Well, 2018 is here and fruit loops is still walking among us.
The truth is found in Psalm 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
Death
All posts tagged Death
Mark 16:2 ‘And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. 3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? 4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.
5 And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. 6 And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. 7 But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.’
We celebrate Christmas because He died and rose from the dead. If the Lord Jesus had not died and had victory over the grave and death there would be no reason to celebrate His birth (CHRISTMAS).
To His disciples ‘…he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God’ Acts 1:3.
John 3:16 ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’
- ‘In 1990, the “Gayssot law” was passed, stipulating that “any discrimination based
on ethnicity, nation, race or religion is prohibited”. Since then, it has been used to criminalize any criticism of Arab and African delinquency, any question on immigration from the Muslim world, any negative analysis of Islam. Many writers have been fined and most “politically incorrect” books on those topics have disappeared from bookshops. - The French government asked the media to obey the “Gayssot law.” It also asked that history textbooks be rewritten to include chapters on the crimes committed by the West against Muslims, and on the “essential contribution” of Islam to humanity. All history textbooks are “Islamically correct.”
- In hospitals, Muslims are increasingly asking to be treated only by Muslim doctors, and refusing to let their wives be treated by male doctors.’ https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10007/france-death-spiral
“The year 2016 saw the deaths of many pampered, privileged, and predictable entertainers who were known for their talent– and their choice of drugs. George Michael, Carrie Fisher, David Bowie, Prince, and many others passed into eternity prematurely because of a lack of wisdom in how they entertained themselves. They permitted themselves to be duped, deceived, and destroyed at a young age.
This calls to mind country singer Hank Williams, Sr. who held the world in his grasp then lost it all in the back seat of his Cadillac dying from a drug overdose on New Year’s Day, 1953. He was age 29. His long-time manager Merle Kilgore called him, “the most cocky, confident man I ever met in my life.” Yet, he was a small man with a very average appearance.
He had a string of hits including “I’m so Lonesome I Could Cry” in 1949; and the haunting “Cold Cold Heart” in 1950; and “Your Cheatin Heart” in 1952. It seems that Williams could massage a song to get the most from it and was proficient with his guitar, but he couldn’t handle fame, money, and life in general. He was often drunk or drugged even on stage.
With all his advantages, as is true of other entertainers, he lived a shameful, sorry, and sinful life and died a lonely death surrounded by toys, trinkets, and treasure.
His songs reveal that Williams had some exposure to the Gospel. One of his songs reveals his knowledge of salvation: “How Can You Refuse Him Now?” The chorus asked: “How can you refuse him now, how can you refuse him now, how can you turn away from His side, with tears in His eyes on the cross there He died, How can you refuse Jesus now?” Hank obviously refused Him.
He wrote his famous “I Saw the Light” in 1948 although the melody was exactly the same as the Chuck Wagon Gang’s 1935 country gospel song, “He Set Me Free.” Williams often sang his song as if he was a man facing the end, desperate to believe in a salvation that he didn’t think existed. Was he trying to convince himself of the reality of the Gospel? He sang: “I wandered so aimless, life filled with sin; I wouldn’t ask my dear Saviour in. Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night; Praise the Lord, I saw the light! The chorus went, “I saw the light, I saw the light. No more darkness; no more night. Now I’m so happy no sorrow in sight. Praise the Lord, I saw the light!” But Hank was not happy but hopeless, and hapless.
The second verse: “Just like a blind man I wandered alone, Worries and fears I claimed for my own. Then like the blind man that Jesus gave back his sight; Praise the Lord, I saw the light!”
The third verse: “I was a fool to wander astray, For straight is the gate and narrow is the way. Now I have traded the wrong for the right; Praise the Lord, I saw the light!” But Hank apparently never saw the light! He usually closed his shows with this famous song.
Near the end of his life, he was doing a show in San Diego but stumbled drunk off stage after only two songs. His friend, country performer Minnie Pearl, tried to sober him as they rode around town in the back seat of his Cadillac so he could do his second show. She got him to join her in singing “I Saw the Light” thinking it might help sober him, but after one verse, Hank put his head in his hands and said, “O Minnie, Minnie, I don’t see no light. There ain’t no light.” But there was light, only it seems Hank refused it.
On Jan. 1, 1953, Williams died in the back seat of his car on the way to a concert in Charleston, WV. He was to do a show the next day in Canton, OH in the Memorial Auditorium. Williams’ Drifting Cowboys band opened the Ohio show with a spotlight on the curtain after the packed crowd was told that Hank Williams had died the previous day. The band, behind the curtain sang, “I Saw the Light.”
More than 20,000 people attended his funeral on Jan. 4 at Montgomery’s (AL) Municipal Auditorium where an overflow crowd listened via loudspeakers. Roy Acuff sang, “I Saw the Light” as Hank’s body lay in front of him in its casket. Acuff was joined by Bill Monroe, Little Jimmie Dickens, Carl Smith, Red Foley, Webb Pierce, and others. Dickens began weeping uncontrollably during the song. It seemed to be appropriate to this huge crowd of fans that Hank’s “closure” song was used to end his last public appearance—his funeral.
Williams is buried in Montgomery and across the front of his huge tombstone are the words, “Praise the Lord, I Saw the Light.” What a tragedy that a man could talk, write, and sing about seeing the light, and apparently never see it.
We are on this earth for only a few years and it is foolish, freakish, and folly to destroy our health by drug addiction, riotous living, and even undisciplined eating. Hopefully, in this New Year we will be more disciplined, dedicated, and determined to live a life that is honorable with no dependence on illegal drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and gluttonous eating.
We only have one life and we are fools to waste it. There is no second chance.”http://donboys.cstnews.com/top-country-singer-dead-from-drug-overdose
Isa 65:17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
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. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
2Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Hebrews 1:10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: 11 They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; 12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
2Peter 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Revelation 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
There are really more than four but that’s enough for this blog at this time.
In the only Psalm he wrote, Moses said “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” Psalm 90:10.
If you have been following this blog you know I turned 71 this year. Therefore, I am living in those borrowed ten years. Wow! However, as I looked in the mirror this morning I noticed someone else or at least I thought I did. On the other hand, I have noticed this for some time now. That image in the mirror is getting more clear as time passes. What is it; or rather who is it I see in the mirror? Well, I see my father. For those who know me; you say how can that be when your father passed away several years ago? I know, I know, but it certainly looks like HIM!
Now you and I know it is not my deceased father I see in the mirror but it is simply my own reflection that is seen there. Nonetheless, it is that reflection in the mirror which reminds me more and more of my father with each passing day. Why, is this? Part of the answer is; I have inherited my earthly father’s DNA. Putting it in Bible terms it is “the image of the earthy”. That is the physical side of it.
So too, because I have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as my own personal Saviour I am promised I “shall also bear the image of the heavenly” 1Corinthians 15:49. This latter promise is all “…thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” 1 Corinthians 15:57. This body which is of the earth is “corruptible” and “must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” 1 Corinthians 15: 53. The incorruptible and immortal is the spiritual side of it.
This old, worn out body of flesh, in which I was born, will some day pass away but the Lord has a new body waiting for me. As Paul wrote “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” 2Corinthians 5:1. Thank you Lord!
Before I get too far into this journal, today isn’t actually my birthday. What, you say? You see I live in Australia which is one day ahead of where I was born in the states. So as we celebrate my birthday today in Australia we can actually celebrate it again tomorrow as that is the actual day I was born into this world back in the states. Not bad is it?
Now that your confused I will get on with the main topic of this journal. I had cataract surgery one week ago today and all has been well. In fact, the eye that had the cataract removed has 20/20 vision according to the doctor. So now it is a waiting game for one to two months and then an eye examination to determine the strength of my new glasses. Yes, the reality of it all is I am 71 and not only counting but deteriorating due to sin.
Anyway, now I will really get on with my main purpose for writing this journal. 
I am now only four years shy of my mother’s age when she entered eternity. She along with my father, grandmother and grandfather are all buried in the cemetery not far from where we resided when I was a boy.
That cemetery brings back some memories. One memory is when I was in 4H. We had a hay rack ride one Halloween and stopped at this cemetery. I don’t remember a lot of what occurred there but I do remember walking among those tomb stones on that bright crisp autumn Iowa night. That has stuck with me all these years.
As a boy of 16 I remember riding my Triumph motorcycle
past that cemetery quite often on warm Iowa evenings enjoying the breeze and having June bugs hitting my forehead. Those June bugs could really hurt! Anyway, I didn’t really think much of what that cemetery was all about until 1961 when my grandfather passed away.
He was my dad’s father and lived on the farm about one mile from where we lived. I enjoyed many hours with grandpa. Often I could be found riding that old 48n Ford tractor with grandpa ploughing a field or mowing hay. I loved helping put up hay. Frank was a neighbour who lived on another farm near-by. He would come with his baler and I and a few others would pick up the bales and throw them on a hay rack. Then when the hay rack was loaded we would take it to the barn and put the hay in the haymow. Those were the days before the huge bales like they have today. These were bales you could pick up and pick them up we did. Putting them in the haymow was done via a fork similar to this
which was hooked to a rope which was hooked to a tractor. The tractor would pull the rope and the hay would be lifted up into the haymow and when we had the hay in the place where we wanted it we hollered “Drop it!”. Then we stacked the bales and another load would ascend into the haymow and we did it all over again. At noon grandma would have lunch for us and we would gather around the table and talk and listen to the news on WHO. Grandma often made doughnuts for a treat but grandpa liked bread and jam for his dessert. Yes, when grandpa was placed in that cemetery it took on a whole new meaning.
I was saved some years before grandpa died but his passing had a great influence on me and my life. The Bible tells us “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” 2Peter 3:9. God desires for you, the reader of this journal, to personally know Him. John said “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” 1John 5:12. Yes, I am 71 and counting but unless the Lord returns my body will someday lie where grandpa, grandma and my parents lie. I am ready, are you?
Are you prepared? Listen to this video again and again until you know for sure that you are prepared to meet death. Also read Acts 16:31 and John 3:16.
Octavius Winslow (1808-1878) was a non-conformist minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He wrote;
“THERE is approaching a period—ah, how it speeds!—that will be the most solemn and severe, yet the sweetest and truest test of the sustaining, soothing power of Christ’s preciousness in the experience of His saints: the last sickness and the closing scene of life.
Imagine that moment to have arrived. All of earth’s attraction ceases, all of creature-succor fails.
Everything is failing— heart and strength failing, mental power failing, medical skill failing, human affection and sympathy failing. The film of death is on the eye, and the invisible realities of the spirit-world are unveiling to the mental view.
Bending over you, the loved one who has accompanied you to the margin of the cold river asks a sign. You are too weak to conceive a thought, too low to breathe a word, too absorbed to bestow a responsive glance. You cannot now [declare] your faith in an elaborate creed, and you have no profound experience, ecstatic emotions, or heavenly visions to describe.
One brief, but all-emphatic, all-expressive sentence embodies the amount of all that you now know, believe, and feel. It is the profession of your faith, the sum of your experience, the ground of your hope—“Christ is precious to my soul!”
Enough! The dying Christian can give and the inquiring friend can wish no more. Dearest Saviour, be Thou close to me in that solemn moment! Tread the valley by my side, pillow my [faint, weary] head upon Thy bosom, speak these words of heart-cheer to my struggling, panting, departing soul, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee” (Isa 41:10)—then, it will be happiness for me to die. Death will have no venom, the grave no gloom, eternity no dread. And, from the measured experience of Thy preciousness on earth, I shall pass in triumph through the shadowy portal into the full sunshine and perfect realization and eternal enjoyment of all that faith believed and love desired and hope expected of Thy full orbed glory and preciousness in heaven. “In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16:11).”
whatyareckon 