A List of Texts:

1. `The spirit (Hebrew: `ruach') of God is in my nostrils' Job 27:3

2. A `soul' can die:

"The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Ezekiel 18:20

"And that day Joshua ... smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king therefore he utterly destroyed ... and all the souls that were therein." Joshua 10:28,30,32

At the moment of death, when a living person suddenly ceases to have this divine quality of life some perceive that something like a soul leaves a body. But that idea occurs only in the thinking of the person who was taught the immortality of the soul whereas the Bible teaches the mortality of the soul. In the dying person, the easily observable cessation of breathing marks the moment of death, one part of the above equation does not function anymore. The person falls `asleep' in death and only God's resurrection power can raise him or her again.

The truth of this matter may be illustrated by the following consideration. How people die has many causes. How can something like an immortal soul escape from someone being instantly incinerated in a nuclear flash? Or if someone should fall into a crucible full of molten metal? The answer is, no `immortal soul' needs to escape, for the `spirit' or `soul' of a human being or animal is the whole living person with a thinking mind or functioning brain. In every case God miraculously recreates the dead from the elements recorded of the person. When Jesus and Lazarus rose, their body was not anymore in the tomb. Neither had they decayed to a skeleton or evaporated in a fiery flash, but to some that can happen and God can raise those too.

Jacob and countless others expected to rest in their grave as the following scriptures reveal:

"And Israel (Jacob) dwelt in the land of Egypt ...seventeen years ... and the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt: But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place. ... And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers." Gen.47:28-30;48:21;Josh. 24:32.

Jacob had nothing to say about knowing anything after his death that would enable him to watch the life of his children from heaven. Only God could do that. Jacob expected to rest in the grave. He, as well as Joseph, wanted to be buried near his own people when on that great day of resurrection the saints rise to meet God in the air. He wanted to experience that day and be able to see The Sight.[1850]

But what about these verses?

"David perceived that the child was dead ... now he is dead ... can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." 2. Sam. 12:19-23.

Here is the other Bible passage,

"O Lord, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit." Psalm 30:3; 86:13; 89:48

Jesus resting in the grave is a picture for us that sees death as a span of time, a respite, though unnoticed by those who are dead, during which sin cannot afflict them. "Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same." 2.Chronicles 34:28

The dead cannot observe the living or commiserate with them.

Did Jesus and the thief on the cross meet in heaven the day Jesus died?

"And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43

Setting the comma after "today" presents this meaning:

"And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee today, Thou shalt be with me in paradise." [1900]

Our modern, non-ancient-Greek Bibles have a comma but the original Greek did not use commas or sentence dividers. So the comma in modern translations is added by the publishers and set according to their idea what the meaning of the sentence should be. If one believes that some sort of immortal soul goes to heaven at death, they put the comma before `today', if one believes that at death a person goes to the grave only, the comma is set after `today' where it belongs. The Hebrews did not believe that at death an immortal soul goes to heaven, the Egyptians did [2000], in time popularized in Greek philosophy.

We know Jesus died on the cross on Friday, Luke 23:39-45. We also know that the thief lingered quite a bit longer before he died (John 19:31-37). The Bible states that the two thieves were still alive when the soldiers came to break their bones just before sunset on crucifixion day. Where is heaven? We read that the tree of life is in the midst of paradise (Revelation 2:7). The tree of life is by the throne, Rev. 22:1,2. Paradise is therefore a third heaven where God is (2.Corinthians 12:1-4). We read that three days later Jesus states that he had not yet ascended to heaven to His Father

"Jesus said unto her, `Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father': but go to my brethren, and say unto them, `I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.'" John 20:17.[2025]

What about 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."

"And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die. neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." Isaiah 66:24

Occasionally one can hear also that the Bible describes our bodies as "tents" in which we live (2.Pet. 1:13f). But who is `WE'? Above we showed that in Genesis the `body + breath = a living soul, a living human being. If the body gets destroyed or we stop breathing, the once living soul, the `ME' or `YOU' is dead. Dead does not mean, for a second only, and then alive again. The Hebrew concept of `soul' is a living, flesh and blood human being and not some foggy something inside of us. The dead, once living human beings, or living souls, are now in their grave. Only their memory remains and their records in heaven. We are appointed, once to die - after which we are dead in the grave. Time goes by of which the dead are totally oblivious and at some point the heavenly judgment begins. At the second coming of Christ He and His angels know who belongs to His heavenly family and those who are part of it shall rise from their sleep death. They had no sensation of time spent in the grave. For them it was just the twinkling of an eye before they see Jesus. When Jesus comes all those who are His, from Adam to the last person who died in Christ, will be resurrected by a shout and the sound of the trump of God - that is mass resurrection and the glorious day God's people wait for.

There is no disembodied soul of dead people in heaven. This is the error the snake suggested to Eve. It gives credence for Satanic agencies to appear in the guise of dead people and introduced the idea that animals could talk suggesting what they should do. Such a believe, thus, opens a door for the evil one to impress his messages on people. But the Bible states that the dead are dead in their grave (Ps. 49:15) and those who believe thus will not be deceived by such apparitions or appearances. The doctrine of human souls in heaven is unfortunately long engrained in many "Christian" circles but its origin is a tradition, not biblical. In that it is a similar error as doubting that God created everything. It is also the reason we repeatedly stated, that the Protestant Reformation was incomplete in discovering the pure gospel in its time. Later preachers and church leaders did not continue to search the scriptures sufficiently but rested largely on the laurels of the original reformers who in turn were influenced by the `church fathers' who taught false traditions.

Among believes in Christian circles we have these contradictory statements, that, yes, we die, but no, our soul lives on. That is not death. God's Word means what it says about `death'. We are gone and exist nowhere but that he shall recreate us on resurrection morning. The Bible assumes we understand this view of the state of the dead as the Israelites and Hebrew people believed it. We have to look at the time of Christ, the apostles and the time before Christ, to learn what God's people believed, because the later church incorporated many erroneous teachings which are still with us today. But the Christianity the Bible teaches is a "... doctrine, not of (natural) immortality, but of resurrection."[2050]

This is what is taught from Genesis to Revelation. See Revelation 16:3.

To reiterate once again, at death of course we stop breathing. Though before that we were a living soul made up of our God given body plus the breath. Now we become completely lifeless and our body starts decaying and the `worms' start devouring us right away. The Bible states that at the time of the apostles their revered patriarch, royal father David was still in his grave, Acts 2:29.[2080] That is all of him and there was no part of him anywhere else. At the time of the Second Coming of Jesus, the apostle Paul states:

"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." 1.Thess. 4:14

Some preachers say, `See, God brings those believers which accepted Christ with him from heaven to be there when the dead shall be raised from their sleep.'

Hold it, hold it. Which direction is this verse talking about? Are those, which were asleep in Jesus, are they being brought from heaven to earth or are they being brought from earth to heaven?

Well, the whole biblical context testifies to the fact that God does not bring a sleep train of snoozing saints from heaven to earth, but those that are sleeping in their grave he will raise up and take up to heaven - wide awake and in possession of their now glorified body for "... the Lord ... shall descend from heaven" accompanied by the heavenly hosts of angelic beings when He first appears, Vers 16. The death-sleep of the just resurrected on earth will seem to them just as the twinkling of an eye. There was no immortal something inside of them during their life on earth for it is only God who is immortal. When Jesus Christ comes as King he will come in the glory of his father and in the glory of the heavenly angels - notice no disembodied souls are mentioned - and they will take up the now resurrected faithful to God to their heavenly home.[2100] That is why we read, "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep." The word `prevent' here has the equivalent meaning of `precede', as this situation is continued in Vers 17 where we read, "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air ..." - the only instance of what may be called a `rapture'.

At funerals we should hear then said, `Rest peacefully in the recesses of the earth until that glorious day of the Lord." Or as we read on another gravestone, "Here lieth the body of (name) who departed this life on (date). My life is hid with Christ in God when this my Saviour Dear does Come Again then with Him in Glory I Shall Appear." We notice this gravestone quotes the Apostle Paul where he writes:

"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." Colossians 3:1-4.

The ancient Egyptians believed that man had an immortal soul. They were pagans. Moses led Israel out of Egypt to remove them from these erroneous teachings. Christians are not to hang on to this pagan believe that man at death has something inside that keeps on living. That is paganism. Always remember, Only God has immortality, 1.Timothy 6:15,16.

To put it another way, the answer to the first question is that becoming a part of God's Heavenly Kingdom occurs at the same time for all who believe, at the day of His glorious Second Coming, no one will get there before another except those who God chose as his First Fruit. Today, all of God's people rest in their grave to be woken up on that day by the `Trump of God' as the Bible puts it. The `Trump of God' is nothing silent or secret except that we do not know the hour when Christ comes again. We are to be ready for it every day, for if we should unexpectedly fall to `sleep' in death, we have abundant life awaiting us upon the first resurrection and seeing Christ in the clouds of throngs of heavenly beings. This will be the noisiest, most welcomed event for the saints of all history [2200]. The rejecters will not rise until much later in the second resurrection to receive their judgment [2210], acknowledge the justice of God and become like dead stubble and sin shall rise no more. - The sermon above admonishes us to study His Word daily to grow in faith and learn about salvation.

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

To decide that question we must read this scripture in the context in which it was written (being an example of easily distorting its meaning when reading this verse all by itself) for the apostle Paul is explaining it himself in the previous verses.

In Verse 1 and 2 Paul expresses his hope for the future, and describes life and death in relation to eternity:

"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, and house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven."

Paul illustrates 3 conditions:

1. "Our earthly tent-house"
2. "Our house which is from heaven."
3. being "naked"

We can see that the phrase our `earthly house' means our present, temporal, home body.

From verse 4, "For we that are in this tabernacle do groan - (wishing we were already in heaven) -, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed (`naked', that is dead), but clothed upon (having received the resurrection body), that mortality might be swallowed up of life."

Three stages are here presented the third of which, being `naked', is a reference to our dead body - death, In death we have neither the earthly nor the resurrection body.[2290] We have to wait for the resurrection body until Jesus comes again and raises us up from death - re-creates us, reassembles our genetic (DNA) information and makes us whole again. As our body is remade so also our mind (the `soul') starts to function again [2300]. Our `soul' is part of our body and can't fly away without it for a soul can die and animals are also spoken of as having a soul.

It is important to understand what Paul says, we do not get `our house from heaven' until resurrection day and there are only three stages, not a fourth stage in which a soul reunites with the body as immortality teachers claim. That is reading things into this verse which are not there. (For a word study on `soul' click here).

What the apostle Paul wanted most of all was to be changed from mortality to immortality without experiencing death (being unclothed). In other words he wanted for Jesus to come again in his life time - he was perhaps a bit impatient (groaning) to be with God? He wanted the experience of Enoch and Elijah when they were taken to heaven (Genesis 5:24; 2.Kings 2:11; Luke 9:35). But please note this observation:

If the condition between mortality and immortality had been one where his disembodied `soul' (falsely understood by many as capable of life without the body) was already in heaven in the presence of God, Paul would not have had such earnest desire to avoid dying. Paul explained in other Bible passages, the time, when he expected immortality to be given, 1.Corinthians 15:51-53.

When studying the subject on the immortality of the soul, we need to be aware that in these words and concepts a number of unstated understandings of the time of Paul are of importance [2320], understandings of the membership of his churches from sermons he preached to them and which he does not repeat each time he touches on the subject. This is particularly relevant with respect to the wording in Phil. 1:23 and 2.Cor. 5:8:

"For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh [is] more needful for you. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing [is] God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit." Philippians 1:23-27

"Therefore [we are] always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, [I say], and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him."

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things [done] in [his] body, according to that he hath done, whether [it be] good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to [answer] them which glory in appearance, and not in heart." 2.Corinthians 5:5-12

"For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." Matthew 16:27

"And it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Hebrews 9:27.

"Be not be amazed at this: for the hour is coming, when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out - those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned." John 5:28-29.

These `understandings' of the time of Paul, that the time spent in the grave from the moment of death until the Second Coming, is as the blinking of an eye (1.Cor. 15:52- Note: The dead are raised, reassembled to be living individuals, as only God can do it - implying that up to this moment they were not alive, anywhere!) and the biblical usage of the words `soul' and/ or `spirit' as a complete, living human being, are key issues on the doctrine of the state of the dead. Until the day of the general resurrection the dead are in the grave, their bodies are decayed, turned to dust (Job 34:15), awaiting their resurrection at the last trumpet. Not until their resurrection will they put on incorruption and immortality, but until then they rest in the grave just like Jesus did after He died on the cross.

What about those who put the idea of anthropomorphism in this passage of `The Rich Man and Lazarus', Luke 16:19-31?

Note: It would be very instructive to study Matthew 27:52-53 on this subject.

"And the graves were opened: and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."

In fact the Bible states that the rich man lost his soul for we read:

"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Mark 8:36.

"But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? " Luke 12:20.

"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matth. 16:26.

`What shall a foolish man profit and make some gains but neglect God and then lose his (eternal) life?'

This scripture we may continue with the words, "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then He shall reward every man according to his works." Matth. 16:27 As we are told here, our reward does not occur at the time of death but on the day of His Second Coming - the day poor Lazarus would be received into heaven by Jesus and His holy angels and eat freely from the Tree of Life by the River of Life as it were, sitting in the bosom of plenty of Abrahm, Rev. 22:1-2,17. While poor Lazarus, now rich in being blessed to be among the redeemed in heaven, may be understood as a type for those who accepted Christ; the Rich Man, who was spiritually poor, according to the Bible, would not be resurrected until after the Millennium in the Second resurrection. The impenetrable chasm separating these, exists for all of those, who chose not to accept Christ as their personal Savior. That in Hebrew beliefs `the soul' is also equated with `life' we have already shown above.

One of the main arguments for the notion that disembodied human souls arrive in heaven is this parable of the Rich Man and Poor Lazarus. In this simile, Jesus taught not to trade your eternal life for fame in this short life on earth. The immortality believers explain the parable by saying that the rich man and poor Lazarus are not in heaven in their resurrection body but in the `spirit' body (anthropomorphism). This argument we have already shown to be untrue by the word study above on how the Bible uses these words `spirit' and `soul'. With the idea of anthropomorphism a plethora of doctrines could be upheld which the Bible never intended to teach. Where do we stop to apply anthropomorphism? It is not a biblically ordained method of interpretation but is used to proof what they can't proof without using such ideas. There is no reason not to believe that Moses and Elias (Jude 9; Lk. 9:30) were bodily taken up into heaven as a `first fruit' just like Jesus was and thus could appear to Jesus in the Garden before the sufferings and the death of Jesus on the cross for his encouragement. For who is God that he should do something in vagueness and in secret? Not so. God does not split people into bodies and ghosts, pagans did that.

Those who view the New Testament to teach that the expressions, "body and soul" and "body, soul, and spirit" indicate that man is composed of three divisible components, and that at least one of them is immortal, should consider this:

1. The `bosom' of Abraham is a metaphore for a place of fulfillment, a spacious place with room for many as we learn in this scripture, "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." Luke 6:38. This idea of the `bosom' being a container of plenty is also understood here, "Thou showest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompenses the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them ..." Jeremiah 32:18. According to Jeremiah all the iniquity combined ends up in the `bosom' of the children of those who were unfaithful. These scriptures ought to help us to realize that this story of Jesus is a parable and not intended to teach literal events.
2. In the parable the Rich Man cries or yells to Abraham who replies in quiet words. Just like no one would assume that trees do not speak to each other as they do in the parable of Jotham found in Judges 9:5,8-16, so we should not hold that hell and heaven are in talking distance.
3. Jesus taught that both soul and body can be destroyed in hell: "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28.
4. A careful study of all the adjectives used in the Bible to qualify the word "spirit", as applied to man, indicates that not one of them supports the idea of immortality as a quality of the human "spirit".
5. The Spirit of God is the only "spirit" that has the appellative "eternal", Hebrew 9:14.
6. The Jews made prosperity the marks of a good man while a poor man was looked down upon. This view was one Jesus sought to correct.
7. The theme of the parable of the rich and poor man, therefore, is not to explain the state of the dead which rest in the grave, Acts 2:29,34. The understanding for that must be sought by comparison with additional Bible passages which touch upon the nature of man, i.e. Job 3:17; 1.Tim. 6:15,16; Romans 2:6,7, 23; 1.Cor. 15:51-54; Luke 14:14; John 3:36; Rev. 22:12 and more, some of which we cite above and which show that man is mortal, has no natural immortality.

Jesus is saying, the powers which can harm life would never affect the souls (minds) of the Apostles, which His own resurrection proved. The body can be injured without the consent of the soul because as one suffers he can still think, but the soul cannot experience pain without the body being still alive. Therefore, the only thing to fear is losing, not our human life, but the life with God after resurrection day.

What about the robe-clad souls in the Book of Revelation?

"And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held ..." Revelation 6:9

"... and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, Holy and true, doest Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them [They were pronounced pure and holy]; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." Revelation 6:10-11

1. What period of time does the 5th seal refer to?
2. Where is the altar under which the souls were seen?
3. What or who are these souls?
4. What condition are these souls in, are they conscious beings?
5. What is meant by the cry for vengeance?
6. When do they rest for a little season?

1. Answer: Like the seals before this fifth seal, they have historically been understood to cover a period of time. The first was seen to approximate the period of the first church, Ephesus, the triumph of the gospel. The second was understood to cover the period during which the pure gospel was being corrupted and persecution ensued. The third seal was interpreted to mean settling spiritual darkness. The taking away of Bible based faith, moral corruption and the rise of superstitions which we cover here. The fourth seal covers the period of church history where the blood of martyrs flowed freely. The fifth seal covers the period during which the persecuting power started to be restrained; the effect, we know from history, which was caused by the Protestant Reformation.

2.- 5. Answers: The souls under the altar are popularly being regarded as strong proof that disembodied spirits exist and that the dead have consciousness. Those, who teach this, point to the souls seen by the apostle John in a disembodied state, and yet they had knowledge of passing events, for they cried for vengeance on their prosecutors.

This view is, however, inadmissible for several reasons.

a) The popular view places these souls in heaven, but the altar of sacrifice on which they were slain cannot be in heaven. The only altar we read about in Revelation as being in heaven is the altar of incense, Rev.8:3f. It would not be correct to place these just slain victims under the altar of incense since that altar was never devoted to such a use. In addition, it is a repugnant thought to entertain the idea that in heaven souls of bloody victims of persecutions are shut up under an altar. How can we fathom the thought that in heaven, the place of joy and glory, such a state of existence should be found?

b) But we must examine these verses further. The popular view which places these souls in heaven, puts the wicked at the same time in the lake of fire, writhing in unutterable torment, in full view of the heavenly host. It seems logical, that the souls under the altar are those who had been slain during the period of the fourth seal - for scores of years - and most of them centuries before. There is hardly a question that their persecutors had all passed off the stage of action, and according to the doctrine of hell fire were being tormented and made to suffer right there - before the eyes of the souls under the altar - if we remember how those who interpret these things as real - present the parable of the `Rich Man and Poor Lazarus'. Dr. Martin Luther attacked as "rubbish" the notion that one can tear off a part of man and say, "It lives."[2380] But these souls under the altar are represented as if they cry to God as though He was delaying vengeance on their murderers. What greater vengeance could they want? If they thought that their persecutors were still alive on earth, they must have known (since some say they can think) that in a few years at most, these wicked would join the vast multitude of those suffering in hell.

Therefore, the popular doctrine on the condition of the dead cannot be correct, or their interpretation of these verses is not correct, for they are mutually exclusive.

c) But it is urged on seekers of truth that these souls must be conscious, for they cry to God. This argument may be valid, if we could find such a figure of speech as `personification' elsewhere in the Bible. Please be reminded that the blood of Abel is represented to have cried to God from the ground, Gen. 4:9-10. The stone cried out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber answered, Habakkuk 2:11. The hire of the laborers kept back by fraud cried, and the cry enters the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, James 5:4.

Conclusion: Therefore, while the souls under the altar could `cry', does that not proof consciousness after death.[2400]

The word `soul' means a complete, living human being and is not infrequently translated as `person' as a look in Young's Concordance will demonstrate under "person, nephesh", with quotes from Gen. 14:21; Num. 25:30; Jer. 43:6; Ez. 16:5, etc. demonstrate.
These souls were burned on stakes, beheaded or otherwise killed for their faith, but they trusted in God to raise them on that day of His Second Coming from their grave. Their words, their testimony, survived them and seared the conscience of some of their persecutors.[2410]

6. Answer to `Their white robes and when do they rest for a little season?'

These persecutions took place largely in the old world, Europe. But they also followed into those areas of the world where members of this persecuting power journeyed to. While the reformation slowed their terrible work, it did not altogether stop it as the events in the awful `Bartholomews Massacre' showed. Besides the events of that night, multitudes suffered death in various other places. They themselves, over those long centuries, had come out of the ranks of their persecutors, persuaded by the Bible to follow the Lord in keeping His commandments and His doctrines. Their lives had been misrepresented, their reputations tarnished, their names defamed, their motives maligned, and their graves covered with shame and reproach, as containing the dishonored dust of the most vile and despicable characters. This way the persecuting power which then molded the sentiment of the principal nations on earth, spared no pains to make her victims an abhorrence to all people.

But the Protestant Reformation began its work.

The full vindication of their cause was delayed for a season. But the spirit of persecution was finally restrained, the cause of the martyrs vindicated, and the "little season" of the fifth seal came to a close.[2450]

What about the spirits in prison?

"For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit (capital `S', Holy Spirit): by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water." 1.Peter 3:18-20

"And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eigth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly." 2.Peter 2:5 (See also Hebr. 11:7; Rom. 8:1,2; Gen. 6:3)

"Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?"
"To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect."

"And it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Hebrews 9:27; Ecclesiastes 9:5,10.

`Additionally we had ancestors, our forefathers, which raised their children as parents would and they were honored by their offspring over all generations, so, if we obeyed our parents and they obeyed their parents, should we not even more so obey God, our heavenly Father and live?'
`To the congregation and church of Jesus Christ, the firstborn, whose names are written in the record books of heaven, and to God the judge of all of us, and to those people who lived a godly life and thus are considered perfect by God.' Hebrews 12: 9,23