In Job 42:7, God is speaking to a man named Eliphaz, and this is what God says to that man: “My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends, FOR YOU HAVE NOT SPOKEN OF ME THE THING THAT IS RIGHT!”
Preachers, ministers, evangelists, Bible teachers – we all better get it right. Many a preacher, in facing Jesus Christ at the judgment of believers, expecting to see His beaming smile and words of appreciation and thanks will instead hear the same words God spoke to Eliphaz many centuries ago.
I will yet stand before the judge of all the earth. I certainly do not want Him to look upon me in anger and disgust, and say, “Get out of my sight!” Therefore, when I write these articles I do so prayerfully and only after much intense study and perusal of all pertinent scripture. I read and reread carefully every word that I have written before I finally hit the “send” button. I never remotely consider whether I am in agreement with any preacher, or denomination, or the popular interpretation of some text. I earnestly seek to know whether or not I am saying what God’s Word really says in a given matter or subject.
There is going to be a lot of singing and jubilant hand clapping around the throne of Jesus Christ, but, at least for a time, there will also be some bitter weeping and mind-numbing sorrow. Let’s now look a bit more closely at Revelation 6, verses 9 through 11: “And when He (Jesus) had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain (yes, these DEAD souls) for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held (holding fast to the truth of God). And they cried with a loud voice (remember this passage, like much of Revelation is symbolic, not literal), saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our (shed) blood (which caused them TO DIE) on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said unto them that they should rest (in their graves – that’s WHERE your Bible says we rest) yet for a little season until their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were (note well these “souls” have been killed and are, therefore DEAD) should be fulfilled.”
Remember, the scriptures clearly state that you ARE a soul. You do NOT have a soul residing within you somewhere – not in your heart, not in your mind, not in each and every cell or atom of your body. The word “soul” comes from the Hebrew word nephesh, which means simply “a living, breathing creature.” There is no such thing as a disembodied soul. The disembodied, but invisible, souls of the dead are not flitting through the air 24/7 as folks breathe their last on this earth.
Your life is not in a “soul.” Your life is in your blood! Note well these inspired words of utter truth found in Leviticus 17: “And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eats any manner of blood (animal or human), I will even set my face against that soul (that person, that living being) that eats blood (note well, God Himself says souls CAN EAT), and will cut him off from among his people. FOR THE LIFE OF THE FLESH IS IN THE BLOOD” (verses 10 and 11).
Your Bible, your Creator, the Speaker of all truth, says your life resides in your blood – NOT in an immortal soul. The Bible nowhere ever connects those two words together – immortal and soul. Such would be a contradiction in terms. To be continued………
Christ’s Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley