Lazarus reborn
and in Abraham’s Bosom
Today, additional points are shared on communicating with the dead and those now thought to be in heaven. It is correct to be cautious in opening ourselves to others while we are in bereavement, for there are many who do not share our faith and our private understandings. In addition to those who will impose opinions that arise from their own lack of sacred knowledge, often there are also those who are intrusive, overbearing, and presumptuous. The mourner must be vigilant, for even those who seem to be harmless and well-meaning may corrupt and disrespect carefully-selected things that truly are necessary in our ongoing growth and recovery. Having said this, the mourner must have the boldness to fashion their own new life, and should not shrink from learning and sharing again.
THE BATTLE AXE: The Comfort Through Christ? (01/13/2017)—The hope of the living must be in GOD. Desire for communication and exchange with the dead arises from aspects of carnal reasoning along with existence being understood as a condition that is only material, physical, and social. For those in bereavement, features such as appetite (e.g., hunger, thirst, sexual cravings), sensation (e.g., hearing, seeing, tasting, touching), and emotion/mental functions (e.g., anger, fear, imagination, recall) become objects for focus and response, rather than interaction and life experience as directed through divine spirit content. It is correct to say there are specific divine laws and rules that govern both the living and the dead, and the Bible is our most trusted source for that kind of information. Mechanical, recurring, and routine aspects of living are described as being experienced and shared by all. Because concentration upon the occult and the supernatural usually result in spiritual confusion, mature believers often discourage faith within the living that relies too heavily upon apparitions, dreams, signs, or visitations from the dead. Contact with those who died and are now alive again through resurrection (e.g., Jesus, his mother Mary, and certain of the saints) through sacred events (we say, miracles) and through the Holy Spirit must be carefully examined using earlier Scripture accounts as legitimate sacred standards. Thus, while the parable shared by the Savior using Lazarus, a beggar, and Dives, a rich man, is not intended as a revelation that describes heaven such as later appears through prophecy, the account makes many points concerning the divine law and restrictions that set heaven apart as sanctified. All who appear in the divine presence are alive, yet, not in the same form and manner as that required to be upon the earth. Consider the Scriptures below.
THE GOLDEN ARROW: Behold, I shew 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 when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1st Corinthians 15: 51-57, King James Version, KJV)
THE DOUBLE DAGGER: The Purpose of Resurrection (07/05/2016); The Dimensions of Death? (04/24/2016); The Return to Dust? (06/14/2015); Death is a Divine Tool (09/15/2014); A Sleep and a Second Death (09/16/2014); Resurrection from the Dead? (04/23/2014); Not A Matter Of Opinion (04/24/2014)
Comfort to the believers in Christ includes the following:
(1.) Matthew 5: 4, King James Version (KJV): 4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
(2.) Psalms 146: 3-5, KJV: 3 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. 4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. 5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:
(3.) Isaiah 8: 19-20, KJV: 19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? 20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
(4.) Matthew 22: 31-33, KJV: 31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, 32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. 33 And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.
(5.) Ecclesiastes 9: 1-6, KJV: 1 For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. 2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. 3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 4 For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
(6.) 1st Corinthians 15: 12-22, KJV: 12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
There is far more to be said, correctly applied, and spiritually apprehended. (For example, (7.) Luke 16: 19-31, KJV: 19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. 27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: 28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.) Even so, I trust this fragment will be useful. Be it unto you according to your faith.
THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC
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