A LOOK AT LIFE AFTER DEATH.

Read the two following passages:

"So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.  For we walk by faith, not by sight.  We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."  (2 Corinthians 5:6‑8)

and

"I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; (Philippians 1:23)

Compare those passages with the following:

 

But man dies and is laid away;

Indeed, he breathes his last

And where is he?

 

As water disappears from the seas

And a river becomes parched and dries up,

So man lies down and does not rise.

 

Till the heavens are no more,

They will not awake

Nor be roused from their sleep.

 

"Oh, that You would hide me in the grave,

That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past,

That You would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

If a man dies, shall he live again?

 

All the days of my hard service I will wait,

Till my change comes.

You shall call, and I will answer You;

You shall desire the work of Your hands.  (Job 14:10‑15)

Job, the writer of the second passage, was lamenting his life and basically wishing that God would let him die.  Job knew that in death he would be unconscious and would not feel any of the pain he was feeling in his present life.  This passage is interesting because it doesn't say anything about Job going to heaven or to the hell.

 

Job, through the inspiration of God, was talking about what happens when a person dies.  In fact, the passage tells us that Job knew about a future resurrection.  Job clearly says that a ". . . man dies and is laid away . . . he breathes his last . . . As the water disappears from the sea, And the river becomes parched and dries up, so man lies down and does not rise."  Job goes on to tell us that it will be at the resurrection when he, along with others ". . . would be roused from their sleep."  Job asks God to ". . . hide [him] in the grave, That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past . . .".  Job wanted God to hide him in the grave or, "sheol" as the ancient Hebrews called it.  Job is simply asking God to let him die and that God ". . . would appoint . . . [him] . . . a set time . . ." when Job would be resurrected from his grave.   ". . . You shall call, and I will answer you . . .".  


Job knew that his resurrection would be sometime in the future.  Job knew that when he died, "As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, so he who goes down to the grave does not come up."  [Job 7:9].  He likens his death to a cloud that ". . . disappears and vanishes away . . .", just as man does when he dies and goes to the grave, he is no more.  When man dies he is not off someplace else, he very simply just ". . .. disappears and vanishes away. . .". 

Job likens death to sleep.  He says “. . .  man dies and is laid away . . . (t)hey will not awake(n) or be roused from their sleep.”  When a person is asleep they are not aware of anything around them. 

 

This passage is an indication of man’s state of being after he dies.

 

 



SPIRITUALISM AND THE BIBLE - LIFE AFTER DEATH.

SPIRITUALISM AND THE BIBLE – LIFE AFTER DEATH.

 

 

“Spiritualism is the belief or doctrine that the spirits of the dead, surviving after the mortal life, can and do communicate with the living, especially through a person (a medium) particularly susceptible to their influence.” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/spiritualism).

Satan uses many successful agencies in order to seduce man and spiritualism is one of these delusive teachings.  The belief that spirits of the dead can return and/or communicate with the living is a sacred channel through which Satan works to accomplish his purpose.  The fallen angels who do Satan’s bidding appear as messengers. 

Satan has the power to bring before men what appears to be their departed friends.  His counterfeits are perfect in familiarity as far as looks, words, tone and demeanor.  Satan comforts many with the false assurance that their loved ones are enjoying bliss in heaven and he does this without any suspicion of danger.  Men give ear “…to the seducing spirits and doctrines of devils”. (1 Timothy 4:1).

The these fallen spirits sometimes utter cautions and warnings which prove to be correct.  They build confidence and then they present doctrines, by leading people to misinterpret scriptures, which actually undermines the scriptures.  They state some truths and this gives their statements the appearance of reliability and the false teachings are believed as implicitly as if they were the most sacred truths of the Bible.

He contradicts what the apostles wrote as documented in the Bible and in this way he denies the truth of the Holy Spirit and the divine origin of the Bible.  In this way Satan tears away the foundation of the Christian’s hope for eternal life and puts out the truth that reveals the only path to salvation.  This is ultimately Satan’s goal.  The same way Satan tried to exalt himself…

“For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:” (Isaiah 14:13).

…and lost his place in heaven, he is now trying to do the same thing to mankind.

Satan misleads people by exciting the ambition for self-exaltation.  In the place of righteousness and perfection of the infinite God, he has substituted the sinful, erring nature of man himself as the rule of judgement, standard, and character.  Instead of progressing upward toward the likeness of God, man is descending downward.

Spiritualism professes to teach Christ and the Bible.  The problem is, the Bible is interpreted in a manner that is pleasing to the ears of unrepentant men with un-renewed hearts.  Love is upheld as the chief attribute of God, but it is degraded with a weak sentimentalism and does not make a distinction between what God and Jesus Christ view as good and evil.  God’s denunciations of sin, the requirements of His holy law and His justice are all kept out of site.

Satan, as sure as the sunrises in the east, is preparing for his final effort to deceive the world.  He laid the foundation when he assured Eve in the garden “In the day ye eat thereof, then you surely not die.  In the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as good as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5-5).  


God never intended man to determine "good and evil".  That is why he told Adam and Eve, (...Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."  (Genesis 2:16-17). 

 

FOR MORE ON BIBLICAL TRUTH CLICK HERE.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT LIFE AFTER DEATH?

 

The Bible does not contradict itself and the word of God does not lie.  The scriptures all have to support each other in what they mean.

King Solomon wrote:

“So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them.  All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.

“As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them.  This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun:

“The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.  Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

“For the living know that they will die but the dead know nothing.  They have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 9:1-6).

After we die, we do not either go to heaven, hell or somewhere else to continue to live on as a conscious being until the time when Jesus passes judgment.  When we die, we no longer exist in any conscious form, we simply "...return to dust".

Daniel 12:2 says “…those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awaken.” Explaining the present condition of the dead, they are asleep, not aware of what is going on.  Solomon explains “For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them:  as one dies, so does the other…All go to one place:  all are from dust, and all return to dust.”  (Ecclesiastes 3:19-20).

Job wrote, “man comes forth like a flower and fades away; he flees like a shadow and does not continue” (Job 14:2).  “Since his days are determined, the number of his months are with you; you have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass” (Job 14:5).  

Job goes on to note the stark reality of death when he wrote, “So man lies down and does not rise.  Till the heavens and earths are no more, they will not awake or be aroused from their sleep” (Job 14:12).  Job wrote about the complete absence of consciousness in death.

I do believe that there is both eternal and immortal life, just not the way most Christians define it.