The idea that man has conscious existence after death is said to be "the devil’s first lie."

"And today from pulpits all across the nation we hear the devil’s first lie upheld each time a minister assures us that the soul of man lives on after death—that it cannot die. The devil’s first lie is echoed each time someone teaches that at death man’s immortal, conscious soul wings its way to heaven, there to bask in God’s presence..." (These Times, Nov. 1976, p. 7).

That Adventist leaders have hatred of the Bible doctrine of conscious existence after death is well illustrated in the following quote from Ellen White:

"And how utterly revolting is the belief that as soon as the breath leaves the body the soul of the impenitent is consigned to the flames of hell! ... the doctrine of natural immortality first borrowed from pagan philosophy, and in the darkness of the great apostasy incorporated into the Christian faith, has supplanted the truth" (The Great Controversy, pp. 478, 483).

Following are the specific planks which the Adventist denomination uses to build the soul sleep heresy. SDA doctrine is contrasted with the Bible’s teaching.

WHAT ADVENTISM TEACHES: The natural man does not have eternal existence. The foundation stone for the Adventist doctrine that death is a total cessation of conscious existence is found in their teaching that fallen man does not possess eternal existence.

"Immortality, promised to man on condition of obedience, had been forfeited by transgression. Adam could not transmit to this posterity that which he did not possess; and there could have been no life for the fallen race had not God, by the sacrifice of His Son, brought immortality within their reach ... the only one who promised Adam life in disobedience was the great deceiver" (The Great Controversy, pp. 467-468, 481).

That there is much truth in the above statement, cannot be denied. Man lost much in Adam’s sin. There is a very real Bible sense in which immortality only comes through Christ to true believers. But to say that because of Adam’s fall man no longer has conscious existence after death is strictly contrary to plain Bible teaching.

WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES: Immortality is used in different senses in Scripture. In one sense, only God has immortality. In another sense, only those who are saved will have immortality. In yet another sense, every man has an immortal soul.

There are two Greek words translated "immortal." Athanasia means deathlessness and is translated immortal in 1 Co. 15:53,54 and 1 Ti. 6:16. Aphthartos is translated "immortal" in Ro. 2:7; 1 Ti. 1:17; and 2 Ti. 1:10. The same word is translated "incorrupt" and is used to describe the resurrection body (1 Co. 15:42,50,52,53,54), God (Ro. 1:23), the Christian’s reward (1 Co. 9:25), the Christian’s inheritance (1 Pe. 1:4), the Word of God (1 Pe. 1:23), and the inner man (1 Pe. 3:4). The root meaning of aphthartos is "undecaying in essence" (Strong).

1. The immorality of eternal life. The term "immortality" is sometimes used synonymously with eternal life in Jesus Christ (Ro. 2:7; 2 Ti. 1:10). This immortality is the gift of God through Christ and is possessed only by the saved. Immortality in this sense refers to the blessed state of being passed from spiritual death into life, of being forever united to Christ Jesus in positional justification. This immortality will be enjoyed in its fullest sense when the saved are given their immortal glorified bodies.

2. The immortality of God. There is another sense in which only God is said to possess immortality. "...the Lord of lords; who only hath immortality..." (1 Ti. 6:15-16). As the sole source and giver of life, only the eternal God naturally possesses immortality.

3. The immortal soul. The term "immortal" in the sense of deathlessness, as it is sometimes used in Scripture, can apply to the condition of even the unsaved. This is simply in the sense of everlasting consciousness, which the Bible plainly teaches the lost must suffer (Re. 20:10-15; 14:10-11; Mt. 25:46; Mk. 9:43- 48). Man possesses an immaterial conscious soul, or spirit, which is distinct from the body. This soul continues to have conscious existence after death and throughout eternity whether it is saved or lost. We will demonstrate this from Scripture under the next point.

WHAT ADVENTISM TEACHES: The body and soul are not separate entities that can be parted at death. Seventh-day Adventism denies that man possesses a soul or spirit which is distinct from the body and which has existence apart from the body after death.

"...the soul of man nowhere is represented as a separate, conscious part of man existing as such when the body sleeps in death..." (When A Man Dies, pp. 32- 33).

"...the soul of man in the Word of God is everywhere represented as mortal and transitory, sharing the fortunes and destiny of the body. It comes with the breath; it goes with the breath. It is imprisoned with the body, killed and poured out in the blood. It has no function or power of manifestation or of action, no existence, apart from the body..." (When A Man Dies, p. 32).

Adventist leaders find their main support for this idea in the book of Genesis: "Now listen. ‘And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.’ Nowhere are we told in Scripture that God gave man a living soul. Man became a living soul as the result of the union of the body with the breath of life" (Planet in Rebellion, p. 321).

WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES: The word soul has different meanings in Scripture. Sometimes it does refer to the whole man. Often, though, it refers to a conscious, immaterial part of man that exists apart from the body beyond death. Words in the Bible must be defined by the context in which they are found, since almost all Bible words have various usages and definitions in different contexts. This is true with words in normal language usage in or out of the Bible.

Old Testament examples of the soul as an immaterial, conscious part of the man are seen in Genesis 35:18 and 1 Kings 17:21-22. In Genesis 35 the death of Rachel is recorded, and we learn that her soul departed when she died. "...as her soul was in departing, (for she died)..." In 1 Kings 17 it is recorded that a young boy died and was raised again through Elijah’s ministry. The Bible plainly says his soul departed and returned to him: "...O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived." Obviously the prophet Elijah did not have the same idea about the soul and death as the Adventists do.

In the New Testament, the word "soul" is also used to describe a spiritual part of man distinct from his body. "...I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Th. 5:23). Here we are told that man has three parts. Paul did not say man IS a soul; he says man HAS a soul.

The cults use the faulty "key method" of Bible interpretation. This means they develop a definition of a certain word or phrase from selected passages, then force that definition upon every passage, regardless of the context. They interpret all passages by this preconceived meaning or "key." This is faulty and dangerous. Bible words and phrases must always be defined in light of the particular context in which they are located and never according to some preconceived "key." This is true of the words "soul," "death," "spirit," even "immortality." Let the Bible student beware of developing definitions of Bible words that do not give the Bible freedom to define its words differently in various contexts.

WHAT ADVENTISM TEACHES: The spirit is the breath; it is not a conscious spiritual entity that can be separated from the body of man at death.

"...notice Job 27:3: ‘All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils.’ Again we find in the margin that spirit might also be translated ‘breath.’ The two words are often used interchangeably in Scripture. ... It is clear that the spirit that a man received from God and that goes back to God when he dies, is what God put into his nostrils. ... when he dies, the two separate. The dust returns to the ground. The breath, or spark of life, from saint or sinner, returns to God who gave it. The living, loving, acting soul does not go anywhere. It simply ceases to be a conscious entity until the resurrection morning, when the body and the breath of life are united again. That is Scripture pure and simple!" (Planet in Rebellion, pp. 320-323).

WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES:

1. The word "spirit" has various meanings in Scripture. Just as the word "soul" does not always refer to the whole man, but often refers to the immaterial part of man, even so does the word "spirit" not always mean breath. Spirit is often used to refer to the conscious, immaterial portion of man which is distinct from his body, and which is separated from the body at death.

This is the meaning in Genesis 45:26-27, where the spirit is used interchangeably with the heart. "And Jacob’s HEART FAINTED, for he believed them not. And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, THE SPIRIT OF JACOB THEIR FATHER REVIVED." Obviously, this passage does not refer to the spirit as the breath! In Exodus 6:9, the children of Israel had "anguish of spirit." Was it their breath that was anguished! How silly. The word "spirit" obviously means something different in Scripture than breath. Again, in Exodus 35:21, the Bible describes those who gave toward the construction of the tabernacle as those "whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing." Deuteronomy 2:30 is another example of this. Here we find God hardening the spirit of King Sihon. In 1 Kings 21:5 King Ahab is said to have had a "sad spirit." Certainly none of these references could be construed to be speaking of the spirit as the breath. The SDA idea that the Bible definition of the spirit is limited to breath is contrary to the Bible’s own teaching.

2. The New Testament plainly presents death as a departure of the spirit from the body. When we come to the New Testament, any uncertainty remaining from our Old Testament studies disappears in the light of full revelation. One uniform doctrine of death is found throughout the New Testament Here death is plainly seen as a departure of the spirit from the body. Death means separation, not cessation. (This is how Adam and Eve could die the same day they partook of the fruit. The very hour they partook of the fruit they were separated from God; they died spiritually. They were "dead in trespasses and sins." Later they died physically, when the soul was separated from the body.) This has been the orthodox position of death throughout the New Testament age.

Nine New Testament reasons for believing death is a departure of the spirit from the body to another conscious realm of existence.

1. The body is distinct from the spirit. "...the spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak" (Mk. 14:38). "...glorify God in your body, and in your spirit..." (1 Co. 6:20). "...whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth..." (2 Co. 12:2). "I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless..." (1 Th. 5:23).

2. It is the body that dies. "For as the body without the spirit is dead..." (Jam. 2:26).

3. Paul’s testified that death is a journey. "Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord ... we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" (2 Co. 5:6-7). "I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ; which is far better. Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you" (Ph. 1:23,24). "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand" (2 Ti. 4:6).

4. Peter testified that at death he would put off his body. "Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me" (2 Pe. 1:14).

5. Jesus’ promise to the thief on the cross shows that death is a departure. "And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Lk. 23:43). The Adventist teachers reply that this passage is not translated correctly, that the comma should be after the Word "today." They claim that the passage should read, "Verily I say unto thee today, ‘Thou shalt be with me in paradise.’" That this is an unacceptable translation should be evident from the fact that no Bible version renders it so. This is merely an effort to twist the passage to fit false Adventist doctrine, but it does not work. The Lord Jesus Christ gloriously promised the repentant thief that he would be with him in paradise that very day, because they both died that day and they went immediately to paradise.

6. The story of Lazarus and the rich man shows that death is a departure. The proper names Jesus used in this story prove He was speaking of an historical scene, rather than of a fictitious parable. The Lord’s parables did not contain such details. Yet, even if it were allowed that this was a parable, it would still teach literal truth, as did all of Christ’s parables. "...the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments..." (Lk. 16:22-23). This passage teaches indisputably that death is a journey of the soul either to Heaven or to Hell.

7. The dead saints will return with Christ from Heaven at the time of the resurrection and rapture of the saved. This shows that dead saints go to Heaven at death. "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so THEM ALSO WHICH SLEEP IN JESUS WILL GOD BRING WITH HIM" (1 Th. 4:14). According to the Bible, the dead are not sleeping in the grave as the Adventists claim. Rather, they are in Heaven and they will return from hence with Jesus!

8. John’s heavenly visions show dead saints in Heaven before the resurrection and during the Great Tribulation on earth. "And ... I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held..." (Re. 6:9-11). This is another indisputable testimony that dead saints are not sleeping in the grave, but are residing in Heaven awaiting the return of Christ to earth.

9. Moses’ and Elijah’s appearance on the Mount of Transfiguration proves that the dead have conscious existence between death and resurrection. That Peter and the other Apostles who were present were not just seeing a future millennial scene is demonstrated by the fact that Moses and Elijah were speaking with the Lord Jesus about His approaching death. Moses and Elijah, though dead, were allowed by God to appear in time on that mountain and to converse about events which were soon to take place in Jerusalem (Lk. 9:30-31). "And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him" (Mt. 17:1-3). It is obvious that the dead Moses and Elias are not sleeping in the grave.

It is plain from this survey of New Testament Scripture that man has a spirit or soul that departs from his body at death and that lives eternally either in Heaven or in Hell.

WHAT ADVENTISM TEACHES: The Bible speaks of death as a sleep, not a journey. "Nowhere in the sacred Scriptures is found the statement that the righteous go to their reward or the wicked to their punishment at death. The patriarchs and prophets have left no such assurance. Christ and His apostles have given no hint of it. The Bible clearly teaches that the dead do not go immediately to heaven. They are represented as sleeping until the resurrection..." (The Great Controversy, pp. 481-482).

WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES: The above statement by Ellen White is not true; the Bible speaks of death BOTH as a sleep and as a journey. It is the sleep of the body and the journey of the spirit. We have already seen many passages that consider death as a journey. There is no problem here except for those who love to emphasize one aspect of doctrine to the expense of another in order to support a heretical point.

WHAT ADVENTISM TEACHES: The Old Testament says death is a cessation of being, not a continued existence in a spiritual realm. "As we turn now to the Bible to examine its inspired teachings regarding the condition of man in death, let us make sure our definitions are correct. ... Death is also an absolute and ultimate term. ... Nothing is dead that contains any life" (When a Man Dies, pp. 14-20).

WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES:

1. The doctrine of immortality was not fully revealed until the New Testament "...Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and HATH BROUGHT LIFE AND IMMORTALITY TO LIGHT THROUGH THE GOSPEL" (1 Ti. 1:9-10). It was in the incarnation and resurrection of Christ that the truth of immortality and life beyond the grave were brought to full light. The Old Testament has revelation, but not full revelation. Thus, we must not interpret the New Testament in light of the Old Testament, but the Old in light of the New!

Even in the Old Testament, though, we learn that death meant separation from the body by the spirit. In Genesis 25:8 Abraham "gave up the ghost, and died ... and was gathered to his people." This cannot mean simply that he was gathered to the grave, because Abraham’s people were not buried in Mamre. They were buried in Haran a long distance away (Ge. 11:31-32). In Genesis 35:18, it is recorded that Rachel’s soul departed at her death. 1 Kings 17 tells us that when the widow’s son died, his soul had departed (vv. 21-22). God told Moses in Numbers 27:13 that he would be "gathered unto" his people. For two reasons, this could not mean that he would sleep in a grave. (1) Moses’ people were not buried in the wilderness where he died. (2) Moses appeared centuries later with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, and he was quite conscious at that time.

Thus, no matter where we look in the Scriptures, we see that death does not mean cessation of consciousness or existence. The passages that speak poetically of death as sleep or of the dead as not praising the Lord cannot cancel other revelation of death as a journey of the conscious soul outside of the body. Some Old Testament references to death, particularly in the book of Ecclesiastes, speak of it from the viewpoint of this world. In that sense, it is true that the dead do not praise God. They are no longer in this world and cannot do anything in connection with this life.

2. Death has different meanings in Scripture. Three nouns and four verbs in the Greek text are translated death, die, or dying, in the King James Bible. The following six aspects of death encompass the various meanings of these words. (1) Physical death, which is separation of the soul from the body (Mt. 2:15). (2) Eternal death, which is separation of wicked eternally from the presence of God in the lake of fire (Re. 20:14; 21:8). (3) Spiritual death, which is the absence of spiritual life; separation from God before physical death (Jn. 5:24; Ep. 2:1; Col. 2:13; 1 Ti. 5:6). (4) Temporal suffering (1 Co. 15:31). (5) Temporal destruction of opportunities, talents, enjoyment of life, etc. (Ro. 8:13). (6) All of the previously mentioned aspects of death (Ro. 6:23).

By this study, we see that death has different aspects—spiritual, temporal, physical, eternal. Some Bible passages refer to one aspect; some to another; some to all. Our definition of the word death, therefore, must be carefully gathered from the context of the passage in which it is found. Seventh-day Adventism ignores this principle and teaches that death always means one thing—cessation of conscious existence. Adventist teachers do not find this heresy in the Bible although they use certain verses in an attempt to support it.

The basic meaning of death in the Scriptures is separation. Sometimes it refers to separation from the body, which is physical death. Sometimes it refers to separation from God, which is spiritual death. Sometimes it refers to eternal separation in the lake of fire. Physical death always involves separation of the spirit from the body, never cessation of existence.

QUESTIONS USED BY ADVENTISTS TO CONFUSE PEOPLE ABOUT THE TRUTH OF DEATH.

Question No. 1: If at death man remains conscious and travels to another sphere of existence, why would there need to be a resurrection? "The resurrection has been one of the pillars of the Christian’s faith for centuries. In all the Scriptures it is held out as the only hope for the future. But why would we need a resurrection if we have already entered heaven at death?" (Planet in Rebellion, p. 232).

Bible Answer: Why have a resurrection when the spirit is already present with the Lord at death? Simply because the resurrection concerns the body, not the spirit. "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also QUICKEN YOUR MORTAL BODIES by his Spirit that dwelleth in you ... even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, THE REDEMPTION OF OUR BODY" (Ro. 8:11,22-23).

Some will then ask, "How can the spirit be seen without the body? How could Moses and Abraham appear during the earthly life of the Lord Jesus, when they have as yet not received their resurrection bodies?" The answer is God has not told us! He has informed us that the dead in Christ are conscious and visible in the spirit in the presence of their Savior, but He has not described the details of how this is.

Question No. 2: If man, at death, goes directly to his place of punishment or reward, what need would there be for a final judgment? "...is it reasonable that God would send a man to hell before he has been judged? Would He let a man writhe in the fires of damnation for centuries and then in the day of judgment send someone to tap him on the shoulder and call him up to the bar of God to see whether he ought to be in hell or not? Can you not see what a libel upon the character of God such reasoning turns out to be?" (Planet in Rebellion, pp. 334-335).

Bible Answer: 2 Peter 2:4 plainly says that God incarcerates rebels before the final judgment. "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment."

The lost are condemned already. They do not await some future judgment to be condemned. The saved, too, have no need to await judgment in order to learn their final destiny. The saved are redeemed from death already through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They are positionally safe in the blessed Savior. Their condemnation is already passed. Their judgment was poured out upon the Son of God as He endured the agonies of the cross (Jn. 5:24; 3:18,36; 10:9.27-30; 11:25-26; 1 Jn. 5:10-13). The future judgment for the saved is one of service, not salvation. It will determine reward, not relationship (1 Co. 3:13-15). Relationship, position, salvation are secure the moment an individual places his confidence in the Lord Jesus. He is that moment born into the family of God, passed from death unto life, translated from the power of darkness into the kingdom of God’s Son (Col. 1:12-14; Ep. 1:2; Ro. 5; Tit. 3:3-8).

Likewise the lost, though they will be resurrected to a future judgment, stand before God as "condemned already" (Jn. 3:18,36). Every man without Christ is already judged. The wrath of God abides upon him. Nothing but the precious blood of Christ can rescue a man from the horrible destiny of an eternity of torment under the relentless wrath of the just and holy God. All have sinned; all have been condemned. Only those who place personal faith in the blood of Jesus Christ escape the condemnation of falling short of the glory of God. Hell truly awaits the unrepentant sinner after death. Hell is God’s prison house for rebels who are kept incarcerated until final judgment and sentence to the lake of fire. All the Seventh-day Adventist denials in the world cannot change this awesome Bible fact.

Question No. 3: If the saved go immediately to Heaven upon death, why does the Bible say Christ will return for them? "The Scriptures teach the return of our Lord. And the avowed purpose of His coming is to receive His people. Why, I ask, would Christ come to get His loved ones if, as is popularly believed, they are already with Him?" (Planet in Rebellion, pp. 323- 324).

Bible Answer: 1 Thessalonians 4 teaches that Christ is returning to receive, not the dead saints, but the living saints to Himself. The dead saints shall return from Heaven WITH HIM and will receive their resurrection bodies at that time. "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 ... 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" (1 Th. 4:14-17).

This agrees with what the Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians. It is the living saints who are absent from the Lord. The dead saints are already with him. "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" (2 Co. 5:8).