bring about Israel's deliverance. Q. Eugene, Ore. "Will our souls go directly to heaven when we die? A friend has told me that according to II Corinthians 5:8 we are only spiritually alive, so therefore our souls will not go to heaven." A. First of all, to be "only spiritually alive" is to be more alive than we could ever be here in the body. There are those who believe man is made up of body and soul, while others hold to the view, to which we subscribe, that man is body, soul and spirit. The soul is the ani mal nature or the life of the body. The spirit however, is that which comes alive at the time of the new birth, when the individual receives Jesus Christ as personal Saviour by faith. It is that spirit, the new man, which is going to live throughout all eternity. The soul is simply that part of man which is common to all forms of animal life. This may be the reason why there is confu sion with what your friend has told you. You may be sure that when a believer dies, his body may go to the grave but his spirit goes imme diately to glory. The Bible teaches us that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. At the time when we are raptured into the presence of our Saviour (I Thes- salonians 4:13-18), our bodies will be re-united with our spirits. These physical dwelling places will be glorified, like the wonderful resur rection body of the Saviour Himself. Q. Tacoma, Wash. "Does Hebrews 10:26-27 imply that a backslider has no forgiveness, either in this life or in the life to come?" A. We should be careful not to
duced these plays are simply doing it in commercial venture. Their motives have certainly not been avowed as to honoring and glori fying Jesus Christ. One of them presents Christ as a "bewildered" individual with Judas at times seem ing to be more of the "star." The Lord is certainly not presented as the sinless Saviour of mankind, the very Son of God. If these things are true then the word "blasphem ous" would characterize the effort, no matter the acclaim of the critics. Q. Tucson, Ariz. "Please explain Exodus 4:24-26, especially the phrase 'the Lord sought to kill him'." A. This incident concerns Moses after he fled Egypt upon murdering an Egyptian taskmaster. It occurred while he was in the wilderness fleeing for his life. Now the Lord calls him back to lead His people out of bondage. God tells Moses exactly what his message to Phar aoh should be. The chosen deliver er had overlooked the remarkable sign which God gave to Abraham and his descendants with a specific covenant. Apparently this had been a "bone of contention" between him and his wife, Zipporah (verse 25). God was saying, "If you are going to be My servant, to bring My son, Israel out of Egypt, you have to set your own household spiritually in order." What a les son this should be to us, too. Too many handle the things of God so lightly. Isaiah rightly declared, "Cleanse yourselves, ye that bear the vessels of the Lord." Moses needed to do what he knew was right in order that he might be the avenue through whom God would
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