Soul Sleep?

It has come to the attention of ‚  Moriel”s American branch via a Messianic Fellowship affiliated with our ministry in southern California that it has been falsely alleged that I subscribe to a doctrine I have always regarded as false called ‚   “soul sleep”.

“Soul Sleep”  is a doctrinal error, which ‚  to my understanding is held by Seventh Day Adventists and other aberrational sects, but it is not my view and never has been. The New Testament is clear that when a believer is out of the body they are with the Lord. In the narrative of Lazarus and the rich man, Jesus made it clear that there is an active postmortem consciousness. (Lk. 16:19-31)

A correct understanding of my views on this subject are available on the Moriel tape series Thanatology. While time (kairos) exists only relative to us, and scripture on this basis does describe the dead as “sleeping in their graves” – this is a sleep only relative to those in time as they await the resurrection. Upon “giving up the ghost”  however, souls and spirits enter eternity outside of the realm of time as we know it and are fully conscious in the presence of the Lord. (In eternity, the Book of Revelation shows that there is “chronos” but not “kairos“.) Quoting from my tape series, one way God’s Word relates this is the translation of Paul ‚  as reported by him in 2 Corinthians: he “did not know if he was in the body or out” . In other words, upon entering eternity, the saints, as it were, will not know if they are dead, but they will certainly know they are alive and conscious and with the Lord. Soul sleep is simply not a biblical doctrine. I do not believe it, have never believed it, and never taught it. And in one recorded non-Moriel tape in a question and answer session, I specifically warned against it as an unscriptural view normally held by various cultic groups.

There is again, more to be said on the subject than I can effectively explain at length, so I will refer those interested to the tapes.

I do not know the source of this groundless rumor, but I do not appreciate having things ascribed to me I never said and do not believe. Worse still is attributing things to me I have publicly stood against and warned about.

If Robert Morey wishes to debate me on the subject of soul sleep, I accept his challenge, providing he himself does believe in it. Otherwise however, I cannot debate in favor of an erroneous belief I myself reject as bogus and void of any biblical foundation.

As Robert Morey and I befriended each other recently and clearly share much common ground in terms of shared positions on ecumenism, Islam, hermeneutics, and what has become of CRI, I am frankly disappointed that he did not contact me directly to verify if this “soul sleep” was my indeed my position ” “ which it most certainly is not and never has been.

Sincerely In Christ,

Jacob Prasch