Prayer Summit: Grieving

The final session of the prayer summit (I’ve skipped over two) was a celebration.  “Precious Bridegroom, we want to dance with you tonight,” the leader prayed.  “You lead and we will follow.”  For me, it was a time to grieve. 

Standing near me at the back of the room was a young mother with what looked like four small boys.  Since I raised four sons I felt an affinity with her.  You should pray for her, I heard God say, but that felt awkward.  Surely I could pray for her and her sons quietly without her even knowing.  No.  Go to her.  It was a fight to do so, but finally I went up to her and told her I too had four sons.  Could I pray for her and the boys?  Yes, I could.  And so I did.

After I sat back down, the prayer that kept repeating in my thoughts was, “Don’t let her have to bury any of her sons.  Keep them alive.  Let them all outlive her, God!”  The pain was great but it only prompted me to continue repeating my prayer. 

The thought came to me that I should ask one of the women there who had come from my church to pray with me but it felt awkward and it meant leaving my seat at the back and walking closer to the front where they were sitting.  I didn’t really want to do it—I have a hard time asking for help—so I argued with God.  Surely I could wait till after the session was done.  No.  Do it now.  Sigh. 

I’m glad I did. Three of them came to where I was sitting at the back and began to pray with their hands laid on me.  Sometimes their prayers were audible and sometimes they weren’t.  I was wracked with sobbing.  Sometimes my cries were loud, though the band covered the sound; sometimes my cries were silent, but all parts of my body were sobbing regardless of sound, my mouth frozen into open contortion.

I wish I remembered what the women said and prayed.  One reminded me that God is keeping my tears in a bottle.  She prayed that the bits of grief I let out would stay out and gone. 

I cried out, I want to hold my son.  I want to hold my son!  I don’t want him dead.  He should be living.  Jesus, please hold my son for me.  Take care of him for me.

I thought of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  She too buried her son.  But he rose again and because of that we will rise. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.  (1 Corinthians 6:14 NIV)  Mikael will rise.  Mary’s grief was our blessing.  Because of what caused her grief, we are healed.  “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24 NIV)  These are hopeful truths.

It was good to cry and embrace the grief.  I seem unable to most of the time. 

Before the women returned to their seats and joined the larger group again, we had a group hug and they covered me with a large blue cloth telling me it represents life.  I stayed swaddled in it for a long time. 

Another thought came to me.  I need to pray for those four sons of the woman near me—doing so will be part of my healing—so I went back to her and asked for their names.  I wrote them in the front of the Bible I had with me and will pray for them till they are grown.  May God save their mother from the grief I’ve experienced!

I turned back to what was happening around me and was able to enter into the praise:

I cry out,
For Your hand of mercy to heal me.
I am weak,
I need Your love to free me....

For You are good.

--Eric Myers

The Lord is gracious and compassionate...

He has compassion on all he has made...

Praise the Lord, oh my soul!

--Graham Ord

Creator God you gave me breath so I could praise...

So let my whole life be a blazing offering...

Glory to God, Glory to God

Glory to God forever.

--Steve Fee

The prayer summit ended with this admonition: “Don’t let the fire go out.  The way you do that is practice the spiritual disciplines.”  It’s the only way to live—letting the fire of God burn in us at all times.

Prayer Summit: Intimate Love

If I felt urged to do anything during the third session of the prayer summit, it was to move to the back of the gymnasium where we were meeting.  I seem often to prefer being at the back at church and similar meetings but is that an escape?  A way to observe instead of participate?  Why this urge?  Perhaps it’s because at the back I feel freer to be me and do what I’m moved to do, without feeling like I’m on display. 

Am I more of an observer than a participant?  If I am, is that bad?  If I am, am I missing out?  Or is my sitting in the back and writing another way to connect with God that’s as valid as dancing and painting?  For me, it’s a way to sit in God’s presence and simply be with him and I need that.

Oh Lord, you're beautiful,

Your face is all I seek,

For when your eyes are on this child,

Your grace abounds to me. 

--D. Cleaveland and Keith Green

Come live in freedom here...

Come see with spirit eyes

Come see

The door is open...

His arms are open

--Michael W. Smith

See the love in his eyes

God’s arms are open and I can sit in his embrace.

Once again Ruth, the leader, stood up.  After about 45 minutes of silence, what emerged was a call to intimacy and to persevere in intimacy—particularly for the men: intimacy in knowing the Lord, knowing their wives, knowing their kids.

Men stay in intimacy only so long, she said, to meet their own needs and then they leave.  But men are to model intimacy.  The restoration of our family and our nation rests on the shoulders of men.  Love your wife as Jesus loves the church.  Men need to stay in the place of intimacy for our families and churches.  Sustaining intimacy is vital—with the Lord, our mates and our churches.

Oh God!  This is what Tom needs to hear.  Oh God!  He needs this.  I need him to need and want it.  Intimacy from and with Tom is what our marriage needs.

I'm giving you my heart, and all that is within...

I'm giving you my dreams, I'm laying down my rights...

And   I    surrender all to you, all to you

--Marc James

This is my prayer.  In (unknowing) answer to that prayer, Tom sent me an-email a couple of days later, suggesting a plan by which we could come closer and bring healing to our marriage.  Isn’t God good?

Prayer Summit: Love Has Won the Victory

The second and third sessions were personally significant for me but, at first, I felt like an outsider as I watched those who were freer in expressing their prayers with movement.

A short, thick, older woman with whom I identified was dancing with two scarves enthusiastically and with abandon.  If she could do this, so could I.  But I didn’t. 

A young, lithe woman had wrapped the long length of blue chiffon over her.  She was dancing with passion and beauty.  Unwrapping it, she held it with both hands, letting it flow with her wildly-moving arms.

An older man knelt on the floor waving a brown chiffon flag vigorously from side to side.

The first woman placed a long, yellowish green chiffon over the back of her neck, draping it down her arms to her hands.  She wrapped it around herself.

You are the God Who saves us, worthy of all our praises...
Come have Your way among us
We welcome You here, Lord Jesus
'Cause when we see You, we find strength to face the day 

--Paul Baloche

A line of dancers, including two men, paraded up the centre aisle, each with a scarf.  At the front they formed a circle, first with a woman in a wheelchair waving scarves and then encircling that woman and praying over her.  Still in the circle, they tied long, thin scarves on their wrists, connecting them together.  With hands raised, they moved around the wheelchair.  Another woman slipped through the circle and waved her sticked streamer over the wheelchair.

Worthy is the, Lamb who was slain
Holy, Holy, is He

--Kari Jobe

Still tied together, the circle of dancers knelt.  Hands together, they invited more of God on themselves.

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come

--Kari Jobe

I moved to the back wall of the room and saw that others were dancing behind the rows of chairs.  One young woman moved her arms and body as if she was climbing a thick rope.  Her movements were exquisite and as the weekend progressed I enjoyed watching her dance her prayers.

More love, more power

More of You in my life.

--Jeff Deyo

A short little woman stood near me singing harmonies that reminded me of the soprano’s high notes in Phantom of the Opera.  Was she two octaves above my alto?

The dancing circle at the front was standing, hands on each others’ shoulders, praying.

Burn in me, burn in me,

Let the fire of the Holy One burn in me

--Jerry Holman

The circle broke up and each dancer chose two scarves, the colours of fire.  Their arm movements were reminiscent of those holding the ropes in Double Dutch skipping. As more people joined the dancers or did their own thing, I remembered David, dancing as he led the ark into Jerusalem or like the people before and around Jesus during his triumphal entry into the same city.

The leader spoke from the front.  As though she was using the voice of Jesus, she repeated over and over, “Don’t you know I love you?”

He is jealous for me,...

Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all 

--David Crowder

An older couple stood up and began to dance, body to body, like the first dance of the bridal couple at a wedding.  Every movement of theirs exuded the love of a lifetime of intimacy.

Two two women danced together, body against body, one behind the other, arms of the one behind wrapped around the one before, head on her shoulder, then shifting to face and embrace each other, a long pink scarf wrapped around them, big smiles on their faces.

The two pairs danced and for me they represented the love I’ve longed for—one in the closeness of marriage and the other with another woman (the two girls were not dancing with any romance but I imposed that on them with my thoughts).  I asked myself the question I’ve asked many times before: “Which do I want?  Which do I want to be like?  God, I want a love like this!”

Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won... [victory for our marriage and me]
And I hear the cry of every longing heart [God hears the cry of my longing heart]

No more sorrow, no more pain [can it be?]

I will rise [God, I need to rise from the despair of my marriage]

--Chris Tomlin [italics in brackets my thoughts as we sang]

This was God’s answer to me.  The victory has been won.  There will be no more sorrow and pain.  I will rise.  I won’t stay in the pit and the pain.  God, can I really believe this?  I need this healing, the healing in my marriage.

What is a Prayer Summit?

I didn’t have a clue but I love anything to do with prayer and remembered the reports about it last year.  I had to go. 

The purpose seems to be to listen to hear what God has to say to the Church—local and national, Vineyard and others.  It’s been an annual event for the Vineyard churches in the Canadian Prairies (Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta) for the past five years and has been held in a variety of places in each province.  This year about a hundred people met at Bethel Lutheran Church in Sherwood Park, Alberta, a small city very close to Edmonton, coming from not only the prairie Vineyard churches but from British Columbia and New Brunswick as well.

The Church is the bride of Christ so, at the front of the room, was a (very chaste) bridal gown on a dress form with combat boots on the floor against the gown.  Being the bride of Christ is about intimacy with God—not fuzzy feelings but about taking up our cross and following him; about interceding to him for others. Our God is a consuming fire and he is purifying his bride, exposing sins.

We spent two days from 9:30 a.m. till about 9:30 praying, with breaks for lunch and dinner.  We were led in worship and prayer by a musical band.  We started off singing songs that were directed to God: 

You are the hope living in us

You are the rock in whom we trust

You are the light shining for all the world to see

--Brian Doerksen

Jesus you are mercy, Jesus you are justice

Jesus you are worthy that is what you are

you died alone to save me, your rose so you could raise me

you did this all to make me a chosen child of God

--Brenton Brown

You’re the God of this city...

There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come

And greater things are still to be done

In this city

--Chris Tomlin

Then the band would focus on one sentence or phrase from the song that God seemed to be leading them to such as, from the Chris Tomlin song above, “There is no one like our God,” and sing it over and over, helping us to meditate on that one truth and let it sink into us deeply. 

From there, the band would stop singing and play instruments only—allowing our thoughts and prayers to go where God led them—and/or improvise with words: singing Scripture or extemporaneously praising God and praying to him.

At the same time, the rest of us were doing a variety of things: singing, dancing with or without props, painting, kneeling, bowing down in one’s chair, writing what God was saying and showing and so on—all focussed on listening to God to hear what he had to say and praying back to him what he was putting on our hearts.

Much of the time I felt more like an observer than a participant.  Let me share what I saw and heard during the first session.

I sat near the front where I could watch the dancers.  A large pile of rectangular, chiffon scarves of varying sizes had been provided and some of the women were using these to express their prayers. 

At one point, a group of them were sitting on the floor in a circle, moving the scarves back and forth in front of them.  It made me think of the pool at Bethesda (John 5) and how people would wait for the waters to be stirred.  It was at the stirring of the waters that people were healed.  I thought, “God is stirring the waters among us this weekend.”

The women stood up with blue and yellow scarves, lifting one, very long, carpet-runner-sized blue “scarf” up and down like billows.  More people joined them, including a man and they faced the rest of us in a row, lifting the scarf up and down.  Another woman was dancing alone with no props.  The group with the long blue scarf stilled their arms, letting the fabric hang down and began to encircle the lone dancer and then spiralled in, tighter and tighter, until they were gathered in a tight cluster.  Someone else carrying a flag (chiffon fabric attached to a wooden dowel) walked around the cluster, waving the flag over them.  More people picked up flags and joined the first flag-bearer.

None of this, or any of the dancing, was rehearsed or planned ahead.  It was a group expression of what they were hearing and seeing from God.

As I watched, it occurred to me that the dance cluster represented unity amongst the churches, with the flags representing the angels celebrating the unity and blessing it. The flags and their bearers were the protection of God.

At this time we were singing:

Come, let us return unto the Lord...

He will come to us like rain, spring rain

If we ask, He will come

Send His rain on everyone

--Kevin Prosch

The cluster dropped the blue cloth and raised their hands as they unwound into a circle with hands joined and raised.  Breaking their handholds, they raised their hands and moved them repetitively towards their faces as if they were trying to get more of the falling rain.  The circle broke, leaving the one man dancing alone.

Ingratitude and the Bronze Snake

I’m trying to return to my daily times with God in my prayer room.  One of the things I do when I’m here is read Psalm 139.  At the very end of the chapter, David asks God to see if there is any offensive way in him.  Today it occurred to me to ask God, “In what way is my attitude towards Tom and my relationship with Tom offensive to you?”  It’s a question that I haven’t quite pondered in the same way and at first I couldn’t think of an answer so, rather than manufacture one, I continued on in my time with God.  This is the fourth week of Lent and so I turned to the Lenten passages of Scripture for today.

In the first passage, Numbers 21:4-9, we find the story of the bronze snake.  The people were complaining about what God was doing and accused him of bringing them into the desert to die.  In fact, he had brought them there so they could live!  They complained that they had nothing to eat when God had kept them nourished with manna.  They eschewed the manna and hated this provision of God.

Then it hit me.  I do the same thing.  God gave me Tom as my husband and I complain about him.  I rebel against the way he treats me instead of being grateful for the provision he makes for me.  I continue to long for Pearl, just as the Israelites longed to return to Egypt.  In essence, I’ve been telling God that I do not like what he has done for me.  This is the offensive way in me—my ingratitude to God for giving me Tom and for who Tom is.

God’s response to Israel’s complaining was to send poisonous snakes among them.  He brought them pain and death because of their ingratitude.  But in the midst of the pain and death, all they had to do was look at the snake and they were healed.  All they had to do was look.  What consequences has God brought me because of my ingratitude?  And yet, regardless of the consequences, the cure is the same—look to Jesus.  All I have to do is look and I will be healed.

Psalm 32:6 reads, “...let all the godly pray to you while there is still time, that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment.”  The assumption here is that the godly have sinned but that by praying, they are protected from the consequences of that sin while the wicked are not.  The godly can go to Jesus for protection but the wicked don’t have that option*.  When I look to God, he will guide me, advise me and watch over me (verse 8).

The first part of this Psalm is a declaration of what happens when we look up to Jesus when we have sinned, such as with my ingratitude.  When I hold onto my rebellion to God, such as not being grateful for the husband he gave me, I will be weak and in pain (verse 3).  I will waste away.  Joy and strength are what come to those who confess their sin (verses 4, 10, 11).

I have been wrong to complain about Tom.  I have been wrong to focus on the negative things about Tom and my marriage to him, instead of being grateful for the good.  My need to feel loved can be filled by going to Jesus and basking in his embrace.

In John 3:4-21, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus: “...as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.” (verse 14) We just look to Jesus with expectancy.  That’s it! The expectancy is the faith, belief and certainty that doing so will produce results. How do I look to Jesus?  I read his Word, I talk to him, I sit in his presence.  All who do this—looking to Jesus with expectancy—won’t be judged (verse 18) because they are thus exposing themselves to the light (verse 19-21).  Salvation comes by looking to and being in the Light.

Finally, in Ephesians 2:1-10, we see that salvation is a gift: “God saved you by his grace when you believed.  And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.” (verse 8)

Having confessed my sin of ingratitude, I come to Jesus with the expectancy that he will forgive me (1 John 1:9).  I spend time with him, soaking in his presence and bathing in the light, and begin to look for all the ways I can show my gratitude and thankfulness for what he has done, is doing and will do.

Lord Jesus, please teach me how to be grateful to you even when everything isn’t the way I’d prefer.

*Note: That isn’t to say that the wicked can’t go to Jesus, because God will accept all who confess their sins and believe in Jesus. Perhaps the godly have more immediate access to God?  I think that’s the implication of this passage.

Turkish Genocide of Armenians

U.S. panel backs Armenian genocide declaration

A U.S. congressional panel has approved a resolution declaring the Ottoman-era killing of Armenians genocide.

In Turkey, the government said it was recalling its ambassador from Washington in response.

Read more.

This news story is of great importance to me because of some research I did about ten to twelve years ago.  I was writing a children's book proposal for an educational publisher in Maine.  The intent of the book was to use the alphabet to highlight 26 people groups that aren't well known.  A is for Armenia.

I loved my research on the Armenians--a people I knew little about.  In reading every book and every website I could find on the country and the people, I grew to love them.  They have suffered much because of their refusal to turn away from Christianity and embrace Islam, beginning a thousand years ago when the Turkic people began to pour out of Central Asia, conquering much as they moved west and eventually settling into the country we now call Turkey.

Armenia was the first nation in the world to declare itself Christian.  The apostle, Bartholomew, is credited with evangelising the country.  The people point their origins back to Noah who landed his ark on Mt. Ararat after the flood.  Until the 20th century, Mt. Ararat was a central part of Armenia and continues to be a huge emblem to them of their identity and history.  It was the genocide and the actions surrounding it that changed the country's borders.

The land called Armenia today is only a tenth of what Armenia was, prior to World War I.  At that time, Armenia was a nation that took up much of what is referred to as Anatolia--a broad band of land along the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern part of current-day Turkey.

When the Turks invaded the land back around 1000, they were brutal to the Armenian people and through the ages they continued brutality against them.  This news article mentions 1915 as the date of the genocide but truthfully, it began sooner and ended later.

Was it really genocide?  The Turks maintain it was not.  Yet Adolphe Hitler, on the eve of his invasion of Poland, specifically referred to the Armenian genocide and declared that since the world did not rise up to stop the Turks, it would not try to stop him either.  The Armenian genocide was his justification for the Jewish genocide.  No one would care.

No one cared what was happening to the Armenians in 1915 and the surrounding years.  Back then, Turkey was key to the needs of the Allied forces and access to the Middle East through Turkey was considered essential; far more important than saving the lives of men, women and children.  Hitler's gas chambers would have been preferable to what happened to the Armenians: Women and children forced to march through the desert for weeks with no food or water and when they tried to drink even the urine of the horses they were whipped or shot and killed; men were scourged on the bottoms of their feet and then made  to walk long distances; children sold to make them into "good Muslims"; people forced off the edges of high cliffs en masse; mothers forced to watch their children being brutalised; women crucified naked on crosses for all to gawke at; communities locked into their churches, which were then burned down with them in it.  These are the things I remember without looking back at my research.  It was a foul, foul time. Ninety percent of the Armenian people were annihilated and the remainder forced onto a tiny plot of land that doesn't even contain their beloved Mt. Ararat.

One man, I believe he was the American ambassador to Turkey at the time, saw what was happening and tried to inform his government, but they refused to believe him and, in the end, he was recalled home.  It is time the American government and other governments acknowledge the wrong that was done to the Armenian people and I applaud the resolution that has been approved.  Turkey has done all it can to suppress the knowledge of the genocide and, in my research, I discovered there were Turks in the US who were afraid for their lives because they acknowledged the genocide in contradiction to Turkish government.

I do not believe that the pressing "need" for Turkey to remain an ally is greater than the need to recognise and denounce the crime of that nation nearly 100 years ago.  As Hitler took his example from Turkey, the Turkish government should now take the example of the German people who, after World War II, not only admitted what had been done to the Jews and others but tried to make what restitution they could.

I pray that as this current resolution moves to the full House and beyond, there will be determination to once and for all admit the truth of what Turkey did to the Armenian people.

Abraham's Bosom, Saints under the Altar, Resurrection

My husband handed me a question last week that someone had given to him.  He was hoping I could answer it for him.  I've spent two or three hours working on the answer, so I decided I'd share my response here as well.

Q: If the dead who died and believed in God (Old Testament) which the Bible refers to as Abraham’s bosom, are they the saints under the altar that Revelation talks about?  If so, did Christ bring them to heaven after his resurrection or while he was in the pit?

Abraham’s bosom = Heaven / Paradise

There is only one passage that talks about “Abraham’s bosom,” and that is in Jesus’ parable in Luke 16 and not in all translations.  In the New International Version, Luke 16:23 says that Lazarus (a man in a parable, not the brother of Mary and Martha) was “by his side,” meaning beside Abraham’s side. 

To see how all the different translations word this, go to:

http://www.biblestudytools.com/luke/16-23-compare.html

The idea of a dead person being “in Abraham’s bosom,” or “by his side,” is simply another way of saying “in heaven.”  In this parable, the beggar had made it to heaven but the rich man who had refused to help the beggar when they were both living was in hell.

In the Old Testament, the concept of going to heaven or hell when one dies was commonly believed.  This is why Jesus was able to say:  “I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,” (Matthew 8:11) and his listeners understood what he was talking about.

Saints Under the Altar = Martyrs

Revelation 6:9-11 NIV

“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.”

Those under the altar didn’t die from natural causes or disease.  Neither did they die as the result of accidents.  These people were dead because of God’s Word and because they had maintained their testimony.  In other words, those under the altar are a select group of people—those who have been martyred for their faith. 

Based on Hebrews 11, we know there were many martyrs in the Old Testament times.  From history we know there were many martyrs during the ages from the time of Jesus until now.  These are those whose souls are under the altar.  If the pastor died in a car crash tomorrow, he would go to heaven, but he wouldn’t be under the altar.

Christ in the Pit = He Preached

There is very little said in the Bible of what Jesus did during the three days of death. 

1 Peter 3:18-20 is the only place that talks about it:

“He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.” (NIV)

This passage says nothing about Jesus bringing anyone to heaven.  He just went to preach.  We’re not told what the results were. 

Bring them to Heaven after his Resurrection?

There is Ephesians 4:8-10 that could be interpreted to suggest Jesus took people to heaven with him after his resurrection, but there is nothing else in the New Testament to corroborate that view:

“This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men." (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions ? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)” (NIV)

Notice that those he led when he ascended on high were captives.  That means they weren’t willing participants.  That doesn’t speak to me of righteous people going to heaven with Jesus.

Furthermore, when Luke describes Jesus going up to heaven in Acts 1, there is no mention of anyone going with him.

When Jesus died, tombs were opened and many who were dead were raised again to life but there is no mention of them going to heaven ahead of anyone else.  Matthew 27:51-53 NIV:

“At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.”

Christ Brings them to Heaven

The common Christian belief about what happens when a person dies is that the bodies stay in the ground and the souls/spirits go to Heaven or to Hell (or Purgatory according to Roman Catholics).  It is not until Jesus’ Second Coming that the bodies of those who died will be raised.  Here are some verses to look at:

Of course we know that Jesus said to the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” Luke 23:43 NIV 

1 Corinthians 15:20-24 NIV

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.

In other words, Christ was the first to experience resurrection, so when he comes again (see the promise in Acts 1), those who belong to him will also be raised from the dead.

2 Timothy 2:11, 12 promises:

“If we died with him [Jesus], we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him.”

1 Thessalonians 4:14-17

“We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

This puts the time of the resurrection at the time of Jesus returning to earth as described in Acts 1. 

From what I know of the Bible (and I’ve read it through many times) and specifically from the verses above, I would say that the souls of the righteous go to heaven at the time of death, regardless of whether they died before Jesus or after Jesus.  Otherwise, why would “Abraham’s bosom” be used to describe the place of paradise? 

And if Abraham was there before Jesus died (see the first verse above), then why not the others who were righteous before Jesus died?  And if the thief on the cross was going to be in Paradise the same day as Jesus, it stands to reason that so will all others who have been made righteous by Jesus’ blood—whether they are martyrs or not.  Our bodies will follow later, according to the verses quoted above.

If you have more questions, please feel free to ask.

debbiehaughland@gmail.com