Do People Die and Go to Heaven?

By Garfield Gregoire

Belief in Going to Heaven

Millions of professing Christians around the world believe in going to heaven, and perhaps, you have been led to believe or assume this to be true. Even people who may not profess to be Christian seem to believe that a deceased loved one has gone to be with God in heaven – for they will often say that the loved one is in a better place now; we have heard that over and over again from people who have lost a loved one.

A famous preacher said, “… I am looking forward to that glorious day of going to heaven.” But does the Bible really teach that people die and go to heaven? Have you ever looked into whether or not this is really true?

People have a tendency to assume things without proving if these things are true. The Bible says we must “PROVE ALL THINGS” (1Thess, 5:21). God says we must use his word to prove if a thing is true; and so, let us use God’s word to prove this matter of whether or not people die and go to heaven.

The Belief in the Immortality of the Soul

Man has long held the belief that man has an immortal soul that lives on after death; the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Greeks and Romans all held to the belief that something lives on after death; that there is consciousness somewhere. The Greek Philosopher Plato taught that body and soul separated at death, and the professing Christian world has adopted this similar belief in the immortality of the soul. However, the Bible does not teach that man has an immortal soul; it teaches the very opposite – for the Bible says, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die …” (Ezekiel 18:20).

Genesis 2:7 states, “… God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” This word soul comes from the Hebrew word Nephesh, and it simply refer to a living breathing creature; it means that the man himself or his physical body is a living breathing soul or living human being and not about an indestructible and eternally existing consciousness that separates from the body at death. Man is wholly composed of matter; he is made physical and not an immortal being, therefore, man gets life by breathing air that goes in and out of his lungs; this breath of life means we have been given only a temporary or chemical existence; God did not create man with eternal life; all we have is the moment of breath when we breathe in and out, and in our final breath we die and our consciousness ceases. The life we have is only temporary; real life or immortal life is in God and it only through the atoning sacrifice of Christ that man will eventually be made immortal – having eternal life; and that is going to happen at the second coming of Christ -when the true Christians are resurrected to immortality.

I ask you to consider this: If man had an eternal soul that lives on after death, then it means that man would have been given some form of immortal life or consciousness, but nowhere in the Bible does it teaches that man was given eternal consciousness – by way of an immortal soul; on the contrary, God created man a physical Being subject to decay and death; and it is for this reason the Bible states that “… the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ …” (Roman 6:23). In other words, the payment or wage a person receive for sinning result in death; death means the end of life or consciousness; the Bible says, “For the living know that they shall die but the dead knows not anything …” (Ecclesiastes 9:5). It would surely be a contradiction of the Scripture if death means life in heaven or hell. Notice the Bible also says that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. If man had an immortal soul, then why would God need to give you eternal life as a gift? Why would God give you something that you already have? Furthermore, the Bible teaches that those who died in the faith, are to be resurrected from the dead at the second coming of Christ (2nd Thess. 4:16). But if the dead saints are already alive up in heaven – supposedly enjoying a time of bliss and happiness in the presence of Christ, then why does God have to then go back and resurrect – from the dead, a saint that is already alive and well in heaven? Why does God have to resurrect that dead saint from the grave at the second coming of Christ? This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. A famous judge said, “If something does not make sense it is usually not true.”

This belief in the immortal soul is simply not true; it is a lie that Satan has used to deceive humanity; he used this lie of the immortality of the soul to Mother Eve – when he said, “Ye shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4). Satan, by way of the serpent, led Eve to believe she would continue to live on and on; the serpent had her believing in the immortality of the soul and that there was to be no consequence for disobeying God; this is where this great LIE started and it has been passed on down to an unsuspecting world – who just like Eve, does not believe what God says; she believed Satan’s lie over God’s truth and millions of professing Christians continue to believe this LIE.

If man had an immortal soul that lives on in heaven, then just try to imagine if heaven would be a happy place as people think; just try to imagine that you or I died and went to heaven, and in heaven we would look down and see our family – maybe a mother, father, daughter, or son mourning in heart breaking grief or sorrow, and there you are in heaven looking down and seeing all this but is not able to communicate with your loved ones to tell them you are in heaven and that you can see them; you are simply in a position where you constantly see their grief from heaven but God will not allow you to talk to them and console them in anyway at all; all you can do in heaven is to just watch your loved ones suffer in grief and sadness. Do you think that in a situation like this, that you would be happy – having joy and peace of mind in heaven – while you know your loving child, mother, Father, son or daughter is continually suffering the sorrows of this life and you are there helplessly looking on? I tell you a heaven of this kind would be a living nightmare – where God would be some kind of a sadistic jailer or prison warden that deprives you of the opportunity to help your loved ones. Surely, this kind of heaven would not be a better place for a deceased loved one. Thankfully God is of holy and righteous character who would not cause people to suffer in such manner. Lamentation 3:33 state that God does “not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.”

What The Bible say About Going to Heaven

Now we come to see the true answer about going to heaven; we now come to see the actual truth of what God says about heaven.

Notice what Jesus said - as recorded in John 3:13: “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” Please notice that Jesus made it clear that no human being – except himself has ever gone up to heaven; this means that from the time of man’s creation to the time of Jesus Christ not one flesh born human has ever gone up to heaven; and yet, people do not believe what Christ said because millions of professing Christians believe men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David have died and gone to heaven.

I want you to notice what the Bible says about David: notice Acts 2:29: “Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher (his grave) is with us unto this day.” So, here the Bible tell us in simple words that David died and was buried; just as all humans die and goes to the grave so did king David.

But did David have an immortal soul that left his physical body at death and ascended up to heaven? Remember, millions of professing Christians believe that David is alive in heaven. Contrary to what Jesus said about no man ever ascending up to heaven, the professing Christian world rejects what Christ said and believe that David and the rest of the patriarchs are all in heaven. But notice what the Bible says: “For David is not ascended into the heavens …” (acts 2: 34).

Did you see what your Bible says? It says David died but he did NOT ascend up to heaven. This Scripture alone SHATTERS and DESTROY this LIE or this MTYH about going to heaven. Here in plain truth, God words tells you that no one dies and go to heaven. Ask yourself just how is it possible that millions of professing Christians who claim to believe the Bible is the inspired WORD of GOD, can be so blind to this plain teaching of the Bible that clearly shows that people do not die and go to heaven and how can they ignore God’s word that says the soul is mortal and does die (Ezekiel 18:20)?

In John 14:17 Jesus declared that God’s Spirit is the Spirit of truth. In other words, truth emanate from God – because HE is the very embodiment of truth. For men to believe this LIE about the immortality of soul must mean there must be another spirit within the minds of these people to believe the opposite of what God says, it means that there is an opposing spirit influencing the minds of the millions to reject God’s truth or the truth that comes from the Spirit of God.

Revelation 12:9 reveals that Satan has deceived all the people on the face of the earth, and I know that people would take great offense at me saying that the millions of professing Christians have been deceived by Satan, but this happens to be true; the professing Christian world has been deceived on many vital and important truths in the Bible and this belief in the immortality of the soul is one of them. Jesus taught that many would come in his name declaring and professing that Jesus was the Christ, but at the same time they would deceive many others (Matthew 24:5). Think on it: Jesus said these people would come as his representatives professing his name – preaching and telling people that they are his ministers or servants of Christ; these so-called representatives of Christ would hold soul saving crusades; they will seek to convert people; they will form Churches – some Mega Churches; they would call themselves Evangelicals, Catholics, Protestants, Baptist, Pentecostal, Calvinist, Lutherans

and all kind of different sounding names – along with their differing practices and beliefs, and yet they would deceive many because they would not be proclaiming the truth; they would believe and adhere to teachings, practices and customs that are contrary to what the Bible says, but Jesus said his true servants would be sanctified or set apart from the false religious practices of this world – as they would know God’s truth (John 17:17).

People are often impressed by church leaders; by their personalities and charisma – which has been used to deceive the masses of people, but God is not impressed by personalities or how influential and powerful a church leader or a Mega Church maybe. There is one particular leader of a Mega church, that some call the smiling preacher; of this man, they say his church is built on his charisma, and that he has “magical magnetism.” But do you think God is impressed by human magnetism or magical personality or that a man has thousands of followers? I tell you NO! God is not impressed by human personality; what God looks for in a man is the willingness of that man to believe what God says in his words and to strive to live by those truth. In Isaiah 66:2 God says, “… but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word.” The word trembleth means to have a reverential fear for what God says in his word; this is not the kind of fear that God is going strike you down with a lightning bolt but is about you having respect for what God says. And while I am not here to condemn anyone, those who chose to believe the opposite of what God says are not being respectful to God’s truth; they do not tremble at his word, but, instead, disagree with God the Father and Jesus Christ. If you look closely at these Mega Churches, you will find that they teach and preaches doctrines that are contrary to the Bible, but the unsuspecting masses do not realize it and blindly go on assuming that these men are the true representatives of God.

Little does the world know that God’s truth has never been a popular thing in this word; the truth of God has not been widely believed or accepted by the masses, instead, people tend to go along with their popular religious traditions and practices that are contrary to God’s truth; and it is for this reason, Jesus prophesied that this world would love its own, but his true servants would, instead, be hated by this world – because God’s true servants would not adhere to the popular and false religious doctrines and teachings of this world; they would not be like sheep blindly following or going along with the popular or widely religious beliefs and customs of this world (John 15:18,19). The Churches of this world has been so loved by this world that some of their religious leaders have had streets and places named after them or named in their honor; they are so honored because they are pleasing to this world and not to God.

People do not seem to realize this is Satan’s world and not God’s world; Satan is the master and boss of this world – deceiving humanity on God’s truth at every turn. 2 Corinthians 4:4 makes it very plain when it calls Satan the “god of this world” who blinds the minds of people to God’s truth, and in Satan’s world, God’s truth is not going to be very popular thing to say; Satan will do all in his power to ensure God’s truth remains unpopular. But thankfully, Jesus Christ will soon return to unseat Satan from the rulership or control of this world.

The truth of the matter is that people do NOT die and go to heaven; this is a lie that Satan has deceived people into believing. Satan’s is a great counterfeiter who counterfeit God’s truth with lies – which is the very opposite of God’s ways. Through this belief in the immortality of the soul, Satan has deceived the world into believing that man has within himself self-existing life that requires no dependency on God; it seeks to mar or blur the fact that eternal life comes through Jesus Christ who said, “… because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). Immortal life comes not through man having an immortal soul, but it comes through the very fact that Jesus lives. The blood of Jesus Christ forgives our sins, but we have eternal life only because Christ is alive; we have eternal life through his life; Sometimes, I think people do not fully grasp this.