Secrets from Beyond The Grave

(go to the grave) as his son did. However, the father said he would "go down," and in that time the souls and spirits went down under the earth to "Abraham's bosom" (Luke 16). Jacob would go down into the "grave." When someone says "grave," we picture a cemetery or a graveyard. However, the Hebrew word Sheol indicates the subterranean world of departed spirits. The father was saying that he would mourn for his son as he would go down to meet him ("go down . . . to my son") in Sheol. Jacob believed his son was dead but knew he was in Sheol. He also knew he would die of grief but would meet his son in Sheol. Some who are pro-choice do not believe that an infant in the womb has an eternal spirit. However, the inspired Word of God teaches otherwise. When Job had lost his wealth, ten children, and his health, he wrote: Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? --Job 3:11, KJV When the New Testament used the same term for Jesus "giving up the ghost," the word ghost is the Greek word ekpneo , which is also to "expire." Those who do not believe that the spirit departs the body use these two words to say, "These verses simply indicate that at death the people quit breathing and expired." However, if this was all that occurred and they simply died without going to paradise or hell, then how can we explain Abraham's bosom, the rich man and Lazarus, Christ preaching in the heart of the earth to the spirits in prison, Paul's being "out of the body," and Paul saying that when we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8)? Then, what about those who were martyred and are in heaven being told to rest until their fellow servants are killed (Rev. 6:11)? Death is not just breathing your last breath and expiring. It includes a separation of the soul and spirit from the body and a gathering together either with the righteous in a heavenly paradise or with multitudes of the unrighteous in a subterranean chamber under the earth. Is Cremation Wrong for a Christian? It is pointed out that the Hebrew word ghost, used in the 1611 King James translation, is the Hebrew word gava, a primitive root that means "to breathe out or expire." The question of DNA being altered by fire and heat leads to a very important and somewhat controversial question that many people have asked: Is it biblically wrong for a Christian to be cremated? Usually at least once a week I receive an e-mail or letter from a Christian family asking a question about cremation. The process of cremation is when heat reduces the bodily remains of an individual to gasses and bone fragments. The remains given to a family are not the ashes, as some suggest, but are actually the fragments of the bones. The remains are white in color and are usually placed in an urn either to remain in the possession of the family, to be buried in a cemetery or other location, or to be scattered in a special place. There are various reasons why families choose cremation. At times it is at the request of the departed loved one. At other times it is simply the choice of the family members who are making the final arrangements. There are times--as with a fire, extreme accident, or other circumstance--when the physical body is unable to be viewed in a traditional manner. Most commonly, however, cremation is a cost issue, and the family is unable to afford a traditional interment involving a funeral home, a coffin, and burial costs. The average funeral--including