Should We Pray for the Dead? 

So blessed by your ministry, Chad. I lost my Dad recently. Struggled with the same thing - came to the same conclusion. I don’t know you - but think about your family loss often and pray for you. I’m so sorry for the trials you had to face, but so thankful for your faithfulness to the Lord - trusting Him in the valley. Thank you.

Whenever I get the urge to think about or pray for my friend who passed tragically, I try to pray for his relatives and friends- I say to God that I hope he is with Him. Now I pray that if it be possible that anything good comes this dilemma that God will move and show us his mercy and grace I haven’t quite had this problem with others. Just him.

I agree with you on this 100 percent. Once someone has died it is up to God at that point. He knows the heart, and He is merciful. We have to leave it in His hands.

Sorry for your loss

I prayed too when my dad passed away. It wasn't fruitless. Jesus heard my heart. He is the God who sees. And he sees through our words. But I agree it's too late to decide to follow Jesus when one passes. We only have one shot. I learned something new about judgement.

Yes on all of your message, especially praying for those still living here on earth, including our loved ones and enemies. Also, to keep in mind that Heaven will be perfect paradise. There will be no sorrow over those not present, because heaven would then fall short of its perfection.

La question est aussi : devons-nous prier nos morts pour intercéder ? Bien sûr je dirais que non car seul Jésus est notre médiateur auprès de Dieu 🙏 merci pour votre travail et tous mes sentiments respectueux pour la perte de vos fils et père 🙏

From a healing heart thank you for answering this question, it has been on my mind as of late. I felt it hard for you to say dear brother but it did need to be said. Again thank you until next time.🥲

The Augsburg Confession says that prayers for the departed are not useless So thats prayers are relevant to pray

Chad, rest easy. Yes! Pray for those who have departed, knowing that your prayers are those of a child who never will understand. It is enough that our Lord hears our prayers as testimony to the love they have left behind, our great love for them or the love we saw in them. Our Lord is the final judge. We can only attest to the love we have shared. In praying for those who have gone before, we pray for ourselves. I try to leave all speculation of heaven and hell to Jesus. God is not bound by time or death! Our judgements, when we stoop to judge, can only be superficial. God is not bound by our understanding of His Word. Personally, and without any justification but faith in God's grace, I expect to be astounded by the variety of peoples I meet after I die. The first shall be last, etc. So, I try not to worry about it. I try, and fail, to treat all as loved and forgiven children of God.

Thank you for this theologically sound discussion. Thanks be to God. Despite our intense feelings, we must still rely on correct theology. Blessings.

Great explanation, God Bless!

I agree. I have in the past missed a departed loved one so much that I’ve asked my Father to please let him or her know that I greatly love and miss him or her, if that is allowed by Him. I don’t know if my Heavenly Father chooses to pass along such “love notes” or not. I do know that He can do anything He pleases.

Thank you for your video and my condolences on the loss of your son and dad. I remember where I was after we lost our son, at 20 yrs old, and I was still in so much grief. I'd say it took 6 or so years to feel part of the living again. It's now been 18 years and I will always have a broken heart. He was killed by an underaged drunk driver and I feel I forgave a long time ago, even though she was never remorseful. Blessings to you and your family.

One of the things my husband was very worried about before he died was if I was going to forget him. I always assured him I would not. A few times now, I have asked God to let my deceased husband know that I'm thinking about him, I still love him, and I have not forgotten him. I can't help myself. I have such a hard time wrapping my mind around how drastic the separation really is. 💔

This is interesting and something that I don’t think I’ve done but also had not thought about. I had to go look at the Portals and Prayers piece I use, and behold, this a prayer only for those left here. ✨ “Dear Heavenly Father, We know that You give and You take away. In each, we bless Your name. We come before You knowing that Your servant is Your child and that You have called Your servant home. We thank You for allowing ___ to be a part of our lives and a friend to all. We bless You for filling Your promises and granting eternal life through Jesus. We pray for those still present on earth that You will comfort their hearts in the midst of loss and reassure them of Your promises once again. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Hmm, I don't know. It would seem to me that since God is all-knowing, he would have always known if you're going to pray for someone at some point, so that would imply God knew your future prayer for the departed loved one before that person's death. At least unless one saw and heard a person clearly and directly reject God at the very moment of their death, there doesn't seem to be anything to preclude the possibility that God could have worked on that person's life in response to the prayer that God knew someone would pray later.

Definitely.

I’m not sure it’s so binary. We pray for the departed in the episcopal liturgy. If we believe the living extend into everlasting life then they are not dead and so it would seem that our prayers for the past, present, and future are all relevant.

This is absolute truth.

Brother, what is your opinion on the “near death” experiences people report, in which they see loved ones or angels, etc.?

I wonder, since God exists outside of the constraints of time, if souls of the dead also exist outside of our linear idea of time? I do pray for God to have mercy on people who have just died, that he would reveal Himself to them in their passing moments (which may be in the past for us, but maybe not so for God) Ps.. I'm enjoying your book The Christ Key very much!!

I am sorry for the loss of your young son. I know the pain. My 37 yr old son, Christopher, was assaulted 3 yrs ago and died from a tbi. My sorrow is he probably died in his sins. Did he ask for help and forgiveness in his jail cell, idk. 🙏 My Catholic friends pray for the departed. I do not. My Protestant mind would not allow it. 💐

Much here for thought. Theologically he's right, but perhaps not so much emotionally. Maybe there's something cathartic in praying for our loved ones. But I'd hate to think someone's salvation depends on me praying for them.

In another video recently you mentioned hell being Sheol - the place of the dead. Are these 2 different places or should hell be translated Sheol or Gehenna or Tartarus?

Jesus and Peter Simultaneously Prayed to Saints and for the Dead. Tabitha was a disciple in Joppa who died. Peter prayed to her when he said “Tabitha, rise.” See Acts 9:36-41. She was dead, and he was addressing her. There is no impenetrable wall between heaven and earth. This is not only praying to the dead, but for the dead, since the passage says that Peter “prayed” before addressing Tabitha first person. And he was praying for her to come back to life. Our Lord Jesus does the same thing with regard to Lazarus. He prays for Lazarus (a dead man: John 11:41-42) and then speaks directly to a dead man (in effect, “praying” to him): “Lazarus, come out” (John 11:43).

How do we understand 1 Corinthians 15:29 about being baptized for the dead? I would not have prayed for the dead, for as you said, where they are going has been decided and our prayers can't change that. Was being baptized for the dead a common practice and how would that benefit them?

I think we can pray for the past salvation of our loved ones. God is omniscient so maybe our prayers in the present do affect things we are not certain about in the past. I don't see any inherent problem with this idea, but I admit it is not a Biblical one, in the sense that we do not have examples of this in the Bible as far as my knowledge goes.

Yeah, as a Catholic, I will continue to pray for the departed.

For more information read the catechism of the catholic church 1030 to 1032 and lectures by father Chris Chris alar on the final purfication or purgatory

not "true" Praying to the dead is biblical. ”1 Corinthians 15:29 “Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?”