Free Distribution Encouraged.
Matthew
10:8 Freely you have received
Distribute Freely.
Freely give.
Not For Sale under
Not associated with any church,
Any circumstances.
© or
any type of group whatsoever.
Genuinely -
Absolutely Free 
No requests for money
Free, Non-Denominational,
Relevant, Bible Based, Practical, No
Strings Solutions, to Everyday situations.
Messages of Life, Truth, Hope and Encouragement. What Is Rhema? Home Page What Must I Do Now ?
The Holy Bible Is The
Immutable Living Word Of The Eternal God.
The Only Bible we Recommend Is
The King James / A.V. Bible.
Here’s the reason, shocking but enlightening truth: The
Bible Is Used To Deceive
We should all be sighing and
crying about the sad state of our world.
Leviticus
26:17 
And I will set my
face against you, and ye
shall be slain before your enemies:
they that hate you shall reign over
you; and ye shall
flee when none pursueth you.
Ezekiel 20:26 ……
that I might make them desolate, to the
end that they might know that I am
the LORD.
A Message From Peter James
The Spirit In Man The Spirit In Man Part 2
Job 32:8 But there is a spirit in man:
and the inspiration of the Almighty
giveth them understanding.
The Word of God is full of profound
proclamations, and the above is one such
announcement. It is far more than a declaration of the obvious, that is,
that every man breathes.
In this single sentence we see the statement: But
there is a spirit in man,
And linked to it, because that is what the word ‘and’ does,
it states that understanding comes from the Almighty.
These are not just two disjointed thoughts randomly
put together.
We can see that it is impossible to understand the
first part of the sentence without
the gift of, ‘understanding from the Almighty’, in the
last part of the sentence.
This principle goes through the entire word of God.
We need understanding from the Eternal.
There is much confusion regarding the spirit in man.
Many say that there is no such thing, and all that is
in man, is the breath.
Many who accept that there is a spirit in man see it
as a vague nebulous sort of blob
of spirit, whatever that might be.
To
support the argument that the spirit is simply the breath in man,
some go to the Hebrew and Greek to support this idea.
First, however, we need to understand that most of the 400 plus modern translations
are utterly corrupt, and based on translations from the corrupt Greek of Satanists
Westcott and Hort.
See: The
Bible Is Used To Deceive
The King
James makes it very clear that what is needed is wisdom and understanding,
and not a perversion of the Word of God.
Many churches teach that the dead know nothing, based
on this verse
Ecclesiastes 9:5 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.
We will address this later on.
The reality is that there is an actual spirit in man,
as well as the breath,
which we breathe to keep us alive.
The problem with accepting that there is a spirit in
man is that it turns the theology
of
most believers upside down, and this means that a complete rethink
of their belief
system becomes necessary.
Christ is not, and has never been concerned
with our theology.
He is never going to change so that His
word can agree with our theology.
It makes no difference how exalted a title
or position we might have.
It is our business to humble ourselves, to
listen, and to obey period.
We can tell what the spirit in man looks like if we
could see it.
It is an exact copy of the man, but without flesh and
bones.
It is made of spirit.
It has the same feelings, emotions, memory,
understanding and experiences
as the living person has.
Luke 24:39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I
myself: handle me, and see;
for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see
me have.
If we consider Job 32:8 mentioned
above, it is very much more specific than saying
man breathes air.
Saying there is a spirit in man, is exactly the same
as if we said there is a heart in man,
or any other part of a man.
In other words it is a reality and not symbolic.
Paul says in:
1 Corinthians 2:11 For what man knoweth
the things of a man,
save the spirit of man which is in him?
even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God.
This means that the spirit in man
has the ability to know things.
The breath of man has no
intellectual capacity whatsoever.
In addition, if in the man there is
also the Spirit of God, then that man
also has a channel of communication
with the Eternal God,
therefore he can be led to
understand the things of God.
It is for this reason that many
leaders in all churches are in such confusion
and error. They are as far removed
from God as it is possible to be.
Read Ezekiel 34 and other verses in books such as Jeremiah,
concerning Pastors to see this for
yourself.
If you read Ezekiel 34 carefully, you will see that they
are supported by their sheeple,
their co-working rebellious sheep.
This means that the human spirit in
man enables him to understand physical things,
but not the things of God.
It takes the addition of the Spirit
of God, which dwells in the human spirit,
to understand the things of God,
because it requires spirit to communicate with Spirit,
as the last part of the above verse
declares.
John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and
in truth.
It is easy to see that you can be
involved in all sorts of rituals and traditions,
and you can quite easily be making
yourself feel good, and even having an emotional
high, but the Eternal God can be
completely absent from all your activity,
as we mistakenly think that our
activity is worshipping Him in spirit.
Some go as far as to supposedly
‘tarry and pray down the Holy Spirit’
It is therefore an utter waste of
time trying to convince anyone whose mind
has not been opened by the Eternal
God, to anything that is of a spiritual nature.
However, we should make it our
business to pray for them.
It is absolute nonsense to suggest
that spiritual problems can be resolved with physical solutions.
It simply does not work that way.
You would not throw a land animal
into the sea to sort out its problems,
nor would you throw a fish on to
land for the same reason.
In both cases the result is death.
We have to face up to the reality of
the spiritual world,
and not pretend that it does not
exist.
There are many things that are
beyond our comprehension, and we have to admit
that much is still a mystery to us.
The bible states one such mystery.
The Godhead is a mystery.
Colossians 2:2 That their hearts might be comforted, being
knit together in love,
and unto all riches of the full assurance of
understanding,
to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God,
and of the Father,
and of Christ;
When the Eternal wanted something
done, often we are told that He stirred up the spirit
of those whom he wanted to act for
Him.
He was not stirring up their
breath.
Think about it.
How can you stir up the breath in a
person?
Here are a couple of examples when
the Eternal stirred up the spirit of people,
one in the Old Testament, and one
in the New Testament.
Ezra 1:1
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia,
that the word of the LORD by the
mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled,
the LORD stirred up the spirit of
Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation
throughout all his kingdom, and put
it also in writing, saying, …..
Acts 17:16 Now while Paul waited
for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him,
when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
These scriptures mean exactly what
they say.
There are many other similar
verses.
We can see the composite man is
made up of three main parts.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you
wholly;
and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be
preserved blameless
unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Here we see them listed in order of significance,
spirit
soul
body.
Let us consider if it makes any sense at all to
replace the word spirit with breath.
…. I pray God your whole breath and soul and body be
preserved blameless.
Does that make sense?
The conjunction ‘and’ means
that
the spirit be preserved blameless
the soul be preserved
blameless
the body be preserved
blameless.
We see another example of the spirit in a woman.
1 Samuel 1:15 And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord,
I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have
drunk neither wine nor strong drink,
but have poured out my soul before
the LORD.
Was Hannah’s breath sorrowful?
Of course not.
When you are saddened by the death of a loved one, it
is not your breath that is sad,
it is your spirit.
It is much more than just an emotion.
It is in the depths of your being that you are
distraught.
That is your spirit.
Job knew exactly what that was all about.
Job 7:11 Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I
will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
There was nothing wrong with Job’s breath but there was great sadness in his spirit.
We can see from the above verse that Job was fully
aware not only that he had a spirit,
but he knew the difference between his spirit, and his
soul.
Christ
also knew what it was all about.
John 11:33 When Jesus therefore
saw her weeping,
and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned
in the spirit,
and was troubled,
Proverbs 18:14 The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity;
but a wounded spirit who can
bear?
This shows further facets of the spirit in man.
When one is physically sick, the strength of the
spirit will help him to deal with this trial,
but when one feels defeated in the spirit, it is a
much harder thing with which to cope.
It is really only with the aid of the Holy Spirit that
we could come out of such
a situation. It is a very short step for someone who
feels useless and a failure
to contemplate suicide.
In the confrontation between Korah, Moses and Aaron we read the following:
Numbers 16:20 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron,
saying,
Numbers 16:21 Separate yourselves from among this
congregation, that I may consume them
in a moment.
Numbers 16:22 And they fell upon their faces, and said, O
God,
the God of the spirits of all flesh,
shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the
congregation?
We can see from this that what Moses was referring to,
was far more critical than breath.
We also see that the Eternal God made the
spirits of all flesh.
There is a difference between soul and
spirit.
I believe that the fusion of the spirit in man
with the flesh of man produces
the soul.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and
powerful,
and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to
the dividing asunder of soul and
spirit, and of the joints
and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents
of the heart.
How can you separate the soul from the spirit if they
are one and the same?
Joints and marrow are related, but different.
Thoughts and intents are also related, but different.
Let us look at some related
background information before considering
one greatly contentious scripture.
Before we analyze the scripture, we
have to ask the question
what is the difference between a
fallen angel, and a demon?
What is certain is that they are
not the same.
An angel is an individual spirit
being created by the Eternal.
An angel does not require another
body in order to function.
It exists quite happily as a being
in its own right.
It is true that an angel can appear
as another entity.
Satan and his ministers do that all
the time.
2 Corinthians 11:14
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel
of light.
2 Corinthians 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if
his ministers also be transformed
as the ministers of righteousness;
whose end shall be according to their works.
In fact angels dwell amongst us and
we are quite unaware of it.
Hebrews 13:2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers:
for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Psalms 34:7 The angel of the LORD encampeth round about
them that fear him,
and delivereth them.
This is far
removed from astrology, witch craft and other evil spirit activity.
Demons have no body of their own.
They require a body in which to
function.
Not a dead body.
If necessary, they would even enter
the bodies of animals.
Mark 5:8
For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
Mark 5:9
And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying,
My name is Legion: for we are many.
Mark 5:10 And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of
the country.
Mark 5:11
Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine
feeding.
Mark 5:12
And all
the devils
besought him, saying, Send us into the swine,
that we may enter into them.
Mark 5:13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out,
and entered into the swine: and the
herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea,
(they were about two thousand;) and
were choked in the sea.
Mark 5:14 And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in
the country.
And they went out to see what it
was that was done.
When the host, which is the place
where a demon resides, dies,
or when they are removed from their
host,
they promptly set about seeking out
a new dwelling place.
As they are spirit they do not die,
and up to now they have not as yet destroyed.
Matthew 12:43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a
man, he
walketh through dry places,
seeking rest, and findeth none.
Matthew 12:44
Then he
saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out;
and when he is come, he findeth it
empty, swept, and garnished.
Matthew 12:45
Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked
than himself,
and they enter in and dwell there:
and the last state of that man is worse than the first.
Even so shall it be also unto this
wicked generation.
Demons are bastard spirits that are
neither angel or human.
They are the spirits resulting from
sexual relationships between the Fallen angels and women.
You can find this in great detail
in the book of Enoch.
It is not one of the apocryphal
books.
See our document: The Days of Noah Are
Today.
Our most popular document, with
pictures of purported ‘Fallen Angels’. Building The
Ark
You might be very surprised to see
amongst the Fallen angels, many who look like
the false pictures of Christ and
Mary, his mother.
We can mention that the book of
Jasher is also mentioned twice in the bible,
Joshua 10:13, and 2 Samuel 1:18 (Also he bade them teach the
children of Judah
the use
of the bow: behold, it is written in the book
of Jasher.)
However, the book of Jasher does
not appear in the bible.
There are many other such books
mentioned, but not included in the bible.
You can download it here: The Book of
Jasher
Of course we can expect these
translations to have been played with just as the
New Versions of the Bible have been
corrupted.
Here we see an example of the
spirit of a man.
1 Samuel 28:3
Now Samuel
was dead,
and all Israel had lamented him,
and buried him in Ramah, even in
his own city.
And Saul had put away those that
had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land.
Most refer to this report as the
witch of Endor.
Many claim that Saul saw a demon
masquerading around as Samuel.
1 Samuel 28:8 And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went,
and two men with him, and they came
to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee,
divine unto me by the familiar
spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee.
Here we see Saul going to consult
with a woman who was unlawfully working
with the fallen spirit world. This
is called necromancy, and is strictly forbidden in the Bible.
We could expect that she would be
contacting demons and/or fallen angels.
We also should bear in mind that
many of the people who claim to do these things
are fraudsters.
1 Samuel 28:9 And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath
done,
how he hath cut off those that have
familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land:
wherefore then layest thou a snare
for my life, to cause me to die?
The woman tries to ensure that she
would come to no harm by her activity.
1 Samuel 28:10
And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth,
there shall no punishment happen to
thee for this thing.
Saul agrees.
1 Samuel 28:11 Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up
unto thee? And he said,
bring me up Samuel.
Saul makes his request to bring up
Samuel.
His request was technically correct.
He did not ask her to bring
down Samuel from heaven, because Samuel,
great prophet thou he
was, was not in heaven at all.
John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven,
but he that came down from heaven, even the Son
of man which is in heaven.
He was in hades, which is under the
earth not in heaven.
This is explained later.
1 Samuel 28:12
And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the
woman spake
to Saul, saying, Why hast thou
deceived me? for thou art Saul.
Then something absolutely out of the
ordinary happened, which the woman did not expect in the slightest.
Samuel appeared.
She panicked, as you would expect.
Think what you would do if you were
speaking about someone recently deceased,
and you said I wish they were here,
and bang, they appeared in front of your very face.
It would require a huge dose of
smelling salts, and cold water to bring your around.
1 Samuel 28:13
And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for that sawest thou?
And the woman said unto Saul, I saw
gods ascending out of the earth.
1 Samuel 28:14 And he said unto her, What form is he of? And
she said, An old man cometh up;
and he is covered with a mantle.
And Saul perceived that it was Samuel,
and he stooped with his face to the
ground, and bowed himself.
At this point Saul had not seen
Samuel himself, but the description that the woman
gave let him know that it was
Samuel.
Perceived does not necessarily mean
that he himself saw although it could mean that.
He also would have been very scared
and would more than likely not have wanted to see in any case.
This is not T.V. or the movies.
This is a scary reality.
1 Samuel 28:15 And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up?
And Saul answered, I am
sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me,
and God is departed from
me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams:
therefore I have called
thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do.
Notice one very
important thing, Saul was fully aware that he should go directly
to the Eternal God for
counsel, absolutely nowhere else.
We should realize the
exact same thing.
We should never seek
help or advice from the dead at any time.
This will open you up to
counterfeit Demonic/Fallen angel activity.
The Process, is humble
yourself, acknowledge you are wrong when you are,
seek the Eternal God
diligently, for a personal relationship with Him.
Cut out all middle man.
Listen and you will
hear, obey and God will act.
Be patient, it took a
long time for you to get into the state in which
you find yourself,
getting out is a process. If it were done in an instant
you will find yourself
utterly devastated.
You will be led into all
truth.
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is
come, he will guide you into all truth:
for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he
shall hear, that shall he speak:
and he will shew you things to come.
This is a fact that we
were told
years ago and we have
proven it to be true.
The deception is so
horrific, it will leave you quite staggered.
Notice that Samuel did not say why
did you bring me down from heaven.
Samuel said why did you bring me
up?
Yet another confirmation that we do
not flash of to heaven at any time.
Can you imagine the state
that Saul was in when he heard Samuel speak to him.
A voice that he well knew, and one
that had reprimanded him in the recent past?
In the book of first Samuel, you
will find the phrase “Samuel
said” 23 times,
This is the last time you find it.
There is no suggestion whatsoever
that it was not the same Samuel as the other 22 times.
It does not say the spirit
masquerading as Samuel said, but Samuel said.
The first thing that Samuel wanted
to know was why have you disturbed me.
In other words I was
quite happy where I was in paradise,
the pleasant part of
Hades.
Saul then made his complaint and
request.
1 Samuel 28:16
Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost
thou ask of me, seeing the LORD
is departed from thee, and is
become thine enemy?
The phrase “then said Samuel”
appears three times in 1 Samuel, this is the last time.
Now a characteristic of Satan and his servants
is that they lie.
John 8:44 Ye are of your
father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.
He was a murderer from the beginning,
and abode not in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own:
for he is a liar, and the father
of it.
But here we see Samuel saying the
absolute truth.
He was continuing the
exact same role as a prophet when he was alive.
This seems to be a unique situation
in which God intervened to teach Saul
a lesson. It is not a big problem
for God to make Samuel turn up.
After all He is the Eternal God.
1 Samuel 28:17 And the LORD hath done to him, as he spake
by me: for the LORD hath rent
the kingdom out of thine
hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David:
1 Samuel 28:18 Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the LORD,
nor executedst his fierce wrath
upon Amalek, therefore hath the LORD done
this thing unto thee this day.
1 Samuel 28:19 Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand
of the Philistines:
and to morrow shalt thou and thy
sons be with me:
the LORD also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.
We can know whether a prophet is
true or false if what he says comes to pass.
If it was a demon or a fallen angel
we could expect the prophecy that he and his children
were going to die the next day, to
fail.
The spirit was just as real as the
flesh, as far as Samuel was concerned,
he therefore said thou and thy
sons, will be with me.
Deuteronomy 18:22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the
LORD,
if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is
the thing which the LORD hath
not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it
presumptuously:
thou shalt not be afraid of him.
The fact is that exactly what Samuel said
came to pass,
they all died on the very next day.
1 Samuel 31:6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and his
armourbearer,
and all his men, that same
day together.
Saul was not told that his breath, and that of his
sons was going to be with the breath
of Samuel the very next day.
He was told you and your sons will be with
me.
Their dead bodies would be in the grave or
battle field until buried, but their spirits
would be with Samuel in hades.
Let us consider at this time what happens
when someone dies.
For those who say that there is no spirit
in man, this becomes an insurmountable problem.
If you accept that there is a
spirit in man then there is no problem at all.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches
that there is such a place as Purgatory and Limbo.
I believe that they are now having
second thoughts about these doctrines).
It teaches that souls can be prayed
out of these places.
They teach that in Purgatory and
Limbo, to a greater or lesser degree,
souls are purified by a sort of
slow cooking, or severe roasting.
Of course this is a very scary
teaching, and it makes the Eternal Loving God into some
sort of sadistic monster.
No one in their right mind would
want to go through such horrific procedure.
This false teaching is nowhere
found in the bible.
But it can be a very lucrative money-spinner.
This along with the confession,
provides a means of total control.
I will repeat what I say
continually.
Many Catholics, and their priests
without question are very sincere people.
It is the system which enslaves not
only the membership, but also the
priesthood that the bible condemns.
We are told:
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is
appointed unto men once to die,
but after this the judgment:
The idea that the spirit of a
person hangs around waiting for some sort of funeral
service in order to bring closure
is simply not true.
Death
separates the spirit from the body. From that moment on nothing in the physical
world
affects the spirit in man. The book on the life of the person is effectively
closed.
There is
absolutely nothing that any being can do to affect the final position of
the
person. If we erroneously think that our wealth can be used to pray us out
of the
judgment due, because of our continual rebellion, we are living in a fool’s
paradise,
and we certainly will not enter in paradise.
Hades is simply the holding place
of the spirits of the dead as they await the resurrection.
It is simply a lie to
claim that Satan is in charge of Hades, which we refer to in English as hell.
How can Satan ever be
put in charge of the pleasant part of hades, paradise,
where the spirits of the
righteous are?
Such a suggestion is not only
wrong, but totally absurd.
Satan, himself is not in hell,
therefore how could he be in charge there?
Fallen angels and demons are not in
hades.
Satan spends his time
going to and fro upon the earth,
and not in a peaceful
manner either.
Job 1:7
And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou?
Then Satan answered the LORD, and
said, From
going to and fro in the earth,
and from walking up and down in it.
He is the god of this
world, seeking to destroy all whom he can.
2 Corinthians 4:4
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Revelation 12:12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye
that dwell in them.
Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for
the devil is come down unto you,
having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath
but a short time.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your
adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
We are told that we do not battle against flesh and
blood.
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places.
We are
clearly told that now, we are personally in a battle, really to the death.
We are
clearly told to resist Satan.
We are not told to get someone else to resist on our
behalf.
James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist
the devil,
and he will flee from you.
This is spiritual warfare.
The Holy Spirit residing in our renewed human spirit,
when we repent and are
are regenerated that is the key to our battle.
You can see that the human spirit is not a small
thing.
A final note on this section:
Fallen angels who have been locked up because of their
rebellion are in a separate
place called Tartaros, which in English is also
translated hell, but distinct from hades.
They are held captive in Tartaros.
They do not mix with the spirits of either the
righteous or unrighteous dead.
2 Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that
sinned, but cast them down to hell,
(Tartaros) and
delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
The second passage of scripture, which creates many
problems, is the report of Lazarus
and the rich man.
Before explaining that, we need to have a look at what
was the purpose of parables,
and to whom they were spoken.
Christ used parables to specifically hide the meaning
of what he was saying to the crowds
who were listening to him. This is the precise opposite
thing that I was taught
in Sunday school.
Matthew 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in
parables: because they seeing see not;
and hearing they hear not, neither do they
understand.
Matthew 13:14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of
Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear,
and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and
shall not perceive:
When he spoke parables to the
multitudes, he then explained the meaning
to his disciples. He further
explained why he used parables
Matthew 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him,
Why speakest thou unto them in
parables?
Matthew 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the
mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not
given.
In Luke chapter 16 the first words we read are:
Luke 16:1
And he
said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich……
We
see that Christ was speaking to his disciples.
The
beginning of Luke Chapter 16 deals
with the parable of the unjust steward.
Most
agree that the unjust steward report is a parable.
As
it was a parable Christ would explain the meaning to His disciples.
As
with all the parables, it is easy to think that we understand them,
and
often we do not see what is complicated about them at all,
but
a careful reading will show that there are far from simple.
Having
expounded the parable, we see that Christ then explained the meaning to his
disciples.
There
were Pharisees listening although he was addressing the disciples.
The point
I am trying to stress is that he was going to explain the meaning to his
disciples
not the
others who were there, but as they were listening in, they heard the
explanation,
and then
they were most upset.
In one sense
they should not have been listening in as Christ was not speaking to them.
For
the disciples parables were to be understood, but the intention was that the
explanation
was
hidden from all others who heard them.
Christ
then continues with his teaching to his disciples, and he gives the report
about Lazarus
and the
rich man.
Most like
to claim that this is a parable.
It is not
and cannot be such.
There are
several reasons.
First
of all it does not claim to be a parable.
Secondly
Christ actually names, names, and that does not happen in parables.
He is
very definite about the fate of specific people.
Thirdly
there is no explanation of the report.
This by
its very nature demands understanding.
There was
no hidden meaning that required explanation.
If
you forget all the false teaching you have heard and simply accept the word as
it is written
all
problems immediately vanish.
We
have no knowledge if the Pharisees stayed around to hear anymore after they
heard the parable
of
the unjust steward which greatly annoyed them.
If you
consider how contentious this report is to many today, we can expect that it
would have been
received
in a very similar manner. They would have been incredulous.
If any
Pharisees remained to hear it, they would probably just have walked away
shaking their heads,
thinking,
this is mad, and absurd.
When
you continue on to Luke chapter 17, we see
that Christ continues
to
address his disciples. We see Him explaining what He is saying.
So we can
see that from the whole context Christ was speaking
to his
disciples.
Regarding
Lazarus and the Rich man,
It is
also possible that the people could relate to that situation very well,
and they
might even have known of the beggar called Lazarus.
In what
are really small communities, this is very possible.
This is
only conjecture on my part.
This is
the full report with comments interspersed.
Luke 16:9 There was a certain rich man, which was
clothed in purple and fine linen,
and
fared sumptuously every day:
Luke 16:20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus,
which was laid at his gate,
full of
sores,
Luke 16:21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which
fell from the rich man’s table:
moreover
the dogs came and licked his sores.
We
see the two very different lifestyle of two people, a rich man and a poor man.
Luke 16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died,
and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom:the rich man also died, and
was buried;
Both
men die, the rich man would have his elaborate burial.
The poor
man would probably have ended up on the refuse dump to be burnt with the
rubbish.
Luke 16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in
torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
In death their
situations were reversed.
Note,
the rich man sees Abraham, the father of the faithful, not God.
We have
just read that they both had died, and we know that their bodies were disposed
of on the
earth.
We are
told that they both are in hell.
Yet we
are told that the rich man was in torment and that he could see Lazarus
in
Abraham’s bosom in a place of comfort.
So the
Rich man was in a part of hell that was a place of torment and Lazarus,
the poor
man was in a place of comfort.
Where is
hell?
Luke 10:15 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to
heaven,
shalt be thrust down to
hell.
We can
see that hell is ‘down’, from what Christ said.
Luke 10:24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have
mercy on me, and send Lazarus,
that he may
dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue;
for I am
tormented in this flame.
Like
anyone in torment, he was prepared to try anything to ease his pain.
He thought
that even a drop of water would help.
This was
utter desperation.
Logic and
reason does not enter the equation.
We do
exactly the same today.
We
undergo the most horrific treatments and torture, in the hope that we will be
cured
before
we are killed by the treatment.
Sadly
most times we are killed before we are cured
This whole
episode shows that spirits of people are recognizable.
The rich
man recognized Abraham.
Many
people who have had visions say the same thing.
They see
people, and they just knew who they were.
I hope
that no one is going to say that dreams and visions do not happen today,
Acts 2:17 because they do, however, not at the tremendous
frequency which some claim.
Many of
these are not of the Eternal God.
Luke 10:25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in
thy lifetime receivedst thy good things,
and likewise
Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
Abraham
then reminds the rich man of his past and the past of Lazarus.
Luke 10:26 And beside all this, between us and you there
is great gulf fixed:
so
that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to
us,
that
would come from thence.
Abraham
then continues to explain the impossibility of the request.
In
the book of Enoch we are told that there is a threefold barrier that prevents
them
from
doing anything but the communication which they were having.
Luke 16:27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father,
that thou
wouldest send him to my father’s house:
The rich
man then made an interesting request.
Spirits of
men were very real to him.
After all
Lazarus and the Rich man though dead, their human spirits existed.
He did not
ask that he, as human spirit be sent himself,
but rather
that Lazarus as human spirit would be sent to warn his family.
The
rich man was desperately concerned that his family would not end up like he
did,
in
a place of torment.
Luke 16:28 For I have five brethren; that he may
testify unto them,
lest
they also come into this place of torment.
Abraham
told him the reality, and that was that they would not listen even if someone
came
from the
dead. He was told that people did not even believe the inspired word of the Old
Covenant,
and
neither would they believe one who came from the dead, and that included
Christ, as we know.
Luke 16:29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and
the prophets; let them hear them.
Luke 16:30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one
went unto them from the dead,
they
will repent.
Luke 16:31
And he said
unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets,
neither
will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
In this
report we saw:
Lazarus and the
rich man
saw each other,
recognised each other,
spoke to each other,
heard each other.
Lazarus enjoyed comfort,
The rich man suffered pain,
They could both reason and think.
The spirit in man has not only all the physical details of the man, but also
his entire life's experiences, thoughts, feelings experiences and emotions.
Here are
some additional verses which show aspects of the spirit in man.
We see
that the spirit can be haughty, humble, or broken.
Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and
an haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 16:19 Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the
lowly,
than to divide the spoil with the proud.
Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart doeth good like a
medicine:
but a broken spirit drieth
the bones.
Even more
importantly we see that we have to rule our spirit.
We do not
have to rule our breath.
Breathing
for the most part is an automatic process.
Proverbs 16:32 He that is slow to anger is
better than the mighty;
and he that ruleth his spirit than he
that taketh a city.
There
are literally millions of people, who have had what is called near death
experiences,
when
they died, and were brought back to life,
that
is their spirit returned to their bodies.
We cannot
dismiss all of them as frauds.
It is
easily possible that their spirit was given a quick tour of what awaited on both
sides of hades. Some say they have been to a pleasant place, others to a place
of great horror.
These
are ordinary people who were not necessarily religious
at
all but the experience profoundly affected them.
Also
millions of people have had their spirit leave their bodies.
Again
these were not necessarily religious people or people who practiced witchcraft,
or any
such thing.
I know
that this can be brought about by severe physical trauma.
I am not
saying that it always happens.
I am
saying that it can happen.
My Uncle
George who died October 2006, was one such case.
He had an
accident, many years ago, at a time when he never went
to a
church or had any particular religious beliefs, as far as I know.
As a
Cabinet Maker of fine furniture, he cut off the end of one of his fingers,
with an
electric power bench saw, the saw still exists today.
The next
thing he said that he knew was that he was looking down at his body,
and
seeing everything that was being done to save him from bleeding to death.
He never
spoke about it at all. He was an honest an unassuming person who would never
make
such a
thing up.
He did
not claim to have been to any part of Hades.
He was in
very close proximity to his body, in the same room.
He has no
explanation, he only says that it happened, that is all.
We could
also consider that if the spirit in man was simply his breath,
we could
keep people alive indefinitely on ventilators.
It does
not work that way.
When
the spirit of a man leaves the man, the person dies.
Artificial
resuscitation and electric shocks cannot bring someone,
who is
truly dead, back to life.
The
raising of Lazarus.
When told
that Lazarus, his friend was very sick, instead of rushing to see him,
Christ
waited until he was dead, not only as defined by onlookers but by the
legalistic Zionists.
John 11:1 Now a certain man was sick, named
Lazarus, of Bethany,
the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
John 11:11 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.
John 11:14
Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead
They felt
that the spirit in man hung around for 3 days after
a person
died and somehow after the three days, it went to where ever they believe
that it
goes.
Christ
therefore resisted going to raise Lazarus from the dead,
until the
period of time had passed that His adversaries had stated in their traditions
that the spirit
in man
was still hanging around the body, waiting to return to God.
John 11:39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that
was dead, saith unto him,
Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
This set
them a very serious problem as now there was no question at all that they had
witnessed
an
incredible miracle.
I mean
that when the spirit leaves the body, not necessarily when science declares
someone dead,
the
person is dead.
When the
spirit leaves the body as the Eternal God decrees, only he can put the spirit
in man back
into the
body, or give one of his servants to do so as in the case of Elijah and the
widows son.
1 Kings 17:23 And
Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house,
and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said,
See, thy son liveth.
It is not
beyond the realms of possibility that an evil spirit can occupy a body,
and claim
a resurrection.
This
might well be the case with the anti-Christ.
The body
will then undergo a profound change regarding the character,
as a different
spirit will be inhabiting the body of the deceased.
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die,
but after this the judgment:
This
verse says, that you die, and then you are judged.
One act
follows another.
We
know that the dead is in the grave, and knows nothing.
Any
of us who has seen a corpse is fully aware of this.
Ecclesiastes 9:5 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.
But
as it is written after we die that is followed by judgment.
What is
judged?
It cannot
be the body, as it is in a grave.
It is the
spirit of man that is judged.
This is
not the final white throne judgment as it is called.
No rewards
are handed out.
No
glorified spirit bodies are given.
No
positions of authority as kings and priests are conferred.
It is
simply the allocation to hell, that is either the part of comfort called
paradise,
or the
other part of suffering and torment.
There is
another related and important scripture:
Hebrews
12:23 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,
The first
part of the verse tells us that records are compiled in heaven
for the
general assembly, and the church of the firstborn, not that they
are in
heaven. It does not mean that people are in heaven, no more than my car,
Peter’s car, is in me or in my garage. It is mine. I have the ownership records
for the car,
but the
car it self could be absolutely anywhere.
In fact
the previous verse shows that the writer of Hebrews was speaking to people who
were
very much
alive.
Hebrews 12:22 But ye are
come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God,
the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
The rest
of the verse speaks of the fact that God is the Judge of all,
and also
addressed, were ‘the spirits of
just men made perfect’.
The grammar
of this phrase tells us that the subject ‘the
spirits’, were made perfect.
The
qualifying phrase tells us which spirits,
they are
‘the spirits of just men’.
We can
see that it was not men that were made perfect, but their spirits.
Our
breath cannot be made perfect.
Our
bodies can never be perfect.
Many of
us have all sort of things wrong with us, often we might even feel that
we have
more wrong with us than right!
Matthew 5:48 Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your
heavenly Father is perfect.
Our
spirits, however, can be perfected and changed as the Eternal does His work in
us,
as the
master potter, Jeremiah 18:6.
It takes
a lifetime, and we should never be arrogant, and claim that we,
or others
are perfect.
We have
to strive for perfection, but it is a spiritual matter which
is
brought about by transformation of the Holy Spirit.
We need
to understand that we, as it were, inherited damaged spirits from Adam’s sin.
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin;
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
If we do
not want to accept that, we still have the fact that All have sinned.
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come
short of the glory of God;
Whichever way we go, our bodies and our spirits have
been affected by sin.
Fortunately
we have been given new undamaged spirit so that we can receive the perfect
Holy
Spirit in our new spirits.
Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a
new spirit will I put within you:
and I will take away the stony heart out of your
flesh,
and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:27 And I will put my spirit within
you, and cause you to walk in my statutes,
and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
We have
not been given a new breath.
It is
only by the impartation of the Holy Spirit can the process
of
perfection be carried out, but first that requires a new spirit.
Our
attitude should be:
Luke 17:10 Even so ye also, when ye shall have done all
the things that are commanded you, say,
We are unprofitable servants; we have
done that which it was our duty to do.
Hebrews 12:23
tells us that it is possible for the spirits of just men
to be
made perfect.
This is a
staggering thing, and I know that I have a very long way
to go
before that can be said of me.
The
spirit in man is very real, and it is certainly much more permanent than our
physical bodies.
We have
to be very careful with our human spirit because it resides in our body and it
is the dwelling place of the Eternal God.
1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are a
temple of God,
and that the Spirit
of God dwelleth in you?
John 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be
made perfect in one;
and that
the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast
loved me.
There is
a spirit in man and it makes us one with the Eternal God.
What a
privilege, blessing and undeserved honour.
Be Humble Repent Listen To The Eternal God Obey Him.
This is very easy to say, but
I assure you that it is physically an impossibility without
the empowerment of the
Eternal God.
Just going up to some altar
call, running to some church, or isolating yourself
in the hope that somehow it
will all go away, will not do it.
What are you going to do about it before it
is too late?
See Video: Obedience Is The Only Way Of Escape
.
Our
Disclaimer Our
Specific Purpose Statement
http://www.peterjamesx.com - Our Main
Website
. 