Are the Dead Conscious?
By Chas. Thompson
THE writer recently attended the obsequies of a lady who was a wife and mother. The minister who was supposed to give comforting words before the casket hid the face from their view forever, gave expression to the following statements: "There is no death." "The dead are truly living, only changed to another sphere." That the spirit of the departed was hovering around, impressing him as he spoke, and it would often visit the husband in his lonely hours, and direct the future actions of the children, etc., etc. As I listened to such statements I thought upon what authority they were spoken. Surely they are not the teaching of God's word; and if not, they must be untrue, for His word is truth. And if untrue, they must emanate from the father of lies, and therefore a poor place to receive comfort in the hour of affliction. When God said to man in the Garden of Eden, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," the devil said, "Ye shall not surely die." So, tho the Lord says the result of transgression is death, the devil says, "No; they don't die at all;" and to prove to the world that this statement is true, he has invented and summoned to his aid "Modern Spiritualism," thru which he gives communication supposedly from our friends in the spirit world. But if our friends are not dead, as many obituary notices and funeral sermons declare, and if they are really helping us in this life, then the devil told the truth, and Spiritualism is the place to seek for comfort in the hours of grief and sorrow. But why, if "there is no death, but what seems so is only transition into a higher sphere of usefulness," should there be hours of grief and sorrow? If we believed such a statement we would not shed tears of sorrow at the loss of our parents or children; but rather tears of joy. And instead of sorrowing we would feel like shouting. The greatest objection to the idea of consciousness after death is that it is not true, because it is out of harmony with God's word, "which is truth." For it is written, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." 1 Cor. 15:26. Here Inspiration declares death to be an enemy; and why? — Because it robs us of our fathers and mothers, our babies and friends, and leaves nothing but vacancy and sorrow in its trail. Death is not only an enemy, but it is the work of the great enemy, the devil. In Heb. 2:14, Paul says, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He [Christ] also Himself likewise took part of the same; that thru death He might destroy him that hath the power of death; that is, the devil." Therefore, it is clear that in death one passes under the dominion of the enemy. And since this is the last act of his power upon the individual, death is the last enemy. The Dead and the Affairs of This Life.
The dead are not conscious, nor do they have to do with the affairs of this world after their departure; for it is written, "The dead know not anything, 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 anything that is done under the sun." Eccl. 9:5, 6. Also in Job 14:1, 2: "Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down. He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not." And in verse 21, "His sons come to honor and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." These scriptures plainly show that there is no continued consciousness nor further affliction with those who die. The inspired writers continue by saying, "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" (Eccl. 9:10); and "if I wait, the grave is my house" (Job 17:13). Jesus says, "The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice and shall come forth." John 5:28, 29. Paul adds his testimony to this by saying unless this resurrection takes place, those who have "fallen asleep in Christ are perished." "For . . . in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward those that are Christ's at His coming." 1 Cor. 15:18, 22, 23. Again it is written, "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Then the apostle adds, "Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thess. 4:16-18. Therefore, we see that the dead are sleeping in unconsciousness, waiting for a resurrection at the second coming of Christ; and it is from this truth we are to gather comfort, and not in the mistaken idea of consciousness in death and visitations and communications thru spirit mediums.