Heaven Is Beyond Your Wildest Expectations by Sid Roth Read Free Book Online Page A

return.” The voice responded, “Ian, if you wish to return, you must see in a new light.” The moment I heard those words, “See in a new light,” words appeared before me:
“God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all”
(1 John 1:5). They were words on a Christmas card given to me in South Africa, but I had not known that they were taken from the New Testament.
    As I saw these words in front of me, I realized the light could be coming from God, and, if it was, then what was I doing here? They must have made a mistake because I did not deserve to be here.
If He knows my name, and He knows my thoughts as speech, then I am transparent before Him,
I thought.
He can see everything I’ve ever done in my life.
In fear I thought,
I’m getting out of here.
I started pulling back, looking for some rock to crawl under, or go back down the tunnel where I thought I belonged. But as I pulled back from His presence, wave after wave of pure light started flooding upon me.
    The first wave that touched me caused my hands and body to tingle as I felt love go into the depths of who I was, to the extent that I staggered. Then another wave came, and yet another. I thought,
God, You can’t love me, I’ve committed so many sins, I’ve cursed You, I’ve broken so many commandments.
The waves of love kept coming to me, and every statement I confessed was followed by another wave of love until I stood there weeping as God’s love washed through me again and again. I could not believe that God could love such a filthy, unclean man. Yet, as I stood in His presence, the love got stronger and stronger until I felt that if only I could step into the light and see Him, I would know who God was.
    I walked closer and closer, until suddenly the light opened up and I saw the bare feet of a Man with dazzling white garments around His ankles. As I looked up, it seemed as if the light emanated from the pores of His entire face, like brilliant jewels with light and power shooting out from every facet. In total wonder at the sight of the brilliance and purity before me, I realized this person indeed must be God. It could only be Jesus. His garments appeared to be made of shimmering light itself. I walked up closer to see His eyes, but as I stood in front of Him, He moved away as if He did not want that. And as He moved, I saw what looked like a brand-new planet Earth opening up before me.
    This new earth had green grass, yet with the same light and radiance that was upon God. Through the fields, a crystal clear river flowed, with trees on either side of its banks. There were green rolling hills, mountains and blue skies over to my right; and to my left, meadows with flowers and trees. It looked like a Garden of Eden or paradise. Every part of me was drinking this in saying, “I belong here. I was made for this place. I’ve traveled the world looking for a place like this.” I wanted to enter in and explore, but as I stepped forward to do so, He stepped in front of me and asked me this question, “Ian, now that you have seen, do you wish to step in, or return?”
    Imagine if you had gotten there, as it were, by the skin of your teeth, through a deathbed prayer.
    Imagine if you knew that, just behind God, was a place where there would be no more sickness, no more death, no more suffering, no more pain, no more wars, and where there was life for eternity, what would you do? Believe me, I had no plans to come back to this earth. I was going to say goodbye to this cruel world and step right into that one.
    But that instant I looked back over my shoulder. I saw a clear vision of my mother looking at me. She had prayed for me every day of my life, and had tried to show me the way of God. I realized that if I went into Heaven right then she would think I had gone to hell, because she would not know of my repentance in that ambulance and giving my life to God. I said, “God, I can’t step in, I can’t be selfish. I must go back and tell my