Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Here is a letter I wrote to our little church group.
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10-2-17
Sometimes a secular term becomes so much a part of us we don't fully realize it.
When John Rodgers died, the subject of going to be with the Lord came up.
I brought what I believe to be scriptural thinking concerning someone who dies which is they fell asleep.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (precede) them which are asleep (dead). For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. *****
When Renee died, Juliett wrote of Renee "passing away".
I looked up "passing away" in Bible search and did not find any scripture in context of a person dying.
Passing away is something humans made up to appease their thinking. The Bible tells us that person who dies is "asleep".
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John 11:11-14 ... Jesus speaking concerning Lazarus who has died ...
Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
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I suggest each of you also look this word up in by going to an Internet Bible and typing "passed away" into your search and bring up all scriptures relating to this and review those scriptures.
Here are the scriptures which speak of "passed away" in the New Testament: * II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. * Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. * Revelation 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
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If there is a deep rooted thinking in you saying a dead person has "passed away", I believe you will uproot it if you will look at all scriptures which speak of "passed away", especially NT scripture.
Passed away is something people have made up to make death palatable in speaking of it.
The problem is the truth is in Jesus, and if we try to use anything secular to replace the truth of the Bible, at some point we are likely to get burned.
What the Bible teaches is the dead person is asleep.
When you say "passed away", this can give rise to all types of fleshly thinking about where he passed away to ... Catholics have one place, others imagine another.
A Baptist woman once told me she knew her dead husband was in heaven with her brother-in-law and they were having a beer and watching the Cowboys" (football team in USA).
Nonsense ... and shocking thinking for a person who calls herself Christian.
We must root ourselves in Bible on all things and speak Bible when we speak.
Asleep should be clearer. He is in a state of rest, waiting for the kingdom of God, for Jesus to come and gather him with the other saints of God just as we are told in I Thessalonians 4.
So please look up "passed away" and consider what the scriptures say about this phrase and become solidly established in this term.
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