Is Cremation Wrong for Christians? | Perry Stone

[Music] one of the questions that we receive from many people over the years is on the subject of is cremation wrong for someone who is a christian who is a believer and we're going to cover this today because we want to try to help people understand some of the issues that come along in life better from a biblical perspective or from the respect be perspective of the individual conscience etc now many questions come up about this because a lot of people are selecting the process of cremation after the death perhaps of a loved one and there's different reasons for that first of all there are individuals that maybe experienced a terrible fire they died in a fire they died in a horrible accident a plane crash something of that nature and the coffin itself could never be opened another another reason that you hear quite a bit is a funeral is somewhere around eight thousand dollars and it varies in different states it's a lot more than that some states cremation on the other hand in the state of tennessee is just slightly over two thousand dollars so there is a financial element especially with people that did not have burial insurance and for others it's an idea of you get to keep that connection with that person that you loved so much because uh most many times in fact most of the time after cremation the the the person's bones it's not actually the ashes the bones are put in an urn and there sometimes people have them in their office their home uh things of that nature and so that sentimental connection the love that people feel uh is also a part of this process for some individuals in scripture we know that the first embalming process that we read about was when joseph was embalmed in egypt there was a good reason for that because the embalming process as you know with the mummies of egypt helps preserve the body and joseph predicted that israel would come out of bondage and bring his bones home or back to the promised land which happened hundreds of years later and the scripture tells us that joseph's bones were in a gold coffin and they actually carried it 40 years in the wilderness and buried him in the city of shechem because he predicted they would bring his bones out and so he was embalmed moses died and it simply tells us that god buried him in the plains of pisgah you go ahead to the time of christ which is the roman period and we know the burial was a little bit different uh most many of the wealthier people they wrapped the body up let's say the person died that day there was no embalming process they wrapped the body up in linens and they put it into a grave and there it remained for a year then they would go back after a year unwrapped the corpse and take the bones and wash them with oil and wine put them in what was called an ossuary which is a very big box and that's what was placed later in the tomb and you could put a family could put 8 10 12 15 of those in a rock sepulchre and they have found those in jerusalem throughout history actually especially in modern time um so there has always been a certain burial process now among the jewish people this is deuteronomy 21 23 they take two verses out of that verse that apply to burial here's verse one you shall bury him that day and verse 2 is the body shall not remain overnight we have been in jerusalem when someone from the orthodox community would pass away and they would literally bury them the same day before sunset if possible and so um basically among the orthodox jews in israel there's no embalming process and again they bury them the same day and we have the embalming process in the united states to give the family members opportunity people don't live in one community the way they they used to people are in california they're in new york so they have to get off work and take time for what is called the uh go homegoing ceremony or the funeral as some call it so there's different reasons for that now the people who tend to be against the cremation process will bring up a verse like for example uh that uh acha had sinned and his body was burnt and therefore it represents you know a negative thing or they would bring up the the city of jericho where the lord told them to burn the city of jericho there's a reason god told them however to burn the city of jericho and that is because there were thousands of bodies out in the open it was very hot in the desert uh and it would take no time for the flies to come and disease to spread and that was actually a practical from a from almost a medical perspective of why the city of jericho had to be burned and the corpses had to be burned was to keep the disease from spreading which is what you see today when there have been for example tsunamis or things of that nature there's either a mass grave or sometimes it's a it's in the process of burning here's the point that i want to make let me just get right to the point the bible tells us to be absent from the bodies to be present with the lord when jesus died he gave up his spirit to god you are a body you're a soul and a spirit the body is the flesh the soul and the spirit is the eternal part of you the spirit is the part of you that if it would come out of your body would look just like you look when you die luke 16 angels separate the soul and the spirit out of the physical body now the bible tells us in genesis that at death the physical body will go back to the ground it goes back to the dust god said to adam from dust you came to dust you shall return now what that means is that the soul and spirit which is the eternal part of that person will go to be with the lord if they are in covenant with the lord and that's paradise in second corinthians chapter 12. if they are not in covenant with the lord if they've been died in their sins or have been wicked they go to a place that the bible calls hell which is a compartment underneath the earth now we're not talking about the body here we're talking about the soul and spirit so therefore whatever happens to the physical body at the moment that the soul and spirit leaves the body has no bearing on the future resurrection when christ returns it says in first thessalonians 4 those those who have died in christ he will bring with him meaning they will come out of paradise to the earth where they will experience a resurrection so for example if a person was completely burnt in a fire this is a sad story to talk about but kobe bryant in the helicopter crash there were just piles of ashes there and they weren't really ashes they were the bones of the body and it looked they were actually cremated uh in the accident and that's what they they tried to figure out which person was sitting and that's how they uh did the did the memorial service but that's an example so at the resurrection whether a person has gone through an embalming or a cremation it has no bearing on the resurrection and here's the reason why because the bible tells us that that we will all go back to dust meaning if we're buried in the earth even if we're you know we go through a little bit of embalming process but we're buried in the earth eventually hundreds of years later we go back to the dust we're going to go back to the dust so the cremation is the bones the body hundreds of years later later is bones all the people that died in christ's day are nothing but ashes in the ground from dust they came to dust they shall return but the important part is the eternal soul and spirit so the main thing is for a person to know they have this covenant relationship with the lord jesus christ that they have a redemptive covenant that their name is in the lamb's book of life so that when they pass away no matter how they leave this life that their soul and spirit has gone to be with the lord so i would say this way if you were to ask me the question that's what i talked about in my book secrets beyond the grave uh is is what should we do is it okay this is one of those places work out your own salvation with fear and trembling that verse applies to this situation families should talk about it a person should know before they ever pass away what their will is you want a traditional funeral or i know for instance just says i'm going to go with cremation i don't put that extra burden on the family some people have insurance it's all up to the individual it does not affect the resurrection of the dead so if you feel like cremation is the way to go it's best for your family you can choose that if you feel like the traditional barrel is the way to go you can choose that you can be like the orthodox jews never embalm the body uh they've actually you know if you've ever seen them they don't bury them six foot in the ground they actually uh lay them inside of a a tomb that looks like a big a big stone box you can see those on the mount of olives so anyway i hope that helped helped you maybe someone has asked this question before and if you ever have a friend that asks the question to point them to this youtube video we'll always have a special uh offer for you after the youtube commercial so watch this and give us a thumbs up subscribe to the channel we have a lot more information in the days ahead to share with you thank you for joining me believers that have served christ for many years are suddenly hitting spiritual roadblocks heavens that seem like they're made of brass and many other hindrances they have never before encountered with his time running short satan is releasing new levels of temptation and bizarre spiritual warfare in believers families churches and thought life how is the enemy sneaking through the protective hedge of armor causing distractions and defeat all satan needs is just a crack in any part of your six-piece armor to slip into a situation and initiate aggressive warfare [Music] perry stone's new book there is a crack in your armor is a timely read for all believers revelation from god's word along with perry's insight from 36 years of ministry and over 80 000 hours of bible study merge in this book to bring you a true manifesto on the inside strategies of the adversary and the methods of dealing with strange spiritual conflicts key subjects in this book include inheriting your ancestors demons winning battles in public but losing battles in private breaking the spirits of cutting and suicide the danger of falling upon your own sword how to mend the cracks in broken vessels it's not the devil it's you and reversing a self-curse what happens when an offense puts a crack in your shield getting back your mind when you're at wit's end seven common factors that will wear down your spiritual strength this book is part of package offer arm 112. along with this new book perry is offering the dvd teaching blood moons rising and the passover patterns perry began disclosing the significance of blood moons back in 1996 during jerusalem's 3000th anniversary there's much clamor concerning interpreting these cosmic 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Channel: Perry Stone

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Length: 12min 2sec (722 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 05 2021