[Chris Rowland] About six years ago I was doing some research to find out where some of my ancestors were buried. I knew I had some relatives at a cemetery in Indianapolis, and I was able to locate the location of some of those graves from a website the cemetery had put together. And we spent a while during a visit there hunting for some of the tombstones of people in my past, ancestors, and taking some pictures of them.

And then a few summers ago we also stopped in Tullahoma, Tennessee with a second cousin of mine who found me on the Internet, and he showed me a small family cemetery where some of my great grandparents were buried on their farmland in the early 1900s.

If you ever spent some time walking through a cemetery it's interesting to look at the different grave markers there and the way that people put different messages on them. The different sayings, different sentiments that they wanted recorded. We found one relative who, on their tombstone, said, "Not dead. Just asleep." And another nearby tombstone of someone else related to the family said, "Precious Lord, take my hand," and it showed two hands reaching up and one hand reaching down from a cloud to meet them.

Well, is it true that my dead relatives are not really dead, but just sleeping? Or did the Lord actually take that person's hand when they died and lead them to some kind of a paradise? And what does happen after we die?

When I started to research the topic of what happens after you die, I naturally went to the Internet to see what different groups, different individuals might believe about that. Well, one of the first links that I came to was subtitled, "What Happens to the Body After Death?" And this was a site sponsored by the Australian Museum. And I figured well, this might tie in pretty well to my sermon. So I pulled it up and looked at it and started reading, but it didn't take long for me to get grossed out by, you know, what I saw. They took what happens after death quite literally. The page even features a time lapse movie where you can watch the first week of a dead piglet decomposing, and it didn't take long to realize that the focus on that page was on the process of decomposition, with explanations of different organisms bacteria, flies, beetles, moths that feed on corpses, and I definitely don't want to cover that topic for you. I think we can safely agree without looking at the details that the process they describe is, in fact, what happens after death. Now, I'm not going to argue with those findings at all. So we'll call that a given, and let's move on from there.

And the question becomes, then, is that all there is? Is that all there is? Is decomposition the only sure thing that will happen after we die? Is there something more? Is there a purpose to the lives that we have? Well, since my wife worked at a public library, I had her bring home some books. I wanted some books that explained what happened after we die. And I asked her if she would specifically look at the children's section, because I wanted something that would be at my level, even something that I could understand. (Laughter) And there are actually quite a few books that are published for children that talk about death that attempt to explain to young people the meaning of death and to help them cope with the feelings that they had surrounding it.
Well, most of the books that she had that she found brought up the subject of heaven, you know, books about grandma and grandpa in heaven, or on the way there. You know, books with questions and answers about what heaven is like. Not surprisingly, she didn't find any titles, like, "Going to Hell to Be With Grandma," or "Will I See My Dog in Hell," or "Will There Be Other Children in Hell?" (Laughter) No, nothing like that. They're all about heaven. The books that you find, they all dwell on the positive, which they consider heaven. Now, they might hint just a little bit that not everyone's going to make it to heaven, but it's very subtle.

You know, it mostly consists of saying, you know, "Jesus is the way to heaven, and whoever believes in Him can enter," but they don't really explain the other side of the story. Heaven seems to be almost the universal answer out there to where people go and what they do after death.

Well, one of the books that my wife brought home I found a little bit interesting was written by the former First Lady of California, Maria Shriver. Well, it's called, "What's Heaven?" It's a picture book that she wrote to share with her oldest daughter after her greatgrandmother died. The book was also written for any other children who were facing a difficult time and looking for answers. And in that book, a mother tells her daughter, Kate, that her greatgrandmother has died and gone to heaven. And when Kate asks her what's heaven, this is her mother's reply. Her mother says, "Heaven is a beautiful place up in the sky where no one is sick and where no one is mean or unhappy. It's a place beyond the moon, the stars and the clouds. Heaven is where you go when you die." And then when Kate asks, "If heaven's in the sky, how come I can't see it?" And her mother replies, "Heaven isn't a place that you can see. It's somewhere you believe in. I imagine it's a beautiful place, where you can sit on soft clouds and talk to other people who are there. At night you sit next to the stars, which are the brightest of anywhere in the universe."

On my personal opinion, I'm not going to get a lot of sleep sitting right next to the brightest star in the universe. But continuing, she writes, "Everyone there is happy to be in such a peaceful place where God will love them forever." And the mom goes on to say, "I believe that if you're good throughout your life, then you get to go to heaven. Some people believe in different kinds of heaven and have different names for it. When your life is finished here on earth, God sends angels down to take you up to heaven to be with Him."

And when Kate asks, "Well, do the angels just take you through the ceiling and through the sky?" Her mother says, "You know, Kate, there are lots of things we don't know about heaven, but I think that when a person dies, the angels come and take the soul and leave the body there." And through the course of this story, young Kate comes to grips with this new knowledge she has about her greatgrandmother and what's happened to her, where she even comforts the mother later as her mother's eyes fill with tears and Kate tells her, "You know, greatgrandma is in heaven. She doesn't have to be sick in a bed anymore. She can play games and go to parties. She's in a safe place with the stars, with God and the angels and Shamrock, our dog. She's watching over us from up there. I just know it."

Well, what exactly are those beliefs based on? You know, certainly some of the beliefs that people have about heaven are based on scripture, aren't they? You know, many Christians believe that the Bible plainly states that heaven is God's reward for the righteous. And throughout the centuries, this has been a hope that's been taught by mainstream Christianity. Well, one of the things that I wanted to research in preparation for this sermon was to find the scriptural basis that their beliefs have in heaven, where that might come from, because certainly there have to be some passages of scriptures that they use to commonly support those ideas.

So I'm going to do something a little bit different in this sermon. I'm now going to present several of the different arguments that they have that use scripture to claim that heaven is the reward of the righteous. And as I go through these points, please keep in mind that I'm trying to present this material first from their point of view. So we'll go through some of the rationale why a lot of Christians think that they're going to heaven when they die. But then after we've walked through those points, I'll present you with the reason why those perspectives may or may not be correct.

Several times in the gospel of Matthew, God's kingdom is referred to as the "kingdom of heaven." So the first rationale they want to present for their beliefs is the kingdom of heaven. For example, in the beginning of Matthew chapter 3, we see this terminology used. In Matthew 3:1 Matthew starts out saying that,

Matthew 3:1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"

Now, because Matthew uses this phrase, the "kingdom of heaven," most people consider the kingdom of heaven to be synonymous. So what's at hand? The kingdom's at hand. Well, what's the kingdom? Well, it's heaven. Why is it urgent that John's preaching about here? Well, if the kingdom is heaven and heaven is at hand, then heaven is near; it's close. In fact, you could die and go to heaven at any moment, so it's very close.

And then two chapters later, chapter 5, begins in this way, speaking of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 5:1  And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.

V.2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

So not only is heaven at hand, but it belongs to those who are poor in spirit. Heaven belongs to the righteous. And most Christians would conclude from looking at that, that heaven is the reward of the righteous, based upon these scriptures.

A second rationale for heaven being the reward of the righteous is that believers are promised paradise. You know, for most Christians, paradise is synonymous with heaven.

If you'll turn to 2 Corinthians 12:2, in Paul's second letter to the Corinthian church, he correlates the terms heaven and paradise when relating to a story of a man who had a vision of heaven.

In 2 Corinthians 12:2 Paul writes,

2 Corinthians 12:2 I know a man in Christ who 14 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.

V.3 And I know such a man ‑ whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows 

V.4 how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

Well, Paul says first that this man was caught up into the third heaven, and then he restates it, saying that he was caught up into Paradise, so the third heaven and Paradise are the same thing.

But if we now go to Luke 23:43, let's look at the words of Jesus Christ when He's talking about Paradise. He was speaking to a criminal who was being crucified along with Him.

Luke 23:43 And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."

So when you combine these words uttered by Jesus, with Paul's recounting of the man's vision, it's a simple matter to conclude that Paradise is in heaven. And Jesus was assured he promised that a dying man would be with Him later that day.  So it's not hard to see why many people put these together and believe that they can go directly to heaven at the time of their death.

A third rationale I want to present for heaven being the reward of the righteous is that the righteous are already up there or they're looking down. They're waiting. They're watching. They're watching what we do here on the earth. If we look at 2 Kings 2, I'd like to look at an account in 2 Kings 2 verse 1. The scriptures state that God took Elijah the prophet up to heaven.

2 Kings 2:1 And it came to pass, when the Lord was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.

V.2 Then Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Bethel."

V.3 But Elisha said, "As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!" So they went down to Bethel.
Well, it says here in verse 1 that Elijah was soon to be headed to heaven.

Moving down now to verse 11, 2 Kings 2:11, says.

2 Kings 2:11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

V.12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!" So he saw him no more. 

Here we have a statement in the Old Testament that Elijah went to heaven.

Peter, James and John, they had a vision later in the New Testament during the transfiguration where they saw Elijah. So the conclusion is that God took Elijah to heaven here, and he's currently in residence here.

Another scripture that's often quoted by the righteous being in heaven is Hebrews 12. People think that they're in heaven even today, as we speak. Just one chapter earlier in the 11th chapter of Hebrews, it goes through a list of the righteous through time, and all the way back to the time of Abel. But then here in Hebrews 12:1 it continues with that thought, saying,

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

Well, Christians argue that this cloud of witnesses refers to the righteous who are up in heaven, everyone, including Abraham, Moses, Rahab, Enoch, David, et cetera. They're watching from up there as witnesses to what we're doing here on the earth. They're witnessing the course that we're taking, surrounding us and maybe even cheering us on to salvation.

Well, the fourth and the last rationale that I want to present today for heaven being the reward of the righteous is that there's a promise that we will be with Christ. Christ, well, He's currently in heaven. So for us to be with Him, people conclude that, well, we're going to have to go there too, to be with Him as promised.

And many people use Philippians 1:21, the words of Paul from the first chapter of Philippians, to prove that as soon as we die we go to be with Christ. He writes:

Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

V.22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. 

For I am hard pressed between the two. Having a desire to part and be with Christ. Which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.

John chapter 14 contains another passage that's used to show that we will be with Christ after we die. John chapter 14 in the first verse, Jesus Christ is speaking, and He says,

John 14:1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

V.2 In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

V.3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

And most Christians believe that these mansions are permanent dwellings in the heavens that we can inherit and we can dwell forever in Christ's presence.

So these four concepts, I hope, give us an idea or basis for understanding why many well-meaning Christians believe that they're going to heaven when they die. They think it's God's reward for the righteous. They think this is what the Bible teaches. But let's begin to dig a little bit deeper on some of these subjects and see whether what they believe is actually what the Bible describes.

Let's look first at this concept of the kingdom of heaven. Is God's kingdom the same thing as heaven? Now, what did Jesus Christ and John the Baptist mean when they used that phrase, "the kingdom of heaven"? Did this mean a kingdom in heaven? Did it mean a kingdom from heaven? A kingdom that's like heaven, or what? Well, the phrase "kingdom of heaven" appears in Matthew's gospel account 32 times. And it's interesting to note that Matthew was the only biblical writer who used this term the "kingdom of heaven." The other writers use the term "kingdom of God." For instance, Luke's account of the sermon on the mount says.

Luke 6:20 "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God."

The words are interchangeable. The description of the kingdom of heaven is not a promise we will go to heaven, but it promises a kingdom that originates from God in heaven. In the New Testament describes God's kingdom is something that will be instituted on this earth, not something that we're going to in heaven.

In Luke 19:12 there's a parable of the nobleman. Jesus is talking about Himself, and He describes Himself here as a certain nobleman who went to a far country to receive for himself the kingdom and to return. So Jesus will return with His kingdom. He received it in a far country, but He's bringing it back.

And in the passage known as the Lord's prayer, we are shown to ask God for His kingdom to come. It's not a prayer for us to go there and to join Him. It says, "Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." When God's kingdom arrives, God's will shall be done on earth.

And no matter how many times Matthew talks about the kingdom of heaven, it's never referred to as a kingdom in heaven. The kingdom of heaven  the kingdom of God is at hand, but it's at hand in the same timeframe that the return of Jesus Christ is at hand.

And in the sermon on the mount, does it say that the poor in spirit get a kingdom in heaven, but the meek, they just inherit the earth? You know, why would God split up the poor in spirit from the meek, with the poor in spirit group getting to go to heaven, while the other group, the meek, have to remain on earth and inherit that? If that were the case, maybe I should try not to be so meek so I could go to heaven, then we could go to heaven with the poor in spirit bunch.

But clearly the kingdom is not in heaven. It's from heaven. It will be established on this earth. Both the poor in spirit and the meek will be in God's kingdom together, in the same place, in the same kingdom on this earth.

Now, what about the promise of Paradise? You know, what is Paradise? The word translated Paradise appears three times in the New Testament. We've already looked at three instances where it's used, Christ's words to the thief on the cross and in the vision that Paul describes that relates Paradise to the third heaven. The other passage mentioning Paradise is in Revelation 2, where it talks about the tree of life being in the midst of the Paradise of God. This tree of life will be in the New Jerusalem.

Well, each time this Paradise is mentioned, it's describing a place of God's presence, a place where He is. The third heaven is a phrase that's used to describe where God's throne is located. The New Jerusalem will be the place where God comes down from heaven to rule and men will dwell with Him in that holy city. So the promise of Paradise is the promise that we will have the opportunity to dwell in the presence of God.

In the vision that Paul described, where a man was caught up into the third heaven into Paradise, agrees with this understanding, since the third heaven is understood to be where God rules from today. But God will rule from the new earth after the new heavens and new earth are created, and that will also be Paradise.

I'd like to go back to 2 Corinthians 12 and look at the man who had the vision of heaven. Paul writes,

2 Corinthians 12:2 I know a man in Christ who 14 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.

V.3 And I know such a man  whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows 

V.4 how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

Well, all indications in this verse are that the man who had this vision  who some think may have been Paul himself  was still on earth at the time that Paul was writing this. Otherwise, how would he have been able to share this story with Paul? How would he have known about it? So this man had a vision of going into heaven, of hearing inexpressible words. And since this was set in the third heaven, it may have been a vision of God's throne. Several prophets in the scripture have had visions of God's throne and the majesty that is there. But since the man must have returned from this vision to earth so that we could know about this vision, I think it's safe to conclude that this concept of being caught up to heaven does not imply that this man died. You know, this being caught up or carried up to heaven was most likely a part of his vision.

When Christ returns it says that the believers who are still alive will be caught up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air. Also, after Phillip had his encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch, it says that the spirit caught him away so that the eunuch did not see him any longer. On both of those cases, death is not involved. This being caught up, this being carried is some type of spiritual transportation that takes people to another place. Well, in this man's vision, he was caught up to Paradise. He was super naturally transported there in his dream. And the recounting of this incident does not create any relationship between what was seen in that vision with a place where humans are going to go when they die.

Now, I think we can agree with most Christians that we are promised a future in Paradise, a future in God's kingdom. And this Paradise is one where we will dwell in God's presence. Not one where we will play harps or  and sit on clouds all day. Now, I suppose I would maybe have the musical ability to play a harp, if I felt like it. But I expect to be too busy when there's other work that God has for us to do.

Most serious Christian scholars out there, they agree with us that the traditional image of a heavenly Paradise is not supported by scripture. Now, they acknowledge, like we do, that there's a lot about God's kingdom that has not yet been revealed. There's a lot we don't know.

But what about the timing of this entry into God's kingdom? You know, do we go to Paradise immediately after death? Remember how Jesus told the thief on the cross, "Today you will be with Me in Paradise"? Well, let's assume that the traditional Christian interpretation of this verse is true and that on the very date of the crucifixion, on the very day of the crucifixion the thief went to Paradise to be with Jesus Christ. Well, could that even be possible? Well, we know it wasn't, because if the thief ended up in Paradise that day, Jesus wouldn't have been there to join him, which was the other half of that promise. He said, "with Me in Paradise." Jesus Himself did not ascend to Paradise or to heaven on the day that He died. He went first to the grave. He was buried, and He didn't rise again until the third day, and that's clear from a verse in John 20:17 that shows that Jesus had not been in God's presence, nor had He been in heaven since His death.

In John 20:17 we can read where,
John 20:17 Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father, but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.'"

So over three full days later from His promise to that dying thief, Jesus Himself clearly said that He had not ascended to heaven, not yet.

So the dying criminal could not have joined Jesus in Paradise on that day that they both died. I think most of you here have read our church literature and understand that this problem with this scripture is that a comma was placed before the word "today" in most translations instead of after the word "today." Since there was no punctuation in the original Greek we have, it was inserted many years later by people who probably had their own understanding of what the verse was saying and were trying to make it a little bit clearer. So we believe that the scripture should be phrased that, "I say to you today, you will be with me in Paradise."

Now, most critics argue against our point of view that that's how it should be translated, but they use the following reasoning. I want you to listen to why they criticize our stand on that. They say there would have been no need for Christ to have said, "I say to you today," since the dying man already knew it was today. Now, that kind of logic doesn't really mean anything. Well, if that argument holds, well, why did Jesus always start out His statements to say, "Verily, verily, I say unto you," before a lot of His statements. People would have known it was Jesus talking to him. And for that matter, why did He tell the thief, "I say to you." Would the dying man have just thought it was a voice coming from somewhere? Of course he knew that Jesus was the one talking to him. There are a lot of idioms that people use all of the time, that if you try to analyze that idiom and why it was necessary, they're not necessary.

Well, the type of address that Jesus gave to the thief, it's still with us today, when someone wants to emphasize a future promise or a prediction. I found an example of this in a quote by a sports figure, Kobe Bryant. He said, "I'm telling you right now we're going to win on Tuesday." Now, we could apply this same logic to this statement. Well, everyone knows it's right now. So maybe he was saying, "I'm telling you," comma, "right now we're going to win on Tuesday. But that doesn't make any sense at all. You know, the point is that he was making a prediction. You know, the fact that he said "right now," it's an important part of the sentence, because it shows even from the date that he was saying that, the outcome was known. And if his team won the game on Tuesday, people could point back and say, hey, Kobe Bryant knew this would happen way back on that day.

Well, Jesus Christ knew that the thief on the cross would be with Him in Paradise, even back on the day when they were both crucified. And Jesus made it a point to remark on this saying, I can tell you right now, that this is the way it's going to turn out for you.

But what about the third concept? What about the concept that the righteous are already in heaven, that they're waiting for us, they're watching us, they're cheering us on every day?

Well, what did the verse mean when it says that Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven? Did Elijah die? Did he cease to exist on the earth at that time? It kind of sounds that way if you read that story, doesn't it? He certainly was caught up in a most dramatic way and taken away from Elisha. Before answering that, let's look for a moment at what happened to Phillip in Acts 8:38. I mentioned this episode earlier briefly when I was talking about being caught up by the Spirit. Let's turn to Acts 8 and read more about the specifics of what did happen to Phillip.

Acts 8:38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Phillip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.

V.39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Phillip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.

Well, if you stop reading after verse 39, you might conclude that Phillip died at this point and was taken to heaven. It is similar to the story of Elijah. He was supernaturally transported and basically disappeared from those around him. But if we read on in the next verse, to verse 40, it says:

V.40 But Phillip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities until he came to Caesarea.

So Phillip didn't die. He didn't go to heaven here when he was caught up. He was found. They found him. God moved him to another place on the earth so that God's will could be done.

Now, let's go back and look at the story of Elijah in 2 Kings 2 to see if maybe the same thing could have happened to him. 2 Kings 2:16, in the story of Elijah, God was appointing Elisha to be Elijah's successor. After Elijah was removed, the sons of the prophets, they wanted to go look for him.

2 Kings 2:16 Then they said to him, "Look now, there are fifty strong men with your servants. Please let them go and search for your master, lest perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley." And he said, "You shall not send anyone."

V.17 But when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, "Send them!" Therefore they sent fifty men, and they searched for three days but did not find him.

V.18 And when they came back to him, for he had stayed in Jericho, he said to them, "Did I not say to you, 'Do not go'?"

So God had taken Elijah somewhere where those men couldn't find him. God needed to do that, because as long as Elijah was around, Elisha would not be accepted as the leader of the prophets. But how do we know that Elijah was still around after this dramatic event? The Bible records a letter that Elijah wrote many years after these events. Now, I don't want to go through all the details of that in this sermon.
But in the next chapter, 2 Kings 3, after Elijah has been removed from the scene, an encounter has been recorded between Elisha and the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat. Well, several years later Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoram, succeeded his father as the king of Judah, and the king was wicked. And a few years into his reign, several years now after Elijah miraculously disappeared from the scene, a letter came to him from Elijah, and Elijah wrote a letter to this king warning him of the consequences of his sins.

And in 2 Chronicles 21:12 it says that that letter came from Elijah. For that to have occurred, Elijah must still have been living somewhere on the earth. But didn't it say that Elijah went into heaven? Well, it didn't say that Elijah went into the third heaven. Heaven can also refer to the earth's atmosphere. It can refer to the sky, which would correspond to the reaction that the sons of the prophets had to go and look for him somewhere else nearby. What goes up must come down.

Let's move on to John 3 now and look for a few minutes about whether there are currently any human beings in heaven. Are there righteous people already there, maybe communing with God the Father and with Jesus Christ? In John 3:12 John is talking here  or Jesus is talking here to Nicodemus, a teacher. He says,

John 3:12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

V.13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is the Son of Man who is in heaven. 

It can't get much plainer than that. Jesus plainly states that no one has ascended to heaven. Well, this means that not Abraham, not Moses, not David, not Elijah, not anyone, except for Jesus Christ. These are the words of Jesus Christ Himself. Certainly if anyone had ascended into heaven He would have seen him. He would have known about it.

Well, Acts 2:29 specifically states that not even king David, a man after God's own heart, has ascended into heaven. Acts 2:29 gets pretty specific. It says: 

Acts 2:29 "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day."

And continuing in verse 34, it says,

V.34 "For David did not ascend into the heavens."

So let's turn to the end of Hebrews 11 and see what is stated about the faithful through the ages. Now, the 11th chapter of Hebrews is known as the faith chapter, and it recounts the names of some of God's faithful throughout history. I'd like to look at the last two verses, 39 and 40 of Hebrews 11. Verse 39 says,

Hebrews 11:39 "And all these  you know, all that he's mentioned  having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

The scripture says that these righteous did not receive the promise. They won't be made perfect apart from us. We will all be made perfect at the same time, when Christ returns.

But let's move on to the 12th chapter of Hebrews here, the next verse. So who is in this great cloud of witnesses and what is it that they're witnessing?

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

V.2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Well, some understand this cloud of witnesses is people looking down on us from heaven. Well, that's not the correct interpretation. Hebrews 11 records many people whom God commended for their faith. And as we just read, they've not received the promise. It's these people who are the cloud of witnesses. They're witnesses not because they're watching and witnessing us, but rather they've set an example for us through their lives. They're witnesses for Christ for God and witnesses for the truth. So this cloud of witnesses, you could rephrase as a cloud of examples or a cloud of testimony or a cloud of evidence. You know, this scripture is describing that the stories of the faithful that have been recorded in the Bible for us provide us with a wealth of examples that we can surround ourselves with, and which can inspire us to run the race, which is set before us. Their lives bore witness to the faith that they had in God's promises.

And what about this fourth concept that the righteous are going to be with Christ when they die? Well, since Christ is in heaven, to be with Christ, don't we have to go join Him there? The words of Paul in the 1st chapter of Philippians are often used to prove that as soon as we die we go to be with Christ. As I read in Philippians 1:21, where he said,

Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

V.22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit for my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell.

V.23 For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.

So part of what Paul is talking about here is a matter of perspective. Paul knew that if he were executed, he would die, be buried, and await the resurrection. However, since the dead have no thought processes whatsoever, in his next waking moment, he would be with Jesus as the returning Messiah. Paul's next conscious thought after his death would be joining Jesus at his second coming with the other saints at the first resurrection, something we all look forward to. But this event is yet in the future. But for all who have died in Christ, it's going to be their next conscious thought. Elsewhere, Paul talked about a crown of righteousness that would be given on that day, the day of Christ appearing. Not at the moment of a believer's death.

So in a sense, from Paul's perspective, he would be with Christ with his next conscience thought after death. Most Christians believe this too, but they believe that that moment has already come for Paul and the other saints in Christ. They don't believe that Paul is still in the grave, still awaiting that promise to be with Jesus Christ.

And the other passage in John 14 that many Christians use to show that we'll be with Christ in heaven as soon as we die is in John 14:2, about the mansions. Jesus Christ says,

John 14:2 "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."

Most Christians believe that these mansions are permanent dwellings in heaven that we can inherit, and we can dwell there forever in Christ's presence. They think that their loved ones are already dwelling in these heavenly mansions.

One part of this passage that they miss is, again, the timing. You know, Christ says that after He prepares the place for us, He will come again and receive us to Himself. Christ doesn't come again each time a Christian dies. Christ will come again one time at His second coming. That's the timeframe for when these places that He's prepared for us, when our reward will be given.

I'd like to look at Matthew 16 to make sure we understand that the timing for this reward is yet future. No follower of Christ has received this reward yet. Jesus Christ says,

Matthew 16:27 "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father, with His angels, and then He will reward each according to His works."

And this same timing is confirmed in Revelation 22:12. The very end of the scriptures, Revelation 22:12, where it says,

Revelation 22:12 And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me  He's bringing it with Him to give to everyone according to his work.

Well, that reward that we receive, it doesn't happen chronologically at the moment we die. It will not occur until Christ's second coming. So these places, these mansions that are being prepared for us, will be brought with Christ at His return. These rewards are with Him.

Well, what are these places? You know, are these mansions that are prepared for us in our Father's house? Well, these places are positions of responsibility in God's kingdom. Revelation 5:10 speaks of the resurrected saints when it says, Christ will have made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth. So our places in God's house are not places in heaven, but on the earth, as it says, as kings and priests serving Him and doing His will.

So we've looked at four of the common areas where traditional Christianity believes that they have a biblical basis in the concept of going to heaven when we die. Well, I hope these explanations have been clear, and the United Church of God does publish a booklet "Heaven and Hell:  What Does the Bible Really Teach?" that gives more support and explanation of the topics I've looked at today. But so far we've only looked at contradicting these beliefs put forth by mainstream Christianity regarding heaven.

But there's an additional question that I always find even more interesting that I want to look at, specifically as it relates to the resurrection. Why is there a resurrection if the believers are already in Paradise? Well, I looked into that, and Christian scholars have several explanations for that question, none of which seem to make a lot of sense to me.

The most common explanation I've seen for the resurrection is that there are two heavens. There are two heavens. The first type of heaven exists for people before their bodily resurrection, and the second type of heaven exists after the resurrection. So the first heaven is a type of interim or intermediate heaven, where all of the dead souls are now living. They say this isn't a permanent home, but kind of a holding place for their souls until they're joined with their bodies again.

I want to read a passage from Randy Alcorn's book titled, "Heaven," where he describes whether we will live in heaven forever. This is page 42 of his book "Heaven." He writes, "The answer to the question: Will we live in heaven forever depends on what we mean by heaven. Will we be with the Lord forever? Absolutely. Will we always be with Him in exactly the same place that heaven is now? No. In the intermediate heaven we'll be in Christ's presence and we'll be joyful, but we'll be looking forward to our bodily resurrection and permanent relocation to the new earth. When we tell our children, 'Grandma's now in heaven,' we're referring to the intermediate heaven. Though it will be a wonderful place, the intermediate heaven is not the place we're made for, the place God promises to refashion for us to live forever. God's children are destined for life as resurrected beings on a resurrected earth." That's what Randy Alcorn says.

Another book where author Erwin Lutzer  in his book, "One Minute After You Die," he also calls the times before the resurrection an intermediate state. And I'll read here from page 72 of his book. He writes, "If the saints already have bodies in heaven, albeit temporary ones, why does Paul place such an emphasis on the resurrection in his writings? He clearly implies that the saints in heaven today are incomplete and in an unnatural state. The New Testament doctrine of the resurrection is an affirmation that we are a spiritual and physical unit and that God intends to put us back together again. Although the soul is separate from the body, such a separation is only temporary. If we are to live together, we must be brought together as a united human being, body, soul and spirit."

He continues saying, "The New Jerusalem is new, that is, recreated, just as our resurrected bodies are recreated from our earthly bodies. The previous heavens, the atmospheric heavens and the earth tainted by sin will have been obliterated by fire to make room for the new order of creation. This new city came out of heaven because it's part of the heavenly realm."

Well, these are some serious well respected authors, and there are a lot of other Christian scholars who go to great lengths to explain to us how there are these two different heavens in an attempt to explain why there needs to be a resurrection.

Now, I think if you read what they say about the ultimate new heavens and new earth, they're pretty accurate. You know, they quote the scriptures that talk about a place where there's no more sorrow, no more crying, no pain, no sun or moon, no hunger, thirst or heat and with the tree of life and rivers of living water. Most of those images we agree with. They're from the Bible. But we just don't use the term heaven for where those are located. However, most of their argument about this intermediate heaven, the heaven where we're supposed to tell our kids that grandma is at today, seems rather vague and confusing.

You know, some Christians believe that the scriptures of the new Jerusalem apply to the heavens now, with the pearly gates and streets of gold. But others who study a little deeper in scripture, they know that those prophesies are still yet in the future.

So why do Christians insist on believing in this intermediate heaven? Why would God plan for us to go to this holding area, you know, hanging out for a little while and wait for the resurrection so we can get a new place to live? Well, the reason is that Christianity has been deceived into accepting the doctrine of an immortal soul that cannot die. Man believes that he will not surely die. He's been told this lie since he encountered the serpent in the garden of Eden. So man has had to concoct this idea that a man's body and soul separate at death. And if this soul is immortal, it has to go somewhere, and that's where the idea of this intermediate heaven comes from. They don't want to contradict the idea that there's a resurrection, because it is prevalent in the New Testament. So they need a place for souls to go before that resurrection. And so they have what they describe as an intermediate heaven where we may or may not have some intermediate bodies to live in until we get our resurrected body.

Now, I'm not sure that most Christians you meet on the street believe in the resurrection. Or if they do, maybe it's a mystery that they can't comprehend. I don't have enough time in today's sermon to dig deeper into the doctrine of the immortal soul and how it has affected the beliefs in mainstream Christianity, but I do want to mention that I think it's that belief that appears to be the main reason why mainstream Christianity will refuse to believe the truth about the reward of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked.

So in conclusion, I found it an interesting study to look into how Christianity supports this belief of heaven through the use of scripture. In many cases scriptures can be unclear or it might appear to support their beliefs. And most people are sincere when they believe that heavens' our reward. But they've been blinded, blinded by false doctrine, such as the immortal soul, you know, confused by misinterpretation of scripture such as, "Today you'll be with Me in Paradise." Much of this world has been blinded to God's true purposes, the purpose for man and the Kingdom of God.

So what does happen after you die? Well, after you die, you cease to exist. Your soul doesn't separate from your body and go to heaven to be with the Lord. Instead, you know nothing. You're dead. You're asleep. You cease to exist until God in His mercy resurrects you to life. The righteous will be given everlasting life and a place in God's kingdom, not in heaven, but on the earth. 

[Aaron Dean] There are a couple of deceptions that Satan has foisted off, two of the main deceptions he's given. That is out of the Trinity, and also the immortal soul. And the immortal soul is the one I want to cover today because, in other places, people think that they have an immortal soul, they have something or some part of them that lives forever. And it either is in heaven or hell, or it's in some other reincarnated body or whatever.

In Asia, they also have a lot of beliefs that direction. In fact, if you go to Asia, you see all the tips of the corners of their houses pointed up and the reason they have those is because when the evil spirits come down, they want them to slide off the roof and hit the point and go back up where they came from and not to come into the house. So you have all these different things out there that people believe. And so often, they're steeped in these things.

I read an article last time I was in Africa about a man who was a "Christian," so-called, and how he was having all these troubles until he went to the graveyard and talked to his ancestors, and all of a sudden, things started getting better for him, so you could mix Christianity and ancestor worship and all these things together, which obviously is not biblical but they start believing these things if you're not careful. So the question we need to ask ourselves is, what exactly is a human being? What's a man? And, you know, people who only believe in the material world, they don't seek spiritual solutions, and we realize that physical solutions do not solve spiritual problems or give you any understanding. And there are spiritual laws that man just can't solve with his physical senses with the natural things.

But the Word of God gives understanding and our problems are spiritual. And so we're going to look at the Word of God to see what He says. When we look at the activities of humans and the ability to build and create and make families and, you know, the massive technology that we've established, even at the end time, now it's amazing because when you look at the human brain, it really is almost no different than the animal brain. Very, very little physiological differences when you look at the anatomy and take it apart, it's not much difference. So why is it we can do what we do, and animals can't? Animals receive the same information, they have eyes and they see. Some see much better than we do. They have ears that they hear and many of them see and hear much better than we do. The sense of touch for some is much better. And all their five senses are similar to ours in a sense, but they can't do the same things or understand as we do, so what is different about us?

And again, because of those differences, it makes it easy sometimes for people to believe that they have some kind of a soul or spirit or something that's going to live on. But to look at this subject, let's go back to creation, let's see what God did in Genesis 1. When we go back to Genesis 1, we see that God created everything there. We'll read in verse 21, single verse there, it says, "And God created great whales, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly," so if you're talking about fish, "after their kind, every winged fowl after its kind:” birds, “and God saw that was good.” All the mammals, everything He created. And that word “creature” there has different meaning than what we do, English has a lot more words than Hebrew does, and the translators, when they translate words, they tend to make it look what they want it to be.

If we turn over to Genesis 2:7, we read another word when man was created. In Genesis 2:7, a page over, it says, "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Well, the reason that word soul is there is because the writers and the translators wanted us to have a soul, but it's the same word as creature in Genesis 1. It's the same word used over and over.

We see in Psalms 146:4, God says, you don't need to turn there, you can write it down, it says, "His breath goes forth, he returns to the earth; and in that day his thoughts perish." So once you quit breathing, you perish and that's it. As for the word “soul” in Genesis 2:7, that word, again, is a Hebrew word nephesh and it means a living or a dead body, it's simply a body, "a nephesh," and we see places where it uses that word and it's not something that's like a soul where they say it lives forever because it talks about them being dead in Leviticus 21:11, just to read a few places where it talks about that. Leviticus 21:11 says, "Neither shall he go into any dead body," and that word there is nephesh, "nor defile himself for his father, or his mother."

And Numbers 6:6 says, "All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall come at no dead body.” No dead nephesh. And whether it's an animal or whether it's a human, it's simply a body that's there. We read in Ezekiel 18:4, we had that in the sermonette today and I appreciated that, said, "All the souls are Mine; the soul of the father, the souls of the son are Mine: the soul that sins, it shall die." So we read that and that same word soul is nephesh, it's not anything that the Christianity or other people have put on, it's simply the body. If you commit sins, God says that you're going to die and your body will die. In verse 20, it says the same thing, "The soul that sins will die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, nor the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."

And like we said in the sermonettes, regardless of race, if you're a human being and you're righteous, that's what you have. If you're wicked, that's what you are. If you're wicked, you die. But going back to Genesis 2, let's go back and see what God said to the man. He created him of the dust of the ground, we read. In Genesis 2, we'll start in verse 15, it says, "The Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and keep it." So he had his first job, being a gardener. "And God commanded him, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.’" And we know God didn't lie. Obviously, Adam and Eve didn't die the very day they ate it, but when they ate it, they were committed a sin and they would die.

Satan tries to lie and say, "You're not going to die," which is what he did right there with them. So whether you're an animal or a man, you can die. We read in Ecclesiastes 3:19, if you go there, it shows that it doesn't make any difference. If you're physical, you can die. Ecclesiastes 3:19, in writing, it says, "For that which happens to the sons of men happens to the beasts; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Yes, they all have one breath;” again, if they quit breathing “so the man has no preeminence above the beast, for all is vanity." So if you're physical, you'll die. In verse 20, "And they all go to one place: all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.” There's one death.

Reminds me the little girl who looked under her bed and saw a bunch of dust and she went to her mommy and says, "Mommy, mommy, doesn't the Bible say that, 'Dust we are, and dust we return,'" and she says, "Well, yes it does." She says, "Well, mom, someone's either coming or going." Not quite that simple, but that's where we go. We return back to the dust, that's where we go.

Turn to Leviticus 17:11, we do have a physical life that God has given, our nephesh, which is composed of dust, God breathed into the breath of life and we have blood. Verse 11 of Leviticus 17, it says, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls;” or your bodies, “for it is the blood that makes an atonement” for the sins “for the soul." If you sin, blood has to flow through your veins, and life's in the blood, and so we know through Christ's sacrifice in His blood were shed, but when they offered sacrifices then, it was an animal and it was the blood they took out of the animal and it died and it returned to the earth. This body and life went out of it.

We know the manifestation of this in Isaiah 53, which we read at Passover time. You turn to Isaiah 53, we'll read in verse 10 about Jesus Christ, our atonement and the blood that He has shed for us. Says, "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You shall make His soul an offering for sin,” again, that's our word nephesh. "He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. And He shall see the travail of His soul,” again, nephesh is body, "and He shall be satisfied. By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong,” why? “because He's poured out His soul unto death, He was numbered with the transgressors, He bears the sins of many, and made intercession for those transgressions." Christ is the sole offering, His blood was shed in the same way and He did die, although, He was resurrected. And Jesus knew He would die.

We turn to Ecclesiastes 9:5 and we see what all of us know, what Christ knew as well when He became a human being and He knew what was beyond that as well. But in Ecclesiastes 9:5, it states very clearly, "For the living know that they shall die;” all of us know we're going to die at some time, "but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten." So the dead have no reward and they don't know anything. So where did the immortal soul concept come from? It's interesting because evolutionists that just believe in materialism, material that, don't think there's any spirit at all and they're wrong about that, but false Christianity teaches the immortality of the soul. Buddhism and Hinduism teach types of reincarnation and there's all sorts of things that you return in some other form or you just to go to heaven or you go to hell.

It says “the origin of the immortality of the soul was not biblically based.” This comes from the Jewish Encyclopedia, obviously talking about the scriptures. It says, "The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body is… speculation… nowhere expressly taught in the Holy Scriptures…” So anyone who thinks the Bible teaches that it just doesn't. It says, "belief in the immortality of the soul came to the Jews from contact with Greek thought” a Greek idea, “and chiefly through the philosophies of Plato, who was its principal exponent, and who led it through Orphic and the Eleusinian mysteries which came from Babylon and the Egyptian views which all were blended together." And so we see those sources, Plato is, again, the authoritative source that even the Christian fathers like Justin Martyr used. Now, that's a real good source for biblical knowledge, Plato, who didn't believe anything. And Origen and Tertullian both also knew Plato and introduced some of that philosophy into Christianity.

There's also Gnosticism which had a very heavy influence on what man is in the immortality of the soul. And their approach was that there were souls or beings or with God that either sinned or something happened and they got put down to this earth and they're always trying to get back up to God, and that was kind of the way the Gnostics said that. And all these men just basically created ideas about what happens when you're dead because, you know, once you die, you're gone and nobody comes back from the God. There's a few people that are resurrected by Jesus and Elijah raised the son after they were dead for a day or so or whatever, but no one's come back that's been dead for a long time with the exception of Jesus Christ who was three days in the grave.

So they created these man-made ideas. And again, most sub-society assumes that all these ideas come either from the Scriptures or from Buddha or for whoever the founder of their religion is. In 160 A.D., Justin Martyr, just as Augustine, what they call Saint Augustine, did believe that true religion actually predated Christianity and the seeds of Christianity actually… you know, the Logos actually predated Christ's incarnation. So, therefore, this notion allowed them to claim all these beliefs and things before Christ even came from Socrates and Plato, etcetera, and they were all well studied in those things. Again, Tertullian said that “the nature tells us of the immortality of the soul.” And He actually quotes Plato when He's stating that, the way Plato wrote it.

Augustine sanctified the immortal soul. Josephus actually says that some of the Jews believed in the immortality of the soul. And again, Judaism of today is not what Judaism was at that time, there were different beliefs and it's spread out as well. Pope Clement in 315 A.D. would put you to death if you didn't believe in the immortality of the soul. Finally, at that point, you could be put to death if you didn't believe basically what Plato and the Babylonians and Egyptians and others taught.

Satan was very quick to corrupt the truth. He always has been trying to counterfeit or change what the truth is and Jesus Christ and His resurrection which we all know and understand. The ancient world, Satan was kind of preparing that from ancient Babylon.

Turn to 1 Corinthians 2, let's go to the New Testament and see what is written there to try to understand what man is and what the difference is between man and animals and God. In 1 Corinthians 2:9, it says there, "But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love Him.’” Men have made up things but not from God. Verse 10, "But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God." So God's Spirit gives us understanding, but yet, a lot of people in this world today don't have God's Spirit, but what do they have? Verse 11, "For what man knows the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knows no man but the Spirit of God."

So we see there is a spirit in man. It talks about a spirit in man that gives him knowledge and something beyond the animals, but it doesn't give him godly knowledge unless it's tied to the Spirit of God. Verse 12, it continues, "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches…” not Plato, Socrates, Tertullian, and any of them, “but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. And the natural man receives not things of the Spirit of God, and their foolishness to him,” he does seem foolish, people who have the truth often look foolish, “neither can they know them, because they're spiritually discerned. But either the spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.”

So indeed, when we have that spirit in man and the Spirit of God, then we can think like God does and like Christ does. But the spirit in man is not the man. Again, Satan counterfeits what the spirit in man is, but it's not what Satan has counterfeited, it's not his deception. You do not go to heaven when you die and you do not burn in hell if you die, you simply go to the grave. And God’s Word shows that the spirit connects man with intellect, the spirit uses the human senses and that was put there by God. We read that in Zechariah 12. Again, where does the spirit come from? Whether it's God Spirit or even man spirit, where does it come?

Turn to Zechariah, one of the Minor Prophets. He states it very clearly in Zechariah 12:1 where it comes from. It says, "The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, says the Lord, which stretches forth the heavens, and lays the foundations of the earth, and form the spirit of man within him." So God did put a spirit in man. When He breathed into him that breath of life, there was a spirit there on the blood running through his veins and that spirit he was able to comprehend the physical things we read over in Corinthians.

Again, we read in Job 32:8, it says, and write that down, it's a short verse, but it says, "There's a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding." And so because of that spirit, we're able to understand, but when you die, that spirit can no longer do anything because where does it go? Ecclesiastes 12, if you turn to Ecclesiastes 12:7, we'll read the scripture that says exactly what happens to that spirit that God said that He gives us, that each man has within him. In Ecclesiastes 12:7, says, "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." So that spirit that's in man, that's not referring here to God's Holy Spirit, returns to God who gave it. So somewhere in our life and Mr. Armstrong and I, we had a lot of discussions on when does that spirit come into man? Does it come at birth or does it come with the first breath of life? We know that Christ was the Son of God from conception, but when the spirit in man, once that given us, it's hard to know, but we know you have it by the time you have your first breath of life and that returns to God when you die, it isn't something that goes on.

Back a few pages in Ecclesiastes 9:5, we read a little bit more, in fact, let's start in verse 4, Ecclesiastes 9:4, I always like this scripture. It says, "For him that is joined to all living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion." I’ve always like that because my nine-pound poodle, he could take on a dead lion. He'd probably think he could take on a live one, but he'd just be a morsel real quickly. In verse 5 says, "For the living know that they shall die:” and again, “but the dead know not any thing, neither have any more reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.” As we read earlier. "And their love," verse 6, "their hatred, their envy, it's now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun." So when they're dead, that spirit is not tied to a body, it's not useful by the spirit within the body.

Verse 7, "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepts your works." While you're alive, you can do good works, or you can do evil works. Either one, those things are there and they're recorded. So we look at the immortal soul and the spirit in man, and again, some people would have those be the immortal soul, but let's look at the difference. The immortal soul when you read about that and study it, the immortal soul is able to reason on its own. It gets up there, you know, people always talk about the grave that they're up looking down at me and thinking about us and stuff, no, they're not, that's the immortal soul concept, but the spirit in man, God says, it can't reason on its own. When you die, that's it. You don't have any thoughts, any actions, anything, it's gone.

The immortal soul teaches that it lives forever and has a conscience. God says that there's no conscience apart from the body. You're not breathing with the blood circulating and spirit in you, there is no consciousness. According to the immortal soul doctrine, your soul just goes wherever it wants to, it floats around, it's wherever it wants to journey, but yet spirit in man says it goes back to God and He keeps it. Immortal soul, they try to teach is kind of good on its own, but yet, the spirit in man with the body of humans is neither good nor bad. The spirit only records whether your works are good or whether your works are evil.

The immortal soul doctrine teaches that it has intellect and personality, but spirit and man, it doesn't impart any knowledge to the mind only while you're living is it useful and helpful. We don't have immortal life.

Turn to Romans 2. Once again, let's look. We should seek immortal life but we don't have it. God very clearly says that we die and the spirit returns to Him. But Paul writes very clearly in Romans 2:5, again, we should be seeking this, and how do we get it? Verse 5, it says, "But after your hardness and impenitent heart treasures up not to yourself wrath against the day of wrath…” So if you don't change, you're treasuring up wrath “and the revelation of righteous judgment to God.” So what works are you doing, what action are you doing? Says, "Who will render every man according to his deeds." So God does register what you do while you're alive. "To them who by patience continuing in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life." So we should be seeking that. And man does seek it.

Of course, mankind tries to seek it in his own way, either by some spiritual adaptation he believes or by cloning or cryogenics where you freeze people and try to bring them back, etcetera. But how do we seek it? How does God say to seek eternal life? 1 Timothy 6. Turn over a few pages from Romans, 1 Timothy 6, he tells us of what we have to do. And again, it's what we do in this life as physical beings with that spirit and with our minds and then also with God's Spirit that we can seek eternal life and find it. 1 Timothy 6:14 says that "You keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: which in his time he shall show, who is blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality,” He alone is immortal that has been down here on earth, lived and died, “dwelling in the light which no man can approach to; no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting." So Jesus Christ is through His resurrection is back up with God.

Says, verse 17, "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy;” and He did, He made the creation for man, He put them in a beautiful garden, He wanted a relationship with him. Verse 18, "they that do good, and they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” So what we do counts and God knows what it is.

Back a few pages in 1 Timothy 1, Paul, again, writing to Timothy talking about salvation and what it means. Verse 15, it says in 1 Timothy 1, "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." And of course, all of us know our own sins and feel that way at times. “Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.” And so obviously we have to believe on Christ but it's more than believe on Christ because Christ condemned some of those who believed on Him because they wouldn't keep the commandments.

But when does this all happen? And again, we learn that in 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrection chapter. If you turn to 1 Corinthians 15:51 because it shows us the mystery that the world doesn't see right there and he calls it a mystery as well. 1 Corinthians 15:51, Paul says, “Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed— in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound, the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." So at the last trump, people that are dead are still dead, they don't come up until that trumpet comes. And it says, “For the corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when the corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’" Those people who were dead, people that have God's Spirit when Christ returns, the firstfruits, we know that they will rise.

In Romans 6:22, we read as well, how are holiness when our everlasting life comes. Romans 6:22, we read there Paul writing, it says, "But now being made free from sin,” and again, we have to be free from sin, "and becoming servants to God, you have your fruit unto holiness, and the end, everlasting life." So we can't have everlasting life, but we don't get it through some immortal soul. We have to have the fruits and have freedom from sin. There are no human spirits out there. There are people that supposedly conjure up the dead. And God says specifically not to do those things because they are dead, they know nothing at all, yet the spirit world does have ways that they can deceive mankind.

It's interesting in Africa when the British soldiers went in early on because the Africans are real big into throwing curses and spirit things on people. And it was fascinating to them was that when the British came and they would cast these curses on the British soldiers that the British soldiers, it didn't affect them, it didn't hurt them, they didn't get scared, they didn't get sick, they didn't do anything. Yet when they cast them on their own people because they believed in it psychologically it affected them. And what that did, it actually converted a lot of people to the Christianity of the British because they figured that if their curses didn't work, then the British God must be better than their god and so they thought, "Well, I better change forces here and join the other God," so they're pretty quick to shift when it doesn’t… suits their purpose.

But we're told not to go after spirits because there's a spirit world, but they're not human beings. Human beings are dead. If you turn to Deuteronomy 18:9, God makes it very clear that He doesn't want us to be dealing with the evil Satan spirit world because when you deal with that, you can get involved in things that damage you and change what God has intended for you. Deuteronomy 18:9, He said there very clearly and they have those people today, they had them back then, it says, "When you are coming to the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn or do after the abominations of those nations." And they did a lot of abominations. "There shall not be found among you anyone that makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, or uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, a consulter with familiar spirits, a wizard, a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination to the Lord: because of these abominations the Lord your God does drive them out from before you. You shall be perfect with the Lord your God.” He doesn't want us trying to contact the dead. There are no dead to be contacted. If you make contact, you're making contact with demons and evil spirits.

And they do know things. I mean, it's fascinating that they do know things. They obviously know history because they're alive, but actually, they can know future things, too, but God says not to talk to them. My wife, when she came into the Church, her parents, none of her family was in the Church, and they thought she came into a cult, so one of her relatives went to a spiritist, whatever, one of those people, and it was interesting, we didn't know this till later on, we were told about it, but the spiritist told that Michelle was going to meet with royalty and kings. She was in college at the time, we were going together, we weren't married, I wasn't flying. And the fact that… you know, we just laughed when we were told that. Then, later on, we actually did meet kings and queens and stuff, but it's spooky. I mean, you don't want to deal with things like that. But it does, you know…I mean, even in the Bible, the spirit world can manifest itself as humans and can do things, but it's not physical people. God makes it very clear that humans die. There's nothing there, they know nothing at all.

And we have examples for Saul when he was trying to conjure up Solomon with the Witch of Endor… or Samuel, I mean, and he wanted to do that. And God said not to do that. It's not the thing we're to do. When you start fooling with evil spirits, it damages you. Isaiah 8:19, similar thing there when Isaiah talking and God speaking, tells us they're not supposed to contact the dead. Again, whether they can give you good information or bad, and oftentimes, I know people that have been demon-possessed that when they first were contacted, they had right answers. There's a lady in Texas when she asked biblical questions, the Bible would open up on its own and may be the right answer. Sadly, later on, you know, she was told God doesn't do it that way and she kept doing it. And next time the minister visited, there were things going across the room, there were all sorts of things happening that the minister left, which is probably what I would have done as well because I don't like things like that happening.

Isaiah 8:19, it says, "When they shall say to you, ‘Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and to wizards that peep, and mutter,’ should not have people seek their God? For the living instead of the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it's because there's no light in them." And, of course, God even said, "If they give signs and wonders and they come to pass, if they don't teach the truth, don't listen because Satan will try to use truth as well as evil to drag you away."

Turn to John 3:12, if you would, because as to heaven and we see that we're dead, and we saw that the spirit goes back to God who gave it. And there's no one up there living except Jesus Christ that lived as a human, that's gone back up. John 3:12, Christ says, "If I've told you earthly things, and you believe not, how should you believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?" Verse 13, "And no man has ascended to heaven,” so we had the fathers: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the faithful, Noah, Enoch who walked with God, all them were dead, and Christ says, "No man has ascended to heaven," so they were in their graves just to agree with what we read before. The only one that has, it says, "but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

And so Christ, He knew He was going to die and He was lifted up and He died between the two thieves on the cross and He was resurrected. We read again where people are when they're dead in Acts 2. If you turn to Acts 2, this is the time of Pentecost right after Christ had been resurrected, He'd come back and seen them and talked to them. Verse 25, it says, "David speaks concerning Him,” that is Christ, “I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: therefore, my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; and my flesh shall rest in hope: because you will not leave my body in hell,” or in the grave, “neither will you suffer your Holy One to see corruption." So David writing a thousand years before roughly talked of Christ coming and dying and being resurrected. "And you have made known to me the way of life and shall make me full of joy of their countenance."

Verse 29, Peter says, "Men and brethren, let me freely speak to you of the patriarch David,” who wrote that, “that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us to this day. Therefore being a prophet,” he prophesied of Christ, “knowing that God has sworn an oath to him that out of his loins, according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on that throne, foreseeing this, before he spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul would not be left in the grave, neither His flesh would see corruption.” And He didn't, Christ was resurrected after three days. “Jesus God raised up, and we are witnesses.” Verse 32. They actually saw Christ afterwards along with a number of others. “And being by the right hand of God exalted, having received for the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has shed forth this which you now see in hear. For David is not ascended to the heavens,” but his seed, Jesus Christ, has gone back up. We see that very clearly.

Turn to John 5, if you would, verse 25, Christ also speaking. What's going to happen to the dead? They're all dead except Christ who was resurrected, the ones before and the ones since then. In John 5:25, Christ speaking, "Verily, verily, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear His voice, the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. As the Father has life in Himself; so He's given the Son to have life in Himself; and giving Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. And marvel not at this:” verse 28, "for the hour is coming in 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." So there is a resurrection, there is a way that the person is going to come back up. But it's not through an immortal soul that doesn't know anything at all right now.

In Job 14:14, Job even asked the question there, says, "If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change comes.” And that change will come when He… that voice when He comes. That's clear. We also read in 1 Thessalonians 4, another scripture often read when we talk about the resurrection, 1 Thessalonians 4:16, it says, "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first.” So those that have died that have God’s Spirit and man’s spirit and lived a good life will be resurrected. “Then 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."

And so we know the firstfruits, those who know God, have His Spirit, that have done good and kept the commandments of God, they rise when Christ returns. But how does all this work? So what is the spirit in man? And what is the body and what is this resurrection? Well, how does God hold that? Well, I've brought a flashlight with me, this flashlight, it works well, it does that. It's got a battery in it, got a case, but it's interesting if I were to take the battery out of this flashlight, then I can push this button all I want and it doesn't work. It's just a case, it's a body, there's nothing to it. Without the battery with it, it can't do anything, it can't make light. It doesn't know anything, it can't make light by itself, this can't make light by itself. Only together can they make light but it doesn't even have to be the same body. I can have another body as long as it's made and composed of a similar material and I put the battery back into it and I've got light again.

Such as the human spirit, when it's combined with the human body, it lights up, it remembers all the things you're there. The battery basically is kind of like a recorder, it's a power, it's a source, it records things and you could use an example of a tape recorder or whatever. It records who you are, it records the works that you did, the things that it says that God knows what you did, whether good or whether evil, it's there but it doesn't do anything by itself. It has to have the body. And so when we're resurrected, obviously, if we have God's Spirit, then God uses His Holy Spirit, we resurrect with a spiritual body if we qualify.

And also, if we're asleep and dead and we didn't have God's Spirit and we didn't really know His way of life, then we know that we'll come back with the physical body. And all that we are, all our character, what we did, and who we are will be there and we, those of us who are spirit beings, God and Christ will begin teaching those people just as we were taught and we will come back. And when Lazarus was dead, he actually died, Christ, He said, He told them he was sleeping and they said, "Well, let's go wake him up," and he said, "No, no, he's not sleeping, he's dead." And He called him back and the spirit went back in his body and he was raised back to life, but he wasn't a spirit being because he wasn't there but we read that we can have everlasting life.

Daniel talked about this, let's go back to Daniel 12. Let's see an Old Testament example, they all agree, as the sermonettes show, the Old Testament and the New Testament very much in agreement with what happens to us. There's no contradictions in the Bible. There's only things that men make up that appear to be contradictions. Daniel 12:1 says, "At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of your people; there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to the same time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." We're going close to that time of trouble now. The world has reached the point of moral decay and every aspect of it, “…but every one found written in the book.” Verse 2, "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt."

Obviously, the firstfruits come up to life and those that haven't come up with a physical, a physical change, and if they don't take that chance and learn the same way you did, then they can die. Verse 3, "They that shall be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they shall turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever." Again, the firstfruits have a chance to help others.

Revelations 20 records the fact that the rest of the dead, and we know that we read in Thessalonians that we rise, the dead in Christ rise first. Revelation 20:5, a memory scripture and it says… it says, "After we reign with Christ a thousand years." In verse 4 and verse 5, it says, "The rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy he has part in the first resurrection. On such the second death has no power,” once you're made a spirit being, God's Holy Spirit, He gives you a spirit body, you can no longer die. But that is the second resurrection comes for others and they have to repent. They will have to do just as we did. They'll have to know that their past sins, who they were, have to be forgiven by the same sacrifice that we were forgiven by, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Turn to Matthew 10 if you would. Christ talking to them, if they qualify, again, just as we must, they're going to be given a spirit body just like we do and live forever, but if not, they'll no longer exist and God will destroy their body and even the spirit. Spirit by itself, once the batteries are destroyed and the body's gone back to dust. Verse 28, Christ tells them, "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 the grave." That spirit, if you do not grow, overcome, accept the sacrifice of Christ, keep the commandments of God, have the attitude of God the Father and Jesus Christ and the knowledge that they give, then both the body and the soul, body, the batteries, the flashlight won't work anymore, and you're gone. You won't know anything. There's no ever-burning pain. I think that's one of God's mercies if you will not be eternally happy that you are just extinguished, you know nothing at all. Just be like being asleep, you're gone, and that's it.

No one else can truly take life and give life, only God can give and take eternal life. Humanly, physically, we all are going to die. Romans 6:23, one of the last scriptures I want to turn to here, this is one that most of us memorized years ago if you were in the Church with all the cards we had, the scripture cards when we're in college, and we all memorized this one here. It says, "For the wages of sin is death," and we just read that. If you sin, you die, "but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." If you have an immortal soul that can't die, how can the wages of sin be death? With the immortal soul, the wages of sin is your down in hellfire, just condemned forever and ever burning and burning and that's not what it says. And it also takes away the fact that God says eternal life's a gift. If you have an immortal soul, then you already have life, how can it be a gift to you?

So God has given us this lifetime as physical beings. He's given us the breath of life, He's put in us the spirit in man. In the case of those who are baptized members of God Church, He's given you a Spirit, His Holy Spirit by which he can turn you into a spirit being, the spirit body, to live eternally. Physical spirit man only gives you a chance to grow and understand and eventually die. The immortal soul creates a false sense, tries to scare people into a false religion of fear or reincarnation or some bug or something else. If you aren't good and if you're good, then you get to be something a little better, whatever that is. But it's sad, all these imaginary things that mankind has created to fool, to try to change what God teaches because what God teaches is that we can have eternal life. We can be in His image, and at that last trump when He returns, you get a spiritual body and death is no longer an option.

Most of all, the immortality of the soul takes the gift of life away from God, tries to give it to you without Him. Just like Satan said in the garden to Eve, “You'll not surely die.” But we do. And God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is life. If we accept that and live a life worthy through Him, repent of our sins. Again, cleanse yourself, build your character, increase your faith because you will have life and you will have a spiritual body and you get to inhabit that for eternity without any pain, without any suffering, without any death. That's the fallacy of the immortal soul. But we can live forever. I look forward to that day being with you in the Kingdom of God.