Unafraid to Die

The Doctor’s Discovery

Albert was the son of Christian parents. During his early childhood he had been taught the Word of God and taught to fear of the Lord. In college he met a student who called himself an atheist and Albert soon became an atheist also. Eventually he became a skilled and popular physician. But his heart was cold toward God.

Albert spent twenty years ignoring God. However, he experienced many misgivings. This was especially true when he remembered the happy Christian lives of his parents, or heard the dying words of some of his patients as they entered eternity in peace, confessing their faith in Christ and their certainty of being in heaven.

Late one afternoon the doctor was called to see a new patient, a man saved and heading for heaven.

“Tell me my true condition, doctor; don’t hide it from me. I have no fear of death, no dread of the future. Forty years ago I came as a sinner to Jesus; He saved me and has kept me happy in His love ever since. It will be the grandest day of my life when He sends for me to live with Him.”

The doctor was touched by his patient’s statement. It was not the wanderings of insanity. It was not the daydream of a visionary. It was the calm, sober statement of a man of faith waiting on the borderline for the appointed hour that would usher him into the presence of his Lord.

Delighted to Go Home

The doctor examined his patient and, contrary to his usual custom, he told the whole truth: “You may live a day, or you may go within an hour.”

“Praise the Lord,” was the calm reply, “Open up the blinds; bring in the boys; tell the men in the factory to come in. I want to spend my last breath in telling them of Jesus.”

The doctor could stand it no longer. He hurried away, and in fifteen minutes was in his office alone with God.

“There is a reality in being saved after all,” he said to himself. “My mother used to tell me so. That dying man knows it, and has the power of it in him. I can’t doubt it.”

A terrible struggle in his soul followed. For weeks the doctor was not

Those who had so well known his atheistic principles stood in wonder, some in scorn.
“at home.” He took a sabbatical. When he returned to his practice he was a different man―a man saved by God’s almighty grace: calm in spirit, gentle as a child.

He had met with God, met Him at the cross where as a sinner he cast him- self on His mercy, claiming forgiveness and salvation through the merits of the blood of Jesus alone.

His conversion became the talk of the town. Those who had so well known his atheistic principles stood in wonder, some in scorn. This was hard to bear, but it served to show him his place as a stranger, rejected by the world as was his Lord. Grace triumphed, and for many years the doctor carried on his profession and guided many a sick and dying sinner to the Saviour.

There is a reality in being saved. “Jesus said: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”(John 10:10).

 

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Adapted from His Riches.

Personal Work Prepares the Ground

“After This”

“How silly to put a thing like that up there! Some of that tent preacher’s work, I guess, and just like him. I wonder if he thinks that will do anyone any good. Come on, Beth; I wouldn’t stand and read any such rubbish.”

The two girls had been walking together when they noticed a small white board fastened to the trunk of a tree. On it were printed the words: “AFTER THIS THE JUDGMENT.”

The other girl stood reading the short phrase over and over again. Her friend, losing patience, called out again, “Come on, Beth! If you stand there much longer you’ll be converted!”

“I wish I were, Nancy,” said the girl wistfully as she rejoined her companion.

“What makes you say that, Beth? I’m sure you don’t believe in tent meetings and singing at street corners. You enjoy having fun too much to join with that kind of thing.”

She said she didn’t need to go to parties and entertainment events to make her happy; she had Christ.

“You’re right, Nancy. Still, I’m not always happy. I do stay awake many nights thinking about the hereafter, and I can’t help it. In spite of having fun all evening, my conscience troubles me when I go to bed. I can’t help thinking of the eternal future.”

Nancy was amazed at the turn the conversation had taken, and listened silently as her companion went on: “I once worked in the same room with a girl who was a Christian. I can never forget her―nor some of the things she said to me. She said she didn’t need to go to parties and entertainment events to make her happy; she had Christ.

“You can’t imagine, Nancy, what a sweet girl she was. She said those same words to me that are on the tree: After this the judgment. It made me think of her when I read them, and I wish I could be as sure as she was of being ready for eternity.”

Separate Ways

The girls came to the corner where they had to separate. With a relieved and hurried “good night,” Nancy went one way and Beth the other.

Beth knew full well that she had to meet God, and that she was unprepared. She lay awake for a long time that night; sleep just would not come. In time with the slow ticking of the clock, the dreadful words throbbed through her mind: “After this the judgment.”

How she longed for the next night to come! She made up her mind to go to the tent in spite of Nancy’s ridicule. But that was a long time to wait. What if death came before? Just then a verse of a hymn she had heard came to mind:

Just as I am, without one plea,

But that Thy blood was shed for me,

And that Thou bidst me come to Thee;

O Lamb of God, I come.

Beth repeated it aloud and the Lord listened and heard. He knew the longing heart that would trust herself wholly to Him, and in His love and mercy He banished her fears and doubts. Peace came to her troubled spirit.

The following night she went to the tent meeting and heard the words: “He that believeth on the Son [Jesus] hath everlasting life.” This gave her intelligent assurance of her salvation, and with confidence in God’s saving grace she gave witness by her life that she now belonged to the Lord Jesus.

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Adapted from His Riches.

An Atheist Stumbles on a Child

The Man Who Had Nothing

William Hone was an atheist lecturer who traveled around the country speaking against the teachings of God’s holy Word. One day he was taking a walk in the country and lost his way. He came upon a poor, tumble-down cottage, in front of which a little girl was reading a book. After getting directions to his road, he picked up the book the child was reading. To his surprise he found it was a copy of the New Testament. Throwing it on the ground, he said to the girl, “You foolish little thing, how is it that you read such stupid books as this?”

The child looked at him in shocked surprise, and cried, “Oh, please don’t talk that way about my Book. My mother is sick in bed, and this book is our only comfort.” 

All I do is take away people’s hopes. No God, no Christ, no heaven, no hell.

Reality Opens a Heart

The simple words spoken by the girl set William Hone thinking. “Those poor, simple people,” he said to himself, “are in trouble; the mother sick, the child young, and yet they have found something real in that Book; they have got something on which to live and die. What could I give them that would be a comfort now, or a support in death? All I do is take away people’s hopes. No God, no Christ, no heaven, no hell. And what have I for myself but nothing, instead of something real?”

William Hone began to study the Book, and was saved with an everlasting salvation. It became his greatest joy to tell to others what great things God had done for him. On the flyleaf of his Bible he wrote the following words:

“The proudest heart that ever beat

Has been subdued in me.”

Have you carefully read and thought about God’s Word, the Bible? Do you take time when alone to see in it what God’s thoughts of sin and salvation are? He loves you, and He wants to save you and to satisfy your heart forever.

“I am come that they might have life and that they have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

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Adapted from His Riches.

I’ll Never Walk Again

She had been disappointed by a man. He had promised to love her always, and had gotten hold of all her money. Then he left her―an old, old story.

Without God, despairing, she had gone to the railroad tracks and thrown herself in front of a train. After a long while, when consciousness returned, she found herself lying in the hospital. She looked around the strange room, then tried to rise. A terrible shriek burst from her, a scream of despair. Both of her legs had been cut off by the train!

For days her cries and groans filled the hospital, and she could hardly be quieted even by sedation. A Christian nurse was given charge of her. The nurse cared for the poor woman, in a quiet way, loving her and praying for her.

At first the poor invalid would pay no attention to her, but the nurse waited on the Lord to open the way to speak to this despairing soul. The moment came at last. “Oh, my feet! My feet! Why did I wake? Why didn’t I die on the track? Why? Why?” After a pause: “Now I’ll never walk again, never be able to go where I want. I’ll be a cripple, eternally fastened to a bed.”

Going Through the Roof

The nurse came to sit by her and gently held her hand. The unhappy woman was quiet for a moment. “Where did you go when you had good feet?”

The patient looked up and said, “In the morning to work.”

“And then?”

“After work I went home for my supper, and then walked the streets and met my friend…” She began to cry brokenly.

“And then?”

“Then we would go to a party.”

“And then?”

She tried to raise herself and said in pain and despair, “I strayed somewhere! Anywhere! I livedon the street.”

“And if you had feet today?”

She wept some more. “It was the only life I knew. But now I’ll never walk again―never―never―”

That night she couldn’t sleep; she was thinking of the way…

The nurse gently touched her hot, feverish hand and said, “There is one way you can still travel, and it’s the best and most glorious way. If you had good feet possibly you wouldn’t think of going this way.”

“What did you say, Nurse?”

Now the nurse told her of the way the man with palsy went through the roof straight to the Lord Jesus and how he had his sins forgiven.

The invalid didn’t speak; she allowed the nurse’s words to carry her, in thought, through the roof to Jesus. That night she couldn’t sleep; she was thinking of the way, the only right way, that even those without feet could travel.

The next evening the nurse was on duty again. The sick one was eager to hear more of the Saviour of sinners. And the nurse was glad to respond, “I came to Jesus also, and He is mine and I am His.” Then the moment came when the invalid too came to Jesus saying, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

“When He [Jesus] saw their faith, He said…Thy sins are forgiven thee.” Thus she also, without feet, learned to travel the way to heaven. After this, in telling her story she would say, “It’s most beautiful this way, more so than wherever I‘ve gone before.”

Now she tells others how she came to Jesus without feet, and how happy she is in traveling the narrow way. And she has become a guide for many to the Saviour. Though she has no feet, she has a heart for the Lord. It is cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus.

Many have good feet, but stray away from the Saviour. Do you?

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Adapted from Living Waters.

A Near Miss

A Near Miss

A captain nearly misses the opportunity to share Christ with a young and supposedly wild young lieutenant.

Mr. Cooper was a young, careless and somewhat wild young officer. But inside he was longing for some real Christian to speak to him about his spiritual need. Because of this, he exchanged from one regiment into another, knowing that in the latter was a captain who was well known as an earnest Christian, and Cooper thought that, if he got near him, the captain would be sure to speak to him about such an important subject.
Cooper thought that, if he got near him, the captain would be sure to speak to him about such an important subject.
 The two officers had adjoining rooms in the barracks which they sometimes used to change into their uniforms before going on parade, and, while so doing, would often run in and out of each other’s rooms carrying on a conversation, but the captain never brought up the subject of Christ. One day, the young lieutenant decided to force the matter, and he placed an open Bible on his table where it would be seen. The captain soon came in and, seeing the Bible, said, “Hey! I didn’t know you went in for that kind of thing.” “I don’t,” replied the young officer, “but I would like to.” That opened up the way for a heart-to-heart talk, through which  the young officer definitely accepted Christ as his Saviour, bringing joy to the captain’s heart. But, mixed with his gladness, I think there must have been a sense of rebuke that he had not seen the soul ready to be won. He had almost missed the low-hanging fruit.

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Gospel Story 006 adapted from Hand-Gathered Fruit

A Footstool in Heaven?

A Footstool in Heaven?

My mother was born in a small town in Germany. As a child she was brought up in the popular religion of the country, which impressed upon her the fact that she was a sinner.

Often as a child, Mother would pray, “Lord, make me Your footstool in heaven but don’t cast me down to hell.”

She always longed for a real sense of peace, but the years went by and she did not find it. In her twenties, she was invited by a school friend to move to America. She got a job as a stewardess on an ocean liner, and soon found herself in Boston.

Still the search in her heart went on. Crossing the ocean had not changed her, nor did her marriage, nor yet another move to California to live. She continued to pray, “Lord, make me Your footstool in heaven!” Still she was conscious of a dreadful fear that He might reject her at the last.

One day Mother was hanging out clothes and singing in German. Her surprised neighbor called to Mother in German, and a warm friendship was begun. As they talked, the neighbor said, “We’re Christians, and if you would like to come over and read the Bible with us we’d sure like that.”

Soon the Bible study with her neighbors grew to be a vital part of Mother’s life. But one day as they were sitting around the table with the Bible open, Mother shut the Book hard and said, “It’s no use to go on. I’m such a sinner.”

The neighbor replied, “How wonderful!”

Mother exclaimed, “How can you say that? If you only knew how I suffer!”

Then how happy her Christian neighbor was to tell her again of the One who has finished the work of salvation for sinners and now says, “Come.”

This was what Mother was looking for; this was the answer to her halfway-around-the-world search. She was ready to go on her knees that afternoon and accept the Lord Jesus as her Saviour. But―a friend came by and said, “Come with us for a little drive.”

Taken by surprise, Mother went. As she sat in the car she just groaned in her heart and prayed, “Lord, please bring me home in safety so that I can have the opportunity once again to come to You and be saved.”

The Lord did bring her home again, and she wasted no time before she came to the Lord Jesus and knew that He had received her. The search was ended; there was peace in her heart―and she prayed no more to be a footstool in heaven. She had learned that “as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1:12). Not a footstool, but a child of God at home in the Father’s house was to be her portion forever.

A Jew’s Faith

A Jew’s Faith

I was brought up a Jew and taught to observe the ceremonies and rites of Judaism. When I grew up, I became friendly with some atheists and began to believe that they were right in claiming that there is no God.

While I was still outwardly conforming to the ritual of the synagogue worship, skepticism was undermining my belief, and I was beginning to lose faith in God’s revelation.

At this time God began to work with me in a special way. Even then His unseen hand was guiding, and He brought me into contact with a godly Christian man.

I soon knew that this man had something about which I knew nothing. It was not so much what he said as his reality and his godly walk that impressed me. What surprised me most of all was to see a man delighting in the One whose name I despised and blasphemed.

Seeking to follow in this Christian’s footsteps, I began to pray and read my Bible. I became a teacher in a Sabbath school, and very devoutly followed the Jew’s religion.

I vainly imagined that what faith in the despised Nazarene could procure for a Gentile, Judaism could surely give to a member of Jehovah’s chosen race. I did not know the scripture which thunders out in unmistakable language: “ALL OUR RIGHTEOUSNESSES ARE AS FILTHY RAGS” (Isaiah 64:6).

One Sunday afternoon I took a walk into the city. There I saw and joined a crowd surrounding three men who were singing on the street corner. They were just singing the words, “Whosoever will may come.” That word “whosoever” stuck to me.

When the singing was over, the three friends asked the bystanders to follow them to a meeting room. Among others, I was invited by one of the preachers, but declined. Thereupon he looked me in the face and asked me, “Are you saved?”

I replied, “Yes, but not in your way.”

He replied: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

I began to argue with him, but he quietly answered, “Friend, in a little while I will be praying for you.”

Not long afterward, his prayer was answered. God showed me my real condition before Him. I learned that I was a sinner against God who is “of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.”

I was stripped of my self-righteousness, leaving behind a dismal void and an accusing conscience. Sin, my sin, was making life a burden and existence a misery.

“The pains of hell got hold upon me; I found trouble and sorrow.”

The thought came to me with awful intensity, “Where shall I flee for refuge?” Everything in which I had trusted proved insufficient to bear the weight of my guilty soul. My friend, whose life had so impressed me, began to tell me at this time of the Lord Jesus, though he was utterly unaware that I was anxious about my soul. I did not argue this time, and soon learned that “salvation is of the Lord.” I learned that, if I were ever to be saved, it must be by faith in the Lord Jesus, and by Him alone.

At last, one afternoon I came to Jesus as I was. I rested my weary soul on Him who died for me on Calvary’s cross. From that moment I knew that I was one of the WHOSOEVERS. I believed in Him and my sins were forgiven for His name’s sake.

Now my heart rejoices in His Word, knowing, as I could not before, that my “transgression is forgiven” and my “sin is covered” in His precious blood (Psalm 32:1).