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SEVEN BIBLICAL REASONS TO REJECT THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL DOCTRINE
The doctrine of the immortality of the soul is a widespread
teaching among the churches of the world today, whether they be Roman Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant. But is this doctrine supported by the Word of God?
We will give you seven good reasons, Biblical reasons, why you should reject this doctrine and not only show you that the Word of God does NOT teach
the immortality of the soul, but that it is a dangerous teaching formed in the satanic arts of witchcraft.
"God's TRUTH shall be thy shield and buckler" (Psalm 91:4)
REASON ONE - It Goes Against the Law of Nature - God's Creation Order
Genesis 2:7 ...'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.'
Carefully notice what God is telling us in Genesis 2. God DIDN'T say that a body was made from dust and then He put into that body an immortal soul. If this was true, then all mankind would have life within himself, because that is what the immortal soul doctrine ultimately teaches. But you will see further in this study that only God has life within Himself. Genesis tells us clearly that God created man from the dust of the ground (meaning, this is a vital part of man), and then God breathed into man the breath of life and man BECAME a living soul. Look at the formula when laid out, how clear this is:
TWO components are needed to have a "living soul" - Body made from dust + breath of God = A LIVING SOUL.
"The first man Adam was MADE a living soul" (1 Corinthians 15:45)
Do you see this? Without either one of these TWO components, you CANNOT be or have a living soul. A soul can ONLY exist with BOTH of these components together, according to the creation account in Genesis. A 'soul' CANNOT live outside of a body! God did not say He 'gave' man a soul. But rather, man BECOMES a living soul with those two components present. So if we reverse the creation process, we can see the truth also. Take the breath of God out of man and what does man become?
Genesis 3:19 ...'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till THOU RETURN UNTO THE GROUND; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and UNTO DUST SHALT THOU RETURN.'
DUST! Knowing the truth that our 'soul' is simply our mind, thoughts - our very living being while we are alive, and understanding the creation of man in the correct way, we will then see that a 'soul' cannot live apart from a body. A 'soul' needs an actual body and brain to inhabit, to live. Which is why Adam BECAME a 'LIVING soul' with a body and the spirit of life in him. You cannot have one without the other.
REASON TWO - It Goes Against the Law of God
Genesis 2:17 ...'But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely DIE.
Genesis 3:22-24 ...'And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.'
What law did God put in place in regarding disobedience? That it would result in DEATH. If something is DEAD, is it still living? Of course not. What does the word of God say regarding sin? 'For the wages of sin is DEATH' (Romans 6:23). And ... 'The SOUL that sinneth, it shall DIE' (Ezekiel 18:20). THE SOUL that sinneth shall DIE. The SOUL! Is that not clear enough for us? Are we going to heed the word of God or not? This is the LAW that God put in place regarding sin, because God cannot allow sin to be immortalized, which He confirmed in Genesis 3:22-24 above. But who are the churches listening to, instead of God? They, JUST LIKE EVE, are listening to the serpent, the devil, who said:
Genesis 3:4 ...'And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.'
God says 'you shall DIE' - the devil says 'you shall NOT die.' Which voice are YOU listening to? The various churches of the world are listening to the voice of Lucifer instead of Jehovah. Now some may say; 'OH but Adam and Eve did not die THE DAY they ate of the fruit, which God said they would die THAT DAY.' Two things. Adam and Eve lost their immortality THAT DAY, so in effect they did 'die' that day. The physical process of death began that day, and they also lost their spiritual connection with God that day, which was death to them also. But take note of something else interesting. 2 Peter 3:8 says that 'ONE DAY is as a thousand years' to God. Adam DIED at 930 years old. Just short of a 'thousand years.' So in the eyes of God, He died in a 'DAY.'
REASON THREE - It Goes Against the Gospel of Jesus Christ
John 3:14-16 ...'And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'
Who is our 'father' in humanity? It is Adam. But 'in Adam all DIE' (1 Cor.15:22), because Adam sinned against God and the 'SOUL that sinneth, it SHALL DIE.' Therefore, death was 'passed onto all man' (Romans 5:12), because we inherited Adam's sinful nature. So in Adam there is no hope of life, only death. This is why we needed a 'second Adam,' a saviour, to free us from the snare of death. Praise God that we have a heavenly Father who loves us so much that He gave us a 'second Adam,' His very own Son Jesus Christ, to save us from death. And thus 'even so in Christ shall all be made alive' (1 Cor.15:22).
So the gospel message (John 3:14-16) tells us that if we remain in the first Adam and are not 'born again' (John 3:3) into the 'second Adam,' what happens to us? We PERISH. We all know what perish means right? To be COMPLETELY destroyed, NOTHING left! But if we believe in Jesus Christ and unite with Him as our 'new father' of humanity, our 'second Adam,' then what do we have? Eternal LIFE. Those are the two options. Perish or eternal life. The gospel does NOT say that the two options are eternal punishment in 'hell' or eternal life in heaven and on the new earth. It is PERISH or eternal life. Plain and simple that even a child can understand.
REASON FOUR - It Goes Against the Truth that ONLY God has Immortality
1 Timothy 6:15-16 ...'Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.'
If only God HAS immortality, then who else is immortal? Angels? No. They depend on God for life. Mankind? No. Even Adam in his sinless state had to depend upon the tree of life for immortality. So if God is the ONLY one with immortality - life within Himself that is not dependent upon anyone or anything else, then that means we CANNOT have an immortal soul. There is only one other being in the universe that has immortal life within himself, and that is God's own Son Jesus Christ, look
John 5:26 ...'For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.'
Please pay careful attention to this. Jesus Christ is the ONLY one who God the Father has GIVEN to have immortal life (immortal soul) within Himself.
'Life in himself.' This is what immortality is. To have life within yourself that is immortal. And this is exactly what the immortal soul doctrine teaches. That God gave Adam and all his offspring an immortal soul within himself. And yet the word of God clearly says that there is only one being in the whole universe that God the Father has GIVEN to have life (immortal soul) within himself and that is God's Son Jesus Christ. The Bible clearly teaches that humanity can ONLY gain immortality through Christ, and that it will ONLY be GIVEN at the resurrection, at the second coming of Christ, look:
2 Timothy 1:10 ...'But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.'
1 Corinthians 15:22-23 ...'For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.'
1 Corinthians 15:51-54 ...'Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.'
Do you see? ONLY to His Son Jesus did God the Father GIVE to have life within Himself, and through faith in Jesus and obedience to God (Rev.14:12), we too can receive that immortal life. But when will we receive that immortality? At the 'last trump,' at the resurrection, when Jesus returns, not before.
REASON FIVE - It Goes Against Plain Bible Truth and Common Sense
Ecclesiastes 9:5,10 ...'For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing. 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.'
Ok, if the immortal soul doctrine was true, then it would mean we still have conscious minds and are aware of what is happening, with knowledge, after we die. But what is the plain 'thus saith the LORD'? There is NO KNOWLEDGE after death, which means after death, we do not see, we do not know what is happening, we cannot do anything. This is because we do NOT have an immortal soul, as I hope you can see from what we have looked at so far. Look at further testimony of this:
Job 14:10-12 ...'But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and WHERE IS HE? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up: So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their SLEEP.'
Psalm 115:17 ...'The dead praise NOT the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.'
Isaiah 38:18-19 ...'For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee.'
Psalm 150:6 ...'Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.'
Where is man according to Job after death? WHERE IS HE? Floated off to heaven or 'hell'? No! In the grave until the resurrection!
Why are we given counsel that everything which HAS BREATH should praise the Lord? Why? Because when we die, we go down into silence, into the grave, to await the resurrection. We do not have an immortal soul that will go to heaven at death, because if we did, then the Bible would say that death would be a joyful thing and that we WOULD praise God after death. But as you can see, the Bible is very clear and plain, that we CANNOT praise God after death, because we KNOW NOTHING as Ecclesiastes confirms.
Daniel 12:2 ...'And many of them that SLEEP IN THE DUST of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.'
John 11:23-24 ...'Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I KNOW that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.'
John 5:28-29 ...'Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.'
Remember what Job said about 'WHERE IS MAN' after death? Not in heaven or some place of torment, but simply IN THE GRAVE. And FROM WHERE do everyone hear the voice of Jesus when He returns? THE GRAVE. Now if the immortal soul doctrine was true, and the souls of people went to heaven or hell at death, then they would hear Him either from 'paradise' (heaven) or 'hell' (place of torment). But no, everyone hears the voice of Jesus FROM THE GRAVE, because that is where we go at death and remain there until the resurrection at the second coming of Christ.
Acts 2:29,34 ...'Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. For David is not ascended into the heavens.'
This is AFTER the resurrection of Christ and His ascension back to the Father in heaven, and yet Peter confirms that king David is NOT ascended into heaven, but remains in his grave. To go against all of this clear truth is to not only reject the truth of God's Word, but also to reject common sense.
REASON SIX - It Destroys the Loving Character of God
1 John 4:7-8 ...'Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for GOD IS LOVE.'
John 3:16 ...'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.'
So according to the immortal soul doctrine, those who are lost because they did not accept Jesus as their Saviour, they are going to be tormented in fires of hell for ALL ETERNITY. Just think about this. Little old granny who didn't believe in Jesus, even though she didn't do anything particularly 'bad' in her life, she, according to this immortal soul teaching, is going to be tortured in flames of fire for all eternity, for a SHORT life lived in flesh that naturally sins, which she inherited from Adam. And for this, according to this diabolical teaching, she is going to be tortured for ceaseless ages. Just for 'threescore and ten' years in this life, she will be tortured for billions upon billions upon billions of ceaseless years! Or how about someone who only lived for 20 or 30 years and didn't accept Jesus as their Saviour? According to this teaching, they are going to be tortured for billions upon billions of ceaseless years JUST FOR 20 or 30 years of sin in a nature that is PRONE to sin! That is LOVE? REALLY? NEVER!!
This teaching is from the very depths of Satan himself! And he brought it about to DESTROY the image and loving character of our heavenly Father. It is a hideous doctrine and must be rejected completely!
REASON SEVEN - It has Given Rise to Spiritualism, a Deadly Decepton
1 Samuel 28:7-11 ...'Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. And Saul disguised himself ... and came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee ... Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel ... And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up?'
Leviticus 19:31 ...'Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.'
Exodus 22:18 ...'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.'
1 Chronicles 10:13 ...'So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it.'
Spiritualism is the counterfeit of 'the Spirit of prophecy.' When the Spirit of prophecy is given to an individual, God uses that person as a medium of communication between Himself and His people. Such an individual is called a prophet of the Lord. The Spirit of God speaks through them. They speak as they are moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). A spiritualist medium speaks as moved by a 'familiar spirit,' which professes to be the spirit of some dead person; and the 'familiar spirit,' uses the medium (witch of Endor in this case) to communicate with the people.
Now there is a very good reason why God warned His people not to seek after those who had a 'familiar spirit.' What spirit does that person who has a 'familiar spirit' have? The Spirit of God? No. IF they had the Spirit of God then the LORD would not warn people against them. So then they must have the spirit of the devil. Now think about the encounter between Saul and the witch of Endor. According to the witch, she saw Samuel and then it appears that Samuel spoke to Saul from beyond the grave. If not understood properly, this encounter would make it appear that the immortal soul doctrine is true. But when you understand the truth of this encounter, then you see a different perspective.
Who is in control of the 'souls' of men? It is God. Now remember that a person with a 'familiar spirit' is someone with the spirit of the devil. It is the devil controlling that person and doing his work through them. So would God allow the devil to be in control of 'souls' of man that have died? NEVER. So who was this 'Samuel' that appeared in the encounter with the witch of Endor? It must have been an evil spirit impersonating Samuel, which we will now prove to you. Notice that in the encounter, Samuel was supposedly 'brought up' from beneath. Now take a look at the following verses from Isaiah:
Isaiah 29:1,4 ...'Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! ... thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.'
When Saul consulted the woman with a familiar spirit, the answer came out of the ground. Evil and deception comes from beneath; whereas all that is good comes from above ... "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights" (James 1:17). Now listen carefully to the following testimony of Jesus concerning the Jews who rejected Him:
John 8:23,44 ...'Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world ... Ye are of your father the devil.'
Jesus said the Jews were from 'below' and were of their father the devil. The "appearance" of Samuel was from below and through a familiar spirit. The witch did not consult with God. She consulted with the devil! This proves that the so called appearance of Samuel was nothing more than an evil spirit impersonating him.
Look at all the mediums and spiritists in the world today. Do they consult with God? No. They consult with the devil and his angels, who are ready and willing to impersonate people who have died. And thus today, Satan and his angels, who have a complete knowledge about a dead person and everything that happened in their life, can easily pretend to be that person and give all sorts of details about their life and relatives. Satan and his angels, imitating the dead person, pretend that these dead relatives are living in heaven, or have been to 'hell' (place of torment), imitating their voices, go on to teach all sorts of errors contrary to the Scriptures. And many accept these impersonations due to the false, dangerous teaching of the immortality of the soul.
Revelation 16:14 ...'For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.'
The fall of God's people were in part due to their 'sorceries', and for their 'enchantments' through familiar spirits (Isaiah 47:1-9). It was through the 'sorcerers and magicians of Egypt, with their enchantments' that Pharaoh's heart was hardened (Exodus 7:11-13). The heathen nations which surrounded Israel deceived God's people into 'divination and enchantments' (2 Kings 17:16-17). And in the last days, as Revelation 16 confirms, the spirits of devils are going to go out in a powerful way to deceive the world. And what will they use? Spiritualism; the teaching of the immortality of the soul, impersonating people who have died with so called 'messages from heaven' to deceive. The apostle Paul told us in 2 Thessalonians 2 that a 'deadly delusion' is coming, with Satan working with 'all power and signs and lying wonders.' Revelation 13 tells us that 'miracles' will be wrought to deceive the world. Are you starting to see the importance of knowing the TRUTH regarding the state of the dead and spiritualism? I pray you can see the clear truth of this and I pray that you will strongly REJECT the immortality of the soul doctrine. It is a DEADLY doctrine. And let the following be the test for everything:
Isaiah 8:19-20 ...'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? TO THE LAW AND TO THE TESTIMONY: IF THEY SPEAK NOT ACCORDING TO THIS WORD, IT IS BECAUSE THERE IS NO LIGHT IN THEM.'