Over the last several weeks, as news of his death has spread around the world, I have received numerous messages by email and on our web site guest book where people talked about their sadness in losing Ron. At the same time many shared their joy that he is now with Jesus. In light of those sentiments I would like to share what Ron Wyatt believed about what happens to a person when they die and why he held these beliefs. This information is drawn from things Ron wrote on the subject.

GEN 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

This lie by Satan caused Adam and Eve's fall. It has caused the destruction of billions down through the ages, and will yet bring about the destruction of billions now living upon the earth. God has said:

ECC 9:5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.... 10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

JOB 14:14 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. 15 Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.... 20 Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. 21 His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.

JOB 19:25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: 26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: 27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

THESE STATEMENTS CLEARLY INFORM US THAT THE SOUL AND BODY ARE UNCONSCIOUS DURING DEATH. Remember, God never alters the thing that has gone out of His lips.

PSA 89:34 My covenant will I not break, NOR ALTER THE THING THAT HAS GONE OUT OF MY LIPS.

Keeping this in mind we need not be confused by what Paul (by divine inspiration) says in:

2CO 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

When a Christian (in word and deed) dies, their next conscious moment will be at the resurrection of the just.

1TH 4:15 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 them which are asleep. 16 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: 17 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. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

This unawareness of the passage of time is demonstrated by people who have been in coma from a head injury, or any one of who have gone to sleep tired and been awakened in what seamed to us seconds but was in fact several hours. Also, people who are anesthetized for surgery have no awareness of the passage of time, if well anesthetized.

Remember- God never alters the thing that has gone out of His lips.

WHY IS A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THE STATE OF THE DEAD IMPORTANT TO US AT THIS TIME?

Angels, both good and bad, are able to appear as people. They can appear as our dead family members or other loved ones, or famous people or whoever they wish to impersonate. And since they have been here since the time of Adam and Eve, they know every detail of the lives of those long ago deceased, and can communicate those details, which convinces many people that they truly are the "spirits of the dead". We must know that the dead "know not any thing"; otherwise we can be deceived by spirits of devils posing as people.

Christ and two angels appeared to Abraham and Sarah as common travelers. The two angels appeared to Lot, his family and all the men of Sodom as ordinary travelers. (See Gen Chapters 18, 19.) Satan appeared as a serpent to Eve. If we have any question about who is talking to us, God has given us a fail-proof means of telling if they are of God or of Satan:

ISA 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

Satan will soon appear as an "angel of light" and impersonate Christ; his fallen angels will impersonate the apostles and other writers of the Bible. Satan in the guise of Christ will tell the world he has changed the law of God. Since God does not "alter the thing that has gone out of my lips", this claim by Satan to have changed the law will prove that he is an impostor. The claim by his demons in the guise of Bible writers, that the Bible (God's Word) is not as they wrote it, will likewise prove them to be impostors.

2CO 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

GAL 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

JUD 1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.