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What we believe and teach - Eschatology - |
The state of man after death
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Man
consists of body, soul and spirit. When he dies, his spirit returns to God
who gave it, his body returns to the dust because it was taken out of the
ground, while his soul continues to live consciously in another world. |
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When a
Christian dies, his soul goes immediately to |
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When a
sinner dies, his soul goes immediately to Hades (Greek word which means ‘the
unseen world’), which is a place of torment located in the heart of the earth.
Hades is a place without any order, full of thick darkness, where sinners are
tormented by fire, which causes them terrible pains and sufferings. In Hades
there is weeping and gnashing of teeth and the wicked await
the resurrection of condemnation. |
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The coming of Christ and our gathering together to
Him
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The Lord
Jesus Christ will come back in His time on the clouds of heaven with power
and glory, and with the holy angels. He will descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the
dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall be
changed by the power of God and we will be caught up together with them in
the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. In that day all those who are Christ’s
will receive a body which will be like the glorious body of Christ. Therefore
their bodies will be immortal, powerful and glorious. In that day the
redemption of our body, which we are eagerly waiting for, will be fulfilled. |
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The coming
of Christ and our gathering together to Him will take place after the falling
away has come and the man of sin (that is, the antichrist) has been revealed.
The man of sin will oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God or
that is worshiped, and will set himself up in God’s temple proclaiming himself to be God. He will perform all kinds of
counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and every sort of evil that deceives
those who are perishing. In that day the Lord Jesus will consume the man of
sin with the breath of His mouth and will destroy him with the brightness of
His coming. We reject the doctrine called ‘secret rapture.’ |
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The coming
of the Lord is near. The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, but is longsuffering toward us,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Let us see to it that we abide in Christ, that when He appears, we may have
confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. |
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The judgment seat of Christ
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After
Christ has come, we will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each
one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body,
whether good or bad. Therefore each of us will be rewarded according to his
conduct. That’s why we must live a holy and blameless life, having a pure
conscience before God and men, hating and fleeing every form of evil, because
in that day each of us will give account of himself to God. |
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Every
minister of the Gospel must see to it that he builds on the foundation, which
is Christ, with valuable things, that is, gold, silver, precious stones, and
not with vain things, that is, wood, hay and straw; because the day of Christ
will bring to light each one’s work, because it will be revealed by fire; and
the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work
which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward; if anyone’s work
is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as
through fire. |
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The millennial reign and the following events
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When
Christ comes, a thousand-year reign will begin, during which Christ will
reign with His saints on the earth. During this reign Satan will not be able
to deceive men because when Christ comes he will be bound and cast into the
Abyss, which will be locked and sealed over him to keep him from deceiving
the nations any more until the thousand years are ended. |
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When the
thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will
go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, to
gather them together to battle. They will go up on the breadth of the earth
and surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire will come
down from God out of heaven and devour them. Then Satan will be cast into the
lake of fire burning with brimstone (or the everlasting fire), where he will
be tormented forever and ever. |
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Then the
heaven and the earth will be annihilated by God (they will flee from the
presence of God and there will be no place for them, and God will create a
new heaven and a new earth) and the final judgment will take place. All the
sinners will rise and appear before the throne of God and they will be judged
according to their works, by the things written in the books. And they will
be cast into the lake of fire burning with brimstone, which is the second
death, where they will be tormented forever and ever. In that day the angels
of Satan will be judged, who went with him when he rebelled against God, as
well as the angels who did not keep their proper domain but left their own
abode to fornicate with the daughters of men (God cast those angels into a
prison called Tartarus, putting them into chains of darkness to be reserved
for judgment). |
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After the
final judgment, the |