Where Are the Dead?—NIU murders and a response to my post part 3
Recently, I came across the following website. I suggest you check it out if you are a policy holder of Farmers Insurance Group or thinking about having them insure you in any capacity: http://www.farmersinsurancegroupsucks.com/
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https://affiliates.visionforum.com/idevaffiliate.php?id=367
The above link is for a company—Vision Forum—that provides unique products for the family. I am an affiliate for the company and receive a small commission whenever someone uses this link and then makes an unreturned purchase while using the link. Check it out. I think you might like the products offered. I do. See my more complete explanation on my post of February 1, 2008 entitled “Affiliate program with Vision Forum.”
Webmasters Earn Money Here!
Based upon past historical data: 3,287+ UNBORN BABY MURDERS have occurred in the last 24 hours in the United States. See my post “BABY HOLOCAUST” posted January 22, 2008.
Recently, I’ve been involved in a problem one of my clients has with Farmers Insurance Group. My previous posts in relation to this problem were:
September 10, 2007 post: “Beware of Farmers Insurance Group”
September 11, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Group’s response”
September 18, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Company received the requested list”
September 19, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Company’s response to the list”
October 16, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Group and my request for information”
November 27, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Group does not respond to my request”
January 11, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group latest stall”
January 12, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group is sent a response”
January 14, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group pays some money”
January 19, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group continues to be obstinate”
January 26, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group receives another request”
February 11, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group shows how low they will go?”
February 12, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group: If I were going to respond to the final letter”
February 13, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group and associated companies”
February 14, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group and how others rate the company”
I will not be continuing my Creationism posts today. I do plan to return to them soon.
Then, I plan to answer the response about Iraq. I am sorry for the change in plans. Plans, in reality, often are altered for one reason or another. “The best laid plans … often go astray.” Thank you for your understanding and patience.
How many unborn toddlers were murdered today because of the humanistic, paganish, barbaric decisions of the United States Supreme Court?
Stop the
Murder of
Unborn
Toddlers
“Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” James 4: 17 (NIV)
http://www.farmersinsurancegroupsucks.com/
http://www.childpredators.com/
http://www.lifedynamics.com/
http://www.libertylegal.org/
http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/
http://www.searchtv.org/
The following is from “In Search of the Lord’s Way” taken from the website http://www.searchtv.org/. This is the second article of my response to the following comment posted on my blog.
“Anonymous said:
Are you saying that there is no such thing as mental illness and that it is all made up to justify sinning? That must be one of the stupidest poorly informed thing that I have ever heard. To suggest that people should not seek treatment for there mental illness because it can not “save” them, is just plan negligent, it already hard enough to get people to seek treatment for their mental illness, treatments in many cases that can help them, and the last thing people need is some one running around telling them that it will not help.”
“Where are the Dead?—II Corinthians 12: 1-5
We are all interested in where our departed loved ones went at death. Did they go directly to heaven—or to hell—to purgatory? Are they conscious? And if so, are they aware of what we are doing here on earth; do that know about our sorrow, how we miss them? Well, that’s our study today. We are glad you have joined us.
My friend, we are truly grateful to you for inviting us into your home to study the Bible In Search of the Lord’s Way to become and to be a Christian. We are presented here by the courtesy and generosity of members of churches of Christ in the viewing area of this station. Thanks for inviting us in. Today’s program is titled, Where Are the Dead?
Many of you have written us for information concerning the whereabouts of your recently departed loved ones. Well, to answer each of these letters adequately is beyond our ability to do so. There is more than what we can put in a single letter. So, because we are all interested in things having to do with a future life, I decided to do it in this program. We would all like to know all we can about where people go immediately after death. And we would like to know, if possible, whether the dead are in a state of consciousness, and if so, are they aware of what we do here. It isn’t mere curiosity every time. We will never be able to answer all the questions about death and dying, but that’s probably a blessing. I am sure God loves us enough that if He felt we should know more about these things, He would have told us more in the Scriptures. So, we will content ourselves with what He has revealed. Now after Ken Helterbrand leads us in a spiritual song, we’ll be back to see what He has said in His word.
If you would like a free printed copy, a CD, or an audio cassette tape of it, please address your request for it to In Search of the Lord’s Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083; or by e-mail at searchtv@searchtv.org. Or, you may use our toll-free telephone number (1-800-321-8633). Any of it—all of it is free. You may want to just access our website (wwwsearchtv.org). It’s available there—the sermon is in printed form and visual form and audio. Ken Helterbrand is going to lead us now as we sing, and I’ll be back. We will read the Bible and pray together.
Our reading today is from the apostle Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth; and it is in chapter 12. We will read the first five verses. “It is therefore not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities.” Now let us go to God in prayer. Holy Father, we are so thankful to You that You understand the sorrow that we bear on the death of a loved one, in the separation from us here in this world. And we know that You understand, too, that we are interested in where our departed saints have gone. And we pray You will bless our study today so that we can be comforted; and we can be encouraged; and we can be made stronger in the faith because of the lesson today. This is our prayer in the name of Jesus, Amen!
Physicians and psychologists and sociologists and even others have made some in-depth studies of the subject of death and dying. Well, they have even compiled some very interesting information about the “near death” experiences of their patients; information that they have obtained from people who reportedly experienced something like the man of whom we read in II Corinthians chapter 12, a moment ago.
Some might think that we would do well to quote some of those people here, or maybe even have a panel of physicians and psychologists who have treated these patients who could comment “authoritatively” about such matters. Well, they might tell us where people were, and what they saw, and what they heard during their experiences and all that. But on second thought, would that add authenticity to our study any at all? If you are interested in that any of you can go to your local library, wherever you live, and check out those books and see for yourself what they said. We are concerned about what we can learn from God’s holy word, the Bible.
During our Lord’s incarnation, He raised several people from the dead—people we know were dead. One was Jairus’ daughter as recorded in Matthew, the ninth chapter. Another was the widow’s son in the village of Nain recorded in Luke, chapter seven. But the best known was Lazarus, many of the details of which are given us in John, the eleventh chapter. We don’t know how long the others had been dead. The widow’s son’s body, we know was being carried in a casket, to what seems to have been its burial when Jesus restored him to life. But Lazarus had been dead four days and his body had begun to deteriorate. Now we read that in verses 17 and 39. Well, our Lord commanded him, “Lazarus, come forth,” and the dead man came forth from the grave. He walked and talked with his family and with friends.
Now, don’t you suppose some of those friends who had comforted his sisters while Lazarus was dead, and the multitudes who came to see him after he was raised, were curious about where he was and what he knew during those four days? And, don’t you suppose they asked him some questions? Oh, I am sure they did. But, there’s no such conversation recorded in the Scriptures about all that.
And don’t you know after the crowds had gone, and Mary and Martha could talk with their brother in the quietness and in the privacy of their own home, that they would ask him some questions. “Lazarus, where were you those four days? What did you see and what did you hear? Did you know how we grieved over your death? Did you know about the funeral service we had for you? Did you know that Jesus came and wept with us?” Well, of course they had many questions. But inspiration says nothing about it. It isn’t revealed to us.
I have a good idea from what we learn from 2 Corinthians, chapter twelve, that when Lazarus returned to his body, those things faded from his memory, and he couldn’t have related them if he had wanted to do so. Paul said of himself, “whether in the body, I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know. God knows...how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” Now if Paul was forbidden to report what he saw and heard, surely the widow’s son was, too; and Jairus’ daughter, and Lazarus, and even those who may have had similar experiences in our own generation. In fact, if one of them should tell us about what he saw and heard in such an experience, we would question his or maybe even her integrity because of what the Scripture revealed to us in this passage.
So, what does the Bible say? Well, man is of dual nature. He is physical. His body is of the earth; it’s earthy. His spirit is of God, spiritual. Paul declares: “While our outward man (the body) perishes, yet the inward man (the spirit) is renewed day by day.” That is 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 16. From Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 7, we learn at death the body returns to the earth from which God formed it in the beginning and the spirit returns to God who gave it (Zechariah chapter 12, verse1). Well, the Holy Spirit clearly divides the human being into flesh and spirit, and declares the flesh came from one source and the spirit another when He says, “We have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?” That is Hebrews chapter 12, verse 9.
Now we know what Jesus meant when He said to the penitent thief on the cross, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23, verse 43). Though they both would die that day, the spirit of each one of them would continue on in Paradise. And later Jesus cried with a loud voice and said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit. Having said this, He breathed His last.” His body became lifeless, and he was taken by friends, the body was, and buried. In the seventh chapter of Acts we have the story of the stoning of Stephen. As he died, he cried, “Lord, Jesus, receive my spirit” (verse 59). So people don’t cease to exist at death. The body goes to the grave and to ashes, and the spirit lives on somewhere.
Does the spirit go immediately to its eternal destiny, to Heaven or to Hell? Perhaps you have heard preachers at the funeral of a loved one say something to the effect maybe like this, “Oh, your dear mother is right now in Heaven singing in the angels’ choir.” Well, I’m sorry, but that is a mistake. In the first place, it isn’t within him to say where mother is. Funerals are not for the purpose of determining the destiny of the departed spirit, or where the deceased will spend eternity. And too, the spirit of the saved person does not go directly into Heaven, if by “heaven” we mean the eternal dwelling place of God. The Spirit, the real “we” goes, rather to another place to await the judgment, and then to the eternal abode, after judgment.
There are several reasons for my saying that. First, the Bible teaches that there is to be a general judgment when all men will be judged. That subject is worthy of a complete program; and we will just say here that if people were judged at death and went immediately and directly to Heaven or to Hell, there would be no purpose for the judgment. Jesus spoke of this judgment day as being universal in all its scope. He said “All nations” will be there (Matthew 25: 31- 32). He also said, “The men of Nineveh will rise in the judgment with this generation” (Matthew 12: 41), and in the next verse, “The Queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation.” The men of Nineveh lived 500 years, something like that, before Christ’s day on the earth, and the Queen of the South lived a thousand years before. Yet Jesus said they would be in the same judgment with people of his generation—and ours.
And when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, he said, “David has not yet ascended into Heaven” (Acts 2: 32). David, too, had been dead a thousand years, but the Holy Spirit by the mouth of Peter said he had not yet ascended into Heaven. And, the Bible says “The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (2 Peter 2 and 9). So where are the Ninevites, the Queen of the South, David, the unjust and all the others who have died and gone from among us? Well, they are somewhere awaiting the same judgment in which you and I will appear. Well, where is that?
Are they in Purgatory? The Bible has nothing to say about purgatory. Neither the word nor the doctrine is found in the Scriptures, so we will not spend a lot of time here, but we will examine it as a legitimate part of this study. Since it is not a biblical doctrine, we turn to other literature to learn what we know about it. From the Encyclopedia of Religion and Religions by Pike, and the Encyclopedia Britannica, we learn the idea was first conceived by Thomas Aquinas, thirteenth century theologian-philosopher. It became a part of the Catholic doctrine at the Council of Trent (1545 to 1563). Simply and briefly stated, purgatory is thought to be a state of suffering after death in which the souls of those who die in “venial sin,” and those who still owe some debt of temporal punishment for “mortal sin,” are rendered fit to enter into Heaven. But, since the Bible says nothing about it and since the Bible holds no hope of another chance after death for salvation before the judgment, well, we may be certain our departed loved ones are not there.
Well, are they in Hades? We often use the word “Hades” and “Hell” interchangeably, but they are not the same. “Hades” is the unseen world, the world of departed spirits. The word also means “all-receiving,” as it receives every spirit that departs this life in this world, both the good and the bad. Even Jesus went to Hades for those three days and nights his body was in the tomb (Acts 2 and verse 27-31). Unfortunately the old King James Version translates the word as “Hell” in those verses, but the New King James, the American Standard and other versions translate it “Hades.” So every person who dies goes to Hades. All of our friends and loved ones who have died have gone to Hades.
But Jesus promised the thief on the cross, “Today shalt thou be with me in ‘Paradise.’” Right? Then Paradise is that part of, or shall we say a state in Hades to which the righteous go. But Paradise is not “Heaven,” if we mean by “heaven” the dwelling place of God, the eternal abode of the righteous. No, it isn’t. Jesus spent those three days and nights in Paradise, in Hades. But after He was raised from the dead He told Mary, “Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.” (John 20: 17) “Paradise” means “a pleasure garden.” Yes, it is sometimes used with reference to Heaven, but that doesn’t mean it always means Heaven. Heaven is also called a “city,” but that doesn’t mean every city mentioned in the Bible is Heaven. The departed saved people are in Paradise, Hades, awaiting the judgment, after which they will enter into Heaven for all eternity.
We mentioned a moment ago that God “...knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority.” (2 Peter 3: 9 and 10) Well, where are the unjust reserved? Well, they are in “Hades” too, because Hades is the place of “all receiving,” receiving all, but they are in the place or “state” called Tartarus in Hades. In 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 4, Peter declared “For God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and delivered them into the chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” Again, it’s unfortunate that the King James translates Tartarus as “Hell” in that verse. Other versions correct that. Tartarus is in Hades, on the other side of “a fixed gulf” from Paradise as we read in Luke chapter 16, verses 19 to 31. From 2 Peter 2 and 4, we can know that is where all of the wicked, the unforgiven people have gone to await the judgment. It is not “Hell.” It is not the eternal abode of the unforgiven wicked dead. It is a prison where they are held until judgment day. And of course, there is torment in Hades, if for no other reason, just knowing as the rich man did, that he was unsaved. After the judgment, they will enter into “Hell” itself, where they will suffer eternally. Let’s pray. Thank you, Father, for this information that we have in Your word about where our departed loved ones have gone. Help us to apply our lives so that we can be prepared to go and to be with Thee. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen!
So my friend, our departed loved ones are in Hades. If they were saved by an obedient faith in Jesus Christ, they are in Paradise, Hades; awaiting the judgment to go on into Heaven to live forever with the Lord. If they died without Christ, they are in Tartarus, Hades; awaiting the Day of Judgment, and there’s a great gulf fixed so that they can’t cross over into Paradise and eventually into Heaven. And, all the dead are fully conscious. The righteous are enjoying the pleasure garden of Paradise, and the unrighteous are imprisoned and are tormented in Tartarus, Hades. None of them know what we are doing here on the earth (Ecclesiastes 9: 4 and 5). And if they did, it’s very likely they would be like the rich man of whom Jesus spoke in Luke 16. They would urgently want someone to send a message to be saved at once and without delay.
My friend, God has made every provision He can to prevent man from a life of punishment in the other world. However, in His righteous character, God must punish the wicked and disobedient as well as reward the righteous and the obedient. A person’s eternal destiny is irrevocably determined by the time he dies. The Bible doesn’t offer any other chance beyond the grave. It says nothing of the works of supererogation. In his story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16, Jesus makes it clear that there is no crossing the great gulf to go from Paradise to Tartarus or from Tartarus to Paradise. So, it is important that we give attention to the important things while we may. If you are not a Christian, oh, I pray that you’ll obey Christ today in repentance and baptism—that you will do it at once.
We are sincerely grateful to you for hearing our message today. We are presented on this station by your neighbors, members of churches of Christ who want to serve you in every way they can. They would thrill at having you worship with them at your first opportunity. If you need help locating their meeting place, call us. If you think you might use a CD, an audio cassette tape or a printed transcript of today’s program titled, Where Are The Dead?, simply write us: In Search of the Lord’s Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. By e-mail it is searchtv@searchtv.org. Our toll free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633. I hope that you will have a great year and that you will join us again next week, will you? God bless you. We love you.
Recently, I came across the following website. I suggest you check it out if you are a policy holder of Farmers Insurance Group or thinking about having them insure you in any capacity: http://www.farmersinsurancegroupsucks.com/
https://affiliates.visionforum.com/idevaffiliate.php?id=367
The above link is for a company—Vision Forum—that provides unique products for the family. I am an affiliate for the company and receive a small commission whenever someone uses this link and then makes an unreturned purchase while using the link. Check it out. I think you might like the products offered. I do. See my more complete explanation on my post of February 1, 2008 entitled “Affiliate program with Vision Forum.”
Webmasters Earn Money Here!
Based upon past historical data: 3,287+ UNBORN BABY MURDERS have occurred in the last 24 hours in the United States. See my post “BABY HOLOCAUST” posted January 22, 2008.
Recently, I’ve been involved in a problem one of my clients has with Farmers Insurance Group. My previous posts in relation to this problem were:
September 10, 2007 post: “Beware of Farmers Insurance Group”
September 11, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Group’s response”
September 18, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Company received the requested list”
September 19, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Company’s response to the list”
October 16, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Group and my request for information”
November 27, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Group does not respond to my request”
January 11, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group latest stall”
January 12, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group is sent a response”
January 14, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group pays some money”
January 19, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group continues to be obstinate”
January 26, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group receives another request”
February 11, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group shows how low they will go?”
February 12, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group: If I were going to respond to the final letter”
February 13, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group and associated companies”
February 14, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group and how others rate the company”
I will not be continuing my Creationism posts today. I do plan to return to them soon.
Then, I plan to answer the response about Iraq. I am sorry for the change in plans. Plans, in reality, often are altered for one reason or another. “The best laid plans … often go astray.” Thank you for your understanding and patience.
How many unborn toddlers were murdered today because of the humanistic, paganish, barbaric decisions of the United States Supreme Court?
Stop the
Murder of
Unborn
Toddlers
“Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” James 4: 17 (NIV)
http://www.farmersinsurancegroupsucks.com/
http://www.childpredators.com/
http://www.lifedynamics.com/
http://www.libertylegal.org/
http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/
http://www.searchtv.org/
The following is from “In Search of the Lord’s Way” taken from the website http://www.searchtv.org/. This is the second article of my response to the following comment posted on my blog.
“Anonymous said:
Are you saying that there is no such thing as mental illness and that it is all made up to justify sinning? That must be one of the stupidest poorly informed thing that I have ever heard. To suggest that people should not seek treatment for there mental illness because it can not “save” them, is just plan negligent, it already hard enough to get people to seek treatment for their mental illness, treatments in many cases that can help them, and the last thing people need is some one running around telling them that it will not help.”
“Where are the Dead?—II Corinthians 12: 1-5
We are all interested in where our departed loved ones went at death. Did they go directly to heaven—or to hell—to purgatory? Are they conscious? And if so, are they aware of what we are doing here on earth; do that know about our sorrow, how we miss them? Well, that’s our study today. We are glad you have joined us.
My friend, we are truly grateful to you for inviting us into your home to study the Bible In Search of the Lord’s Way to become and to be a Christian. We are presented here by the courtesy and generosity of members of churches of Christ in the viewing area of this station. Thanks for inviting us in. Today’s program is titled, Where Are the Dead?
Many of you have written us for information concerning the whereabouts of your recently departed loved ones. Well, to answer each of these letters adequately is beyond our ability to do so. There is more than what we can put in a single letter. So, because we are all interested in things having to do with a future life, I decided to do it in this program. We would all like to know all we can about where people go immediately after death. And we would like to know, if possible, whether the dead are in a state of consciousness, and if so, are they aware of what we do here. It isn’t mere curiosity every time. We will never be able to answer all the questions about death and dying, but that’s probably a blessing. I am sure God loves us enough that if He felt we should know more about these things, He would have told us more in the Scriptures. So, we will content ourselves with what He has revealed. Now after Ken Helterbrand leads us in a spiritual song, we’ll be back to see what He has said in His word.
If you would like a free printed copy, a CD, or an audio cassette tape of it, please address your request for it to In Search of the Lord’s Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083; or by e-mail at searchtv@searchtv.org. Or, you may use our toll-free telephone number (1-800-321-8633). Any of it—all of it is free. You may want to just access our website (wwwsearchtv.org). It’s available there—the sermon is in printed form and visual form and audio. Ken Helterbrand is going to lead us now as we sing, and I’ll be back. We will read the Bible and pray together.
Our reading today is from the apostle Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth; and it is in chapter 12. We will read the first five verses. “It is therefore not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities.” Now let us go to God in prayer. Holy Father, we are so thankful to You that You understand the sorrow that we bear on the death of a loved one, in the separation from us here in this world. And we know that You understand, too, that we are interested in where our departed saints have gone. And we pray You will bless our study today so that we can be comforted; and we can be encouraged; and we can be made stronger in the faith because of the lesson today. This is our prayer in the name of Jesus, Amen!
Physicians and psychologists and sociologists and even others have made some in-depth studies of the subject of death and dying. Well, they have even compiled some very interesting information about the “near death” experiences of their patients; information that they have obtained from people who reportedly experienced something like the man of whom we read in II Corinthians chapter 12, a moment ago.
Some might think that we would do well to quote some of those people here, or maybe even have a panel of physicians and psychologists who have treated these patients who could comment “authoritatively” about such matters. Well, they might tell us where people were, and what they saw, and what they heard during their experiences and all that. But on second thought, would that add authenticity to our study any at all? If you are interested in that any of you can go to your local library, wherever you live, and check out those books and see for yourself what they said. We are concerned about what we can learn from God’s holy word, the Bible.
During our Lord’s incarnation, He raised several people from the dead—people we know were dead. One was Jairus’ daughter as recorded in Matthew, the ninth chapter. Another was the widow’s son in the village of Nain recorded in Luke, chapter seven. But the best known was Lazarus, many of the details of which are given us in John, the eleventh chapter. We don’t know how long the others had been dead. The widow’s son’s body, we know was being carried in a casket, to what seems to have been its burial when Jesus restored him to life. But Lazarus had been dead four days and his body had begun to deteriorate. Now we read that in verses 17 and 39. Well, our Lord commanded him, “Lazarus, come forth,” and the dead man came forth from the grave. He walked and talked with his family and with friends.
Now, don’t you suppose some of those friends who had comforted his sisters while Lazarus was dead, and the multitudes who came to see him after he was raised, were curious about where he was and what he knew during those four days? And, don’t you suppose they asked him some questions? Oh, I am sure they did. But, there’s no such conversation recorded in the Scriptures about all that.
And don’t you know after the crowds had gone, and Mary and Martha could talk with their brother in the quietness and in the privacy of their own home, that they would ask him some questions. “Lazarus, where were you those four days? What did you see and what did you hear? Did you know how we grieved over your death? Did you know about the funeral service we had for you? Did you know that Jesus came and wept with us?” Well, of course they had many questions. But inspiration says nothing about it. It isn’t revealed to us.
I have a good idea from what we learn from 2 Corinthians, chapter twelve, that when Lazarus returned to his body, those things faded from his memory, and he couldn’t have related them if he had wanted to do so. Paul said of himself, “whether in the body, I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know. God knows...how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” Now if Paul was forbidden to report what he saw and heard, surely the widow’s son was, too; and Jairus’ daughter, and Lazarus, and even those who may have had similar experiences in our own generation. In fact, if one of them should tell us about what he saw and heard in such an experience, we would question his or maybe even her integrity because of what the Scripture revealed to us in this passage.
So, what does the Bible say? Well, man is of dual nature. He is physical. His body is of the earth; it’s earthy. His spirit is of God, spiritual. Paul declares: “While our outward man (the body) perishes, yet the inward man (the spirit) is renewed day by day.” That is 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 16. From Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 7, we learn at death the body returns to the earth from which God formed it in the beginning and the spirit returns to God who gave it (Zechariah chapter 12, verse1). Well, the Holy Spirit clearly divides the human being into flesh and spirit, and declares the flesh came from one source and the spirit another when He says, “We have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?” That is Hebrews chapter 12, verse 9.
Now we know what Jesus meant when He said to the penitent thief on the cross, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23, verse 43). Though they both would die that day, the spirit of each one of them would continue on in Paradise. And later Jesus cried with a loud voice and said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit. Having said this, He breathed His last.” His body became lifeless, and he was taken by friends, the body was, and buried. In the seventh chapter of Acts we have the story of the stoning of Stephen. As he died, he cried, “Lord, Jesus, receive my spirit” (verse 59). So people don’t cease to exist at death. The body goes to the grave and to ashes, and the spirit lives on somewhere.
Does the spirit go immediately to its eternal destiny, to Heaven or to Hell? Perhaps you have heard preachers at the funeral of a loved one say something to the effect maybe like this, “Oh, your dear mother is right now in Heaven singing in the angels’ choir.” Well, I’m sorry, but that is a mistake. In the first place, it isn’t within him to say where mother is. Funerals are not for the purpose of determining the destiny of the departed spirit, or where the deceased will spend eternity. And too, the spirit of the saved person does not go directly into Heaven, if by “heaven” we mean the eternal dwelling place of God. The Spirit, the real “we” goes, rather to another place to await the judgment, and then to the eternal abode, after judgment.
There are several reasons for my saying that. First, the Bible teaches that there is to be a general judgment when all men will be judged. That subject is worthy of a complete program; and we will just say here that if people were judged at death and went immediately and directly to Heaven or to Hell, there would be no purpose for the judgment. Jesus spoke of this judgment day as being universal in all its scope. He said “All nations” will be there (Matthew 25: 31- 32). He also said, “The men of Nineveh will rise in the judgment with this generation” (Matthew 12: 41), and in the next verse, “The Queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation.” The men of Nineveh lived 500 years, something like that, before Christ’s day on the earth, and the Queen of the South lived a thousand years before. Yet Jesus said they would be in the same judgment with people of his generation—and ours.
And when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, he said, “David has not yet ascended into Heaven” (Acts 2: 32). David, too, had been dead a thousand years, but the Holy Spirit by the mouth of Peter said he had not yet ascended into Heaven. And, the Bible says “The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (2 Peter 2 and 9). So where are the Ninevites, the Queen of the South, David, the unjust and all the others who have died and gone from among us? Well, they are somewhere awaiting the same judgment in which you and I will appear. Well, where is that?
Are they in Purgatory? The Bible has nothing to say about purgatory. Neither the word nor the doctrine is found in the Scriptures, so we will not spend a lot of time here, but we will examine it as a legitimate part of this study. Since it is not a biblical doctrine, we turn to other literature to learn what we know about it. From the Encyclopedia of Religion and Religions by Pike, and the Encyclopedia Britannica, we learn the idea was first conceived by Thomas Aquinas, thirteenth century theologian-philosopher. It became a part of the Catholic doctrine at the Council of Trent (1545 to 1563). Simply and briefly stated, purgatory is thought to be a state of suffering after death in which the souls of those who die in “venial sin,” and those who still owe some debt of temporal punishment for “mortal sin,” are rendered fit to enter into Heaven. But, since the Bible says nothing about it and since the Bible holds no hope of another chance after death for salvation before the judgment, well, we may be certain our departed loved ones are not there.
Well, are they in Hades? We often use the word “Hades” and “Hell” interchangeably, but they are not the same. “Hades” is the unseen world, the world of departed spirits. The word also means “all-receiving,” as it receives every spirit that departs this life in this world, both the good and the bad. Even Jesus went to Hades for those three days and nights his body was in the tomb (Acts 2 and verse 27-31). Unfortunately the old King James Version translates the word as “Hell” in those verses, but the New King James, the American Standard and other versions translate it “Hades.” So every person who dies goes to Hades. All of our friends and loved ones who have died have gone to Hades.
But Jesus promised the thief on the cross, “Today shalt thou be with me in ‘Paradise.’” Right? Then Paradise is that part of, or shall we say a state in Hades to which the righteous go. But Paradise is not “Heaven,” if we mean by “heaven” the dwelling place of God, the eternal abode of the righteous. No, it isn’t. Jesus spent those three days and nights in Paradise, in Hades. But after He was raised from the dead He told Mary, “Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.” (John 20: 17) “Paradise” means “a pleasure garden.” Yes, it is sometimes used with reference to Heaven, but that doesn’t mean it always means Heaven. Heaven is also called a “city,” but that doesn’t mean every city mentioned in the Bible is Heaven. The departed saved people are in Paradise, Hades, awaiting the judgment, after which they will enter into Heaven for all eternity.
We mentioned a moment ago that God “...knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority.” (2 Peter 3: 9 and 10) Well, where are the unjust reserved? Well, they are in “Hades” too, because Hades is the place of “all receiving,” receiving all, but they are in the place or “state” called Tartarus in Hades. In 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 4, Peter declared “For God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and delivered them into the chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” Again, it’s unfortunate that the King James translates Tartarus as “Hell” in that verse. Other versions correct that. Tartarus is in Hades, on the other side of “a fixed gulf” from Paradise as we read in Luke chapter 16, verses 19 to 31. From 2 Peter 2 and 4, we can know that is where all of the wicked, the unforgiven people have gone to await the judgment. It is not “Hell.” It is not the eternal abode of the unforgiven wicked dead. It is a prison where they are held until judgment day. And of course, there is torment in Hades, if for no other reason, just knowing as the rich man did, that he was unsaved. After the judgment, they will enter into “Hell” itself, where they will suffer eternally. Let’s pray. Thank you, Father, for this information that we have in Your word about where our departed loved ones have gone. Help us to apply our lives so that we can be prepared to go and to be with Thee. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen!
So my friend, our departed loved ones are in Hades. If they were saved by an obedient faith in Jesus Christ, they are in Paradise, Hades; awaiting the judgment to go on into Heaven to live forever with the Lord. If they died without Christ, they are in Tartarus, Hades; awaiting the Day of Judgment, and there’s a great gulf fixed so that they can’t cross over into Paradise and eventually into Heaven. And, all the dead are fully conscious. The righteous are enjoying the pleasure garden of Paradise, and the unrighteous are imprisoned and are tormented in Tartarus, Hades. None of them know what we are doing here on the earth (Ecclesiastes 9: 4 and 5). And if they did, it’s very likely they would be like the rich man of whom Jesus spoke in Luke 16. They would urgently want someone to send a message to be saved at once and without delay.
My friend, God has made every provision He can to prevent man from a life of punishment in the other world. However, in His righteous character, God must punish the wicked and disobedient as well as reward the righteous and the obedient. A person’s eternal destiny is irrevocably determined by the time he dies. The Bible doesn’t offer any other chance beyond the grave. It says nothing of the works of supererogation. In his story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16, Jesus makes it clear that there is no crossing the great gulf to go from Paradise to Tartarus or from Tartarus to Paradise. So, it is important that we give attention to the important things while we may. If you are not a Christian, oh, I pray that you’ll obey Christ today in repentance and baptism—that you will do it at once.
We are sincerely grateful to you for hearing our message today. We are presented on this station by your neighbors, members of churches of Christ who want to serve you in every way they can. They would thrill at having you worship with them at your first opportunity. If you need help locating their meeting place, call us. If you think you might use a CD, an audio cassette tape or a printed transcript of today’s program titled, Where Are The Dead?, simply write us: In Search of the Lord’s Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. By e-mail it is searchtv@searchtv.org. Our toll free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633. I hope that you will have a great year and that you will join us again next week, will you? God bless you. We love you.
posted by Christian Gunslinger at 4:17 AM
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