Continued
| Some of their remarks make it
clear that belief in spirits visiting from the afterlife was common and
accepted: Matthew 14:26…and the disciples having seen him walking upon the sea were troubled saying, “It is an apparition and cried out in fear”. Luke 24:39…handle me and see, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as I have…( Jesus appears in the midst of the disciples after his resurrection and they are frightened and think that he is a ghost. Jesus is the one here who speaks of the existence of spirits) Mark 9:4…Then Elijah appeared to them, along with Moses and they were conversing with Jesus… Mark 9:11…Then they asked Him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first”(before the messiah) Matthew 17:12-13…But I tell you that Elijah has come and they did to him whatever they pleased… and the disciples knew that He spoke of John the Baptist… These passages are especially intriguing because they seem to insinuate that John the Baptist was the prophet Elijah reincarnated. The soul can incorporate different bodies, such as when Jesus appeared to two of his disciples after His resurrection and they did not recognize Him at first… and two were going in the field, walking, and He was manifested in another form… Jeremiah 1:5…before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thee came forth from the womb, I sanctified thee…The soul pre-exists the body. |
Solomon’s Book of
Wisdom Chapter 3...they seemed, to the foolish, to be dead and their
passing away an affliction and their going from us utter destruction,
but they are at peace…”In the time of their
visitation they shall shine and they shall dart about as sparks through
stubble…” This passage is a short excerpt from a longer chapter which speaks of the rewards for the virtuous soul after life and the dire consequences of the wicked. It is enigmatic and does not seem to match the rest of the content. It could be interpreted as such; At the time when dead souls visit this world, they will look like darting sparks and emit their own light. Perhaps like an orb? The subject of the existence of spirits in The Bible does not appear often but it is there if you look. The Holy Scripture says that we ‘live, move and have our being in Him’. Jesus said, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand’, not way up there somewhere. It is beside us, in front of us, behind us and within us. Are the millions of dead souls asleep, waiting for Judgement Day. If so, then are all reported apparitions demonic or angelic? Or, are the dead capable of revisiting this material world, as some biblical writings tend to suggest? |
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