My Appearance in the Court of Heaven

In January of 2010, I had a dream in which I received a document from the court of heaven. The document was an order requiring people to be given the information they needed to complete their kingdom assignments. The information to be given was restricted to that which pertained to a person’s geographic region. It had no expiration date.

Prior to having this dream, I knew virtually nothing about the courts of heaven. After having the dream my understanding came very slowly. There is very little information available on the subject. Most of what I know is second-hand information that I received from people who were courageous (or foolish) enough to appear in court to plead their case.

In February of this year, I became sick with one of the worst viral infections I’ve ever had. My wife and I prayed to the best of our ability using the strategies we normally use, but the virus would not leave. My wife posted a prayer request on Facebook which got several hundred friends praying for my healing. A couple of friends even started a Facebook “event” to post updates on my condition and to recruit people to pray. Despite all this the fever, chills, and weakness kept me in bed for almost 4 straight days. A couple of times on the 3rd and 4th days I felt as if I was getting better so I logged onto Facebook to post an update, but a few hours later the fever and chills returned.

On the fourth night of my illness, as I was getting ready to go to sleep and my eyes were closed, in my mind’s eye I saw what looked like a bookcase with law books on it. This was a simple image that appeared in my mind. There was nothing mysterious about it. The image was rather ordinary looking. Visions from God usually appear in our mind and are often very similar in appearance to the usual images we might see that come from our soul.

One difference between visions that God gives us and the images that are inspired by our soul is that images from God are difficult or impossible to manipulate willfully, whereas images from our soul can be changed or made to disappear by exerting our will over them. A second difference is that images from God tend to come on spontaneously with no effort or involvement of our will, where images that originate in our soul require some degree of intention and focus on our part to make them appear. Since the soul is the seat of our will and emotions, either an emotion or the exercise of our will can make these images appear and disappear.

As I looked at the image of the bookcase, I noticed there were a few golden fixtures nearby. They were not immediately apparent, but the more I focused on the image, the more I began to see these subtle details appear. The scene reminded me a little of my grandfather’s house. My grandfather was an attorney. Every bedroom in his house had bookcases lining the walls holding the law books that he owned. Looking at the bookcase in the vision, I asked my wife, “Why am I seeing something that looks like a courtroom?”

Now I wasn’t absolutely certain that what I was seeing in the vision was a courtroom, much less the court of heaven. This is where the line is drawn between knowing something with certainty and choosing to believe it is true because you trust the One who is leading you. It’s possible that I was mistaken, and that this was just something my imagination conjured up. But I chose to believe instead that God was inviting me into the court of heaven to plead my case concerning my illness. Based on that assumption – I made another assumption that somehow my spirit had appeared in the court of heaven and if that was the case – it seemed as though I should to speak to the court, though I saw no one present who could hear me.

Notice that we must move from one assumption to another in order to move forward on this path. Each new assumption is based on the previous one. Traveling (or translation) in the spirit is done by faith and faith alone. Faith allows us to believe that what we are seeing is real and it helps us get from one place to another or from one situation to another. Faith builds bridges that span the gaps of our understanding so our spirit may walk peacefully in heavenly places.

Though I saw no one else in the vision, once I made the decision to believe that I was in court, my next step was to believe that a judge must be present and presiding over my case. It would be illogical to appear in court if there were no judge. God is not illogical, so it was safe for me to believe a judge had to be present though I did not see one. This required a bit more faith. When it comes to the things of the spirit we really do see through a glass, darkly.

Procedure
I had a conversation with Steve Harmon a few months ago where we talked about his experiences in the court of heaven. He told me not to worry too much about knowing the correct procedures when I go there. He said that beginners are usually given a fair amount of freedom to make mistakes, but the more experience you have, the more you’re expected to know and follow procedural guidelines. Being very new to this, I expected to receive grace where issues of procedural correctness were concerned.

I’ve appeared in various human courts at different times in my life. I defended myself during my divorce proceeding and in a criminal case that lasted more than a year. These experiences gave me some familiarity with how to conduct myself in court. In the courts of man – parties representing themselves are usually given a lot of latitude where procedural issues are concerned because judges know that most non-lawyers aren’t familiar with the rules of the court. This knowledge gave me the confidence I needed to speak for myself.

I remembered Ian Clayton saying it’s a good idea to call your accuser to appear with you in court, so I asked the court to summon my accuser. What I saw next was something like a swirling cloud of darkness that was far away, which began moving toward me. After about ten seconds it seemed like it was beside me in the courtroom.

Knowing that my enemy is also called the accuser of the brethren, who stands before God accusing us day and night (Rev 12:10) I asked that the accusations against me be read. I heard nothing. But as I turned to look at the cloud of darkness, words like “blasphemy” and “liar” appeared to be visible in the cloud. I assumed that these were the charges against me – and the reason why the enemy felt he had a legal right to afflict me with sickness.

My Defense

The court of heaven operates under different principles than human courts. While human courts say that their goal is to arrive at the truth, they allow false testimony to be given. Witnesses who testify in human courts often have one goal; getting a decision granted in their favor, regardless of whether they are guilty or innocent. Human courts permit people to testify falsely, but the court of heaven does not. So I had a problem; the accusations the adversary brought against me were true. How does one defend themselves against true accusations in the court of heaven?

I remembered Ian Clayton saying that Jesus gave us instruction about how to deal with our adversary:

“Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison” (Matthew 5:25).

Jesus actually gave us a defense strategy in the Sermon on the Mount that can be used in the court of heaven. So I did not dispute the accusations brought against me. To do so would require me to lie and there was no way I was going to give a false testimony in the court of heaven.

I remembered Ian’s strategy of standing under the blood of Jesus and using its cleansing of all his sins as a defense argument. So I said to the court that I stand under the blood of Jesus, which cleanses me of all unrighteousness and makes me spotless and blameless in the sight of God.

I then remembered someone sharing a testimony about their appearance in the court of heaven and when they were asked to give their defense they didn’t know what to say. I believe an angel suggested that they should ask for the books to be opened. In that story, an angel came forth with a book, which was opened, and the accusations against him were not found written in the book. So I asked for the books to be opened.

At this point, the vision that I was seeing in my mind changed. I saw what looked like a stone cliff. I could see that there was a small room hidden behind a secret door at the base of the cliff. I saw the door to the hidden room open and a warm glow of light came from inside the room. Then the door shut. Next, I saw a book opened before me. It took a few seconds for the image to become clear, but I definitely saw a book that was open. On the edges of the left-hand page, I saw a faintly visible flower pattern. There was no decoration on the right-hand page. As I looked at the pages of the book it was obvious that there was nothing written on them. They were blank. It was time to make another assumption.

I assumed that the book was a record of my sins. It was another assumption that required a leap of faith, but I know what the bible says on this issue so it wasn’t a big leap. Because there was nothing written in the book, I took this as an indication that my sins had been removed from the written record in heaven, being washed away by the blood of the lamb. So I made a short speech to the court noting that the book showed no record of my sins, because the blood of the lamb, slain before the foundations of the earth had washed them away once and for all. I said that since my sins had been washed away — there was no basis for the affliction the enemy had brought upon me. I asked for a decision from the court to have the sickness removed since the enemy had no legal right to afflict me. This was where the visions of the court ended.

I did not expect my symptoms to disappear immediately. I have several Facebook friends who seemed to have the same virus. They reported that their symptoms had persisted for weeks. I know that once an adversary has been evicted, it can take time for him to leave. I wanted to keep my expectations realistic and I figured that if I had no symptoms after 24 hours I would consider it a victory. The fever and chills persisted through the night. In the morning the fever left only to return later in the day. At 3:00 in the afternoon, my temperature was 100.5 ° (38° C) but by 6:00 it was down to 97° (36° C). I slept well that night, believing the decision from the court had taken effect. The fever never returned.

Follow-Up Questions
For those who want to know a little more about what this experience was like — here are my answers to the questions you’re probably wondering about:

The entire series of interactions that I described above took no more than ten minutes. It may seem like these things are drawn out over a long period of time, but most of my experiences involving spiritual travel have been rather short.

While I speak as though my spirit was in heaven, I’m absolutely certain that my physical body never left my bedroom. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if you’re traveling out of your body or in your body, but with this experience, there was no doubt that I traveled only in my spirit. I felt no strange sensations in my physical body during the experience.

I did not see angels, a judge or any other spiritual beings of any kind except for the cloud of darkness that was my adversary. It’s not uncommon for people to see other spirit beings in these experiences, but my ability to see any other spirits was restricted.

Through the entire experience, I heard nothing audible. All communication was done through visions that God showed me in my mind and things I either said aloud or thought in my mind.

To be perfectly honest, the experience was not as thrilling or bizarre as you might expect. In many ways, it was very normal. It’s something I think anyone could do, given the right set of circumstances and a little faith.

Related:
When the Cause Is Witchcraft
My Abortion Goes Before the Court of Heaven
The Court of Heaven and the Mindset of Consumerism
The Court of Heaven – Wisdom Appears
The Courts of Heaven: Answering the Critics

For more information, you might check out my book Traveling in the Spirit Made Simple.