Michael Youssef Debunks Misconceptions Surrounding Heaven In New Book
Evangelist and bestselling author Michael Youssef recently released a book that debunked common myths about Heaven and stressed important truths about the afterlife that he feels the church lacks understanding of. Youssef recently released Heaven Awaits: Anticipate Your Future Hope, Your Eternal Home, Your Daily Reality, which addresses misconceptions about heaven.
“I’ve found there’s so much confusion about the whole concept of Heaven,” the 75-year-old pastor of the Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia, told The Christian Post.
“Even in the church, there are those who don’t want to know about it; they don’t want to talk about it because they think it’s a bad omen. They think they’re going to die or because they really don’t know enough about it. And yet, the Bible is very clear; there are so many teachings in Scripture about Heaven and its importance for this life.”
Youssef, who also leads Leading the Way Ministries, shared that Heaven entails serving Christ forever and that this life is a “dress rehearsal” for eternity.
“We’re not going to be sitting on the clouds doing nothing; we’re going to be working,” Youssef, who also leads Leading the Way Ministries, said. “We’ll be serving Jesus, we’ll be reigning and ruling with Him. … That is a concept that if people really grasp, they will start working on purifying their lives because this is a dress rehearsal. There are not going to be carnal individuals in Heaven; there will be men and women, boys and girls, who love Jesus. I tell people Heaven is all about Jesus. And if you reject Jesus here, or if you’re not walking with Jesus here, how in the world are you going to be with Him face to face for all of eternity?”
Youssef’s latest book stresses that Heaven is not just a future reality but a present-day truth with major implications for Christians to live in the here and now. He contended that a focus on Heaven keeps one from earthly living, echoing the sentiments of C.S. Lewis, who contended that the most effective in this life are those who are heavenly-minded.
“Think about it: My whole motive for living and serving in ministry is that I’m going to be with Jesus and hear from His lips, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant,’” he said. “It couldn’t get any better than that. Heaven should motivate us here and now. … Heaven is for our living today. I want that message to go across the Christian Church.”
“For the people outside of the Church who don’t know anything about Heaven or what happens when they die, their message is, ‘Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, be born again.’ But for the Church — and the burden of my heart for the believers — they need to find and understand what Heaven is all about, and that is going to motivate them to be effective for Jesus.”
The release of Youseff’s book follows a survey released last July that found the amount of Americans who believe in God, angels, Heaven, Hell and the devil have all significantly decreased to the lowest levels ever recorded over the last two decades.
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Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
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