I picked up one of my old books from my library today titled: “Sword Scrapbook II,” by Miss Viola Walden (1915-2007). The book is a collection of edifying writings published over the decades in the Sword Of The Lord Christian paper, founded by Dr. John R. Rice in 1934. I found the following edifying article, which I want to share with you dear reader:
Men Die In Very Strange Ways
People have died in peculiar, almost unbelievable ways.
Harold Lee Duncan was mowing his lawn. His wife and two children were watching. Suddenly Duncan grabbed his left side, walked a few steps, staggered, collapsed, and then died. A half-inch piece of wire, no bigger than a pencil lead, had been hurled by the power mower he was using. His death was sudden.
A 24-year old newspaper reporter, Jost Lemann, put a bottle on top of his head and asked another man to shoot it off. J. Poetschke took aim with his .38 calibre pistol, pulled the trigger and missed. The bullet penetrated the head of Jost Lemann. He died on the spot, and the “William Tell” episode ended in a tragedy.
A little girl, Theresa Conn, was playing hide-and-seek with her dog. She hid a ball on the table and waited for her dog to find it. The large Collie dog jumped up on the table to get the ball. In doing so, the steel table was upset and crashed on Theresa's head. She was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. The dog unwittingly had killed her.
Carlos Umbos was fishing in Pampanga, in the Philippines. Police reported that he opened his mouth to yawn. A fish jumped in and became stuck in his throat. He chocked to death before the fish could be pulled out.
Mario Cianca entered a funeral parlor and saw a man rise with a satisfied smile from a coffin. He died of shock. Pedro Fernandez, the owner of the parlor, had been measuring the coffin for a client about his own size. The shock of what he thought he saw was too much for Mario Cianca.
People have died in amazing different ways. But the most important thing to consider is, “Were they ready?” How they died is not so important, but they should have been ready. Death—with one's boots on or off—is final. To be ready is all important.
Goliath died, being hit by a stone; he was not ready for death. He had defied the God of Israel. “The stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth” (I Sam. 17:49).
Stones also caused the death of Stephen, but he was ready. He had glorified the name of Jesus by his outstanding witness. When the stones crashed against his body, his face shone as the face of an angel. “They stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59).
King Saul of the Old Testament was not ready. He had disobeyed the Word of God. Samuel told him, “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. . . . because thou hast rejected the Word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee. . . .” (I Sam. 15: 22, 23). “Saul too a sword and fell upon it” (I Sam 31:4).
Saul of Tarsus died by a sword, too, but he was ready when he bent his head at the command of the executioner. His testimony was, “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (II Tim. 4:6, 7).
When death comes your way, friend, what matters how you die? Wire, bullet, dog, fish, shock, stone, or sword will make no difference. The big question is: Where will you be in eternity? god's solemn word is, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). He further says, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa. 1:18). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31)—Arthur W. Townsend, as used in “Salvation” magazine).
SOURCE: Sword Scrapbook II, page 65; ©1969 by Miss Viola May Walden
(Weird, spooky, and tragic stories of people who passed in odd ways or on strange days)
Oh friend, life is short, Hell is hot, and eternity is s long time! Please make sure that you have been born-again. Forgiveness of sins and eternal life are a free gift from God! PLEASE DON'T MISS OUT!!! All you need to do to get saved is to GET OUT OF THE WAY, and let God save you through faith alone in His dear only begotten Son. What saith the Scripture? Philippians 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:”
Just submit to God's righteousness, which is solely through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 4:10-11, “For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” The preceding passage refers to the example of unbelief of the Jews in the Wilderness. Hebrews 4:1-2, “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”
Americans have heard the Gospel preached for decades, but most still refuse to believe it. Time is running out friends! Today could be the last day of your life, and someday it will be! Search the news for healthy youth who suddenly die, and you will be surprised! According to the Mayo Clinic, 1 in every 50,000 young athletes will suddenly drop dead from cardiac arrest! Are you ready for death my friend? It could come at any moment. Are you ready to meet your Maker? Amos 4:12, “Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.”
The Devil has no great interest in destroying the church; he would rather run it! Churches today aren't anything like what they were 75 years ago. The power of the Holy Spirit is missing today. There is no zeal. There are hardly any “Amens” from the pews. There is no prayer from the pulpit or the pew. Most pastors today aren't preachers! It is a matter of lack of faith. I tell you—HELL IS REAL!!! Oh how we as preachers must warn people of coming judgment and the fires of Hell.
Here is an excellent quote from the mighty man of God, Dr. Lee Roberson (1909-2007), concerning eternal punishment:
“Somebody says, 'The thought of Hell is so horrible.' Well, my friend, so is cancer, so is tuberculosis, so is the grave. Someone said, 'I believe sin ought to be punished, but not for eternity.' That's your view, not God's.
Again another says, 'I don't believe in the wrath of God.' Then you don't believe your Bible. The Bible says the wrath of God abideth on the one who doesn't believe in Jesus Christ. He is lost forever.
Now, these things come to us out of the Word of God. The teaching of eternal punishment should give us a hatred for sin. We ought to hate sin. The reason we have changed so much in this day in all of our churches is that we are not hearing much on this subject. Therefore, we endorse sin. We engage in sin. We camouflage the sin in our lives and allow things to go by, instead of hating sin as God wants us to hate sin . . .
The teaching of eternal punishment should give us a passion for the souls of men.”
SOURCE: Dr. Lee Roberson, from the book, “Disturbing Questions... Solid Answers,” chapter 16, pp. 196-198; copyright, Sword of the Lord publishers, 1978.I couldn't have said it any better. Pastor Lee Roberson is correct—believers are no longer passionate about soul-winning because of sin tolerated in our churches, because pastors have stopped preaching about Hell. Who cares anyway? Today's ecumenical clergy cannot discern one Gospel from another, going along to get along, promoting dozens of corrupt nationally-known ministers who propagate ANOTHER GOSPEL, and sanction three-dozen different Bible translations. Can we really consider this of SOUND MIND?
There are literally thousands of ways to die! Life Will Be Over Before We Know It. Here's a news story about a 13-year-old boy who died after from having cheese thrown at him (he was allergic to it).
Death Is Final, So Please Be Prepared
As we read earlier, in the first helpful quote I shared with you, it doesn't matter so much how a person dies. What does matter is whether or not you are ready to enter into eternity. Are you ready Freddie? Death is final! There is no such thing as the Roman Catholic invention of Purgatory! You won't find any such teaching in the inspired Word of God. If you have any sense at all dear friend, run (AND I MEAN RUN) away as fast as you can, from the Satanic cult of Roman Catholicism (and that includes Orthodox Catholicism too). Catholicism is a prisonhouse of religion!!! You don't want to be a part of that accursed mess!What saith the Scripture? James 4:13-16, “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.” The wise man receives Christ as His personal Savior, so he can escape the fires of Hell and gain eternal life. You cannot go wrong with trusting (relying upon) Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, receiving His sacrifice on the cross as full-payment for your sins, believing that He raised up bodily from the dead three days later (1st Corinthians 15:1-6). JESUS IS RISEN!!!
There are millions of unsaved religious people in this world who are familiar with the name of Jesus (demons know Jesus' name too - Acts 19:15, “And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?”), and many of them are even serving a superficial persona of Jesus (Matthew 7:21-23); but in reality, they have no concept that God's salvation is only obtained through the imputed righteousness of God, which is through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 10:3-4). Philippians 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” Satan uses religion to blind people from the saving-power of 'THE GOSPEL' of free grace (2nd Corinthians 4:3-4). A devil's favorite activity is to make religious people feel comfortable in their false hope, to con them into living the Christian life without ever being born-again! This is exactly what happened to the religious group in Matthew 7:21-23, to whom the Lord sternly said: “I NEVER KNEW YOU: DEPART FROM ME, YE THAT WORK INIQUITY.”
Every day in the newsmedia, there are reports of people dying OF ALL AGES!!! I read yesterday about 71 soldiers being killed in Africa. And then I read about a volcano erupting in New Zealand, which has so far claimed 16 lives. I could go on for hours mentioning recent deaths. In fact, it you do the math, dividing the world's 7,800,000,000 people by the average 70 year human lifespan, and then divide that number by 365 days in a year, you get 305,283 who people die EACH DAY! Wow! That's per day my friend!!! Heaven's angels must be busy! Do a little more math and you'll discover that on average 212 people die EVERY MINUTE in the world! Our time will all come soon enough.
In 1st Samuel 4:18, the prophet Eli was old and heavy set, whom upon hearing that the Ark Of The Covenant of the Lord had been stolen by the Philistines, fell back and broke his neck so that he died. Even the healthiest man alive is still going to die. That is why the Scripture tells us 1st Timothy 4:8, “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” Please don't miss that friend; working out at the fitness center is only temporary (I say no pain, no pain...lol). However, applying the PROMISES of God to our daily lives will yield both temporal and eternal results. That is why I tirelessly spend much of my time humbly laboring on the internet through my ministry (it is God's ministry), to reach souls for Jesus Christ, “as seeing him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27b). I see Him, do you? (Romans 1:20).
Concerning the prophet Moses, we read in Hebrews 11:25-26 that he chose, “rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.” He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, to gain that which he cannot lose!!! Amen! I spent the first half of my life acquiring things, and the last half of my life losing them (i.e., lost marriage, lost home, lost retirement, lost career, lost pets, lost health, lost confidence; and I'm still losing...lol). Do you know what you get when you play a Country song BACKWARDS? Why, you get your wife back, your home back, your car back, your dog back...lol. Yeah Buddy!
Are you ready to die my earthly friend? Have you received God's free gift of eternal life through faith alone in the Lamb of God? 1st Thessalonians 4:14, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” This is The Gospel (Good News) that Jesus DIED and ROSE AGAIN! BELIEVE IT and the work is done. John 6:28-29, “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” Do you believe on the only begotten Son of God? I do! Jesus is precious!!!
Titus 2:13-14, “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
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