All through this 21st century, we’ve been learning from the media that militant, Islamic extremists such as Al-Qaeda and Islamic State, also known as ISIS, promise their military recruits that it is a divine honor to suffer death while fighting for Allah and that those deceased soldiers will immediately go to heaven to enjoy many blessings there. Some Russian commanders are saying the same thing about Christianity.
In the current Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war there, the Chechen military assists Russian forces. A Chechen commander of special forces, who is gaining authority in this war, last week mocked a group named Mothers of Russia. They are speaking out on behalf of their sons who are fighting in this Ukraine war or have died from it. They are calling for the war to end or at least Russia withdrawing its many conscripts who have not been trained as Russian President Vladimir Putin promised.
Chechen Commander Apti Alaudinov reportedly said to the Mothers of Russia, “If your eighteen-year old children … who are servicemen, should not defend the homeland,… why does this country,” referring to Russia, “need you and your children?” By this remark he obviously means that if they object to fighting this war, they should be deported from Russia. Of course, he says nothing about the truth of this conflict, which is that Russia invaded Ukraine, which is not Russia’s homeland.
Alaudinov then added, “No one will die who is not destined to die. But if you die defending your homeland, your faith in God, you will go to heaven.” What a useful false doctrine this is for these warmongers! Such divine determinism and promise of immediate entrance to heaven has been prevalent in the history of many religions, including Islam and Christianity. But does the Bible support this? I think not.
Of course, there are two issues here. The first is often called predestination. Many Christians have been falsely taught that it means God predetermines everything in his creation, thus everything that humans do. Not so! God gave humans choice, which I am comfortable with calling “free will.”
The second issue is about the question, “What happens after we die?” I believe most Christians are wrongly taught, as I was, that the human soul is immortal and that when God’s people die, their souls immediately go to heaven to enjoy conscious bliss. Not so! There is no biblical text that clearly states such a thing. The two main texts cited for that belief—2 Corinthians 5.1-8 and Philippians 1.21-23—are misinterpreted. Rather, the Old Testament states many, many times that when all people die their souls go down in the middle of the earth to a place the Hebrews called Sheol and the Greeks called Hades.
The OT says they are “asleep” there, awaiting the resurrection and judgment at the end of the age. The OT mentions Sheol 67 times. It says human souls in Sheol do not have consciousness, and thus they do not have memory there, and they cannot praise God. It is as if they are physical beings asleep on earth, and that is why it says they are “asleep.” Martin Luther had it right in explaining this. He said it is like in this life, when we are asleep, the alarm clock goes off, and we wake up, that that is how it will be when our souls are asleep in Sheol and heaven’s sounds to wake the dead.
Thus, it is a travesty that warmongers persuade militants to sacrifice their lives on the battlefield due to the false hope that at death they immediately will go to heaven.
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