|
Your "To Heaven and Back" Tour Contents How the pictures were created The following illustrations of Heaven began with Rita Bennett's best-selling book "To Heaven and Back." In preparation for writing on such a powerful subject as Heaven, it was important for her to become a researcher in this field. Writing and research took eighteen months and then Zondervan Publishing House rolled the first copies off the press in July 1997. Rita conceptualized the pictures you will see, and Sally Moser, friend and artist, sketched them. This inspired team made new discoveries. "I'm no artist" claims Rita Bennett, but she drew a rough picture of what she called a "Front Door View of Heaven." (This came through an exercise in her research as she studied the Book of Revelation for several years and attempted to draw a picture of each of the twenty-two chapters.) The drawing and her book were sent to Sally, with a request to sketch the scene as close as possible to scale and make it beautiful. She also requested other pictures of people arriving from earth, walking through the Gate of Pearl into Heaven itself, and on to the Throne of God. Rita was delighted as she received these first sketches in November 1997. What Sally discovered as she used the dimensions of the Jasper Wall of Heaven, which Rita's research showed to be seventy-two yards wide (extremely wide by man's measurements), was that it made an amazingly long entrance, like a tunnel. How exciting it was for Moser and Bennett to find that these biblical dimensions of the jasper wall also revealed a tunnel of light! See picture number 3, "The Pearl Gate with Precious Stones." The picture of the message over the gate, hidden in the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, was created by Rita for a teaching transparency using "clip art" at first. Through computer, the artist's gate replaced the earlier one. This Bible Code is an original one imparted to author Bennett as she prayerfully did her book research in 1996. See the 4th picture,"Coded message at the Gate." This one was created in-house. The original illustrations were pen and ink which Rita used in teaching her Course "Inner Wholeness Through the Lord's Prayer" at seminars for several years. Preparing for this part of the Website, "To Heaven and Back Tour" in 1999 and with future classes in mind, she found colored artwork was needed. Sally was not available to redo the illustrations in color and encouraged her to get other help, so Rita found and hired Taylor Aldridge, graphic designer, to work with her colorizing the pictures. Taylor and Rita sat together for a number of hours as she checked her book and the Scripture to make sure colors were as accurate as possible. The vivid colors seem quite typical of what we might see on the other side; of course it's likely that there will be other colors we can't even imagine now. Rita asked Taylor to put fruit on the Trees of Life, twelve different kinds we're told, and was delighted as he added the many colored fruit. Taylor made the Jasper wall translucent which was true to Scripture. Rita loved the emerald circular rainbow as he colored it and worked with her to get the perfect shade. The last phase was with John Watson, Rita's web designer, and church friend Ron Bragan, also a web designer, working together to get the material on the Website. That's how this work came together. How you may best experience the pictures There are seven illustrations of this "Heaven and Back Tour." It is recommended that you view the picture starting with the first and going on to the seventh. Later, of course, you may want to return to specific locations that had special meaning. It is our prayer that you will be uplifted on this heavenly journey and that life will be more inspiring on your return. You will see a brief description of the picture and a small sketch of it. For those who want to dig into fuller meaning there is a commentary. When you click on the sketch, the bigger picture will load. We have found that the quality of an artist's work is not helped when it is compressed and uploaded for viewing on the Web. The prints available will consequently be more detailed with richer colors, more on this later. If you want, you may bookmark this site for your return visit. You also may wish to bring someone with you at another time. What you may do with these pictures These illustrations are original as revelation was given to those who prayerfully worked with them. No pictures of Heaven by other artists were used for inspiration as these came directly inspired from the Bible itself. Rita feels strongly that the pictures are important to assist those who need more understanding and comfort concerning the next life. She especially wants to help those who have lost loved ones, those wanting to teach their children what Heaven is like, and for each of us as we prepare to make our own journey at life's end. A challenging scripture for anyone trying to picture eternal verities is: "But as it is written: eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (I Cor. 2:9 NKJV). The apostle Paul was not saying here that since on this side of the veil we cannot fully know what Heaven is like, that there should be no attempt to understand it whether in writing or in pictures! In another place Paul encourages people to "set your mind on things above" (Col. 3:2 NKJV). The Amplified version says "Set your minds and keep them set on what is above." Sounds like we are being encouraged to think often about Heaven. Though our pictures are of a place our minds cannot fathom, yet as Rita says "We do have a clear front door view." Certainly these illustrations are only a touch of the full glory but at the very least they are teaching aids of what the Word of God declares. Permitted use of these pictures What you can do with the art work. You may print a copy of the illustrations and commentary for your own inspiration as our gift to you, however, neither can be reproduced or sold. These pictures have protective imbedded markings so that they cannot be misused. To quote or use these Webpages - Commentary or Pictures, you need to write for permission from Rita Bennett by regular or by e-mail. If you would like to purchase larger detailed copies, you may do so by ordering from our Bookstore when you get to the end of your "To Heaven and Back Tour." There are presently seven illustrations with possibly others to be added. Keep tuned and we'll let you know further details. Obviously these illustrations and commentary cannot tell you everything contained in a full picture of Heaven. To fill in more details, you may choose to order the book "To Heaven and Back" which will give you a more comprehensive view, in word form. |
|
To accommodate cross platform display differences, each of the big pictures is provided in both JPEG (faster) and GIF (more color detail) format. JPEG is the default. To toggle between the two, click the button below the title on the "big picture" pages. |