Immortality or Resurrection - William West (best pdf ebook reader for android TXT) 📗
- Author: William West
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can be an end to separation, for if the separation did end, both the lost and the saved would then be together. There will never be an end to evil. Satan, evil angels, and evil men are just moved to another place, not ended, and not defeated. They will remain just as evil, just as much in rebellion to God as they are now. According to the traditional doctrine of Hell there will be two kingdoms, the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan with the kingdom of Satan being many times larger than the Kingdom of God. What kind of victory would that be? It makes Satan win.
Death will be our enemy unto our resurrection at the coming of Christ.
[5] THE REINTERPRETATION OF THE JUDGMENT DAY
MAKES THE JUDGMENT A MOCKERY and NOT NEEDED
The judgment day at the coming of Christ is opposed to an immortal soul being translated instantly to Heaven or Hell at death. If the dead are now in Heaven or Hell, all would have been judged at death and the judgment is going on now as each person dies. To take those who have already been judged out of Heaven or Hell for a second judgment only to put them back in the same place where they now makes the Judgment be a useless and empty show. It would make a mockery of both the resurrection and the judgment. The popular idea of an immortal soul going instantly to Heaven at death makes the resurrection and judgment be out of place and many have abandoned it. At the most, the judgment day could be nothing more than another reward day for these who were already judged and rewarded at death. Many churches say we get our reward of going to Heaven at death; therefore, for them the judgment day is made to be nothing more than an empty and useless show.
The judgment of all will take place on a special day in the future, the day of the second coming of Christ, not at death. Matthew 16:27; John 5:27-29; 2 Timothy 4:1; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 2 Peter 3:7; Acts 17:31; Matthew 10:15; 11:22; 11:24; Mark 6:11; Matthew 7:22; Luke 19:22; John 6:39, 40, 44, 54; 11:24; 12:48; Romans 2:5; 2:16; 1 Corinthians 1:8; 3:13; Ephesians 4:30; 6:13; Philippians 1:6; 1:10; 2:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 5:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:2; 2:3; 2 Timothy 1:12; 1:18; 4:8; 2 Peter 2:9; 3:7; 3:10; 3:12; 1 John 4:17; Jude 6. The Bible is so clear on when anyone will be judged that I find it difficult to understand how anyone can read the Bible and then say we are judged at death to be saved or loss.
A SECOND JUDGMENT: If all are translated instantly to Heaven or Hell at death as is taught by today's theology, would not a second judgment make God unsure of Himself? If in all the billions He had judged at death and sent them to Heaven or Hell, if He found just one that He had misjudged, He would not be infallible and, therefore, would not be God. Satan fashions himself as an angel of light and his ministers as ministers of righteousness, and they have done their work well [2 Corinthians 11:14-15].
“The immortality of the soul makes a mockery of all this. Resurrection becomes superfluous, since we can relate to Christ “out of body.” Because the saints have already spent long ages with Christ, the Parousia becomes something less than the great ‘revelation’ portrayed by Scripture. Finally, the Judgment is transformed into a farce. After spending thousands of years in heaven, will Abel have to pass before the bar of divine justice to determine whether or not his name is written in the Book of Life? Conversely, will Judas be summoned from a hell he has occupied for two millennia to discover if he is really among the damned? Any doctrine, which allows for such scenarios ought to be suspect from the very outset.” Kenneth Fortier, Resurrection Magazine, Volume 95, Number 2, 1992.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, "Hell" by P. Kreeft says, "God must appoint some fixed term for the time of trial, after which the just will enter into the secure possession of a happiness that can never again be lost in all eternity...Accordingly, it is the belief of all people that eternal retribution is dealt out immediately after death." Most Protestants also believe a person goes to Heaven or Hell immediately after death, therefore, their judgment must be immediately after death, not at the second coming of Christ.
“Inasmuch as He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world” [Acts 17:31]. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” [Hebrews 9:27]. “For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad” [2 Corinthians 5:10]. There will be a day of judgment when all will come before the judgment-seat of Christ, not a judgment of each person at death.
"For the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation" [John 5:28-29 New Revised Standard Version, also 2 Corinthians 5:10]. The dead will hear the voice of Jesus “when they are in their graves” and “come out” of their graves, not hear when they are in Heaven, Hell, or Abraham's bosom. The resurrection is not a bringing back from Heaven or Hell those who are not dead; it will be a real resurrection from a real death. Jesus clearly said, “All who are in their graves.” He did not say, "The souls of all who are in Heaven or Hell." If the dead now have life in Heaven or Hell, then Christ was wrong. “But should raise it up at the last day. For this is the will of my Father that everyone that beholds the Son, and believes on him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” [John 6:39-40] “And I will raise him up in the last day” [John 6:44] “And I will raise him up at the last day” [John 6:54]. "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day" [John 11:24].
[6] THE REINTERPRETATION OF DEATH
TO BE NOT DEATH BUT ETERNAL LIFE
EITHER ETERNAL LIFE IN HEAVEN OR ETERNAL LIFE IN HELL
BEFORE THE RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT
AND BEFORE THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
"To die" never signifies "to live in torment." If Abraham, David and all the saints of the Old Testament were in Heaven they were there before and without the resurrection or the death of Christ; neither His death or resurrection would have been needed, nor would there be any death to abolish to a “soul” that cannot die.
1. Death would have been destroyed by changing death into eternal life for everyone at the time of their death, not at Christ's second coming. Death would have been destroyed for those in the Old Testament before and without the death of Christ by putting them all in Heaven or Hell at the time of their death.
2. If death that takes anyone to Heaven it would be no enemy to him or her.
3. Death would not be death, for changing from life on this earth to life in Heaven or life in Hell would not be death.
There cannot be eternal life in Hell for “the free gift of god is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” [Romans 6:23]. Without Christ there is no eternal life. “He that believes on the Son has eternal life; but that obeys not the Son shall not see life” [John 3:36]. DEATH IS NOT LIFE. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul, which gives eternal life to the lost, is in direct conduction to the Bible. “He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in him: he that believes not God has made Him a liar; because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son. And the witness is this that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that has the Son has the life, he that has not the Son of God has not the life” [1 John 5:10-12]. What we believe does make a difference.
• God said, “You shall surely die.”
• Satan said, “You shall not surely die.”
[7] THE REINTERPRETATION OF ASLEEP
ARE THE DEAD ASLEEP OR AWAKE?
What is asleep, the body, or soul, or spirit, or man? The scriptures never speak of a soul being asleep, or the body, or spirit, but the whole person as being asleep and will be asleep unto the resurrection day. If Christ were not raised the dead are gone; those who are asleep in Christ will never wake up. The Bible must be changed and made to say that the soul, the only part of a person that many believe will be in Heaven is not asleep and can never sleep. 1 Corinthians 15:18 "Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ have perished [Apollumi]." When Paul said those who are asleep in Christ have "perished," he is saying they will never live again anywhere if there is no resurrection from the sleep of death. They are gone "perished" forever. He is not saying they have just "lost their well-being" but are alive somewhere even if Christ were not raised from the dead. Perished cannot mean tormented, but a total end, for if "perished" means "tormented," then Paul said those who are "asleep in Christ" will be "tormented" if there is no resurrection [1 Corinthians 15:12-19]. Paul is not saying that if Christ were not raised, the dead in Christ have just "lost their well-being" because they are alive and will forever live in pain and torment, but he is saying that they are dead and will never live again anywhere if there is no resurrection. If a part of us cannot die and must forever live somewhere then Paul has no argument for it cannot perish, and there cannot be a resurrection of the undead that cannot die; when Paul said some had perished, he just did not understand that a soul cannot perish, that the only part of a person that will live forever cannot die or perish. Paul's argument has been neutralized, and he is made to be saying nothing; and the death and resurrection of Christ has been made to be useless and not needed? Paul said the dead in Christ are asleep, the theology of many says not so Paul, all the dead in Christ are awake in Heaven.
• Jesus said, "Lazarus is fallen asleep" [John 11:11].
• Then said, "Lazarus is dead" [John 11:14].
He did not say Lazarus's body is asleep, but his soul is alive in Heaven. Lazarus would have spent four days in Heaven, but Lazarus or no others in the Bible that were raised from the dead ever said one word about what it was like. Do you think that if they had seen the joy of Heaven, or the pain of Hell, which many believe they would have seen, that a single one that was brought back from Heaven or Hell could have kept quiet about what they had seen? Could you? They said nothing because they were as Christ said "asleep," not more
Death will be our enemy unto our resurrection at the coming of Christ.
[5] THE REINTERPRETATION OF THE JUDGMENT DAY
MAKES THE JUDGMENT A MOCKERY and NOT NEEDED
The judgment day at the coming of Christ is opposed to an immortal soul being translated instantly to Heaven or Hell at death. If the dead are now in Heaven or Hell, all would have been judged at death and the judgment is going on now as each person dies. To take those who have already been judged out of Heaven or Hell for a second judgment only to put them back in the same place where they now makes the Judgment be a useless and empty show. It would make a mockery of both the resurrection and the judgment. The popular idea of an immortal soul going instantly to Heaven at death makes the resurrection and judgment be out of place and many have abandoned it. At the most, the judgment day could be nothing more than another reward day for these who were already judged and rewarded at death. Many churches say we get our reward of going to Heaven at death; therefore, for them the judgment day is made to be nothing more than an empty and useless show.
The judgment of all will take place on a special day in the future, the day of the second coming of Christ, not at death. Matthew 16:27; John 5:27-29; 2 Timothy 4:1; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 2 Peter 3:7; Acts 17:31; Matthew 10:15; 11:22; 11:24; Mark 6:11; Matthew 7:22; Luke 19:22; John 6:39, 40, 44, 54; 11:24; 12:48; Romans 2:5; 2:16; 1 Corinthians 1:8; 3:13; Ephesians 4:30; 6:13; Philippians 1:6; 1:10; 2:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 5:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:2; 2:3; 2 Timothy 1:12; 1:18; 4:8; 2 Peter 2:9; 3:7; 3:10; 3:12; 1 John 4:17; Jude 6. The Bible is so clear on when anyone will be judged that I find it difficult to understand how anyone can read the Bible and then say we are judged at death to be saved or loss.
A SECOND JUDGMENT: If all are translated instantly to Heaven or Hell at death as is taught by today's theology, would not a second judgment make God unsure of Himself? If in all the billions He had judged at death and sent them to Heaven or Hell, if He found just one that He had misjudged, He would not be infallible and, therefore, would not be God. Satan fashions himself as an angel of light and his ministers as ministers of righteousness, and they have done their work well [2 Corinthians 11:14-15].
“The immortality of the soul makes a mockery of all this. Resurrection becomes superfluous, since we can relate to Christ “out of body.” Because the saints have already spent long ages with Christ, the Parousia becomes something less than the great ‘revelation’ portrayed by Scripture. Finally, the Judgment is transformed into a farce. After spending thousands of years in heaven, will Abel have to pass before the bar of divine justice to determine whether or not his name is written in the Book of Life? Conversely, will Judas be summoned from a hell he has occupied for two millennia to discover if he is really among the damned? Any doctrine, which allows for such scenarios ought to be suspect from the very outset.” Kenneth Fortier, Resurrection Magazine, Volume 95, Number 2, 1992.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, "Hell" by P. Kreeft says, "God must appoint some fixed term for the time of trial, after which the just will enter into the secure possession of a happiness that can never again be lost in all eternity...Accordingly, it is the belief of all people that eternal retribution is dealt out immediately after death." Most Protestants also believe a person goes to Heaven or Hell immediately after death, therefore, their judgment must be immediately after death, not at the second coming of Christ.
“Inasmuch as He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world” [Acts 17:31]. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” [Hebrews 9:27]. “For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad” [2 Corinthians 5:10]. There will be a day of judgment when all will come before the judgment-seat of Christ, not a judgment of each person at death.
"For the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation" [John 5:28-29 New Revised Standard Version, also 2 Corinthians 5:10]. The dead will hear the voice of Jesus “when they are in their graves” and “come out” of their graves, not hear when they are in Heaven, Hell, or Abraham's bosom. The resurrection is not a bringing back from Heaven or Hell those who are not dead; it will be a real resurrection from a real death. Jesus clearly said, “All who are in their graves.” He did not say, "The souls of all who are in Heaven or Hell." If the dead now have life in Heaven or Hell, then Christ was wrong. “But should raise it up at the last day. For this is the will of my Father that everyone that beholds the Son, and believes on him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” [John 6:39-40] “And I will raise him up in the last day” [John 6:44] “And I will raise him up at the last day” [John 6:54]. "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day" [John 11:24].
[6] THE REINTERPRETATION OF DEATH
TO BE NOT DEATH BUT ETERNAL LIFE
EITHER ETERNAL LIFE IN HEAVEN OR ETERNAL LIFE IN HELL
BEFORE THE RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT
AND BEFORE THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
"To die" never signifies "to live in torment." If Abraham, David and all the saints of the Old Testament were in Heaven they were there before and without the resurrection or the death of Christ; neither His death or resurrection would have been needed, nor would there be any death to abolish to a “soul” that cannot die.
1. Death would have been destroyed by changing death into eternal life for everyone at the time of their death, not at Christ's second coming. Death would have been destroyed for those in the Old Testament before and without the death of Christ by putting them all in Heaven or Hell at the time of their death.
2. If death that takes anyone to Heaven it would be no enemy to him or her.
3. Death would not be death, for changing from life on this earth to life in Heaven or life in Hell would not be death.
There cannot be eternal life in Hell for “the free gift of god is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” [Romans 6:23]. Without Christ there is no eternal life. “He that believes on the Son has eternal life; but that obeys not the Son shall not see life” [John 3:36]. DEATH IS NOT LIFE. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul, which gives eternal life to the lost, is in direct conduction to the Bible. “He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in him: he that believes not God has made Him a liar; because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son. And the witness is this that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that has the Son has the life, he that has not the Son of God has not the life” [1 John 5:10-12]. What we believe does make a difference.
• God said, “You shall surely die.”
• Satan said, “You shall not surely die.”
[7] THE REINTERPRETATION OF ASLEEP
ARE THE DEAD ASLEEP OR AWAKE?
What is asleep, the body, or soul, or spirit, or man? The scriptures never speak of a soul being asleep, or the body, or spirit, but the whole person as being asleep and will be asleep unto the resurrection day. If Christ were not raised the dead are gone; those who are asleep in Christ will never wake up. The Bible must be changed and made to say that the soul, the only part of a person that many believe will be in Heaven is not asleep and can never sleep. 1 Corinthians 15:18 "Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ have perished [Apollumi]." When Paul said those who are asleep in Christ have "perished," he is saying they will never live again anywhere if there is no resurrection from the sleep of death. They are gone "perished" forever. He is not saying they have just "lost their well-being" but are alive somewhere even if Christ were not raised from the dead. Perished cannot mean tormented, but a total end, for if "perished" means "tormented," then Paul said those who are "asleep in Christ" will be "tormented" if there is no resurrection [1 Corinthians 15:12-19]. Paul is not saying that if Christ were not raised, the dead in Christ have just "lost their well-being" because they are alive and will forever live in pain and torment, but he is saying that they are dead and will never live again anywhere if there is no resurrection. If a part of us cannot die and must forever live somewhere then Paul has no argument for it cannot perish, and there cannot be a resurrection of the undead that cannot die; when Paul said some had perished, he just did not understand that a soul cannot perish, that the only part of a person that will live forever cannot die or perish. Paul's argument has been neutralized, and he is made to be saying nothing; and the death and resurrection of Christ has been made to be useless and not needed? Paul said the dead in Christ are asleep, the theology of many says not so Paul, all the dead in Christ are awake in Heaven.
• Jesus said, "Lazarus is fallen asleep" [John 11:11].
• Then said, "Lazarus is dead" [John 11:14].
He did not say Lazarus's body is asleep, but his soul is alive in Heaven. Lazarus would have spent four days in Heaven, but Lazarus or no others in the Bible that were raised from the dead ever said one word about what it was like. Do you think that if they had seen the joy of Heaven, or the pain of Hell, which many believe they would have seen, that a single one that was brought back from Heaven or Hell could have kept quiet about what they had seen? Could you? They said nothing because they were as Christ said "asleep," not more
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