RESEARCH
I used the original version of the seminar in my doctoral research. It was called Discover Your Destiny and has now been updated and expanded as the Great to Glorious seminar. The following conclusions and implications were derived from the original research and measured by a pre-seminar survey, a post-seminar survey, and a follow-up survey with an interval of at least six weeks.*
Conclusions
Before the Discover Your Destiny seminar, a full 57% of participants had an inadequate understanding of the biblical teachings about life, death, and beyond. Since the participants were from churches where the Bible was believed and taught, the research would seem to indicate this lack of understanding is widespread.
After the Discover Your Destiny seminar, the participants had a significant increase in their understanding of life, death, and beyond. It was further indicated that 76% of the participants experienced a lasting impact.
The participants learned what truly happens to a person at physical death, and this resulted in an increase in their level of comfort concerning death. The higher the understanding, the higher the comfort!
The research indicated that Bible believing, Bible teaching churches are an excellent source for providing answers to life’s greatest questions.
The Discover Your Destiny seminar can be an effective tool to encourage evangelism. People are more concerned about the destiny of family, friends, and others when they understand the eternal consequences of a person dying under the penalty of sin.
New believers should be thoroughly trained in the biblical teachings about life, death, and beyond early in their Christian walk, and mature believers need to be often reminded.
Implications
Churches must intentionally and urgently strive to instruct their members in the biblical teachings about life, death, and beyond. God warned, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” (Hosea 4:6 ESV).
The Discover Your Destiny seminar was an effective way to address inadequate understandings about life, death, and beyond by helping participants increase their knowledge of eternity in a short timespan.
Believers should know the answers to popular questions about death and how to comfort people from the Bible, not from sentimentality. Misconceptions abound, and they need to be addressed and corrected by God’s Word.
Pastors and church leaders must address the tough questions of life concerning man’s origin, purpose, and destiny with confidence in God’s truth.
Pastors must keep the biblical teachings about life, death, and beyond regularly before their congregations. Speak of God’s great love, but not at the neglect of speaking of God’s great wrath toward sin. Indeed, this exalts the love of God. It is because of God’s great love that His great wrath was appeased at Calvary. When believers contemplate and comprehend these truths, evangelism becomes a priority.
The truths emphasized in the Discover Your Destiny seminar helps develop bold and confident servants of Christ. A clear understanding of life, death, and beyond is essential for each new generation of believers to be prepared for persecutions yet to come. When believers understand the truth that death immediately places them in the glory of God’s presence, the threats of the world are countered with confidence in God.
*The above conclusions and implications are a short summation of the full research findings and interpretations recorded in the dissertation Biblical Teaching about Life, Death, and Beyond, by Dr. Paul G. Mathenia. A copy of the dissertation is available for purchase by contacting the author at the following email address: paul@greattoglorious.com.