by Dr. Lehman Strauss
ARETHE DEAD
famciouA?
O F ONE THING IN THIS LIFE men may be certain and that is death. Millions have died, and millions now living are going to die. “It is ap pointed unto men once to die” (Heb. 9:27). “Death has passed upon all men” (Rom. 5:12). “Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return” (Gen. 3:19). “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezek. 18:4). Men should know the truth about this subject before they die. There is a great deal of the confusion existing about this. Traffic in the realm of spiritism, while it goes back to the most ancient times, is popular in the world today. There are numerous sects, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists, and others, who hold to the idea that at death the soul lapses into a state of sleep or unconsciousness. The Bible is the authoritative and final word on the matter of life after death. The Bible never contradicts itself. Satan con tinues to work in men’s minds by the abuse and misuse of statements in Scripture. In the Bible there are true and in spired records of lies. This does not mean that the Holy Scriptures are not true. There are no actual contra dictions whatsoever. There are rec ords of people, however, who have told lies. Satan is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). The first inspired record of a Satanic lie is in the devil’s own words (Gen. 3:4). In Genesis 2:17 God had said, “Thou shalt surely die.” The Holy Spirit guided Moses to record the devil’s lie. There are in the book of Ecclesi astes some statements which perplex the average Christian’s mind. The record of these statements is in spired, but the utterances them
selves are sometimes false. They are the conclusions of the reasonings of natural man apart from divine reve lation. The recurring phrase, “un der the sun” g.ives the correct under standing to this book. Read the book through in one sitting. Note the ap pearance of that phrase. It is re corded 27 times. Solomon is giving his personal testimony of life from a worldly viewpoint. This is not God’s viewpoint from heaven. “Van ity of vanities; all is vanity” (Eccl. 1:2). Now I don’t believe that. While Solomon said it, and the Holy Spirit had him record it, it is still not true that all is vanity. Are you telling me that it is vanity to receive the Lord Jesus Christ? Certainly not! Is it empty and nothingness to read the Bible and study it? Of course not! All is not vanity. Again, “That which is crooked cannot be made free” (Eccl. 1:15). This isn’t true. Crook ed Jacob became the converted Is rael. Crooked Saul of Tarsus became the Apostle Paul. The crooked are still being made straight, as I can give personal testimony. This natural man, reasoning un der the sun, spoke another untruth when he said that carnal indulgence is the best way to live (2:44). That is not true. Solomon said, “Eat, drink, and be merry. Tomorrow we die.” In other words, “Live it up, have a great time, forget all about God.” That’s not true. You had bet ter not live by that verse, my friends. This man left God out of his think ing. He made another false state ment in 3:18-20, stating that men are like beasts in that they both have a common destiny. This is not true. The Holy Spirit recorded and preserved these words to show us how a man will think under the sun, 15
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