The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1935-03-09
Rx DR.. L. T. WILDS

Christian Observer.
What becomes of ones soul OIL
self when death comes, the heart
ceases to beat and physical life
is extinct? Job faced this ques.
ton when he thought that he was
facing death. Yea, man givett
up the ghost and where is he!,
! Job 1870. Every man faces II
a thousand times. And the
thought of it fills most people
with fear and dread. Shakespeare
speaks Of
"The dread of something after
death,
The undiscovered country from
whose bourn
No traveller returns"
And the Scripture speaks OF
them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to
bondage" Hebrews 2:15), life
long slaves to the fear of death.
Man dieth, and where is he?"
Men have given various answers
to the question: Extinction of be-
ing; that death is the end; that
it is with us as it is with the
beasts of the field and the trees
and the flowers; the transmigra.
tion of the soul-that the soul
takes up it's abode in some other
body here on earth; purgatory-
that the soul goes to place
where it is purged as by fire; the
unconscious sleep of the soul
that from death to the end OF
time the soul is in a state of un-
consciousness as of the body
asleep.
Perhaps the hast idea has come
even to Christians from the fact
that the Bible speaks Of death as
"sleep" and of dying as "sleep-
ing" Jesus so spoke OF the death
of Lazarus. "Our friend, Lazarus,
is fallen asleep; but l go that /
may awake him out of sleep"
And Paul, speaking of death, says,
eve all shall not sleep" and re-
fers to them also that are fallen
asleep in Jesus" And we engrave,
Asleep" on our caskets and
sing, ASLEEP in Jesus! Blessed
sleep"
But we should notice that
"sleep" with reference to death Is
used in the Bible only in connec-
ton with the! resurrection of the
body and so only Of the body It
self, not of the soul or spirit.
"Man dieth, and where is he"'
We shall endeavor to answer the
question as to Christians or be-
levers only. And we shall seek
the answer of the Bible only. We
can know absolutely nothing OF
what lies cut beyond death ex-
cept what God tells us in His
Word. The answers of men-ex--
tinction of being, etc, are but
Pigments of their imaginations,
ideas spun out, of their own minds,
as spiders spin their webs of their
own bodies, and are worth no
more than cobwebs.
What light is thrown upon the
question by
THE OLD TESTAMENT? ..
Read Genesis, the fifth chapter,
near the very beginning of Gods
Word, and you can imagine you
are walking through a cemetery
and reading the epitaphs of the
dead. The frequently occurring
"he died" is like the tolhng of a
church bell. But there we find a
striking answer to our question.
There a godly man dies, and
where is he? The answer is God
took him." ~And Enoch walked
with God; and he was not; for
God took him" Genesis 5:24)
You remember the child's version;
Enoch used to walk with God ev-
cry day; and one day he walked
farther than usual and it was get
ting dark and God said to him.
"Enoch, you had better come or
Home with Me tonight" and he
went home with God and found il
so beautiful that he just stayed
there.
Another Old Testament eX'
preston of the death Of the be-
lever is, "He was gathered to his
people," For example, here is the
record of the death of Abraham
"the friend of God" and the IA
Their of the faithful" "And Abra,
ham gave up the ghost, and died
in a good old age, an old man
and full of years, and was gath
cred to his people" (Genesi'
25:S). What a beautiful idea OF
death that is! A reuniting with
loved ones gone before. We have
had old people to tell us that they
wanted to 60, because they haC
so many on the other side.
"More homelike seems the vas
| unknown,
Since they have entered there.
David said of the baby he hat
lost in death, 81 shall so to him
but he will not return to me.
III Samuel 12:23.)
Solomon concludes his pictur
esque description of old age an
of the decay and death of tn
body with the words. "And tn
dust returneth to the earth as i
was. and the spirit returneth un
to God who gave it" .(Ecelesiaste
12.O.
And to our friend, Job. who ha
given US our question, the brigh
prospect of death was that h
would see God, his Redeemer. H
said he knew that his Redeeme
: lived and that, though his bod