Further Study: Ellen G. White has written a lot about heaven and our entrance into the heavenly kingdom. The final chapters of The Great Controversy are a sublime description of what will be ours. But the compilation The Story of Redemption also captures this topic admirably. See the last four chapters, pp. 418-433.
" 'And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.' Rev. 21:1. The fire that consumes the wicked purifies the earth. Every trace of the curse is swept away. No eternally burning hell will keep before the ransomed the fearful consequences of sin. One reminder alone remains: our Redeemer will ever bear the marks of His crucifixion. Upon His wounded head, His hands and feet, are the only traces of the cruel work that sin has wrought."—Ellen G. White, The Story of Redemption, p. 430.
Discussion Questions: 
How do we deal with the question of salvation for those who have never heard the name of Jesus? How should the fact that Jesus died for the sins of all humanity, even those who never heard of Him, help us trust that God has not forgotten those folk, either?
The Bible describes death as a sleep, a state of unconsciousness. How can one then explain "near-death" experiences in which people claim to have seen heavenly beings in a dazzling light or dead friends and relatives? How can we help these people realize that what they experienced might not be what they are judging it to be? In other words, how can we help them realize that what they saw couldn't be what they think it was, no matter how real it seemed to their senses?
How have people abused the promise of eternal life in ways that allowed them to manipulate others for personal or political gain? What are some ways we might be guilty of doing the same thing, if on a less dramatic scale?
Summary:
| We are people with a destiny that extends far beyond our short existence in this present world. We are citizens of a heavenly kingdom. This kingdom is both present and future. It already is with us but will be realized fully in all its glory when Christ returns to take us home. Then eternal life in God's presence will be ours. |
| I N S I D E Story | ||
| The Secondhand Church Pamela Obero sat beside her mud house in Kenya and listened to the preacher's sermon over the loudspeaker. She was curious about the Seventh-day Adventist meetings being held on a nearby vacant lot, but she belonged to another church. The messages touched Pamela's heart, and at times she felt that the speaker talked directly to her. So, on Sabbath morning she took her five children to the meetings instead of to her own church. When the pastor invited those who wanted special prayer to come forward, Pamela took her children to the front. Her husband had died, and she was the sole support of her family. Life was difficult. Pamela had been an ardent member of the charismatic church to which she belonged. She had donated the land on which the church members built their mud-brick house of worship. So, when she did not attend church for three weeks, some church members visited and asked why she was no longer attending. "I have found truth that I never knew before," she told them simply. "And I am learning how to properly raise my family." Pamela and her children joined the nearest Adventist church, which was three miles (five kilometers) from her home. Then she learned that the charismatic church to which she had belonged had abandoned the mud-brick church they had built on her land. Pamela invited the church leaders to hold Branch Sabbath School in the abandoned building, and the church accepted her offer. When Pamela's friends from her former church ask her questions about why she left, she shares with them new truths she has learned and invites them to worship in the new Adventist church-their former building. So far three of her friends have joined the Adventist group that worships in the mud-brick church. Pamela sells porridge and buns that she makes to provide for her children. Her home is poor, but she shares with those in need when she can. When her friends laugh at her poor house, she smiles and tells them, "My God is my husband and my provider. He is so good to my family; I cannot thank Him enough." Your mission offerings reach searching hearts like Pamela around the world. Thank you.
PAMELA OBERO (left) shares her faith in Kendu Bay, | ||
| Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. email: info@adventistmission.org website: www.adventistmission.org |
The little congregation of 25 met in the mud-brick church for a year before it deteriorated to where it was no longer safe. The church members decided to rebuild with more permanent materials. 
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