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Hi, welcome. This is Chris Lepine, and this is episode two of my podcast. As I’m recording this, it’s Saturday, November 19, 2022. This episode is The Keys to Life After Death: The Real Truth About Salvation. So, after listening to today’s show, I’m hoping that you’ll feel more peace, more security, greater motivation about and for the spiritual life to really start to feel that enthusiasm. And when we talk about, when we say the word, salvation, or resurrection, it brings up, I’m sure for many people, a lot of negative connotations, a lot of bad experiences.
Some people had really negative upbringings, where they were constantly monitored, constantly restricted, constantly threatened with not resurrecting, threatened with spiritual consequences, like Limbo, or hell, our favorite hell. So people have that a little bit more than others. But in the back of I think a lot of people’s minds, there’s always this, this fear about what’s going to happen after I die.
Either, I don’t want to go to hell, I don’t want something negative to happen. Or, of course, God, I hope I do get to go on, I don’t want to just go off into oblivion after I die. So there’s a lot of there’s a lot of concern about that. And rightly so. And you know, we’re here for a very short time, no one can argue with that. And eventually, all of us will physically die. And it’s something that’s on a lot of people’s minds. And as you get older, I’ll tell you, you think about it more.
I didn’t think about it, I think quite as much when I was younger as I do now. But I did think about it, then maybe it’s come across your mind several times. And this is where today’s podcast comes from. I got a letter, an email last week a question, and this person was on my website and used the question, the question feature, you know, Ask A Question (it’s a link). Anyway, this person sent me an email, I won’t read the email, but I’ll just tell you the, you know, the background, the context of it. And this person basically said, Hey, I’ve got some questions about this whole salvation thing, this life after death. And I have a husband who I love, but he’s an atheist. And I’ve got concerns about him whether he’s going to go on or not.
And then her concerns didn’t stop there. She talked about one of her children, a child, and is this person going to go on or not? Based on their, their mental or cognitive condition? So a lot of questions. And we, of course, have many of the same questions.
So today is really a response to this person (I have written to this person), but I want to offer it up there today as a podcast for you, because I think it could help a lot of people clear some things up. So let’s, let’s think about this. So you know, most of our beliefs about what happens after we die come from, you know, of course, what we were taught as children. And a lot of that comes from a traditional religious upbringing. Otherwise, if you didn’t, which is more and more the case these days, you know, you’re doing the best you can to figure it out from ancient writings, traditions, what you may think makes sense to you, common sense. And those are all worthy ways to try to find the truth about this.
I want to suggest something and I want to just take you back. I don’t know if you listened to last week’s podcast, the first one, but this whole journey of thinking about your place in life, thinking about God, thinking about all the things of the spiritual life, like life after death. It’s all dependent on that foundation of essential beliefs. It’s all dependent on whether you are listening to the spirit that is within you, which is trying to tell you, broadcasting to you the real truths about God in the universe and your place in it. And this becomes the foundation: If we start with that foundation, then the questions about life after death, and how do you get to be resurrected anyway? What are the rules? It becomes clearer, and it becomes fair, frankly.
So I want to start out with just a few basic beliefs or premises. And I’d like you to just, you know, keep an open mind, whatever your background is, and just let God talk to you, let your spirit resonate with you.
A lot of the beliefs that we all have about life after death, of course come from, you know, human conjecture, human rules, organizations, which often have very little to do with the original teachings. Oftentimes, you see this, you have a spiritual teacher who comes along, presents a core truth. And then you’ve got followers who interpret it, and people interpret that. And over the centuries, it gets muddled, it gets lost, people lose their way, they get discouraged. And it becomes a little bit frightening sometimes, especially when you’re talking about life after death.
So that really the first, the first thing to be aware of are the core truths that God is broadcasting to us within. That’s really the only way to feel certain about life after death in the spiritual life. It’s again, opening yourself up to the truth that’s going to emerge within you. It takes time, but if you make a habit of it, if you make that time, it will come through, it will come through to you.
The first big truth is, of course, that God exists and is in charge, and you are a child of God. God will meet all of your real needs, in the moment you need them, in the way you need them, and for as long as you need them met. God’s got you covered. And we’re all you’re coming out of that. We are all sisters, and brothers, we’re all family. And if you have the faith, if you accept what you’re experiencing, then all those needs will be met. And that eternal future will be unlocked, if you’re coming with that sincerity. Those are the essential foundations of everything.
The way that we think about life after death is based on what we think of the nature of God. And I really want to challenge you to just listen to your inner spirit and just let whatever comes through, come through from God; trust that.
Please remember that God is greater, is better, is more fantastic, than the best kind of God you could ever imagine. For example, think of one human, that you really, really admire . . . the greatest man or woman. Think about that person. Think about the way they would treat you, the way they treat other people, how do they conduct their lives? What are they doing? How are they helping people? How do they deal with stress, pain, and success, all of it the complete human condition. Think of the most ideal person you can imagine. It could be a family member you had an experience with: a mother or a father or sister brother, it could be a friend, a public figure just think of that.
And realize for a moment that God is all of that. And much, much more, infinitely more. God is fair, honest, just loving, consistent, reliable, loyal to you. God is your best friend. God, our heavenly Father, our Universal Father, the Creator of all reality, loves you as if, and as much as if you were the only person in the entire universe. God loves you unconditionally, with a total fatherly affection. God is not a man; God is not male. God the Father loves as a father, as the initiator and protector of all reality. He is there for you all the time, and has an incredible eternal destiny, just awaiting you. He’s fair; He’s more fair than and just than anyone you can imagine.
So, if we take that as our starting point, just think about that type of God. Imagine that you’re God: Now, what kind of a setup would you have for salvation? What kind of setup would you have for life after death for your children? And this the way I think about it: Okay, so I’m this perfect, loving God. I’ve created children, I’ve created people. And within them, I’ve given them the desire to keep living forever. I think very few of us want to die. I think most of us want to keep going and growing. I think that’s where so much of the fear of death comes in is that we want to keep going. And many people think that that’s it.
So, I am God and I planted within you the very desire to keep going, this burning desire, and it isn’t just a kind of an animal survival, desire. If you tap into your true desire, it’s a hunger to be the very, very best you can be. It’s a hunger for perfection. It may take an eternity to become perfect to really realize all the destiny and the potential that God has given you. But we have this burning desire that’s going to carry us onward. We have all kinds of desires, that can never be fulfilled in this lifetime. But remember, that these desires can be fulfilled in eternity, if we take the next steps.
So, I’m God, and I’ve placed all of this in you. And I ask you: why would God place all of these desires in us? Why would he do this? There’s a reason. And the reason is, we’re gonna keep going, He has a plan for us, He has things he needs us to do. Why didn’t God just sit there all alone in eternity, and he was complete, in and of himself, why didn’t he just sit there and eternity? He chose to create the universe; He chose to create divine beings; He chose to create human beings for a reason, there’s a big plan, there’s an exciting adventure for everybody.
You’ve got billions and billions of humans who’ve lived, at least on this planet, and I’m sure on scores and scores of other planets: There’s a purpose, there’s a destiny, there’s a reason.
So just sit with that and let your spirit talk to you about that. There has to be a reason. So, if we look at that, then if God is fair, if God has a real eternal destiny for us, then the gateway to that, the rules to that, have got to be fair. If we really look at it closely, not only do the rules have to be fair, but it has to be a situation where you don’t have any more advantage than I do. We’re all on a level playing field.
God is as it says in the Bible, no respecter of persons. The main thing that God cares about is whether you want to know Him, and to follow his leading, and to serve the people around you to help them grow as well. That’s the main thing.
When you’re looking at salvation, God is looking really at that criteria. If we if we think about it, unless you have a desire for the presence of God, unless you can recognize God within, and unless you’re willing to follow that divine leading, then even if you believe certain things, what does that really matter if you’re not even following God at all, you’re just talking about it? So just think about the repercussions of that. Because what we’ve been taught, is that belief is it. Belief is the gateway to resurrection, period.
So I want to develop this idea a little bit more. One thing that really comes through is that (and must be true), is that the faintest flicker of faith, the faintest acceptance of the light within, of the presence of your loving Father, assures that you will be resurrected after death. God looks at the motive, the true intent of the soul, of whether it wants to respond to the Divine leading, and thus continue on the universe journey.
The really interesting thing about this is that survival from the death of the body is not dependent on belief. I talked a little bit about that before. It just isn’t. Belief is important. It is very, very important, but the ticket to life after death is not belief.
Whether someone is an atheist, or has another type of belief, this does not affect survival after death; it doesn’t affect resurrection. Just as words do not affect the efficacy of prayer. Prayers are not more powerful, they’re not more effective, by virtue of the words. It’s the intent of that soul. It’s what the person really desires to do in relation to the Divine leading. A person can be sensing and following the divine leading, without stating a belief in the Father in Jesus, or some kind of self-conscious deity or God. Let me state this again. A person can be responding to the Divine leading, being selfless and giving, without saying that they believe in God.
This might be counterintuitive, since we’ve all been taught that you need to believe certain things in order to survive death. But it comes down to the two primary realities you can respond to: material or spiritual. If a person focuses on just material things–the outer world and satisfying the desires of the body–then they are not growing and will eventually starve their souls into apathy and death. There is nothing here in this person that is non-material, and so after death, there is nothing left to go on, not even the basic soul they were given when they were born.
So, if you stop responding to God, if you ignore, ignore, ignore the spiritual needs, you go from apathy, into death, and sometimes rebellion against that inner leading of God. It’s a real spectrum. Whether you neglect it or rebel against it, it leads to the same place. Unless we immerse ourselves in the Divine presence of God, and try to do His will, we are not growing our souls. Eventually, if we don’t have a soul, we don’t have a way to get to the next life. There’s nothing that can go on because we’re just, we’re just a body where there’s nothing more.
However, if a person accepts the light–the spiritual reality within–they make it possible to recognize and attempt to follow the divine leading, the will of The Universal Father. Every attempt we make, no matter how basic or feeble, advances us; it allows us a new divine invasion of our souls. What we believe does not determine whether and how much we will respond to the Divine leading. Belief is not the key.
Acceptance of reality is: acceptance of the Divine Presence and following the will of God. That’s the key.
So, what’s the big deal about belief? What does belief really do? Well, you need both; they go hand in hand. Belief is, I would say, ineffective without acceptance of the Divine presence within and without listening to God. We’ve seen many times examples of people who spout all kinds of spiritual beliefs and practices, and yet, they’re not nice people, or they do bad things. We see this time and time again. It could be a sexual abuse scandal, it could be money, power, lying, politics, you name it, they don’t look spiritual in any way, yet they can be very intellectual and share just amazing beliefs. But, at their very, very core, they’re not responding to God; they’re not accepting God; they’re not following God. And without that, nothing, nothing else really matters, you’re not going to get anywhere.
Let’s assume that you have that foundation: You accept the God presence within. As you grow, your conception of God, your idea of God will grow. That will begin to lead to beliefs which build on that, beliefs that will build on the leading of your spirit, beliefs that will build with your spiritual studies of all kinds of writings. And ultimately, it’s going to be the spirit within, that’s going to guide you as to what’s true, and what’s not true. That’s ultimately it. Either you’re going to let the Spirit lead you, or you’re going to be controlled by others telling you what the truth is. So that’s why I’m saying in this podcast, and anything I write or do, ultimately, it’s God’s Spirit within, which is going to lead you to truth, which is going to help you recognize truth: That’s critical.
None of us have at all; none of us have the entire truth. It’s good to talk to other people, it’s good to read books, attend groups, but then your spirit is going to guide you through that and help you recognize that truth.
Okay, so let me talk more about the role of belief. It’s acceptance of and cooperation with the divine leading that assures resurrection. So, you might wonder what role belief plays in all of this. If belief does not determine survival, what effect does it really have? When most religions emphasize belief as the ticket to heaven, what is its real role? And most religions have a specific formula of their own belief that gets you to heaven. A lot of times they say, unless you believe what we believe, unless you follow what we’re telling you to do, you’re not going to get to heaven. These are all human constructions. These are all human rules. And we need to get to really what the truth is here.
If we get back to belief, Jesus did emphasize how important belief is. And we know this is critical. And really, as we look at new spiritual truths, like those in The Urantia Book, these are really an effort to help us update our beliefs so we can know God more clearly, so that we can grow. We are getting back to the original core teachings, so that we can recognize what is of value; we recognize what value is. We create new meanings and we grow.
The most important knowledge that we have, is the life of Jesus in The Urantia Book; it is the most important knowledge on the planet, and our supreme study, our most important study, should be life after death, the incredible eternal career that we have. The most essential foundation of all thought, is the primary facts given to us by the Spirit within which we can either accept or reject. When we sincerely come with truth-hunger, perfection-hunger, and faith, we enter the kingdom of heaven: That’s what Jesus taught as the keys to enter the kingdom of heaven, to experience salvation.
God’s Spirit is giving us the realization that God exists. We are His children. He will take care of us now and forever. He has a will for us. And we are all brothers and sisters. Faith-acceptance of these truths enables our minds to accept more divine reality: The kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is divine reality, is experiencing the spiritual world. That’s why the kingdom of heaven is within. When this happens, then we can really begin our spiritual growth in a relationship with Jesus, and the Universal Father, our heavenly Father.
It is not until we accept these truths, that we can begin a relationship with God and make true spiritual progress. When we do this, we accept the truths that are burning inside of us, then we are reborn. Prior to this, we can still respond to the spirit and reach a high state of ethics and social service. But we can’t go farther. We can never know the real soul peace, assurance, security, power and joy from God, unless we are willing to recognize him, respond to His leading, and grow a relationship. The real fruits of the Spirit are born of this relation, and cannot be obtained any other way.
When we look at atheists, or others who don’t believe the essential truths, that the spirit is shouting to them, we know that they really can survive death. But that apathy, material-mindedness, and selfishness are very significant dangers to such people, because they do not have the strength of a relationship with God. When someone starves themselves spiritually, looks away from the light, ignores the inner spiritual leading, they eventually lose all hunger for spiritual reality, and lose their ability to recognize that light in the future. This is very similar to what happens in physical starvation. It’s use it or lose it.
It’s really about acceptance or rejection of the light.
People can really be kind and mean well, but if they completely ignore inner spiritual realities, if they completely ignore the leading of the Spirit, they are making it much more likely that they will be unable to respond to the spirit and won’t survive death, won’t be resurrected. They can perform all kinds of social service and loving acts toward others, but if they are not in any way paying attention to and responding to their inner spiritual leading to any degree, they have not made survival possible. And of course, if someone recognizes the light and rejects it through sin and iniquity, they have also destroyed their souls and won’t be resurrected.
In the end, what’s happening is that we’re really determining whether we go on or not. It’s our choices that moment by moment are determining if our souls are growing or not. God is not sitting up there with a tally sheet and saying, “Well, you have negative 54 points and only 35 positive points, sorry you’re not being resurrected (or worse, “you’re going to hell”).” That’s kind of the traditional view. And that view, again, is really based on myths. It’s not really based in the essential, original teachings of Jesus. A lot of it comes from old primitive beliefs. Our ancestors were terrified of the physical elements and worshipped the physical elements, because that’s all they knew. The elements were powerful, they controlled their lives, they controlled weather cycles, crops, life, death . . . they thought. And so they went to all kinds of lengths to please the gods, to work with the spirits who were controlling nature in their lives.
And this, of course, was later applied to the whole idea of survival and being accepted by God. It got to the point where the people thought that you actually, even when you’re born, had sin on you, that somehow had to be removed. It was a barrier before God could even make contact with you, that God would even love you. If we get back to really the fairness of God just doesn’t make any sense at all.
If God wants to make direct contact with you, he does and he has: every one of us has a spirit within. So again, it’s about acceptance or rejection of that light. We have to become more than just material minds in this world; we have to embrace; we have to recognize and embrace spiritual reality, and try to do God’s will. And when we do that, we grow. And we make real spiritual progress. Ethics being kind to other people is not enough: It has to be born of that inner spiritual light.
What if someone doesn’t, you know, they don’t have a normal mind–it’s not functioning–what happens to them? I can’t say it’s an individual case. But if we apply the same kind of principles, let’s think about that. Now, in the case of someone with a normal mind, it’s purely a matter of choice, whether they push away, turn away from the light within. In the case of someone with an abnormal mind, it is a question of how much or if any of the Divine leading, the light within, reaches their consciousness: Only God knows. I think this means that there is always hope, with someone as long as there is some degree of reasonable cognition or identity, whether they suffer from mental illness or cognitive disorders such as autism. And we know that with God, all things are possible. So I think again, if someone is responding to that light and trying to follow that light in some way, then I think that is what takes precedence over everything.
In either case of the atheist or someone with cognitive issues, such as mental illness, ultimately, the faintest response, or desire for the inner light is enough to ensure resurrection. The faintest, detectable flicker of faith is enough. There is always great hope for all our sisters and brothers. God knows what a remarkable challenge we face, especially on a deranged and rebellion-seared planet like ours. He has compassion for all of us. We’re all different physically. We all we all have different gifts and different life circumstances. We have different physical makeups. Some of us have huge health problems; some of us have tremendous mental health problems, real physical issues in our brains. God knows this. And, again, he is looking at the intent. So, before God, we are all of equal spiritual potential.
He just wants to make sure that we’re responding and trying: just if you’re trying, that’s the gateway. It’s not belief. But what we saw before was that, once you accept, and you enter the kingdom–the family of God, when you really experience that, then your beliefs can grow and help you realize all the joy all the fruits of the Spirit and your destiny. That’s what that belief is about.
So when we’re talking about trying to lead people to God who are apathetic, it can be challenging. You don’t want to force anybody, of course. So how do we lead people to this divine reality that we’re experiencing? For those of us watching family and others who are apathetic or lost, it’s hard to know what to do. But one thing is certain, it is impossible to convince someone that God exists and that the essential truths from the spirit within should be accepted.
A person has to accept the reality that is already there. They must have a hunger for the truth, a hunger for perfection, and sincerity in wanting spiritual reality. Those are the essentials to enter what Jesus called “the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus was with a companion one day, and he asked why Jesus had not tried to get a beggar into a spiritual conversation, but simply gave him some money. The Urantia Book essentially says that Jesus said the man was not hungry for truth. There are only two ways to get to that truth hunger: One, we respond to the circumstances and challenges of life and want spiritual reality. Or two, we respond to the love of the Father given to us by the loving service of those around us. In each case the person is bathed in the love of the Father within by God’s Spirit, and without, by their sisters and brothers.
It’s this immersion in love that can help people desire more, this essential spiritual reality from God. In the end, it is our choice whether to take part in this eternal journey. And once we decide, once we accept the essential truth and enter the kingdom of heaven, we are expected to grow to not only recognize, but truly live the guidance from the Spirit. We must accept the plan of spiritual training that is unique for each of us and designed by the Spirit within, we must cease to resist and mount upon wings of joy.
It is only then that we begin to grow and realize the limitless eternal potential of our personalities and liaison with the Spirit within. So in the end, belief does not ensure resurrection–survival after death. But it’s the desire for and response to the light within, and where our dear Father is taking us that unlocks the eternal future. And that is the true pathway to salvation. It’s not only that you’re resurrected after death, but you are experiencing release and freedom and you are entering your eternal future, right now. The minute you decide to commit yourself to that process, you start to realize divine reality within and start to follow it, and grow. And through that growth and hard work, you continue to expand and know more happiness and satisfaction and challenge, and you give these fruits to other people.
So it’s not only that, you’re gonna wake up after you die, that there is life after death, but it’s really also life after life, that we are really being resurrected right now in our own lives to go forward. I think the most important thing to remember out of all of this is, it’s between you and God. I’ve talked quite a bit today and gone over a lot of topics. I’ve talked about this book called The Urantia Book, which this discussion is based on. And ultimately it’s going to be you’re listening to the Father Spirit within and what He is consistently telling you. If you’re unsure, please take the time with God. Make a little time every day, don’t be impatient. Just let it grow. And eventually you will know what the truth is. And you will be empowered, you’ll be given the courage to move forward with your life–the astounding joy that that life can really give you. So that’s really where we go once we choose the light and move forward. And that’s the ticket. That’s the ticket to life now and life eternal.
So everybody, thanks for joining me today. This has been the podcast for November the 19th, 2022. Looking forward to next week, I’m not sure what it’s going to be about, but I promise it’s going to be good. As always, if you haven’t been to my website, check out the website. It’s FindMyNewLife.com. And also I have a new book coming out on December 10 2022. It’s called Profound Prayer. I think you could like it quite a bit. There are books samples up there. There’s an eBook, there’s going to be an audio book, a paperback, and a hardback book. So all that stuff’s up there on Amazon, on my website.
I look forward to learning more from you and together. And again, if you have a question, if you have a suggestion for the podcast, or if you want to contact me for any reason, just notify me on my website. I wish you the very best. You have a great week.
–Chris Lepine
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