Heb.9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
There is no passing from the place of fiery torment to heaven or vice versa:
Luke 16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
Our works will be made manifest at the time of judgement. But that judgement will determine our rewards, not our salvation. Our salvation is determined in this life:
John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Rom.5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Christ took our sin on Him, paid for it in full, and applied or imputed His righteousness to us. So that the believer is saved not based on his righteousness, but on Christ's righteousness alone. Romans chapter 3 tells us that there is "none righteous, no not one." And Isaiah tells us that "all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." [Isa.64:6] The only way a man is accounted righteous is by God graciously granting him Christ's righteousness. Then, that person who has been saved, and who has received the divine nature, displays in his life "good works" [see the book of James] that prove that he is truly a Christian.
Rom.4:3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." 4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. 5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: 7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; 8 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin." When a believer dies, he goes immediately to be with the Lord: 2 Cor.5:6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
If a man dies as an unbeliever, he pays for his own sins in hell, and there is no other opportunity for him to be saved. If a man dies as a believer, His sins have been paid for by the substitutionary death of Christ, and the believer is secure for all of eternity. A man's character and destiny are irrevocably fixed at death:
Rev.22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
Convincing people that their loved ones are half-way between heaven and hell, and their prays and their money can get them out sooner, is one of the most effective scams in history. Another is paying the Catholic church to forgive your sins in advance for the right price [indulgences]. St. Peter's Basilica was built in large part due to such fund raising tactics. As the Roman Catholic fund raiser, Tetzel, in Luther's day, would tell his hearers, concerning their loved ones:
As soon as the coin in the coffer rings,
the soul from purgatory springs.
That's for sure. And Heaven is the eternal destiny for the souls in Purgatory being prepared for their glory.
It is easy to see why the negative theology of the Protestants, (protesters), required that they throw the canonical Book of Maccabees overboard into the sea. For it reveals in (2 Macc. 12:43-44)that the abolishing of the doctrine of Purgatory was clearly a heresy. Note that Protestant theology is a negative one, based on the denying of Catholic doctrines through the use of isolated quotes from the Bible. The Bible beautifully teaches us that even Satan can quote Scripture and make the verses seem to be what they are not. This is the age-old strategy from Gehenna that Satan employed against Jesus during the temptations in the wilderness, (Mathew 4, and Mark 1).
But notice that Jesus uncovered this tactic from the start when He told Satan that man lives by "every word of God", (Mathew 4:4). Jesus was not going to be fooled into considering isolated Bible verses.
The Bible itself is careful to tell us that the average person cannot easily understand the Scriptures and needs to be taught by a valid teaching authority. Will you self-intrepret the Bible anyway?
(1). "First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God". (2 Peter 1:20)
(2). "So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures". (2 Peter 3:15-16).
(3). "And behold, an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a minister of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of all her treasure, had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join this chariot." So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" And he said, "How can I, unless some one guides me?" (Acts 8: 27-31)
(4). Two believers, Cleopas and another were walking to Emmaus when they met Jesus. Though devout Jews who believed, they needed to have Scriputre interpreted for them. "And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself". (Luke 24:27).
Will you accept the interpretations of Luther, or of the pastors of your 25,000 different denominations and competing theologies above the interpretations and teachings of the early Church Fathers, Bishops and Saints? Tertulian, one of the very earliest Christian writers and theologians wrote about a place between Heaven and earth after death, where we should pray for them. Saint Augustine wrote about his belief in Purgatory, as did a great many of the early Church Fathers.
Matt. 5:25,18:34; Luke 12:58-59 - these verses allude to a temporary state of purgation called a "prison." There is no exit until we are perfect, and the last penny is paid.
Matt. 12:32 - Jesus clearly provides that there is forgiveness after death. Forgiveness is not necessary in heaven, and there is no forgiveness in hell. This proves that there is another state after death, and the Church for more than 2,000 years has called this state purgatory.
Luke 12:47-48 - when the Master comes (at the end of time), some will receive light or heavy beatings but will live. This state is not heaven or hell, because in heaven there are no beatings, and in hell we will will no longer live with the Master.
Luke 16:19-31 - in this story, we see that the dead rich man is suffering but still feels compassion for his brothers and wants to warn them of his place of suffering. But there is no suffering in heaven or compassion in hell. So where is the rich man? He is in purgatory.
1 Cor. 15:29-30 - Paul mentions people being baptized on behalf of the dead, to atone for their sins. These people cannot be in heaven because they are still with sin, but they also cannot be in hell because their sins can no longer be atoned for. They are in purgatory.
Phil. 2:10 - every knee bends to Jesus, in heaven, on earth, and "under the earth" which is the realm of the righteous dead, or purgatory.
2 Tim. 1:16-18 - Onesiphorus is dead but Paul asks for mercy on him. But there is no need for mercy in heaven, and there is no mercy given in hell. Where is Onesiphorus? He is in purgatory.
Heb. 12:14 - without holiness no one will see the Lord. We need final sanctification to attain true holiness before God, and this process occurs during our lives and, if not completed, in the state of purgatory.
Heb. 12:23 - the spirits of just men who died in godliness are "made" perfect. They do not necessarily arrive perfect. They are made perfect after their death. But those in heaven are already perfect, and those in hell can no longer be made perfect. These spirits were in purgatory.
1 Peter 3:19; 4:6 - Jesus preached to the spirits in the "prison." These are the righteous souls being purified for the beatific vision.
Rev. 21:4 - God shall wipe away their tears, and there will be no mourning or pain, but only after the coming of the new heaven and the passing away of the current heaven and earth. But there is no morning or pain in heaven, and God will not wipe away their tears in hell. These are the souls experiencing purgatory.
Rev. 21:27 - nothing unclean shall enter heaven. Even the propensity to sin is uncleanliness. It is amazing how many Protestants do not want to believe in purgatory. Purgatory exists because of the mercy of God. If there were no purgatory, this would also likely mean no salvation for most people. God is merciful indeed.
Gen. 50:10; Num. 20:29; Deut. 34:8 - here are some examples of ritual prayer and penitent mourning for the dead for specific periods of time. The Jewish understanding of these practices was that the prayers freed the souls from their painful state of purificatioin, and expedited their journey to God.
Baruch 3:4 - Baruch asks the Lord to hear the prayers of the dead of Israel. Prayers for the dead are unnecessary in heaven and unnecessary in hell. These dead are in purgatory.
Zech. 9:11 - God, through the blood of His covenant, will set those free from the waterless pit, a spiritual abode of suffering which the Church calls purgatory.
2 Macc. 12:43-45 - the prayers for the dead help free them from sin and help them to the reward of heaven. Those in heaven have no sin, and those in hell can no longer be freed from sin. They are in purgatory. Luther was particularly troubled with these verses because he rejected the age-old teaching of purgatory. As a result, he removed Maccabees from the canon of the Bible.