Do You Really Want Truth?

The soft breeze blowing through the cemetery was unusually cool and pleasant for late summer in Austin, Texas. The thin clouds kept the sun from burning down on us too brightly. The traffic on interstate 35, a few hundred yards from us was noticeable, and a bit bothersome, but not extremely loud. The date was September 17, 2008. A tall, lanky young soldier raised his trumpet and began playing the somber tones of taps as his two comrades respectfully stood guard over the flag-draped casket. Inside the casket lay the body of John Harding Sobek Sr. John, a World War II veteran and recipient of the Purple Heart, had fallen asleep for the last time at age 87. John was my wife April’s maternal grandfather, better known to her as “Pa Pa.”

John’s wife of 60 years, Lillie (or “Me Ma” to the grandchildren), had preceded him in death in 2002. Me Ma and Pa Pa were Lutherans, although not actively involved in their church. The same easygoing Lutheran minister presided over both John and Lillie’s graveside services. As we listened to him speak about Pa Pa, I recalled him describing Me Ma as “smiling down on us” from heaven when he preached her service six years before. Now he was telling us that Pa Pa and Me Ma were “holding hands” up in heaven. “What hands” I wondered, “is he talking about? Pa Pa and Me Ma’s hands are still attached to them as they sleep dreamlessly in their graves.”

True, the preacher was doing a nice job of presenting a sentimentally comforting picture. But the picture for sure was a far cry from reality. I wondered if the Lutheran preacher had ever read any of the funeral sermons that the founder of the Lutheran movement preached five hundred years ago. We will look at beautiful excerpts from some of those reality-based messages, which, in my view, are much more comforting than the fables. We will see a striking difference between the 21^st century preacher’s idea of the state of the soul in death and that of his illustrious sixteenth century spiritual forefather.

Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a German monk, theologian, university professor, and church Reformer. “Luther’s theology challenged the authority of the papacy by holding that the Bible is the only infallible source of religious authority and that all baptized Christians under Jesus are a universal priesthood.”¹ History recognizes Luther as the prime initiator and most outstanding figure of the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation. His is a glorious legacy in many respects. “Luther’s attack on the all-powerful Catholic Church was a knife to the heart of an empire that had endured for over a thousand years. . . . But Luther would do more than revolutionize the Church — he offered the Christian world a new vision of man’s relationship with God and, in turn, redefined man’s relationship with authority in general.”² Through that fearless Reformer, God brought about “the collapse of the medieval world and the birth of the modern age.”³

We are each personally accountable to God. Furthermore, we do not need a priest or dead saint to intercede for us — we pray directly to God though Christ. The principle underlying these truths also indicates that you are personally responsible for seeking out and obeying Biblical truth, and that no pastor or prelate has any authority over your conscience.

Luther recovered the Biblical teaching that souls sleep peacefully and unconsciously from the moment of death to the resurrection at the second coming of Christ. Some of his writing was contradictory as he wrestled with his old biases, and as he wrestled with less progressive reformers like Calvin who failed to break-out-of-the-box of their prejudice on the subject. Consequently his writings contain some statements seeming to support temporary soul consciousness in death, but the majority of his statements on the subject (by one count at least 125 times)⁴ affirm his ultimate conclusion that souls sleep in death. One example of Luther’s mature, Biblically founded belief, translates in the quaint Old World English of 1573 as follows:

“Salomon judgeth that the dead are a sleepe, and feele nothing at all. For the dead lye there accompting neyther dayes nor yeares, but when are awaked, they shall seeme to have slept scarce one minute.”⁵

Let’s read some insightful lines from some outstanding funeral sermons that Luther penned. The upbeat, confident and encouraging tone of Luther’s message captivates me each time I read them.

Sermon I: For Use at Funerals

St. Paul writes to those at Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 4:13), that they should not sorrow over the dead as the others who have no hope, but that they should comfort themselves with God’s Word, as those who possess sure hope of eternal life and the resurrection of the dead. For it is no wonder that those who have no hope grieve; nor can they be blamed for this. Since they are beyond the pale of the faith in Christ they either must cherish this temporal life alone and love it and be unwilling to lose it, or store up for themselves, after this life, eternal death and the wrath of God in hell, and go there unwillingly. But we Christians, who have been redeemed from all this through the precious blood of God’s Son, should train and accustom ourselves in faith to despise death and regard it as a deep, strong, sweet sleep; to consider the coffin as nothing other than our Lord Jesus’ bosom . . . the grave as nothing other than a soft couch of ease or rest. As verily, before God, it truly is just this; for he testifies, (John 11:21): Lazarus, our friend sleeps; (Matthew 9:24): The maiden is not dead, she sleeps. Thus, too, St. Paul, in (1 Corinthians 15:1), removes from sight all hateful aspects of death as related to our mortal body and brings forward nothing but charming and joyful aspects of the promised life. He says there (vv. 42ff): It is sown in corruption and will rise in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor (that is, a hateful, shameful form) and will rise in glory; it is sown in weakness and will rise in strength; it is sown a natural body and will rise a spiritual body.⁶

Sermon II: Christ’s Call From the Dead

You must not calculate how far life and death are apart, or how many years may pass while the body is wasting in the grave, and how one after another dies, but endeavor to grasp the thought of Christ with reference to the conditions apart from this time and hour. For he does not calculate time by tens, hundreds or thousands of years, nor measure the years consecutively, the one preceding, the other following, as we must do in this life; but he grasps everything in a moment, the beginning, middle and end of the whole human race and of all time. And what we regard and measure according to time, as by a long drawn out rule, all this he sees as at a glance, and thus both the death and life of the last as well as of the first man are to him as only a moment of time.

Thus we should learn to view our death in the right light, so that we need not become alarmed on account of it, as unbelief does; because in Christ it is indeed not death, but a fine, sweet and brief sleep, which brings us release from this vale of tears, from sin and from the fear and extremity of real death and from all the misfortunes of this life, and we shall be secure and without care, rest sweetly and gently for a brief moment, as on a sofa, until the time when he shall call and awaken us together with all his dear children to his eternal glory and joy. For since we call it a sleep, we know that we shall not remain in it, but be again awakened and live, and that the time during which we sleep, shall seem no longer than if we had just fallen asleep. Hence, we shall censure ourselves that we were surprised or alarmed at such a sleep in the hour of death, and suddenly come alive out of the grave and from decomposition, and entirely well, fresh, with a pure, clear, glorified life, meet our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the clouds.

Therefore we should entrust and commend to our true Savior and Redeemer ourselves, body, soul and life, with all confidence and joy, just as we must commend to him our life without care in our bodily sleep and rest, assured that we shall not lose it, but be truly and carefully preserved in his hand, maintained and again restored. Here you see, as he shows in reality, how easy it is for him to awaken men from the dead and restore them to life, as he came to the maiden, took her by the hand, as some one else might do to awaken one from sleep, and with a word called, “Maid, arise!” and the maiden suddenly arose, as if she had been awakened from sleep. We see here neither sleep nor death, but wakefulness and freshness, even as Lazarus came forth from his tomb. . . .

Scripture everywhere affords such consolation, which speaks of the death of the saints, as if they fell asleep and were gathered to their fathers, that is, had overcome death through this faith and comfort in Christ, and awaited the resurrection, together with the saints who preceded them in death. Therefore the early Christians (undoubtedly from the Apostles or their disciples) followed the custom of bringing their dead to honorable burial and wherever possible interred them in separate places, which they called, not places of burial or grave-yards, but coemeteria, sleepingchambers, dormitoria, houses of sleep, names which have remained in use until our time; and we Germans from ancient times call such places of burial God’s acres, as St. Paul, (1 Corinthians 15:44), says: ‘It is sown a natural body;’ for what we now call church-yards were not at first places of burial. This is the teaching and comfort of this Gospel lesson.⁷

Did you notice Luthers’ reference to the fact that early Christians called their places of burial “coemeteria, sleepingchambers” and “dormitoria, houses of sleep”? When I first realized the importance of that historical fact, I was thrilled. We still use the name cemetery today without realizing the original meaning — sleeping chamber. This historical detail is a vital clue to help us understand the way early Christians thought of temporal death. To them it was an unconscious sleep from which each would eventually be awakened at the second coming of Christ.

John Calvin (1509-1564) was a French convert from Catholicism to Protestantism who became a famous theologian during the Protestant Reformation. He “was a central developer of the system of Christian theology called Calvinism or Reformed theology.” ⁸ Though Luther, Tyndale, Frith, and other notable Reformers sought to bring Christians back to a Biblical view of the state of the dead, John Calvin did not concur. Calvin bitterly opposed belief in soul sleep during temporal death. When Luther, under pressure from Calvin, toned down his Biblical teaching about the soul, the common people were not able to progress beyond medieval superstition on the subject. It was John Calvin’s teachings of eternal soul consciousness, as put forth in his treatise Psychopannychia that disastrously caused the majority of Protestantism to retain the basic Dark Ages tenets about the soul. Calvin, though a great Reformer in many ways, was nevertheless a fallible human being; only God is infallible! As Reformers such as Calvin died off, their followers became satisfied with their attainments, allowing the reformation spirit to wane. (A significant number of Lutherans, Baptists, and Anglicans have historically held the Biblical Conditionalist position that death is unconscious sleep, but the majority has not.)

Conditionalists vs. Traditionalists

In chapter 1 we noted that there are two major opposing schools of thought among religionists concerning the nature of the human soul. We refer to these two groups as traditionalists and conditionalists. Traditionalists believe that immortality (never-ending conscious existence) is the automatic God-given inheritance of every human soul, both redeemed and damned. Conditionalists believe that God created humans mortal and grants immortality only to people who have faith in Him and that immortality will be bestowed in a bodily resurrection at the second coming of Jesus. The Bible clearly teaches the Conditionalist view from cover-to-cover and nowhere teaches anything even remotely resembling the traditionalist view! In fact, the Bible, speaking of God, says, “He alone possesses[unconditional]immortality.”(1^st Timothy 6:16a NEB, Bracketed word supplied by this author)

Traditionalists base their beliefs about the soul on popular traditions handed down from previous generations. Of course, there is nothing wrong with keeping “traditions” so long as those traditions don’t clash with God’s Word. (See 2^ndThessalonians 2:15; 3:6) The problem arises only when we teach traditions made up by men, which fly in the face of God’s Word. (See Matthew 15:1-9; Colossians 2:8)

John Calvin used the force of his strong personality to pressure other reformers to retain traditional medieval views on the nature of the human soul. The reason Calvin’s view on the subject of soul sleep won out over Luther’s and Tyndale’s and became the established “orthodoxy” of Protestantism is described by Edward Fudge as follows:

[Calvin’s treatise entitled Psychopannychia] was a vehement attack on the doctrine (which he ascribed to the detestable Anabaptists) that man’s ‘soul’ either died with the body or slept until the Day of Judgment. Because the hated Anabaptists were associated with this doctrine, Calvin’s opposition to it increased all the more. And even though Luther and Tyndale had both expressed the same mortalist views as the Anabaptists, the intense opposition of Calvin and Bullinger to the doctrine led the other leaders to drop the subject rather than to chance dividing the whole Reformation over what seemed to be a minor point.⁹

From our perspective today, we see that this “minor point” has indeed had major ramifications on the modern church and world history. Although the Anabaptists had many flaws, sometimes serious flaws, they also had a valuable contribution to make to the Christian world. Tragically, Protestants, as well as the Catholics, harshly persecuted them. Their contribution has remained marginalized for the past 500 years.

One of Calvin’s most glaring misuses of Scripture was his tendency to make up allegories from passages of Scripture that the context does not warrant. The intensity and determination of Calvin’s personality were vital to his success as a Reformer, but these very qualities had a negative flip-side that led him to blindly retain prejudices and argue for positions that he could not support with an unprejudiced approach to Biblical exegesis. One such example is taken from the great defining crisis in Abraham’s life. Let’s read the suspenseful account now.

1 “Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ ² Then He said, ‘Take now your son, your only [son] Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.’ ³ So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. ⁵ And Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.’ ⁶ So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid [it] on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. ⁷ But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, ‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ Then he said, ‘Look, the fire and the wood, but where [is] the lamb for a burnt offering?’ ⁸ And Abraham said, ‘My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.’ So the two of them went together. ⁹ Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. ¹⁰ And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ But the Angel of the Lordcalled to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ So he said, ‘Here I am.’ ¹² And He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only [son,] from Me.’ ¹³ Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind [him was] a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.” Gen 22:1-13 (NKJV)

What an awesome scene! Packed with suspense — knife in hand — hand raised — ready to plunge — looking into his son’s eyes — incredibly distressing! The mental struggle for Abraham must have been enormous. Few men will ever be tested to the extreme degree that Abraham was. But what was it all about? Why the test?

You and I are under condemnation for breaking God’s great Law of Love. We have the death penalty hanging over us, like a razor sharp knife ready to plunge. But if someone whose character is equal to the broken Law should die in our place then the claims of the Law would be satisfied. We could then receive a second probationary opportunity to have the Law written in our hearts. With God’s Law in our hearts, we would no longer be a threat to God’s government and could receive eternal citizenship in His Kingdom. The only One Who could take our place was Jesus Christ because He alone is equal to the Law of God (the Father and Holy Spirit excepting). The 10 Commandment Moral Law is a concise transcript of God’s absolutely perfect character. He is Holy!

God never intended for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. But He did want to prove Abraham’s character to a level that few others will ever be required to experience. What a severe test God placed upon Abraham — Isaac was the most precious treasure of his life.

So when Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb”, he was unwittingly prophesying the eventual sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God. Oh, my friend, what God did in sacrificing His most beloved Son for you is represented by what He commanded Abraham to do. That beautiful portrait of love is so incredible, so amazing that we cannot fully wrap our finite minds around it. Let us behold, ponder and meditate upon that marvelous magnetic love until we are drawn into deep fellowship with our magnificent Savior and the glorious Father. “God is [absolutely pure] Love.” (1^st John 4:8; 16)

John Calvin distorted the meaning of Abraham’s “sacrifice” of Isaac to support his personal prejudices. He forcefully allegorized the events and claimed that the ram represented Christ’s body which died but that “in the binding of Isaac is represented the soul, which showed only a semblance of dying in the death of Christ.”¹⁰ Let’s look at Calvin’s brash, invalid theological assertion in the context of his whole statement.

Isaac . . . was a type of Christ. . . . But the ram which had been caught in the thicket was substituted for Isaac. And why is it that Isaac does not die, but just because Christ has given immortality to that which is peculiar to man. . . . I mean the soul? But the ram, the irrational animal which is given up to death in his stead, is the body. In the binding of Isaac is represented the soul, which shewed only a semblance of dying in the death of Christ.¹¹

Here Calvin develops a far-fetched doctrine strikingly similar to that of the ancient Docetist heretics who claimed that Christ only appeared to die but did not truly die. The New Testament refutes such notions with the clear affirmation that, Jesus Christ came “to give his life-[psuche] as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28) As the Good Shepherd, He “giveth his life-[psuche] for the sheep.” (John 10:11) That word “life” in those passages is psuche in the Greek, the same word translated soul throughout the New Testament.

The truth is far more wonderful than the myth Calvin developed, and the real allegory is in what Christ did endure, not in what He supposedly did not endure. Furthermore, Isaac did not represent the soul of Christ. Isaac symbolized the fact that you and I don’t have to die the “second death” horror of utter, God-forsaken hopelessness while sinking into eternal, unconscious oblivion. (Revelation 2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8) Jesus, represented by the ram, was our ransom. He passed through the horrific mental torments of hell for us. “Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, . . . my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46)

No, Jesus did not literally die the second death. He experienced the mental equivalent of the God-forsakenness that each lost soul will feel in hell. But more than this, He experienced it on an exponential level all at once for all of us. It was an immeasurable amount of mental consternation. He sweat blood as He wrestled with the temptation to flee back to heaven and leave you and me to experience the second death for ourselves. (See Luke 22:44) This extreme mental stress caused His great heart of love to burst in His chest as He hung on the cross. But praise God! He rose from the tomb! “I [am] he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore.” (Revelation 1:18a) He’s alive!

Jesus’ resurrection is the basis for the final resurrection of all who sleep in Him. He said, “I lay down my life-[Greek-psuche, soul], that I might take it again,” (John 10:17) Please note that the original Greek text that the New Testament was written in says that Jesus laid down His psuche. Psuche is translated soul in numerous places in English language New Testaments. In other words, Jesus’ human soul died. His humanity rose back to life through the power of His own divinity.

Humanity died; divinity did not die. In His divinity, Christ possessed the power to break the bonds of death. He declares that He can raise whomever He chooses from the grave — He is the fountain, of life. “I have power to lay it [my life] down, and I have power to take it again.” (John 10:18b) “I am come,” He says, “that they might have life-[Greek, zoe, i.e. basic life force or vitality], and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10b) Christ is life itself. He is the Source of all vitality.

Jesus Christ endured an agonizing death under the most humiliating circumstances that we might live forever. He gave up His precious life that He might vanquish death. He rose from the tomb, and proclaimed, “I am the resurrection, and the life-[Greek, zoe, i.e. basic life force or vitality].” (John 11:25) Jesus’ resurrection and ascension is a pledge that heaven is open to every person who trusts in His blood. Jesus ascended to the Father as a representative of the human race, and God will redeem everyone who copies His character and makes it their own.

Luther and Calvin were great church Reformers in many respects, despite their shortcomings. Luther’s anti-Semitic tone (perhaps inherited through the writings of errant predecessors such as John Chrysostom), his acquiescence to the persecution of the Anabaptists and some German peasant groups, and his failure to challenge Calvin steadfastly on the issue of soul sleep are the major blots against his otherwise illustrious name. We hold Luther and Calvin in high esteem even as we acknowledge their errors, and as we move forward to a purer understanding of Scriptural truth than they apprehended.

Our primary focus is the Western branch of Christianity, but let’s take a few moments and give some attention to Eastern Orthodox teachings on the nature and destiny of the human soul.

In a nutshell, Eastern Orthodoxy teaches that the human soul is a conscious entity apart from the body. This view is virtually identical to the view held by Roman Catholicism and passed on by default to most of Protestantism. However, The Orthodox Church’s view of heaven and hell is not very well developed. Eastern Orthodoxy’s Heaven and Hell are not separate places but rather the difference between what is experienced by the two groups of souls, good and evil, which all dwell in the presence of God after the death of the body. According to Orthodox apologist Peter Chopelas,

While Heaven and Hell are decidedly real, they are experiential conditions rather than physical places, and both exist in the presence of God. . . . The Holy Orthodox Church . . . teaches that all people come into the presence of God in the afterlife. Some will bask in joy because of that infinite love, glory, light, power, and truth that is Almighty God. Others will cower in fear and be in torment DUE TO THAT SAME PRESENCE. All the same, there will be some kind of separation or “great gulf”.¹²

While there is no question that according to the scriptures there is torment and “gnashing of teeth” for the wicked, and glorification for the righteous, and that this judgment comes from God, these destinies are not separate destinations. The Bible indicates that everyone comes before God in the next life, and it is because of being in God’s presence that they either suffer eternally, or experience eternal joy. In other words, both the joy of heaven, and the torment of judgment, is caused by being eternally in the presence of the Almighty, the perfect and unchanging God.¹³

So according to Eastern Orthodoxy, there will be never-ending suffering and torment for those who experience God’s presence as “hell.” In 1993, Orthodox theologian Constantine Cavarnos published a series of lectures entitled Immortality of The Soul. Cavarnos asserts that there is real fire in the presence of God that torments the souls of the lost as they are “suspended” in the flames. In his chapter titled “Testimony in the Lives of Saints and other Writings,” he says,

In the Evergetinos there is also the following story about an out-of-the-body experience that serves as evidence of the afterlife: “There once lived a monk named Peter. This monk was a disciple of the hermit Ebbasa, who lived in a deserted and forested area. Ebbasa related to Peter that before he settled in that deserted place he had become ill and died. However, after a short time his soul returned to the body. When he had come to himself, he assured those around him that he had seen with his spiritual eyes the torments of Hell and its countless flaming places, and that he had seen a fair number of departed rulers of this world suspended in that fire. And as he himself was being led away to be cast into that place of torment and flame, a radiant Angel suddenly appeared and prevented them from casting him there. The Angel then said to him: ‘Go and mind yourself, from now on you should live very carefully.’ Afterwards, he gave himself up to the most austere fasting and vigils, always recalling and fearing the torments he had seen in hell.”¹⁴

Superstitious myths like this are typical of the “authoritative sources of truth” offered by countless Orthodox and Roman Catholic theologians. This is why I quote them very sparingly — only just enough to give you a general picture of where they are coming from. They have almost nothing to offer to the discussion that can stand up to Biblical scrutiny.

The distinguished contemporary philosopher and Orthodox thinker, who presented the above quoted anecdote as evidence of the immortality of the soul, has a Ph.D. from Harvard. This man surely has an exceptional mind, and yet on many points of religious belief he follows unfounded myths and non-Biblical tradition. He used several Bible texts in his book in an attempt to prove that the human soul is immortal — in my view, he did not interpret even one of those texts with the meaning of the original writer — no not even one! I wonder how many people are being fatally deceived by the silly superstitions he teaches. How tragic!

Jesus uttered scathing rebukes against the religious leaders of His day who were teaching superstitions and traditions that were opposed to the teachings of Scripture. (See Matthew 15:3-9; 23:9-39) Might He have similar rebukes today, for religious leaders who disseminate superstitions and traditions that contradict the plain teachings of the Holy Bible?

There are honest-hearted men serving as ministers in the confused churches who have not clearly seen the light in Scripture. They are a product of their training and we need to be compassionate toward them, considering ourselves and how we would want to be treated were we in their place. I would want to be told the truth in a very frank manner but with compassion too. To be kind doesn’t mean that we refuse to speak cutting truths, but we do love and pray for those who teach error. It is a grievous sin for pastors and church leaders to teach unbiblical traditions in the name of God. That sin must be fearlessly confronted. Says Jesus, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” (Revelation 3:19)

Emperor Constantine merged church and state in the early fourth century A.D. The Church “structure created by Constantine and the bishops was not the Roman Catholic Church. It was the imperial church”¹⁵ encompassing both the western and eastern branches of Christianity. During this period, the bishop of Rome was not the head of the church — the emperor, located at Constantinople, was the head of the church. (The great Schism between east and west began in the 800’s and finally culminated in a complete split in 1054.)

The Constantinian Church can be described as both Orthodox and Catholic, since each of these branches descended from it; but simply to call it Roman Catholic is incorrect, though doctrinally the imperial church began as one religion.¹⁶

Theologically the Eastern Orthodox Churches differ from Catholicism in that they baptize by immersion, have always given the laity access to both the bread and the wine of the Eucharist, and allow the majority of their priests to marry. . . . Above all, they refuse to recognize the pope as the head of Christianity, though they acknowledge him as a senior Archbishop. Yet these are relatively minor differences, in comparison with the beliefs that they and Catholics share. As Anthony Wilhelm points out, “The Orthodox Churches have the same basic doctrines, moral code, Mass, sacraments, devotion to Mary and the saints, etc., as the Roman Catholic Church.”¹⁷

The Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and most Protestant churches have invested too much in their traditions for us to expect that they will ever investigate and give up unbiblical teachings about the soul. They are not willing to pay the painful price of conflict and separation that would come within their ranks if they were honestly to confront their own heretical teachings. These churches, because they choose to mix traditional pagan beliefs with pure Christian teachings, are doctrinally confused. Many popular churches are moving even farther away from pure Biblical doctrines, and are uniting on such points as they hold in common. Among the major points of unity is the false, unbiblical dogma that the human soul is immortal.

We are not referring only to liberal mainline churches, but to right-wing evangelical churches as well. The evangelical-right claims to adhere strictly to Biblical teachings. Nevertheless, like the Pharisees of old, they have elevated many non-Biblical traditions above the Scriptures. To them God says, “you have been ‘making the word of God of none effect through your tradition.’” (Mark 7:13a)

Modern Evangelicalism embraces the teaching of natural soul immortality as a part of “orthodoxy” and as such, they consider it off-limits for critical Biblical investigation. Anyone who challenges orthodoxy is open to the charge of heresy and perhaps equated with the sect called Jehovah’s Witnesses. Actually, Jehovah’s Witnesses erroneously teach that in some special cases, disembodied human souls remain awake and ascend to heaven at the death of the body as invisible spirits.¹⁸ The following quotations come from two of the Jehovah’s Witnesses own official publications.

One of the many enlightening truths that God now gave his witnesses was about the members of God’s spiritual nation who had died physically. . . . The dead spiritual Israelites had been raised in 1918 to life in heaven with Christ Jesus. It was an invisible resurrection, of course. . . . From 1918 on, when one of the last ones of God’s spiritual nation dies he does not have to sleep in death.¹⁹

He [Christ] went to prepare a heavenly place for his associate heirs, “Christ’s body,” for they too will be invisible spirit creatures.²⁰

Of course, the Jehovah’s Witnesses do bury the physical bodies, which are not raised to life with the supposedly bodiless invisible spirits of their special “spiritual nation.” These documented quotes prove that Jehovah’s Witnesses’ don’t believe a body is necessary for human consciousness. So their position on the nature of the soul is almost identical to so-called orthodoxy and completely opposed to the Biblical teaching of man’s indivisible, wholistic nature. Furthermore, they also teach that even Christ is an invisible spirit without a body and will remain so forever.

He [Christ] needs no human body any longer . . . The human body of flesh, which Jesus Christ laid down forever as a ransom sacrifice, was disposed of by God’s power.²¹

One of the greatest needs of Christianity today is serious, thorough, investigative Bible study on the part of pastors and the laity. But investigative Bible study is overtly taboo among the popular churches of today. Many pastors actually warn their flocks against critically examining “orthodoxy” through any kind of investigative Bible study. Some threaten to discipline or even disfellowship members who attempt to place any of the church’s traditions on the table for serious, Biblical cross-examination. Vital Bible study is being suppressed in the name of so-called unifying love. But from cover to cover the Bible teaches that God values truth above unity. Union with God is always rooted in a transparently truthful and obedient relationship, even when truth is unpopular and obedience uncomfortable.

Many Catholics might feel chagrined when confronted with indisputable evidence that the Roman Catholic Church adopted many of its traditions from pagan religions. For example, the use of Rosary prayer beads was adapted from Buddhism and is a practice not found anywhere in the Bible. The repetitious mechanical prayers chanted when counting the beads is a heathen form of prayer that Jesus forbade. “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen [do]: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” (Matthew 6:7) Bead counting and robotic, machine-like praying is also part of the pagan Hindu and Seik traditions, and a practice of some Muslims. Genuine prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend. He is our Creator Father; we should simply speak to Him with the reverence due our Creator and the affection naturally felt for a kind and attentive father.

The strange-looking miter worn by bishops during ceremonies is a prominent example of Roman Catholicism syncretizing heathen symbolism with Christian. The bishop’s miter is a tall, pointed, folded cap resembling the gaping mouth of a fish. In fact, that is exactly what it was initially designed to represent. It was originally a symbol of the ancient fish god Dagon.

These are only two of a great many Pagan religious traditions Roman Catholicism “baptized” into the church without authority from God. Is there harm in syncretizing pagan symbolism with Christianity? Perhaps the better question to ask is, “If the church starts down that slippery slope of mixing and mingling the true with the false, where does she stop?” The Roman church over the centuries absorbed vast amounts of pagan liturgy, symbolism, and dogma and incorporated it into church practice. The church hierarchy made-up numerous dogmas, superstitions, and authoritative regulations and assimilated them into church tradition without any authority from Scripture. The church hierarchy acclimate the laity to these aberrant superstitions over long periods by modeling oral and written traditions without the enactment of any official church laws at first. After generations and sometimes centuries of acclimation, the hierarchy formally adopts many of these firmly established traditions as official church dogma. Let’s briefly note just a few more here:

Pope Gregory VII requires the Celibacy of the priesthood, AD 1079. The sale of indulgences begins (buying permission to sin), AD 1190. Pope Innocent III blasphemously proclaims the dogma of Transubstantiation as the power of a priest (sinful mortal) to bring God down out of heaven into a cup and wafer, AD 1215. Pope Innocent III institutes auricular Confession of sins to a priest instead of to God in the Lateran council, AD 1215. The council of Valencia places the Bible on the “Index of Forbidden Books” and the common people are officially forbidden to have or read it! AD 1229.²²

All of the great sixteenth century Protestant Reformers, without exception, understood the New Testament reference to “Babylon” as an allegorical reference to Roman Catholicism (not the people, but the hierarchical system). This is a historically documented and undisputable fact. What the Reformers could not see at that time, however, is the fact that their own followers would lose the reformation spirit and not come all the way out of the doctrinal confusion of the “mother church.” The Reformers recognized the Roman Catholic system as the “Great Whore” of Revelation. But they did not see that their own denominations could become “daughter harlots” by retaining some of the “Mother of Harlots,” confused pagan-rooted teachings and by seeking, like her, to use the arm of the state to enforce religious dogma. (See Revelation 17 & 19) Preeminent among those corrupted teachings is the notion that people remain conscious in death.

There is DANGER in the belief that the soul is immortal. Satan will masterfully use that belief to deceive millions within the ranks of popular Christianity just prior to the return of Christ. This is a major reason why it is so important to understand the Biblical truth that dead people cannot communicate with the living. It is demons in disguise, pretending to be visitors from heaven who are doing the communicating. But their messages mingle deadly deception with alluringly beautiful truth.

“For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know nothing. . . There is no . . . knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.” (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10 NKJV)

“You return mankind to the dust, saying, ‘Return, descendents of Adam.’ . . . You end their life; they sleep.”(Psalm 90:3, 5a)

“His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” (Psalm 146: 4)

In chapters 18 & 19, we virtually view astonishing scenes from the future when Satan will use belief in soul immortality to pull-off his last and most vast worldwide deception.

Chapters 4 through 11 all prove from the Bible that so-called “ghosts” or conscious bodiless souls of dead people are not in heaven or hell right now. Dead people are asleep awaiting the return of Christ and the resurrection. Some will rise to eternal life with glorified new bodies. The rest will rise for judgment, punishment and the irrevocable “second death” in the fires of hell. “There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” (Acts 24:15)

“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. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 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 them which are asleep. 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: 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”(1^stThessalonians 4:13-18)

“But 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. But, 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. The 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. But 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. [Seeing] then [that] all these things shall be dissolved, what manner [of persons] ought ye to be in [all] holy conversation and godliness, Looking 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? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”(2^ndPeter 3:7-14)

“Blessed and holy [is] he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power.”(Revelation 20:6)

“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”(Revelation 21:8)

God has many faithful but partially misguided followers within the doctrinal confusion of twenty-first century Christianity. There are many honest-hearted Christians living up to all the light they have within the superstition-saturated system of Roman Catholicism itself. The book of Revelation urges the Remnant of God’s faithful to come out of the confusing fabricated dogmas of modern spiritual Babylon into the light of pure unadulterated Bible truth. The time is rapidly approaching when the problems within the spiritually confused churches will reach the saturation point, and God will completely reject them. At that time the issues will be clear to all who want to know the truth. And then to remain in spiritual Babylon would be treasonous to God and Christ. Babylon has fallen very low; her fall is soon to be complete. There is a dead fly putrefying in the Gospel ointment and the fallen churches have no intention of getting it out. Bible guides 18 & 19 in this series, give a clear, compelling Biblical explanation of what I am asserting here.

“And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” (Revelation 18:1-5)

Have you ever listened to the beautiful Celtic love song The Water is Wide? The plaintive lyrics of that song remind me of the hopelessness of thinking that the daughters of the Harlot will someday correct their errors — they will not — no never!

The water is wide, I cannot get over

Neither have I wings to fly

Give me a boat that can carry two

And both shall row, my love and I

A ship there is and she sails the sea

She's loaded deep as deep can be

But not so deep as the love I'm in

I know not if I sink or swim

I leaned my back against an oak

Thinking it was a trusty tree

But first it bent and then it broke

So did my love prove false to me

I reached my finger into some soft bush

Thinking the fairest flower to find

I pricked my finger to the bone

And left the fairest flower behind

Oh love be handsome and love be kind

Gay as a jewel when first it is new

But love grows old and waxes cold

And fades away like the morning dew

Must I go bound while you go free

Must I love a man who doesn't love me

Must I be born with so little art

As to love a man who'll break my heart

When cockle shells turn silver bells

Then will my love come back to me

When roses bloom in winter's gloom

Then will my love return to me

Dear friend, don’t wait till roses bloom in winter to make your decision. The fallen churches will only continue to fall further — they will never prove wholly trustworthy to Scripture. If you lean your back against that oak thinking it is a trusty tree, first it will bend, then it will break and it will prove false to you and ultimately to Christ too.

Jesus said to Pilate,

“’I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’ Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?’” (John 18:37-38 NKJV)

Another time Jesus said,

“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”(John 8:31-32 NKJV)

Dear friend, “What will you do with the Truth?”

Religious interest is increasing all over the world today. Much of the interest is mere sentimentalism and excitement, while there is also an ominous growth in fanaticism and spiritism. But there is also a sensible, sober, Bible-based awakening. The Reformation spirit is reviving as honest-hearted people move forward to a full recovery of Bible truths that were lost and buried by the corrupted church during the Dark Ages.

It is understandable that men such a Calvin and Luther just emerging from the appalling superstition of the Dark Ages were not yet able to see clearly all the false notions that had been amalgamated with Christianity. But what excuse do we have today? Frankly, in this era of great enlightenment, we have no justification for deliberately clinging to patently pagan superstitions which have no basis in Scripture and which bring the name of God into disrepute. So the question stands — Do you really want truth?

A Morass of Superstition

The following is an abbreviated listing of some of the corrupted traditions and dogmas the Roman church has replaced Bible truth with over the centuries. There have been many other corrupt enactments by popes down through the centuries, which are not included in this list. There have also been numerous corrupt and even vile traditions practiced by various regions of the Roman Catholic Church, although not officially established by church legislation. Nevertheless, this list does cover a significant number of the spiritually degrading official enactments made by the religious hierarchy: This list gives convicting evidence that just because a church teaches something does not mean that it is compatible with Bible reality.

1. (ca. A.D. 300) Prayers for the dead.

2. (ca. A.D. 300) Making the sign of the cross.

3. (A.D. 320) Wax candles (used as paraphernalia in sun worship. This practice was “Christianized” in order to make Christianity more palatable to half converted pagan sun worshippers).

4. (A.D. 375) Veneration of angels and dead saints.

5. (A.D. 375) The use of images. (In many Catholic Catechisms the Second Commandment, which forbids image worship, has been expunged and the Tenth Commandment has been divided into two in order to make a pretense that there are still Ten Commandments.)

6. (A.D. 394) The Mass as a daily celebration.

7. (A.D. 431) Beginning of the exaltation of Mary: the term “Mother of God” first applied to her by the council of Ephesus.

8. (ca. A.D. 445) Leo I was the first pope to claim that his authority came from Christ through Peter based on Matthew 16:18-19. Isn’t it interesting that none of the Bishops of Rome for over four hundred years had ever known such a thing until Leo made the amazing discovery!

9. (A.D. 500) Priests begin to dress differently from laymen.

10. (A.D. 526) Extreme unction.

11. (A.D. 593) Pope Gregory I established the doctrine of Purgatory

12. (A.D. 600) Gregory I commands the use of the Latin language in prayer and worship.

13. (A.D. 600) Prayers directed to Mary, dead saints, and the angels.

14. (A.D. 607) Title of Pope (Bishop of the Universe) given to Boniface III by Emperor Phocus.

15. (A.D. 709) Kissing the Pope’s foot, begins with pope Constantine.

16. (A.D. 750) Temporal power of the popes is conferred by Pepin king of the Franks.

17. (A.D. 786) Worship of the cross, images, and relics is officially authorized.

18. (A.D. 850) Holy water mixed with a pinch of salt and blessed by a priest comes into use.

19. (A.D. 890) Worship of St. Joseph.

20. (A.D. 927) The College of Cardinals is established.

21. (A.D. 965) Baptism of bells is instituted by Pope John XIII.

22. (A.D. 995) The canonization of dead saints is first done by Pope John XV.

23. (A.D. 998) Fasting on Fridays and during Lent begins.

24. (A.D. 1050) The Mass has gradually developed into a “sacrifice,” and attendance is now made obligatory.

25. (A.D. 1079) The Celibacy of the priesthood is required by Pope Gregory VII.

26. (A.D. 1090) The Rosary, a mechanical praying with beads, is introduced by Peter the Hermit.

27. (A.D. 1184) The Inquisition, in operation for centuries, is now made official by the council of Verona.

28. (A.D. 1190) The sale of indulgences begins.

29. (A.D. 1215) Pope Innocent III proclaims the blasphemous dogma of Transubstantiation as the power to bring down God out of heaven into a cup and wafer.

30. (A.D. 1215) Auricular Confession of sins to a priest instead of to God, is instituted by Pope Innocent III in the Lateran council.

31. (A.D. 1220) The Adoration of the wafer (Host) is decreed by Pope Honorius III.

32. (A.D. 1229) Laymen are officially forbidden to have or read the Bible — It is placed on the “Index of Forbidden Books” by the council of Valencia.

33. (A.D. 1251) Protection by a piece of cloth, the Scapular is invented by Simon Stock, a British monk.

34. (A.D. 1414) Laymen are forbidden to drink the cup at Communion, by order of the Council of Constance.

35. (A.D. 1439) Purgatory is proclaimed as a dogma by the Council of Florence.

36. (A.D. 1439) The doctrine of Seven Sacraments is affirmed on pain of mortal sin.

37. (A.D. 1508) The first part of the “Ave Maria” saying is made official.

38. (A.D. 1534) The Jesuit order is founded by Ignatius Loyola.

39. (A.D. 1545) Tradition (the sayings of Popes and councils) is declared to be equal in authority with the Bible, by the Council of Trent.

40. (A.D. 1546) The Council of Trent adds Apocryphal books to the Catholic Bible.

41. (A.D. 1560) The Creed of Pope Pius IV is imposed as the official creed of the church.

42. (A.D. 1593) The last part of the “Ave Maria” has been prepared, and is required by Pope Sixtus V.

43. (A.D. 1854) The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary is proclaimed by Pope Pius IX.

44. (A.D. 1864) The “Syllabus of Errors” is proclaimed by Pope Pius X, and ratified by the First Vatican Council, as the truth of God (It condemns freedom of religion, conscience, speech, press, and all scientific discoveries that have not been approved by the church).

45. (A.D. 1864) The temporal authority of the Pope over all rulers is officially reaffirmed.

46. (A.D. 1870) The absolute infallibility of the pope in all matters of faith and morals is proclaimed by Vatican I.

47. (A.D. 1930) All Non-Catholic schools, including public schools, are condemned by Pope Pius XI.

48. (A.D. 1950) The Assumption of the Virgin Mary (Bodily ascension into heaven shortly after her death) is proclaimed by Pope Pius XII.

49. (A.D. 1965) Mary is proclaimed to be the Mother of God by Pope Paul VI.²³

We can pinpoint the exact or approximate date at which each of these doctrines and practices became a part of the Roman Catholic system. Christ and His Apostles did not teach any of these concoctions — no not even one!

Two additional doctrines are now under discussion at the Vatican. One would declare Mary to be the Mediatrix of humankind. According to this dogma, we can approach God and Christ only through Mary. The second would declare Mary to be Co-Redemptrix of the world. Roman Catholicism already teaches that she is a Mediator working at each step together with Christ. “She is said to be the ‘Mediatrix of all graces,’ and the people are being told that the way to approach Christ is through His mother. ‘To Christ through Mary,’ is the slogan. Her images outnumber those of Christ, and more prayer is offered to her than to Christ.”²⁴

If you are not catholic, you might want to tune into catholic radio or television sometime and note the astonishing amount of hype surrounding Mary — a phenomenon wholly unknown to the early Christians. In fact, such gushing over Mary as a Co-Redemptrix with Christ would have been immediately identified as heresy by the Apostolic church.

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