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Ezekiel 18:4.
Behold, all souls are mine;
as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine:
the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
The Valley of Hinnom
(Hell)
What I Think I was Taught In Church
about Life After Death
In the church, I have the impression
that I was taught that
(1) There is a storehouse of immortal
souls in heaven. At birth, each person is 'gets' an immortal soul that
cannot ever die. Therefore everyone starts out on an equal spiritual
footing.
(2) If the person dies before the age
of accountability (12 years old), the body goes into the grave but the
immortal soul is carried off by an angel to heaven to live in luxury
forever, because that person is considered innocent up until that age.
(3) If a person comes to the church
altar and gets saved and baptized in water, and if that one does not
backslide before death, the body will go in the grave but the immortal
soul will live in heaven’s luxury forever. Heaven is in the sky;
angels, good Christian people, beloved pets, and Jesus, are there.
(4) If a person does not get
saved and dies, the body will go into the grave, but the immortal soul will
be cast into the eternal fire of hell. Unable to die and be burnt up, that
soul will live in burning horror and torment for eternity.
(5) Those going to hell for sure
include children over 12 who haven’t been saved at the church altar and
baptized, all bad people, all who rejected someone’s invitation to get
saved, all those who never had an opportunity to get saved, all who
backslid and lost their salvation, all those who lived before Jesus
(with a few exceptions), all those who never heard about Jesus but tried to
do good, all those who claimed to be saved but smoke, drink, swear, use
drugs, or are divorced. Card players, gamblers, and movie goers were
also among the condemned, as were carousers.
(6) Generally, those who have severe
learning disabilities or are otherwise unable to get saved due to mental
incapacity from birth are innocent and will go to heaven to be
restored.
I do not know if this is exact church
doctrine - I do vividly remember discussing this and being taught these
things by the church pastor and the Bible teachers.
How does that all stack up with what
you believe?
There is not one bit of this
creed that is Biblical.
What
is Wrong with These Notions?
The linchpin of the whole concept is
wrong; that is, the idea that people are imbued with immortal souls.
If this is the case then when they die, really only a part of
them dies; the other part never dies, but either lives in luxury or
in fiery torment eternally.
Ephesians 2:1-5 excerpts. You being dead in
your offences and sins that you formerly, in accordance with the course of
this world, walked. Thus you were by nature children of wrath. But
Elohim, being rich in mercy (because of his great love, even though we be
dead in sin), he made alive with the Moshiach.
The Bible I read teaches that humans
are born in spiritual poverty and spiritually dead. The “soul,” which
is a intellect (mind) and personality, dies either before or at the
same time as the body.
Ezekiel 18:20.
The
soul that sins will die.
When a person dies, that person is
totally dead. That person cannot die twice until he/she has died once. Nothing lives on
after death.
The exception is the one who is truly
re-born three ways: again - anew - above
(anothen,
anwqen). In such a case
a person, spiritless before, is born of spirit through Yahshua the Anointed
One, lives on in Yahshua in a spiritual sense, as a spiritual person, in the
spiritual body of Messiah; though soul and body are one and one is dead and
diminishing day by day.
Ecclesiastes
3:19,20. For the fate of the sons of men and the fate
of beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the
same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts; for all is
futile. All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust
again.
The death of
the concept of the immortal soul is not bad news, it is good news for
humanity, even for those not re-born three ways. Here is why.
The Resurrection of the
Dead
Christians and Jews - and most of those in between -
firmly confess the resurrection of the dead. (Though I suppose few lay
people can explain the bodily resurrection.)
Consider the creeds of Christianity:
Apostles' Creed:
I believe
in the Holy Spirit, the holy *catholic church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life
everlasting.
Nicene Creed:
I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the
world to come.
No traditional creeds I know of declare death of the body
and continued life of the immortal soul, which journeys either to heavenly
bliss or fiery damnation.
Yet how is it that resurrection takes place if
the immortal soul seeks eternity in heaven or hell? The Apostles'
Creed, the foundation stone of Christian belief, states "the
resurrection of the body."
How can someone die a second death if the first had never happened?
Will the immortal soul
be extricated from hell, given a new body, then thrown back in?
Many have said Yes to this proposition.
This essay is not meant to be a Bible exposition on
Resurrection, but here is the short study:
The earliest book of Scripture is Job, and we find the
Resurrection there:
Job 19:23-27. "Oh that my words were written! Oh that
they were inscribed in a book! Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were
graven in the rock for ever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at
last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus
destroyed, then from my flesh I shall see Eloha, whom I shall see on my
side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another."
One of the earliest books (with the exception perhaps of
1 Thessalonians) is First Corinthians, with which is the resurrection
attested numerous times, especially 1 Corinthians 15:3-7, 35-49, 50.
At the end of Revelation, all that ever lived are caught up in resurrection:
Revelation 20:4-6
I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom judgment was committed.
I saw the those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Yahshua and for
the word of Yahweh ... , they came to life and reigned with Messiah a
thousand years. (Verse
5a is a scribal interpolation) This
is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the
first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they shall
be priests of Elohim and of Messiah, and they shall reign with him a
thousand years.
Resurrection Passages in John remind us that the death of
soul and body is essential to gain resurrection and life:
John 5:24-30; 6:39; 11:18-25; 20:20,24-29.
Resurrection Passages in the Acts of the Apostles passages
note how the saints were persecuted for teaching resurrection:
Acts 2:32-33; 4:1-4; 5:30-31; 23:1-8; 24:13-15,
Resurrection Passages in First Corinthians
(and the whole of chapter 15) instructs us that complete dying is essential
and that resurrection is the pivot-point of the Christian / Messianic /
Judaic faith: 1 Corinthians
15:12-18.
BUT THERE IS AN EXCEPTION TO THESE BIBLICAL CONCEPTS.
What I Believe About Life
and Death
Based Upon the Entire Bible as a Whole
Humans, Life and Death
Based on the whole of the Scriptures,
I believe that humans on the whole are not individually created and
enlivened by Elohim; humans are born spiritually dead. This is
the death of the elect progenitors of our race, Adamah and Chaim (Adam and
Eve), experienced when they were cast from the garden. Yahweh said
they would surely die and they did die. They were no longer walking
with the Creator because they had become spiritually dead. Every human
born since (with whatever exceptions the Creator deigns to make) is
born dead of spirit, unable to have the intimate fellowship of the creator.
There are plenty of substitutes for true spirituality and spiritual life.
Often demonic or unclean entities will come in and take the place of the
right spirit, like that of Adam.
Psalm of David
51:10,11. Create in me a clean heart, O Elohim, and
put a new and right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence and take not thy holy Spirit from me.
When people die, bodies / souls go into the grave, dust to dust.
If they had not been born anew, again, from above, whatever spirits they
were harboring in their otherwise empty inner spiritual habitation are set
loose to infest somebody else. (When someone practices necromancy,
calling on the dead, they often get in touch with the homeless unclean
spirit. The demon can of course tell stories (through the mouth of a
medium) about the departed host that have a ring of truth.
Consider near-death experiences in which those who have
not been reborn see themselves lying on the gurney in the operating room.
The unclean spirits have departed long enough to assay whether the host is
going to live or not. If hosts live, the spirits return to their home.
Matthew 12:43-45.
"When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, it
passes through waterless places seeking rest, but he finds none. Then it
says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it returns, it
finds the man's inner parts empty, swept, and put in order. Then it
goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil, and they enter and
dwell there; the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. So
shall it be also with this evil generation."
When people die, nothing of them or in
them lives on. The very definition of death is non-life, not
some twilight or ghostly life; rather, the cessation of life.
But here is the exception: The Elect
Yahshua the Anointed
One, commonly known was the elect of his Father who came to die for all humankind and
offer life.
His mission was to reveal reveal a small, elect class of servants, the
chosen of Yahweh. These elect are justified before Yahweh and,
though their bodies die, their new and right spirits live on in
Jesus. This is to say that some few will never die at all. They will
simply put off or cast off body and soul for the spiritual body of Messiah.
This is not a politically or
ecclesiastically correct statement to write, and it will not be accepted by
those mesmerized by the modern church doctrine of "God created everyone" and
God loves everyone." But it is biblical, and it is good news.
So if you are having problems with this
idea, please keep your mind open and take the
Three Classes of Resurrection at this link. You will never
believe the same way after taking the Three Classes.
http://www.jacksonsnyder.com/arc/bible-news/2007-yahshua-yahweh/all-three-classes-of-resurrection.htm
Else, continue on.
The bodies of the elect will be
transformed immediately into the stuff of the glory of Yahweh, since the
elect have already been BORN of this stuff. When the body / soul is
put off, they are indeed BORN ANEW OF THE SPIRIT and they become "like the
angels" (Matthew 22:30).
The elect are special
workers - they have proven capable in the life of flesh to be the managers,
justices, teachers and evangelists in the Millennial Age. If more on
this is needed,
please continue on to this link.
http://jacksonsnyder.com/Arc/2001/Yahshua%20Returned%20Secretly.htm
The Elect and the Millennial
Reign of Messiah
The
Millennium is to be a thousand years of judgment and conversion for both nations and
individuals. The Millennium is the "Gospel Age"; our present age is
the "Tribulation Age." In the Millennium, the Age of the Good News,
the Messiah will rule earth
from the New Jerusalem in the sky. The devil, all evil, and unclean
spirits, will be contained temporarily, then finally annihilated. All
humans of all times will return to life to be judged during this
thousand years - whether they consider themselves saved or not. They
have been dead until their resurrection - not in heaven or hell - but dead.
The Bible uses
several euphemisms for death:
In the grave, in the tomb, fallen asleep.
The Bible does not
teach "soul sleep" as some Adventist groups claim. "They sleep" is a
euphemism only.
euphemism
1. the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague
expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt.
2. the expression so substituted: “To pass away” is a euphemism for “to
die.”
In the resurrection,
all who have died (with some exceptions) will once again be human beings, flesh
of body, completely whole and intact,
appearing just as they formerly did. We see general resurrection as
altogether possible when we consider the inroads humans have made in cloning
and hybridization through the
mapping of the Human Genome.
In the Millennium, among the
resurrected of the earth, the elect servants and the sky-borne government, the Torah
of Yahweh will
be enforced, including the Commandments and Biblical Feasts. We know
this because we find it in the Millennial and Messianic prophetic passages
(such as Zechariah 14) and in the end of the book of Revelation.
The elect class
will be those who are born of spirit in the fleshly life and mature in
spirit when they pass from flesh to spirit. They will be the teachers, priests, rulers and judges over the nations and
peoples of the world. The elect are chosen by the Heavenly Father, as
are their occupations: they are chosen by the sovereign will or Yahweh.
No person has a say in their election. That is up to the King of the World.
He knows who he needs for the job that must be done during the Millennium.
The elect, who
judge, teach, preach, rule, and evangelize under the authority of the King
of Kings, will mete out sentences quickly,
equitably and rightfully in each individual case. The elect, spirit
beings, will have all the abilities of the resurrected – to appear and
disappear at will, to exercise all the spiritual gifts to perfection,
to judge with righteous judgment (that is, they know the Torah) and with
compassion.
Millennium Justice
Judgment of the
resurrection is based on works, Torah and mercy. Most think that
because they are "saved" they will have no judgment. I say that the
saved better make sure of this. Please look closely at the following
passages:
Yahshua: Matthew 16:28-29. "The hour is coming when all
who are in the tombs 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."
Ya'aqov: James 2:24. You see that a man is justified by
works and not by faith alone.
There are many other such judgment passages, including
the Risen Savior speaking to each of the end-time assemblies in Revelation
2-3: "I know your works!"
Sentences for works may include
whatever is judged equitable. Judgment and condemnation
are not synonyms. Neither are judgment and damnation. The Greek word
is krisis, the meaning of which is readily available when the word as
English is pronounced. Equitable justice also means a judiciary that
reforms.
Humans will have the
opportunity to be purged of their offences and to learn about Yahshua and the
Kingdom in which they now take part. They will have the opportunity to be
reeducated and rehabilitated. They may even have an opportunity to live
into the eight millennium, or they may simply die a second death, having
had their chance at eternity and passing it by.
Many may receive an
immediate death sentence for crimes committed in life against Yahweh, creation
or humanity. The means of execution is a Lake of Fire in which offenders
adjudged incorrigible will be quickly and mercifully be dispatched.
It is the Lake of Fire that is the
final destination for the rebellious. Yahshua calls this Gey Hinnom,
what was the burning trash heap outside the walls of Jerusalem - a place
that was forever burning and thought to be the entrance to the underground
tunnel to the Lake of Fire.
Gey Hinnom (Gehenna) as it is seen
today is pictured above. If there is any doubt of what I am writing,
please either see some of my other stuff on the Millennium or check out the
prophecies in your Bible about the Millennium. You may start with
Isaiah 56.
Perfection of the Kingdom on
Earth, The Amelioration of the World
The
devil and all evils spirits will finally be judged and annihilated. The
world will be perfected, then handed over to the Creator, Yahweh, to end the
Biblical historical account of the earth.
That is the proverbial Eighth Day. What is beyond the
Eighth is unknown.
What Is Hell Then?
Hell is a pagan word from the German Bible that got into English;
it is not unlike the
pagan name God.
Hell is
the name of the Norse goddess of the underworld.
The word “Hell”
doesn’t exist in the original languages of the Bible; it only exists in
pagan mythology, from where the word came in the first place. Almost every time
the Bible translator puts the word “hell” into the mouth of the Savior of
the World, but he is really
saying, “Gey Hinnom" or "Gehenna.” (A few times it is “Hades”; he uses
Hades when he is talking about Greek Mythology, like in Luke 16:19ff.)
When you see “hell” in the
Gospels, read “Gehenna.” Gehenna means “the vale of Hinnom” and its location is identified precisely in Joshua 15:8 where you will find that Hinnom was a man.
The Vale of Hinnom
is a real place; "Hell" is a fantasy out of a mythology book. The
Vale of Hinnom still exists to this day and people still visit there. I’ve
been there. It’s a deep valley on the south side of Jerusalem. At the
beginning of Bible history, this was the place of pagan sacrifice of burning
children in a fire to appease the false god Moloch. In Jesus’ time, the
Vale of Hinnom was the city dump, full of trash, worms, decay and fires.
The bodies of those who could not afford burial, which was probably the
majority of the population, were burned there. Today the Vale of Hinnom is
a very beautiful Jewish cemetery.
However, the old
German idea of the place of the torture of souls continues on,
unfortunately, and we still have a vast majority of traditionalists who
enjoy immensely informing the bereaved and grieving that their boy or girl
is burning in hell forever. Such is a mortal sin in itself that will not
pass judgment!
What Jesus means
when he says Gey Hinnom is the trash heap. Read through Matthew 5, 10 and 11
again, and instead of “hell” or “hell fire,” read it correctly with "the
trash heap," the Vale of Hinnom, the Jerusalem dump. It makes a great difference in what the
passages say, and with by far a more authentic meaning. |
