Death deceptions

 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. 

And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, 

Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

The above text is taken from Genesis chapter 3 verses 1-4. I want you to take a look at the situation before us. Here we have a record of the first lie ever spoken in the history of humanity. I don't plan on preaching a sermon but we need to lay the foundation for the subject before us. God has clearly spoken to His beloved creation, His children, wrapped in His Glory, and living in the world He created for them, that they are not to eat of the fruit of a specific tree lest they die (Gen 2:16,17). Here in chapter 3 we have the serpent, Satan, telling Eve that in fact she shall not die. This leaves us at an interesting crossroads does it not? Was God telling the truth, or was Satan?

Fast forward to the year 2007. A survey entitled World: Religiosity (III) Belief in Life after Death shows a staggering number of individuals from many countries believe in life after death. From the survey 100% of Egyptians believe this while 99% of Indonesians and those from Saudi Arabia believed in life after death. America ranks in at 81%

This in my opinion is amazing! Here we have, at the beginning of creation God telling men that they would die if they were disobedient. Satan comes in and says "No, you won't really die", and so many millennia later we have the majority of the world, as it would seem, believing the devils lie. This reader bothers me deeply. Many people are wholly unaware of the dangers that are intertwined with this belief that the soul lives on after death. Perhaps we should take a quick second to examine what exactly a soul is.
Definitions retrieved from Google:

• the immaterial part of a person; the actuating cause of an individual life 
• ...is the or eternal part of a living being, commonly held to be separable in existence from the body--the metaphysical part as distinct from the physical part. 

 Definition from the bible:

• And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Gen 2:7)

So to make that a little clearer, man became a living soul only after God breathed life into His body, which was formed out of the dust of the ground. A soul is the human being. It is not a separate part, but it is who he/she is. Their total being. Consider also that the soul is thought to be immortal. This however is not accurate for the scriptures tell us that only God has immortality (1 Tim 6:16).

So you can see for yourself dear reader, the biblical understanding of the soul and the traditional understanding of the soul are at odds with each other. One definition comes from the throne of grace while the other comes from the pit of hell.

Now you may be asking why I'm even bothering with this. Does it even matter whether or not you do or don't live on after dying? What's the big deal anyway, can't I believe it if I want to? It can't hurt to believe in an immortal soul right?

The answer to those questions get's us back on target with the theme of this blog. I entitled this blog Death Deceptions for a reason. The idea that you live on when you die is a lie fabricated by the devil himself, meant to ensnare and trap the unsuspecting. It is meant to set the stage if you will for a host of deceptions that will catch many off guard. Satan is hell-bent on the destruction of the human race. He is destined for hell and wants to take as many people with him as he can. To do this he must get individuals to turn their back on the truths of God's word. Now before you start thinking that I'm saying that everyone who believe in life after death is hell-bound, you can pump your brakes. I assure you that is not what I am saying.


What I am saying is that if you believe that the dead aren't dead, and if you leave yourself open to that idea, you may find yourself headed down the path of spiritualism. Many people are ruled by their senses and emotions. That which I can taste, touch, see, smell, and that which makes me feel good is what I can agree with. How then could someone who is misinformed about the true state of the dead be expected to discern between the appearance of a demon or an angel? If your dear mother has gone on before you, or your beloved father, or precious child, has gone to their grave; if they were to appear before you clothed in a garment of light and were to begin giving you what they said were messages from heaven, would you not believe them? Here they are just as they were before. Their walk, talk, and mannerisms are all the same.

You may think to yourself "It must be them! God truly does exist and my loved one is in heaven with Him!"

What would you think if after this they told you that an angel from heaven would soon come to speak with you, or that others would soon experience the same thing you've just experienced because God is preparing to save everyone! These messages from these so called angels would be tailored to destroy the recipient. Again, Satan doesn't care how he gets you, nor is he concerned about your feelings being crushed in the process. He knows that much of humanity won't budge on God unless they have an "experience", and he is gearing up to provide them with one that will knock their socks off! Take some time to think about this because this is indeed a matter of life and death (no pun intended). If you leave yourself unguarded, Satan will intrude upon your mind and work with signs and miracles which would deceive even the very elect (Matt 24:24).

***The Boiling Point***

Our society has been heading down the path of spiritualism at neck-breaking speeds. Between movies, ouija boards, tarot cards, seances, and even prime time tv shows, our society is being force fed the idea that souls on the other side can be contacted. And it's getting worst the closer we get to the return of our Lord. I encourage you today to reconsider what you've been taught about the dead. See this deception for what it is, a tool of the devil to destroy souls. Know that those who are in their graves are in a state of unconsciousness (Ecc 9:5,6; Ps 115:17)  and they that are in Christ shall rise first when He returns, and together with our rescued brothers and sisters, we too shall be changed and caught up to meet the Lord in the air.   (1 Thess 4: 14-17).