Awesome Truths and Amazing Facts
Richard Vaughn

Today: Are the Dead Really Dead? Part 1
The first lie ever told to the human race regarding the immortality of the soul, has been perpetuated to our current day. Be prepared for today we will not only expose this lie in the light of Scripture, but the Bible will show that we have been taught a lie in regards to our understanding as to what happens to a person at death. It may take three or more articles to complete this subject, but when we have finished you will understand the real truth from God’s Word on the topic. 
In Gen. 3:1, when Eve was asked by the serpent, “hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” She replied in verse 3, “But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”  In verse 4, “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.” Since the fall of our first parents, man is a mortal being. Adam and Eve had conditional immortality based on their obedience to the simple test in Gen. 3:2,3. However, since the fall, Adam and every saved person since, with the exception of Enoch, Elijah, Moses, and those specially resurrected with Jesus, will not have a conscious state of immortality until the first resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”  
So many are taught that the soul goes straight to heaven or hell at death. What does the Bible say? Let’s first understand what the soul is. Gen. 2:7 “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.” Notice God did not put a soul into the man, He breathed into His nostrils the breath (spirit) of life and He became a living soul. Remove the breath (spirit) from man and He ceases to be a living soul. He dies. Ecclesiastes 12:7 “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” 
What is the “spirit” that returns to God at death? James 2:26 “For as the body without the spirit is dead…” The word spirit in this verse is from the Greek word “pneuma” which means breath, a current of air. And in Job 27:3 “All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils.” The word spirit in this verse is from the Hebrew word “ruwach” which means breath, exhalation, air. The spirit that returns to God is the breath of life. Nowhere in the entire Bible does the “spirit” have any life, wisdom or feeling after a person dies. 
So what is a soul? A soul is a living being and according to Gen. 2:7 above, is always a combination of two things: body plus breath. Do souls die? Ezekiel 18:20 “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Animals with bodies plus breath are souls. Revelation 16:3 “…every living soul died in the sea.” Man is mortal and is subject to death. Job 4:17 “Shall mortal man be more just than God?” Only God is immortal. 1 Timothy 6:15,16 “…the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality…” Only the saved righteous will be given immortality and that is at the resurrection when Jesus’ comes for the second time. See 1 Corinthians 15: 51-53. The concept of an undying, disembodied, immortal soul goes against the Bible, which teaches souls are subject to death.
Let’s illustrate with a bulb (body), electric current (breath), and light (soul). When the switch is turned on, current (breath) enters the bulb (body) and there is light (soul). Turn off the switch, which removes the current, and there is no light. Where did the light go? It just ceased to exist, just as the body without breath ceases to exist. It is a dead soul.
Do good people go to heaven at death? Acts 2:29,34 “…the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.” “For David is not ascended into the heaven.” David, a man after the Lord’s own heart is in his grave awaiting the resurrection. John 5:28,29 “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” Every person that has ever lived, except for Enoch, Elijah, Moses and those especially resurrected at Jesus’ resurrection, are in their graves awaiting the first or second resurrection. 
Next Week: Are the dead really dead? Part 2