Footnotes

1
David Christie-Murray: Reincarnation, ancient beliefs and modern evidence.
2
3
Tucker: Life before life, page 30
Examples in many books: Har vi varit här förut? by Johan Wretman, Emotionell befriel-
se by Jan-Erik Sigdell. By the psychiatrist Brian L Weiss: Miracles Happen: The Transfor-
Reincarnation
mational Healing Power of Past-Life Memories, Many Lives, Many Masters, and Same Soul –
Many Bodies. The Swedish author Barbro Karlén has told her story on Youtube (in eng-
lish).
a part of God’s plan?
4
Jan-Erik Sigdell: Emotionell befrielse, page 198-199
5
Tucker: Life before life, introduction
6
Tucker: Life before life, page 1
7
Tucker: Life before Life, page 129. This is a shortened version from the book.
8
Life before Life, page 96
9
Life before Life
10
Life before life, page 166. More details in Tucker’s book.
11
Life before Life, page 172
12
Life before Life, page 173
13
14
Viktor Rydberg: Bibelns lära om Kristus. Peter Wallgren
In the Bible the name represents the whole personality. To believe in someones
name means to trust that person. Speaking or praying in someones name is to speak
or pray in unity with him – to be in one spirit when performing the act.
15
Before humanity lost God’s garment of glory in Eden and eternal life with aspect to
the body, our spirit was not perfected to Christ-likeness. The purpose of life on earth
is to reach ”perfection”, our full potential, by overcoming the hardships of life.
16
Septuaginth is the Greek translation of the Old Testament from the third century B
C, a translation used by the apostles on their missionary trips.
17
In the book of Jasher is a vivid description of what a terrible unjustice that prevailed
in Sodom. Among other things it describes how a foreigner was treated in that city.
Jasher can be found on the web.
18
Se for example ”Barns minnen från tidigare liv” by Göran Johannesson, tidigare-liv.se
19
Three festivals of harvests should be celebrated in Israel according to the Law given
to Moses: The sheafoffering celebrated the firstfruits of barley (corresponding to our
Easter Sunday), at pentecost they celebrated the firstfruits of wheat, and in the fall
came the grape-harvest. All these had prophetic meaning. See Dr of theology Stephen
Jones’ booklets The Barley Overcomers respective The Wheat and Asses of Pentecost.
20
See for example Life before Life by Helen Wambach and the books under note 4!

80
© Peter Wallgren and Vingården Association 2019.
Published by Vingården, Lärkvägen 26, 284 37 Perstorp, Sweden.
Tel +46–43535705.
International bank account SE07 9500 0099 6034 0296 0870
Bic-code (SWIFT-address): NDEASESS
Webshop: vingarden.org
Text within brackets [ ] in a Bible quotation marks a comment by
author.
Quotation from the Bible are from English Standard Version unless
otherwise said.
fv after a Bible reference = ”and following verses”
YLT = Young’s Literal Translation
LITV= Literal Translation of the Holy Bible
2 79
able to thank him in all circumstances of life and reign over them in
wisdom and gentleness. The fallen nature will then be silenced. We
concede all crafty calculations to obtain benefits at the expense of
others. We become true servants. And our words become containers
of life and rehabilitation to all we mingle with. This is what will quali-
fy us for a leading position in the coming age.
Those already qualified are eagerly waiting for the moment when all
their future coworkers graduate:
Rev 6:11: Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a
little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their
brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themsel-
ves had been.
Invite and trust Jesus in every test! Keep your heart close to him,
even if life becomes hard! Then you are under divine protection.
Rom 8:28-29: And we know that for those who love God all things
work together for good, for those who are called according to his
purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be con-
formed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-
born among many brothers.
 Note, that Jesus talked to his hardened opponents when he said they
were gods! He quoted Psalm 82, where it is obvious that those called
gods are fallen people:
Psa 82:1-8: A Psalm of Asaph God stands in the assembly of the migh-
ty; He judges in the midst of the gods. Until when will you judge un-
justly, and lift up the faces of the wicked? Selah. Judge the poor and
fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and
needy; save out of the hand of the wicked. They neither know nor will
understand; they walk in darkness; all the foundations of the earth
are shaken. I have said, You are gods, and all of you are sons of the
Most High. But you shall die as men, and fall like one of the ru-
lers. Rise, O God, judge the earth; for You shall inherit in all the na-
tions.
How can we be restored during just one earthly life? It is obviously
not enough but for a few. Even ages are required for most people.
Concerning stewardship in the coming age many are called but few
are chosen, Mat 22:14. Matthew lets us know that we must be clothed
in wedding-suits to entry this Kingdom. We understand that the wed-
ding-suits are picturing Jesus’ righteousness, but have we understood
that they also represent a fully developed Christ’s character in us? In
the moment we say yes to Jesus as our Lord, we are imputed his righ-
teousness, but then we must be transformed to be able to live in the
Kingdom of Peace, in particular if we want to reign there with Jesus.
He must become our very life. Our present life is a training camp.
The apostle Paul pressed on towards this target:
Phil 3:10-14: to know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the
fellowship of His sufferings, having been conformed to His death, if
somehow I may attain to a resurrection out of the dead [implicitly:
the first or foremost resurrection]. Not that I already received or al-
ready have been perfected, but I press on, if I also may lay hold,
inasmuch as I also was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not
count myself to have laid hold, but one thing I do, forgetting the
things behind, and stretching forward to those things before, I press
on after a mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Je-
sus...
Paul wanted to lay hold of an honorary office in the next age.
How do you qualify for this coming kingdom? The righteous shall live
by faith (Hab 2:4; Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Hebr 10:38), that is we shall trust
God’s presence, know that there is always a heavenly solution to eve-
ry problem and trial. In such a communion with our Father we are
78
Content
Introduction.............................................................................. 4
A short review of history............................................................. 5
Folklore at the time of Jesus................................................ 6
Research.................................................................................... 7
Memories of former lives..................................................... 8
Gender related problems..................................................... 12
Exemples of spontaneous memories from former lives .... 12
The Bible’s testimony............................................................... 16
How long have we existed? ................................................ 16
Do we die just once?............................................................ 22
The judgment between the sheep and the goats............... 24
We mature to the end of the age........................................ 26
Alternatives after death....................................................... 29
Our choice to incarnate ....................................................... 30
Perfection.............................................................................. 33
The Lord lingers ................................................................... 36
Wages at the end of the age................................................ 37
Firstfruits and predestination ............................................. 40
Harvest in future lives ......................................................... 41
The unity of creation............................................................ 45
Maturity of the harvest and the beast................................ 47
The children’s responsibility for their forefathers’ sins .... 48
The Sabbath rest .................................................................. 52
Salvation of the soul ............................................................ 53
The objective for our vigilance............................................ 54
Israels’ hardening ................................................................ 55
Wages in this age................................................................. 57
Elijah, John and Moses......................................................... 58
When time was full.............................................................. 60
Is our identity eternal? ........................................................ 62
Everything will be restored ..................................................... 63
Salvation............................................................................... 63
Resurrection versus reincarnations .................................... 65
Interpretation of the prophetic word ................................. 66
Listening in spiritual quest...................................................... 66
Forbidden and allowed paths.............................................. 67
The purpose of life.................................................................... 70
A model to explain suffering............................................... 72
The blessing of hunger and curse of fullness..................... 75
A school for government position ...................................... 77
Footnotes .................................................................................. 80
3

Introduction
Is this book necessary?
Not for salvation. You do not have to know if we reincarnate to the
earth. You will receive divine eternal life just by inviting Jesus Christ
into your heart.
But too many wonder how it really is. So we cannot ignore the issue.
I myself know some people with memories that cannot possibly ema-
nate from this life. They want to know if they can believe in both the
Bible and reincarnation. That is why I have written this booklet. I find
it important that nobody beleiving in several lives here on earth shall
find a conflict between this belief and the gospel of salvation through
Jesus Christ
Maybe the old problem of theodicy will be solved if we think
reincarnation. You may conclude this after reading the booklet.
For full benefit of this booklet you should also read Tidens fullbordan
(Consummation of Time – not translated when this is written), written
by my wife Madeleine and me. In this work we clarify how modern
translations of the Bible in certain aspects have become erroneous,
being based on a tradition from Augustine and the Latin translation
Vulgate from AD 405. In this book we prove from the Bible’s original
text that God in endtime will restore all people and all creation (1 Cor
15:26-28; Acts 3:21). Everyone will eventually find Christ as his savio-
ur. But Tidens fullbordan does not address reincarnation. However I
will quote from one of its chapters, teaching about our preexistence,
since this is crucial to understand the concept of reincarnation.
This booklet should be considered a complement to other authors’
narrations of former lives. See references in footnotes.
I imagine some of you may find it hard to follow such a compressed
teaching as in this booklet. Please follow my argumentation by loo-
king up in your Bible when needed, and also read literature I refer to.
However, if you still have questions after this, you may contact me for
complimentary explanations.
4 77
the earth, or the bridal company would not have anyone to reign over.
So most people in this Kingdom will be mortal, but reach a high age.
Our degree of Christ-likeness depends on our spiritual development,
and that in turn depends upon how much light we want to see. Why
is not always the presence of God felt in our churches? Why are mirac-
les so rare among us? Why do we sometimes work hard and see just
tiny results? The truth is that only a few ”know the breadth and
length and height and depth of the love of Christ”. Too few want to
proceed into the secrets of God. You must long for it and be willing to
pay the price to be found in Christ. Many esteem fellowship in church
higher than moving beyond their present state. Some consider their
salary more important than truth. Our loyalty must be to the Lord
alone, because no one can serve two masters. That may cause us to be
lonely for a time. But if we value truth most of all, we will in due time
find communion with those also loving truth.
One simple reason for evil on earth is that most people are yet im-
mature or have no knowledge about God.
A school for government position
The Creator is not the cause to all misery in the world, even though
it is true that he has allowed it. We are the gods of this world, and we
are here to learn how to take care of it. According to several testimo-
nies from those being able to penetrate the intermediate state betwe-
en incarnations, we have planned our trials before we came to earth.
We have accepted challenges of solving problems with temper, greed,
intoxication of power, unfaithfulness, corruption, or whatever it may
be that blocks us from obtaining Christ-likeness. We must learn to
overcome trials and temptations by trusting God, since otherwise we
will not be fit for the coming Kingdom.20 Here we have the necessary
opposition required to grow into Christ-likeness.
We are not only created as God’ images, but also as gods, meaning
rulers in universe. We are however fallen gods (compare also Job 38:7).
Joh 10:34-36: Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I
said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God
came – and Scripture cannot be broken – do you say of him whom
the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blasphe-
ming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
king about an eternal state. The fire they were sent to is eternal, since
it is an outflow from God’s eternal fiery nature, but when they have
been transformed by it, they will thrive in this divine fire.
We can see how God’s curses are aimed at salvation in both the sto-
ry of man’s fall, Gen 3, when Adam after being cursed was given
clothes of skin (symbolic for salvation) and the in the record about the
Gibeonites, who were cursed by Joshua (prefiguring Jesus), but later
were protected by God. See Jos 9:23 respective 2 Sam 21:1ff. In both
cases it resulted in hard work, but nevertheless it was work for God’s
house and establishment.
Maybe we can find a special prophetic model in the salvation of the
Gibeonites. They were saved from extinction by Israel, but through
cunning. In the same way some people will be saved ”as through fire”
But that will cost them hard work. Such hardships belong to the con-
ditions of the fallen nature. The longer we keep our fallen nature, the
longer we have to work in the sweat of our brows. In any case, sooner
or later we must separate ourselves from the fallen nature. Surely the
Gibeonites were brought under God’s discipline in their covenant with
Israel. The Lord has promised to separate the chaff (what is useless in
us) from the wheat (what is pure and useful in us).
As far as I have taken part in the testimonies from those with me-
mories from former lives, they have not obtained Christ-likeness in
these lives. I have read about people remembering being priests or
something else religious in former lives, but not anyone with memori-
es from a life in true discipleship to Jesus. Sometimes haughtiness has
been exposed in their recollections from lives discovered during re-
gression therapy. Recollections from the intermediate state have
shown a period of rest from which they have been given opportunities
to incarnate again and so learn more. But they have not seen God.
Mat 5:8: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
I conclude that those having found Jesus and been transformed into
his image do not need more mortal earthly lives. Maybe some choose
it anyway, because they have a special mission. But more than
anything else they look forward to resurrection, when they receive
immortal bodies and will reign with Christ in the coming age. Then
also people who have not reached this far in development will inhabit
76
A short review of history
Mainstream church has rejected the concept of reincarnation during
the majority of the Christian era until today. In this day a global belief
in reincarnation becomes increasingly spread. It is estimated that half
of the Swedish people believe in reincarnation, and among youths the
percentage is even higher. In modern time the world has never before
seen such awakening to the reality of the spirit world. Our brain is no
longer considered as the source to our personality, but rather as a re-
ceiver and processor of our innermost spiritual being.
Scientific studies about life both before and after our earthly exis-
tence are going on. These studies indicate that many have more than
one life on earth.
To avoid confusion we should understand what the Bible tells us
about these things. We have not yet seen the whole width of how tradi-
tions have locked us up in certain dogms. Let us not make the same mis-
take as the church did when it claimed earth to be flat and the center
of universe, scorning evidence of the opposite! Such an attitude does
not promote the wonderful news of salvation through Jesus Christ. It
make sense not to put unnecessary stumbling blocks before people
who want to find God. I do not think anybody has claimed reincarna-
tion to be a road of salvation. Salvation is given us by the atonement
on the cross, followed by Jesus’ resurrection, but reincarnation could
be a school with several classes.
The authors of the New Testament took for granted that Christians
of the time knew more about reality than what is written in their con-
cise writings. Since they believed the return of Jesus was imminent,
they did not realise the importance of writing a full compilation of Je-
sus’ teachings (John 21:25). Moreover, we must presume that their ex-
pectation of Jesus’ imminent return gave them no cause to discuss
reincarnation. Many believed Jesus would return in their generation.
This means that if we want to understand the Bible, we must try to
reason out certain things by correctly understanding hints to them.
The thought of preexistence was not dealt with in a universal coun-
cil before the council in Konstantinopel in AD 553, when the most fa-
mous Bible teacher of the time, Origen (185-254) and his belief in pre-
5
existence and life in other worlds than on earth, was placed under
anathema. Most writings by Origen were burned during the eighth
century, so we do not know exactly what he believed about reincar-
nation. Those left are mainly Rufinus’ translations to Latin. Rufinus
admitted that he censored them while translating, so that Origen’s
doctrin would agree with that of the church. But at least we know
that Origen believed in an existence in other worlds and forms before
the earthly one, and it seems that he also believed in earthly reincar-
nation. See De Principiis IV:23! Later councils condemned belief in rein-
carnation, but several Catholic theologians of today take a stand for it.
The Church councils positionings are highly dubious as a measure of cor-
rect dogmas. In these conventions much have been established that did
not promote Christianity, i e the priests’ celibacy, worship of Mary and
the infallibility of the pope. Many times the majority (or the emperor)
ruled without unity, least of all unity of the Spirit. If we want to find
God’s wisdom, we had better turn to the Holy Scriptures. Therefore, I
will give you some thoughts and you may draw the conclusions.
Folklore at the time of Jesus
Belief in reincarnation was common among Jews at this time.
Luk 9:18-19: Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the di-
sciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say
that I am?” And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Eli-
jah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.”
Such an answer is possible only if you believe in rebirth. Also the
question in John chapter 9 reveals that many Jews believed in reincar-
nation, or at least preexistence:
Joh 9:1–3: As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his di-
sciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that
he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned,
or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
We cannot see that Jesus reacted over the basic conceptions in any
of these situations. Jesus was not afraid of criticizing wrong concep-
tions, for example when the sadducées asked whom of seven deceased
brothers would have the wife at resurrection. He adamantly said they
were erroneous, Matt 22:29. He often corrected his disciples, but here
he did not comment on their belief. He just said that in this case no
one had sinned. So, we have to conclude that he accepted their belief
6 75
sed. From that point on the Edomites became a part of the Jewish
people. That probably implies that biblical prophesies about the
Edomites not fulfilled until then will be fulfilled on the Jewish people.
The blessing of hunger and curse of fullness
We must long for God to find him. This also pertains to those who
already are Christians. We will know God to the degree that we hung-
er after him and are willing to find his answers. Does it not to have to
be like this for a love relationship to be built? It is the same when we
seek for a person to marry. Who wants to marry someone who is not
longing? This is why Jesus calls those blessed who long for God, after
righteousness, after a meaningful life:
Luk 6:21: Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be
satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
But what about all the others? They must be led to a life where they
start hungering, longing. When Jesus cried out woe to them, I think it
sounds more judgmental in our ears than his intention. It was an ex-
pression of empathy. It could be translated "poor you”.
Luk 6:25: Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe
to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
Jesus felt sorry for them. They wanted to keep their superficial joy,
they were satisfied with status quo. They did not want to receive a
better life when they were given an opportunity while Jesus walked
among them. They feared losing the kind of life they already had. That
made it impossible for them to grow. And they postponed a better life
to an uncertain future. This better life would not come to them unless
they began to hunger after it, yes cry over their former lost lives.
When would they get this hunger? Maybe after death when they
crossed over to the spiritual sphere. Also in a later life on earth they
may have circumstances that possibly can ignite a hunger. If they do
not want to change before Jesus returns, they will be given a life so-
mewhere outside the Kingdom of Peace at the judgment between the
sheep and the goats. That life will give them opportunities to start
hungering for a life with God. But it is not a pleasant experience. Avo-
iding that tribulation is much better. This judgment should be consi-
dered a chastisement helping the sinners to repent.
When Jesus in Mat 25:41 said the goats were cursed, he was not tal-
ning this maturity. We have come to maturity when we with all our
hearts wish to hand over the world to Jesus Christ. Jesus said:
Luk 13:35: Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not
see me until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
Lord!”
This was a prophecy to the Jews. Jesus promised them to see him
the day they in unison call on him. Note that Jesus addressed those he
talked to in this text, not just us now living on earth. It can be unders-
tood as those contemporary with the Lord will be here when the
prophecy is fulfilled.
Why does God allow conflicts that seem to never end? At least one
conflict will continue to the end of this age:
Dan 9:26: And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut
off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to
come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with
a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.
Dan 12:7 b: ... that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and
that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an
end all these things would be finished.
I do not completely understand this divine decision, but it is reaso-
nable to assume that it has something to do with a harvest of what is
sown. The conflict in the Middle East is caused by both sides seeking
what they think are their rights. I believe God wants to teach them to
discover that this is a dead end. We ought to find a way to reach each
other with love. Jesus took the risk of standing up for the truth, but
even so he did not seek his rights. He gave his life.
One of these conflicts started before their ancestors were born.
When Rebecka was pregnant she noticed strife in her womb.
1 Mos 25:22-23: The children struggled together within her, and she
said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to
inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said to her, “Two nations are in
your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the
one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the
younger.”
This was the conflict between Edomites and Israelites, and it seems
to have started in their preexistence. Maybe the two brothers came to
Earth to struggle until they reconciled. Well, in a fashion it came to
pass. After several wars under different kings the Jewish Maccabees
finally conquered a remnant of the Edomites, and they were circumci-
74
in reincarnaion. What’s more, the answer Jesus gave his disciples ma-
kes it likely that the man born blind actually had planned his blind-
ness while in the spirit dimension. He may have known beforehand
that he was going to receive an important experience by his handicap
and then meet Jesus and be healed:
Joh 9:3: “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the
works of God might be displayed in him.”
The Jewish-Alexandrian philosopher Philon, contemporary with Je-
sus, taught man’s preexistence and reincarnation. The famous Greek
mathematicians and philosophers Pythagoras (580–495 BC) and some
years later Plato (428–348 BC) also taught rebirth. Many Romans inc-
luding the rhetorician Cicero (106–43 BC) discoursed on reincarnation.
So the Greek-Roman world was familiar with this belief.
The churchfathers knew about this belief, and most of them dispu-
ted it. But there are historical sources testifying of churchleaders who
could consider reincarnation.1 Many documents have been lost. It was
not uncommon to destroy documents defying the leading mens’ view.
An author could also be attributed documents he had not written. But
the main cause for the churchfathers not to plead reincarnation would
be that it was not a tradition left to them from the apostles, simply
because that was not a part of their mission. They had received com-
mission from Jesus to proclaim the joyful message of redemption, and
so they focused on this. But we will see that reincarnation is a good
model for understanding many dictas in the New Testament, especial-
ly those of prophetic character.
Research
Professor Ian Stevenson (1918-2007) was a psychiatrist working at
the University of Virginia School of Medicine for 50 years. He was cha-
irman of the psychiatric institution from 1957 to 1967 and professor in
psychiatry from 1967 to 2001. He was also founder and director of the
University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies, where they re-
search in phenomena like reincarnation etc. He became internationally
famous for his research in reincarnation by discovering that physical
marks like birthmarks, and also memories, can be transferred from
one lifetime to another.
7
 During a period of forty years he examined approximately 3000 ca-
ses of children worldwide claiming memories of former lives. His me-
ticulous research showed that these children had rare faculties, or di-
seases, fobias etc that could not be explained from environment or he-
ritage. 2100 of those 3000 case studies could be verified according to
precise criteria.
The psychiatrist Jim Tucker and many others have continued this re-
search, among them the psychiatrist Brian L Weiss. It is not likely that
the scientists risk their reputation by manipulating facts. Dr Steven-
son was the pioneer, but many other scientists have continued rese-
arch in the same field. Families in our references never receive any
compensation for participating in interviews, so money cannot be a
cause to fake information.
Memories of former lives
Fragments of memories from earlier lives are common. They are
mostly present in small children, and fade with increasing age. We
cannot interpret them as being transferred by heritage, since many
memories apply to lives outside the extended family. In case death oc-
curred recently one could possibly interpret them as telepathically
transferred knowledge from somebody who knew the deceased per-
son. It is also possible to imagine that information from the ”heavenly
library”, where records of everyone’s life is stored, could be reached
by those who are able to enter into the spirit realm. In such case me-
mories of earlier lives would be readings of a deceased person’s life
history, but perceived as a memory from the one reading it. Such a
reading could be done either directly or by help of a spirit who knows
the dead person. But it cannot explain marks or body defects that can
be traced to the deceased person, nor those healings that sometimes
occur during regression therapy.
Could possession explain memories from earlier lives? If a person is
possessed, a foreign spirit takes over and represses the person’s own
identity. In such a case one would find signs of destructive behaviour
and split personality. Very occasionally it may be like that. But rese-
arch indicates that the supposedly reincarnated children usually show
good intellect, make good records in school, are well adjusted to socie-
ty and rarely show psychological problems. When they speak about an
8 73
read the rest in your Bible. The statue made of different substances
and then being crushed is a symbol of empires. And the mountain is
the Kingdom of God:
Dan 2:35: Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold,
all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the
summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that
not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the
image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
Dan 2:44: And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up
a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left
to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and
bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.
All present empires and kingdoms are more or less in opposition to
God. No nation has ever fully demonstrated God’s way of leadership.
That is why these will be replaced in due time. But before Jesus can
come and establish his kingdom, his bridal host must have reached
Christlikeness and the gospel, the joyful message of the word’s salva-
tion, must be told to everyone with persuading power in the holy Spi-
rit. That is why we still are here.
To fulfill this God has saved the best wine for the end. In the story
about the wedding at Cana, Jesus performed the miracle when all the
natural wine had petered out. And the judgment from the master of
the wedding was:
Joh 2:10: the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to
him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have
drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine
until now.”
The master said this to the bridegroom, and Jesus is our heavenly
bridegroom. He has saved the best ”wine” for the end. By calling Je-
sus’ miracles ”signs”, the gospel of John gives them prophetic mea-
ning. Jesus demonstrated what will happen at the end of this age. The
life-giving wine of God’s Spirit will fill people to such a degree that it
will change and even metamorphose the world. But just as it was in
Cana, it will not happen until we have emptied our own resources.
Our own ”wine” will peter out. Our own efforts to save the world will
fail. We can detect an underlying implication – we try over and over
again until we realise that it is in vain. Only the presence of the Lord
is able to fill the world with glory. Reaching this point is the target for
the whole creation, and reincarnation may well be a means to obtai-
A model to explain suffering
We are continually involved in a war, not against people, but
against evil powers reigning in darkness. They are constantly trying to
stop the light from God from reaching us. These powers are God’s
enemies, and they know that if light comes to us, the darkness will di-
sappear. They have managed to scare many people away from light. If
you have too much darkness within, I suspect you are afraid of light.
This is because the light will compel you to revalue everything you be-
lieve in and everything you have done in all your life. This is usually
painful, a sort of dying, losing one’s whole identity. Therefore spiritual
darkness functions as an invisible prison locking up people and even
whole nations in futile and destructive ways of thinking.
But darkness will never prevail over light (Joh 1:5) in its full glory.
Therefore, one important lesson from earthly life is to never compro-
mise with the deeds of darkness, because when we do, we quench
whatever light we have. The only way to rescue the world from a ca-
tastrophe is to keep up the light within us and let it intensify day by
day. The more people are walking in light, the more the light will
spread and attract even more.
People walking in darkness need the the living Word of God. We
may get their confidence if we listen carefully to their innermost need.
Even if they reject God’s love, they will never forget what is said in
the Spirit of God. It will forever testify within them.
We are on earth to overcome evil, first within ourselves and eventu-
ally in the whole world, so that the prince of the power of the air, the
devil, will be crushed under our feet (Rom 16:20). This is the mission
given to believers in Christ. We are called to crush the devil under our
feet! It is not God’s mission, but ours, since we are the heirs of the
earth. What Adam failed to accomplish when he let the snake deceive
him, we are called to establish by Jesus being formed within us. Jesus
was a seed intended to grow, first within us, and then to fill the earth.
To obtain this, we are called to take part in his sufferings as well as
his victory.
King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream picturing in symbols what is go-
ing to take place at the end of this age. We will look at a few verses
telling how the prophet Daniel interpreted the dream, and you may
72
earlier existence they distinguish clearly between their contemporary
identity and the former one. For example Abby Swanson from Ohio
said, after taking a bath: ”Mom, I used to bath you when you were a
baby.” ”Oh, really?” ”Uhhu. You screamed”, Abby said. ”Did I?” her
mother said. ”Yes, I was your grandmother.”2
Some believe memories from earlier lives to be forgeries that spirits
have induced to a person, making her think she is remembering. It
cannot be ruled out totally, since spirits as well as people can lie. In
some instances I believe it could be the case, especially if the person
has participated in occult exercises and opened up for destructive in-
fluences. But we must not forget that Jesus taught us to judge from
the fruit. When people are freed from anguish by understanding their
problems, it is really hard to explain this as a work of evil spirits.
We all know that children fantasize a lot. So maybe they have con-
cocted all of it? That argument proves to be an absurdity. How can a
three year old child possess extensive knowledge about a person who
has been dead several years? And how can that child easily find a hou-
se in an unknown city where he lived before, and find hidden belong-
ings? Without hesitating he sorts out certain articles from amongst
many other, things the former person had in his possession. When Su-
zanne Ghanem got the opportunity to see her family from her former
personality she told the namnes of twenty-five persons and how they
were related to each other.
A very famous person is Shanti Devi (1926–1987), who as a child
surprised those in her vicinity by telling detailed memories from a
former life. If you read the narrative about her you will find it obvious
that Shanti could not fantasize those memories, which could be verifi-
ed. The book about her is titled Shanti Devi. And many others have si-
milar testimonies, albeit not so detailed.
Some children are born with special abilities, for example Mozart,
who composed music at the age of three. From where did he receive
his skill? Or consider Parmod Scharma, who at the age of three said he
in an earlier existence had owned an industry producing soda water.
When taken to such a plant he could repair a broken machine used to
produce the beverage. He, and nineteen other notable persons are de-
picted in Twenty cases suggestive of reincarnation by the psychologist
9
and scholar Ian Stevenson.
A known person who claimed to remember several former lives is
general George S Patton, famous for his efforts in the Second World
War. He said he had learned strategy in earlier lives as a soldier.
People testify of feeling familiar with places they have never visited.
Others talk about an intuitive feeling of knowing a person they see for
the first time. They have met their soulmate.
Birthmarks have manifested as a type of bodily manifestations of
former life memories. In Life Before Life dr Jim Tucker tells how
birthmarks have been traced to circumstances around the death of the
former incarnation. For example, a child tells about its death by being
shot in a former life, and birthmarks are found, corresponding to the
bullets entry opening and output port. Thus a coming life seems to be
influenced by former lives. But it is possible to overcome negative ex-
periences we have brought with us to earth if we contend for evolving
and growth.
Our spirit remembers more than our brain contains, or else we wo-
uld not be able to remember a near-death experience (NDE). The me-
mory of our spirit plays an important role when God chooses certain
persons to particular life tasks before they are born. During regression
therapy it is sometimes possible to reach memories from earlier lives.
Regression therapy aims at shutting down our conscious mind and its
distractions to focus upon one’s subconscious (one’s spirit). It is then
possible to find past traumas giving symptoms in the present. Some
have been healed from psychological problems this way. It is usually
wise to start with a regession to childhood in present life. The patient
is brought to see a connection between his symptoms and what hap-
pened in childhood, and is given a chance to forgive those having of-
fended him. In many cases that is all that is needed. But if not, when
the therapist under hypnosis tells the patient to return to what caused
the symptoms, it happens that memories from earlier lives spontanio-
usly surface. Sometimes the patient can tell what time it moves
around. I may be thousands of years ago or just the previous genera-
tion. A few regressions may be necessary, since more than one life’s
memory may be involved. Healing then comes gradually. Typical suf-
ferings being subject to healing this way are headache, fobias, obses-
10
the heart, peoples’ vision for their lives will dramatically change.
Buddhism and hinduism have fallen short of the target. Meditation-
techniques aiming at annihilating all desire and cravings to avoid
reincarnations do not reach their targets. A life on earth is a very va-
luable gift from God, giving us an opportunity to grow. Instead of an-
nihilating the joy of life we should be thankful and try to learn as
much as possible from it. We ought to excel each other with acts of
love. Those living in a troublesome incarnation need our love so they
can grow. And of course we can only grow in love by their need. We
are unable to produce love and joy by ourselves. But encompassed by
the unconditional love of God, we are able to reflect his love to every-
body. Therefore we need to understand atonement. God’s grace, his
very nature, is supposed to grow within us to metamorphosis. This
also gives us the true joy Jesus promised (Joh 15:11).
Eph 4:12-13: to equip the saints for the work of ministry…until we all
attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of
God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the full-
ness of Christ, ...
So we are supposed to grow until we reach the fullness of Christ.
Col 2:16-17: Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions
of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a
Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substan-
ce belongs to Christ.
What will come? Christ will be all in all. However it will take time.
First comes the millennial sabbath with the Kingdom of Peace. After
more ages (I do not know how many) comes the year of Jubilee, when
all debt is cancelled and all are free. The feasts commanded by God in
the Old Testament, one being the year of Jubilee, portray different acts
in the process of creation’s restoration.
Salvation is restoration of our personality, it is finding comfort in
God’s bosom, growing up in knowledge about the Creator, and beco-
ming his image. Be careful with your life! It may be your last on earth.
If you take your life or waste it in some other way, you will only make
it harder for you later. If you now have the worst background or cir-
cumstances, your challenge is so much greater. Walking with God
makes everything possible.
71
received is fulfilled we cannot be too sure it came from the Lord. A
common cunning of an enemy is to mix 5% lies with 95% truth.
Our guardian angels may well be people who have lived on earth,
won the triumphal wreath and so through their sufferings have rea-
ched capacity to have compassion toward us. Angels are not empty of
emotions. In the same way that Christ is our High Priest through his
sufferings, they may have become qualified to a higher service.
Heb 2:18: For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is
able to help those who are being tempted.
The purpose of life
Perhaps more than ever, people are longing for answers to life’s big
questions. That is why I have shown you that the Bible is not extrane-
ous for those mysteries of life that science now is searching out. It is
not reasonable that God through history would have ignored all other
people except his covenant people the Jews and those reached by the
gospel. Of course he cares for his whole creation. A limited understan-
ding has therefore been given to all people through history. Surely
also delusions flourish, but in that aspect Christianity is no exception.
Deceptive dogmas presenting a wrong image of God has ravaged
within and outside the Church and are still common.
As the Lord’s return approaches, God will reveal more of what has
been hidden for long times. It is crucial for the restoration of the
world. If we understand the laws of sowing and reaping we have good
reasons to make the best of our earthly life. We are atoned with God
through Jesus Christ, but we will not escape the harvest of our deeds,
since this is essential for our education. Imagine what would happen
if everyone could understand this! The power-hungry dictator would
then know that he can expect a future life as a tortured prisoner in a
dictatorship like his own in present life. Instead of seeking power he
would find joy in helping his people to listen carefully to each other,
develop empathy, and help them to perfect the unique beings God has
created them to be. Pollution will reach us in future lives. How we tre-
at our children will be the foundation for how we will be treated in
the future. Imagine, if everyone would understand that we are all uni-
ted in the spiritual dimension! If this becomes a common revelation of
70
sive-compulsive disorders, addictions, obesity, anorexia, muscle- and
joint pain, allergies, asthma and stressrelated diseases. In some in-
stances cancer is seen to regress.3 Commonly a sort of trauma that has
locked up the patient in fear will surface, a fear that has been trans-
ferred to present life. By understanding the connection and then for-
giving both the perpetrator and oneself, this fear is transformed into
love. (If you want to take part in such therapy, please be careful. Some
therapists are not quite serious and pure in heart.)
Near-death experiences sometimes include memories from former
lives. Testimonies about feeling at home when entering the world of
light are frequent. A memory of having been there before emerges. I
just listened to a woman who shared on Youtube how she during an
NDE recognized and was welcomed by her grandfather who had died
five years before she was born. She remembered that he was her
grandfather. The same woman said she knew everything during this
experience, and that is what we all do. We are of God’s nature, she
said, but we have forgotten most of it when we live on earth.
Deathbed visions testify that deceased relatives often welcome the
one who is about to enter the spirit realm. This of course raises the
question how you can recognize your grandfather if he has lived seve-
ral times under different identities. This is because intuition is strong
in the spirit realm, and the memory of a familiar spirit is located
within. Also spirits can choose how they wish to appear (2 Cor 11:14).
So if needed grandpa can take upon himself a form his grandchild is
familiar with. He may also show up in clothes typical for him. (Some
spirits use this ability deceitfully. Many have pretended to be sent by
God to entice people into false religions, doctrines and life tasks. And
many are those who have missed their calling by such fraud. But it
will not happen if you know the character of the spirit.)
Why do we usually not remember former lives, or just fragments of
them? I believe this is partly because we have suppressed memories
and knowledge of it. But it is also necessary that we lose most of our
memories so we can invest wholeheartedly in our present life. If we
remembered everything we would probably not look forward to the
possibilities of a new life. Rather we would think ”Not again!”
11
Gender related problems
If you do not thrive in your present gender maybe you changed
gender when you reincarnated. You chose the same sex in several in-
carnations and then decided to test the other one. So you retain emo-
tional memories from the former sex. If you then decide to change
gender by surgery and medication, you will miss the challenge you
came to earth to take on in your new gender. The gender you have
been born with, includes a purpose you should not dismiss. It is also
possible that you in a former life have made a sex related traumatic
experience, and now want to escape this discomfort. With this said, I
must add that gender confusion also has to do with our present family
of origin and close relationships. It is important for a child that pa-
rents and close persons accept and affirm its gender so it can grow
into a safe self-esteem.
Utterly painful experiences with the opposite sex in a former life
may in some cases cause homosexuality according to some regres-
sions. An emotional memory of danger when loving someone of the
opposite sex remains. A regression may reveal what happened. This
could explain cases when we do not find causes in present life.4
Exemples of spontaneous memories from former lives
Kemal Atasoy5
The psychologist Jürgen Keil from Australia listened to Kemal Ata-
soy, a six year old boy from Turkey, telling details from a former life.
Kemal said he had lived in Istanbul, 800 kilometers away. His surname
had been Karakas, an Armenian Christian that lived in a big three-
storey house. His neighbour was a woman called Aysegul, well known
in Turkey. Kemal said the house was situated at the seashore, close to
ships, and behind the house was a church. He also said he often carri-
ed a big leather bag and lived in the house only a part of the year.
No one knew if Kemal’s story was true when he met Dr Keil in 1997.
His parents knew no one in Istanbul, and no else from the family had
been there either.
Dr Keil went to Istanbul to control Kemal’s statements and found
everything Kemal had described. Dr Keil also found a historian who,
not given any leading questions, told the same story as little Kemal.
12
to keep on, it had eventually led people astray and probably destroyed
Paul’s ministry. That is why God forbade divination:
Lev 20:27: “And a man or woman – when there is in them a familiar
spirit, or who are wizards – are certainly put to death; with stones
they stone them; their blood is on them.” (YLT)
Bloodguilt means to be responsible for someones death, in this case
spiritual death, meaning separating a person from God. God looked so
seriously at this that he ordered death penalty for anyone in his cove-
nant people who pursued this. Spirits of divination belong to the re-
bellious hord of spirits, working under the devil’s influence. The inten-
tion of divination is always to seduce people so they do not come to or
remain with Christ Jesus. The Lord said about those involved in this:
Mat 18:6: but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in
me to sin [or entrap him], it would be better for him to have a great
millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of
the sea.
A spirit of divination has a character opposite to the holy Spirit. The
holy Spirit, and also angels sent by God, radiate perfect love, joy, pea-
ce, purity etc, shortly the fruits of the Spirit listed in Gal 5:22. You will
not sense an ounce of doubt in your heart when receivning such a
message, nor will you sense threat or flattery.
Twice I have received a message from the holy Spirit with an absolu-
te knowing transferred into my own spirit. These messages came
without audible words, and they were impossible to misunderstand.
The spirit talking to me radiated a personality of profound peace. I
also received a gift of faith so I was certain of already having what I
was promised, although I did not have it in time’s dimension. On
many other occasions I have been led by God in more subtle ways, but
these have not been direct messages.
Now, it is not solely the holy Spirit in person the Father sends to
speak to us. We see in the Bible that many have been visited by ang-
els. If they are sent by the Father, their words are just as important as
if they came directly from Him. The Bible tells us that the spirits (plu-
ral) of the prophets are subjects to the prophets (1 Cor 14:32). That
must imply that not only the holy Spirit in person speaks to a prophet,
but also other persons in the spiritual realm. Such a spirit must be tes-
ted, since it may be either a spirit of truth or lie. Even if the message
69
Is it not suggesting that we do not trust God’s willingness to lead us?
Let us ask and trust God in everything we need to know.
Also, we must not be caught up tied to dead relatives. They should
be left to the light with God. We are allowed to grieve, but it should
be a sorrow characterised by a hope of reunion. We are called to pro-
ceed towards perfection, thanking God for the time we have shared
with those we love.
However, the Bible shows that we have fellowship with people in
the spiritual dimension, even dead ones. Many of them are witnesses
to what happens on earth, especially those having reached perfection.
Heb 12:22-23: But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in
festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enroll-
led in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the
righteous made perfect,
It says we have already come to this community. The righteous’ spi-
rits are all around us and may help us whenever God sends them. But
we are not supposed to pray to them. Probably ”spirits of the righteo-
us made perfect” are included in the concept of angels. “Angel” means
messenger, and that is something also people can be, those living on
earth as well as those dead in the Lord.
If we receive a message from a spirit, it must be tested, since many
spirits pretend to be sent by God to deceive us. Read 1 Joh 4:1fv! Then
ask the question without hesitating and demand a clear answer! “Do
you confess Jesus Christ as Lord and true man?” Accept no evasions!
You must receive a clear confession. I know that this works.
If we neglect this testing, we risk speaking with a spirit of divina-
tion, that is a spirit following a person pretending to be a guardian
angel (with medium term: a guide). Paul met a girl with such a spirit
when visiting Philippi.
Act 16:16-17: As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met
by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners
much gain by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out,
“These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you
the way of salvation.”
The girl almost told the truth, but not really, because she meant that
the apostle’s message was about one path to salvation, implicitly not
the only path. Therefore Paul cast out the spirit. If it had been allowed
68
A rich Armenian Christian called Karakas had actually lived in the
house. He had been the only Armenian in that area. The couple had
three children. The historian said that the clan lived in another part of
Istanbul, trading leather goods, and that the deceased man had often
carried a big leather bag. He also told that the man lived in the house
only during summer months. He died in 1940 or 1941.
Officer John McConnell and the grandchild William6
John McConnell, a retired New York City policeman working as a se-
curity guard, stopped at an electronics store after work one night in
1992. He saw two men robbing the store and pulled out his pistol. An-
other thief behind a counter hit him with six shots. One of the bullets
entered his back and sliced through his left lung, his heart, and the
main pulmonary artery. He did not survive. John had been close to his
family and had frequently told one of his daughters, Doreen, “No mat-
ter what, I’ll always take care of you.”
Five years after John died, Doreen gave birth to a son named Wil-
liam. William began passing out soon after he was born. Doctors di-
agnosed him with a condition called pulmonary valve atresia, in
which the valve of the pulmonary artery has not adequately
formed, so blood cannot travel through it to the lungs. In addition,
one of the chambers of his heart had not formed properly as a result
of the problem with the valve. He underwent surgery several times.
William’s birth defects were very similar to the fatal wounds suffered
by his grandfather. In addition, when he became old enough to talk,
he began talking about his grandfather’s life.
One day when he was three years old, his mother was at home try-
ing to work in her study when William kept frolicking. She told him
finally, “Sit down, or I’ll spank you.” William replied, “Mom, when you
were a little girl and I was your daddy, you were bad a lot of times,
and I never hit you!” She was surprised at first. As William talked
more about the life of his grandfather, she began to feel comforted by
the idea that her father had returned. He told his mother that several
people were shooting when he was killed, and he asked a lot of ques-
tions about it. One time, he said to his mother, “When you were a lit-
tle girl and I was your daddy, what was my cat’s name?” She said,
“You mean Maniac?” “No, not that one,” William answered. “The
13
white one.” “Boston?” his mom asked. “Yeah,” William responded. “I
used to call him Boss, right?” That was correct. The family had two
cats, named Maniac and Boston, and only John referred to the white
one as Boss. One day, Doreen asked William if he remembered any-
thing about the time before he was born. He said that he died on a
Thursday and went to heaven, saw animals there and also talked to
God. He said, “I told God I was ready to come back, and I was born on
a Tuesday.” William did not even know the days of the week without
being prompted. His mother tested him by saying, “So, you were born
on a Thursday and died on a Tuesday?” He quickly responded, “No, I
died Thursday at night and was born Tuesday in the morning.” He
was correct – John died on a Thursday, and William was born on a
Tuesday five years later. He told his mother, “When you die, you don’t
go right to heaven. You go to different levels – here, then here, then
here” as he moved his hand up each time. He said that animals are re-
born as well as humans.
John had been a practicing Roman Catholic, but he believed in rein-
carnation and said that he would take care of animals in his next life.
His grandson, William, says that he will be an animal doctor and will
take care of large animals at a zoo.
Twins7
Gillian and Jennifer Pollock were born in England 1958. Their two
older sisters had died in a car accident one and a half year before the
twins were born. When they were born, their parents noted that Jen-
nifer had birthmarks matching Jacqueline’s. She was the younger de-
ceased girl, and had one birthmark on the hip and one other similar to
a scar Jacqueline had got when she had fallen on a bucket and cut her
forehead. When the sisters became three, they began talking about
their older deceased sisters, and their mother heard it. They discussed
details around the accident that killed the two girls. When they were
shown the deceased girls’ toys the twins knew immediately which be-
longed to each of them. They remembered how they had received the-
ir dolls. Gillian pointed at the birthmark on Jennifer’s forehead and
said: ”Jennifer got that mark when she stumbled on a bucket.” Jennifer
had never stumbled on a bucket – that was the deceased sister’s expe-
rience, who had been sutured and got a permanent scar.
14
The purpose of this intervention was apparently to stop people from
keeping a dysfunctional unity. All who have experienced dictatorship
know how quenching this is. Demonic control quenches life’s oppor-
tunities to growth, happiness and maturation. If all could hear each
others thoughts in Babel, it would have been an impossible situation
for opponents. Such a society will not allow individuals to develop
freely. Everyone will be the king’s puppet.
God’s objective is to be all in all, 1 Cor 15:28. When God is the uni-
ting bond, we feel a wonderful atmosphere – an atmosphere of free-
dom without fear. Such an atmosphere is among other things charac-
terised by people respectfully listening to each other. In this at-
mosphere God may open the intuitive understanding again.
We need to learn to listen to our spirit, our inner testimony. We
must understand why people behave differently depending upon their
level of maturity. By mirroring replies we can make the person we are
talking to find out more of himself and so free him from his fear of re-
jection. We also want to understand what takes place in the spiritual
sphere. This is not wrong, but we must be aware of the risks involved.
Forbidden and allowed paths
Deu 18:10-11: There shall not be found among you anyone who burns
his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divina-
tion or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer
or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead,
This Bible-passage troubles some who read about psychologists and
mediums contacting the spiritual world and giving us messages from
there. So it is important to have a correct understanding of the purpo-
se of this prohibition.
The Lord prohibited this because we are not supposed to use the
spiritual powers (in modern language: energies) to control people, and
also because we should seek the Lord himself when we need advice or
help. We cannot know if the dead people’s spirits are telling the truth
unless they are sent by the Lord of course. Jesus met Elijah and Moses
on the mountain of transfiguration, so it may happen that our Father
sends somone with a message to us, but then it is his initiative.
Neither should we interpret omens, for example by tarot cards or
palm-reading. Well, the methods are multiple. Why do we need such?
67
Interpretation of the prophetic word
Much in the Scripture has been hidden for a long time. Now that the
time for the Lord’s return draws nearer, God opens our minds so we
can understand more of the prophetic word.
Dan 12:9: He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up
and sealed until the time of the end...”
2 Petr 1:19-21: And we have the prophetic word more fully confir-
med, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in
a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your
hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes
from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever pro-
duced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were car-
ried along by the Holy Spirit.
The morningstar (it could be Venus or Jupiter) shows up just before
dawn. It heralds the imminence of daybreak. When we see the ”mor-
ningstar” in our hearts we understand that the day of the Lord is im-
minent. The morningstar is here a picture of a spiritual light which
will be given to those who long for it, when this age goes to an end.
Listening in spiritual quest
Before the confusion of the languages at Babel (Gen 11) we were
probably able to communicate with words simultaneously transfer-
ring our thoughts. In such a situation nothing can be hidden, and uni-
ty among people is more natural. This kind of communication is going
on in the spiritual dimension. I think we used words also before the
confusion, maybe not with exact logical formulations, but rather as
expressions of emotions. If the words were followed by an intuitive
understanding, they could not be misunderstood. What I think must
have happened was that God removed this intuitive ability, so we had
to be careful with grammar and words to be able to communicate.
That takes time to develop, and so they could not continue building
the Tower of Babel. We have to imagine that each family with its ne-
ighbours slowly and laboriously developed their own language while
they separated from the bigger society in Babel. Such smaller commu-
nities gained a sense of a family, and so the basis for founding nations
was born. Naturally they were spread over the earth. This may explain
why linguists have not been able to find a single root language.
66
When they visited Hexham for the first time, the place where the
dead sisters often had played, the twins asked if they could cross the
road and visit a park where there were swings. This playground was
not visible from the road, and they could not be familiar with it from
natural causes. The behaviour of the twins had obvious simularities
with their older sisters, and they learned to write at the age of four.
Kumkum Verma8
Kumkum Verma, a girl from India, started talking about her former
life at the age of three and a half. She said she had lived in Darbhanga
in the Urdu Bazaar block and asked her familymembers to call her
Sunnary, meaning beautiful. She made a lot of statements about her
former life, and her aunt wrote them down. Among other tings she
told the name of her son who worked with a hammer (Kumkum didn’t
know the word for blacksmith), her grandchild’s name, a safe of iron
in the house where she had lived, a sword hanging over her bed, and
by the safe a serpent she used to feed with milk. The scientists locali-
zed the place and the family, and everything was correct. Sunnary had
unexpectedly died five years before Kumkum was born. Kumkum also
said she had died during a quarrel and that her stepson’s wife hade
poisoned her. Sunnary had prepared to testify for her son in a trial
against her second husband, when she suddenly died.
Sunnarys family belonged to a low standing class of craftsmen and
Kumkum’s father, who was a physician and author, was not very plea-
sed with the thought of his daughter being married to a blacksmith in
her former life. So he had nothing to gain by fantasizing such a story.
Swaran Lata9
Swaran Lata was born into a Brahmin family – belonging to the hig-
hest caste in India. She remembered that she had been a sweeper ha-
ving cleaned latrines in her former life. She was often dirty from pick-
ing up the younger childrens’ faeces. She refused to go to school when
she was young, with the explanation: ”We are sweepers. None in my
family study, and I never sent any of our children to school.” Of course
this was extremely shameful for her father.
Bobby10
Bobby told that he in his former life had died from a shot-wound
and in another life had died in a motorbike accident as a teenager.
15
 When he once was recovering from a flu he spontaneously said:
”Mom, people in the other world do not get sick.” Mom answered:
”The other world, Bobby?” He said: ”The world I was in when I was
waiting to be born. People do not become sick there. They are just
happy and never sick. I wish we didn’t get sick in this world.”
Patrick Christenson11
Patrick Christenson, a boy who was born with three birth marks
matching his deceased half brother, told that before he was born he
had spoken to a relative called ”Billy the Pirate”. He said Billy had been
shot from a short distance and died in the mountains. Patrick’s mother
said she had never heard of such a relative, but when she called her
mother and asked about it, she was informed that a cousin with the
nickname Billy the Pirate actually had died that way.
Sunita Khadelwal12
A girl from India, Sunita Khadelwal, spoke about her life as a woman
in a town 350 km away. She described how she after a deadly fall from
a balcony had floated upwards. ”There was a baba (holy man) with a
long beard. They checked my data and said: ’Send her back.’ There are
rooms there. I have seen God’s house. It is very nice.”
Barbro Karlén
The Swedish well-known author Barbro Karlén tells on Youtube
about her former life as Anne Frank. In her case it seems she returned
because her former life was cut short when the Nazis killed her. This
testimony, in English with English subtitles, is very vivid well worth
taking part of.
The Bible story about Job’s children may be a parallell. Job had seven
sons and three daughters (1:2) who died when a storm broke down
the house where they were. When Job’s time of trials came to an end,
he once more received seven sons and three daughters (42:13). It is
easy to suspect that it was the same persons coming back.
The Bible’s testimony
How long have we existed?
Let us now look at what the Bible has to say in this matter. We be-
16
But we may also choose to unite with our Saviour and lose the mea-
ningless life. Then we win another sort of life, the very nature of God
within us. Salvation is atonement – and then transformation. It is a
continuing development into the glory of God. Such a life cannot be
lost. On the way to this goal, only the worthless is lost.
Resurrection versus reincarnations
Humanity’s objective is not reincarnations nor is it heaven, but re-
surrection. This means that we will receive an immortal body, like the
body Jesus received at his resurrection. This is a glorified body able to
abide both in the heavenly dimension and here on earth. This body is
made for life in the new world pictured by a city coming down from
heaven to earth in Revelation 21:10. Heaven and earth reunite after
the separation that took place in the fall of man. Resurrection is thus a
part of the restoration of all things created to a glorified state where
there will be no more death. Even nature will become metamorpho-
sed. Now everything will be united with Christ Jesus.
Col 1:16-17: For by him all things were created, in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or
authorities – all things were created through him and for him. And he
is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Eph 1:10: ... as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in
him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Jesus will return to transform the earth. He is coming in his resur-
rected glorious body, but must wait until his bride is ready to receive
him. He will meet his bride in bridal clothes (Rev 19:7-8).
Much remains, but the preparations will intensify as time goes on.
And we must prepare ourselves. If we are not ready – clothed in the
very nature of God – Jesus’ return will shock us and make us unfit for
the Kingdom of Peace that Jesus will establish:
Isa 11:6-9: The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall
lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fatte-
ned calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the
bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall
eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the
cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's
den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the
earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover
the sea.
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fullness of Christ, but he will fill all in the end. The apostle saw this as
fulfilled, but in the dimension of time it is not yet fulfilled. This is the
target of salvation. When this has come to realisation in all of us, we
are restored to an even higher glory than we had before the fall. The
very life Jesus demonstrated when he walked on earth will be each
one’s natural life.
To obtain this, each person must understand from the depth of his
heart who Jesus is. Such a heart-revelation links us together with him
and transformes us step by step into his image:
Mat 16:15-17: He said to them, “But who do you say that I
am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah!
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is
in heaven.
Jesus’ answer makes it apparent that Christianity as a religion does
not save. If Jesus had wanted followers of a new religion he had ex-
pressed himself quite differently. Jesus planted a seed that is supposed
to grow until he and his Father, our Creator, become all in all.
The opposite to be saved is to get lost. That means to be outside our
origin, our Creator. Jesus described the contrast like this:
Luk 9:24-25: For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if
he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
Let us reflect on what Jesus meant.
We may choose to keep our life as our own, striving for magnifying
our ego, status and material riches. Such a life is meaningless and
empty of true joy, since it makes true fellowship with both God and
people impossible. No one enjoys meeting an ego-focused person. You
can sense his emotional greed, sense how he is seeking affirmation of
his ideas or aloofness.
Neither will you enjoy seeing a person not wanting to develop, one
who is quite content with his own little world of reasonings. He al-
lows nothing to disturb his pretended security, characterised by fear
of everything not matching his pattern for life. Such a person is lost in
himself. And God has ordained so he will loose this life sooner or later.
In this respect no exception is granted for Christians. True Christianity
means Christ is living and growing within us.
64
gin with exploring how long we have existed. The question is – have
we existed before we received earthly bodies?
In Eph 1:4 we read that God ”chose us in Christ before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him”.
The prophet Jeremiah was chosen individually before he was begot-
ten in his mothers womb. This indicates that he owned an individual
life before he was born.
Jer 1:4, 5: Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Before I
formed you in the womb I knew [hebr: jada', knew intimately] you,
and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a
prophet to the nations.”
God knew Jeremiah intimately before he came to earth, and obvious-
ly before conception.
Paul called his existence on earth to be away, and the existence with
the Lord to be at home.
2 Cor 5:8, 9: Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be
away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at
home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
Home is a place we leave for a limited time and then return to,
right? We are just visitors. We camp here for a short time and then re-
turn home. ”I am a guest and foreigner…” we sing in a hymn. Paul
called this temporary habitation a tent.
2 Cor 5:1-3: For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is
destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to
put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not
be found naked.
A tent is normally used on a journey, not as a permanent habitation.
We start at and return to our permanent house.
The author of Hebrews writes that the heroes of faith ”acknow-
ledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth”, Hebr 11:13.
Ecclesiastes says that the spirit, i. e. the immortal part of us, returns
to God who gave it:
Eccl 12:7: and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit re-
turns to God who gave it.
If our spirit were created at conception in our mother’s womb it
would be incorrect to say it returns to God when we die.
17
 In John chapter 9 Jesus’ disciples asked a question that revealed a
belief in an existence before our erthly life. We have already made
comments on that.
Below we see that we previously have lived as spirits. It is said that
we have taken part of flesh and blood. Even more, it is said that Jesus
in like manner took part of flesh and blood. Hence, our preexistence
and incarnation are compared to the Lord’s.
Hebr 2.14: Seeing, then, the children have partaken of flesh and
blood, he himself also in like manner did take part of the same, that
through death he might destroy him having the power of death – that
is, the devil. (Young’s literal translation)
Romans testify that God had predetermined the heritages of the two
brothers Jacob and Esau before they were born. Such predetermi-
nation is likely to depend on their spiritual condition in their preexis-
tence. Though Jacob was a deceiver, he at least had an urge for God’s
kingdom:
Rom 9:11-14: though they were not yet born and had done nothing
either good or bad – in order that God's purpose of election might
continue, not because of works but because of him who calls – she
was told, “The older will serve the younger.”
Scripture testify that man’s spirit is well developed in uterus:
Luk 1:41, 44: And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the
baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spi-
rit… ”For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears,
the baby in my womb leaped for joy.“
John, abiding in the womb of Elizabeth, reacted when he met Jesus –
two fetuses contacted each other. Had anybody reacted? That is not
likely. Many adults were not very happy meeting Jesus. John’s reaction
indicates that he was well prepared for his calling before he was born,
and he knew Jesus.
So we can see that many Bible references indicate an individual life
before birth. Since the Bible teaches restoration of all things, we may
imagine that all things now existing have been in a state of glory at
the beginning of time.
A veil of forgetfulness seems to come over us when we are born,
sometimes only partially, but when we return to God, this veil is re-
moved and we remember from where we came and who we are.
Almost every Jewish sect at the time of Jesus except the sadducées
18
manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on
the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.
The expression ”a new name” signifies that we are transformed by a
positive development. A new name means new characteristics. It im-
plies a deep transformation. It also means that we will not be known
by our present name in the fullness of time. This is crucial for unders-
tanding our identity. Our true identity is not the same as how we look
upon ourselves today. We will not primarily be remembered as certain
historical persons, but as parts in the Godhead, the spiritual body of
Christ. This is crucial if we want to understand reincarnation as a me-
ans to growth and maturity.
”The hidden manna” is symbolic for wisdom only available for those
who have learned to overcome hardships and know God in their
hearts. The purpose of this spiritual food is to make us more like
Christ and suitable for service on a higher level.
Everything will be restored
Salvation
Rom 10:9-11: because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is
Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and
with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says,
“Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
The last part of this passage (italicized) tells us about what will
come out of the search we all must go through before the court of the
Lord – shame or honour. In God’s fiery presence no one can stand
upright without being dressed in the very nature of Christ. The belief
mentioned on line three connotes the hearts devotion to the Lord.
Paul was not talking about an intellectual creed.
In the New Testament’s original text, Koine Greek, σώζω (sodzo) is
translated saved. The meaning encompasses “be rescued, upright, hea-
led, saved, liberated”. To understand the meaning, we must unders-
tand the target for creation:
Eph 1:22b-23: and gave him as head over all things to the
church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
“The Church” (ἐκκλησία, ekklēsia, the called forth) is first given the
63
 harvest has come.”
Harvesttime is the end of the age. Only then people are ready to en-
ter the next age, being the Kingdom of Peace. If the harvest is compo-
sed of individuals, which seems apparent, the same individuals must
mature during the whole age.
But will the world believe? Yes. Jesus predicted exactly that.
Joh 17:21: [I pray] hat they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in
me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may
believe that you have sent me.
Joh 12:32: And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all pe-
ople to myself.
The world will believe the very day they see Christians’ unity in the
holy Spirit. Then many will repent – everyone not deliberately choo-
sing to be God’s enemy. All who ask for it, will be forgiven.
Mark 3:28-29: Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children
of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphe-
mes against the Holy Spirit never [not to the age] has forgiveness, but
is guilty of an eternal [age-abiding] sin”.
The only people not reconciled are those not wanting to reconcile
with God. God will not force them. He stops searching them and lea-
ves them alone. But before that day comes, they have got many op-
portunities to repent. However, even those will one day repent, if not
before, in ”the lake of fire”, Rev 21:8. What this means, we tell more
about in Tidens fullbordan.
The unity of the Spirit required for this to happen, does not come to
reality at the negotiation table, where the lowest common denomina-
tor for members’ or churches’ belief is decided upon. That kind of coo-
peration is an expression of the human ambition of unification, but
God is seeking something much greater. He wants to be the essence of
the unity, its uniting bond.
The holy Spirit’s unity comes to pass when we venture to widen our
perspective and discover more of God’s nature and plan. The more we
get to know God, the more we will reflect him. We become one heart
and one soul with him and at the same time with each other.
Is our identity eternal?
Upp 2:17: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the
churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden
62
believed in man’s preexistence. The Jewish history writer Josephus
testified this being common folklore.
In the Apocrypha Wisdom, Salomo is said to have taken part of a
body from a spiritual existence:
Wis 8:20: Yea rather being good, I came into a body undefiled. (KJV
1611)
Here we see a belief that the bases for an earthly life was given from
a spiritual preexistence.
The Swedish national poet Victor Rydberg’s thoughts about our pre-
existence are worth some reflection:
”The Jews saw the teaching about man’s preexistence in close rela-
tionship to the doctrine of creation. God created the world in six days
and rested on the seventh. They could comprehend this narrative lite-
rally or allegorically. However, in both cases they agreed that creation
was a completed work from the beginning, and the course of the
world a development of something already existing during which God
acts, not anymore as an immediately creating power, but as an sup-
porting and leading Providence. The seventh day, God’s Sabbath, is
the day in which we still live and the length of which no one knows.
But – they argued – the foremost in God’s creation is not the physical
world, but the spiritual, and the foremost in the spiritual world is
man’s spiritual race, being superior to the angels’. Therefore it must
be assumed that man’s spirit has existed from the beginning of the
world, since otherwise the assumption that God creates the foremost
and most important on his Sabbath day would be a contradiction.”13
Let us now make two thought experiments.
1. If we imagine every person’s spirit is created by God in the mo-
ment of conception, would not God then have to create a fallen spirit
for everyone who is born? The only exception would be Adam and
Eve. But that would be contrary to God’s nature. He only creates what
is perfect.
Or do we believe that man’s spirit is perfect from birth, so that only
the soul and body (the flesh) belong to our fallen nature? In such case
one’s spirit would not need to be reborn, and the Bible’s talk about re-
birth would pertain to our flesh. Most readers of the Bible know that
this is contrary to what is said in the New Testament. Even the apostle
19
Paul said there was nothing good in his flesh (Rom 7 and 8). And Jesus
said that what is born of the flesh remains flesh, and that cannot be
born again, Joh 3:6; 6:63.
We conclude that man’s spirit need to be reborn by receiving words
of spirit and life from the Lord, Joh 1:12-13. That implies that our spirit
is in a state of death (a state of being separated from God), before we
are reborn. That makes it impossible that God has created us in this
state.
But our spirit may have fallen down to this state of death from an
earlier existence in divine glory. It is also possible that we have cho-
sen to take on the flesh to be able to make experiences that will equip
us for difficult tasks in the future.
Or God may have sent us to earth as his coworkers with a special
task. Here we can imagine how to understand predestination, especi-
ally pertaining to those with high callings, as John the Baptist. Even
those are partially separated from fellowship with God when incarna-
ting, and need rebirth.
2. Let us now imagine that our spirit came into existence at concep-
tion without God’s cooperation, that is through our parents’ union. In
that case God would have given man the ability to create life. Howe-
ver the Bible says that nothing was made outside of Christ:
Joh 1:1-3: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All
things were made through him, and without him was not any thing
made that was made.
John then explains that the Word is Christ. From this follows that
man’s spirit cannot have been created outside Christ. This is made
even more clear in Col 1:15-17.
Plain logic thus makes it clear that every man’s spirit has been crea-
ted by God before we incarnated. We must have been created without
a sinful nature, but not necessarily perfected. Our earthly life is inten-
ded to train us for perfection, and moreover to recapture our planet
from the rule of Satan and place it under Christ.
A hint to our preexistence is the Lord’s answer to Job:
Job 38:4-7: Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measure-
ments – surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what
20
er when they had received the manna.
When the Lord returns time is full once again, and the next age can
enter. We are now preparing ourselves for the return of the Lord and
this next age. We are not ready unless Christ is our very life. This is
also our maximum development to maturity. Our goal is to become
perfected by spirit, soul and heart united with Christ.
In ancient Rome a different concept of adoption from what we are
used to was practised. One’s own son was adopted when he reached a
certain maturity. The meaning was that he became entrusted with re-
presenting his father, since he had grown into thinking in the same
spirit and soul as his father. The adoption was consequently both an
emancipation and an authorisation.
Ef 1:4-5: even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he
predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ,
according to the purpose of his will,...
When time was full, we were adopted, but not until then.
Although we forget most of our former lives when being on earth,
something is still kept within us, something that ripens in our spirits
through each incarnation, if we allow it, something making it possible
for us to stretch forward for perfection. We can also detect a corporate
spiritual awareness growing in strength over the world.
For the world to find Christ, a demonstration of love and power is
necessary, convincing the world that Jesus is the saviour. When he be-
comes all in us, all people want to see him. Then we are ready for his
return. That will save the world.
Rom 11:15: For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the
world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
What the apostle here tells us is that when Jews and Christians be-
come united in one common wholehearted revelation of their saviour,
the dead will rise (zoe; the God kind of life). So Jesus awaits the ripe-
ning of the harvest, so time can reach fullfillment once more. Then he
will return.
Mark 4:26-29: And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should
scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and
the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces
by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the
61
 Deu 18:15: The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me
from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen.
So it seems like Moses’ mission was unfinished, and will be finished
in union with Christ. It looks like Moses and Elijah will complete their
final mission as the prophets of Revelation at the end of this age,
when they in union with Christ will lead God’s people into their real
sabbath rest, and so being able to enter themselves, Rev 11:3ff.
When time was full
Gal 4:2-5: but he is under guardians and managers until the date set
by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were
enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the
fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman,
born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so
that we might receive adoption as sons.
What was God waiting for before he sent his Son? What was suppo-
sed to be full or complete before this?
Reading the Bible makes it possible to identify how God acts diffe-
rently during the course of history. We can identify different ages.
Each age gives man different experiences. In the moment Jesus atoned
the world with God, the age of Grace came to us. But before this could
happen, obviously something else must have been completed.
If we think reincarnation we can understand God’s intention as
being opportunities for us to make experiences on a lower level before
we come to know Christ as our saviour. Note that Paul included eve-
ryone of us when he said we were under guardians and managers un-
til we met Christ. We were children under upbringing and discipline.
He could not mean only those contemporary with himself. We were all
under age, and most of us were not ready to unite with Christ.
Ponder the answer Jesus gave the people asking for a sign:
Joh 6:30-32: So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we
may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers
ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread
from heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to
you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my
Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
The people spoke about their ancestors, but Jesus answered by tal-
king about themselves. Jesus seemed to mean that he had in front of
himself people being alive on earth more than a thousand years earli-
60
were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning
stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
The sons of God and the morning stars were present and witnessed
creation. It seems as God wanted to tell Job that he was one of them
when all this took place. But he had forgotten it. And that made it im-
possible for him to understand the higher wisdom available in the
heavenly sphere, until he received grace to take a look into it (Job 42).
We all have something from God within. Jesus acknowledged even
his opponents this when he said:
Luk 12:56-57: You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appea-
rance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the
present time? And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?
These people had alienated themselves far from their inner testimo-
ny. They should have sensed within themselves that Jesus told the
truth, but they had choked this soft inner voice.
Think of what Jesus said about being born again in Joh 3! Why do
we need to be born again? Is it because we were separated from God’s
glory when we entered the earth? Or because we have fallen when
abiding in the spiritual sphere, as was the opinion of Origen, the
church father? Or is it because we during childhood and possible ear-
lier lives were flooded with unbelief quenching our mild inner testi-
mony? Maybe it differs from person to person.
If we consider the purpose of our incarnation being a form of higher
education – the school of the earth – we will more easily understand
our limits and hardships. Hardships of life become challenges to con-
quer and thereby improve our character. Imagine, that while we still
abode in the spirit sphere, we agreed to accept certain challenges!
Maybe we chose our parents, children and siblings, and even some
other persons we knew beforehand we would meet on earth. What
reverence we than will have for all we meet! They may be people we
have bonded with to help each other to maturity. When we die, we
will see them again and then remember what we agreed to. Did we
keep our promise? Even if we here on earth cannot remember
anything of that, we will keep our promises just by allowing the holy
Spirit to lead us in works of love that he has prepared for us. We just
follow his prompting in our innermost being.
In the book Embraced by the Light Betty Eadie narrates how she in
21
her NDE was showed her preexistence. Contrary to many having got
memories of former lives on earth, she argues that we have only one
life here, and possible memories of former lives could be explained
otherwise. But no ones become omniscient becauses of an NDE.
Some people must have chosen or been sent by God to be born
within other religions than the Christian. Howard Storm was a NDEer
who was informed that the love of God reaches them also. It is not ne-
cessarily a problem, if we just understand that Jesus is the saviour for
all people (1 Tim 4:10), and that all will see him just as he is, when
they are ready for it and the gospel has reached them.
Do we die just once ?
Now let us go to the question if we may have more than one life on
earth. First we will look at the only passage that usually is quoted to
contest the concept of reincarnation:
Heb 9:27-28: And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after
that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the
sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to
save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
The text above seems to give us a plain answer, although a dogma
built from just one Bible passage is weak. However the Bible also testi-
fies of some people who died twice, viz those who were temporarily
risen from the dead. Since they did not receive their resurrection bodi-
es they must have died once more. Those belonging to Christ and still
alive when he returns, will not die, but be transformed and receive
immortal bodies (1 Cor 15:51). Consequently the Bible passage above is
a little unsettled if we interpret it literally. The author obviously did
not have reincarntion in his mind when he wrote, but the contrast
between the many sacrifices in the old covenant and the one and only
sacrifice Jesus gave on the cross. Hebrews is not fighting the dogma of
reincarnation. Rather the letter uses a parable to illustrate the impor-
tance of the one and only sacrifice by Jesus. It is important to unders-
tand the intent of the author when we read the Bible, or else many
passages will confuse us.
If we keep in mind that the word ”death” in the Bible always means
separation, to separate, (see Tidens Fullbordan) which may be of diffe-
rent kinds, the passage can be interpreted quite differently. We have
22
7:28). That surely made him fitting for such an honorary mission.
In Revelation 11:3-7 we encounter two witnesses. Does this designa-
tion refer to people having testified about God’s work in history, with
climax at Jesus’ transfiguration? According to the description they will
perform wonders very like those of Moses and Elijah. It actually looks
like these two prophets will return. And this happens just before the
forthcoming millennial sabbath rest.
In this context it may be of interest to consider God’s verdict when
Moses was disobedient during Israels’ exodus, striking the rock twice:
Num 20:12: And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did
not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of
Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I
have given them.”
Deu 32:52: For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go
there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.
Moses had received instruction from the Lord to speak to the rock
(Num 20:8), but instead he struck the rock. He had done so once before
and received water, so it may have seemed natural for him to repeat
the same procedure. In doing so he failed in responsiveness. I do not
think Moses knew that both these actions were intended as prophetic
foreshadowings. Christ, our solid rock, would become stricken once,
not twice. After his crucifixion we are supposed to talk to him, and
when doing that, we receive the water of life to our spirits.
Moses’ little disobedience was sufficient to stop him from entering
the Promised Land, the land that later would become Israel. Was it so
hard for God to forgive him? Not at all. Moses was forgiven.
But the Promised Land was a symbol of God’s people’s sabbath rest.
Moses could not enter it, because the time had not yet come for this
future kingdom, and also because Moses was not ready for it. Moses
had of course been ready for a temporary Promised Land, but God
chose to direct a theatre stage on the screen of history to illustrate
when we are ready to enter this sabbath rest. We enter it only by fol-
lowing the one succeeding Moses, namely Joshua. It is the same name
as Jesus, just different languages. In Hebrew they are called the same.
The name means Saviour. Joshua led the people into their temporary
Promised Land, and Jesus leads us into our final Promised Land.
Also Moses was a model of Jesus, in spite of his flaws:
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Elijah, John and Moses
Matt 11:13-15: For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until
John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He
who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Mat 11:14 may be interpreted that John was a reincarnation of Eli-
jah, since Jesus seemed to suggest that it was an issue. When he said
”he who has ears, let him hear” he was indicating that not all could
understand what he said. Traditionally this passage has been interpre-
ted to mean that John was sent with the same mission as the prophet
Elijah. John, just as Elijah, was sent to prepare the way for the Lord.
Also, Elijah will come one more time before the Lord returns:
Mat 17:11-12: He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all
things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not re-
cognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of
Man will certainly suffer at their hands.”
Mal 4:5: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great
and awesome day of the LORD comes.
The day of the Lord is still in the future, so Elijah must come once
more to prepare the way for the Lord’s return. When John was asked
if he was Elijah (Joh 1:21) he probably understood the question as re-
ferring to the Elijah that was foretold by Malachi. Therefore he denied.
He knew that he could not be the Elijah Malachi had foretold, since it
was still in the future. John did not comment on reincarnation.
Since it is shrouded in mystery if we should interpret the words by
Jesus as an expression indicating reincarnation or just a similar mis-
sion, we cannot be too sure of what he meant. But at least one thing is
absolutely sure – if the Bible had contested this dogm as being a seri-
ous delusion, it could not express itself in this way. We will not find
one passage in the Bible that is attended to contest belief in reincarnation.
This is remarkable, if this belief would be so dangerously deceitful.
It looks like Moses and Elijah follow what is happening in the world.
Matt 17:3: And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah,
talking with him [Jesus].
When this took place on the mountain of transfiguration John the
baptist was dead. He had been beheaded by king Herod (Mat 14:10). So
maybe he was the Elijah Jesus and his disciples saw? It does not seem
too unlikely, considering the fact that Jesus before this had testified
that no one born of a woman was greater than John (Mat 11:11, Luk
58
all once died in Adam, i e been separated from the glory of God radia-
ting from us before the fall in Eden. The following judgment ment that
we have to work by the sweat of our face, that is to be subdued to the
conditions of the fallen nature (Gen 3:19), and also that we must over-
come the enticements of our fallen nature until we have learned our
lesson. So we are already judged and under the effects of the judg-
ment:
Joh 3:18: he who is believing in him [Jesus] is not judged, but he who
is not believing hath been judged already, because he hath not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God14. (YLT)
When Jesus came, he took upon himself the sin of humanity (Jes
53:4-5) and then died (was separated) from this sin (Rom 6:10) once for
ever. When we identify with Christ – are engrafted in him, so that his
life becomes our life, we also die from sin. We are separated from sin
as a ruling force (but we may fall). Our spirit receives life. This moves
us from being under the law’s judgment to be placed under grace. (Joh
5:24). So Hebr 9:27 does not necessarily mean judgment after our phy-
sical death. We were judged when we died in the beginning of times.
Since then we are under the effects of the judgment, under its upb-
ringing, with the intent that we will find life in union with Christ Je-
sus. And we will not automatically be engrafted in Christ when our
body dies. We will still be of the nature of Adam, if no rebirth has ta-
ken place within us. Still we have to work and overcome the fallen na-
ture. God’s judgment after the fall in Eden will not be cancelled just
because we die and leave our body. This opens up the possibility of
more than one life on earth.
However – in our present identity we normally die just once from
our body. And after our physical death we will go through a kind of
judgment. We will see our life review and in God’s light make our own
evaluation of our earthly life (more about this in Tidens fullbordan).
This is testified by many NDEs. We will have the freedom to judge –
weigh up – ourselves. This is not intended för condemnation, even
though it may be really hard to look at one’s life in God’s true light,
and some people may throw themselves headlong into darkness, but
it is intended to teach us something from our recent life on earth.
Now, if we interpret Hebr 9:27-28 to mean that we can only die once,
that would imply that we thereafter cannot be judged more than
23
once. If so, why then are we already judged, and why do we need at
least one more judgment, the judgment on the last day?
Joh 12:48: The one who rejects me and does not receive my words
has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last
day.
So it seems likely that many have a chance to receive Jesus until
then. Otherwise it would make no sense that judgment is delayed.
Consequently judgment after death is not the final. Of course denying
God’s calling to follow Jesus is grave if your spirit testifies to receive
him right now.
Someone objected against reincarnation out of these words by Jesus:
Joh 8:23: He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You
are of this world; I am not of this world.
His interpretation was that we have our origin from earth and the-
refore cannot come from heaven and descend to earth. Jesus would be
the only exception.
But Jesus must have referred to different levels of spiritual maturity.
Reincarnation does not mean that we come from heaven and descend
to earth, even though some who have seen the state of limbo may use
the term heaven for that. When Jesus said he came from above he told
us that he came from a higher sphere close to his Father. Man’s spirit
does not come from this sphere, but probably from a lower level con-
taining less knowledge and wisdom. We may have fallen from a hig-
her level when we lived in the spiritual realm, and so gone astray
from the abode of the Father. Then we incarnate in order to be born
again, develop and reach maturity by limitations in the earthly life.
Through Christ we reenter God’s glory. In the end of time all will find
him (Joh 12:32).15 Paradise (Luk 23:43), where those with a good heart
rest in limbo, is a forecourt to heaven.
The judgment between the sheep and the goats
At least one more court exists. When Jesus returns he will separate
the ”sheep” from the ”goats”. This judgment is not identical with the
judgment at the great white throne, which will take place at least a
thousand years later according to Revelation 20:4-6, 12. The judgment
between the ”sheep” and the ”goats” in Matt 25:31-46 will separate
people living on earth with regard to the fruit of their lives. People
24
the gentiles is complete.
Upp 1:7: Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see
him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail
on account of him. Even so. Amen.
Here we read that those responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus will
watch him arrive. Might it be as spirit beings or as humans in the
flesh? According to Mat 24:34 it looks like it will be the latter. The day
of Atonement, Yom Kippur, or better translated ”Day of cleansing”,
prophesies about the day Israel will cry out for Jesus to come.
Now I must add that not all Jews who advocated Jesus’ crucifixion
committed this sin. Jesus prayed on the cross “Father forgive them, for
they know not what they do” (Luk 23:34). But some Jews committed
this sin, and therefore will not be forgiven until times come to full-
fillment. This means that the Lord will not search their hearts and
open them before appointed time. Until then they are tortured by the
fire of persecution, and long for a drop of solace from Lazarus’ finger
(from those having inherited salvation).
Wages in this age
If the promise below is to be fulfilled literally, more than one earthly
life is required, because all who have abandoned relatives and fields
are not given them in return in the same life. Actually Jesus promised
to pay a part of the wages in this age.
Mark 10:29-30: Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who
has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or
lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundred-
fold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers
and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come
eternal [age-during] life.”
But – 1 Cor 3:22 tells us that we own all. That is how things are in
faith’s dimension. Jesus owned everything, although he outwardly
was poor. When he needed something, it was available. Just think of
how he gave food to several thousand persons! Thus we can leave
both belongings and relatives in the Lord’s safe hands and attend to
the Kingdom of God. So the verses above may be fulfilled in our pre-
sent life on a spiritual level. Even so, the words may be intended to be
fulfilled literally, and then we may need more than one earthly life.
57
came true both when Jesus raised another Lazarus from the dead (Joh
11) and when Jesus was resurrected. They did not repent, in spite of
the evidences. Note, that only the rich man was buried after his death!
Lazarus immediately received sons’ privileges in faith’s resting bosom.
A hidden message seems to be that Abraham’s servent Elieser now
posthumously will take over the inheritance from his son Isak.
However, the Jews will regain their inheritance when Jesus returns:
Rom 11:26: And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from
Jacob.
Rom 11:32: For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may
have mercy on all.
All Israel includes all descendants from the patriarch Israel (Jacob).
The Jews Jesus was referring to in his allegory would have come un-
der the law of blasphemy against the holy Spirit:
Matt 12:32: And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will
be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be
forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
Those who committed this sin had to await God’s opening of their
hearts throughout the former age of the law and also throughout the
present age of grace (the age of the gentiles). Thereafter they will look
up to him they crucified (Zec 12:10) and repent. Note that the original
text does not say that this sin will have eternal consequences, but age-
abiding! A litteral translation of Mark’s version will be:
Mark 3:29: but he who speaks against the holy Spirit will not be forgi-
ven in the age, but is in danger of age-during judgment.
How then, is it possible for the generation living at the time of Jesus
to live through age-during judgment, and thereafter find Jesus? Let us
combine this with the prophecy below:
Mat 24:34: Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until
all these things take place.
The context is about the time of the Lords’ return. If the Jews con-
temporary with Jesus will be on earth when that happens, we must
imagine that they reincarnate within their Jewish tribe. That will ex-
plain how those who refused to accept Jesus as their Messiah in spite
of proof, and thereby became guilty of blasphemy against the holy
Spirit, finally will receive him. They will be forgiven when the age of
56
physically dead are not present in this judgment. Those counted as
sheep are given eonian life in the Kingdom of peace Isaiah prophesied
about:
Isa 65:20-22: No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a
few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young
man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old
shall be accursed. ... like the days of a tree shall the days of my people
be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
Here we see that children will be born in this kingdom, and people
will die, but not until they reach high age, maybe as before the flood,
when the normal life span was about 900 years. An erroneous transla-
tion has confused many readers in the context of Jesus telling about
the consequences for those having been merciless:
Matt 25:46: And these shall go away to punishment age-during
[κολασιν αιωνιον, kolasin aionion], but the righteous to life age-
during [ζωην, zoe]. (YLT)
The greek aionion is correctly translated here, and the word has the
meaning of a non-specific period of time. But it is not appropriate to
translate punishment, since the original word has the connotation of
pruning. This is more profoundly dealt with in the book Tidens fullbor-
dan.
The ”goats” will be judged to a life intended to restore them. They
will be pruned of their fleshly nature while the ”sheep” enjoy life in
the Kingdom of peace.
This is how it appears to be: We are already in an eonian pruning,
lasting until we have obtained the true love of Christ, but no further
than until Christ’s return. So the coming age is for the ”goats” one
more age of pruning when they have to go through tests and trials
until they overcome their fleshly nature and enter the kingdom of
God. The Bible does not reveal where this pruning will take place, but
tells us that it will be in fire and away from the face of God (Matt
25:41, 2 Tess 1:9). In Tidens fullbordan we explain the fire to be the fie-
ry nature of God and also symbolic of trials. It will influence their
consciousness and it will take them through arduous tests. The fire is
eternal, since God is an eternal fire (Deu 4:24; Hebr 12:29), but it does
not mean that the sinner is tortured in it forever. While God’s sheep
enjoy the new kingdom of glory and divine presence on a meta-
25
morphosed earth, the opponents of Christ will be somewhere else,
maybe on a different planet, where life offers such conditions that the-
ir ego can die until they become Christ’s images.
We mature to the end of the age
Below we see examples that the ”sheep” and the ”goats” have had
several opportunities before Jesus returns:
2 Petr 3:9: The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count
slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should pe-
rish, but that all should reach repentance.
Matt 13:27-30a: And the servants of the master of the house came
and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
How then does it have weeds? He said to them, ‘An enemy has done
this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and
gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root
up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the
harvest.”
In Matt 13:39 Jesus then tells us that the harvest takes place at the
end of this age. Both the good and the evil seed will ripen fully before
judgment comes. God is patient. All will have time to repent.
1 Kor 4:5: Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time,
before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden
in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one
will receive his commendation from God.
So before the Lord comes people are not ready for judgment, not
even Christians. This seems to indicate more than one life’s opportuni-
ty to repent and mature.
Primarily the Lord tries to sponsor this by his grace :
Mat 5:44-45: But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those
who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in
heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and
sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Tit 2:11-12: For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for
all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions,
and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.
When we become familiar with the grace of God, which is an expres-
sion of his nature, this incites us to become his images. Therefore it is
important that the true nature and grace of God is preached and de-
monstrated in the world.
The Bible also testifies that drought came upon Israel when they
26
is not the main purpose of its message. We should not be tempted to
postpone repentance to a later life. Such procrastination is a waste of
ones life. We must use time wisely and use every opportune moment.
Each life is a sowing, and after sowing follows harvest. But I believe
Jesus opened up for rediscovering reincarnation close to his return.
Israels’ hardening
Read Luke 16:19 through the end of the chapter!
This story about the rich man and Lazarus seems to be an allegory
which in chronological order portrayed what had happened and what
would happen to the Jews and the gentiles.
The rich man’s clothes identifies him with the Jews. He was clothed
in Purple, the royal colour, and linen, the priestly fabric. In Exo 28:39
ff is enacted that the priests’ clothing should be of linen. In Exo 19:6
the Lord said that Israel should be a nation of priests and separated
for the Lord. They would also live in abundance and spiritually spea-
king reign as kings if they kept the covenant, Deu 28, and they were
rich in divine revelations. The rich man’s five brothers probably refer-
red to the ancestor Judah’s five full brothers Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Is-
sachar and Zebulun (Gen 35:23). Even the fact that Abraham was his
father made him a dignified representative for the Jews.
The Hebrew equivalent to the name Lazarus is Elieser. Abraham had
a servant with this name, and he came from the gentile town Dama-
scus. That make us think of Lazarus as a symbol for the gentiles. They
longed for gifts from the rich man’s table, but were mostly given reli-
gious rubbish, apart from some scraps of true divine knowledge.
Now Jesus prophesied that Lazarus (the gentiles) woud die, viz be
separated from their beggar-status, and come to Abraham’s bosom
(faith’s resting position), while the Jews a little later would die from
their exalted position and become buried among the gentiles in their
diaspora. This came to pass in AD 70 when the Romans occupied Jeru-
salem and AD 132-135 during the Kokhbar-revolt when the remainder
of the Jewish people were expelled from the Holy Land. Then they
came into the fire of persecution (Greek: flame in singular) unable to
get across the chasm to the rest of faith. To reach there, they must
find Christ, and since they did not listen to Moses and the prophets
they could not believe even if someone was raised from the dead. This
55
this day. I think this is a hint that some of those living contemporary
with Jesus also must work with what the Lord entrusted to them, until
he comes. If they are abiding in heaven, it is hard to understand why
they will have to make themselves ready.
The objective for our vigilance
Matt 25:13: Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the
hour.
Jesus could have said: “Watch therefore, for you know not what day
you are going to die.” Or he could have added in the same sentence:
“Watch, for you know not when I return, or when you will die.”
Why did he not say something like that? The day of death is for
most people much closer in time than the Lord’s return.
There are other passages in the Bible urging us to be ready for our
day of death, for example Mat 5:25. But it still is remarkable that Jesus
put more focus on his coming back than each man’s death. In the
same lesson he listed certain signs that must be fulfilled before he can
return (24:5ff), signs that could not be fulfilled immediately.
We see the same urge to vigilance in the two parables about the
stewards in Mat 24:45fv and 25:14fv. Here too, Jesus said nothing
about the death-day as a day of account. Moreover, the stewards had
to present their accounts a long time after the principal’s trip abroad
(Jesus’ ascension), 25:19. So, the stewards had to work with what they
were entrusted during all that time, starting with their calling up till
Jesus returns. And that coincides with what Jesus said here:
Luk 21:27-28: And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a clo-
ud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take
place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is
drawing near."
Jesus said this to those alive at the moment. It seems to mean that
they will not find their work easier before Jesus returns. Only then
comes redemption.
An alternative interpretation is that these Bible passages particular-
ly are for the Christians living close to Jesus’ return. They will be tes-
ted severely by the labour pains introducing the new age, and they
can look forward to a relief when Jesus comes back.
The Bible does not implicitly tell us about reincarnation, because it
54
broke the covenant with the Gibeonites (2 Sam 21:1) and when Baa-
lism was prevailing among them (2 Kings 17:1ff). At the end of this
age the prophets in Rev 11:6 will be able to shut the sky so no rain
will fall upon the earth. This seems to contradict that God lets rain
come also over the evil, as we read in Mat 5:45.
But actually God lets it rain also over the unrighteous – until their
sin has reached full ripeness. Then he has no other choice than to ac-
cept the harvest. If you refuse to realise your responsiblity when grace
flows upon you, you must learn responsibility by the harvest of your evil
deeds. The minor times of harvests we have seen in history are fore-
runners and models of the great harvest at the end of this age. The
same applies to the harvest of righteousness (Joh 4, Act 2:41; 4:4). This
also will ripen fully at the end of this age.
In what way is the seed brought to ripeness? Does it not have to be
the same people growing during the whole age? They may be able to
grow as spirits after death also, but 2 Petr 3:9 can only be fulfilled if
they receive more opportunities to grow here on earth, since it hardly
makes any difference when Christ returns if growth is supposed to
take place in the spiritual sphere. Here we live in the dimension of
time, and the earth’s school is what we will graduate from. Many will
not graduate until this age has come to an end. This becomes even
more apparent when we read the following:
Matt 13:47-50: Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was
thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full,
men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers
but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels
will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw
them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.
Even here we see that the separation between the good and the bad
takes place at the end of this age. Consequently it is logical that we
receive the opportunity to mature by growing until then. The same is
confirmed here:
Matt 10:22-23: and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But
the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute
you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not
have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man co-
mes.
27
 Apparently the end does not refer to a man’s death, but the end of
the age. The prophecy refers to a time just before the coming of the
Lord, when the preaching of the gospel will be speeded up. The time
of the nations (gentiles) are fullfilled, and now the focus lies upon Is-
rael. The salvation mentioned seems to be what we usually call the
rapture, the moment when the Lord’s faithful children meet Jesus in
the sky and have their bodies metamorphosed into immortal ones.
They will be saved from the wrath now about to hit the world, the
wrath mentioned in Rev 16:1ff.
Jesus talked to the people he had in front of himself. He told them to
escape. They would not reach all the towns of Israel before he returns.
That implies that some of them will live on the earth at that moment.
But also his statement that those enduring to the end will be saved,
implies that we have more than one life. If we only have to endure as
long as we live our present life, most of us would not have to endure
to the end of the age.
The joyful message of atonement must be proclaimed to everyone
before Jesus returns:
Matt 24:14: And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed
throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then
the end will come [implicitly: the end of the present age].
Why cannot Jesus return before this is fulfilled? According to 2 Petr
3:9 it is because first all must have an opportunity to repent. How will
everyone have this opportunity if no one reincarnates? Surely, Jesus went
down to the underworld and preached there too, but it is on earth the
gospel will prevail before Jesus returns. The earth is intended for the
restoring of God’s kingdom. The earth will be filled with the glory of
God.
Hab 2:14: For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory
of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
Moreover, why is it not time yet for the evil spirits to have their fi-
nal judgment? If their condition is hopeless it would make no diffe-
rence if their judgment lingers, but it does:
Matt 8:28-29: And when he came to the other side, to the country of
the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of
the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. And behold,
they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have
you come here to torment us before the time?”
28
Heb 4:9-11: So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of
God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his
works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest,
so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
When we live in Christ we have the right to let our soul rest in him,
and never worry. But this is not the fullness of the rest prepared for
us. If it were, we would not have to contend to enter the sabbath rest.
However we will not be idle during the coming age. Those of us be-
longing to the bridal company or the ”barley harvest” will reign du-
ring this age (Rev 20:4), and that implies work. But it is work without
struggle and hardships, as it was from the beginning in the Garden of
Eden. We will work with a restful mind in God’s presence.
Salvation of the soul
Until the sabbath rest we work and strive for our souls’ salvation,
the rehabilitation of our character.
1Petr 1:9: obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your
souls.
Jas 1:21: Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness
and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save
your souls.
Php 2:12: Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so
now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling, ...
When we accept God’s salvation through Jesus Christ our spirit is
rehabilitated to fellowship with the Creator, but our soul, our persona-
lity, needs to go through a continous transformation. For this we work
until the Son of man (Jesus) returns:
Luk 12:40-46: You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at
an hour you do not expect.” Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this pa-
rable for us or for all?” And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful
and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to
give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that
servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I
say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant
says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat
the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the
master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect
him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces (or
scourge him) and put him with the unfaithful.
We see above that the Lord urged all his servants to be ready for
53
 However a time seems to come when this will end. Jeremiah
prophesied about the kingdom of peace when he said:
Jer 31:27-30: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when
I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of
man and the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass that as I have
watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, de-
stroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,
declares the LORD. In those days they shall no longer say: ‘The fathers
have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.’ But
everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour gra-
pes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
Also take a look at the following verses, where it is more apparent
that this prophecy is about the Messianic kingdom of peace. Now, let
us consider the question: Why will the children no longer die for their
ancestors’ iniquities when this time comes?
Well, those allowed to enter this kindom have all repented, and the-
ir sins are forgiven. The part of this kingdom’s citizens who have mor-
tal bodies is the wheat harvest Jesus talked about in Mat 13:30. In ad-
dition, those belonging to the ”barley harvest”19, i e those taking part
in the first (foremost) resurrection, will take part in this kingdom in
their immortal bodies. But only those entering this kingdom in their
mortal bodies are still not perfected. These will reach advanced ages,
but are still mortal, Isa 65:20, 22.
Since those entering the kingdom do not have any criminal records
from their former lives, they cannot bear guilt from their ancestors
transgressions (or their own transgressions from former incarnations).
The Sabbath rest
Relating to the tribulation of the end of this age, John hears a voice
proclaiming:
Rev 14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Bles-
sed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,”
says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds
follow them!”
Why are they blessed from now on? Are they not just as blessed if
they die in the Lord before this time? Of course, all who are ingrafted
into Christ should rejoice over the fact that their sins are forgiven. But
maybe we cannot rest from our work yet. The Sabbath (the millennial
day of rest) is not here until the kingdom is established:
52
The evil spirits used the voices of the possessed to express their fear
for Jesus. And he allowed them to enter the swines nearby, so they re-
ceived deferment until the final judgment. Of course this must have a
purpose. Maybe they will be allowed to incarnate in bodies of their
own, instead of possessing others’, and so have an opportunity to re-
pent. We will look further into this later.
Alternatives after death
Life after death has more to it than just reincarnation. Some who for
a moment have left their body have seen the darkness of the angui-
shed underworld. Others have seen earth-bound spirits sticking to
thought systems and perversities from their earthly lives. Vainly they
have tried to satisfy their cravings, dwell on injustices or ponder upon
their sins. And so there are the ghosts, people who have become so
bound to their earthly house that they refuse to proceed to the light.
According to Sadhu Sundar Sing’s revelations those who have comp-
letely joined themselves with the nature of sin or refused repentance
when God repeatedly have sought them, will not join the light when
they die. They throw themselves headlong down into the abyss, whe-
re a terrible inner fire torture their consciences. Their fate is terrible
beyond description, they have become so corrupted that they see-
mingly lack any wish to repent, even though angels and saints try to
persuade them.
But many seem to find themselves in a lower heaven where they are
able to grow into a higher form of existence (George G. Ritchie: Return
from Tomorrow). Many alternatives have opened up for people who
have been dead for a short moment. What our mind is attached to se-
ems to direct our destination. It is possible to change attitude after
death, but if you have tied up yourself in bitterness it makes it really
hard. If we enjoy living with God while on earth having our innermost
beings renewed day by day, we will enter a higher sphere and com-
munity with others who belong to Christ.
Many who have reached their preexistence during regression thera-
py have testified about an existence in groups with people being in an
approximately equal state of spiritual development. You are conse-
quently not necessarily in heaven or hell, even though some use the
term heaven for this state of being, since it is experienced as a period
29
of rest.
We can make friends here on earth and have them follow us to the
spiritual sphere. Everything we do here, affects how we continue after
death.
Luk 16:9: And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of
unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into
the eternal dwellings.
Our choice to incarnate
According to testimonies from people, mostly during regressions to
former lives, many choose if they want to incarnate, but not everyone.
Some are persuaded or even compelled. If you choose for yourself, it
may be because you want to grow in experience and build your cha-
racter. Some come to earth to meet hard circumstanses due to unsett-
led relations from former lives, sometimes to live with people they
have wounded or help those who wounded them. If you hate a group
of people or you are unsympathetic against people with worse qualifi-
cations, it is likely you become one of them in your next life. But it is
also possible to come with a special calling to help Creation. You may
be chosen for a special task before you were born, like the prophet Je-
remiahh, Jer 1:5.
Before you make this choice you will receive guidance. It is given by
holy people who have reached higher wisdom. There are some indica-
tions that people who have lived evil lives sometimes reincarnate so
quickly they do not have time to listen to guidance before they return
to earth, while those who have lived with higher purposes are given
time to rest before they make a new experience on earth. Often you
are given several suggestions of a birth-nation, parents etc. You may
choose what kind of challenges you prefer. Maybe you choose hard
circumstances to help yourself overcome flaws in your character.
Some take upon themselves too big challenges. In many cases you are
given the choice, but it seems there are exceptions. Of course this is
only a glimpse of reality.
An hint to a free choice is given in Jesus’ statement about Judas Isca-
riot:
Matt 26:24: The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to
that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been
better for that man if he had not been born.
30
ration. Finally, when his sin has filled up its measure, judgment fol-
lows. In Israel their measure of sin was filled up when the leaders re-
fused to repent after being convicted by Jesus of their condition. As I
see it, the sin had been cultivated during generations. The fairest way
to such consequences would be the same persons having reincarna-
ting within their Jewish tribe (or having come back after excursions
among other people) and having had many opportunities to repent. If
not, what is the meaning of what Jesus tells us here?
Mat 23:29-31: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For
you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of
the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we
would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the
prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of
those who murdered the prophets.
Instead of identifying themselves with their forefathers confessing
their sins (as Daniel did, Dan 9:4, 20) they distanced themselves from
their ancestors. Thereby they testified that they lacked self-awareness.
They were like their ancestors, but refused to admit this. But why
were they as their ancestors? Had they inherited something from
them that they now were breeding? Reflect on what Jesus meant:
Joh 10:26: but you do not believe because you are not among my
sheep.
So they had not the nature that characterizes Jesus’ sheep. If those
contemporary with Jesus had been created at conception and then had
come to earth for the first time, suddenly had become so hardened
that they wanted to kill the Lord, it seems both strange and unfair. In
such case the devil would have had free access to influence them, whi-
le the people nearby the Jews would have had better protection. Many
of them received the gospel. We may just think of how such a large
crowd came to believe in Jesus when the Samaritan woman witnessed
to her people about him (Joh 4).
If we think reincarnation Jesus’ words about his generation’s re-
sponsibility for their ancestors’ sins become compatible with the
commandment prohibiting punishment of the children because of the-
ir forefathers’ sins. This also explains the many statements from Jesus
that the harvest takes a long time to ripen, in this case the harvest of
evil. They had bred it over many generations.
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 make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another
for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to
make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of
wrath prepared for destruction?
At first sight it seems like God is unpredictable in the text above, but
that is an absurd hypothesis. You do not become hardened by coinci-
dence. That is the result of stubborn rebellion. In Rom 10:21 God is
said to have stretched forth his hands to Israel all day long, which
should refer to a whole age. So they received many chances to repent
before they were made to dishonourable vessels, i e were given bodies
for destruction.
Let us now compare the Bible passages below with each other:
Mat 23:35-36: so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed
on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah
the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary
and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this
generation.
Abel called, after being murdered, to the Lord for restitution (Gen
4:10, Hebr 12:24). And so did Zechariah:
2 Krön 24:22: Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness
that Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, had shown him, but killed his son.
And when he was dying, he said, “May the LORD see and avenge!”
So Jesus said that the generation living contemporary with him wo-
uld be responsible for – pay for – the transgressions their forefathers
had inflicted upon these persons, and also all other righteous persons
they had murdered between these two points in time. That means
almost from creation until about 800 BC. But how do we reconcile this
with the passage below?
Deu 24:16: Fathers shall not be put to death because of their
children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers.
Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.
Jesus considered the whole law in the Old Testament divinely inspi-
red (Matt 5:18). So we conclude that he did not contest the law. I can-
not see any other way to unite these Bible passages than reincarna-
tion. Those contemporary with Jesus were guilty from their former li-
ves of these murders of righteous persons in the Old Testament.
Before the sinner harvests fully, he is usually given some time to re-
pent. Sometimes this time of grace extends over more than one gene-
50
So it seems like Judas chose to come in spite of supposedly being
dissuaded. Jesus’ statement seems to indicate arrogance, a character I
think I can sense in Judas’ life.
At the betrayal of Jesus he obviously did not want him condemned:
Matt 27:3-5: Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was con-
demned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of
silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, “I have sinned by be-
traying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yo-
urself.” And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he
departed, and he went and hanged himself.
Then why did he betray Jesus? Probably because he wanted to help
the Messiah to enter his high position as king over Israel and liberate
them from the Roman empire. He does not seem to have listened care-
fully to Jesus, but had his own way of promoting the Messiah. He
knew that Jesus easily could have freed himself from the guard that
came to arrest him in Gethsemane. Jesus had earlier walked right
through a mob that intended to throw him down a steep slope. So
now Jesus would have his life’s chance to prove his power. The thirty
shekels Judas received for his ”service” he probably thought were a
fair payment for such a genious promotional plan.
We could say Judas was not very teachable. And that is what we
have to be to benefit from our life here on earth. Readiness to learn is
close to humility. If you think you know better than God how Jesus
should be promoted or the gospel be presented you are presump-
tuous. Presumption combined with pride seems to be what prevented
Judas from repenting after his treachery. This seems to be the reason
Jesus had to point out that it had been better for Judas not to come to
earth. However an ignorant Judas still fulfilled his task. God’s plan of
his suffering Messiah was fulfilled. Skripture says he was forordained
to betray Jesus (Joh 13:18; 17:12; Act 1:16-17). This predestination also
shows that Judas had some sort of life before the one recorded in the
Bible. How else could he be predestined? To fulfill God’s requirement
of man having a free will, the predestination must have been depen-
dent of Judas’ choice at some moment of his existence. Thus his trea-
chery could be considered a natural consequence of his spiritual state
at the moment of his incarnation. Jesus’ statement indicates that he
was not ready for earth right then, but still chose to come.
31
 If we think of life as our own choice all trials become more meaning-
ful. Life is about overcoming something. Each life is a new possibility
to grow, mature and learn. The grade of maturity we reached in our
former life remains within us as a subconscious memory.
The Scripture tells of the Pharaoh living contemporary with Moses
that God chose him to resist God’s emissary, to thereby prove his po-
wer. Such a selection may be caused by bad choices this Pharaoh had
made in one or more earlier lives on earth. His earthly life as God’s
opponent became a chastisement. He could thereby taste what conse-
quences such a life results in, and understand that in the end God al-
ways is the winner.
Exo 4:21: And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt,
see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your
power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people
go.
Rom 9:17: For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I
have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my
name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
Similar reasons are conceivable to the fates God gave Isaac’s two
sons.
Rom 9:11-15: though they were not yet born and had done nothing
either good or bad — in order that God's purpose of election might
continue, not because of works but because of him who calls — she
was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I
loved, but Esau I hated.” What shall we say then? Is there injustice on
God's part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on
whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have com-
passion.”
The Scripture tells us that this choice was made before they were
born. So it had nothing to do with their deeds in the recorded earthly
lives. Of course we do not know the causes to these divine roles. Since
God is not unfair there must be reasons, and I suspect it had so-
mething to do with what had happened before their earthly lives.
When God chooses someone to an honourable mission, the person
may have some flaws as we see it, maybe so big that we are tempted
to despise him. But there must be some level of maturity in such a
person’s spirit, making him adequate for the mission. In many cases
this maturity is hidden för most people, who judge after their own
measures, and so they miss out on the blessings from this servant of
32
giveness will cancel this cycle. But what will happen then, if we do
not forgive, repent and receive forgiveness? Then we will remain in
some sort of prison. It may be in the flesh or in Hades (hell).
Matt 5:25-26: Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are
going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge,
and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to
you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
Also compare Luk 12:58! Jesus did not tell us what this prison is
made of or what it looks like. Some have then made the conclusion
that it referes to an eternal hell. But in that case, we would not be able
to pay the last penny. It would also be a punishment out of propor-
tion. Jesus took the sins of the whole world upon himself on the cross
(2 Cor 5:19, Col 1:20), without enduring eternal suffering. That makes
it impossible that the sinner would have to endure sufferings being
even harder. No one can make more transgressions than what is con-
tained in the whole world.
But a prison in form of reincarnations where we are compelled to
live over again with those we have transgressed against would be a
fitting chastisement. Probably we will encounter problems of the
same sort as in the former incarnation. This is a prison, a discipline,
an instalment, an opportunity for reconciliation, an opportunity to
learn and mature, and therefore it is also grace!
Now it does not seem like God is imposing this, at least not after Je-
sus atoned the world with God, but rather the higher self of man. No
one escapes, when he comes to the spiritual sphere, to feel the pain he
has inflicted upon others, and so there is a sense of necessity to find
reconciliation with them. But if they have forgiven wholeheartedly no
further reconciliation is needed.
Maybe the vessels God has made for less honourable use have been
given this function because they have earned it in former lives? In
eternity’s perspective they would certainly profit from such an experi-
ence. Note that it is the vessel, that is the body, and not the man’s spi-
rit, which in the text below is made for dishonourable use.
Rom 9:18-23: So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he
hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, “Why does he
still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man,
to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why
have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to
49
rusalem to the idol Zeus in the 160ies BC, prohibited worship of Jahvé
and sacrificed a pig on the temple’s altar. Under his command a mas-
sacre on the Jews was executed. But the description of him includes
future fulfillments, especially that of antichrist, modelled by Antiocus.
Jesus refers to Daniel’s prophecy when he says:
Matt 24:14-15: And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed
throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then
the end will come. So when you see the abomination of desolation
spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the
reader understand)...
So we may well imagine that the beast of Revelation will be a rein-
carnation of Antiocus. He is probably in the Abyss now, where the
worst of the evil spirits are held captive, before he is allowed to incar-
nate on earth again.
In Rev 12:9, 13 we are informed that the devil and his angels will be
cast down on earth as a part of the process in overcoming them. The
question is how this will be performed. These spirits are now acting as
”powers of the air” (Ef 2:2) and influence the whole world suppressing
our minds. But they will lose this position just before they are thrown
into the lake of fire (Rev 20:10; 21:8). Does that mean that they will in-
carnate as humans? At least we see in Rev 16:11 that the people of the
endtime fully demonstrate the devil’s nature. So this short time of tri-
bulation might be caused by a large number of evil spirits incarnating
before they are defeated as humans.
The children’s responsibility for their fore fathers’ sins
How do you think about the following?
Num 14:18: The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast
love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means
clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to
the third and the fourth generation.
”The third and fourth generation” could possibly mean ”the third
and fourth incarnation”. But even though we do not know if this is a
correct interpretation, the question is if it may be God’s justice that
those who are afflicted with sufferings are harvesting what they have
sowed in one or more former lives. At least it is not always so, accor-
ding to what Jesus told us in Joh 9.
But if we assume that this could be the case in some instances, for-
48
God.
Perfection
What we need to strive for is perfection. Let us consider the mea-
ning of this concept.
Fil 3:15: As many, therefore, as are perfect – let us think this, and if in
anything ye think otherwise, this also shall God reveal to you (YLT)
Heb 11:40: since God had provided something better for us, that
apart from us they should not be made perfect.
Heb 12:23: and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in
heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the
righteous made perfect.
Even Jesus had to be perfected:
Heb 2:10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things
exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their
salvation perfect through suffering.
Jesus was obedient unto death. He took part in our sufferings. He
was tested in everything, Hebr 4:15, and he overcame all trials and
temptations. That gave him the position he was intended for. He was
exalted over everything, Php 2:9. Reaching full maturity is the meaning
of perfection. Jesus was in a sense perfect at birth, because he was
without the fleshly nature from Adam, but he was not yet tested and
had not yet matured through sufferings. For us perfection means that
we become images of Christ. Engrafted in him we overcome tempta-
tions and reach our full capacity. Then we are qualified for greater
missions in the kingdom of God.
Matt 19:21: Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what
you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven; and come, follow me.”
Jesus meant that the man could be perfected. But his heart was atta-
ched to riches, and that blocked his ripening. Jesus was rich without
shackles. Twice he fed the multitudes (Matt 14:17fv and 15:32fv). He
had his savings in heaven, and from there he gave to the hungry. That
wealth was without limit.
Just before Jesus returns the world will lose its glory and thus help
us understand that only in God we can have true treasures. This will
help us to reach perfection.
When we are engrafted in Christ we take part in his perfection. This
33
gift is free. We just confess Jesus as our saviour and Lord and so be-
come children of God. Then the very life of God is then instilled in us.
Sufferings we thereafter may encounter are intended to free us from
our fleshly nature and strengthen the new nature from God. When we
meet hardships we should look upon them as opportunities to grow
inwardly into the likeness of Christ.
1 Petr 4:13: But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that
you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed...
Php 1:29: For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ
you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake
This suffering is called grace (gift) because it enables us to reach
higher glory when the world is born again, Mat 19:28, 2 Cor 4:17. This
is not referring to suffering from diseases, but because we do what is
righteous and act in unselfish love. When we choose acts filled with
empathy, thruth and love from God, even though this may short-
termly disfavour ourselves, we are suffering in the flesh and mature in
spirit. We become ”perfected”.
It seems logical then, that if we have not got the opportunity to ma-
ture to perfection in a first life, we may have more possibilities. Those
taking part in the first resurrecion at the coming of Christ enter the
thousand year Kingdom of peace as perfected, while those entering
this kingdom in their mortal bodies have the possibility to mature
there. The latter will reach high age, maybe as before the flood, but
they do not receive eternal life yet (see Isa 65:20, 22). Since people in
this kingdom will reach so high age, it will not be possible with as
many reincarnations as before. If that would happen, the earth would
soon be overpopulated. All entering the Kingdom of peace have come
to a certain degree of maturity, but the quality of that maturity will be
tested at the end of this period (Upp 20:7).
But Jesus will not give up until he has put all under himself and then
united them with the Father:
1 Cor 15:28: When all things are subjected to him, then the Son him-
self will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection un-
der him, that God may be all in all.
Therefore there is a fire that Jesus kindled on earth:
Luk 12:49: I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were
already kindled!
34
now and believe his promises. Even now we can cooperate with him
for a better world.
The apostle Paul hoped to reach resurrection after his life at that
time by becoming like Jesus both in his sufferings and his victory over
sin. He realised that it is possible to reach that glory only if the flesh
suffers and our innermost being, where the holy Spirit abodes, grows
in strength.
Fil 3:10-11: that I may know him and the power of his resurrection,
and may share [greek: κοινωνία, koinonia: have communion with] his
sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible
I may attain the resurrection from the dead. [by implication: the fo-
remost or first resurrection, taking place at the return of Christ].
Paul was probably not referring to his future martyrdom, but rather
death from his selfish life – separation from the sinful nature’s limita-
tions that blocked the image of Christ to manifest in his life. Compare
Rom 6:10-12! But how many venture as wholeheartedly as Paul?
Maturity of the harvest and the beast
How come the harvest is not ripe until the end of the age, Matt 13:29-
30, 39; Rev 14:15? Why is it so difficult to separate the wheat and the
weed before that time?
Obviously the servants in Mat 13:24fv thought they could see the
difference between the two types of plants. If not, they would not
have suggested the weed to be torn away. They must have seen that
not only wheat came up in the field. The wisest action would then
normally be to get rid of the weed before it can spread. But this was
not common weed.
Could it be that certain people need more lives before they find Je-
sus and even more lives before they reach perfection?
However some seem to ripen into evil during the course of the age.
The beast, Rev 11:7 and 17:8, indeed embodies evil in an incarnation
from the Abyss. The beast has been on earth before (”it was, and is not,
and is about to rise from the bottomless pit”).
The beast is interesting, since much is written about him in the
Scripture. First he is mentioned in the book of Daniel 11:31 ff. This
prophecy about the abomination was fulfilled a first time with the Se-
leucid king Antiochus Epiphanes, when he dedicated the temple of Je-
47
of the purpose of earthly life. We must realise that everything we do
will be harvested. We must realise that nobody is living for himself,
but everything we do to each other returns to ourselves, since in the
spiritual dimension we are all parts in a divine creation.
It will be revealed to all what we have said and done on earth:
Luk 12:(2)-3: Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be
heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms
shall be proclaimed on the housetops.
This is entirely in accordance with both NDE:s and regression expe-
riences into the spiritual world. In that dimension you know eve-
rything about a person by looking at him. That makes it important
how we live. Above all we need to be perceptive and listen lovingly to
everyone.
God has decided that in the end all will be one in Christ. He took
upon himself everyone’s sufferings.
1 Cor 15:28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son him-
self will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection un-
der him, that God may be all in all.
Eph 1:9-10: making known to us the mystery of his will, according to
his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of
time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
It is not until time is complete that all things will be united in
Christ. For this to happen, we must become like our master:
Luk 6:40: A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is
fully trained will be like his teacher.
This objective is what most Christians are in despair of ever rea-
ching. Nevertheless it is what Jesus aimed at. We are supposed to be
like our master. Think about it! We will be perfect in love and wisdom.
We will have the fullness of faith. Just contemplate on that! Imagine
yourself engrafted in Jesus right now! If you are able to keep this in
your heart, it will automatically grow to maturity within you (Mark
4:28-29).
It takes a living revelation of the heart, a trust in God that he always
is with us and protects us. And maybe it takes more than one life on
earth. It is not until the end of the age the harvest is ripe.
Ps 22:28: All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the
LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
But there is no benefit in waiting so long. Let us turn to our Creator
46
This fire is God’s fire of sanctity, a fire continually purifying us, bur-
ning the chaff in us until there is nothing left to clean:
Luk 3:16-17: John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with wa-
ter, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose san-
dals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit
and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor
and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with
unquenchable fire.”
We see again that God’s purification continues to at least the end of
the age, since the fire is not quenched. (However it will be active also
after the coming age.) The chaff is our fleshly nature, all within us that
is of no use in the kingdom of God. This part of us is already on fire
and will not stop burning until it is gone forever. The wheat kernel
(what is born of God within us) will be gathered into God’s barn (the
eternal abodes).
Misuse of our tongue may aggravate this cleansing by setting the
course of life on fire (Jas 3:6). The tongue is set on fire by Gehenna, a
picture of evil. (See Tidens fullbordan!) The course of life is a cycle of
some kind, in this case of evil and its consequences. Such a cycle may
be in action during our present life, and not necessarily pertain to fu-
ture lives, but certainly it does not exclude a cycle of rebirth.
On the other hand Scipture testifies of those who by entering the
rest of God here on earth do not need reincarnation in mortal bodies:
Heb 11:13-15: These all died in faith, not having received the things
promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and ha-
ving acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the
earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking
a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they
had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.
The heroes of faith had an opportunity to return. To what? To the
land they came from, and it seems to be their earthly homeland. Noah
could hardly return to the world he had left behind, since that world
did not exist anymore. It seems rather to pertain to a possible reincar-
nation on the earth after the flood. It looks like Abraham could have
received God’s land of promise by reincarnating when it was time for
the promise to be fulfilled. But none of them used such an opportuni-
ty, since they had reached further in spiritual maturity. Instead they
are waiting for their heavenly home, the city coming down from hea-
35
ven to earth, Hebr 13:14, Rev 21:2. This homeland is now in existence
in the heavenly sphere, awaiting its positioning on earth.
The Lord lingers
Apg 17:30-31: The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he
commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a
day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man
whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance [greek;
πίστις, pistis; faith, conviction] to all by raising him from the dead.”
So God has overlooked man’s ignorance, meaning he has not puni-
shed anybody who is a victim to ignorance. But since no one can be
restored except through Christ, he now tells everybody to repent. It is
likely then that people are given new opportunities on earth. Moreo-
ver, the text says that everyone will have an invitation to believe before
Jesus returns to judge the world.
As said before, the fact that the Scripture tells us that the Lord is wa-
iting until everyone has got opportunity to repent before he returns, 2
Petr 3:4, 9, this is a hint to reincarnation. People not being drawn to
him in one life may be drawn to him in another life. The same could
be understood in the following quotation:
1 Cor 5:5: ... you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction
of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
This sinner would have more chances to repent if he did not want to
do it in his life at the current time. In this case it seems like he did re-
pent (2 Cor 2:7), but that does not cancel what Paul said about more
opportunities later. The day of the Lord is yet in the future.
Of course, these Bible passages do not have to be fulfilled just by
more opportunities on earth, but may also imply a chastisement in
Hades, from where one might receive grace to exit.
1 Sam 2:6: The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol
and raises up.
This is not talking about resurrection. The word for raises up in the
Septuaginth16 is ζωογονέω (zoogoneo), i e obtain the God-kind of life.
So the Lord gives man’s spirit life from Sheol (the underground).
However it must be said that the most natural explanation of 2 Petr
3:4, 9, and maybe also 1 Cor 5:5, is reincarnation, because it is hard to
imagine that the day of the Lord, which means the return of Jesus,
would affect Hades. In contrary his return will highly affect life on
36
carnations.
The unity of creation
The Scripture reveals that we are united with each other, and there-
fore others’ sins influence us. It is obvious from our responsibility for
our forefathers’ sins and those we cooperate with. You may for ex-
ample read about Daniel’s prayer for his people (Dan 9), where he
identified himself with his people and their sins, or Israels’ failure
when they attempted to invade Ai (Josh 7). In the same manner, all
who have been born again in Christ are linked together in one spiritu-
al body. The righteousness of Christ permeates our communion and
influences us in a positive direction, but unbelief and sins among us
will also pull us down to a lower spiritual level, so that the power of
God does not manifest among us to heal and convict people of their
saviour.
The physicists’ latest findings reveal a unity between everything.
The Higgsfield permeates the whole universe, and gives all elementary
particles mass. Without this field all mass would cease to exist, in spi-
te of the atoms. The Bible tells us: ”he [Jesus] upholds the universe by
the word of his power” (Hebr 1:3), “in him all things hold together”
(Col 1:17) and ”In him we live and move and have our being” (Act
17:28). We cannot do anything without moving within God. Of course
God’s glory is not perceptible for the evildoer, but he borrows from
God’s energy, and it reacts on himself, since he is moving inside the
same energy field.
It seems like each life’s experiences are added and get us closer to
spiritual maturity, depending on our willingness to learn. According
to many having undergone regression therapy with focus on life bet-
ween incarnations this is clearly observed during the time in the spiri-
tual sphere. Then we remember all our lives. Even so, a deeper memo-
ry seems to remain during our earthly lives. Sometimes we become
aware of this by intuition. Negative memories may give a seemingly
irrational fear for certain phenomena. At other times a déja vù-
experience may unveil the hidden memory. As said before, small child-
ren sometimes testify of clear memories from earlier lives, successive-
ly fading when they become older.18
If we open our eyes to see this, we open for a deeper understanding
45
one, Hes 16:49. Their violent sexual behaviour seems to be a conse-
quence of their closed hearts toward needy people and strangers for
many generations, and that they did not value knowing their Crea-
tor.17
Maybe you take offense by the thought of having to harvest deeds
from a former life. You think that the consequences can only make a
sinner repentant if he remembers what he has done. If so, you ignore
that reincarnation has been known since immemorial times. Moreo-
ver, our spirit remembers. But we have to bring it up, Pro 20:5. We see
the connection clearly between our earthly lives.
However punishment is not the purpose with harvesting our works.
The purpose is to learn something from our deeds and lives, and at the
same time have an opportunity to overcome hardships, and so reach
maturity. If you do not want to learn this by listening to your spirit’s
testimony and take Jesus as a model, you must learn by hardships of
many lives. When it is written that God’s wrath is revealed against all
ungodliness, this is an expression for the fiery nature of God, his pas-
sion working against the darkness in people until it is overcome. He
lets us feel what we do against creation. But if you confess your own
and your forefathers’ sins, forgiveness and rehabilitation will come to
you (Dan 9).
When God let fire and sulphur (symbols of purification) rain over
Sodom and Gomorrah you may indeed see this as an act of mercy, sin-
ce their sinful lives were cut short by this. And so it became a warning
for all who saw it or read about it. Here we see that God’s grace is inc-
luded in the harvest of our deeds:
Ps 62:11-12: Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that po-
wer belongs to God, and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.
For you will render to a man according to his work.
Jes 63:4: For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of
redemption had come.
So, wages for our deeds can be combined with grace. And divine
vengeance belongs to redemption. It aims at transformation of the
sinner. When God ordered Israel to kill the citizens of Jericho and
other places where the ”iniquity of the people was complete” (Gen
15:16), we see in this the grace of God, if we understand that he may
have given the citizens new possibilities to start over again in new in-
44
earth. Those not being ready for him, will ”faint with fear” Luk 21:26.
When Jesus spoke about the importance of preparing for the end of
this age he spoke to those who were listening. He could have said so-
mething like ”Those who are alive at that time should pray…”, but in-
stead he said:
Mat 24:20-25: Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sab-
bath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been
from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And
if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be sa-
ved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if
anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not
believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform
great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the
elect. See, I have told you beforehand.
Actually, it seems like Jesus anticipated that some of those he spoke
to will be on earth when his prophecy is fulfilled. Otherwise, would it
not have been more logical to ask his disciples to write down what fu-
ture generations should prepare for?
And it seems like God is going to let it take some time, since he
wants us to exercise listening when we search for him.
Act 17:26-27: And he made from one man every nation of mankind to
live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods
and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek
God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is
actually not far from each one of us.
If we are supposed to feel our way toward God, it may take some
time, maybe more than one life on earth. God awaits our maturity ob-
tained by trial and error, and that we begin to long for him. The pur-
pose of this is of course not that it should be as difficult as possible to
find him and walk with him, but rather that our hearts must be pre-
pared to open up for him. He does not want to break our hearts open.
This is also the reason he chooses to open some people’s hearts, while
he lets others wait. An example is Lydia i Act 16:14. The Lord opened
her heart – implicitly not the others who listened. She was prepared.
I think of how Rick Joyner received from God that it takes many life-
times to absorb God’s treasures (The Final Quest).
Wages at the end of the age
Revelation associates both the fullness of sanctification and its op-
37
posite – maturity of evil – with Christ’s return. Both will mature up to
his coming, before the salary is determined.
Upp 22:11-12: Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy,
and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy. Behold, I am
coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for
what he has done.
Then it seems logical that everyone will be given time to mature up
till then. And it is not likely that this maturing takes place solely in the
spiritual sphere after death, because earth is the place where we have
the necessary resistance to work out endurance, love and trust. Ho-
wever, those who in their present life reach maturity – perfection – do
not need more lives.
Since God does not call all people at the same time, the wages will
be equal for those called at the beginning of the age of grace and tho-
se called at the end of this age. When you read the text below you
should think of ”the kingdom of heaven” as a paraphrase for the king-
dom of God – the kingdom of peace – already invisibly present in the
hearts of Jesus’ disciples but established in its fullness here on earth
when Jesus returns. The reason for the paraphrase is that Matthew
wrote to the Jews, for whom God’s name was so holy that they hesita-
ted to pronounce it.
Matt 20:1-16: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house
who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his
vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he
sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he
saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said,
‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So
they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour,
he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found
others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all
day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to
them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ And when evening came, the
owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay
them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when
those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a
denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would
receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on
receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These
last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who
have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he
replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not
38
wonder if causes can be found further back. We have already mentio-
ned painful experiences with the opposite gender in former lives. Of
course, such experiences also may occur in present life.
The wording in verse 21; ”they became futile in their thinking, and
their foolish hearts were darkened” indicate a longer period than
childhood and adolescence, the period when gender identity usually is
considered developing.
Look up in your Bible and note that Paul from Rom 1:21 speaks
about actions in past time, even antiquity, to turn to present time in
verse 29, seemingly of the same persons! He describes how they have
been caught up in all sorts of unrighteousness and indulged in all
kinds of sin. Then, in 2:1 he writes that they are without excuse if they
judge, because they live in the same manner. To whom is he refer-
ring?
It seems to be about those who are judgemental without examining
themselves. They feel better if they can project their incapability on
others. In addition, it is suggested that their sins have been cultivated
in several generations. Interesting! Regressions have revealed that pa-
tients in former lives have acted the same way they now condemn
with others. I 2:5 Paul then tells us that they heap up wrath until the
”day of wrath”. Which day? I interpret that meaning the day of the
Lord’s return. If that is correct, they accumulate wrath in many lives,
but they also have time to repent until then. God’s surrendering them
into all kinds of sin is thus meant to make them open their eyes and
be saved on ”the day of the Lord” (1 Cor 5:5).
Returning to homosexuality, we dare say that those suppressing
truth do not always become homosexuals. Paul’s mentioning of this
may indicate that it had been cultivated during generations. That se-
ems to be the case in Sodom, where all men craved to rape Lot’s gu-
ests homosexually, Gen 19:4-5. Surely, behaviours are contagious, so
those who lived there must have influenced each other to this behavi-
our too. But if that would be the only explanation, we must wonder
why God let people be born into that setting to their own destruction.
If they had sown ungodliness in several generations, the harvest se-
ems more reasonable. And the basic sin of Sodom was not homosexua-
lity and rape, but haughtiness combined with disrespect for the needy
43
same life, but if they are reborn they may go through it. An alternative
interpretation is of course that Jesus just reminded Peter about what
the law in the OT said of such an act, Gen 9:6, and did not imply har-
vesting the act. But I must say that such an interpretation feels far-
fetched, especially as it is repeated in Revelation:
Upp 13:10: If anyone gathers captivity, into captivity he goes. If
anyone will kill by a sword, by a sword he must be killed. Here is the
patience and the faith of the saints. (LITV)
During regression therapy the patient may receive living recollec-
tions from a former life when he mistreated or killed somebody, and
then memories from a late life when he had to take upon himself the
role of the victim. Those having come in touch with such memories
have testified that it is not meant as a punishment, but rather a ne-
cessary correction making the person able to mature. But of course, it
is still a harvest of what has been sown.
Maybe confusion or deviation of gender could be a harvest of
what is sown in a former life. In Rom 1st chapter Paul describes a
judgment affecting those who do not value knowing God, those who
quench their inner testimony.
Rom 1:18: For God's wrath is revealed from Heaven on all ungodli-
ness and unrighteousness of men, holding the truth in unrighteous-
ness...
Rom 1:26-28: For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable pas-
sions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are
contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations
with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men
committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the
due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknow-
ledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought
not to be done…
If we study the causes to homosexuality we rarely find it starting by
suppressing truth and not wanting knowledge about God. Probably
there is more than one cause, and the same applies to the prevalent
unability to feel at home in ones gender. In autobiographies by men
drawn to their own gender, I have noticed a pervading character in
their family of origin – dad has had too little time with his son or not
listened actively to him in a confident relation, or he has been absent.
The son’s longing for his father has then been expressed in an attrac-
tion to other men. But I do not believe this to be the whole truth. I
42
agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I
choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to
do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my
generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.”
God’s vineyard is where we are raised and work, and here we hasten
the ripening of the ”grapes”. We work until the time of harvest, and
then the angels take over according to Mat 13:39. At that time this age
has ended. Then, not primarily at our physical death, we receive the
wages for all effort.
Note, that those called in the beginning of our age have to work all
day long. ”The day” is here a symbol for the whole age. ”The day”
cannot pertain to a man’s lifetime, since the expression represents the
whole period during which the Lord calls servants. When the Lord
says that the last will be the first (cf also Mat 19:30 and 10:31) this
tells us that those called to workers in the vinyeard close to the end of
this age in many cases will become the foremost in the coming king-
dom. They ripen faster. In this coming kingdom they receive life age-
during (not ”eternal” as some translators have interpreted the text in
for example Mat 25:46 and Luke 18:30), that is they receive physical
life in the next age.
Those who have worked all day long have laboured more, but also
used more time to ripen. This indicates several incarnations. It started
long ago. During the Old Testament era God called people to work in
his vineyard. Israel was his vineard (Jes 5:7). That vineyard did not
bear ripe fruit when Jesus arrived, and still does not. Even if you have
been called to follow God and Christ, it does not mean that you auto-
matically ripen during one life. This depends on how deeply you get to
know God’s heart and so become his image.
Eph 3:16-19: [Paul prays] that according to the riches of his glory he
may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in
your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith
– that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to
comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and
height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses
knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Is it really reasonable to believe that this prayer of Paul was fulfilled
during just one earthly life? Maybe for some, but it does not seem like
many people yet know the depth of God’s love. If so, the church would
39
be filled with the whole fullness of God, we read. Yeah, no one would
be able to get close to God’s holy ones with sin in his heart without
falling down on his face in true repentance in such a holy atmosphere.
Since we must assume that Paul’s prayer was not in vain, and since he
included all saints then living in Ephesus, our conclusion is that many
of them will be filled with God’s fulness in a later life. Actually it could
happen in the spiritual sphere after physical death, but here on earth
is where we work out love, since here is the resistance, and here we
learn living in faith. Also, God wants to fill the earth with his glory. So
it is not likely Paul’s prayer is supposed to be fulfilled in heaven.
Firstfruits and predestination
People now having come to perfection and been given eternal life
are called firstfruits in the Bible. This term includes a continued har-
vest, always much more comprehensive.
Jas 1:18: Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth,
that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Rev 14:4: It is these who have not defiled themselves with women,
for they are virgins [pure, faithful to God]. It is these who follow the
Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind
as firstfruits for God and the Lamb.
So we understand that God awaits ripening of his harvest. It is ripe
at the end of the age. We can imagine that people then have had time
to be pruned and mature through many lives. And as it seems, more
ages will follow thereafter, and make the harvest even more compre-
hensive, even though it is best to be part of God’s first harvest.
Before endtime God sends times of harvest now and then, saving a
part of the whole. We know these times as revivals. Between these
times we have to work with what have been entrusted us from the
Lord. We have a good example of this in John’s report from the well in
Sychar in Samaria (John 4). The woman Jesus met there told the whole
city that she had met the Messiah. Many people from that city became
believers because of that, and Jesus talked about the fields having
whitened ready for harvest. But he also told his disciples that others
had worked before this happened. Should we make the interpretation
that they had worked with the same people, although in different in-
carnations until the harvest finally ripened?
Predestination (God’s preordination) makes sense, if we think of it as
40
a selection exclusively dependent upon our spiritual maturity. In other
words – when we have reached a certain degree of maturity after se-
veral incarnations God can mold us into his Son’s likeness.
Rom 8:29-30: For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be
conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the
firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he
also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those
whom he justified he also glorified.
Predestination does not imply that God neglects all other people or
dispatch them to an eternal hell, but is an expression for whom God
finds ripen to unite with Christ. Viz the gospel is hidden for those who
are wise according to the measure of this age:
Mat 11:25: At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise
and understanding and revealed them to little children.
All not yet ripe, will be called later, maybe after having lived thro-
ugh more lives and trials making them willing to humble themselves.
Joh 12:32: And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all
people to myself.
Only those committing the sin unto death, blasphemy against the
holy Spirit, will not be called anymore in this age. All others will be
drawn to Christ before he returns (Mat 12:31-32, 24:14, Joh 12:32) and
be offered to unite with him.
If they who now know God would choose to reincarnate later, they
will not risk their unity with Christ, since their spirit beings are in
communion with God, and they know him.
Joh 10:27-29: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they
follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no
one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them
to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the
Father's hand.
Harvest in future lives
Fulfillment of some passages in Scripture seem possible only by
reincarnation. For example:
Mat 26:52: Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its
place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword...” (cf Joh
18:11)
All who take the sword will obviously not be killed violently in the
41