The Courts of Heaven: How to Combat the Devil's Advocates

by Keys to the Kingdom

case. No wonder she had lost. Lost with a flurry. Lost without knowing or caring. Her punishment? Childlessness and loneliness until she repented

and saw the error of her ways.

In our earthly system of justice, the goal of the judge and/or the jury is to figure out the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

The whole truth is already known by the heavenly arbiter, as he or she can borrow the omniscience of God, whom they serve faithfully.

Rather, the goal of the system is to educate the accused and make them understand why they stand accused and why what they have done is wrong and in need of punishment.

as we are so used to thinking about justice in terms of truth and untruth and usually care little about the inner life of the accused; what matters on earth is whether you did the crime or not, not how you feel about it! In our earthly system of justice, the inner work...

if an accused has repented, a judge or jury might light...

The inner workings of the accused are the only things that matters - because the truth is already known - and if an accused has truly repented, they themselves will not want a light punishment. Rather, a truly repented sinner wants the full and fair punishm...

We can therefore conclude that the primary purpose of the heavenly system of justice is to educate and to internalize the word of God in humans who have trespassed against God’s commandments. This is a very important point that bears repea...

Many prayers are denied simply because the person praying has not earned what he or she is praying for.

This is where God’s heavenly system of justice comes in and has a secondary purpose when arbitration is needed between conflicting prayers.

Such adjudicating in cases of conflicting prayers is the secondary purpose of the heavenly system of justice.

She looked at her alarm clock. It was still showing 7:01 PM. No time at all had apparently passed, but Winnie knew different.

Earthly matters, which are handled by the lower courts of heaven, weighing souls upon entry into heaven, which is handled by the middle courts of heaven, and, finally, heavenly matters, which are handled by the high courts of heavens.

What does all of this mean for us mortals that may have to face Bartholomew’s court? It means we should expect the court to get under our skin and to be capable of changing the weight of our sins. What seems important to us when we enter, may no longer seem important when we leave, and what seems unimportant to us when we enter, may suddenly seem gravely important when we leave.

the court of James, we can expect that the court will fight with great passion to help us but also that the court will rebuke us with fiery anger if we do not follow its commands. This dual nature of the court is why there are several judges in the court - it is a tribunal, after all.

In the court of Thomas, evidence and proofs are of the highest important.

but rather to prove remorse and repentance. Cases only go the court of Thomas if there they have been appealed from the court of James, which is exceedingly rare.

In the court of Matthew, reason and logic are of paramount interest. There is also a great focus on having paid one’s dues, meaning that you need to have atoned for your sins to be granted absolution.

no Judas, no crucifixion, no resurrection, and thusly no salvation.

God is grace and mercy and being in the presence of God can never be bad, even if you have sinned, as long as you have good in your heart.

“When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands.” (2 Samuel 7:14)

The punishment handed down by God through his courts will not be lightning from the sky or other supernatural events. Rather, God’s punishment will be wielded by men. This means that we can tell that we have been accused and sentenced in a court of heaven if our lives suddenly take a surprising and dramatically turn for the worse.

You simply need to acknowledge what sin you believe you are being punished for and then pray intently for an appeal.

It is of course better to be ahead of the court and actually appear when you are summoned to a court of heaven than to wait until a judgment has been handed down but it is important to remember that it is never to late to appeal a case.

If, for instance, you see a neighbor, friend, or family member whose life is suddenly falling apart for no apparent reason, it may actually be because they have been called to a court of heaven and failed to appear.

It is, after all, not our place to punish those who need to be punished when God through his system of heavenly justice already has handed down his judgment.

Our stylized presentation of how a typical trial is conducted, therefore, cannot be specific as to how the court will look as the courts’ interiors will mold themselves according to a given person’s own imagination.

This is done since personal prayers will often be part of praesidium cases and the veil of ignorance thus protects the sanctity of prayers.

All present in the court will hear each of the two prayers in their entirety. Then each side will have two minutes to present their prayer and the reasoning behind it and, similar to accusatio cases, one-minute rebuttals and rebuttals of the rebuttals are heard. When the presentations are done, the two sides are offered the chance to compromise on the own.

The advantage of compromising without the involvement of the judge is that each side will know exactly what the result of the trial will be.

It is not unheard of to have praesidium cases where one party experiences the trial weeks or even months before the other party in earth time.

This, however, is unwise, as your goal in any court of heaven should be to learn the errors of your ways.

The court of Bartholomew, for instance, is geared to towards getting under your skin and the questions you will be asked are pointed and at times dangerously manipulative. The court will try to shift your priorities around and see if the weight of your opinions hold steady.

Take your time before answering question and let your heart guide you. If you try to outsmart the court, you will quickly find your head spinning and your arguments in tatters.

The court of James, on the other hand, is marked by great passion. The court will dig into the Devil’s advocates with fiery passion and try to dismantle his arguments. This is, of course, great for you as the accused but the flip side of the court’s great passio...

The court of Thomas is a court of appeals.

The judges cannot be seen except as shadows on the ground and you will not be able to see your accuser either.

The judges will be questioning both the accuser and the accused at the same time, but you will only be able to hear the question and answers directed at you. The purpose of this strict dichotomy of the trial is to test the cases of the accuser and the accused separately and thus ascertain both sides of the case.

This can be the case if the advocates of Devil manages to trick, not the judges (as they as servants of God cannot be tricked by the Devil), but rather the accused.

It is for this reason that the accused and the accuser are kept apart in the court of Thomas.

Their job, after all, is to doubt everything that is being said and to weigh the veracity of each statement heard in their court on their finely tuned scale of truth.

Here the three judges simply vote according to their own consciences. It therefore important that there are three judges and not four so that the court cannot be tied.

It is through our striving that we prove us worthy in the eyes of God and it is therefore through our striving that we can earn leniency in the courts of heaven.

Simply adjusting your behavior in anticipation of a trial in heaven will not be enough.

All is already known and the purpose of the trial is not prove anything but rather to dole out the correct punishment.

Claiming innocence is therefore not a good strategy as it is both sure to fail and will make you look like you are not repentant.

In some cases, the accused might not be aware of the sin that they have committed and he or she will therefore feel genuinely innocent. This can be a very dangerous situation to be in, as your belief in your own innocence will work against you once the trial begins.

Admitting guilt is therefore the first step towards salvation.

You can also improve your standing in the court by preparing and rehearsing your presentation.