Appendix Seven

Bible Prophecy
Revelation's Most Urgent Health Warning!
STORY

Let me share with you an unusual account about an evangelist and church administrator named Stephen Haskell.
Since I read this true story some time ago I cannot remember the book or magazine it was from. So I will give you the account to the best of my ability as my memory recalls it. Mr. Haskell was born in 1833 and became a dedicated Christian worker. Sadly, his first wife Mary died in January 1894. Obviously, he must have felt very lonely and sad after his wife's death. But a strange thing happened. One night while he was lying down his deceased "wife" appeared to him. She stood at the foot of his bed and, in a familiar voice, called his name, "Stephen". But Mr Haskell knew the truth about the state of the dead as described on this web page. Quoting the Bible he said "Away with you Satan!, for it is written 'the dead know not anything.' " When he said this the face of his "wife" turned into the most hideous countenance he had ever seen and then vanished. Mr. Haskell was left trembling and exhausted. He said that to tell the vision of his "wife" to go away was the hardest thing he had ever had to do. Mr. Haskell is not alone in having this type of experience or a similar one.

Satan and his evil angels are masters at impersonation. Satan disguised himself using a serpent in Eden and, through modern spiritualism, he often impersonates departed loved ones today -- at séances but also in direct confrontations as with Mr. Haskell. He aims his attack when we are feeling vulnerable and lonely. This is what he did to king Saul when Satan impersonated the deceased prophet Samuel in 1 Samuel chapter 28. Satan also disguised himself in his first two temptations of Jesus in the wilderness -- apparently masquerading as a good angel (Matthew chapter 4 cf. 2Co. 11:13). We should resist the evil one as Jesus did by using the Bible. If you read the Current Events Web Pages (accessible from, 7. If any man worship the beast and his image..., Re. 14-9-11) you will realise that Satan also impersonates Mary the mother of Jesus and that he soon will perform a great deception by impersonating Christ's second coming itself.

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1. SOUL is made of 2 ingredients (dust and breath or spirit)¹ which separate at DEATH ² and come together again at the RESURRECTION. ³

2. At DEATH we are unconscious. ⁴ Death is referred to in the Bible as a sleep. ⁵ We don't go to heaven at death. ⁶ The wicked do not go to punishment at death. ⁷ God preserves the identity and character of those who are dead. ⁸ Trying to contact the dead is an occult practice forbidden in Scripture. ⁹The belief that the dead can be contacted by the living forms the foundation of spiritualism. For a detailed look at how spiritualism is deceiving the world today please go to the Current Events Web Pages accessible from 7. Revelation 14:9-11 -- If any man worship the beast and his image...

3. The RESURRECTION occurs at the end of time when those asleep in the graves awake, and rewards or punishments are given. ¹⁰ Jesus said He would meet His disciples at His second coming, not when they died. ¹¹ The resurrection of Christ is our assurance that we too can be raised. ¹² Those who are resurrected to immortal life receive a type of body superior to our present one. ¹³

4. IMMORTALITY is given to the faithful at the second coming.¹⁴ Only God is intrinsically immortal.¹⁵ Access to the tree of life is needed for humans to live indefinitely.¹⁶

5. We can have ETERNAL LIFE now, in Christ.¹⁷ But this gift can be lost if Christ, who is our eternal life, is lost from our lives.¹⁸

6. The wicked suffer ANNIHILATION by fire.¹⁹ They don't live forever in hell -- they die. ²⁰ They no longer exist. ²¹

7. HEAVEN is not a semi-conscious airy-fairy place, but a place of reality and conscious beauty. ²²

We would like to mention three Bible texts that are often misunderstood by Christians when considering the subject of death, namely, Luke 23:43, Philippians 1:23 and Luke 16:19-31.

1. Luke 23:43 reads literally in the Greek "AND SAID TO HIM JESUS VERILY I SAY TO THEE TODAY ME THOU SHALT BE IN PARADISE." There is no punctuation in the original and the passage would be best translated with the comma placed after "today" rather than before it. Luke 23:43 would then read, "And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee to day, Thou shalt be with Me in paradise." This would then harmonize the verse with Jesus’ words to Mary on the day of His resurrection when He testified that He had not yet gone to Heaven (John 20:17). It would also harmonize with the theme of Christ’s victory through the cross, as it was "today" - the day of apparent defeat - when He promised the repentant thief assurance of forgiveness and a glorious future (c.f. John 17:1-5; 12:28-32).

2. Philippians 1:23 says, "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better". This can simply be understood as meaning that if Paul died the next thing he would know about would be the coming of Christ since he would have been unconscious until then. Or it could possibly be an expression of a desire to be translated as Enoch and Elijah were. Unless translated, Paul would have, upon death, laid in the grave as King David did (Acts 2:25-34; 13:35-37 c.f. 1 Kings 2:1, 2).

3. Luke 16:19-31 is the parable about the hard-hearted rich man and the beggar Lazarus. It is foolish to base major doctrine on the peripheral details of a parable. The matter of the state of the dead was not the main point of the parable. The parable was given to teach that future destiny is determined by the use men make of the opportunities of this present life. It continues the lesson of the previous parable (Luke 16:1-13) but changes the approach from the positive to the negative. By employing the figurative language He did, Jesus was meeting the people on their own ground by using a commonly believed, but erroneous, tradition. This is similar to Him using the story of a wicked man misappropriating money to teach a positive truth in the previous parable. If the details are literal, as some insist, how can dead believers all be literally in Abraham’s bosom, and can those in Heaven really talk to those in the fires of Hell? Actually the Greek word used for "Hell" in this passage (Luke 16:23) is "hades" which means "grave". The Greek word for the fiery Hell that burns up the wicked at the end of time is "gehenna" (Matthew 5:22; Luke 12:5).

1. Ge. 2: 7 cf. vs. 19 -- "creature" in vs. 19 is the same Hebrew word as "soul" in vs. 7.

2. Job 34: 14, 15; Ps. 146: 4 -- the KJV reading "his thoughts perish" is correct, see Strong's; Ec. 12: 7; Acts 7: 59,60; Js. 2: 26.