Chapter 4


What is going to happen to you when you die? Will you go to heaven? Or perhaps to another place — such as hell? or purgatory? There have been many articles written about people who have experienced “death” momentarily and have told about the beautiful “life” they had and the glorious things they saw while they were “dead.” Did these people get a glimpse of heaven? Were these people really dead?

Surely God has told us in the Bible what we can expect when we die. Consider some of the many verses that talk about death. Matthew 27:52: “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose.” Acts 13:36: “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption.” The words “saw corruption” mean that his body decayed after he was laid in his grave. First Corinthians 15:51 tells us that “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” Psalms 13:3 says, “Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.” First Kings 11:43: “And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.” The expression “slept with his fathers” is used many times in the Bible to indicate that a person had died.

Notice that these verses on death have one thing in common: they speak of death as sleep. Many other verses in the Bible also refer to death as sleep. Could it be that death is like sleep and that when a person dies he does not go anywhere? Even the Lord Jesus referred to death as sleep. In John 11:11-14 He spoke of the death of Lazarus as sleep. Lazarus, whom Jesus knew quite well, was sick. When Mary, Lazarus’ sister, sent word to Jesus and asked Him to come, He delayed his departure for two days. His disciples became worried that Lazarus might die before Jesus arrived. Then Jesus told them that Lazarus was asleep, and the disciples thought that since he was sleeping he would get well, for sleep is beneficial for a sick person. However, they did not realize that Jesus had referred to his death. “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. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.”

Do the dead go somewhere when they die? Do they watch what is happening here on the earth after they are dead? Psalms 146:3,4 says, “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Here we see that in death the body returns to the earth, to the dust from which it came, and the person’s thoughts perish. The dead have no thoughts. Isaiah 38:10,11 says, “I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years. I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.” Certainly if a person went to heaven when he died, he would see the Lord, but this verse says that the dead do not see the Lord, nor men. The dead, therefore, are not watching people on earth. They are not watching what is taking place on earth or anywhere else, for they are asleep in their graves and their thoughts have all perished.

King David, for example, did not go anywhere when he died except to his grave. Acts 2:29,34 tells us, “Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. For David is not ascended into the heavens.”


The dead do not know anything. In death there are no thoughts, no knowledge, no wisdom, no emotions, no work nor device, and certainly no consciousness, for without thoughts there can be no consciousness. Death is exactly like a very deep sleep; consequently the Bible frequently refers to death as sleep. When a person dies, he is simply in the grave, where he will remain until the resurrection. He has no thoughts; he is unconscious, exactly as if he were in a very deep sleep.

Just as a person has no knowledge of anything prior to his birth, he will have no knowledge or consciousness of events after he is dead. He simply ceases to exist. His body and mind decay, and he ceases to exist. This might sound like a morbid finality to life; however, death is not the end. The apostle John tells us that everyone who has died, regardless of whether he has been good or bad, will be resurrected. Everyone will be awakened from the sleep of death. John 5:28,29 says: “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which ALL that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth.” Notice who will hear the Lord’s voice: “ALL that are in the graves.” The dead are not in heaven or in hell; they are in the graves, where they will all remain until they hear the voice of the Lord at the resurrection.

Here, then, is another reason why the Bible speaks of death as sleep. Death as we know it is only temporary. Just as a sleeping person eventually awakes, everyone will be awakened from death at the resurrection.

Death is a very deep sleep. In death there are no thoughts, no knowledge, no wisdom, no emotions, and no consciousness. If you are very tired when you go to bed at night, you fall asleep quickly; you sleep very soundly and awaken the next morning to the sound of the alarm clock or perhaps the light of day. How long did it seem from the moment sleep came until the alarm clock rang? It seemed but a fraction of a second, did it not? Death is exactly the same. From the moment we close our eyes in death until we are resurrected, we will not be conscious of any time passing. Regardless of how long we have been dead, when we open our eyes to behold the Lord in all His glory at the resurrection, it will seem as if only an instant has passed. The dead are not conscious of the passing of time. In fact, if a man died suddenly so that he could not have realized what happened, during the first few moments after his resurrection he will not even realize that he had been dead.

What about the prevalent belief that when a wicked person dies he goes to hell, to everlasting fire, to be punished for his wickedness? As we read in the previous chapter, the Lord Jesus loves us dearly. Would a God whose love for us far exceeds the bounds of human understanding require those that He created to endure the pain of everlasting fire throughout all eternity? Would a God of love require a mother in heaven to witness her son writhing with pain in the fires of hell throughout all eternity? This would certainly not bring happiness to the mother in heaven, where there is to be no sorrow or pain. A God of love would certainly never require such a thing. This fable that people will suffer in an ever-burning hell is an example of the erroneous propaganda which floods this entire world. Satan deceives the world into believing this lie to make mankind think that God has a personality like his own. Satan always tries to make people believe that God is responsible for the evil which he himself has caused.

Consider a few more Bible verses which further emphasize the fact that death is exactly like a deep sleep. Psalms 115:17 says, “The dead praise not the Lord.” If a person who was in the habit of praising the Lord in this life were to go to heaven after he died, there in the presence of God he would surely praise Him. He does not praise the Lord, of course, for he has no consciousness. He is asleep in his grave. Psalms 6:5 says, “For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?” Surely if a person who had been righteous during his life on earth went to heaven when he died, he would remember the Lord as he had on earth; for he would be there with the Lord. After he dies, a person cannot remember the Lord because he is totally unconscious. This verse also implies that the dead do not give thanks to the Lord. Certainly a righteous person would thank God for taking him to heaven. He doesn’t, however, because he is unconscious, asleep in his grave. In Job 17:13, Job says, “If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.” Job also knew of the resurrection. In Job 19:25-27 he says, “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.” Job says here that after he dies and his body decays, he shall, in his flesh, in his body, see God in the latter day at the resurrection. It makes little sense to expect that when a person dies he goes to heaven or to hell and then climbs back into the grave to be resurrected.

Many question the concept of a resurrection from death, even though the Bible describes it, indicates that it has happened before (Moses was resurrected shortly after his death), and shows that the Lord Himself is no longer in the tomb. God put us together once, and He can do it again. In fact, the blueprints and details of our bodies are recorded in the computer banks of heaven so minutely and so accurately that on the resurrection day the thought patterns in our brains will be reconstructed exactly as they were at the moment of death so that our thoughts will continue right where they were when we died. If a righteous person dies in the middle of a prayer to God, he will arise from death finishing that prayer. If a person dies in the process of cursing God, he will arise from death with that same curse on his lips.

There are some verses in the Bible which, on casual reading, would seem to contradict what we have studied so far about death. Let us consider them.


This story seems to contradict the other verses we have covered, which show death to be exactly like a deep sleep. What is the problem? We have seen that there can be no contradictions in the Bible. What, then, is the meaning of this story?

Jesus used many stories to illustrate various lessons which He wanted the people to understand. These stories are called parables. A parable is a symbolic story which is used as an aid in teaching. Jesus used parables to help us to understand various aspects of life on earth and our relationship with God and to show us the way we should live. The story of the rich man and Lazarus is one of these parables, and in fact most of the King James Bibles have the words, “Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus” printed at the top of the page on which this story is found. At least one ancient manuscript also refers to this story as a parable in the text. This parable is the last of a series of parables which Jesus told on this occasion.

Why did Jesus use this particular parable, which speaks of hell, where people are tormented, and of Abraham’s bosom, where people are happy? The belief was popular in that day, just as it is in our day, that when people died they went either to heaven or to hell, and Jesus used this mistaken belief as a setting for His story, which was designed to induce people to repent and turn away from their evil ways. The people also believed that Abraham had a position of special influence in heaven, much as some today believe Saint Peter guards the gates of heaven. The point of His story was that if they would not hear Moses and the prophets, they would not hear one returning from the dead to warn them to repent. Indeed, Jesus returned from the dead, and many, many people ignore His messages. They do not hear the messages of Moses and the prophets, and they do not hear the messages of Jesus.

We have just read a number of texts in which the prophets describe death as sleep and tell us that in death we have no thoughts or consciousness, that our emotions all perish, and that there is “no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave.” If the people would study and heed what the prophets wrote, they would realize that death is exactly like sleep.

There is another apparent contradiction in the Bible concerning death which must be considered. Luke 23:42,43 describes Jesus’ assurance to the thief on the cross that he would be saved. “And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” These words were spoken on Friday afternoon just before Jesus died. It appears that in this verse Jesus is telling the thief that that day (Friday) he would be with the Lord in paradise; thus, this verse seems to contradict the other verses showing death to be a sleep. However, consider John 20:17, where Jesus, talking with Mary on Sunday morning after His resurrection, said, “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.” So, on Sunday morning Jesus made the statement that He had not yet been to paradise, to God the Father. How, then, could He have told the thief on the cross that he would be in paradise on Friday evening with Jesus when He Himself would not be there? Where was Jesus after He died on the cross? He was asleep in the grave, just as the Scriptures say, until His resurrection on Sunday morning. Jesus Himself said in Matthew 12:40 that He would remain in the grave until his resurrection: “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

Where, then, is the problem? Since Luke 23:43 is the verse that stands in contradiction with the other verses we have considered, there must be some problem with this one. The difficulty can be resolved easily. The original Greek text was written without punctuation. Punctuation was added later by the translators. The problem with this verse is the placement of the comma before the words “To day.” If the comma is placed after the words “To day, the verse says that Jesus on that day promised the thief that he would be with Him in paradise after the resurrection. This verse would then agree with the other verses of Scripture concerning death. It should therefore read, “Verily I say unto thee today, that thou shalt be with me in Paradise.” Jesus promised the thief “today” a place in paradise after the resurrection. Remember that the entire Bible must agree with itself; this is one of the methods God has given us so that we might know when we have these difficult verses interpreted correctly. Remember also that the original text had no punctuation and that the problem is with the comma, which was put there by a translator who did not understand.

We have seen that the dead are asleep and go nowhere except the grave; neither have they any thoughts or emotions or knowledge. This is the truth that God tells us in the Scriptures. Why, then, do most people believe that the dead do go someplace, either to heaven, hell, or purgatory?

We learned in chapter two that Satan deceives the entire world. The belief that death is another life does not originate from God; it comes from the devil. Satan wants people to believe this lie because then they are much more susceptible to his other deceptions.

Consider, for instance, a hypothetical case. A girl who has been very close to her mother is deeply grieved at her mother’s death. One night just as the girl is about to fall asleep, she sees her mother standing at the foot of her bed. She is overjoyed to know that her mother is not really dead. She listens intently to what her mother has to say about the wonderful life after death.

Another person attends a seance, where a spirit medium, probably with a crystal ball, seemingly contacts the spirit of someone who has died. Perhaps the dead person materializes and talks to the client himself, giving advice and describing the wonderful life after death.

As we have seen, the dead are unconscious and know nothing. Who, then, is masquerading as these dead people? In chapter two we found that Satan is an evil angel and that he has many other evil angels on earth with him helping him to accomplish his purposes and deceptions. In Hebrews 13:2 we saw that angels have the ability to imitate other life forms and that at times they appear as human beings. They can imitate anyone perfectly, and this is what they do when they appear as someone who has died. The girl in our example heard a voice exactly like her mother’s voice, but it was not her mother’s. She saw a form exactly like her mother’s form, but it was not her mother’s. Her mother is dead; and the dead are sound asleep, without thoughts, consciousness, knowledge, emotions, or wisdom. This form was either Satan or one of his angels masquerading as her mother. Since the girl believes that she is seeing and listening to her mother, she will believe what her “mother” tells her. She is wide open for Satan’s lies and deceptions under these conditions. She is told that life after death is wonderful and that she need not worry about anything.

Suppose before her death the girl’s mother habitually lied, stole, and committed adultery and the girl knew about her wickedness. When the “mother” tells her how wonderful life after death is, the girl will believe that lying, stealing, and committing adultery are permissible regardless of what the Bible says about these things. After such an experience it is unlikely that the girl will ever understand the truth. Satan has essentially locked her in error by this deception.

When people see visions of Mary, the mother of Jesus, they are seeing the devil or one of his demons masquerading as Mary. Mary is asleep in her grave awaiting her resurrection, as we have just read from the Bible. Seeing a vision like this can be overwhelmingly deceptive. We must realize that God cannot lie to us. What the Bible says is the truth. Mary is asleep in her grave and cannot appear to anyone.

Similarly, the happenings at a seance are tricks of Satan or his evil angels. A Christian should never visit such a place, not even out of curiosity. The deception that the dead are not really dead is often too overpowering.

Many of the world’s more sensational publications print stories about visits from the dead and about other spiritualistic experiences. These publications do Satan’s work and help to propagate his lies about the state of the dead. When a person supposedly comes back from the dead with a story of a wonderful life hereafter and it is widely publicized, many people believe these stories rather than the Bible. They believe that no matter how they live and no matter what they do, they will experience a wonderful life when they die. After the resurrection, life indeed will be wonderful for the people who follow Christ in the way the Bible specifies, but not for the wicked.


If a man suffers a blow to his head and is knocked out, he knows nothing; for he is unconscious. How ridiculous to believe that if he is hit a little harder and is killed, he knows everything! Our only hope against the deceptions of the devil is complete faith and trust in the Word of God, interpreted so that there are no contradictions anywhere.

Two more concepts which are poorly understood by most are the soul and the spirit. Many believe that at death their soul or spirit goes somewhere and continues to live apart from their body. Genesis 2:7 shows that a soul is a living human being. “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.” Souls, therefore, are human beings. Ecclesiastes 12:7 describes the process of death. “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” What is meant by “spirit” in this verse? The word “spirit” is a translation of the Hebrew word ruach, which means “breath.” Ruach is translated “breath” twenty-eight times in the King James version. One of these verses is Genesis 6:17. “And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life [ruach], from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.” The spirit in Ecclesiastes 12:7, then, is the breath of life. When a man loses this, he dies.

By way of analogy, suppose a man constructs a box from several boards and some nails. After the box is built, he pulls out all the nails, puts them in a pile, and places the boards in a stack. What happened to the box? It did not go anywhere; it just ceased to exist. This is exactly what happens to a soul at death; it just ceases to exist. By the hand of God a soul is made from the dust of the ground and the breath of life. At death the breath leaves, the dust goes back to the ground, and the soul simply ceases to exist, exactly as the box ceased to exist. At death the soul does not go anywhere: it is not immortal; it simply ceases to exist.

Consider a few other verses which show that soul means “human being.” Joshua 11:11 is part of a description of a battle. “And they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them: there was not any left to breathe.” This verse describes people who died in the battle. These souls were not immortal, for they were utterly destroyed. Since they were utterly destroyed, they could certainly not go anywhere.

Acts 27:37 says that there were 276 people on board a particular ship. “And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls.” Acts 2:41 tells us that 3,000 people joined the church in one day. “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.”

Finally Revelation 16:3 tells us, “And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.” We see here that not only human beings are souls, but also all the animals and fish in the sea. Every living entity of the animal kingdom is a soul. Dogs, cats, horses, cows, men, and women are souls, and here on earth none of them is immortal; they are all subject to death.

Consider a few verses which talk about the spirit. You will recall that Ecclesiastes 12:7 showed that a person’s spirit is his breath. James 2:26 says, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” In this case the word “spirit” is translated from the Greek word pneuma, which means breath or wind. We get our English word “pneumatic” from this word. Pneumatic means pertaining to air, or operated by air, as in pneumatic tires (tires with air in them) or pneumatic drill (a drill operated by air pressure). So here again we see that man’s spirit is his breath.

The King James translation of the Bible was the work of a large group of scholars. When a disagreement arose as to how to translate a particular word, the translators would vote on which meaning should be used. They would then put the meaning which the majority wanted in the main text and put the alternate meaning in a margin, which ran down the middle of the page between the two columns of text. This marginal reference is usually printed in the more expensive copies of the King James version.

If you have a King James version with the marginal references, you will notice that by the word “spirit” in James 2:26 there is a small number. Now, look in the margin under chapter two until you see that small number. This is the alternate translation of the word “spirit” and it is “breath.”

Next consider Job 27:3. “All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils . . . .” The nose (nostrils) is a rather strange place for the spirit to be if the spirit is what most people think it is. Again, the Hebrew word ruach, meaning breath, is used. The marginal reference for the word “spirit” in this verse also shows that the alternate translation is breath: “That is, the breath which God gave him.”

We have seen here that human beings and animals are souls and that their spirit is simply their breath. In death, a person’s soul ceases to exist, for his breath (spirit) leaves him. He quits breathing, and his body goes back to dust. Death is exactly like a very deep sleep.

With few exceptions, every time the word “spirit” is used in the King James version it is the translation of words that mean breath or wind. One of the qualities of breath and wind is intangibility. Thus the Hebrew and Greek words which mean breath or wind are sometimes used also to refer to other things which are of an intangible nature. These words are used, for instance, to refer to the Holy Spirit. In the original languages of the Bible the words for Holy Spirit literally mean “Holy Wind.” Likewise in the original languages the words which refer to unclean spirits literally mean “evil wind.” A few times the word “spirit” refers to a person’s mind.

The only two texts where the word “spirit” is not translated from a word meaning breath or wind are found in the gospels of Matthew and Mark. Both instances refer to the appearance of Jesus to His disciples after His resurrection. The disciples thought they had seen a spirit. In these two cases “spirit” is translated from a word which means apparition or phantom, or ghost.

Next, consider the words “immortal” and “immortality” as they occur in the Bible, and see whether such a thing as an immortal soul is mentioned anywhere. In the King James version, the only occurrence of the word “immortal” is in 1 Timothy 1:17: “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” This is the only time in the entire Bible the word “immortal” appears, and it applies to God, not to man.

Notice in Genesis 2:17 what God said when instructing Adam not to eat the fruit of one particular tree in the Garden of Eden. “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” God told Adam that he would die. Now, notice what Satan told Eve in Genesis 3:4. “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.” — a direct contradiction of what God had said. Whom did Adam and Eve believe? As we know, they believed the devil. Whom do men believe today when they claim that when a person dies he is not really dead but is living somewhere else? Isn’t it strange, when God has spoken so plainly, that men still choose to believe the devil’s lies?

Romans 3:23 tells us that we have all broken the law of God. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 6:23 tells us that those who break God’s law earn wages, which is death. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” With these two texts in mind, notice that Ezekiel 18:4 tells us that “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Since we have all sinned, broken God’s law, we are all subject to death. There is no such thing as an immortal soul, for all the souls who have sinned are mortal and are subject to death.

Next, we shall consider each verse in which the word “immortality” is used in the King James version. First Timothy 6:14-16 says, “That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality.” Only God has immortality. God is the only immortal being; He is the only one not subject to death. If only God has immortality, then no other being is immortal. Man has no immortal soul or immortal spirit, for only God is immortal.

Romans 2:6,7 tells us that God “will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life.” We do not have eternal life now, but we are to seek for immortality by well doing. Second Timothy 1:10 tells us that Jesus Christ “hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” Jesus has made it possible for us to gain immortality someday, although we do not have it now.

First Corinthians 15:51-54 tells us when immortality will be granted to some. “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep [die], but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump [trumpet]: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.”

The last trumpet signifies the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth. It is then that immortality will be granted to the righteous men and women.

We have just looked at every Bible verse which contains the words “immortal” and “immortality.” The term “immortal soul” is not found in the Bible, for there is no such thing at the present time. The immortal soul doctrine is straight from the devil. He has been preaching this lie since the Garden of Eden, and mankind has been believing it ever since.

The word “hell” in the King James Old Testament appears thirty-one times and is ALWAYS translated from the Hebrew word sheowl, which means “the grave.” The word sheowl is translated “grave” thirty times. Hell is simply the grave.

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