WHAT HAPPENS AT DEATH
An increasing number of people today believe they have had an experience of coming back from death. They describe death as being very pleasant.
But the Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes 9:5,6,10 that “the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing. . . . their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished. . . . Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”
Also in Psalms 146:4 we see that in death, “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Death is like a very deep sleep. There are no thoughts or emotions, and without thoughts or emotions there can be no consciousness. In death you are asleep in the grave, without knowledge, without emotions, and without consciousness.
There is a verse in the Bible that apparently contradicts what we have just learned about death. Luke 23:42,43 describes Jesus’ assurance to the thief on the cross that he would be saved. “And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” These words were spoken on Friday afternoon just before Jesus died. It appears that in this verse Jesus is telling the thief that that day (Friday) he would be with the Lord in paradise; thus, this verse seems to contradict the other verses showing death to be like a very deep sleep, without consciousness.
However, consider John 20:17, where Jesus, talking with Mary on Sunday morning after His resurrection, said, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: But go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” So, on Sunday morning Jesus made the statement that He had not yet been to paradise, to God the Father. How, then, could He have told the thief on the cross that he would be in paradise on Friday evening with Jesus when He Himself would not be there? Where was Jesus after He died on the cross? He was asleep in the grave, just as the Scriptures say, until His resurrection on Sunday morning. Jesus Himself said in Matthew 12:40 that He would remain in the grave until his resurrection: “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Where, then, is the problem? Since Luke 23:43 is the verse that stands in contradiction with the other verses we have considered, there must be some problem with this one. The difficulty can be resolved easily. The original Greek text was written without punctuation. Punctuation was added later by the translators. The problem with this verse is the placement of the comma before the words “To day.” If the comma is placed after the words “To day,” the verse says that Jesus on that day promised the thief that he would be with Him in paradise after the resurrection. This verse would then agree with the other verses of Scripture concerning death. It should therefore read, “Verily I say unto thee today, that thou shalt be with me in Paradise.” Jesus promised the thief “today” a place in paradise after the resurrection. Remember that the entire Bible must agree with itself; this is one of the methods God has given us so that we might know when we have these difficult verses interpreted correctly. Remember also that the original text had no punctuation and that the problem is with the comma, which was put there by a translator who did not understand.
The people who think they have died and come back were not really dead.
Death is not the end, however. There is to be a resurrection from death. Everyone who has died will experience a resurrection and will live again. John 5:28,29 tells us: “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” The resurrection predicted in the Bible will be totally unlike the reported experiences of people who believe they have died and come back.
If you are very tired at night when you go to bed you fall asleep quickly, and when you awake in the morning it seemed but an instant. You were not conscious of any time passing during the night. Death is exactly like that. The time between a person’s death and his resurrection will seem but an instant to him, even if he had been dead for a thousand years.
BUT, YOU SAY, WHO ARE ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO SUPPOSEDLY HAVE COME BACK FROM THE DEAD?
What happens at seances when people’s loved ones appear to come back and talk with them? For the answer to these questions we go to Revelation 12:9. “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” The devil and his evil angels (demons) are right here on the earth with us.
When someone appears to come back from the dead, it is not really the person who died, for we know the dead are in their graves and completely unconscious. It is the devil or one of his many evil angels masquerading as the person who died. These devils have the ability to masquerade as anyone they want. Remember that Satan masqueraded as a serpent in the Garden of Eden to tempt Eve.
When people see visions of Mary, the mother of Jesus, for instance, they are seeing the devil or one of his demons masquerading as Mary. Mary is asleep in her grave awaiting her resurrection, as we have just read from the Bible. Seeing a vision like this can be overwhelmingly deceptive. We must realize that God cannot lie to us. What the Bible says is the truth. Mary is asleep in her grave and cannot appear to anyone.
When Hillary Clinton visits with Eleanore Roosevelt she is visiting with a demon.
HOW DO THE PSYCHICS KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT YOU?
They are in communication with the devil or his demons. When you go to a psychic for help or for advice you are going to the devil, and you are asking for trouble. You are asking to be deceived.
The devil uses the movies and television to deceive people about death. Many movies and television programs depict people, who have died, coming back and talking with people who are still living. The devil has been extremely successful in his deception about death. Very few people know the truth.
The people who have been deluded by witchcraft are obsessed with death. They believe all sorts of things about death, that death is a higher plane of existence, or that they come back re-incarnated as something or other. Rest assured that these people will be asleep in their graves like everyone else at death, and, unless they repent and get with Christ and become Christians, they will be resurrected with the wicked at the end of time.
