen but its real.You know it and cant shake the longing, even if the worlddistracts you a thousand times a day. Your unscratchable itchmeans Father wants you to be with Him, clean and pure and

Every day on earth is a gateway to experience Eternity ineveryday living. Every time you say, Yes to His Spirit calling,you open yourself to let in divine creativity. I can almost see Fa-ther rubbing his hands in anticipation of you and Him creatingsomething new together. Maybe you dont know whats goingto happen but He has worked on it forever, crafting a uniqueopportunity for you and Himself, His angel servants and HisSpirit of adventure to work together. Thats how we fashion acommunity that shines like a golden network, a city set on a hill.It looks to me from here like one of those legendary mithrilchain-link shirts in Lord of the Rings.

I got to look down from Fathers throne on the River of Time. For each person on earth, time seems like a narrow gutter

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ing over billions of creatures. Like a gold prospector yearningfor yellow glints in a sandy river bed, Father brings togetherpeople of faith, who are open to His will. To Him their faith re-

to join believers in this formation of faith and obedience.For example, I saw a man looking at numbers on apartment

doors going down a corridor until an angel prompted him toknock on one. The woman inside slowly stood from her unmade

bed, glanced in the mirror, then opened the door. Her gloomimmediately brightened as she exclaimed, God must have sent

their two angels all revealed a glimpse of glory. Two lives hadcome together, weaving two threads into the everlasting tap-estry of love, to be displayed for the family in Gods home. As

golden treasure was still there in the riverbed. Lots of sand andgravel and nasty mud just washed away. Everywhere I looked,there were golden links weaving together over the whole earth,here dense and there thinly spread. Father works it out that thegold lasts, but the mud quickly disappears.

As the Word says, there is a time for everything underheaven. If we synchronize our lives with the good works Father

of ordinary life. From His Throne all those golden momentsspread out in a beautiful shining pattern of love, blanketing theworld.


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Dear Joel and Bekka,

What does God care about?Turns out, He is not impressed with numbers, size, reputa-

tion or riches. He sees everything. What He is doing lasts for-ever. His will pleases Him and people doing His will are hon-ored here at Home. Some have received much more honor thanI have. When you get here you can meet them. While youre stillaway from Home, you can please Father, and you could evenreceive honor like these have received. But you have to live by

heavenly values down there before you arrive up here.People up here are honored, who in their former lives weretrodden down and overlooked. You would be astounded at theAfrican orphans arrayed in gold, leading the dance circles. Andthen there are Chinese widows organizing angel battalions.North Korean evangelists hold seminars for scholars and pas-tors.

the Lord on Golgotha. That amazing guy saw past the bloodand spit and dirt and cursing. He saw the Jewish King he had -man soldiers to gain Jewish freedom. But that was not how hewon the Kingdom for himself. Father must have revealed Hisson to this accused thief and murderer at the last minute, so hecould know his struggle had not been in vain. He even argued

with his fellow thief who cursed, saying, We deserve to die.But this man in the middle has done nothing wrong. To theLord he asked, Jesus, remember me when you come into yourkingdom. Jesus dying, managed to groan out, Today you will even though he had done nothing at all. He has a special placeof honor because of his supreme faith at the moment of death.

Some of the little things I did were noticed up here morethan even I thought about them. God never forgets good things.They even get recorded so others can read about us. It wasntthe Sunday church meetings I so carefully prepared that at-tracted notice. They were all about the Spirit in Gods peopleanyway. My praying beforehand, the Word of God working inmy own heart, the way I let God lead in the meeting: these were


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noticed. Or the visit to Piroshka in the hospital, the phone call toSister Jasmine, the music I gave Mary, these things made Father

go. Jesus got the victory. Forgiving is big to God. That makesHis heart glad, to see me acting as He desires to act. It set Him

Some people could not be released from their sin and con-

Jesus warned that God could not give them what they need, because they would not forgive. Some believers were not ad-

mitted to their Home, because they would not pass on the free-issues Father is really strict about. We were warned!

Oh joy! My old friend, Elly, from Austria just came throughthe gate and I got to see her parade. They call her a war vet-

-whelming odds. She was raped and abused at an early age, became a single mom, got married, was dumped for anotherwoman, lost her 3 boys, became ill, lost her job, went on wel-fare, got retrained, etc., etc. Most of all, she hung in there, re-ceiving good counsel, trusting the Lord in the midst of her tri-als. What made me glow with joy to see her was the fact that Ihad a part in encouraging her when she was a baby Christian.She hugged me and told me that what I shared had stuck withher and helped her when she wanted to give up.

the unjust treatment. Gods Spirit was able to speak to her aboutthings she was doing to other people. In her honesty, she didnot hide her faults, but let God make her pure and holy. He alsosent some of our brothers and sisters to walk with her throughher torments.

From the throne everything begins to make sense. Father isthe center and source of all good. He wants to give. On earthwe did not always see this because we saw other factors thatget in His way. After father Adam brought corruption, every-thing started to decay. Earth became tainted with death throughearthquake, storm, disease, drought and fruitlessness. People

mechanisms. Instead of blaming our Enemy, people blamed the


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One who loves us. We always try to use Him for our own de-vices. What a travesty!

Nevertheless, Father was patient. He and the Son had a plan.I now know it was the only plan that could restore His originalpurpose in making earth and us humans. Jesus not only carriedout his mission of reconciliation, but he is now the center of Fa-thers plan for the renewed universe. He cared enough to showme my life. He showed me how I was part of the whole plan of ages past, and of ages to come. The divine Spirit can downloadin an instant so much that it will take an eternity to understand

and appreciate, but thats OK.On earth everyone puzzles over evil and Gods character

in His Word, but people dont want to see it. Let me give youa general impression of what He said. He has not changed Hismind, so it still applies. You have questions about, Why? asmuch as anyone has. Whatever solution you come up with willdetermine how you look at God and how you live. It is so easyto come up with some human concept that blames our lovingFather and our King. Please pay attention to me, even though Iseem long-winded.


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D e a r

B e k k a & J o e l

P o s t c a r d s

f r o m

H e a v e n

H e a v e n I m a g

i n e d a n

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t e d

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H o r n

W e

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sult with Father, because He always took me seriously!

cares about how we feel and what we really want. He said thereis a deep connection between our delight in Him and Him giv-ing us the desires of our hearts. We see how feedback is builtinto the way He works. The human body is a perfect example of how every part is connected to every other, when it is healthy.Feedback even tells the body when one part is sick. This feedback principle is why the U. S. Constitution is so unique, al-lowing the People and the Government to work together. God

wants our feedback on what is going to happen in His universetoo.I wanted to visit the Council Chamber to see it with my new

eyes. When I prayed on earth, I knew that Father saw me on oneof the upper rows of white marble. My heart always wanted toget to the front rows, where I could hear what others were say-ing, but I did get closer.

I left the great dome of Gods temple and walked the shinystreets, poking into palaces, meeting old/new friends. Thistime though, Theokaris, a teaching angel, came up behind me.Welcome, Martin. Let me take you where you desire. (I didnt

-ways which, it turned out, led to the Throne Room. You usedto sit over there in that row of seats. I saw countless rowsof marble seats in a semicircle around the throne. There were

many aisles so people could walk down front to be heard. Therewas a vast space around the throne where angels could hover.Now you can listen in to Fathers wisdom as heaven preparesfor our Kings return to earth. You and your team mates are as-

Can you see, we are a team? Father, Son and Holy Spirit shareand work together. Jesus and Fathers family (the Body of Christ)

work on Fathers commands together with the angelic armies, so Je-sus can be king over all the earth. Even a married man and womanare a miniature team, where God brings two people into a new unity that never existed before! e beauty of this kind of synergy wasspoiled for us. One member of the heavenly team wanted to takeover and not play his part any more. Lucifer wanted to take Gods


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Sons place. Oh, what horror that was!

How did it happen? I asked. The mystery of evil has fas-

cinated us humans for generations.

It was a long time ago, earth time, but the universe has beenplagued by destruction ever since. Lucifer was the covering Kerubclosest to Jesus and Fathers throne. He was magnicent, covered with stones of re and lling the glory with music. He had a place inthe heavenly Council. I dont know why, but one day he slipped. Heperverted the good that Father had given him and made it twistedevil. Outwardly he was still wondrous to look at, but his eyes weredark. Darkness had never before existed. Instead of radiating Godslight and life, he was sucking up all goodness to keep it for himself.His eyes revealed the black hole in his heart that was willing todestroy the rone, the angels, and Gods new creation for his ownimperious ambition.

No wonder then that Father kicked Lucifer out of heaven! But

kick him where? God had to set aside outer darkness to match theinternal darkness of Lucifers heart. Somehow Lucifer took a third of the angels with him, when he became Satan, the Opposer. ey area hopeless army, but an angry one. ey can only take, because they have nothing good to give.

Before e War, we were all occupied with worship and creat-ing the new universe. Many angels were assigned as stars. No oneneeded weapons, as there were no enemies. But one day, ArchangelMichael trumpeted assembly. Suddenly the ame of love in me aredup. e ame of God appeared in my hand, looking like a two-edgedsword. I reached out my arm and other angels ed into darkness.

e bigger angels and Lucifer, the Kerub, bullied smaller spirits intogoing with them.

ey immediately regretted giving in. Instead of shining withGods glory, their lights went out. It was an eclipse of the angels.

Lucifer still has a re ected glory humans sometimes see, but nothinglike the brilliance he once had in Fathers presence.

Lucifer, now Satan, may not shine with his original glory, but we humans sure have been impressed with whats left!Thats because we no longer know God as He really is.


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Father amazes me. He is so straightforward. Only pure andholy from the inside out: He can never hide, or lie, or be any-thing else but God. Its not a limitation of course, but it suredoes set Him up for pain. You see, the best that Father can giveto anyone is Himself. He Himself is good, is blessing, is joy orlove or whatever else His creatures want and need. Not bodilylife or health or wealth or friendship or reputation can sustainus, or satisfy us. Humans think these will satisfy them, but theyare only temporary substitutes. Only God Himself can satisfyus. Father is the source of all our being.

Being is Fathers best invention. He thought of light andsun and oceans and dolphins and grass and pterodactyls andplatypuses. And He made men and women and sex and loveand children. Then He invited all His new partners to feast onall the fruits He had created for us. But what happened?

Theokaris described Jesus walking in the Garden of Delightthat evening, looking for his co-workers, Adam and Eve. Whata disappointment he had, when he found them hiding fromtheir best friend.

e sneaky Red Serpent had fooled Eve into tasting whatlooked so beautifully appealing, but dragged them away from theFather and into death. Even hardheaded Adam went along with theploy and chose the knowledge of good and evil. Jesus had warnedthem not to eat, not to seek power over good and evil. Instead of in-

creasing knowledge and power, they lost their glory like Lucifer had.When I saw Adam and Eve just after Jesus brought them to-gether, I clapped my hands over his majestic achievement. ey glowed so much with human glory that I didnt even notice they hadno clothes on. But now, when they crawled out of the bushes, they looked so, so human, so frail and shrunken, almost. ey were nakedof their former glory.

Jesus had to limit the e ects of their sin to preserve the humanrace and the planet. To keep men from spoiling the whole planet atonce, Jesus commanded weeds and frustrated work. To keep womenfrom ruling over everyone, he put them under husbands and child-birth. e Red Serpent was no longer allowed to roam freely, but

was made to eat dust. Two of the kerubim were detailed to keep allhumans from eating fruit o the Tree of Life. at way they could


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die and stop sinning. e most heart wrenching thing Jesus said was that he himself

would take back what had just been lost. He said, e fruit of a

womans body shall be wounded by the Serpent, but that man willcrush the Serpents head. Back then I wondered what he meant, butnow I know. It would cost Jesus and his Father everything to fulllthat promise to Eve.

I could not tell if Theokaris wanted to cry or laugh. I sawhe loved Jesus and he even loved us miserable humans. He ob-viously cares how we work together to achieve Fathers plan.

ending to this tragic story.


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D e a r

B e k k a & J o e l

P o s t c a r d s

f r o m

H e a v e n

H e a v e n I m a g

i n e d a n

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It took John the Sent One three years living with Jesus 24/7

only good.Father never forgets His generous intentions. Evil cannot

stop Him. Thats why I say He is simple. He is simply love andgoodness. There is no deception in Him, so He cannot lie andHe cannot tempt anyone else to less than the best. Elder brother John came to the conclusion, Father is light and in Him is no

darkness at all. He had lived with Jesus for those years andhad spent much time in the Council Chamber as the Lordsnew churches were growing and struggling. And I have cometo agree with him through my own struggles. I want to let youknow, you can trust Father too.

pure and holy God can stay so clean while dealing with fouledup, perverted demons and sinning humans. On earth we twistthings to our own hurt and blame God for it. We act as thoughSatan were our friend and God our enemy. But Father neverchanges, despite our misconceptions.

He loves life and weddings and kids and banquets. Hehates death and sickness and the way His universe is out of joint because of sin. Yet He still loves His creatures. Lucifer Hecannot save, but He told Prophet Ezekiel to write a lament over

Lucifers fall. Adam and Eve were given the same chance aseveryone else. Every sinner who hates his own evil ways andturns his heart to Father will be heard, when he or she cries outfor mercy. Father has no joy in the death of a sinner.

Father is not prejudiced. He does not respect one personmore than any another. His door is open to any seeker whoknocks. But even rich and famous people must admit how poorthey are in Fathers eyes when they ask for forgiveness. Godloves to be generous to people who are not full of themselves. Infact humility in people reminds Him of His beautiful Son. Jesusis submissive and lowly in his heart toward Father. WhateverFather conceives, Jesus delights to perform, and both of themare full of joy.

In creation Jesus spoke and everything came into existence


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except people. With Adam, Jesus had to get his hands dirty.Gods Spirit got involved giving living, breathing life to thenew man. Even Eve had to be built by hand out of Adams rib.So when it came to rescuing rebellious, perverted, deceived hu-

spoken words could not do the job. Oh, Jesus spoke volumesto his friend Abraham and his deliverer, Moses. But just tell-ing people the truth could not change their hearts. It could setup government and religion, but not everyone recognized who Jesus was through the words he spoke. Jesus had to get dirty

once again.Here again the Fathers heart comes through. He loves HisSon and knows that everyone else will too, when they see how anyway?

-ruption and wealth sound good to a lot of people. But his giftsof fame or pleasure or control dont last. They cant. Everythinghe promises he had to steal. And he hates us people almost asmuch as he hates Father and Jesus. You can tell by his eyes.They are cold dark holes of absolute hardheartedness.

Jesus on the other hand is tender, thoughtful, empathetic,compassionate and generous. He likes to share his love andimagination and to encourage friendship with his creatures.

Family and government, creativity and commitment all go to-gether in his mind. His eyes are so full of love that they shine,

these two could not be greater. Obviously every sensible crea-ture will choose Jesus over Satan, right?

Hmm, maybe we arent so sensible!

redeem the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. Jesus had togive up his immortality, his glory, his reputation and power to become a human baby. But He and His Father never gave uptheir intimate relationship, even though young Jesus in Naza-reth had to grow up into maturity. Jesus would have to go downinto enemy territory and risk death and disease and injury. Hewould be despised and rejected by many, even his own family.


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Just so people would not be attracted to the Son for the samereasons they followed Satan, Jesus had no sexy good looks. Hewas an ordinary looking, strong young Jewish carpenter. Somepeople would see his heart, not just his style.

Surrounded by enemies, rebels against Gods law andGods holiness, who raged against His standards, We want ourown ruler, not Gods! We want to set our own standards, not beshackled by heavens commands! God just laughed. He knewhow it would all turn out. He had already designated the Kingwho would rule the world. It was His Son, the human Jesus! For

thirty some years it did not look that way, but God knew.

gave it all up, tortured, bleeding profusely and executed by cru--

ter three days, He raised him up to new life and eternal powerand glory such as you can see today.

Father knew He could commit everything to Jesus. Jesuscreated and taught His representatives on earth, man and wom-an. Jesus became one of them to redeem them back again. Now Jesus will build His Church out of people who recognize whoHe is and with them come back to earth to rule until the end of the age.

In the meantime, Jesus representatives on earth speak Hiswords to people who dont know him yet. His words are spiritand they are life, so Gods Spirit uses them to make people intonew creatures. We are stuck in the old body on earth until wegraduate up here to our Home, but the Spirit gives us a taste of full life even there on earth.

Precious in Fathers sight is the death of His saints. Becausethey spread Fathers love on earth, they are sorely missed whenthey leave. But the saints on earth know what awaits themwhen they die, so they have joy in anticipation. And when Fa-thers kids are carried Home, they each get a parade like I did.Pain, persecution, rejection, fear are all forgotten. But there areno shortcuts on our earthly journeys. Father works with Hischildren to bring good into all things, so we become mature like


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we cant understand Father when we get here either. Earth isthe time His kids have to get to know their Fathers heart of love, so they can hear what He has to say when they get Home.


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D e a r

B e k k a & J o e l

P o s t c a r d s

f r o m

H e a v e n

H e a v e n I m a g

i n e d a n

d R e p o r

t e d

b y M a r

t i n V a n

H o r n

W h a t a p l a c e

! N o d r u g s t o r e s , n o

f u n e r a

l h o m e

s , n o

h o s p i t a l s !

E t e r n a

l y o u

t h !

T h e

s e a r c h

i s o v e r

!

N o f o u n t a i n , n o

c r e a m , n o

d o c t o r

C l e a n s e d b y

t h e

b l o o

d

C r e a

t e d b y G o d s S p i r i t n e w

T h e

b o d y h a s

c a u g h t u p

t o i t s s p i r i t

F o r e

v e r a l i v e


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Martin Van Horn 40


The Real Church is assembling up here and Im excited to bein the midst of her. We are getting ready to bring the Kingdomof Heaven down to earth. I can only tell you of a few prepara-tions, but it is really big. When I look around, I can see why thatwill be such a change for the better.

I thought you would be fascinated with some things thathave jumped out at me. You know how sometimes youre ina new location and everybody there thinks the way they live

is completely normal. Only you havent quite become accus-tomed to their way of life, so you get a peculiar feeling and

You know the feeling, I just feel like something is miss-ing? Well I never have that feeling any more. Since arriving,my experience has been so right and satisfying. That made itall the more startling to realize what Im missing. There are nosigns of death!

You never see cripples, wheelchairs, crutches, bent age, orshrivelled limbs. The streets are lined with glowing Homes be-

-

taverns, mortuaries, churches, funeral parlors, gambling halls,porn clubs, video rentals, insurance agencies, and drugstoreshave all jumped out at me. No need! No desire! We never miss

them!have wisdom and child-like wonder about them, but they arenot weak or frail or dried up. They are vital and smooth withdynamic energy. Young people are relaxed and secure and fullof expectation, as though they cant wait for what the Lord hascoming. Children are always together, playing, dancing, study-ing, worshipping. Theirs is a serious play, not foolish, becausethey know there is so much ahead for them. Many of them arethe martyrs, murdered before birth, who have to do their grow-ing here, because it was denied them on earth. They pray forother children on earth to be granted the destinies God had

Most of the time we gather together before the Throne.


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But in between, we stroll and talk and visit at Home or in thegardens. Exciting as a novel or movie are the stories the saintstell of the intriguing paths they have journeyed to arrive atHome. Some met the Lord in a dream or in a preacher. Otherscried out to the God they did not know, because they were inpain or need. Sometimes you see a person you met just once onearth and you shared with them what you had and to whom

breakthrough of glory into their lives.Personally I love to hear tales of the Sent Ones, missionaries

who deliberately took upon themselves hardships because thatis what their Lord had done. Some travelled and some stayedhome. One of the Twelve, named Thomas, walked all the way

and was speared to death. Some loved strangers and othersloved their prison wardens enough to bring them Home. Rich-ard was tortured by Communists, but Jesus was with him inprison. All tell the same song of pain and joy: their Lord was

them. Now they have so many friends here, who were able to join them on the journey Home just because they gave out lovewhen they received hate.

I mentioned the gardens. Another thing you dont see arelarge farms dominating the landscape. Everyone gets their owngarden to tend. This is Fathers Paradise, with room for all,

work and fruitfulness, plenty to have and to share. No weeds,pink or orange, vines and shrubs live here. It reminds me of sunny days, vine-draped- fences and the aromas of wild rosesor honeysuckle.

Spacious, thats Home. I dont know if Ill ever see all of it.But yet it is not too big. On earth walking and travelling weresomething to plan for. How long? What to take? How costly?Here at Home, travel is never tiring. I can walk or I arrive in-

just like Im not sure why I can communicate with any being Imeet, but thats the way it is.

Maybe one of the reasons travel is no barrier, is because timeis so unimportant and so is gravity. The only thing heavy here


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Martin Van Horn 42

is the Glory of God. When you get close to Him from whom all

you like a pressure. Its like trying to swim upstream against ariver. Everything else is so light in comparison. I can go overor up or down, wherever I need to go. I can go immediately, orI can take time to go slowly, whatever is right. Its wonderful!Whee!

That must be why Im just now noting the absence of au-tomobiles, buses, gas stations, trucks, bulldozers, bikes andskates. Im sure you think Im out of it, not to have noticed

it up here. The truth of real values has overwhelmed the de-tails that used to preoccupy me. Jesus and the Father are notonly over there somewhere for me to visit, but they are in my

in my thinking and questioning. They are life, and the detailsonly start to come to mind later.

Im sure you cant digest all these startling descriptionsabout what is here at Home so every-day wonderful. But youalready know that sin and death have to come to an end. Jesuscame not only to save sinning humans, but also to destroy allthe works of the Devil. The Enemy is behind death, sickness,debilitation, insecurity, abuse, war, poverty, and cold-hearted-ness. There is no more Enemy, only the Father, our Friend and

Lover, our Source and joy forever. We have nothing to fear, be-cause things only get better, never worse. Even Jesus is lookingforward to inheriting His unadulterated Kingdom. The Fathershall be all in all and Jesus will reign over a perfect People, whorejoice to work together doing whatever He says. Im sure theFather has some new eternal project in mind for us. Thats allHe ever thinks about: how Jesus wonderful character can bedisplayed over and over, everywhere in newer and newer ways.

Im glad I gave up my clinging to things on earth that onlyseemed so important. They have all been left behind. This is for

what you desire? Or is life the eternal things you can pull downto earth right now: love, forgiveness, patience, joy, gentlenessand so on. Look beyond what your eyes can see. Think of who


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Jesus is and what He has done so you can enjoy what He enjoys.As our elder brother Paul said, Set your mind on things

above. You begin to think about things that last forever. Timeis not so much the factor, as is the long-lastingness. If you ask me how long Ive been here, I couldnt say. I dont know howeternal life relates to your time on earth. Maybe it matters, but

up here will go back to restore the Beautiful Planet, but I dontknow when. I see horses gathering. I hear trumpets blowing. Ihear angels trooping. A blazing army with no guns, no artillery,

no tanks, no planes, no bombs, just sheer power is assembling.Earth will be overwhelmed with fear and thankfulness.


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D e a r

B e k k a & J o e l

P o s t c a r d s

f r o m

H e a v e n

H e a v e n I m a g

i n e d a n

d R e p o r

t e d

b y M a r

t i n V a n

H o r n

H e a v e n

i s e x t r e m e

l y r e

l a x e d , n o t

h i n g

t o

h i d e . E

v e r y o n e

u n d e r s

t a n d s , w e a l l e

n j o y

e a c h o t

h e r .

C o m e , j o i n m e

I d o n o

t w a n

t t o w a

l k a l o n e a n

y -

m o r e

H e r e w e a r e

L e t u s w a l

k t o g e

t h e r

F r o m

b i r t h t i l l t h e E n d

B u t t h e r e i

s n o e n

d


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counselling problems, saving marriages, bringing Jesus intohurting hearts. That was a premonition of reality.

Ive been here long enough and seen enough conversations toknow what Im talking about. And its not that people are just being nice. Like I said, everyone is relaxed and honest, be-

cause the Lord is everywhere and He has revealed everything.We are all open to each other.On earth we kept secrets. The bad parts were hidden, we

hoped. (Observant people like you could see our body lan-guage, our outbursts, our lives and could tell something was

tried to hide from ourselves. We lied to ourselves all the time.Im doing this for your own good, I might say, when re-

for awful behaviour? You made me angry. I would have been so patient, if you hadnt been so annoying. I wanted topray, but I didnt have time. I love you, but Im busy.

Everyone else was at fault, because their problems were soplainly visible. Logically, you would think such obvious poi-

-tion to your problems, I justify myself doing the same thingsto others. Only in myself, these poisons now became elegantmeans to great ends. Let me explain why you are wrong, soI can set you straight. Other people may be mean and impa-tient, but I am goal-oriented and forthright.

Here at Home, we cant lie to ourselves any more. I am whoI am, no more and no less. I am a saint, loved by the SupremeFather, cleansed by the Perfect Son, full of the Holy Spirit of God. His light has revealed and removed all darkness. It has -cious in his Fathers eyes and now in mine also. Praise to theLord of glory, who has raised me to enjoy His glory and shinewith it forever!


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Martin Van Horn 46

Not only have I received Fathers forgiveness, but so haveall the others here. Once forgiving my tormentors seemed sounjust, so frustrating. Not until I saw my need of Gods for-

against other people. If sin led to death and I sinned, I deserveddeath, death forever. That God had sent His perfect Son to takeonto Himself my sin, my pain, my condemnation and my death,all in order to forgive me, was the revelation of who I was andwho He is. Only after receiving Gods forgiveness, letting mego without punishment, did I begin to see why I had to forgive

healing to release resentment, Gods desire for faithfulness torestore broken relationships. Father gets excited when we agreewith Him and up here we all enjoy the fruits of His forgiveness.Thats why we would rather enjoy relationships than break them.

Back on earth this often led to nasty disagreements, because

Gods point of view. We know all things are relative, relative toHim who is the truth and never changes. He has made us so

God is always true, even if all of us have missed some part of

the parts of the truth we have not yet experienced. Learningand growing are not lonely, bookish occupations any more. Wemake them into a party. Hey, come on over to my place andlets share, so we can learn more about our Lord and His ways.Can we get together now? Shall we invite some other saints to join us?

So when we come together, only one Person is in charge,teaching us all. And He has defeated and removed the Enemyfrom our minds. Before, the black Liar made things seem so,that simply werent so. He made it seem like we were all alonein that world, with no one to care or understand. Each of uswas so desperate to live and prosper, that we would use otherpeople and even attack them if we did not get what we wanted.


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God was so distant, so out of touch with our needs down onearth that we thought He was the enemy, responsible for ourwoes. How many millions sided with the Devil, hurting them-selves and each other, meanwhile blaming their woes on God?We thought God should take our side in the struggle of life,come down, yield to our demands, and make Big Me into aking.

Interestingly, now that the Betrayer, who wanted to be god-

ther can indeed make His Children into the kings and queens

He had originally intended us to be. King Adam and Queen Evewere to rule Earth, making it into a paradise like Eden, workingtogether with the Lord, their mentor. You know too well thatFathers plan has been delayed by a few thousand years. Butnow is the time for us humans to begin again. Once I laid downmy life and my own will, my ambitions and intentions, takingup the life Jesus invented just for me, I then could begin to exer-cise authority in the Lords name.

It began on earth. People call it prayer. Really it is humankings consulting with the Counsels of Heaven. I used to come before the Throne of Grace with my requests and my questions.The Father listened to me and I wanted to hear Him. EventuallyI wanted to know what was on His heart, what would glorify Jesus and satisfy His desire to bless His People. Then I knewmy prayers were heard. From this viewpoint, we can see these

prayers come up to the Father. It is not far from the heart of the before the Throne as a golden cloud, the pleasant odour of per-fumed incense. They bring joy to the Father.

Interestingly, since the distance is not far to earth either,sometimes the Lords presence appears to the praying saintsas well. They too sense, or even see, the golden cloud of Godsglory on earth. So as their prayers ascend as golden smoke inheaven, the Presence of the Glorious One is felt back on earth aswell. Praise the Lord!

The Father is storing up the prayers of billions of saintsfrom centuries of yearning, Come Kingdom of Heaven! Yourwill be done here on earth as it is in Heaven! The answer willarrive soon!


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Martin Van Horn 48

The remaking of earth is in training up here for now. Soonit will take place down on the planet you live on. Father re-

the meteor bombardment of the year 2029 that scientists havealready predicted and its attendant wreckage. World politicsare setting the stage as well, lining up against Gods Land andGods People.


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D e a r

B e k k a & J o e l

P o s t c a r d s

f r o m

H e a v e n

H e a v e n I m a g

i n e d a n

d R e p o r

t e d

b y M a r

t i n V a n

H o r n

B i l l i o n s

h a v e p r a y e d

f o r i t a n d

h e r e

c o m e

s G o d !

K n o c

k , k n o c k

M a y

I c o m e

i n ?

M e e t

i n g w i t

h M o s e s

O n a g o

l d e n b o x

D a n c

i n g w i t

h K i n g D a v i d

I n a n o p e n

t e n t

F i l l i n g S o l o m o n s

s a n c t

u a r y

W i t h f l o o d

s o f g l o r y

T e a c

h i n g d i

s c i p l e s

O n t h e m o u n t a i n

s i d e

Y o u w a n t t o

l i v e w h e r e w e

l i v e

W e

s a y , C o m e ,

L o r d


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Martin Van Horn 50


You have thousands of years of history to look back on foryou to see Gods plan for mankind and for your destiny.

First there was Paradise. It was a Garden of Pleasure, wa-

all plants and all animals. Our First Father and Mother werecrafted there by the hand and breath of our Maker. They walkedand talked with animals, each other, and the Maker Himself.Home was just around the corner from Paradise.

blessed work and joy. For some weird reason they sided withthe Enemy and lied about the Creators goodness and generos-ity. They thought they could take over for the Wonderful One, but of course they could not. Fathers orchard grew such lumi-nous fruits, that they almost seemed magical. Maybe I wouldhave thought like they did: fruits were not only beautiful butpotent as well. They chose the wrong forbidden fruit.

They must have thought their glorious glow belonged tothemselves, and they could do with it whatever they wanted.Trying to become the Maker themselves turned out to be im-possible. Their light went out. They lost their glorious glow. Ev-erything became a choreworking, talking, traveling, bearingchildren, everything. The only divine leftover was the guard atthe door. The Lord stationed 15-foot tall Kerubim at the gate to

keep people out, so they could not grab eternal fruit and liveforever in darkness and dying.The Maker never forgot his children. People saw the Mes-

sengers He sent once in a while, often while sleeping. Theseangels warned them of danger, of slipping and falling, of goingtoo far until they ended up down in Death. Way back when Joblived, He helped them in their needs. And some children calledon Him for help. He especially loves it when we call out formercy, because He delights in us. It brings out the best in Him.

One of His friends got here early. He must have called outand received that Father mercy. Enoch was a shepherd, but hewalked with God as he herded sheep. Every day they sharedabout everything, until one day, Enoch looked back and earthwas gone. He had wandered from grassland into Heaven and


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the Lord simply kept him here. Unfortunately, Enoch was anexception.

Of all the beautiful places on the blue planet, there is one

Mount Zion. Once the King of Heaven met his friend there.

on this holy hill. He met Abram there after a military victory.Abram brought a tenth of the booty from defeating his enemiesand gave it to Melchizedek. The King blessed his friend withGods blessing.

Zion will one day be the landing pad for the Kings return.But in the meantime it has been Gods holy dwelling and theplace of greatest sacrilege. Let me outline this drama.

God renamed Abram to be Abraham, Father of Multi-tudes. His descendants increased over the years. They left theMount Zion area for Egypt. For 430 years, a little spot in Egypthad Gods hand upon it. In the midst of rejection, misunder-standing, and slavery, the Israelites enjoyed the blessings andprotection of heaven in the land of Goshen, at the mouth of theNile River. When the Lord judged t

Postcards from Heaven: Heaven imagined & reported

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