state2.html

State of the Dead

by The Elijah Messenger

Part II

If a man die, shall he live again? Job 14:14

A subject that puzzles most human beings is the topic of death. The thought of dying is not a pleasant one because one cannot imagine never to exist. Perhaps this incredible fear of finality has brought the many theories as to what happens to a person when they die. For the most part most religions tend to lean towards the possibility of some sort of afterlife. Through the centuries death has captured the minds of many, hence, a common belief system would arise that death is not the end but just the beginning. Most of Christendom considers death a peaceful and spiritual experience. It is the traditionalists view that when a Christian expires they immediately enter into the presence of God. This is quite contrary to what the Psalmist said in Psalms 115: 17 " the dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into the grave." However, our hope for life is at his Second Coming. Paul describes this as the "blessed hope". Titus 2:13

In the proceeding paragraphs we will seek to examine the proponents of the orthodox teachings of the state of the dead verses what the bible have to say, when rightly divided in context, this is an inportant and fascinating subject. We pray that you may read this with an open mind and let us ask our heavenly Father for guidance and know that the Spirit of God will enlighten our understanding on this subject.

It is amazing to see what people use as proof to support what they believe especially when it does not align itself with God’s word. A perfect example from my own personal experience is how the christians have used I Samual Chapter twenty-eight to support their theory, which is adopted from the paganistic belief that the soul is immortal. But if one examines this doctrine in context we would see whether it would stand or fall on close examination. Before we examine I Samual chapter twenty-eight, it is important that we understand the historical events which took place before God had commanded Saul to… : "Smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and women, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." I Samual 15:3. Saul in violation of God’s command ,"spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the fattlings, and the lambs and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly (verse 9)." This lead God to say, "It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be King: for he is turnruned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments." (Verse 11). When the prophet first confronted Saul, he found him lying, making excuses, and professing falsely that he had "gone the way, which the Lord sent me" (Verse 20). This lead Samuel to say these three startling statements:

As the testimony of the Scriptures States, Saul did not take heed to these fearful denunciations, therefore, God gave up Saul to his own rebellion. "And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death" (Verse 35). Now, having this information in mind, we can venture on to examine I Samuel chapter twenty-eight. In this chapter we will make a comparison with other statements from the bible, and based on the context, you can be the judge whether it supports or disburdens the idea that man has innate immortality. Let us recall the event that took place in verses 8,11,12. Hear we see that Saul visits a witch from Endor. And this witch supposedly conjures up the spirit of Samuel as per Saul’s request. Also keep in mind that verses eleven and twelve are used by the Traditionalists to prove their theory that there is life after death.

Therefore as the bible states God abandoned Saul in his rebellion. The question should be asked. Why would Samuel speak and act against God’s will? If you believe that this spirit was Samuel then where is the written authority given of God to speak to Saul. Evidence proves that this spirit could not be Samuel but rather a demon in disguise.

Final thoughts on this chapter are, "For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten." Eccl 9:5 If we take this scripture as it reads, it will protect us from many satanic impersonations like what befell Saul.

There are many important lessons to be learned from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, when taken in its historical context. Many Protestant minister, who preach about the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, claim that Christ spoke about a literal incident that took place. The failure to grasp that this was meant to be a parable, stems from the isolation of Luke 16:19-31 from its immediate context, as though verse 19-31 is a chapter by itself. Some might reason that the gospel always states when it is a parable, and they quote such scriptures as Matthew 13:18,24,31,33;21:33 etc. But this line of reasoning does not prove anything when comparing it to other parts of the gospel, such as Luke 11:24-26; 16:1-12; 14:16-24; 15:11-32. If one would examine these preceding scriptures, they will come to the realization that the record did not state that the prodigal son was a parable, the great supper, the unjust steward and the unclean spirit seeking his house. Most, if not all, cannot hesitate to say of it being otherwise. Let us partialy treat Luke 16:19-31 as though it were literal and you will see how ludicrous and and absurd the outcome would be. According to traditionalist, (who hold to the idea that the soul is disembodied at death) they cannot escape the stark contradiction of verse, 23 and 24 which states that these souls had eyes, tongue and fingers. Joe Crews in his book Answers to Difficult Bible Texts adds a very interesting point that we shoulkd consider. He states, "The beggar died and was taken by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. No one believes that Abraham’s literal bosom is the abode of the righteous dead. It is a figurative or parabolic expression." Ibid. 41. One of the reasons why the Protestant reformation was triumphant is because they based their principal of interpretation, by interpreting the unclear scripture with what seems to be clear from other parts of the bible. By this principal they were able to shake off most of the darkness of Romanism. If this is figurative or a parabolic expression as Joe Crews stated, we should find many clear statements in the bible to clarify what is said in Luke 16:19-31. We should begin with what was said before in the context! Christ used the parable of the unjust steward to teach the Pharisees about their privileges which were granted to them by God to bless the world and by selfishly misusing it they were rejected. After the lecture from verse one to twelve, Christ pointed out their sins in verse thirteen to eighteen, which was the love of mammon, covetouusness, justifying themselves before men and there departure from the law. Then Christ taught them another lesson by using the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, but many Christians fail to realize that it is related to what was said before. After the Babylonian captivity of the Jews, they inherited the belief that man can converse with the dead. So Christ in His wisdom wanting to convey to them spiritual truths, spoke in terms that they may understand and be corrected. Familiar to the Jews was the figurative saying about Abraham’s bosom. Moses uses this figure of speech when he said "Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their father?" (Numbers 11:12) This way of speaking shows the compassionate caring fatherly figure Moses was to them. In the New Testement Abraham is represented as the father of the faithful, "Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:7,29) The promise to Abraham and his descendents will be fufilled at the Second Coming of Christ in the New Jerusalem, not immediately upon death.

"By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance,obeyed; and he went wither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promise, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were straners and pilgrims on the earth." Hebrews 11:8-10,12-13.

" For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first." 1 Thessalonians 4:16.

In Verse twenty-two we're told that "the beggar died, and was carried by the angels." The beggar is a parabolic expresion of the elect of Christ! In Matthew 24:31, Christ gives the timing when the angels will gather his elect:

"And he [Christ] shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

The word "Hell" in verse twenty-three, in the Greek means "Hades," which is equivalent to the english word "grave". This is where the righteous and the wicked reside. Other parts in the New Testament bears witness to this important fact, that "Hell" means the grave.

"Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, [grave] neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, [grave] neither his flesh did see corruption." (Acts 2:27,31)

"I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell [grave] and of death." (Revelation 1:18)

So therefore the rich man who represents all the wicked, would be tormented, after the end of the millenium a little while after the second ressurrection:

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Rev. 20:12-15. It is important to notice that "hell"(Hades) is cast into the lake of fire (Gehenna). If our understanding is not true hermeneutics, please feel free to e-mail us and tell us of our error! God is pleased when we allow the Bible to be its own interpreter, instead of permitting our traditional ideas and curving the truth to our own fancy.

The scripture under examination states: "Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. . . We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." To reinforce what Paul said, the traditionalist would ask such questions as, why would Paul say this if he did not expect the righteous to be with the Lord at death? Let us examine what Paul said, and see if he supports this question or not. Paul, comforted the Corinthians in verses one and two and made a comparison between our earthly bodies, which can die because they are mortal according to verse four, and our heavenly bodies which will be "clothed upon" at the second coming of Christ. Paul speaking on the subject of our celestial and terrestrial bodies gives us the timing when this will be accomplished:

"Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." 1 Corinthians 15:50-53.

In verse 51, Paul classified death as a sleep, (the sleeper not knowing the essence of time). He explains the resurrection in terms as "in the twinkling of an eye." This shows the briefness between death and the resurrection. This is what Paul meant when he said, "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord (verse 8)." Therefore, it would be accurate to use Paul’s own words to clarify the misconception of II Corinthians 5:6,8 and Philippians 1:23.

What can we make of Matthew 10:28? Does it strengthen the doctrine of life after death? Or does it work otherwise? Let us consider what Christ said:

"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

The Greek word for soul is psuche, which is translated in Matthew 16:25 as life. Christ himself taught Death as a "Sleep" in John 11:12,13.. In Mat. 9:24, Also, Ecclesiastes 12:7 it states that the material part of man "return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Ecclesiastes 12:7. Christ was counseling his disciples about the fiery trials they have to endure if they were to decide to follow him. Many traitorous disciples, when brought into the position either to deny Christ or be persecuted, choose the former. Christ with a warning gives the outcome of such a denial.

"But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." Matthew 10:33.

This is the contrast that Christ made for those who follow him! The persecutor may "kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do." Luke 12:4.

That’s why our hope is in the ressurection which we will inherit "eternal life"(John 3:15). And the opposite is for the wicked, "everlasting destruction" (11 Thes. 1:9).

The apostle John in Revelation 6:9-11, gives us a symbolic picture of God in his longsuffering and mercy towards the righteous martyrs. John, in a vision said

"I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and the testimony which they held." (Verse 9).

In the Old Testament, the Hebrews brought their sacrifice to be slain, this lamb typified Christ "the Lamb of God" (John 1:29). In the New Testament after the death of Christ, our sacrifice is portrayed as "spiritual sacrifices, praising God, doing good, walking in love and presenting our body a living sacrifice." 1 Peter 2:5; Hebrews 13:15-16; Ephesians 5:2; Romans 12:1. Paul said, "we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Romans 8:36. John went on to personify the souls as saying "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" Verse 10. These souls cannot be literal as some claim because their statement will contradict other parts of the bible, which state:

"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Matthew 5:44.

"To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste . . . Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people." Deuteronomy 32:35,43.

"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." Romans 12:19.

We have to look for something other than what Traditionalist teach, so that it can harmonizes whith the above scriptures. A similar incident in the Old Testament when Cain killed Abel, according to the scriptures, " the LORD said unto Cain, where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy Brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground." Genesis 4:9-10. Was Abel's blood litteraly crying out to God? Most traditionalists if not all would say God was figuratively speaking here! My question to them is, why the same principle of interpretation is not used in Rev. 6:10. Now this is a mystery I cannot conceive!

The repentant thief on the cross, besought Christ to have mercy upon him and to remember him when he entered into him kingdom. Christ moved by compassion and sympathy and said ". . . Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43. Many throughout the centuries have woven this verse into their traditional conception of life after death. Let us not leap to a hasty conclusion, because haste makes us run ahead of the Holy Spirit, which is to guide us into all truth. What did Christ mean when he said " To day shalt thou be with me in paradise"? Did the thief on the cross go to heaven that very day? Christ did not go to heaven the day of his crucifixion. This is clear from what he said to Mary on the day of his ressurection "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father . . ." John 20:17. And his Father’s throne and abode is in paradise, Rev.2: 7; 22:1-2.

The elders of the Jews besought Pilate that their legs should be broken, because the Sabbath was drawing near and the two malefactors were still alive. Henry Feyerabend, commenting on John 19:31-32 gives a brief historical backgroud of the incident. He states: "why did the soldiers, break the legs of the thieves? Because they were still alive when the sun went down. They didn’t break the legs of Jesus because he was dead. The cross didn’t kill any of its victims Jesus died of a broken heart. According to the custom, the theiieves were taken down from the cross and dragged to the city dump where they where left to die of starvation and infection. The thief could not have gone to heaven that day because he did not die that day." Ibid. 132.

For those who believe the thief went to heaven the same day Christ was crucified, the facts prove otherwise. How could we explain this statement from Jesus: " To day shalt thou be with me in paradise." It is important to remember that the original text of the bible had no punctuations, the translators incorporated it. The decision was left to the translators to put the comma before or after "today". The decision was made to put the comma before "today", (the accent now being made to sound like the belief in continual life after death). Commas are not inspired, so the error was not with God, but with men.

Spirtualism is one of the sophistries of Satan, which he uses to frame God. In the beginning at the birth of time in the garden of Eden, where everything was peaceful and righeousness prevailed. Satan used the most subtle and stealthy creature to communicate his first dual lie to mankind. This dual lie is recorded in Genesis 3:4-5:

"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

These ancient lies were successful, man fell. These are the two most sophisticated lies that Satan uses for this present generation. It is sophisticated because Satan’s "ye shall not surely die" is presently kept alive through Christianity and the New Age Movement. Satan uses the New Age Movement to saturate the western world with his spiritualistic doctrines such as reincarnation, Necromancy, Telapathy, spirit guides etc. These beliefs in one form or another contain the ingredient of "ye shall not surely die". In the book Apologetics in the New Age, David K. Clark and Norman L. Geisler, documented Shakar in his deception as stating "that union with God is not something to be sought. It only needs to be realized since it is already true—it is "self-established." Each person contains the spark of the divine." Ibid. 120. This completes the satanic package for the New Age Movement, "ye shall be as gods." Most Christians will notice Shakara’s statement as New Age right off the back, because it is lucid! The majority of Christianity today have a little more discernment regarding the New Age. For this reason the devil brings his deception in a different guise. This dual lie is capsulated in the fallacious belief of the orthodox understanding of the state of the dead. Allow me to give an example, the bible teaches us that man is mortal:

"For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." 1 Corinthians 15:53-54.

Eternal life (immortality) is something that the bible cousels Christians to look forward to: "To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life." Romans 2:7.

"Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting." I Timothy 6:16.

Adam and Eve, had to partake of the tree of life to live, only then eternal life would be granted to them on account of their obedience to what God said in Genesis 2: 16,17. When they disobeyed God, they were denied access to the tree of life:

"And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." Genesis 3: 22-24.

This proves beyond a doubt that no part of man is immortal. To go contrary to these wonderful Scriptures is to say man is divine! This is what the Law and the testimony (Isa. 8:20) charge the Ortodox teaching as doing.

Now we come to the word (soul). This word mystifies so many Christians, causing them to be lead astray! What constitutes a soul? Is it an entity that comes out of your body at the point of death? To answer this important question we have to go to the book of Genesis and work our way up to the New Testament to see what constitutes a "soul". The bible emphatically states that the " . . . the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7. I hope you have taken note that the bible did not say that he gave man a "living soul" but he (man) became a "living soul." The biblical definition of the Soul is: = Ddust + plus Breath =equals Soul.

We could now take a look at 1 Thessalonians 5:23, which traditionalist use as proof for their doctrine. Paul writing to the Thessalonians states: "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Let us subtract the word spirit, soul and body from the bible and see if we are left with an erie entity that can wonder off to Heaven or Hell. The soul, which is the life of the individual at the point of death will "return unto God who gave it" (Ecclesiasted 12:7). Contrary to what most Evangelicals teach, the bible states: "The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence." Psalms 115:17. The Greek word for spirit is pneuma, which means the immaterial part of man, the mind, where our love, hatred and deciding takes place. According to Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 states that the spirit ceases to exist at death.

"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun."

We all know what happens to the body upon death! What are we left with? Dust! "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Romans 6:23; Ezekiel 18:20. Here are some other scriptures, that states the soul can die: Num. 15:30-31; Ps. 33:19; James 2:20; Acts 2:31.

After an intence discussion with a fellow Christian, he tried to escape the facts presented on the state of the dead. He asked this question, "does it matter what one believes on this subject?" My answer was yes! Why? Let me direct your minds to the the incident that took place just recently regarding the members of the Heavens Gate, where thirty-nine of its’ members committed mass suecide. Why? Because they all believed in life after death. It was stated publicaly that one of there beliefs was reincarnation (satans lie of life after death). Regardless of what they believed, satan played upon their ignorance! This is just another case of satans "ye shall not surely die" deception. If they had been taught the truth about the state of the dead, they might have escaped satans deceptions. Taking one’s life is wrong but it happens all the time because people really think they are going to go somewhere better. When you die it is too late to set things right with God. Satans crown success is to make people believe that this doctrine is not one of the great themes of the bible and it does not demand much of our attention. One prime example of this is Walter Martin a respected personage in the evagelical world who wrote the book, The Kingdom of The Cults where he stated:

"The question of soul sleep, however, should cause no serious division between Christians since it does not affect the foudational doctrines of the Christan faith or the salvation of the soul. It is merely an area of theological debate and has no direct bearing upon any of the great doctrines of the Bible. Ibid. 456.

If Walter Martin was alive, I would have liked to ask him regarding Pauls statement: "that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3). What did he mean by this? Did he mean some parts of our faith are more important than others? I believe that he meant that we should contend for the faith in general! We are admonished by Paul to "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." Ephesians 5:11.

I plead with you "Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines." Hebrews 13:9.

These are just a few of the great thinkers prominent throughout the centuries. The following people all believed in Conditional Immortality:

Thank you for taking the time to read this imformation. Please remember that I am open to hear your comments and will personally respond to your questions. Please feel free to contact me whether you agree or disagree. May God Bless all those who are sincere at heart!