Writing article on death at Christian College

I am writing an article on death/after life at a Christian College by Monday. Please pray for me and if you have any thoughts or have done this before, please email me. thanks.
Doug

Hi Doug,

I'm a mortician in Texas. I work at a funeral home and have a bit of experience on this subject. Feel free to write me; I am at your service if you ever need help.

Brother Paul

Paul,
I am sure you have a lot of thoughts on this subject. Would you mind sharing the most pressing ones with us on this thread? To me it sounds fascinating.

I am not afraid to discuss death -having a 25 YO DD with the LORD (she died 11 yrs. ago). And just recently buried two uncles of mine - died within nine days of each other.

Having experienced the loss of two relatives recently, evoked a lot of questions for me, so much it has robbed me of sleep. The answer to the questions is that they are in God's hands and he is the final judge. For that I am thankful! I know God has given each one a chance to repent of evil in their hearts and lives. But the question is: did they? They did not leave that testimony...by their fruits ye shall know them, says the Scripture...should not your family be aware of your walk with the LORD? Yes, I know the answer, but the questions nag me still.

Ok, I will quit rambling. What do you have to say, Paul?

ginnyrose

Here is what I wrote so far:

About 16 years ago while attending a Christian College three young men were driving home when they were in a head on collision and two of them died and the driver walked away. Those two men did not realize that day would be their last. All of us have a God given will to live and believe that we will live until we are 70, maybe 80 years old, but many of us never think that we could be snatched from earth unexpectedly. How prepared will you be before you enter eternity? Do you know where you are going after you die? Will you be reincarnated into a bug, the ground, heaven or hell? You will be spending a lot longer on the other side that you will on this side of life and it’s very important that you are prepared and know for sure. So how can you know?

Recently RWC held the End of Life Conference with many sessions discussing a variety of topics relating to death. All of these topics were excellent and very helpful to preparing for loved ones and especially talking to Children about death. Many people I talk to believe are going to heaven because they believe they are a good person. What they don’t realize that being “good” will not hold up on judgment day. God have us a mirror to look into, the 10 commandments to show us how good we really are. If we are honest with ourselves all of us have lied, stolen, used God’s name in vain and that makes us liars, thief’s and blasphemers at one time in our lives and that is only 3 of the 10 commandments we have not kept. All of us will have to stand before God on judgment day and be found guilty. It is so important that on this side of eternity that we prepare ourselves for that Day so that we will know where we will be after we die. Jesus came to earth, a sinless perfect man, and took the punishment for our sins and paid our fine. We should have been on that cross being punished for our sins, but God chose to give up his son in our place and pay our fine. Isn’t that incredible? How grateful are you for what Jesus did for you and I? If you want to spend eternity, repent and turn from your sins and trust Jesus for eternal life. It’s not only believe in Jesus, it’s putting him on like you would a parachute if you were about to jump out of a plane. Eternity is a long time.

Hi Doug,

This sounds more like an evangelism tract than a college writing assignment. I like it! I thought this was supposed to be a research project or something. Guess I didn't read your first post carefully enough, sorry. :-o

Dear Ginny,

I guess the main thing I've gotten from constantly dealing with dead bodies is the shattering aspect of how our God sees sin. We know that sin equates to death according to the Word of God, but many of us are not up close with death everyday. I deal with it every day, and see all the different victims. The infants, the toddlers, the teenagers, the middle-aged, elderly. The devastating and unmerciful physical curse upon each one of us.

Allow me to get a little gross now (you asked for it). You don't realize how utterly [i]abhorent[/i] sin is until you come across a putrefacting body. The odor, the bloating, the maggots, the filth and all the other things associated with decomposition. To see a body like this, and to remember that human beings were originally made in the image of God, that we were the crowning achievement of Jehovah God, the glory of all creation and given dominion over all the animals and insects and fishes and reptiles - and to behold a decomposed baby being eaten by worms, or a young man found dead in a field surrounded by vultures and coyotes (I live in Texas), well, it really puts a perspective on how severe [i]one act[/i] of disobedience is to the Most Holy God of Israel and the King of the Universe.

Now, if the physical curse of death be this terrible, this woeful and sad and noxious and humbling and disgusting, [i] how tragic will the second death be?[/i] That if the Terrible God of Israel Himself came down and [i]suffered His own curse[/i], how much more worse will the [b]second and final[/b] curse be? It terrifies me to think that thousands of souls right now are falling into His hands without Jesus Christ. People who think they understand God and have it all worked out and who do not fear judgment need only to look at the body of a sixteen year-old girl being wheeled away on a stretcher as her mother screams and groans and makes sounds so utterly woeful and inhuman that it is impossible to describe here. Surely, humans were not made to feel such grief, to utter such sounds from the soul. But this is the wage of sin, one act of disobedience. And, though incomprehensible, we realize that God Himself died and beheld His own Son nailed to a tree, dying, crying out for the Father not to leave Him, the angels standing in breathless awe, stayed by the hand of Father from flying down that instant and wrecking the world in waves of fire. God mourning, turning His face away to weep and groan and scream in pain, tearing the earth up with earthquakes, smashing rocks, putting out the sun with His hand so no man or woman can look upon His dead, cursed Son.

I cannot write this anymore. I am sorry, I am weeping. I hope you understand what death has taught me.

Borhter Paul

Paul, brother ...

But this is the wage of sin, one act of disobedience. And, though incomprehensible, we realize that God Himself died and beheld His own Son nailed to a tree, dying, crying out for the Father not to leave Him, the angels standing in breathless awe, stayed by the hand of Father from flying down that instant and wrecking the world in waves of fire. God mourning, turning His face away to weep and groan and scream in pain, tearing the earth up with earthquakes, smashing rocks, putting out the sun with His hand so no man or woman can look upon His dead, cursed Son.

Wow. What a powerful, sobering statement of truth.

Bless you, Paul.

Brother Paul,

Thanks for sharing the graphic but NEEDED testimony (for me anyways), as I often think, What is there really for sinners to be proud of? What do we labor day in and day out for? Without Christ, humans live long enough just to become food for maggots!

Thank you Father for our Savior!

Revelation 22
1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

that day, that day..that day

It is too glorious for words. There is an inner rapture when we meditate on these two incomprehensible thoughts: the death of Jesus Christ our God, and the eternal life we now have from His slaughter. When God allowed sinful men to slaughter the sinless Son. No, no. I can never understand this - it is too painful, too vast for my limited meditation, it is, for me, unapproachable.

But a holy terror invades my soul when I think of Adam's single act of disobedience, and the terror that followed. Death to the entire human race and animal kingdom. Babies must now die. Women will give birth to stillborns. Women will die giving birth. A boa constrictor will now wrap itself around the neck of a lamb and strangle it as it bleats in horror. A brother will murder his brother, and leave his body in the field to be eaten by ants and birds and wild beasts. A body that was made in the image of God - now broken and lifeless, bloating and stinking and decomposing, food for the animals he was originally given deathless dominion over.

As horrible as these images may be, I believe they are but a drop in the bucket compared to how God sees a single lie, or a dishonest weight in the marketplace, or a blasphemous utterance. I cannot fathom how God sees sin. The more I grow in God, the more I read the word and meditate on God's testimonies and precepts - the more I behold the bloodstained cross where the slaughter of the innocent King of Glory took place, I see an infinitely holy God, a God whose righteousness and power and severity and utter hatred for [i]unholiness[/i] goes beyond my span of comprehension and shoots bolts of terror through my soul. The thought that I must one day stand alone before His awful throne while law books are opened! I utterly fear Jehovah. He is an awesome, terrible King. I am reminded Solomon slaughtered thousands and thousands of bulls during the temple dedication - so many, in fact, that the bible doesn't even record the number. I've been to a bullfight - these are mighty, powerful creatures, full of fight and endurance! I think of all those animals; the sheep, the goats, rams, pigeons. The streams of flowing blood, the fires, the screaming goat as a knife runs across its throat, the pigeon's wings flapping as a sanctified Aaronite priest in a linen ephod carrying twelve stones in a breastplate wrings the head off from the body and sprinkles the blood seven times to consecrate the altar. This is not witchcraft. This, brothers and sisters, is the way of Jehovah, the way He deals with sin. His ways are fearful and inhumanly mysterious. And it pleased Him to crush His eternally holy Son for the Satanic child pornographer. I'm sorry, but this thought just sticks my face in the dirt, rends my heart, and makes me groan. No, no, no. This utterly enigmatic, flawlessly just, universally powerful and Thrice Holy God over all creation is beyond my mortal thought. Like Job, I put my hand over my mouth and stick my face in the dirt. For I am a worm.

But, returning to the topic of death, there is no pain like the soul-pain of acknowledging an inexorable finality. I see the biggest, baddest, meanest looking guys break down like jello and weep profusely at funerals. There's something about the finality of death that [i]crumbles[/i] even the strongest men. If they weep like this for beloved grandmother, how then will they weep before Christ on the verge of the [i]second death[/i] - that is, before the conscious finality of God to their own soul? That God, is, in a sense, now forever dead to them. As before when they were dead to God, they indulged in laughter, living life, buying and selling; but now God shall be dead to [i]them.[/i] Forever. Those that mourn now shall laugh, and those that laugh now shall mourn. Oh, and how bitter those tears shall be, choking, gagging, gnawing and gnashing, suddenly finding themselves before a glorious God of inutterable riches and majesty and rapturous bliss, but now, oh brethren, only to find that this God must forever die to them. I cannot think of anything more dreadful. The bereaved shall remain alive and cognizant forever, weeping, mourning, grieving, crying, begging, praying, pleading, screaming - uttering the kinds of sounds I hear at funerals when a child has died...to a God that will forever be lifeless to them, like a corpse in the casket of their eternally-tortured memory.

Brother Paul

(edit) Some words were added here after the initial post. I'm sorry this is so thick. But this is how I like to talk about God. I get frustrated with the inadequacies of English superlatives when it comes to the things of God. Forgive my intensity! If you think this is bad, you should hear my preaching. You'll leave the meeting with a headache. :-)

It is too glorious for words. There is an inner rapture when we meditate on these two incomprehensible thoughts: the death of Jesus Christ our God, and the eternal life we now have from His slaughter. When God allowed sinful men to slaughter the sinless Son. No, no. I can never understand this - it is too painful, too vast for my limited meditation, it is, for me, "unapproachable. But a holy terror invades my soul when I think of Adam's single act of disobedience, and the terror that followed. Death to the entire human race.

How solemnly privileged we are, to be called His children, to be enlightened by this incomprehensible and indiscribable love of our Father through Christ.

On my worst days, this verse reminds me that I'm not here to live for myself but supposedly for His glory, even on the days I do not give God His due glory, I must at the least
praise Christ before Him, to honor Him with the breath I'm apportioned.

Psalm 30:9
What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?

Proverbs 27:1
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

Yeah, I tend to look too much forward to that day and forget how I must live up to each day I'm given on earth..

Brother Paul,
I do not understand this. What you are describing is how my world was [u]before[/u] He showed me His love . . . meaningless destruction, pain and cruelty - darkness all around and in everything. I still see these things, but they are now outside of me. When I reach out my hand, He takes it . . . am I missing something?

(edit) Some words were added here after the initial post. I'm sorry this is so thick. But this is how I like to talk about God. I get frustrated with the inadequacies of English superlatives when it comes to the things of God. Forgive my intensity! If you think this is bad, you should hear my preaching. You'll leave the meeting with a headache.

No apologies necessary, share those same frustrations and would love nothing more than to go away with the head aching and the heart burning knowing and reading what you have so often shared here brother.

On a side note, we have had a bit of discussion on this tremendous subject ... there goes those superlatives ... This matter is so ... will use Mamaluk's words, "[i]that day, that day, that day[/i]". Brother, you should write this book.

[i]Edit: Should have noted that I have long thought about writing a book on death and had some discussion with Paul prior. Was alluding to that.[/i]

And, though incomprehensible, we realize that God Himself died and beheld His own Son nailed to a tree, dying, crying out for the Father not to leave Him, the angels standing in breathless awe, stayed by the hand of Father from flying down that instant and wrecking the world in waves of fire. God mourning, turning His face away to weep and groan and scream in pain, tearing the earth up with earthquakes, smashing rocks, putting out the sun with His hand so no man or woman can look upon His dead, cursed Son.

And this the amazing love, even when we were dead in sins he quickened us together with Christ and riased us up together and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

When my son was deep in a life of sin, I would cry out to God for Him and God kept on giving me a picture of a dead animal in the road. Very dead, flat and putrid with no form of its intended creation.

I could not help but compare His Son's life with the life of my son which reeked of death. How could it be that He would send His son to die for mine? Amazing love, how can you respond to that extreme grace?
I realized how extreme a miracle it is that we are born-again through faith in His Son, reborn, given a form. I no longer see road-kill when I pray for my son, may God finish what He has begun in him.

Brother Paul, I do not understand this.

Heartsong, we were talking about death, remember. That's what this thread is about. How death came into the world through Adam, and the consequences of sin upon creation. I tried to show the terribly just nature of God as reflected in the law of Moses. That one can judge the seriousness of a crime by the severity of the punishment. In the case of sin, it's bloodshed and death. For those who have not partaken of the Passover Lamb, it's eternal death. The blood atonement set forth by God is such that an innocent creature must give up its life to redeem the guilty. I didn't make any of this up, sister. This is just the way it is, this is the system that is pleasing to Jehovah, the culmination being perfected in Jesus Christ, God's Lamb slain on the altar of the cross. All this atonement stuff may sound dark and bloody and destructive and depressing - and that's because it is! It is the curse of the law.

What you are describing is how my world was before He showed me His love

Indeed! The horrible law of death is fulfilled when a person humbles their heart and repents and gets redeemed to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. They are freed from the heinous curse of spiritual darkness and death that Adam unleashed upon us and are gloriously ushered into the law of the Spirit, which is immortality and light. The blinders come off, the spirit comes alive, and the wondrous cross is surveyed in both truth and awe. Our spirits are flooded with the grace and mercy and bask the ineffable wonder of a Sovereign God's bleeding love. Have I ever posted anything that contradicted this? Actually, if you go back and read more carefully, you'll see that the majority of my post was centered on the curse as it pertains to the unsaved. So, your response here is especially accurate!

am I missing something?

I don't think so. I think you may have missed the point of my post and got a bit confused. It is important to remember that though God is love, [i]God is not only love.[/i] I rejoice in God's love! But I also explore and meditate on the other attributes of God as well, and when I do this, His love is magnified all the more! It is therefore a profitable thing to behold the goodness [i]and the severity[/i] of the Lord. I recommend you listen to some Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts hymns. In them you'll find a terrific balance of fear and awe, of blood and love, of death and life, of mercy and judgment, of sin and righteousness, of heaven and hell. I believe we need to have this holy balance return to the pulpit. I believe we need to go back to the old paths of preaching God's eternal majesty and righteousness. There is a famine of the pure Word of God in this land, and most Christians don't know it because they've never been exposed to it from the beginning. Everything nowadays is love, love, love and if you go any deeper people begin scratching their heads (I'm not saying this is you). But if we preach a Holy and Complete God, the people will be reached by a Holy and Complete Love, which is able to truly transform the inner man, and which is much greater than the platitudinous love being preached in most churches today.

Hope this clears things up, heartsong!

Brother Paul

Brother Paul your words have stabbed my heart. I have read many things on this site, few have so explained the vivid reality of death.
I remember when my father passed away, there and then eternity came into the temporal. It is an immense thing when that happens as we are so flippant about our eternity with Christ that we lose sight of the eternity of others without Christ. One cannot describe the sensation that grips the whole being as there is now a void that once had substance. Even as I type this, sirens are wailing in the background, and the life-flight copter is landing about two miles away from my house(I can see it). I happen to live by a highway that can be very dangerous and this is not an uncommon event. But how timely, here it is again the eternal stepping into the temporal. Not in thought or ideal, but in reality.
This is our future brethren, may we grasp the time we have left to live for Him.
Oh God break us foryour glorious name that it may be published among the lost!!

One cannot describe the sensation that grips the whole being as there is now a void that once had substance.

This pain, this hurt cannot be described, you are very right. This is because death is a spiritual occurence, a bottomless wound that eventualy scars over, but never truly heals. It's an intrinsic ordeal. It's of God. Do you ever wonder why you cry at weddings? It's a spiritual thing also, of God. Something just touches our eternal spirit as a man and woman make their vows and you find yourself weeping. Why? Mind you, this tearful reaction is not limited to Christian ceremonies; tears fall when the ungodly get married too. This is because, I believe, regardless of one's spiritual state of regeneration, God has ordained the marriage covenant to last forever, until death. And yet, paradoxically, even during the ceremony a death is occuring! The son or daughter is dying to their parental covenant, while a new one is being erected to their spouse. There is a finality here that provokes everyone - especially the parents - to manifest a type of grief. The notion of an inner finality. At a wedding, you experience the establishment of a spiritual covenant between two souls brought together by God. This is why adultery is so devastating. It's akin to yet another death - the unlawful shattering of the matrimonial covenant. A destroyed covenant which was inaugurated by God, with the spiritual lifeline binding the two souls now severed through one horrible act of sin. Say what you will, the relationship will [i]never[/i] be the same unless God supernaturally restores it (for the initial union was supernatural). Scripturally, a spouse is permitted to sever in the physical that which has already been severed in the spiritual. Unless, of course, he or she finds it in their heart to forgive the covenant-breaker.

How fortunate for me that the God of bloody Jewish altars has a heart of mercy and His covenant is with Jesus and not with me! I am an untrustworthy whore. Yet I trust Jesus to never break covenant with the Father. Oh, blessed assurance! All my righteousness and hope is in Christ, and I walk daily in the Spirit and allow the fire be kindled afresh on the sacrificial altar of my heart. Jesus is in covenant with the Father, and I am in Christ Jesus, and His holy blood stains the heart-altar of my temple daily! Hallelujah, to be a royal temple priest, indwelled by an eternally faithful and covenant-keeping God through repentance and faith!

Brother Paul

Doug,

Hope you are able to glean even more from all that is being offered here. What our brother Paul has brought forth is so incredibly vast to begin to ponder on it is to find the vocabulary exhausted. Death is very much a large part of my makeup if you will. My earliest gaspings after God were derived from the thought, from a child's imagination or more peculiarly to even try the attempt at 'nothing' or in adult language, annihilation but with the view of everything else being annihilated and myself, alone, in surrounding blackness.

A great deal of things expressed already have touched my own life as well, though not near the depth of our brother Paul, know something of what death is on the olfactory senses when my then young cousin died a couple of years ago. The sheer profundity and intrinsic depth of grasping this reality that death is even for the saved payment is rendered due, that door that all must pass through... But to hear it and feel it from this perspective, from a man of God who deals with this in practical experience such as our brother ... My God, what insight and understanding, what more true reality to all that we hold true ... am fumbling for words here.

Here is my humble offering Doug, something that came about shortly after my cousins death;
[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?viewmode=flat&order=0&topic_id=773&forum=35&post_id=&refresh=Go]Ode to Ronnie[/url]

An Ode to Ronnie/Mike Balog

On the precipice of maybe.
Held by a single thread.
Eternity awaiting.
Wishing, longing to know
Just what was said.

Did he come to you Jesus?
Or did You beckon to him?
He longed for The Father
But it was You who ran after him.

Now we are left to ponder
Alll that could have been
A man of compassion
A nature after Him
Yet trapped as the remainder
In this world broken by sin.

Fragments and memories
Are what is left
Time for us
Life for him

Like the eunuch asking
"How can I" and
"What hinders me"
In simplicity the answer
"If you believe"

None that come to You
Do you turn away
The Shepherd searching
For the one gone astray

The thief said
"Remember me"
And You replied
"Today"

A wise person thinks about death
Solomon said.
So let us consider
All that has been said.

For we have been given
This day
This moment
This chance

To forget
And forgive
To be known
As poor reflections
Of Him.

Even so
Let love be our end
And truth our means
Jesus, our only
And His sheep
Ours to tend.

It cannot be denied
Nor escape from Your gaze
We will be called to account
For this Life You have gave

And that Life is Your Son
That all may be saved
But to us it is given
To believe on His Name

Let our brevity be our unction
Death and eternity
Our focus and fact
For tomorrow is promised to no one
It is here that we must act.

The day of salvation is now
A call to repentance
Return to Him all that are His

"That the world may know that You
have sent Me, and loved them as You haved
loved Me." Jesus said

Let settled destiny
Be our never ending task
Of first importance
All else can lack

So to my dear cousin
This ode is to you
The Lord testifying
What it is I need to do

No longer will I fear men
To proclaim The Truth
Your example and your departure
Have altered my perspective
And narrowed my view

I will take of your compassion
And apply it to all
So that one day we too
Can be where you are.

How I know that you now abide
With the Lover of our soul's
Is not for me to decide

Not of wishful thinking
Or sentimental longing
But peace that passes understanding
Was given to my heart and my mind.

And as at the first
It was given to me thus:

"That God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself"

"For He made Him who knew
no sin to be sin for us"

But for all that, the sadness remains
A longing to be where you are
Where there is no longer pain.

I understand better why Jesus wept
At the tomb of His friend
For death is proof that all has gone wrong
No, it was not The Fathers intent.

So we will mourn that we see you no more
But that is only a delay
Like the long awaited vacation
Till we return home on that day

For now my friend we will carry on
Of duty, of giving, of helping
Of sharing and loving most of all

Let your life reminds us of what is True
That if we strip back all of what we are
It is the heart that can shine through.

Mike Balog

....

An Ode to Ronnie/Mike Balog

Thank you brother for sharing this, it is very good!!

Paul, you certainly dwell in a unique place in society – I call it the “in between” – where few wish to hang out. You will never be without employment.

In a sense my life has hovered on both sides of your “dwelling place” – as a nurse fighting death all the time, and helplessly watching the futility of our attempts; and then, on the other side, being an organist/pianist for funerals. The in-between seems so hidden, so silent, not what we talk about. You sure portrayed a fascinating (yet gruesome) picture. Sometimes I wonder why we spend so much money to hide all that – to make a body look good for a brief time? I guess it helps with the grieving process – to facilitate closure. That would make a college paper in itself.

The hospital unit where I used to work was situated between the ICU and the elevators. Every time a body was to be transported through our ward we were warned by phone. Then we closed all the patient room doors, so no one would see that death was coming through. The gurney would be carefully draped so as to draw as little attention to the content).

In spite of the eerie silence about death, I believe that humans are always trying to understand the passage between this life and the next life. I think about the Greek Mythological River Styx in the Iliad - where Kharon ferried the souls to the other side.

The other day I said in a conversation, “We just can’t go there for a day, and try it out to see what we thought of it.” Death is so final. Yet it is also the beginning of life – pictured throughout nature.

ACCEPTING OUR MORTALITY:
I think that Solomon, in Ecclesiastes really came to embrace his own mortality, only after years of trying to be something more than human. Other writers in the Bible also embraced death in ways that humans tend to deny. The comparison would make a good study.

They say:
From dust to dust…
As the flowers of the field fade….
As the grass withers …
We are destined to die…

On the other hand we humans frantically attempt to prevent it, and deny it’s inevitable approach. What a prison! You can never know what it is to live!

Is it true, that soldiers are trained to consider themselves dead before they go to the field? When they are “dead” they will fearlessly enter any danger.

There is a spiritual truth to that.

Before we can fight the spiritual battle, we must embrace our physical mortality – our death. Paul did. “It is no longer I who life, but Christ lives within me.” “I die every day.” 1 Cor. 15:31 Death set Paul free to be fully human, and fully dependent on God. It set him free to die for the cause of Christ. So, too for us, until we embrace our own death, we will never be free to really live.

“ It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

St. Francis of Assisi

.... just some philosophical thoughts on the subject...

Hi Diane,

You will never be without employment.

Yeah, I hear the bad jokes all the time: "I bet people are just [i]dying[/i] to give you work." And the death and taxes thing, of course. Thank you for stating the truth soberly!

I wonder why we spend so much money to hide all that – to make a body look good for a brief time? I guess it helps with the grieving process – to facilitate closure.

You're exactly right! Funerals are for the [i]living[/i] and not the dead. Psychologists feel the body must be viewed in an asthetically pleasing environment in order to provide closure. I'm not so sure I agree with this. I don't think you can cookie-cut the bereavement process. I know plenty of families that opt for direct cremations (from the hospital to the morgue to the crematory to the urn on the mantle), and never once view the mortal remains after the first death call. They're fine with it! They get together and have a memorial service with the urn on the altar. To each their own. Cremations, certainly, are the [i]cheaper[/i] route, and once the baby boomer generation vanishes, the funeral industry will see fewer and fewer burials. We are beginning to see this even now - especially since the Pope has decreed that cremations are now permissible for Catholics.

The hospital unit where I used to work was situated between the ICU and the elevators. Every time a body was to be transported through our ward we were warned by phone.

Funny you mention this - my wife is an RN in the ICU here. I get alot of her patients (hope she doesn't read this!) I joke around with her, the fact that she kills them, I chill them. Well, they do the same thing at the memorial hosptial here; they pull the curtains closed, etc. Can't let anyone see [i]this[/i] part of life. Sweep it under the table of ethics. Just like sin, put it off to the side of the road, like guilty Joab throwing a cover over Amasa so as to not distract the soldiers.

Doug, you're sure getting alot of information for your paper!

Brother Paul

Dear saints,

This is something that I just have wished could have the curtain of it's stark reality pulled back on. All people to be sure, but even the saints far too often perhaps have been just as conditioned to not dwell here, to cast off to more future pleasantries ... [i]another day[/i].

Well, they do the same thing at the memorial hosptial here; they pull the curtains closed, etc. Can't let anyone see [b][i]this[/i][/b] part of life. Sweep it under the table of ethics.

The reasons are manifold, some have begun to get an articulation already. One of the factors that often has kept me grounded and humbled when it arrests my attention is to bring present circumstances to this point of remembering death. When everything seemingly is coming unraveled, when pride gets a leg up, when too much is given to anxiousness, worry and problems. It sets the mind and affections back to eternity and the door that leads unto it.

When Paul was speaking of the tougher sorts of men breaking down and weeping profusely at a funeral it brought back to mind the difference and the incredible change the Lord has wrought in this one. About 5 years or so before my cousin died, his father, my uncle, died and we had grown fairly close in the last couple of years before his death. It was sudden in that I did not know of his rapidly deteriorating health at the time and his death was a blow. More so in that I was then still in great darkness and varieties of sins then even though the Lord had been searching after, hounding ... 'not quite saved'. To look back on it it was I and pretty much myself alone that had the gut wrenching and uncontrollable sobbing, great rivers of tears throughout his service and then some, devastating, Paul's expression there exactly.

At the time of my cousins death ... He was found in his trailer some 4-5 days afterwards and I took on the responsibilities of that which I could, cleaning up, helping move belongings, putting up the trailer for sale, the funeral, the pastor (Lord bless him)... All this has been expressed before elsewhere... The difference was being now the Lords, the uncanny and remarkable peace that carried throughout the whole process would have been utterly impossible had He not brought me out into the light of His Son. The evenness that is His was mine and only after everything was over was I allowed to grieve quietly before Him. Precious God.

There is a sister here who recently spoke of a similar thing with her father, perhaps it can be found and brought forth again.

Here's something from John Bunyan on death for the Christian...

[b]The Pilgrims in the River[/b]

Now I further saw, that betwixt them and the gate was a river; but there was
no bridge to go over, and the river was very deep. At the sight, therefore,
of this river the pilgrims were much stunned; but the men that went with
them said, You must go through, or you cannot come at the gate.

The pilgrims then began to inquire if there was no other way to the gate. To
which they answered, Yes; but there hath not any, save two, to wit, Enoch
and Elijah, been permitted to tread that path since the foundation of the
world, nor shall until the last trumpet shall sound. The pilgrims then,
especially Christian, began to despond in their mind, and looked this way
and that, but no way could be found by them by which they might escape the
river. Then they asked the men if the waters were all of a depth. They said,
No; yet they could not help them in that case; for, said they, you shall
find it deeper or shallower as you believe in the King of the place.

Then they addressed themselves to the water, and entering, Christian began
to sink, and crying out to his good friend Hopeful, he said, I sink in deep
waters; the billows go over my head; all his waves go over me. Selah.

Then said the other, Be of good cheer, my brother: I feel the bottom, and it
is good. Then said Christian, Ah! my friend, the sorrows of death have
compassed me about, I shall not see the land that flows with milk and honey.
And with that a great darkness and horror fell upon Christian, so that he
could not see before him. Also here he in a great measure lost his senses,
so that he could neither remember nor orderly talk of any of those sweet
refreshments that he had met with in the way of his pilgrimage. But all the
words that he spoke still tended to discover that he had horror of mind, and
heart-fears that he should die in that river, and never obtain entrance in
at the gate. Here also, as they that stood by perceived, he was much in the
troublesome thoughts of the sins that he had committed, both since and
before he began to be a pilgrim. It was also observed that he was troubled
with apparitions of hobgoblins and evil spirits; for ever and anon he would
intimate so much by words.

Hopeful therefore here had much ado to keep his brother’s head above water;
yea, sometimes he would be quite gone down, and then, ere a while, he would
rise up again half dead. Hopeful did also endeavor to comfort him, saying,
Brother, I see the gate, and men standing by to receive us; but Christian
would answer, It is you, it is you they wait for; for you have been hopeful
ever since I knew you. And so have you, said he to Christian. Ah, brother,
(said he,) surely if I was right he would now arise to help me; but for my
sins he hath brought me into the snare, and hath left me. Then said Hopeful,
My brother, you have quite forgot the text where it is said of the wicked,
“There are no bands in their death, but their strength is firm; they are not
troubled as other men, neither are they plagued like other men.” Psa.
73:4,5. These troubles and distresses that you go through in these waters,
are no sign that God hath forsaken you; but are sent to try you, whether you
will call to mind that which heretofore you have received of his goodness,
and live upon him in your distresses.

Then I saw in my dream, that Christian was in a muse a while. To whom also
Hopeful added these words, Be of good cheer, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.
And with that Christian brake out with a loud voice, Oh, I see him again;
and he tells me, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee;
and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.” Isa. 43:2. Then they
both took courage, and the enemy was after that as still as a stone, until
they were gone over. Christian, therefore, presently found ground to stand
upon, and so it followed that the rest of the river was but shallow. Thus
they got over.

Now, upon the bank of the river, on the other side, they saw the two shining
men again, who there waited for them. Wherefore, being come out of the
river, they saluted them, saying, We are ministering spirits, sent forth to
minister for those that shall be the heirs of salvation. Thus they went
along towards the gate.

Now you must note, that the city stood upon a mighty hill; but the pilgrims
went up that hill with ease, because they had these two men to lead them up
by the arms: they had likewise left their mortal garments behind them in the
river; for though they went in with them, they came out without them. They
therefore went up here with much agility and speed, though the foundation
upon which the city was framed was higher than the clouds; they therefore
went up through the region of the air, sweetly talking as they went, being
comforted because they safely got over the river, and had such glorious
companions to attend them.

-from [i]Pilgrim's Progress[/i] by John Bunyan

This Isaac Watts song deals with what we've been discussing. The noncomformist writers of that day had a wonderful habit of getting straight to the point and not mincing words. This poem is no exception. Can we, like Watts, agree that God's sentence of mortal death is just? That the skin you bathe, the teeth you brush, the hair you comb, and the lips you kiss all have an appointment with the eyeless, flesh-eating worm? That the faces of your childen will one day go beneath the earth to satisfy the wage? I have seen glimpes of sin through heaven's light, and I, for one, agree with Watts - the sentence is just.

Great God, I own Thy sentence just,
And nature must decay;
I yield my body to the dust,
To dwell with fellow clay.

Yet faith may triumph o’er the grave,
And trample on the tombs;
My Jesus, my Redeemer, lives;
My God, my Savior, comes.

The mighty Conqueror shall appear
High on a royal seat,
And death, the last of all His foes,
Lie vanquished at His feet.

Though greedy worms devour my skin,
And gnaw my wasting flesh,
When God shall build my bones again,
He clothes them all afresh.

Then shall I see Thy lovely face
With strong immortal eyes;
And feast upon Thy unknown grace
With pleasure and surprise.

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/g/g/i/ggiotsju.htm

Though greedy worms devour my skin,

Oh, my! What lovely lyrics! I'm surprised that I have not seen this one around.

Actually, it works with the tune to "Amazing Grace" (line 3 takes a little bit of fitting)

I'll teach it to my choir next week. ;-)

Diane

Oh, my! What lovely lyrics! I'm surprised that I have not seen this one around.

This is yet another example of avoiding an untasteful reality for the sake of appeasing societal ethics. Churches, for this reason, have edited much of Charles Wesley's hymns (cutting most of them down from 12 stanzas to only 3 or 4) and are going practically "bloodless" in all their worship. You'll never hear hymns like this sung in church today; they're just too offensive, too real, too remindful of our mortal appointment. To sing a song like this in a modern, pretty church building would be tantamount to putting a cockaroach on a wedding cake. It's too naked, it conjures up too hideous an image! Let's rather desensitize everyone with talking vegetables and hip-hop and country/pop music, call God "you" like He's some guy off the street or a nice boyfriend or some fawning bellboy.

Everything now is just so sanitized, so streamlined. How is it these 'uncensored' and crude Puritans had real power in the pulpit and possessed unsurpassed scriptural wisdom? Well, I believe they saturated themselves daily in the Word of God, and thus their writings reflected the straightforwardness of biblical tenor. Are we equally offended when we privately read of King Herod being eaten by worms at the end of Acts 12? Then why can't we sing the pious truth during public worship as it applies to all of us? This should not be considered grotesque, it should rather provoke us to cling more tightly to the bloodstained altar of the cross, where the fountain of eternal life has defeated the greedy worm's sting.

(edit) Diane, I am not implying you condone any of the things I wrote about, and this by no means was written to mock your post! I've read enough of your posts, and have a pretty good idea where you're coming from, sister. Plus, I sensed a bit of wit in your last post! Funny! You [i]should[/i] try it out with your choir - perhaps a spirit of brokness will invade the sanctuary.

Bro. Paul

Sadly all the sanitizing in the world cannot take the “sting” out of death. (1 Cor. 15) You just end up with massive denial (another essay topic). And then such words as the following are rather limp:

Yet faith may triumph o’er the grave,

Hymns of the past almost always had a closing verse about the glorious home-going – heaven. That seems to be conspicuously missing in our modern songs – surely an indication of the denial of death. I have a hunch that subconsciously our society thinks it is immortal. It views THIS life as the resting place.

Edit:

That the faces of your childen will one day go beneath the earth to satisfy the wage?

It's too naked, it conjures up too hideous an image! Let's rather desensitize everyone with talking vegetables and hip-hop and country/pop music, call God "you" like He's some guy off the street or a nice boyfriend or some fawning bellboy.

Everything now is just so sanitized, so streamlined. How is it these 'uncensored' and crude Puritans had real power in the pulpit and possessed unsurpassed scriptural wisdom? Well, I believe they saturated themselves daily in the Word of God, and thus their writings reflected the straightforwardness of biblical tenor. Are we equally offended when we privately read of King Herod being eaten by worms at the end of Acts 12? Then why can't we sing the pious truth during public worship as it applies to all of us? This should not be considered grotesque, it should rather provoke us to cling more tightly to the bloodstained altar of the cross, where the fountain of eternal life has defeated the greedy worm's sting.

Do not even know how to begin here... Paul, there is so much of this stark reality throughout the scriptures, how did we ever get to the point of ... denial? Surely a catering to the whims and fancies of our own kind, either it must be seen and expressed in an obnoxious, prideful, careless overture or just covered up, glossed over, pushed aside. On to practical pursuits! How to deal with your boss, how to ... I digress, the last thing I would want to do is to become cynical.

There is so many vast and incredible things that just go left un ... thought, unchecked, not contemplated. There are times in this walk that the common place can just over (or is it [i]under[/i]) whelm us, eternity seems far off and away, the Lords real, present return ... How long, Oh Lord? The sinister doubt's that want to steal away today for the one true day. Let's face it, faith is often times a difficult matter, [i]hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?[/i] Yet, just when everything is being tempted towards the abstract... [i][b]Death[/b][/i] brings the reality back into focus. It is the end of life as we have known it. Of course for the saints ... But! Isn't this where the road diverges, too quick to run past this all encompassing and devastating reality? What Paul touched on earlier is not some clever prose or verbiage. It is fact. It is and ought to be at the least somewhat disturbing... My goodness this is coming from a brother who deals with this every day and listen to [i]him[/i] dear people! There is something being missed wholesale from our understanding of the Lord and the incredible slaughter, the bloody sacrifices ... Wish I could recall the Katz message where he expounded upon all this, equating the animal lovers in most of us with these practices amongst many other stark, eye opening truths. Even just this morning reading part of Jeremiah and the scattered bodies and decaying flesh and then over to The Revelation of Jesus Christ looking for something to post here to draw our attention back to His Holy Name as just a diversion from the ... diversions. But what did I come up against in that, the wrath of the [i]Lamb[/i], and ...

[i]And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away;[/i] Rev 20:11

Gasp ... to where would be the cheap answer, the fact ... It's just incredible. Seems rather strange, wondering how this 'sounds' out there in the ears of others reading. The demeanor is quite calm, peaceful even, not exercised or excited about all this in that sense of things. Awe struck and wondrous at our God, at His incredible power, baffled by His long suffering towards us, towards all that walk on His green earth. Why not the flood again, why not go back on His word ... who is to challenge Him? Please don't misunderstand, the point is ... what is stopping Him from destroying everything right this next moment?

What [i]kind[/i] of love is this?

The swirling mass of untold numbers sliding towards the abyss is what brings terror to my heart. That loved ones will be there . . . that they will be able to see the contrast of heaven . . . and there will be no relief for their parched souls . . .

Oh Father, guide me in thy will so that none will be there as a result of my disobedience. Draw them LORD! Here am I!

Friends,

Yesterday, when I was reading through my Matthew Henry commentary on first chapter of Job, and in particular, when Job would arise early each morning to offer burnt sacrifices for his children, I read this:

"He (Job) required his children to attend the sacrifice, that they might join with him in the prayers he offered with the sacrifice, that the sight of the killing of the sacrifice might humble them much for their sins, for which they deserved to die, and the sight of the offering it up might lead them to a Mediator." - Matthew Henry

This thought is something I've often meditated upon. It is one thing to [i]read[/i] about death, or see pictures of dead bodies, or to even go to a funeral and view a corpse dressed up in a fancy suit and cosmetized. But, dear brethren, it is another thing to [i]watch[/i] a person die, moribund, bleeding out, peering out into this fading world with eyes full of confusion and fear.

that the sight of the killing of the sacrifice might humble them much for their sins

Perhaps this is something we should take to heart. A lie, a secret lust, a proud look may not seem too serious to me. Why? Because of the failure to align our convictions with God's, the church has a tendency to take sin lightly. Because of a failure to meditate upon the precepts of a holy law, Jesus' awful sacrifice is not Spirit-illuminated to the intensity it should have within our hearts, and as a result, it becomes commonplace. "Oh, I'm just a sinner saved by grace," becomes our byword as we luxuriate in lustful thoughts and allow secret devices to kidnap our consciences. No! The dripping cross, the image of death, the desperate, innocent eyes of Jesus peering out into the godless vaccuum should be before our faces constantly. We must feast our consciences on the dying, forsaken Christ. But this we fail to do, because His death has become a common monument, and for many, just another "treat" people add to their bag of goodies in life.

We refuse to witness the slaughterhouse, yet we relish in feasting on the steak. But the process whereby a living cow is put on our plate? No, no, no. We won't hear of it. We know that the cow has died, and that is enough. Let others learn of the intricacies, but do not assault my ears with gore, with spurting blood, with slashing knives, with the filthy, mudcaked boots of the slaughterhouse floor.

I wonder how antiseptic and bloodless the Jewish altar was during the times of Joshua and the tabernacle of the congregation. If the sinner just quickly handed the animal over to the priest and turned back to where all the timbrels and dancing took place. I often think about this. I believe it would please God for us to be men and women enough to [i]look[/i] upon the slaughter, to look the innocent in the eye as it goes through the death throes, paying a wage not its own. To keep silent, not turn away, and just [i]look[/i] at what our selfish sin has wrought. Do any of you have pets? I do. I have a half-chow, half-lab little black mutt I call Smokey. I love this dog. He's just a little dog, just a mutt...but, oh, I love when I come home from work and Smokey gets up energetically from where he was laying and licks my hands and kisses my legs and tries to hop up to my lick my face!

I often think of Smokey paying my price. That, because I dealt deceitfully with my neighbor yesterday, Smokey will now have to get a shot. The horror of sin, to have to watch my innocent Smokey look at me with confused eyes as a vet holds his head down and administers the shot. His tail thumping, looking to me for help, afraid, not understanding what has happened to him, still trusting me. And I having to watch him slowly die, till at last his little tail thumps no more and eyes close in final death.

During that time, while watching my dog die, it would do me good to think about the temporal pleasure I gained from my sin. Go ahead, Paul - choke on Jacob's stew! Was it worth it? I was deceived! The pain of seeing my innocent dog killed now completely obliterates any pleasure that my sin may have afforded. I was completely tricked, to my own excruciating disadvantage and hurt, like Esau.

This, good friends, is why we should ponder both the goodness, [i]and the severity[/i] of God Almighty. It [i]pleased[/i] God to pound nails into His innocent Son's body, yet I would do all I could to keep a miserable mutt from getting a shot. Give ME the shot, doctor! Please don't hurt my dog! Oh, Smokey, I am so, so sorry! My dog! My dog! But, alas, this is not God's way. The concept of God's [i]justice[/i] is mind-numbing. The innocent must give life for the guilty to [i]have restoration of life.[/i] Surely, this Eternal God is worthy to be feared...and the love we express at His unfathomable goodness and mercy should leave us in utter astonishment. As Isaac Watts puts so poignantly, "love so amazing, so divine demands my soul, my life, my all"; and with divine wisdom comes naturally the fear of God, a Holy Fear which is able to transform cankerous, flesh-eating worms of death into fire-baptized royal priests to speak of His majesty.

Brother Paul

Brother, you are drawing out heart truth's here. Thank you for giving us a better expression to that which causes me so much fumbling with words.

I often think of Smokey paying my price. That, because I dealt deceitfully with my neighbor yesterday, Smokey will now have to get a shot. The horror of sin, to have to watch my innocent Smokey look at me with confused eyes as a vet holds his head down and administers the shot. His tail thumping, looking to me for help, afraid, not understanding what has happened to him, still trusting me. And I having to watch him die, until his tail thumps no more and eyes close in final death.

During that time, while watching my dog die, it would do me good to think about the temporal plesure I derived from my sin. Go ahead, Paul - choke on it! Was it worth it? I was deceived! The pain of seeing my innocent dog killed completely obliterates any pleasure sin may have afforded me. I was completely tricked, to my own excruciating disadvantage and hurt, like Esau.

I pray, pray that we might dwell here- [i]look[/i] as Paul stated. And look beyond, look to [i]'will it be worth it'[/i]? When sin is snapping at our heels. The 'pleasures' of sin [i]pass[/i], the payment is always rendered due ...

[i]Isa 44:20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, [u]Is there not a lie in my right hand?[/u][/i]

"Oh, I'm just a sinner saved by grace," becomes our byword as we luxuriate in lustful thoughts and allow secret devices to kidnap our consciences. No!

To allow these truth's to become embedded into our very being, to become part of us, creating a true reverential fear, not one of 'cowardice' but of awe and understanding. [i]Grieve not ... the Holy Spirit of God[/i]. Saints, this is 'how' to stop sinning. To look past to ... this analogy to Smokey... My brother I can equate this and have thought very much along those same lines. In my case it's "The girl" or "Daddy's girl", our cat. She has brought such a great joy and love ... times when she is just full of this peculiar 'kitty love' to go all soft for a moment. She will go back and forth between myself and my wife and just seems to be exuding it, purring and ... On the flip side. She is also a heathen, murderous heathen! The great white hunter and we live smack dab in the middle of suburbia. Where she finds things ... This place must be crawling with rats, who knew? But to get to a small illustration... One time she got ahold of a pigeon that was practically as big as she is.
After cordoning her off and as the poor bird, wounded and struggling on the grass, trying to fight for it's life... Grabbed a towel and threw it over it and then gathered him up into my hands, praying for it's life to be sparred, [i]and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father[/i],
Father, spare this one... He seemed to be settling down and then just as soon began going into convulsions, his head went back and ... gone. Frozen in time. Stiff. Dead.
Ah Lord, Thou knowest ... In that moment it turned the thought's right back to all that you have expressed here, to Jesus ... To [i]us[/i], to the [i]cause[/i] of death itself. Heartbreaking in the one sense, that of what seemed so ... needless. The bird was innocent, what had he done? And "The girl"? Blame? Anger?
No. ... Just that ... uhh, those unutterable groanings. [i]The creation groans[/i].

(Recognize at some point the balance is needed in all this, but just not quite yet, perhaps for a change we can allow these things to really take hold of us, before moving on).

(Recognize at some point the balance is needed in all this, but just not quite yet, perhaps for a change we can allow these things to really take hold of us, before moving on).

I think Paul has presented the holy balance quite beautifully here as is. I am very convicted by the few posts here. At this point, I don't even feel as acceptable to God ( if not in Christ) as your cat and his dog !! Pets obey humans for just a bit of food. The Christian fails to obey God with the Cross in his face !!

Pulpits in the past century have long been trying hard to balance sin and conscience, there is NONE. "Churches" have been sold on this false balance with either psycho-heresy or deceptive doctrines.. enjoy a little bit of sins, a little bit of happiness, a little bit of praises, just do your church stuff, you're okay and I'm okay..., generation to generation to generation..sickness, that's what it is..

For true Christians, there has been nothing on earth ever more balanced or ever will be more balanced than the left and right arms of Christ on that Cross.( Love via Judgment, Salvation via Condemnation, Life via Death, Joy via Suffering. All There !) Surely Grace has to be met with responsiblity, holiness with obedience, joy with sacrifices.. modern Christianity has far too long been cackling over "Oh, I'm just a sinner saved by grace", while abusing Grace and singing Amazing Grace.

As for pleasure, true Christians' pleasure comes from purity, holiness, and the approval of the Father. ( In no way describing myself, still trying to obey day by day, in Christ's grace). In my mind, the common cause of unhappiness in a Christian is too often sin. Reminds me of my ex-pastor at where we used to live, he'd always say " if you are not happy, there is sin somewhere in your life"..a bit harsh, but quite true.

Posts that adominish God's children to hate sin and love Christ just bless me so much! Especially from you folks on SI. (aside from the "old" paths :) )

thank you brothers

As I read, the words to this wonderful hymn came into my mind

Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?

[b]Thy body slain, sweet Jesus, Thine—
And bathed in its own blood—
While the firm mark of wrath divine,
His Soul in anguish stood.[/b]

Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!

Well might the sun in darkness hide
And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the mighty Maker died,
For man the creature’s sin.

Thus might I hide my blushing face
While His dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt my eyes to tears.

But drops of grief can ne’er repay
The debt of love I owe:
Here, Lord, I give my self away
’Tis all that I can do.

When I was younger, I lived in an agricultural area. It was not uncommon to have the slaughterer come out to kill a fallen animal whether cow, horse, sheep, pig etc.
But I remember there was one bull in particular who was special to me, he was very strong, so strong in fact that he lifted a pen off the ground with his head. Somehow though it came down upon his neck and pinned him to the ground and he suffocated.
Now I do not know if any have heard the cries of a dying animal, but it is horrific(I cannot even imagine a human being). The cries go on until they die, or are put out of their misery.
The slaughterer came with his truck and they managed to get the bull out from under the pen. Then as I watched though they began to lift the carcass up. So you know these trucks have special set ups, so they can lift, gut slice, the body of the animal. But there he was, the bull I had grown to love.
There was blood everywhere, it was dripping upon the men, upon the ground. The dirt was now a reddened mud, as these men went towork to salvage what meat they could.
That is when it struck me!!
This seemingly barbaric act is how I get food! The bull I had grown close to was going to be a life giving substance to those who partake of it!
I think the parallels are obvious.
Is it not a shame that our crosses that we take up are so sanitized when His was the epitome of humiliation, and suffering? I am humbled before you all as I say that my cross has been one of my own choosing for so long, that my flesh twinges to think that there is more to this thing we call Christianity.

I think I understand now. It is interesting that this thread has come to this point

Earlier this year, at a church prayer meeting, I prayed for God to show us our sins so that we would repent and turn back to Him.

Well, He answered my prayer. Within a few days I had a dream. In my dream, I reached down absentmindedly to pet our dog “Alice” (she is an adorable little thing – kind of like a miniature Lassie). As I stroked her head, I felt something sticky, and when I looked down I saw that she was filthy! I examined her closer as she leaned weakly against my leg. Most of her fur was missing and everywhere I touched her there was blood. I could not believe that she could be bleeding in so many places. Her eyes were rolled back in agony. And her heart – it was beating in an open cavity in her chest.

I awoke with a start. As I sat stunned, it slowly dawned on me that God had answered my prayer - this was my sin. I prayed to God to forgive me for being so blind. I prayed for Him to keep me from all sin. I asked Him not to show me such things for I now understood.

Must we have sin continually before us so that we do not sin? Is it not better to look to Jesus in order to avoid sin?

We must see that all creatures and all things are of God. That it is only by loving Him most that we can correctly love anything else. Our sin is in loving the created more than the Creator. Our sin is believing the lie – believing that we are god.

Wow! Speaking of hurting dogs...Every month area people gather to pray for revival to come and last week I had asked God ahead of the meeting to show us how we should pray that day. Just as we were to go into the prayer room my daughter stopped me and pointed to outside our glass church doors. There was a pitiful sight, a young adult white dog covered with mud and burrs looking into our church and howling for all he was worth. He was obviously lost and frightened (He did not belong to anyone there) and probably very hungry, a poor wretched soul. I opened the door and called him closer, he would have none of it, though he did not leave the parking lot he backed away from the helping hand. Another woman stooped down low at the door and gently called him closer but he would not.We finally called the humane society to come and rescue him because our efforts were getting no where.

When we went in to pray suddenly we had a picture God's heart for the lost, confused, frightened, dirty souls of our prayer call area. We prayed knowing that all our efforts we would try on our own to beckon lost souls to come would be useless without praying that God come with power and authority and rescue and let us particpate with Him and to use us in any way He would in his plan for these who shy away from His salvation.

He had shown us how to pray that day. God's heart is for their rescue, but we must call Him.

"Unto him belong the issues (escapees)from death" Ps.68

Our little Gracie became ill with a terribly fatal disease, so common in malarious districts -- enlarged spleen. The doctors pronounced her condition quite hopeless. One day a Chinese Christian woman came in with her little child of about the same age as our Gracie, and very ill with the same disease. The poor mother was in great distress, for the doctor had told her also that there was no hope. She thought that if we would plead with the doctor he could save her child. At last Mr. Goforth pointed to our little Gracie, saying: "Surely, if the doctor cannot save our child, neither can he save yours; your only hope and ours is in the Lord Himself."

The mother was a poor, hard-working, ignorant woman, but she had the simple faith of a little child. Some weeks later she called again, and told me the following story:

"When the pastor told me my only hope was in the Lord, I believed him. When I reached home I called my husband, and together we committed our child into the Lord's hands. I felt perfectly sure the child would get well, so I did not take care of him more than of a well child. In about two weeks he seemed so perfectly well that I took him to the doctor again, and the doctor said that he could discover nothing the matter with him."

That Chinese child is now a grownup, healthy man. [i]And our child died[/i]. Yet we had prayed for her as few, perhaps, have prayed for any child. Why, then, was she not spared? I do not know. But I do know that there was in my life, at that time, the sin of bitterness toward another, and an unwillingness to forgive a wrong. This was quite sufficient to hinder any prayer, and did hinder for years, until it was set right.

Does this case of unanswered prayer shake my faith in God's willingness and power to answer prayer? No, no! My own child might just as reasonably decide never again to come to me with a request because I have, in my superior wisdom, denied a petition. Is it not true, in our human relationships with our children, that we see best to grant at one time what we withhold at another? "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter."

And one of the most precious experiences of God's loving mercy came to me in connection with our little Gracie's death. We had been warned that the end would probably come in convulsions; two of our dear children had been so taken. Only a mother who has gone through such an experience can fully understand the horror of the possibility that such might come again at any time.

One evening I was watching beside our little one, Miss P--- being with me, when suddenly the child said very decidedly: "Call Papa; I want to see Papa." I hesitated to rouse her father, as it was his time to rest; so I tried to put her off with some excuse; but again she repeated her request, and so I called her father, asking him to walk up and down with her until I returned.

Going into the next room I cried in an agony to the Lord not to let Gracie suffer; but, if it was indeed His will to take the child, then to do so without her suffering. As I prayed a wonderful peace came over me, and the promise came so clearly it was as if spoken: "Before they call I will answer; and while they are yet speaking I will hear." Rising, I was met at the door by Miss P--- who said: "Gracie is with Jesus." While I was on my knees our beloved child, after resting a few moments in her father's arms, had looked into his face with one of her loveliest smiles, and then quietly closed her eyes and had ceased to breathe. No struggle, no pain, but a "falling on sleep."

"Like as a father pitieth ... so the Lord pitieth."

Rosalind Goforth

[url=http://www.whatsaiththescripture.com/Promises/I_Know_God_Answers.html]How I Know God Answers Prayer[/url]

My heart is broken for fear I would hinder my own prayer. Please God search me,

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

I ordered this book, I can't wait until it comes. I had never heard of Rosalind Goforth until I came to this website. Thanks for being the connection.