Myths about the dead

Batas Mauricio                

MANY were indeed greatly surprised over results coming out from survey firms at present purportedly showing a more rabid increase in the approval and satisfactory ratings (or other ratings available in the market) of the Aquino government and of President Aquino himself.

The surprise comes from an almost incredulous question in the minds of many: how can President Aquino’s approval and satisfactory ratings when nearly everybody is willing to concede that there is really no improvement at all insofar as the grave problems afflicting the country and our people?

For example, crime and criminality continue to fester in almost every nook and cranny of the whole Philippines. We killings here, and there, and almost everywhere, where the victims are no longer just the ordinary citizens but even the rich and the powerful.

Then, debilitating poverty continues as well to afflict almost 90 percent of our people. A great number still are unable to eat, even just one meal a day. And many are still scrounging from garbage heaps just to earn a living.

And a significant segment of our population still have to rob, steal, poke a gun and extort, just so they could lay their hands on a few pesos. Then, many are still willing to enter into virtual slavery in the hands of foreigners, here and more particularly in other countries. Drugs are still peddled everywhere, giving an unbridled rise to crimes caused by addicts and those whose are minds and souls have been irretrievably lost by shabu and marijuana and cocaine.

Then, many are still raped wantonly and, in some cases, openly. Many still steal from government coffers. Many laborers still have no work. A great number still suffer from the daily heavy flow of vehicular traffic in the streets of Metro Manila. Many are still angry with government because it is impotent in the face of China’s occupation of our territory, and with the boldness of chaos from rebel groups.

This led many to ask: where would the Aquino government and President Aquino himself derive good and high approval and satisfactory ratings? Is there still a place where there is someone who is pleased with Aquino?

As of now, many are of the belief that these survey results are part of a sinister plan to cheat in the 2016 elections. Many believe that these survey results will be used to justify the intended manipulation of the election results next year, to promote the victory of a particular set of candidates, even if these candidates are not chosen by the electorate.

The argument will be that, their chosen candidates won because the President continues to enjoy the trust of the people, so that many still decided to vote for his chosen ones. In the face of this unsavory eventuality, where could a people exploding in anger go?

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Noel Caday and my brother-in-law who is married to Cynthia de Lima Mauricio, a first cousin of mine, wrote something about All Saints’ Day and posted it on Facebook. I find the post truly appropriate for this time of the year where Filipinos are commemorating their departed loved ones, so I decided to share it here.

Read on: “All Saints’ Day or All Devils’ Day? Observe what is happening around us during this day and you’ll be able to answer my question. See the costumes, hear the stories being told, and you can discern it clearly. All Saints’ Day should look heavenly! Godly and bright! Stories should also be godly and not devilish and satanic.

“Yes we deal with souls of our loved ones who are already dead but is that the way we think of them? Nakakatakot? Then, we are wrong in thinking that they are already in heaven, yet the way we remember them is that they seem to be in hell. Oh my, it’s wrong. Why dont we wear angelic or saintly looking costumes?” Reactions from those who purvey Halloween?

Perhaps, we should also consider what is the biblical truth about what happens when a person dies. Many are won’t to say that the person who just died is already in heaven, in the presence of God. Unfortunately, this is not just wishful thinking, but is even a total distortion of the Bible.

If we profess to believe in the Bible as the Word of God, then let us endeavor to know what the Bible is saying about where the soul or spirit of a person who died will go after death. That soul or spirit doesn’t go straight to heaven, as many are saying especially if the dead is a loved one, or to hell. No, that is not biblically correct.

As 1 Peter 3:18-20 and 4:6 state ever so clearly, the soul or spirit of a person who dies goes to a place where souls are detained. These verses of the Bible do not give a name to this place where souls are detained, but the account is clear: even Jesus, our God and Savior, after His resurrection, went to this detention center, as it were.

What did Jesus do at the place where souls are detained? He taught the souls and spirits that were detained in that place about the Scriptures, the Word of God, or the Bible. Now, there was no specific mention about why Jesus did this, but a reading of 1 Peter 4:6 gives us a glimpse of the very important reason why Jesus preached to the dead.

It is to enable the people who died as sinners to still attain salvation, and therefore still live in the presence of God in Paradise despite their sinfulness. This proves, beyond doubt, that God’s love and power of salvation extends not only to those who are still alive, but even to those who are already dead, provided the Word is still preached to them.

This is a Christian and biblical truth that is intriguingly not taught by any existing church at the moment, and I could only guess what their motives are for not bringing this power to save souls of sinners even after they have died to their members. Anyway, I repeat what I have been saying: preach the Bible to the dead, and save them!

Email: batasmauricio@yahoo.com