Praying for The Dead is A Lie

A day or so after the assassination of terrorist bin Laden, a Roman Catholic priest here in Melbourne made headlines by challenging his people to forgive him and pray for him.  According to the newspaper the priest said bin Laden was a man who needs all the prayers he can get as he goes before God. “It’s hard to think of anyone who needs it more,” he said.  Again, “But considering what he has been responsible for, this is a man in need of prayer.”  I suspect as long as this priest is around that church there’s going to be a lot of praying for bin Laden, because Yasser Arafat is still on their prayer list … a man who’s been dead since 2004.

There’s nothing new here of course, praying for the dead is the obligation of all Roman Catholic people whether the dead be famous, infamous or not famous.  I can still see rosary beads in the hands of people from my early childhood, praying for the dead nearly sixty years ago – themselves now all dead.  On a Television documentary a lady was learning of the heroic efforts of a family member who was killed one month before the close of World War Two.  She visited his overseas grave, knelt before it, placed an Australian flag upon it and then spoke to the relative as though he was alive and listening to her every word.  Although there was no evidence she was Roman Catholic, she was praying for him.

One evening just before Christmas I was driving on a minor road next to a cemetery.  It was dusk.  Clearly visible at one grave site were two burning candles and a distraught lady with a cigarette and glass of wine in hand.  Had she been praying?  I don’t know.  A few meters up the road there was a similar scene, without the candles.  Some years ago I knocked on the door of a home, an old lady answered and when she heard Jesus’ name mentioned she said she had not long been back from the cemetery.  She’d been visiting her husband’s grave, “making sure he was being comforted.”  She was not Roman Catholic.

I conducted a funeral service for the Roman Catholic family of a young man who took his life.  After the service the young man’s uncle asked me if I would walk with him to his brother’s grave site.  When we came to it he then asked if I would pray for his dead brother.  I said I wouldn’t, giving explanation as to why.  He was not the first person to ever request such a prayer.  During three and a half years of community ministry for the gospel of Jesus, that was a frequent request but one I always refused to engage in, again giving explanation for that decision.  That priest’s comments about bin Laden recalled to mind the evils of this teaching on praying for the dead.

Young or old, Romanist or Protestant, believer or non-believer, this influence from Rome upon them is every bit as destructive and evil as the influence from bin Laden and terrorism.  Somebody says, “that’s a big call to make.”  Yes, it is and I don’t back away from it.  The word ‘terrorist’ means: ‘a person who terrorizes or frightens others.’   The word ‘terror’ means: ‘overwhelming fear, intense fear or anxiety.’  These meanings fit perfectly with the manifestations I have witnessed in people who pray for and/or talk to the dead … full of anxiety, riddled with fear (and guilt), terrorized to their innermost being – not so much for those whom they pray for and speak to, but rather for themselves.  I am yet to meet the person where this does not show up to be the case.

Any religious system that claims to be the Magisterium, that is: ‘able to interpret and teach the truths of the gospel either infallibly or fallibly’ and yet fails to declare in that interpretation or teaching what Jesus Christ clearly said about life after death is not a legitimate system, it is an illegitimate system … every bit as illegitimate as any terrorist organization.  To be spiritually, mentally and morally imprisoned by a theology of uncertainty on life after death from the writings of the Apocrypha (hidden), which neither the Lord Jesus Christ nor the apostles ever referred to, has done more to destroy the souls of people throughout history than any terrorist organization could ever dream up.  Its insidiousness has eaten into all fabrics of society.

The influence that this evil teaching has upon the biblically ignorant, arrogant and careless, lines up perfectly with what Jesus said in John 10:10.  Where truth and certainty in Christ can be found in abundance for every individual person ever born … resulting in peace, liberty, power and direction, the vast majority in every generation have been/are/will be stolen from, killed and destroyed.  That’s how it is for them in life, that’s how it is for them in death.  Praying for the dead is a lie.  Talking to the dead is a lie.  Feeling guilty for the dead is a lie.  There is no truth in a lie.  There is no life in a lie. 

Hitler knew the truth about lies … he had a remarkable insight into human nature.  He taught that the public is far more willing to accept the big lie than a small one, based on the premise that nobody would tell a such a lie if it were not true.  He taught that people soon begin to repeat the big lie, then eventually they defend the big lie.  Eventually the big lie becomes the truth and the actual truth itself becomes no longer relevant.  No better example do we see of this principle being out worked in human nature than in the rejection of Jesus Christ and the declared truth of His gospel, for the acceptance of religious theology based on the wild imaginations of religious men.

Right about here someone says, “You are nothing but another bigot! You’re just another intolerant, loveless, ignorant anti -Catholic.”  If that someone is you, you’ll have to come up with something better than that … but not for me, you’ll have to come up with it for the Lord Jesus Christ.  I bless you and give you the freedom to reject every word written here.  Jesus Christ gives you the same freedom.  But on the day you stand before Him and give your account as to why you did reject His word, there’s no defence for you.  This is a One on one deal.  Your priest, pope, church, denomination -or – your non-religious opinions and philosophies will be no defence.  Christ will throw them out of court!  Not only that, but you will know you chose lies over the truth.

In my post: Dumb & Ignorant Statements, I talk about, “the horrendous price that people are paying all over the world for not simply their ignorance of the Bible, but more importantly their rejection of the Bible.”  I have discovered that “rejection” is the key word.  In the majority of cases where I was given the opportunity to share with people what the word of God says about the certainty of our eternal future versus the word of uncertainty from religious man and/or humanistic philosophy, the latter were deemed to be the more attractive in spite the fear, anxiety (guilt) and terror that goes along with it.  Remarkable but true.

Here’s what I’ve witnessed about fear in religious people.  They are afraid of God.  In their thinking they dare not get too close to Him, they’d rather have a go-between.  And, they’d rather be told by that go-between what’s required of them. Man’s religion fits that bill perfectly.  They don’t bother to check out if it’s true or not … if the go-between teaches it as such, then it must be so.  That’s what they want to think, that’s what they want to believe.  But, the payoff is horrendous.  Anxiety, restlessness, sleeplessness, hopelessness, sickness, guilt, pills, booze, doctor’s bills, hospital time … but still praying for the dead!  Why?  Mainly because they want the living to pray for them when they’re dead, but also because they think it’ll help get them into heaven.

So how does this influence and effect those who, “don’t believe in God and anyhow, I’m not religious”?  They are not really all that different to the others.  They may not pray for the dead, but they’ll pray to them and talk to them.  More than one man and woman tearfully told me they regularly pray to mum, dad, husband, wife, a son or a daughter. Very sad to witness indeed. No God … no faith … no hope.  But still, they were not really interested in hearing that there’s a better way.  Some would simply wipe their eyes, thank me for calling, take their pills, drink their booze and carry on with “life” continuing to remain victims to circumstances that Truth would, in time, cause them to be victors over.

So why did I not pray for the dead as asked?  Answer.  There’s no point.  It’s a wasted prayer. When a person dies he either goes to heaven or he goes to hell.  If he’s in heaven, he doesn’t need prayer.  If he’s in hell, all the prayers in the world are never going to get him out of there – end of story.  There are no second chances in eternity.  You either trust in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ while you’re on this earth, or you don’t.  If you do, then you have eternal life.  Eternal life is God’s life.  God can’t die, so that means neither can you.  But if you don’t have eternal life and you have no desire to obtain it, then you are dead already … no prayer can save you.

That’s the message from the 66-book Bible – from Genesis to Revelation.  It is the Bible that’s the Living word of God, not the Apocrypha.  One can argue against that till hell freezes over, but it will change nothing.  Despite whoever has done so down through history, and despite how well-intentioned they might have been or are today, praying for/to the dead remains a pagan practice, it is not a biblical practice.

It is an offence to God, an offence and devaluation of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and it grieves the Holy Spirit of God.  It brings a curse (execrate, imprecate, doom) upon all who engage in it, never a blessing.  No wonder doctors, chemists/drugstores and hospitals will never run out of business. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting (eternal) life, and shall not come into judgement, but has passed from death into life.” John 5:24.“Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.” John 8:51.