What happens to souls of dead today? Those who have been saved and remain faithful will go to be with Lord. Paul plainly states this: "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor, yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard pressed between two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better." (Philippians 1:21-23) "We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from body and to be present with Lord." (II Corinthians 5:8) These verses clearly show that Paul fully expected to go directly to be with Lord upon his death. For Paul to say that it would be his gain to be dead, and to say that to be absent from body and to be present with Lord indicates this. Paul would surely not have made these statements if he was going to spend a long period of time in some intermediate state away from Christ.

Paul also states that saints will come back with Christ: "so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints." (I Thessalonians 3:13) Saints in New Testament always refers to Christians. In order for saints to come back with Christ, then they must go to be with Him before that day. There are those who would have us believe that term saints used in this verse means angels. It is true that angels will come with Christ at His second coming. However, in as much as all other occasions of New Testament writers using word saints to refer to Christians, it is hard to believe that Paul would deviate just this one time and use word to mean angels.

The fact that our souls will go to be with Lord upon our physical death is also supported by this passage: "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus." (I Thessalonians 4:14) The word "sleep" here refers to dead, not a form of soul sleep. This is supported by story of rich man and Lazarus, for it is evident that both were conscience while yet dead. And also, when Jesus rose Lazarus (brother of Mary and Martha) we believe that Lazarus was conscience when Jesus spoke to him to rise from dead.

When saints return with Christ as indicated in passages noted above, they shall be united with their resurrected body. And those that shall remain on earth at time of His coming will be changed as well. They too, will receive a new body: "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed -- in a moment, in twinkling of an eye at last trumpet. For trumpet will sound, and dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." (I Corinthians 15:51,52)

Not only will saints be resurrected on this day, for all that are dead will be resurrected. "I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of dead, both of just and unjust." (Acts 24:15) ; "Do not marvel at this; for hour is coming in which all who are in graves will hear His voice and come forth -- those who have done good, to resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to resurrection of condemnation." (John 5:28,29)

We also see that earth and all worldly things associated with it will be destroyed when Jesus returns. (See II Peter 3:10) There will be a general judgement where righteous shall be separated from unrighteous. The righteous will be welcomed into heaven while unrighteous will be ushered into hell.

Then a new heaven and a new earth will be introduced, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for first heaven and first earth had passed away." (Revelation 21:1) and "Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." (II Peter 3:13)

Death is not to be feared for those of us who are saved by blood of Christ. It is to be feared, and rightly so, by those who refuse to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. Personally, I do not fear death, but consider it as Paul did, looking forward to day I can be with my Lord. If you are without Christ won't you please consider these things. Give your life to One who can save it, give it to Christ.

Stephen Kingery is an author, preacher, teacher and founder of The Home Bible Study Institute.

Visit our site at http://www.james1-22.org

If gift of tongues was one thing in New Testament, and something else today, how can it be a continuation? If tongues was eventually changed from being able to speak an unknown (unknown to speaker) language to a heavenly or spiritual language, where in New Testament can we find this change occurring? If it did occur, wouldn't God have told us plainly that it had?

Where in God's Word does it tell us that gift of speaking in tongues will be continued? The Scriptures neither imply nor promise continuation of gift. As a matter of fact, Scriptures state that gift will cease, "... whether there are tongues, they will cease," (1 Corinthians 13:8)

"Speaking in tongues" does nothing to unify church. Any Christian today who does not see that church is in dire need of unification is blind, deaf, and dumb. This supposed gift actually has opposite affect: it divides church. It pits believer against believer. The only unification it brings is that people who "speak in tongues" from many different conflicting doctrines all claim a supernatural gift. It is a unification of deceit.

"Speaking in tongues" is subject to perversion. If we cannot determine if something is real, then we are subject to being deceived by it. For example, if I were to come to your home and tell you that God sent me to minister to you and tell you exactly what you need to do to assure you an eternal home in heaven, would you listen to me? Perhaps, but would you believe everything - I mean EVERYTHING - I tell you? Probably not! But, if I could show you some miraculous gift that God had given me as a sign to those I was teaching, you would be a fool to ignore me. So, I visit you on Monday and "speak in tongues" as a sign, and you believe me lock, stock, and barrel. Then, preacher Joe visits you on Tuesday and shows you this same sign - "speaking in tongues" - and proceeds to teach you a different doctrine. Then you have a problem, who do you believe? We both "spoke in tongues." If both were given sign by God, then why are we teaching different doctrines? Could it be that one is a deceiver? How can you tell? God would simply not do that to His children. God will not participate in something which can be used to deceive His people.

My friends in Charismatic movement say that being a charismatic is not a belief, it is an experience. The thought here is that one cannot deny an experience. Well, I guess that is true, you cannot deny an experience. You cannot deny that you have had an experience. But surely, we can all see that experiences can be deceiving? I remember as a little boy who was afraid of dark, I "saw" all kinds of monsters lurking in shadows of my room when lights were turned out. That was a real experience. I would immediately cover up my head, and only occasionally venture a peek. I would "see" those monsters and go back undercover. I do not deny for one moment those experiences. I did have those experiences, and memories are still with me today some forty years later. But, I was deceived! There were no monsters in my room. There was no murderer waiting to cut me with a knife. They simply did not exist. Had you tried to convince me of that fact when I was five or six years old, I would not have believed you. My experience told me otherwise. Can we deny our experiences? No! Do they always tell us truth? No! What can we rely on to always, always, always tell us truth? Gods Word!

Brothers and sisters, examine Scriptures. Take particular notice of Acts Chapter 2 verses 5-13. Read this in light that speaking in tongues is being able to speak in a language in which speaker has received no training, and you will understand meaning of speaking in tongues. This is only meaning that this term - speaking in tongues - has in Scriptures!

All Scriptures quoted are from New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

Stephen Kingery is an author, preacher, teacher and founder of The Home Bible Study Institute.

Visit our site at http://www.james1-22.org