Mike… I am really sorry about this… but…  The heavens, being in our minds… does this just happen when we are in our walk with God at this time or are all there… even when we are not aware of it.  I might even suggest… just not all activated.  But, that can’t be true either, because God leads us all… even before we are really aware of Him being active in our lives.  To my way of thinking… the three heavens have to be all in our minds… even when we are in the first of the three heavens.   I mean… I don’t think that He moves one heavenly realm out, to be replaced by the next higher one… because we all tend to slide back and forth at times.  But… it might not even be like that… but more like three heavens all wrapped up in one, like a ball… and we advance towards the centre… the Third Heaven… of the three heavens.  Then, when we settle comfortably into the truth, without the back and forth sliding around… the others can just disappear, because they learning process has fallen away completely, and we are completely in the Will of God.
But not yet.
That completeness comes only when we are presented to the Father, by Jesus Christ, in the true image of the Son, pure and holy… in spirit.  Thus acceptable to the Father.  As Christ is in the Father… we are in the Son… perfected… but, not yet.  Not while in the flesh.  We certainly, in the Son, in a way, because we have the knowledge of why He died and was resurrected, but, there is the long gap of receiving all of the true meaning of the Word of God, and experiencing it… but, that will take our entire physical (eonian)  lifetime.  Think of us… over 80.  Are we going to be perfected in this lifetime?  No way!  But, neither is anyone else while in the flesh.  Flesh can’t inherit the kingdom of God… so there is another way.  I am sure we will be raised, and yes, in the first resurrection, and we will be perfected, because we will receive the mind of Christ, at that time, like all of the true Elect.

If I am not among the first… then I will have a lot of questions for whomever is willing to listen.  Can you imagine that Mike… me standing in front of the Father… wagging my finger in His face.  The problem is… I can imagine it.  That is why I say… He has a long way to go with me.  Now, if I live to be 90… it might be possible to wiggle my way thru… but at 80… hmmm… doubtful.  Back to Paul and John.  In the first heaven, in the natural, we think that the spirit left their body and travelled upward.  But now, it is coming thru that it happened just as a dream would… but much more than a dream… because it was a spiritual extravaganza.  I wonder if that is why ‘they’ claim that we use only 3% of our brain.  Maybe the rest is the part that we/ they are unaware of… in the flesh… the three heavens, etc?  Does that sound dumb?  I promise… that this is the last email… today… doesn’t matter what comes up in my mind.   Problem… the body may be weak… but the spirit (mind) is very active. And… poor Mike… you are stuck with me.   But, look at it on the brighter side… The Lord doesn’t give you more than you can handle (cope with).  Ha ha ha… poor Mike.   But… on a more serious note… I sometimes wonder about His wisdom on just how much we can handle!  We have always wrangled thru everything… but sometimes it is tough, really tough, as you well know.
J____

J____, you are certainly coming along. No, I cannot imagine you wagging your finger at God. I have no doubt that we will all feel very weak in the knees and fingers and everywhere else, just like Ezekiel and Daniel and Saul of Tarsus, and like Saul we will all continue with our present “what will you have me to do, Lord” attitude.
In answer to all of these questions I will give you one verse:

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

“Within you” is a spiritual statement about a spiritual truth. It has nothing to do with being within your physical flesh which is what is our physical brains. “Within you” means within the “spirit in man” which gives life to this dying flesh for a few “moments before it vanishes away.”
I hope that is of some help, and it is a joy to have you there. Just be patient with me and my clay vessel.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike