Stephen M. Miller for Monday, 21 April 2014 "Do dead people come back to earth?"

Stephen M. Miller for Monday, 21 April 2014 "Do dead people come back to earth?"

GOODBYE HUSBAND, GOODBYE DAD. My wife and her family await the start of the graveside funeral service for the man my kids called Opa, German for Grandfather. Any chance he’ll come back to say hello to those who miss him? Curious Christians wonder about things like this. Photo by Stephen M. Miller.
IT’S THE PERFECT QUESTION for the Easter season, what with the Resurrection and all. 
It comes from Frances Foster, who gets a free book for taking the time to send me the question.
Here’s how Frances put it:
Can people in heaven interact with loved ones still on Earth, and if so, how?
The Bible doesn’t say, as far as I can tell.
We do have that one odd story of King Saul going to a medium and asking her to conjure up the spirit of the dead prophet Samuel. Saul wanted to know if his army would win the next-day battle with the overwhelming force of Philistines camped below him, in the Jezreel Valley.
As the Bible writer reports it, dead Samuel shows up.
Bad news from the dead man talking: 
“Tomorrow…you and your sons will be here with me. The Lord will bring down the entire army of Israel in defeat” (1 Samuel 28:19).
There’s also the story of Moses and Elijah showing up at the Transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:1-13).
Outside the Bible, we certainly have stories that suggest the dead are still alive and on call for chores here in the physical dimension.
I wrote about one in a blog post last summer: What about near-death experiences?
Here’s the excerpt about what happened to a close relative of mine going through drug rehab and a painful withdrawal:
After his toughest night he told the morning shift nurse that he wanted to thank the nurse who had stayed with him all night.
“There was no nurse,” she told him.
Years later my relative saw a photo of his grandmother when she was a young lady. I was there when he first saw the picture. It had come in the mail from a distant relative.
The young man had known his grandmother only when she was elderly. He had no idea what she looked like when she was young. I knew her well, and I would not have recognized her from the photo, either.
The picture shocked him.
It was quite obvious to me, standing there beside him.
Finally, he said: “She’s the nurse who stayed with me.”
As for me, I have never seen any evidence of my loved ones coming back to say hello or to scare the toe jam out of me.
For the record, in the event that God reads blog posts, I’d love to see Dad again. 
Down here.
Not up there. Not yet.
Not that I’m not looking forward to heaven. But first I’m looking forward to a little more heaven on earth. 
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"Elite soldiers"
What were the names of King David’s two elite strike forces? Hint: Don’t get creative.
Three and Thirty. Three had three men. Thirty had, you guessed it. See 1 Chronicles 11:11, 20.
The post Elite soldiers appeared first on Stephen M. Miller.
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