by Herbert W. Armstrong

HOWARD HUGHES will live again. So shall all who have died from Adam until now. And, like Howard Hughes, all took something with them when they died. By the same token, you are building something in your life that will survive this present life.

It’s important that every human being know what this something is.

What about this riddle of life after death? Different religions have different ideas. Some believe in the transmigration of souls. Another religion says you go to a place called purgatory for a transitory life, later to be sent to a blissful heaven to abide forever in “glorious” idleness and ease.

Many Protestants believe all “unsaved dead” have gone to the ever-burning hell, being continually tortured by the most excruciating unendurable pain, while those who “accepted Christ” went at the instant of death to the blissful heaven with nothing to do but look continually in enraptured bliss on the glorious face of Jesus Christ. Other millions have no idea whatsoever. Many of them just don’t want to think about it.

Notwithstanding, this question has everything to do with YOUR LIFE NOW – with its very PURPOSE – with the reason why you were born. And you’ll rue the day you ignored or rejected the true answer.

A certain man wondered about these things. He said to himself: “Come to think about it, I have never seen proof of the existence of God. What if the evolutionists are right and there is no Creator – no intelligent and supreme mind who designed, planned and created all that exists – and it all just happened?”

He delved vigorously into an in-depth study of evolution, and of the Bible as a textbook on creation. He determined to know – to be sure – to find PROOF!

I was that man. Suffice it to say I found that proof and share it with those who are concerned. And I PROVED that the Holy Bible, in its original writings, is indeed God speaking – revealing TRUTH to those concerned. I give you here God’s revealed TRUTH.

Multimillionaire Howard Hughes died. Adam and Eve and all their children, except those still living, all died. And they all took something with them when they died.

They shall all live again. God our Maker reveals to us that in Adam, the first man, all die. He says, “… it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). Then again, “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” by a resurrection from the dead (I Cor. 15:22).

God reveals plainly that all who die shall be resurrected. Our Maker holds out the sure HOPE for life after death by a resurrection from the dead – those who are Christ’s at his now soon coming back to earth, others in a later resurrection to judgment (I Cor. 15:23-24; Rev. 20:11-12).

One whole chapter in the Bible is devoted to the resurrection – I Corinthians 15. And it answers in verse 35 the question, “With what body do they come?” God answers that they shall be resurrected NOT in the same body in which they died, but that God shall give them a new body. Those in whom dwelt the Holy Spirit of God – who were LED by his Spirit – shall come in a SPIRIT BODY (Phil. 3:21; John 3:6), and others a thousand years later in bodies of flesh and blood – material, as they were in this life (Ezek. 37). However all shall look as they did in this life – as shown by the transfiguration before Jesus’ disciples. But, if the dead shall not be resurrected in the same body that died, how can they be resurrected either to immortal GOD-life, or to mortal, to the great final judgment?

How shall they all be judged, if they shall not then KNOW, as they knew, and what they knew, in this life? How judged unless the very CHARACTER built into them during this life also appears intact in the resurrection?

To understand that “mystery” we need to know what God reveals – but what professional psychologists do not know – about the human mind.

Howard Hughes did build a certain character in his lifetime. So did Adam and Eve. So did everyone who ever lived. So are YOU building a definite character – either good or evil or a mixture of both – in your life NOW. AND THAT IS WHAT YOU SHALL TAKE WITH YOU WHEN YOU DIE!

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT is the very PURPOSE of this present mortal temporary physical existence.

Day by day, hour by hour, year by year, you are developing a definite character. If you’re not concerned about it now, YOU WILL BE – IN THE FINAL JUDGMENT, which NONE shall escape. And there shall be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Luke 13:28).

But what of that final judgment? And if the body that dies is not the body that comes in the resurrection, how can the precise image, appearance, memory and character be preserved and translated into the body that shall come?

To these vital questions science cannot give you the answer. The educational system cannot teach you – it doesn’t know! Psychologists do not know! But God our Maker REVEALS the answers!

First, we need to UNDERSTAND the human mind. The brain of animal vertebrates is like the human brain. Animal brains, like human, vary in size. But the design, composition and entire structure is similar. They are qualitatively similar. The brain of an elephant, dolphin or whale is larger, but in design and structure very similar to human brain. Yet animals cannot think, reason, plan, design, make decisions. They do not exercise the same power of will, motivation, attitude as man. How, then, does human MIND differ from animal brain?

Science can find no physical basis for the vast difference. For science can know only what is seen, heard, tasted, felt or smelt. And the difference, which imparts the psyche or intelligence and thought processes to human brain, is not physical but spiritual. Spirit cannot be seen, tasted, heard, smelt or felt. The scientist knows nothing about spirit. Therefore science ignores the existence of spirit.

Science is confined to the physical and material. God is NOT physical or material, but spirit – invisible! Spiritual TRUTHS are not physical or material, but spiritual – entirely outside the realm of material science!

Science knows nothing of the things of GOD – NO COMPREHENSION – OF SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE. INDEED, SUCH TRUTHS ARE FOOLISHNESS TO THE WISE OF THIS WORLD (I COR. 2:14). YET THEY ARE TRUE! They are simply outside the materialist’s field. He is IGNORANT of them! Actually the highly educated scientist’s mind is only “half there.” He may possess much of the materialistic, but is in IGNORANCE Of spiritual KNOWLEDGE! So says the Maker of the worldly wise!

God reveals that the human brain was created incomplete. The first man, Adam, was created incomplete in two ways. A PURPOSE of his creation and being was to reproduce his kind. But the man alone could not reproduce himself. He was incomplete. He alone was of the male gender. He needed a female to be joined with him for reproduction. So God created a wife for him, named Eve.

Adam also was incomplete in mind. Within him was a spirit. Such a spirit does not exist in animals. Rather, the animal brain comes equipped with an automatic instinct not present in man. The spirit in humans empowers the human brain with intellect – the psyche aspect. Such a spirit exists in every human from birth. I call it a human spirit.

You read of it in many places in the Bible. In Job 32:8, “there is a spirit in man.” In verse 18, same chapter, “the spirit within me constraineth me.” That is, leads, impels, suggests.

The human spirit cannot see, think, hear. The brain sees through the eye, hears through the ear, feels through the nervous system. The physical brain thinks, not the spirit. Yet the animal brain cannot think as man does, or have human knowledge. The human spirit imparts to the brain the psychic power to think, know, reason, make decisions.

In I Corinthians 2:9, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart [mind] of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (that is, spiritual knowledge). How, then, may spiritual knowledge be comprehended? Next verse: “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit” – the Holy Spirit of God.

However, mortal man does comprehend materialistic knowledge. HOW? Only by the senses of sight, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting? NO! The cow, the elephant, the dog hears, sees, and has all five physical senses – yet the dumb animal does not comprehend materialistic knowledge, such as physics and chemistry, mathematics, the physical sciences. WHY? They see, hear, taste, smell, feel, yet do not comprehend. HOW, then, does a human comprehend these things?

For the answer, continue the above scriptural passage, verse 11, “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? …” The dumb animal has the same five senses and a brain of equal quality and design, yet the animal cannot have the knowledge possessed by the human mind. Nor could a human, EXCEPT BY THE SPIRIT OF MAN, WHICH IS IN HIM and not in the animal.

Now read the latter half of the same 11th verse, “even so the things of God [spiritual knowledge] knoweth no man, but [by] the Spirit of God.”

The human spirit imparts power of intellect to comprehend MATERIALISTIC knowledge that an animal cannot know, even though it can see, hear, taste, smell and feel like a man and also has a brain similar to a man’s. It is the human spirit IN man – something that is NOT the man, but IN the man – which empowers the human brain to comprehend the materialistic knowledge known by man. It also empowers the human brain to think, reason, evaluate, formulate decisions. Being spirit, it empowers the human mind to manifest attitudes, good or evil. A person can have an attitude of friendship or of hostility toward another.

But comprehension of spiritual knowledge – the things of the spiritual GOD – is in another realm altogether. The natural, carnal human mind CANNOT COMPREHEND SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE. The most highly educated human, regardless of the PhDs or other letters after his name, simply cannot come to understanding of spiritual knowledge – even when taught or revealed to him – without having received the Holy Spirit from God, joined with his human spirit!

The Holy Spirit of God does not teach or impart spiritual knowledge – such spiritual knowledge must be revealed or taught by GOD, his Word, or ministry. In like manner, the human spirit does not reveal or teach material knowledge. Such knowledge enters the brain through the eye, ear or other of the physical senses. Such knowledge may enter the brain of a cow or a chicken, but it won’t have any comprehension of it. Spiritual knowledge may be taught to a highly educated PhD, but without the Spirit of God dwelling in him he will have no more understanding or comprehension of it than a chicken will have of philosophy when taught by a PhD. As the human spirit gives comprehension of materialistic knowledge when taught, so only the Holy Spirit within a human gives comprehension of spiritual knowledge if and when such knowledge is taught, read or heard.

But how, and by what means, did Howard Hughes take his character and memory with him when he died? By what means is such memory and character, as well as form, shape and appearance, transmitted after death into the body that shall come in the resurrection?

Remember, we are told in I Corinthians 15:35-38, the resurrected body shall not be the same body that died. God will provide a new body. Yet it will look the same, fingerprints and all. The resurrected person will know everything he knew before death. He will have the same character he developed in his mortal lifetime.

Yet in death humans know nothing – total unconsciousness (Eccl. 9:5). When Cain and Abel, sons of Adam, awake in the resurrection, it will seem to them to be the very next second after losing consciousness in death. At death the body returns to the earth from whence it came, but the spirit returns to God who gave it (Eccl. 12:7). The body, including the physical brain, decays – decomposes – and cannot retain memory, knowledge, character. How, then, is the same consciousness, memory, character, knowledge, present in the resurrected body?

There can be only one answer. The spirit acts as a mold. To illustrate: a sculptor makes a model out of clay. A mold is made around the clay, retaining the identical form and shape inversely. Molten bronze may be poured into the mold, and when the mold is removed, the solidified bronze comes out the identical form and shape as the original model.

The spirit is like a mold, retaining the identical form and shape, even to fingerprints, and also the knowledge, memory, character, attitudes, personality, of the person who died. The resurrected body, formed around that spiritual mold, will be identical to the original human body, brain and mind. The physical matter of the original brain and entire body rots and decomposes. But spirit does not decompose – nor change. What a wonderful means God has created!

You are developing now, hour by hour – day by day – year by year – what you shall be in the NEXT LIFE. THINK ON THIS!

Some people think: O well, God wouldn’t be fair if he didn’t send me to heaven when I die. I’ll just live for fun and enjoyment and pleasure, and not worry about the future. Another becomes discouraged, frustrated, in a hopeless condition of despair. He thinks: I’ll just end it all. I can’t endure it any more. I’ll commit suicide. But suicide won’t end ANYTHING. The next split second of consciousness he is instantly (in his mind) in the resurrected life. He has the same mind – everything – except that now he is resurrected into the final JUDGMENT, where there shall be “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” He will also then be held accountable for his self-murder! He didn’t end it all – he plunged himself into the judgment!

However, the true, Christian, who has been called, has received the Holy Spirit of God, has started on his judgment now. The true Christian is BEING JUDGED, NOW!

But the true Christian must realize he is building, now, hour by hour, the character, either good or bad, that shall decide his ETERNITY! Salvation is by grace, not works. BUT, those saved by God’s grace shall be rewarded BY THEIR WORKS IN THIS LIFE!

You, like Howard Hughes, are developing hourly in your life something you shall have with you in the life after this life!