One Great Deception
I have felt compelled to study one certain relevant topic over the past couple of years and now feel ready to share God’s word on this: The state of the dead. I was always taught that when you die you either go to heaven or hell. There is good news and bad news on this subject as you will see.
Some also believe there is purgatory, a stop over before going to hell. This is not true.
Let me first share the common scriptures that have led us to believe that our “soul” goes straight to heaven if you are a believer. This is in 2nd Corinthians 5:8 which reads: 5Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7(For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Another such verse can be found in 1 Corinthians 15:52 which reads: In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
By these two verses alone many believe that at the moment of death we ascend into heaven. I am sorry to say we do not. We are living souls, with the breath of life within us. It is that breath that returns to the Lord, not a soul.
For it is written in Ecclesiastes 9:5 : For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. 6Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
In 1 Thessalonians we can read: For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
So what is this saying? It means that when we die we merely sleep until Jesus returns. Both believers and non believers alike will sleep. The dead in Christ will be the first to be resurrected at his second coming. The wicked remain asleep until the thousand years is up, and they are then resurrected to the 2nd death. This is the bad news. There is no second chance as many believe. If one does not accept Christ into their life before they die, they will be lost. The good news is they are not burning forever in hell. That is another topic.
Need more evidence? Read Psalms 6:5 : For in death there is no remembrance of you: in the grave who shall give you thanks? Psalms 13:3: Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death
There are more, yet these are the most compelling. The Bible does indeed decipher itself, if studied properly. One can’t take a few verses and read into them what they want to believe, and this is exactly what satan wants. To confuse and twist the word of God in order to deceive.
These verses tell me that we sleep upon death, to await the return of our savior. If not, why would there be a need for resurrection? If all believers go directly to heaven, why then would the dead in Christ be raised first? This is common sense. And it is also a comfort as well, knowing that when I die, the next thing I will see is the coming of our savior. It will seem instantaneous even if it is one hundred years, and I believe it will be a lot sooner than that, given the state of the world.
Until next time, make each and every day count for something!
Lisa
