“You shall not surely die.”  With those words Satan told his first lie to a human being.  There would be many, many more, many of which have become foundational doctrines for his Institutional (Catholic/Protestant) Church System.  The crux of Satan’s Edenic lie was that man has an immortal soul.  In my early life I remember singing a song which spoke of heaven as the place “… where the soul of man never dies.”  Not being a student of the Bible (but supposedly “saved”), I was unaware that God stated twice in His Holy Bible that “The soul that sins, that soul will die” (Eze. 18:4,20).  In a previous series I proved Scripturally that the “soul” is in fact man’s physical body that physically dies because of sin.  Read The Man-soul Deception.  Key word–“Man-soul.”  Satan does not want his people to know the truth about man’s soul relative to man’s spirit.  His version of death has man’s soul either going straight to heaven or straight to hell at the moment of death, then remaining there forever.  This theory has no Biblical foundation.  When man dies, he dies.  He is dead and will remain dead until his resurrection.  Read The Three Resurrections.  Key word–“Three.”  Man’s dead soul (body–Heb.-“nephesh”) returns to dust from which it was formed.  It does not, as we are assured from pulpit, podium, t.v., radio, movies and in print, go to hades or heaven, depending on whether the deceased had been “saved”/”born again and had “joined the (right) church.”  The Scriptures tell us that the dead are dead, and that they will remain dead until their respective resurrections.

In Ecclesiastes 9:5,6 the Lord describes the dead as being unable to hear, see, think or know anything.  The dead have no knowledge or awareness of anything.  “For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.  Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy has perished ….”  In Romans 6:23 the Apostle Paul states that the wages of sin is death.  In this context, death means the end of physical life.

There is a spiritual death which takes place when one sins.  Such death involves the separation of a sinning saint from God.  Adam and Eve experienced spiritual death when they sinned.  No one could be closer to God than they were.  Therefore, after sinning and feeling good for a short time, they realized that they had died spiritually.  Filled with fear and anxiety, they hid from God.  Isaiah warns about spiritual death in 59:2: “Your sin has separated you (God’s people) from your God.” One cannot be moved from where one has never been.  Having experienced spiritual death, I can attest to its agonizing and terrifying effect.  The vast majority of professing Christians do not experience this sensation after sinning because it presupposes a relationship with God prior to the sin.  Church people, having never heard the true gospel and knowing only what they have been told by Satan’s false prophets, have never known God.  They know ABOUT God, but do not know Him personally.  God askes, “Can two walk together unless they agree?” (Amos 3:3).  Catholics and Protestants do not agree with God.  If they knew Him they would not be Catholics and Protestants–Satan’s people.  They would be true saints (“holy ones”).  They would comprise the true church (“called out ones”)–God’s people.  Therefore,  in the vast majority of instances described in the New Testament, references to death normally refer to the physical death of the body/soul.

Due to their ignorance of the Bible, those within “the church” cling to her traditional “truths” concerning physical death.  They “know” that upon their deaths they will go immediately to the paradise called heaven.  They also “know” that the deaths of the unchurched will send them immediately into a fiery hell.  However, in Acts 13:22 we learn that David–“a man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22)–did not go to heaven upon dying.  Nor was he taken to heaven when Jesus supposedly took all members of “the ________ church” (fill in the blank) to heaven with Him following His resurrection.  In John3:13 Jesus said, “No man has ascended up to heaven” where God’s throne is.  In Acts 2:29 we find the apostle Peter stating that David “… is both dead and buried, and his tomb (sepulcher containing his remains) is with us to this day.  Peter went on to state that “David did not ascend into the heavens” (Acts 2:34).  David has yet to arrive at the “pearly gates” where past popes, world-famous evangelists and pastors, Grandma Joan, St. Peter and Elves await his arrival.  Read The Real Elvis.  Key word–Elvis.

Those within professing Christendom believe that they will live again.  The questions are where? and when?  They know that there is life after death, but do not know the spiritual mechanics of the transition from this life to the next one.  Nor do they know why we were placed on this earth.  God placed man on this earth for a wonderful, eternal purpose.

Even though when we die we are indeed dead, we will not remain dead forever.  Regardless of how they died or how long they have been in the grave, the dead will live again.  I call this life the preparation stage designed by God during which we qualify for either eternal life or eternal death.  Jesus speaks of this Truth in John 5:28,29: “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth–those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.”  There will be an accounting for our “walk” during this life.  For each human being there will come a time of judgment.  For the dead, it will entail a resurrection.  The Apostle Paul tells God’s people that if they will judge themselves now they will not need to be judged in the future (1 Cor. 11:31).  The question is: WHAT IS THE STANDARD BY WHICH GOD’S SAINTS MUST JUDGE THEMSELVES?  The answer is: HIS HOLY BIBLE, which Jesus confirms in John 12:44-50 (focus–vs 48) Note that Jesus uses “words” and “commandments” interchangeably.  His words are His commandments (Law), not one jot or tittle (period, comma, etc.) can be changed or removed (Mat. 5:18)until the Law is no longer necessary–in eternity–when there will be no sin, which means that there will be no Law, for “sin is the transgression of the Law” (1 Jn. 3:4).

Ecclesiastes 12:7 is a verse that can be confusing if one does not understand the Truth behind it–God’s fine print.  Such understanding requires much study (Isa. 28:9-13) and faith to learn and believe what is revealed by God’s Holy Spirit that lives within the true believer.  The statement concerns the death of a human being and reads thusly: “Then will the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God Who gave it.”  The “dust” refers to man’s body/soul while the “spirit” refers to “the spirit which is in man” (Job 32:8).  Each living human has a spirit.  Man’s spirit is given to him with his first breath (Job 27:3).  In this passage “the spirit of God” in man’s nostrils is not God’s Holy Spirit, but rather the spirit of life, the same spirit (wind, air, oxygen) He gave to Adam when He “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Gen. 2:7).  God’s breath becomes man’s spirit.  Every human ever born received a personal spirit from God upon taking his first breath.  That spirit is what man calls his “self,” “me,” “I.”  Religious man does not understand the difference between man’s spirit and man’s soul.  We will discuss the difference in the next posting.  L.J.