Death Dying and the Afterlife

Reality check through practical application
Death and Dying
The next time you are at a loved one’s bedside during the last moments of their life and they take their last breath, watch their body at the moment of death. Many times there is a jerking motion when the spirit leaves the body. That is the moment the spirit leaves the body and goes back to heaven. The body remains as an empty shell and the essence of that person is gone forever.

In practical terms the jerking motion at the moment of death is explained perfectly by this Greek word Harpadzo. Seize, catch up, snatch away obtain by robbery. catch, seize, take by force.

Within the Biblical concept of this process we have 4 principle verses that are the key to understanding. Ecclesiastes 12:6, 2 Corinthians 5:7 and 8, 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13.

The Bible explains this event as being “caught up” or dying, either individually or collectively. The Greek word is “Harpadzo”. Here are the English words that are key to understanding in 1 Thessalonians 4:17; “Caught Up” G # 726 (har-pad'-zo) to seize, catch up, snatch away obtain by robbery. catch, seize, take by force.

Dying, death, the dead. nekros, hoi nekroi, ek nekron and 'ek ton nekron
“Die” H # 4191 muth: to die Original Word: מוּת Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: muth Phonetic Spelling: (mooth) Definition: to die crying, be dead body, man, one, put to, worthy of death, destroyer, A primitive root: to die (literally or figuratively); causatively, to kill -- X at all, X crying, (be) dead (body, man, one), (put to, worthy of) death, destroy(-er), (cause to, be like to, must) die, kill, necro(-mancer), X must needs, slay, X surely, X very suddenly, X in (no) wise.
“Die” G # 599 apothnéskó: to die Original Word: ἀποθνῄσκω
Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: apothnéskó Phonetic Spelling: (ap-oth-nace'-ko) Definition: to die Usage: I am dying, am about to die, wither, decay. be dead, death, die, lie dying, be slain. From apo and thnesko; to die off (literally or figuratively) -- be dead, death, die, lie a-dying, be slain (X with). see GREEK aposee GREEK thnesko
A group G # 3507 nephelé: a cloud Original Word: νεφέλη, ης, ἡ Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: nephelé Phonetic Spelling: (nef-el'-ay) Definition: a cloud Usage: a cloud. cloud. From nephos; properly, cloudiness, i.e. (concretely) a cloud -- cloud. see GREEK nephos
Below are all the times the term “caught up” is used in the NT
2 Corinthians 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
2 Corinthians 12:4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 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.
Revelation 12:5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
Acts 8:39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.
The moment of Death
2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. (It doesn’t say you go lay in a hole in the ground, You are absent from the physical or carnal body)

Ecclesiastes 12:6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. 7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

(The dust is symbolic for flesh-carnal-terrestrial mankind)Your flesh body goes back to dirt and your spirit goes back to God. The great Harpadzo… explained on an individual basis and also collectively at the second coming.

Paul explains where both the celestial and terrestrial bodies go
1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
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: (The dead in Christ are already with Him and they will return with Him
17 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.
The verses above are the go-to verses for the rapture doctrine but there is a glaring contradiction in this doctrine found within these verses staring us right in the face. The subject established in verse 13 is the location of all who have died in the past. If you believe Christ died and rose again and He is in heaven then you better believe that all people who have died in the past have done the same.

The glaring contradiction is this; If you believe the terrestrial body has died and the celestial body goes back to the Father at the moment of death of the flesh, how could the physical body rise to meet the Lord in the air? You must understand which body is being spoken about, it is the celestial body that will meet Jesus at His second coming and also “all” who have died in the past. Look at 2 Timothy 4:1.
Another obvious contradiction in the pre trib rapture doctrine is they claim 1 Thessalonians 4:17 is the rapture but they don’t believe Paul’s explanation of chronology of the second coming in 2 Thessalonians is. In other words they believe 1 Thessalonians is a rapture and 2 Thessalonians is the second coming. This is false, both are speaking about the second coming.

Look at this verse below now and understand it within context…

Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (This is a reference to the nature of the flesh after it dies, it knows nothing and will never be remembered again. Some will sleep in ignorance and some will awaken to the truth. It has nothing to do with a flesh body coming up out of a grave.
Paul explains the different bodies we all have
1 Corinthians 15:35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
38 But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

Within the context of Ecclesiastes,1 Corinthians 15 and 2 Corinthians 5 we have to come to the conclusion that this being “caught up” harpadzo is speaking about the celestial body and not the carnal terrestrial body. Jesus was different in that He was translated but we are changed in the moment of a twinkling of and eye. This applies to death at anytime in the past and also at the second coming.

So…with this in mind the words “meet Jesus in the air” of 1 Thessalonians 4:17 have to be understood in their proper context. You meet Jesus in the air in your spirit-celestial body. The word “air” as it is used here is your breath of life body.

Below are the Greek words that are key to understanding these verses
“Caught Up” G # 726 har-pad'-zo to seize, catch up, snatch away obtain by robbery.
“Clouds” G # 3509 nephos a dense crowd, a multitude, great company.
“Soul” G # 5590 “psuché”: breath, the soul (a) the vital breath, breath of life, (b) the human soul,
“Air” G # 109 aér air, the lower air we breathe. From aemi (to breathe unconsciously, i.e. Respire; by analogy, to blow); "air" (as naturally circumambient) Breath of Life Body

The modern day Church has turned this event into a circus sideshow and made a mockery of the dying process and the second coming of Christ and they call it a rapture. Instead of the spirit leaving the body, they claim it’s the body being separated or caught up from the earth and flying away to meet the Lord in the “air”. This is a contradiction of many verses in the Bible but they claim it’s true. This is what happens when you let uneducated people do your Bible translation for you.
Flesh and blood will never enter into heaven at any time in all of history.

1 Corinthians 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
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