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| Lystra Sacrifice Painting by Raphael, 1515 |
“Near the turn of the 20th century, God gave Seneca Sodi the glorious experience of spending forty days in Heaven. This book will challenge your life and give you hope and encouragement to set aside all hindrances and press on into the glory of God.
As he relates his experiences to Elwood Scott, you will feel as though you are right with him, seeing the many different scenes of the Celestial Kingdom, escorted by King David. You will wonder at the glory and immensity of what God has prepared for us.
Your heart will he stirred at the description of the Holy Convocation around the Throne as Jesus speaks an end-time message of preparation for His coming. Your mind and heart will be enlarged as you look into a world beyond the veil and knowing that it will be worth it all!” —The Publishers of Paradise, the Holy City and the Glory of the Throne by Rev. Elwood Scott.
The following is an excerpt in which Seneca Sodi recounted to Elwood Scott what happened during his visit to heaven when he spoke with the apostle Paul.
On the way I said to Paul, who sat by my side: "It does seem so good to be here with you, it seems indeed too good to be true. Fancy painted many fair pictures while we were in the world which were made to glow on the canvas of our imagination in reference to the future, but none ever equaled the reality."
"No," said Paul, "it was impossible for man to conceive of the glory while in the flesh. The Lord once gave me just a glimpse into paradise while yet in the world. The glory was beyond my power to describe."
I replied to Paul: "I have often wondered how it occurred, for we have a brief account in the divine word on earth which you left concerning it." (II Corinthians 12:2)
"Well," said he, "while at Lystra in Lyconia I was stoned and dragged out of the city for dead, but God raised me up, and I, with the brethren, went back to the city. (Acts 14:19) But that night I could not sleep, being restless and burdened with the word of the Lord. I arose and, all alone, went out of the city to pray. I ascended the side of old Karadogh, an extinct volcano. I seemed to be greatly helped, for an angel constantly held my hand. When some little distance up the mountain, one of the chariots of God, with a driver of light, appeared at my side. I was so enraptured by the presence and glory of God and both overawed and overcome by the royal chariot and driver that I hardly could tell whether I had died or was in a trance; but I soon found myself lying prostrate in the chariot and mounting far above the old mountain. We arose above the pillars of the skies. I soon heard the strains of music from the third heaven in the plains of paradise. They were singing some new songs, which as a mortal man, I had not power to repeat. I opened my eyes just for a moment, glanced at the crystal river and heard a loud voice proclaiming the mystery of the trees upon its banks. It was the closing words of a sermon uttered by Moses to a vast company of Jews, as I was told by the driver afterwards, giving them light upon these that they could not know while under the law and subject to an inferior experience, for you have already found that we have preaching here in heaven as we used to have on earth.
"Only an instant we remained and the chariot darted with the speed of sound toward the earth. In a few moments the old town of Lystra, lying at the foot of the mountain, with its streets and domes, shone out with their best appearance under the light of the full moon beaming upon them; but the people were fast asleep. I stepped from the chariot as the driver, with a pleasant wave of his hand, said, good-bye, and in an instant it was gone. On the top of Karadogh I continued my prayer and praise to God until near the break of day. I never could really tell while in my flesh whether I was loosened for the time being from my body or whether bodily I was taken to glory. Ever after this I had a longing to go back and forever remain; to depart and be with Christ. The words of the sermon and the strains of music could never be forgotten, but were an element of strength in my life during the many afflictions God permitted to come upon me."
Search for Mount Karadogh
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| Volcanic Mount Karadagh, near Karaman, Turkey |
I did some research on this to try and locate this mount Karadogh. Paul told Seneca Sodi that he ascended the side of Karadogh, an extinct volcano.
In my research, I found in Wikipedia that there is a Kara Dag (formerly often written Kara Dagh), which is a volcanic mountain, located a few miles north of Karaman, Turkey. Kara Dag or Qara Dag (Dag/Dağ/Dagh, occasionally Daq or Tagh) is Turkic for "Black Mountain". It may be written as one word (Karadag), a hyphenated word (Kara-dag), or as two words (Kara Dag).
This volcanic mountain is located 62 miles south of Konya, which was known during classical antiquity and during the medieval period as Iconium in Latin, and Iκόνιον (Ikónion) in Greek.
Paul and Barnabas preached in Konya (Iconium). The Scripture says, “In Iconium they entered the synagogue of the Jews together, and spoke in such a manner that a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of Greeks.” (Act 14:1) But after they were persecuted there, they went to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe. “And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers, to mistreat and to stone them, they became aware of it and fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe, and the surrounding region; and there they continued to preach the gospel.” (Act 14:5-7).
Then the Jews from Konya (Iconium) came south to Lycaonia to persecute Paul: “But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. But while the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city. The next day he went away with Barnabas to Derbe.” (Act 14:19-20).
It should be noted that where the Scripture says, “they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. But while the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city,” this happened in Lystra in Lyconia.
According to Wikipedia, Lystra is located 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of the city of Konya, Turkey. Although Lystra is the ancient name of the village where the apostle Paul visited, the present name is "Klistra," which is near Gökyurt, Turkey. There is a road from Konya (Iconium)
known today as D696, which the Jews from Iconium would have used for
part of their journey to persecute Paul in Lystra. Iconium is only 19
miles north of Lystra. It would probably take 6 to 8 hours to walk that
far.
+Google+terrain+map.jpg) |
| Klistra (Lystra), Turkey is marked by an "A"map pin |
I was curious to see on the map where Klistra (Lystra) is located, since that is the city where Paul was when he climbed Karadogh. I needed to get a visual reference on this, and I was expecting it to be right at the base of this volcanic mountain in Turkey called Karadagh.
In the Google map above, you can see Klistra (Lystra) at point A, located southwest of Konya (Iconium).According to
Ancient Locations, Lystra is located at the following latitude and longitude: 37.66469499, 32.21062472. On the bottom right corner of the map is Karaman, just south of Karadagh, which is very obviously a volcanic mountain. When you zoom in on it, you can see that there is a big hole in the middle where it erupted at one time.
From the map, I could easily see that Karadagh is some 80 miles from Klistra (Lystra). That may seem like fairly close, when you consider that it could have been located any place in the world. However, I was sure that the apostle Paul did not walk 80 miles from Lystra during the night to climb this mountain. So I examined the terrain near Lystra, now known as Klistra.
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| Sattelite photo of apparent extinct volcanic mountain near Lystra, Turkey |
Amazingly I discovered that there is an apparent extinct volcano located about six tenths of a mile (1 km) from Klistra (Lystra). In the satellite photo on the left (courtesy of Google), you can see this volcano marked by a white arrow. The bear rock at the top of this mountain forms a crater, or mouth of a volcano. Inside the crater you can see the caldera, or depression. According to the Google terrain map, this mountain reaches a height of 4,593 feet (1400 meters). This is about the same size as Mount Liberty in New Hampshire, USA, which I used to hike. Liberty is 4,460 feet (1,359 m) high. And since this mountain pictured in the satellite photo above is just a little more than half a mile from Lystra, it would have been easy walking distance for Paul on that moonlit night
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| Antique painting titled "Kara Dagh near Lystra" |
But I was left wondering why this mountain does not have the name Karadagh like the other volcanic mountain 80 miles from Lystra. After all, this is what Paul called it in his conversation with Seneca Sodi. Could Paul have mistakenly called it by the name of another similar "black mountain" in the same region? Upon further research, I discovered an antique painting of mount Kara Dagh that was made in 1869. It's titled "Kara Dagh near Lystra!" What are the chances of this!! I liked it so much that I bought a print copy of it.
The caption beneath the painting reads: "This view of the mountain which forms so remarkable a feature in the scenery among which Timotheus passed his childhood, is due to the kindness of Rev. G. E. Weston, who crossed Lycaonia in 1845. It represents the appearance of the Kara Dagh as seen from the approach of Iconium." So this would have been the view that the Jews had of Kara Dagh, as they traveled down the road from Iconium to persecute Paul.
The painting proves that there is a mount Karadagh located near Lystra. It was painted in 1869, decades before Seneca Sodi's visit to heaven, in which Paul spoke to him about climbing Karadogh the night that he returned to Lystra after being stoned and dragged outside the city. Elwood Scott did not record Seneca Sodi's experience until the turn of the century, so the artist who painted this could not have known that this was the mountain Paul climbed. In fact, this mountain is
never mentioned in Scripture.
This was a pretty amazing find for me. It seems to corroborate the story that the apostle Paul told to Seneca Sodi during his visit to heaven. This gives us further insight into what happened on that night when Paul was caught up into heaven. As he wrote to the Corinthians, "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell." (2 Cor 12:2-4).
If you have not read this account of Seneca Sodi's forty days in heaven, I encourage you to read it. You can find it at
Insights of God where you can find both
PDF and Word formats of the book at this link. Please prayerfully read the book, and use the
Testimony Review Process
adopted by this blog, as you decide for yourself whether this was a true testimony. For issues and concerns, each person must confirm with
the Lord, whether something is valid or not.
I can assure you that the book will bless you with many other amazing stories like this one. Even in our day today there are people who, like Paul, are being caught up into heaven like brother
Yong-Doo Kim,
Angelica Zambrano,
Oden Hetrick,
Lois Hetrick,
Anna Rountree, and brother
Daniel Ekechukwu. Heaven is real! Jesus has prepared it for those who love and obey Him. Please don't miss it for anything!
Attribution notice: Most Scripture taken from The Holy Bible,
New International Version® NIV®, unless otherwise noted.
Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, you may find more articles like it on the
Home page of this blog, and you may find more of my blogs at
Writing for the Master. I also encourage you to read the online book by Elwood Scott about Seneca Sodi called
Paradise, the Holy City and the Glory of the Throne.
Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you
repent and believe in Jesus. Do you know what God's Word, the Bible
says?
“Jesus
came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time
is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in
the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15). He preached that we must repent and
believe.
Please see my explanation of this in my post called "
Do You Want to Know Jesus?"
_________________________________________________
Len Lacroix is the founder of
Doulos Missions International.
He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as
well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who
multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of
planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United
States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission.
www.dmiworld.org.
