Say It Again, Sam
How many in this world live each day as if they will never die, as if there is no God…
Where were you when the world stopped turning? The question asked in the Alan Jackson song about that fateful September 11, day so many years ago.
One sad unavoidable fact is that for all people of this world one day the world will stop turning, and that happens every day. Lives end sometimes in victory, sometimes in defeat, yet they end.
There is a story, which I cannot confirm one way or the other—the story that as Thomas Paine lay dying he repented of his writing of ‘The Age of Reason’, a treatise on deism. The idea of an ambivalent god who is somewhere out there, who doesn’t really care about the world he created.
According to the story Paine repented and wished not to be alone as he was slipping away.
There are other similar stories of prominent people who espoused wicked theories during their lives, yet at the time of their departing to the next realm, they repented and quaked in fear, as they were stepping out of this life and into their next life.
There is a video of a now believer who had a similar experience but was granted a second chance. As he was slipping down into the next sphere he talked about how there was such a presence of evil and the demons were taking him deeper, when he remembered a time when he was a child and the Bible songs and he began to call on the name of Jesus and plead for that second chance and it was granted to him.
How many in this world live each day as if they will never die, as if there is no God, and not caring about or seeking a relationship with God? They don’t espouse deism exactly, nor do they advocate wickedness per se, but as Jesus has said,
“He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. (Matthew 12:30)”
With that thought, those who aren’t living for and with God are against him. Where will these poor souls find themselves on the day their world stops turning? At least those who made wicked choices purposely, made those choices purposely. These others, sadly enough, won’t be prepared.
They are like starving people living in the midst of a land of plenty. The gospel is everywhere around them. Servants of Christ are available and willing to help these non seekers, but because they aren’t seeking…they aren’t finding.
We recognize our responsibility as Christ’s servants to seek the lost and perhaps bring them to the Lord. The lost also have to understand their need, and many times they don’t.
Our world doesn’t always end by terrorists in airplanes, often our worst enemies are ourselves.
“Act 7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
50 Hath not my hand made all these things?”
