St. Paul School of Leadership & Discipleship
Lesson 111 - THE UNCANCELLABLE APPOINTMENT (PART 2)
By Frank Eiklor and the Shalom Team

The Fear of Death

 

“It's me againDeath. I'm back!  You would be smart not to ignore me. But maybe I wish you wouldignore me, that is. Because if I have to go through with these five visits with you, I know I'm going to be exposed and my days of tormenting you will be over. You see, I can't help but brag about my power to fill you with fear, but I'll also admit that I, Death, am scared to death.

 

"Even my name frightens you, doens't it? You're not alone. I terrify kings.1 Presidents. Scientists. Philosophers. Dictators. The wealthiest of men. But I play no favorites. I also torment those the world calls weak, poor, and simple. In fact, you humans fear me so much that many of you die 10,000 times in your mind before I finally end your lives. The book that spells my doomyou know, the Bibleexposes how my boss and I operate. I know, some of you don't even believe in the devil. How foolish! But keep on being fooled. Satan will keep on tempting. Men will keep on sinning. And I, Death, will keep on killing

 

"But even devils can recognize the truth once in a while. They know there is only one Godand they are terrified.2 And our leader, Satan, knows he only has a short time, so he is super angry with the Creator.3 And since I'm linked to Satan, my days are also numbered. You see, before God sent His holy Son Jesus into the world, we had little opposition. Other than those trouble-making prophets who spoke of the coming Savior of men, Satan, Sin, and I, felt free to scare the hell into people.

 

"Talk about fear! We had almost everyone living their whole lives in fear of meDeath.4 Oh there were some who defied melike Daniel and those three characters whose names I won't repeat. I remember ordering those lions to devour Daniel, but instead God sent His angels and shut their mouths.5 Man oh man, have you ever seen one of those terrifying angels?! It's enough to scare the death out of me! And those other three? They told a king they would welcome meDeathrather than defy their Creator.6 Imagine! It really burned me up to see them enjoying the flames that couldn't touch them or that fourth one that joined themyou know, the Son of God.7

 

"But mostly, the devil and I, Death, had our way with you humans. Once Abel became food for worms, men shivered at the thought of me. I remember Methuselah. I couldn't touch him for 969 years.8 But I could keep him running scared through the fear of death. Then the Holy God reduced those life spans all the way to 120 years9 and then to 70 or 80.10 Well, the shorter the life span, the greater the fear factor. And you know what that Book that I don't like says: that through fear of death you humans were all your lifetime subject to slavery. 11 We thought we owned you.

 

"Then He came. Jesus. How could Satan, Sin, and I know the full mystery in the mind of the one who is our Creator and future executionerGod?12 How could we know that by becoming weak flesh and dying on that cross He would destroy my boss the devil,13 break our prisons in pieces and rescue those who were lifetime slaves to their fear of me?!14 But that is for another visit. Enough for now is to leave you with what my devilish boss and I still hope to do to you. We want you to fear us who cankill your body but can't touch your soul.15 We want death to stay a mystery, a mystery that torments you with fear, rather than have you experience that other mysteryyou know, Christ in you, the hope of glory.16

 

"Somehow I think I may regret having these discussions with you. Maybe I should have just told you about the father of lies,17 my boss. For if you ever encounter the One who calls Himself 'the truth,'18 my days of tormenting you with fear of death will be over. Because once you know the truth, the truth will set19...well, you know the rest. And that won't set too well with the boss and me."

                                        

1 Ecc. 2:16; Daniel 5:5-6

2 James 2:19

3 Rev. 12:9-12

4 Hebrews 2:15

5 Daniel 6:22

6 Daniel 3:16-18

7 Daniel 3:25

8 Gen. 5:27

9 Gen. 6:3

10 Psalm 90:10

11 Hebrews 2:15

12 Col. 1:27

13 Hebrews 2:14

14 Hebrews 2:15

15 Matt. 10:28

16 Col. 1:27

17 John 8:44

18 John 14:6

19 John 8:32

"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ" (I Corinthians 11:1)
The ST. PAUL SCHOOL, with Frank Eiklor, Eileen Young and Cecilia Contreras


Related Articles · More Articles
Jesus said many would come in His name and deceive the hearts of the simple, sinful and proud. Eastern mysticism and meditation is a big thing in the gullible West. And one day a “world leader” will appear on the scene with the persuasion of a god and the heart of a devil. Jesus warns His children to know the Scriptures, live in obedience to the Father’s will, and stay alert to the signs of the times.
They laugh no more. Now God’s description of how He will destroy the old earth and create a new one makes perfect sense. The splitting of the atom turned many skeptics into believers. After all, look what man himself is capable of doing with the atom and hydrogen bombs. Now the fear is that nuclear weapons are being placed in the hands of madmen who wish to annihilate their enemies.
God has blessed man with incredible genius. We stand in awe as we watch men and women in a room full of computers and high-tech instruments guiding and landing spacecraft on distant planets. At that moment, we appear invincible. But then a mammoth tornado comes—or a terrifying hurricane—or rains that flood whole regions and never listen to our shouts to “Stop!”—or the shake that removes from under our feet any confidence or pride we carry, and leaves us numb with hardly enough breath to even utter the paralyzing word “EARTHQUAKE!”. And man is helpless in the face of it all!

909-256-4010
ShalomWorldwide@gmail.com

Website graphic design by Sue Baxter of James Durbin Communications (JDC)

 

 

Site en Español!