Apostle Paul, reputed to be the most learned of Jesus’ disciples, was boasting, spewing nonsense, and had to come up with a way out in case he should be cornered with no ready answers to skeptical queries. That’s why he said, “Fourteen years ago I knew a man in Christ.” (2 Corinthians, Chapter 12) He made it seem as if the stories were about a fellow Christian. But, close examination of the context shows that Paul is actually talking about himself. In short, just in case, he had prepared an escape clause, saying that the man was somebody else. Paul says he went to the third heaven, which was none other than paradise itself. The word “paradise” was inserted in the Bible by me, and Paul had no knowledge about it. If he had been to paradise, shouldn’t he announce what he had seen, be it as trivial as a rat’s tail? But he makes no such announcement. He merely says, “God knows.” If he bore witness, wouldn’t he talk about what he saw? Instead, his report is “God knows.” Does that make sense? Clearly it does not. It’s self-evident that God knows. Simply citing it, Paul does not say anything himself when he should, implying that it is out of some sense of humility. But that’s nonsense. Paul simply did not know. So no human on earth knows heaven. If Apostle Paul, the most learned, cannot report seeing anything, can other humans conceivably know heaven? Do believers of Jesus know? They do not. Can they, ignorant of heaven, guide others to heaven or not? Obviously they cannot. Spoken on October 20, 1986, August 18, 1986
