In John 8:32, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ made this wonderful statement, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Indeed, it is the Word of God that is able to make us free from the bondage and the deceptions of the enemy.

For two years now in my area of the Lord’s vinyard, our missionary work has been promoted in a particular area which is full of pagan doctrines and practices. The worst of all is the belief in the immortality of the soul and man’s and woman’s consciousness in death. And as a result, the whole land is in bondage.

One of the problems the common people here are facing is when their loved ones die. For instance, when someone’s mother or father dies, he or she is under obligation to give the community one cow, five goats, fowls and so many other things. And nobody cares whether or not he or she has the money to buy all these things. Consequently, the common people have been living in fear. When their parents die, they have no time to mourn; rather, they are busy worring about where to get the money to meet the obligations.

Because of this devilish practice, many poor people who own their lands have been compelled to sell them to meet the requirements. What baffles us so much is the way many go around begging people to buy their lands, cars, and other possessions to enable them to meet the requirements.

“What if one refuses to comply?” we asked. We were told that the spirit of the dead person will pursue the person and his or her siblings until they are all dead because they refused to do what their ancestors require from them. Tragically, many who could not meet the demand have died of stress from the crushing weight.

Similarly, when someone dies here, the people have a lake where they call up the spirit of the dead person in the late hours of the night to enquire what actually caused his or her death; or where they kept some valuable things. And according to them, the very person must appear to explain all these things.

However, the greatest problem is that the only church here teaches the same pagan doctrines - especially the immortality of the soul, and man’s and woman’s consciousness in death.

But glory be to God that His merciful presence in this land has made a difference. After we conducted a series of Bible studies with the local people, many have discovered that only the truth (the Word of God) can make one free indeed.

One needs to know how God formed man and woman, what death is all about, and what happens after death. With these clues, one can make the right decision.

“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” (Genesis 2:7). This passage explains that God formed man from the dust of the ground. And before God breathed into his nostrils, man was lying there and could not be found elsewhere on earth, neither could he make a single motion until God breathed into his nostrils; then man became a living soul. When the Bible says “living soul” it simply means “living person”. And we all know that living persons die. Ezekiel 18:20 says, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”

Therefore death simply means that God has removed the breath from the person, who then returns to the dust.

Here is what the Word of God says concerning this: “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish” (Psalm 146:4,emphasis supplied).

Death has no other meaning than that God, the giver of one’s breath, has removed it. It is the breath of God that enables one to speak, see, understand, move, and so forth. Therefore when the breath is expired, the person cannot perform any of these things any more.

The Word of God makes this clearer still.

“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 for ever in any thing that is done under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6).

God who formed all of humanity is the only one who can better explain the state of humanity in death. The Lord in His holy word made it clear that the dead do not have any part in anything that is done under the sun (that is, on earth). Furthermore, the Bible says that they do not have any relationship with their loved ones.

Here is a question, “Is it true or not that people can see their dead loved ones again?”

“Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness”(2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).

“There are few who have any just conception of the deceptive power of spiritualism and the danger of coming under its influence. Many tamper with it merely to gratify their curiosity. They have no real faith in it and would be filled with horror at the thought of yielding themselves to the spirits’ control. But they venture upon the forbidden ground, and the mighty destroyer exercises his power upon them against their will. Let them once be induced to submit their minds to his direction, and he holds them captive. It is impossible, in their own strength, to break away from the bewitching, alluring spell. Nothing but the power of God, granted in answer to the earnest prayer of faith, can deliver these ensnared souls.

“All who indulge sinful traits of character, or willfully cherish a known sin, are inviting the temptations of Satan. They separate themselves from God and from the watchcare of His angels; as the evil one presents his deceptions, they are without defense, and fall an easy prey. Those who thus place themselves in his power little realize where their course will end. Having achieved their overthrow, the tempter will employ them as his agents to lure others to ruin.”1

Yes, those who reject the plain word of God, those who refuse to search the scriptures will be tossed to and fro by the devil. The devil who knows their dead loved ones very well will impersonate the dead just to deceive them, and eventually destroy them. Because his purposes are to steal, and to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10). Again, only the truth (God’s holy word) can set us free.

“When Saul inquired for Samuel, the Lord did not cause Samuel to appear to Saul. He saw nothing. Satan was not allowed to disturb the rest of Samuel in the grave, and bring him up in reality to the witch of Endor. God does not give Satan power to resurrect the dead. But Satan’s angels assume the form of dead friends, and speak and act like them, that through professed dead friends he can better carry on his work of deception. Satan knew Samuel well, and he knew how to represent him before the witch of Endor, and to utter correctly the fate of Saul and his sons.

“Satan will come in a very plausible manner to such as he can deceive, and will insinuate himself into their favor, and lead them almost imperceptibly from God. He wins them under his control, cautiously at first, until their perceptibilities become blunted. Then he will make bolder suggestions, until he can lead them to commit almost any degree of crime. When he has led them fully into his snare, he is then willing that they should see where they are, and he exults in their confusion, as in the case of Saul. He had suffered Satan to lead him a willing captive, and now Satan spreads before Saul a correct description of his fate. By giving Saul a correct statement of his end, through the woman of Endor, Satan opens a way for Israel to be instructed by his satanic cunning, that they may, in their rebellion against God, learn of him, and by thus doing, sever the last link which would hold them to God.

“Saul knew that in this last act, of consulting the witch of Endor, he cut the last shred which held him to God. He knew that if he had not before willfully separated himself from God, this act sealed that separation, and made it final. He had made an agreement with death and a covenant with hell. The cup of his iniquity was full.”2

We saw a young man who sold the only car he had to provide for the needs of his family because, according to him, his dead mother was appearing to him and, as a result, he had escaped many accidents. Thus, he had no other option than to sell his new car to meet the obligations so that his dead mother should leave him alone. And today, he still does not have anything to provide for the needs of his family.

How wonderful and powerful are these words, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

The precious souls who are worshipping with us today, after receiving this wonderful message that the dead do not have any relationship with the living, are free indeed. The word of God says, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36).

Currently we have brethren who lost their parents, but they refused to waste their money over these pagan doctrines. Loved ones, friends, relatives have advised them to comply with the traditional practice in order that their dead parents should not take their life. But they declined and maintained firmly that the dead do not know anything, and for a considerable period of time now they have been living in peace without any problem - and interestingly, they have never seen the devil impersonating their dead parents; praise God for this.

The devil cannot deceive those who know his tricks, and he fears to be exposed.

Nevertheless, many others who have not accepted Christ are still living in bondage because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

“Satan has so blinded [the] eyes [of those deceived by spiritualism], and perverted their judgment, that they perceive not the evil; and they follow out the instructions purporting to be from their dead friends now angels in a higher sphere. Satan has chosen a most certain, fascinating delusion, one that is calculated to take hold of the sympathies of those who have laid their loved ones in the grave. Evil angels assume the form of these loved ones, and relate incidents connected with their lives and perform acts which their friends performed while living. In this way they deceive and lead the relatives of the dead to believe that their deceased friends are angels hovering about them and communing with them. These they regard with a certain idolatry, and what they may say has greater influence over them than the word of God. These evil angels, who assume to be dead friends, will either utterly reject God’s word as idle tales, or, if it suits their purpose best, will select the vital portions which testify of Christ and point out the way to heaven, and change the plain statements of the word of God to suit their own corrupt nature and ruin souls. With due attention to the word of God, all may be convinced if they will of this soul-destroying delusion. The word of God declares in positive terms that ‘the dead know not anything’ (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6). ‘For the living know that they shall die: but 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.’”3

Amazingly, the so-called church in this place teaches the people that the soul of man is immortal; they also teach man’s and woman’s consciousness in death, thus helping the people to sink more and more in perdition.

They teach that man or woman goes to heaven or hell immediately when he or she dies; it all depends on whether he or she has a good or evil record. But there is no such thing in the scriptures.

The Word of God says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, “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” (emphasis supplied).Here the Word of God says, “The dead in Christ shall rise first:” Who are the dead in Christ? They are the righteous. If they were in heaven, why then is the Word of God saying “The dead in Christ shall rise first?” This simply means that both the righteous and the sinners are in their graves awaiting the resurrection.

“And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:40).

And again John 5:28, 29 says, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (emphasis supplied).

Here God’s holy word explains that both righteous and sinners are in their graves awaiting the resurrection. They that have done good (the righteous) are still in their graves, and they that have done evil (the unrighteous or sinners) are still in their graves too, to be resurrected only when Christ shall come to give to every one according to his deeds. (Romans 2:6.)

Jesus said, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39, emphasis supplied).

“And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?” (Isaiah 8:19).

It is only God’s Word that is able to make us free indeed. Thank God for His Word, the Bible. Friends, be not deceived, “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence” (Psalm 115:17).

Through the light that Christ gives in His word, you can know the truth, and only the truth shall make you free.