Necromancy and Ancestor Worship The word “necromancy” derives from the Greek terms nekros (dead) and manteia (divination). Practiced since ancient times, necromancy is a form of summoning the alleged active spirits of the dead in order to obtain knowledge, often about future events. Ancestor worship, mean- while, is the custom of venerating deceased ancestors because they are still considered family, and these spirits can, it is believed, influence the affairs of the living. These pagan practice...
Dec 07, 2022•12 min•Ep. 1592
Reincarnation The pagan notion of an immortal soul provides the foundation for the unbiblical theory of reincarnation or transmigration of the soul. This theory has been adopted by some major world religions. While most Christians believe in the existence of an immortal soul that abides in a permanent heaven or hell after death, those who believe in reincarna- tion hold that such an immortal soul goes through many cycles of death and rebirth here on earth. For some, reincarnation is thought to b...
Dec 06, 2022•8 min•Ep. 1591
Near-Death Experiences Some of the most popular modern arguments to “prove” the theory of the natural immortality of the soul are “near-death experiences.” In his book Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon—Survival of Bodily Death (Atlanta, GA: Mockingbird, 1975), Raymond A. Moody, Jr., presented the results of his five-year study of more than one hun- dred people who experienced “clinical death” and were revived. These individuals claimed to have seen a loving and warm being of lig...
Dec 05, 2022•11 min•Ep. 1590
Mysticism Our world has been flooded by the strong waves of mysticism. The word “mysticism” is a complex term that encapsulates a huge variety of ideas. From a religious perspective, the word implies the union of the individual with the Divine or Absolute in some kind of spiritual experience or trance. This characterizes the worship experience even of certain churches. The phenomena can vary in form and intensity, but the tendency always is to replace the authority of the Written Word of God wit...
Dec 05, 2022•10 min•Ep. 1589
Read for This Week’s Study: Matt. 7:21–27, John 11:40–44, 1 Pet. 3:18, 1 Sam. 28:3–25, Eph. 6:10–18. Memory Text: “And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness. Their end will match their deeds” (2 Corinthians 11:14, 15, NRSV). Our contemporary world has become a melting pot of the super- natural and the mystical, helped on by Hollywood, which has no problem making movies with religi...
Dec 05, 2022•6 min•Ep. 1588
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “The First Great Deception,” pp. 531–550; “Can Our Dead Speak to Us?” pp. 551–562, in The Great Controversy. “Upon the fundamental error of natural immortality rests the doctrine of consciousness in death—a doctrine, like eternal torment, opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures, to the dictates of reason, and to our feel- ings of humanity. According to the popular belief, the redeemed in heaven are acquainted with all that takes place on the earth and esp...
Dec 02, 2022•7 min•Ep. 1587
The Biblical View Read 1 John 5:3–12. Why does the apostle John limit “eternal life” only to those who are in Christ? The biblical doctrine of conditional immortality of the human being—in contrast to the nonbiblical theory of the natural immortality of the soul—is made explicit in 1 John 5:11, 12. To grasp the meaning of this significant passage, we have to remember that only the Godhead “has immortality” (1 Tim. 6:15, 16, NKJV) and is the only Source of life (Ps. 36:9, Col. 1:15–17, Heb. 1:2)....
Dec 01, 2022•7 min•Ep. 1586
A Paradise With Disembodied Souls Though Protestants don’t accept purgatory, many nevertheless believe that the souls of the righteous dead are already enjoying Paradise in the very presence of God. Some argue that those “souls” are just disembodied spirits; others believe they are disembodied spirits but covered by a spiritual body of glory. Whatever the supposed metaphysical state of the living dead, these theories undermine the biblical doctrine of the final resurrection and judgment of the d...
Nov 30, 2022•8 min•Ep. 1585
The Saints in Purgatory The Roman Catholic Church holds that the dead who do not deserve hell but who are not yet ready for Paradise can have their sins purged in purgatory and then ascend from there to Paradise. Their sufferings in purgatory can be reduced by the prayers and penances of loved ones. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is explicit about purgatory: “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after ...
Nov 30, 2022•9 min•Ep. 1584
The Fires of Hell In his booklet for children titled, The Sight of Hell (Dublin: James Duffy, [1874]), English Roman Catholic priest John Furniss (1809–1865) illustrates the eternal torment by means of a great solid-iron ball, larger than the heavens and the earth. “A bird comes once in a hundred mil- lions [sic] of years and just touches the great iron ball with a feather of its wing.”—Page 24. Furniss argues that the burning of sinners in hell continues even after that iron ball is worn away b...
Nov 30, 2022•8 min•Ep. 1583
Immortal Worms? Compare Mark 9:42–48 with Isaiah 66:24. How do you understand the expression “their worm does not die” (Mark 9:48, NKJV)? Some interpret the singular noun “worm” (Mark 9:48) as an allusion to the supposed disembodied soul or spirit of the wicked that, after death, flies into hell, where it never dies and suffers eternal torment. But this interpretation does not reflect the biblical notion of uncon- scious death; it also ignores the Old Testament background of this passage. Actual...
Nov 30, 2022•9 min•Ep. 1582
Read for This Week’s Study: Mark 9:42–48; Mal. 4:1; Jude 7; 1 Tim. 2:5; Acts 2:29, 34, 35; 1 John 5:3–12. Memory Text: “Test all things; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21, NKJV). Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) wrote his famous work, The Divine Comedy, about a fictional journey of the soul after death. The soul went either to the inferno (hell) within the earth; or to purgatory, where the human spirit can purge itself and become worthy of ascending to heaven; or to Paradise,...
Nov 30, 2022•5 min•Ep. 1581
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “ ‘A Great Gulf Fixed,’ ” pp. 260–271, in Christ’s Object Lessons; “Calvary,” pp. 749–752, in The Desire of Ages; and “Teachers as Examples of Christian Integrity,” p. 504, in Fundamentals of Christian Education. “In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Christ shows that in this life men decide their eternal destiny. During probationary time the grace of God is offered to every soul. But if men waste their oppor- tunities in self-pleasing, they cut thems...
Nov 25, 2022•7 min•Ep. 1580
The Souls Under the Altar Read Revelation 6:9–11. How can the “souls” of the dead martyrs cry “under the altar”? The opening of the fifth Apocalyptic seal reveals an unusual scene. The souls of the martyrs were seen metaphorically “under the altar” crying to God for vengeance (Rev. 6:9–11). Some commentators are inclined to identify this “altar” as the altar of incense mentioned under the seventh seal (Rev. 8:1–6). But the reference to “blood” (instead of “incense”) in Revelation 6:9–11 leads us...
Nov 24, 2022•8 min•Ep. 1579
Preaching to the Spirits in Prison Read 1 Peter 3:13–20. How did Christ preach “to the spirits in prison . . . in the days of Noah”? (See also Gen. 4:10.) Commentators who believe in the natural immortality of the soul usually point out that Christ preached “to the spirits in prison” (1 Pet. 3:19, NKJV) while He was still resting in the tomb. For them, His dis- incarnated spirit went into hell and preached to the disembodied spirits of the antediluvians. Yet, this fanciful notion is biblically u...
Nov 23, 2022•9 min•Ep. 1578
“To Depart and Be With Christ” Read Philippians 1:21–24 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18. When did Paul expect to be “with Christ” (Phil. 1:23) and “with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17)? Paul was driven with the passion to live “in Christ” now (2 Cor. 5:17) and “with Christ” after His second coming (see 1 Thess. 4:17). For the apostle, not even death could break the assurance of belonging to his Savior and Lord. As he said in the epistle to the Romans, “neither death nor life” can “separate us from the lov...
Nov 22, 2022•11 min•Ep. 1577
“ ‘Today . . . With Me in Paradise’ ” One of the Bible passages most widely used to try to prove the immor- tality of the soul is Luke 23:43—“He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise’ ” (NRSV). Almost all Bible versions (with few exceptions) translate this text in a similar way, giving the impression that on the very day Christ died, Christ and the thief would be together in Paradise. This should not surprise us because those translations were made by biblical scholar...
Nov 21, 2022•11 min•Ep. 1576
The Rich Man and Lazarus Read Luke 16:19–31. Why is this story not a literal description of the afterlife? Some scholars suggest that Luke 16:19–31 should be interpreted literally, that is, as describing the state of the dead. But this view would lead to several unbiblical conclusions and would contradict many of the passages that we have already looked at. First, we would have to admit that heaven and hell are close enough to allow a conversation between the dwellers of both places (Luke 16:23–...
Nov 20, 2022•12 min•Ep. 1575
Read for This Week’s Study: Luke 16:19–31, Luke 23:43, John 20:17, Phil. 1:21–24, 1 Pet. 3:13–20, Rev. 6:9–11. Memory Text: “ ‘You search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me’ ” (John 5:39, NKJV). Peter warns us: “Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Pet. 3:15, NKJV). Paul adds, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long...
Nov 19, 2022•6 min•Ep. 1574
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “The Thessalonian Letters,” pp. 255–268; “Called to Reach a Higher Standard,” pp. 319–321, in The Acts of the Apostles. “The Romans,” writes Stephen Cave, “were well aware of the Christians’ belief that they would one day rise bodily from the grave and did every- thing they could to mock and hinder those hopes. A report of a persecution in Gaul in 177 ce records that the martyrs were first executed, then their corpses left to rot unburied for six days before...
Nov 18, 2022•10 min•Ep. 1573
The Everlasting Encounter Read 1 Corinthians 15:51–55. What “mystery” (1 Cor. 15:51) is Paul explaining? Some popular preachers suggest that this “mystery” (1 Cor. 15:51) is the “secret rapture” of the church, which is to occur seven years prior to Christ’s glorious second coming. In this “secret rapture” faithful Christians are suddenly, quietly, and secretly whisked off to heaven while everyone else remains here wondering what happened to them. People might suddenly find themselves in a driver...
Nov 17, 2022•10 min•Ep. 1572
At the Sound of the Trumpet The Thessalonians were convinced that eternal life would be granted exclusively to those who would remain alive until the Second Coming. “They had carefully guarded the lives of their friends, lest they should die and lose the blessing which they looked forward to receiving at the com- ing of their Lord. But one after another their loved ones had been taken from them, and with anguish the Thessalonians had looked for the last time upon the faces of their dead, hardly ...
Nov 16, 2022•7 min•Ep. 1571
“ ‘I Will Raise Him Up’ ” In one of His miracles, Jesus fed 5,000 people with just a small amount of bread and fish (John 6:1–14). Perceiving that the multitude then intended to proclaim Him king (John 6:15), Jesus sailed with His disciples to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. But the next day the multitude followed Him there, where He delivered His powerful ser- mon on the Bread of Life, with special emphasis on the gift of everlast- ing life (John 6:22–59). Read John 6:26–51. How did Jesus...
Nov 15, 2022•9 min•Ep. 1570
“I Will Come Again” Read John 14:1–3. It has already been almost 2,000 years since Jesus promised to come again. How can we help others see that, despite the great length of time (which really doesn’t matter), this promise is relevant even to our own generation, so long removed from the time when Jesus spoke it? Four times in the book of Revelation Jesus stated, “ ‘I am coming soon!’ ” (Rev. 3:11; Rev. 22:7, 12, 20, NIV). The expectation of His soon coming drove the mission of the apostolic chur...
Nov 14, 2022•9 min•Ep. 1569
Hope Beyond This Life The ancient Greek historian Herodotus (fifth century bc) wrote about a tribe that, at a birth, began a period of mourning because they antici- pated the suffering that the infant would face if it lived to adulthood. However alien to us the ritual might seem, there is some logic to it. Millennia later, an advertisement in America in the early twentieth century read “Why live, if you can be buried for ten dollars?” Life can be hard enough, we know, even if we believe in God a...
Nov 13, 2022•12 min•Ep. 1568
Read for This Week’s Study: 1 Cor. 15:12–19, John 14:1–3, John 6:26–51, 1 Thess. 4:13–18, 1 Cor. 15:51–55. Memory Text: “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11, 12, NKJV). Though writing in Greek, all the New Testament writers (except Luke) were Jews, and they of course approached the nature of human beings from the wholistic Hebrew perspective, n...
Nov 12, 2022•8 min•Ep. 1567
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “In Joseph’s Tomb,” pp. 769–778; “The Lord Is Risen,” pp. 779–787; “Why Weepest Thou?” pp. 788–794; “The Walk to Emmaus,” pp. 795–801; “Peace Be Unto You,” pp. 802–808, in The Desire of Ages. Modern sentiment doesn’t allow for something like the resurrection of Jesus. However, the historical evidence is so strong that even those who can’t accept the reality of the Resurrection are forced to admit that many people believed that they had seen the resurrected J...
Nov 11, 2022•9 min•Ep. 1566
“The First Fruits of Those Who Have Died” Read 1 Corinthians 15:20, in light of Deuteronomy 26:1–11. In what sense did Paul refer to the risen Christ as “the first fruits of those who have died” (NRSV)? The offering of “the first fruits” was an ancient Israelite agricultural practice with deep religious significance. It was a sacred recognition of God as the gracious Provider, who had entrusted His stewards with the land where the crops grew and were ready to be harvested (see Exod. 23:19, Exod....
Nov 10, 2022•9 min•Ep. 1565
Witnesses of the Risen Christ Read John 20:11–29 and 1 Corinthians 15:5–8. How did the disciples react when they first met the risen Christ? The two angels at the empty tomb told Mary Magdalene and some other women that Jesus had risen (Matt. 28:1, 5–7; Mark 16:1–7; Luke 24:1–11). But soon Jesus Himself appeared to them, and they worshiped Him (Matt. 28:1, 9, 10; John 20:14–18). He appeared also to Peter (Luke 24:34, 1 Cor. 15:5) and to the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, whose hearts were...
Nov 09, 2022•10 min•Ep. 1564
Many Arose With Him “Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many” (Matt. 27:51–53, NKJV). What does this incredible account teach us about the resurrection of Jesus and what it accomplished? An earthquake marked the death of Je...
Nov 08, 2022•8 min•Ep. 1563
