10 Things the Dead Cannot Do

What Scripture actually teaches about death

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"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten."

Ecclesiastes 9:5
1
They Cannot Know Anything
"The dead know not any thing." Ecclesiastes 9:5
2
They Cannot Love
"Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished." Ecclesiastes 9:6
3
They Cannot Think
"His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Psalm 146:4
4
They Cannot Praise God
"The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence." Psalm 115:17
5
They Cannot Remember God
"For in death there is no remembrance of thee." Psalm 6:5
6
They Cannot Thank God
"The grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee." Isaiah 38:18
7
They Cannot Participate in Life
"Neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun." Ecclesiastes 9:6
8
They Cannot Work or Plan
"There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave." Ecclesiastes 9:10
9
They Cannot Return from Death
"He that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. He shall return no more to his house." Job 7:9-10
10
They Sleep Until Resurrection
"So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake." Job 14:12

What This Means

If the dead are unconscious, who answers the medium? If the dead cannot return, who appears as departed loved ones?

Scripture's answer: "For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles" (Revelation 16:14). Demons impersonate the dead to deceive the living.

The doctrine of the immortal soul ("ye shall not surely die") was the serpent's first lie (Genesis 3:4). It opens the door to spiritualism.

The Real Hope

Death is not the end, but our hope is resurrection, not disembodied existence.

Jesus called death "sleep" (John 11:11-14). The dead rest until He returns.

"The dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air."
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17