Mike,

Would you take a quick gander at this short article? Some things are obviously wrong, like his view on Luk 16. However, I’d like your opinion on 1Ki 17:21.

1Ki 17:21 And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again.

The word used there is “soul” not “spirit.” In addition, Stephen, like Jesus, says, “… Receive MY spirit.”

Act 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon [ God], and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

You corrected me yesterday when I said “his spirit returns to the Lord.” [Ed: Writer had confused the spirit in man as being the soul.) Isn’t Stephen saying the exact thing as me? Lastly, I’d like to get your thoughts on 2Co 5:8 and the idea of paradise as spoken by Jesus on the cross.

2Co 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Luk 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Thanks.

K____

Hi K____,

Yes, I hope you and Stephen are saying the same thing. You are familiar enough with God’s Word to realize that:

Ecc 3:19 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 breath [ Heb – ruach– spirit]; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast:
Ecc 3:20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

In other words, Stephen’s ‘spirit’ is the same spirit that in is Rover. It is the spirit of God that imparts life. The scripture translated “The life is in the blood…” is a mistranslation.

Lev 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

The word ‘life’ is translated from nephesh. God breathed into Adam the breath [ruach] of life [There, that is where the life is!] and Adam became a living nephesh.” Here in Lev 17:11 this same word ‘nephesh’ is translated two different ways in the same verse, just to fit scripture into the false doctrines of orthodox Christianity. The word ‘soul’ at the end of this verse is also ‘nephesh’. So it really should read “the soul is in the blood…” That is, the spirit that gives a soul life is in that soul. When that spirit is withdrawn you are left with a “dead soul.”

Eze 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

Orthodox Christian doctrine denies this Truth. Here is what it says:

“And we must always interpret the Old Testament by the New Testament, since the New is the fulfillment and culmination of the Old.”

That is a quote from the web site to which you referred. So, rather than admit that “the [Old Testament] scriptures cannot be broken,” as averred by Christ, orthodox Christian doctrine just twists the New Testament to NIV paraphrases that say what they want, and claim they are interpreting the Old by the New. Of course they are wittingly or unwittingly liars. The modern concept of the word ‘eternal’ has nothing to do with the Greek words aion and aionios. Of course they will not touch that Truth with a ten-foot pole.

This word, nephesh is the same word translated ‘creature’ in Gen 1:

Gen 1:21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.

Every creature that moves has the same spirit that made Adam a living nephesh. And it is that spirit that Stephen had and that Christ had and that you and I have. But without a resurrection and being given a spiritual body, that spirit will simply have “returned to where it was” before Adam, or any one in Adam, was ever born. It will “return to God who gave it.”

Psa 104:24 O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches
Psa 104:25 So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.
Psa 104:26 There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.
Psa 104:27 These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.
Psa 104:28 That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.
Psa 104:29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath [ruach– spirit], they die, and return to their dust.
Psa 104:30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit [same word-ruach], they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

So, yes, Stephen had a ‘spirit’ just as “that Leviathan” and “things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.” It was that spirit that gave Stephen life. But that spirit was not Stephen personally, as I think you already know. That spirit of Stephen is the exact same spirit that gives life to all living things. It is God’s spirit.

Gen 1:20 Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life [Hebrew: nephesh – what Adam became when “the ruach of life was breathed into Him”], and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

I think we agree that we are not given spiritual bodies until the resurrection. Let me know if you think I am wrong. Just give me the scriptures; I do want to learn.

You asked about “the idea of paradise as spoken by Jesus on the cross.” That verse is in Luk 23.

Luk 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

The main problem with this verse is not the words, but the comma.

Here is what I have written about ‘Paradise:’

“No normal loving parent “chastens and scourges,” an infant or even a toddler. “Chastening,” is reserved for children who are maturing. Neither of these, our original parents, yet knew anything of the “chastening [grace] of the Lord.”

This is not to say that the flesh has to have Satan to be sinful. Nothing is further from the Truth. But in the absence of the ‘Tempter,’ those who live during the millennium will do so under the influence of those who will be ‘ruling and reigning with Christ 1000 years.’ Neither the ‘millennium’ nor the ‘lake of fire’ will produce what the scriptures refer to as “overcomers.” The reason for this truth is that an “overcomer” overcomes “the wicked one.” And “the wicked one” will be “in prison” during the millennium, and he will be purified during “the lake of fire.” Consequently neither of these periods will produce “overcomers.”

1Jn 2:13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
1Jn 2:14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

The ‘trying’ and the’ testing’ and the ‘proving’ which are essential for the preparation of ‘kings and priests’ will be completely non- existent during the entire one thousand year reign of Christ.

Luk 23:43 And Jesus said to him, Verily to you am I saying today, with me shall you be in paradise. (CV)

[Do you see how a misplaced comma has been used for hundreds of years to twist the truth of God’s Word into the orthodox Christian doctrine of the immortality of the soul? The phrase ‘immortal soul’ is found nowhere in scripture!]

The thief on the cross is often used by those who do not see the need for the chastening function of grace to prove that the sacrifice of Christ, Him on the cross, excludes the need for us to also ‘lay down our lives’ with Him. What these people fail to realize is that this thief, though as guilty as we all are, was nevertheless repentant and on the cross with our Lord. However, what keeps him from being in the first resurrection is that the Holy Spirit had not yet been given. Peter himself was not yet converted.

Luk 22:32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Grace does not exclude the cross. Our cross IS CHASTENING, SCOURGING GRACE.”

Rev 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

The ‘Tree of Life’ is Christ. The only ones who truly “eat of the Tree of Life” in this age are the elect overcomers. All others will partake of the Tree of Life after the millennial kingdom. This however is a promise “to him that overcometh.” The tree of life in the “midst of the garden of God” is Christ in the midst of our times of nakedness and trials just as it was during the time Adam and Eve’s time of trial. The last place we want to go is back to the nakedness of the garden of Eden. We want our time of trial and testing and judging NOW (1Pe 4:12).

I looked at the web site you gave me and was not at all surprised that they use the words ‘soul’ and ‘spirit’ as though they are interchangeable. I have just demonstrated from the scriptures that a soul is the combination of a clay body with spirit that gives it life. “It is the spirit that gives life” (Joh 6:63). The [spirit that gives] life is in the [nephesh – soul], the “clay” or “dust” body.

The scripture, unlike that web page, says that the spirit that gives life is IN the soul. It implies and assumes that the spirit IS the soul. Nothing could be further from the Truth of scripture. If that is so, then explain to me this verse of scripture:

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Look at how they wrest the scriptures to fit their doctrine. Here is what they do to the scripture:

“For unbelievers it [hell] is a place of punishment. In 2 Peter 2, Peter writes, “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment… then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment” (2Pe 2:4, 9).”

On the other hand, here is what it actually says:

2Pe 2:9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

Reserving the “unjust unto the day of judgment” is the exact opposite of “keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.” Those untruths were written by a person who has not yet been given “eyes to see” the wonderful mercies of God. God pronounces a curse on those who add to and take away from His Word.

Look at this admission on his web page:

“When interpreting the Bible, we must always interpret obscure and unclear passages by clearer ones that treat the same subject. And we must always interpret the Old Testament by the New Testament, since the New is the fulfillment and culmination of the Old.”

So naturally, they never mention this very “clear passage:”

Ecc 3:19 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 breath [Hebrew: spirit]; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
Ecc 3:20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Yet the teaching of that page is that man is a spirit and not dust at all. And of course they never even attempt to tackle the meaning of the words aion or aionios.

The reason that page uses NIV is because NIV doesn’t even pretend to be an accurate translation. The NIV is nothing more than a twisted orthodox Christian paraphrase of God’s Word.

You asked about what I have written on 2Co 5:8.

2Co 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

See the letter entitled ‘To Be Absent From The Body,’ posted October 3rd, 2004.

I hope this has answered your concerns.

Mike