BIBLE TRUTH ABOUT CREMATION -By Luke C Divines

Cremation has been increasingly gaining prominence in recent years. More people around the globe are electing to have themselves or their loved ones cremated. Some prefer it because of reduced costs as compared to customary burial. Others just think it is the right thing to do. Still others prefer it but cannot explain why.

In Kenya, since the demise of the renowned professor Wangari Maathai, the number of Kenyans whose bodies have been cremated have increased. But long before then, prominent Kenyans like former Cabinet minister Peter Okondo had opted for cremation in 1998.

Last year 2018, the Nairobi County government urged residents to consider cremation terming it more economical, given that the Lang’ata cemetery is full. Im tempted to think will Satan will never run out of excuses!

The purpose of this message is to take a brief and concise, but in-depth, look into this subject. We will see what the Bible has to say about it, and then, as a Christian, you can decide what to do regarding this sensitive matter.

First and foremost, although cremation does not affect one’s salvation as people are cremated without the knowledge of it happening to their remains, I wish to emphatically state, however, that no properly informed Christian would choose cremation. The very thought of having one’s body disposed of in such a cruel manner has its source elsewhere and not from God.

Accidental Burnings To Death.

Just a few months ago the ill fated Nairobi bound Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 707 crushed, caught fire and burned everyone to death. Many burned to ashes. Some were true believers whose “bodies” will be raised at the Rapture according to 1 Thessalonians 4. Many have perished in furious infernos around the world. Such accidents are neither new nor few.

We also know that the Church of Rome burned many Christian martyrs at the stake. Martyr Polycarp is remembered in this. Certainly, being a victim of an earthly fire does not necessarily determine where you will spend eternity. Paul says that flesh and blood will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 15:50.

God Planned How To Handle Fire Eventualities – He Has Human Parts

Every manufacturer has spare parts for their products. The Divine Manufacturer of the human body has spare parts in heaven. It is common sense that if someone was amputated, he or she will miss that natural limb till death. COMMON SENSE DICTATES THAT IN HEAVEN SUCH A PERSON CANNOT CONTINUE LIMBLESS. There is no imperfection in heaven. He will be given new limbs.

The Bible is not built on extra biblical revelations, dreams and visions. But I have read of people whose souls were taken to heaven and God permitted them to see souls of people they knew who had died missing certain limbs. They were now whole.

During the ministry of Jesus, some received rare miracles by having missing limbs restored. In Matthew 15:31, the Bible says “…the maimed made whole.” It means missing parts miraculously grew. If Jesus provided missing parts down here, parts are in up there in heaven in abundance.

I am made to understand by those who have been to hell and back, that in hell, if you died blind or with missing limbs, you will stay that way throughout eternity. No miracles in hell. Again, without building a doctrine on extra biblical revelations, it makes sense that there are no miracles in hell.

God will give born again souls a spiritual body of His making in the resurrection. As a divine Manufacturer, God had planned for such eventualities.

BUT THOSE WHO VOLUNTARILY CHOOSE CREMATION, EVEN IF THEY WERE SAVED, HAVE CHOSEN A PATH CONTRARY TO GOD’S KNOWN WILL. AND SUCH DELIBERATE CHOICES HAVE ETERNAL CONSEQUENCES

Your Body Is God’s Temple – A Seed

I Corinthians 6:19-20 says “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, in your spirit, which are God’s.”

So why would a Christian choose to have his or her body burned to ashes after death? Why would a Christian want to burn to ashes the temple that God once lived in? Luke believes the Divine Owner of the temple has the say over what He wants done with His temple. He has made it clear in His Word. Any other choice is rebellion.

We also understand that God refers to the body at the time of death as a seed to be planted in the earth and rise on the resurrection day.

In I Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-44, we read, “But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain. But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body…

“So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.”

Thus, the body is to be sown, or planted, in the ground and not burned to ashes. God could not be clearer, and anyone who still does not understand, may just not want to understand. Understanding is choice

Jesus Christ The Example For Us All

The Lord Jesus Christ is our great example in all things. Yet He was buried. When Jesus blessed the woman who had anointed Him shortly before He was crucified, He said in Mark 14:8-9: “She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.”

Thus, the burial of Jesus was a part of the Gospel itself. The Gospel, or good news, is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Gospel cannot be represented by choosing to have your body burned! If Jesus Christ had elected to have His body burned there would have been no burial for which the body had been prepared, no resurrection, and finally no salvation. Eternal loss.

Further, it is written of Christ in Psalms 34:20, “He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.” God was keen on matters of Christ’s burial. He is keen on yours too when the time comes.

In John 5:28-29, Jesus Himself said “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”

Jesus said the dead are going to hear God’s voice from somewhere – from the graves. Not from some pot full of ashes in an individual’s bedroom.

God Himself Buried Moses In Grave

When Moses died, God Himself buried him. In Deuteronomy 34:5-6 we read: “So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the Word of the Lord. And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day.”

In this case, God Himself did the burying, and He did not cremate Moses! Satan, to whom is reserved everlasting fire, wanted the body of Moses but could not have it. Verse 9 of Jude tells us, “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the Devil, disputing about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.”

We can be sure the Devil’s intention or motive with the body of Christ was not genuine, anything but good or burial. I strongly suspect the Devil wanted to cremate Moses. Why would he contend for a dead body with which he had no intention?

Joseph Chose Burial Of His Bones

In Hebrews 11:22 the Bible says. “By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones.”

Please note that it was not a request. It was a commandment, and not a suggestion concerning his bones!

Lazarus And “Lazarus Come Forth”

The story of the sickness and death of Lazarus is told in John 11. Lazarus was raised from the dead because he had been buried. If he had left a will for his body to be incinerated, his body would have been burned to ashes, and he would not have been resurrected. God’s glory intended in his resurrection would have been thwarted.

When Jesus arrived at the home where Lazarus and his two sisters lived, the body of Lazarus lay in the grave. When Jesus called out “Lazarus come forth,” Lazarus came forth FROM THE GRAVE. Just if he had been cremated?

Everyone whom Jesus raised from the dead arose because their bodies had not been burned to ashes. Cremation is Satan’s vain attempt to sabotage the resurrection of the dead.

Consuming Fire Is God’s Judgement

Deuteronomy 4:24, 9:13, and Hebrews 12:29 say God is a consuming fire that consumes and destroys His enemies completely.

Fire has always been a sign of the judgment of Almighty God! The Genesis 18 and 19 story of how God destroyed the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah is known worldwide by sinners and saints alike. God rained fire and brimstone on them because of the pervasive homosexuality of the inhabitants.

These cities and their inhabitants were incinerated, or cremated, by the wrath of Almighty God. Which makes me think that those who choose to have their bodies cremeted are playing themselves into God’s wrath.

We also read of God’s anger and consternation against Moab because of their cremation activity. The prophet Amos says in Amos 2:1, “Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime.”

The prophet Amos was there referring to the incidence recorded in 2 Kings 3:26, 27.

The renowned Bible commentator Mathew Henry says:

“There was war between the Edomites and the Moabites. The king of Moab, in distress and rage, offered his own son for a burnt-offering, to appease his deity, 2 Kings 3:26,27. And it should seem that afterwards he, or some of his successors, in revenge upon the Edomites for bringing him to that extremity, having an advantage against the king of Edom, seized him alive and burnt him to ashes.

“Or they slew him and burnt his body. Or they (Moabites) dug up the bones of their (Edomites’) dead king, of that particular king who had so straitened him. And, in token of his rage and fury, burnt the bones to lime and perhaps made use of the powder of his bones for the white-washing of the walls and ceilings of his palace. It is barbarous to abuse human bodies. It is impious“.

God was angry with that act even though it was done by heathen king to the Edomite king. He promised to punish a whole nation for the inhuman cremation of one human.

After reading all of the above, we can certainly conclude that voluntary cremation is wrong in the eyes of God.

Cremation Is Pagan And Idolatry!

In 2 Kings 3:27, 27 above, the king of Moab offered his own son to be burned as sacrifice to his gods. He won the battle but on the blood of his son. That was paganism and idolatry.

Idolatry often included human sacrifice in the fires of pagan gods like Chemosh and Molech. That is why God commanded the following in Deuteronomy 18:10: “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire (cremeted), or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.”

Here we see something very interesting. That there is an undeniable, glaring connection of the burning of bodies, with witchcraft itself. We know that both witches, who do not believe in Satan, and Satanists, who do believe in Satan, use the power of fire in their forbidden crafts. Let it not be lost on you that Hinduism, Buddhism use cremation in their false religions.

This brings out another point which should tie this whole subject together.

The Rise Of False Religions Foretold

The Lord Jesus Christ predicted that just before His Return, many false religions would arise and deceive many. Read Matthew 24, Luke 21; and Mark, 13.

We also see from Luke 17, that the spirits of homosexuality would fill the world before Jesus Christ’s return and turn the entire earth into a latter day Sodom. We now see this coming to pass all around the world.

The United States, for example, is now filled with Eastern religions, Buddhism, Hinduism and others of that ilk. Homosexuality, lesbianism, and bisexuality are also everywhere in America, parts of Europe, fast spreading in Africa and around the world. In Kenya, Buddhism and Hinduism and other Eastern religions have registered some presence thru practices like Transcendental Meditation (TM).

Considering the connection that there was between such gross immorality with with fire, and the connection between such false religions with fire of scarices to false gods, it is no wonder that the spirit of cremation and burning is becoming so popular.

In Kenya, I can see hordes of seducing spirits out seducing gullible citizens and Christians ignorant of the Word, to lean towards cremation and abhor the Biblical, conventional way of interring human cadavers. It is compatible with the other spirits who have used it for centuries.

Cremation and burning is the spirit of Sodom. It was fiery wrath that turned Sodom to ashes. God’s attitude to cremation is that of judgment.

Cremation A Defiance To God’s Plan

Finally, the spirit of cremation is in evident defiance to the plan of the Almighty God, the Creator. After Adam and Eve sinned and death became inevitable, God told them in Genesis 3:19, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

Ecclesiastes 12:7 adds weight to the same, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

IN CONCLUSION

I am appalled that, especially after the Cremation of the late Safaricom icon Bob Collymore and Kibra MP Ken Okoth, even believers in Christ, including my own friends, are now talking passionately of cremation as the best way to go. Scarcity of land for burial and full cemeteries is but an excuse. Kenya still has too much land.

The Creator Who ordained burial as the way to inter human remains knew all about land issues and cost. He who has provided your body with food and nutrition all these years will not fail to provide for a one time event after your earthly departure.

Low cost is another lame excuse by people who really don’t understand that there are spirits out to seduce Christians to forfeit their hard earned ETERNAL heritage of HEAVEN, by choosing the burning their bodies to ashes.

Christians should know better than to purposely select to have their bodies burned! If you didn’t know it before, well now you do. And if you still insist cremation is the way to go, if you find yourself in hell for that, you’ll remember this message, too late

Do not emulate the high and mighty who elect Cremation. Many of these are in Secret Society and have entered into a covenant with Satan. To prove this, just look at how SOME of their interment ceremonies are attended by only a selected few.

Get me right. Conventional interment of burial is not the guarantee to heaven. Millions of decently buried people are in hell. But do not allow your death to be a cause of agony to others. In life you never lived in isolation. You lived for others. Even in death, you are not dying for yourself alone as Paul says in 1 Cor 15.

Thus before you insist on incineration of your body at death, consider your family behind, relatives, etc., who might want to butt your body in a way that will give them peace and satisfaction. Choosing and “willing” cremation is selish and demonic.

Many unbelievers who have lived in rebellion to God and have no interest in the afterlife, will still elect cremation.

But believers who have hope in life beyond the grave MUST abhor cremation. If we walk in obedience to God, we will have the joy of the Lord; and death is nothing more than a step into the glorious presence of God forever. We must dedicate our bodies, souls, and minds unto our Saviour. Glory to God.

Yours In Christ,

Luke C Divines

lukedivines.ld.ld@gmail.com