Death has no terror for a disciple of Christ, for Jesus has conquered death. Death is a defeated enemy. Jesus died and made Satan powerless thereby so that we need no longer have any fear of death (Heb. 2:14,15). The keys of death are now in the hand of Jesus (Rev. 1:18). Only He can open the door of death for any of His disciples now. Satan can't touch them.
What happens when a man dies? Jesus answered this question clearly when He spoke about the rich man and Lazarus. It would be good if you read Luke 16:19-31 right now, before proceeding any further.........
This is not a parable - for in no parable did Jesus ever use a man's name as he did here. Both the rich man and Lazarus were real people.
Jesus made it clear here that there are only two places to which the dead go. One is Heaven (also called `Abraham's bosom' or `Paradise') - a place of comfort; and the other is Hell - a place of torture and suffering. As soon as a person dies, his soul goes immediately to one of these places, even before his body is buried on earth. And even though he doesn't have a body, yet he will be conscious of his surroundings and of comfort or pain.
Man is a threefold being, consisting of spirit, soul and body (1 Thess. 5:23). At death the soul and spirit are separated from the body, and go either to paradise or to hell.
While on the cross, Jesus told the repentant thief that he would be with Him in paradise that very day. Both Jesus and that thief went to paradise as soon as their souls left their bodies. Jesus had said that after His death, He would be in `the heart of the earth' for 3 days and 3 nights (Matt. 12:40). From this we know that paradise, at that time, must have been in the heart of the earth. But when Christ was resurrected "from the lower parts of the earth.... and ascended on high.. He led captive a host of captives" (Eph. 4:8,9). He took paradise and all the souls in it up to the third heaven.
In 2 Corinthians 12, when we compare verses 2 and 4 together, we see that paradise is now located in the third heaven. This is where the disciple of Jesus goes as soon as he dies (Phil. 1:23).
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Zac Poonen ( - Present)
God called brother Zac Poonen to a new work early on in his Christian experience. The movement is now called Christian Fellowship Churches where the New Covenant of New Testament Christianity is clearly preached.Brother Zac Poonen has written 25 books most of them being on the deeper Christian life. Many of these have been translated into a number of languages and have been circulated widely around the world. He clearly and passionately shares the narrow way of Christian discipleship that is neglected by so many modern preachers.
Recommends these books by Zac Poonen:
Through The Bible by Zac Poonen
The Final Triumph-A verse by verse study of the book of Revelation by Zac Poonen
Beauty for Ashes by Zac Poonen
Zac Poonen is a former Indian Naval Officer who has been in full time ministry in India for nearly 50 years as a Bible teacher and preacher. He holds responsibility for a number of churches in India and abroad. He currently pastors the Christian Fellowship Church in Bangalore, Karnataka.
He has written more than 25 books and numerous articles in English - which have been translated into many Indian and foreign languages. His messages are available on audio and video format.
Like the other elders in his church, Zac Poonen also supports himself and his family through what he describes as "tent-making" and does not receive any salary for his services. He does not receive any royalties for any of his books, CDs or DVDs, that are published by Christian Fellowship Centre, Bangalore.