History's first lie
By Ellen G. White
Ellen G. White was a founder of the Adventist Church. She and those who were with the Adventists had many revelations. Among other things, the light of the fact that it is only the Father is the true God (but were not fully with the truth and later Adventists tangled in the unbiblical and strange doctrine of the Trinity), Man shall not live forever with Christ and others. But Satan also managed to fool them into thinking that we as believers should keep the parts of the law that the Sabbath and food science cuts. But here she writes well and the other biblical about death or damnation!
Everything in the beginning of the family's history began Satan to deceive people. He who had rebelled in heaven, would like to have the earth's inhabitants in the battle against God's leadership. Adam and Eve were perfectly happy as long as they complied with the law of God. This was a constant challenge to Satan's claim that God's law led to suppression and not to the creature's best. Moreover, he disliked the sinless pair was allowed to live in as beautiful and perfect surroundings. He decided to get them to sin. When he had separated them from God and received them in his power, he could have dominion over the earth and establish his kingdom in opposition to God.
"You will not to die!" If Satan had revealed his true nature, he would have immediately been dismissed, for God had warned Adam and Eve against the dangerous enemy. But he worked in secret and covered up his real purpose in order to better carry out their plan. For this he used the snake, which at that time was a fascinating creature. The serpent said to Eve: "Yea, hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden?" If Eve had not become involved in conversation with the tempter, she would have been out of danger. Instead, she gave up talking to him and fell victim to his list. How many are still overpowered. They doubt God's demands and raises objections against them. Rather than obey God's commandments, accept human theories which are only camouflage for Satan's plans. The woman answered the serpent: "We could eat of the fruit on the trees in the garden. Only the fruit of the tree that stands in the garden, God has said: It must be eaten and not move, otherwise you will die, "the serpent said unto the woman:" You will not to die! But God knows that the day you eat of the fruit, their eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. " He claimed that they would become like God. They should have greater wisdom than before and to share in an existence on a higher plane. Eve fell for the temptation, and she also led Adam to sin. They believed that the serpent spoke the truth when it claimed that God did not mean what he said. They distrusted the Creator and imagined that he limited their freedom, and that they could achieve great wisdom and a higher form of existence if they transgressed His law.
God had said: "The day you eat of it you shall die." How Adam understood this statement after he had sinned? Was it true that Satan had caused him to believe - that he would achieve a higher being? If so, would provide many benefits delinquency, and Satan would have shown that he was human benefactor. But Adam discovered that this was not the meaning of God's judgment. God said that as punishment for his sin man had to return and become soil. "You are dust and to dust you shall return." When Satan said that their eyes would be opened, this was true only in the sense that when Adam and Eve had disobeyed God, they see how stupid they had acted . They really got to know the evil, and they tasted bitter fruit of the infringement. In the midst of Eden grew the tree of life, and the fruit could give eternal life force. If Adam had been obedient to God, would he still had free access to this tree and would have lived forever. But when he sinned, he will no longer eat of the tree of life and death were changing. God said to him, "you are dust and to dust you shall return." This award signifies the total cessation of life. Immortality that man was promised on condition of obedience, they lost because of the violation. Adam could not give his descendants that he himself owned. It would not have been any hope for the fallen human race, if God had not sacrificed his Son, and thus made it possible for humans to achieve immortality. While "death affected everyone, because all sinned," Christ brought "life and immortality to light through the gospel." Only through Christ can man achieve immortality. Jesus said, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Whoever is disobedient to the Son shall not see life. "Anyone can take part in this invaluable good if they meet the conditions. "Those who tirelessly do good and seek honor, glory and immortality, eternal life." The only one who promised Adam life, even if he disobeyed, was the great deceiver. The serpent said to Eve in the Garden of Eden: "You will not to - to die!" This is the first sermon ever held about the immortality of the soul. But this statement is solely based on Satan's authority, sounds like an echo from the pulpit of Christendom, and most people accept it as ready as our ancestor did. God's judgment: "He who sins shall die," interprets the Mon way: "He who sins shall not die but live forever." One has to wonder at the strange lack of judgment that makes people so easily believe what Satan says, and so difficult to believe what God says.
If the people after the fall had been given free access to the tree of life, they would have lived forever, and sin would have been immortal. But cherubim with flaming sword was set to "guard the way to the tree of life." Not one of Adam's offspring have been allowed to pass this barrier, and have been eating out of the life-giving fruit. Therefore, there is no immortal sinner. A false doctrine After the fall of Satan gave his angels told to make special efforts to get people to believe in the innate immortality. When they had got them to accept this delusion, they would also get them to believe that the sinner would live in perpetual happiness. Now it seems the prince of darkness through his gear and depicts God as a vengeful tyrant. He claims that all that God dislikes, end up in hell, where they are for all time to experience his wrath. Where they suffer unspeakable torment and writhing in the unquenchable flames, while the Creator looks on with satisfaction. In this way portrays arch-enemy of mankind creates and benefactor as a person with his own character. Cruelty is devilish. God is love, and everything he created was pure, holy and good until the great rebel brought sin into the world. Satan is the enemy himself who tempts men to sin and then destroy them if he can. And when he is sure his prey, he rejoices over what he has been able. If he were allowed to do so, he would capture the entire human race in his net. Unless God intervened, would not one of Adam's descendants escape. Just as Satan had power over our first ancestor, he is trying now to get people in their power by weakening their confidence in the Creator, that they doubt that his leadership is wise and his righteous laws. To justify their own evil and his rebellion, he tries and his helpers to make it look as if God is even worse than they are. The devil tries to transfer its own cruel features of our heavenly Father, and gives the appearance that he suffered great injustice when he was removed from the sky because he would not bow to such an unjust ruler. He lures people with the freedom they can get under his mild rule, as opposed to the slavery that the Lord's commandments hard leads. To get his people to betray God.
The doctrine that the wicked will be tormented with fire and brimstone in an eternal hell, that as punishment for the sins they did during his brief life on earth, shall be tormented and tortured as long as God lives, is not only contrary to all the mercy and love, but also with our sense of justice. Yet this doctrine is widely used and is still in many Christian's creed. A prominent theologian has said: "The sight of hell torments will reinforce the saved happiness forever. When they see that others have the same nature as the self is born under the same conditions, it ended up in such an accident, while they themselves were raised, they will understand how lucky they are. " Another says it this way: "While the lost through endless times must suffer the penalty of his sin, the smoke of their torment for ever ascend to the saved eyes. Instead of feeling with these unhappy creatures, they shall say, Amen, Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! " Where in the Bible we find such a doctrine? Will the redeemed in heaven be devoid of any compassion and mercy, or for ordinary human emotions? Should they instead be characterized by stoic insensitive or of barbaric cruelty? Certainly not! This is not the Bible's teachings. People with such views can probably be learned and even honest, but they have become victims of Satan's deception. He causes them to misinterpret certain expressions in the Bible and gl words the hint of bitterness and malice that characterize him, not the Creator. "As I live, saith the Lord God, I do not want the wicked shall die, but that he should turn from their wicked ways and live. Repent, turn from evil life you lead! Why will you die? " What will it serve if we claim that God rejoices at the sight of endless torture, that he enjoys hearing screams and wailing from the suffering creatures whom he holds in the flames of hell? Can these heart-rending moans sound like music in the loving God's ears? Mon alleges that when the wicked be tormented in a time without end, so it shows that God abhors sin because it destroys all peace and order in the universe. Such sounds simply blasphemous! As if God were to immortalize sin because he abhors it! For according to these theologians teach, will continue to torment without any hope of mercy drive the unhappy victims to madness. When they let anger be expressed in mocking and cursing, they only increase his guilt. But God's glory will not be greater with such a perpetual boost of sin. It is impossible to imagine how much evil delusion of eternal torment has been the cause. Message of the Bible, which is full of love, kindness and compassion, is darkened by superstition and characterized by the horror. Is it really so strange that people fear and despise the merciful Creator, and even hate him, when we think of how Satan has tainted his nature? The frightening representation of God as the sounds from pulpits across the world, has made thousands, even millions of people to the doubters and gudsfornektere. The doctrine of eternal torment is one of the false dogmas that make up the abominable wine that Babylon offers all the nations to drink. The fact that Christian ministers should accept this heresy and spread it from the pulpit, is incomprehensible. They got it from the Roman church, where they also received the false sabbath. Admittedly, prominent persons preached it, but they had not been light on this as we have today. They were responsible only for the light which shone on their time. We will be accountable for the light that shines in our days. If we turn away from God's Word and accept false doctrines because our ancestors defended them, we are struck by the sentence that was pronounced upon Babylon. When we drink of her impure wine.
Are all saved? Many of those who find the doctrine of eternal torment outrageous, driven to the opposite extreme. They know that the Scriptures portray God as loving and merciful, and they can not believe that he will send their creatures into an ever-burning hell. But because they believe that the soul is immortal by nature, they see no other option but that all men at last be saved. Many believe that the warnings in the Bible only intend to scare people into obedience, and that they will never be fulfilled literally. This means that the sinner can still live in selfish pleasure, ignore God's requirements and still waiting to be taken into favor. Such a doctrine, which speaks of God's grace, but look away from his righteousness, appeals to human nature and have the wicked to go even further into sin. To show how those who claim that all ultimately be saved, misstates the Bible to get it to support their own soul-destroying doctrines, it is enough to show to their own statements. At the funeral of a young man who was a Christian, used a universalistprest this biblical text about David: "He had come over her grief for Amnon's death."
"Often I am asked what will happen to those who leave this world of sin," he stated further, "those who may die while intoxicated or with blood stains on the clothes of a crime, or that this young man died without be a professing Christian, and without having experienced the power of the Christian faith. We have only to turn to the Bible and solve this great problem for us. Amnon was a great sinner. He was unrepentant, got drunk and was killed. David was a prophet of God. He must have been aware of Amnon was to get it good or bad in the next life. How did his feelings expressed? "Eventually, the king held out to bear a grudge against Absalom. For he had got over her grief for Amnon's death. " What can we learn from this? The fact that David did not believe in a never-ending torment! How do we perceive it. Here we find a conclusive evidence in support of the more appealing, more enlightened and more humane view that all will eventually experience the purity and peace. He found solace in the thought that his son was dead. Why? Because he prophetic eye looked into a glorious future where her son was far away from all temptations, free from load and cleansed of sin. After he had been sufficiently holy and enlightened, he released into the circle of henfarne jubilant spirits. David's only consolation was that the dear son who was taken away from sin and suffering, had gone to where the Holy Spirit would enlighten his darkened mind, and where he would learn the wisdom of heaven and happy to experience the immortal love. With a sanctified nature in which he would enjoy the heavenly inheritance with its rest and joy. What I have said here indicates that we can not do anything in life to achieve heavenly bliss. It depends on whether a change of mind here in time or of our faith and confession. " How does a preacher advocating the false claim hose entered the Garden of Eden: "You will not surely die" "The day you eat of the fruit, their eyes will be opened, and you will become like God." He says that even the worst sinners - murderers, thieves, adulterers - after death are prepared to enter into eternal bliss. What builds so this preacher at? Yes, in a single sentence that David gave in under Providence's management. He longed to take Absalom, "for he had got over her grief for Amnon's death." When the time had softened the bitter grief, he was no longer so concerned about the dead son, but thought more of him who lived and who had fled for fear of the just punishment that awaited him. It should therefore prove that the drunken Amnon, who had been guilty of incest, had come to the glorious homes in the moment of death to be cleansed and ready to mingle sinless angels! A pleasant fable, one must say, and it is well suited to satisfy human nature. It is Satan's own doctrine, and it is effective. Is it any wonder that evil flourishes when the sort is preached? The procedure for this false teacher is typical of many. They draw a few passages from the Bible out of context, which in many cases, says the opposite of the interpretation they put in it. Such disjointed texts are distorted and used as proof of doctrines that do not have basis in God's word. What is presented as evidence that the drunken Amnon is in Heaven, is an assertion that is contradicted by the Bible's clear words that no drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God. How is it that doubters, unbelievers and skeptics make truth to lie. And many will be deceived by such speculation and lulled into a sleep of security that fits human nature. If it was true that the human soul at death went directly to heaven, one could often wish for death rather than life. This perception has led many to put an end to his earthly existence. When trouble, worry and disappointment overwhelm them, it can often be an easy matter to cut the brittle thread of life and soar into the world of eternal bliss.
The wicked fate In his words, God has made it clear that he will punish those who violate his law. Those who imagines that he is too merciful to practice justice towards sinners, need only glance at the cross of Calvary. That God's sinless Son to die, shows that "the wages of sin is death" and that any violation of the law of God involves just punishment. The sinless Christ was made sin for mankind. He bore the blame for the violation, and endured the Father hid from him to his heart broke and he died. This great sacrifice was made that sinners might be saved. Not in any way other people could avoid the penalty for sin. Anyone who refuses to partake of the Atonement, which cost so much, must take the sin and punishment. Let's see what else the Bible tells of the wicked and unrepentant as universalistpresten place in heaven, holy, happy angels. "He who is thirsty I will drink from the fountain of the water of life for nothing." This promise is only for those who thirst. Only those who know that they need the water of life and searching for it at the expense of everything else, will get it. "He who conquers shall have this heritage, and I will be his God and he shall be my son." 11 Here are the conditions given. If we are to inherit all things, we must fight against sin and overcome it. The Lord said through the prophet Isaiah: "Say that the righteous well. ... Woe unto the wicked! Ham goes bad, he receives in return for what he has done. "And the sage said that" it is the godly well, those who have fear of God. But the wicked will have no successes. "For the sinner, Paul says that he accumulate" wrath will come upon you the day of wrath, when God reveals His righteous judgment. He will reward each according to what he has done. ... Tribulation and anguish, on every human being who does evil. " "For you to know that no sexually immoral, living in immorality or covetous, and thus worship an idol, are to share in God and Christ's kingdom." "Try always to live in peace with all, and striving for holiness, for without holiness no one will see the Lord. "" Blessed are those who wash their clothes, so they get right to the tree of life and go through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. " God has told people about his character and how he treats sin. "The Lord, the Lord is merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth! He lets his mercy for thousands generations, forgiving iniquity and guilt and breakers. But he does not let the guilty escape punishment. "'All wicked destroy him." "All evildoers are destroyed, the wicked have no future." God will use their power and authority to stop the rebellion. Nevertheless, all the result of return to equity is in perfect accordance with His mercy, patience and kindness.
Willing obedience brings happiness God does not force the will or judgment of any man. He is not interested in a slavish obedience. He wants his creatures to love him because he is worthy of your love, and obey him because they can appreciate his wisdom, righteousness and goodness. All who are able to appreciate these qualities, love him because they are attracted to him and admire his character. The kindness, mercy and love as the Savior taught and demonstrated in his life, is an expression of God's will and being. Christ himself has said that he did not preach anything that he had received from his Father. God's leadership is in perfect harmony with the Savior gave encouragement: "Love your enemies." When God exercises justice against the wicked, it is for the benefit of the universe, and even for those who are haunted by the judgment. He would make them happy if it could be done in accordance with the laws of His government and his own righteousness. He surrounds them with tokens of his love, teach them about their law and offer them his mercy. But they despise his goodness, his breaking the law and reject His grace. While they constantly receive his gifts, they dishonor the giver. They want nothing to do with God because they know that he abhors their sin. The Lord bears long over with their wickedness, but finally the moment when their fate is decided. Will he force the rebels to their side? Will he threaten them into obedience? Those who have chosen Satan to the head and surrendered under his control, is not prepared to stand before God. Pride, deception, ferocity and cruelty has left its mark on their character. Can they be admitted to heaven and throughout eternity to be with those whom they despised and hated on earth? Truth can never suitable for a liar. Humility does not satisfy the self-righteousness and pride. Clean does not mean anything for the indecent. Selfless love is not addressing the selfish. What joy to heaven by those who are only concerned with tangible and selfish interests? Can those who have lived in rebellion against God, suddenly transferred to the sky and experience the sublime, holy and perfect life in which every creature is filled with love, where every face beams with joy and with enchanting music and sonorous tones sounds to the glory of God and the Lamb? From him that sitteth on the throne, springing an incessant stream of light out of the saved. Can those who do not care about God, truth and holiness, mingle with the heavenly host and take part in their worship? Can they stand the sight of God and the Lamb? It is impossible. They had many years of grace to develop a character that fitted for heaven. But they did not care to own purity, and they never learned language of heaven. Now it's too late. A life in rebellion against God has made them unfit to live in heaven. The purity, holiness and peace there would be only one suffering, and God's glory would be a consuming fire. They would long away from this holy place. They would rather be destroyed than to be near him who died to save them. The wicked have chosen their own destiny. They have chosen to be outside. And because God is just and merciful, He fulfills their desire.
God's mercy As the flood of Noah's time, the fire on the last day a domsakt where God teaches that the wicked are now without hope. They will not acknowledge his authority. The will is accustomed to revolt, and when life ends, it is too late to turn thought flow in the opposite tired. It is too late to turn back from transgression to obedience, from hatred to love. When God spared the murderer Cain, he gave the world an example of what happens when the sinner may live and continue their wild ride. Cain's words and example, led many of the descendants of sin. "Wickedness of man was great in the earth. All thoughts that stirred in their hearts were evil all day long. "" Earth was getting worse in God's eyes, it was full of lawlessness. " By sympathy with the world God destroyed its evil inhabitants of Noah's time. For the same reason he destroyed the morally depraved citizens of Sodom. Through Satan's seductive influence of wicked men achieves sympathy and admiration, and therefore always others to rebel. Such was the manner of Cain, and Noah and Abraham and Lot lived. So it is today. It is in mercy to the universe that God finally destroy the rejecters of His grace. "The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." The righteous shall inherit life, but death is the wicked ticket. Moses said to Israel: "Today I have set before you life and good and death and evil." Death is mentioned here, is not the one that was preached to Adam, for all mankind suffer the penalty of his sin. It is "the second death," the contrast of the eternal life. Because Adam sinned, the entire human race die. All without exception go to the grave. But thanks to God's plan of salvation to all once again rise from the grave. "Just and unjust ... will rise from the dead, "" For as all die in Adam, all brought to life through Christ. " But the Bible distinguishes between the two groups of people standing up. "All those who are in their graves will hear His voice. They will come out-those who have done good will rise to life, but those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. "Those who are found worthy to stand up to life, the blessed and holy . "Over such the second death has no power." But those who are not in repentance and faith has been forgiven, you must take the penalty for violation - "the wages of sin." The penalty is not one for all, for they are judged "according to their deeds." But the final outcome is the second death. Because God's justice and mercy makes it impossible for him to save the sinner in his sin, he takes from him the life which he by his transgressions have forfeited and that he has not shown himself worthy. One of the biblical authors write: "In a little while the wicked are gone, do you look at his place, he is not there." Another says: "They will ... be as though they had never been. "Covered with shame, they will disappear in the hopeless and eternal oblivion. Thus sin removed, along with all the pain and destruction that it has been the cause. David says: "You ... put an end to the evil and destroyed their name forever. "As the apostle John, gazing into eternity, he heard a powerful song of praise without a single dissonance, where every creature in heaven and on earth, God promises. When there is no lost people who mock God as they turn themselves in endless torment. No wretched creatures in hell will mingle their cries with the saved song.
Behind death's door The doctrine of consciousness in death are based on the fundamental delusion that man is immortal in itself. Like the doctrine of eternal torment is also this dogma in conflict with the Bible's statement, with our reason and our compassionate feelings. It is widely believed that the redeemed in heaven and knows about everything that happens on earth, especially how it goes with friends as they left. But how can there be for the benefit of the dead to know about the living difficulties, to witness the sins of their loved ones make and watch them suffer from life's sorrows, disappointments and agony? How should those who are in heaven and watching over their friends on earth, enjoying bliss of heaven? How outrageous is the idea that when a person dies unrepentant, the soul left to hell hats! For an immeasurable suffering it must be for those who see their friends go unprepared into the grave and into an eternity of pain and sin! This dreadful idea has driven many to insanity. What does God's word on this? David says that man is no consciousness in death. "When they expire, they will return to dust, then it's off with their plans." Solomon are on the same: "The living know that they will die but the dead know nothing at all. ... Their love, hatred and jealousy have long since. Never again will they have a part in everything that happens under the sun. "" For in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. " When King Hezekiah had the answers to prayer that his life would be extended by fifteen years, performed the grateful king, a hymn of praise to God for His great mercy. In this song he mentions the reason for his joy, "the Kingdom praise you not, no dead praise you. Those who have gone to the grave, does not wait for your faithfulness. The living is what praise you as I do today. " Many theologians today argue that the righteous dead have gone to glory in which they praise God with an immortal voice. But Hezekiah did not see any glory in death. He is completely in line with what is written in Psalms: "Among the dead, no one thinks of you. Who rates than you in hell? "" The dead are not the Lord, it does none of those who descend into silence. "
Resurrection Hope On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached that David "died and was buried, and today we have his grave with us." "For David is not ascended into heaven." The fact that David is in the tomb of the resurrection, shows that the righteous do not go to heaven when they die. Only through the resurrection, and because Christ has risen, David will finally get a place at God's right hand. Paul said it this way: "If the dead are not raised,'s not even Christ has been raised. But if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. This is also the lost who have died in the faith of Christ. "If the just over four thousand years had gone directly to heaven when they died, how could when Paul said that if there is no resurrection," are also those that are lost died in the faith of Christ "? It would not be necessary with some resurrection. About the state of the dead said the English martyr Tyndale, "I openly admit that I am not convinced that they are already experiencing the glory of Christ, or God's angels are experiencing. This is not some article of faith for me. If so, would the preaching of the resurrection of the body to be meaningless. " It is an indisputable fact that the hope of eternal salvation from the moment of death has resulted in many ignore the biblical doctrine of the resurrection. About this Dr. Adam Clarke wrote: "It seems as if the doctrine of the resurrection meant far more to the early Christians than it is today. What could the reason be? This was something the apostles constantly maintained, and encouraged the faithful diligence, loyalty and enthusiasm. But it is rarely mentioned by their successors today. The apostles preached it, and the first Christians believed. We preach it, and those who hear, believe. No doctrine is more strongly emphasized in the Gospels, but nothing is more neglected in the preaching of our time. " This has led to the truth of the resurrection is almost completely lost sight of in Christendom. A prominent religious writer writes in his commentary on the 4.13 to 18 l Thessalonians: "As a real source of comfort we prefer the doctrine of the righteous blessed immortality rather than the dubious doctrine of the Lord's Second Coming. When we die, we experience the Lord's coming. This we expect and look forward to. The dead have already gone into glory. They are not waiting for that trumpet to signal the judgment or salvation. " When Jesus was leaving the disciples, he said, not that they would soon come to him. But he said: "I go to prepare a place for you. And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to Myself. "The apostle Paul wrote:" When the Lord himself shall descend from heaven. And those dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are left still alive and with them be caught up in the clouds in the air, to meet the Lord. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Wherefore comfort one another with these words! »26 What a contrast there is between these comforting words and statements universalistpresten came with! He comforted the mourners with an assurance that when a person died, the angels receive him, no matter how sinful he may have been. Paul, however, pointed his brethren of the Lord's return in the future when the grave should be broken links and "those who died in the faith of Christ" will rise to eternal life.
A time for judgment No one can get a place in the kingdom of God before their case has been investigated and their character and life-cycle assessed by God. Everyone should be judged according to what is written in the books, and be rewarded for their deeds. This judgment does not occur at death. Notice what Paul says, "He has fixed a day when he will judge the world with righteousness, and to this particular man. He has given proof to all by raising Him from the dead. "Here the Apostle says clearly that a certain day in the future is determined when the verdict of the world to take place. Jude says about the same time: "The angels who did not keep his high office, but left their own habitation, he keeps tied in darkness with everlasting chains for judgment on the big day." And he quotes Enoch, saying: "Look , the Lord comes with His holy angels in their thousands to execute judgment upon all. "John says that he" saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. ... The dead were judged according to what was written in the books. " What is the purpose of a judgment in the future if the dead are already in heaven or in hell? God's word about these important issues are either unclear or contradictory. Ordinary people can understand it. But the honest man can see no reason or justice in the common perception? If the righteous, after they might have been in God's kingdom for millennia, hear these encouraging words when their case has been examined in the judgment: "It's good, good and faithful servant. ... Come into the joy of your master! "If the wicked called up from the pain instead of listening to all the earth judge say," Depart from me, ye cursed, into the everlasting fire "? It is an insult to God, a shameful indictment of his wisdom and righteousness! The theory of the soul's immortality was one of the false doctrines which Rome borrowed from paganism and introduced Christianity. Luther put it in the class with the "monstrous fables that are part of the Roman rubbish heap of the papal letter." Commenting on Solomon's words about the dead know nothing at all, he says: "Here again we have a text that shows that the dead have no ... feeling. For in Sheol there is neither working nor planning, nor knowledge nor wisdom. Solomon believes that the dead are asleep and not notice anything. For the dead lie there and count neither days or years. But when they are raised, it will be as if they had only been asleep for a moment. " In the Scriptures it says nothing about that the righteous receive their reward when they die, or that the wicked when punished. Patriarchs and prophets never said anything like that. Nor did Christ and the apostles have suggested something in that direction. The Bible clearly states that no one goes to heaven in the moment of death. It says that they are asleep to the resurrection. On the day when "the silver cord and gold cap worn burst" stops the human mind. They that go down into the grave, are silent. They are no longer part of what happens under the sun. Blessed rest for the righteous who are laid to rest! Whether the time is short or long, it feels just like a moment. The dead are sleeping. They are awakened by the trumpet of God to a glorious immortality. "For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable. ... And when that happens, and this corruptible and deadly has been clothed in incorruptibility and immortality, as it fulfilled that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. " When they are called out of his deep sleep, they begin to think just where they left off. The last thing they noticed was the death pain. Their final thought was that they would be in the grave. When they wake up, their first thought is expressed in the triumphant cry: "Death, where is thy sting? Death, where is thy victory? "
Related links: http://the-heavenly-blog.janchristensen.net/2011/09/nr-48-den-annen-dd.html http://the-heavenly-blog.janchristensen.net/2011/12/nr-146-is-god-monster-dictator-or.html http://the-heavenly-blog.janchristensen.net/2011/11/nr-131-what-is-important-to-teach.html
