A book by Edward Laughlan, featuring the apostle Paul:
CHAPTER FOUR
HELL - PARADISE - THE GRAVE
Death then brethren, as we have covered according to Biblical usage, is a falling asleep with no consciousness involved. It is always associated with sheōl in the Hebrew, and hades in the Greek. Regardless of the meaning the Devil has managed to put on the word hades through the Greek and Latin languages, we must acknowledge that hades in the New Testament is the equivalent of sheōl in the Old Testament.
Sheōl appears 65 times in the Hebrew Old Testament and is rendered grave 31 times, pit 3 times and hell 31 times with the word hell marked 4 times in the margin as ‘grave’, making really, grave 35 times and hell 27 times.
Now the apostle Luke was inspired of Yahweh to use the word hades for sheōl in his re-quoting of Psalms 16: 10 in Acts 2: 27 and 31. The meaning of sheōl in this Psalm is clearly the grave: “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (sheōl); neither will thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” David who wrote this psalm was obviously not going to go to hell, therefore it should be rendered ‘grave’. Yahweh Himself has settled the meaning of both sheōl and hades in this re-quoting of the psalm in the book of Acts.
If therefore you believe the Word to be God breathed, then you must take note of this truth and learn from Him the true, unchanging meaning of the words sheōl and hades. The ‘grave’ then, is the only meaning we should ever give to both those words, and we should steer clear of any other fanciful ideas of man that talk about paradise and hell.
In our Father’s Word, regarding the word sheōl, if we talk about direction, it is always downwards, a place always on the Earth. There is no soundness in people who want to interpret it as paradise and hell as it suits them! It is always used in contrast to the living, so therefore unconsciousness as opposed to consciousness. Check for yourselves Deuteronomy 32: 22-25 and 1st Samuel 2: 6-8. It is connected with mourning in Genesis 37: 34, 35, Isaiah 38: 3, 10, 17, 18. With sorrow, in Genesis 42: 38, 2nd Samuel 22: 6, Psalms 18: 5, 116: 3.
With silence, Psalms 6: 5, 31: 7, Ecclesiastes 9: 10. With no knowledge, Ecclesiastes 9: 5, 6, 10. With corruption, Psalms 16: 10, Acts 2: 27, 31.
As to the duration of this state of unconsciousness in the grave, the only escape is the ‘Gathering’ or future resurrections, Psalms 16: 11, Acts 2: 27, 31, 13: 33-37, 1st Corinthians 15: 55, Revelation 1: 18, 20: 5, 13, 14.
John 6: 44 is another good record that explains release from death: “No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
“At the last day” is an expression unique to John’s gospel. It appears 5 times and was used for the age which was to come, this age of Grace, and refers to Messiah coming for His Church at the end of the Grace period. There is no mention from Messiah here that when a believer dies, he will drift upwards to be with Him in heaven!
Whilst the Church continues to teach abominations regarding death, calling it a friend that gets you to heaven, the Word calls it an enemy. And whilst the Church calls it paradise, the Word clearly calls it the grave or the pit, and whilst the Church teaches that consciousness remains with us after death, the Word clearly teaches unconsciousness, silence, and no knowledge! The Church dares to stand against the Almighty God Yahweh, the Creator of the heavens and the Earth in this deceit, teaching demonic lies – and to their folly! Yahweh is not mocked!
Who can be so blinded from the truth? Walking hand in hand with demons, not understanding the simple clarity of the Holy Scriptures? Shame on you for being so easily beguiled, believing the teachings of the Pharisees!
You theologians, pastors and teachers are worst off, having caused so many to stray off the truth of the written Word! You have caused many problems to increase, causing the Word of God to become of no effect with your vain thoughts and theories, saying even that some books are not inspired! Take guidance from me, the least of all the apostles and called of God! Instead of looking for ways to push aside certain inspired books like Ecclesiastes, using insane arguments that can hold no water, you should rather spend your time in looking for ways to prove the written revealed Word and not to destroy it!
If what you read stands against what you believe, is it not more fit that you revise your beliefs rather than to tear down the Word? Be not conformed to the world! Beware of cutting off healthy branches of the Word in order to graft in dead branches that have no life unless you yourselves be cut off as well and your name be removed from the Book of Life!!
Oh children of iniquity! Who beguiled you so that you can so easily rewrite the Holy Scriptures, making them unprofitable, unholy, an abomination, a word without power that returns void – and that without fear or remorse! As it is written, “For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell severity, but towards thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not in unbelief, shall be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the wild olive tree, which is so by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good live tree, how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye be ignorant of this mystery lest ye should be wise amongst yourselves, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.
And so shall all Israel be saved, as it is written; ‘There shall come out of Sion, the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins’”
Oh foolish theologians! Your writings shall burn with you in deepest hell! Take careful note you pastors and teachers. Take great heed to what you are being told! Leave off your traditions and have your understanding cleansed of chaff by the consuming fire of the Word which is able to remove all impurities and doctrines of devils! The truth of the Word has found you out and you are left wanting!
“Return unto Me, says Yahweh, and I, even I, shall return unto you. Look no more to your traditions but rather, look unto Me, find Me and know me through the truth of My Word, and My truth indeed shall set you free. Learn truth and prove Me now that I will surely remove the veil from off your hearts, yea, and the blindfold from off your eyes and shall unstop your ears and you shall walk wise as the children of the Most High. For I, Yahweh, am a jealous God, guarding My Word from those who wickedly abuse it, from those who treat it with disdain, handing them over unto blindness and folly and madness of heart.”
You believe and teach fables! There is no disembodied state. You cannot back this wrong teaching with scripture. I fear for you, turn your hearts back to the Almighty God, Yahweh, now! Such beliefs, handed down through the ages from Babylonia to the Pharisees, the Greeks, the Romans and now you yourselves! Did not the Lord Yashua Himself use the beliefs and teachings of the Pharisees to catch them in their own folly?
The story in Luke 16: 15-31 is a parable (although not marked as one in your Bibles). It cites a notable example of the traditions and teachings of the Pharisees. Their teachings had no proper structure and made God’s Word of no effect when it came to divorce, the dead and many other things. What the Pharisees esteemed was abomination to God, hence the continual confrontations between them and the Lord Yashua. Do not the very scriptures themselves tell us that He spoke to the multitude always in parables?
Psalm 78: 2: “I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old.”
Matthew 13: 34, 35: “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.”
Mark 4: 34: “But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.”
Our Lord had been having a continual battle with them on that day, with the Pharisees mocking His words and teachings, which brought upon them the attack they suffered, having their very own corrupt beliefs thrown at them. Firstly in the law of adultery, and secondly in their beliefs regarding rewards and punishment immediately upon death.
There exists, in two ancient Greek manuscripts, the Bezae caulabrigiensis and the Koridethian-Caesarean text, these words: EIPEN DE KAI HETERAN PARABOLEN, which mean, “And He said also another parable”. These words are deleted in other translations. Remember, the Lord Yashua could in no way teach anything contradictory to what He had learned in the Old Testament regarding the dead and the grave, otherwise the entre Word would have fallen apart. Could He possibly have been sent to destroy the written Word? Yahweh forbid! But you destroy His Word!
Yashua challenged those corrupt Pharisees face to face and ridiculed them with their own beliefs, leaving them with a double prophecy at the end regarding the disciple Lazarus and His own death and resurrection. These same corrupt blind leaders of the blind tried later to cover for the disappearance of Yashua’s body by paying the soldiers who guarded His tomb, money, to say that His disciples had come and stolen Him away! There seems to be no limitation to the deceit and cunning of evil men! Truly, their god and father trains them well! Rightly did our Lord and Saviour Yashua accuse them of being of their father, that is, the Devil!
Another scripture we must look at brethren is Luke 23: 43, which has been written as follows: “And Yashua said unto him, ‘Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.”
Just previous to this, the malefactor had asked Yashua to remember him when He came into His kingdom, which kingdom is at the moment in abeyance. As I have said in the past, not until the Creator God, Yahweh, has put all things in subjection, under the feet of Messiah, can He reign. Therefore, Yashua could not have said “Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise”, as a direct answer to the question by the malefactor, as paradise is linked to His coming kingdom. Paradise as well, is always on the Earth.
A king must reign, and Yashua Messiah will not reign until after the seven year tribulation period. At the moment He is seated at the right hand of the Father.
“Today” or “this day”, is a Hebraism, a solid idiom used for great emphasis. It occurs 42 times in Deuteronomy and is being quoted here by our Lord to emphasise the importance of His next words. He was telling the malefactor that his believing had saved him!
This Hebraism is quoted 41 times in the New Testament, and is rendered 18 times “today” between Hebrews and James, and “this day”, 23 times in other records. Now, depending on your denominational beliefs, this verse is understood in different ways by moving the comma!
Taking into consideration then this Hebraism and moving the comma, let us read once again the record in Luke. “And Yashua said unto him ‘Verily I say unto thee this day, thou shalt be with Me in paradise”.
The “shalt thou” has been reversed to agree with the original text to “thou shalt” (future tense).
The word “paradise” is very significant in itself brethren as according to the Creator’s Word, as I have pointed out, is always a place on the Earth – never in heaven! Adam and Eve lived in paradise for a time and it is recorded that Solomon made for himself “paradise” (translated as “orchards”).
When Messiah reigns on the Earth as recorded in Isaiah 34, the desert shall rejoice and shall bloom as the rose. In other words, He shall turn the deserts into paradises! In the New Earth, at the end of Messiah’s 1000 year reign, the New Earth itself will be an entire paradise!
Paradise has no heavenly or spiritual connotations whatsoever and there are no scriptures that relate paradise with heaven!
This word “paradise” in Luke 23: 43, has the article before it, making it “the paradise”, of which the prophets of old spoke in relation to Messiah coming into His kingdom! You must be very careful when dealing with punctuation, as many grave errors can be made. I had to almost laugh myself when I noticed the error in Acts 21: 14. It reads: “And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, the will of the Lord be done.”
Oh dear brethren! The Lord Yashua had tried everything possible to stop me from going to Jerusalem (read the records!), but against all, I decided that I was going and that was that! Flesh and blood can be most headstrong at times! I had said earlier that “I go bound in the spirit”, meaning I did not feel exactly good and OK with my decision! Now was not that our Lord’s first attempt at letting me know that I was making a big mistake? But anyway, I decided that if I was going to suffer, it would be worth it and also a most just reward as I myself had caused many of the Lord’s brethren to suffer and be put to death earlier in my life!
I had been sent many prophets to warn me of my coming fate, but I did not wish to listen. I may feel a little foolish now, but the past is now the past and I surely did suffer for my disobedience! It is clearly recorded that it was not the Lord’s will that I went!
To clarify the record, we must take careful note of what it is actually saying. “And when he would not be persuaded, we stopped saying to him, ‘Paul listen to God and do His will!’
They finally saw that I was not going to be persuaded so they left off trying! Almighty God, through His Son, Messiah, had witnessed to me in every town warning me! But I would not listen. It is far better to be alert and obey rather than disobey and pay the consequences. But in this, as you read the scriptures, you can see most clearly how easy it is to be tripped up over punctuation, getting the wrong meaning entirely. Also, you can see how inaccurate you are in dealing with the Written revealed Word of God. He who has ears to hear!
It is most imperative that we learn to be alert and accurate in rightly dividing the Word, otherwise we will learn little of the truth. We will both learn and teach another word - mans word! Satan is the god of confusion!
Let us go back again to the subject of the grave ‘sheōl’. Let us look at some of the scripture relating to it and have it clarified in our minds as to its proper meaning.
Psalms 6: 5: “For in death there is no remembrance of Thee, in the grave who will give Thee (Yahweh) thanks?”
Psalms 30: 9: “What profit is there in my soul when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise Thee? Shall it declare Thy truth?”
Psalms 49: 12, 14: “Nevertheless, man being in honour abideth not, he is like the beasts that perish. Like sheep that are laid in the grave, death shall feed on them...”
Psalms 89: 48: “What man is he that liveth and shalt not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?”
Psalms 115: 17: “The dead praise not Yahweh, neither any that go down to silence.”
Psalms 146: 4: “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth in that very day, his thoughts perish.”
Does anyone need further proof that the dead are dead? Including their soul life? Can a person deliver his soul from the grave? If sheōl meant paradise or hell, why would a person living in paradise want to be delivered anyway??
Our Father never taught His people paradise and hell – never! The record of Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham must be considered along with all the other many records that teach the opposite. You cannot take one or two contradictory verses of scripture and magnify them above the rest that point to something else. But alas, this has become a tradition within the churches! And covering various subjects!
How could our Lord Yashua refute such passages as these for example: Ecclesiastes 9: 4: “For to him that is joined to all the living, there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.”
This is another Hebraism, or proverb, emphasising the importance of life against death, which if a man was heading for paradise, this proverb would make no sense at all. And even more powerful it becomes when you understand that dogs are cursed animals in the East! Why indeed would Yashua have bothered to raise Lazarus from ‘paradise?’ Would He and the family of Lazarus not be joyful to think that Lazarus had entered into heaven? Why would He have raised anyone from this so-called paradise?
If paradise were the true resting place of God’s dead, would not His Son Yashua have comforted the relatives, telling them the deceased person had passed on to a much greater and better abode?
John 11: 11-14: “... And after that He said unto them, ‘Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.’ Then said His disciples, ‘Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.’ (Howbeit Yashua spake of his death: but they thought that He had spoken of taking rest in sleep). Then said Yashua unto them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead...’”
Think about it brethren, would you be happy to be brought back out of paradise? I think not! Lazarus was dead – in the grave, in silence, with no consciousness, his breath life or soul had ceased to exist. For this reason, when Yashua saw him in his tomb, He wept! If Lazarus had just passed over into a spiritual paradise, Yashua would have been joyful! Another soul saved and safely in heaven!
Lazarus had been dead for four days; would not this have been the perfect opportunity to teach His disciples the ‘truth’ of paradise and hell and to comfort the family of Lazarus with this truth? And now within the churches you hear witnesses from people who have suffered near death situations. Out of body experiences. People who have floated out of their bodies and who have, whilst in this state, experienced weightlessness and freedom from pains they had been suffering, looked down and seen their physical bodies lying apparently dead, but whose ‘soul’ eventually returned to the body and brought the body back to life.
You completely underestimate the power of demons in these matters. Do you not realise that certain of the occult practice this leaving of the body? They call it astral travelling, the practice of Devil worshippers. There are even secular books written about this subject that teach one how to become involved in this world of astral travel. Now I am not saying that all out of the body experiences are demonic, not at all! I endured some of this myself. All I am pointing out to you here is that it is not all from the Father. Satan has his powers as well; you cannot use this kind of information to prove that one goes straight to heaven upon death! Satan is the great deceiver and will use anything within his power to uphold wrong teaching within the churches.
Devils and demons have power over us when we are not obedient to the Word. There are many doors that give them access to our minds and which allows them to play around with s and give us all kinds of good or bad experiences, which are based in our minds, but which we can be fooled into believing they are real. Other sensations can be like falling through the air or shooting up through the air at tremendous speed, or a feeling of total paralysis throughout your body as you fall asleep, or seeing things when your eyes are closed – sometimes like you are walking through another house looking at things.
There are many even more dangerous books available that teach you how to travel inside your mind and to ‘meet’ other beings that supposedly reside there. These books and teachings are from the pits of hell and should be avoided at all costs! Be not ignorant of Satan’s devices!
Each family is assigned a familiar spirit by Satan whose task is to learn everything he can about that family and to work within the family to cause whatever problems possible. Influencing the thoughts and the behaviour of children, the demon or demons work restlessly to do whatever damage they can. For this reason, the Creator commands us to spare not the rod of correction as foolishness is bound in the heart of children. If we truly love our children, we will punish them as necessary – something today it seems the law is against! Satan is no fool! By sparing the rod, we allow our children to dictate to us and proper rulership within the family unit is effectively destroyed!
Demons can communicate with our minds via the spiritual spark of life that runs through our blood and which governs our breath life. As I told you before, our breath life became impure when Adam sinned. The Devil, Lucifer, came into physical concretion to speak with Eve, after which he preferred to work from behind the scenes. He appeared to her as an angel of light, as spoken of in the scriptures. He does not have to do that anymore as he now has contact with us through our corrupted breath life which you know as the soul.
Mediums work by way of these familiar spirits, receiving information directly into their minds from their own familiar spirits who gather their information from the host of familiar spirits who work within the families of the world. They can very easily give information to people that should be impossible to know.
Any foretelling or prophesying done by these mediums is calculated guesswork and may or may not come to pass. The demons work tirelessly behind the scenes to try and make it reality.
Did not the prophet Isaiah warn the people? 8: 19: “And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?”
Satan is the world’s great counterfeiter and deceiver. He will counterfeit everything possible, to bring in confusion. The Church has been easy to deceive! You must not remain in your ignorance of these things lest you come to naught! You must wake from your slumber and walk as wise children. There are many doorways that allow demons access to your minds. Only the purity and power of the Word in your hearts can keep you clean. Do not the gospel records attest to this thing, being filled with cases of children and adults possessed by demons bringing violence, illnesses, deformities, deafness and lunacy?
You understand naught of the workings of the gift of holy spirit. Casting out demons without putting into practice the workings of the gift can be problematic and indeed dangerous! It is not for the faint of heart! The seven sons of Sceva, one of the chief priests, learned to their hurt that these things are not to be taken lightly. Did they not suffer the wrath of Satan for their folly?
Brethren, we fight not against flesh and blood, but against real spiritual entities that perform their spiritual wickedness from Satan’s realm which is within the air around us. Is he not called the prince of the power of the air? Has he not powers to corrupt and deceive? Is he not the god of this world who controls the wealth and the power of our towns and cities? Has he not the power to give to his own?
And who were these exorcists? Were they not sons of one of the chief priests? What about today’s churches who walk without power, but which said churches have their own prophets and healers? From whence comes their power to heal and deceive? They neither acknowledge nor know the power of the spirit which is available to those who believe, or understand the workings thereof!
By not being in obedience to the Word that you know, you bring a curse on yourself that has demonic influence and power. Blessings and curses, curses and blessings my beloved! Think not that the curse has gone because of Grace. The Law exists until all be performed, which is still future. Not one jot or tittle shall be removed until everything comes to an end and all things be made new. God is not mocked! You sin, you suffer. How else could a loving Father deal with His own beloved? Does not the Word teach us that if a father loves his child he will not spare the rod? How then can the rod be taken away and sin go unpunished? God forbid! What manner of people we have become! I worry for you!
We either walk in God’s blessings by believing and obedience, or we reap the consequences. Is it not true that a brother can hurt more than an unbeliever? Why is this so? Is it not explained in what I have been telling you? Satan is a most clever and subtle beast! Anger, jealousy, hate, evil thinking, covetousness, lust, theft, deceit, lies, all open the door to devils. And specialist devils there are, as the Word indeed informs us! For Satan too has an army arranged for battle as does the One True God of all creation. Know your enemy or stay off the field of battle!
Spirit of lies and deceit, spirit of sickness, spirit of gossip, spirit of wickedness, spirit of violence, spirit of suicide, spirit of murder, spirit of lust, spirit of jealousy, spirit of death, spirit of envy, spirit of covetousness, spirit of sadism, deaf and dumb spirit – so many there are and each to their own craft. Spirit of pride, spirit of vanity, spirit of strife, spirit of boasting, spirit of disobedience, spirit of rebellion, spirit of foolishness, spirit of selfishness, spirit of greed, spirit of narcissism, beguiling spirit.
Pray for wisdom and understanding beloved. Study to show thyself approved. There is indeed much to learn. Walk in the spirit with your hearts filled to overflowing with the Word of Truth. Keep your hearts with all diligence, for out of the heart comes forth both evil and good. Speak in tongues much even as I did.
We must go now to the book most pastors and teachers prefer to avoid to get back to where we were before, regarding the topic heaven and hell. To say that the book of the Assembler, or Ecclesiastes, is not God breathed is paramount to ripping apart the Holy Scriptures. Here we have Solomon’s first reference to the one event that comes upon all mankind. To the fool and to the wise, to the rich and to the poor, which made him think to hate life, for if the same event or fate, comes upon all, namely the grave, (one fate, not a choice of two), then to Solomon all was just vanity! Chasing the wind for natural man!
There was no escape from that one event, not even to King Solomon, the wisest and wealthiest king who ever lived! Solomon did not believe in paradise after death! The man who was filled with more Godly wisdom than any other before his time or after him (except The Son of Yahweh Himself), did not teach paradise and hell. Solomon, as all men of God before him, saw death as an enemy, something to hate – not to look forward to! In the grave there is no consciousness, no knowledge, no love or hate, no praising of God – only silence!
When indeed is the last time your pastor delivered a teaching from the book of Ecclesiastes? Was it written so that it could be avoided?
Ecclesiastes 2: 14-17: “The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all. Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity. For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool. Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.”
Solomon knew that he would not be rewarded immediately with an honoured place in heaven or paradise as you wrongly call it! His fate would be the grave with all other men and beasts. He knew he would remain asleep for many generations to come, which brought about his deep sadness.
Ecclesiastes 3: 18-22: “I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one (nephesh, soul) breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth? Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?”
Mankind and animals therefore have the same breath life. Solomon was the first man to record breath life as the “spirit of man” and the “spirit of the animal”. If you say then that Solomon is teaching here that the soul (breath life), is an eternal spiritual entity, then you would have also to recognize that the animals have the same!
If we indeed had a spiritual body that floated off to paradise after death, why could that body not venture back and take a peek at life on Earth now and again? Did I fool you into thinking that the great cloud of witnesses that surround us were spiritual beings? O dearly beloved! Search the scriptures, for they indeed are life and truth! Both Solomon and I understood perfectly well that on death there is nothing to look forward to except the return of Messiah in my case and the resurrection of the just in Solomon’s case. The so great cloud of witnesses I referred to in my letter to the Hebrews, are of course all the great men and women of God who have gone before us and who have left us their witness in the revealed Word of the Creator!
Ecclesiastes 9: 2: “All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. “
This is the fourth reference by Solomon in Ecclesiastes regarding this one event or destiny for all mankind – the grave, sheōl. Solomon makes no claims of paradise for the good and hell for the bad.
Vs 3: “This is an evil (the worst calamity of all is the emphasis) among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all (5th reference): yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.”
Note that he did not say, “and afterwards they go off to paradise or hell”.
Vs 4: “For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.”
A dog in the East is considered unclean, like a rat, a scavenger. It was a cursed animal. Nations outwith Israel were considered dogs. You should understand from this then, the enormous emphasis Solomon was placing on being alive on this Earth as against so-called heaven and hell. Paradise??
Vss 5, 6: “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.”
In verse 9, when Solomon talks about enjoying life with your wife all the meaningless days of all your meaningless life, he was not saying exactly that life was totally meaningless, for he knew that it had the meaning of determining for each person, their rewards and positions with the Creator in the coming Kingdom – or the opposite, hell – exclusion from God’s Kingdom and its rewards.
Solomon, being as wise as he was, knew that God had foreknowledge and therefore knew all in advance; hence God’s pre-thought plans of salvation and eternity. For that reason, Solomon saw life on this Earth as a meaningless exercise – a chasing of the wind!
Vs 10: “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”
What did you say there Solomon? The wisest man who ever lived! No knowledge or wisdom in paradise?? Dear Solomon, you need to enter into today’s churches to find the truth! Every pastor and teacher knows that paradise is heaven so…?
Beloved, it is very plain to see that the wisest of men who ever lived, knew clearly what the Old Testament taught without any shadow of doubt – that the dead remain completely dead and unconscious – without knowledge, until the resurrections.
Vs 12: “For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.”
Oh how this verse blends with today’s understanding of death coming as a welcome friend that takes you off to be side by side with Yashua and Abraham! Do not be fooled any longer brethren! Stand and fight this evil nonsense which is nothing more than mere tradition within your churches. Free yourselves by studying the truth of God’s Word and be not any more conformed to the evils of this world and its devious teachings! Let the Truth of God’s Word reign supreme and let every man be found a liar!
Ecclesiastes 12: 7: “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”
The word “spirit” = ruach, and not nephesh which Solomon sometimes referred to as "the spirit of man". The word "spirit" is correctly supplied here and refers to the spirit placed upon men and women of God.
In Ecclesiastes 4: 2, Solomon declares that the dead are better off than the living, but only because he had seen many people suffering oppression with no-one to comfort them. In this he is talking about the oppressed only.
Let us now take a look at the book of Isaiah and read what King Hezekiah had to say about death:
Isaiah 38: 17-19: "Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. For the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day..."
"The living, the living" is a Hebrew figure of speech called epizuexis or duplication, and was used for emphasis and implies that only the living praise God! So if the dead (in paradise) cannot praise God, then what indeed does that imply beloved?
The prophet Jeremiah said that his enemies had dug a pit for his nephesh, which has been translated "soul" in the King James Version, and "me" in the NIV. (Jeremiah 18: 20)
The word "me" is correct in this case as both in the Old and New Testaments, this word nephesh is used meaning life, and that is the way that Yahweh’s people understood it. To separate your nephesh from your body or your body from your nephesh meant death to them both, as both together, give us life! This is the Biblical understanding of life and nephesh.
This word nephesh, is used 754 times in the Hebrew Old Testament. In the Kink James version it is translated “soul” 472 times whilst in the other 282 places; it is represented by 44 different words or phrases. In 229 of these places, the English reader is left in ignorance of the fact that the word nephesh appears. It has been translated as creature, thing, life, the life, beast, breath, fish, her, person, any, man, men, yourselves, themselves, himself, herself, he, pleasure, lust, appetite, greedy, mind, heart, hearty, will, desire, angry, discontented, thyself, myself, his own, him, so would we have it, any person, mortally, thee, ghost, tablets, deadly, me, they, the dead, dead body, body.
In the New Testament, the corresponding word for nephesh is psuchē which is used 105 times and is rendered “soul” 58 times, “life” 40 times, “mind” 3 times and “heart”, ”heartily”, “us” and “you”, one time each.
The word soul is used Biblically to mean a living body or a dead body and never to mean an eternal spirit. It is used of life for both animals and man. The soul is as immortal as the dust of the Earth!
Job also certainly seemed to understand that paradise did not exist as there is a wealth of scripture that tells us the opposite, and not only that, Job, as God’s people all knew, one day would be resurrected.
Job 14: 12-15: “So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire (a longing) to (for) the work of thine hands."
Job was commenting here that even God Himself would be longing for the day that Job would be resurrected so that He could see him again!
In chapter 21 of Job, he makes mention of the lawless wealthy and the wicked, who end up in the same place as all men – sheōl, the grave! Before any man ends in hell, (apart from the beast and the false prophet), he must pass through the Great White Throne Judgement at the end of the age!
Job 21: 13: “They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave (sheōl).”
VSS 23-26: “One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and secure; His pails are full of milk, and the marrow of his bones is moist. Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, never having eaten with pleasure. They lie down alike in the dust, and worms cover them.”
What about the poor man lying in Abraham’s bosom Job and the rich man in hell? Do they not both have eternal souls? Oh my children – you ought to learn from this! Job was a wise and righteous man of God; did he not understand clearly the things of our Creator concerning what happens at death? It indeed was no mystery as it is not today for those of you who seek truth!
Job 33: 18: “He keepeth back his soul from the pit...”
Vs 22: “Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave…”
Vs 28: “He will deliver his soul from going into the pit…”
Vs 30: “To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.”
My beloved, Elihu the Buzite certainly agreed with Job on at least this one point – that the soul goes to the grave or pit!
Does not Romans 8: 6 clearly state that to be carnally minded is death? How then, can that be taken as a warning to believers in Messiah that it is wrong if it leads you straight to heaven or paradise? This is specifically addressed to the born again of God! Why then should a child of God who lives in sin be directly rewarded with entering into paradise? You believe wrongly in this! You are void of understanding and wisdom in this matter! It grieves me for your lack of wisdom in right thinking.
Acts 2: 34 clearly states that David has NOT ascended into the heavens, so therefore is still asleep in the grave. He obviously is not in hell either as Psalm 16: 10 and Acts 2: 27 states according to your understanding of spiritual matters. David sleeps till this day!
Psalm 16: 10: “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell…”
Acts 2: 27: “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell…”
You see, the body is sown as it were, a seed, and only the Creator Himself knows which type of seed each man is when planted. All men that are to receive a negative judgment must be resurrected in their physical body to inherit their pre-chosen, unholy, devil-seed spiritual body from their father Satan. That is their judgment. How else could they suffer the second death which is the Lake of Fire? These ones are sown for damnation and are raised at the end of time as such for hellfire.
Those who have not committed the sin unto death, but died not having found the One True God of Salvation, were planted as natural men and shall be given their appropriate body at the same end time judgment of the dead, the Great White Throne Judgment.
The Father has given to all men, a new body as it pleased Him. When you sow, you do not sow the plant that will grow up, but the seed of the plant. Perhaps of wheat or an olive tree. But God gives it a body as he had predetermined according to the seed, and so it is with man himself. All flesh is not the same: men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another, and fish yet another. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is different to the earthly.
Does not the Sun have one kind of splendor and the Moon another? The stars differ from the Moon and even one star from another star. And so it will be in the resurrection of the just. The body is sown perishable but is raised imperishable. It is sown in dishonor but raised in glory. It is sown in weakness but raised in power. It is sown a natural boy but raised spiritual.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. And therefore it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that came the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the Earth, the second man from heaven. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Corruption cannot either by nature, inherit incorruption, it is an act of God for the furtherance of His glorious plan of redemption and judgment. It is by His law, by which came the covenant and the promises and the plan of salvation. By the plan of salvation came believing, by which came Messiah, through Whom shall come all things by the Father who is all in all!
The Father does not need to keep us alive in some disembodied vegetable state for thousands or hundreds of years as would have been the case for many. Shall God forget who we are? God forbid! How many trillions of stars exist in the heavens and does not their Creator know them all by name? And so He knows us all, right to the very number of hairs on our heads!
By limiting the Creator to the size of your mind causes Him to limit His power within you and within your churches as all things work by believing. Remember also brethren, that if God has rescued us from so great a death, just how great a death was it if the dead of God go straight to paradise? We would not really be dead then, would we?
And where do some of you get the idea that it is our souls that enter paradise awaiting the new body? That our souls lie in paradise, resting with Abraham until the resurrection of the just? If indeed our soul life, was the spiritual body with full consciousness that you claim it to be, then what need is there of a new body? But you say, “Ah, but the soul cannot rise and walk around without the new body which it awaits”, beloved, are not the other spirit beings in heaven moving around with full power and agility? Able to think and to do works? Tell me I pray thee, what is the difference then between our soul life and their spiritual bodies if what you say is really true?
The soul is not a limited temporal body awaiting anything! It is our breath life! Death indeed would be of very little consequence if our body had a spiritual copy that went straight to paradise. The spiritual spark of life within the soul goes back to the Giver at death, just as the holy spirit new man that the born again have, which is only a token – a down payment for the full body of the new man, goes back to Him as well – not to paradise! Death is an enemy to be destroyed! “Death shall be swallowed up in victory”. “O death, where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?”
In your New Testament, the word “hell” has been used for two different Greek words.
1. – Geena (Gai’hinnōm in Hebrew) which was the valley of the son’s of Hinnōm, where the fires were that they made their children to pass through in the worship of the god Moloch.
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word tophet is used because that was the name of a place in this valley. This idolatry had ceased to exist at the time Yashua was there, but the fires still burned in that area for the refuse of the people of Jerusalem, hence the reference to the fires of Geena or Gehenna in regards to the fiery lake spoken of in Revelation as the Creator’s judgment. Check also 2 Kings 23: 10, Isaiah 30: 33, Jeremiah 7: 31, 32; 19: 11.
Geena occurs in the New Testament 12 times and is always rendered hell. Matt 5: 22, 29, 30; 10: 28; 18: 9; 23: 15, 33. Mark 9: 43, 45, 47; Luke 12: 5 and James 3: 6.
2. – Hadēs, used by the Greeks for the unseen world. The Greek meaning comes from heathen beliefs and should not interest us, neither the traditions of the Jews or the Latins, which you today believe, much to your shame!
This word hadēs must be given exactly the same meaning as sheōl from the Old Testament – any other meaning we place on it makes a mockery of God’s Word! You must cease from following teachings of demons!
Hadēs, therefore means, “the grave”. It occurs 11 times and is always rendered “hell” except on one occasion where it is translated “grave”, 1st Cor 15: 55. Other occurrences: Matt 11: 23; 16: 18. Luke 10: 15; 16: 23. Acts 2: 27, 31. Rev 1: 18; 6: 8; 20: 13, 14.
In the R.V. in 1st Cor 15: 55 it is rendered “death” and in all other places it is translated “hades”
Paradise is always a place on Earth, this Earth or the new Earth, and has not been transferred to heaven – no scriptures back this wrong teaching!
The grave also is always on this Earth and in no way can it be connected to any sort of hell or paradise. Except of course, in the minds of disobedient men and women who have been blinded by the god of this world and who refuse to accept the clear truth of scripture! In the book of Isaiah, the true meaning of sheōl is depicted:
Isaiah 14: 11: “Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.”
In Matthew chapter 27, verses 52 and 53 were added by devious church scribes and should be deleted. The manipulation of the scriptures in various ways has caused untold problems in your understanding, but when the truth is presented to you in a clear and concise manner, you should be able to recognize it and accept it.
In my letter to the Philippians, the translation is not in the least bit clear as to what I was attempting to say in regards to the return of Messiah and of my desire to be with Him. The translation implies that I imagined being immediately with Him on death. God forbid that I could have implied such a thing!
What I intended to say was this, “For to me, to live is to live for Messiah and for the furtherance of His Gospel, but to be with Him is much more desirable, for if I die, my next waking moment will have me with Him. For in death there are no thoughts or consciousness, like falling asleep and awaking”.
Also I believed that my death would cause others to rise and take my place to further the Gospel, so in two different ways there would be gain.
“But if I live in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labour, and what I shall choose I make known, although I am torn between two things, having great desire for the return of Messiah so that I can be with Him, which is the best thing, but nevertheless it is more needful for you that I remain here with you as Messiah’s return is not yet and may be far off”.
You misquote me often as well from 2nd Cor 5: 8, where I said that we are confident and willing to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. I said clearly that we are “willing” to be absent from the body, but you always misquote by leaving out the word “willing”, saying “Absent from the body, present with the Lord”. This I did not say!
The focus of 2nd Cor 4: 14 through to 5: 21, is the return of the Messiah, which we are all looking forward to and willing it to happen even now! We are all most desperate to be with the Lord Yashua, the Saviour of all mankind!
The transfiguration of Yashua is something else which is wrongly used by the Church to further its wrong teaching of the dead being alive now. Listen brethren! The Creator lives outside of time. Can He not then call things out of time if He so desires? Is God the God of the impossible or not? Is He able to perform that which helps to accomplish His will? Then why do you insist in limiting the All Powerful, Almighty Creator of all things? Why should it then amaze you or seem confusing to you that God performs things that seem impossible to us? It is nothing but a very simple exercise to such a God of Creation and power if He then calls visions of His elect out of time that they may converse for a few moments if it is of necessary importance.
Here is the simplicity of it: One day, when Moses was alive, God showed him a vision of the prophet Elijah and Yashua talking with him (Moses). Later, in the days of Elijah, Moses and Yashua were shown to him in a vision talking with him (Elijah). Finally, when the Messiah Yashua was present on the Earth, the vision was shown to Him, so in that way, they each could be shown the vision with all three talking to each other. Each person called out of time in a three way conversation – what could be simpler?
The three visions shown at different periods in history were three different versions of the same vision according to the person seeing the vision at the time. The dialogue would have been the same in each case. You can imagine it as a three way telephone conversation taken out of time as only the Creator God could arrange!
That is how the book of Revelation was shown to John. He saw and heard things taken out of time as was the prophet Daniel and others. If you rightly divide this verse in Matthew 17 you will see that the word “appeared” in verse 3 has been translated from the Greek word optomai which means “to see objectively” or “envisioning”. The word blepo would have been used if they had used their senses sight to see it. They saw it objectively as a vision, which verse 9 clarifies!
Matthew 17: 9: “And as they came down from the mountain, Yashua charged them saying, ‘Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of man be risen again from the dead’”.
Your father Enoch was translated, not to heaven, as we know that flesh and blood cannot enter into heaven, that is not possible, neither was his body changed so that he could enter, as that has still not been made available my children. If Yashua was to be the firstfruits from the dead to enter into the heavenlies, how then could any mere man have entered before Him? Enoch was taken away to another place to save him the shocking experience of seeing his loved ones die. He had never seen death and had such a delicate makeup that the mercy and love of the Father removed him from that area to protect his heart. Enoch remember, was pleasing to God. Enoch pleased God by believing His Word. Not by faith as faith was not available to Old Testament believers in the One True God. Faith is a spiritual manifestation which came by the Messiah Yashua.
Galatians 5: 24, 25: “And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
Faith and believing brethren is not the same thing! Most of the time when people talk about faith, they really should be saying believing. “I have believing!” Or “I believe.”
But the Church must recognize that in the Word of God there exists no single verse of scripture that teaches life in any form immediately after death or indeed any form of consciousness after death. By teaching so, you are continuing the Devil’s own lie, “Ye shall not surely die!”
Beloved, this is pure doctrines of devils, the likes of which you have been warned not to indulge in! Inspired by Satan, handed down through tradition and now taught by unlearned pastors and teachers, many of whom are the very wolves I warned you of that would enter in upon my departure!
As I have told you before, “There is none righteous, no, not one!”
Written by Edward Laughlan and featuring the apostle Paul (Copyright 1998)
Wakeup call to the Redeemed of God!
An excellent source of sane, on the Word teachings of the TRUE Gospel of Yeshua Messiah and what the redeemed of God should be
hearing, can be found by checking out the following post. You need to
understand clearly, the difference between "everlasting life" and "eternal life" - your understanding is most probably very wrong! Indeed - "There
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth"... but NOT by unbelievers!! The
resurrection of unbelievers comes AFTER the initial 1000 year plus
reign of God's only begotten Son, Yeshua:
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