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Sermon
of 11-09-02
Can We Cross Over and Speak to the
Dead
by David
Farmer
Ecclesiastes 9:56;
"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.
V:6
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."
Several weeks back on my way to prayer meeting in Hope just on the outskirts of Texarkana I saw a man standing on the side of the Interstate holding a gas can. He was clean cut and looked like all he wanted to do is get back to his car. I rarely pickup a hitchhiker anymore unless I think they need help, like gas or car trouble.
Well I pulled over and made room in my front seat for this man who climbed inside with his gas can. I could tell the can was empty. Now one habit I do have when I do pick up someone is introduce myself as a pastor. Not that it would make a difference if someone was about to rob me - but I feel better thinking that they will think twice about robbing a minister.
Anyway, after introducing myself I asked him if he had run out of gas and needed to get to a gas station? He said "no." He had just lost his drivers
license and about that time I smelt his breath. He was drunk as a skunk. I thought, "Yea - no wonder you lost your
license." Folks he never once mentioned his gas can. And I felt deceived. His strategy or gambit was to make a driver think he was stranded on side of the road and needed gas. Needless to say it worked with me, as well as I'm sure it had deceived others too.
Friends, I don't know about you but I don't like being deceived. There is probably nothing that makes me more upset than finding out someone has misled me into thinking one way when another way is the truth.
A few weeks back in Sunday's paper I received this USA Weekend insert. On the front cover it shows a man named John Edwards. Edwards host a show called "Crossing Over." He's a so-called psychic that claims to be able to communicate with deceased loved ones. But can he really converse and contact the dead? That is what I would like to look at this morning.
I once preached a sermon similar to this one and called it, "Is there sex after death?" That caught people's attention for sure. Now before I go any father I need you to understand something. I believe Edwards is very sincere in what he says the voices say he hears on his show. But at the same time I believe he is sincerely wrong. And that is what I plan to prove this morning.
I accept as fact that Edwards hears voices. But are they the voices of those that have gone before us? As Mickey Akens once told me the person that studied with him said - "Lets see what the Bible says." Do you believe the Bible my friends? If you do then lets see what it says on what happens to a dead person. Can they communicate with the living? Are they alive in heaven or hell right now? What happens at death?
I was amazed while researching for this sermon to find out that there are some seven million Americans who claim that they have had a near death experience. I'm sure you have heard of near death experiences. This is where someone believes they are approaching death. They sense that they are leaving their body. And as they leave their body, they go through a dark tunnel. And at the end of that tunnel - they see a bright light. Books on near death experiences are in almost every bookstore's and many are on the bestseller list. So what's really going on here? Are these near death experiences genuine? Are they really having an out of the body experiences? Or, could it be that there is another force at work? Let's first answer this question - are these near death experiences from God or something or one else.
First, notice that none of the people who experienced near death experiences really died. It's called "near" death experiences. That means they never died. They only thought they died.
Secondly, many near death experiences resemble hallucinations. Many of the people who have a near death experience are under the influence of drugs. Another way to look at near death experiences is this way. Have you ever had a nightmare where you falling off a cliff? And just as you are falling off the cliff you suddenly wake up and scream out "ahhhhhhh! I just fell off a cliff!" But did you really fall off a cliff? No but for a split second you thought you did. So is it possible that our minds perceive things that are not real? But at the moment, they seem real. And that is very close to what happens at the so-called near death experiences.
We know today that scientists can hook up electrodes to the brain and actually stimulate near death experiences. And what is so absolutely amazing is that these out of body near death experiences contradict scripture.
Listen to Job 7:9-10;
"As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.
V: 10
He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more."
The Bible says everyone that dies "will never come to his house again." Friends the Bible is plain. When you die, and go down to the grave and you do not return?
If that was the only verse in the entire Bible on what happens at death it should be enough to prove the dead cannot communicate with the living. But it isn't. It's only one of many, many verses. Friends the Bible does not teach anywhere that when a person dies, there is some spirit that leaves the body and continues to live.
Listen to Hebrews 9:27;
"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." How many times does a person die? Once. And after death what takes place? The judgment. The Bible does not teach when a person dies they become a spirit that leaves the body. But that is what spiritualism teaches. Spiritism claims that the dead are not really dead.
Listen to this quote from J. Arthur Hill from his book "Spiritism: History, Phenomena and Doctrines, page 25"; "The fundamental principle of Spiritism is that human beings survive bodily death. And that occasionally, under conditions not yet fully understood, we can communicate with those who have gone before." And this is what John Edwards claims he has the power to do. Spiritism believes that humans have some immortal part that lives on after death and can be communicate with the living. Friends, with claims like that is why I believe it is so important for us to understand the subject of death. And the only reliable source we have is the Bible. The Bible provides us a clear answer to the state of the dead.
At this point you need to also understand that death is creation in reverse. Genesis 2:7 says when God created Adam, He made him from dirt. Listen to 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."
The Bible says dirt is what we will return into at death.
Now friends, you will find no verse in the entire Bible that says people of the Old Testament spend death different from those of the New Testament. When anyone dies, the Bible says we return to the dust and ashes, we are made from.
Another thing I found interesting on the subject of death, is that it was the first lie the devil used on humans. Listen to Genesis 3:4;
"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die." Satan said to Eve, if you will eat from this tree you would become immortal and never die. But she had forgotten what God said. He said, Eve, if you partake of the tree you will die. Satan's first lie was over this matter of death. She and Adam were already going to live forever. But the devil lied and place doubt in her about God. The devil said or God said. Which will you believe this morning? John 8:44 says that the devil is;
"is a liar, and the father of it." The devil lied about death to Adam and Eve and unfortunately, many sincere genuine people have accepted the devil's same lie today.
Friends if you really think that the devil can masquerade as one of our dead loved ones, then listen to Revelation 16:14;
"For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles..." If the devil can work miracles then don't you suppose he and his imps could take on the form of a dead loved one?
I guess in order to answer that question we need to settled the question so many have today, what does Ecclesiastes 12:7 mean, which says;
"Then the dust will return to the earth as it was and the spirit will return to God that gave it." What is this spirit, which leaves the body at death? To find the answer let's again go back to creation.
The Bible says in 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."
Does that verse anywhere say, God put an immortal soul in Adam? No. God formed him out of the dust of the ground. That's his body. Then God breathed into Adam the breath of life. And Adam became a living soul. So dust plus the breath equals a living soul.
Now the Bible uses the word soul in two ways. First, something we are. We all are living souls. Living breathing living beings. The Bible says God breathed His spirit into us. When we die, the body goes back to dust and the spirit or breath goes back to God. Notice, the Bible does not say the soul returns to God. Again listen to Ecclesiastes 12:7;
"Then the dust will return to the earth as it was and the spirit will return to God that gave it." In other words, when we die, the living soul no longer exists. The reason why so many people are confused today is because they have the idea that the spirit and the soul is the same thing. Look at what Job 27:3 says;
"All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils." According to the Bible, the breath and spirit is the same thing. But it doesn't say the soul is the same thing. God breathed His breath or spirit into a human being and that human comes alive.
So when a person dies, the body goes to the grave and the spirit, breath or power of life goes back to God. Psalm 146:4 says;
"His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." In that very day his what perish? His thoughts perish. So, is this spirit that goes back to God conscious? Are they aware of where they are? No. Because the Bible is clear, when you die your thoughts perish and the body returns to dust. Friends, according to the Bible, there is no such thing as an immortal soul that lives on.
Maybe I can illustrate it this way to help you understand the term "spirit" and "body". In order to light this room I need two things. I need electricity and a light bulb. When I turn the switch on what happens? I have light. If I take the electricity or the light bulb away what happens? No more light. But where did the light go? Nowhere because it takes the both electricity and a light bulb to have light. The light just simple cease to be. So it is with the breath or spirit of God and the body. If you take the breath or body away then the living soul simple cease to be.
Our scripture in Ecclesiastes 9:5 says;
"For the living know that they shall die. But the dead know not anything."
How much do the dead know? Nothing. So if the dead "know not anything" can the dead communicate with the living? No. Then is it clear that it is the devil and his evil angel impersonating our dead loved one? Can you see why the devil wants the Christian church and people to misunderstand death?
Here are a few more verses to prove what happens at death.
Psalm 115:17;
"The dead praise not the Lord neither any that go down into silence."
Psalm 6:5;
"For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?"
The Bible says, that in death is no remembrance of God in the grave. And no one will give God thanks? You would thank if we were in heaven we would praise God.
Ezekiel 18:4 says;
"the soul that sinneth, it shall die." If the soul were immortal, could it die? No. The word "mortal" means subject to disease and decay. The word "immortal" means not subject to death, disease and decay. Romans 6:12; Romans 8:11; 2 Corinthians 4:11 all talks about us as being mortal. We are subject to death and disease. We receive immortality at the 2nd coming of Christ.
The King James version of the Bible uses the word "soul" 1600 times but never once does it use the term "immortal soul." The Bible says, in 1 Timothy 6:15 and 16; that only God is immortal.
I know that the vast part of the religious believes when you die, you immediately go to heaven. That your mother, father, son or daughter is looking down on us when they died. But friend, suppose that is true. Then when as your loved one is looking down on you and sees your sour marriage. Sees an alcoholic beating their children. Sees you lose your job. Sees you hurting or being told you have cancer. Sees their loved ones walking away from God. On and on they see the evils of this world and what you are going through. Would that be heaven or hell for them? But the Bible says that the dead know nothing. When a person dies, his breath or spirit goes back to God and his or her body returns back to dust.
Listen to how Jesus referred to death. John 11:11-14 says;
"These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. V: 12
Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. V:13
Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
V:14
Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead."
The Bible is so plain, isn't it, folk? Death is but a sleep until Jesus comes! In fact, the Bible declares, that death is a sleep 53 times.
And friends, we need not to fear death. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17;
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: V:17
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
At the coming of Jesus, the graves will open and the dead in Christ rise. But until the dead rise, you might say that they are resting safely in the arms of Jesus. They are secure. And He has preserves their identity.
To end let me say this. As far John Edwards show "Crossing Over" - my advice is don't watch it. The Bible says in Matthew 24:24 that the
"very elect" can be deceived. Who is the "very elect?" It's us, the Christians. Christ followers.
Thousands if not millions of Christians are being deceived by the devil's first lie in Genesis 3:4;
"Ye shall not surely die."
Don't be deceived friends. Before you believe anyone, rather it is your pastor, friend or me, check out what the Bible says first. Not just on the subject of death, but everything. They like Edwards may be sincere, but can be sincerely wrong.
At the end of this sermon I gave you some more verses on death and what Paul meant in 2 Corinthians 5:6 and 8 when he talked about being;
"absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."
Study it out. Come to your own conclusion what God is saying.
"Absent from the body"
2 Corinthians 5:6,8;
"Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: V.8
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."
V:6 Absent from the Lord. That is, not in His immediate presence, not yet
"clothed upon"
with the
"house which is from heaven" (v. 2), not able to see Him "face to face" (1 Cor. 13:12; cf. 3 John 14).
V:8 Absent from the body. That is, from life in the present world.
Present with the Lord. From a superficial reading of vs. 6-8 some have concluded that at death the soul of the Christian goes immediately to be "present with the Lord," and that Paul, ardently desiring to be with the Lord (v. 2), welcomed death. But in vs. 3, 4 Paul describes death as a state of being
"naked," or
"unclothed." He hopes, if at all possible, to avoid this intermediate state, and ardently desires to be "clothed" with his
"house ... from heaven." In other words, he hopes to be translated without seeing death (see on vs. 2-4). Elsewhere (see on 1 Cor. 15:51-54; 1 Thess. 4:15-17; 2 Tim. 4:6-8; etc.) Paul makes it certain that men are not "clothed" with immortality individually at death, but simultaneously at the resurrection of the just.
Or, to restate it in this way: In 2 Cor. 5:2-4 Paul has already declared that
"life," obviously meaning immortal life, comes when one is
"clothed upon" with his
"house ... from heaven" at the resurrection (see on v. 4), not in the "naked," or "unclothed," state of death. In v. 8 he expresses the desire to be
"absent from the body"
and
"present with the Lord," but it is obvious that being
"absent from the body"
does not mean being disembodied
("naked," or
"unclothed"), for in vs. 2-4 he has stated clearly that he does not desire this intermediate state and would avoid it if at all possible. To have
"life" (v. 4) and to be
"present with the Lord" (v. 8) thus requires possession of the "house ... from heaven" (v. 2). Careful scrutiny of Paul's statements thus clearly and decisively rules out any possibility of a state between death and the resurrection in which, as disembodied
("naked," or
"unclothed") spirits, men go to be
"present with the Lord." Compare Rom. 8:22, 23; see on Phil. 1:21-23.
The Bible declares death to be but a sleep from which believers will be awakened at the first resurrection (John 11:11-14, 25, 26; 1 Cor. 15:20, 51-54; 1 Thess. 4:14-17; 5:10). It is not until then that both the living and the resurrected saints will be with the Lord (see on 1 Thess. 4:16-18). Neither group precedes the other (cf. Heb. 11:39, 40). (From SDA Commentaries)
More verses on the State of the dead: John 5:2824 Ecc. 9:5 Job 14:14 Ps 6:5 John 6:40,44 Acts 2:29,34 John 8:52 Acts 13:36; Ps. 104:29; 1 Sam. 28:725 witch Endor.
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