Life after Death

1. I heard that when people die their spirits go to the place where the dead are. Where is that place? Doesn't the Word of God tell anything about where that place of the dead is?

2. The Word of God truly does tell us about the place where the dead are. We should not believe the lies of the spirits or Satan - because, look.... At the beginning of time, Satan told people that they would not die if they ate that which God forbade them. That was a lie Satan told, and people were deceived, and now people die. So from now on let's believe what God says, so that we won't be continually deceived.

1. What does the Word of God say regarding where the dead go to, then?

2. When Jesus was about to return to heaven He told His friends that He was going to prepare a very wonderful place for anyone who believed in Him. There would be absolutely no hardships there. No darkness and nothing would lack. That's the place they call heaven. There's also another place the dead go that's called hell. That's the place where fire is that can't be killed. That's the place where all the evil spirits will be punished. And pity those people who obey the spirits, for they will be included with them. They also will go to the place where the fire is. That is where Satan will be also.

1. Do the spirits of the dead have thoughts? I supposed that the soul of a person felt nothing, either good or bad.

2. Listen to this - I want to read to you from Luke of the word of God. Luke 16:19-31, about Lazarus and the Rich Man.

1. Well, what I understand is that the rich man suffered greatly...that man who had no thoughts of God. And even though he repented bitterly, it was useless.

2. Yes, that's right. For once something has gone by, it's gone forever. Therefore, we must not be deceived, like that rich man was who trusted himself and his riches.

1. I wonder if that rich man might not have believed if he truly could have seen a dead man come to life again, so that he would have proof that all that was true?

2. Maybe not, because, look... Jesus spoke all this regarding this rich man and it wasn't long until Jesus was killed. And Jesus, He truly did rise again. But even though many people saw Him risen from the dead, do you reserve any hope that people believed in Him? Until this very time there are many people who do not believe what He told regarding death. So even though Jesus came back to life, many are still saying, "And you believe all that?" Every person who does not believe what Jesus said will go to hell.

1. There's also something that people say. They say, "Never mind, let my soul go to hell. It's up to my soul to look for some place to be pained up - to suffer. Is my soul, me?"

2. Yes. That is what people are saying, but they say it because they don't understand. That rich man suffered very greatly and his soul very much wanted help. You see it was his soul - that's him. Never mind for the body, because once the soul has left, the body doesn't feel anything. There's no pain even if you cut it. But the soul is where feeling is, and that feels pain.

1. Therefore, that is why Jesus told about the rich man and Lazarus, so that we could understand. What we thought was that the soul can walk around, but if it doesn't come home, back to the person, that person will die. Maybe that's not true?

2. Right. Because once the soul leaves, that is the time of the person's dying. The spirits teach otherwise because they lie. But this is what God teaches and this is what is true. There's also something else that people don't understand. People will rise from the dead like Jesus did.

1. You mean people will rise from the dead? Is that true? When will they rise from the dead?

2. Jesus said when He arose from the dead, that His rising from the dead was proof that also people will rise from the dead. The first to rise from the dead will be those who have believed in Jesus. Those who have become His followers. They will rise from the dead at the time of Jesus' coming. What's written, it says that:

"Jesus will bring with Him those who have died when He returns, and then their bodies will resurrect and their souls will again live in their bodies!"

1. Well, if that's when the people who believe in Jesus rise from the dead, when will those who do not believe rise from the dead?

2. It will be later when they are resurrected, because God is going to clean the earth first, and then when the time comes that those spirits will be judged and punished, also all the people who believed in them will be raised from the dead and again their bodies and their spirits will live together. And that's the time that they will be destroyed (or thrown away).

1. We must really study all these words of God so we can understand what is true and what is right. I guess it is impossible for us to say, "Never mind, I'll just be included with my ancestors of long ago," because even that rich person didn't want his family to be included with him in hell.

2. That's true what you say, and if we believe regarding God, our thoughts about dying will be peaceful. We must understand that the wonderfulness of the place where God is, is much greater than on this earth.

Here is a song to give us courage regarding death:

THE SWEET BYE AND BYE

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N.B. 7 min. script. Runs 1-1/2 minutes overtime with Luke 16:19-31 incl. So this script may need to be cut considerably.