Dear Editor,
JUST RECENTLY I attended the funeral services of a deceased friend.
The deceased lied in the casket at the front of the worship service while deacons and pastors repeatedly advocated that the person is in now in Heaven. Then at some points they would refer to the scripture in I Thessalonians 4:16 – 17 Such contradiction !
No where in they BIBLe can you find anything that states about anyone going to Heaven (or hell) upon death. The scripture, however, speaks to the dead in Christ being in their graves, awaiting the second coming of the King of kings; when they will be resurrected and at that time taken to Heaven with Him. This is referred to as the First Resurrection as mentioned in Revelations 20: 5
I wonder if these preachers really research and even listen to what they keep telling their congregations. Why would Christ have to return for his saints if when they die they all go off to heaven ? What sense does that make ? Is He going to call them out of heaven, put them back in the graves and resurrect them …then wisk them off to heaven ? Ridiculous!
It is quite pellucid that common sense is not common. Can you imagine your deceased loved ones now in heaven looking down on you suffering on this earth and they are happy ? Just think on that for a few minustes. Quite insane indeed. That is not scriptural.
If Lazarus; (in the Bible) when he died had gone to heaven; certainly he, upon his resurrection ( by Jesus) , would have at least tell his sisters and others of his glorious time in paradise. Instead, NOT A SINGLE MENTION of him ever being in heaven. He was in the grave awaiting the resurrection when Christ arrived at his burial site. Such is the case for every Chritian who have died and who will die in Christ.
If anyone preacher can show me any scripture in the Bible that speaks of one going off to heaven upon death…please let me know and I will conform to their theology forthwith.
Please DO NOT come with the false doctrine of “immortal soul”.The Bible speaks of humanity as mortal souls who should seek immortality through Christ Jesus. There is NO place in the Bible that speaks of man having an immortal soul. Man himself is a “soul”.. He does NOT have a soul. The soul that sins shall die. Ezekiel 18:4 In fact, the scripture clearly states that “God alone has immortality. 1 Timothy 6:16
But thats another truth that Christianity has corrupted. To think that most of these pastors know the truth but they refuse to tell their congregations. Then also, it is imperative for each person to search the scriptures for himself/herself and seek out the truth. Do not just accept what I say or what anyone else says. Do like the Bereans and search the word for themselves. Acts 17: 11
For this article: I want to emphasize again. When one dies…he/she is just that….DEAD…like a sleep…and remains in the grave or where ever our remains are lodged. So it is until the resurrection: either the First resurrection which will take place at the second coming of Christ or the second resurrection which will occur one thousand years after the first.
The Bible is crystal clear on these points. Truth is hard to accept when one is adorned in deception.
I challenge any pastor or theologian to identify any scripture in the Christian Bible that speaks of anyone going to heaven or hell upon their death.
SIMPLE TRUTH: LET IT BE TOLD. The enemy has deceived the whole world. Throughout history the majority has always been in error. Only a minority holds earnestly to the TRUTH.
It is time the people question their pastors’ theology and determine for themselves whether their teachings come from the Christian Bible.
Beware of traditions. Mark 7:7-9
The majority of the Christian world is cloaked in the traditions of man and have been blinded to the truth.
The Bible says: “Come out of her my people”. Babylon….the mother of harlots….full of deception and evil.
The deceiver never looks like it is evil. That is why it is called deception because it appears to be good…to be genuine…evil wrapped up with some resemblence of good. Wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Time to awake, people. Do NOT TAKE MY WORD OR ANYONE ELSE’S WORD: GO STUDY THE SCRIPTURES FOR YOURSELVES. SEEK OUT THE TRUTH.
DON’T BE DECEIVED.
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To the criminal who sought Jesus’ power over death, “Today you will be with me in Paradise”.
Joe Parrish and Elizabeth and others: Look at that scriptural passage in context. The text you refer to comes from Luke 23:43. From my studies, there is a comma that was omitted after ‘today’ in the KJV bible. So what it should actually say is, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” He was referring to the conversation that day. It’s like if you are sick and me telling you, hey, today, I will take care of you. You are still sick, but I’m letting you know of my intentions today for the future.
Think of it carefully, the thief on the cross could not literally be with Jesus in heaven that day, as Jesus Himself was not even in heaven that day, He was on the cross… and he wouldn’t be in heaven for the next forty days. He ascended to heaven after His death 40 days after His crucifixion. Think of it logically. Hope you understand. Blessings.
I feel obliged to respond to the comments of this article because the author does make a lot of sense and understand the scripture correctly.
My friend, ask any pastor and they will tell you that the issue with that scripture is with the punctuation. The Scripture then written had no punctuation marks whatsoever.
The correct phrasing of that verse should be like this : “And Jesus said unto him, “Verily I say unto thee today, shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.” Luke 23:43
You see where the comma is makes the big difference. Ask any English language teacher. Christ NEVER went to paradise on that day He died on the cross. He was in the tomb three days and rose from the death on the third day.
No where did the scripture state that He we went to heaven.
In the same sense Lazarus NEVER went to heaven when he died. He was in the tomb 4 days until Christ resurrected him.
Ask yourself: Did Christ on His crucifixion go to Heaven or when He was resurrected on early the first day of the week ? Absolutely NOT ! When Mary tried to hold on to Him at the Tomb site (after His resurrection), He emphatically told her ” not to touch Him because He had not yet ascended into Heaven John20:17
In fact, Christ ascended into Heaven 40 days after His resurrection. Ten days after that was the day of Pentecost….as mentioned in Acts.
But the main point is: Indeed the Bible only teaches of Christians who die….sleeping in the graves until the second coming of Christ. Then they will be resurrected. The living Christians at that same time will be translated ..caught up in the air to meet Christ and all together will return to heaven. The fact is on His second coming Christ will not touch this earth. He will only return for those who are faithful. (still alive) and were faithful (Christian dead).
The idea of a secret rapture is not in the Bible either. It says when Christ returns..every eye will see Him. It will be a NOISY, TREMENDOUSLY LOUD ENTRANCE. NO ONE WILL MISS IT.
So I am asking any pastor out there to refute anything the author mentioned in the article and come up with scriptural support to prove that what was written is not TRUTH.
We all grew up accepting traditions of our parents and grandparents without questioning where those traditions originate.
Search the word yourself….discover TRUTH.
Do NOT take my word or the word of another…just as the article’s author stated.
Prove for yourselves.
Jesus told the thief on the cross. “Today you will be with me in paradise “
@Elizabeth
Yes He told him that “Today, you will be with me in paradise” (punctuation is important)
Did Jesus go to paradise that day? NO!
Another thing Jesus Died that day .. hence they didn’t need to break his legs. However they broke the legs of the other two. They all didn’t die the same day
Read Matthew 27:52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
Well said, Bruh or sis🤔, Well said😎
I like this article, the writer is absolutely 💯 percent accurate, this doctrine of an immortal soul is a lie from the pit of hell, it is a teaching that was taught by the Roman catholic church centuries ago. Search the scripture for yourself and you will find the truth.
While the members of the church are not perfect, it’s founder and it’s principles are. Read the epistles and you will be surprised to find that a large portion of it was addressing incorrect behaviour and false teachings – IN the church. The teaching the author has described is one such example. It is convenient and palatable for grieving persons but it has no scriptural basis. Thankyou for addressing this. Let’s correct it, move one and not throw the baby out with the bath water.
The bible compares death to a sleep. I know of 2 people that have been dead and come back. They say they saw nothing. Having said that, I did read an article where scientists have documented surges of brain activity just before a person dies. This would explain the after death “experiences” but if we are to go on what the bible says, the souls of the dead (the righteous at least) are just asleep.
I encourage everyone to carefully consider that while not immortal (unless regenerated) your soul is still eternal. It will continue to exist somewhere…forever, as the bible teaches in either heaven or the lake of fire. The choice is yours and it is your God-given right to decide your own destiny. Choose wisely.
Much respect to Antigua Newsroom for publishing this
The bible says the dead in Christ sleep and await his return. It does also say that he promised the thief to be in paradise that day. Let us not miss the point though, the only way to enter the Kingdom of heaven is by being born again, of water and spirit (John 3:5) and no preacher can correct a failure to do so before you leave this earth. The purpose of the funeral is not to preach to the dead but the living. It may be that the grieving knew the departed one’s lifestyle and would thus surmise that he would not make it to a better place, but for them there is still time. When preachers miss their opportunity by wanting to bring comfort without conviction they do the listeners a great disservice
ABBA YAH may the writer of this article have a first hand experience of the afterlife and encounter Father Abraham like the rich young ruler did. May he or she beg Father Abraham from hell (LUKE 16:23 KJV) to send a spirit back to warn all of us BUT it was too late. YOU WICKED deceivers don’t you know EVERYONE IS A BELIEVER IN HELL!
Indeed! If you’re already in heaven, then the Second Coming and the resurrection makes no sense. That’s logical. I believe that the Adventist church teaches this, which makes absolute sense.
The writer of this post is spot on. Ponder:”He will come again to judge both the quick and the dead”. It follows that we, I’m referring to believers in The Word Of God, will await his coming whenever that may be for “No man knoweth the day or the hour of his coming. We shal all then be weighed in the balance, the wheat from the chaff and the sheep from the goat. Until then R.I.P in your grave, no Heaven or hell until The Almighty decides your fate.
Interesting article!!
Food for thought!!
I’m going to go read my Bible right now!!🙏🏽
THAT THE CITY IS ON A HIGH PLATEAU WITH JERICHO DOWN THE HILL.
…THAT WHEN YOU LEFT THE HOLY CITY TO JERICHO (where vices is the norm), ONE WAS GOING DOWN TO HELL.
…THAT GOING UP TO JERUSALEM FROM JERICHO, WAS GOING TO HEAVEN.
think it was Louis Farakhan
life after death… well for now, hope we live on in the memory of others… longer if we do good.
This is so sad. 90% of Christians have no idea or even proper knowledge of this Bible we read. Knowledge is way better than belief. All my research shows none of these names fitted to the synoptic gospels ever wrote those books. Mark was written first without the last 8 or so verses. Matthew upgraded mark. Luke upgraded Matthew then John had to correct so many cultural mistakes in all three.
Who knows about all the saints who came out their graves when Jesus gave up the ghost? They were the first to rise from the dead even before Jesus according to Matthew 27- 52,53. No pastor talks about that.
So much more to say. Seek knowledge first.
The soul would probably be immortal if Adam would have gotten to the tree of life after he sinned. I once use to believe the tradition teachings before but now I don’t, alot of preachers preach and many turned to God out of fear of hell instead of love, you either will be alive living for the Most High or destroyed by fire, for the life you live. You spend 50 years on this earth and if you do wrong you will be punish a for a billion years? That will instil fear into alot of people. God is not like man, I never seen a parent in this life keep spanking his child for something wrong he did yesterday everyday. Love of God and love for people is the answer in this world. Love covereth a multitude of sins once we have that ,no space or time for negative energy. Good article! Some will agree and some disagree but that’s how we learn.
But there is no heaven or hell….
Please provide a source other than the Bible to corroborate the heaven and hell option.
There is one thing that I’m certain of that Jesus Christ never did and that was to glorify death, he glorified life and the living. The thought that you go to burry someone to announce they have gone to heaven, is simply foolishness and not the job of a pastor. So, me for one do not like going to funerals, because there is no death to a born again believer, no death, because Jesus Christ already died in your place, all you have to do is accept that gift and live forever.
most christians dont or cant read so … hmmm they are moved by emotions and the thoughts and belief of their so called pastors
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