The Biblical View of Death: {Eternal Heaven or Hell}
There is no other authority than the Bible when it comes to the subject of life after death. Only God knows what death is like.
The bible teaches that prior to salvation, even as they are alive, all men and women exist in a state of spiritual death or separation from God. Their human spirits are dead to those things that God is truly concerned about (Luke 15, v24-32; Ephesians 2: v1; Timothy 5: v6; Revelation 3:v1) Even though they are alive physically, they do not consider the one true God, nor do they thank him, nor do they care about His interests.
Whatever concept of God they may believe in, they do not accept the one true God. This is why Jesus Himself referred to "the dead burying their own dead," explicitly teaching that the living human beings around him were, as far as God was concerned, spiritually dead. (Luke 9: v60: Romans 3: v10-18).
The bible tells that physical and spiritual death exist for one reason Sin. God warned Adam and Eve because of their disobedience they would die. This is why the Bible teaches that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6;v23).
Because sin causes death, the problem of sin must be dealt with before death can be eradicated. This is the reason for the Christian teaching on the Atonement that Christ died for the sins of the world. As Jesus taught, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16)
Whoever receives Christ as his personal Savior is "born again" or made spiritually alive. That person receives true life after death or, in biblical terms eternal life (John 6:47). But what actually happens, of course, is that the believer's state of spiritual death is cancelled at the point of receiving Christ. There is no longer the possibility of suffering God's judgement for his sins, which is the second death.
Instead, at the point of physical death, he will join God forever. This is the essence of the term "saved." But it must be stressed that the system is conditional: they must accept what God has done in the person of Christ: Men must believe in the atoning death of Jesus Christ or they cannot be saved. "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies" (John 11:2526) "Truly, Truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgement, but has passed out of death into life" (John 5:24).
HEAVEN: Perhaps the most awesome fact of heaven is that we will be in the presence of Jesus. We are reminded of the statement of C.S. Lewis that if any person on earth could now see one of the redeemed, they would be tempted to worship them as a god. Each of us shall be, in heaven, completely sinless, joyful, and powerful. We will not only know the personalities of the Bible, but also our own saved friends and relatives who have joined us for eternity. We will be content, with no wants. We will be with, talk with, and constantly commune with the God who loves us and has redeemed us forever. Time and space will no longer exist as we know them, but we will continue in fellowship with the Maker of time and space.*
"If GOD is a God of Love, then how could he have created a HELL? God did not create hell for man but for Satan and all his followers. God is also God of Divine Judgement. He has passed judgement on Satan, the great destroyer. Hell and the lake of fire are that judgement. Both are real. Hell may be controversial, & extremely unpopular, but it is also REAL. Anyone who does not believe in a literal Hell is listening more to Satan than to Jesus. They are in effect "paying attention to the doctrines of demons." The truth of Hell is a vital Christian doctrine, that many cults try to do away with; by saying doctrine is not important. Yet it is impossible to exaggerate the seriousness and urgency tha the doctrine of hell imparts to life here and now.
HELL: Hell is a place where there is continuous torment, where there is consciousness of sight, feeling and hearing. Where there is no escape, where there is no relief, and where no prayers are answered. And no God. In large measure, the real hell about hell is that people choose it for themselves.The stakes we are gambling are very high.
Hell was not created for man, but for Satan and all his demons, who have and are destroying God's creation through their sorcery, lies, deceptions, and corruption.
Luke 16; v19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
v20...And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores.
v21....And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
v22....And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abrahams bosom (Heaven); the rich man also died, and was buried;
v23...AND IN HELL he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
v24....and he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
v25....But Abraham said, Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and likewise Lazaurs evil things; but now he is comforted, and you are tormented.
v26....And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
v27....Then he said, I pray you therefore, father, that you send him to my father's house:
v28....For I have five brothers; that he may TESTIFY unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment,
v29....Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
v30....And he said, Nay, Father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
v31....And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
Is Reincarnation a Lie from Satan?
Reincarnation is a belief that the soul is in a spiritual realm waiting to be born into a body on the earth; time and time again.
The Bible tells us that ......It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this comes judgement: (Hebrews 9 v27) The apostle Paul, in the 15th chapter of Corinthians, tells us that the natural body comes first. From these earthly bodies will come our immortal spiritual bodies, not to be reincarnated, but to live in Heaven with Jesus. As the first man was earthly (Adam), we are earthly, and as the second man (Jesus) is from Heaven, we who have been born again from the spirit of God shall also ascend unto heaven. As we have born the image of the earth, we shall also bear the image of the Heavenly. For flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.
At death there are only two destinations: Heaven or Hell. When we die these "husks" of our earthly bodies are cast off and we receive our new spiritual bodies, and depart to Heaven, (2nd Corinthians chapter 5) (It is appointed unto man once to die...after that judgment) or if we have rejected God's plan for salvation we do not receive a glorified body, but rather go to Hell, as the rich man did in Luke 16.
NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES: Currently there have been over 10 million documented Near Death Experiences. The classic near death experience involves the perception of being "out of the body" and looking down at one's body while resuscitation attempts are being administered. Soon afterward the person finds he or she is in another location where the spirit world is encountered.
There the person engages in nonverbal or verbal communication with various spirits, usually of dead friends and relatives or a "being of light". This entity is often very warm and loving and involves the "dead" person in an evaluation of his or her life by showing an instantaneous playback of the major events. At some point, the person finds himself approaching a barrier or border which he is not allowed to cross. He is told he must go back to earth, for his time to die has not yet arrived.
However, the participant's experience in this other state of existence is frequently so peaceful, joyful, and loving that he desperately does not want to return. Nevertheless, he finds himself back in his body anyway. And when he awakens in this world he finds that he had been pronounced dead, but was fortunately revived.
The millions of Near Death Experiences have helped to play a major role in promoting the false view that death may not be so bad after all, which helps to strengthen an occult view of death. This in turn has given birth to many episodes of mediums, channeling, and other forms of spiritism.
With the occult revival in our cultural thriving, the Near Death Experiences are becoming very popular because they deny the biblical teaching of an eternal hell, which so many people fear. These experiences teach people that they will live forever in a heavenly environment and that there are no consequences to death.
What many people do no understand is that with a Near Death Experience we are not dealing with true death. And, we are certainly not dealing with scientific confirmation of life after death, despite some proponents claims.
Rather we are encountering personal, mystical/occult experiences that occur in some neardeath states, and many occult religions and practices. People who encounter the "being of light", "the light" or alleged spirits of dead friends and relatives in the Near Death Experiences are profoundly influenced. Many think they have encountered the biblical "Christ", "angels" or human dead.
BUT this cannot be true because the recorded statements of these "beings of light", denies the teachings of Jesus himself by his earlier teachings. (for example they teach there is no hell). Also the bible says in 1st Timothy 6:v16 that Christ, "dwells in a light that no man can approach." The alleged spirits of the dead cannot be the human dead, for the bible tells us the dead are confined and unable to reach the living, and the saved dead are with Christ.
So the occult messages conveyed by these "beings of light" prove that they are lying spirits. It is no coincidence that thousands of occultist have had this same view about death for hundreds of years.
In essence the need for biblical salvation is disclaimed by many NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES'S through the following means: (1) the teaching that death is something good, (2) making sin not important, (3) that divine forgiveness is preexisting through a love force. (4) the authority of the bible is no longer valid (5) one must work toward improvement for a one world condition of peace, love, and so on........
So how could such wonderful experiences with such positive results be spiritually evil? Perhaps it would help to remember that there are many things in life that can initially seem wonderful and yet be deceptive or destructive such as the euphoric high from illegal drugs and or promiscuous sex.
{Remember, also the Bible teaches that Satan and his demons can appear as "angels of light", in order to deceive and destroy.}
Because the Near Death Experience is so profoundly "spiritual," good and full of loving experience, the vast majority of people assume that the experience itself must be divine something from God. But these wonderful experiences lead to theological error: they almost always convey the false assurance of Universalism (that all will be saved at death, regardless of sin), and they almost never bring biblical repentance.
In other words, they never cause people to see themselves as sinners who need salvation in Christ. But if the primary message God seeks to communicate to men is that they need salvation in Christ, how could these experiences possibly originate from God? An experience that leads people to reject God's salvation cannot be divine, no matter how pleasant.
All this fits with what the Bible teaches about the nature of spiritual warfare; that spiritual evil commonly imitates that which is good and righteous in order to deceive people concerning the truth of what God has revealed in the Bible.
FOR WE DO NOT FIGHT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD, BUT AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES, AGAINST POWERS, AGAINST THE RULERS OF THE DARKNESS OF THIS WORLD, AGAINST SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS IN HIGH PLACES.
IF EACH OF US WILL ONE DAY DIE, THEN THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN LIFE IS TO HAVE ASSURANCE THAT DEATH CAN BE ENTERED SAFELY.......ARE YOU WILLING TO ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR SIN BEFORE JESUS AND ACCEPT HIM AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR?
IN ALL ETERNITY NO SINGLE DECISION WILL BE MORE CONSEQUENTIAL..
GALATIANS 1 VERSE 8 : If anyone preaches any other way to be saved, let him be cursed, EVEN IF AN ANGEL FROM HEAVEN COMES AND PREACHES ANY OTHER MESSAGE LET HIM BE CURSED FOREVER.........
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resources compiled from :
The John Ankerberg Theological
Research Institute