Should a Believer Be Cremated?

By DON ESPOSITO

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      We are living in a very different world than we have ever lived in before, and yet in so many ways in our society Satan the devil has hoodwinked human beings into following pagan practices from thousands of years ago. Worldly holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, are filled with paganism, and the worst is Halloween, where people will even dress their children up in demonic outfits sending them to beg candy from their neighbors. Truly, Satan has deceived the whole world (Rev 12:9).

       However, what I want to speak about in this article is a trend that has erupted in the past decade of cremating a person when one dies. Should a true covenant believer partake in such a ritual? Where does the idea of cremation come from, and what is the purpose of it?

 

The idea of burning the dead comes from paganism, and was only done to the wicked as a punishment of wiping out their memory forever. Look at what happened when Achan took ill-gotten gain that Yahweh commanded against, and the sons of Israel were punished for it.

Joshua 7:24 And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the robe, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his donkey, and his flock, and his tent, and all that he had. And they made them go up to the valley of Achor.

Joshua 7:25 And Joshua said, How you have troubled us! YAHWEH shall trouble you today! And all Israel threw stones at him, and they burned them with fire, and they stoned them with stones.

Joshua 7:26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones to this day. And YAHWEH turned back from the heat of His anger. On this account the name of that place is The Valley of Achor (Grief) until this day.

 

Look at also the punishment that Yahweh put on Moab being they also used the pagan cult practice of burning their dead.

Amos 2:1 So says YAHWEH: For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn back from it, for he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime.

Amos 2:2 But I will send a fire against Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth. And Moab shall die with uproar, with a war cry, with the sound of the ram’s horn.

Amos 2:3 And I will cut off the judge in its midst, and I will kill all his rulers with him, says YAHWEH.

 

Also, look at how burning of the dead was associated with witchcraft in Scripture.

Deu 18:10 There shall not be found in you one who passes his son or his daughter through the fire, one that uses divination, an observer of clouds, or one fortune-telling, or a spell caster,

 

We know from paganism that both Satanists and people using witchcraft use fire and burning in their satanic rituals, and also that cremation of the dead is used in pagan religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, because they believe in the false belief of reincarnation of spirits. Having your body burned in fire is a punishment for the wicked, not a reward of the saved.

Mat 10:28 And you should not fear the ones killing the body, but not being able to kill the soul. But rather fear Him being able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.

Rev 20:14 And death and the grave were thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death.

Rev 20:15 And if anyone was not found having been written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire.

 

All ancient societies who believed in an afterlife would never burn their dead. It is an ancient basic principle, and also a biblical principle that you give a proper burial to your parents and family members, and set them up in a proper burial place awaiting the resurrection to come.

Ecc 6:3 If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, and the days of his years are many, and his soul is not satisfied from the good, and also there is no burial for him; I say, a miscarriage is better than he.

Ecc 6:4 For he comes in with vanity, and goes out in darkness; his name shall be covered in darkness.

 

From creation the pattern of our heavenly Father was to bury the dead in the earth from where they came from, and not to burn their bodies.

Gen 3:19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until your return to the ground. For you have been taken out of it; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Ecc 12:7 then the dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to The Elohim who gave it.

 

Also, I would like to make the point that while Christmas and Easter are pagan ritual celebrations that people partake in for personal, and social, and even religious reasons, that the ritual of cremation in recent years has become popular for one simple reason; MONEY!

 

In the system of commercial Babylon, where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and the middle class is getting smaller and smaller, it is extremely expensive to bury a loved one when they die, and cremation is a much cheaper route to go. However, when burying our dead, should money really be the first consideration? From ancient times people such as Abraham bought expensive property to bury his wife and family, to make sure that they would have a proper resting place waiting the resurrection of the just.

Gen 23:2 And Sarah died in Kirjath Arba, it is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. And Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

Gen 23:3 And Abraham rose up from before his dead and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying,

Gen 23:4 I am an alien and a visitor with you. Give to me a possession among you, so that I may bury my dead from before the eyes.

Gen 23:5 And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him,

Gen 23:6 Hear us, my master. You are a prince of Elohim among us. Bury your dead in the best of our burying places. Not a man of us will withhold his burying place from you, from burying your dead.

Gen 23:7 And Abraham rose up and bowed himself to the people of the land, to the sons of Heth.

Gen 23:8 And he spoke with them, saying, If it is your desire to bury my dead out of my sight, hear me. Ask for me of Ephron the son of Zohar,

Gen 23:9 that he may give to me the cave of Machpelah which he has, which is in the edge of his field. In full silver let him give it to me among you, for a possession of a burying place.

Gen 23:10 And Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth. And Ephron the Hittite replied to Abraham in the ears of the sons of Heth, to all those entering the gate of his city, saying,

Gen 23:11 No, my master, hear me. I have given the field to you; also the cave that is in it. I have given it to you. Before the eyes of the sons of my people I have given it to you. Bury your dead.

Gen 23:12 And Abraham bowed before the people of the land,

Gen 23:13 and spoke to Ephron in the ears of the people of the land, saying, only if you would hear me. I have given the silver for the field; take it from me, that I may bury my dead there.

Gen 23:14 And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him,

Gen 23:15 My master, hear me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that between me and you? And bury your dead.

Gen 23:16 And Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver of which he had spoken in the ears of the sons of Heth, four hundred silver shekels which passes with the merchant.

Gen 23:17 And was certified the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the cave and the field in it, and all the trees in the field, which were in all its borders around it,

Gen 23:18 to Abraham for a purchase before the sons of Heth, with all entering the gate of his city.

Gen 23:19 And after this Abraham buried his wife Sarah at the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre; it is Hebron, in the land of Canaan.

Gen 23:20 And the field was certified, and the cave in it, to Abraham for a burial possession from the sons of Heth.

 

The first thing we see is that it was very important for Abraham to have a place that he personally owned to bury his dead, and to make sure that they had a proper burial, and a place to rest, awaiting the resurrection. It is also interesting to note that not only did he make sure he had a place to bury his family, but he insisted that he pay for the land to make sure that it could not be taken away from his descendants to come.

And so important was this place in the history of Israel that here we are almost 4,000 years later and the cave of Machpelah in Hebron is still there to this day with the very bones of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Sara, Rebecca, and Leah. This clearly shows the importance of the resurrection mindset to Abraham and his sons from the very beginning of the covenant, fully knowing and believing in faith of a resurrection to come.

 

Which brings me to my next point of why on earth would any true covenant believer, who believes in a resurrection, burn his/her body? Our body is the very vessel that the Holy Spirit dwelt in while we were on earth, and it is also the vessel that Yahweh will use to change our mortal bodies into our newly glorified bodies.

1st Cor 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit in you, which you have from YAHWEH, and you are not of yourselves?

1st Cor 6:20 You were bought with a price; then glorify YAHWEH in your body, and in your spirit, which belong to YAHWEH.

 

Just as Abraham bought the field in Machpelah for a price, Yahweh has purchased our physical bodies with the very blood of His Son, Yahshua. Are you really glorifying Yahweh by burning the very property (body) that He paid for? The Babylonians came in and burned the Temple (sanctuary) of Yahweh in 586 B.C., and it was the most traumatic event in the history of Israel because the Ark of The Covenant, and Yahweh’s Spirit and presence dwelt in that sanctuary.

 

And now, Yahweh’s Spirit and presence is dwelling in each and every true baptized covenant believer, and it is by that Spirit dwelling in you that you have the hope of the resurrection to come. With this in mind, why on earth would a true covenant believer burn the very body that Yahweh used to place His Holy Spirit, and will also use to change into a glorified Spirit being.

1st Cor 15:51 Behold, I speak a mystery to you: We shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed.

1st Cor 15:52 In a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet; for a trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed.

 

This is the whole reason that Hitler cremated 6 million Jews, as he knew the Jews believed in a resurrection and he was not only trying to take away their physical life, but he was also trying to take away their hope of eternal life. Also, Scripture refers to our human body as the seed that is used to plant, to bring about our spiritual body at the resurrection.

1st Cor 15:35 But someone will say, How are the dead raised? And with what body do they come?

1st Cor 15:36 Foolish one! What you sow is not made alive unless it dies.

1st Cor 15:37 And what you sow, you do not sow the body that is going to be, but a bare grain, it may be of wheat or barley, or of some other seed,

1st Cor 15:38 and YAHWEH gives it a body according as He willed, and to each of the seeds its own natural body.

1st Cor 15:42 So also the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.

1st Cor 15:43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.

1st Cor 15:44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body; there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

 

That is why the Bible refers to the dead as asleep, because it is like when a seed is planted in the ground and awaiting to grow up a new plant, and likewise when you see a dead person lying there they really do look as if they are sleeping, and if they died in faith, then they are sleeping in the dust of the earth, and waiting for the resurrection of the just, to be resurrected a new creation. It is just not even a biblical concept or thought to burn the very body that Yahweh created you in, dwelt with His Spirit in, and will use to change into an immoral spirit being.

1st Thess 4:13 But I want you to know, my brethren, concerning those who sleep, that you should not grieve, as the rest do who have not hope.

1st Thess 4:14 For if we believe that Yahshua died and rose again, even so YAHWEH will also bring with Him all those who have fallen asleep through Yahshua.

1st Thess 4:15 For we say this to you in the Word of YAHWEH, that we the living who remain to the coming of our Master will not at all go before those who have fallen asleep.

1st Thess 4:16 Because the Master Himself shall come down from Heaven with a commanding shout of an archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of YAHWEH. And the dead in Messiah will rise again first.

1st Thess 4:17 Then we who remain alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet with our Master in the air. And so, we will always be with our Master.

1st Thess 4:18 So, then, comfort each other with these words.

 

The hope of every true believer is the hope of the resurrection. That is what we live for each and every day of our lives. When our Master Yahshua died, He was not translated by Yahweh to heaven immediately, but His dead body was placed in a grave where it laid as an example to us for three days and three nights, and then, His physical body that He housed as a human being was resurrected as a glorified, spiritual body.

Mat 27:57 And late afternoon having come, a rich man from Arimathea (Joseph by name) who also himself was a disciple of Yahshua,

Mat 27:58 coming up to Pilate, this one asked for the body of Yahshua. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given.

Mat 27:59 And taking the body, Joseph wrapped it in a shroud of fine linen,

Mat 27:60 and he laid it in his new tomb which was hewn in rock. And they rolled a large boulder and they placed it upon the entrance of the tomb. And they departed.

 

(And after His resurrection)

John 20:24 But Thomas, one of the Twelve, the one called Twin, was not with them when Yahshua came.

John 20:25 Then the other disciples said to him, we have seen the Master. But he said to them, Unless I see the mark of the nails in His hands, and thrust my finger into the mark of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe!

John 20:26 And after eight days, His disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. The door having been locked, Yahshua came and stood in the midst, and said, Peace to you.

John 20:27 Then He said to Thomas, Bring your finger here and see My hands, and bring your hand and thrust into My side, and be not unbelieving, but believing.

 

We are almost at the end of 6,000 years of Satan’s rule on this earth and the Kingdom of Yahweh will very soon be set up all over the world. When Yahshua comes all true first-fruit covenant believers will be resurrected from their graves and given a glorified spirit body that they will reign with Yahshua forever.

 

Cremation is pagan and goes against every principle of Yahweh as a restorer and redeemer, not a fire burner, and the only people who will have their bodies burned are those who will go into the Lake of Fire.

Rev 20:14 And death and the grave were thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death.

Rev 20:15 And if anyone was not found having been written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire.

 

Due to financial stress of commercial Babylon, Satan is hoodwinking people into cremating their body and burning it, instead of having a proper burial place and sleeping in the earth awaiting the resurrection of the just.

Cremation is not a biblical principle, but is from paganism and goes against every principle of Yahweh, and should be avoided by true covenant believers who believe in a resurrection.

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