The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
1Co 15:19
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
We are miserable if and only if there really was no resurection from the Dead
But there is and our life depends on it!
Because we all will die and yes God does call death sleep.
1Co 15:18
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
But if there was no resurrection from death then yes we are all dead. We are perished
The word perished « apollumi » means we are all ruined, taken apart, undone and no more.
But death is a sleep according to the Bible and it is only until Christ returns, then on that day some will be glad eto see Him and live again with Him forever! Others will not and decide to take the eternal sleep called death. They will lose and have nothing.
We have been taugth that we die and immediately go to paradise. Where did this Pagan teaching enter our scriptures. We have ideas of dying and seeing our Lord immediately. That I can agree on in the sense in a Coma or a state of unconsious sleep a minute or two thousand years is the same. The moment you go to sleep for you in our experience is the Day the Lord raises you on the Last Day of Judgement.’
Where did Christians get the idea that we will be at the Pearly Gates and Peter will let us in. Certrainly not from Gods Word. WHere did we get the idea some go directly to Hell and the devil (or God??) lets us roast in excruciatimg pain forever? Not in my Bible. Where did people think the dead are amongst us in limbo? Or that we go straight to heaven when we take our last breath? My Bible says we are seated in the Heavens now so lets bring the Heaven into this earth by preaching the Truth. Not religious lies.
Sleep is a little death. And Death is the Big Sleep.
Mat 28:13
Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept
Jhn 11:11
These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; G2837 but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
Some physically died in Jesus time, but He raised them. Lazarus was dead yet God calls it sleep. WHy because those who die are going to wake up. EVery single one of us!. Lazarus and the others has received a gift of life but yet dies or went to sleep again. This ressurection was not forever but a temporary gift and a sign of the power Jesus had over death.
Act 7:60
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep
When the martyr Stephen was stoned to death he was dead, yet God calls it sleep.
Stephen did not go straight to heaven but died and is in the earth waiting for the Glorious return of Jesus when we all shall see Him in the future.
1Co 15:6
After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep
This verse again refers to death, expiring and taking your last breath as sleep.
1Th 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.
1Th 4:14
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1Th 4:15
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (go before) them which are asleep
But we do have a Hope!
Even if we die we ahall see the Lord and we already have accepted Eternal life. We already are seated in the Heavens but our bodies and souls still have a job to accomplish on earth. We are waiting for the new HEavens and earth and paradise.
This on verse had been manipulated by changing punctuation. There were never any commas in the Greek or Hebrew original texts.
Luk 23:43
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
With our the commas Jesus was saying « I am telling you today » that even you a robber who believes in me will be in paradise when it is here on earth again.
It should be read « And He said to him « truly I say to you today you shall be with me in paradise »
In Paradise: “Paradise (paradeisos), a Persian word meaning ‘garden, park,’ was used in the Septuagint for the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8). It then became a type of the future bliss for God’s people in Isaiah 51:3…In the present passage it represents the state of bliss which Jesus promised to the criminal directly after death.”C Marvin Pate
I do not agree with that because without exception all wait until the trumpet call in the future and then we will be with Jesus> The dead will rise from their graves first and then those found alive will put on their eternal heavenly bodies.
1Th 4:16
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17
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 then we shall never be separated in any way from the Lord and we will be with Him forever.
1Th 4:18
Wherefore comfort one another with these words
But since there is no thought, conscience or memory in death, it is like a profound sleep. The word in Greek for sleep koimaō is where we English have derived « Coma » a very deep sleep. And that is the way I see death. It is temporary for all and some will prefer to go back to sleep. But not all, some would rather live in bliss and in PAradise!
Psalm 6 :5 KJV « For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks? »
Many Christians have been taught that we who believe the scriptures are a fringe group or heresy that beleives in the demeaning term « soul-sleep » I beleive they who have been taught that the breath life soul of animals and men are conscious and alive without their bodies have been lied to. This teaching allow us to « pray for the dead » or « pray for baptism of the dead » and is dangerous since many have been convinced they can contact their loved ones in another world.
As Saul the King of Israel was deceived to his ruin. HE beleived that his friend Samuel could be contacted after death. SO he went to the wirtch of Endor and a familiar spirit convinced him to die in battle. Today there is a thriving business of clarivoyant mediums that will conjure their familiar spirits. Even Christians taught that there is a conscious spirit out their may try to speak with their departed husband and be misled, very misled.
We must follow only the holy spirit and the writing inspired by the holy spirit. There are many demons or unholy spirits writing doctrines of demons. It is up to us to study the scripture and rely on our own annointing when we hear any thing spiritual. Prove all things but the holy spirit will show you what to hold on too and what does nt fit.
Back to the verse that seem to stand out against so called « soul-sleep » which is what most of the rest of the Bible teaches. No life after death but waiting in the grave for the new heavens and earth.
All this confusion is cleared up by moving commas? Or does this verse become the thorn in the side of all the teaching against conscious souls?
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
So the commas were no help since they are not in any originals. But what about the place of the adverb « today »? Does it modify the verb « to tell » or « to be » hmmm
« In Greek, there is no specific rule concerning the position of the adverb, whether before or after the verb.11 Thus, from the grammatical standpoint we find it impossible to determine if sēmeron in Luke 23:43 modifies the preceding verb (“to tell”) or the following one (“to be”). Luke, however, has a definite tendency of using this adverb with the preceding verb. »
« The attempt to read the adverb in Luke 23:43 in connection to the preceding verb, therefore, is not only fully acceptable in terms of grammar but is also in complete agreement with Luke’s literary style. »
Yet there we church fathers or so called fathers like Cassian that even in the 4th century condemned those of us that place the « today » with « to tell » as « I tell you today » As Heretics. There was a lot of burning of heretics that were not heretics in our loving Church history… GO ask the « church father » Calvin. He burned Servetus to save us!!
In fact the idiom « it tell you today » is used in many places in the Scripture and is not proof that the promise happen on that particular day!
Deu 11:26
Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;
Deu 11:27
A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day:
The consequences of disobeying did not all come on the same day the Lord taught them did they?
Deu 28:13
And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
Deu 6:6
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
Deu 7:11
Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.
Deu 8:19
And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
I do not think that the perished literally on the day the Lord testified against them, do you/
So how do we base the life of a soul being in Paradise the same day Jesus solemnly promised « you shall be in Paradise »?
I do see it a comfort to know that I and my loved ones are uncoscious and it is a blissful sleep to die knowing our hope. Knowing we all shall be risen on that Glorious day where Jesus will jusdge the Living and the dead. It is more of a comfort than imagining the spirits of my loved ones in some uncertain state in an unknown place or even maybe hauting my attic. That is no comfort. But realizing death is temporary and their is absolutely no though in death like the sleep in a coma or the time in anethesia. No sensation is better, no consciousness while wating.
Because if it is like anesthesia, then whether it is an hour or a century it is all the same to the observer, who is us. So virtually we are going to see JEsus face to face welcoming us who love Him at the moment we close our eyes for the last time. We will virtually be in Paradise the moment we die, yet for the others we leave alive, we are rotting int the grave. God will still bring every molecule together at the last day of all the dead, and God can do that if He promised.
Mat 25 : 31-32 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. »
Only then will He invite His followers to inherit the kingdom prepared for them since the beginning of the world, his event will be a glorious moment of reunion in which the final and complete celebration of deliverance from sin will take place
Luk 22:14
And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.
Luk 22:15
And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:
Luk 22:16
For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
Luk 22:18
For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.
Paul teaches that the believers who die will come forth from their graves at Jesus’ second coming (1 Cor. 15:20–23), and then the gift of immortality will be bestowed on them (vv. 51–55). He never tries to comfort the living by saying that the deceased are already with Jesus in heaven.
IN fact now that we ARE in Christ we are sealed and have been seated IN HEAVEN!
Eph 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Were already in heaven today in the middle of a dead world. Yet our Hope is AT HIS PERSONAL RETURN OR COMING ….Paradise and a NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH!
1 Corinthiens 15.20–23 (ESV)
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
He never tries to comfort the living by saying that the deceased are already with Jesus in heaven. On the contrary, he attempts to bring peace to their hearts by reminding them of The resurrection (1 Thess. 4:13– 18; cf. 2 Cor. 1:8–10; Phil. 3:8–11), and that only when Jesus comes again both the resurrected righteous and righteous living will be caught up together to meet Him in the air, and so they will be with Him forever (see 1 Thess. 4:17).
Now this verse in Luke fits in harmony if we just leave the commas out of the argument!
Besides, according to Paul, Jesus’ resurrection, not His death, gives the righteous any hope for life after death
1 Cor 15 :16-20 « For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. »
How, then, does one make sense of the idea that Jesus had promised the thief that they would be together in Paradise that same day, especially because the Bible also clearly teaches that the day He died, Christ went into the grave
To argue that only Christ’s body went into the grave while His spirit ascended to heaven20 is to ignore the fact that, early on the resurrection morning, He told Mary not to hold on to Him because He had not yet gone to the Father
Jhn 20:17
Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
So where did Jesus go. Some teach he preached to dead spirits. That is not in the Bible anywhere!! Some teach his spirit was with God because He commited his spirit to God. Yes God takes care of those who are asleep and so I can commit my spirit to GOd every night I do. Yes God does take care of those a sleep in the grave as well. God able.
The real heresy is to teach that when we die our bodies decay yet our « eternal soul » goes somewhere and is conscious. That is not a comfort not know where you are going with lots of doubts. Our Comfort is the Final Ressurection Day. This idea of an eternal soul is Pagan. I am not talking a about the Holy spirit that God Gave to us. That is Eternal but the soul life we share in common with all animal is not. This idea of the Eternal soul is pagan in origin. And the idea that Holy spirit is Eternal is Scriptural.
CONCLUSION
« It does not seem appropriate, therefore, to conclude that Jesus promised the penitent thief that they would be together in Paradise the day they died. If the comma is placed before the adverb “today,” it becomes virtually impossible to reconcile the passage with what the Bible—and Jesus Himself—teaches concerning the time when the faithful dead get their final reward in heaven (cf. Luke 14:13, 14; 20:34–38; John 5:28, 29; 6:39, 40, 53–58). There is not a single instance in which the Bible writers try to comfort the believers by saying that the dead in Christ have already been taken to heaven. Comfort in the face of death is always related to the resurrection, not to the idea that at death the spirit or the soul is liberated from the body to be in God’s presence (cf. John 11:21–27; Rev. 20:6).
What the thief asked Jesus was to be remembered in His kingdom (Luke 23:42), and this is exactly what Jesus promised him, thus the dying man received peace and comfort. This is the great promise of the gospel—to be with Jesus forever (John 14:1–3; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17; Rev. 21:1–4). »
I have quoted from
next if the history of the pagan eternal soul. The real origin of this belief system that now is mainstream Churchianity.
Truth Prospector 