What Is Your State When Dead?
Traditions of men that are bound up in Gnosticism or the "Illuminati's" teachings have deceived the whole world. God's word stands the test of time because it is truth. "For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward [at that point in time]; for the memory of them is forgotten" (Eccl. 9:5). Everyone of us can see others age and ourselves also if we are honest with ourselves. As you grow older, you begin to degenerate. It is a fact of life. God made it that way.
The Newer Writings confirm the last scripture. "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement:" (Heb. 9:27). Death, the absence of life, is assured. Only Jesus' sacrifice can produce a reversal of death to life. The Book of Ecclesiastes said the dead know NOTHING at this present time. This means no human being that has died is in heaven looking down or in hell looking up to see the activities of their loved ones. When the person dies, his/her thoughts cease. There is NO brain activity. People forget the dead with the passage of time, but God does not! He has a secret method by which He will cause ALL to come out of their graves (Matt. 5:28).
Can the Dead Praise God?
There are very dramatic verses in the Bible that detail how man is made if only they would be believed. Most had rather believe traditions handed down by a deceived world (Rev. 12:9). Notice this simple but powerful verse. "The dead praise NOT the Lord, neither ANY [praise Him] that go down into silence" (Ps. 115:17). This is a simple and direct statement under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. When you go into the grave, the involuntary muscular system that keeps the heart pumping blood, the lungs that pump oxygen, ceases to operate; therefore, you die and your thoughts also stop. You cannot praise God or even be aware of Him with no thought process.
God repeats information for our benefit. "For in death THERE IS NO REMEMBRANCE OF THEE: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" (Ps. 6:5). How can we give Him thanks when our thought processes cease to function at death? We will lie in the grave, while our body decays, as if in suspended animation. Time will pass, but we will not be aware of it passing. If God's Spirit is inside of us as a begettal to sonship, then we will come to life with our new body at the LAST trump (1 Cor. 15:50-57).
With all these scriptures thus far, does it mean that man is only an animal? Those Satanists who developed the evolutionary theory want you to believe we are only animals. That is not so.
Man Made in God's Image
The Bible never refers to an animal being made in God's image. You can read the creation chapter of Genesis in vain trying to find any statement that animals are made in God's likeness. It is a different matter with man! "And God said, Let us [the Father and Jesus - John 1:1-3,14] make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion [rulership] over the fish…fowl…cattle, and over ALL the earth, and …creeping thing…So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (Gen. 1:26-27).
You cannot look at a horse, buffalo, cow, crow, or any other than man and say: "That is what God looks like!" Man alone was made to look like God. We KNOW God has placed more value upon mankind by the fact that He made us IN HIS IMAGE and has offered us a resurrection FROM the dead while no animal has been offered a resurrection from the dead to eternal life. God also made us to RULE.
"And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth…and every winged fowl…and God saw that it was good" (Gen. 1:21). "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature…cattle…creeping thing…and beast of the earth AFTER his kind [not the God kind]: and it was so…and God saw that it was good" (Gen. 1:24-25). God said the animal, fowl, and creeping things were good, but they were not made in His image. Each were to reproduce after its own kind, not cross-breed. Never were animals, fowls, and creeping things offered RULERSHIP! No, they were to be ruled over by man - who was made in God's image. God is Creator and Ruler over that creation. He has offered man that same responsibility now to train him for a greater rulership. Man dies temporarily just like an animal, but God will resurrect man to finish man's preparation for greater things to come. Man's ultimate destiny.
Spirit in Man
If there were a scripture in the Bible that said there was a "spirit in man," would it be a contradiction to all the scriptures we have read thus far? If there were such a scripture, what would it mean? "But as it is written, EYE HATH NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD, NEITHER HAVE ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN, THE THINGS WHICH GOD HATH PREPARED FOR THEM THAT LOVE HIM" (1 Cor. 2:9). Review for a moment. Every verse we have read thus far indicates that man has no preeminence above the animal world. As one dies, so dies the other! However, God made man in His image for a great and awesome purpose. Man is training, while in the physical flesh, to become rulers in the future Kingdom of God (Rev. 5:10). This verse states clearly that we cannot decipher with the five senses - taste, touch, smell, hear, and sight - what God has prepared for man that can literally die and turn back to the dust from whence he came. But God has given man the HOPE of the RESURRECTION from the dead!
"But God hath revealed them [the things He is preparing for them that love Him] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the DEEP things of God" (1 Cor. 2:10). God is taking a few in number, out of the billions on earth, to reveal His plan and purpose for man's existence. The ONLY people that God's plan and purpose will make sense to are those that have and are led by His Holy Spirit. To all others, it will sound ridiculous. God's true purpose can only be understood with a spiritual mind, not the natural mind we are born with. This is why people say they read the Bible, but it does not make sense to them. The natural mind will conclude you cannot understand it or contend you can make say anything you want it to say. People sincerely want to praise God, then continue in every false teaching handed down by tradition from the Middle Ages. The Bible says the true knowledge of God is revealed by His Spirit!
"For what man knoweth the things of a man, save [except] the spirit of man which is IN him? EVEN SO the things of God knoweth NO man, but the spirit of God" (1 Cor. 2:11). There is, what the Bible terms, a spirit IN man! It gives human beings the capability of communication with each other. It is likened to the Holy Spirit giving us the capability of understanding God's spiritual mind. Animals cannot understand the ways of mankind because they are made without this "spirit in man" that gives the ability to understand language, communication. They can learn simple commands to sit, roll-over, fetch, etc., but they cannot speak a common language as people do. EVEN SO, without God's Spirit inside of our minds, we cannot understand the completeness of God's plan and purpose for man. The "spirit in man" gives man the capability to communicate with each other. Notice, once we have received God's Spirit, it says: "Now we have received, NOT the spirit of the world [Satan or his demon's attitude], BUT the spirit which is OF God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak NOT in the words which MAN's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (1 Cor. 2:12-13).
With the Holy Spirit leading us into ALL truth and showing us things to come [John 16:13], we understand things the remainder of the world cannot comprehend. While true saints comprehend the spiritual, the world understands only the physical, natural - not the spiritual. The world cannot understand spiritual matters that are discussed from the Bible. "But the NATURAL MAN receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, BECAUSE they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. 2:14).
This "spirit in man" that gives us intellect does NOT mean there is a spirit man inside of our fleshly body. There is no spirit body that goes to heaven or hell at death. This "spirit in man" simply gives us the ability to communicate, learn and become educated rather than live by instinct as animals. Scripture cannot contradict itself. The Bible is God breathed - inspired!
"The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and FORMETH the spirit of man within him" (Zech. 12:1). This "spirit of man" gives him the capability to perceive, understand communications. If we did not have this special ingredient called the "spirit of man", we would be no different than the animals. Animals operate upon instinct, therefore, they cannot become educated to the political, religious, and economic affairs of the world as man can. When you add to this "spirit in man", that allows us to communicate with each other, the Holy Spirit, then we can understand the deep things of God. It is this "spirit in man" that gives us intellect and allows us to perceive, grasp concepts, and communicate to continually unlock the secrets of the physical universe. This "spirit in man" also allows us to comprehend the difference between right and wrong - sin and perfection! Good and evil! (Gen. 2:17; Deut. 30:15-18).
This "spirit in man" also allows us to understand the difference in death, the cessation of life, the absence of life and returning to the dust, and a resurrection from the dead to eternal life. Death is the opposite of life. At death, we go into the grave. Our thoughts cease. We don't communicate with each other. We can't tell our wives, husbands, or children that we love them. We can't sing praises to God anymore because at death the "spirit in man" stops functioning until the resurrection from that dead state.
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