Life is?? #258 Immortal or "Life After Death"? part 1 of 2
** Danger to ALL Who Believe in "Life After Death" or Immortality of the SoulIn an instant, death was defeated by the greatest sacrifice in all eternity. Dare we - even for an instant - lose sight of what has been done for us? I pray not. **
Date: 3/26/2018
Only God is Immortal - Mankind is NOT Immortal
Christ Will Soon Return for His Faithful- Let Us All Be Ready
By Ron Wyatt & Kevin Fisher
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Some have said be are immortal beings who will live forever. But notice this text that say there is only One who has immortality:
1 Timothy 6:14 ... our Lord Jesus Christ 15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, 16 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 honor and power everlasting. Amen.
Job 14:14 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. 15 Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee, thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands....
Notice friend in the following text, in this clear, black and white quote (It is not vague, and it cannot be interpreted two different ways), when we go to the grave and we do not know anything:
Ecclesiastes 9: I0 Whatsoever thy hand finds to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goes.
Notice what happens to our thoughts when we die:
Psalms 146:4 His breath goes forth, he returns to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
What happens to the soul than sins?
Ezekiel 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine, as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins, it shall die.... 20 ... The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
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The FIRST Deception - Man is Immortal
Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.
This lie by Satan caused Adam and Eve's fall. It has caused the destruction of billions down through the ages, and will yet bring about the destruction of billions now living upon the earth.
God has told us how much the dead actually know:
Ecclesiastes 9:5 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. 6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished,, neither have they any more a portion forever in any thing that is done under the sun.... 10 Whatsoever thy hand finds to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goes.
At the second coming, the Lord will call, and we will be changed in a moment, and will answer Him:
Job 14:14 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. 15 Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands ... 20 Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passes: thou changes his countenance, and sends him away. 21 His sons come to honor, and he knows it not, and they are brought low, but he perceive it not of them.
At the latter day our Redeemer will stand on the earth, and in our NEW flesh we will see Him:
Job 19:25 For I know that my redeemer lives, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: 26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: 27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
THESE STATEMENTS CLEARLY INFORM US THAT THE SOUL AND BODY ARE UNCONSCIOUS DURING DEATH. Remember, God never "alters the thing that has gone out of My lips."
What About Being Absent From The Body?
We need not be confused by what Paul (by divine inspiration) says in:
2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
This is a grey text that could be taken one of two ways. First we could assume Paul meant when we die we immediately go to heaven, which would be contrary to the rest of the Bible
(such as Ecc. 9:5,6,10 that we read earlier which is a clear, black and white statement that "the dead know not anything", 50 times in the Bible it is said the dead sleep).
Or second, we could interpret it as meaning when a Christian (in word and deed) dies, their next conscious moment will be at the resurrection of the just, when they awake from their sleep. The moment they receive their new body will be at the resurrection when they will then be with the Lord.
Notice in the following text how the dead and the living will all meet the Lord at the same time, at Christ's return to this earth:
I Thessalonians 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 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. 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
This unawareness of the passage of time is demonstrated by people who have been in a coma from a head injury, or any one of us who have gone to sleep tired and been awakened in what seemed to us seconds, but was in fact several hours. Also, people who are anesthetized for surgery have no awareness of the passage of time, if well anesthetized.
Remember- God never "alters the thing that has gone out of My lips."
The Thief on The Cross
You may ask about the thief on the cross who was told by Jesus, "Verily I say unto thee, today you will be with me in paradise" Mark 23:43. We should note that the punctuation in the Bible was added around 1000 AD, when the comma in this text was placed by men. What if the comma after "thee" was placed after the word "today?" It would read, "Verily I say unto thee today, you will be with me in paradise."
Meaning, this day I am saying, you will be with me in paradise some day. There are two reasons why the latter interpretation is correct. First, for Christ to have meant He was going to heaven at His death would mean He is saying something contrary to the rest of the Bible. Second, on Sunday morning he said to Mary, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father" John 20:17. Jesus did not go to heaven Friday at His death. He was asleep in the grave, awaiting His resurrection.
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The Death and Resurrection of Lazarus
What about Lazarus who was sick, but died before Christ made it to his home? He died and was resurrected several days later.
John 11:11-14, 23-24 "'Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.' Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death; but they thought that he had spoken of taking rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead.'...Jesus saith unto her [Martha], 'Thy brother shall rise again.' Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day"
Notice Jesus called death a sleep and Martha knew that Lazarus would sleep until the last day of this earth. Also, did Lazarus ever speak of being in heaven?
What about Saul Consulting a Medium and Speaking to Samuel?
Is this proof of the dead communicating with us? Let's take a look at the scripture.
I Samuel 28:3 "Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented for him and buried him in Ramah, in his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the spiritists out of the land."
Notice how the mediums and spiritists had not been wanted in the area and were removed from the area. These people are like today's palm readers or seance leaders, who do the work of spiritulism. God condemned them in Lev. 20:27 "A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death."
I Samuel 28:6 "And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets."
God was not communicating with Saul who was in need of an answer. It may have been because Saul was out of touch with God at this point. He had murdered the priests at the tabernacle of Nob, and had deliberately refused to wait for God's counsel at Gilgal (13:8-14).
Notice that he resorted to seeking information from a source he had earlier condemned. He was following heathen superstition by calling on the supposed spirits of the dead for help. Saul had long been troubled by evil spirits and was now at their mercy (16:14-16).
I Samuel 28:8 "Then Saul said to his servants, 'Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.' And his servants said to him, 'In fact, there is a woman who is a medium at
En Dor."
Notice what happens in the seance.
I Samuel 28:11-13 "...bring up Samuel for me....What did you see? And the woman said to Saul, 'I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth.' Notice here how the woman sees the spirit came out of the earth, not from heaven. How could the woman actually see Samuel when Jesus has told us that He has gone to prepare a place for us, and will "come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." John 14:1-3. Samuel is asleep in his grave awaiting Christ's return.
I Samuel 28:15 "Now Samuel said to Saul, 'Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up.'" Here the narrative calls the being Samuel, but in reality it was Satan personating Samuel.
We cannot believe an encounter between two people out of the will of God, Saul and the medium, would produce something from Him. This entire encounter was from the spirit of darkness.
Leviticus. 20:6 "And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people."
The Rich Man and Lazarus
In Luke 16:19-31 we find this story which is called a parable in most Bibles, of a rich man and a poor man named Lazarus who are both faced with their respective rewards, life or death. The rich man is in Hades looking over to Lazarus who was flown by angels to Abraham's bosom.
This is a parable designed to meet the Jews in their thinking, focusing upon Abraham, while conveying the importance of our individual rewards. In many ways, it represented the state of the Jewish nation and the Pharisees who had rejected God in their richness, while having no compassion for the poor. The Jews were erring in thinking they would be saved merely by their lineage of Abraham and not upon character.
The old testament does not speak of life immediately after death, but Judaism at this time had come up with the theory of a conscious state between death and the resurrection and Christ used this parable to convey His point. The parable contains props which are not based upon biblical teachings, such as those suffering torment look over to those in heaven, the saved laying on Abraham's bosom, etc.
Jesus' own statements contradict any supposition that the parable of the rich man and Lazarus is literal, such as, "The Son of man shall . . . reward every man according to his works" when He "shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels." (Matt. 16:27; 25:31-41;
1 Corinthians. 15:51-55;
1 Thess. 4:16, 17;
Rev. 22:12, etc.)
What is the Soul?
Is it a separate spirit apart from the body or is it a living person? Notice what makes a living soul:
Genesis 2:7 "And 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."
There has to be a body which has the breath of life given by God, in order for man to become a living soul. Our spirit is our breathe, which God breathes into us making us a living soul. The act of recreating our soul by uniting our body with the breath God gives us will again take place at the resurrection for those who are faithful.
Those who live during the last days of this earth, you and I possibly, will be tempted by the false Christ. His evil angels will personate our deceased loved-ones who will be telling us that Christ has changed His Ten Commandment Law.
The idea of living forever, even in a ghost-like state, originated by Satan and has been promoted by spiritualists.
Revelation 16.13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet 14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
Revelation 3: 10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. 11 Behold, I come quickly. hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Does our "spirit" go to heaven after death?
Do we enter a ghost-like state after we die? Do we then go to heaven as a spirit?
Most people will say that our "spirit" goes to heaven after we die, and we continue living in a conscious state in heaven, much like a spirit. Then when the resurrection comes, we are reunited with a new body on earth.
Let's take a look at the word "spirit" as it is used in a text provided to me by someone who believes we are immortal. Ecclesiastes 12:7 "Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it." In order to understand this text, we have to look up the meaning of the Hebrew word for spirit. It is Strongs' word number 7307 "ruwach (roo'-akh) wind; by resemblance breath, i.e. a sensible (or even violent) exhalation." So the Bible says in Eccl. 12:7 that our body will return to the earth, and our breath will return to God. Notice how this is reverse to our creation, Genesis 2:7 "And 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 being [soul]."
So when we die, the reverse of creation takes place, where our breath goes back to God. Nowhere in the Bible does it say we become a ghost in heaven after we die.
The only time we are conscious, is when we have a body. A body plus the breath of God = a living soul. When we get our new bodies at the second coming, we will again be conscious, as God will again breathe into us the breath of life, but this time it will be eternal!!!
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End of part 1 see continued in part 2 **
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