Death – Page 2 – Scripture Thoughts

Tag: Death (page 2 of 3)

IS GOD’S WORD A PRIORITY?

“He became more important than me.”

Nowadays Americans are very busy people. Technology has made it possible to accomplish in one day what took a month years ago. Coupled with a strong emphasis on materialistic wealth, technology has made more slaves out of folks than some regimes. This incessant drive to achieve is also evident in foreign lands such as China and Japan among others. As knowledge increases at a faster rate than ever before, moral priorities tend to take a back seat. This can happen so slowly, however, that it can go unnoticed for years…then it may be too late for some.

I recently had the privilege of listening to Dr. David Shaff, an optometrist in Rochester, N.Y., share his 9-day death experience. His spirit left his body as a result of a severe heart attack while sleeping. He never knew what hit him. He was immediately in the presence of Jesus Christ Himself. They had an interesting talk as you could imagine. At one point in his talk, Dr. Dave said he realized how much we worry about things that seem important, but, in the reality of the big picture of this life, they are not.

As sinners from birth, we fail to perceive our major problem. Depravity blinds us to our plight, unless the Creator reveals truth to us. Enter the Bible. The fact that it still exists while being the most hated and attacked book of all history tells me it’s Special, in the most intriguing sort of way.

While interpretations may vary on smaller issues, the major issue is abundantly clear —- God made everything good, humans ruined things, God provided a way to escape eternal destruction, and we cannot earn it. Christianity is the only religion that asserts that eternal life is gained by grace rather than merit. How our souls spend eternity should be on everyone’s mind…constantly. I find this not so, however. Most people just have too many other concerns and worries to be bothered to seek out the redemption that guarantees eternal life.

Despite the Bible changing millions of lives for the better, it is still ignored by the majority. This amazes me. I was guilty of this very thing for the first 20 years of my life. But during my senior year in college, I heard a man who played the role of Jesus on a record say while he was being crucified, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” That captured my attention (and heart). That extraordinary love, that can be found no where else in history, made me realize that Jesus Christ is our Creator in the flesh therefore making Him the most important Person to ever walk this planet.

From that point on, I just had to read what He said and it changed my life. He became more important than me. Talk about a paradigm shift! I devoured the Bible like never before. That was at the end of 1970 and decades later I am still reading it. Once we realize that our true identity is hidden in Christ, our priorities become in line with what we were created to do.

The question for those who call themselves Christian is: Are you just a believer or a follower? If a follower, it becomes impossible to follow Him without reading the Scriptures often, every day if possible. If we really want to get to know Jesus intimately, we find Him in the “volume of the Book” (Psalms 40:7 & Hebrews 10:7). The first cause of backsliding is usually lack of Bible reading. This world has supernatural powers constantly vying for our affection and they do a high-powered brain washing job on us.

Priorities are always at issue. When we pray, we talk to God. When we read the Bible, He talks to us (if we let Him). When He talks to us, are brains (thoughts) are washed from this world (see Ephesians 5:26 & John 15:3). I think there is a direct correlation between time spent in the Bible and the depth of our walk with Jesus. Too many are mere believers and not followers. Among those followers, Bible reading will usually slowly decrease at some time during their Christian life. Watch out for that! It’s one of the early warning signs of backsliding.

The Bible is oh so powerful to bring folks to God and helps them live in a better way. I now understand why Satan and all his cohorts will continually attack it and discourage people from reading it. A careful reading of the Scriptures reveals that the sword that John saw coming out of Jesus’ mouth in the beginning of his vision for the Book of Revelation represents the Word of God. It is by this “sword” He conquers and restores throughout the Church Age.

This world steals verses from God’s Word and few realize the original source. One common phrase this world says is, “Man shall not live by bread alone.” This is from Deuteronomy 8:3 and quoted by Jesus to Satan during the three temptations. But what this world omits is the rest of that verse, which, of course, is the most important: “But man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.” When unsaved people hear the Word of God, they have a chance to re-connect with Him thereby obtaining eternal life. Can there be anything more important to an individual than this?! If followers want to continue their following of Jesus, they must read His Word continually. If our Bible begins to collect dust, then our hearts are slowly becoming hardened against the will of God for our lives. It happens slowly so we do not notice it. Satan is no fool, he believes in God and knows our weaknesses.

Maybe we should view the Bible as food. So think what your body would feel like if you went a week without eating any food. Well, that would be how weak you would be spiritually if you did not engage yourself in God’s Word for a week (week = weak).

I’ll leave you with this thought – out of all the words that God could have chosen to give us on earth, the ones in the Bible are it. Let us not ignore such a great opportunity to get to know Him and find our real purpose. Psalms 138:2 speaks volumes about how much God reveres His own Word, and 1 John 2:15-17 can help us with our priorities. If you are hungry to know God more, you will look those verses up. 🙂

Is Euthanasia Ever Justified?

January 23, 2018 / dscheer / 0 Comments

Many Christians seem to be opposed to this concept in all cases. For me, however, there may be a difference between putting someone to death and allowing them to die. Our technology has grown to the point of causing serious ethical questions. Doctors, for example, can keep someone “alive” for months who has had a life-threatening stroke.

I’ve had two difficult personal experiences with this issue. One of my best friends named Bob developed ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). It is 100% fatal. It’s a nasty disease that slowly destroys muscle ability to move. When it hits the diaphragm, people cannot breathe on their own. Finally all internal movement goes and the person will die no matter what kind of life support they have access to. In Bob’s case, we fervently prayed for his healing. That never happened. He realized that God must be taking him home and he did not want surgery to open a new airway for a breathing machine to be hooked up to him. His wife and two children, however, insisted that he go through the procedure, so he did it for them. I visited him the next day in the hospital and when he saw me, he rolled his eyes back as if to say, “I knew this was a bad idea!” Of course, he still had a tube in his airway and could not speak, but clearly he was physically and mentally suffering from this procedure.

He was now dependent on that machine to inflate his lungs. He could not move any body part except his eyes, so he would signal things to his family by blinking. He could not even tell his family that he had an itch somewhere on his body. He was simply painfully existing with full mental capacity (horrible awareness).

His family eventually realized that they made Bob go through all this so they would not have to deal with his passing, so they finally gave Bob his wish. With some official people on hand, they “pulled the plug” and Bob slipped away to his Father in Heaven. This was back in 1986 and I miss him, but was happy for him.

I say all this to make the point that we cannot make a doctrine of “one size fits all” on this tough issue. We need to discern every case separately because there are many factors to consider. Would it have been wrong to allow Bob to die naturally from ALS without putting him through the pain and torment of “extended life?” I do not see sin in this decision if Bob was okay with it.

Many Christians, rightfully so, are concerned with giving the okay in the above example becoming a “slippery slope” to all sorts of wrongful deaths. I agree that we need to be on the alert for such a mindset. This does not cancel, however, the loving concern in Bob’s case. There are many people who are suffering but not from a fatal disease and they want to die. Again, these need to be decided on a case by case basis. We certainly do not advocate suicide.

My other case in 2009 involved my dad who always insisted that if he became severely incapacitated, that we not put him on life support. People can opt for DNR (do not resuscitate). This was my dad’s choice and he made it while being fully mentally aware of the ramifications. At age 89, he had a massive stroke and in spite of us recognizing what happened very soon and getting him to the best of care for strokes in Buffalo’s Millard Filmore Hospital, the experts diagnosed the seriousness of his condition and told us that he would be “a handful” to take care of if he survived. While I do not think that this factor should be part of a life-death decision, we did honor his prior DNR request. Doctors assured us that they could make him comfortable with drugs until he passed.

My sister and I also had to consider our mom. She had just been diagnosed with a serious carotid artery (main vessel to the brain) blockage that needed surgery (probably to save her life) and her doctor told her to keep her emotional stress levels low until her scheduled operation! She did remarkably well through the ordeal and is doing very well as of today at age 89. My sister and I had many Christian friends praying through this family ordeal and I believe that God’s will was done.

In conclusion, it is sometimes difficult to formulate a “one size fits all” doctrine in Christianity. I think, however, we need to reject the broad philosophy of Jack Kevorkian, commonly known as “Dr. Death.” There are, of course, many factors to consider when faced with this issue. In Bob’s case, his access to technology only served to prolong intense suffering imposed onto him by others and his family finally realized they were being selfish. We all want to uphold the great value of life that God gives us, but at the same time, we need to have the Holy Spirit’s discernment to make decisions…not always an easy task.

Feedback:

Gary R – Well now you have ventured into the veritable “slippery slope.” Frankly, lets get real here. HOSPICE CARE is nothing more than euthanasia. They put these horribly ill poor people in these so called care facilities then fill them up with morphine in the interest of “comfort” until they pass out, stop breathing, and die. I personally witnessed my best friend Ray Fletcher put down like a dog. This happens DAILY, minute by minute in this country and NO ONE does a thing about it. The Bible is out the window and the world takes over. Frankly, they are killing the wrong people.

Mike M – I volunteered at a hospice (Isaiah House) for many years. I never saw what is described [above]. People were made comfortable, but never drugged to death.

Chris L – Wow, what an interesting contrast. What are the Bible verses that Gary believes are thrown out the window? I could be unfairly judging, but my guess is that he is relying on his experiences and gut feelings rather than an actual sound interpretation of scripture. I’m not sure scripture ever directly addresses the issue; at best one’s opinion on the topic comes from an indirect application of an interpretation of scripture. Certainly have to be careful about that…

I do know that God commands us to do unto others what we would want done to us, love others, respect others, respect elders, care for the sick and poor, etc. that can probably justify a whole range of opinions on the issue. As you know, I thought yours and mom’s decision with respect to Grandpa was absolutely made out of love, respect, goodness, wisdom, etc. But could it has been wrong? I don’t know. I feel like people do things wrong all the time, every day, and yet sometimes the decisions actually made out of a right motivation are what people harp on. It’s like Satan’s great distraction to make people so focused on debating this very difficult issue that they can forget to operate out of love when even doing so. Same with abortion and other tough topics.

At some point, my opinion is that we can’t unilaterally characterize certain actions as right or wrong with an evaluation of the heart that only God can do. Maybe some people pull the plug for completely selfish reasons that God despises. Maybe others do not pull the plug out of selfish reasons that equally concerns God. I would assume that anyone actually struggling with the issue is at least at the right starting point…it might be even more important to respect the difficulties than to take a firm stand either way.

Frankly, though, my initial reaction to Gary may be unfair. To me, his comments seem ignorant, destructive, and not at all how God would want Christians to respond to this issue. But am I guilty of being too concerned about sounding sophisticated and really only pretending to be loving while missing the simple plain truth that Gary is right? Am I missing that Gary is really speaking out of a sincere conviction born out of deep prayer and personal experience? Has he prayed more about this issue and received more insight than me? Maybe. But I still think his approach is totally inappropriate though…so I can’t help myself from judging him…

Pat T – Thanks for sharing these heartfelt testimonies with us. I hope they inspire others to make “advance directives” (a legal document) about their end of life care so they and others do not have to go through any needless suffering. I agree it is very difficult for families and other loved ones to make such decisions and not all people agree as to what is best, but in the end it makes it all the more difficult in what to do if ones wishes are not made in advance. My wife had made her decisions known about her end of life care to others and our doctor after much prayer and counsel in which I am very grateful. It made her passing with her loved ones by her side with the appropriate care (hospice) to relieve any needless pain. When the MS had ravished her body to the point where she could not move, speak, or swallow, as difficult as it was to let her go, I knew her life would be so much better in heaven than for her to be put on life support. I also knew it would have been selfish of me to keep her alive (I had that option) when she had already made her end of life care decisions known. Also, most hospitals have a default policy to resuscitate all patients who do not declare an advance directive regardless of their condition. And even if one has declared an advance directive to not resuscitate (DNR), it is not automatic if it not made known to all hospital staff. My own mom had this happen to her when she stopped breathing in a hospital even though she had declared not to be resuscitated in a written advance directive. We watched helplessly for weeks her body kept alive in an vegetative state only to have to make the painful decision to unplug her. Something that should not have happened. Also, advance directives are not etched in stone, sometimes life support is necessary for a brief period of time to keep someone alive to bounce back (doctors can help here). Again, I know this is a very personal decision and every circumstance if unique and requires much prayer and counsel before you let someone go to their heavenly Father. Thanks Dave for bringing this topic up for discussion.

Can a Christian Lose Salvation?

January 8, 2018 / dscheer / 0 Comments

Solid Christians are on both sides of this issue. Historically, John Calvin (1509-1564), believed that you cannot lose it. Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609) disagreed and believed that one can lose salvation. My opinion? Not sure, but if we can lose it, it must be rare because God does not let go of His kids easily (if at all). The upside of believing in eternal security is that blessed assurance (peace of mind). The downside is there may be a greater tendency to sin and/or to develop a lack of motivation to serve Jesus. The upside in believing in conditional salvation is developing an attitude of being careful how one lives, while the downside is perhaps drawing wrong conclusions about individual souls and giving up on them.

Scriptures that lead one to believe in eternal security:

Ephesians 1:13-14: “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

John 10:28-29: “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”

Others include: 2 Corinthians 5:5; John 6:37,39; Romans 8:28-29; 2 Timothy 2:19.

Scriptures that lead one to believe salvation can be lost:

Hebrews 6:4-6: “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.”

Hebrews 10:26: “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins….”*

Others include: Matthew 5:13; John 15:6; 2 Peter 2:20-22; Matthew 7:21-22; Matthew 12:31-32; 2 Peter 1:10.

*Comment on Heb. 10:26: Since we believers know the truth, we usually know full well what the sin is that we are about to commit. I know for a fact that every believer has sinned willingly. We knew before we did it that is was wrong, yet we still wanted to do it and we did it. This is sinning willfully. Therefore, taking Hebrews 10:6 at face value, all Christians have lost salvation, but we know that this is not true. So, we must look at this verse with a different perspective. Perhaps it simply means if we hear the truth and continue to reject it, there is no covering for the person’s sins. Or, that it refers to people who have heard the Truth but refused to admit that something is sinful, and they continue to do it without any remorse, regret, or regard for God and what He says. A third possibility is that a Christian can expect nothing but God’s judgment for that sin, since they haven’t brought it to the cross, in fact, have RESISTED the cross.

What about believers repeating the same sins? I think Paul covered this well in Romans 7:14-8:1.

In Summary: Those who believe the Bible teaches “once saved always saved” can assert that anyone who falls away was never saved to begin with. This, of course is something that can never be proved, but that does not eliminate it from the possibility that it is true. The important point that people may miss in this debate is that if/when a believer sins repeatedly or once in a while, that if they are repentant and still desire to follow Jesus, then they must be in good standing with God since it is He that GRANTS repentance (Romans 2:4, 2 Cor. 7:9, 2 Tim. 2:25). If a person has truly lost salvation, their lifestyle would most likely reflect that. The grace and mercy and longsuffering patience of God goes longer and deeper than most fallen humans think. Therefore, I think it would be a bit presumptuous to conclude that a certain believer has crossed some line with God and now has lost salvation. Though I have not answered this difficult question, perhaps the emphasis should be on not judging others and being content that as long as we care about being in His will, that we are in still the palm of His hand.

Another question I have is “Just what difference does knowing the answer to this question really make?” No matter which one is true, all believers need to love Him, tell others about Him, and live righteously. Anyone can do these things without knowing the truth about this issue. Furthermore, anyone from any viewpoint should and can also do these things. This issue seems to me to be more of a divisive issue among believers rather than something that inspires us to do right. If we know someone who claims to be a believer and is not living properly, all we can do is pray and help them change using Biblical guidelines. We will not know for a fact whether or not they have lost salvation, so whether we are a Calvinist or an Arminian, we should react the same…so what real difference do these doctrines make??

Feedback:

Anon #1: My husband and I have always disagreed about this issue–he believes in eternal security, I believe we have free will and can choose to turn our backs on God and throw His gift back in His face. Admittedly, it only matters if you fall away–which our daughter has now done. She ‘believes’ there is no God at all, and the times in her youth when she heard from Him were all in her head/psychological wishful thinking. So I am in agony wondering what will happen if anything happens to her before she repents and returns. It may be less emotionally painful to believe eternally secure, but I would have to KNOW, and I don’t. Honestly, it feels like she died and this nice young woman who I don’t really know well took her place. I still grieve her loss. It’s painful. God has given me some verses in Jeremiah that lead me to believe she will return, and I cling to them when I start to worry too much, but it’s not easy. My husband doesn’t see it quite the same, though I think he would agree that this “new daughter” is not our old one. A book that I am copying for our pastor at work (I’m the church secretary) teaches you can lose it, and I am a sobbing wreck by the time I finish a paragraph, as it describes our daughter to a T. Some things I wish we could really know before we die…

Dave: I know exactly what you are experiencing. But one thing I’ve had the Lord tell me recently is that Christian authors, though most mean well, are NOT the Word of God. The Word of God is not clear on this topic. Therefore, I conclude that we cannot know, and therefore our role is to trust Him. How can any human judge correctly that another human has just stepped over that invisible line (if it exists for believers) where God will not take them back? With all due respect to your pastor, do not let a book written by a fallible human plummet your faith in God’s mercy and faithfulness. I am convinced that His mercy goes farther and deeper than any human thinks.

Over the 44 years of knowing Christ, I have heard hundreds of testimonies of people falling completely away from the faith only to return later (and they went FAR away). In the meantime, praying and fasting for important outcomes always helps. If your faith wavers on this situation, just simply be honest with our Abba Father and tell Him about that, and ask Him to help you trust and believe. This is every believer’s battle. God has blessed you with a fantastic mother’s heart, so be encouraged in Him.

Anon #2: Whether or not a Christian can lose his salvation hits home at a very personal level regarding my wife’s sister whom you’ve known for years. She and her son moved from the Rochester area a few years ago and began attending my church. They were both baptized, became members and were active in the church. The son graduated from one of the finest Christian schools and began to attend a Christian college. Then he announced to the family he was gay and had been living a secret lifestyle for years. As you can imagine this was a shock to everyone and what happened later became even worse. After one of our pastors counseled his mom (our church regularly counsels gender confused teens), she left the church, walked out of her executive job, moved to another city and completely supports her son’s gay lifestyle. Worse, most of her family supports her and her son, and believe homosexuality is something he was born with and consider him still a Christian.

I had no other choice but to lovingly confront the family about the sin of homosexuality assuring them God loved him just as much as He loves me and wants the best for everyone, but also made it clear in Scripture that homosexuality is a sin and separates one from God just as any other sexual sin like adultery and sleeping around. I gave the best counsel I could drawing from a Christian book (Sex and the iWorld-Khune) regarding homosexuality. Since then the family has made distance from me and his mom refuses any more contact.

I have never seen so much turmoil in a family, but what bothered me the most was the compromise and abandonment of the Christian faith by those who call themselves Christian. Perhaps what I have written here can also lead to some more questions in your study. Any Biblical counsel would be most appreciated at this end.

Dave: Wow, sad news…but not beyond the reach of our heavenly Father. You did well to share truth in love with your wife’s sister. The best Christian ministry for gays is L.I.F.E. Ministry in NYC. You can find it on-line. I encourage you to contact them and they can help. It is run by ex-gay Joanne Highly who married ex-gay Ron Highly many years ago. Ron has died, but Joanne is still doing a great job at the helm. Their insights into homosexuality such as its causes and effects go beyond all other Christian info I’ve ever seen. LIFE = Living In Freedom Eternally.

That sudden abandonment of the “Christian faith” stems from them never bonding to God’s Word, and, perhaps, God is using this controversy to expose this (and hopefully repair it). At present, I cannot pronounce any of these people as “non-Christians” or ones who have lost salvation. They are in danger, however.

I can understand the mom’s reaction (note to readers: I know her personally). After experiencing a horrible dad (years of sexual abuse), then losing a husband to divorce, she seemed to pour all of her love into her son. Her son was her light and joy in her rough life. It was her and him against this cruel world and they survived. Her son probably gave her a sense of purpose and meaning to her life. Then to see him being “attacked and condemned” (from her perspective), she predictably ran to his defense and away from Christians. She needs counsel to unravel her past. At this point, I am not sure what role you can play other than praying and seeking help from LIFE since she won’t talk with you.

I reject any notion that someone is born gay. The media slants reports to convince people that science has proven this. Nothing could be further from the truth. Many gay men have had poor father figures in their life – neglect, abuse, lack of closeness. I’m not saying this is THE cause, but it probably contributes to it from the environmental category of thought (as opposed to the genetic theory). I would guess that the son was not close with his dad, and that his mom doted much on him. It is reasonable to assume that he has had a longing in his heart to be close to a male figure. All this, of course is speculation by me, a non-expert in this field. And I do not mean to blame the mom at all. Her love toward her son is most understandable, even commendable. Both of them may need special prayer to rid themselves of demonic oppressions – in God’s timing, however. Hope this will help in a most difficult and sad situation. I will pray as well.

Anon #2: Thanks for your good counsel Dave, I will visit the sites you mentioned. I believe you are right about her going through so much and in her relationship with her son. I do keep them in prayer and hope someday to make things right between us. Sometimes I wish I had not been so direct with her, but she was so fixed on his gay lifestyle as being OK she had really influenced the family to question their beliefs and side with her. God will have to take hold of this one for sure to make a difference.

Linda P (10/21/13) – I was introduced to Christ by Dave Scheer as a a sophomore in high school. I believed. I was the seed that fell on the rock. I grew quickly, then withered. It took me 40 years of being lost in the desert before I finally looked up again. I was baptized in July 2010. I am a disciple, a work in progress. I am learning, and praying, and living and sharing my faith. I sure hope that those of us that haven fallen away and come home aren’t lost to the Kingdom. I believe we are not. God used all the bad boys and girls to prove a point, as far as I’m concerned.

If we choose to sin rather than take the high road, we lose out in many ways, but can we still be saved? End up in the same heaven as one who is, say, heterosexual but cheats on their spouse? abuses their babysitter? secretly lusts for their sister-in-law? has been married and divorced 3 times? and on and on…

I know sexual sin is a bad one, but sin is sin. I believe God looks at our hearts more than our actions and measures out rewards accordingly.

Quite frankly, as long as I get there and can drag some with me, I don’t care where I land in the pecking order!

My daughter is 25 next month. She learned to live a secular life from me. I never gave her a solid foundation in Christianity. As least yours has been there and will most likely return. Take comfort in knowing that. I am at fault for my daughter’s lack of faith. You are not.

Dave to Linda – Thanks for the feedback and insights. About your daughter, while it would have been better that your life was a Christian example for your daughter’s formative years, it is not your fault if she never repents and gets saved. Many believers had non-Christian parents but still found the need to repent and believe. With or without you, your daughter needs to realize her spiritual need. So do not be too hard on yourself. And, don’t forget that she has seen that great change in you and I’m sure she knows your “sea shell” story! She must know that you are better today than during your backslidden years. You are a fantastic witness to her now.

We walk by faith not sight, and live by grace not human effort. Romans 8:1 is always a great reminder when we look down on ourselves.

Linda to Dave – And thank you for your feedback. I know it’s not my fault that my daughter is my clone, and we all have to come to our own realization of where we stand with God. I also know she does see a change, and she is a typical, 25 year-old, secular, materialistic female who looks at it like she has all kinds of time to be good, she’s going to be bad while she’s young and free.

As my elderly friend says, “Stop worrying about your daughter. You said she’s just like you, and YOU came around! She will, too!” Then she said, “And don’t preach to her or you’ll just alienate her! Pray and set a good example. That’s all you can do. Someone else will bring her to Christ. God hears praying mothers.”

Scripture Thoughts

Tag: Death (page 2 of 3)

IS GOD’S WORD A PRIORITY?

Is Euthanasia Ever Justified?

Can a Christian Lose Salvation?

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