Great post Evan! much food for thought there. 

Let me reiterate, when I speak of a new method, I'm not talking about a purely intellectual system, but a process by which we endeavor to receive revelation. I believe God works within me when I study His Word. "Consider what I say and the Lord give you understanding in all things" The method is simply an organized way of doing that considering.

Well, let's get into this. The section of PFAL with which we're dealing is in Part III, How the Bible Interprets Itself: Chapter 13; In It Context. I don't see any problem with the basic idea of interpreting the Bible in its context, with the exception I mentioned yesterday, that we should check the context before going to word studies and "scripture buildup". As he used the Scripture harmony and Scripture buildup to present his version of the crucifixion of Christ, Dr. Wierwille used the section on context to set forth his theology on death and the afterlife.

The fact that he tried to preach the gospel while teaching his "keys to the Word's interpretation" is commendable. Unfortunately, much of what he preached about the crucifixion is suspect at best, erroneous and divisive at worst. This section on context has the same flavor; it is an extended criticism of the Church and each verse he uses as an example of one taken out of context makes other minister look foolish. He could have taught the same lesson without this apparently divisive undercurrent, but for whatever reason, chose not to.

The Scripture he cites spends the most time on is Matthew 22:32 and its context. After dealing with the context of Matthew 22;32, he goes on an extended sermon about the 'challenging counterfeit' without mentioning scripture. The best way I can think of to deal with this is to quote much of it and supply the verses I think support or contradict what's said. Although there are problems on the horizon that are foreshadowed in this sermon, I think most of what he says here is accurate. (The problems on the horizon are in his definition and description of soul life, which we'll get to in a moment.) Let's start with Matthew 22. On pages 184-185, we read;

Well, they are not all that far removed, but they are different. This is a very important distinction VP makes here. There are far more verses in the Bible about resurrection than about death. If we read the record in Matthew 22 and ask ourselves "what does it not say, we see this distinction reinforced. The Sadducees did not ask, "Where are these dead people now and what are they doing?" In other words, the Sadducees' question didn't deal with the nature of death, but about the circumstances of the resurrection, which follows death. This fits the overall scope or greater context of the Gospels. More on that later. Back to the book. Page 187.

I believe this statement can be proven right by the record of King Saul and the witch of Endor recorded in I Samuel 28.

Because Saul believed that Samuel, who had died, was still alive somewhere and accessible, he fell into a grave sin; He consorted with a woman with a "familiar spirit". This was strictly forbidden in the Law. Such a woman would be considered a psychic in our culture, so I think VP's statement here is Biblically sound.

This record also bears out the veracity of VP's statement that the information given by mediums and psychics is sometimes accurate. What the woman said about Saul's disobedience was true and was perhaps the "hook" of the false prophecy. Without these truths mixed into their declarations, people wouldn't follow their advice. The reason for its accuracy is addressed in the next part of this paragraph; still on page 188.

In fairness to the rest of the Church, this statement isn't exactly true. Here, VP ignores or glosses over the truth that many Christians know of the existence and power of our adversary. The secular world fits his description, but they are the same people who deny the power of the true God, so this statement is a bit distorted. I think most Christians who believe the Bible is God's Word also believe in the existence of Satan. VP did not corner the market on this insight. As for scriptural proof, there is of course II Corinthians 4:4. "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." So because of his position as the god of this world, Satan has access to information and can pass it to psychics in order to legitimize their 'prophecies' such as that of the witch of Endor.

This statement is corroborated in I Corinthians 15:20-23

Let's hit the pause button for a moment. "The Bible says that when one dies, he stays dead..." What exactly does the Bible say about death? Actually, not much. The most concise and informative passage in the Bible about death is in Ecclesiastes chapter nine.

According to Ecclesiastes, a dead person has no awareness. The word "device" in verse 10 means "thought". There is no work, nor thought, nor knowledge nor wisdom in death. "For the dead know not anything." Perhaps more importantly, in relation to the topic of spiritualism and psychics, is the statement "...neither have they a portion forever in any thing that is done under the sun." A dead person cannot warn a living person about anything because the deceased have neither knowledge to impart, nor the ability to communicate with the living. So essentially I think VP is correct in these statements. Unfortunately, the next statement is not as defensible.

This is where the problems begin. Later in the class, in the context of body, soul, and spirit, VP teaches that the spirit of a deceased saint goes back to God who gave it. In session six discussing the forming of man's body from the dust of the ground, in Genesis 3:19 he says, "Because of the law that's involved. Everything must ultimately go back to its original form." A "law" is inferred from this verse and statements are made that are not and probably cannot be substantiated in the Bible. From the springboard of this "law", VP goes on for about five minutes about how the eastern religions which have a heaven for all the animals are right and logical if you believe the soul is spirit because the spirit came from God and must go back to God.

This problem is compounded in Session seven during the teaching about the new birth when, in discussing Ephesians 2:10, he says "God recreates the dead man spiritually." The concept of the gift of holy spirit being a new you, or "the real you" became entrenched in TWI thought and teaching, demonstrated by the title of John Lynn's first book, Will the Real You Please Stand Up?. If God recreates the dead (unsaved) man spiritually and that spirit becomes the "real you"; and, if the spirit must go back to God "because of the law that's involved", then when a Christian dies, where does he go? He goes to heaven! Then the people whom VP ridicules in the paragraph above are correct.

I think that idea is more than a stretch.

While you're contemplating that, consider the following;

Here we have a scene from Revelation describing deceased saints in heaven. Whether they had been resurrected or not yet is not clear, but what is clear--and astounding for us former Wierwillites--is that the Word here isn't talking about their spirits being in heaven, but their souls. Psuche, that is. So again, if the soul dies, these folks have no business under the throne of heaven! Another reason to discard PFAL doctrine regarding the mortality of the soul. But wait, there's more!

Here again we have God's Word speaking of the souls of dead saints. Here it is quite clear that we are reading about resurrected believers. Note the end of verse five. Please note that of these souls, the Bible says, "...and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." Can there be any doubt that VP was wrong in this regard? According to Revelation, the soul does not die with the body, but lives on in heaven.

Jesus spoke of the soul being separate from the body.

Jesus taught that one could kill the body, without being able to kill the soul. VP Wierwille says the soul dies with the body. Well who do you think was right, Jesus Christ or V.P. Wierwille? No doubt in my mind about that. Jesus Christ rightly divided the Word.

How, praytell, if one's soul dies with the body, is God going to preserve our whole spirit and soul and body until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ? According to PFAL doctrine, only our body and spirit would be preserved because the spirit goes back to God who gave it, and the body would be raised and changed at Christ's appearing. If that is true, Paul's benediction makes no sense. If the soul disappears with my last breath, it can't be preserved until the gathering together.

Obviously not only Ecclesiastes 12:7, but also Revelation, Matthew, and I Thessalonians declare that soul life is more than "breath life" born of sperm and egg. It's much more than what PFAL says it is. If the Lord tarries, our bodies will fail, but our souls will live on; they will go back to God who gave them; they will be preserved until the Lord's return; after which our souls will be in heaven for a long, long, time. HALLELUJAH!

Now that we know what it is not, we can begin to search the Word of God for an accurate understanding of what it is.

Well hello all you blessed people. Sorry about the hiatus, but I've been studying Are the Dead Alive Now? and the parables of the gospels. More on that in a moment. For now, let's pick up again with page 190 of PFAL.

This is a reference to Matthew 17:2-9 and is, I believe, an accurate representation of the Biblical record.

I believe the context of Hebrews 11 supports VP's claim that the great cloud of witnesses with which we are surrounded is the Biblical record of the faith of the believers of the Old Testament. They, by faith, became witnesses to all. Back to PFAL; page 192, paragraph 2

THE UNJUST JUDGE: Luke 18:1-8

THE TEN BRIDES: Matthew 25:1-10

THE UNFAITHFUL SERVANT: Matthew 24:45-51

This servant was not faithful, so his Lord came back and cut him into pieces. I don't think Jesus was advocating that householders and employers mete out this kind of punishment to their unfaithful servants. He was once again preaching the urgency of repentance and faithfulness, preparing Israel for his return and the "day of vengeance of our God." Much of the gospels can be understood in this light. Remember that, at the beginning of his ministry (Luke 4:18-21), Jesus quoted from Isaiah 61:1 & 2, but stopped at "the acceptable year of the Lord" , omitting "the day of vengeance of our God". Then he said, "this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears".

The gospels are the record of the acceptable year of the Lord during which Jesus was preparing Israel for the day of vengeance of our God. This is why he spent so much time preaching to them about the separating of the wheat from the chaff and why so many parables deal with repentance or the return of a master or Lord. The constant references to harvests, flames, and such were designed to move God's people to repentance and righteousness so they would not be included in the resurrection of the unjust and be cast into the lake of fire. (Matthew 3:11 & 12, 5:29 & 30, 7:19, 10:28, 13:24-51, 18:8 & 9, 24:32-51, Mark 9:43-48, and Luke 17:24-37)
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Well, that about wraps up the are the dead alive content of the context section. As I said above, I think there are errors in VP's statements about soul life and its mortality, but I also believe that, with the exception of Enoch, what he presented in PFAL about death itself is correct. The great majority of the scriptures that deal with "afterlife" are in the context of the gathering together or the resurrections. Indeed, most of the New Testament is in the context, for we are looking forward to the return of Christ at which time the dead in Christ will be raised and our everlasting life will begin in earnest (pardon the pun). There is actually very little written in the Bible about death itself. None of those who were raised from the dead by prophets, apostles, or Our Lord gave testimony to what it was like to be dead. Nor did Jesus himself talk of it with his disciples, as far as we know. The emphasis in God's word is not about what death is, but about the eventual defeat of death, what LIFE will be like when death has been vanquished, and what to do in the meantime in anticipation of our future glory.