Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth [gives life]; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

This entire book which we call the Bible is the Words of Christ. In order to understand it, you must think like He thinks. Here is how much physical death accounted in the mind of Christ:

Joh 8:51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.

In other words, Christ was totally oblivious to the flesh. Life has nothing to do with the flesh, except that this dying flesh is the route through which life comes:

Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

As far as Christ is concerned death has nothing to do with the death of our flesh; this flesh counts for nothing. He even comes right out and says so in John 6:63 (above).

Now to demonstrate how this works, allow me to quote one of the verses that are often questioned:

2Co 5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead [“Let the dead bury their dead”]:

Christ died for us because we were dead. We are not alive, we are dead. We live under the temporary fleshly delusion that we have life. That is because the entire Christian world has bought into the serpent’s lie “thou shalt not surely die.” The other half of what the serpent told Eve is true. God Himself causes the serpent to tell the truth:

Gen 3:22 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:

Adam has never eaten of the only tree that would have given him life. He was “marred in the Potter’s hand,” he was of dust, he was of the ground, he was naked, and he was what Paul called “corruptible flesh and blood” right from the hand of the Potter.

But Orthodox Christianity doesn’t believe that part: “God knows that you will become like him to know good and evil.” Orthodox Christianity denies that God knows anything about evil.

Is it true that we cannot die? No, we are dead without Christ. All the lies of orthodox Christianity to the contrary, the truth still remains, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” We are not, as the serpent has orthodox Christianity believing, a triune, immortal soul having a fleshly experience. We are instead a piece of clay being brought to a spiritual experience. Here is one more scripture bringing out the fact that, in scriptural terms, this thing we call life is actually simply a process of dying:

Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

So there are only two deaths in scriptural terms. The phrase ‘first death’ is not to be found in the scriptures, but it is alluded to in Christ’s reference to the “corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying [so as to] bring forth much fruit.” It is the “dying daily” to which Paul was referring. This is what all who are in the first resurrection experience. They all count themselves as dead now while in the flesh, so that they “might live unto Christ” while yet in this dying flesh. Those who ‘die first’ comprise those who are in the ‘first’ resurrection. They have died to sin while yet in this dying sinful flesh and “have been resurrected with Him” and now “live in newness of life.” They have now “passed from death unto life.”

Joh 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death [what we call ‘life’] unto life.

I am often asked, “How can I know that I am one of God’s elect?” The litmus test is revealed, and orthodox Christianity flunks at every turn because they believe that what Christ really meant when He said “Love thine enemies” was “Love thine enemies unless he means you bodily harm, in which case you must blow him away to the glory of God.” So we have the entire complement of the Great Harlot and all of her daughters calling for a holy war against the forces of our enemies. I realize fully that the flesh cannot receive it, but the Truth nevertheless is that those who are faithful to the words of Christ will “love their enemies.” Had Christ acted like those who claim to be His representatives, He would never have subjected Himself to the death of the cross, and we would all be without a savior.

1Jn 3:13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you [partly because you love your enemies].
1Jn 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the [even the enemy] brethren; He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

While millions of Christians are “called to be saints,” they “are yet carnal… and unable to bear spiritual truths.”

1Co 1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
1Co 1:2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

So while “called to be saints”, what is their true spiritual condition?

1Co 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

And yet the orthodox Christian world teaches that ‘the sinner’s prayer’ guarantees you a slot in that “blessed and holy first resurrection.” They have never so much as heard of a “carnal babe in Christ.” “Many are called, but few are chosen” is a warning that is lost on all of these called but not chosen Christians. A great portion of those who come up in the second resurrection will be what Paul calls “carnal… babes in Christ.” They will be those ‘Christians’ who give lip service to Christ’s ‘love thine enemies,’ while in the same breath telling you that you should hate and kill your enemies. They will be the billions who comprise those we so often refer to as orthodox Christians.

That is the second group who will finally ‘die daily.’ It is the “second death” group, not the second time to have to die. We die but once. And after we die, we are judged. That is the order of things in the mind of God and in His Word:

Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Judgment comes only “after death.” It is only after we are truly dead to the flesh that God begins to judge us and show us what we are. It is not a pretty picture that we come to see:

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

The answer to Peter’s question is by the great white throne judgment and the lake of fire. All of God’s elect, along with all of the called, experience the healing of the deadly wound. Like the prodigal son, all of God’s elect turn their backs on their Father and go into Babylon to slop the hogs. But like the prodigal, “they come to themselves” and come out of Babylon. Coming out of Babylon is the same as the prodigal returning to his Father. The “deadly wound that is healed” is the “strong delusion” of 2Th 2:11. All of God’s elect also succumb to this delusion. “Strong delusion” is all the doctrines of Babylon. It is but a sovereign act of God that calls a “few chosen… remnant… out of Babylon.”

Those with the ‘deadly wound which is healed’ who consequently never “come to themselves” never in reality experience true death to the things of the flesh. They are those who have the unclean spirit cast out but do not replace that unclean spirit with the spirit of God. So when that unclean spirit returns he finds his former home swept and garnished but still empty. His return with seven spirits more evil than himself is the healing of the deadly wound. He is now a healthier beast than he ever was before:

Mat 12:43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Mat 12:44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Mat 12:45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits [false doctrines – 1Jn 4:7] more wicked than himself [complete and total delusion], and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

1Jn 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

This is “the beast that was and is not and yet is.” This is the mystery that is impossible for those without spiritual minds to ever understand.

Rev 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth [in Babylon – Jer 22:29] shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

Jer 22:1 Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,
Jer 22:2 And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates [of “that great city where our Lord was crucified” – Rev 11:8]

er 22:29 O earth, earth, earth, [God’s rejected and backslidden people – “Babylon the Great ,The Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth“] hear the word of the LORD.

There is but one death that saves us. Is it the ‘death of Rom 6:23?

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

No, it is not this death. This is the death into which we are born because we are created” in the Potter’s hand as a marred vessel of clay.”

Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it

We of ourselves are nothing. We can make ourselves neither good nor evil. It so happens that the Potter himself has made us all “marred in His hand.” Consequently we are born into a “body of death.” We do not now nor have we ever yet known life until we come to be in Christ. Then and only then do we first taste of life.

Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

“This death is not to be counted as either the first or the second death. It is simply the condition of our dusty, clay, of the ground, dying, corruptible, earthy composition:

1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

We are first earthy. We have never yet been heavenly. The serpent must maintain his false doctrines of a triune God. It is upon this lie that his second false claim of a triune immortal man is founded. It is one lie founded upon another lie. But what saith the scripture?

1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall [at the resurrection] also bear the image of the heavenly.

The spiritual transformation we experience and spiritual resurrection we experience now in the “body of this death” is but an earnest, a down payment, of our coming immortal glory, at the time of a future resurrection:

2Co 1:22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

2Co 5:5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first [as in ‘first resurrection’ and dying daily ‘first.’] trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

This invitation we have been given is the greatest honor ever bestowed upon any man. We are the first to partake of the heavenly nature. And we can, for the first time in history, do so while yet “in the body of this death.” It is but “the earnest of our inheritance” but it is a “sealing” that assures “our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.”

Yes, it is the dying to Christ IN US. It is not us doing the dying. We are incapable of ourselves of ever submitting to the death of the cross. It is only Him in us who could possibly accomplish the death of our beast within. Only He could ever reveal and destroy the “man of sin, [within] with the brightness of His coming [within].” It is only after we experience this first death to the flesh and to the carnal mind within that we are given the privilege of administering all of this outwardly with a “rod of iron… over the carnal, unconverted nations of the millennial reign.

I hope this helps you to see that death precedes judgment. I hope this has shown you that the words ‘first’ and ‘second’ have nothing to do with the number of times one must die. Rather, those words in scripture speak of the highly honored first few who experience death to the carnal mind while yet in a fleshly “body of this death.” This very small group of highly honored rulers and overcomers are set in contrast with all the rest of mankind of all time who are to be brought to God through the ‘second death’ group. This group is brought to God “through your mercy;” through an experience called the great white throne judgment, resulting in the ‘second death,’ which we are told is accomplished in what is called a ‘lake of fire.’ That thing called the ‘lake of fire’ is nothing but God’s elect who have, at this time, been conformed to the image of His Son. It just so happens that this Son is in the image of His Father. And it so happens that this Father is a consuming fire:

Heb 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Since it is through our mercy that all the rest of the unbelieving world is to be brought to God, it becomes necessary that we are to become a “consuming fire.” And, lo and behold, that is exactly what we are told we are:

Isa 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

We are not saved simply for the sake of being saved. Rather, we are saved “that through your mercy they [those of the ‘second death’ group] also may obtain mercy.”

Our “appointment to die once” is exactly as you might surmise.

Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

There is yet another scriptural concept that is totally alien to the minds of those who are yet in Babylon. I have been asked by old and weathered ministers what could possibly be “behind of the afflictions of Christ?” Does not His death pay for our sins? Yes, it is His death. It is not our death that pays for our sins. But until that death is accomplished in Mike Vinson “for His body’s sake which is the church,” then the “afflictions of Christ” in me are yet “behind.” The only people who have ever yet been saved are those who have “endured to the end … that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ.” Only Christ in us can “endure to the end.”

Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Is it possible to be hated of all men and yet endure to the end? There is absolutely no doubt:

Php 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.