Category: Abundant Life

Every Sunday I provide videos and valuable links to the Truth or Tradition teachings. We’ve been following the Truth or Tradition teachings for many years now and they have truly blessed our family. We have found peace and happiness through our beliefs and we walk confidently for God. My hope, by passing on this information to you, is that what you find here, or on the Truth or Tradition website, will guide you to a better, more blessed and abundant life.

If you would like to read my views on religion and how we got started with the ministry, you can read this.

Let’s get started:

[This article was taken from the book “The Christian’s Hope: The Anchor of the Soul.”]

A person’s perception of the next life has a significant impact on his or her view of this life. People who believe there is no future life are likely to live in excess in this life, exhibiting attitudes like “get it while you can” or “do unto others before they do unto me.” The Bible points this attitude out in Isaiah.

Isaiah 22:13
But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! “Let us eat and drink,” you say, “for tomorrow we die!”

In such people’s minds there is no ultimate punishment for wicked behavior or ultimate reward for good behavior, so this life and what they can get from it is all that matters. Then there are people who do believe there is a next life but view it as completely disconnected from this life because it takes place in some kind of vaporous, cloud-filled, angels-with-wings kind of world. These people tend to discount this world and may even be repelled by it. It is this latter viewpoint that will be the starting point of this chapter because it raises the issue of what “spiritual” is. The importance of having an accurate understanding of what is spiritual cannot be overstated because it dramatically impacts a person’s view of the next life and, in turn, dramatically impacts the person’s view of this life.

Attempting to determine what is “spiritual” has led to much confusion in the religious world. When someone believes something is or is not “spiritual” it has a great impact on his life. It shapes his values, and therefore defines what he feels comfortable doing. Many Christians base their definition of “spiritual” on their concept of heaven. Traditionally, heaven is a place where the souls of the saved reside in sublime bliss, fulfilled just by being in the presence of God. The result of this perception is that many Christians think there is very little about this life that is spiritual.

In an effort to clarify the word “spiritual,” it is important to first dismiss the common misconception that there is a direct conflict between that which is spiritual and that which is physical. Based on this misconception, spiritual is “good” and physical is “bad” and the Christian must choose between them. The Bible, however, indicates that the opposite of “spiritual” is not “physical” but “fleshly” or “worldly.”

God created people with physical bodies. People then decide whether they will focus on that which is spiritual or on that which is fleshly. People can be very spiritual and yet enjoy the physical things in life at the same time. One of the reasons God created the heavens and earth the way He did was for man to enjoy all its physical beauty. He created the sun and moon and hung them in the sky knowing that, besides being functional, they would be enjoyable. He created domestic animals such as dogs and cats knowing that they would be more than just “work animals,” but friends and companions as well (Gen. 1:24 and 25). [1] God created plants that are both “pleasing to the eye and good for food” (Gen. 2:9). He put Adam and Eve in “the Garden of Eden,” which in Hebrew means “the garden of delights” or “the delightful garden.”

There is no question that God intended man to enjoy life in a physical environment. However, because many Christians are taught that this world is physical and therefore “bad” compared to “heaven” which is spiritual and therefore “good,” the real value and enjoyment of the earthly life God has provided is lost. In fact, most Christians assume that when they die, their lives will change drastically and all the things they now know and enjoy will pass away. Such a mindset often dilutes the fulfillment available in many daily activities. After all, what is the real value of something that will pass away into oblivion? But what if the activities of this life will not pass away? What if they continue on into the next life? Would it not be easier to see the value in them, and would it not be easier to relate to the future life?

In orthodox Christian teaching, there is almost no relation between this world and the next. The way some Christians disdain this life and look forward to being in “heaven” almost makes it seem as if God made a gigantic mistake when He created this earth for mankind. A good question to ask is what would have happened had Adam and Eve never sinned? They would have lived on earth forever. Was it God’s will for them to sin? Of course not. The only logical conclusion is God’s will for mankind is to live on the earth forever—not in a corrupted world like this one, but in a perfect world like that which He originally created. If God made Adam and Eve to live on earth forever, it just cannot be true that “the earth is evil but heaven is wonderful.” [For further study read “Gnosticism: Gnostic ideas have had an influence on Christianity.”]

The point is this: just because something is related to earthly life or is “fun” does not mean it is not spiritual or valuable. Are there things about this life that are not spiritual? Certainly, and we are not to be so invested in this life that we forget about the work of the Lord and get lost in earthly pursuits alone. However, there is a great difference between realizing that we are to seek first the Kingdom of God and believing that nothing in this life is of any real value because it will all pass away and thus has no relation to our “real” life in the next world. There is also a great difference between realizing that we must be about the Father’s business and thinking that having fun is somehow innately ungodly or unspiritual. Though we live in physical bodies on a physical earth, there is much about earthly life that is wonderful, godly, and “spiritual.”

The somewhat ironic truth is that because God designed life to be lived by those who believe in Him, Christians should be the ones who most enjoy the things God placed on the earth. It is unfortunate that the misconception of heaven and what is truly spiritual has caused some people to withdraw from many of the activities that God intended for people to enjoy. God knew Adam would have to focus much of his time and energy on keeping the Garden. He also knew that when He told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth that they, just like any other couple raising children, would have their hands full. Much of the work of parenting is due to the fact that children require a lot of time and energy, not because of the fallen nature of man. Surely no one believes that had Adam not sinned, all those children would have raised themselves. God planned work for man, including parenting. Not only do these activities not hinder salvation and holiness when they are carried out with dependence upon God and obedience to His Word, but they even contribute to man’s spiritual growth and wholeness.

Don’t Retreat—Relish!

In contrast to having a godly attitude about work and family, the belief that this world is somehow inherently ungodly can cause people to retreat and withdraw from much of life and even their God-given responsibilities. It is often taught that personal holiness is to be obtained by withdrawing from the pleasures of the world. Unfortunately, it is even occasionally taught that it is also necessary to withdraw from the responsibilities of this life. The well-known historian Will Durant writes of early Christians who, to be acceptable in the eyes of God, withdrew from daily life to pursue their individual salvation, perhaps in a monastery, the desert, or elsewhere.

Read the rest of the article here.

If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about God’s wonderful message, please visit the Truth or Tradition website. You can also keep track of the ministry through their Facebook page, their YouTube Channel, or follow them on Twitter.

You can read more about this subject here:

Is There Death After Life?

Free Online Seminar: Death & Resurrection to Life

Thanks for reading.

(Comments have been turned off. The information is here, it’s up to you to accept, or deny, it).

Every Sunday I provide videos and valuable links to the Truth or Tradition teachings. We’ve been following the Truth or Tradition teachings for many years now and they have truly blessed our family. We have found peace and happiness through our beliefs and we walk confidently for God. My hope, by passing on this information to you, is that what you find here, or on the Truth or Tradition website, will guide you to a better, more blessed and abundant life.

If you would like to read my views on religion and how we got started with the ministry, you can read this.

Let’s get started:

[This article was taken from chapter 7 of the ministry’s book Is There Death After Life?]

A vital principle of Bible interpretation that must be upheld in handling any subject in God’s Word is that any verses that are harder to understand must be analyzed in light of clear verses on the same subject. “Clear” verses are not just those that agree with one’s theological position. They are those that seem to be straightforward and literal statements of fact. Figurative expressions that seem to be contradictory can best be handled after the literal, factual position is determined. The Bible should be accepted literally whenever possible. When verses seem to contradict previously established facts, one is justified in exploring other possible meanings that are consistent with the whole Bible.

We have laid the solid biblical foundation that death is the total absence of life, that there is no part of a person (either “soul” or “spirit”) that “goes to heaven” when he dies and that the dead are actually dead and “sleeping” in “gravedom” until Christ’s appearing. We now turn our attention to some sections of Scripture commonly misconstrued to indicate otherwise. Let us remember that they must harmonize with those parts of God’s Word that we have already examined.

1 Samuel 28 (The woman of Endor)

As previously noted in Chapter One, 1 Samuel 28 describes the woman of Endor conjuring up “Samuel” from the dead for King Saul. It is important to note Saul’s original request: “Seek me a woman that has a familiar spirit” (1 Sam. 28:7). The context, specifically verses 7-9, along with other Old Testament verses already cited, shows that she did, in fact, perform this spiritual phenomenon through “familiar spirits.” These were evil spirits that manipulated her and impersonated Samuel, with whom they were “familiar.”

A key to understanding this record in Chapter 28 is in verse 13.

1 Samuel 28:12 and 13
(12) And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice, and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul.
(13) And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.

In verse 13, the Hebrew word for “gods” is elohim, a word used in various ways in the Old Testament. Here it refers to an evil spirit that the woman saw, one that was impersonating Samuel. In verses 12-20, God’s Word reports this incident as the participants perceived it, and refers to this spirit as “Samuel.”

What “Samuel” (the familiar spirit) told Saul was not from the Lord, for 1 Samuel 28:6 says that God did not answer Saul at all. Only when Saul went to a woman who dealt with familiar spirits did he get an answer, but that answer was not from God. In fact, Saul’s going to the woman at Endor partly contributed to his death.

1 Chronicles 10:13
So Saul died from his transgression which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it.

This conjuring up of familiar spirits is the same method used today for “communicating with the dead,” by which some find false and misleading comfort. The results can be as devastating as they were for Saul.

2 Kings 2:9-18 (Elijah)

2 Kings 2:11 says that Elijah “went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” This phrase in no way indicates that Elijah was taken to a place of everlasting life called “heaven.” The word “heaven” has several usages in Scripture. Phrases such as “the dew of heaven,” “the stars of heaven” and “the birds of heaven” all indicate a use of “heaven” that simply means the sky above the earth.

Elijah was taken from the earth into the sky by a wind; that is, he was moved from one place on earth to another. The other prophets understood this, and thus wanted to go look for Elijah. Elisha, however, knowing that God would have hidden Elijah, did not want them to look for him. 2 Kings 2:11 simply means that God supernaturally moved Elijah from one place to another, similar to what He did later with Philip in Acts.

Acts 8:39 and 40a
(39) And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.
(40) But Philip was found at Azotus:

As a human being, Elijah eventually died and is awaiting the resurrection of the just.

Matthew 10:28 (Kill the body, not the soul)

Matthew 10:28
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell [gehenna].

If nothing else, this verse clearly shows that the soul is not immortal, because it can be destroyed, but let us look at the verse more closely. The context is Jesus Christ instructing his twelve apostles before sending them out to preach the gospel of the kingdom to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt. 10:5 and 6). What he tells them in verse 28 is not to fear men inspired by the Devil, who may kill them, but who can do nothing more to them after that. The following parallel passage helps us understand the above verse.

Luke 12:4 and 5
(4) And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
(5) But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell [gehenna]; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

In context, verse five refers to the time of judgment of the unjust. It is God whom Jesus wanted his apostles to fear (which in essence is to respect) and to obey more than they would men who might threaten or even kill them. It is God (by way of giving Jesus Christ the authority to judge) who will judge all men and who can also “destroy” them forever in the lake of fire.

There are many more verses that are explained in the entire article. Please, read it, study it, live it.

If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about God’s wonderful message, please visit the Truth or Tradition website. You can also keep track of the ministry through their Facebook page, their YouTube Channel, or follow them on Twitter.

You can read more about this subject here:

Is There Death After Life?

Free Online Seminar: Death & Resurrection to Life

Thanks for reading.

(Comments have been turned off. The information is here, it’s up to you to accept, or deny, it).

Every Sunday I provide videos and valuable links to the Truth or Tradition teachings. We’ve been following the Truth or Tradition teachings for many years now and they have truly blessed our family. We have found peace and happiness through our beliefs and we walk confidently for God. My hope, by passing on this information to you, is that what you find here, or on the Truth or Tradition website, will guide you to a better, more blessed and abundant life.

If you would like to read my views on religion and how we got started with the ministry, you can read this.

Let’s get started:

Why would God say the dead are dead over and over in the Bible?

Because people believe what they see and not what they read. The fact that demons appear and impersonate dead people year after year causes people to believe what they see.

The so-called “Immortal Soul”
There is no such thing as an “immortal soul” in the Bible. The phrase simply does not appear in the Bible at all. Apparitions, ghosts, hauntings, and demons impersonating people have had a powerful effect in getting people to believe that dead people are actually alive in another form. Satan’s demons have been appearing to people in many types of forms since mankind was first on earth. Hauntings and people seeing ghosts have been well documented all over the world, and anthropologists studying the cultures of the world have documented people reporting all kinds of apparitions, including animals, people, and spiritual beings of all types. Sometimes they do not appear clearly, but are dark, or as a shadow (almost like you were not sure you saw it), or wispy, or the apparition is not there long. Sometimes they are very clear, and even carry on conversations with people.

The number and kinds of appearances have convinced the people of many cultures that the dead are not dead, but are alive.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

(RSS READERS: I’ve posted a wonderful video that talks more about this subject in detail. Please click over to see the video. Sorry for the inconvenience!)

Will Christians really live forever in “Heaven”?

So, you’re a Christian. Cool. Did you know that puts you “in sales”? Well, actually you’re trying to give away the product, but it is still a matter of persuading people to make a decision. Smart consumers today want to be informed about the product so they can make a sound decision. What is it you are trying to get people to sign up for? Forever.

Let’s say you’re in real estate, looking for a home for your clients, a married couple. You find the perfect place, and say to them: “I’ve found your dream home. It has everything you could ever want or need. The only condition is that if you move there, you must stay forever.” You can see them momentarily furrowing their brows as they try to conceive of “forever” and soon give up. They do realize, however, that it is a long time. Do you think they would have any questions about the place where, if they choose it, they will live forever?

So, knowing the real estate standard of “location, location, location,” they ask, “Where is the home located?” How will most Christians answer that vital question? “It’s in heaven.”

Well, that nails it down. “Huh?” This ethereal answer leaves room for much speculation, but the general idea of floating around somewhere forever does, for most people, introduce at least the possibility of eventual, and eternal, boredom.

“What’s the place like?” That’s also a logical question, especially when forever is involved. “Uh, well, it has pearly gates and streets of gold.” “Sounds a little slippery, but I guess that’s OK.”

Their next question might be: “What will we do there?” The average Christian “salesman” would be hard-pressed to give a definitive answer, and might say, “I’m not exactly sure, but I think it may have something to do with a harp.” Customer: “I’m sorry, but I don’t want to play a harp forever.”

Wait a minute, we should be able to figure out at least something about what everlasting life will be like just by putting together a couple of basic biblical truths. First, God is love. Second, God invented people. So, whatever people really enjoy, you know, things they wouldn’t mind lasting a while, is probably what we’ll be doing. Why would a loving God make this life so diversified, so potentially meaningful and enjoyable, and then make eternal life anything less?

The idea of all believers living in “heaven” is, appropriately, nebulous. Why? Because “nebulous” literally means “full of clouds” and in contemporary language means “difficult to grasp.” Have you ever looked up every biblical use of the word “heaven”? If you do, you will never find it used to describe anyone’s everlasting address. Check for yourself.

So then where did this idea come from? Not from the book of Genesis, which is fairly foundational. How so? Well, think about it, what if Adam and Eve had not disobeyed God? Right, they would have lived forever on a perfect earth. Looks like that was God’s original intent, huh?

The whole Bible can be summed up as the story of two men, the first Adam (Adam) and the Last Adam (Jesus Christ). In regard to Paradise, which biblically is always a place on earth, not heaven, the First Adam trashed it and the Last Adam will restore it. The Lord Jesus will rule this earth (renovated after the Tribulation) for 1000 years, and that is where Moses, the Apostle Paul, and you will be shooting pool, or whatever. How could you shoot pool on a cloud? Then the Lord will create a new earth, where all believers from all time will live — forever. Harps will be optional. [For further study read “Christianity 101: Two Adams.”]

Having only a vague idea of where and how we will spend eternity not only makes it very difficult to motivate others to “sign up,” it can also seriously dilute our own mental resolve to joyfully live our lives for the Lord Jesus Christ in this world, no matter the cost. Everyone knows that “hope” is an indispensable element of life. In fact, without hope in their lives, many people actually give up and die. Biblically, “hope” is the expectation of something good that God has promised. Understanding what God says about the Christian’s hope is vital to each believer living a radiant life as a light in the midst of darkness.

Our book, The Christian’s Hope: The Anchor of the Soul, is designed to paint a clear picture of what the Word of God says about the Hope that is to be the prime motivation for each of us day by day. It is loaded with stimulating biblical insights that will inspire you and, we hope, move you to tell your friends the Good News, perhaps by giving them a copy of the book. Many of the clear-cut biblical truths that we set forth in this book are apparently unknown to the vast majority of Christians today, and our prayer is that many will read it and thrill to the spiritual enlightenment they will receive.

Going from spiritual darkness to spiritual light is an exciting journey, and, because “knowing the truth will make you free,” it is also one that leads to an enhanced quality of life. The book answers the question: Where did the erroneous idea of living forever in heaven come from? Other vital topics include an overview of end times chronology, the “Rapture,” the various judgments that will include all people who have ever lived, Armageddon (we win!), each Christian’s rewards in the Millennial Kingdom and in the Eternal Kingdom (and the difference between the two), why believers will inherit a highly-renovated earth (not clouds and sky), what it will be like and some of the things we will do there.

To the degree that we understand these marvelous truths, we can live with an effervescence that bubbles up from a fountain of hope within us, the hope of living forever in a perfect world with God, the Lord Jesus and all believers of all time. God is love, and He never intended for the world to be in the sorry state it is today. In the hope He has given us, we have His guarantee that via His Son, Jesus Christ, He will restore Paradise and all its goodness for us to enjoy forever.

If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about God’s wonderful message, please visit the Truth or Tradition website. You can also keep track of the ministry through their Facebook page, their YouTube Channel, or follow them on Twitter.

You can read more about this subject here:

Is There Death After Life?

Free Online Seminar: Death & Resurrection to Life

Thanks for reading.

(Comments have been turned off. The information is here, it’s up to you to accept, or deny, it).

Every Sunday I provide videos and valuable links to the Truth or Tradition teachings. We’ve been following the Truth or Tradition teachings for many years now and they have truly blessed our family. We have found peace and happiness through our beliefs and we walk confidently for God. My hope, by passing on this information to you, is that what you find here, or on the Truth or Tradition website, will guide you to a better, more blessed and abundant life.

If you would like to read my views on religion and how we got started with the ministry, you can read this.

Let’s get started:

What is death?
“Death” is the total absence of life. Some branches of theology teach that death is not the absence of life, but rather separation from God. However, that is a theological definition of death based on the doctrine that a person does not actually die when he is dead. It is not a definition based on lexical evidence. The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek all use words that mean “die” in the sense of cease to live; they do not mean “continue to live in a separated state.”

Many ancient societies, including the ancient Greeks, believed that the soul lived on after the body died, but they did not define “death” as “separation from God.” They knew that when the body “died,” it ceased to have life. We must derive our theology from the Word of God, which never says “the body” dies. It says, “the person dies.”

Vodpod videos no longer available.

(RSS READERS: I’ve posted a wonderful video that talks more about this subject in detail. Please click over to see the video. Sorry for the inconvenience!)

A Grave Question

Orthodox Christian teaching is that at death the soul departs to one of two literal places, “heaven” or “hell.” But this doctrine does not account for those believers who died prior to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We believe Charles F. Baker’s work entitled Dispensational Theology is representative of its confusion. In a chapter entitled “The Intermediate State: The Place of the Dead,” in the section “Sheol-Hades,” Baker writes:

It would appear that as far as the unsaved are concerned there has been no change in their state since the death of the first one. There seems to have been a change brought about by the resurrection of Christ which affects the state of the saved dead, but whether this is a change of actual location or a matter of more complete revelation is not clear. Of one thing we may be sure: the saved dead are now with the Lord awaiting resurrection. [1]

Can we really be “sure” when things are “not clear”? Such confusion is due to men making literal that which is figurative in the Bible.

What happens to the “soul” at the death of the body? In Scripture, the soul figuratively “departs.” Genesis 35:18a shows this figurative usage. “And it came to pass, as her soul [nephesh=life] was departing, (for she died)….” To where does the soul “depart”? It “departs” to sheol, which is often translated “hell,” but which biblically means the grave, or “gravedom.” [For a thorough examination of the meaning of the Old Testament Hebrew word sheol and the corresponding New Testament Greek word hades, the we refer you to the word “hell” in E.W. Bullinger’s A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (Zondervan Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan).]

The following verses show two things: first, that at death the soul departs to sheol, and second, that the believer’s hope of deliverance from the grave by resurrection is secure.

Psalm 16:10
For Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell [sheol—gravedom]; Neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption

Psalm 49:15
But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave [sheol— gravedom]: for He shall receive me. Selah.

It is significant that in Psalm 49:15 the Hebrew word for “receive” is laqach, which means “to take away.” God, through Christ, will “take away” the dead from the grave.

In Greek mythology, Hades was the god of the underworld, and his name came to represent this fictitious place. The Septuagint was a second-century B.C. Greek translation of the Old Testament, and in it the word hades was chosen as the counterpart to the Hebrew sheol. As they do with sheol, many English versions of the Bible erroneously translate the Greek word hades as “hell” rather than “grave.”

In his lexicon, Dr. E.W. Bullinger makes a thorough case for the translation of both sheol and hades as “gravedom,” a word he apparently coined to describe “the state of being of the dead” in the most biblically accurate manner. This state—the grave—is different than qeber—a grave, because sheol exists only as a concept, not an actual place. Bodies buried in a qeber, a literal grave, will eventually disappear. Sheol is the figurative state, or “dwelling place,” of the dead.

Though some who champion the traditional doctrine of immediate life after death have argued that sheol was a literal place of eternal torment, Scripture plainly says otherwise. The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible states: “Nowhere in the Old Testament is the abode of the dead regarded as a place of punishment or torment. The concept of an infernal “hell” developed in Israel only during the Hellenistic period…” [2] Edward Fudge quotes Baker’s Dictionary of Theology: “Sheol is uniformly depicted in the Old Testament as the eternal amoral abode of both righteous and unrighteous alike.” [3]

A figure of speech is a legitimate grammatical construction designed to emphasize a particular point. A figure of speech arrests our attention by its departure from literal fact or normal grammatical usage. Thus to recognize a figure of speech, we must first identify the literal truth regarding the subject.

Because sheol means “gravedom,” where there is no consciousness, Scripture references referring to those in sheol walking, talking, etc., must be figurative. For example:

Isaiah 14:8-10
(8) Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller [woodcutter] is come up against us.
(9) Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
(10) All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?

The context of these verses is the fall of the king of Babylon (verse 4). His fall would have made the fir trees and cedars in Lebanon “rejoice,” because they were prized for lumber and often carried off to Babylon (verse 8). Via the figure of speech personification, the trees are vividly portrayed as rejoicing because no one has come to cut them down. Verse nine continues this figurative language, as the dead welcome their new companion.

When the Bible says that Jesus descended into “the lower parts of the earth” (Eph. 4:9), it means that he died and was buried in hades, or “gravedom.” In Hebrews 2:9, God’s Word says about Jesus “that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” For three days and three nights, Jesus was as dead as anyone else who ever tasted death. As Isaiah plainly stated regarding the death of the Messiah: “He was cut off from the land of the living” (53:8); “He was appointed a grave with the wicked in his death” (53:9).

It is too bad that sheol and hades have been translated into the English word “hell,” which has today taken on the mythological Greek meanings associated with the pagan idea of an “underworld” where the dead continue to live on in torment. E.W. Bullinger’s comments on the word hades in Appendix 131 of The Companion Bible are extremely enlightening:

The meaning which the Greeks put upon it does not concern us; nor have we anything to do with the imaginations of the heathen, or the traditions of Jews or Romanists, or the teachings of demons or evil spirits, or of any who still cling to them.

The Holy Spirit has used it as one of the “words pertaining to the earth,” and in so doing has “purified” it, “as silver tried in a furnace” (Ps. 12:6). From this we learn that His own words “are pure” but words belonging to this earth have to be “purified.”

The Old Testament is the fountain-head of the Hebrew language. It has no literature behind it. But the case is entirely different with the Greek language. The Hebrew Sheol is a word Divine in its origin and usage. The Greek Hades is human in its origin and comes down to us laden with centuries of development, in which it has acquired new senses, meanings, and usages.

Seeing that the Holy Spirit has used it in Acts 2:27, 31 as His own equivalent of Sheol in Psalm 16:10, He has settled, once for all, the sense in which we are to understand it. The meaning He has given to Sheol in Psalm 16:10 is the one meaning we are to give it wherever it occurs in the New Testament, whether we transliterate it or translate it. We have no liberty to do otherwise, and must discard everything outside the Word of God.

Read the rest of the article here.

If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about God’s wonderful message, please visit the Truth or Tradition website. You can also keep track of the ministry through their Facebook page, their YouTube Channel, or follow them on Twitter.

You can read more about this subject here:

Is There Death After Life?

Free Online Seminar: Death & Resurrection to Life

Thanks for reading.

(Comments have been turned off. The information is here, it’s up to you to accept, or deny, it).

Every Sunday I provide videos and valuable links to the Truth or Tradition teachings. We’ve been following the Truth or Tradition teachings for many years now and they have truly blessed our family. We have found peace and happiness through our beliefs and we walk confidently for God. My hope, by passing on this information to you, is that what you find here, or on the Truth or Tradition website, will guide you to a better, more blessed and abundant life.

If you would like to read my views on religion and how we got started with the ministry, you can read this.

Let’s get started:

The truth sets people free
Many people believe when a Christian dies, he or she goes to heaven and is with Jesus, and they take comfort in that. This seminar is not designed to cause people discomfort. Jesus taught us that there is great value in the truth. Jesus taught us that the truth would set us free, and there is great freedom in knowing what happens to people when they die.

The Bible teaches that when a person dies, he is dead in every sense of the word. His body is dead, his soul is dead, and his spirit is gone. Some people hearing this for the first time may find that revelation upsetting, so the information will be set forth as kindly and factually as possible.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

(RSS READERS: I’ve posted a wonderful video that talks more about this subject in detail. Please click over to see the video. Sorry for the inconvenience!)

In What State of Being Are the Dead?

[This article was taken from chapter 5 of Truth or Tradition’s book Is There Death After Life?]

The “Sleep” Metaphor

1 Thessalonians 4:13
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

As we have seen, the dead are truly dead and in “gravedom.” When their bodies have rotted, they have ceased to exist. But because they “exist” in the memory of God, He remembers them and intends via Jesus Christ to raise them to life. Thus He figuratively refers to their state of being as “sleep.” This clearly implies a future awakening. Because both their body and soul are dead, the term “sleep” has to be a metaphor.

The purpose of biblical figures of speech is to communicate truth more effectively or forcefully than would simple statements of fact. A metaphor or analogy is useful to augment our understanding if we carefully analyze the points of similarity between the compared terms. In this case, death and sleep have at least five points of similarity that give us much insight into the state of the dead, consistent with what we have already seen from the Old Testament.

The first similarity between death and sleep is that both are overpowering forces. A human being needs to rest. If deprived of sleep long enough, a person will literally fall asleep in the midst of any task, no matter how demanding. The human will is no match for the power of sleep. Consider Jesus’ disciples. Close to the time when he would be arrested, Jesus and his disciples were on the Mount of Olives. There was probably no more critical time for Peter and the disciples to stay awake and pray.

Mark 14:35-38
(35) And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
(36) And He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto Thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what Thou wilt.
(37) And He cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour?
(38) Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

Like sleep, death is an inexorable force for all men (unless they are still living when Christ appears). No amount of self-discipline can cheat “The Grim Reaper.” The most we can ask is “to be old and full of days,” as God’s Word describes many Old Testament saints upon whom He had conferred His blessing. Our days on earth may be healthy and full of joy, but they will eventually end. Only when the day arrives that we receive a body fashioned like Jesus Christ’s glorious body will we become immortal beings who cannot die.

A second point of similarity between sleep and death is that in either state there is no consciousness of time or space. Remember that Ecclesiastes told us that the dead “know not anything.” This is also true of those who sleep, and that is why people are very vulnerable to danger while they sleep. Because we are somewhat helpless in this state, God has provided us with encouragement and a promise of protection.

Psalms 121:2-4
(2) My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
(3) He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not slumber,
(4) Behold, He That keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

Psalms 3:5
I laid me down and slept; I awakened; for the Lord sustained me.

The lack of consciousness in sleep is also illustrated in Elijah’s mocking of the 450 prophets of Baal. After they had tried many times to evoke his power, saying, “O Baal, hear us,” the Scriptures teach that there was “no voice, nor any that answered.”

1 Kings 18:27
And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing [out for a walk], or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.

The analogy of waking the dead from sleep makes no sense if the dead are already conscious in a higher sphere of existence, and the argument that only the body “sleeps” in death, while the soul continues to function, holds no water. On the contrary, the sleep metaphor emphasizes the absence of consciousness.

During physical sleep, bodily functions continue uninterrupted. It is the mind that sleep reduces to un-consciousness. The following biblical usages of physical “sleep” show the mental emphasis of this concept.

1 Thessalonians 5:6 and 7
(6) Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
(7) For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

The sleep metaphor thus must refer to the absence of mental awareness or consciousness, which is the major qualitative difference between the sleep state and the waking state. The sleeper is not aware of elapsed time, nor of the reality of space and time in the conditions that surround him. When he awakens, his mind becomes alert and aware once more. Likewise for one who has died, when he is raised from the dead. A dead believer is absolutely unaware of the passage of time. Whether he has been dead a few days or thousands of years, the moment of his falling asleep will be, in his conscious awareness, the moment of his awakening to new life.

A third point of similarity is that both in death and in sleep no productive work can be done. Perhaps that is why God contrasts sleep and productivity.

Read the rest of the article here.

If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about God’s wonderful message, please visit the Truth or Tradition website. You can also keep track of the ministry through their Facebook page, their YouTube Channel, or follow them on Twitter.

You can read more about this subject here:

Is There Death After Life?

Free Online Seminar: Death & Resurrection to Life

Thanks for reading.

(Comments have been turned off. The information is here, it’s up to you to accept, or deny, it).

Every Sunday I provide videos and valuable links to the Truth or Tradition teachings. We’ve been following the Truth or Tradition teachings for many years now and they have truly blessed our family. We have found peace and happiness through our beliefs and we walk confidently for God. My hope, by passing on this information to you, is that what you find here, or on the Truth or Tradition website, will guide you to a better, more blessed and abundant life.

If you would like to read my views on religion and how we got started with the ministry, you can read this.

Let’s get started:

Do Christians go to heaven after they die?

The short answer? No. They remain in their graves until Christ comes back and resurrects them from the dead. How can Christ resurrect Christians if they are already alive and floating around in heaven?

No. When Christians die, the Bible says they “fall asleep.” Christians are in a state of unconsciousness until Christ returns.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

(RSS READERS: I’ve posted a wonderful video that talks more about this subject in detail. Please click over to see the video. Sorry for the inconvenience!)

Where Did the Idea Originate that Believers Would Live Forever in Heaven?

The basic teaching of orthodox Christianity concerning what happens after death is that the “souls” or “spirits” of righteous people go either to “heaven” or to some other blissful place. This teaching is in error. [1] It is impossible to understand such false doctrines without understanding their spiritual causes. From as early as the Garden of Eden, the Devil and his demons have been promoting the idea that people do not really die. After God plainly told Adam that he would “surely die” if he partook of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the Devil lied and said to Eve, “You will not surely die” (Gen. 3:4). Ever since that time, the Devil has been actively promoting this same lie wherever and whenever possible. Unfortunately, the idea that people continue living on after they die has found a fertile breeding ground in most religions, including orthodox Christianity.

The vast majority of Christian denominations teach that there is no such thing as death (if “death” is properly defined as “the total absence of life”). Instead, according to their teaching, when the body dies, the “soul,” the “real you,” goes to heaven or hell and keeps right on living either in bliss or torment. Therefore, most Christians do not believe that people actually experience “death” when their body dies. [2] It is common to go to a Christian funeral and hear the minister say, “So and so is now in heaven,” even though his dead body is in the open casket in front of everyone.

Since a major part of the Devil’s agenda was, and still is, to convince people that “you will not surely die,” it is not surprising that most Christians believe that, in some way, “you” go on living even after you die. Whether that “you” is your spirit, your soul, or some other “essence,” the bottom line is always the same—“you” are fully conscious after death and not, in fact, “dead” (i.e., without life). This belief has no basis in Scripture. God designed humans as integrated beings with a body, soul, and spirit that together make a whole individual. Adam’s body was fully formed, but just “dust” until God breathed life into it (Gen. 2:7). Adam’s “life” (whether it be called “soul” or “spirit”) had no consciousness or life of its own apart from his body. The idea that the soul or spirit is like a ghost that can separate from the body and still have consciousness and movement without the body was introduced into Judaism after the Babylonian captivity and came from there and other religions into Christianity. [3] The idea of a disembodied living soul did not come from the text of Scripture. [For further study read Gnosticism – Gnostic ideas have had an influence on Christianity.]

The belief in being alive in some form after death is contrary to the revelation of the Bible. According to the Bible, a person who dies is dead until he or she is raised to life by the Lord Jesus and made to stand at one of the judgments. That is why the Bible speaks of a “day,” or time, of judgment, rather than an ongoing judgment occurring when people die. Revelation 20:4–6 speaks of some of the dead “coming to life” to reign with Christ, while others do not yet come to life. Revelation 20:13 states that the sea and the grave will give up the “dead” who are in them so they can be judged. If people are judged when they die and consigned either to heaven or hell, then there is no reason to get them up from the dead for “a day of judgment.” Why drag someone out of heaven or hell and judge him again if he had already been judged at the time of his death?

Once the religions of the world accepted the idea that the “soul” or “spirit” did not die when the body died, the next step was to determine its post-mortem address, in other words, where does the soul live after the body dies? The answers vary from religion to religion, but there are some similarities. A study of the various religions of the world shows that it was, and still is, very common to believe that “good” people go either to the abode of the gods (sometimes called “heaven”), or to some wonderful place on earth, while evil people go to a place of punishment or torment. These beliefs eventually found their way into both Judaism and Christianity. In The Early History of Heaven, J. Edward Wright addresses the biblical conception of what happens to the dead:

Two verses from the Book of Psalms summarize the biblical conceptions of the afterlife and of humans’ place in the heavenly realm: “Heaven is Yahweh’s heaven, but the earth he has given to humans. The dead do not praise Yahweh, nor all those who go down to silence” (Psalm 115:16–17). These verses pointedly indicate what the biblical tradents thought about humanity’s place in the heavenly realm—they have no place there! [4]

Wright goes on to point out that both Judaism and Christianity adopted ideas of the afterlife from the culture surrounding them:

In the fifth century BCE, belief in a heavenly afterlife developed and spread across the Mediterranean world and the ancient Near East [Emphasis added]. Segments in Judaism and Christianity eventually adopted the belief that humans could have a place in the heavenly realm…The emerging Jewish conceptions of the universe and the ideas about what happens to a person after death were not the natural outgrowth of biblical religiosity but were the product of the fruitful interaction of the ancient biblical traditions with new trends in religion and science during the Greco-Roman period. Early Christianity…inherited aspects of both the biblical traditions and the newer Hellenistic expressions of Judaism. [5]

It is noteworthy that belief in a “heavenly” afterlife, as opposed to an “earthly” or “nether-worldly” afterlife, spread after the death of Malachi, the last of the writing prophets. After his death, there were few people left who could oppose the incursion of false doctrine into Judaism. Josephus, a writer and historian who lived in the first century, wrote about the Essenes. They were one of the Jewish sects of his time and the authors of many of the Dead Sea Scrolls. From Josephus’ writing it is clear that they believed, as did the Greeks, that the physical body was not a blessing at all but rather more like a prison and that the soul rejoiced when it was freed by the death of the body. Furthermore, after being freed, the soul went up to heaven.

For their doctrine is this: that bodies are corruptible and that the matter they are made of is not permanent; but that the souls are immortal and continue forever; and that they come out of the most subtle air, and are united to their bodies as in prisons, into which they are drawn by a certain natural enticement; but that when they are set free from the bonds of flesh, they then, as released from a long bondage, rejoice and mount upward. [6]

Historical texts reveal that this type of misinformation about the Hope and everlasting life circulating in the culture of biblical times influenced both the Jews and the early Christians. Historical texts reveal that both the Jews and the early Christians had various ideas about the eternal future. Unfortunately, the biblical texts were often misunderstood and also often ignored as the source of ultimate authority, just as they are today.

Read the rest of the article here.

If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about God’s wonderful message, please visit the Truth or Tradition website. You can also keep track of the ministry through their Facebook page, their YouTube Channel, or follow them on Twitter.

You can read more about this subject here:

Is There Death After Life?

Free Online Seminar: Death & Resurrection to Life

Thanks for reading.

(Comments have been turned off. The information is here, it’s up to you to accept, or deny, it).

Nanny’s death has opened a door on a subject that I’ve been wanting to talk about for quite some time. It’s something that weighs heavily on my heart and it’s another one of those subjects that I feel compelled to talk about.

It’s a potentially explosive subject because so many people believe a certain way and what I’m about to propose goes against that belief. But hear me out. I’m quite confident I can backup my claims. And I pray the information blesses you in the fact that it helps you understand God and His plan for us a little better. God was never meant to be a mystery – but over time, through misunderstandings and Greek mythology, He has become a mystery to many.

I would also like to say, upfront and quite clearly, that I will not debate this subject with you. I’m not a theologian. However, I am quite confident that I can provide materials that will help you further understand my claims and if you’re willing to learn more about it, will help you become a stronger Christian.

I will leave the comment section open, but I reserve the right to delete any comments that do not make sense or get abusive in any way. As long as you have something relevant and cohesive to add to the discussion, then comment away. Remember, in essence, we’re all in the same belief boat, but there are some very important distinctions that should be brought to attention.

What happens after we die is certainly one of those important distinctions.

Death is an enemy. Death is not to be embraced. Death is not to be celebrated. When you’re dead, you can’t talk to, and/or influence, people to live a Godly life. When you’re dead, you’re dead. The Bible calls it “falling asleep.”

You don’t go to heaven when you die. You don’t go anywhere when you die. Your soul (which is breath life), leaves you. You become an empty shell, just a body. Your spirit (which is the gift from God when you become a Christian) is your ticket to ever lasting life.

When you die, you’re dead. If you’re a Christian, then you have the hope of being raised from the dead when Christ comes back for you. Hence, a big reason why it’s important to become a Christian.

It’s also another reason to fully embrace life and treat it as something precious and special. When you believe that you go to heaven after you die, it somehow cheapens life, makes it secondary, and that’s simply not the truth.

I realize my saying this goes against the common, and fierce, belief that people go to heaven when they die. But that fallacy was started by a Greek myth – the Bible does not say you go to heaven when you die. It makes heavenly references but the only heaven humans will ever see is heaven on earth – or as the Bible calls it, “paradise on earth.”

And that happens when Christ returns and we, as Christian soldiers, defeat evil once and for all.

Before you start arguing with me on this point, please note that this post is not intended to argue the validity of my claim. I will post many, many, MANY articles and videos in the upcoming Sunday teaching sessions from the Truth or Tradition website that will clearly backup what I claim. In fact, stick around, I will be posting excerpts from the first round of Truth or Tradition articles and videos shortly. They can explain this in-depth subject WAAAY better than I ever could.