Heavenly Dreams and the Underworld

Dreams of Heaven and the Underworld

 Preface

 

Is Jesus real? Does God exist? Is the Bible true? Is there really a heaven? Although these are questions people have asked for centuries, they are also relevant questions today because people of every generation continue to ask them.

 

What is the Truth?

I once heard a story that illustrates this. When Hudson Taylor, a pastor from England, came to China to preach, he met a Chinese man named Ni Yongfa. After hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ, Ni Yongfa became very happy and accepted it. Ni Yongfa asked Hudson Taylor how long people in England have known about Jesus. Taylor replied, “hundreds of years.” At that moment, the Chinese man became upset with Taylor. Holding him accountable, Yongfa said, "My father sought the truth from Buddhism, Taoism, and other religions all his life, but never found it. Thus, he died in regret. You have known about Jesus Christ for hundreds of years and you have only now come to preach it to us?"[1] It is obvious from this story that only few Chinese people had heard about Jesus Christ at that time.

 

Times are different now. We live in a digital age, an age of information explosion and information overload. Most people around the world can utilize internet search engines like Baidu or Google to find stories about Jesus Christ, God, and the Bible. It is not so much that people have never heard of Jesus Christ, but rather, they do not know whether Christ is a Western myth, religion, or the Truth. The problem nowadays is that people do not know what information is credible and what is false. They are not sure if there really is a God and a heaven.

 

Throughout the ages, however, a lot of people have reported witnessing heavenly scenes like that which was seen by John in the book of Revelation. Many have recorded their prophetic visions, and some are readily available in book format. The world’s disbelief in Christ is no longer a matter of ignorance to the name of Jesus Christ or the concept of God and heaven; rather, people don’t know what is real and what is not, and they are not willing to blindly follow just anything.

 

My Encounters

In 2001, I went to the UK to study and there I encountered the gospel. In 2002, I moved to the United States. I was baptized and saved in the Local Church Movement (LCM), and I became a Christian. In 2015, I was introduced to the Pentecostal Movement and the Prophetic Movement. Through these movements, I was filled with the Holy Spirit and God activated a prophetic gifting inside me to the point that I began having dreams of heaven. In my dreams, I often see what appear to be parts of heaven or another world. Not only have I seen Jesus, angels, and evil spirits, but I have also encountered Chinese people who have passed away. In fact, some of the Chinese people in my dreams died without knowing Christ. I know this because some of them were my dead relatives, and I knew that they did not believe in the Lord before their departure.

 

Some Christians may think my prophetic dreams and visions are not from God. Maybe they are from evil spirits and, therefore, unreliable. It is understandable to think this way. Readers can make their own judgements. I am just being faithful to record what I believe is from the Lord. If one day I feel that these are not from the Lord, I will revoke what I’ve shared. For the time being, I am inviting my readers to judge what I’ve said and pray to the Lord about it. Please know that I am not recording these to conjure up theological controversy. Rather, I wish to record what I saw so that those who don’t know whether the Christian God and heaven are genuine, understand that heaven, Jesus, and the underworld are real.

 

Heaven and Hades

The title of this article is, “Dreams of Heaven and the Underworld.” In between heaven and hell, I found a grey area that I term an ‘underworld’ for lack of a better word. I’ve seen people living there. I do not know if this is an underworld, a place in the heart of the earth, or another spiritual realm, but I know that this place is not heaven or hell. Some people may call this place an extension or part of Hades. I was taught in my denomination that the Bible says that there are two parts to Hades: Paradise and hell. In Luke 16, the Lord mentions that Lazarus was sent to a place of blessing while the rich man was sent to a place of torment. A great chasm exists between the two.

 

Where is Hades? Is it under the earth or in another dimension? Could it be in the bowels of the earth? Numbers 16 records that the earth opened its mouth and swallowed Korah and those with him that rebelled against Moses. They went down alive into Sheol. Some conclude from this verse that Sheol (Hebrew) or Hades (Greek) is within the earth. I have no way of knowing. However, I have heard others refer to these places as valleys, and in my prophetic dreams, this seems to be the case. For now, I have chosen to call them the edge or grey area of ​​heaven.

 

Once, the Holy Spirit took me to a deep valley wherein we traveled for a long time to meet some people. In this extremely deep valley, there were people who claimed to have lived there since the Han Dynasty (206 BCE- 220 CE). Although the Chinese people I met that day were in the darkest valley, I did not see a lake of fire or sulfur anywhere around. In two other trips, I met different Chinese people in varying depths of valleys. People in the shallower valleys had houses and green spaces. They socialized and had gatherings. In the deeper valleys, I saw houses in cold weather and snow.

 

Some other people who have experienced visiting heavenly realms, such as Lai Wang Xiulan, mention these valleys too. According to Xiulan's book, “Get Closer to God 2,” hell exists in some valleys.[2] Sinful and nominal Christians who live in the valleys are awaiting judgement. After judgement, some of these people go to heaven while some go to hell. These valleys are on the road to hell.[3] Some sinful Christians who live in the valley will return to Paradise after repentance. Xiulan states in her book that the Lord said, “The people in this valley are those who are bitter, who criticize, judge, and disobey the shepherd. They are here to study the Bible in order to know me better. After they learn their lesson, they can return to Paradise.”[4] If these statements are true, then some people do not go to hell immediately. They await their judgment, and or continue to repent.

 

For centuries, Christians have believed and preached that those who do not believe in the Lord while they are still alive go directly to hell after they depart earth. However, as I mentioned before, I have met relatives in my dreams whom I knew didn't believe in the Lord before dying. I don't know how to explain this theologically. There is no doubt that preaching someone will go to hell if he/she doesn’t accept the Lord will produce a sense of urgency to believe in the Lord; it also gives evangelists their reason to evangelize. But what about the many relatives who have died that we loved so much? Chinese people have a habit of worshiping their dead ancestors, and I do not promote ancestor worship. But the Bible tells us that God has prepared something far beyond what we can ask or think (1 Corinthians 2:9). Perhaps one day when we arrive in another world, we’ll find that someone we never thought of was there to welcome us. Perhaps we will still have a chance to be in contact with our loved ones. Mind you, I know this is a theologically controversial topic.

 

Let’s consider a few examples. Let’s take the example of Confucius. Where is he now? It is not theologically correct to say that Confucius is in heaven because no one can go to heaven except through faith in Jesus. I assume that Confucius never heard the gospel. But it is also wrong to say that Confucius is definitively in hell. First of all, according to the Bible, Paul says that those who heard the gospel will be judged according to the gospel, and those who have not heard the gospel are judged according to their conscience, because their conscience is their law (Rom. 2:14). If Confucius and others who did not know Christ, lived by their conscience only because they had not heard the gospel, would they be bound to hell? This does not conform to God's righteous nature and to what Paul says. Maybe they are awaiting a final judgement to which after judgment, some people will enter Paradise and others go to the lake of fire.

 

Now, I can't say with 100% confidence that Confucius is or will be allowed to enter Paradise, but I hope he will be there. Not only do I hope that he is there, but I also hope that Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi, and all other famous Chinese poets will be there. I hope that one day I can meet them and discuss ancient Chinese poetry. I once thought that everything apart from Christ was dung, including culture. My current notions have been revised. I believe culture will remain in heaven. On the last day of 2017, when the Lord took me to heaven, believers there sang me a hymn of four meters in Chinese. Perhaps the languages we speak on earth may not be abolished in heaven even though there may be heaven’s language too.

 

My encounter with my father-in-law is another example I will share. I never met my father-in-law on earth because he died of a cerebral hemorrhage before my wife and I got married. In one of my prophetic dreams, my wife and I were brought to a place where my father-in-law and other people were gathered. My wife was brought inside a building to see her father. I had the opportunity to chat with an old Chinese lady sitting at the door. She showed me a large print edition of the Chinese version of the Bible that she was studying. To my knowledge, my father-in-law did not believe in the Lord before he died, but in my dream, he had the opportunity to study the Bible. The place they were living may be considered the Paradise part of Hades, or a valley on the road to Hades. My wife had misunderstandings with her father before he died and never got the chance to apologize because her father died suddenly. She felt regretful, even indebted. She was worried that her father would go to hell and she would never have the chance to see him. This caused immense pain in her heart. However, after I had this prophetic dream and upon sharing it with her, my wife received great comfort in her soul. The pain in her heart healed.

 

In one of Xiulan’s testimonies about heaven, she also described how she saw her father and mother-in-law reading the Bible in Paradise. She said that when the Lord took her to visit them, they told her that there’s an angel in every household in Paradise that teaches them the Bible.[5]

 

My aunt is another example. My fourth aunt died of breast cancer, and I don’t believe she knew the Lord either. In another prophetic dream, I was taken to a small house where she lived. She received me with fruit grown by her house. This piece of fruit looked like a mulberry, but it was as big as a mango. Her house was very small. Beside her house were many other people's houses. They were very similar to the small townhouses in downtown Baltimore, but not so high. The Bible clearly mentions that there are fruit trees and fruit in heaven (Rev. 22:2), but I have seen many times that one can also grow vegetables in heaven. Xiulan also mentions that people can grow vegetables in heaven.[6] American prophetess Kat Kerr even mentions in her book seeing some angels in heaven prepare a house with a garden for an old lady. One angel had specially prepared and tilled a piece of land for her to grow vegetables.[7] This should not be surprising—if one can plant fruit trees so naturally, one can also grow vegetables. Chinese people in the United States especially like to grow vegetables in their backyard. Christians who like to grow vegetables may also continue to grow them after they go to heaven.

 

I’ve had this experience of meeting my fourth aunt more than once. This reminds me of a testimony I heard from an Australian prophet named Neville Johnson.[8] He mentioned that once he was brought by an angel to a place where he saw some small houses. It felt strange that these were different from the big houses in heaven, so he asked the angel, “What are these houses?” The angel told him that when some people who hadn't heard the gospel passed away, Jesus would appear to them, giving them the opportunity to choose. If they chose Jesus, they would live in these small houses.

 

Kerr also shared a similar vision. She saw Jesus appearing to those who rejected him during their lifetime, and he asked them if they wanted to know Him now. Almost everyone cried and said “yes.” Jesus told them that He would not be righteous if he did not appear to them to give them a choice since their relatives had faithfully prayed for them and decreed that they would be saved in Jesus’ name. Kerr encourages people to pray and intercede for their family members even though they do not seem to be open to the Gospel. She states that people will be surprised that many relatives made it to heaven although they thought they did not make it.[9]

 

I recall praying for some of my family members to receive salvation, and I especially prayed for my fourth aunt after I found out she was sick. I guess people like my fourth aunt are awaiting judgement or already in the peripheral of Paradise as Neville Johnson mentioned. Whether they will have the opportunity to continue to know God and become God’s children, and have bigger houses in heaven in the future, I have no way of knowing. I personally hope that these people will have the opportunity to know God and to mature spiritually. Maybe even Li Bai, Du Fu, and other famous Chinese poets are also in similar places learning about God. If you are equipped with the Word of God, maybe it will be you that God uses to teach them in this intermittent time. There are many gatherings and activities happening in the valleys, even people preaching. Or, if you become co-rulers to rule with Christ, you may have five or ten cities to rule (Luke 19:17-18). Why isn’t it possible for you to rule cities in different realms instead of earth? Considering the total number of cities on earth right now compared with the total numbers of Christians throughout the earth, there is definitely not enough cities for everyone to rule 5 or 10 cities.

 

Only A Shadow

There are also countless means of transportation in heaven, which may be something you haven’t thought of. I have seen carriages in heaven (the Bible records the chariot of fire and the horses of fire that took Elijah away). I have also seen trains and even transportation that uses trains and horses together. Maybe these surprise you, but don't forget that even Jesus is expected to return riding on a white horse. Many people also doubt that there will be animals in heaven. If there are no animals, where did the Lord get the white horse? We cannot spiritualize all biblical records. Some of the things recorded are things the prophets actually saw in heaven. We should remember that the Bible tells us that things on earth are only shadows of things in heaven (Heb. 8:5). If there are no real things in heaven, how can things on earth be shadowed? There are buildings, animals, plants, trains in heaven, and even coal, as I once saw. All the beautiful things on earth can all be found in heaven. It’s as if heaven is a version 2.0 of everything we see on earth.

 

In another dream, the Holy Spirit drove me in a car type vehicle to a place in heaven where I saw a lion and a horse resting leisurely on a hillside. People were swimming there. Suddenly God came to visit, and simultaneously, there was a rainbow and rain. Kerr says only from the Father comes the rainbow.[10] In another prophetic dream, the Holy Spirit drove me and a Christian couple who attended our Bible study, to heaven. He showed us the house of his wife in heaven. The house was huge. The vines and wall had grown together as one. There was a music box on the wall beside the front door. You could open the music box and music would play automatically. The lady had a great passion for music. After listening to my testimony, she was very encouraged that God had installed a music box on the wall of her house in heaven so that she could play music at any time. The wife said she had a dream at the same time as me, and she saw the Lord. But since she thought she might have been dying, she cried out to the Lord and woke up. Perhaps this was not just a dream and we had traveled there together.

 

The Necessity for Dreams and Visions

The Bible tells us that we are sitting together with Christ in the Spirit, but this is something that many people don’t understand. They have never experienced sitting together with Jesus on the throne. My understanding is that if God did not allow prophetic visions and dreams to be known and experienced by the soul, we may not have a way of perceiving what we are experiencing in the Spirit during the moments we are taken in the Spirit somewhere.

 

I live in the United States. I have been to Orlando, Florida, and I have visited Disneyland. Many people have never been there. If I say there is a city in Florida called Orlando, and that there is a Disneyland in Orlando, you might believe it, right? Why do many people believe this place exists without having been there? It is because many other people have been there and have testified to its existence. If, however, only a few people had been there and testified, it may be more difficult for everyone to believe that Disneyland exists. My experiences include meetings and conversations with Jesus Christ; conversations with angels and activities together; the appearance of saints who have passed away; houses and buildings in heaven; children in heaven; attacks by evil spirits; spiritual warfare; and the deceased's location, especially dead Chinese people. Unfortunately, I lost some details of my prophetic dreams due to blurred memories. Sometimes I dreamt of being in one place for a long time and participating in many activities there, but I only recalled a few of the dream’s details upon waking. The records you see are not complete pictures, but they are bits and pieces like bricks and tiles of an archaeological discovery. My limited comprehension also leaves room for inaccuracies. In the end, my goal is not to describe exactly what heaven looks like, but to surprise many people who have thought that heaven is not real.

 

Nowadays, there are more people testifying that they have been to heaven. God has revealed heavenly scenes to many people in recent decades, and these people have recorded them. Countless videos will appear if you search for testimonies of heaven on video sharing sites like YouTube. I know that many Koreans and Chinese people have similar testimonies. They are very encouraging to read. I believe if everyone shares their encounters with heaven, it may draw a larger witness to the gospel. There are a lot of travel guides available online. Don't simply trust all the guides you read because they are not always reliable. My heavenly travels may not be completely reliable, but I share them to encourage and challenge you to test what is good. As the Bible says, “Do not despise prophecies, but test everything” (ESV, 1 Thess. 5:20-21). Use this article for your reference, for brainstorming use, and not for theological debate with other Christians.

 

Although you still may not be sure if God, heaven, and Jesus Christ are real, I carry the conviction that they are because I have seen Jesus Christ. He has appeared to me many times. I know there is another world outside this world. It is even more beautiful knowing that there is a heaven waiting for people. The Local Church Movement (LCM) to which I was a part, spiritualized heaven into a concept of a "spiritual new Jerusalem." They teach that there is a spiritual place where God and man dwell together, but they do not believe there is a material aspect to heaven. This is inconsistent with my prophetic dreams and many other people’s testimonies.[11] My dreams have freed me from many beliefs I accepted while partaking in the LCM. Although the LCM teaches this way to discourage some believers’ overly material pursuit of heaven, they are excessively denying the material side of heaven.

 

Heaven, Version 2.0

On the last day of 2017, a mysterious person brought me to heaven wherein we traveled for a long time. After arriving, this mysterious female took me behind a piece of glass in a building. There I saw people going up to heaven as though they were taking an elevator. I initially did not perceive that the lady guiding me was a disguise for the person of Jesus. On other occasions, Jesus has also appeared to me as an old Chinese lady. After I realized who I was with, the lady’s appearance changed to Jesus, and I even saw a cherub flying towards me. Surely, I was in the presence of the Lord. I was shocked—there is glass in heaven! Perhaps Paul had already known this. He said, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (ESV, 1 Cor. 13:12). Some theologians say that the word “mirror” represents some kind of glass-like object.

 

Kerr mentions in an interview that heaven is round and a very big planet far away from the earth; the size of heaven is bigger than our galaxy. She specifically says that heaven is round and not flat as many people may think.[12] If her statement is true, heaven is indeed a version 2.0 of the earth, or better! Many good things that we enjoy on earth today will be found in heaven including our pets, according to Kerr.

 

Of course, we don't know whether material in heaven is the same as material on earth. That is, the Lord was able to walk through walls after he was resurrected, but he could also eat fish when it was given to him by the disciples. Jesus’ state of being was obviously altered because it is recorded that the disciples were initially startled when they saw him because they thought He was a spirit or a ghost. It was then that the Lord said to them, “Do you have any fish?” The Lord proved he was not only of spiritual essence, but that he could still consume material things as they did. We may not be able to explain how Jesus’ resurrected body maintained both aspects of carnality and spirituality, but perhaps this is part of the mystery of heaven 2.0.

 

When these prophetic dreams happened, I was in my bed sleeping, Although I was asleep, my spirit was brought to these various places by the Holy Spirit. While I am not certain if I was having an out-of-body experience, they point to a reality that we cannot perceive or see without spiritual eyes. I hope that you will continue to take these dreams seriously as I do. I hope that you will be open to the possibilities that may exist beyond us while also not neglecting to acknowledge that everything in creation exists because of God and it is all for His glory. Heaven may be different from what you have imagined!

 

There is a phrase that says, “Poverty limits our imagination.” If our imagination is limited, it will make us poor, not only materially, but spiritually. Perhaps if more people knew that heaven existed, their life’s endeavors would be largely rewritten. Even for Christians who vaguely believe in a heaven, maybe they will be awakened to believe with fervor in the greater things to come. Once we are sure that heaven is real and there are many lessons to be learned there, we will not waste so much time on earthly things. Interestingly, the first thing that many people in heaven regret is wasting their opportunities to learn to serve the Lord and love God and others while on earth. They deeply regret seeing that others are closer to God. Although there is no jealousy in heaven, people may still feel regret for not having seized their opportunities.

 

Some people say that the more you learn to love and serve the Lord on earth and are filled with God’s light, the closer you are to Him in heaven and the closer you live to Him in the heavenly realm. On the contrary, the less holy you are, the farther you will be from God. In the end, the farthest you’ll be is probably hell. I hope these dreams provoke you and cause you to draw closer to Christ now.

 

[1] http://production.lifejiezou.com/node.php?nid=15279

[2] Only available in Chinese. Title translation is mine. Page 27.

[3] 130.

[4] Lai Wang Xiulan, Jehovah-jireh, 160.

[5] Lai Wang Xiulan, Jehovah-jireh, 45.

[6] Lai Wang Xiulan, Through Eyes of Faith, 142. Only available in Chinese.

[7] Kat Kerr, Revealing Heaven II, 62.

[8] From Neville Johnson’s sermon on Youtube. No link available.

[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Het_gU1nYCI

[10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Het_gU1nYCI

[11] Website for Contending for the Faith: https://cftfc.com/?s=%E5%A4%A9%E5%A0%82. The website is in Chinese.

[12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Het_gU1nYCI