Death at the Door

nobody@vox.com(JudgeBob) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:18:47 -0700

I was visiting my mother last week for Resurrection Day. We had a very good visit and were able to talk over some things that had been on her mind. Mom is 64 and quite ill. She has heart problems and respiratory problems and a degenerative spinal problem, and she smokes.... while using oxygen! I've seen the results of a cigarette and oxygen tube combination. One of my acquaintances from years ago had a father in similar circumstances and he died in his chair by catching himself on fire. An oxygen rich environment makes material that normally would not burn very flammable. The smoker does not die in a sudden explosion. Instead the oxygen makes your skin, your chair, your rug, everything burn like gasoline. Being elderly and in poor health, they do not have the strength to get away from the oxygen or to fight the flames. I'm sorry if this scares somebody, I'm not telling you this because I get some kind of thrill from scaring people. I'm telling you this to let you know how I feel about it. Please speak to your loved ones who smoke and are on oxygen about the terrible danger of a torturous death or injury they are exposing themselves to.

On the second day of my visit, she started into a coughing fit and knew she was in real trouble. She did get her bronchial pathways cleared that time but it scared her. This same visit, my mother confessed to me that she is not ready to die. She is a believer, she does have a relationship with God, and she feels secure in the knowledge of that relationship. But she has regrets and she has a lot of time to run over those regrets again and again in her mind. She is in no condition to do anything to correct those things, but she doesn't feel ready to meet God because she is focusing on her works.

I have recommended she read Dennis Prager's book, "Happiness is a Serious Problem" I've even taken her a copy but she hasn't gotten to it yet. What she would learn from the book is that contentment is the key to happiness. Paul the apostle said; Philippians 4:11"Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be ^(B)content in whatever circumstances I am." So we do what we can toward reparations and leave the rest in God's hands with prayer and supplication.

I have been present at only one conscious death but that was of a non-believer. He had cancer and wasted away to nothing until he was, very like my mother, too weak to clear his bronchial passages. That man is the bravest man I've ever known. After the doctors had pronounced his case chronic, he refused any medical assistance to the very end to the point of fighting off an oxygen mask in his last minute. He was naturally very unsettled about the prospect of his death, but refused any 'preaching' from anyone. "He'd lived his life as an unbeliever and he damned sure wasn't going to hypocritically turn at the last minute."

I once read about a Christian who was secure in his faith so on the day he felt the nearness of his death and calling all his unbelieving acquaintances in to watch him die said, "Today, you will see how a Christian faces death." It may have been British preacher Charles Simeon who is quoted as he smiled brightly, “What do you think especially gives me comfort at this time?” When they all remained silent, he exclaimed, “The creation! I ask myself, ‘Did Jehovah create the world or did I?’ He did! Now if He made the world and all the rolling spheres of the universe, He certainly can take care of me. Into Jesus’ hands I can safely commit my spirit!”

This is the way I want to go when my time comes. Assured of God's approval, assured of my faith, assured I am going home to a mansion in the city of peace and not to rot in the dirt. This notion, "If I'm wrong I've lost nothing, but if I'm right I've gained heaven." (evangelical argument to atheists) is still looking backward. Those guys were eagerly awaiting their reward. So, with some reflection on the topic, I read over the phone to my mother, quotes of dying believers and quotes of martyrs. She searches the scriptures herself, but a little boost of fresh examples of life yielding faith can only encourage her.

I ask you to pray for her to find peace in these last weeks and months of her life. That she would know the presence of God and can use it to witness to unbelievers. Let her go in with a flourish sweeping lost souls into the faith as she goes. In her final struggle, may she demonstrate the presence and the goodness of God toward His children and may it all bring glory to the name of Jesus Christ.

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Death at the Door