Book of Revelation

Not Without God series/New Year Special!

Today I want to talk about my books: Not Without God: A Story of Survival and my most recent, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm. They are both centered around a catastrophic accident I was in at sixteen years old. While trying to cross the street on my way to school, I was a pedestrian hit by a motor vehicle. Chapter one of my book is called, “The Crash.” I write about a nurse named Mary Kay, a survival life flight nurse, who was on a helicopter ride with me to Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan.

She just kept gently rubbing my shoulder and saying, “Hold on, Zina, hold on. We’re taking you to U of M. They’ll take good care of you there.” I remember holding onto her voice and fighting for my life. I was in and out of consciousness, I couldn’t move, talk, or see. I just mumbled. I remember feeling a peace, though. The Bible talks about a peace that surpasses all understanding. I felt the Holy Spirit with me there. Mary Kay’s voice carried me through.

It’s interesting because before the accident I would ask God what life is all about. God, I know you are real, and I feel your presence. But I want to understand you and know you more. How does life work? Like many of us, life was dysfunctional at home. My surroundings had me confused. I wanted to know him and understand him better. The accident was a turning point. I experienced God’s genuine love through the doctors, nurses, Mary Kay, and others who were fighting for my life. I witnessed the love of Christ.

I would stay up each night upstairs on the 6th floor East, at the time, at Mott Children’s hospital. With a flashlight in one hand and a notepad in the other, I would write. God spoke to me through whispers in my heart. He told me I would recover and even walk again. I am not walking as well as I did before the accident, but I have completed thousands of hours of physical therapy and can now walk with forearm crutches or a walker. The progress I have made is huge. Some doctors predicted I would be paralyzed for life.

I also write about a man named Dennis. Someone I worked with at Strawberry Hills Fruit Market just before my accident. I worked there for a few months. Dennis was the kind of man that was always happy and always sang hymns to God. After my accident happened, Dennis would come to the hospital. He’d bring prayer booklets and talk to me about Jesus and having faith. My left arm had been stuck at a 90-degree angle from the crash. It was even impossible to eat with it. On one visit, Dennis got up and stood next to my bed – he held my arm gently but firmly and started to pray in what some Christians call “tongues.”

He started to slowly stretch my arm and it was very tight at first. But as he was stretching I began to feel the heat. My arm slowly stretched out. All the while he was looking up to the ceiling and praying and stretching it. Finally, my arm became completely straight. If God didn’t heal my arm through Dennis that day, I never would’ve walked again. I never would’ve been able to get up on parallel bars. That story is also in my book.

My latest book, which was just published in January of 2022 is also a narrative, like my first. But Hope In the Storm is more of a teaching book. I offer journaling sections at the end of various chapters where the reader can write and reflect. I ask questions like, “When was the last time God was there for you?” or “How much time do you spend on prayer or reading the Bible?” We are told in the Bible that the Word of God is sharper than a double-edged sword it can divide joint and marrow, soul, and spirit, the Bible provides life-giving medicine. When you soak the verses up, they can strengthen and even heal you inside.

I also write about how physics and religion merge in my book. You may have learned in school or at church when you were younger that everything will come to an end. Physics and the Bible both verify that one day everything will end. All structures will come down, there will be nothing standing, and all black holes will even disintegrate. We don’t know when this day will be, Brian Greene, a famous world-renowned physicist says it will be a long time from now but since nothing can truly be predicted, it can happen sooner.

However, there will be new beginnings or fluctuations. All that will be left are particles floating around in the void. These particles will at times get large, so then new particles will form. If you wait long enough, any rare thing can happen, says the famous philosopher, Sam Harris. These particles will form new beginnings. The number one rule of thermodynamics says that energy can never be destroyed, but it is transferrable.

In Revelations 21 John says, “For then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and earth were gone. There was no longer any sea. In Revelations 21:2 he states: “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”

John continues in 21:3-4, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Thus, science and the Bible merge. There will be new beginnings… Thank the Lord!

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s also been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast as well as ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students of all ages from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes about health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Some things you may want to know part 7

Did you know that one day every single black hole will disintegrate? The universe may continue to expand, forever, though. However, there will be a time when everything will end – and everything we know about, matter itself will all disintegrate; it is called the Big Freeze or Heat Death. The universe will get ever colder as it gets ever larger. All black holes will evaporate and give off a particle spray in the void; nothing will be left. There will be electrons and neutrinos that are floating around. The temperature will get very low.

Think of the Empire State Building in Manhattan where the ground floor is the 1st unit and the next unit is the 10th floor, the next floor is the 100th, etc. But if you go to about 10 to the hundred years into the future, that is when this could happen (a long time from now). Every black hole will have evaporated by that time. Now we are at about ten to the tenth floor, Brian Greene says – a world renowned physicist and NY Times best-selling author in his book, “Until the End of Time.”

The only thing that will be left are the most “refined” or stable elementary particles that will be around. They will be roaming around in the void and there will be fluctuations where these particles will AT TIMES BE LARGE, so then, new particles will FORM, if you wait long enough – rare things can happen – Brian continues. These particles will create new beginnings or fluctuations “on their way to eternity,” is how Brian Greene puts it.

I love the line that when you have an eternity every rare thing can happen. Space goes on infinitely far. There are no limits to the universe or edges. Space goes on forever. Thus, if space is eternal, we are eternal.

St. John has a vision in the Book of Revelation 21: In the vision, John saw the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down from Heaven to the new earth, for the old earth had been destroyed. While the new city was coming down, John heard a loud voice that said the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.

Bible Gateway read in Revelations 21:1-3, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

²And John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

³And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

You don’t have to be religious to have heard the Lord’s prayer before. In the Lord’s prayer, we say, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven…” We are actually praying for heaven to come down to earth when we do this.

This is why I believe the universe is infinite and eternal. Brian proves it. In my opinion, there has been more than one ‘Big Bang,’ or ‘Big Event’ as I like to call it. I don’t call it a bang because there were no air molecules at the time. I believe that there are multiverses.

As a matter of fact, some physicists believe there is assimilation. Which means there could actually be copies of yourselves out there in other universes. However, don’t worry much about copies or you or other universes. This one is the only one you should be concerned about. Bottom line: “It is spectacular that collections of particles can come together to yield a human being,” the famous physicist says. I love that, again the miracle is that you’re here.

I am open minded so it wouldn’t surprise me if there were multiple or an infinite number of universes with multiple copies of ourselves out there. There is even an app: it is called the Universe Splitter. You should download it. You can ask it any question about your life, and it will tell you what will happen in one universe vs. another. Again, I take this with a grain of salt but have used the app before. When you click “split” the app sends a signal to a laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. The photon gets hurtled toward a splitter and can either go left or right. It will tell you your future: if you will marry, if you will become rich, etc.

Again, I have used this for fun. I don’t dwell on these things too much. I am worried about the universe I am in now. But it is very interesting to me that physics and science agree with the Bible in some instances – the universe is eternal and infinite.

Here is the link to Brian Greene’s interview in case you want to watch it:

About Zina

‘A new earth’🌍

Last night I was thinking about the famous Bible passage by John in the Book of Revelation. In John’s vision, he saw a new heaven (the city of Jerusalem coming down from the sky), and he also saw a new earth! 🌍♥️ As I was thinking more about it, I thought back to Lex Fridman’s podcast I recently heard with the famous world renowned physicist, Michio Kaku. EVERY star🌟 has a planet🪐 going around it. ONE in FIVE of those planets ARE EARTH🌍 sized planets! There are billions of galaxies besides ours, 100,000,000,000 with 100,000,000,000 stars✨🌠 in each one! So, if there are billions of ‘earth sized planets’ and in the book of Revelation John sees ‘a new earth’🌍, THEN who is to say there aren’t other ‘earths’ out there (with people in them?). I mean, maybe it’s not necessarily extraterrestrial life we’re searching after. Maybe we are searching for copies of ourselves. I would also imagine that if there are other earths 🌍🌍 out there with other humans👩‍🦳 their planet would be more advanced. We are just on the cusp of a Type 1, and not quite able to modify natural disasters such as hurricanes yet. But once we harness more planetary power and stop getting our energy from dead plants, coal, and oil, climate change won’t be a problem and the effects of natural disaster will be lessened. You see, we are a young planet. For the end timers out there: the end is no where near, it is only the beginning!

About Zina

Zina Hermez authored the best selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. Recently she was featured on ESPN’s ‘Solutions from the Huddle’ broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World. Zina’s written hundreds of articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world spanning many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog and Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. Her goal is to help others. You can connect with her on Instagram, Facebook, Linked In, or Twitter.

A new earth 🌍

Good morning, friends. One day everything will be swallowed up by entropy. Every building, every structure, everything you see (including us) will come to an end. There will be no such thing as thought itself. Thought itself will be swallowed up by life. This is predicted to happen far into the future, but anything can happen, so it could happen sooner. I don’t mean to sound so dim. Our mortality is real. Fortunately, in the Book of Revelation, John has a vision while on the island of Patmos, and we are told that he saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. He wrote that he saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully adorned for her husband. We are taught by physics that once there is nothing left other than some particles forming in the void, there can be a ‘reforming’ of particles. All we are is particles brought to consciousness, quarks, neutrinos, protons, etc. In an eternal universe, life repeats itself.☀️🖤⚛️🌅🏞🌠🦒

About Zina

Zina Hermez authored the best-selling book, “Not Without God: A Story of Survival.” Her stories have been featured in various guest articles, medical journals, magazines, newsletters, and over 250 of her own blog articles. As an educator for more than twenty years, she’s had the privilege of working with thousands of students from different backgrounds and parts of the world. Her upcoming book, “Not Without God: Hope In the Storm” will be out later this year. Her writing endeavors earned her an invitation to speak at the Harvard Faculty Club’s “Business Expert Forum.” Zina’s goal is to help others overcome adversity, and she strives to do what she longs to–help other people. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Southern Writers magazine, and Suite T blog among other places. Socializing with friends, taking business trips, listening to music, and meeting new people are among her hobbies. You can connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, Linked In, or Twitter.