ThouShalt Surely

Die

Written in 1978

byG. Marsh Hilbourne

Michael T. Wark

Edited bySheldon Emry

Made available by:

The Sheldon Emry Memorial Librarywww.sheldonemrylibrary.com

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INTRODUCTION

Ministers, evangelists, authors ofbooks about the Bible, doctors, scientists,philosophers, spokesmen for religionsother than the Christian religion, and pro-fessing atheists have written or spokenmillions of words over the centuries on thesubject of death.

Some say they are teaching what theBible says; some say they don't believewhat the Bible says; and others ignore theBible.

If you believe that life is your most pre-cious possession, and that death will even-tually rob you of it, then we believe youwill be interested, not in what man saysabout death, but in what God, the authorof life, has to say about it.

God's Word on this subject, as on allothers, is Truth; it is important; it is ever-lasting and unchangeable.

For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled inheaven. (Ps. 119:89)

. . . for thou hast magnified thy wordabove all thy name. (Ps. 138:2)

. . . yea, let God be true, but [eventhough this should make] every mana liar. (Rom. 3:4)

To the law and to the testimony: ifthey speak not according to this word,it is because there is no light [con-cerning this matter] in them. (Is. 8:20)

This book was written for those whowill sit down and quietly and diligentlyfollow a presentation of what God's Wordsays on this subject which touches everyliving creature. We ask that you examinethe arguments and conclusions closely; forwhat a man believes about death has agreat effect on what he does with his life.

SECTION ONE:WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES

DEATH: FRIEND? OR FOE?

Is death an enemy of man? Or is deatha great friend, especially to ailing or agedpersons? What is death? Is it the absenceof life? Or is it a continuance of life on adifferent plane or in a different location?

It is common to say of loved ones whohave died: “They have gone to be with theLord.” At funeral services ministers tellthe people: “Our beloved brother is nothere; he is in heaven. These bodilyremains are but the tenement of clay inwhich he lived while on earth. Though wewill greatly miss him, he is now in thatfair land where all tears are wiped awayand no sorrows ever come. Some glad daywe will be reunited with him.”

What he has said is that the man him-self did not really die, but that he merelypassed to another state of existence, leav-ing his dead body for the living to bury.

In that view, death can be defined sim-ply as a different kind of life, and we neednot fear death, because in reality there isno death of ourselves, only the death ofour body.

Strangely enough, upon being badlyinjured or taken seriously ill, most whoprofess to believe this will do everythingin their power to keep from dying! Theywill employ expensive medical assistance,perhaps even going into debt to pay for it;they will pray and solicit the prayers ofothers that they might be healed and socontinue to live. Many travel hundreds orthousands of miles, often with great diffi-culty and expense, to request prayer fromsome “healing” evangelist.

Although they may not realize it, bythese actions they are demonstrating a

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lack of faith in what they profess tobelieve about dying. According to theirown stated belief in what will happen tothem if their body dies, they will enterinto “heaven” to be in the very presence ofJesus Christ. What experience in a contin-ued life on earth could compare with theirlife after death? Why would any whobelieve this want to postpone such a bless-ing? Why should friends or relatives praythat God would keep the injured or ill onefrom his most glorious reward by main-taining him in life upon the earth?

Quite obviously there is an inconsis-tency between what they claim to believeand what they really seem to believe astestified by their actions.

The inconsistency in part is that,although they may claim to believe thatdeath is a friend, when death actuallyapproaches, they cannot help but treatdeath as an enemy.Is this because they know, deep down intheir innermost being, that God is rightwhen he says death is not a friend to man,but an enemy?

The last enemy that shall be destroyedis death. (1 Cor. 15:26)

We should not feel we are different ifwe treat death as an enemy. Hezekiah, inthe Old Scriptures, knew that death wasnot his friend. When Isaiah prophesiedthat Hezekiah was soon going to die,“Hezekiah wept sore.” (Is. 38:3) Hethen prayed, and God added fifteen yearsto his life. Why was Hezekiah unhappywith the thought he would soon die? Didhe not believe he would be with God whenhe died? Hezekiah himself gives us theanswer:

For the grave cannot praise thee,death cannot celebrate thee: they thatgo down into the pit cannot hope forthy truth.

The living, the living, he shall praisethee, as I do this day. (Is. 38:18, 19)

Hezekiah understood death to be anenemy. He believed that when he died, hewould go down into “the grave,” where hewould not be able to praise God or hope forHis truth.

The fact that death is an enemy also istaught in the New Scriptures.Epaphroditus, one of Paul's disciples. . .. . . was sick nigh unto death: but Godhad mercy on him; and not on himonly, but on me also, lest I should havesorrow upon sorrow. (Phil. 2:27)

Both Hezekiah and Epaphrodituswould have been deprived of many yearsof life, had not God in mercy intervened.Their lives were spared, and they rejoicedthat God had added more years to theirlives. Another example showing death tobe an enemy is found in Jeremiah 31:15,16:

Thus saith the Lord; A voice washeard in Ramah, lamentation, andbitter weeping; Rahel weeping for herchildren refused to be comforted forher children, because they were not.

Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voicefrom weeping, and thine eyes fromtears: for thy work shall be rewarded,saith the Lord; and they shall comeagain from the land of the enemy.

Matthew tells us that this prophecywas fulfilled when King Herod killed allthe children under two years of age inBethlehem in his attempt to kill Jesusshortly after His birth. These children“were not,” that is, they were killed.

“The land of the enemy” is not heaven,but death, the state described by the

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words, “they were not.” The “not” in theGreek here is ouk, which always express-es full and direct negation (independentlyand absolutely). The weaker and condi-tional negative me was not used. Thestronger negative was also used inJeremiah 31:15.

The Bible says that Rahel (or, Rachel)shall see them when they “come again”(are resurrected) from this land. Butmeanwhile, “they are [were] not,” for theydied and ceased to exist consciously.

Therefore we see that some very godlypeople considered death to be an enemyand hated and feared it. Let us now begina deep search of the Holy Bible to see whythey felt as they did about death.

IS THERE DEATH AFTER LIFE?

In Romans 5:12 we read:

Therefore, even as through one mansin entered into the world, andthrough sin death, and thus deathpassed through into all mankind, onwhich all sinned. — (ConcordantVersion)

In other words, as a consequence ofAdam's sin, death has “passed throughinto all mankind,” and it is on account ofdeath operating in mankind that all mensin. For light on the meaning of the term“death,” let us turn to the historical recordof the event mentioned above in Romans5:12.

After God formed man from the dust ofthe ground, He placed him in the gardenof Eden. He then imposed upon him thiswell-known restriction:

And the Lord God commanded theman, saying, Of every tree of the gar-den thou mayest freely eat:

But of the tree of the knowledge ofgood and evil, thou shalt not eat of it:for in the day that thou eatest thereofthou shalt surely die. (Gen. 2:16, 17)

The marginal rendering of the lastphrase is significant: “Dying, thou shaltdie.” In other words, the dying process(i.e., “mortality”) was to begin to operatein Adam the very day he ate of the forbid-den tree, and this was to ultimately resultin his actual death.

In Genesis 3:19 the “death” whichAdam ultimately was to die is graphicallydescribed:

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eatbread, till thou return unto theground; for out of it was thou taken:for dust thou art, and unto dust shaltthou return.

It appears that none of the living crea-tures of Gen. 1 had any existence prior totheir creation, and Adam had no priorexistence before God formed him from theground and made him “a living soul” (Gen.2:7). Thus God must have meant by thatlast verse that when Adam died andreturned unto the ground, he wouldreturn to his previous state of non-exis-tence.

According to the early chapters ofGenesis then, death can simply be definedas the opposite of life.

If this is true, then there should beother Bible passages which treat life anddeath as opposites. Consider the follow-ing:

(1) Now when Jacob saw that therewas corn in Egypt, Jacob said untohis sons, Why do ye look one uponanother? And he said, Behold, I haveheard that there is corn in Egypt: get

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you down thither, and buy for us fromthence; that we may live, and not die.(Gen. 42:1, 2)

(2) And Judah said unto Israel hisfather, Send the lad with me, and wewill arise and go; that we may live,and not die. . . (Gen. 43:8)

(3) Wherefore shall we die before thineeyes, both we and our land? Buy usand our land for bread, and we andour land will be servants untoPharaoh: and give us seed, that wemay live, and not die. (Gen. 47:19)

(4) Cut ye not off the tribe of the fami-lies of the Kohathites from among theLevites: But thus do unto them, thatthey may live, and not die. . . But theyshall not go in to see when the holythings are covered, lest they die.(Num. 4:18-20)

(5) Let Reuben live, and not die. (Deut.33:6)

(6) Until I come and take you away toa land like your own land. . . that yemay live, and not die. (2 Kings 18:32)

(7) In those days was Hezekiah sickunto death. And Isaiah the prophetthe son of Amoz came to him, and saidunto him, Thus saith the Lord, Setthine house in order: for thou shaltdie, and not live. (2 Kings 20: 1 and Is.38:1)

(8) I shall not die, but live, anddeclare the works of the Lord. (Ps.118:17)

(9) But if the wicked will turn from allhis sins. . . he shall surely live, heshall not die. (Ez. 18:21)

(10) Because he considereth, and tur-neth away from all his transgressions

that he hath committed, he shall sure-ly live, he shall not die. (Ez. 18:28)

(11) For the wages of sin is death; butthe gift of God is eternal life throughJesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 6:23)

The Scriptures teach that Adam's sinbrought death to us, and Christ's deathand resurrection brought life to us.Therefore, we can conclude that death isnot another form of life; death is the oppo-site of life, and in fact, death is theabsence of life.

The Bible has much more to say onthis subject. Let us go on.

DEATH IS LIKENED UNTO SLEEP

God inspired Moses, Job, David,Solomon, Isaiah, Daniel, Luke, Paul, andPeter to refer to the dead as being asleep.We read in Deut. 31:16 . . .

And the Lord God said unto Moses,thou shalt sleep with thy fathers.

This same expression, “sleep with thyfathers,” also occurs 36 times in the booksof the Kings and Chronicles alone. Thus itwould seem that God desires that His peo-ple should become familiar with thisinspired phrase. However, this terminolo-gy did not long survive apostolic times. Itwas seldom used during the middle ages,during which time Catholicism held sway.It was revived briefly during theProtestant Reformation, but it has diedout once again. Today we usually onlyhear it when the Scriptures are read.

So it should be interesting and per-haps informative to read some of thoseScriptures and see what the inspiredBible writers said concerning the connec-tion between sleep and death:

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(1) So man lieth down, and riseth not;till the heavens be no more, they shallnot awake, nor be raised out of theirsleep. (Job 14:12)

(2) Consider and hear me, O Lord myGod; lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep thesleep of death. (Ps. 13:3)

(3) As for me, I wi11 behold thy face inrighteousness: I shall be satisfiedwhen [and not before] I awake, [at theresurrection] with thy likeness. (Ps.17:15)

(4) And many of them that sleep in thedust of the earth shall awake. . . (Dan.12:2)

(5) But go thou thy way till the end be;for thou shalt rest [“sleep”] and standin thy lot at the end of the days. (Dan.12:13)

(6) . . . for now shall I sleep in the dust;and thou shalt seek me in the morn-ing, but I shall not be. (Job 7:21)

We find this same concept usedthroughout the New Scriptures as well:

(1) Weep not; for she is not dead, butsleepeth, and they laughed him toscorn, knowing that she was dead.(Luke 8:52, 53)

(2) Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but Igo, that I may awaken him out ofsleep. . . Howbeit Jesus spake of hisdeath. . . (John 11:11, 13)

(3) For if the dead rise not, then isChrist not raised . . . then they alsowhich are fallen asleep in Christ areperished. (1 Cor. 15:16-18)

(4) But now is Christ risen from thedead, and become the firstfruits ofthem which slept. (1 Cor. 15:20)

(5) For if we believe that Jesus diedand rose again, even so them alsowhich sleep in Jesus will God bringwith Him. [or, “will God, throughJesus, lead forth together with Him”— C.V., 1 Thess. 4:14]

(6) . . . we which are alive and remainunto the coming of the Lord shall notprevent [“precede”] them which areasleep. (1 Thess. 4:15)

Thus we see that in both the Old andthe New Scriptures death finds an exactparallel in the condition of sleep. Both insleep and in death men are unconscious oftime and events that occur around them.

Martin Luther, the prince of theReformers, wrote concerning the uncon-scious sleep of the dead:

We should learn to view our death in theright light, so that we need not becomealarmed on account of it, as unbelief does;because in Christ it is indeed not death,but a fine, sweet and brief sleep, whichbrings us release from this vale of tears,from sin and from the fear and extremityof real death, and from all the misfortunesof this life, and we shall be secure andwithout care, rest sweetly and gently for abrief moment, as on a sofa, until the timewhen he shall call and awaken us togetherwith all his dear children to his eternalglory and joy. For since we call it a sleep,we know that we shall not remain in it, butbe again awakened and live, and that thetime during which we sleep, shall seem nolonger than if we had just fallen asleep.Hence, we shall censure ourselves that wewere surprised or alarmed at such a sleepin the hour of death, and suddenly comealive out of the grave and from decomposi-tion, and entirely well, fresh, with a pure,clear, glorified life, meet our Lord andSaviour Jesus Christ in the clouds. . .Scripture everywhere affords such consola-

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tion, which speaks of the death of thesaints, as if they fell asleep and were gath-ered to their fathers, that is, had overcomedeath through this faith and comfort inChrist, and awaited the resurrection,together with the saints who precededthem in death. (from” A Compend ofLuther's Theology,” ed. by Hugh Thomson,p. 242).

— There are 125 references to “soul sleep” inLuther's writings. Although he appears to havewavered in his views, Luther died believing in“soul sleep.” (See T.N. Ketola, “A Study of M.L.Teaching Concerning the State of the Dead”). —

Those who believe that man himselfretains consciousness after death teachthat consciousness is independent of thebody. Thus, when the body dies, the con-sciousness remains unaffected. But thisnotion is proven daily to be false. No manremains conscious while his body sleeps,for sleep itself is an unconscious state ofbeing.

Some may insist dreaming while thebody is asleep proves that the mind oper-ates independently of the body. However,researchers have found that dreams occuras the physical body is disturbed. As anexample, if the person is cold, he maydream of snow. If he is hungry, he maydream offood. If he has had a deep, emo-tional experience that day, or seen anexciting movie, these will bring ondreams.

Comas are unnatural sleep brought onby injury, drugs, or illness. The body isalive, but decreased activity of some partof the body has made the mind uncon-scious. No doctor who has had medicalexperience would dare insist that mindconsciousness increases as body life andbrain function decreases.Natural sleep, comas or other types ofunconsciousness seem to verify that con-

sciousness of the mind exists only in a liv-ing body.

Paul admonished Timothy to “hold fastthe form (“pattern” - C.V.) of sound words”(2 Tim. 1:13). It is important that we usethe inspired words of God when we speakof death, lest we should be led astray inour understanding of it.

UNCONSCIOUSNESSIN SHEOL-HADES

Under a column headed “With theLord,” a weekly church paper recentlynoted the deaths of two ministers of theirparticular denomination. Are these twoministers really in the presence of God ina conscious state? If so, they most certain-ly must be joyfully praising the Lord withall those who preceded them.

But what does the Bible say of thebelievers who have died? King Davidwrote:

The dead praise not the Lord, neitherany that go down into silence. (Ps.115:17)

David tells us that they do not praisethe Lord, because they go down to a placeof silence. The Septuagint rendering ofverses 17 and 18 is very significant:

The dead shall not praise thee, OLord, nor any that go down to hades.But we, the living, will bless the Lord,from henceforth and to the age.

In the original Hebrew of the OldScriptures the dead were said to go tosheo/. t The comparable Greek word in theNew Scriptures is hades. When theJudean translators of the SeptuagintBible (280 B.C.) came to the word sheo/,they always rendered it with the Greekhades. When the writers of the New

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Scriptures quoted a passage from theHebrew, they rendered sheol as hades. Anexample:

For thou wilt not leave my soul insheol. (Ps. 16:10)

Because thou wilt not leave my soulin hades. (Acts 2:27)

The Hebrew word “sheol” occurs 65 times inthe original texts. The translators of the KingJames Version rendered it “hell” 31 times, “grave”31 times, and “pit” 3 times (see Strong's or Young'sConcordances for verification). However, none ofthese 65 occurrences of “sheol” depict a placewhere the dead suffer conscious torment.

David recognized that he would go tosheol, but he had faith that God would notleave him there forever. Job, too, knewthat he would have to wait in sheol untilthe resurrection:

If a man die, shall he live again? Allthe days of my appointed time will Iwait till my change come. (Job 14:14)

The Septuagint rendering of this samepassage is very enlightening:

For if a man should die, shall he liveagain? Having accomplished the daysof his life? I will wait till I exist again.

Thus, according to the Septuaginttranslation, Job said that he would haveto wait in the grave until he existed againat the resurrection. Meanwhile. . .

If I wait, the grave [sheol] is minehouse: I have made my bed in thedarkness. (Job 17:13)

Notice that Job did not say that hisbody would go to a place of darkness, but“I have made my bed in the darkness.”Sheol is not only a place of silence anddarkness, but it is also a place where allmental activity ceases:

For in death there is no remembranceof thee; [God] in the grave [sheol] whoshall give thee thanks? (Ps. 6:5)

While I live will I praise the Lord: Iwill sing praises unto my God while Ihave any being. [Sept., “as long as Iexist” — Ps. 146:2]

If while I live equals as long as I exist,then conversely, when David ceased tolive, he also ceased to exist. David recog-nized that he had to do all of his praisingGod before he died, because there was nopraise or remembrance of God in sheol.David also said of death:

His breath goeth forth, he returneth tohis earth; in that very day histhoughts perish. (Ps. 146:4)

Please note that “perish” is from the Hebrewword “abad,” which signifies “to be lost.” At death,man loses consciousness.

The Bible tells us that Solomon wasthe wisest man who ever lived, and he tooconfirms what his father David said:

For the living know that they shalldie: but the dead know not anything.(Eccl. 9:5)

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, doit with thy might; for there is no work,nor device, nor knowledge, nor wis-dom, in the grave [sheol] whither thougoest. (Eccl. 9:10)

There are some who tell us that wecannot take these quotations inEcclesiastes at face value, since Solomonwas discoursing on “things “under thesun.” Others claim these statements areinvalid, because Solomon was “backslid-den” when he penned them. But whatsaith the Scriptures?

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And God gave Solomon wisdom andunderstanding exceeding much, andlargeness of heart, even as the sandthat is on the seashore. And Solomon'swisdom excelled the wisdom of all thechildren of the east country and allthe wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiserthan all men. . . (1 Kings 4:29-31)

And God said unto him. . . I have giventhee a wise and an understandingheart; so that there was none like theebefore thee, neither after thee shallany arise like unto thee. (1 Kings3:11,12)

And further, because the Preacher[Solomon] was wise, he still taughtthe people knowledge, yea, he set inorder many proverbs. The Preachersought to find out acceptable words,and that which was written uprightly,even words of truth. (Eccl. 12:9, 10)

Those who disparage Solomon's writ-ings on death overlook the fact thatSolomon's statements on the condition ofthe dead are in total agreement withDavid's and Job's. Are we to believe thatthey too were backslidden and their writ-ings untrustworthy? God forbid! KingHezekiah also said:

For the grave cannot praise thee,death cannot celebrate thee; they thatgo down into the pit cannot hope forthy truth. The living, the living, heshall praise thee as I do this day. (Is.38:18, 19)

Hezekiah was not saying there was nohope of resurrection for the dead. He saidthat the dead cannot hope because theyhave no consciousness. Only the living canpraise God or can hope.

Some who deny Solomon's statementsabove, will quote certain phrases ofSolomon's which they think prove the

dead are alive. We will examine them indetail a little further on.

The above-quoted Scriptures are notisolated passages. There are many otherScriptures which coincide perfectly withthem. The preponderance of God's Wordteaches that the dead are actually dead intheir graves, unconscious (asleep), andare awaiting their respective resurrec-tions. The prophets all were agreed uponthis issue in contrast to all of the otherfalse religions of the nations surroundingIsrael. Jesus placed His stamp of approvalupon their doctrines by telling two of hisdisciples:

O fools, and slow of heart to believeall that the prophets have spoken.(Luke 24:25)

There is only one man who everwalked this earth who is immortal, andHe is the resurrected Christ. . .

. . . the King of kings, and Lord oflords, who only hath immortality. (1Tim. 6:15, 16)

Christ is immortal and is seated at theright hand of the Father (Eph. 1:20). Heconquered death in His resurrection, andthus we can be assured that we too shallconquer death and mortality at his com-ing.

Is the artist's conception (on the nextpage) the Scriptural view of “sheol-hades”? Or is it merely a figment of man'sdarkened imagination?

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God says of “sheol-hades”: “There thewicked cease from troubling; andthere the weary be at rest. There theprisoners rest together; they hear notthe voice of the oppressor.” (Job. 3:17-18)

DEATH IS A RETURN

There is a significant point many inChristendom seem to have overlooked.God does not say that He formed man'sbody of the dust ofthe ground. No, Godsays He formed man of the dust. Only the-ologians say it was the body.

Note carefully the wording of theScriptures that we quote:

And the Lord God formed man of thedust of the ground, and breathed intohis nostrils the breath of life; andman became a living soul. (Gen. 2:7)

That Adam was truly of the earth ismade especially clear in the Concordantrendition of 1 Cor. 15:45:

The first man, Adam, “became a liv-ing soul” . . . the first man was out ofthe earth, soilish . . . (1 Cor. 15:45, 47,C.V.)

Adam was apparently complete, physi-cally, but he was without “life.” Uponreceiving life, he then became “a livingsoul.”

The important point to remember isthat, except for the breath of life itself,man was totally from “the dust of theground.”

That is why the Bible then states thatwhen life leaves man, it is man himselfthat returns to the ground.

Note God's explanation of this return,beginning with His direct statement toAdam:

In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eatbread, till thou return unto theground; for out of it wast thou taken;for dust thou art, and unto dust shaltthou return. (Gen. 3:19)

All flesh shall perish together, andman shall turn again unto dust. (Job34:15)

Thou turnest man to destruction; andsayest, return, ye children of men. (Ps.90:3)

Thou hidest thy face, they are trou-bled; thou takest away their breath,they die, and return to their dust. (Ps.104:29)

His breath goeth forth, he returneth tohis earth, in that very day histhoughts perish. (Ps. 146:4)

All go unto one place, all are of thedust, and all turn to dust again. (Eccl.3:20)

Note the personal pronouns thy and thouin all of the above passages. If our theolo-gians and Bible teachers would but read

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them, they would see that it is man him-self who returns to dust-not just his bodywith man himself then going somewhereelse.

SPIRIT, SOUL, BODY

In any discussion of death as a return,we must consider the relationshipbetween spirit, soul, and body, sinceSolomon did write:

Then shall the dust return to theearth as it was; and the spirit shallreturn unto God who gave it. (Eccl.12:7)

The Hebrew word for spirit is ruach,and its Greek equivalent is pneuma. Bothwords literally mean “breath” (air inmotion). When God breathed into man the“breath of life” (Gen. 2:7), he came alive.Ruach is translated both breath and spir-it in the King James Version, which willbe discussed in more detail below.

The spirit is not man. The soul, andNOT the spirit, constitutes the individual,and is the seat of the conscious per-sonality.

In the Scriptures, the following identi-fying marks of a conscious personality areascribed to the soul:

1. KNOWLEDGE (Joshua 23:14; Ps.139:4; Prov. 2:10; 19:2).

2. THOUGHT (Esther 4:13; Prov.23:7; Ps. 13:2).

3. MEMORY (Lam. 3:20; Deut. 4:9;11:18).

4. LOVE, JOY, AND DELIGHT(Deut. 6:5; 13:3; Ps. 35:9; 86:4; 94:19;Matt. 22:37)

5. BITTERNESS, DISTRESS,IMPATIENCE (Gen.42:21; Num. 21:4;Judg. 10:16; 16:16; 1 Sam. 1:10; 22:2;30:6; Ps. 143:11; Prov. 21:23).

6. MOURNING, SORROW, GRIEF(Job 14:22; Jer. 31:25; 1 Sam. 2:33; Ps.42:5).

7. ABHORRENCE, HATE (Lev. 26:15;Ps. 11:5; 107:18; Isa. 1:14).

One doesn't need a college diploma tosee that if the above are ascribed to thesoul, and the soul “dies” (Ezek. 18:4), thenthe above marks of conscious personalitycease, or “die” as well (1+1=2)!

Genesis 2:7 makes it plain that whenGod breathed the “breath of life” intoAdam, Adam was made “a living soul,” nota spirit. We have already seen from 1 Cor.15 that Adam's origin from the earthmade him an “earthy” creature, whereasChrist was the spiritual being from heav-en.

Thus, when the spirit “returns to God,”that life force leaves man, and he dies,returning to non-existence, i.e. to the dustof the ground.

For dust thou art, and unto dust shaltthou return. (Gen. 3:19)

Let us for a moment consider an elec-tric light bulb and its operation.

The bulb itself corresponds to body(physically complete, but without life).The electricity needed to light the bulbcorresponds to spirit (or, the breath of lifefrom God which energizes the body). Theunion of the bulb with electricity produceslight, corresponding to soul (awarenessand sensation).

When the electricity is cut off, what hap-pens to the light? Does it go somewhere?

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Does the light continue to exist in anotherplace? No, when the electricity is cut off,light ceases to be (i.e. it dies).

So it is with “spirit and soul and body”(1 Thess. 5:23). When the breath of life, orspirit, is cut off from the body, soul ceasesto be (i.e. it dies). It does not continue toexist independently of body and spirit inanother state, or location.

As we speak of an energized bulb as “alight,” so also we speak of an energized orliving body as “a soul.”

Some confusion is engendered, ofcourse, because the King James transla-tors rendered the Hebrew word ruachboth “breath” and “spirit.” An example isPsalm 104, where David used the Hebrewruach when writing of both man and ani-mals:

. . . Thou takest away their breath[ruach], they die, and return to thedust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit[ruach], they are created. . . (vs. 29,30)

David knew that the ruach (whethertranslated breath or spirit) was not thecreature itself, but rather that life-forcefrom God which gave the creature life (aselectricity gives the bulb light).

David's son Solomon knew this, for hewrote about both men and beasts:

For that which befalleth the sons ofmen befalleth beasts; even one thingbefalleth them; as the one dieth, sodieth the other; yea, they have all onebreath [ruach] . . . (Eccl. 3:19)

We previously quoted another passagewhere David combines the truth that it isruach which gives man life, and whenruach is removed, man himself returns tothe earth:

His breath [ruach] goeth forth, hereturneth to his earth; in that veryday his thoughts perish. (Ps. 146:4)

Those who insist that man is a spiritu-al, immortal being who returns to God atdeath must also teach that man pre-existed in heaven before the world wascreated. Man cannot return to God unlesshe was with God previously. Thus, thecontroversy can be reduced to a singlequestion: Did man originate in heaven inan immortal state, or was man createdfrom the dust of the ground?

Pre-existence is refuted by the Word ofGod just as certainly as is his continuedexistence after his body dies. In order tolive again man must be resurrected!

RESURRECTION: IMPOSSIBLEIF THE DEAD ARE ALIVE!

Resurrection is a return from the dead.God says nothing in His Word about res-urrecting men's spirits out of heaven. It isaxiomatic that the living cannot be resur-rected, for only the dead can be raised

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from the dead. The story of man's life,death, and resurrection is summarized inPsalm 104:29, 30:

Thou hidest thy face, they are trou-bled; thou takest away their breath,[spirit] they die, and return to theirdust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit,they are created; and thou renewesthe face of the earth.

In other words, when God removes hisbreath (spirit) from man, he dies andreturns to dust. The resurrection is a re-creation from the state of non-existence.In this way the earth and man will berenewed. Ezekiel says the same thing:

. . . Breath came into them, and theylived. . . Behold, O my people, I willopen your graves. . . and shall put myspirit in you, and ye shall live. (Ez.37:10-14)

Note three important things in thisScripture, all of which are generally over-looked:

1. Breath came into them and they lived.it does not say-nor is it true-that a “never-dying soul,” or a conscious entity returnedto their bodies and caused them to live.

2. God says, I will . . . put my spirit [thebreath of God] in you, and ye shall live.What caused them to live? The first partsays it was “breath” and the last part says“my Spirit;” the breath of God breathedinto their nostrils as with Adam inGenesis 2:7.

The most complete list of references tothe word resurrection that we know isfound in Young's Analytical Concordance.The concordance in the back of your Biblewill have some of them, but not all. Wewill not quote the passages themselves,but we will give all of the references in the

New Scriptures: Matthew 22:23,28,30,31;Mark 12:18, 23; Luke 14:14; 20:27, 33, 35,36; John 5:29; 11:24, 25; Acts 1:22; 2:31;4:2, 33; 17:18,32; 23:6, 8; 24:15, 21;Romans 1:4; 6:5; 1 Cor. 15:12, 13,21,42;Phil. 3:10,11; 2 Tim. 2:18; Heb. 6:2; 11:35;1 Peter 1:3; 3:21; Rev. 20:5, 6; andMatthew 27:53.

The above references speak of “the res-urrection,” “the resurrection of JesusChrist,” and most frequently, “the resur-rection of [or from] the dead.” You may besurprised to hear that in no singleinstance do we read of “the resurrection ofthe body.” This is a phrase we hear every-where in our day, but it absolutely cannotbe found in God's Word. The phrase isvery misleading and gives a false view ofthe resurrection, as well as a false view ofboth the nature and the abode of the dead:the grave.

There is, however, one passage whichis often misunderstood to teach the resur-rection of the body. Isaiah 26:19 says:

Thy dead men shall live, together withmy [Isaiah's] dead body shall theyarise. Awake and sing, ye that dwellin the dust. . .

The first part of this verse speaks of“thy dead men, “ not “the bodies of thosewho have died.” The last part of the sameverse says, “Ye that dwell in the dust;” not“the bodies of them that dwell in dust.”These two parts of the same sentence donot mention “bodies” at all.

“Thy dead body” does not suggest thatonly Isaiah's “body” will be raised, whilehis soul or spirit will come down fromheaven and re-enter his body. No, not atall. This passage simply illustrates thatone cannot separate the body from theperson.

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To settle this matter further, let usconsult two other translations of this pas-sage, the Concordant Version and theSeptuagint. The Concordant Version is avery literal translation, based upon theHebrew texts, the Dead Sea Scrolls, andthe Syriac. It reads:

Live shall your death-doomed! Theircarcasses shall arise! Awake andjubilate, tabernaclers of the soil! Fora night mist of lights is your nightmist. And the land is causing thehealers to fall.

The Septuagint translation is basedupon a Hebrew text that is about 1,000years older than any now in our posses-sion. It reads in English:

The dead shall rise, and they that arein the tombs shall be raised, and theythat are in the earth shall rejoice. . .

There is no mention of dead bodiesbeing raised, it simply speaks of the resur-rection of “the dead” and “they that are inthe tombs.”

Pointing to the King James translationof Isaiah 26: 19 to prove the resurrectionof the body separate from the man himselfnot only goes against the rest of the KingJames, but the other translations showthe argument is based upon an uncleartranslation of this verse in the KingJames.

All three translations speak of theafter-death location of those who havedied in terms which preclude “heaven”:

King James: “in the dust”

Concordant: (in) “the soil”

Septuagint: “in the tombs. . . in theearth.”

The overwhelming evidence ofScripture proves that man himself surelydies and goes to the earth. and it is manhimself who shall surely be resurrectedfrom the dead.

The serpent's lie, (“thou shalt not sure-ly die”), is the basis of all false religions.Thus, the doctrine of man's immortality isthe common denominator of all false reli-gions, and by this doctrine they automati-cally deny the resurrection of the dead.

Most of Christendom, includingLiberals, Evangelicals, and Catholics, donot believe in the resurrection of the dead— Easter observance, appearances, affir-mations, and declarations to the contrarynotwithstanding.

The Liberals deny both the resurrec-tion of the dead and the resurrection ofthe body. The Evangelicals, who say theybelieve the Bible to be God's inspiredWord, do not openly deny the resurrection,but they change the doctrine to mean theresurrection of the body. They attempt toretain “the best of two worlds” by accept-ing both that men go to heaven when theydie and that dead men shall be resurrect-ed from the dust of the ground.

We have proven those doctrines to bemutually exclusive. We cannot be bothdead and alive at the same time; we can-not be both mortal and immortal at thesame time; we cannot be both in heavenand in the grave at the same time. Tryingto believe two opposing doctrines resultsin doublemindedness and James says:

A double minded man is unstable inall his ways. (James 1:8)

God is warning us through James thata man who accepts opposing ideas on onesubject is unstable in relation to allthings. Accepting confusion in religious

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doctrines conditions one to accept error inother things as well.

The pulpit, radio, T.V., movies, newspa-pers, books, and magazines continuallyimpose on us this “double mindedness” inrelation to the dead. There is more of thispropaganda than most people realize. Onthe next page is illustrated how all of ourpeople, from infancy to old age, are del-uged with this “life-after-death” propa-ganda.

Perhaps trying to believe and teach twomutuallyexclusive doctrines is the reasonwe find so much instability in the profess-ing Christian Church.

William Tyndale (1484-1536), thegreat English Reformer, recognized theinherent contradiction between these twodoctrines. He wrote:

The true faith putteth the resurrection,which we be warned to look for every hour.The heathen philosophers did put that thesouls did ever live. And the pope joineththe spiritual doctrines of Christ and thefleshly doctrine of philosophers together;things so contrary that they cannot agree,no more than the spirit and the flesh do ina Christian man. And because the fleshly-minded pope consenteth unto heathendoctrine, therefore he corrupteth theScripture to stablish it (“An Answer to SirThomas More's Dialogue”).

God's Word says that the resurrectionwill occur:

In a moment, in the twinkling of aneye, at the last trump; for the trumpshall sound, and the dead shall beraised incorruptible, and we shall bechanged. . . so when this corruptibleshall have put on incorruption, andthis mortal shall have put on immor-tality, then [not before] shall bebrought to pass the saying that iswritten, Death is swallowed up in vic-tory. (1 Cor. 15:52, 54)

For the Lord Himself shall descendfrom heaven with a shout, with the voiceof the archangel, and with the trump ofGod: and the dead in Christ shall risefirst: Then we which are alive and remainshall be caught up together with them inthe clouds, to meet the Lord in the air;and so shall we ever be with the Lord.Wherefore, comfort one another withthese words (1 Thess. 4:16-18).

Commenting upon Sir Thomas More'sfalse interpretation of these passages,Tyndale wrote with sarcasm:

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Nay, Paul, thou are unlearned; go toMaster More, and learn a new way. We benot most miserable, though we rise notagain; for our souls go to heaven as soon aswe be dead, and are there in as great joy asChrist that is risen again. And I marvelthat Paul had not comforted theThessalonians with that doctrine, if hehad wist it, that the souls of their deadhad been in joy; as he did with the resur-rection, that their dead should rise again.If the souls be in heaven, in as great gloryas the angels, after your doctrine, shew mewhat cause should be of the resurrection?

We can only conclude that death is anenemy, an outrage, the most terrible of alltragedies. It is total, affecting the wholeman.

Paul stresses the totality of death andthe absolute need for the resurrection,when he states that if the dead rise not,“let us eat and drink; for tomorrow wedie.” (1 Cor. 15:32)

If there is to be no resurrection, evenChristians are without hope, for Paul alsosays:

. . . they also which are fallen asleepin Christ are perished. (1 Cor. 15:18)

The Bible truth, as we have seen, isthat man does surely die. “Inherentimmortality” is a chimera, a figment ofman's darkened imagination.

Our Lord Jesus Christ surely died forthe sin of the world and overcame deathby His resurrection. The death and resur-rection of Christ has proven by examplethat His promise is true; we shall beraised immortal at His coming-at the lasttrump.

THE TWO TYPES OF DEATH

We have seen from Genesis 2:16, 17that the penalty for Adam's transgressionwas mortality, that is, a dying process. Wehave also seen that according to Romans5:12, this mortality was passed down toall men as a consequence of Adam's sin,rather than our own. In other words, Goddid not wait until we committed our firstsin to make us mortal. Rather, we were allborn mortal, not as a result of our own sin,but on account of Adam's sin.

Therefore, this type of death which wecall mortality is experienced by all menand indeed by all of creation.

For that which befalleth the sons ofmen befalleth beasts; even one thingbefalleth them: as the one dieth, sodieth the other; yea, they have all onebreath; so that a man hath no preem-inence above a beast. . . All go untoone place; all are of the dust, and allturn to dust again. (Eccl. 3:19, 20)

However, there is another kind ofdeath which only the wicked among menexperience. It is called the second death.

But the fearful and unbelieving, andthe abominable, and murderers, andwhoremongers, and sorcerers, andidolators, and all liars, shall havetheir part in the lake which burnethwith fire and brimstone; which is thesecond death. (Rev. 21:8)

The righteous ones who shall be resur-rected to life, however, shall not experi-ence this second death, for we read:

Blessed and holy is he that hath partin the first resurrection; on such thesecond death hath no power. (Rev.20:6)

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We see, then, that there is a basic dif-ference between the type of death causedby Adam's sin and the second death. Thefirst type, which we shall call “the firstdeath,” befalls everyone without excep-tion, whereas the second death befallsonly the wicked. Also, we see that the firstdeath began with Adam, while the seconddeath is yet future.

And the sea gave up the dead whichwere in it; and death and hell [hades]delivered up the dead which were inthem; and they were judged every manaccording to their works. And deathand hell were cast into the lake of fire.This is the second death. (Rev. 20:13,14)

Thus, when all the dead who died thefirst death because of their mortality areraised from that death, the first deathshall then be ended by being itself castinto the second death.

So what is the purpose of the firstdeath? We read in Job 21 :28-30:

For ye say, Where is the house of theprince? And where are the dwellingplaces of the wicked? Have ye notasked them that go by the way? Anddo ye not know their tokens, that thewicked is reserved to the day ofdestruction? They shall be broughtforth to the day of wrath.

The same statement is made in 2 Peter2:9 . . .

The Lord knoweth how. . . to reservethe unjust unto the day of judgment tobe punished.

According to Young's AnalyticalConcordance, the words renderedreserved in both cases mean “held back,”or to hold in abeyance. Job says that the

wicked are held back “to the day ofdestruction,” and “the day of wrath.” Petersays that God holds back “the unjust untothe day of judgment.”

In other words, the dead are not pun-ished for their own-sins before the judg-ment, for we read:

Doth our law judge any man, before ithear him, and know what he doeth?(John 7:51)

No, God does not pass sentence againstany man for his sins until he has receiveda fair trial.

However, let one thing be clearlyunderstood. Righteous Abel was the firstman to die. Between his death andChrist's return and the judgment is aspan of many thousands of years. Butbecause there is no consciousness in thegrave, there is also no consciousness oftime. It shall be very much like when wefall into a deep sleep at night, and thenmorning seems to come almost the sameinstant that we fall asleep.

Sleep is thus the ideal condition inwhich to reserve the dead until they areresurrected, whether to immortality or tocondemnation. It prevents men frombeing rewarded or punished before theyare judged, while at the same time it elim-inates all consciousness of time.

The purpose, then, of the first death isto reserve men in a state of timelessunconsciousness until the judgment,when they shall receive “every manaccording to their works.”

We now have given substantial prooffrom the Bible that man does surely die,and that there is no life after death untilthe resurrection. But we cannot stop here,for no matter how many Bible passages

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one uses to prove the dead really die, someminister will always say, “But what about.. . ?” and then quote (or misquote) someother passage of Scripture.

Since it is our desire that our readerswill be able to answer every objection withTruth, we shall now go on and examineevery Bible passage and argument usedby those who attempt to deceive you intobelieving that man does not surely die.

— SECTION TWO —OBJECTIONS ANSWERED

RACHEL'S SOUL DEPARTS

And it came to pass, as her soul was indeparting, (for she died) that shecalled his name Ben-oni; but hisfather called him Benjamin. (Gen.35:18)

The Septuagint rendering of this pas-sage is helpful:

And it came to pass in her giving upthe ghost . . . (for she was dying)

Genesis 35:18 is divinely inspired andcontradicts nothing that we have put forththus far. We have seen that at death thespirit returns to God (Eccl. 12:7); the bodygoes to the tomb (Eccl. 9:10); and the soul“goes” to sheol-hades, a state of uncon-scious oblivion.

When Christ died, His spirit returnedto God (Luke 23:46); His soul “went” tosheol-hades (Acts 2:22-32); while His bodywas placed in a tomb (Matt. 27:59, 60). SoJesus Himself really did die for our sins.

Thus the “departure” of Rachel's soulfrom her body does not prove that her soulcontinued to exist in a conscious state.

SAMUEL'S “RESURRECTION”(1 Sam. 28:7-20)

In this passage God refused to answerSaul's prayers, because Saul refused toobey God. So Saul sought out the witch ofEndor and asked her:

. . . I pray thee, divine unto me by thefamiliar spirit, and bring me him up,whom I shall name unto thee. (1 Sam.28:8)

When the witch asked him in verse 11who she should bring up he said, “Bringme up Samuel.”

It appears from the next verses thatSaul himself did not see any person, buthad to ask the witch what she saw. Sheanswered, “An old man cometh up; and heis covered with a mantle.” Verse 14 thensays “And Saul perceived that it wasSamuel. . .” Saul “perceived” this from herdescription, not from what he himself saw.Accepting her description as being that ofSamuel would have led him into the fur-ther error of accepting the voice as that ofSamuel. 1 Chronicles 10:13 tells us plain-ly that Saul had inquired of a familiarspirit rather than Samuel:

So Saul died for his transgressionwhich he committed against the Lord,even against the word of the Lord,which he kept not, and also for askingcounsel of one that had a familiarspirit, to inquire of it.

This translation has added some extrawords to the original text. Leaving thoseextra uninspired words out, the last partof the verse reads:

. . . and also for asking. . . of . . . afamiliar spirit, to inquire. . .

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Thus we see that Saul died, because heinquired of a familiar spirit in violation ofGod's Law (Deut. 18:10-14). The witchdeceived Saul into thinking that he wastalking to Samuel's ghost, just as spiritistmediums do today.

Our first objection to accepting thisincident as proof the dead are alive is thatit is quite certain that it was not Samuelto whom Saul spoke.

Our second objection is that even if weaccept that Samuel appeared alive in thisinstance, that in itself does not prove thathe was alive anywhere before or after hisappearance.

Our third objection is perhaps themost serious and should be the most con-vincing to thoughtful Christians. If weteach or believe that Samuel appearedalive to the witch and Saul, we would thenhave to attribute to this evil witch thepower to resurrect men from the dead,even if only temporarily! The Bible attrib-utes no such power as that or the power toeven contact the dead to any witch or anyother person. Believing Christians shouldthink long and hard before they acceptany minister's claim that this was indeedSamuel.

The whole thing was simply a king vio-lating God's command. As we saw above,God did not accuse him of talking toSamuel, but of talking with one who had a“familiar spirit. “ That the familiar spiritspoke words which later came to pass doesnot prove it was Samuel. God could havecaused this familiar spirit to speak truthas easily as He caused Balaam to pro-nounce good upon Israel in Numbers 23and 24 even when Balaam's intent was topronounce evil.

THE SOUL OF THE WIDOW'S SON(1 Kings 17:21, 22)

And he stretched himself upon thechild three times, and cried unto theLord, and said, O Lord my God, I praythee, let this child's soul come intohim again. And the Lord heard thevoice of Elijah, and the soul of thechild came into him again, and herevived. (1 Kings 17:21, 22)

This passage is similar to the case ofRachel in Genesis 35:18. When the childdied, his spirit returned to God; his soul(consciousness) “went” to sheol-hades, andhis body began to decay.

When the Lord heard Elijah's prayer andanswered it, the child's spirit was againunited with his body, “and he revived.” (Asimilar incident is recorded in 2 Kings4:18-37 where Elisha raised theShunammite woman's son from the dead.)

ELIJAH'S TRIP INTO HEAVEN(2 Kings 2:11)

And it came to pass, as they still wenton, and talked, that, behold, thereappeared a chariot of fire, and horsesof fire, and parted them both asunder;and Elijah went up by a whirlwindinto heaven.

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The word heaven used here is from theHebrew word shanayim, meaning “theheavens, the sky, or the atmosphere.” Theword is used in Genesis 1: 7, 8 where Godplaced water above and below the firma-ment and then “God called the firmamentHeaven.” In other words, God said thatthere was water above and below theheavens.

Elijah did not ride to heaven on a fierychariot, as many assume. The accountsays that “a chariot of fire. . . parted themasunder.” After Elisha was some distanceaway, “Elijah went up by a whirlwind” (ora tempest, not the chariot of fire). Sincethere is no wind in outer space, this whirl-wind could hardly have transported Elijahall the way to heaven.

Thus we believe that the “heaven”where Elijah went was simply above theground somewhere. He did not go to theheaven of God's throne, for the Biblerecords that he was still on the earth 20years later during the days of KingJehoram:

And there came a writing to him[Jehoram] from Elijah the prophet,saying, Thus saith the Lord God ofDavid thy father, Because thou hastnot walked in the ways ofJehoshaphat thy father, nor in theways of Asa king of Judah. . . (2Chron. 21:12)

As one can plainly see, Elijah was nei-ther dead nor in heaven at this time. Thisletter (recorded in 2 Chron. 21:12-15)shows us that (1) Elijah was still on theearth, and (2) he was acquainted with con-temporary events. Wherever God hadtaken him in the whirlwind; it is onlyman's conjecture that it was to God'sheaven, for the passage itself certainlydoes not teach that. Since Elijah was aliveon the earth 20 years later, we must

assume that at some time he then diedjust as all other mortals do. The Biblesays:

And as it is appointed unto men onceto die, but after this the judgment.(Heb. 9:27)

In their attempt to prove Elijah neverdied, many combine their erroneous inter-pretation of Elijah and the whirlwindwith Elijah's appearance on the mountwith Jesus, which we will consider next.

MOSES AND ELIJAHON THE MOUNT

(Matt. 17:1-3)

And after six days Jesus taketh Peter,James, and John his brother, andbringeth them up into an high moun-tain apart, and was transfiguredbefore them; and His face did shine asthe sun, and His raiment was white asthe light. And behold, there appearedunto them Moses and Elias [Greekform of Elijah] talking with Him.(Matt. 17:1-3)

Although this is a favorite passage ofthose who believe that the dead are alive,we have to look no further than the imme-diate context to dispell that belief:

And as they came down from themountain, Jesus charged them, say-ing, Tell the vision to no man, untilthe son of man be risen again from thedead. (Matt. 17:9)

Jesus had not yet been glorified andwould not be until He was “risen againfrom the dead.” Hence, the disciples saw avision of Christ transfigured in His post-resurrection glory. With Him appearedMoses and Elijah in the vision, showingthat once Christ had fulfilled all the Law(Moses) and the prophets (Elijah), Hewould be exalted and glorified.

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Moses and Elijah appeared, not in per-son, but in a vision.

. . . NOT THE GOD OF THE DEAD(Matt. 22:29-32)

Some who insist that Jesus taughtthat the dead are alive quote half ofMatthew 22:32 to prove their point: “Godis not the God of the dead but of the liv-ing.”

Like other arguments where a part ofa passage is used, we must read more of itto find out the truth. Verse 23 tells us towhom Jesus was speaking and what theybelieved:

The same day came to him theSadducees, which say that there is noresurrection.

With this in mind, let us read thewhole passage, in which Jesus told themthey were wrong:

Jesus answered and said unto them,[the Sadducees] ye do err, not know-ing the Scriptures, nor the power ofGod. For in the resurrection they nei-ther marry, nor are given in mar-riage, but are as the angels of God inheaven. But as touching the resurrec-tion of the dead, have ye not read thatwhich was spoken unto you by Godsaying, I am the God of Abraham, andthe God of Isaac, and the God ofJacob? God is not the God of the deadbut of the living. (Matt. 22:29-32)

Thus, Jesus was refuting theSadducees' doctrine that denied the resur-rection of the dead. He was not attempt-ing to prove that Abraham, Isaac, andJacob were all alive in the grave or inheaven. He was proving that the resurrec-tion was an absolute necessity in order forGod to be their God. The Companion Bible

concurs with this interpretation in itscomment on the passage:

The only conclusion being that theymust rise and live again in resurrec-tion in order that He may be theirGod.

THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS(Luke 16:19-31)

We do not have the space to quote thisentire passage, so we suggest that youread it in your Bible before you proceedfurther.

Many use this passage to prove thatthe righteous go to heaven when they die,and that the wicked go to a burning hellwhen they die. However, this is not a his-torical account of the fate of two literalpeople. It is a parable. Therefore, it is tobe understood figuratively.

Some say that because it speaks of acertain rich man, it refers to a literal man.But other parables begin the same way,which no one would think of taking liter-ally (see Mark 12:1; Luke 12:36; 15:11;16:1).

Furthermore, if we were to take thisparable literally, we should have to teachthat all rich men go to hades, and all beg-gars go to Abraham's bosom, regardless oftheir actions in this life. Thus, the literalinterpretation robs the parable of reason-ableness.

The word “hell” used in verse 23 is theGreek word hades. This word hades isfound ten times in the New Scriptures,and in no place except in our parable hereis it connected in any way with the dead ina state of conscious torment.

Matthew 11:23 and Luke 10:15 tell usthat the town of Capernaum, itself, was to

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be brought down into hades. Capernaumwas not sent down to a burning hell and-consciously tortured there.

Matthew 16:18 tells us that the gates ofhades would not prevail against theChurch. Since the gate was the seat ofgovernment where the rulers judged thepeople, this would be a reference to theadversary and the kingdom of darknessnot being able to prevail against theChurch.

Acts 2:27 and 31 tell us that God did notleave Christ's soul in hades, showing thatChrist's soul was there for a short time.Christ certainly did not burn in hadesduring that time.

The other occurrences (Rev. 1:18; 6:8;20:13, 14) all speak of “death and hades.”These references make no mention of astate of conscious torment.

Some manuscripts insert the wordhades in 1 Cor. 15:55, where Paul seems tobe quoting Hosea 13:14 loosely, but thesemanuscripts are incorrect. The three old-est Greek manuscripts (Vaticanus,Sinaiticus, and Alexandrinus) each readthanatos, rather than hades. Thethanatos reading is further established asthe correct one by Bible numerics (seePanin's Numeric Greek Text).

If the Apostle Paul had used the termhades in his ministry to the” gentiles,”they would have misunderstood him com-pletely. In Greek and Roman mythologyhades was the place where the dead livedon in a conscious state — much differentfrom the Hebrew concept of sheol-hades.Thus, Paul never used this word in hiswritings, and there is no record that heever used it in his sermons either.

We see, therefore, that the concept ofhades in the New Scriptures in nine out of

ten examples says absolutely nothingabout either a conscious state of the deador conscious torment in fire. Instead,these nine references all fit the concept ofsheol in the Old Scriptures as a place ofdarkness, silence, and unconscious sleepcalled death.

But because Christ told a parable inwhich He used the term hades and saidthat a certain rich man “went” there,“being in torments,” some openly discardall of the plain Bible teaching, in order totake this parable in a literal way.

It is outside the scope of this book toprovide a full interpretation of this para-ble, however we will leave you with this: Ifit were really only the story of two men,one in hell-fire and one in heaven, why didJesus embellish it with such symbols aspurple and fine linen, gate, sores, crumbs,table, dogs, five brethren, etc.? Why didJesus have two men talk between “heav-en” and “hell” when this is alluded tonowhere else in the entire Bible? Why didHe have Abraham refuse to testify to thefive unbelieving brethren? That itselfneeds more explanation than most give it.

No, there is much, much more to thisstory than “going to heaven or hell.” Is itpossible it is a parable of Jacob Israel(Lazarus) in the Kingdom (Abraham'sbosom) while Esau, who sold hisbirthright, is kept out?

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In Greek and Roman mythology “hades” was aplace where the wicked dead suffered conscioustorture-much different from the Hebrew concept of“sheol-hades.” The modern churches teach the“hades” of mythology instead of the truth of theBible.

THE THIEF IN PARADISE(Luke 23:43)

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I sayunto thee, today shalt thou be with mein paradise.

Many use this verse in support of theposition that the dead are really alive.However, the context proves otherwise.The thief had just asked Jesus to remem-ber him when He came into His kingdom:

And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remem-ber me when thou comest into Thykingdom. (vs. 42)

It is obvious that Jesus was not on Hisway to His kingdom as He was hanging onthe cross. In His first advent Jesus cameto die; in His second advent He will cometo claim His kingdom. At this presenttime, Jesus still has not come as the tri-umphant conqueror to set up His kingdomand reign on earth with His chosen (Rev.5:10).

Thus, when the thief asked to beremembered in the kingdom, Jesusassured him that he would be with Him inparadise. Did Jesus side step the thief'squestion? Or is it possible that He under-stood the kingdom and paradise to beidentical: Isaiah 51:3 reads:

For the Lord shall comfort Zion: Hewill comfort all her waste places; andHe will make her wilderness likeEden, and her desert like the gardenof the Lord; joy and gladness shall befound therein, thanksgiving, and thevoice of melody.

The Septuagint version renders it inthis way:

And I will be comforting you, O Zion,and I comfort all her deserts, and Iwill place her deserts as paradise andher wilderness as the Lord's paradise.They shall find gladness and exulta-tion in her, confession and the voice ofpraise.

The Septuagint version is very importantto our study, because it shows how theJudeans two centuries before Christ usedthe word paradise in translating the OldTestament. We see from the above thatthey used the word paradise in place ofEden and the garden of the Lord. Theword paradise obviously was a referenceto the Garden of Eden. It was used todescribe the original condition of the earthbefore sin entered. It was also used todescribe the future, perfected Kingdom ofGod, when the earth would again becomea “Paradise.”

(Six hundred years ago Dante (a Roman Catholic)went so far as to claim that paradise was on top ofpurgatory on the far side of the earth.)

The Apostle Paul knew a man whowent to paradise:

It is not expedient for me doubtless toglory. I will come to visions and reve-lations of the Lord. I knew a man inChrist about fourteen years ago. . .How that he was caught up [lit. away]into paradise, and heard unspeak-able words, which it is not lawful toutter. (2 Cor. 12:1, 2, 4)

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This passage often is read out of con-text to prove that someone went to para-dise when he died. But if the man haddied, he would not have been able to tellPaul of the experience. Verse one makes itclear that Paul was speaking of “visionsand revelations of the Lord.”

Thus, the man had a vision of para-dise. He went there “in the spirit” only, asJohn did (Rev. 1:10). He saw paradise, theKingdom of God in its restored condition,which the elect will inherit at the resur-rection.

But how can we reconcile this withJesus seeming to say that they both wouldbe in paradise on the day of their crucifix-ion? Luke 23:43, as written in most mod-ern versions, appears to teach just that:

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I sayunto thee, today shalt thou be with mein paradise.

However, a study of the original Greektext tells a different story. The following isthe Greek with a literal Engl1sh transla-tion:

lego. . . “to you I am saying”semeron . . . “today”met emou . . . “with me”ese . . . “you will be”en to paradeiso . . . “in the paradise.”

“To you I am saying today with me youwill be in the paradise.”

You will notice that it reads “sayingtoday,” rather than “you will be today inthe paradise.” In other words, Jesus toldthe dying thief that day: “You will be withme in paradise” (the future kingdom).Thus, Rotherham's Emphasized Biblerenders this verse:

And he said unto him, Verily I sayunto thee this day: With me shalt thoube in paradise.

The Concordant Literal NewTestament reads:

And Jesus said to him, “Verily, to youam I saying today, with me shall yoube in paradise.”

The phrase to you I am saying todaymay sound strange to our ears today.However, there were many occasions inthe Scriptures when today or this day wasused to emphasize a noteworthy day. Forexample, Moses told Israel:

See I have set before thee this day lifeand good, and death and evil; In thatI command thee this day to love theLord thy God. . . (Deut. 30:15, 16)

The Companion Bible agrees in itsnotation on Luke 23:43

To day. Connect this with “I say,” toemphasize the solemnity of the occa-sion; not with “shalt thou be.”

Thus we conclude that Luke 23:43teaches that the repentant thief on thecross shall receive a place in the Kingdomof God at the resurrection. The passagecannot be used to prove that the thief wasalive that same day in paradise or heaven.

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“SPIRITS IN PRISON. . .”(1 Pet. 3:18-20)

For Christ also hath once suffered forsins, the just for the unjust, that Hemight bring us to God, being put todeath in the flesh, but quickened bythe Spirit; By which also he went andpreached unto the spirits in prison;which sometime were disobedient,when once the long suffering of Godwaited in the days of Noah, while theark was a preparing, wherein few,that is, eight souls were saved bywater. (1 Pet. 3:18-20)

This passage has often been taken tomean that when Christ died, He went tohades and preached a sermon to the deadpeople there. However, it does not saythat. The words “went and” do not appearin the original Greek text, but were addedlater by the translators.

Also, the word “preached” does notmean a revival-type preaching service.The word comes from the Greek kerusso,which means “to cry or proclaim as a her-ald” (Young's Concordance). This procla-mation was made to the “spirits inprison,” not to men's souls in hades. Menare never called spirits in the Bible. Theyare always called souls, as is said of Noahand his family later in the same passage:“eight souls were saved by water.”

Some may object to this on the groundsthat Hebrews 12:23 speaks of “the spiritsof just men made perfect.” However, thecontext of that verse shows that it isspeaking of the “church,” the trueChristians, whose spirits are perfected, ormatured.

“Spirit” literally means “breath, “which gives us life, or which animates us.But the meaning is often extended to referto the other things that move us to action,

things that motivate us. For example,Paul was motivated by “the spirit of meek-ness” (1 Cor. 4:21). Thus, Hebrews 12:23refers to Christians, those who are just,whose spirits, or motivations, have been“made perfect.”

The “spirits in prison” that Peter wroteof are probably the same ones spoken of inJude 6:

And the angels which kept not theirfirst estate, but left their own habita-tion, he hath reserved in everlastingchains under darkness unto the judg-ment of the great day.

In Peter's second epistle, he againmentions these “spirits in prison”:

For if God spared not the angels thatsinned, but cast them down to hell,[literally, “Tartarus,” not hades] anddelivered them into chains of dark-ness, to be reserved unto judgment;and spared not the old world, butsaved Noah the eighth person, apreacher of righteousness. . . (2 Pet.2:4, 5)

We do not propose to explain when orhow these “angels” or “spirits” sinned andwere imprisoned in chains of darkness.But the context shows clearly that Peterwas not speaking of souls in hades.

Thus, 1 Peter 3:18-20 could be para-phrased:

Christ was. . . put to death in the flesh,but resurrected by the Spirit, by whichalso He proclaimed [something] to theimprisoned spirits, or angels, whichwere once disobedient in the days ofNoah. . .

Christ was resurrected, and it was bythis resurrection that He proclaimed

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(“preached”) to the spirits imprisoned inTartarus. He did not have to go anywhereto preach-His resurrection was the procla-mation.

Some also use 1 Peter 4:6, which says:

For this cause was the gospelpreached also to them that are dead,that they might be judged accordingto men in the flesh, but live accordingto God in the spirit.

They cite this as further “proof” thatChrist went to hades and preached anaudible sermon to the dead. However,Christ's name is not mentioned here andthe passage is really referring to peoplewho had heard the gospel before theydied.

The key is an understanding that thegospel has been preached to the worldsince Adam (Acts 14:17; Ps. 19:1). GodHimself “preached before (years ago) thegospel unto Abraham” (Gal. 3:8). All of theOld Testament prophets preached thegospel, for it was “witnessed by the lawand the prophets” (Rom. 3:21).

An epistle written by Clement, Bishopof Rome (Phil. 4:3), to the church atCorinth about A.D. 90, shows that firstcentury Christians understood that thegospel was an Old Testament concept.After speaking of the faith of Abraham,Isaac, and Jacob, he adds:

And therefore we who by his will havebeen called in Christ Jesus, are notjustified by ourselves. . . but throughfaith, by which Almighty God has jus-tified all men from the beginning. . . (1Clement 32:5)

If, in speaking of the founding fathersof America, we should say that the gospelwas preached to them that are dead, sure-

ly no one would interpret this to meanthat the gospel was preached to themafter they had died. No, the gospel waspreached to them that are now dead.

Note especially the last part of 1 Peter4:6, which tells us the reason the gospelwas preached to the dead:

For this cause. . . that they might bejudged according to men in the flesh.[by the law, which corrects our con-duct] but live according to God in thespirit. [by grace, which justifies usand makes us righteous before God]

There is no possible way that thisverse could be applied to the dead peoplein hades. There would be no reason forChrist to preach a sermon to dead people.Even if the dead were conscious and couldhear the gospel preached, none of thewicked could repent and be saved, and allof the righteous already had repented atthe preaching of the gospel while theywere yet alive.

So we see that neither passage teachesthat people, while dead, heard an audiblesermon from anyone.

“HE LED CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE. . .”(Eph. 4:8)

Many churches today teach that thereare two compartments in hades — a fieryone where the wicked go at death and aheavenly one (paradise) for the deadbelievers. According to this theory, at Hisascension Christ removed the OldTestament saints out of the paradise com-partment in hades and took them to heav-en with Him. In support of this theory,Ephesians 4:8 is often quoted:

Wherefore he saith, When he ascendedup on high, he led captivity captive,and gave gifts unto men.

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This verse is an obvious reference tothe ascension of Christ. However, we mustask ourselves two questions: (1) whatwere the gifts that He gave to men, and towhom did He give them? (2) what was thecaptivity that he led captive?

Before we answer these questions, wemust first realize that Paul was simplyquoting a verse from the Psalms. So let usgo back to the original verse and see itscontext.

Thou hast ascended on high, thouhast led captivity captive; thou hastreceived gifts for men; yea, for therebellious also, that the Lord Godmight dwell among them. (Ps. 68:18)

Those who teach the “compartment”theory tell us that these gifts were therewards that the godly men received whenthey were taken to heaven. But this theo-ry falls flat when we quote the source ofPaul's doctrine in Psalm 68:18, becausethe psalmist includes “the rebellious also.”

We can be sure that “the rebelliousalso” would not have gone to heaven withthe believers. So there must be anotheranswer to our first question: what werethe gifts that Christ gave to men? Paulgives us the answer a few verses later:

And He gave some, apostles; and some,prophets; and some, evangelists; andsome, pastors and teachers;

For the perfecting of the saints, for thework of the ministry, for the edifyingof the body of Christ. (Eph. 4:11, 12)

This passage makes it abundantlyclear why “the rebellious also” were toreceive these gifts. We are all a rebelliouspeople, and for this reason God has givenus (as gifts) apostles, prophets, evangel-ists, pastors, and teachers “for the perfect-ing of the saints.”

Why does God want the saints perfect-ed? The psalmist said “that the Lord Godmight dwell among them.” When theBride has made herself ready (Rev. 19:7),then Christ shall come to earth to dwellwith her:

. . . Behold, the tabernacle of God iswith men, and He will dwell withthem, and they shall be His people,and God Himself shall be with them,and be their God. (Rev. 21:3)

Therefore, to answer our first ques-tion, when Christ ascended into heaven,He gave us ministers to perfect the saints.

Our second question was: What does itmean to “lead captivity captive”? Does itmean that Christ led the believers toheaven from paradise? Not at all.

“Lead captivity captive” is an oldexpression that meant that people hadbeen freed from a captivity. The phraseoccurs in Judges 5:12 in the song thatDeborah sang after Barak delivered Israelfrom the captivity of the Canaanites:

Awake, awake, Deborah; awake,awake, utter a song. Arise, Barak,and lead thy captivity captive, thouson of Abinoam.

Barak freed Israel from the Canaanitecaptivity. In Paul's letter to theEphesians, he says that Christ legallyfreed us from the sentence of death (mor-tality) that Adam's sin had imposed uponus all. Christians shall experience thisfreedom (immortality) at the resurrection.

This passage obviously has nothing todo with “compartments” in hades, fromwhich Christ supposedly removed all thebelievers. The compartment theory origi-nates in the Talmud, the Pharisaic “tradi-tions of men. “ It has no basis whatsoeverin the Scriptures.

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Therefore, when Christ ascended toheaven, He freed us from the curse of theLaw, the sentence of death, and He gaveus ministers to perfect the saints.

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BELIEVERS “NEVER DIE”?(John 11:25, 26)

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrec-tion and the life; he that believeth inme, though he were dead, yet shall helive; and whosoever liveth andbelieveth in me shall never die.Believest thou this? (John 11:25, 26)

If the above translation were correct, itwould contradict itself. In verse 25, Jesussays that believers who have died shalllive. But in the next verse, Jesus is madeto say that believers “shall never die.”

Let us look at a more literal transla-tion. The Concordant Literal NewTestament reads:

Jesus said to her, “I am theResurrection and the Life. He who isbelieving in Me, even if he should bedying, shall be living. And everyonewho is living and believing in me,should by no means be dying for theeon. Are you believing this?”

In other words, Jesus said that even ifbelievers die before the Kingdom Age(“eon”) comes, they “shall be living” (i.e. beresurrected). And all believers who arealive when that eon comes “should by nomeans be dying for the eon.”

The verse does not prove that we shallnever die. It proves that whether we diebefore the Kingdom Age comes or live tosee it come, all the believers of every ageshall live “for the eon.”

At this point, we too ask the reader,“Believest thou this? “

ABSENT FROM THE BODY —PRESENT WITH THE LORD

(2 Cor. 5:8)

We are confident, I say, and willingrather to be absent from the body, andto be present with the Lord. (2 Cor.5:8)

This verse is familiar to almost all whohave been taught the immortality of man,but at the same time it is one of the mostmisunderstood and misquoted of anyverse in the Bible. In order to understandthis verse properly, we must see thethrust of Paul's argument in the preced-ing verses. Let us study this verse in itscontext, using a literal translation:

For we are aware that, if our terrestri-al tabernacle house should be demol-ished, we have a building of God, ahouse not made with hands, eonian,in the heavens.

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For in this also we are groaning, long-ing to be dressed in our habitationwhich is out of heaven, if so be that,being dressed also, we shall not befound naked.

For we also, who are in the taberna-cle, are groaning, being burdened, onwhich we are not wanting to bestripped, but to be dressed, that themortal may be swallowed up by life.

Now He Who produces us for this samelonging is God, Who is also giving usthe earnest of the spirit.

Being, then, courageous always, andaware that, being at home in the body,we are away from home from the Lord,

(For by faith are we walking, not byperception),

We are encouraged, and are delight-ing rather to be away from home outof the body AND to be at home with theLord. (2 Cor. 5:1;8, C.V.)

Verse one states that there are twotabernacles, or bodies, one heavenly andthe other terrestrial (earthly). Verses twoand three explain that at the present timewe are burdened in our earthly, mortalbodies; but our hope is that some day weshall be “dressed” in the heavenly body,“that the mortal may be swallowed up bylife” (vs. 3).

When will this mortal “be swallowedup by life?” The moment we die? No, forPaul tells us in 1 Cor. 15:52-54 that ourmortality will not be changed to immortal-ity until “the last trump.” Paul makes itplain that he looked forward to the resur-rection, not to the day of his death:

. . . we are not wanting to be stripped[die], but to be dressed. . . [resurrect-ed] (vs. 3)

Did Paul then turn around and say inverse 8 that when he died, he would be“present with the Lord”? Of course not. Hesimply repeated what he had previouslystated: (1) that this mortal body was bur-densome, and (2) that he would rather bedressed in his resurrected body AND “beat home with the Lord.”

Notice that even in the King JamesVersion, verse 8 does not read that “to beabsent from the body is to be present withthe Lord.” That reading is a deliberatemisquotation designed to prove an unscriptural theory.

PAUL'S DILEMMA (Phil. 1:23)

For I am in a strait betwixt two, having adesire to depart, and to be with Christ;which is far better. Phil. 1:23)

Some time ago a well-known ministersaid that if Phillippians 1:23 was the onlyverse in Scripture teaching man's immor-tality, he would believe it, disregarding allthe rest of Scripture to the contrary. Butwe do not believe that the Bible contra-dicts itself, and we shall show that thispassage is no exception.

Notice first that Paul says “to die isgain” (vs. 21). He does not say that to dieis heaven, or that to die is to be with theLord. He says it is gain. Whose gain will itbe, Paul's or Christ's?

If the reader will read verses 12-21, itwill be clear that Paul was saying that hisdeath would be gain for Christ, not forhimself. Paul had been cast into prison,but instead of the other Christians hidingthemselves, they were “waxing confidentby my bonds” and openly preaching thegospel. Thus, Paul says:

But I would ye should understand,brethren, that the things which hap-

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pened unto me have fallen out ratherunto the furtherance of the gospel.(Phil. 1: 12)

After spending much time rejoicingover “the furtherance of the gospel,” Paulfinally begins to discuss the possibility ofhis being executed for his faith:

. . . So now also Christ shall be magni-fied in my body, whether it be by life,or by death.

For [because] to me to live is Christ,and to die is gain. (Phil. 1:20, 21)

We see, then, that Paul is telling usthat the Gospel of Christ would be spreadfurther.. whether he lived or died, andChrist would be magnified. As Tertulliantestified in the second century A.D., “Theblood of Christians is seed. . .”

In verse 23 the phrase, “I am in a straitbetwixt two,” as it reads in most Bibles, ismisleading. The Greek verb used is sune-chomai, a form of the word sunechoo,which means “to hold together, to press.”The same word also occurs in Luke 8:45,“the multitude throng thee and pressthee.” It occurs again in Acts 7:57, whenthe Jews “stopped [pressed] their ears.”

Thus, the beginning of Philippians1:23 should read, “I am being pressed. . .”

In most Bibles the next phrase reads,“betwixt the two.” The Greek word here isek, which all Lexicons and Concordancesrender “out of.” This is the only verse inthe Bible where it has been mistranslatedto read “betwixt.”

Thus, the entire phrase should read: “Iam being pressed out of the two . . .”

The next word in this verse which weshall discuss is analusai, rendered “to

depart.” This word is found only one othertime in the Scriptures, where it is ren-dered “return.”

And [be] ye yourselves like unto menlooking for their Lord, when he shallreturn [analusai] from the marriagefeast; that, when he cometh andknocketh, they may straitway openunto him. (Luke 12:36)

The Companion Bible tells us that thisword was used often in the Apocrypha aswell, where it frequently was translated“return”. It also states that “to depart”should be translated “for the return.”Thus, the entire verse, translated proper-ly, reads:

Yet I am being pressed out of the two,having the desire for the return andtogether with Christ to be, for itrather is much better.

Having established the proper transla-tion ofthe passage, we can now proceed tointerpret it from the beginning. Paul waspreaching in jail, and the Christians out-side were taking courage because of Paul'sexample. So Paul concludes that Christwould gain glory, whether he (Paul) wouldbe executed or acquitted.

These were the two “choices” that Paulmentioned. If he was executed, Christwould be magnified; if he was acquitted,Christ would be magnified as well. Paulsays that he did not know which would bethe most gain for Christ, so he decided notto state any preference to the Philippians:

. . . yet what I shall choose I wot not. [lit-erally, “I am not making known”]

So Paul would not state his preference,for he was “being pressed out of” the twochoices. In other words, he could notchoose either of them. Instead, he intro-

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duces a third choice, which was his realdesire-”the return” of Christ. This is thehope of the Christian, and it is “much bet-ter” than either living or dying.

Even as it is translated in the KingJames, verse 23 which seems to say if hedeparted (died) he would be with Christ,can be explained by death as unconscious-ness. Paul knew that if he did die, thenext conscious moment would behis resurrection at which time he wouldthen be with Christ.

We conclude, then, that Paul did notbelieve that when he died, he would bewith Christ immediately. His hope wasthe return of Christ, when the deadbelievers would be raised to inherit theKingdom.

PAUL'S REWARD — WHEN?(2 Tim. 4:6-8)

For I am now ready to be offered, andthe time of my departure is at hand. Ihave fought a good fight, I have fin-ished my course, I have kept the faith.Henceforth there is laid up for me acrown of righteousness, which theLord, the righteous judge, shall giveme at that day; and not to me only, butunto all them also that love hisappearing. (2 Tim. 4:6-8)

This passage is quite similar toPhilippians 1:20-23. The word “departure”is in Greek, analusis, from analuo. Wehave already shown in the previous sec-tion that analuo means “return.”

Thus Paul said that “the time of myreturning is at hand.” Where would Paulreturn? Well, where did Paul come from?If Paul pre-existed in heaven, then obvi-ously, he would return to heaven. But wehave already shown that man originatedin the dust of the ground and that death isa return to our origin (Gen. 3:19).

Paul's reward was “laid up” for him,and he expected to receive it “at that day.”

At what day? The last part of the versetells us that Paul expected to receive it atthe same time the other believers receivedit, for he says:

. . . and not to me only, but unto allthem also that love his appearing.

Furthermore, a look at the contextproves that Paul was thinking of thereturn of Christ, for verse one says:

I charge thee therefore before God,and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shalljudge the quick and the dead at hisappearing and his kingdom. (2 Tim.4:1)

Paul's reward was laid up for him inheaven, but he shall not receive it untilChrist returns, for Jesus said:

And behold I come quickly; and myreward is with me, to give every manaccording as his work shall be. (Rev.22:12)

All of the world's major religions teach thatman receives his reward when he “dies.” The Biblesays that no one, not even Paul, receives anyreward until the return of Christ and the resurrec-tion of the dead.

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ENOCH: DEAD? OR ALIVE?(Gen. 5:24; Heb. 11:5)

And Enoch walked with God; and hewas not; for God took him. (Gen. 5:24)

By faith Enoch was translated that heshould not see death; and was notfound, because God had translatedhim; for before his translation he hadthis testimony, that he pleased God.(Heb. 11:5)

Some say that this passage teachesthat Enoch never died, but that God tookhim directly to heaven. On the otherhand, there are other Scriptures whichwould seem to contradict that view. Forexample, Jesus said:

And no man hath ascended up toheaven, but he that came down fromheaven, even the Son of man which isin heaven. (John 3:13)

No man hath seen God at any time.(John 1:18 and 1 John 4:12)

How can we reconcile this seemingcontradiction?

In Genesis 5:24 the word “took” is fromthe Hebrew word laquach, which means“to receive, or accept” (Young). Thephrase, “he was not” is used in the Bible todenote death (see Jer. 31:15 and Job 7:21).Thus, Genesis 5:24 could be read:

And Enoch walked with God; and hedied; for God accepted him.

In Hebrews 11:5 the word “translated”is metatithemi, which means “to place, ortransfer in a passive, horizontal posture”(Strong’s). This is the only place in theBible where this word appears. However,it is also used in the fourth chapter of theapocryphal Wisdom of Solomon:

He pleased God, and was beloved ofhim; so that living among sinners hewas translated. (vs. 10)

The context of this verse makes itplain that it is not referring to Enoch, inparticular, but rather to the righteous ingeneral in contrast to the wicked.

But though the righteous be preventedwith death, yet shall he [“the right-eous”] be in rest. (vs. 7)

He [“the righteous”] pleased God, andwas beloved of him; so that livingamong sinners he [“the righteous”]was translated. (vs. 10)

Yea, speedily was he taken away, lestthat wickedness should alter hisunderstanding, or deceit beguile hissoul. (vs. 11)

He, being made perfect in a shorttime, fulfilled a long time; (vs. 13)

For his soul pleased the Lord; there-fore hasted he [God] to take him awayfrom among the wicked. (vs. 14)

This the people saw, and understoodit not, neither laid they up this intheir minds, that his grace and mercyis with his saints, and that he hathrespect unto his chosen. (vs. 15)

Thus the righteous that is dead shallcondemn the ungodly which are liv-ing. . . (vs. 16)

For they shall see the end [death] ofthe wise, and shall not understandwhat God in his counsel hath decreedof him, and to what end the Lord hathset him in safety. (vs. 17)

All of the above quotes are from The Wisdom of Solomon.

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In other words, when the wicked live tobe very old and the righteous seem to dieyoung, it is because God is merciful to therighteous. God takes the righteous “awayfrom among the wicked” to spare themfrom the contaminating influence of thewicked.

Thus, God translates the righteousfrom this life to the sleep of death.

We see, therefore, that the word“translated” does not mean “taken toheaven” in the Wisdom of Solomon. Theword is used in reference to death.

Thus, when this word is used inHebrews 11:5 in reference to Enoch, itdoes not necessarily mean he was takeninto heaven.

Hebrews 11 also presents us withanother seeming contradiction that wemust resolve. Verse 5 says that. . .

. . . Enoch was translated that heshould not see death.

The chapter goes on to list the famousmen of the Old Scriptures, showing theirfaith:

By faith Abel. . . By faith Enoch. . . Byfaith Noah . . . By faith Abraham. . .etc.

After listing all these people, includingEnoch, the writer concluded in verse 13:

These all died in faith, not havingreceived the promises. . .

And again we read later:

And these all [including Enoch], hav-ing obtained a good report throughfaith, received not the promise; Godhaving provided some better thing for

us, that they [including Enoch] with-out us should not be made perfect.(Heb. 11:39, 40)

How shall we reconcile this seemingcontradiction? Did Enoch “not see death,”or did he die “in faith, not having receivedthe promises”?

The solution is to realize that thestatement is that he should not see death,not “that he should not die. “ It must meanthat God mercifully took Enoch out of thislife to spare him the infirmities of old age,or from the hands of the wicked, as theWisdom of Solomon seems to indicate.

Another possibility is that Enoch didnot “see” death, but instead, saw thefuture life in the Kingdom of God. Heknew his next conscious moment would bethe resurrection from the dead.

In any case, we must conclude thatEnoch did die, that he died in faith, nothaving received the promises, and that heshall receive the promises at the resurrec-tion of the dead, along with the rest of theovercomers (Heb. 11:40).

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THE “SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR”(Rev. 6:9-11)

And when he had opened the fifthseal, I saw under the altar the souls ofthem that were slain for the word ofGod, and for the testimony which theyheld.

And they cried with a loud voice say-ing, How long, O Lord, holy and true,dost thou not judge and avenge ourblood on them that dwell on theearth?

And white robes were given untoeveryone of them; and it was said untothem, that they should rest for a littleseason, until their fellowservants alsoand their brethren, that should bekilled as they were, should be ful-filled.

Those who believe in the immortalityof the soul teach that this passage provesthat the martyrs are alive in heaven.However, they do not attempt to explainwhy these souls are said to be “under thealtar,” rather than in heaven. Neither canthey explain why these souls were told to“rest for a little season.”

This opening of the “fifth seal” is partof a vision that John saw nearly 2,000years ago. Like the “appearance” of Mosesand Elijah on the mount with Jesus, thisscene occurred only in a vision.

The symbolic language used here isvery similar to that used in the case ofAbel. When Cain murdered Abel, God didnot say to Cain, “Your brother Abel's soulhas come up to heaven and told me thatyou killed him.” No, God said:

. . . What hast thou done? The voice ofthy brother's blood crieth unto mefrom the ground. (Gen. 4:10)

The New Scriptures explain Abel'sblood crying from the ground with thewords:

. . . and by it he being dead yetspeaketh. (Heb. 11:4)

No doubt one of the martyred soulsthat John saw under the altar was right-eous Abel. But why does Genesis 4: 10 saythat his voice cried from the ground, whileRevelation 6:9 says that the voices of themartyrs cried from under the altar? Isthere a connection between the groundand the altar? We believe there is.

A martyr is one whose life has beensacrificed for his faith in Christ. In fact,any true Christian is one who has pre-sented himself to God as “a living sacri-fice, holy, acceptable unto God” (Rom.12:1) and who is willing to sacrifice his lifefor his faith.

In the law of sacrifices found inLeviticus 4, the priests were commandedto offer the bullocks upon the altar and. . .

. . . pour all the blood of the bullock atthe bottom of the altar of the burntoffering. . . . (Lev. 4:7)

The blood of sacrificed animals wasalways to be poured under the altar uponthe ground. When the people killed ani-mals for food, they too were commanded topour the blood upon the ground and coverit with dust. Why? Leviticus 17 says thatit was because the soul of the animal is inthe blood; and the soul of the animal wasto be put in the ground as atonement forour souls:

For it is the life [nephesh, “soul”] ofall flesh; the blood of it is for the life[“soul”] thereof; therefore I said untothe children of Israel, Ye shall eat theblood of no manner of flesh; for the

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life [“soul”] of all flesh is the bloodthereof. . . (Lev. 17:14)

When the Lamb of God was sacrificedfor the sin of the world, He “poured out hissoul [blood] unto death” (Is.53:12). Thus,Christ's soul was made an offering for sin.His soul died, for -that was the penalty forsin, as it is written:

. . . the soul that sinneth, it shall die.(Ez. 18:4)

Thus we see that the blood is the soulof the flesh, and the blood must be pouredupon the ground in atonement for oursouls. The fact that the soul of the animalwas killed and placed in the ground toatone for man's sin proves that man's souldies and goes into the ground as well.

We conclude then that John did not seesaints alive in heaven, but rather a visionof the many saints who “were slain for theword of God” and who were “under thealtar” (in the ground), where they shall“rest” (sleep) until all preresurrectionevents are fulfilled. Then their “rest”(sleep) shall end in the resurrection.

CHRIST'S ADVENT AND PRESENCE(2 Thess. 2:8)

Man's overwhelming desire for immo-trality is so deeply rooted that even somewho believe that the dead sleep in thegrave deny that they themselves shallsurely die. They claim that Christ hasalready returned invisibly, that an invisi-ble resurrection occurred at the sametime, and that Christians who have “died”(I) since then “go to be with the Lord.”

There are some variations of this doc-trine, but most place this “spiritual resur-rection” between 1914 and 1917. The gen-eral teaching is based upon two Greekterms used in the Scriptures in connectionwith Christ's return: epiphaneia(“advent”) and parousia (“presence”).

The King James Version rendersepiphaneia “appearing” five times and“brightness” once. The Concordant LiteralNew Testament consistently renders theword “advent.” Epiphaneia is used in con-nection with Christ's first advent, asshown in 2 Timothy 1:10 —

But is now made manifest by theappearing [advent] of our SaviourJesus Christ . . .

To avoid confusion we will use the term“advent” for epiphaneia and “presence” forparousia.

Those who teach that Christ cameinvisibly in 1914 and 1917 believe that the“advent” and the “presence” are two sepa-rate events. They identify His presencewith His invisible coming and His adventwith His future, visible, bodily manifesta-tion.

This doctrine utterly negates the clear,Bible teaching of the bodily resurrection ofthe dead. They claim that at the presence

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of Christ the overcomers were spirituallyresurrected, while their bodies remainedin the ground, and only at the advent ofChrist will they be joined to their physicalbodies.

As we have already seen, the spirit ismerely the breath of God which returns toGod when the person dies. It is not a con-scious entity. Soul is merely the effect ofthe union between body and spirit. Whenthe spirit returns to God and the bodyreturns to the earth, the soul (conscious-ness) ceases to exist and consequentlycannot “be with the Lord” apart from thebody at any time. Either the whole man isdead, or the whole man is alive.

In speaking of Christ's presence in 2Thess. 2:1-3, Paul says:

Now we beseech you, brethren, by thecoming [presence] of our Lord JesusChrist, and by our gathering togetherunto him, that ye be not soon shakenin mind, or be troubled, neither byspirit, nor by word, nor by letter asfrom us, as that the day of Christ is athand. Let no man deceive you by anymeans; for that day shall not come,except there come a falling away first,and that man of sin be revealed, theson of perdition.

In other words, Christ would not bepresent on earth until some time after theman of sin is revealed. Furthermore,Christ's presence and the destruction ofthe man of sin occur at the same time, forwe read in verse 8:

And then shall that Wicked berevealed, whom the Lord shall con-sume with the spirit of His mouth, andshall destroy with the brightness[advent] of His coming. [presence]

Thus, the man of sin is revealed, andthen he is destroyed by the advent ofChrist's presence. Obviously, this did nothappen in 1914 or 1917 or yet as of thewriting of this book.

2 Thess. 2:1 links Christ's presencewith “our gathering together unto Him.”Paul makes the same link in his first let-ter to the Thessalonians, when he says:

. . . we which are alive and remainunto the coming [presence] of theLord shall not prevent [“precede”]them which are asleep. [i.e., dead] Forthe Lord himself shall descend fromheaven with a shout, with the voice ofthe archangel, and with the trump ofGod; and the dead in Christ shall risefirst. (1 Thess. 4:15, 16)

In other words, when Christ's presencebegins, “the dead in Christ” shall be resur-rected at the trump of God. Paul wrote tothe Corinthians that this trumpet shallsound and the dead shall be raised “in amoment, in the twinkling of an eye, at thelast trump” (1 Cor. 15:52), or in-stantaneously. Paul goes on to say in 1Thess. 4:17 —

Then we which are alive and remainshall be caught up together with themin the clouds, to meet the Lord in theair; and so shall we ever be with theLord.

So we see that at Christ's presenceboth “the dead in Christ” and “we whichare alive” at that time shall meet Christ inthe air together. None will have gone to bewith the Lord previously. This is born outin one of Paul's previous statements:

To the end that he [God] may stablishyour hearts unblameable in holinessbefore God, even our Father, at thecoming [presence] of our Lord Jesus

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Christ with ALL his saints. (1 Thess.3:13)

Rotherham's Emphasized Bible showsthat the entire last part of the verse isstrongly emphatic in the Greek, and thatthe word “all” is even more emphatic.Thus, the verse should be read to meanthat God shall establish our heartsunblameable in holiness at Christ's pres-ence with ALL His saints. We shall not bemade holy before that time, and we shallALL be with Christ at his presence.

That the resurrection and the presenceoccur simultaneously is further shown in1 Cor. 15:23, where Paul gives us theorder of resurrections: “. . . Christ thefirstfruits; afterward they that areChrist's at his coming [presence].” Inother words, “those that are Christ's”shall be resurrected at his presence.

But in another passage Paul also tellsus that the resurrection shall occur atChrist's advent:

Looking for that blessed hope, [i.e.,the resurrection] and the gloriousappearing [advent] of the great Godand our Saviour Jesus Christ. (Titus2:13)

The great hope of the Christian is theresurrection (Rom. 8:23-25; 1 Pet. 1:3, 4).In 1 Cor. 15:23 Paul states that this resur-rection shall occur at Christ's presence. InTitus 2:13 Paul states that this same res-urrection shall occur at Christ's advent.

The advent is the occasion of the resur-rection and the beginning of the presenceof Christ and His Kingdom. The advent isthe single event which begins Christ'scontinuing bodily presence throughoutthe Kingdom Age.

The advent, the presence, the resurrec-

tion, and the kingdom are all linkedtogether in 2 Timothy 4:1, where Paulsays:

I charge thee therefore before God, andthe Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge thequick and the dead at His appearing[advent] and His kingdom.

The presence, the resurrection of thedead for judgment, and the kingdom areall synchronized by the phrase, “at Hisadvent.”

Thus, to teach that Jesus' advent is intwo stages, one in 1914,1917, or any otherpast date, and one in the future, is notScriptural.

Since Jesus has not come in parou-sia all still die and will sleep in the graveuntil Jesus comes. To teach that after1914 or 1917 Christians do not “surelydie,” is to teach the serpent's lie in a newform.

The earliest Christian leaders also taught thatChrist's “advent” began His “presence” on earth tojudge and rule all nations (see: 2 Clement 12:1;17:4; Hermas Sim. V 5:3; Epistle to Diognetus 7:6).

THE “PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE

We have not specifically mentioned the “rapture”in this book because we have another book on it,but a brief comment should be made here since itis taught by many tens of thousands of supposedChristian ministers.

Like the doctrine just discussed, it is based on theerror that Jesus' second advent is in two stages. Itis also based on the falsehood that the dead do not

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really die, but instead go to heaven alive. We dopray the reader has now seen that God's Wordutterly exposes the “Pre-Tribulation Rapture” asfalse doctrine. For a separate study of the“Rapture,” read “The Rapture of the Wicked.”

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OUT-OF-THE-BODY EXPERIENCES

Many people teach that out-of-the-body experiences (OBE's) are positiveproof that the soul continues to exist con-sciously after death. “Many have sufferedphysical death,” they say, “and have comeback and described the 'other side'.”However, to cite OBE's as authoritativeproof of the soul's immortality is inconsis-tent and anti-Scriptural.

It is inconsistent, because: (1) of all thepeople who lose their vital signs and aresubsequently brought back to life, only atiny percentage report having an OBE.Most experience nothing. (2) OBE's areexperienced by the living as well as a fewof the “clinically dead.” (3) The descrip-tions of the “other side” are usually con-tradictory, even among professingChristians who reported these experi-ences.

It is anti-Scriptural, because: (1) Itmakes subjective, human experienceequal to or greater than the Word of God,which teaches that “the dead know notany thing.” (2) Christians are not the onlypeople who claim to have gone to heavenin an OBE. Buddists, Hindus, Muslims,and even atheists and agnostics who haveOBE's usually report that they went tosome place of happiness, often beingreunited with friends and relatives.

OBE's are an unreliable foundation onwhich to base a doctrine concerning thestate of the dead, because everyone claimsto have gone to the place where their reli-gious belief told them they would go. If aperson believes that he has fulfilled his

religion's requirements to “go to heaven,”his “OBE” brings him to a beautiful para-dise. But if he believes (even subcon-sciously) that he is not good enough to goto heaven, and if others have told him thathe will burn in hell if he does not conformto certain rituals, then his “OBE” is likelyto place him in a burning hell.

Regardless of race or creed, those whohave no concept of a burning hell neverexperience OBE's which place them there.And those who were never taught of heav-enly rewards after death never haveOBE's of that nature either. In otherwords, OBE's are totally dependent uponmen's beliefs, rather than what is thetruth about the state of the dead.

Many of us have heard testimonies ofpeople who claimed to have died, gone toeither “heaven” or “hell,” and thenreturned to tell of it. These people seldomrealize that they are claiming to havebeen resurrected from the dead. If theytruly died and really did go to where theysay other dead people are, then theirreturn can only be defined as a resurrec-tion from the dead.

But think of the implications of thisclaim. Can people truly die, go to heavenfor a season, and then return to their bod-ies here on earth, thereby being resurrect-ed before the first resurrection (Rev. 20:5,6)? Again, can people truly die, go to aburning hell for a season, and then returnin a resurrection from hell?!? God forbid!If dead Hindus and Muslims can be resur-rected from heaven in the same manneras is claimed of Christians, then Krishna,Mohammed, and Jesus all must be theway, the truth, and the life! But the Bibleteaches no such thing.

The Bible records many resurrectionsfrom the dead: 1 Kings 17:22; Matt. 9:25;27:53; 28:7; Luke 7:15; John 11:44; Acts

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9:40; 20:12. These passages affordedexcellent opportunities to record divinely-inspired descriptions of the .. other side. “But the Word of God makes no mention ofany OBE's.

Therefore, we suggest that those whohave what they call OBE's did not reallydie at all, although they may have losttheir vital signs, and they may have beenpronounced “clinically dead.” There havebeen cases where a person on a life-sup-port system was pronounced clinicallydead by qualified specialists. They weretaken off the life-support system andshortly thereafter revived. Thus, thepronouncement of “clinical death” wasshown to be inaccurate. If the personclaimed to have an OBE, it was probablyjust a hallucination or dream.

It is well known that going to sleepshortly after eating a heavy meal willcause one to dream. If one's stomach isfull of pizza, other spicy foods, or cold icecream, his dreams may be weird, even tothe point of being called “nightmares.”Likewise, people who are at the point ofdeath, especially in hospitals, are subject-ed to large doses of stimulant drugs whichproduce vivid dreams or hallucinations.

Many who have had OBE's tell ofmeeting a “being of light,” which theyclaim was the god of their particular reli-gion. Christians who had OBE's claim hewas Jesus Christ, Hindus call himKhrishna, and others have differentnames for him. Famous OBE researcherslike Robert Moore and Elizabeth Kubler-Ross claim to have OBE's at will, andwhile having them, they communicateregularly with “beings of light.”

Tal Brooke, who worked with RobertMoore at the University of Virginia,described Moore's research methods thisway:

. . . he would get into an OBE state atnight, and he would talk with various“beings of light” which tutored him on thetechnology of eliciting OBE's in other peo-ple. . . His breakthrough may be in thearea of using technology to produce medi-umship . . . (Spiritual Counterfeits ProjectJournal, April, 1977, p. 7).

The Bible says that the adversary “istransformed into an angel of light” (2 Cor.11:14). God's Law specifically forbidsmediumship and contact with evil spirits:

Regard not them that have familiarspirits, neither seek after wizards, tobe defiled by them; I am the Lord yourGod. (Lev. 19: 31)

And the soul that turneth after suchas have familiar spirits, and afterwizards, to go a whoring after them, Iwill even set my face against thatsoul, and will cut him off from amonghis people. (Lev. 20:6)

Robert Moore claims that while he washaving an OBE, he received knowledgefrom various “beings of light.” We knowthat this knowledge is not of God, for thedoctrines taught are anti-Scriptural. Paulspoke of those who refused to believe andobey God:

. . . Because they received not the loveof the truth, that they might be saved.And for this cause God shall sendthem a strong delusion, that theyshould believe a lie. (2 Thess. 2:10, 11)

No doubt Paul recalled God's dealingswith the false prophets in the days of KingAhab, who also refused the truth:

Now therefore, behold, the Lord hathput a lying spirit in the mouth of thesethy (Ahab's) prophets, and the Lordhath spoken evil against thee. (2Chron. 18:22)

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Paul also warned the Galatians:

But though we, or an angel from heav-en, preach any other gospel unto youthan that which we have preachedunto you, let him be accursed. (Gal.1:8)

As the reader must realize by now;anyone who teaches that the dead do notsurely die, but instead remain alivealthough in some other place and in someother form, are preaching another gospel.not the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Theyshould be avoided, not encouraged in theirerror.

THE SILVER CORD (Eccl. 12:6)

We'll cite one last reference, one whichsome quote, not realizing their “interpre-tation” of it is the same as that of the fol-lowers of the occult religions. That isEcclesiastes 12:6:

Or ever the silver cord be loosed, orthe golden bowl be broken, or thepitcher be broken at the fountain, orthe wheel broken at the cistern.

Occultists claim that the silver cordattaches man's “conscious spirit” to hisbody, and its breaking refers to the sepa-ration of the spirit from the body. Theyclaim they can leave their bodies andreturn as long as they do not break the sil-ver cord. They instruct novices to leavetheir bodies only a short distance at first,until, with practice, they can s-t-r-e-t-c-hthe silver cord great distances withoutbreaking it. Novices are warned if theybreak the cord, their” spirits” will not beable to return to their bodies. This doc-trine is taught by anti-Christian, occulttheologians.

Christians who have unknowinglyaccepted the occultist interpretation of the

silver cord should be told that the entiretwelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes usesmetaphoric language, and verse 6 is noexception. The symbolic meaning isrevealed by a study of the customs preva-lent during the days of Solomon. Ancientlamps were simple bowls of oil with a wickand were often suspended by a cord. In hisCommentary on this verse, Jamiesonwrites:

A lamp of frail material, but gilded over,often in the East hung from roofs by a cordof silk and silver interwoven; as the lampis dashed down and broken, when the cordbreaks, so man at death; the golden bowlof the lamp answers to the skull, which,from the vital preciousness of its contentsmay be called “golden;” “the silver cord” isthe spinal marrow, which is white andprecious as silver, and is attached to thebrain.

The Companion Bible says:

The silver cord: i.e. the spinal cord.The golden bowl: i.e. the head, or skull.

The Anchor Bible says of this verse:

Figures of death: the ornamental lamp isextinguished when its cord is cut, and itsbowl falls and is broken. . .

We see, then, that Solomon was com-paring death to the breaking of the silvercord that suspended the lamp from theceiling. Any time that a lamp cord broke,the lamp would smash on the floor, andthe light would go out. Solomon likeneddeath to this. This imagery coincides per-fectly with his own definition of deathelsewhere: “The dead know not any thing”(Eccl. 9:5).

That the whole of chapter 12 talks ofman's aging and final death is made clearin verse 5, where he says:

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And desire shall fail; because mangoeth to his long home, and themourners go about the streets.

Man's long home is his tomb, and inSolomon's time the people mourned,because they knew the man was dead andin his tomb, not alive in some celestialhome.

They knew, as Solomon wrote in a pre-vious chapter: “For the living know thatthey shall die” (Eccl. 9:5).

As you know, and probably haveknown all of your adult life deep down inyour heart, death is an enemy, not a friendwhich transports the dead to a better life.In spite of what ministers often say atfunerals, death is a tragedy, and the timeis one of sorrow. The people know thisinstinctively today, as they did inSolomon's day. Our comfort and our hopeis in the resurrection from the dead.

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SECTION THREE:THE TRAGIC RESULTS OF

UN-SCRIPTURAL TEACHING

Since it is common knowledge that allmen fear pain and death, unscrupulousmen have always used that fear in othermen in order to gain some advantage fromthem.

The best known example of such use ofthat fear of pain and death is when a com-mon thug threatens to hurt a personunless that person gives to the thug some-thing of value. If the thug is in a positionto carry out the threat, or if he goes so faras to inflict the pain, so that the fear ofdeath is aroused in the victim, the victimusually does what the thug tells him to do.Unscrupulous men long ago discoveredthat men seem instinctively to know thatdeath has something to do with a god or

gods. These wicked men then told othersthat they (the unscrupulous ones) had aspecial relationship to that god or gods,and if the people would follow theirinstructions, pain and death could be alle-viated, postponed, or, in the case of death,possibly even kept away.

In some cases elaborate rituals anddoctrines were promulgated by the wickedones, all designed to confuse other menabout pain and death, and to convincethem they must follow the inventor of therituals and obey him in order to avoid thepain and death.

In their more foolish forms amongprimitive people, we call the men who con-trol others in this manner “witch doctors.”In more sophisticated societies or “civi-lizations,” not recognizing the parallelwith the witch doctor, we call them“priests” or “ministers.”

Since intelligent men soon realizedthat the “priest” was unable to preventdeath, the priests had to invent somemore effective doctrine about death, inorder to maintain their “fear-control” overintelligent people. That doctrine was thatman was “immortal” and really wouldnever die.

In order to understand why ancientpriests taught the doctrine of the “immor-tal soul,” i.e. that men live on in a con-scious state after their physical body dies,we must also understand that they knewthat men really fear great pain MOREthan they fear actual death.

The ancient priests, seeing that men ingreat pain from disease, wounds, or tor-ture would often beg to be put to death sothat the pain would end, realized that thethreat of pain AFTER death could be agreater control force than the threat ofdeath itself. Thus was born the teaching

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that those who did not obey the priestwould be taken, still “alive” to a place ofpain and torture AFTER their body died.

To it, of course, was added “heaven” or“paradise,” where those who DID obey thepriests would go in a conscious state toenjoy happiness and bliss far beyond whatthey had had on earth. One might call this“the carrot and the stick” of false religion.This threat of unending torture AFTERdeath was far more frightening to peoplethan any threat of pain in this life, andthese doctrines were soon taught by allwho wished to control other people,regardless of what “god” or “gods” theyprofessed to serve.

Only one Religion-that which the oneTrue God revealed to Adam and Eve inEden, and which was later given in writ-ten form to Israel at Mt. Sinai-taught theTruth that “thou shalt surely die,” andthat “the wages of sin (disobedience toGod's Law) is death (cessation of life),”and that man's only hope was that sometime in the future, God would resurrectthe dead to eternal life.

Jesus Christ came, and by His teach-ings and His death and Resurrection, Heconfirmed the Truth of the one TrueReligion, the Truth which Jesus saidwould set men free.

But wicked men keep men in bondagewith the threat of pain and torture afterdeath. By infiltrating and finally seizingcontrol of the early Christian Church,they raised a priesthood in what theycalled “The Holy Catholic Church.”

Using the fear of pain AFTER death in“hell” and “purgatory,” they eventuallybrought the whole continent of Europeinto bondage to their “priests.” TheProtestant Reformation broke that yoke ofbondage by the Truth, but now, severalhundred years later, almost the whole of

the so-called “Protestant” movementagain teaches the falsehoods taught bythe Roman Church and the priests of an-cient Babylon, and millions of God's peo-ple are again under bondage for fear ofpain and death.

In order to prevent the people fromlearning the Truth of sin and death, themodern priesthood, like the ancients, alsodenies God's Law. Now they teach that itwas once in effect but that Jesus “put itaway.” If the people were to read andstudy God's Law they would soon discoverthe true penalty for sin is simply death,i.e. cessation of life. This true penalty ismerciful, not vengeful, and leaves no roomfor a false doctrine that men who do notfollow the priest's rituals will be torturedafter death. By casting aside God's Lawthe modern “priests” also prevent the peo-ple from following the divine instructionswhich would bring them a better life now.Unknowingly, they disobey the divine pre-cepts on agriculture and food, on mar-riage, on economics, on race, on foreignrelations, and in many other areas. Thus,individually and nationally they are sickin mind and body. Their troubles then givethe priests the opportunity to be theirguides and instructors to lead them fur-ther into bondage.

Another tragic consequence of thesefalse doctrines is that they drive manyintelligent people away from the Bibleand true Christianity. They see the injus-tice of eternal torture for the sins of oneshort lifetime, but thinking the Bible real-ly teaches that-because so many profess-ing “Bible ministers” say it does-theyreject both the Bible and the God whogave it. Some begin a search for a more“just” God and are recruited into easternreligions or Spiritualism and never do findthe Bible Truth that would set them freeand convince them that the God of theBible is both True and Just.

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The false doctrine of the conscious exis-tence of the dead is largely responsible forthe average Christian's “I-don't-care” atti-tude toward our present national andpolitical problems. Since they are con-vinced their eternal abode is in heaven,they sit and do nothing, while the earthand its peoples are captured by unright-eous men and oppressive governments.

As things grow progressively worse,the false ministers continue to spreadtheir hymn book theology:

This world is not my home;I'm only passing by;My heaven and my hopeIs all up in the sky.

As long as people believe the false doc-trines that the wages of sin is an eternityof pain and torture and that the reward ofobeying the priest is an eternity of bliss inheaven, just so long will they continue todespise God's material creation and donothing to build God's earthly kingdom.

May God anoint the eyes of His people,and may the Truth of His Holy Word setus free, that we might “come out fromamong them” (false churches) and begin toprepare Christ's Kingdom for the day Hereturns to resurrect His saints to rulewith Him here on the earth. Amen.

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Thou ShaltSurely Die

byG. Marsh Hilbourneand Micheal T. Wark