What does “dead” mean?

 What does “dead” mean?

By Richard P. Joseph

2/28/2025

I once asked Ed Stevens a question about debates and he said there is an old adage that goes something like this;  “ He who defines the terms, wins the debate”.    In the religious world, and especially in the preterist world, there are debates.  Debates are good in that a person's perspective is challenged and if they fail to defend their position then that gives them an opportunity to reconsider their position or to bolster their position with more evidence.  I heard another preacher say that what he believes today (as far as doctrinal issues are concerned), he may not believe tomorrow.  In other words, he is willing to reconsider his views in light of new biblical evidence that he previously had missed.  Dogma is usually so entrenched in religious circles that when a different view is presented, people go apoplectic.  The only thing that is absolutely true is scripture itself but depending on one's knowledge of proper hermeneutics, scripture can easily be misconstrued.  While scripture is solid and unmovable, our knowledge and perspective is fluid until it can be cemented with certainty.  Therefore, I really don’t have all of the answers.  The challenge is in the pursuit. 

One challenge that I will attempt to shed light on is the word dead in the bible.  It sounds simple, if something is dead, it stops living, right.  Well, that is usually correct but in some cases the word dead could also mean spiritually dead.  Or it could also mean, philosophically dead. 

 

John 12:24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much [a]grain.

In this parable Jesus is asking us to die of what we are in order to become something greater.  Or he could also be referring to Judaism dying in order to become something greater but either way, the seed doesn’t actually physically die, it just dies to what it was.  However, the most contentious argument comes when the resurrection of the dead is brought up.  

One argument says that the physically dead are resurrected (or at least their soul is) and enters the heavenly realm.  The other view is that the spiritually dead are resurrected out of their condemned position and brought into the light of Christ.  Another position similar to the second one is that Israel will be resurrected into a new elevated position.  I am tempted to say that perhaps all of those views have some truth to them but I will also attempt to show you that the first view of our souls, once given a new heavenly body, will enter into heaven with God forever.  

In Acts 23 we find Paul being arrested and set before the Sanhedrin facing the death penalty.  Thinking quickly, he used this very doctrine of the resurrection to divide the counsel.  

Acts 23       6 But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!”

7 And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees; and the assembly was divided. 8 For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection—and no angel or spirit; but the Pharisees confess both. 9 Then there arose a loud outcry. And the scribes of the Pharisees’ party arose and protested, saying, “We find no evil in this man; [a]but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.”

As is explained here, and also in the writings of the historian Josephus, the Pharisees believe in a resurrection of souls while the Sadducees do not.  In other words, if Paul and the Pharisees believed that the resurrection was some sort of rising from sin to a better life, or Israel being reborn into a better or elevated state of being then there would have been no argument at all.  In fact, there wouldn’t even be two sects.

To drive this point home, let’s take a look at Acts 24:15

15 I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection [e]of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. 

In the above verse, Paul says that he has a hope in the resurrection of the dead.  He then describes the dead as being made up of the just and the unjust.  So, if the resurrection is about someone entering a more elevated spiritual position then why do the just have to do that?  They are already there.  This is just one of the many verses that point to a resurrection of the physically dead people being raised from the dead into God’s eternal glory.  We could go on and on but it is up to you to read and study the bible in context and pray for wisdom.  Never simply take someone’s word for it, do your own research.  Read your bible every day.  Become familiar with it.  Look for things.  Look for patterns.  Look to glorify Jesus Christ.  

So in the end, dead, means several different things but it certainly also includes the physically dead.

A Royal Priesthood

 A Royal Priesthood

By Richard P. Joseph

2/3/2025

In Exodus chapter 20 we find the newly formed nation of Israel moving through the wilderness.  They had recently been liberated from slavery by God through the hand of Moses.  Moses is now beginning to receive the law from God and the Ten Commandments are presented to the people.  It firmly establishes YHVH as the only eternal God and the second commandment was to never create any image that could be used to represent a deity or would be worshiped.  This was not ambiguous, it was very plain and understandable.  

Well, maybe not!  Flip a few chapters later and you have Aaron, the brother of Moses, fashioning a golden calf to worship to.  The human condition is hopeless, weakness is the norm and evil is the goal.  Exodus 32 brings this to light.  While Moses was up on Mount Sinai receiving instructions on how to build a tabernacle to YHVH, the congregation decided that Moses must have died and therefore they would create a pagan god from gold just like the Egyptians had.  They could not understand that a human cannot create a real god.  Moses did not go to God, God came to Moses.  God created man, man did not create God.  This was a very new concept back then.  So God sent Moses down the mountain to confront the Israelite nation and it wasn’t pretty. 

 Exodus 32:7-8 7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ ” 9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a [b]stiff-necked people!

God would have destroyed them had Moses not prayed and intervened.  Moses, however, cleaned the camp by putting to death 3,000 of those that would not follow the true and only God. 

Moses then formed a priesthood that was to serve the Eternal God and Him alone.  The Priesthood was to be formed from the tribe of Levi which Moses and Aaron were part of.  The main job of a high priest was to offer atonement for the people through the sacrificial system laid out in the books of the law.  There was, however, a different kind of priesthood that was not of human origin.

While Moses was the person responsible for the formation of the nation of Israel and the priesthood, it was Abraham who had previously become the father of the nation.  After Abraham had success in defending several of the cities, including Sodom and Gomorrah where Lot lived, he ran into a strange priest named Melchizedek, the priest of Salem.  Not much is mentioned about this obscure character in the scriptures but apparently the Jews knew more about him than what was written about him.  When David was prophesying about the future messiah in Psalm 110 he spoke about Jesus as being a priest after the order of, not Levi, but Melchizedek.  The book of Hebrews informs us that Melchizedek is one who has no beginning and no end and no traceable genealogy.  He is called a priest forever.  That is why the author of Hebrews associates Melchizedek with Jesus as one and the same.  

So now we have talked about two distinct priesthoods, but there is a third.  Revelation 1:6 reads like this:

  … and has made us [c]kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 

And 1 Peter 2:9 says this:

 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Jesus, who is a priest forever, will never change.  He is the High Priest of all time.  However, as humans, things change.  The Levites were called to be priests during the old covenant but once that covenant ran its course, Jesus established a new covenant with his blood.  Peter then informed us that we, the Christian men, are the new priests.  After AD 70, the Levitical priesthood ended.  Each Christian man is now the priest of his family and with this a tremendous amount of responsibility is placed on each man to lead his family into righteousness.  With this priesthood comes also a new nation.  Judaism has become obsolete and the church has become the new nation, a holy nation.   Marriage is the building blocks of society and the father and mother are responsible for bringing up holy offspring unto the Lord.  The institution of marriage is the most important union on earth.  As the marriage goes, the earth goes.  Each husband is the priest of his family and each Christian family joined spiritually together forms a holy nation.  This is what holds the world together.  It is sad to see people still associating the priesthood to religious organizations when in reality the real priests are the fathers and husbands of each family.  It is our responsibility to strengthen our families and our communities.  People who wait and rely on a religious organization to teach their families the gospel are out of touch with scripture.  While it is a great thing for people to learn from their pastors, it is imperative that the real teaching and lessons are learned at home.  This is something that should not be taken lightly.  Like Michael Jackson said in his song “We are the World”, “We are the Church”.  Let us be bold and lead the world by leading our own families.

Lenin, Lennon & Marx

 Lenin, Lennon & Marx

(No, this isn’t a law firm)

By Richard P. Joseph

Ex-president Jimmy Carter recently passed away and many famous celebrities attended his funeral.  Carter, a pro-abortion left wing democrat, lived to 100 years old and was well known as a “Christian” who promoted many philanthropic organizations.  I don’t know who planned his funeral but it was a reflection of his myopic view of life.  His funeral was held at the Washington National Cathedral and featured many scripture readings and spiritual songs.  Then it was capped off by the famous country singer, Garth Brooks, singing Imagine!  No, this isn’t a joke, it really happened and that is why I write.

The song “Imagine”, which was written by John Lennon, is actually the Communist Manifesto set to music.  This haunting, yet beautiful song, has been recorded and celebrated by many rock stars and played at a myriad of occasions as if it is somehow a song of peace, love and togetherness.  For it to be played at Carter's funeral tells how misconstrued Carter’s faith was.  Here he is, a so-called faithful follower of Jesus Christ, being memorialized in a so-called Christian Church, by an atheist rock star singing a song written by an atheist rock star,  about a world without God, without heaven, without hell, without any countries, and all the people owning nothing and being happy.  I would say that Jimmy Carter was rolling over in his casket but I didn’t see any movement which leads me to think he was just fine with it just like he lived his life by promoting abortion and homosexuality.  Here is an excerpt found on the internet:

By Bob Allen

Former President Jimmy Carter, the world’s most famous Sunday school teacher, said Sept. 22 he supports LGBT equality because Jesus didn’t discriminate against people based on their identity.

Obviously he believes in blasphemy also.

John Lennon was born in 1940 in Liverpool, England, a western Christianized country.  He grew up in a broken family which came out in many of his songs such as God, Imagine, Mother etc.  He was born at the outset of WWII.  One of the funniest quotes I have ever heard was by Ringo Starr when he said “My mother told me ‘when I was born, WWII started’”  John Lennon was born during these turbulent times and lived in a broken family.  However, using his unusual talent he formed the most famous rock group in history, the Beatles, and became a multi-millionaire.  Apparently he never stopped to notice the starving Russian people of his day standing in long bread lines attempting to get a morsel of food to feed their starving families.  That is because the Soviet Union was forced into communism by one Vladimir Lenin in 1917.  Lenin got his ideas from a Jewish idiot named Karl Marx.  The goal of Marx was to disassemble the family unit and usher in poverty, chaos, atheism, sexual perversion, oppression and violence.  That is exactly what the song Imagine is promoting.  

I remember when my kids were on the football team in high school and we played at Swartz Creek High School during their senior night.  The Swartz Creek athletic department wanted to send their seniors off to a bright future and had them all take the field after the game to wish them farewell.  They then blasted out John Lennon’s song Imagine over the loudspeakers as the kids marched around the field with candles in hand.  Can you imagine (pardon the pun) sending your kid into a world of no God, no hope, no country, no peace, no heaven, no hell, no money, no possession, no government, no nuttin’.  

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics attempted that but finally had to give it up.  It is funny how hunger can make you change your mind in a hurry.  Communism is a hopeless, dark and desperate proposition but it is something that woes young uneducated kids to.  Like a siren that lured many a lonely sailor to their death, they just keep singing.  Just like the song, it uses deception and lies to fool the masses into a mind numbing mess.  Communism is something that will always plague us with its presence.  We, in fact, now have an entire political party dedicated to it which will need to be beaten back during every generation.  The lure of “free stuff” will never go away.  This is a fight that every new generation will have to fight.  The only antidote is to have fathers that teach their families the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Keep up the fight. Pray.  Study.  Don’t be fooled.    Just think, if we play the song backwards we will have hope, love, God, a country, possessions, law, families, heaven and peace.