Oh boy.........sorry this will be loong. There are things i
would like to put forward to you to refute your claims about
praying for the dead. But sometimes i make it short
because........i have difficulty in writing in English.
But do not worry....i will make it as concise as possible. The
reason i am writing this also is for the reason that other fellow
Christians who are new in the faith might be instructed not to do
these stuff.
Spiritually speaking they are not dead. the Lord promised eternal
life to those who will trust in HIm alone for salvation. But it
doesn't mean that they will not die physically.
Joh 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall
live.
I wonder what would our friend SM would do here if he were there in
Thessalonica listening to the letter of Paul as it is being read to
them:
1Th 4:16 "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.
And the dead in
Christ will rise first."
"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!! Paul. They are not dead. They have eternal
life!!!!!!!!!"
Would you say that to Paul my friend?
I hope not because what Paul has said here are the words of the
Lord Himself.
Move up just one verse before this to verse 15, Paul claims this to
be the word of the Lord:
1Th 4:15 For this
we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who
are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means
precede those who are asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.
And the dead in
Christ will rise first.
Do you believe Paul my friend that this very words he wrote were
the utterance of the Lord to him? Sure you do.
God is speaking through Paul: "...........and the dead in Christ will
rise first."
What does the Lord call those saints whose hearts have stopped
beating?
DEAD IN CHRIST.
Will we see you standing up in that congregation saying: "NO. The
saints are not dead Lord.They have etenal life."
And if you object that these are not saints. That these are just
ordinary Christians:
What about this verse:
" 1Co 1:2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified
in Christ Jesus, called to
be saints, with all who in every place call
on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours"
The body of Christ, the Church, are those who are santified in
Chist Jesus.
And what does Paul say about those who are sanctified in Christ
Jesus? They are called saints. You see that phrase there "CALLED TO
BE SAINTS".
Actually there should be no 'TO BE' there.
one of the reasons why i prefer the NKJV over NIV is because the
NKJV italicized words that are not in the original Greek Bible.
Italicized words in the NKJV, KJV or NASB tell you that these are
not in the original and therefore not inspired. They are just
supplied there by the translators.
The literal rendering of 1 Corinthians 1:2 is:
1Co 1:2 "To the church of God which is at Corinth to those
who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, CALLED SAINTS, of God
which is at Corinth, with all who in every place call on the name
of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours..."
Sanctified people are saints. That's the principle we are trying to
get here.
Sanctified means set apart or separated people. They are separated
from the world to God. They are not anymore of the world but they
are IN CHRIST whether they live or die.
All who are IN CHRIST are sanctified people. And the Bible calls
those who are sanctified as saints.
So when Paul says: "the dead in Christ will rise first" he means
those saints who have physically died
What does the Bible say of those who have physically died, saints
or not? THEY KNOW NOTHING OF THIS WORLD. OF WHAT'S HAPPENING
HERE.
I think i shall stop here...........i will however continue with
this next time. i have other things to do. Thanks.
Ec 9:5 For the living know that they will die; But the dead know
nothing, And they have no more reward, For the
memory of them is forgotten.
De 18:10 "There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his
son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices
witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a
sorcerer,
11 "or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or
one who calls up
the dead.
P.S. these are not my words. These are from the Bible. Look and
read for yourself. They are plain and easy to understand. God made
it plain. He is an excellent communicator.
take them at face value.
Granting without conceeding that we are allowed to communicate to
the saints and you obeyed those words above. You did not pray to
the saints because of those verses.
By the time you will face judgment you will still have an excuse to
God. You can say: "God i did not call upon the saints because Your
Word prohibited me. And i understood it at face value. I believed
the verses in the Bible that Brey quotetd that Christ alone is our
Mediator.............SORRY IF I FOUND CHRIST ENOUGH."
