Amazing isn't it how much death has been in the news lately? It's not as if death is a new phenomenon, it happens everyday, just read the obituaries, the folks that are listed there are just as dead as the three big deaths announced over the last ten days or so.
First we had the moral struggle, for some at least, over whether or not to starve a mental cripple (no I don't believe that "ending artificial life-support" meant that starving Terri Schiavo was humane). {This whole episode deserves its own post, but maybe later!} Then the Pope died, and we discover that he was widely loved, and amazing as it is to realize there are those in this world who actually, in my humble opinion, "worshiped" him. Did he wish to be idolized and worshipped? I would think not based upon what he has said and done in the past. But then once he is dead who is he to stop them from doing so? A million people it has been reported have viewed the body, and the City of Rome is expecting upwards of five million people this weekend for the funeral. What a shame there will likely not be a gospel presentation presented to these people for them to respond to and have a chance to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, and thus turn this event of unprecented magnitude (imagine 2 billion people watching!) for sharing the gospel. Can you imagine the impact that this one message might have upon the world if there was a gospel presentation offered? What would happen to the world? There are six billion people on the planet by the best guesses; and a full one-third of the population of the world are estimated to be watching this event on Friday afternoon. What would Jesus think of this event if there could be just one witness of His name at this event that would shout out to the lost and dying that there truly is a water that will quench their spiritual thirst, and a bread that fill all of their natural and supernatural hungers and desires, and this all comes in the form of Jesus Christ.
But in the end, we find that the Pope, was only a man. Like you and I, a sinner, one who death has claimed physically, but if his hope was truly placed in Jesus Christ for taking his place on the cross and taking his sin upon Himself, then truly we will see Karol Wotjyla in heaven one day. I pray that he was indeed a Christ follower. Are you? "Examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. Test yourselves, or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless you fail to meet the test!" (2 Corinthians 13:5)
Death has been defeated at the cross of Jesus Christ! Its ultimate defeat came three days later when the Lord Jesus Christ walked out from His tomb, and left it empty for all the world to see.
"I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall all not sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and teh dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory!' 'O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the workd of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." (1 Corinthians 15:50-58)
"Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment." (John 5:28-29) Do you wonder about this statement of who has done good, and who has done evil? Do not wonder as it has been proclaimed from days gone by that those who know the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ are those who "know" Him, and follow Him, as their Lord and Savior. "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live." (John 5:25) "The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers...I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture...I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep...My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one...I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 10 & 14, selected passages)
No greater truth exists than this. Death has been defeated! The death of the Pope, the death of Terri Schiavo, and the death of Prince Rainier all point out that irregardless of your station in life, you too will die one day. If today is that day, are you prepared to stand before the Judge of the Universe, who knows all things from the beginning to the ending? What will you say to Him when asked why you should be allowed into eternal glory in the presence of God? Are you prepared to say that you of yourself are not worthy, but instead you claim the blood of Jesus Christ as the price paid for the sins you committed? And that by doing so you declare yourself a follower, a believer, and dedicated disciple of Jesus Christ? If you do not know this as the truth in your heart that will deliver you from death, than today make it so!
Please contact me if you wish to talk further, (crossblade@highstream.net) I will be glad to pray for you and ask the Father to take the spiritual blinders or cataracts from your eyes, and to unclog your ears that you may hear the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That He might also remove the prejudices that the human heart with the help of the devil put between you and the God who loves you. Please do not let another day go by without your knowing that your eternal destiny is set and that the King of Kings awaits you in eternity.
Blessed Be His Holy Name ~ All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name!!
Peace & Grace to you,
your brother in Christ,
jon
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