The Immortal Soul

I might mention that I no longer have to do the job of the interim president, so that's gone. And as of July 1st, which I think is what, Thursday? I'll no longer be on the council. So Norm and I are really looking forward to just being here in Pastry. So looking forward to that and being able to get back and just devote our full energies to doing that. We know that God has promised to resurrect every person who ever lived and who's died. The Bible indicates that in the book of Revelation, when the seventh trumpet sounds, that Christ will resurrect the dead in Christ and that His government will be set up on this earth for a thousand years of peace and blessing. Now, many religions have different and various ideas as to what happens to the dead. When you die, where do you go? What happens? Most of those are based upon a false doctrine, a fundamental assumption that is wrong, that people make. And it arises from the idea and the belief, the assumption that we have immortal souls. Now, souls of my shoes wear out all the time. They're not immortal, but they're not talking about your shoes' souls. They think you have an immortal soul dwelling inside of you. If the teaching of the immortality of the soul is true, what do you do with the soul when the body dies? Where does it go? What occurs to it? This has led many philosophers, many religious leaders and theologians to come up with a number of doctrines and teachings that are based upon this belief. And if the belief were true, it's like Mr. Herbert Armstrong used to say, if the premise for evolution were true, then everything that they say makes sense. But if the premise is wrong, then everything they say doesn't make sense. And the same thing is true here. We need to clearly understand what the Bible teaches on this topic. We need to realize that the teaching of the immortality of the soul is a doctrine that is a counterfeit of a true Bible teaching. And Satan the Devil is very clever, and he tries to counterfeit everything that God has and get it as close to the truth as possible, but to totally mislead people. And what we want to come to understand today is how this clouds and hides the true purpose for life that God has created. Now, what do theologians mean when they talk about the immortality of the soul? What would be your definition of the immortality of the soul?

Well, let me just quote here. It is a belief that man is essentially a spiritual being, some kind of vague immortal soul, housed in a body of flesh. That the human body is merely the house we dwell in, or the cloak put around us temporarily. It's sort of like wearing an overcoat. And when you die, take the coat off, and there's the real you. That's the way they think about it. So they believe the real man is not the body, it's not your flesh, but an invisible, immaterial, immortal soul that thinks, that hears, that sees, that will live consciously forever. So when you die, in other words, the physical body dies, they think that this soul goes on forever. At death, the soul, the real you, leaves the body and journeys. Now, where is it off to? Well, it goes on a journey. No longer has a lodging, a dwelling place, to dwell in. So the soul at death travels. And as I said, where does it go? Where does it end up? Well, this has led to many unbiblical ideas, thoughts, philosophies. Let me just enumerate some of them for you. There's a teaching that, at death, to heaven, are hell, are purgatory. They go to one of these. And if you believe there's an immortal soul, it's got to go somewhere, or else it's just going to sort of hover around. But they believe it goes to heaven, hell, or purgatory. The soul, the real you, leaves the body, journeys to heaven, or to a purgatory, or to a hell. This led the Catholics, though, to come up with the teaching of Limbo, Limbus Patrum, Limbus Infantium. As we will see later on, the Bible said, no man has ascended to heaven except Christ. And so, what about the patriarchs who died? Where did they go? Well, they came up with Limbo. Limbo Patrum was where everybody in the Old Testament went. It didn't really go to heaven, but it's a step, sort of a room in purgatory. Limbus Infantium is where all the babies go. So, that's a Catholic idea. Pagans come up with the reincarnation, or transmigration, of the soul. And when you die, you come back as somebody else, or you come back as a bug, or you come back as an animal. And the object is that you finally go. You come back so many times that finally you're gone. You've proceeded through all of this. It's led to the belief also that you can talk to the dead. In other words, if the dead are still alive, they have no mortal soul, then you can contact the dead, or the dead can contact you. So, we have those who believe that they can talk to the dead. There's a belief among some people that they have special powers to contact the dead, and so they are called a medium. Now, the Bible in the Old Testament, you might want to go back and read a few scriptures, talks about not consulting the mediums. Because when a medium claims to be able to talk to somebody on the other side, they're talking to a demon. They're not talking to a dead relative. John Nesbitt in the book on Megatrends 2000 mentioned that the New Age movement is sprinkled with channeled mediums, individuals who say they permit their bodies and voices to be used as vehicles for teachers and messages from the great beyond. As early as 1987, the number of channels in the Los Angeles area alone was estimated to be over a thousand. So, a thousand people in that area you could go to. There's also the teaching of dualism. The body is evil, but the soul is good. So, anything connected with the physical is evil. It doesn't matter what you do to the physical body, because it's evil.

Also, led to the Gnostic teaching of asceticism, that you deny the flesh because it's evil, but the soul is good.

Gnostics also taught that at death, the soul went through the eight steps to return to a star.

The idea is that every star that you can see howls the soul.

When somebody is born, that soul comes down and possesses that body. At death, then there's an eight step. You go to the moon, you go to Mars, and Jupiter, and you start rising up through the planets.

This has led to astrology and all kinds of ideas, and you're based upon that.

It also is the basis of killing heretics.

Down through the centuries, the Church has taken people out and boiled them in royal, skinned them alive.

You had the Spanish Inquisition. People believe in killing heretics.

There's no problem in killing the body if you can save the soul. That's the idea behind that.

So, all of these ideas are based upon the immortality of the soul.

Does the Bible teach that man has a soul, or does it teach that man is a soul? He is a soul. Are we immortal souls?

Well, in John 3.6, we're going to cover today a few more scriptures than we normally cover.

John 3.6 says, That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of spirit is spirit.

So, the Bible indicates if you're born of flesh, you are flesh. That's what you are.

Now, in Genesis 2, verse 7, when it says, you are flesh, that means you, whatever is you, is flesh.

In Genesis 2, verse 7, we see this.

The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

And man became a living being, or a living creature.

So, man is created out of the dust, and he became alive, a living being.

God breathed into man's nostrils, into Adam's nostrils, the breath of life. He breathed air into his lungs.

What happens when a baby is born?

A baby can be born, it's not breathing.

So, the old proverbial, you grab him, spank him, slap him on the back, and he starts breathing.

Well, we know that when that baby takes in a breath of air, expands his lungs, because there is an absolute miracle that takes place.

Nine months, that fetus has been in a bag of water, and it does not breathe water and drown.

There is a cut-off, and you find that as soon as the baby is born, it has to be able to breathe in order to live.

And so, we understand, even with every child that is born, that the breath of life gives a person life.

But, I want you to notice what many theologians think, quoting from Matthew Henry's commentary on the Bible.

Quote, man consisting of body and soul, a body made out of the earth, and a rational, immortal soul, the breath of heaven.

So, theologians reading this scripture translate this, the breath of life, that that's the immortal soul, the breath of heaven, that God breathed into Adam, an immortal soul then.

It says, we have in these verses the provision that was made for the happiness of both, both the immortal soul and the body.

Now, so they equate the breath of life with an immortal soul.

Now, turn over to chapter 7, verse 21.

Genesis 7, verse 21.

It says, all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds and cattle, beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man.

All those are all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life.

All that was on the dry land died.

Crickets, tree frogs, bugs, cattle, anything that lived on the land, at that time died.

Animals have the same breath of life that man does. That's what this clearly indicates.

The source of life is in the breath. It is called the breath of life.

No one believes that animals have an immortal soul. They are immortal.

And yet, we find back in Genesis 2, verse 19, same thing mentioned of animals as is mentioned of man.

Genesis 2, verse 19.

Out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them.

And whatever Adam called every living creature, that was its name.

I think the King James Version says, every living soul or every living creature here.

Now, the word here for living creature is nefesh, the Hebrew word nefesh.

And it simply means that which breathes the breathing substance of a being, the soul, the inner being of a man, a living being.

And so the Bible talks here about us becoming a living creature or a living breathing individual.

It says the same thing of animals as it does of man.

And as I indicated, we don't believe that animals have an immortal soul.

The word for soul is nefesh, our breathing creature.

Turn back to chapter 1 of the book of Genesis, verse 21.

Genesis chapter 1, verse 21, says, So God created the great sea creatures.

The word creature there is nefesh, and every living thing that moves with which the water is abounded.

Now notice verse 24.

Verse 24 says, Then God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature, the living nefesh, according to its kind, cattle and creeping things, and the beasts of the earth, each according to its kind, and with soul.

So the beasts of the earth are called living creatures, or nefesh.

Chapter 2, verse 19, we already read, but Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam, to see what he would call them, and whatever Adam called every living creature, every living nefesh, every breathing creature.

That was its name.

If you have a concordance, just look up the word nefesh, and go through in the Old Testament, and read every place that the word nefesh is used. You'll find that it's translated as an example, dead body.

Now, if it's an immortal soul, how can it be a dead body? Let's notice in Leviticus, chapter 19.

Leviticus, chapter 19, verse 28, says, Now, words for a dead body.

It was a living creature, now it's dead.

We find this mention, chapter 21, in verse 1. There are a lot of scriptures that we could read here in quote.

In fact, I'd written a number of them down and crossed them out, because you only need to see it once or twice to know what the Bible says. But here in verse 1, chapter 21, the book of Leviticus, he file himself for the dead, again, nephesh, the dead creatures, or the dead who have died among his people. The soul, then, is physical life of a man or an animal that is subject to decay and death. It is not immortal. Very simple. Genesis, chapter 3, in verse 9, let's back up there again. Chapter 3 in the book of Genesis, verse 19, I should say.

Notice what God says, talking to the conscious man, to Adam. In the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground. It doesn't just say, till just your body returns, but till you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust shall you return. So, we all become dust.

So, God was speaking to the conscious man, and he said, you will return to the dust. Now, in Psalm 146, in verse 4, Psalm 146, in verse 4, we read this about man. His spirit departs, he returns to the earth, and that very day his plan perish. Now, the New King James Version translates as plan. The Old King James, or just King James, translated it thought. Actually, the Hebrew word translated here is only used once in the Old Testament, in this place, and it means thought. That's the very definition of it. So, we find that when man dies, in that very day, his thoughts perish. So, if he's an immortal soul, and the body is just a housing, we can get rid of the housing, then why isn't he able to think? Can the soul die? That's the $64,000 question. Can it die? I think we're all extremely familiar with Ezekiel 18, in verse 4. Some of these scriptures we need to review and make sure we know that we know what we know and understand. And here, in verse 4, Ezekiel 18.4, Behold all souls of mine, the soul of the Father, as well as the soul of the Son, is mine. The soul whose sins shall die. Now, what does the Bible say? The wages of sin is what? The release of the immortal soul? It says the wages of sin is death. Now, in verse 20, the soul whose sins shall die. So the Son shall not bear the guilt of the Father, nor the Father bear the guilt of the Son. So we find that man can die. Now, in Ecclesiastes, one other scripture here, Ecclesiastes, we have Psalm Proverbs, Ecclesiastes chapter 3, beginning in verse 19. It says, Well, what happens to the Son of Man also happens to animals. Same thing occurs to both. One thing befalls them. As one dies, soul dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath. So the breath of life, they all have one breath. We breathe the same air. Man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. All go to one place, all are from the dust, all return to the dust.

But verse 21 is a very interesting scripture, which we will talk about in more detail later. Who knows the spirit of the sons of man, which goes upwards, and the spirit of the animals, which goes to the earth? What are we talking about here when we're talking about spirit? We'll come back to that. The word here is Ruach. It says, All have one breath. In Hebrew, it's Ruach. It means breath. That's what it does mean. Now, in Leviticus 17 verse 11, there's another interesting scripture. Leviticus chapter 17 and verse 11. We read this, The life of the flesh. Where is the life of the flesh? It's in the blood. So does that mean your immortal soul is circulating through your blood? Is it in your heart? Where is it? So the life of the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that makes atonement for the souls. So man is a living, breathing, mortal creature, a nafesh, or living soul, in whose nostrils is air, is sometimes translated spirit. Now, let's take a look at what the function of the breath of air, what it performs when it goes into your lungs. Try holding your breath for three or four minutes. I can't do it now, but I used to be able to hold my breath for two plus minutes. I could swim an Olympic swimming pool twice, down and back, down and back, without breathing. I can't do that today. You have to practice to be able to do that type of thing. But what function does the lungs perform when you breathe? Well, the blood flows through the walls of the lungs, on the way back to the heart, as it's pumped through the veins and arteries in the body.

The breath of air, upon contact with the surface of the lungs, gives up oxygen. This oxygen is absorbed into the bloodstream, and is quickly burned up and creating energy, needed to keep the body heat and other functions of the internal organs and muscles. So when the Bible says the life is in the blood, that's because the blood needs the breath of life to keep the body active and alive. And so we find the two work together. So the life is in the blood, the blood carries the oxygen to every part of the body, and it's called the breath of life. Now, in Deuteronomy chapter 12 and verse 23, we read this, Only be sure that you do not eat the blood. So God commanded us not to eat blood. For the blood is the life. Now the word here, life, is nafesh. The blood is the nafesh, or the life. And you may not eat the life with your meat. So God says, don't eat the blood. Drain that out. You might remember back in Isaiah 53 verse 10. I'll just refer to that. Isaiah 53 verse 10.

Now it's interesting that the word immortal soul, that is not mentioned in the Bible. You don't find those two words together. So where does the teaching come from? Why do Christians believe in the immortality of the soul? Well, let me quote from the Jewish Encyclopedia. The belief in the immortality of the souls came to the Jews from contact with the Greeks. With Greek thought, and chiefly through, the philosophy of Plato. Plato, Aristotle, all these guys had a profound effect upon the world, and still do. It's principle exponent, in other words, Plato was a principle exponent, who was led to it through Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries in the Babylonian and Egyptian view, and was strangely blended. It came from the Greek philosophers who acquired it from Egypt and Babylon. And guess where they got it in Babylon? Well, there were a couple of people called Semiramis Nimrod, who taught a false religion, a false way of life. They didn't get it from the Bible, they got it from the pagans. They got it from the Greek philosophers, the Egyptians, and the Babylonians. Herodotus, the famous Greek historian who lived in the fifth century before Christ, admitted, quote, that the Egyptians were also the first that asserted that the soul of man is immortal. This opinion among some, this opinion, some among the Greeks have at different periods of time, adopted as their own. So the Greeks got it from the Egyptians. The Greeks adopted the doctrine from the Egyptians. It was Socrates, the Greek philosopher who traveled to Egypt, consulted with the Egyptians, on this very teaching. After he returned to Greece, he taught it to Plato, his student. Plato turned around, taught it to Aristotle. And so we had a continuation of teaching. In Phyto, Plato wrote, the soul, whose inseparable attribute is life, will never admit to life's opposite death. Thus, the soul is shown to be immortal. Based upon what proof? Well, based upon the fact that it refuses to die, he said. And since immortal, it is indestructible. Can't destroy it. Do we believe there is such a thing as death? Well, to be sure, he said. And is there anything, is death anything but the separation of the soul and the body? So notice their definition of death. The death is the separation of the soul and body. And being dead is the attainment of this separation when the soul exists in herself, not in himself, but in herself. It separates from the body, and the body is parted from the soul. That is, death is merely the separation of soul and body. So, when the physical body ceases to exist, the soul leaves it, sort of like a, whoo, you have vapor going up, and it disappears. And the soul then begins to take its journey. After Plato came Aristotle with the theory, the Roman poet Virgil popularized it through the Roman world, and it was spread at that time. So how did this teaching then get into the Christian Church? If it came from the Egyptians and Babylonians to the Greeks, how did it get into the so-called Christian Church? Well, it was introduced as a teaching gradually over a period of time. As late as 160 A.D., Justinian, the philosopher-turned-professing Christian, wrote, notice what he wrote. This is taken from the anti-Nicene Fathers. But our Jesus Christ, being crucified and dead, and having ascended to heaven, reigned. And by those sayings which were published in His name among all nations by the apostles, there is joy offered to those who expect the immortality promised by Him. So by 160, even some of the Catholic writers were still teaching that immortality was something that God promised, not something you already possess as a soul. So the early Catholic writers knew they did not have immortality within themselves. It was something that they were expecting to receive.

However, around 200 A.D., Origen, wrote this, souls are immortal, as God Himself is eternal and immortal. He professed to be a true Platonist, in other words, a student of Plato, who believed in the immortality of the soul.

And then another influential teacher in the second century was Tertullian, a Phoenician North Africa. Here's what he wrote, For some things are known even by nature, so this should be something that you would know by nature. The immortality of the soul, for instance, is held by many.

I may use, therefore, the opinion of Plato when he declared, Every soul is immortal. So what is it based upon?

It's based upon the fact that Plato said it.

But who was Plato? He was not a Christian, he was not a prophet of God, he didn't write anything in the Bible. He was a Greek philosopher.

In describing the Sadducees and the Pharisees, the Jewish historian Josephus contrasted their views on post-mortem existence. In other words, what did they believe about a person who died? The Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife. They didn't believe that you lived on after you died. God does not reward or punish, and certainly not in the afterlife, they thought. The Pharisees believed in an immortal soul, and so in an afterlife when God rewarded the righteous and punished the wicked. So the Pharisees believed in an immortal soul. And just before the Protestant Reformation broke out in Europe, the Catholic Church imposed the death penalty on all who refused to believe in the pagan doctrine of the immortality of the soul. So anyone who would dare teach against it was declared a heretic and was to be shunned, and if it could be proven, would be killed. So that took place back around 1513, in that period of time. So what we find is simply this, that Satan the Devil is the master counterfeiter. He has counterfeited much of the plan of God. The immortality of the soul is a counterfeit of a true teaching and doctrine in the Bible. Now what is it a counterfeit of? Well, we find the Bible describes that there is a spiritual component to man. There is something about us that is spiritual in nature, but it's not an immortal soul. The Bible reveals that there is a spirit in man. The spirit is not the man, the spirit is in the man. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 9. 1 Corinthians 2. We'll begin to read here in verse 9. As it is written, eyes not seen, or hear heard, nor is entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. So the only way to understand spiritual knowledge, have spiritual understanding, is if God's Spirit reveals them to you. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God, but what man knows the things of a man?

How do you understand about other men? How can I read a book about China, or India, Borneo, look at a picture, see a travelogue, see a movie, and come to understand other people? Well, it says, no man knows the things of a man, except the spirit of man, which is in him. So man can understand the things of a man, in other words, physical knowledge, that is revealed through the five senses. Anything that is revealed through the five senses is physical knowledge. You smell it, you taste it, you hear it, you can see it. Those are the five senses. But that's physical knowledge on the human plane. It says, even so, no one knows the things of God, except the spirit of God. A chicken, I've mentioned this before, a chicken cannot understand the things of a man. A chicken doesn't run around and say, you know, my master over here, it's about time for him to feed me. He sure has crazy looking shoes on today. I think he's got a new haircut, you know, I think he dyed his hair, and so on and so on. They don't think about the things of a man. You and I can think. We have an intellect. We can think, we can reason. Animals don't have it. So animals don't think about the things of a man, but a man does. Spiritual things must be revealed by God's spirit. Spiritual knowledge is on the divine plane. Satan has counterfeited the human spirit as an immortal soul. That's what the counterfeit is. It is the spirit of man. Is the spirit of man himself or is it something that is in the man? Well, you notice here, again, it says, What man knows the things of a man except the spirit of a man which is in him? It doesn't say, which is him. No, it says, which is in him. It is something that is in man. It's connected with the physical brain. The spirit of man is connected with the physical brain, the matter of the man, and it forms the mind. Why is it that we have memory? Why is it that we can think and reason? We have emotions. We have feelings. We can get depressed. We can become discouraged. We can be happy. We can be joyful. It's the spirit of man, merely in part, man with the unique power of intellect and personality. We can have personality, intellect, and also allows us to begin to develop character. What if you swallowed a marble? Our children grew up, they swallowed different things. You always are worried about it, but eventually it comes out through the system. What if you swallowed a marble? Do you say that that marble is you? No, you say that the marble is in you. When something is in you, it's not a part of you, but it's in you. So, man was made of the dust of the ground, mortal. This human spirit is not a soul. It's something in the soul, or as we are called, a soul, living, breathing creature. The spirit of man dwells within the soul, within the man, which itself is the physical man. Satan doesn't represent the spirit as merely something that's in the man. Satan palms it off as an immortal soul. Satan has led people to believe that the spirit is the man, not something in the man. Satan has led men to believe that the body is merely the house in which the man, or the immortal soul, dwells. Let's go back to the book of Zechariah. Zechariah 12. Let's notice what God revealed to Zechariah here. Zechariah 12. We'll begin to read in verse 1.

God forms the spirit within us. The spirit that is in a man has no consciousness of itself. See, the immortality of the soul teaches, and you die, then you're still conscious. You can still reason, see, think, and so on. It cannot know apart from the physical brain. The spirit of man cannot know without the brain. It cannot see of itself. It has to see through the eyes. Coupled with the brain, it can only see through the physical eye. It cannot hear without the human ear. Now, how do we know this? Well, a blind man has the spirit of man within him, doesn't he? He still has a mind. He might be blind, but he has a mind. But he cannot see anything. So, you know, there isn't anything you're able to see, because the eyes are not working. Same thing is true. A man may be deaf and have the spirit in man in him, but he cannot hear, though he has the full power of his mind otherwise. So, since the spirit cannot see without a functioning physical eye, nor hear without a properly functioning physical ear, and a living man, it most certainly cannot see or hear apart from a dead man. When you're dead, you're dead. Neither can it know or think apart from the physical brain. The two work together. You can actually give a human being a physical drug. It will drug the brain, as an example, when a person is operated on, and they're rendered unconscious. They have no memory of what went on. They don't remember the surgeon cutting, ripping, tearing, doing all the things that they do. The brain is rendered unconscious. Ecclesiastes 9.5 clearly states that when a man dies, dead men do not know anything. There's no knowledge. Let's go over, though, to the book of Job, chapter 32, in verse 8. Job, chapter 32, and we'll read here in verse 8. It says, But there is a spirit in man. So again, we find this spirit in man. It doesn't say the spirit is the man, but it's in man. The breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. So we find here that the spirit acts, among other things, like a computer. Adding to the brain the psychic and intellectual power. A computer has certain abilities, certain powers. It's got memory. You can have two or three hundred gigabytes of memory. You can store information there. So it is with the spirit in man. Knowledge received in the brain through the eyes, through the ears, through all of the senses, are immediately programmed into the spirit computer. They're lodged there. All memory is stored in this spirit computer. This computer gives the brain instant recall of whatever portion of the millions of bits of information may be needed in the reasoning process. Scientists have acknowledged that even though we have supercomputers that can operate at fantastic speeds, nothing compares to the human mind. Nothing can compare. What this says is that memory is recorded in the human spirit. Whether or not it is recorded in the gray matter of the brain or not, it is recorded there. When you are resurrected, guess what God will do? How can God resurrect you with your character, with your knowledge and understanding? Well, God can take the spirit in man. He can place it, that spirit, once a person is converted, there's another spirit added, is it not? The spirit of God. You find, he can place that within a spirit body, and you have the spirit memory, everything that's gone on, as well as God's spirit dwelling within us. Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 7 tells us what happens to the spirit when we die. Chapter 12 verse 7 says, "...then the dust will return to the earth as it was." So when you die, you're out of the dust, you return to the dust. And the spirit will return to God who gave it.

So when a person dies, it's sort of like a DVD, a video. Everything is recorded on it. When you die, God takes the spirit in man, it returns to God, he saves it. So God doesn't forget any human being who's ever lived. It contains your basic DNA pattern, it contains your knowledge, your understanding, character you've developed. And God can place that back into a spirit body, and you then are a spirit being. Now God can also place it back into a human body, and the resurrection of those who've never had a chance at salvation. So we know in the second resurrection, God will place it back in the human body, and people will be resurrected with the same knowledge and mind that they had before they died. Let's notice the difference between the human spirit and the immortality of the soul. Let me just sort of summarize what we've covered. The teaching of the immortality of the soul teaches that it dwells in the human body, that the soul dwells in you. The spirit in man, the Bible teaches, is a spiritual essence that imparts ability to the brain, that imparts mind power to the brain. Secondarily, the immortal soul thinks, sees, hears, and reasons on its own. The spirit in man cannot think, see, reason apart from the body, apart from the brain. That's why you destroy the brain, and a person becomes a vegetable. And, you know, that's happened. Thirdly, the immortality of the soul, they believe, lives forever. So it's going to go on living forever. They think it's immortal.

The spirit in man is a spirit essence that ceases to function without the body. Just as a videotape cannot function without a tape recorder, so the spirit in man cannot function without the body. Four, the immortality of the soul, they believe, has consciousness without the body. Whereas the spirit in man does not have consciousness of itself. It is simply a spirit essence. They believe the immortality of the soul, number five, journeys after death. It's going to go somewhere. Reincarnation, heaven, hell, you know, we covered that all to start with. And the Bible clearly says that the spirit returns to God who gave it. So God stores it. He saves it. Six thing about the immortality of the soul is intrinsically good, they think. And the spirit in man does not possess of itself morality, not of itself. Seven, the immortality of the soul of itself has the power of intellect and personality. Whereas the spirit in man imparts the power of intellect and personality. So there's quite a contrast between the two. The Bible does not teach that man already has immortality. Now in Romans 2 and verse 7, let's notice Romans 2 verse 7, We read, eternal life to those who by patient continuance and doing good, seek for glory, honor, and immortality. So immortality is something that we seek for. It's not something that we already have.

In 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 14, we read, That you keep his commandments without spot blameless into our Lord Jesus Christ the period, which he will manifest in his own time, he who is the blessed and only potent eighth King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. So God alone has immortality. You don't have an immortal soul. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 15, we're familiar with this, verses 53 and 54 in the resurrection.

What does it say? This mortal must put on immortality. You and I in the resurrection put on immortality. We don't possess it presently. Romans 6, 23 says, The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. So God gives us eternal life. Immortality. It is through the resurrection. Now remember some of the false teachings springs from believing in the immortal soul. Just a couple of scriptures here. Let's notice John 3.13. John 3, verse 13. It says, No one has ascended to heaven, but he who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.

So Christ came down from heaven, returned to the Father, but no one else has. Now this is why the Catholics came up with Limbus Patrum. What happens to all the babies who died in their immortal soul? What happens to the Limbus and Fauntium is where the babies go. Limbus Patrum is where everybody went in the Old Testament.

They say that man is ascended to heaven after Jesus Christ returned. So Limbus Patrum, so you understand the teaching, is empty today. After Christ returned to heaven, they say all of the ancient patriarchs, all those who died, followed him to heaven. That this scripture was true at that time, but that it's not true now, because they believe that one chamber of purgatory was empty. They still believe that Limbus and Fauntium, the babies, are there. Limbus and Fauntium is like a gigantic care center for children, little cribs rocking them back and forth.

They're just there forever. Now, is this what the Bible teaches? Let's go over here to Acts 2.25, Acts 2, verse 25. Notice David. David said concerning him, You allow your Holy One to see corruption. So David's soul, he knew, was going to be in Hades or in the grave. Suke is the Greek word for soul here. It has the same meaning as nafesh in the Old Testament. The breath of life, the vital force that animates the body, shows itself in breath.

It's used of both men and animals. In verse 29 here, it says, Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried. He's not alive, but he's dead and buried. In verse 34, For David did not ascend into heaven, but he himself said the Lord said to my Lord. So if Limbus Potstrum is supposed to be empty, why didn't David go to heaven? You see, he's not up there.

He's dead, along with everybody else who's died, and they await the resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15 very clearly teaches, If there is no resurrection, let's read that, verse 17. 1 Corinthians 15, If there is no resurrection, you and I will perish. Verse 17, If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile, you're still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

And if this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most pitiful. Verse 14 says, If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty, your faith is also empty. So we find that if there is no resurrection, then we do perish. John 5, verse 25 through 28 talks about the resurrection, and clearly states that there's going to come a time when all the dead that are in the grave shall hear his voice. Those who've done good will come forward to the resurrection of life, and those who've done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

And so the dead in the grave will hear his voice. The Bible compares death to a sleep, and when we die, we sleep in the dust of the earth. I think it is significant to realize back here in Matthew 10, verse 28, why Christ clearly said, Matthew 10, 28, Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. So the soul can be destroyed, the body can be destroyed. Only God can totally destroy our human existence.

See, that's what this section is talking about. God promises to resurrect every human being. Those who've not had a chance of salvation will be given a chance. Those who had a chance in this life and rejected will be resurrected and thrown in the lake of fire. That's called the second death. And from the second death, there is no resurrection. They will cease to exist. There's no hope of a resurrection from that.

So God can finally extinguish our life. We cease to exist. We no longer are existent. God again says that the gift of God is eternal life. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul does away with the plan of God. The purpose for human life is not just the location of our immortal soul. See, that's what the immortality of the soul teaches. Where does your soul ultimately end up?

That's the whole teaching of that. Where's your soul going to end up for eternity? They think hell, that's why they believe in an ever-burning hell fire. That you go on burning forever and ever because you've been wicked. Well, your soul's immortal is going to suffer forever. Are you going to be rewarded forever? But eternal life is a gift from God. Eternal life is not something that God gives to you. In other words, God has to give us eternal life. It's not something we already possess. Why was the tree of life in the Garden of Eden, back in Genesis 2-3, man was told to choose life. He did not have eternal life within himself.

God says, if a man sins, he will die. So man is not complete. We're mortal. We're subject to death. We become the children of God through his spirit dwelling within us. What does the spirit unite with? You find a principle that kine reproduces after its kine. Cows reproduce cows, chickens, chickens, horses, horses, corn reproduces corn, and so on. How is God going to reproduce his kine? Well, there has to be a spirit that his spirit unites with, and that is the spirit in man.

And so God gives us a spirit, probably at conception. And that spirit is there. It gives us the ability to have intellect, have emotions and feelings. And when God's spirit unites with our spirit, then we become a begotten Son of God. And in the resurrection, if that spirit, that spiritual character in life, memory is taken, placed in a spirit body, you will be a spirit being. And so you find that God's plan is to reproduce himself. So God is creating a family of beings who possess his character, his very nature.

God made man mortal so that if he rejected God's plan of salvation, man could be destroyed. He would cease to live. He would perish. We are made immortal at the resurrection, the Bible clearly says. We receive eternal life at the resurrection. We don't possess it now. And God is working with us today so that we can be kings and priests and assist him in ruling on this earth. So we don't go immediately to heaven. Our soul doesn't go off on a journey somewhere. The spirit returns to God who gave it, and, brethren, we will await the resurrection.

So it's important to understand the distinction between these two, what the Bible teaches, and why so much of what is taught today is an error. There is no immortal soul, but there is a spirit in man.