Brakelite
Well-Known Member
While it should most certainly concern us regarding our ultimate destiny, I think it also important to understand the true Bible doctrine regarding the state of the dead currently. All around us we have demonic forces teaching mankind through various agencies such as Hollywood and education, that it is possible and even advantageous to communicate with the dead in order to gain insight and wisdom as to how we should live, what the future holds, etc etc. Even Political leaders have resorted to such things as necromancy, tarot card readings, and the stars in order to know how to govern. Even the more conservative Christian leaders such as Ronald Reagan was not immune to such things. Spiritualism in a myriad of forms is now pervading society more so today than at any time in earths history perhaps with the exception of the time of the flood and Jesus's incarnation. Television, movies, entertainment (an appropriate word..enter...contain) are rife with occult teachings regarding spiritual forces and the dead who may and can be used to live what we believe are fuller more complete contented lives. And the whole charade is built on the lie that the dead are conscious entities who can and do communicate with man.
The belief that there are people now in heaven, or in hell, wherever those places may be, conscious and having cognitive awareness and knowledge of our current state of living and even our very thoughts, destroys whatever Biblical basis we have in combating the current spiritualistic deceptions that pervade society.
At to where heaven and hell are? Hell in the present tense is simply the grave. Hell-fire is another time and place altogether. Heaven is the current abode of God, the angels, and a few select individuals that scripture informs us were raised from the dead and given the massive privilege of entering eternity before us...eg Enoch, Elijah, Moses. And un-named group who were raised at the time of Christ's resurrection as first fruits. The rest of humanity have to sleep until the resurrection with the exception of those living at the time of the second coming. But we already know this from scripture...at least those who are willing to believe scripture.
But when confronted with a vision of a past (or passed) relative, dignitary, Bible hero, because scripture plainly declares that "there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest" we can then know for a certainty with full assurance of faith without doubting, that such a vision is a deception and a lie of Satan which may be rebuked and cast down as the deception it truly is without any fear of mistakenly abusing a real person or grandma or even Mary. They are demons...every time. A true angel of God may appear as has happened frequently throughout history...such a visit may be expected and even welcomed, but such a visit will come with affirmation of their integrity and godliness. Scripture tells us to challenge all such visitations if there is any doubt or fear. We cannot do that if at the back of our mind we think that maybe, just maybe, this is grandad, or uncle Bernard or aunty Molly...I don't want to offend them so I'll hear them out and see what comes of it...big mistake.
The belief that there are people now in heaven, or in hell, wherever those places may be, conscious and having cognitive awareness and knowledge of our current state of living and even our very thoughts, destroys whatever Biblical basis we have in combating the current spiritualistic deceptions that pervade society.
At to where heaven and hell are? Hell in the present tense is simply the grave. Hell-fire is another time and place altogether. Heaven is the current abode of God, the angels, and a few select individuals that scripture informs us were raised from the dead and given the massive privilege of entering eternity before us...eg Enoch, Elijah, Moses. And un-named group who were raised at the time of Christ's resurrection as first fruits. The rest of humanity have to sleep until the resurrection with the exception of those living at the time of the second coming. But we already know this from scripture...at least those who are willing to believe scripture.
But when confronted with a vision of a past (or passed) relative, dignitary, Bible hero, because scripture plainly declares that "there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest" we can then know for a certainty with full assurance of faith without doubting, that such a vision is a deception and a lie of Satan which may be rebuked and cast down as the deception it truly is without any fear of mistakenly abusing a real person or grandma or even Mary. They are demons...every time. A true angel of God may appear as has happened frequently throughout history...such a visit may be expected and even welcomed, but such a visit will come with affirmation of their integrity and godliness. Scripture tells us to challenge all such visitations if there is any doubt or fear. We cannot do that if at the back of our mind we think that maybe, just maybe, this is grandad, or uncle Bernard or aunty Molly...I don't want to offend them so I'll hear them out and see what comes of it...big mistake.
