Several people ask this. Where do we go after Death.
You know there are many people who believe that when people die, they go into the ground and they sleep there till the coming of the Lord. Is that true or isn’t that true, Soul Sleep…?
No, it’s not true at all and it’s a very erroneous doctrine.
James 2:26 says, “As the body without the spirit dead…” Where does that spirit go? 2 Corinthians 5:8 says, “Absent from the body… present with the Lord”. That’s why Paul said, “To die is gain”. Now, when the Lord returns in I Thessalonians 4:16-18, he brings the dead with him to come after the dead, for the dead in Christ rise first. What part does he bring with him? – The spirit that left the body, that’s been there to join the body. There is no soul-sleep in this book.
A lot of people use Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 & 2, where there is a great cloud of witnesses, and they think that means that they are sitting in the heavenlies watching us and every move we make. But that is not so. The great cloud of witnesses are the great heroes of the faith of chapter 11. And because of the way they lived, we are to follow their example, but they can not look down from heaven and see what is going on in this earth, if they could it would make heaven hell, because they’d see so much heartache, even among their children and grandchildren, etc.
Now, the Bible teaches that there will come a time when we are like Christ. In Acts 15:18 it says, “known unto God are all His works...” And Christ is the 2nd member of the Trinity, and now in His heavenly body, He knows everything about everything, because He is God. That means He is Omniscient, knowing all things about all things. When we are raptured, then we get bodies and minds like His. That’s why David said in Psalms 17:15, “I shall be satisfied when I awaken with your likeness.” And when we see Jesus we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is, I John 3:2. So there’s an hour coming when we get these new bodies and new minds, and then we will be all knowing. And not until then. So nobody in the heavenlies now can see what’s going on.In Luke 15, whenever anyone is converted upon the earth, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over 1 sinner that repents, because the message is relayed to the angels, and the angels relay it throughout the heavenlies. So that if a mother’s son finds Christ, and one for whom she’s prayed for years, there is joy because the message has been related. It’s not because she knows everything, she won’t until she gets that body, the new glorified body of the resurrection. So, I hope that answers the question, because it is exactly what the Word of God teaches. And oh, Jesus is coming soon, and we’ll have that great mind in the near future.
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Some poeple will tell you, there is no hell. Lets see what God Himself says:.
False religionists have hatched the "no-hell" plot to gain adherence to their movements. Because multitudes--even 70 percent of the preachers-no longer believe or like to even consider that such a place exists, a new group can grow quickly if they, discount the claims of the Holy Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ by preaching pleasing platitudes which cater to rebellious minds. But Romans 3:4 says, Let God be true, but every man a liar. I don't care if every human being or preacher says, "I do not believe it." When I can find it 162 times in my New Testament, I will believe it! It is the Word-we must believe it!
A popular trend today is to take the Hebrew words sheol and the Greek words hades and gehenna and state that they all mean the grave, though they are translated "hell" in the Word of God in the majority of instances. Let's take the Old Testament Hebrew word sheol. Why would God have to use this word to picture a grave when the Hebrew word queber logically depicts and portrays it? Consider the following five points in the Old Testament:
1. The body never goes to sheol but goes to queber 37 times. Why? Because queber is the grave for bodies and sheol is the place for departed spirits.
2. Sheol is never on the face of the earth but queber is located there 32 times. Why? Because graves are on the earth. Sheol, the place for departed spirits, is in some other realm of God's creation.
3. Man never puts another man into sheol but he does put a man into a queber 33 times. Why? Because man has the power to put other men into graves but does not have the power to put souls into sheol.
4. Man never digs or makes a sheol but he makes and digs a queber six times. Why? Because man has the power to make a grave but he does not have the power to make a sheol for departed spirits.
5. Man never speaks of a man as touching sheol, but he touches a queber five times. Why? Because, again, it is a grave on the earth and he has the power to touch it. But he has no power to do anything about sheol, the place for departed spirits.
To look at all the Old Testament instances involving sheol would take months of study. Besides, Christ has brought to light, life, and immortality-that which has to do with a never-dying soul-through the gospel or the New Testament (see 2 Timothy 1:10). Therefore, let's study hades and gehenna and see if they mean the grave or the place of eternal suffering.
You may ask, "Why did the Lord Jesus use two words-hades and gehenna? Are there two places?" Yes. Do you wish to know why?
Let me illustrate it this way: All of us know the difference between a local jail and a penitentiary. If a man is taken in a crime, he is not put into the penitentiary until he has had a trial. When he has had his trial and is found guilty, he is transferred to the penitentiary. Get this next statement, for it is so important to a direct understanding of the Bible subject of hell. When Jesus uses the word hades, He is referring to the local jail, the place where the sinner is held until the judgment morning. Then, at Judgment Day, all sinners come out of the local jail (hades), appear before the Judge, are found guilty, and then transferred to gehenna, the final penitentiary for souls.
Let me also add that the term gehenna is synonymous with the Lake of Fire. Revelation 20:13, 14: The sea gave up the dead which were in it: and death and [hades-that is the Greek word for hell] delivered up the dead ...And death and hell [hades] were cast into the lake of fire [gehenna]. This is the second death. l repeat that hades is the local jail and, gehenna, the final penitentiary. Any sinner who dies, even at this hour, does not go to gehenna, but to hades, where the rich man is located (see Luke 16:23). At Judgment Day, he comes out of hades, meets Christ at the trial, and then is transferred to the final penitentiary of lost souls--gehenna.
Let's consider eleven instances Christ uses in the New Testament to depict and describe hades--the temporary local jail.
Matthew 11:23: And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell. That is the Greek word hades, where the rich man of Luke 16:23 is located.
Matthew 16:18: Thou art Peter, and upon this rock l will build my church; and the gates of hell [hades] shall not prevail against it.
Luke 10:15: And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell [hades].
Luke 16:22, 23: The rich man also died, and was buried: And in hell [hades] he lifted his eyes, being in torments.
Acts 2:27: Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell [hades].
Acts 2:31: His soul was not left in hell [hades].
1 Corinthians 15:55: O death [hades], where is thy victory. Revelation 1:18: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell [hades] and of death.
Revelation 6:8: Death and Hell [hades] followed with him.
Revelation 20:13, 14, Death and hell [hades] delivered up the dead which were in them ...And death and hell [hades] were cast into the lake of fire.
Plain isn't it? After sinners were judged, death and hades were cast into the final penitentiary-gehenna--synonymous with the Lake of Fire.
Gehenna differs from hades in that gehenna is a place where there are degrees of suffering. After one is judged, after he has been examined as to how much light he experienced, how often he heard the gospel, and rejected it, he is assigned to degrees of punishment in the final penitentiary. Romans 2:5 proves this statement, After thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up [stores up, saves up] unto thyself wrath... [administered in gehenna, the penitentiary].
Gehenna is used by Christ 12 times:
Matthew 5:22: Whosoever shall say Thou, fool, shall be in danger of hell [gehenna] fire. Let us put the cultists substitute there--grave--for they say hell is the grave. Jesus would then be saying, "Sinners shall be in danger of grave fire." That must be strange fire in the grave-I have never heard of it, have you! So Jesus must not be talking about a grave.
Matthew 5:29, 30: And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell [gehenna]. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it, from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell [gehenna].
Matthew 10:28: And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather, fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell [gehenna].
Matthew 18:9: And if thine eye offend then, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better, for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire [gehenna].
Matthew 23:15: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte [convert], and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell [gehenna] than yourselves.
Matthew 23:33: Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell [gehenna]?
In Mark 9:43-47, Jesus says, if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell [gehenna], into the fire that never shall be quenched:
Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy, foot offend thee, cut it of: it is better for thee to enter half into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell [gehenna], into the fire, that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eves to be cast into hell [gehenna] fire.
Every time Jesus mentions this place, gehenna, He always says it is the place where the worm dieth not and the fire is never quenched (see Mark 9:44, 40, 48). Do not let some cultist tell you this is the grave when the Word of God makes it explicitly clear that this is a place where there is agony, suffering, burning, where the memory dies not, and where the fires never cease.
Luke 12:5: I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell [gehenna]; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
Then in James 3:6, He says, The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell [gehenna].
We discover there are eleven passages concerning hades, and twelve passages concerning gehenna. Hades is the local jail where the sinner awaits the judgment morning. At that time he comes out, is judged, and then is transferred to gehenna. Do not let any false religionist, any cultist, tell you that is merely a grave. Hear me, my friend. When Jesus stood on this earth, He pointed to the Valley of Hinnom. In the Old Testament it was a place of sacrifice to pagan gods. In the New Testament it became the garbage dump. The fire burned 24 hours a day to get rid of all the refuse, and Jesus said that hell was going to be like the fires at the Valley of Hinnom.
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2006-08-26 20:24:55
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answer #1
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answered by Anonymous
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