Summer 1996

PREFACE

by: Michael Tao

A booklet of "Our Daily Bread" was left on a shelf in the place where I work. When I flipped through it, an article dated January 23 1996 really enlightened me. Here I would like to share it with you.

"Several years ago I read a pamphlet that quoted the dying words of various people who did not profess faith in Jesus Christ. The English atheist Thomas Hobbes said, "I am taking a fearful leap into the dark!" The French infidel Voltaire cried out, "I am abandoned by God and man; I shall go to hell!" Sir Francis Newport wailed in anguish, "Oh, eternity, eternity; forever and forever! Oh, the unsufferable pangs of hell!"

What a sobering contrast to the last words of people who knew and loved Christ as their Lord and saviour. Dwight L. Moody said, "This is glorious! Earth recedes: heaven is opening: God is calling me!" Sir David Brewster declared, "I will see Jesus, see Him as He is. I have had the light for many years. Oh, how bright it is! I feel so safe, so satisfied!" And these words from a man being burned at the stake: "Blessed be the time that ever I was born for this day. We shall not lose our lives in this fire," he said to his fellow martyrs, "but only change them for something better."

Child of God, even if physical pain and heartache are a part of our closing days, the heavenly father will give us dying grace. When we pass through that dark valleys, we need not fear. The God Shepherd will be with us. -- RWD"

The message reminds me 1 Corinthians 15:51-58, which says, " Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory...Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." What a comfort for the Christians!