Episode 16 of Tomorrow’s Truth Found Today, “Death: The Final Frontier… or Is It?” Part 2

In Episode 16 of Tomorrow’s Truth Found Today, Mark Long continues the discussion in Part 2 of “Death: The Final Frontier… or Is It?”

What really happens when we die? Many common beliefs suggest that people immediately go to heaven, hell, or continue communicating with the living. In this episode, Mark compares those popular ideas with what the Bible actually teaches.

Looking at passages such as Ecclesiastes 9, 1 Corinthians 15, John 3:13, and Hebrews 11:1, Mark explores the biblical perspective on death, resurrection, deception, and the importance of studying scripture for ourselves.

Listeners are encouraged to question traditions, seek truth through God’s Word, and develop a deeper understanding of faith and salvation.

Study the scriptures, pray for understanding, and remember: You are worth it.

Transcript

Mark Long 0:12

Hello, once again, my friends. Mark Long here with the continuing series Tomorrow's Truth Found Today. This is episode 16 in part two of Death, the Final Frontier. Or is it? Please take a moment and hit the like button. And please subscribe to the channel. This helps me to get this information out to everyone. As I said in part one and will continue to say, our world is in desperate need of revival. Now, I want to do a small recap of part one. We first learned in scripture that when we die, we do just that. We die and we remain that way until Christ wakes us up, when he returns. We found that in 1 Corinthians 15, 20 to 23. We also learned today that there's nobody in heaven. That we found in John 3.13. Please take a moment or two and review those scriptures. Now, on to part two. Let's start by covering something that certain individuals have claimed that they can do, something that's actually quite impossible. These individuals, or should I say charlatans, actually demand that they can communicate with the dead. Now, trust me, when I say that they are nothing more than fakes and frauds, and would actually try to have you believe that they have the inside track on dying, that they can genuinely get information from those that have passed on. To say the least, that's garbage. Now, the only reason I believe they do this is for financial gain. And the other way to put it is to rip you off. Now, don't get me wrong. I believe they do, in fact, speak to something. But trust me, it is not our dearly departed. No, my friends, what they speak to is nothing more than evil spirits from the demonic realm, in which I might add is quite real, deceptive, and very dangerous. So please avoid it. Remember what the Apostle Paul told us in Ephesians 6.12. He said, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. You see, my friends, Satan loves to have people believe in all kinds of strange things, things like the paranormal, reincarnation, near-death experiences, metaphysical beliefs, and the like. Something we all need to understand about Satan, he's a liar. And the second half of John 8:44 proves this when we read this. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. Understand this also, my friends. Satan can and he will plant any kind of thought or memory into the minds of those that have opened themselves up to his influences. Now, these influences can include things like the occult, fortune telling, witchcraft, astrology, clairvoyance, soothsaying, nepromancy, Ouija boards, tarot cards, or seances. Remember this. Everything and anything that keeps you from learning God's truth makes Satan absolutely happy. That's partly why Satan is not terribly upset with a lot of churches today. The reason? It's pretty simple. They're not teaching the deeper things of God. On the other side of this, we as followers of God's truth, including myself, we have to do our very best to expose Satan for the liar that he is. We have to adhere to what we're told in James 4, 7. He said this, therefore submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Understand, all Satan ever wants to do is to deceive people. Look at what Revelation 12 9 tells us. So that great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. His desire, my friends, is to deceive the entire world. But understand something. As I said before, we don't have to allow ourselves to be deceived. Christ clearly tells us in Matthew 24, 4, take heed that no one deceives you. My friends, know this. During the end times, deception, it's going to increase and get progressively worse than it is today, if you can believe that. And the only way that we can counter that is to study God's word and not allow ourselves to be deceived, to be deceived. And this encades our study about death. Death, my friends, is not some kind of menacing specter hiding in the shadows, waiting to pounce at any moment to take us to some ungodly place of torment. That I can assure you is nothing more than what macabre writers of fiction and Hollywood directors create to scare people. Trust me, there is no grim reaper. Now, having said that, let's continue with a question. How can anybody truly know anything about death unless they face it for themselves? Well, the straightforward answer is they can't. And believe me, no one has all the answers. However, if we are to trust God and what he tells us about in his word about life and salvation, then we also have to trust what he tells us about death. It's called faith. Turn to Hebrews 11:1. We're told this. Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Now, that scripture, I know on the surface, may seem a little bit hard to comprehend, but think of it like this: there are certain things in life that we can't see, but we know they're real. Things like the wind, love, hope, warmth, electricity, joy, even thought. We may not be able to see these things, but we can experience the effects of them. It's no different with our subject about death. Even though we can't learn all there is to know about death, there is in fact a wealth of information contained in the Bible that enables us to at least have a fundamental grasp of what we can expect when we die. By studying out scripture, you come away with a better perspective and you also remove much of the anxiety that's generally associated with dying. Scripture is truly fantastic, my friends, because what it does, it removes misinformation and fear, and in turn, it gives us comfort. Death isn't supposed to be feared, but faced with knowledge and dignity. The sad thing about it is the very place you would expect to learn about death is the very place that most of the wrong information is given. And yes, indeed, I'm talking about churches. There is so much anguish that could be spared if churches would just do their due diligence and teach the truth about death straight from the Bible. Let's look at a few scriptures that rarely get preached today. Open your Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter 9, and let's read verses 5 through 10, where we're told, For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished. Nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun. Go your way, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already accepted your works. Let your garments be always be bite, and let your head lack no oil. Live joyfully with the wife whom you've loved all the days of your vain life, which he has given you under the sun. All your days of vanity, for that is your portion in life, and in the labor in which you perform under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or knowledge or device in the grave or wisdom where you are going. That's quite a mouthful. I know. It's hard to digest all that. It's pretty tough to take it in. Understand something. These scriptures are saying one thing only. When you die, you know nothing. You are no longer aware of your surroundings. Or to put it bluntly, you're dead. Now I know that goes against everything you grew up believing, and I know it sounds a bit harsh. But my friends, we have to accept the truth, no matter what we've believed in the past. When we accept God's word and not all the fanciful ideas that have been floating around for millennia of time, such as the idea of either going to heaven or to hell when we die, then all the myths about death start to unravel. Please, don't get me wrong, there is a heaven. But what people believe about it is very different than what the Bible teaches. And here's a small example. Matthew 5, 10 says this: Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It does not say theirs is the kingdom in heaven. We have to, my friends, read scripture the way it's written and not the way we want it to read. When we read it correctly, it turns out to be quite different than what we were taught as children. It appears as throughout our lives we've been conditioned from the start to believe things that are true. Here's a little example. The little bedtime prayer we all learned as children. Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. It's a cute prayer to be sure, but unfortunately, it has no biblical base whatsoever. You're probably thinking what's this guy talking about? And what's the harm with that little prayer? The problem is, my friends, it's full of misleading information. For example, first off, God doesn't take your soul because you don't have a soul. You are a soul. Turn in your King James Bible to Genesis 2.7, where we're told, 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. My friends, we have a spirit, not a soul. Second, if we die in our sleep, we would be just that. We would be asleep or dead. That is, until Christ wakes us up. I often wonder why so many churches are so blatant in their disregard for teaching this vital truth. But instead, what do they do? They teach deception about death. It appears that somewhere along life's path, people have failed to realize or understand that they not only have the right, but we also have the obligation to speak up and to question what's being taught. We have a duty, my friends, to hold preachers accountable for teaching God's truth, not man-made traditions. Trust me, God is going to hold preachers accountable. Please take a moment to test this. Read Ezekiel chapter 33. I know that sounds, and I don't want to sound accusative, but let me ask you this. How many people do you know actually study the Bible on a regular basis? Or how many actually test what the preachers are preaching every Sunday? And here's something else to think about. How do you know if what's being preached is actually factual? Unless you study it out for yourself, you're never going to know. My friends, our salvation is far too important to entrust to any man. So please study it out for yourself. And remember something I've always said, and what the Bible tells us in Philippians 2.12b work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Okay, don't get me wrong. It's great to listen to good preaching, but how are you going to know if it's good or bad unless you check it out for yourself? Some people unfortunately believe that preachers can do it for you. And some believe that Jesus himself did everything for you. While it is true what he said in John 14, 6, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes into, or no one comes to the Father except through me. We also have to follow, as believers, 2 Timothy 4, 1 through 4. It states this. Paul wrote, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. I think this is the reason we have to study for ourselves. All this information, what it's telling us, is that we have to be diligent, we have to be careful, and we have to be thorough while we work out our own salvation. We can't afford to depend on what someone else knows, and that includes my friends, me. Our job is to learn for ourselves and stop listening to fatals. I know I've given you a lot to think about. So for now, I'm going to close part two by saying this. Please, please study this information, pray about it, and ask God for guidance and understanding. And always remember, you are worth it. Take care, and I'll see you again in part three. Bye for now, my friends.