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(Originally published in the July 4, 1997 The Prophetic Notebook #5, © 1997)
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FOR those
who know that the end of their lives is swiftly approaching, time seems
both fleeting and prolonged. Some use what remains of their lives to
protest their supposed innocence, while others placidly await the
inevitable. But how many try to redeem the time remaining, to put what
is left of their lives to good use? |
by
Richard Scott
EPRIEVES are
few and appeals usually only delay the unavoidable and inevitable final
execution that awaits all those who reside on death row, anticipating
the inescapable end that hangs over each of their heads.
One by one, they will take that last short walk
to oblivion, and new arrivals will take their place and learn to share
the same bleak prospects, the same dreaded anticipation, the same
certain, sickening fear.
When one among ten thousand is pardoned, and walks away a free man or woman, they would indeed be foolish if they ever forgot the horrible lesson of reality driven home by the dreaded experience.
They would be calloused and hardened of heart
beyond recovery if they failed to rejoice over their renewed lease on
life, or refused to make the very best use of every last minute of
their remaining lives!
Eventually, however, they will all once again come
face-to-face with the inevitable, final curtain call of life; they will
never escape the final death sentence that lies in store for all of
humanity, when each of us comes to the end of our appointed time on
this earth, and our last walk and breath, as age takes its relentless
toll on all of us.
For, you see, we are all condemned criminals,
and we are all sitting on death row right now -- with or without the
prison cells and bars -- awaiting the final, unavoidable end that hangs
over all of our heads, ready to fall at a moment's notice; often when
we least expect it.
Each and every new generation of bright new faces has failed to recognize the ever-changing world, as older generations die and are soon forgotten, interpreting the past only in the light of our modern interpretations and customs, and rarely as it really was.
We attempt to insulate ourselves from this fearful reality, and to deny it to the bitter end.
Even then, those who have experienced the passing of someone close and dear to them often refuse or fail to learn the lesson of their own mortality and of the sentence of death that awaits us all; much less understand the real cause and the possibility of a pardon that exists only for those who admit their full guilt and who seek forgiveness for all of their past and present crimes, and resolve to overcome the tendency to commit future criminal acts!
"What crimes?" you might ask, little suspecting your own actual guilt.
What laws have we all broken to cause such a terrible penalty as death to overtake us?
It is simply the law of life that is codified in all TEN of the Commandments, as revealed in inspired original scripture (as set forth, and not as interpreted or translated by all modern religions):
| "So then, the law is sacred, and the commandment is sacred, righteous and good.... We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin" (Romans 7:12, 14). |
| "...because through the Messiah Yahvsave the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.... The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace...." (Romans 8:2, 6). |
| "But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues doing this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it -- he will be blessed in what he does" (James 1:25). |
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"If
you really keep the royal law found in scripture, 'Care for your
neighbor as yourself,' you are doing right.... For whoever keeps the
whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all
of it. "For He who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. "Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy prevails over judgment! "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have belief but has no deeds? Can such belief save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, belief by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. "But someone will say, 'You have belief; I have deeds.' Show me your belief without deeds, and I will show you my belief by what I do. You believe that there is one Almighty One. Good! Even the demons believe that -- and shudder. "You foolish man, do you want evidence that belief without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Yatsaq on the altar? You see that his belief and his actions were working together, and his belief was made complete by what he did. "And the scripture was fulfilled that says, 'Abraham believed the Almighty One, and it was credited to him as righteousness,' and he was called the Almighty One's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by belief alone. "In the same way, was not even Rahab the harlot considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off is a different direction? As the body without the breath is dead, so belief without deeds is dead" (James 2:8, 10-26). |
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"We
know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commandments. The man
who says, 'I know Him,' but does not do what He commands is a liar, and
the truth is not in him. "But if anyone obeys His word, Yahveh's care is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Yahvsave did" (I "John" 2:3-6). |
...Your Reprieve Is Here
Some pretend to obey every commandment, but fail
to correctly obey one or more by interpreting away the original
inspired intention of certain commandments that they would much rather
violate than keep.
One way or another, even if just by the purpose and
intention of our wicked and deceitful human hearts -- if not by actual
deeds -- we have all violated this living and active law, and have
thereby brought upon ourselves the penalty of death!
Therefore, we are all
condemned criminals, and what remains of our physical lives is the
sentence of death, which ends with the execution of the penalty we have
each and every one of us personally and individually incurred.
Yet, at the very same time, we have all received a limited pardon, since the death penalty has not been instantly executed upon us, nor must we all suffer imprisonment or solitude in our last remaining days on this earth.
This reprieve, however, is only temporary, and cannot save us from total annihilation in the end, unless we redeem the remaining time we have left in our lives, and put it to the right uses!
| "...making the most of every circumstance, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:16). |
| "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every circumstance" (Colossians 4:5). |
We can only do this by putting out of our lives any cause of offense (sin, or breaking of the Commandments; I "John" 3:4), by cutting off all contact with it and throwing it far away from us.
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"If
your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is
better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body
to be thrown into the lake of fire. "And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into the lake of fire" (Matthew 5:29-30). |
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"If
your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It
is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two
hands and two feet and be thrown into unquenchable fire. "And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the lake of fire" (Matthew 18:8-9; Mark 9:43-47). |
| "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:27-28). |
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"But
if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it
would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck
and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. "Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!" (Matthew 18:6-7; Mark 9:42). |
And today this mainly means most religions, movies, television and other forms of so-called "entertainment," the main focus of which is to entice, tempt and seduce us by appealing to our vanity, lusts, carnal desires and perverse humors!
The Choice of Life or Death is Now Yours
Such misery, death and final destruction, truly does desire our company, and today more than ever before in history there is a bumper crop waiting to be harvested by the sudden stroke of death's sharp sickle.
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"But
while everyone was sleeping, His enemy came and sowed weeds among the
wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then
the weeds also appeared. "The owner's servants came to Him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?' "'An enemy did this,' He replied. The servants asked Him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' "'No,' He answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'... "'As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 13:25-30, 40-42). |
| "Another angel came out of the Temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, 'Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth's vine, because its grapes are ripe.' The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of Yahveh's wrath" (Revelation 14:17-19). |
Our only real hope for survival, beyond death, lies in a future resurrection from the dead; a recreation of our material bodies and a return of conscious awareness and memory.
Those whose accumulated life's memories are corrupt and filled with carnal desires and worldly ambitions will inherit the engulfing fire by which all physical matter will finally be cleansed and purged of all unproductive, destructive and evil influences.
Those who forego the temporary and fleeting pleasures of this present lifetime, in anticipation of the rewards of the resurrection -- which, for those who survive it, will become a never-ending lifetime, and the end of all want, poverty and unhappiness -- will finally reap all of the blessings that abundant life, prosperity and joy have to offer, with none of the pitfalls, pain, suffering or death that are our daily lot in this present physical life!
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"Then
I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first
earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. "I saw the sacred city, the new Yaravsalem, coming down out of heaven from the Almighty One, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of the Almighty One is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and the Almighty One Himself will be with them and be their Almighty One. "'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away'" (Revelation 21:1-4). |
...A Heroic Choice
Are you willing and able to make the required sacrifices here and now, in order to qualify to receive the rewards this can gain for you later, in the resurrection?
Or do you disbelieve in anything but this present evil world and lifetime filled with curses -- a down payment on the ultimate curse of death -- which are the lot of all who refuse to admit their guilt, or fail to attempt to atone here and now for their capital spiritual crimes?!?
However you choose to spend your last days or
hours on this earth is up to you, but the penalty or reward you will
receive for your efforts is assured by the one person who has ever
suffered the death penalty unjustly, but now lives and lights the path
ahead of all those who would follow in His footsteps, by redeeming what
is left of their lives.
They do this through obedience and active, living belief
(faith), as evidenced by the works of righteousness they perform
despite all costs and any penalties they may face in this lifetime,
from wicked and perverse people and spiritual powers, for daring to do
so.
We must all face the gauntlet of death sooner or later.
How much better it would be for all of us, if more of us would choose to march heroically into the battle of life and death by bravely defying the wicked, whose power is but fleeting and cannot hurt anyone beyond the grave.
| "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the spirit. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both spirit and the body in the lake of fire" (Matthew 10:28). |
| "Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. Yahveh of hosts is the one you are to regard as sacred, He is the one you are to fear, He is the one you are to dread" (Isaiah 8:12-13). |
Your Full Pardon?
You and I are sitting on death row, but our end can truly be more glorious than our beginning, if we will just follow the faint light of truth that flickers ahead of us in the scriptures, and the small and seemingly puny voice in the mouths and through the pens of righteous men, dead or living!
Otherwise, we have only a certain and fearful expectation of what lies ahead, when we will surely receive our just reward and full deserts, for all that we have said and done in this present evil lifetime.
| "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of Yahveh" (Hebrew 10:26-27). |
The warden is calling us with a reprieve and full pardon, even though we must still suffer the consequence of death this once, in payment for our many past crimes...
| "Just as a man is ordained to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). |
Yet, if we will accept the conditions of our parole (which are obedience and loyalty to the Commandments, and to the Law-Giver who ordained them, we can -- if we finally die having overcome every evil temptation -- thus finally avoid the second and more horrible, terrifying and permanent death of judgment by fire.
| "If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Yahvsave, His Son, purifies us from all sin" (I "John" 1:6-7). |
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"Do
not care for the world or anything in the world. If anyone cares for the world, the care of the Father is not in him. "For everything in the world -- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does -- comes not from the Father but from the world. "The world and its desires passes away, but the man who does the will of Yahveh lives forever" (I "John" 2:15-17). |
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"Then
I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. Earth and sky
fled from His presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the
dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were
opened. "Another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. "The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and the grave gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. "Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:11-15). |
Now Choose Wisely...
The choice is in your hands!
We can either answer or ignore the call. Either way, the clock is ticking down the last moments of our present lives, whatever we finally decide to do or believe.
Which will you choose, fellow inmate; life with mercy, or judgment and permanent death?
The phone is ringing now, as the end of your final walk swiftly approaches.
Let's pray that you will have the courage to answer the call in time!
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