Exec. Vice President/Co-founder, Precept Ministries, in 184 countries, 70 languages, since 1970
Author of over 100 best-selling books including her latest, Heaven, Hell and Life After Death (2014)
Teacher and host to "Precepts for Life" daily TV, radio, and online program
Author of over 27 inductive Bible study courses
Internationally acclaimed Bible teacher/speaker
|
Guest Bio
Author Kay Arthur on Heaven, Hell, and Life After Death
CBN.com
–FINDING GOD ON HER KNEES
At the age of 29, a divorced mother of two working as a nurse, Kay called in sick to the hospital where she was working because she was sick at heart, sick over the life of sin she had been living. She had a religion but did not possess a relationship with God. On the morning of July 16, 1963, she fell on her knees as a sinner and rose as pure and whole in the Lord’s sight. “For ‘Whoever will call upon the name of the LORD will be saved’” Romans 10:13, (NASB). “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NASB). She hungered and thirsted for the Word of truth and began studying the Bible. Her relationship with the Lord and scriptural findings turned her sorrows into joy and her mourning into laughter.
God’s love poured down upon her in 1965 when she married a missionary with the Pocket Testament League named Jack Arthur. Together they served as missionaries in Mexico for three and a half years until health issues led them back to the States. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, Jack began managing a Christian radio station, and Kay began a teen Bible study. Though the study started as a small gathering in the living room of the couple’s home, it soon grew from teens to college students to adults. From the beginning of the gatherings Kay’s and Jack’s deepest desire was to establish people in God’s Word. The ministry they founded in 1970 became Precept Ministries International where they served together as CO-CEOs until February 2012 when they stepped down and their son David assumed the role of CEO. Both Kay and Jack are still actively working at the ministry.
Kay has just completed a three part 40-Minute Bible Study on the gospel of Mark and co-authored a new 40-Minute Bible study entitled, Ignite Your Passion. She is currently working on a new Precept Upon Precept Inductive Study on Galatians.
HEAVEN, HELL, AND LIFE AFTER DEATH
Heaven, Hell, and Life After Death covers six important questions about death and the hereafter, and all the answers are taken from the Bible.
Why do we have to die? Kay says that according to the Bible, death is a direct consequence of Adam and Eve’s disobedience. As a result of their sin, “dust will return to dust.” This inevitable consequence occurs constantly, as people die physically every day. However, the curse of sin not only brings a physical death, but also a separation from God, which is a spiritual death. Kay says that God, in his mercy, cast Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden in order to keep them from eating the fruit of the tree of life. If they had done that, they would live forever in a state of sin, “separated from their creator.” However, through Christ, we can be united with the creator.
Can we live again after death? Kay notes that thankfully, we are not doomed to life in an eternal abyss. She says, “Our creator loves us. He did not abandon us in our sin. Rather, He loved us, even before we turned to Him.” As a result of this great love, God has given us the option to have eternal life through Jesus Christ.
What can we know about the resurrection? Kay says, according to the Bible, the soul does not cease to exist. “There is a resurrection- a resurrection of the righteous to life and a resurrection of the wicked to eternal judgment.” Even those in tombs will hear the Lord’s voice and rise to be judged. As a result of the judgment, each person will have either eternal life or death.
What comes after death for the believer? Kay says, The instant a believer dies, they are absent from the body, and present with the Lord. She says, “There is life beyond death’s door for all who believe Jesus is the Son of God, the sinless One who paid for our sins in full and thereby broke Satans’s power of death.” Kay says, according to the Bible, when we die, we will get new, immortal bodies. She says we will have a resurrected, immortal, imperishable body. The believer will stand before God and He will judge us for the works that lead to righteousness. This is a different judgment from the one faced by unbelievers. Christians will only be judged for righteous works, while others will be judged based on their unbelief.
As a result of Jesus’ resurrection, we can take comfort in knowing if a loved one died in Christ, they are now with God in heaven. In addition to finding peace with the fact that our loved ones are with the Lord, we also rejoice that when our time comes to leave this earth, we will be with the Lord as well.
What comes after death for the unrepentant? Kay says that those who don’t repent must die twice. Although this sounds like a mystery, she is speaking of a spiritual and a physical death. Not only will unbelievers die physically, but they will be permanently disconnected from Christ, which is a spiritual death. The Bible says that a person who dies without Christ will live in eternal torment.
Kay points to Matthew 25:31-46 and says that the lake of fire was originally created for Satan and his angels, not for man. However, because of man’s disobediences, those who do not repent will “share in Satan’s destiny: the lake of fire. They will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
What can we know for certain about Heaven? Heaven will be sweet. It is a place where there are no tears, no pain, and no darkness. Since Jesus has conquered death, “We will be able to worship and serve our God and Father with undistracted devotion,” says Kay.
CBN IS HERE FOR YOU!
Are you seeking answers in life? Are you hurting?
Are you facing a difficult situation?
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
