The soul dies. The thought that the soul does not die goes back a long, long time and it too is a teaching of man that is not supported by the Bible. Some may take a few scriptures out of context to try to make people believe that there is a “hell” or that the soul lives on but that is not the case. If one looks up the word “soul” in a concordance (such as for the King James Version) one will see where the word is used and that it is used hundreds of times. By examining each occurrence, one will see that the soul is mortal and that when someone dies, they are asleep:
- Daniel 12:2. When Michael stands up: “And there will be many of those asleep in the ground of dust who will wake up..” This will happen to those good and bad.
- Daniel 12:13 (WEB): 13 “But go your way until the end; for you will rest, and will stand in your inheritance at the end of the days.”
- John 5:28-29(WEB). Jesus prophesied, as did Daniel, that there would be a resurrection of both the righteous and unrighteous:
- 28 Don’t marvel at this, for the hour comes in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice, 29 and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.
- Ecclesiastes 9:5-10; 12:1-7 talk about growing old and then when one dies; “Then the dust returns to the earth just as it happened to be and the spirit itself returns to [the] true God who gave it.” Their thoughts perish.
- Genesis 3:19 “In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return.”
- Isaiah 26:19 “Your dead ones will live. A corpse of mine – they will rise up. Awake and cry out joyfully, YOU residents in the dust!…”
- 1 Corinthians 15:6 (WEB): 6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep.
- 1 Corinthians 15:18 (WEB): 18 Then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
- See John 11:1-44 at the end of this article
It is interesting how Israel’s first human king Saul had a “Witch of Endor… bring up” the deceased prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 28:3-25). Is it possible for the dead to be awoken in spirit form or was it a spirit pretending to be Saul? It seems that either way is possible. Verse 15 and 19 show that this could really be Samuel, awoken from sleep in death. However, Yahweh (Jehovah) hates divination! Don’t mess with spiritism to find yourself involved with something that the Almighty hates. (Deuteronomy 18:9-12; Leviticus 19:26,31; 20:27) By the way, Saul did die the next day…
Deuteronomy 18:9-12 (WEB):
9 When you have come into the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who tells fortunes, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, 11 or a charmer, or someone who consults with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12 For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh. Because of these abominations, Yahweh your God drives them out from before you.
When someone ceases to live, they are asleep in death. It is permanent for us humans but God can and will resurrect those ones, in time, when his Kingdom reigns!
The Spirit:
The spirit and soul together make a living soul. The soul is “the dust.” The spirit is the active force to make the “dust” alive. This is evident with the Genesis account, regarding the creation of Adam. He was made from the dust, and because he disobeyed Yahweh, was to return to the dust from which he came. God breathed in the spirit of life. This is part of God’s active force, the spirit. Once someone dies, their living soul becomes a dead soul because the spirit of God (“life force”) has returned to God.
Interestingly, Jesus, close to death, cried out to his Father (Yahweh). He died and his spirit went back to his Father. Shortly after, he was brought back to life and appeared many times to his followers. Before he left them, he stated that he had not yet ascended to the Father.
People of the Mormon faith are taught that individuals live in heaven and then are born on earth. Depending on how good they are determines what “level” of “heaven” they go to, once they die on earth. There are so many things wrong with this teaching! The Bible makes no such claim! Remember that God told Adam where he came from and where he was going – The dust. God has a plan for all those asleep in the dust. They will be brought back to life, on Earth, when his kingdom reigns over all nations. It is no wonder that this following of Joseph Smith have their own book of Mormon. They hold it above the Bible. They use the argument that the scriptures are too old to be accurate. But that is not true! We have the Greek Septuagint and the Dead Sea Scrolls dated to just before Jesus’ birth. We also have parts of the New Testament going back to around 100 AD. Upon comparing the differences, only minor changes are shown. Many of the changes deal with misspelling. When a con-artist faces scrutiny, he will try to discredit those looking into things, rather than welcoming scrutiny. Certainly, with their prophets by their side, the Mormon hierarchy should be confident in welcoming scrutiny. But they don’t. So who do you believe, God or man? Like a con-artist, those shepherds use the thought that God’s word is inaccurate and not to be fully trusted. Then they point to themselves as the ones to be trusted.
Do not be misled, test everything, and trust God above man!
Notice how Christ likened death to sleeping in the account of Lazarus being raised from the dead:
11 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha. 2 It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick. 3 The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, “Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.” 4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 6 When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let’s go into Judea again.”
8 The disciples asked him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you. Are you going there again?”
9 Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn’t in him.” 11 He said these things, and after that, he said to them, “Our friend, Lazarus, has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep.”
12 The disciples therefore said, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”
13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep. 14 So Jesus said to them plainly then, “Lazarus is dead. 15 I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let’s go to him.”
16 Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus,[a] said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go also, that we may die with him.”
17 So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia[b] away. 19 Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. 20 Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house. 21 Therefore Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. 22 Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. 26 Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”
28 When she had said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, “The Teacher is here and is calling you.”
29 When she heard this, she arose quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him. 31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.” 32 Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”
33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, 34 and said, “Where have you laid him?”
They told him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus wept.
36 The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!” 37 Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?”
41 So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.[c] Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me. 42 I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44 He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth.
Jesus said to them, “Free him, and let him go.”