Arizona republican., 1919-12-23
CONTINUE REVIVAL SERV|CES; 78 NEH! MEMBERS OF CHURCH

The revival services at the Christian church continue. MT. KeIlems an- nounced yesterday that there would be no night off for Christmas. People should go to church on Christmas if at no other time of the year, he says. adding that Christmas week is Christ's week. and should be spent in his serv- ice. The evangelist declared that we often get away from the true mean ing of Christmas and consider only d gala time.
 It was announced that 7s new mem bers of the church have been made during the revival. MT. Kellem's topic last night was: "where are the righteous dead?" This subject he con- sidered especially interesting at this time when so many have recently lost lrved ones in the world war.
 This question at times, comes to every man." he said. When we look into the dead face of a loved one we can not help wonder where the real soul man is. Of course we are prom ised that the righteous will in the end 20 home to God but the question is: Where are those souls between the time of death and the final judgment day?
 Various theories are abroad in the world One of the popular views is that the soul of man sleeps: that the time between death and the final
 
 for the soul. Another theory is that there is a conscious intermediate state of the dead where all the departed spirits wait until the final day.
 What is the argument for an inter mediate state of the dead? We hear it is necessary because there is a fixed day of judgment when all men will be judged. These souls could not be called out of heaven or hell to be judged for their Judgment would have been decided before they could have been assigned to the proper place.
 TO me 1t is unthinkable that God would keep us in doubt and waiting for thousands of years to know our destiny. There is no reason for an intermediate state of the dead. Be- fore the death of Christ there was this waiting place. Sin separates between God and man. The offerings of bulls and goats only rolled ahead year by year the sins of the people. Christ wiped out the sins of the world, both past and future. Sin was atoned for and man could be clean from his sins immediately. There was no longer a need of waiting and therefore the intermediate state was done away. II believe that today if a man dies he will go directly to heaven or hell ac cordinG to the life he has lived on this earth. God knows our reward just as we'll as a thousand years after ward so why wait. Judgment is going on at this minute At death we are judged and sent to our future state. \ day with God is as a thousand years. This never did mean day of our cal endar time. God does not think in time as we have set it apart
 There is a comforting thought to all of us. Of these things we cannot be | sure for we are not directly told in the bible. but we can find differences | from which our conclusions are drawn | Great men differ widely on this sub | ject- I choose to believe that the | righteous have gone home to heaven. | This thought takes away a large part | of the terror of death. Death is but | a moment of time and we are at home | with God It reconciles us to the death of loved ones when we think of them as being better off than they would have been here on earth with all the worldly trials and pains