THE FUNERAL
"... In Certain Hope of The Resurrection ..."
"Don't worry about your Mum and Dad - they are safe at last with Gran-gran and Pop-Pop, and Uncle Petey!"
"... and they are watching over you even right now!"
"... and they are watching over you even right now!"
"I know that they will watch over us! And ... and ... we can still talk to them, and ask them for guidance and protection!"
"Your Daughter is happy now!"
"Your Son is in Heaven with God!"
Two Weeks After The Funeral
Aunt Judy and young Sandy are having breakfast on the back patio.
"My! My! You are looking quite chipper this morning! Did something exciting happen!?"
"Oh, yes, Aunt Ju! Something really, really, wonderful happened!"
"Do tell, Sweetie Pie! What happened?"
"Aunt Ju! Mommy visited me in my room last night! I was sooo happy to see her! She looked sooo beautiful! And, she was wearing the perfume I got her for her birthday last month!"
Aunt Judy's blood became like ice in her veins, and she felt cold! So very, very, cold!
"Lord Jesus, have mercy on us! It is happening all over again!"
"Aunt Ju! Aunt Ju! What's wrong!
You look like you have just seen a Ghost!
Are you okay?
Do you need some water! I can get you water!
Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Aunt Ju!?!
"Sannie, would you go get my King James Bible from my night-stand, please?"
"Bible!?!
What do you need your Old Bible for?!
Auntie, you look like you need a doctor!"
"Sannie, please! Just go get my Bible for me! This is really important!"
"But, Auntie? What about my news?!"
"I know, Dear! Just get the Bible, and I will show you something that is truly important for you to know at this time! Please, hurry!"
"Yes, Auntie!"
Sandy rushed off to get her Auntie's Old Bible, well-worn, and ratty-looking and overstuffed with Prayer Requests and Grateful Thank You's, and well and truly marked-up, and so, so, very smooth from much loving use.
While Sandy was away from the table, her Auntie was in fervent prayer to Almighty God, beseeching Him to:
You see, Aunt Judy came from a family long-given to inquiring of, and communicating with, Familiar Spirits, and, as a result, whenever there was a death in the Family, it was almost automatic that the Beloved Dead ALWAYS "Came Back!" to offer solace and offer bodily comfort to that one person who ALWAYS made that Plaintive cry:
"Lord Jesus, have mercy on us! It is happening all over again!"
"Aunt Ju! Aunt Ju! What's wrong!
You look like you have just seen a Ghost!
Are you okay?
Do you need some water! I can get you water!
Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Aunt Ju!?!
"Sannie, would you go get my King James Bible from my night-stand, please?"
"Bible!?!
What do you need your Old Bible for?!
Auntie, you look like you need a doctor!"
"Sannie, please! Just go get my Bible for me! This is really important!"
"But, Auntie? What about my news?!"
"I know, Dear! Just get the Bible, and I will show you something that is truly important for you to know at this time! Please, hurry!"
"Yes, Auntie!"
Sandy rushed off to get her Auntie's Old Bible, well-worn, and ratty-looking and overstuffed with Prayer Requests and Grateful Thank You's, and well and truly marked-up, and so, so, very smooth from much loving use.
While Sandy was away from the table, her Auntie was in fervent prayer to Almighty God, beseeching Him to:
PLEASE, Oh, Lord!
PLEASE, let this Madness of Visitation
by
The "Living Dead"
End in Sandy this Very Day
and
In My Family For Ever!!
You see, Aunt Judy came from a family long-given to inquiring of, and communicating with, Familiar Spirits, and, as a result, whenever there was a death in the Family, it was almost automatic that the Beloved Dead ALWAYS "Came Back!" to offer solace and offer bodily comfort to that one person who ALWAYS made that Plaintive cry:
"If I could only talk to them one more time, to see them and touch them, and smell them, and to hear them say that they are happy in Heaven, and to be able to say "I Love You" ONE LAST TIME, I will be okay!"
Aunt Judy had been hoping that this would not be the case with her beloved Sannie but ... The Path was being tread all over again!
She should have known that this would happen for even though Sandy's parents had vocally professed their Christianity, they were always burning incense and candles, and purchasing prayer cards for the anniversaries and birthdays of the dead and they even had an Ouija Board and had even proudly stated that "God blessed them with a 'Seeing Third Eye!'"
Bottom line is that Sandy's Parents were oxymoronic New-Age-Seeker-Christians forever seeking Truth but never being able to come to The Conclusion of The Whole Matter!
They had had Itchy Ears and had, until the day of their deaths, been forever going to whatever was the newest, most bizarre, most exciting, thrilling and deep "Church, Pastor, Prophet, Teacher, Guru or Guide" around their city.
If "The Teaching" was New and Popular, they were RIGHT THERE!
FYI:
Aunt Ju had tried here best to teach her Sandy God's Truth, and had made it her mission to keep Sandy away from the demonic influences that her parents had espoused as much as she could by having Sandy spend as much time as possible in her home!
... Problem was, Sandy's home was in her Parents' house, and there had been only so many reasons she could use to have Sandy spend time at her house when she, herself, lived only three blocks from Sandy's house!
How she had hated going to, or even having Sandy live in that house! It was oh sooo creepy and smelly! Ugghh!
Well ...
As is to be expected, we learn what we live and, here, this very day, at this very time, Aunt Judy knew that she was going to be battling the very Forces of Hell to turn Sandy away from the Wickedness her Parents had taught her to Believe!!
Thankfully, Aunt Judy is a Praying, Bible-believing, Faith-upholding, Repentant, Jesus-Saved, Christ-Following Christian:
"Lord God Almighty, have Mercy!
Give me the words that I need to tell Sandy Your Truth!
Lord, Please! No more with the lying conceits and demonic deceits!
Help me, please!"
Oh, Lord, may Your Holy Angels surround this house and
Protect us from Satan and his Minions, and
Father, let Your Holy Spirit have It's Way
As I seek, by Your Will, to teach My Sannie
The Truth of The Way To Eternal Life!
I Love You!
Lead Us to The Eternal Home!
Amen."
"Here Auntie! Here's your Old Bible!"
"Thanks, Love! Please bring your chair next to mine - I must show you something!"
"Read this for us, please - Ecclesiastes 9:5-6!"
"5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun."
"What does this mean, Aunt Ju?!
Why did you have me read that Scripture, Auntie?!"
"Hang on, there's more, then I will explain all!"
Romans 8:11, "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you."
1 Peter 3:18, "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:"
"Auntie! What does all of this mean! You are scaring me!"
Hon, I don't mean to scare you! I just want you to know The Truth!
Hugging Sandy close to her heart, Aunt Judy spoke at length to her beloved niece about Life and Death, and The Certain Hope. But first, she asked her niece a straight question:
Sandy, have I ever lied to you?
"No, Auntie! Never! Not even a little white lie as Mommy used to call them!"
Well, Sandy, I pray that you will believe that what I am going to tell you is The Truth. God is my Witness, and I promise to never ever tell you a lie!
First, there is No Human Soul that is Immortal! And No Human Soul visits Heaven Nor Hell when they die!
Your Mommy and Daddy are not in Heaven nor are they in Hell! They are asleep, knowing absolutely nothing, and are incapable of doing anything but sleeping!
God said that the Dead know nothing! You read that Scripture for us, remember?
"Yes, I do, Aunty." Sandy quietly replied!
Do you believe the Word of God is true?
"Of course, Aunty! The Bible says that God is not a man that He should lie!"
Sandy, I get very angry when I hear the Priests and Pastors at funerals telling heart-broken people that their loved ones are being welcomed into Heaven by Saint Peter!
Peter The Apostle is in his dusty bed resting! He is not manning Heaven's Gates!
Our loved ones are not Greeters standing with arms wide open to welcome the newly arrived Dead from Earth to The Eternal Home! It is just a demonic deception!
Jesus Christ is not a liar!
He said in the Holy Word that after our death is The Judgment and that He, Himself, is going to give unto every human being what he or she has earned for a Reward! That means that the Good and Faithful will be commended and the Wicked and Unfaithful will be condemned!
Sandy, if what Jesus said is true, is it possible for Dead People to go straight to Heaven or Hell?
No, Auntie! That would make Jesus a liar!
Wise King Solomon said that the Dead know nothing!
King David asked of The Lord: Who In The Grave Shall Give Thee Praise?
Righteous Job said:
I Know That My Redeemer Liveth
And Though After My Flesh
Worms Destroy This Body
In My Own Flesh
At The Latter Day
I Shall See Him Face To Face!
The Apostle Paul, in Thessalonians, said:
Comfort Ye One Another With These Words:
The Dead In Christ
Shall Rise Up First
And Those Who Are Alive And Remain
Will Be Caught Up Together With Them
To Meet The Lord
In The Air!
Does this sound to you as though The Dead are already experiencing Heaven and Hell?
Not at all, Auntie! That sounds like they are, as you said, resting and waiting to be awakened!
Sandy, Satan is a bold and unrelenting Liar! Always was! Always will be!
Satan's lie of the immortality of the human soul is one of his best deceptions ... so far! Sin brought Death into The World but, you see, Man was not created to die! Our Sin leads to Death unless we accept the Offer of Salvation, The Offer of Saving, extended to us by Jesus Christ.
The idea of Death is frightening to us, and because most of us refuse to believe The Words Of Truth and Light and Life, and go seeking after what it is not given to us to know, Satan is able, by outright lies, partial truths - which are also lies - and deceptions, to do a very good job of convincing men to believe that Almighty God does not mean what He says!
God's Word spells out God's Character, who He Is, what He Says, and what He Will Do for The Good, and against The Evil!
Just like he did in the Garden of Eden, Satan calls into question the Truth of what God, Himself, said! Satan wants us to believe that The Truth of The Word Of God is reliant upon our interpretation of The Word!
Do you know what interpretation means?
Yes, Auntie! It is the explanation of what I understand a thing to mean and not necessarily what the thing actually means!
Very good! Interpretation is how you see something! It is our Perspective! But ... our seeing is not always sight! The Problem with that is that it leads to lies acquiring the patina, the shine, of Truth even though it is a glaring lie!
God Gave His Best
So That We May Be Blessed
BUT
At Death
We Sleep In Our Dusty Beds
Until
The Trumpet Of God Shall Sound
Calling Us Either To
The Resurrection Of Glorification
Or
The Resurrection Of Damnation!
Sandy, Good Repentant People go to Heaven and Bad Unrepentant People go to Hell ... but not right now!
So if Mommy is resting in her grave, who was in my room last night! Sandy asked, her voice shaking.
Sandy, it was not your Mommy, so it had to have been a demonic spirit masquerading as your Mommy! If that Being appears in your room again, say your Prayers to Father God in Jesus Christ's name, rebuking that Being also in The Name Of Jesus Christ, and asking The Father to grant you His Peace and Rest, and to protect you from Evil Spirits!
Our God is Faithful, and what He says He will do for us, He will do!
Thank you, Aunt Ju! I love you!
Sandy, let us go to The Throne of Grace and talk to The Father about this, okay?
THE PRAYER:
Heavenly Father,
We Come Before You Seeking Peace
And Rest And Protection!
Lord, We Accept That Your Holy Word Is True
That The Dead Know Nothing
That The Dead See Nothing
That The Dead Can Not Do Anything
And We Implore You, Lord
To Protect Sandy From The Wiles Of The Devil!
Father, We Know That Sandy's Parents
Even Now
Are Still Sleeping In Their Graves
And
We Accept And Believe
That Jesus Christ Is Returning To Earth
To Give Unto Each Man
What He Had Earned
From His Own Life's Work!
Father,
We Humbly Beseech You
To Grant Us Your Grace
Your Blessing
Your Protection
And
Your Provision
And
In Your Mercy
To Help Us To Hold On To Our Hope
Of The Resurrection Of The Just
Unto Eternal Life With You!
Help Us, Dear Lord, To Deny The Bright Liar!
Help Us Ever To Accept The Truth
Of The Holy Gospel
No Matter Who Preaches It
And
To Deny The Lies Of Satan
No Matter The Benevolent One Who
- In Your Name -
Presents Them!
Father,
In Living Faith We Beseech You
To Help Us To Do Right
And
To Live Right
In Your Holy Sight
Until The Glad Day!
Grant Us The Watch-Care
Of The Holy Angels
And
Your Glorious Grace
For The Days Ahead.
In Jesus' Holy Name We Stand And Plead!
We Love You, Lord!
AMEN
