Psalms 103:1 (KJV) Bless the LORD (Yahweh), O my soul (myself; me): and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 2 Bless the LORD (Yahweh) , O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; 4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; 5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.
I reference the Lord there as Yahweh because I want to instill in me the idea of covenant relationship.
You can say that intellectually, but to know it in your heart is another thing. The word life in verse four is the same word as soul.
A lot of people come to meetings to get their soul saved. The term should be born again; not saved. The word saved isn’t being used in the way the scriptures want us to think. There are those who have faith and have had tremendous miracles. Then there are others, believers and non-believers, struggling with sickness and their pastors have robbed them of understanding in getting their sins forgiven and being made whole. They have been robbed. They are thinking I’ve been saved and I’m going to heaven, but I’ve got this condition that’s going to kill me.
In our efforts to renew our mind and think in the terms the Lord wants us to, we need to understand be made whole and we need to understand the word soul.
I was in Michigan and they were advertising an ecumenical meeting. The idea behind the meeting is for everyone to get together and show Christian love and forget their doctrines.
Daniel 11:31 (KJV) And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
This is what the Lord was referring to in Matthew 24.
Daniel 11:32-35 (KJV) And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. 33 And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days. 34 Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. 35 And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.
Where it talks about pure words in some places it means to shine. It talks about the Lord’s word being refined seven times. Seven is the number of perfection. Different things in the old covenant were gold and purifying was also used in reference to that.
They put so much heat on raw silver and gold that the trash comes up; it floats to the top. It’s skimmed off as it goes through different heats. Just the heat brings up the trash. What’s left is pure gold. What’s coming is going to purify the body/individuals from the trash.
In Thessalonians it talks about the great falling away from truth. The anti-Christ can’t get in the position he’s in unless those who disagree with him break covenant, or they’re blinded by the apostasy.
I heard Copeland say: Jesus went down into hell and He preached to the spirits in prison. He took all the saints in hell to heaven.
Tne doctrine of soul plays a part in that. The souls of these dead saints were not released. The word preach is not the same as the word evangelize. It means He went down there to show He has triumphed over them. They’re His captives. He has all power and authority. It doesn’t mean He was down there evangelizing, or preaching the gospel, to the spirits in prison. The only way you’re going to get to heaven when you die is your soul. Copeland is teaching the soul goes up there.
Ecclesiastes 9:5 says the dead are dead and know nothing. They have no more business under the sun.
Pope Francis could not be in the position he’s in with Ken Copeland, James Robison, the Pentecostal Holiness group, the Baptists and the Assemblies of God if they realized that the Catholics are breaking covenant.
One thing to point out, in both covenants you’re not supposed to drink blood. In the Old Covenant, what we call Kosher today, the priest checked to make sure all the blood was out of the animal. It had to be properly drained. In the New Covenant they had a council over what to tell the Gentiles. One thing was do not eat things strangled. The word says don’t eat the blood. The life is in the blood. The point I’m making is the doctrine of Catholicism breaks the law. Cannibalism is not even mentioned in the scriptures, but it’s wrong to think you’re eating Jesus. It’s lawless. Several times in the Old Covenant it prophesies about the lawless one; talking about the anti-Christ to come. It’s also against the law to pray to the dead.
To believe that you can turn the bread into the flesh of Jesus and eat it would be cannibalism. To drink His blood is to go against Covenant. It’s wrong. It’s wrong to turn Christmas into Christ’s mass, an offering to the sun god. Copeland said his daughter did a study on the Christmas tree and learned that the Christmas tree is the symbol of life. She’s right. They took the green things, when the sun came back, and set them on fire to light the way for the all-conquering sun. In certain parts, it was against the law to celebrate it because people knew where it came from.
Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 (KJV) For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
When it says they know not any thing it means they have no more capacity to love, hate, or to remember; it is gone. That has not changed. Praying to the dead has crept into the church.
Daniel 11:32 (KJV) 32 And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
The law says don’t drink blood. The law says don’t pray to the dead.
Psalms 121:1 (KJV) I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
Verse 1 in Psalms 121 is a question. Many quote this verse wrong and say you’re supposed to look up to the hills and pray. No. The real translation is: Should I lift my eyes to the hills? It’s a question. That’s where all the idolatrous worship was. The answer is no, my help is in the Lord – Yahweh. Not up in the hills.
Those brothers are doing wickedly by not doing what is demanded by the Lord.
He says: I’m a jealous God. My name is Jealous. I don’t want to see anything about Baal or the moon god.
The churches once knew these things, but they no longer forsake them, and it allows this man get to the position he’s in. If they stood together and said, no, this man is not of God because he does this; and this; etc. This man couldn’t get into this position unless they’re willing to contradict the word of God. So he can flatter them and rise up into position because they refuse to stick to the word. All they say is: The Spirit is grieved because of the division in the body; we have to forget our doctrinal differences and come together in love; they will know we are Christians by our love.
Pope Paul II is called the Marion pope. A Methodist interviewed in Time Magazine said that we need to restudy the role of Mary in the church. They are breaking covenant, new and old; you don’t pray to the dead. Mary can’t help you. There’s only one way to the Father. I have a picture where Copeland, Robison, and other big shots are carrying an image of Mary through the streets saying: Through Mary to Jesus. Copeland dodged around it by saying we must come together in the unity of the faith.
What is the faith? There is only one way. Jesus says I am the door. I’m the way. If anyone else come up any other way, he is a thief and a robber. No man comes to the Father except through me. Not through Mary; not through Saint Joseph; not Saint Peter. Because they dropped that doctrine they are allowing this man to get up there. Every protestant could say, it’s not true; it’s a lie; and it would end the ecumenical movement. It would end putting the anti-christ in place in Jerusalem, and the setting up of the image of Mary, which brings on World War 3.
A question I get asked is are they still brethren? The answer is yes. Paul warned about the heresy among them and they put them out. I’m given assignments to go and warn them. The Bible says, if they don’t use the right definitions, get out. If they are preaching that trash then they have to leave.
A problem with Dutch reform Calvinism is their doctrine of once saved always saved. They use the term wrong. Once saved always saved is not true; the word saved is being used wrong. As far as being born again, you’re sealed until the day of redemption, but when redemption day comes and you have corrupted the word, the Old and New Testaments say your name will be taken out of the Lamb’s book of life. So the answer is yes, once you’re born again you’re always born again; you’re a son, so they are your brethren. The scripture warns if you practice certain sins you won’t inherit what you’re supposed to inherit from the Father. You’re still supposed to love them, and because you love them; you warn them. I’m sent to warn people. The word says if you know to do good and don’t do it then it’s on your head.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 (KJV) Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
The Lord made me realize it can’t happen unless those that support it have fallen away from truth. He wouldn’t have the support of the Methodist Church, the Pentecostal Holiness Church, and the Baptist Church. He would go down if they would say, no, it’s not true that you can speak to the dead; and no, there’s not more than one way to the Father.
What’s going to happen especially on the doctrine of trinity, the Lord told me, is when they set that up it would be the original trinity. The Protestants will start getting their eyes opened, but it will be too late for the pastors to go back and tell all their congregations this cannot be of God. Mary cannot be taught. Mary’s dead. This is not of the Lord. They led their congregations down to destruction; they can’t get back to all of them and say, back out of here.
Luke 16:19-20 (KJV) 19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
This is really a story of the Pharisees, not a reality. It’s something the Pharisees used to make a point. Jesus is using their analogy to make His point.
Luke 16:21-22 (KJV) 21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
The word bosom there is a figure of speech for what was in his heart. What was in Abraham’s heart? He was looking for the city. In Hebrews it says, he was looking, but he’ll find it when he’s with us. Some preachers say he had faith but he never obtained what he was looking for. The dead in Christ will rise first. Those that are alive and remain will meet the Lord and all will see the city together. There are different figures of speech attributed to the Lord to help you understand.
Luke 16:23 (KJV) 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. 27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: 28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
The point the Lord wanted to make was that the Pharisees would not receive Him when He was raised from the dead. He told them at one time search the scriptures they testify of Me. He was telling them the scriptures let you know I’m going to die and rise again. His own disciples didn’t understand it. People say how Peter, James, and John saw Moses and Elijah. They had to have a revelation of what they were looking at because Moses and Elijah had died hundreds of years before. They had a vision. They had no idea what either one of the men looked like.
So the Lord was pointing them to the New Covenant. They wanted to build the three tabernacles but they heard a voice basically saying: Don’t listen to Moses; don’t listen to Elijah. This is my Son in whom I’m well pleased, listen to Him. Don’t go back to the law. Later, when He spoke of John, He said this is the Elijah of this time.
If Lazarus is in Abraham’s bosom, how many people have died since then and how big is his bosom? So are they in heaven? Is Abraham up in heaven with a whole bunch of people in his bosom? The answer is no. The whole point about the parable is it was one of their stories and He used it to make a point.
The dead are dead and know no more until the Lord comes again.
Hebrews 11:4 (KJV) 4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
Even though a pastor or person may be dead their teachings still speak to the hearts of those raised under him.
There are three primary words for hell. For the most part it means a pit, or hole in the ground. If you get buried you go to hell. Another word for hell is where the spirits are locked up. Another word for hell is where, in the end, there is the white throne judgement and people are thrown into it.
Acts 2:22-25 (KJV) 22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God (the Creator) among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: 23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: 24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. 25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
This is talking about the Old Testament prophesying all of this. That’s why He told the Pharisees search the scriptures.
Acts 2:26-28 (KJV) 26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: 27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul (leave me, my life) in hell (the pit), neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
This is prophesy of what was going to happen and the Pharisees were blind to it. They should have known this is what was going to happen to the Messiah. As I said before, the apostles had the same problem. The difference between Judas and Peter was their heart and how they handled it. Peter said I thought He was going to deliver us from the Romans, so he denied Him. Peter was ready to die for Him, then he said I don’t even know the man.
Acts 2:29 (KJV) 29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
So David prophesied of the Son to come.
Acts 2:30-36 (KJV) 30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; 31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. 32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost (the Spirit that’s holy), he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. 34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, 35 Until I make thy foes thy footstool. 36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
According to the Pope and many others David is up in heaven. His point is, look, David is still here in the grave. He’s not talking about David but the seed that is going to come out of David. David saw corruption, so he’s in the grave. The promise is the rightful heir of the throne would not see corruption.
As we continue with the study on soul you’ll understand. The dead in Christ are asleep. There are other scriptures that people have trouble with too, like Matthew 10:28 and Revelation 6:10
Matthew 10:28 (KJV) 28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Born again means to be born from above; when you’re born again you receive a new life. The scripture says your life is hid in Christ. It also says when you’re born again you never die. What are all these dead saints doing in the grave if you never die? He’s talking about the new you that has a new name written down in heaven and that life is hidden in Christ. It’s spoken of in metaphorical terms. These souls, or lives, are hidden in a box under the throne and they cry out how long O Lord until you avenge us.
Revelation 6:10 (KJV) 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
Picture God in heaven with His foot on the box or boxes, the scripture says the earth is His footstool. It’s an Eastern idiom. So, if the earth is His footstool, somewhere under His feet are a bunch of boxes with all these born again lives hid in Christ. When we get up we will be like Him and that new life will be in us. We never die. We become like angels.
John 3:1-18 (KJV) 1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master (teacher) of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up (on a pole/stake): 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Verse thirteen tells us no man has ascended up to heaven but He that came down from heaven. That means not David, not Elijah, not Moses and not Abraham. In verse fifteen the eternal life is hid in Christ. Verse eighteen tells us why He says don’t go around condemning people. Preach the word to them, but don’t condemn; they’re already condemned.