Spiritualism in Christianity Today, Immortality

Spiritualism in Christianity Today

body, soul and spirit. (and heart, strength, and mind!)

And the LORD God formed man of the

dust of the ground, and breathed into his

nostrils the breath of life; and man

became a living soul.

Genesis 2:7

The soul, straight from the Bible. There we have it, from the beginning, Creation, God creates mankind. He forms dust into a shape, His own image (Genesis 1:27) and breathes into the dust the "breath of life" -- this is "spirit" -- and the dust becomes something. What does the Bible say the dust becomes?

Man became a living "soul." In other words, we ARE souls. I am a soul. You are a soul. The word "soul" in the Bible, "nephesh," means "breathing creature" -- a creature with spirit, or a "body" with spirit. Isn't that amazing, how clear is the direct Bible teaching, and yet millions of Christians believe that the soul is a "spirit ball hidden in my chest."

In a mathematical equation Genesis 2:7 presents the truth of our being this way:

Dust + Spirit = Soul

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. James 2:26

There you have it, straight from the Bible, and yet why is it that the "bible" teachers of today teach something completely different? Hank Hanegraaff, the "Bible Answer Man" has a completely different teaching, claiming nearly daily on his radio show that man is a "body-soul unity." That the soul is separate and distinct from the body. Both on his radio show and in his book "Resurrection" Hank argues from compelling "logical, legal, and libertarian freedom" platforms, instead of proceeding from Genesis 2:7 to show himself approved by God, a workman that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15, paraphrased). Hank would rewrite Genesis 2:7 to be more like this:

And the LORD God formed a body from the dust and put into it an immortal soul, distinctly separate from that body, an immortal soul that had always existed and will always exist, even apart from the body. (It's close, almost the same thing, really, and isn't that "good enough?")

His mathematical equation would be more like this:

Body + Soul = Person (It's close, almost the same thing, really.)

One of the best Christian writers put it this way:

"You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body."

That writer was C. S. Lewis.

Can this paraphrase and the Bible passage coexist? Isn't "close" practically the same thing, just as good? Or is Hank's paraphrase more accurate than the Bible? Hank's teaching is perilously close to the New Age (nothing new about it) teaching of reincarnation. The soul is immortal, it goes on, after death, so you don't really die, right? The shocking news is, the soul is not immortal! When this Biblical truth is realized then the house of cards tediously built by today's teachers by clipping Bible passages here, and adding Bible passages there, all come tumbling down.

I give thee charge in the sight of God, who

quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus,

who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good

confession; That thou keep this commandment

without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing

of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in his times he

shall shew, who is the blessed and only

Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;

Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light

which no man can approach unto; whom no

man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be

honour and power everlasting. Amen.

1 Timothy 6:13-16

Only God has immortality, but "Bible" teachers teach something else (hint, they teach something close, but not quite the same thing). Can they really be teaching the Bible when they corrupt scripture into saying the opposite of that which it really says? Only God has immortality, and yet you hear every Sunday preached: "the immortal soul." That we have inside us a bubble of light -- a "Soul Ball" that is immortal, that survives us when we die, that drifts away to heaven when our "mortal flesh" perishes. Granted, the Bible does teach something close, and that is that someday soon, we will be changed. The Bible teaches that we will be changed from mortal to immortal, isn't that incredible, and yet "bible" teachers of today teach that we are immortal already, even now! That our soul is our "true self" and goes back to God when we die, taking with it all our personality, our thoughts, our memories and our loves and hates, or, if we're evil, our soul goes down to hell where it just a burns and burns, screaming in fire, screaming, shrieking in the worst pain imaginable, for all eternity!

But what does the Bible teach?

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,

even so them also which sleep in Jesus will

God bring with him. For this we say unto you

by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive

and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall

not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord

himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,

with the voice of the archangel, and with the

trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise

first: Then we which are alive and remain shall

be caught up together with them in the clouds,

to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we

ever be with the Lord.

1Thessalonians 4:14-17

The Bible teaches that when Jesus comes He will wake the dead first (He's not going to leave them behind, but bring them back with Him, from Earth to Heaven), those that sleep in Him, and then those that are alive will be caught up in the air and changed. But at least Hank DOES teach that the Resurrection WILL happen, as many other "bible" teachers do not -- they have substituted a "rapture" for the Resurrection. The almost humorous substitution Hank makes, though, is that Jesus is going to bring back the "soul balls" of those that sleep in Jesus -- FROM HEAVEN -- and stuff them back into their bodies (or, as Hank so repetitiously repeats: "into stone-cold daid bodies!" So really, they are not asleep at all, but in heaven! So if Hank is correct, the Bible is incorrect.

As always, the best deception is "a whole lotta truth with justa pinch o'deceit" mixed in. Hank Hanegraaff is one of the most logical, level-headed Bible teachers out there today, and with his radio show he does much good, reaches millions, clearly and sincerely teaches Bible truth after Bible truth -- in fact, you can listen to his broadcast for sometimes two or three hours (e.g., listen to his daily 1-hour broadcast several days running) without hearing a drop of false teaching, and then BAM! He smacks you with it. Hank even declares that his job is "to get you (the radio listener) so acquainted with the truth that you recognize deception as soon as you see it!" The problem with this is, if you're sold deception in the first place, you ain't gonna be recognizing it as deception, but as truth, when you trip over it.

Hank and most other "bible" teachers proclaim that the "soul goes on" (okay, so Celine Dion does sing something like this, about love going on, but where do they get their theology, Bible teachers, from Titanic songs or from the Bible?) that "you don't really die." Doesn't this seem eerily familiar? Let's go back to the beginning and find that there is actually nothing "new age" about this teaching: "And the serpent said unto the woman, "Ye shall not surely die:" Genesis 3:4

The serpent said this to Eve, almost quoting the Creator when He said: "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." It's pretty close, the serpent merely turned "thou shalt surely die" into "ye shall not surely die." (It's close, almost the same thing, really, and isn't that, really, the same thing?)

Is Hank Hanegraaff a deceiver? I don't know. I do not believe he is a deceiver. Is he confused about scripture? Of course, this seems unlikely, doesn't it? He obviously knows the Bible well and is quick to jump on his colleagues on the Trinity Broadcast Network when they drift off into false theology. Or is he passing along a virus he has picked up with millions of other believers down through history? The Catholic church has been teaching much the same thing for close to two thousand years. Tradition is a heavy-duty ball-and-chain that weighs down the believer, much as it did in the day of Jesus -- the "traditionalists" of the day could not even accept the Lamb of God, because their tradition bogged them down.

Joyce Meyer teaches something even further removed from Hank Hanegraaff -- she teaches that man, created in God's "image," is actually a "tripartite" being, in other words a "mini-god," that instead of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, man is formed as "body, soul and spirit," along with all the other new age "bible" teachers that spread this notion, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Larry Huch --all of them are proficient in the Goober Gospel. At least Hank doesn't preach the Goober Gospel, he has that much straight, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Joyce Meyer's equation is something like this:

Body + Soul + Spirit = Person

In the Meyer teaching (the typical New Age teaching), the "body" is bad, the "soul" is bad, but the "spirit" is good. The spirit becomes a living creature within us, but separate from us -- this "spirit" is our higher self, it can't sin, it is untouchable, safe forever, once saved always saved. We prophesy through this "spirit" and sometimes we "get things wrong," because the fact is, we've got to "use this spirit and get good at using it." Our spirit is our "true self" and goes back to God when we die, taking with it all our personality, our thoughts, our memories and our loves and hates, or, if we're evil, our spirit goes down to hell where it just a burns and burns.

Almost the same thing as what Hank teaches, but with an added element thrown in.

Correct: Dust + Spirit = Soul (Bible teaching)

Incorrect:

Body + Soul = Person

(Hanegraaff teaching)

Incorrect:

Body + Soul + Spirit = Person

(Meyer teaching)

The Bible compares "death" to "sleep" over and over, using an analogy to describe the condition of the dead. But the "bible" teachers do not accept what Jesus says, but make ridicule it, labeling it: "soul sleep." Get it? That your soul is not alive and roaming around in heaven, talking to loved ones, other "soul balls," happily bouncing along -- they claim that what Jesus taught is "soul sleep."

Jesus, however, did not teach "soul sleep." He understood the correct formula of body plus breath of life equals soul (read Psalms 104-29-30). When the spirit -- the breath of life -- departs the body, there is no more soul. When Lazarus died, Jesus said "Lazarus sleeps" -- notice, Jesus did not say that "Lazarus' soul is asleep" or that "Lazarus' soul is bouncing in heaven while his body sleeps." Jesus compared "death" to "sleep." DEATH is sleep, not the state of the soul. The soul ceases to exist, it has no consciousness, much as sleep deprives us of thought, logic, and reason.

"Soul sleep" is not a term that any church employs to teach Biblical truth, rather, it is a term coined by those who cannot accept the fact that body and breath of life equals soul, that you are a soul, that I am a soul -- they want to teach you that you HAVE a soul, that I HAVE a soul. Notice the difference? It is subtle. It is close. (It's close, almost the same thing, really.) So isn't it just as good?

But is there a danger to this teaching, both Meyers and Hanegraaff? Yes, there is a danger to this teaching that your "true self," your "soul ball," goes floating away from your dead body at death. Here is a passage from a very popular Catholic book:

"Saints are also making after-death appearances now --

that is, in whatever year you pick up this book. Nor are

such appearances something new. Witnesses who

spied on St. Francis of Assisi during prayer more than

once saw dead saints -- among them Peter, Paul, and

John -- speaking to him. After-death appearances of the

holy in western tradition go back, in fact, to the

beginning of Christianity and beyond into Judaism. It

was, after all, two dead, holy Jewish men who appeared

to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration."

(Messengers, Treece, p. 14.)

Is this true? Can dead people come and visit us from heaven, to give us news, to steer us in the right direction, to comfort? What does the Bible say?

And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto

them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards

that peep, and that mutter: should not a people

seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak

not according to this word, it is because there

is no light in them. Isaiah 8:19-20

Where should people go for truth? To dead people, or to God? The Bible makes it amply clear and empahtically states: "if they disagree with the Bible, it's because they don't have any light in them."

Dead people do not know what you are doing, because they are in a state of sleep (sleep is a comparison, it is not that the "soul" actually "sleeps," as in snoring and turning back and forth on its soul bed, but that the being that once was alive is now in a state of "not knowing," and "not thinking" and "not being"); however, Hank Hanegraaff would disagree, and would encourage you to believe that the dead DO KNOW what you're doing, because they did not surely die, but are alive, right now, in heaven. The Bible says otherwise, concerning the dead: "His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." (Job 14:21) Can the dead think? "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish." (Psalm 146:4) The "bible" teachers of today would disagree with this passage, claiming that their "immortal soul" does still think after death, but the Bible uses the correct formula of body (dust) plus breath (spirit) equates to SOUL. Let's read Psalm 146:4 in this light:

His breath (spirit) goeth forth, he returneth to his

earth (dust, body), in that very day his thoughts perish.

It all fits together when you take the Bible as it was meant to be digested, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. But let's not stop there. If you were a "soul ball" bouncing around in heaven, wouldn't you praise God? What does the Bible say?

"The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence." (Psalm 115:17) Whoa, so the dead don't know what's happening with the living, even their closest relatives, and they don't praise God. Certainly, they must know MORE than we do, the living? "For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing." (Ecclesiastes 9:5) Youch. So they don't praise God, they don't know what their own sons are doing, whether bad or good, and they don't know . . . anything. But what about Celine Dion? Does LOVE go on? Come on, love conquers, all, right? Even death!

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. Ecclesiastes 9:6

"For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" (Psalm 6:5) So in death, we don't even remember God, we can't even give Him thanks! Our love is perished, along with our hatred, envy -- we don't have anything to do with anything that is done under the sun (the land of the living), dead people don't.

But if dead people have nothing to do with us, the living, any more, then how come people are writing books about their near-death experiences and wafting up through the door, into the light, and hugging ole grandpaw? How come writers are claiming that St. Francis of Assisi was yammering away with Paul and Peter and John? If the dead people can't do all these things, how come people like Hank Hanegraaff are claiming that they can?

It is a very subtle way of playing the Church into spiritualism. If Hank was visited by the Apostle Paul tomorrow (perhaps the bouncing "soul ball" from heaven), who told Hank to start wearing a pink tutu during all his radio broadcasts, don't you think Hank would follow the advice of the spirit? On his radio show he once told a caller that the witch of Endor really did call up the spirit of Samuel (that God allowed Samuel to be brought UP out of the earth!), thus legitimizing the practice of live people communicating with the dead. The Matthew Henry Commentary denies this misconception, however:

1 Samuel 28:7-14 PP16

We have here the conference between Saul and Satan. Saul came in disguise (v. 8), but Satan soon discovered him, v. 12. Satan comes in disguise, in the disguise of Samuel's mantle, and Saul cannot discover him. Such is the disadvantage we labour under, in wrestling with the rulers of the darkness of this world, that they know us, while we are ignorant of their wiles and devices.

I. The spectre, or apparition, personating Samuel, asks why he is sent for (v. 15): Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up? To us this discovers that it was an evil spirit that personated Samuel; for (as bishop Patrick observes) it is not in the power of witches to disturb the rest of good men and to bring them back into the world when they please; nor would the true Samuel have acknowledged such a power in magical arts: but to Saul this was a proper device of Satan's, to draw veneration from him, to possess him with an opinion of the power of divination, and so to rivet him in the devil's interests.

II. Saul makes his complaint to this counterfeit Samuel, mistaking him for the true; and a most doleful complaint it is: "I am sorely distressed, and know not what to do, for the Philistines make war against me; yet I should do well enough with them if I had but the tokens of God's presence with me; but, alas! God has departed from me." He complained not of God's withdrawings till he fell into trouble, till the Philistines made war against him, and then he began to lament God's departure. He that in his prosperity enquired not after God in his adversity thought it hard that God answered him not, nor took any notice of his enquiries, either by dreams or prophets, neither gave answers immediately himself nor sent them by any of his messengers. He does not, like a penitent, own the righteousness of God in this; but, like a man enraged, flies out against God as unkind and flies off from him: Therefore I have called thee; as if Samuel, a servant of God, would favour those whom God frowned upon, or as if a dead prophet could do him more service than the living ones. One would think, from this, that he really desired to meet with the devil, and expected no other (though under the covert of Samuel's name), for he desires advice otherwise than from God, therefore from the devil, who is a rival with God. "God denies me, therefore I come to thee. Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo."-- If I fail with heaven, I will move hell.

III. It is cold comfort which this evil spirit in Samuel's mantle gives to Saul, and is manifestly intended to drive him to despair and self-murder. Had it been the true Samuel, when Saul desired to be told what he should do he would have told him to repent and make his peace with God, and recall David from his banishment, and would then have told him that he might hope in this way to find mercy with God; but, instead of that, he represents his case as helpless and hopeless, serving him as he did Judas, to whom he was first a tempter and then a tormentor, persuading him first to sell his master and then to hang himself.

1. He upbraids him with his present distress (v. 16), tells him, not only that God had departed from him, but that he had become his enemy, and therefore he must expect no comfortable answer from him: "Wherefore dost thou ask me? How can I be thy friend when God is thy enemy, or thy counsellor when he has left thee?"

2. He upbraids him with the anointing of David to the kingdom, v. 17. He could not have touched upon a string that sounded more unpleasant in the ear of Saul than this. Nothing is said to reconcile him to David, but all tends rather to exasperate him against David and widen the breach. Yet, to make him believe that he was Samuel, the apparition affirmed that it was God who spoke by him. The devil knows how to speak with an air of religion, and can teach false apostles to transform themselves into the apostles of Christ and imitate their language. Those who use spells and charms, and plead, in defence of them, that they find nothing in them but what is good, may remember what good words the devil here spoke, and yet with what a malicious design.

3. He upbraids him with his disobedience to the command of God in not destroying the Amalekites, v. 18. Satan had helped him to palliate and excuse that sin when Samuel was dealing with him to bring him to repentance, but now he aggravates it, to make him despair of God's mercy. See what those get that hearken to Satan's temptations. He himself will be their accuser, and insult over them. And see whom those resemble that allure others to that which is evil and reproach them for it when they have done.

4. He foretels his approaching ruin, v. 19.

(1.) That his army should be routed by the Philistines. This is twice mentioned: The Lord shall deliver Israel into the hand of the Philistines. This he might foresee, by considering the superior strength and number of the Philistines, the weakness of the armies of Israel, Saul's terror, and especially God's departure from them. Yet, to personate a prophet, he very gravely ascribes it once and again to God: The Lord shall do it.

(2.) that he and his sons should be slain in the battle: To-morrow, that is, in a little time (and, supposing that it was now after midnight, I see not but it may be taken strictly for the very next day after that which had now begun), thou and thy sons shall be with me, that is, in the state of the dead, separate from the body. Had this been the true Samuel, he could not have foretold the event unless God had revealed it to him; and, though it were an evil spirit, God might by him foretel it; as we read of an evil spirit that foresaw Ahab's fall at Ramoth-Gilead and was instrumental in it (<1 Kin. 22:20>, etc.), as perhaps this evil spirit was, by the divine permission, in Saul's destruction. That evil spirit flattered Ahab, this frightened Saul, and both that they might fall; so miserable are those that are under the power of Satan; for, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest, <Prov. 29:9>. (from Matthew Henry's Commentary)

The Souls Crying Out from Under the Altar

Most "bible teachers" of today such as You Know Who and Him Too skip all of the preceding verses and go to the very back of the Bible to prove their "soul ball" theory. They take their strongest "proof" from the highly symbolic Book of Revelation:

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the

altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of

God, and for the testimony which they held: 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? And white robes were

given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them,

that they should rest yet for a little season, until their

fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be

killed as they were, should be fulfilled. Revelation 6:9-11

This is the so-called proof that souls are conscious after the death of the body. From first glance, we have martyrs, resting, crying out to God to avenge their blood. Does that sound like proof? Perhaps, if you stopped there. But then the Bible goes on to say that these departed souls are given white robes and are told to rest, until the final last-days martyrdom is complete. Now, I mentioned that Revelation is highly symbolic, and this is one of the best examples. Do dead people really sit up and talk to God?

As we saw in the previous verses, the dead do not communicate, not with people, and not with God. And yet, here in Revelation they seem to be doing just that, communicating with God. What gives?

Let's go back to the beginning for clarification:

And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy

brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's

keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the

voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the

ground. Genesis 4:9-10

Are you getting some of that Biblical clarity? Don't ever let anyone pawn off bizarre interpretations to you. If the "souls under the altar" are really crying out to God, what about this verse in Genesis directly after the first murder? God smacks Cain with "the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." Will you buy that teaching, that your blood has a voice? That your blood can actually call out and talk to people, to God?

No, there is nothing bizarre about this text. If I came into the kitchen and my baby girl was sitting in the corner crying, and a broken glass lay upon the floor with milk spread everywhere, that milk would say a lot to me, that broken glass would speak volumes -- I would know exactly what happened, and if I asked my daughter: "What happened here?" and she replied: "I don't know," I could say: "Hey, your milk tells the story."

What, talking milk? I hope you don't buy that bizarre interpretation, that I have the ability to talk to milk, or that worse, milk has the ability to answer back to me! Well, it's the same thing, in both Genesis, the first book of the Bible, and Revelation, the last. Sure, there are "teachers" who will twist these passages into the very worst knots, but you know better, don't you? It is unbelieveable that anyone in their right mind would appeal to Revelation 6:9-11 to prove a bizarre "soul ball" theory. (One New Age Airhead, one of the worst "teachers" in Christian TeeVee Land, "teaches" that your blood actually has a voice, based on the Genesis 4:9-10 passage, but then the missing cans from his twelve pack have seemingly lodged in his throat and cut off all oxygen supply to his brain, he "teaches" that Goliath was 14 feet tall, as opposed to the 8-9-foot standard of common measurements, ole Airhead will also sell you a $5 charm bracelet of the 10 Commandments for $75, so there you have it, and Airhead doesn't even keep the commandments, it just ain't right to keep the law, but you definitely can make the Big 10 into an idol, a graven image, for worship purposes, cuz, uh, that DOES sort of aid you in not keepin' duh law.)

It is symbolic. This passage is using figurative terms. The crimes of the evil ones weigh against them. Judgment is demanded. Justice looms on the horizon. The longer the time passes, the worse the ramifications and the weight of the crime. This verse is in no way proof of "talking souls." Plus, do you think you get crammed into a little compartment under an altar after you die? Does THAT make sense? Of course not, because it is symbolic. Pure and simple.

A true Biblical rule is, if a passage seems a trifle confusing, compare it to the rest of scripture. If you compare Revelation 6:9-11 with Ecclesiastes 9:5 and 6, Psalm 115:17, and read again Psalm 146:4 in this light:

His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his

earth, in that very day his thoughts perish.

Do you believe that souls can talk when they come popping out from underneath the altar? That they can speak? That they can THINK? Thoughts perish, and yet "bible teachers" want you to believe that they don't, that your thoughts are contained in a spirit bubble that travels up to God. The "soul ball?" The "spirit bubble?" Or the "living soul" of the Bible? I opt for the Biblical truth, don't you?

Him Too, in his near-novel "Heaven," uses the inverted pyramid scam, by taking the "souls under the altar" and literally building 100 times the "documentation;" from one slim symbolic verse, Him Too "proves" that spirits live in an "interim heaven" with "interim bodies" -- HOW does he pull this off? He claims that we have a much better "revelation" than the writers of the Old Testament, that they didn't understand what they were talking about! Thus employing the New Testament, you may negate even the most clear passages from the Old Testament. And WE, us modern guys, we gotz duh gozt duh gozt duh new and improved revelation so that we know even more than the NT writers! Trust You Know Who and Him Too as they know MORE than did Paul, who had much to say about the Resurrection of the dead, and those that have "fallen asleep in Christ" -- with You Know Who and Him Too, there IS NO RESURRECTION other than the one you "git" right when you die, and then you go to heaven, or an "interim heaven" -- all of this goes against the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, but that doesn't disturb you, does it, I mean these guys are SMART, ain't they?

It is preposterous, but like a mad scientist in a lab, Him Too takes a test tube half-full of "apart from the body" and mixes this in a beaker with two tablespoons of the parable of "The Rich Man and Lazarus" and swirls this together with a bubbling caldron of "souls under the altar." From this tiny foundation, Him Too writes a fat tome on why the Old Testament is wrong, all the while imagining his own "interim heaven." I'd say if you want to know more about heaven, read the Bible, for yourself, and you won't come up with half the bizarre and ridiculous ideas that Him Too provides in his fat tome. Read the Bible, and PRAY. Pray hard, with all your heart. Time is short.

But these guys are the cat's meow, ain't they? We can trust'em, cain't we? Yee haw and shazzam, gimme some'uh dat Goober Gospel Goody!

Body, Soul and Spirit

But what of THIS verse: "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thessalonians 5:23) Doesn't this teach that we have two little balls inside our body? Both a "soul ball" and a "spirit bubble?" Well, what exactly is this particular sentence saying?

"I pray God that your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless until Jesus comes." I don't see a teaching here that you have a ball and a bubble inside your body. In fact, the stress here is: with your whole being, don't sin. With your whole soul, don't sin. With every breath you take, don't sin. And how are we blameless, how are we without sin?

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to

forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all

unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

Hey, sounds like Good News to me. Why attempt to turn this clear, sweet teaching into something bizarre? There is no proof for a "soul ball" here, or a "spirit bubble." Do you? And yet, watch, this is where they will always appeal to. They will always seek out verses that don't quite say what they are claiming they say. Now was that last sentence confusing? It should be, because that is the tactic "they" use to teach you something that is not there. The Bible brings clarity. The Holy Spirit brings clarity. Look at the words of Jesus:

And Jesus answered him, The first of all the

commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord

our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the

Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy

soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy

strength: this is the first commandment.

Mark 12:29-30

Do you see it? Why don't they (the false teachers) teach that you have MANY bubbles and balls inside your body? Jesus seems to spell out all the parts here (using their logic): In your body you have a Heart (spirit, hmm?) and a Soul, okay, but wait a second here, also a Mind, and something else, something called Strength. So, instead of "THREE" (body, soul, spirit), Jesus lists here "FOUR" and doesn't even mention the body.

No, there is nothing bizarre here, there is no formula here, as there is no formula in 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Yet, the deceivers will not appeal to this verse, because it does not run parallel to what they want you to believe. There is no teaching of "soul ball" here, nor "spirit bubble." If this verse supplied by Jesus is a formula, then the whole "tripartite person" is disproved, because "they" want you to believe that your thoughts and personality are either contained in your "Soul Ball" or your "Spirit Bubble." But clearly, here, Jesus has the Mind separate from the Soul, and sometimes in the Bible "Heart" is used to designate "Soul" and sometimes "Spirit" and sometimes "Mind" and sometimes plain old "Heart."

If anyone attempts to confuse you, always come back to this verse of Jesus, Mark 12:29-30. Maybe, like all the "bible teachers," you will throw out everything else the Bible has to say about it, but don't ever discard His words.

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man

love me, he will keep my words: and my

Father will love him, and we will come unto

him, and make our abode with him. He that

loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and

the word which ye hear is not mine, but the

Father's which sent me. John 14:23-24

In conclusion, it should be amply understandable that we are not immortal at this present time, but that we will be immortal, on a certain day -- THE RESURRECTION. Dead bodies cannot speak to you, and if you are ever presented with the opportunity to speak to one of the apostles, or disciples or a relative, remember: the dead know nothing. Paul clarifies the whole debate:

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,

and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall

be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is

swallowed up in victory.

1 Corinthians 15:54

Death IS NOT swallowed up in victory when you die, as Hank Hanegraaff would have you believe. In fact, that is when death is victorious. It is swallowed up in victory when Jesus comes and first wakes the dead, who will rise immortal, and then to change us, changing our mortality into immortality (there ain't a hint of Hanegraaff's soul ball, nowhere in the Bible, it is more New Age spiritualism borrowed from the far east, repackaged for Christian consumerism!).

Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor

of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the

gospel according to the power of God; Who hath saved us, and

called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but

according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in

Christ Jesus before the world began, But is now made manifest

by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished

death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the

gospel: 2 Timothy 1:8-10

And FINALLY, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."

(1 Thessalonians 5:21)

God bless you and your family!