spirits of the dead [do they speak & hear?] - by joe crews

7/28/2019 Spirits of the Dead [Do they speak & hear?] - By Joe Crews

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SPIRITS

OF THE

DEAD1. DO THEY SPEAK AND HEAR? ................. 2

2. THE SOUL CAN DIE ............................. 4

3. THE SPIRIT RETURNS TO GOD ............... 7

4. WHEN ARE THE RIGHTEOUS REWARDED? ... 14

5. DEATH IS A SLEEP .................................... 17

6. DO THE DEAD EVER RETURN? ................. 22

7. PUNISHMENT AND REWARDS

IN THE RESURRECTION ..................... 25

8. THE THIEF ON THE CROSS ...................... 29

Copyright 2003 byLu Ann Crews

All rights reserved.

Printed in the USA.

Published byAmazing Facts, Inc.

P. O. Box 1058Roseville, CA 95678-8058

Cover Design by Haley TrimmerLayout Design by Greg Solie


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1 DO THE Y SPEAK AND HEA R?

Alexander Bogomoletz, a Russian scientist,once said that a man should live to be atleast 150 years of age. He actually

prepared a serum that was designed to retard

the aging process of the connective tissues ofthe body. Unfortunately, the learned doctordied at the age of 64, just 86 years short of thegoal he had set for himself and for all mankind.And we still do not understand the mysteries oflife and death.

No one has yet discovered the fountain ofyouth, and neither has anyone been throughthat veil of death to return and tell us what it islike on the other side. The only authentic infor-mation we have on this subject is found in the

great book of God, the Bible. Here are unfoldedthe answers to questions which have troubledthe hearts of men and women down throughthe ages. Piercing through the froth of humanemotion and superstition, it will bring satisfy-ing assurance for those who fear the future andwho wonder what happens to the soul fiveminutes after death.

To introduce this subject, we must find theanswer to one great, basic question. If we cananswer it correctly, all the other questions

SPIRITS OF THE DEA D2

about death and the soul will open up likeflowers in the sun. The really important issue isthis: What kind of inherent nature does manpossess? How did God create him? Does hehave a mortal nature or an immortal nature?According to the dictionary, the word mortalmeans subject to death, and the word

immortal means not subject to death.Simply stated then, we are asking whether Godcreated man with a nature that could die orwith the power of an endless life.

The answer to this significant question isfound in Job 4:17, Shall mortal man be more

just than God? Shall a man be more pure thanhis maker? There is the word we are lookingfor! Man is mortal. He is subject to death. Goddid not make him without the capacity to dete-riorate and die. The fact is, only God has that

inherent power of eternal existence. He isimmortal. And the only time that word is usedin the Bible, it refers to God. Now unto theKing eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wiseGod, be honor and glory for ever and ever.Amen (1 Timothy 1:17).

The human family was not invested with anatural immortality. The Word of God assuresus that God alone has that kind of nature. He isthe author of life, the great source of allexistence. From Him every other life in the

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universe has been derived. King of kings, andLord of lords; Who only hath immortality,dwelling in the light which no man canapproach unto; whom no man hath seen, norcan see: to whom be honour and power ever-lasting. Amen (1 Timothy 6:15, 16).

At this point someone may raise another

question about the subject of immortality. Is itpossible that man has a mortal body but animmortal soul living in the tabernacle of flesh?Perhaps the real person is not the body at allbut the undying soul-entity dwelling within themortal body. We need not puzzle over thispoint, because it is concisely settled by anumber of Bible texts.

2 THE SOU L CAN DIE

God said, through the prophet, Behold, allsouls are mine: as the soul of the father,so also the soul of the son is mine: the

soul that sinneth, it shall die (Ezekiel 18:4).This firmly establishes that the soul is definite-ly not immortal by nature, or it could not expe-rience death. Since the word immortal meansnot subject to death, there could be noquestion of death for a soul possessing aninnate immortality. At least ten other verses


affirm exactly the same thing: the soul is notnaturally immortal.

Jesus, the great Master Teacher, declaredthat the soul could die, in Matthew 10:28.Andfear not them which kill the body ... but ratherfear him which is able to destroy both soul andbody in hell. By this clear statement, Christ

places the matter beyond all question. The soulcan die and will die in the fires of hell.Therefore, it cannot be immortal by nature.

This is shocking to a lot of people. The tra-ditional position has been exactly the oppositeof this. How upsetting it is to learn that in allthe 1700 biblical occurrences of the wordssoul and spirit not once are they referred toas being immortal or undying.

Where, then, did the doctrine come from?Most of us have heard about the soul that

never dies from our earliest years ofchildhood. One thing is certain: it did notoriginate in the Scriptures. The truth is that itcame directly from pagan tradition andmythology. The ancient Chinese ancestor-worship was rooted in the belief that the souldid not die. Egyptian pyramid hieroglyphicsreveal that the doctrine of a naturally immortalsoul was basic to their worship of the sun god.In India, where I lived for years, the Hindusbelieve strongly in reincarnation and transmi-



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entitled There Is No Death, by one ofAmericas most popular Protestant ministers.The great preacher said exactly the same thingthat the great deceiver said to Eve, You dontreally die at all. It may seem like death, but youreally keep on living and know more afterwardthan you did before.

Can that doctrine be dangerous? Indeed, itinvolves much more than just promulgating afalse statement. The implications of this satanicteaching are far-reaching and eternal in conse-quence. Millions will be lost because they donot understand the truth about the nature ofman. Deception on this point opens a doorwhich can flood the life with darkness andactual demon control. The only protection wewill ever have against this insidious danger is toknow the truth about death and the soul.

3 THE SPIRITRETURNS TO GOD

The clearest and most concise inspired def-inition of death was written by Solomon,Then shall the dust return to the earth as

it was: and the spirit shall return unto God whogave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

Immediately we are struck by the wordreturn. After death everything seems to go


gration of the soul. Darkest African voodooceremonies are built around the concept of anundying soul.

There is not one text that supports such ateaching in the Christian Bible; nevertheless, theWord does tell us how the doctrine got startedand who preached the first sermon on the

subject. Read Genesis 3:1-4, Now the serpentwas more subtile than any beast of the fieldwhich the LORD God had made. And he saidunto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shallnot eat of every tree of the garden? And thewoman said unto the serpent, We may eat of thefruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruitof the tree which is in the midst of the garden,God hath said,Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall

ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said untothe woman, Ye shall not surely die.

Please notice that somebody disagreedwith God. The Creator had declared that sinwould bring death, but Satan said the opposite,You will not really die. That was the firstgreat-granddaddy lie that was ever told, and theone who told it has been trying to uphold itever since. That original sermon on naturalimmortality has been repeated many timesthrough the years, often by preachers and the-ologians who ought to know better. A few yearsago the Readers Digest featured an article



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example, the Greek term for Holy Spirit isHagios pneumatos, Holy Breath or HolySpirit.

This brings us to a very interesting conclu-sion. The words breath and spirit are oftenused interchangeably in the Bible. Job said,Allthe while my breath is in me, and the spirit of

God is in my nostrils (Job 27:3). Now, itdoesnt take a high degree of intelligence toknow that Job was describing the same thing bythe words breath and spirit Man has onlybreath in his nostrils. In fact, that is what Godbreathed into mans nostrils at the time ofcreation. And the Lord God formed man ofthe dust of the ground, and breathed into hisnostrils the breath of life; and man became aliving soul (Genesis 2:7).

Now the picture begins to clear up. When

Solomon described the spirit returning to God,he had to be referring to the breath, becausethat was what God gave in the beginning, andtherefore, it was the only thing that could nowreturn to the One who gave it. The marginalnote for Genesis 7:22 refers to the breath of lifeas the breath of the spirit of life.

The psalmist describes death in thesewords,Thou takest away their breath, they die,and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thyspirit, they are created (Psalm 104:29, 30).


back from whence it came. The dust returns tothe earth from which it was taken, and thespirit returns to God who gave it. Death is justthe opposite of creation.

It is easy for us to picture the process ofbodily decay and decomposition. We under-stand very well that the physical components of

the body are the very same as the earth itself.When it is buried, the body reverts to thechemical elements of the ground from whichthe Creator took it in the beginning.

But what about the spirit which goes backto God? That is not so easy to understand.There is not a man in the world who canexplain it with human wisdom. Nevertheless,many verses in the Bible throw light on thiscrucial point. James wrote, For as the bodywithout the spirit is dead, so faith without

works is dead also (James 2:26). The wordspirit has a marginal reference which reads,or breath. This is very important. The actualroot word in the Greek is pneuma, a wordwhich means breath or air. We take ourEnglish word pneumonia from pneumabecause it is a disease of the lungs, or ofbreathing. We have pneumatic tires, alsoderived from pneuma, because they have air inthem. But that same Greek word pneuma alsohas another meaning. It means spirit. For



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Here the order is reversed, and their breathreturns to God at death. Solomon said the spiritreturns. Here God gives the spirit to create, butGenesis says He gave the breath to create. Itonly makes sense when we understand that thetwo words are used interchangeably and meanthe same thing.

Please take note that this spirit of life isnot necessarily the same as the Holy Spirit,neither is the breath of life the same as theregular air we breathe. This breath or spirit isthe special, life-giving power of God whichmakes the body a functioning organism. ReadGenesis 2:7 again, and try to visualize the act ofcreation. And the Lord God formed man ofthe dust of the ground. We have no difficultywith this. We can see that dead body, perfectlyformed and containing the very elements

necessary for life. But there was no life. Theheart wasnt beating. The blood was there, butit wasnt flowing. The brain was there, but itwasnt thinking.

Then God added one more thing to thebody He had made. He breathed into hisnostrils the breath of life, and man became aliving soul (Genesis 2:7). Do not miss the sig-nificance of these wordsthey are often mis-construed. God did not put a soul into thebody. He added only one thingbreath or


spirit. Then, as a result of the body and breathuniting, man BECAME a soul.

Millions have accepted the false, tradition-al view that God put a soul into the body tocreate man. This is based entirely upon thecommon, erroneous doctrine of all non-Christian religions. In the Bible, except in

poetical or allegorical usage, the soul does notgo in and out of the body; neither does it havean independent existence outside of the body.Because the Greek word psuche, meaninglife, has sometimes been translated as soulin our King James Version, some have drawnwrong conclusions; but only because they applya false definition to the word soul. Millionshave been taught that the soul possesses anatural immortality, and every time they reador hear the word they assume something that is

totally false and unbiblical. Not even one timein the Bible is the soul referred to as beingimmortal or undying.

The fact is, the soul is the conscious lifewhich resulted when God added the breath orspirit to the body. A simple illustration will helpus see this truth more clearly. Let us liken thebody to a light bulb. The electric currentflowing into that bulb represents the breath oflife which God put into the body, and the lightitself will represent the soul which man became



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after the breath joined the body. As we look atthe shining light we see a perfect representationof the completed creation. Now we press thebutton and turn the light off. What hashappened? The current has left the bulb, just asthe breath leaves the body at death. Now whereis the light? Did it go up into the electric socket?

No, it simply ceased to exist when the currentseparated from the bulb. Then let us ask, whereis the soul when the breath separates from thebody? There simply is no soul until, in the res-urrection, God restores the breath of life to thebody.

That should not sound so strange to us,now that we have discovered how everythingreturns at death to the way it was before.Before creation, man did not exist in some dis-embodied form. There was no personality, no

conscious emotions before God added thebreath to the body. At that moment manbecame a living soul. If the soul came to be asa result of that union, when does the soul ceaseto be? Surely as a result of the breaking of thatunion.

Suppose we have two things before us:boards and nails. We take a hammer and drivethe nails into the boards, making a box. Nowwe have three things instead of two; we haveboards, nails and a box. Later, we carefully pull


out the nails and lay them down beside theboards. Again, we have only two things beforeus: boards and nails. What happened to thebox? There is no box, because it requires thetwo things together to cause it to be.

In the same way God started with twothings, the body and the spirit. When He put

them together, the soul becameit came intobeing, it began to exist. At death, the wise mantells us, the spirit returns to God and the bodyreturns to dust. And nowhere in the Bible arewe told that any soul survives the body, orcontinues to exist without a body. The soul, orthe life, has no existence without the power ofGod residing in the body. At death that poweris removed; it returns to God; and the state ofthat man is exactly what it was before thebreath joined the body. That means no life, no

consciousness and no personality.Even animals are referred to as souls in theBible, because they have the same power fromGod to make them live (Revelation 16:3). Thewise man wrote, For that which befalleth thesons of men befalleth beasts; even one thingbefalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth theother, yea, they have all one breath; ... All gounto one place; all are of the dust, and all turnto dust again (Ecclesiastes 3:19, 20). This doesnot mean, of course, that man and animals



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have the same ultimate end. There will be a res-urrection and judgment for Gods moralcreatures, but life comes only from God,whether it be human or animal. And that life isoften referred to in the Bible as the soul.

4WHEN ARE THE R IGHTEOUS REWARDED?

With this background we are nowprepared to see what actually happensto the person who dies. In Peters

sermon on the day of Pentecost, he made thisstrong statement about David, who had beendead for over 1,000 years: For David is notascended into the heavens (Acts 2:34). Nowthink of this for a moment. David had long agodeparted this life, and though often wayward,

had received the assurance of forgiveness andsalvation. Why, then, was he not enjoying thebliss of heaven ten long centuries after hispassing? The question is answered in verse 29where Peter explains, Men and brethren, letme freely speak unto you of the patriarchDavid, that he is both dead and buried, and hissepulcher is with us unto this day.

The inspired Peter said David was right outthere in his grave, and had not yet ascended toheaven. How interesting! If the man after Gods


own heart had not received his reward 1,000years after death, what about all the other goodpeople who had lived and died up to that time?They, also, were resting in their graves, awaitingthe call of God in the resurrection.

Jesus assured the people of His day, ...thoushalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the

just (Luke 14:14). Again, He said, For the Sonof man shall come in the glory of his Father withhis angels; and then he shall reward every manaccording to his works (Matthew 16:27). Thereis no equivocation here. In simple, directlanguage Jesus declared that no one would berewarded until the resurrection takes place atHis second coming. This means that none of therighteous dead have gone to heaven so far. All arewaiting in their graves for the judgment and theend of the world. Almost the last words of the

Bible confirm this fact. And, behold, I comequickly; and my reward is with me, to give everyman according as his works shall be(Revelation22:12). This last-day reward is further describedby Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:53, ... and thismortal must put on immortality. When does ithappen? In a moment, in the twinkling of aneye, at the last trump (Verse 52).

This settles the issue about the reward ofthe righteous without any question, but whatabout the wicked? When will they be punished



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for their sins? The amazing answer is found in2 Peter 2:9, The Lord knoweth how to deliverthe godly out of temptations, and to reserve theunjust unto the day of judgment to bepunished. There it is! The wicked are reservedsomewhere until the day of judgment arrives.Where are they reserved? Jesus answers the

question, Marvel not at this: for the hour iscoming, in the which all that are in the gravesshall hear his voice, And shall come forth; theythat have done good, unto the resurrection oflife; and they that have done evil, unto the res-urrection of damnation (John 5:28, 29).

Our Lord made it exceedingly plain thateveryone would be reserved in their gravesuntil called forth in the resurrection to receiveeither life or damnation. Not only is this goodtheology, it is also good sense. Obviously, no

one can be punished until after they are judged.Justice demands that this be done. Even themost unjust earthly judge would be impeachedfor doing otherwise. Suppose a man camebefore the judge charged with stealing, and the

judge said, Put him away for ten years andthen we will hear his case. No! No! That couldnever be! And would the judge of all the earthdo so in dealing with the wicked? Never! The

judgment would be a farce in such a caseitwould have no meaning.


The wonderful message of the Bible is thatboth good and bad are sleeping in their gravesuntil the resurrection day. At that time they arebrought forth to face the judgment, after whichpunishments and rewards are assigned. Jobsaid,So man lieth down, and riseth not: till theheavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor

be raised out of their sleep. 0h that thouwouldest hide me in the grave, that thouwouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath bepast, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time,and remember me! If a man die, shall he liveagain? all the days of my appointed time will Iwait, till my change come. Thou shall call, andI will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to thework of thine hands (Job 14:12-15).

5DEATH IS A SLEEP

In harmony with all the rest of the Bible, Jobdescribes a period of unconscious sleep in thegrave before awaking to receive his reward. It

agrees with Daniel, who spoke of the coming ofChrist in these words, And at that time thypeople shall be delivered ... And many of themthat sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,some to everlasting life, and some to shame andeverlasting contempt (Daniel 12:1, 2).



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There is a reason that so many inspiredwriters speak of death as a sleep. It is a perfectdescription of the state of the dead. When atired man lies down at night he is immediatelywrapped in sleep. As far as he is concerned, thevery next moment he is awakened by the risingsun. He is totally unconscious of anything that

transpired while he slept. So it is with the sleepof death.Lazarus had died. Jesus said to His

disciples, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but Igo, that I may awake him out of sleep. Thensaid his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall dowell. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but theythought that he had spoken of taking of rest insleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly,Lazarus is dead (John 11:11-14).

Here is a classic example of the true Bible

teaching about death. Christ called death asleep. Later, He stood by the rock-hewnsepulchre of His friend and cried out, Lazarus,come forth! He did not say, Lazarus, comedown. Lazarus was not up in heaven, nor washe anywhere else, except inside the walls of histomb. In response to the call of Jesus, he awokefrom his sleep of death and walked out into thesunlight.

Many exaggerated tales have circulatedabout people who came back from the dead,


but this is the most authentic story on record.There is absolutely no doubt that Lazarus hadbeen deal for four days. His sisters protestedwhen Jesus ordered the stone to be rolled awayfrom the door. Martha said, ... Lord, by thistime he stinketh (John 11:39).

Most modern accounts of patients who

resuscitate from heart failure include dramaticrecitals of glorious views of heaven. What didthis righteous man have to say about his fourdays of death? Did he report celestial visions ofheavenly reward? Not a word. He had beenasleep, just as Jesus had indicated. It had beenlike a moment of oblivion.

By the way, what kind of unspeakable pun-ishment would it have been to bring Lazarusback into this dark world after being in thepresence of God? Surely he would have begged

not to return, had he truly been enjoying therewards of the righteous. A resumption ofearthly life would have been worse than thehorror of hell in comparison to ninety-sixhours in Paradise. Certainly our Lord wouldnever have been guilty of playing such a trickon His friend Lazarus.

Why do we find it difficult to believe thesimple terminology that Jesus used in describingdeath? Certainly we have no problem in under-standing the nature of sleep. Suppose a man lies



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fast asleep on a park bench. So soundly does hesleep that he is totally unaware of the stealthyapproach of an attacker. In another moment helies dead in a pool of blood. Now, according tothe popular view of death, this man who knewnothing while he was sleeping, suddenly knowseverything as his soul leaves his body. But how

could that be true? Jesus said death is a sleep. Ifthe man knew nothing while sleeping, howcould he know any more after death? Christswords would have no meaning if we twist themto mean whatever we want to believe.

We are not left to wonder about the natureof this death-sleep. Many Bible writers givedetailed explanations of what it is like. Put not

your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, inwhom there is no help. His breath goeth forth,he returneth to his earth; in that very day his

thoughts perish (Psalm 146:3, 4).Out of all the puzzling aspects of deathwhich could be discussed, the inspired writersmost often talked about the unconsciousnature of it. Never once do we find any of theexciting descriptions of life after death whichmark the modern version of the doctrine.Theology has adopted its teaching directlyfrom the pleasing forms of pagan worship.David said, He returneth to his earth; in thatvery day his thoughts perish.


Solomon wrote, For the living know thatthey shall die: but the dead know not anything,neither have they any more a reward; for thememory of them is forgotten. Also their love,and their hatred, and their envy, is nowperished; neither have they any more a portionfor ever in anything that is done under the

sun... Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do itwith thy might; for there is no work, nor device,nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave,whither thou goest (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10).

If one deliberately tried to producestronger words and expressions to support atotally dreamless sleep in death, he would behard put to match these words of the wise man.Just suppose for a moment that the sameforceful statements were made to assert con-sciousness after death. In other words, suppose

Solomon had said, Their love, and theirhatred, and their envy will continue.., for thereis work and knowledge and wisdom in thegrave whither thou goest. Such an unambigu-ous statement would rightly be the end of alldebate on the subject. Who could argue with it?

But here is the incredible truth! Not onlydoes the Bible contain no such statement, but itrepeatedly declares the opposite! Yet peoplecontinue to believe only what they want tobelieve. Passing over the explicit verses given by



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numerous inspired authors, which tell the truthabout death, multitudes blindly follow emptytraditions learned from parents or pastor.

Again we read,For the grave cannot praisethee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that godown into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I

do this day (Isaiah 38:18, 19). Would not therighteous dead praise God if they were usheredinto heaven at their death? David repeats thesame timeless truth, The dead praise not theLord, neither any that go down into silence(Psalm 115:17). For in death there is noremembrance of thee: in the grave who shallgive thee thanks? (Psalm 6:5).

6 DO THE DEA D EVE R RETURN?

Why do so many resist the obviousimport of these biblical statements?Strong traditional biases may be part of

the answer, but there is much more involved.Many sincerely believe that they have physical,eye-witness proof that the dead doreturn. Theyhave the witness of their own senses that theyhave actually conversed with departed lovedones. What can be said about these manifesta-tions? They can give the place, date and hour


when they were confronted by dead relatives orfriends in exactly the same form as when theylived.

Shall we discount all such psychic appear-ances as mental aberrations of emotional,unstable individuals? Hardly. The fact is thatforms do appear, and they have been verified

countless times. But on the basis of the infalli-ble Word of God we can categorically rejectthem as being the spirits of the dead. The deadcannot return; neither do they have any postmortem existence in any conscious, living formwhatsoever.

Then who is appearing in these bodilyforms and making lying claims in the name ofthe innocent dead? Who else but the father oflies who built his first deception around theissue of death? He boldly contradicted God

when he said to Eve, Ye shall NOT surely die.When death did follow, Satan tried to make thesurvivors believe it was only an illusion. Byimpersonating those who died, Satan haspersuaded millions that he was right and Godwas wrong. Accepting the testimony of theireyes and ears above the testimony of the Bible,many have become expert in calling up thespirits in seances.

Often Satan exploits the grief of those whohave lost relatives and tries to draw them into



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his spiritualistic snare by pretending to be theirown special loved one. What an overwhelmingdelusion! Only those who have fortified theirminds with the truths of the Bible will be ableto stand against this type of attack.

Let me share with you an incredibleexample of Satans mode of operation. A dear

friend of mine served for many years as a mis-sionary in Africa. While he and his wife wereliving in an isolated mission station, theirthree-year-old daughter was struck down by afatal tropical fever. They buried the little girl ona hillside across from their home. A few daysafter the funeral the mother was sitting in herkitchen when the door burst open, and herlittle daughter ran across the room to flingherself into her mothers arms. Can you picture

yourself under that kind of traumatic horror?

And to top it all, the little girl cried out,Mommy, Im not dead! Im not dead!Fortunately, that mother knew the Bible

truth about death, and God gave her the powerto pray instantly for deliverance from thatSatanic masquerade. When she called on thename of Jesus, the form disappeared.

Is this an exceptional case? Unfortunately.no. Experiences like this have been repeatedover and over again. Doubtless there are somecharlatans who create their own illusions, but


we have to recognize that very often the princeof all evil is manipulating the minds of peopleby his supernatural expertise in deceit.

Think of the implications of this for amoment! Millions have literally submitted theirlives to the control of demons believing thatthey were being advised by loving relatives.

Cant you see the monstrous irony of thesituation? And cant you see how easily Satancan even start controlling the lives of Christianswho have not understood the true Bibleteaching about death? The only safety foranyone is the Word of God. Yet the stage is setfor the majority of Catholics and Protestants tobe swept away by the final manifestation ofSatanic powerall because they have beentaught a lie about the state of the dead.

7PUNISHMENT & REWARDS IN THE RESURRECTION

Consider how confusing it would be ifrewards and punishments are now beingapplied. What purpose would be served

by a resurrection? Why even have a resurrec-tion? Obviously each soul would already have adetermined fate, and the farce of some make-believe final judgment would be totally mean-ingless. All the pious assurances heard at



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funerals about loved ones in heaven are simplyrepetitions of Satans first lie to the humanfamily. The portrayal of imaginary, immaterialsouls flying away from the body at death is nota source of comfort to grieving relatives. Pauldescribed the time when the righteous deadwill be with the Lord in 1 Thessalonians 4; 16-

18, and concluded with these words,Wherefore comfort one another with thesewords.

Here is a perfect, inspired picture of truecomfort, and we need to understand clearlywhat word Paul was referring to that wouldbring such comfort. The two previous versesgive us the words, For the Lord himself shalldescend from heaven with a shout, with thevoice of the archangel, and with the trump ofGod: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

Then we which are alive and remain shall becaught up together with them in the clouds, tomeet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever bewith the Lord.

Paul here describes without any limitationthe way and means by which we go to be withthe Lord. Dont overlook the word so in hisstatement. It means in this way. By that littleword Paul precluded every other way of beingwith the Lord. When he described the comingof Jesus and the resurrection of the saints as


being the manner and means of being with theLord, he automatically excluded all othermeans of doing it. Then he admonishes us tocomfort one another with these words.

I repeat that there can be no comfort in thepseudo-Christian concept that some invisible,intangible entity leaves the body at death to be

punished or rewarded. Is it reassuring tobelieve that unsaved relatives are suffering thetorment of unquenchable fire? Is there solace inthe picture of loved ones looking down fromheaven upon the heart-breaking circumstancesof those left behind? No wonder Paul was sospecific in describing the second advent ofJesus and resurrection as the only way anyonecan be with the Lord after death and, inciden-tally, as the only way to be comforted at theirdeparture.

Pauls magnificent declaration points upthe glorious fact that death and the grave arenot the end. There will be an awakening fromthe sleep of death. The righteous will receivethe gift of immortality, but it will all happen Ina moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the lasttrump: for the trumpet shall sound, and thedead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shallbe changed. For this corruptible must put onincorruption, and this mortal must put onimmortality (1 Corinthians 15:52, 53). Jesus



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said, Marvel not at this, for the hour is comingin the which all that are in the graves shall hearhis voice, And shall come forth; they that havedone good, unto the resurrection of life; andthey that have done evil, unto the resurrectionof damnation (John 5:28, 29).

All the dead will rise to face the great

decrees of the judgment. Whether they went tosleep 1,000 years ago, or five minutes beforeJesus appears, it will seem as only a fraction ofa second.

Some have questioned the way in whichChrist can restore the broken, decayed bodies ofall the deceased of past ages. Some were blownto bits in explosions, others were burned up infires, and many went down into the depths ofthe sea. Will it be any problem for the mightyCreator of life to bring back every soul and

restore each personality? None whatsoever. Hewho numbers the hairs of our head and countsthe sparrows in the sky will have no difficulty inrestoring the identity of each individual.

We may not be able to understand theprocess, but we can believe in it anyway. Thereare many things, such as television andcomputers, which are mysteries to the averageperson who benefits from them, but thatdoesnt keep us from believing in them. If mostof us are baffled by the complexity of common


electronics, we should not expect to grasp thesecrets of resurrection power. Nevertheless, wecan have complete faith that God can and willrestore life to all the dead.

8 THE THIEF ON THE CROSS

Now let us look at one of the chief objec-tions which has been raised against theBible doctrine of death and the soul.

There are a few ambiguous texts which can beunderstood only as they are viewed in the lightof all the other verses on the subject. Oneexample of this is found in the experience ofthe thief on the cross. At first glance it seemsthat Jesus was telling the dying criminal that hewould go to heaven on the very same day he

died.In the context, the thief asked Jesus, in thelast moments of his life, Lord, remember mewhen thou comest into thy kingdom. AndJesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise (Luke23:42, 43).

Does this contradict all the other verses wehave read on this subject? It certainly sounds asthough Jesus and the thief would go that veryday into Gods presence. Lets allow other texts



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to clear up the mystery. Three days after hespoke to the repentant thief, Jesus met Marynear the open tomb. As she fell to worship atHis feet Jesus said,Touch me not; for I am not

yet ascended to my Father: but go to mybrethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto myFather, and your Father; and to my God, and

your God (John 20:17).This statement of Jesus brings us to apuzzling enigma. If He had not yet gone toheaven, how could He have assured the thiefthree days earlier that they would go theretogether that same day? And please take notethat Paradise and the Fathers throne are in thevery same place. John said the tree of life waslocated in the midst of the paradise of God(Revelation 2:7). Then in Revelation 22:2 heexplained that the tree overarched the river of

life, which in turn, flowed out from the throneof God. This definitely places Gods presence inParadise. Obviously, if Jesus had not gone toHis Father by the time He was resurrected Hecould not have ascended on the day He diedthree days earlier.

This mystery is cleared quickly when weconsider the context of Luke 23:43. We have tobe aware that the original manuscripts of theBible were written in one continuous line ofscript. There was no separation of words,


sentences, verses, or chapters. In 1611 when theKing James Version was translated, scholarsseparated the words, inserted punctuationmarks, and divided the script into verses andchapters. These men were not inspired,although they generally did a tremendous workin their assigned task. By necessity they had to

put in commas often to give meaning to thetranslated words. In Luke 23:43 they added acomma before the word today, which makesJesus say, Verily I say unto thee, today shaltthou be with me in paradise.

In this instance the comma should havebeen placed after the word today instead ofbefore it. Then the sentence would read,VerilyI say unto thee today, Thou shalt be with me inparadise. This would bring the record intoperfect harmony with all the rest of the Bible.

In other words, Jesus was saying to thethief, I give you the assurance todaywhen itseems that I can save no one, when my owndisciples have forsaken me and I am dying as acondemned felonI give you the assurancetoday that you will be with me in Paradise.

Is this tampering with the sacred record?No. The translators were no more divinelyinspired than we are. Only the original authorswere inspired. Placing the comma after theword today is just as true to the original text



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as placing it before the word. The only differ-ence is that one way brings total harmony inthe scriptures and the other brings hopelesscontradiction. It takes no supernatural insightto decide which place is correct for the comma.

Keep in mind that the thief was only askingto be remembered when Jesus came into His

kingdom. He did not request any reward onthat day of his approaching death. In the samevein, we find the great apostle to the Gentilesanticipating his departing this life, For I amnow ready to be offered, and the time of mydeparture is at hand. I have fought a good fight,I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.HENCEFORTH there is LAID UP for me acrown of righteousness, which the Lord, therighteous judge, shall give me AT THAT DAY:and not to me only, but unto all them also that

love HIS APPEARING (2 Timothy 4:6-8).Just as the receptive thief and the anointedPaul both focused their hope of eternal rewardupon the coming of Christs kingdom, so maywe also be remembered in that day.

SPIRITS OF THE DEA D32Library of Sermons

1. Armageddon2. Can a Saved Man Choose to Be Lost?3. Does Gods Grace Blot Out the Law?4. Hidden Eyes and Closed Ears5. How Evolution Flunked the Science Test6. Is It Easier to Be Saved or to Be Lost?7. Mans Flicker or Gods Flame

8. Satan in Chains9. Satans Confusing Counterfeits

10. Spirits From Other Worlds11. Thieves in the Church12. Why God Said Remember13. Why the Old Covenant Failed14. The High Cost of the Cross15. Hell-Fire16. Is It Possible to Live Without Sinning?17. Blood Behind the Veil18. Spirits of the Dead19. The Brook Dried Up20. Death in the Kitchen21. The Search for the True Church22. Is It a Sin to Be Tempted?23. Is Sunday Really Sacred?24. Heaven ... Is It for Real?25. Rendezvous in Space26. Christs Human Nature27. Point of No Return28. The Rich Man and Lazarus

For more great resources, visit us at

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spirits of the dead [do they speak & hear?] - by joe crews

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