Most People Miss This Door in Revelationdoor

Spiritualism

Chapter 30—Spiritualism

I saw the rapping delusion. Satan has power to bring the appearance of forms before us purporting to be our relatives and friends that now sleep in Jesus. It will be made to appear as if they were present, the words they uttered while here, which we were familiar with, will be spoken, and the same tone of voice which they had while living will fall upon the ear. All this is to deceive the world, and ensnare them into the belief of this delusion.

I saw that the saints must have a thorough understanding of the present truth, which they will have to maintain from the Scriptures. They must understand the state of the dead; for the spirits of devils will yet appear to them, professing to be beloved friends and relatives, who will declare to them unscriptural doctrines. They will do all in their power to excite sympathy, and work miracles before them, to confirm what they declare. The people of God must be prepared to withstand these spirits with the Bible truth that the dead know not any thing, and that they are the spirits of devils.

I saw that we must examine well the foundation of our hope, for we shall have to give a reason for it from the Scriptures; for we shall see this delusion spreading, and we shall have to contend with it face to face. And unless we are prepared for it, we shall be ensnared and overcome. But if we do what we can on our part to be ready for the conflict that is just before us, God will do his part, and his all-powerful arm will protect us. He would sooner send every angel out of glory to make a hedge about faithful souls, than that they should be deceived and led away by the lying wonders of Satan.

I saw the rapidity with which this delusion was spreading. A train of cars was shown me, going with the speed of lightning. The angel bade me look carefully. I fixed my eyes upon the train. It seemed that the whole world was on board. Then he showed me the conductor, who looked like a stately fair person, whom all the passengers looked up to and reverenced. I was perplexed, and asked my attending angel who it was. Said he, It is Satan. He is the conductor in the form of an angel of light. He has taken the world captive. They are given over to strong delusions, to believe a lie that they may be damned. His agent, the next highest in order to him, is the engineer, and others of his agents are employed in different offices as he may need them, and they are all going with lightning speed to perdition. I asked the angel if there were none left. He bade me look in an opposite direction, and I saw a little company traveling a narrow pathway. All seemed to be firmly united, and bound together by the truth.

January 5 - Perils to Shun | Our High Calling

President Trump says he wants to enter heaven. As a Catholic priest, I take that seriously.

by James Martin, S.J.

August 20, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy share a light moment as they meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington Aug. 18, 2025, amid negotiations to end the Russian war in Ukraine. Credit: OSV News photo/Kevin Lamarque, Reuters


Dear President Trump,

As a Catholic priest, I take seriously your recently stated desire to get into heaven. “I want to try and get to heaven, if possible,” you told Fox News yesterday. “I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”

Mr. President, you have been working to bring peace to Ukraine, where Pope Francis said, “Christ is crucified in refugees who flee from bombs with children in their arms.” I can understand how working toward peace would awaken within you the desire to continue to do good and also turn your thoughts to heaven.

I can also understand the feeling that you are “at the bottom of the totem pole,” which we all feel from time to time. Spiritual writers often call this “compunction,” a sense of our own sinfulness. We’re all sinful in one way or another. Jesuits often say that we are all “loved sinners.” Loved by God, but sinful. We shouldn’t lose sight of either word.

Moreover, the desire to enter heaven is part of the universal human longing for union with God. As is of course, the equally human desire to avoid the fires of hell, which, by the way, I believe in.

So even though our lives are quite different, we are, like our fellow human beings, in the same boat: wanting entrance into the reign of God.

First Things First

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 

 Matthew 6:31.

The Lord would not have any one of us be presumptuous, care not for health, and make no provision whatever for a sustenance; but when He sees the world taking all the thoughts and absorbing all the affections, He sees that eternal realities are lost sight of. He would correct this evil, which is the work of Satan. The mind, which should be trained to high, elevated contemplation of eternal realities, becomes common, bearing the image of the earthly. Jesus comes to present the advantages and beautiful imagery of the heavenly, that the attractions of heaven shall become familiar to the thoughts, and memory’s hall be hung with pictures of celestial and eternal loveliness.

He sees the chambers of the mind filled with those things which defile. He places God before them as the center.... He passes through the market places, where everything is full of activity and bustle, and the voice of the traders is heard. The lessons He gives in the dense crowd that gathers to listen to His words are a warning from heaven like the trump of God to break the spell of infatuation. “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall he give in exchange for his soul?” Mark 8:36, 37.

The great Teacher gives man a view of the future world. He brings it, with its attractive possessions, within the range of his vision.... He presents the actual claims of God and heaven. If He can fasten the mind upon the future life and its blessedness, in comparison with the temporal concerns of this world, the striking contrast is deeply impressed upon the mind, absorbing the heart and soul and the whole being. He thus removes the things of time and sense from the affections where they have had the supremacy, and gives them their place as subordinate to the higher and eternal realities. He invests life with the highest responsibilities. He shows man that he must live to a purpose, separating from all life’s vanities.


Our High Calling, p.286
.
.

The Open and the Shut Door

Do the two apartments in the earthly sanctuary symbolize two different phases in the ministry of Christ in the sanctuary in heaven?

Illustration © Review and Herald Publ. Assoc.


Sabbath, March 24, 1849, we had a sweet and very interesting meeting with the brethren at Topsham, Maine. The Holy Ghost was poured out upon us, and I was taken off in the Spirit to the city of the living God. Then I was shown that the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ relating to the shut door could not be separated, and that the time for the commandments of God to shine out with all their importance, and for God's people to be tried on the Sabbath truth, was when the door was opened in the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary, where the ark is, in which are contained the ten commandments. This door was not opened until the mediation of Jesus was finished in the holy place of the sanctuary in 1844. Then Jesus rose up and shut the door of the holy place, and opened the door into the most holy, and passed within the second veil, where He now stands by the ark, and where the faith of Israel now reaches.

I saw that Jesus had shut the door of the holy place, and no man can open it; and that He had opened the door into the most holy, and no man can shut it (Revelation 3:7,8); [See page 86. See also Appendix.] and that since Jesus has opened the door into the most holy place, which contains the ark, the commandments have been shining out to God's people, and they are being tested on the Sabbath question.

I saw that the present test on the Sabbath could not come until the mediation of Jesus in the holy place was finished and He had passed within the second veil; therefore Christians who fell asleep before the door was opened into the most holy, when the midnight cry was finished, at the seventh month, 1844, and who had not kept the true Sabbath, now rest in hope; for they had not the light and the test on the Sabbath which we now have since that door was opened. I saw that Satan was tempting some of God's people on this point. Because so many good Christians have fallen asleep in the triumphs of faith and have not kept the true Sabbath, they were doubting about its being a test for us now.

The enemies of the present truth have been trying to open the door of the holy place, that Jesus has shut, and to close the door of the most holy place, which He opened in 1844, where the ark is, containing the two tables of stone on which are written the ten commandments by the finger of Jehovah.

Satan is now using every device in this sealing time to keep the minds of God's people from the present truth and to cause them to waver. I saw a covering that God was drawing over His people to protect them in the time of trouble; and every soul that was decided on the truth and was pure in heart was to be covered with the covering of the Almighty.

Satan knew this, and he was at work in mighty power to keep the minds of as many people as he possibly could wavering and unsettled on the truth. I saw that the mysterious knocking in New York and other places was the power of Satan, and that such things would be more and more common, clothed in a religious garb so as to lull the deceived to greater security and to draw the minds of God's people, if possible, to those things and cause them to doubt the teachings and power of the Holy Ghost. [See page 86. See also Appendix.]

I saw that Satan was working through agents in a number of ways. He was at work through ministers who have rejected the truth and are given over to strong delusions to believe a lie that they might be damned. While they were preaching or praying, some would fall prostrate and helpless, not by the power of the Holy Ghost, but by the power of Satan breathed upon these agents, and through them to the people. While preaching, praying, or conversing, some professed Adventists who had rejected present truth used mesmerism to gain adherents, and the people would rejoice in this influence, for they thought it was the Holy Ghost. Some even that used it were so far in the darkness and deception of the devil that they thought it was the power of God, given them to exercise. They had made God altogether such a one as themselves and had valued His power as a thing of nought.

Some of these agents of Satan were affecting the bodies of some of the saints—those whom they could not deceive and draw away from the truth by a Satanic influence. Oh, that all could get a view of it as God revealed it to me, that they might know more of the wiles of Satan and be on their guard! I saw that Satan was at work in these ways to distract, deceive, and draw away God's people, just now in this sealing time. I saw some who were not standing stiffly for present truth. Their knees were trembling, and their feet sliding, because they were not firmly planted on the truth, and the covering of Almighty God could not be drawn over them while they were thus trembling.

Satan was trying his every art to hold them where they were, until the sealing was past, until the covering was drawn over God's people, and they left without a shelter from the burning wrath of God, in the seven last plagues. God has begun to draw this covering over His people, and it will soon be drawn over all who are to have a shelter in the day of slaughter. God will work in power for His people; and Satan will be permitted to work also. 

I saw that the mysterious signs and wonders and false reformations would increase and spread. The reformations that were shown me were not reformations from error to truth. My accompanying angel bade me look for the travail of soul for sinners as used to be. I looked, but could not see it; for the time for their salvation is past.1

1The writer of these words did not understand them as teaching that the time for the salvation of all sinners was past. At the very time when these things were written she herself was laboring for the salvation of sinners, as she has been doing ever since.

Her understanding of the matter as it has been presented to her is given in the following paragraphs, the first published in 1854, and the second in 1888:

"The 'false reformations' here referred to are yet to be more fully seen. The view relates more particularly to those who have heard and rejected the light of the advent doctrine. They are given over to strong delusions. Such will not have 'the travail of soul for sinners' as formerly. Having rejected the advent, and being given over to the delusions of Satan, 'the time for their salvation is past.' This does not, however, relate to those who have not heard and rejected the doctrine of the second advent." "It is a fearful thing to treat lightly the truth which has convinced our understanding and touched our hearts. We cannot with impunity reject the warnings which God in mercy sends us. A message was sent from heaven to the world in Noah's day, and the salvation of men depended upon the manner in which they treated that message. Because they rejected the warning, the Spirit of God was withdrawn from the sinful race, and they perished in the waters of the flood. In the time of Abraham, mercy ceased to plead with the guilty inhabitants of Sodom, and all but Lot with his wife and two daughters were consumed by the fire sent down from heaven. So in the days of Christ. The Son of God declared to the unbelieving Jews of that generation, 'Your house is left unto you desolate.' Looking down to the last days, the same infinite power declares, concerning those who 'received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved,' 'For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.' As they reject the teachings of His Word, God withdraws His Spirit, and leaves them to the deceptions which they love." 

Early Writings, pp. 42-45.

Source

.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also

(Branson, Missouri)

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.


Matthew 6:19-21
King James Version (KJV)

.

When the roll, is called up yonder

When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more,

And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;

When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore,

And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

Refrain

When the roll, is called up yon-der,

When the roll, is called up yon-der,

When the roll, is called up yon-der,

When the roll is called up yonder I’ll be there.

On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise,

And the glory of His resurrection share;

When His chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies,

And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

Refrain

Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till setting sun,

Let us talk of all His wondrous love and care;

Then when all of life is over, and our work on earth is done,

And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

Refrain

Words & Music: James M. Black, 1893 (MI­DI, score).

.

,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Слова & Музыка: , 1893 (When the Roll Is Called Up Yon­der). В час, когда труба Господня над землею прозвучит И настанет вечно светлая заря, Имена Он всех спасенных в перекличке повторит, Там по милости Господней буду я. Припев На небесной перекличке, На небесной перекличке, На небесной перекличке, Там по милости Господней буду я. В день блаженный воскресенья всех умерших во Христе, Водворенья их в обители Царя, Всех святых, омытых кровию, пролитой на кресте, Созовет Он, и на зов отвечу я. Припев Дай трудиться для Тебя, Господь, любовью всем служить С утра раннего и до заката дня, А когда велишь работу мне земную Ты сложить, На небесный клич тогда предстану я. Припев .

In the Sweet By and By

In the Sweet By and By

lab1965


Uploaded on Jul 11, 2009


More great music by the Lighthouse Quartet --
There's a land that is fairer than day,
And by faith we can see it afar;
For the Father waits over the way
To prepare us a dwelling place there.

.

Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth,..

2 Peter 3

¹This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:

²That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

³Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

⁴And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

⁵For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

⁶Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

⁷But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

⁸But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

⁹The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

¹¹Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

¹²Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

¹³Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

¹⁴Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

¹⁵And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

¹⁶As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

¹⁷Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

¹⁸But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

.

Heavenly Debate: Kirk Cameron vs Stephen Hawking

Heavenly Debate: Kirk Cameron vs Stephen Hawking

The High Priest of a New Covenant

Hebrews 8

The High Priest of the Heavenly Sanctuary

1Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;

2A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

3For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.

4For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:

5Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

A New Covenant

6But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.

7For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

8For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:

9Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.

10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

13In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

.

Death, No Gateway To Heaven — Rev. E.W. Bullinger, D.D.

Rev. E.W. Bullinger, D.D. — Death, No Gateway To Heaven

May 11, 2009 at 3:59 pm ·

In the Christian realm today there is unscriptural teaching concerning the death of the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are constantly being told by well-meaning Christians that at death, “We go to be with the Lord.” This phrase is used especially at funerals where preachers misquote or take the Scriptures out of context to reassure the sorrowing that their loved ones are not really dead, but are really enjoying Heaven in God’s presence. This teaching promotes belief in the lie of Satan, rather than what God told Adam and Eve when He placed them in the Garden.

In Gen. 2:17 God said, “But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest of it thou shalt surely die.” In the Hebrew this could read “Dying thou shalt die.” This was a certainty.

In Gen. 3:1, Satan speaks for the first time in the Scriptures. He asks Eve (by the Figure Erotesis for emphasis), “Yea, hath God said,” or “Can it be that God hath said…?”

In Gen. 3:4, Satan’s second utterance, we read, “And the serpent said unto the woman, ‘Ye shall not surely die’….” This is a plain contradiction of God’s Word in Gen.2:17. As one has said long ago, “This has become the foundation of spiritism and traditional belief as to death.”

Let us search the Scriptures for ourselves and see what God has said and inspired His saints to record regarding the dead.

After the fall of Adam in Gen. 3:6, when he deliberately disobeyed what the Lord had commanded in Gen. 2:16-17, we read in Gen.3:19 God saying to Adam, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.”

Notice that there is no mention of the traditional “hell.” The sentence is that man returns to dust.

In Job 14 we read in verse 10, “But man dieth and wasteth away: yea, man give up the ghost, and where is he?” Verse 12 reads, “So man lieth down and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.” Vs. 13-15 reads, “O Thou that wouldest hide me in the grave, that Thou wouldest keep me secret, until Thy wrath be past, that Thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer Thee…“

These verses in Job 14 teach us that Job, a believer, in God, acknowledges that man is but dust and returns to the dust at death. In that state, Job, as a believer, awaits a resurrection when God will call him to awake, and Job will answer. Death is but a sleep to the believer. This is what our Lord taught in John 11, and what Paul taught in 1Thess.4 and 1Cor.15. We shall speak of these passages later.

In Psalm 89:48, the writer says, “What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul (himself), for the hand (power) of the grave?”

We read in Psalm 115:17, “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.”

Psalm 49 teaches that man is not able to redeem himself, but is doomed to corruption. He is like the beasts that perish, (v. 12 &20). God alone redeems us from the grave or dust (v. 15).

In Ecclesiastes 9:5 we read that the dead know not anything, neither have they anymore a reward (advantage); for the memory of them is forgotten (ceases to exist). See also v.10.

The context of Eccl. 12 concerns the approaching old age of the individual. The once strong body is now like a frail trembling person unable to help himself. Verse 7 tells us that dust (body) returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it. The word for spirit is the Hebrew word “ruach“, not nephesh (soul).

According to Gen. 2:7 the Lord God formed man of the dust of the earth, or ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath (Heb. neshamah) of life and man became a living soul (Heb.-nephesh). So man is a soul, and without life (given by God) man is-or becomes-a dead soul. It is the spirit, or life, that God gives and takes away. There are no souls (as separate parts of the person) in Heaven.

What did our Lord say just before He died in Luke 23:46? “And when Jesus cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit: and having said thus, He gave up the ghost.” Jesus breathed life and it was committed into the Father’s care. Jesus for 3 days and three nights was dead.

Now back to the Old Testament again to see what God caused to be recorded.

In Gen. 25:8, we read, “Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.” This last phrase is an idiomatic figure of expression for death and burial. Abraham’s people were idolaters. See Joshua 24:2. So Abraham, the man of God, the man of faith, at his death went to the grave (dust of the earth), just as his people did who were idolaters.

In Gen. 35:29, we read, “And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.”

In Gen. 49:29 we read, “And he (Jacob) charged them, and said unto them, “I am to be gathered unto my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite.” Verse 33 reads, “And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.”

Again we say that this expression “gathered unto his people” was a Hebrew idiom used for death and burial. There is no suggestion here of any one going to a place of bliss. It will take the resurrection power of God to raise the dead ones.

In Deut.32:49 the Lord told Moses to go to Mount Nebo to view the land of Canaan. In verse 50 God said, “And die in the mount….and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in Mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people.”

In Deut.34:5-7 we have recorded the burial of Moses by the Lord, which is said of no other. Verse 5, “So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the Word of the Lord.” Verse 6, “And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-Peor; but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.” Verse 7, “And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated.”

In Psalm 6:5, David in his prayer said, “For in death there is no remembrance of Thee. In the grave who shall give Thee thanks?” Also, in Psalm 30:9, “What profit is there in my ‘blood’ (or life), when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise Thee? shall it declare Thy truth?” Lev.17:11 says,”For the life of the flesh is in the blood…”

Turning now to the New Testament we see in John 3:16“…that whosoever believeth on Him (Christ) should not perish, but have everlasting life.” And in John 3:36, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life…” Again in John 5:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” These verses do not teach us that the believer will not die, for in the next verse the Lord tells us, “..The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” This living is in the resurrection. The eternal life promised us will be fulfilled completely in the resurrection.

In John 11 we see the glory of God shown by the raising of Lazarus from the dead. In verse 11 Jesus said to His disciples, “…Our friend Lazarus; but go, that I may awake him out of sleep.”

Take note here that Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, was already dead. He was not in heaven. Verses 13 and 14 tells us exactly what the Lord meant in verse 11 when He said, “Lazarus sleepeth.” Verse 14 reads, “Then said Jesus unto them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead.’ Now Lazarus is seen here as already decaying (verse 39). In verse 24, Martha says to the Lord, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” She did not believe that her brother was in some place of bliss, such as Abraham’s bosom. This is the error that the unbelieving Pharisees taught the Jews. It was a false teaching that the Lord exposed in Luke 16 when He addressed these unbelieving Pharisees.

We remember the Old Testament teaching that man is a soul (Gen.2:7), and that at death his spirit, or life, goes back to God who gave it.

In John 11:33, when Jesus saw Mary weeping, and the Jews which came with her, He groaned in the spirit (or Himself), and was troubled. The word ‘groaned’ has the meaning to snort as a horse does from fear or anger. Hence, to feel strong emotion or to be indignant.

The grave, or death is the realm of Satan, and Christ was about to remove Lazarus from this realm ahead of the resurrection time. The Lord was soon to go to the cross and die and be raised to break the power of the grave which Satan held. Of course, Lazarus had to die again as he did not have a resurrected body.

This whole context of chapter 11 was to show forth the glory of God as Jesus said in verse 40. If you, as a Christian, one who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, believe that upon death a part of you can exist apart from the body, (which is exactly what the unbelieving Pharisees taught the Jews) and this part of you is enjoying himself in this state, then tell me: why did the Lord bring back Lazarus to this realm of woe and sorrow?

Also, why was the command given to the 12 in Matt.10:8 to raise the dead? And again, why did Elijah the prophet raise from death the widow’s son in 1Kings 17:17-24? And why did Paul in Acts 20:10 bring to life Eutychus, who was taken up dead? There is no place in the Scriptures where who were raised from death ever spoke of being in Heaven, or in a place of bliss.

Turn to Acts 2:29. Peter, speaking to Jewish people shortly after the day of Pentecost, said, “Men and brethren, let me freely (or frankly) speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre (or tomb) is with us unto this day.” Can anyone truthfully say that David, in some form, has gone to heaven to be with Christ? What does verse 34 tell us? “For David is not ascended into the heavens…”

Peter had just received the promise of God spoken of in Luke 24:49 by the resurrected Christ. This promise was to be endued (or filled) with power from on high. Peter received this on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-4. We must believe this Spirit-filled man when he said David has not ascended up to the heavens. David is seen as still sleeping in the dust. He is awaiting the call to life by his Lord.

In Acts 13, we find the apostle Paul speaking in Antioch (in Pisidia) to men of Israel, and those that fear God. In verses 16-37 Paul is giving forth a short summary of the history of Israel as a nation. The climax of this discussion is that God sent His son to Israel to be their Savior; they crucified Him, but God raised Him up. In verses 35-37 Paul writes, “Wherefore He saith also in another psalm, ‘Thou shalt not suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption; For David after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on asleep, and was laid unto His fathers, and saw corruption. But He, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.”

Here we see the contrast between David and God’s Son, Jesus Christ. The expression “fell on sleep” is used by Paul for David’s dying and remaining in the grave, or state of death, until resurrection. David’s body experienced decay and corruption. Christ’s body did not see corruption as he was raised the third day. So Paul’s teaching agrees with Peter concerning the state of David.

Paul, the apostle of God, and chosen by God to preach good news to the nations concerning His Son Jesus Christ, was inspired to reveal more light on death of the believer and his resurrection from the state of death.

In 1Cor.15:12-23, Paul answers the objection of some in his day who said that there is no resurrection of dead ones. Paul said, “…if there be no resurrection of dead ones then Christ never was raised.”

In verse 17, Paul carries the case one step further and said, “…if Christ be not raised, then is our preaching vain (to no purpose), ye are yet in your sins.” Note here, the believers who have died (fallen asleep) are also perished. If believers go immediately to Heaven at death, could Paul have uttered this strong statement-”are also perished“? In verse 20 Paul shouts forth the the truth: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” Note how often in these Scriptures we read of them that sleep, have fallen asleep, asleep in Christ. We cannot ignore these words which the Holy Spirit inspired, and say of the dead that they are not really dead, but immediately ushered into God’s presence.

Paul tells us in verse 22, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Verse 23 “But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.” Christ is and has to come again. Verse 26 tells us the last enemy to be destroyed is death. Death has not yet been put down, but because of Christ’s death and resurrection Satan’s hold on the power of death will eventually be put down.

We as believers in Christ are yet mortals, but we have the promise of immortality. In 1Tim.6:16 Scripture says that God only has immortality.

In 1Cor.15:51-55 we see more of God’s truth being revealed or made known. In verses 51 and 53 Paul says, “Behold, I show you a mystery (secret); We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. For this corruptible must put on corruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”

Paul then says that when all the above happens, when shall be brought forth to pass the word that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death where is thy sting, O grave where is they victory?” See Isa.25:8 and Hosea 13:14.

When Paul wrote these truths to the Corinthians during the Acts period, Israel as a nation was on trial before God. The rulers and high priests had rejected their Messiah who had come according to their prophets. God answered Christ’s prayer on the cross, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

So, Israel had a second chance to repent as a nation and turn to Jesus their Messiah as Peter states in Acts 2 and 3. But stubborn Israel refused and God started to deal with individuals rather then the nation of Israel. The time element was such that Israel’s Great Tribulation, the time of Jacob’s Trouble spoken by Daniel the prophet, was very close at hand.

Paul’s message in 1Co.15 includes truths concerning this period of Israel’s tribulation as seen in versed 51 and 52. Paul expected that he could be one of those that would be alive at the end time of Israel’s Great Tribulation.

In verse 51 Paul said, “Behold, I shew (or tell) you a mystery (secret); We shall not all sleep (but be actually alive), but we shall all be changed (that is we shall instantly put on a resurrected body). Verse 52, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumped shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we (the living) shall be changed. “Verse 53, “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” Verse 54, “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ “Verse 55, “O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?”

These verses teach us that at this time, the living believer, as well as the dead believer in Christ, must put on a resurrected, glorified body in order to be partaker in Christ’s second coming. The dead ones have to be made alive and be clothed in an incorruptible body, and the living mortals must put on immortality, or instantly be changed with a spiritual glorified body.

Another area in Scriptures that is constantly used by both preachers and laymen is 2Cor. 5:8. This verse is taken out of it’s context to show that at death the believer is immediately alive in Heaven. This is not what the verse or context teaches us.

The subject matter form 4:14 to 5:8 is the believer’s resurrection and his present body and resurrection body. We have the Apostle Paul explaining to the Corinthians in 5:1 that there is a spiritual body that God has in His power to give at the time resurrection.In verse 2 Paul says, “For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house (habitation) which is FROM Heaven.” Paul expected and looked for the return of the Lord in his own lifetime during the Acts. He earnestly wanted a changed body ( the on spoken of in 5:1). Paul did not want to die, but rather the opposite, he wanted to be alive at Christ’s coming.

Paul said in 5:4 “For we that are in this tabernacle (or body) do groan, being burdened; not that we would be unclothed (dead and naked state with no body), but clothed upon (with that new or resurrected spiritual body of v. 1), that mortality might be swallowed up by life (eternal life). “

Paul was looking for the return of Christ in his lifetime, and so while still living in the flesh he could groan at for that new body. He could not groan at all if he were dead. He did not want to be found naked, or dead at Christ’s coming, but hoped to be alive, or clothed.

In v. 6 Paul explains that if we are at home (alive) in this body, we are absent from the Lord (without a change taking place or resurrection we do not see Christ). Verse 8 is often taken out of context of resurrection, to tell people that their loved ones who have died are now with the Lord. This is not what Paul is saying at all.

He sums up the context from 4:14 to 5:8 which concerns the earthly body (mortal) and the spiritual body (resurrection body).

Paul in verse 8 would be well pleased and delighted to leave this body (mortal body) and to present with the Lord (in his resurrected body). Now the error that is prevalent is, that apart from resurrection one at death can be immediately with the Lord. This error is taught in spite of what Paul teaches in 1Tim 6:16, that God only has immortality, but only in resurrection, not at death. Paul said in 1Cor.15:53, “This mortal must put on immortality.” This is in the context in resurrection.

At almost every funeral we find the preacher contradicting his message in which he has assured the bereaved that their loved one is now in God’s presence. After he quotes 2Cor.5:8 and not the previous verses of the context, he will most likely turn to 1Thess. 4:14-18. These verses flatly contradict the teaching that at death the believer departs to be with the Lord. Let us examine the context of this passage more closely.

Both epistles to the Thessalonians contain teaching concerning the soon coming of the Lord as predicted by the Lord himself in Matt.24 and Acts 1:1-7. The exact time of Christ’s second coming was not for His disciples to know, but the signs of that early period of Acts pointed to His soon appearance. Paul taught these things during all of missionary journeys, and wrote them to 1 & 2 Thess. and also 1 & 2 Cor. In Thess 1:10 Paul admonishes the believers who turned from idols to serve the true and living God, “…to wait for His Son from Heaven, Whom He raised out from the dead, even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come.” These believers in Christ were told to wait, to look for Christ’s coming in their lifetime.

But now since Paul had first visited them, some of the new converts had died. This had caused much sorrow among them, for now their dead ones would miss Christ’s coming.

So Paul had to write words of comfort to these people and he does this in Thess. 4:13-18. In verse 13 Paul writes, “I would not have you be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep (have died), that you sorrow not, even as others (unbelievers) which have no hope.” Notice the expression Paul uses here as he does so much else where, ‘them which are asleep.’ For Paul this meant that death is likened to sleep. Now in verse 14 Paul is showing the bereaved ones why they should not sorrow over their dead ones. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God (through Jesus) bring with Him.”

Here are the comforting words of Paul for the bereaved saints. They will come with Jesus at His coming to earth. But, you say, they are sleeping in death. Yes, but the next few verses explain how they will come with the Lord.

Verse 15: “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive (have not died) and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not precede (go ahead) of the sleeping ones to meet the Lord.”

In verses 16 and 17 Paul explains just how this takes place and the sequence of events. “For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout (word of command), with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive, and remain (the living believers at this event), shall be caught up (snatched away) together with them (the risen dead ones) in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so (by this order of events) shall we ever be with the Lord.”

This context the reveals the truth of God for this great event and the sequence in which it unfolds. These words of Paul were given in comfort to believers in verse 13.

Do you not see the contradiction of words of those who tell us our loved ones are already enjoying the bliss of Heaven? Friends, it takes a resurrection time to unite dead believers unto a living spiritual or resurrection body. The Scriptures demand such an explanation.

It seems to me that it is high time for the scriptural truth to be taught regarding the state of the dead that the Holy Spirit has given us to understand.

To sum up this teaching regarding the state of the believer who had died in Christ, we offer the following points:

1. Adam was created by God and was or became a living soul when God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. (Gen. 2:7). There is no basis for teaching that the man Adam had a soul in this or any other passage of Scripture.

2. If Adam disobeyed God by eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Adam would die. (Gen 2:17).

3. Satan told Eve that she would not surely die. (Gen. 3:4)

4. The penalty of death was to return to dust of the earth. (Gen. 3:17-19).

5. The Old Testament teaches us that at death, the believers in God, gave up the spirit and were gathered to their people. This was and idiomatic expression for dying and being buried, just as their people before them had done. (Gen.49:29-33, 35:29, Deut.32:48-50).

6. The Psalms and Ecclesiastes teach that at death the spirit (that which is life) goes back to God who gave it. Also, in death, there is no memory, for the dead know nothing (Psalms 89:48, 115:17, Ecc.9:5, 12:7).

7. Our Lord taught His disciples that belief in Him would assure them of eternal life. They had this hope and joy within them, but it was in the resurrection that this promise was to be fully realized (John 10:27-28, 11:25-26, 5:24, 3:14-18, 3:36).

8. The expressions asleep, asleep in Christ, fallen asleep, and dead in Christ, were used by Christ and the Apostle Paul to show that the believer who had died was not to remain in the grave or death state forever. The time in the grave for the believer is so short that it is likened to going to sleep and awakening in the morning. Time for the dead believer does not exist (John 11:11-15, Acts 13:36, 1Cor.15:18-20, 1Thess.4:13-18).

9. Paul teaches us that only in the resurrected body can the saint, or Christian, be at home with the Lord. No one can live eternally with the Lord apart from his resurrection body. Paul strongly affirms that only God has immortality in Himself. We as living or dead believers have to put on immortality, and this is not when we die, but when Christ gives us a resurrection body in that day. (1Cor.15:42-44, 5-1-55, 2Cor.5:1-8; 1Tim.6:14-16).

Source: http://antipreterist.wordpress.com/2009/05/11/rev-e-w-bullinger-d-d-death-no-gateway-to-heaven/

cakes to the queen of heaven

Jeremiah 7

1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

2Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.

3Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

4Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.

5For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;

6If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:

7Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.

8Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.

9Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;

10And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?

11Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.

12But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

13And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;

14Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.

15And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.

16Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.

17Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

18The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

19Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?

20Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.

21Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.

22For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:

23But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

24But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.

25Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:

26Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.

27Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.

28But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

29Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.

30For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.

31And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.

32Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.

33And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.

34Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.

MARCHING TO ZION

Come, we that love the Lord,
And let our joys be known;
Join in a song with sweet accord,
Join in a song with sweet accord
And thus surround the throne,
And thus surround the throne.

Refrain

We’re marching to Zion,
Beautiful, beautiful Zion;
We’re marching upward to Zion,
The beautiful city of God.

The sorrows of the mind
Be banished from the place;
Religion never was designed
Religion never was designed,
To make our pleasures less,
To make our pleasures less.

Refrain

Let those refuse to sing,
Who never knew our God;
But favorites of the heavenly King,
But favorites of the heavenly King
May speak their joys abroad,
May speak their joys abroad.

Refrain

The God that rules on high,
And thunders when He please,
Who rides upon the stormy sky,
Who rides upon the stormy sky,
And manages the seas,
And manages the seas.

Refrain

This awful God is ours,
Our Father and our Love;
He will send down his heav’nly powers,
He will send down his heav’nly powers,
To carry us above,
To carry us above.

Refrain

There we shall see His face,
And never, never sin!
There, from the rivers of His grace,
There, from the rivers of His grace,
Drink endless pleasures in,
Drink endless pleasures in.

Refrain

Yea, and before we rise,
To that immortal state,
The thoughts of such amazing bliss,
The thoughts of such amazing bliss,
Should constant joys create,
Should constant joys create.

Refrain

The men of grace have found,
Glory begun below.
Celestial fruits on earthly ground
Celestial fruits on earthly ground
From faith and hope may grow,
From faith and hope may grow.

Refrain

The hill of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets
Before we reach the heav’nly fields,
Before we reach the heav’nly fields,
Or walk the golden streets,
Or walk the golden streets.

Refrain

Then let our songs abound,
And every tear be dry;
We’re marching through Immanuel’s ground,
We’re marching through Immanuel’s ground,
To fairer worlds on high,
To fairer worlds on high.

Refrain

Words:
Isaac Watts, Hymns and Spir­it­u­al Songs, 1707; re­frain by Ro­bert Low­ry.
Music:
Ro­bert Low­ry, 1867
(MI­DI, score). Al­ter­nate tunes (these do not use the re­frain):
Ain, ar­ranged from
Arc­an­ge­lo Cor­rel­li by

Low­ell Ma­son, Car­mi­na Sac­ra (Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts: J. H. Wil­kins & R. B. Carter,1844), num­ber 160
(MI­DI, score)
Silchester,
H. A. Cé­sar Ma­lan (1787-1864)
(MI­DI, score)
St. Thom­as (Will­iams),

Aar­on Will­iams, 1770
(MI­DI, score)