Do You Believe the Oldest Lie?

⁴ Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. Genesis 3:4 (NKJV)

Are you going to die?

Of the myriad millions of humans who have been born since the beginning of time, every one of those millions has died.

Speaking of only natural human life, there is no doubt that the serpent lied to the woman.  Yet, she believed him.

Before anyone casts aspersions upon the first mother of humanity, I suggest that you are no better than she!  If you are like most Christians – in fact like most people – you still believe the serpent’s lie.

I have no doubt you believe – based on irrefutable evidence – in the universality of human death.  It would take the all-time champion optimist to believe that he or she will live forever; that optimism usually does not persist as one ages and those around you begin to cease to live – their bodies placed in the ground with decay and disintegration already begun.

Yet many of you, reading these words, believe that you will not die.  Sure, you believe your body will cease to live but you – your consciousness, the part of you that is aware of your existence, the part of you that is YOU – will continue to live.

Depending on your belief system, you may believe that you (your “soul” or “spirit”) will move to another plane of existence but you will still be you.

Some of you believe you will go immediately to “heaven” (the abode of God, the Father); some believe that you (or perhaps only some bad people) will either immediately or after some “judgment” go to “hell” – a place of torment and punishment.

In either case, for your belief to be true, the part of you that is YOU never dies.

Therefore, a logical observer dedicated to truth would agree with me in asserting that you believe the oldest recorded lie – “you will not surely die”.

The simple fact is this: you – all of you, is going to die; you will cease to exist, period! It is only with the intervention of God that you will live again and without that intervention you are eternally dead — non-existent, your body turned to dust and dispersed and your consciousness ceased.

For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. Ecclesiastes 9:5 NIV   

Believing the lie that you will not die warps your perspective in every area touched by that lie.

If you believe the serpent’s lie, it blinds you to the teaching of the Bible.  It very well may distort your perception of God and His plan for the salvation of humanity.

Upon the return of Jesus to this earth to begin His millennial reign, all those who are “in Christ” at the time of their death will be resurrected as children of God, immortal and without fear of the second death and will be joined by all those who are are still alive and who are His at His coming. [I Corinthians chapter 15 et al]

All others will also live again after the millennial reign of Jesus but until the final judgment they will be mortal.  If they pass that judgment, they will join all those who were raised in immortality when Christ appeared without fear of the second death. 

If they fail that judgment, they will experience the “second death” from which there is no possibility of resurrection. [Revelation chapter 20 et al]

Believing the lie, that no one will truly die but continue to live in “hell”, indicates your belief that God would be willing to “torture” His creations because they failed His tests.

Did you never read that “God IS love”? [I John 4:8]

There is no reference in the Bible – not even an inference – that God has ever “tortured” any human being or even any life form.  Yet many believe that some people are going to spend eternity being tortured with the approval of God.

There is no clear statement in the Bible that anyone will “go to heaven”.  The Bible teaches that those who are granted salvation will be in the presence of God forever, but the Bible teaches that – at least initially – some part of heaven will come down to the earth [Revelation 21:1–4] where God will sit on His throne.  What happens after that we are not told. 

I suggest that it would be worth your time to get into the scriptures with an intensive study so that you can learn exactly what God has promised as the salvation of mankind.

Begin by recognizing that you and perhaps almost everyone around you believes the oldest lie ever told and eliminate that belief.  It will be a good start on learning the wonder and majesty of God’s plans for mankind with a future much better than anything you or I have ever imagined.