Immortality or Resurrection by William West (philippa perry book txt) 📕

to have been the second coming of Christ and after A. D. 70 the judgment day of each person, the death of the lost, and the resurrection to eternal life for believers are all at the moment of death. This seems to be their general teaching, but I am sure that are many variations within Realized Eschatology.
[12] REPHAIM VERSION OF HELL - ONE OF THE PROTESTANT VERSIONS OF HELL: A version of Hell that is Protestant, but in no way can it be called orthodox or traditional although most who believe it call themselves both orthodox and traditional. God, angels, and man (after death) are disembodied energy being capable of thought and speech without the need of a body. This version of Hell is Protestant; as far as I have been able to find no one teaches it but those who are called orthodox Protestants, but it cannot be called traditional or orthodox. Rephaim is in the Hebrew Old Testament eight times and is translated “dead” seven times and “deceased” one time in the King James Version; it is defined in some Lexicons as "departed spirits," "shades," "shadows," "ghosts," "name of the dead in sheol."
FIVE OF THE EIGHT ARE IN THE POETICAL BOOKS.
1. Job 26:5-6 "They that are deceased (rephaim) tremble beneath the waters and the inhabitants thereof. Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon ("Destruction" New International Version) has no covering."
2. Psalms 88:10-12 "Will you show wonders to the dead (rephaim)? Shall they that are deceased arise and praise you? Shall your loving kindness be declared in the grave? Or your faithfulness in destruction?"
3. Proverbs 2:18-19 "For her ("adulteress" New American Standard Version) house sinks down to death, and her tracks lead to the dead; (rephaim) none who go to her return again, neither do they reach the paths of life."
4. Proverbs 9:18-19 "But he knows not that the dead (rephaim) are there; that her (the foolish woman or adulteress) guests are in the depths of Sheol."
5. Proverbs 21:16 "The man that wandered out of the way of understanding shall rest in the assembly of the dead (rephaim)."
All five refer to the lost and speak of their death, deceased, destruction, dead, not attaining unto the paths of life, resting with the dead. The dead are simply spoken of as being dead. Nothing is said about them being alive some other place, nothing about a soul or a spirit that lives after the death of the body. THERE IS NOTHING IN ANY OF THE FIVE PASSAGES ABOVE THAT SAY ANYTHING ABOUT ANYONE BEING ALIVE IN HEAVEN, HELL, OR ABRAHAM'S BOSOM AT ANY TIME, NOT BEFORE OR AFTER THE JUDGMENT; THEY ARE AN UNDENIBLE CONDICTION TO THE ORTHEDEX DOCTRINE OF GOING TO HEAVEN OR HELL AT DEATH.
THREE OF THE EIGHT ARE IN ISAIAH
This is a book of many symbols, much like Revelation
(1) Isaiah 14:9-11 "Sheol from beneath is moved for you to meet you at your coming: it rises up the dead (rephaim) for you, even all the chief ones of the earth; it has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall answer and say unto you, Have you also become weak as we: have you become like unto us? Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, and the noise of your viols: the worm is spread under you, and worms cover you." This is a description of the fall of Babylon and has nothing to do with a part of a person after death. In this metaphor the past dead nations, nations that no longer existed were surprised to see a nation as strong as Babylon joining them. If the dead were alive, why would the dead in sheol be surprised to see another person join them when all that die would join them? It would make no sense if they were surprised to see anyone joining them. Even the trees join in with the dead nations and talk [14:8]. Only in a metaphor can past nations that are dead, that no longer exist, and trees talk [Isaiah 14:8].
In this passage Rephaim (one word) is translated:
• “The dead” (two words) in both the King James and the New King James
• “The spirits of the dead” (five words from one word) in the New American Standard even though “ruach” (spirit) is not in the Hebrew they added it
• “The spirits of the departed” (five words from one word) in the New International Version. It also added spirits even though it is not in the Hebrew
• “The ancient dead” (three words from one word) in the Revised English Bible even though there is not a word in the Hebrew in this passage that is even remotely kin to “ancient”
(2) Isaiah 26:14 "They [the nations] are dead (rephaim), they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise; therefore have you visited and destroyed them, and made all remembrance of them to perish." This is about nations that did not remember God. It has nothing to do with an "immaterial, invisible part of man" after death. It is hard to believe this passage is used to prove that a person has an immortal immaterial, invisible part of a person for if it were speaking of this part of a person then that part of a person is dead, deceased, shall not rise (no resurrection), and all remembrance of them has been made to perish. If this were an immortal soul, it would be nothing like the immoral soul of today's theology, it would teach there is no life or resurrection after death but some use this passage anyway to prove that there is life for all after dead in either Heaven or Hell.
(3) Isaiah 26:19 "Your dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you that dwell in the dust; for your dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead (rephaim)." Isaiah is speaking of the nation of Israel that was dead, they were not a nation, but were slaves in bondage to another nation because they had left God, now they had repented and were being restored as a nation. He is not speaking of the resurrection of any individuals Jews.
WHAT DO MANY BELIEVE? These passages are used to prove all the dead, both the good and the evil souls are NOW "rephaim." Many who believe the dead go immediately to Heaven or Hell at death use it although it would make the dead not be in Heaven or Hell where they believe the immaterial, invisible part of a person will be after death.
1. The Protestant version is that the dead are now alive in Heaven or Hell.
2. The after judgment version is that the dead are now alive in hades with some on the good side of hades and some on the bad side, but they use these passages and have the dead being in three places simultaneously.
3. The rephaim version is that both the good and the bad are together and exist only as shades or shadows not in Heaven or Hell. Yet, those who believe the Protestant version or the newer after judgment version of Hell sometimes use "rephaim" to prove "Hell" even though it would put all the dead together and not where they believe them to be, AND DEFINITELY NOTHING LIKE THE IMMORTAL SOUL OF TODAY'S THEOLOGY. The attack on Hell that is coming from many in most all churches is forcing them to take views not many Christians believe. It seems to be used only by those who are trying to prove a person has an immortal soul but are hard pushed to find any passage to prove it.
Which way do they go? "Rephaim" is used by Protestants in a way that does not agree with what they believe and teach; Protestants believe that the saved will be in their eternal home with Christ in Heaven at death, but step away from their belief and say at death both the saved and unsaved are together, and have only a weak shadowy existence and will have this shadowy existence unto the resurrection. Even if we did grant that rephaim is the "immaterial, invisible part of man" after death, it would contradict their beliefs about the "soul" being in Heaven, Hell. It makes all the dead be "shades" "shadows." Anyway you look at it, the eight times rephaim is used does more to refute the belief of going to Heaven at death than it does to support it. Are they so desperately in need of proof that a person has an immaterial, invisible part that can never die that they reach for anything even if it is far from what they believe and want to find?
Robert Morey, an orthodox Protestant, has written one of the most accepted and used books in defense of the doctrine of Hell that has come out in recent years. In his book he makes an argument for Hell which I think shows just how desperate he is for any kind of proof. In "Death And The Afterlife," On page 79 he said FROM THE MEANING OF REPHAIM, WHEN THE BODY DIES, MAN ENTERS A NEW KIND OF EXISTENCE. HE THEN WILL EXIST AS A SPIRIT CREATURE AND EXPERIENCES WHAT ANGELS AND OTHER SPIRITS EXPERIENCE. JUST AS ANGELS ARE DISINCARNATE ENERGY BEINGS AND ARE COMPOSED ONLY OF MIND OR MENTAL ENERGY AND ARE CAPABLE OF THOUGHT AND SPEECH WITHOUT THE NEED OF AN EARTHLY BODY, WHEN MAN DIES, HE BECOMES A DISEMBODIED ENERGY BEING AND IS CAPABLE OF THOUGHT AND SPEECH WITHOUT THE NEED OF A BODY. This is nothing more than a desperate attempt to prove that the "immaterial, invisible part of man" has some kind of life somewhere before and without the resurrection. NOT A ONE OF THE EIGHT PASSAGES WHERE REPHAIM IS USED IN SAYS ANYTHING ABOUT A REPHAIM BEING LIKE GOD AND ANGELS. He must have made that up out of thin air and hoped you would not see it is not in any of the eight passages. I wonder if he sees how low he is making God if God were like the rephaim in the eight passages? That he is making God be only "shades," "shadows," "ghosts," "name of the dead in sheol."
1. HE HAS MADE GOD BE NOTHING MORE THAN AN "ENERGY BEING," NOTHING MORE THAN MENTAL THOUGHTS WITH NO SUBSTANCE. He has made God, angels, and mankind after the judgment to be nothing more than mental thoughts; although he did not mention God, he has reduced God to being nothing more than thoughts, an "energy being." Morey's God has no body, no substance of any kind; therefore, Morey's Heaven can exist only in the mind of God. It cannot be a real place.
2. HE HAS MADE GOD WEAK. He has made, man and angels be disembodied energy being capable of thought and speech without the need of body and they are described as "Are you also become weak as we: have you become like unto us?" "God is a Spirit" [John 4:24]; he has spirits without bodies described as weak and being nothing more than mental thoughts, which according to him would include God being described as weak and being nothing more than mental thoughts. Is his God just weak mental thoughts; is that what your God is like?
3. HE HAS MADE THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IN A PERSON AFTER DEATH AND GOD TO BE ONLY A DIFFERENCE IN INTELLIGENCE. Both are nothing but mind. Thomas Jefferson in a letter to John Adams in 1820 said, "To say that God, angels, and the human soul, are immaterial, is to say