Posted July 11, 2005

J___ wrote:

Mike, this goes with an earlier question I had regarding dying under old and new covenant. This guy seems to always have a comeback refute. So I don’t know what to believe. Can you clear this up? Thanks, J____

J____,

I understand that you can explain away whatever you wish by simply calling it “symbolism”. This is why you cannot accept the story of Lazarus at face value because you cannot accept the idea that souls do not sleep in the grave. Since that doctrine is the lens through which you see every passage of Scripture, it is no wonder you are where you are.

However, let me lay another passage on you.

“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.”1Pe 3:18-20…

Hi J___,

Your preacher friend, like all orthodox Christians, has no use for Christ’s words. Here are the words of Christ:

Joh 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

Listen to your preacher friend, and you will remain confused. Listen to Christ, and ignore the falsehoods of orthodoxy, the ‘Great Harlot,’ of Rev 17 and 18, and God’s Word will never contradict itself as your friend seems to believe.

Christ says “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven…” Peter says not even David is in heaven. Paul tells us that if there is no resurrection then the dead in Christ are perished. Your preacher friend and all orthodox Christian ministers say just the opposite. We must all decide who we will believe. It is not the few who are deceived. “Many shall come in my name… and shall deceive many.” Yet the greatest single religion in the world, the orthodox Christian church, tells us this is not talking about them. Who, pray tell, do they think the “many coming in My name” is talking about? Are we to believe that this statement of our Lord is a reference to the Muslim or Buddist religions? You decide that one for yourself.

Now as for the “spirits in prison” your preacher asks about, these were the spirits of the people of Noah’s time. That is why we are told that this took place “in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing.” With not one scripture to validate his claim, he boldly proclaims to you:

Well, look here! Jesus is preaching to those who died during the flood. Talk about your dead congregations!

Does this man think that it was by some spirit other than Christ who preached through Noah for one hundred and twenty years? The people of Noah’s day were captives and prisoners to sin just as much as the people of Christ’s day were.

Luk 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

This preacher, and all orthodox Christian preachers, deny that Christ died for us. This man is telling you that Christ was never dead. He is telling you that in reality no one has ever died for our sins; that Christ, of all people, never died at all. The claim, with no scripture at all behind it, is that he was in hell preaching to fallen angels, and at the same time He was in paradise with the thief on the cross. These people must think that Paul was just confused when he made that statement about the dead in Christ being perished if there is no resurrection.

1Co 15:16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
1Co 15:17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
1Co 15:18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.

Paul saw the Truth about the need for a resurrection. “If Christ be not risen… then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.”

You can use the Google search engine on the web page by typing in ‘spirits in prison’ to pull up more articles on this subject.

I hope this helps you to find the answers to your questions. If you will do this first, it will help me to keep up with my e- mails, and it will also help you in your own personal studies. If you cannot find anything on the subject, then by all means let me know.

Mike