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ARE THEY OUT THERE LAUGHING?

It's not been so long ago that we don't remember. March 26, 1997 on a Wednesday, the first news began to come out of Rancho Santa Fe, also known as the "Beverly Hills of San Diego." A 911 call to the county sheriff's department at 3:30 that afternoon — anonymously placed — told authorities that a mass suicide had taken place at 18241 Colina Norte. And those of us who watched the unfolding drama on television were stunned to find out that this 9,300 square-foot mansion with its nine bedrooms, 7½ bathrooms, in-ground swimming pool, regulation-size tennis court and putting green, now was the morgue for 39 men and women who had "(quote) left their earthly vehicles behind."

Heaven's Gate. A cult that for more than 20 years had traveled the United States, proclaiming the news that it was possible to proceed to the Evolutionary Level Above Human. Led by "The Two," also known as Do and Ti, or Bo and Peep, 38 followers, ranging in ages from 26 to 72, decided that a UFO lurking in the tail of 1997's Hale-Bopp Comet was "comin' for to carry them home."

There are so many spiritual lessons we could draw from this tragedy — and what a tragedy it would be if we didn't learn from this costly, fatal error by Marshall Herff Applewhite and Bonnie Lu Trusdale Nettles and the 38 victims. How could such a thing have happened? How could such a twisting of truth meet with approval by a single person, let alone this entire cult organization? How could Applewhite hang a poster in a medium-size town like Waldport, Oregon announcing a presentation on UFOs and moving to the next level . . . and have 300 people flood into the hotel meeting room?

But we're going to confine ourselves to really one question during these next two weeks. And here it is: where did those 39 people go after the crushed phenobarbitol tablets mixed up in applesauce and vodka took effect? Their purple-shrouded bodies went to the morgue, of course. But did some other part of them go somewhere else? Even as you're hearing this on August 30 1999, just over two and one half years later, is there some entity, some surviving soul entity of Applewhite and the others that exists today? Have they actually gone someplace, either in that promised UFO, or to some other destination where they can spend the five dollars medical examiners found in each victim's pocket?

You know, for 2000 years now, Christians have said that to ignore truth and embrace error can be a fatal mistake. These days sincerity isn't enough; the most diligent, well-meaning devotee can end up dead if he's devoted to the wrong thing, the wrong cause, the wrong guru's version of truth.

But you know, there's another reason why this Heaven's Gate tragedy is so chilling, and which leads us here at the Voice of Prophecy to spend a whole two weeks — ten straight radio broadcasts — exploring our Bibles in conjunction with this matter. In a book compiled by the staff of the New York Post, it was reported that cult members defended their UFO beliefs in a very disturbing way. Here's basically what they said:

"Our scenario isn't that far removed from Roman Catholicism or other mainstream religions." And now notice this next line: "The Christian belief is that the soul lives forever, leaving the physical body after it expires." And then cult members added on this P.S. whenever they were confronted: "So what's so different about us?"

And friend, I have to tell you something. The Heaven's Gate victims — and I'm truly sorry to make this observation — have a point. The concept that the soul survives the body, that it indeed takes a journey at the moment of death, is a cardinal tenet in many, many Christian churches. Not all of them — and we'll be exploring that fact as well. But the belief that the body is simply a shell, and that when a person dies, there's a part of you that departs from this world and goes to some other destination — well, that belief is a major plank for much of the Christian world.

So for the next two weeks we want to ask some questions. Was this tragic UFO journey actually based on a spiritual truth? If so, that would at least temper our anger and frustration and disgust. True, these 39 people did abandon families and friends; they shirked responsibilities and caused untold heartache to people they should have loved more. Regardless of their beliefs or where they might be today, they did a terribly selfish and wrong thing. They can call it what they want to, but it was still a suicide of the most morally reprehensible kind.

On the other hand, what if this belief of theirs was wrong? What if the soul in a person doesn't go on an immediate journey? What if those 39 corpses were simply that, corpses? Rotting dead tissue without thought or knowledge? And if that's the case, then a huge segment of the Christian faith is believing a major falsehood . . . and perhaps being unwittingly set up for a future deception that would make Rancho Santa Fe seem like a Sunday School picnic by comparison.

Friend, as we proceed, I'm going to be very upfront with you even right here at the outset. It's Monday as you're hearing this. I'm not going to make you wait until Wednesday or Thursday to tell you that I believe the Heaven's Gate cult was absolutely and completely dead wrong in their belief. It's my conviction that the Word of God teaches this: when a person dies, the entire man dies. The body, the mind, the thoughts, the soul, everything. No part of him or her goes elsewhere; there's nothing that survives, no conscious entity of any kind. And I want to share the biblical evidence for that view during the next two weeks, and invite you to consider it for yourself.

As you listen to these words here on Monday, I know you may well have the opposite view. It might be part of your church's doctrinal statement that when Christians die, their soul immediately goes to heaven — and that our loved ones are conscious and aware and living and happy right now in that better land. You might further believe that unbelievers, the "(quote) lost," take an immediate journey as well. And we'll have some things to say about that too.

So if you and I begin this study on different sides of this question . . . I hope you feel that that's all right. If we all had the same beliefs, there wouldn't be much point in being on this radio station. But please don't feel threatened by this discussion; we want to share and dialogue in a spirit of love and trust and acceptance of one another's sincerity. And if you're wondering how it can be a dialogue when it's just my voice coming out of your radio speaker there on the freeway . . . well, you should just see some of the mail that comes back in response from our listeners.

Today, because the time's about gone, I'm simply going to put one Bible verse on the table and then we'll agree to meet here tomorrow. It's found in the book of Ecclesiastes chapter nine, verses five and six. Here it is in the New International Version:

"For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun."

Now, even these two cryptic verses open up more questions than we can solve right now. But just that first line tells us much: "The dead know nothing; their thoughts perish."

The week after the tragedy, Newsweek magazine had its second-in-a-row cover article on this topic. Former cult member Rio DiAngelo shared his story, and almost expressed some envy, even. Still a Heaven's Gate believer, he told reporters that he hoped to someday join his brothers and sisters.

But now listen to this. The suicide there at Rancho Santa Fe, he felt, was actually a very successful media coup for his cult friends. And here's what he said:

"They would be proud of all the media hoopla. They are laughing. They really wanted the whole world to know this information but couldn't get it out. No one would listen. I think they would be happy."

Did you notice the immediate contradiction? DiAngelo firmly believes that Marshall Herff Applewhite and the 38 are out there laughing. They're happy; they're celebrating all the headlines they collected around the globe. They're finally going to get their made-for-television movie, and from somewhere Out There, they're watching and maybe tuning it in on CNN.
But friend, how can that be when the Bible says in clear, strong, unequivocal language: "The dead don't know ANYTHING. They don't laugh, they don't think, they don't celebrate or weep or have any conscious thoughts"?

I have to say this carefully and reverently. But without this belief that somehow at death the soul goes immediately on to some higher — or lower — level, there not only would not have been a Heaven's Gate. There would also be no such thing as the New Age movement and the huge, global deceptions lurking in that belief system. There'd be no such thing as the occult, séances, reincarnation, witchcraft. Just this one verse, "The dead know not anything," by itself could pull down an enormous and dangerous mountain of error — which is fast proving itself to be deadly error.

But is there more to the story? There certainly is, and we have nine days together to explore.