The Rich Man and Lazarus
-the intermediate state-
 

SATAN'S FIRST GREAT LIE

But tradition is only handing down of the Old Serpent's lie which deceived our first parents. God said, �Thou shalt SURELY die� (Gen. 2:17). Satan said �Thou shalt NOT surely die� (Gen. 3:4). And all traditionalists and spiritists agree with Satan in saying, �There is no such thing as death; it is only life in some other form.�

God speaks of death as an "enemy" (1 Corinthians 15:26)
     Man speaks of it as a friend.

God speaks of it as a "terminus":
     Man speaks of it as a gate.

God speaks of it as a "calamity":
     Man speaks of it as a blessing

God speaks of it as a "fear" and a "terror":
     Man speaks of it as hope.

God speaks delivering from it as shewing "mercy":
     Man, strange to say, says the same! and loses no opportunity of seeking such deliverance by using every means in his power.

In Philippians 2:27 we read that Epaphroditus �was sick unto death; but God had mercy on him.� So that it was mercy to preserve Epaphroditus from death. This could hardly be called �mercy� if death were the �gate of glory,� according to popular tradition.

In II Corinthians 1:10, 11, it was deliverance of no ordinary kind when Paul himself also was �delivered from so great a death� which called for corresponding greatness of thanksgiving for God's answer to their prayers on his behalf. Moreover, he trusted that God would still deliver him: for he was not then in prison, as he was some four or five years later, when death would have been a "gain" (Philippians 1:21) compared with his bonds and his sufferings in a Roman dungeon.

Hezekiah also had reason to praise God for delivering him from �the king of terrors.� It was �mercy� shown to Epaphroditus; it was �a gift� to Paul; it was �love� to Hezekiah. He says :

�Thou hast in love to my soul (i.e. to me) delivered it (i.e. me) from the pit of corruption. For thou has cast all my sins behind thy back. For the grave (Hebrew - sheol) cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day." (Isaiah 38:17-19)

On the other hand the death of Moses was permitted, for it was his punishment, therefore, there was no deliverance for him though he sought it (Deut. 1:37; 3:23, 27; 4:21, 22; 31:2). Surely it could have been no punishment if death is not death; but, as is universally held, the gate of paradise! In Philippians 1:21, death would have been Paul's �gain,� for Paul was not on Pisgah, but in prison; and it would have been a happy issue out of his then afflictions.

So effectually has Satan's lie succeeded, and accomplished its purpose that, though the Lord Jesus said �I will come again and receive you unto myself,� Christendom says, with one voice, �No! Lord. Thou needest not to come for me: I will die and come to Thee.� Thus the blessed hope of resurrection and the coming of the Lord have been well nigh blotted out from the belief of the Churches; and the promise of the Lord been made of none effect by the ravages of tradition.

Men may write their books, and a spiritist may entitle one There is no death, etc. They may sing words and expressions which are foreign to the Scriptures, about �the Church triumphant.� They may speak of having �passed on�; and about the �home-going�; and �the great beyond�; and the �border-land�; and �beyond the veil�; but against all this we set a special revelation from God, introduced by the prophetic formula, �the Word of the Lord".

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