Page 39 - Prophetic Word Newsletters Archive 2006 by Pastor Randy Shupe

From the first page you can deduce that I am strongly in favor of the practice of Christian burial rather
than the ever increasingly popular preference for cremation. However, I want to stress to all my readers
that the act of cremation has no bearing on eternal destiny. Whether one has been cremated or not is not
the issue that determines whether one enters heaven or hell. It is only the existence or the absence of a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ that makes that determination. Cremation is not a deadly sin unto
damnation. However, I do want to convince you that it is a sin against the believer’s body. I want to stress
however that it is a forgivable sin. Not all sin is the same. Even the Old Testament law made a distinction
between sins of ignorance and willful disobedience:

“YOU SHALL HAVE ONE LAW FOR HIM WHO SINS UNINTENTIONALLY…
BUT THE PERSON WHO DOES ANYTHING PRESUMPTUOUSLY (DEFIANTLY)…HE SHALL BE CUT

OFF FROM AMONG HIS PEOPLE…BECAUSE HE HAS DESPISED THE WORD OF THE LORD,
AND HAS BROKEN HIS COMMANDMENT…” Numbers 15:29-30

The apostle James obviously has this law in mind as he warns New testament believers:

“…TO HIM WHO KNOWS TO DO GOOD AND DOES NOT DO IT, TO HIM IT IS SIN.” James 4:17

We cannot change what has been done wrongly in ignorance, but we can, having been illuminated to
God’s will, do what is right in the future. We can properly choose for ourselves what God desires for us to
do with our body at death. This is a personal choice for every believer. The purpose of this newsletter is to
seek to convince you to choose burial over cremation. If you are so persuaded by the contents of this
newsletter, then I also highly counsel you to share it with all those whom you love so that you, having
been illuminated, do not end up in an awkward and most unpleasant situation at their funeral.

As a young minister I remember well the first funeral over which I presided. It was for a man that I did not
know personally. However, I was assured by those who asked me to perform the ceremony that he was a
“godly man.” I quickly realized that I was in deep trouble when I saw a string of men in black across the
front row of the church, all wearing white aprons. I had unknowingly committed to take part in a “Christian”
burial of a man of high standing in cultic Freemasonry. The gravesite ritual was horrible for me to endure.
I watched as a series of mystical ceremonial rituals were performed on the casket just prior to interment.
I vowed to God that I would never again be involved in the mixing of pagan rituals with a Christian burial.
I share all of this to say that as a minister today, I will not perform a funeral in which there is the cremation
of the body. Why so? Because just like “Christian” Freemasonry, the practice of cremation is steeped in
ancient paganism. It is a mixing of pagan beliefs and Christian orthodoxy. This is the world in which we
live, one of mixture and compromise with pagan beliefs. Often I have attended funerals of unbelievers in
which, to my inner agony, I was forced to endure the selective reading of Scriptures of comfort that are
solely the property of believers in the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Passages about the
wonderful resurrection, and heaven, and the promises of “no more tears, no more crying, no more pain”
(Rev. 21:4) being applied to those who were more than likely writhing in pain and agony at that very
moment in Hell, just like the man Jesus described in Luke 16:

“…AND BEING IN TORMENT IN HADES…HE CRIED…
HAVE MERCY ON ME…COOL MY TONGUE;
FOR I AM TORMENTED IN THIS FLAME…
I HAVE FIVE BROTHERS…TESTIFY TO THEM,

LEST THEY ALSO COME TO THIS PLACE OF TORMENT…”
Luke 16:22-28 excerpts

What a fearful accountability before God such ministers have who haphazardly and carelessly misapply
God’s words of comfort to those whose destiny is clearly stated as “… anyone not found written in Book of
Life was cast into the lake of fire…the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second
death” (Rev. 20:15, 21:8). Rather, they tritely and selectively apply to any and all the words of Rev. 21:4,
“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor
crying; and there shall be no more pain…” If possible, the rich man of Luke 16 would tell you that it is
untrue for him that there is “no more pain, crying or death”! He is still in Hades awaiting the fearful
judgment of the second death of Revelation 20-21 to take place!