Prayers For The Dead? What? - Psalm 115:17

  
They are dead, they will not live; they are shades, they will not arise; to that end you have visited them with destruction and wiped out all remembrance of them. -  Isaiah 26:14

    There are so many analogies regarding praying for the dead and each one represents a missed or lost opportunity. From shutting the barn door after the horses have run out, to the old adage, “Too little, too late.” Praying for the dead should be added to those arcane idioms. The futility of such prayers cannot be emphasized enough. There are three considerations one should make before blundering into a prayer for the recent dead.
1)         Did we pray for them when they were alive? I don’t mean while they were struggling with mortality on their death beds. I mean during their lives! While they, like we, were touting their autonomy, independence, and their personal power, did we ever ask God to bless them in their ignorance and bring light to their clouded eyes? Do we even pray for ourselves?
“. . . praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.” - Ephesians 6:18.
2)         If we did pray for them in life or in death, who exactly were we praying to? “Which god” were we praying to? Was it a god of our own imaginings, a god of our own design? Maybe a composite god drawn from some mixture of Native American / Eastern Religion / Mythical Storybook gods, some convoluted Unitarian goulash. Exactly which god are we talking about?  Because there are a lot of vain imaginings parading around in people’s minds, calling itself “god.” And if that’s the god we are all praying to, our prayers are falling on deaf ears!  There is but one true God. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” - Exodus 20:2-3.
3)        The spiritual condition a man or woman dies in determines their eternity now and forever. After physical death it is too late for prayers. No matter what denomination you claim for yourself: no prayers for the dead will be heard! “But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who ‘will render to each one according to his deeds.’” - Romans 2:5-6.
    There are three alternatives to the above considerations:
1)         If we want to affect the people we care about in this life, we must pray for them NOW, while they are alive! Why in heaven’s name would we wait until they die? Think about it. It’s not rocket science! People who are dead have no need for prayers. This is why it is so important to pray here and now, for others as well as for ourselves. How often and how much should we pray? “pray without ceasing” - 1 Thessalonians 5:17.
2)         I get hoarse repeating this truth, “There is but one holy God, the God of the Bible!” If we’re praying to anyone else, our water bucket has a hole in it. And at the end of a long day’s journey back and forth to the well, we’re still going to die of thirst! “but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”- John 4:14.
3)         After one passes from this earthly shroud, they are gone. The corporeal body that housed envy, lust, hatred, and every other kind of sin is now and forever gone as we knew it. As I stated before, their spiritual state at the time of their death determines their final place in eternity. Those who died, having never come to Christ, are beyond the benefit of prayer. Prayer cannot help them; nothing can help them! “I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” - John 8:24. 
    On the other hand, those who died with faith in Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior have no need for prayers; they are already in Paradise. “Then he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.’” - Luke 23:42-43.
    Yes, there have been more than a few deathbed confessions of faith but our hearts should weep for the man, woman, or child who doesn’t know enough about Jesus Christ to seek repentance! This is why praying for the dead is fruitless and praying for the living is of the utmost importance. Let us all remember the prayer of the tax collector: “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” - Luke 18:13.
    Muslims pray for their dead; Christians shouldn’t! Prayer is reserved for the living, not the dead. We must pray now, both for our loved ones and ourselves. We must pray now! “For He says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” - 2 Corinthians 6:2. For those of you who only think about God at someone’s funeral, I urge you to stop it immediately and start to think about God in both your and your loved ones lives daily! Our glorious and loving Father in heaven hears only the prayers of and for the living.

A World Reunited, God’s Way - Deuteronomy 30:1-3

  
“Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you.”
- Deuteronomy 30:1-3


    Perhaps the greatest revelation of the true desegregation of mankind in the Old Testament, these verses from Deuteronomy 30 clearly state God’s eventual intention of drawing men and women from all nations back together into a true brotherhood. The over-riding condition referred to here is that we all return to God, the one true God,  and obey Him, obey His every law. 6,000 years of recorded human history show us that such a feat is humanly impossible. That while we may do good works and righteous things, we still fail to be ultimately righteous in our hearts and minds. “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.  They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.’” - Romans 3:10-12.
    Genesis 11 spells out the reason for God’s decision to scatter us abroad over the face of all the earth. The story of the Tower of Babel is timeless and points us to the erroneous idea that mankind could ever work toward justice and equality when failing to operate under the auspice of God’s will. History has since shown us incapable of working together for very long specifically because of cultural, ethnic, racial, and national differences . . . just as God intended it to be in Genesis 11! Because we decided to worship the creature (“ourselves,” see Genesis 11:4)  rather than the Creator we have been bridled with the curse. “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” - Romans 1:24-25. And while our title verse clearly marks the way for a return to the blessing God had in store for us, the reprobation of mankind still rules us even to our very way of thinking.
    Men have tried in vain to develop world organizations which would by law bring us together, i.e., the League of Nations, the United Nations. Such enterprises have always failed due to the fallacious origin or central weakness of the endeavor - the autonomy of man; the notion that as men, we are capable of accomplishing anything we choose to accomplish - a patently execrable foundation. “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” - Galatians 5:19-21.
    The blessing contained in Deuteronomy 30:1-3 is not based on anything outside of the parameters set by God Himself. We must if we ever hope to see a communion of mankind exist in peace, adhere to the words of verse 2 - “return to the Lord (our) God and obey His voice!” There simply is no other way. It was God who separated us; it is only God who can reunite us. Not since Genesis 3 has man found his place with God, nor have we obeyed His voice.
    We have set our teeth on edge against one another just as God decreed. Even our blood types are at variance. Despite the notion that “O negative” is the only universal blood type, the truth is that there is only one blood that is common to all men. There is only one blood type that mends the rift between man and man and God and man. There is only one blood type that obeys His voice. And that is the blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is only through His blood shed for us that He has atoned for our sins. It is through the blood of Christ that we are justified in the eyes of our holy God. It is only through this blood that mankind can ever find the commonality that makes us all brothers and sisters. It is only through His blood that bigotry and hatred will fall to the wayside. It is only through the blood of Christ that mankind is reunited, God’s way, not man’s!
    God, as it has been stated in Scripture is no respecter of persons. “Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.’” - Acts 10:34. God doesn’t see skin color or ethnicity or national boundaries. With God, there are no natural boundaries either. With God, there are only His chosen and the reprobate. Those chosen by God weep in contrition, kneeling beneath the cross while those left in their sin stand at a distance, point their crooked fingers and blaspheme the Lamb of God. This is the only separation of mankind that God sees! Those He has chosen for salvation and those He has left to die in their sin. And no international court or charter will ever force the two together.   
    Let us pray that God’s light shines brilliantly and brightly upon those who have chosen Christ over the world and love over bigotry and hatred. Truly, when we return to the Lord our God and obey His voice He will gather us again from the captivity of our racism and prejudice where we have been scattered. “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” - 1 Corinthians 1:10. This is the will of God for his people.

A Blessing Regardless - Psalm 106:37-38

They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood. - Psalm 106:37-38

    I hear it all the time: why don’t you get off your high horse and stop condemning the Pro-Choice position on abortion? They tell me it’s “the law of the land.” My first thought is always, “You mean the way the law of the land said that liquor was legal, then it wasn’t, then it was . . . again?” The Pro-Choice opinion is now and always has been rife with misinterpreted law: law passed solely with political expediency in mind. “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” - Judges 21:25.  How appropriate that this particular verse comes to us via the Book of Judges and that it clearly states that there was no King(God) in Israel = No God in America!
    The heinousness of abortion cannot be emphasized enough. It is why the procedure is forbidden to be discussed in “polite company.” Seriously, unless you are in the company of like-minded individuals you will be shut down immediately if you try to talk about what happens to an infant during an abortion. “That’s disgusting!” Some will say, while others in their ignorance will recoil and argue that a “human fetus” is not a person. Yet God sees it otherwise - “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” - Jeremiah 1:5.
    Biological science? Is that your preferred method of rational? You mean a form of science that its own proponents readily admit is constantly in flux? Yet somehow the “accepted science” never evolves radically enough to reverse the current and erroneous ideas about when viable life begins. That can only be explained politically because science supports the truth that once an ovum is fertilized by a sperm cell, short of a disease, accident or deliberate murder, life begins!
    So the question remains: why do I continually harp upon the mistaken idea that abortion is a woman’s “right” to murder her own child? To the unbeliever it won’t matter. But for the fence-sitting people who claim to believe in God I hope to drive such a wedge of thoughtful distress into your hearts that you must finally, firmly,  and unequivocally come to the conclusion that abortion, for whatever else it may be, is just wrong, both morally and ethically! “And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart. ‘Therefore behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room.’" - Jeremiah 7:31-32. 
    As for you unbelievers? Your advocacy for abortion isn’t your biggest problem; your biggest problem is your unbelief! “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” - John 3:18.
    A child must be seen both before birth and afterward as a blessing from God, regardless of the circumstances of conception. “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.” - Psalm 127:3. Abortion takes a life anyway you look at it unless you simply close your eyes and choose to ignore it.
    Why do I and why should every man and woman who dare call themselves, “Christian,” oppose abortion? “But Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’” - Matthew 19:14. Dare any of us deny Christ?

Biblical Revisionist Fools - Proverbs 26:4-5

   
Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. - Proverbs 24:4-5

    One of the great proverbs of the Old Testament seems contradictory at times. Are we to answer a fool according to his folly or are we not? On the surface it wouldn’t seem that we can have it both ways. I for one am of the school that agrees with the first statement: don’t answer the fool; however, there is great wisdom in the second statement.
     There was a recent article in the NY Times, submitting that the Book of Leviticus and the Bible in its entirety is a “human book.” The entire article, written by alleged  
“Biblical scholar,” Idan Dershowitz, suggests that the Book of Leviticus as we know it was written not by Moses but by several authors over a number of years and that, you probably want to sit down for this one: the “original” intent of Leviticus 18:22 was not a prohibition against sex between two men but a permission slip if you will that allowed this grisly and abhorrent practice. He suggests that this: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.” - Leviticus 18:22 was the replacement for an original redacted version which actually allowed for such disgusting behavior. The sheer gravitas of such Biblical revisionism matches the glowering revisionism of the Holocaust which suggests no such genocidal madness took place! “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” - 2 Timothy 4:3-4.
    In addition to this sacrilegious garbage parading as Biblical scholarship Dershowitz and his father, Nachum, were among a group of scholars who were trying to apply “artificial intelligence (A.I.) “to reveal hidden patterns of authorship and editing of Biblical texts,” according to an article by Dr. Albert Mohler, of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Mohler further went on to say, and correctly, “Dershowitz’s entire article is imagination disguised as scholarship.”
    And let’s not stop there. For the sake of argument: if Dershowitz and his ilk are even remotely correct in their assumptions. If as they suggest, the Bible has been edited, redacted, re-written, mistranslated, misinterpreted, and misunderstood over the eons of time, then what book of Holy Scripture can we point to with any degree of certainty and state emphatically, “This word is true?” If we can’t believe the Scriptural account of Creation then how can we argue that any of the Bible is true and accurate? If we can’t believe one book of the Bible what would make us think we could believe any other? And this is the goal and the aim of the Bible Revisionists; to cast doubt that Scripture is indeed the very word of God. How else can one redefine morality if he or she can’t say, “That’s not what it means?”
    Clearly, the very act of trying to reinterpret Biblical truth according to some trendy A.I or any revisionist’s criteria goes against two of the most profound warnings in the Bible: Deuteronomy 4:2 and Revelation 22:18, both of which forbid the adding to or subtracting of the original texts and revelations.
    My original position was to simply ignore the comments and suggestions of anyone who perverts the accepted intent of Scripture as written by its authors on the grounds that merely acknowledging such tripe is enough to lend credibility to their inane rambling. But after reading Dr. Mohler’s article rejecting Dershowitz’s argument I came to conclude that Mohler’s was an articulate and surgical strike at the heart of such utter nonsense and well represented the point of Proverbs 26:5.
    Perhaps the greatest lesson we can come away with from this counter-argument by Dr. Mohler is to be found in 2 Timothy 2:23-25 - “But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth . . . .”
    May we always find a way to stalwartly yet gently correct those who have turned aside from the truth that lives and reigns in Jesus Christ.

The Heresy Of Liberation Theology - Revelation 14:6 -7

 
Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”
 - Revelation 14:6 -7

    Allow me to skip to the chase: the Holy Bible is no codex for Liberation Theology anymore than it is for a Health and Wealth Theology. No matter what form the heresy comes in, whether it is Black Liberation, Gay Liberation, Feminist Liberation or Liberation in general. Nowhere in the confines of the Bible can a case be made for the specific or preferential treatment of a group of people who are of a distinct race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or political point of view. “For there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.” - Romans 2:11-13.
    As sinners, we all fall under condemnation unless we are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. Only in the shadow of His cross are we liberated from our sins. Only when we call upon the name of the Lord are we forgiven and we are forgiven despite our differences. “For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’” - Romans 10:11-13.
    This commonality among sinners was recognized by God in Genesis 6 - “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” - Genesis 6:5-6. God found a man of His own heart in Noah, whom He saved from the ravages of the great Flood, Noah and his sons. But soon after, mankind multiplied again and found themselves in the most politically correct environment since Creation. “Now the whole earth had one language and one speech.”- Genesis 11:1. One language, one speech, one culture, one nation. And what did we do with it?
    “And they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.’” - Genesis 11:4. God saw the arrogance and pride of mankind. And so He stepped in again. “And the Lord said, ‘Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.’ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.” - Genesis 11: 6-9.  Clearly, it was God’s intent that mankind should be separated by race, ethnicity, culture, and language!
    The reunification of mankind is not once again mentioned in the Holy Bible until our title verse from Revelation. It is not under any Biblical precept that man should enjoy a universal commonality except through faith in Jesus Christ! There is no specific inclusive or exclusive message within the Bible other than the union of saints at the foot of Christ’s cross!
    The mere suggestion that there is a specialized or reserved Gospel for anyone based solely upon their race, language, political calling, sexual orientation, personal belief, or ethnicity is heretical, to say the least. God’s message is for all men and women, regardless of human differences. But that message is for all of us to come together in the holy name of Jesus Christ. The only authority is that of God Himself and to say or practice our faith otherwise is as great a sin as the offering of “strange fire.” God only accepts us despite our sin. At no time will God ever accept us IN OUR SIN! Be assured, unrepented sin will not go unpunished. There is no liberation for sinners outside of Jesus Christ.

Christ’s Only Mission - Matthew 1:21

 “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” - Matthew 1:21

    His goal. His purpose. His end is and only is to save us from our sins. I think that message often gets lost today. With all the chatter about love and compassion and tolerance, the real impetus behind Christ’s incarnation is the extirpation of our sins. Jesus doesn’t love the sin. He doesn’t have compassion for the sin. And He certainly doesn’t tolerate the sin. And many of us have lost touch with that portion of the Gospel or simply choose to ignore its implications.
    We tend to see Jesus as a loving, compassionate, and tolerant Savior; not necessarily even our Lord. We tend to bypass His Lordship in lieu of the aforementioned more “comfortable traits.” All the while, misinterpreting the message. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” - John 3:17.
    Of course, the message is reassuring, focusing our attention on the salvific mission, but “saved” from what? Sin! If we are going to take comfort in His word then we must also understand His reason, His prime directive, for being born to us in the first place. And to understand we must turn our attention to the subject of His mission: our sin. “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins . . . .” - Acts 13:38.
    Today sin is too often thought of cavalierly and with the wink of an eye as though it were some insignificant joke from years gone by. An outdated code of behavior from a heavy old book best used as a doorstop now. The moral standards, the laws today, are as malleable as wax melting beneath the afternoon sun. I mean, come on; if it isn’t explicitly “against the law” it can’t really be that bad, can it? With that attitude we need not be pulled down into the darkened caverns of hell; with that attitude we’ll all happily dance our way into the furnace, our laughter, fading into a scream. “So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” - Matthew 13:49-50.
    We must ask ourselves -“How often do we think about our sin?” How important is it? From a worldly perspective think about it this way. Sin is the reason we have law enforcement, jails and prison, a standing military presence in the world and their ancillary parts. Sin is the reason for crime and war. Sin is the reason we have addiction and broken families. Sin is important enough.
    From the heavenly perspective, sin is important enough for God to send His only begotten Son to atone for it, because as fallen human beings subject to sin, we could never atone for it ourselves. It took Christ’s beaten and broken body on the cross to draw God’s wrath away from our sin. “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” - Isaiah 53:5. Why? Why was Christ so treated? Why did He willingly lay down His life? For what purpose did He die? The simple answer: sin, our sins because He, being the Son of God, lived a life sinless and obedient perfection. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” - 2 Corinthians 5:21. This is the atonement of Jesus Christ. This is the entire reason He was born the incarnate Son of God; for this reason and for this reason only!
    To suggest that Christ came to us for any other reason is not only a sacrilege but also a grand heresy. “And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” - 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12.
    Yes, Christ loves us and has so loved us from before the beginning of time. And His love for us is exhibited by His willful death at the hands of the crowd for one reason alone: to save us from our sins! “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” - 1 John 4:10. That love is a lesson of the Gospel is a byproduct of Christ's divine mission; it is not the reason for His incarnation.
    This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that He came to us and for no other reason: to save us from our sins! Let us all prayerfully thank God with our whole being in mind, body, and soul.

Let Us Prepare the Way - John 14:2

  
In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. - John 14:2

    Each and every one of us, believer and unbeliever alike, have found ourselves in the precarious position of impending loss . . . great loss. Whether it be our homes or businesses, our health or our security; and often, most often, the loss of a loved one.
    For the unbeliever, the loss will result in further estrangement from God. They often cry out, “If there is a God and He is a loving God, how could he do this to me?” For the believer, the angst is just as real. “My child (husband, wife, mother, father sister, brother) is sick and dying. Why, Lord, why?” The question is legitimate. The lack of understanding, real. Indeed, God; why? “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” - Isaiah 55:8-9.
    This is certainly one of the most trying times in the life of a believer. We can only imagine how much more difficult it is in the life of those who don’t believe. So, those of us who believe in the providence of God pray, and we pray mightily to forestall what we know in our hearts is inevitable. “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” - Genesis 3:19.
    We know this to be the truth. It is beyond argument or negotiation. While unbelievers are steeped in their anger and denial, believers hold on in hope and the possibility of reprieve. And all the while we consider ONLY our needs and desires, never giving thought to the eternal fate of those we are about to lose. Shouldn’t we focus our efforts on helping our loved ones spiritually prepare to shed this earthly shroud? Shouldn’t we be preparing ourselves for our time?
    Those who refuse to believe have no hope. As death, the final arbiter creeps slowly into the room, they are faced with the worst of all finalities. Would but someone offer a prayer for the spiritually dead as well as those dying in the flesh. Death will come to us all, regardless - “All things come alike to all: one event happens to the righteous and the wicked; to the good, the clean, and the unclean; to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath as he who fears an oath.” - Ecclesiastes 9:2.
    We who have faith in Jesus and believe in the resurrection of the soul, can take comfort, knowing that our crucified Savior rose from death into glory and that we and our loved ones who believe will rise into that same glory. “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” - John 6:40. Jesus has promised us that He has already prepared the way for us. It is up to us to prepare our loved ones and ourselves.
    For those who have deliberately chosen to live and die in unbelief, the eternal path that awaits them is quite different. Imagine believing that there is nothing after death. How dismal such a life lived must be. But they are wrong. The pain and suffering that awaits them will be apocryphal. And make no mistake: there is no proverbial “better place” simply because that idea is more comforting to their survivors than the stark realization that they are now and forevermore confined to the sulfurous pits of hell. This most terrifying eternity should give one pause for thought if not prayer. If it doesn’t, then perhaps Dante’s infamous line is better suited for their ‘slip of the foot’: “Abandon hope all ye who enter here.” How terrible a realization for the believer to acknowledge that their loved one: a parent, sibling, or child is doomed to an eternity in that dark and hopeless place, a place “where ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’” - Mark 9:48.
    Heaven awaits those of us who have been washed in the sacred blood of Christ’s atonement. He alone has taken our sins upon Himself so that we may be justified before our almighty God. “But as it is written:‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” - 1 Corinthians 2:9.
    Let us not pine at the reality of physical death but prepare our loved ones and ourselves for the eventuality we all face. Let us turn our back on the world, the flesh, and the devil. Our immortality does not exist in this mortal world. Let us and our loved ones acknowledge our salvation . “But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” - Romans 10:8-9. Let us celebrate our election as saints, predestined by our almighty God, to live and reign with Him in eternity.