Poster | Thread | hmmhmm Member
Joined: 2006/1/31 Posts: 4994 Sweden
| Re: | | I see no one made an interception in the thread yet I read through most of the thread
-Writing article on death at Christian College-
I must say brother Paul's posts are very deep and full of wisdom, I saw he lives close to death, I havent been around death so much, I dont think I ever seen a dead person, the closest Ive been to death, except my own near death experiences is my grandmother, she had a stroke and she was very close to death
and in that hospital room
in that area of the hospital where only people that where really close to die, When I sat there looking at my grandmother when she was face to face whit death, the atmosphere in that room was so thick one could feel it,all those tubes and hoses sticking out of her, I saw how much we struggle and fight to hang on to life, yet so many struggle and fight not to come to him who is the source of life, even many Christian wont give up the fight sometimes, we so hold on to this side of life. almost as one can feel the powers of evil and good fighting
. But right there and then It was a strange feeling mixed whit much fear and sorrow, and I felt very very helpless and out of control of the whole situation, I was not a believer then. I'm fascinated and yet much filled whit fear and trembling about this, I know there is a glory unspeakable to death
. There will be no sin against God no more in my life when I die, what a marvelous thought! That one thing is to me so dear I cant find words to express
we cant understand because the only thing we know of is this cursed body of sin, even after we are born again there still is an enemy, still a fight, stand fast
..
So I can see the glory and the wonderful thing of death, to go and be whit Christ for all eternity!
"For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death." Psalm 48:14 The world passes away. Everything here in this present world is changing. "Life is like a painted dream; Like the rapid summer stream; Like the fleeting meteor's ray; Like the shortest winter's day; Like the fitful breeze that sighs; Like the waning flame that dies; Darting, dazzling on the eye; Fading in eternity." A rope of sand, a spider's web, a silken thread, a passing shadow, an ebbing wave, are the most fitting and expressive emblems of all things belonging to this present earthly state. The homes that sheltered us in childhood we leave. The land which gave us birth we leave. The loved ones who encircled our hearths pass away. The friends of early years depart. And the world that was so sunny, and life that was so sweet, is all beclouded and embitteredthe whole scenery of existence changed into wintry gloom. Such are the saddening, depressing effects of life's vicissitudes. But in the midst of all, "this God is our God for ever and ever!" All beings change but God. All things change but heaven. The evolutions of time revolve, the events of earth go onward, but He upon whom all things hang, and by whom all events are shaped and controlled, moves not. "For I am the Lord, I change not." Our affairs may alter. Our circumstances may change. Our relations and friends may depart one by one. Our souls in a single day pass through many fluctuations of spiritual feeling. But He who chose us to be His own, and who has kept us to the present moment, is our covenant God and Father forever and ever, and will never throw us off and cast us away. "For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death."
Octavius Winslow
_________________ CHRISTIAN
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| 2007/2/18 11:45 | Profile | crsschk Member
Joined: 2003/6/11 Posts: 9192 Santa Clara, CA
| Re: Death Awaits | | [i]Forcing the gaze To look again upon The face
Seperate From the body[/i]
"... everything returns to normal"
Or to distraction, to hostility and commotion. To worthless controversy, surface level chit-chat This great seperator of tethered to the earth men and woman, cut loose to eternity...
Such a bother To contemplate To look at the occurance Gods perspective?
Every moment of everyday Souls
An endless stream Perishing?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
_________________ Mike Balog
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| 2007/3/1 8:59 | Profile | enid Member
Joined: 2006/5/22 Posts: 2680 Nottingham, England
| Re: | | Hello, I noticed others haven't commented, and being one of the 'others', I can understand why.
I feel like an intruder commenting on this thread, even though it is probably one of the most noble and God conscience threads I have ever read on this site.
I haven't read all the posts yet, I like to print them out and take my time to read them. I do that when articles are worthwhile and edifying, which this one is.
Concerning death, I think about it on a regular basis. Not just for myself, but for my family, those at church, my neighbours.
Especially my elderly neighbours who are in their 80's and are not saved.
Death is a gloomy subject for most, even for Christians, who are supposed to be eagerly awaiting His return. Even though people hate the subject of hell, and preachers will not preach on it, and both sinners and saint mock it, it's not the same with death, that's something everyone has to face.
I rebuke myself often for wasting time, only to repeat is again at a later date.
You forget God is watching, and that you have to appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
I'm not one for spending hours in front of the t.v, but is that what I want to be doing when I die? People have been found dead in front of their t.v.
A real fear of God would make us avoid some of the unnecessary situations we get into.
Sorry for the intrusion, I might just return later.
God bless, and thank you. |
| 2007/3/1 9:32 | Profile | hmmhmm Member
Joined: 2006/1/31 Posts: 4994 Sweden
| Re: | | welcome enid to the thread, nice to see someone "get involved". Not that its needed, Brother Balogs writings have got me thinking much about this subject lately, but when reading the last post you posted i must confess, i get "back to normal", i "slided" back... i think it would be a good thing to get up every morning for my own sake and think this thought among the first one... think to myself...well Christian...this day today can be the last one alive, will my actions, my motives behind my actions make a difference in eternity... recently i allowed myself to get involved in some threads i now feel ashamed of, not discussing the topic it self, but my post in the thread wasn't of the "quality" that if i died that day that would have been my last post.... i remember i think Baxter said it first... but Paul washer says something similar in that "youth" sermon
"ill preach today as a dying man to dying men and ill preach as it where the last time i ever was to preach"
and these are from Jonathan Edwards resolutions
9. Resolved, to think much on all occasions of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.
17. Resolved, that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.
19. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if I expected it would not be above an hour, before I should hear the last trump.
52. I frequently hear persons in old age say how they would live, if they were to live their lives over again: Resolved, that I will live just so as I can think I shall wish I had done, supposing I live to old age. July 8, 1723.
Another i think of is that i should live my life and never do anything that i wouldn't do if it where my last hour alive....
And as for my participation on SI, never post a post I couldn't lean back in my chair and think is this the last post I ever will post? This havent been the case lately for me and I feel ashamed. May God help me, I'm grateful he is showing me things I can improve.
As Mike where saying
back to normal
not quite
but I see the tremendous danger and how easy it is if not on guard!
Ohh that God would teach me to always be watchful of my actions and thoughts and every word I speak or write
. Even as I ponder the Judgment, what a wretch I I'm! God have mercy on me..
I dont wanna go back to normal, was it Eward's who prayed stamp eternity on my eyeballs? That he would stamp it on the inside of my eyelids that I would see it every time I close my eyes so I would not forget It
.
And another thread Ive spent much time on lately is the Erlo Stegen and the revival among the Zulus thread
there are some strong provoking statements there
especially one that really got me
The early church didnt tolerate sin, they had no room and no time for sin, and dealt with it most severely. We worship God and tolerate sin in our midst! If you pray for Revival, you are asking for something the world doesnt understand. We read the Bible so superficially that we cannot grasp what it is all about.
And also
It was Christmas time when the Revival broke out. In times of Revival, the Word of God comes alive. It smites us and pierces our heart. The Word of God is like a hammer that breaks the rocks into pieces. It now became clear to me that it wasen'tt the heathen who were standing in the way of Revival. I could only cry out: Lord, there is only one person who hinders Your work, and that is me! Please forgive me!
Something else is getting under my skin, anything else then a total surrendered life to God is a totally wasted life!
I need to go pray and meditate some
ill come back
_________________ CHRISTIAN
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| 2007/3/1 12:51 | Profile | hmmhmm Member
Joined: 2006/1/31 Posts: 4994 Sweden
| Re: Death awaits | | With tearful eyes I look around; Life seems a dark and stormy sea; Yet, midst the gloom, I hear a sound, A heavenly whisper, Come to Me.
It tells me of a place of rest; It tells me where my soul may flee: O to the weary, faint, oppressed, How sweet the bidding, Come to Me.
When the poor heart with anguish learns That earthly props resigned must be, And from each broken cistern turns, It hears the accents, Come to Me.
When against sin I strive in vain, And cannot from its yoke get free, Sinking beneath the heavy chain, The words arrest me, Come to Me.
When nature shudders, loath to part From all I love, enjoy, and see; When a faint chill steals oer my heart, A sweet voice utters, Come to Me.
Come, for all else must fall and die; Earth is no resting-place for thee; Heavenward direct thy weeping eye, I am thy Portion; come to Me.
O voice of mercy! voice of love! In conflict, grief, and agony, Support me, cheer me from above, And gently whisper, Come to Me.
_________________ CHRISTIAN
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| 2007/3/1 13:18 | Profile | Tears_of_joy Member
Joined: 2003/10/30 Posts: 1554
| Re: | | [b]O voice of mercy! voice of love! In conflict, grief, and agony, Support me, cheer me from above, And gently whisper, [i]Come to Me.[/i][/b]
Thank you dear brother for sharing this song. I need it. |
| 2007/3/1 13:47 | Profile | hmmhmm Member
Joined: 2006/1/31 Posts: 4994 Sweden
| Re: | | this got me....from J.A James.....i start to like his writings more and more.
The base cares and the petty enjoyments of the present world
Sin is raging all around us!
Satan is busy in the work of destruction!
Men are dying!
Souls are every moment departing into eternity!
Hell is enlarging her mouth, and multitudes are continually descending to torments which knows no mitigation and no end!
Heaven expanding above us!
Hell yawning beneath us!
Eternity opening before us!
How astounding is it sometimes to ourselves, that, favored with a certain, though distant, view of the celestial city, living almost within the sight of its glories and the sound of its music, the base cares and the petty enjoyments of the present world should have so much power over us, as to retard us in our heavenward course, and make us negligent and indolent, heedless and forgetful.
Time is short, life uncertain, death at hand, and immortality is about to swallow up our existence in eternal lifeor eternal death!
_________________ CHRISTIAN
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| 2007/3/1 15:40 | Profile | crsschk Member
Joined: 2003/6/11 Posts: 9192 Santa Clara, CA
| Re: Death Awaits | | Quote:
I feel like an intruder commenting on this thread
A real fear of God would make us avoid some of the unnecessary situations we get into.
Sorry for the intrusion, I might just return later.
Enid, I am glad you did, believe you are correct and pray you do return again later. _________________ Mike Balog
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| 2007/3/1 16:06 | Profile | hmmhmm Member
Joined: 2006/1/31 Posts: 4994 Sweden
| Re: | | more from James
A bubble that rises, and shines, and bursts!
"Be very careful, then, how you livenot as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:15-16
Paul implies that a man can give no greater proof of folly, nor more effectually act the part of a fool, than to waste his time. While on the other hand, a just appreciation and right improvement of time are among the brightest displays of true wisdom.
We must value time correctly, and improve it diligently.
Time is the most precious thing in the world. God distributes time miserlyby the momentand He never promises us another moment! We are to highly value, and diligently to improve the present moment, by the consideration that for anything we know, it may be our last.
Time, when once gone, never returns. Where is yesterday? A moment once lost, is lost forever!
We should never forget that our time is among the talents for which we must give account at the judgment of God. We must be tried not only for what we have donebut for what we neglected to do. Not only for the hours spent in sinbut for those wasted in idleness. Let us beware of wasting time.
It might stir us up to diligence in the improvement of our time, to think how much of it has been already misspent. What days, and weeks, and months, and years, have already been utterly wasted, or exhausted upon trifles totally unworthy of them. They are gone, and nothing remains of them but the guilt of having wasted them. We cannot call them back if we would. Let us learn to value more highly, and to use more kindly, those days which remain.
How much of our time is already goneand how little may be yet to come? The sands of our hour-glass may be almost out! Death may be at the door!
When you begin a day, you don't know that you shall end it! When you lie down, you don't know that you shall rise up! When you leave your house, you don't know that you shall ever return!
For what is your life? It is even as a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes! Life is a bubble that rises, and shines, and bursts! We know not in any one period of our existencebut that it may be the last. Surely, surely, we should then improve our time, when we may be holding, for anything we know, the last portion of it in our hands!
You are immortal creatures, and must live forever in torment or in bliss! And certainly you cannot be forming a right estimate of the value of time, nor be rightly employing it, if the soul be forgotten, salvation neglected, and eternity left out of consideration!
_________________ CHRISTIAN
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| 2007/3/1 16:56 | Profile | hmmhmm Member
Joined: 2006/1/31 Posts: 4994 Sweden
| Re: | | Zeuxis died laughing at the picture of an old woman
As the life of man is very short, so it is very uncertain.
Now healthynow sick! Alive this hourand dead the next!
Death does not always give warning beforehand; sometimes he gives the mortal blow suddenly; he comes behind with his dart, and strikes a man at the heart, before he says, "Have I found you, O my enemy?"
Eutychus fell down dead suddenly, Acts 20:9.
Death suddenly arrested David's sons and Job's sons.
Zeuxis died laughing at the picture of an old woman which he drew with his own hand!
Sophocles choked to death on the seed of a grape!
Diodorus the logician died for shame that he could not answer a witty question.
Joannes Measius, preaching upon the raising of the woman of Nain's son from the dead, within three hours after died himself!
Ah! death is sudden in his approaches.
Nothing more sure than death!
Nothing more uncertain than life!
Though there is but one way to come into this worldyet there are a thousand thousand ways to be sent out of this world!
"Prepare to meet your God!" Amos 4:12
brooks _________________ CHRISTIAN
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| 2007/3/4 8:25 | Profile |
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