Good afternoon,
Bro. Eli, I’m a Catholic. I just would like to be enlightened on what verse(s) in the Bible can you find the place where the soul of dead people go until such time that the day of judgment comes. Is it true that if a person dies suddenly his/her soul still haunts the area where he/she died? Is it true that their souls stay here for the first 40 days after death?
Thank You Very Much.
Cherry Atienza
pieatienza@yahoo.com
Dear Cherry,
Welcome to my website!
I would be very glad to answer your question using the Bible as the basis, where the word of God is recorded. But in a corner of my mind, I feel sad and sorry for your question because I can perceive that so many Catholics like you are lost in their belief not because they are hard headed people, but because they are being deprived by their priest of the proper knowledge due them.
(Jeremiah 23:30) “Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbor.”
A teacher or a preacher must teach the entire truth of God available in the Bible for the salvation of man. The danger of being deprived of wisdom and understanding may result into destruction.
(Hosea 4:6) “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”
It is God’s commandment and an outstanding responsibility of a preacher to make known unto His people the word of God.
(Jeremiah 26:2) “Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD’s house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’s house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word…”
The fact that not only a word but, an entire doctrine is not being taught you by your priests aggravates their negligence and your chances of being lost.
(Romans 11:25) “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.”
History and documents testifies to the inability of Catholics authorities to teach the truth to about a billion adherents of the Catholic Church. For so many centuries, Catholic authorities from the pope to the parish priest made people believe that there is a limbo: where souls of unbaptized children go if in any case they die.
I know you are using a computer — maybe a laptop. May I help you through your computer find the truth. You can search the entire Bible looking for the word ‘limbo’ in less than 15 seconds. Limbo is not a teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, neither; it is apostolic, because it is not in the Bible and is an ‘invention’ of Catholic priests.
(Ecclesiastes 7:29) “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.”
These inventions are also called in the Bible as fables.
(2 Timothy 4:3-4) “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
Millions of Catholics have died in the past believing that there is such a gory place called limbo: But now, to the surprise of the world, the present pope discarded the doctrine of limbo and threw it into the vault of oblivion in the Vatican City.
Souls of unbaptized children go to limbo and souls of grown ups go to purgatory. You must not be surprised if someday you will wake up to know that the Pope is also discarding the doctrine of purgatory, after all, it is not in the Bible, nor the idea of it.
But where do souls go after death? Will they linger for forty days near the place where they died and hunt for anything? Let us consult the word of God.
(Ecclesiastes 9:5-6) “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. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in any thing that is done under the sun.”
After the death of our physical body even our memory and emotions do perish. A dead man can do nothing.
(Ecclesiastes 9:10) “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”
The spirit returns to God and the dust returns to dust.
(Eclessiastes 12:7) “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”
This is so if the one who died is a godly man, his spirit will return to God, but if a man is wicked, then his spirit is imprisoned until judgment day.
(1 Peter 3:19-20) “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.”
What about the soul? You must understand first that the soul is not the spirit and the spirit is not the soul.
(Hebrews 4:12) “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
The spirit and the soul can be divided or separated by the word of God. What is the soul then?
(Genesis 2:7) “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
The union of the flesh or dust from the ground with the breath of life is what became a living soul. Your entire being plus your emotions, memory and faculties is the soul. If someone dies the soul is in the hand of the Creator, The entire being of a man is in the hand of God after death, and will remain under God’s power until the resurrection to face judgment.
(Job 12:10) “In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.”
This gives us peace of mind for we know that the souls of our dearly departed are in the hands of God. A vision was seen by John wherein the souls of murdered Christians are asking for God’s justice, but God told them that the time of vengeance has not yet come, and said, they should rest for some more time until judgment day.
(Revelation 6:9-11) “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”
Can there be any part of your being that will linger on earth or return to your house and stay for 40 days? None!
(Job 7:9-10) “As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.”
The CBCP (Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines — the largest Catholic country in Asia) said that the soul of a departed relative may visit their former dwelling place and relatives, and even advised their love ones to listen to their message, in utter rejection and defiance of the Biblical teachings of God. God prohibits the living to consult the dead. It is an abomination in His sight.
(Deuteronomy 18:10-12) “Don’t sacrifice your children in the fires on your altars; and don’t let your people practice divination or look for omens or use spells or charms, and don’t let them consult the spirits of the dead. The LORD your God hates people who do these disgusting things, and that is why he is driving those nations out of the land as you advance.” Good News Bible translated with permission by Catholic authorities. The complete Bible has the imprimatur of John Francis Whealon, Archbishop of Hartford.
I want you to think about this, if there really is a purgatory, how can they visit their former dwelling place and love ones. The truth is, that they will be in God’s hands until the resurrection.
What will happen in the resurrection?
(Daniel 12:2) “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
(Ezekiel 37:4-6) “Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.”
Nobody can escape God’s judgment; the dead will be resurrected to face the judgement seat of God.
(Revelation 20:11-12) “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”
God Bless,
EFS
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