CHAPTER 20
Death does not wait for anyone. When your time is up, that is it. You do not get an extra day, an extra hour, and extra minute or an extra second. There is an exact second when you will be visited by Mr. Death. You could be in a hospital or at your home or you could be at work. If you are a Christian, you will continue with your witnessing or whatever ministry you have been given to do, until that second arrives. But, when the Lord says your ministry is over, it is over. As you know from what the Bible teaches, there is one of two places a person will go when they die. They will either go to Heaven or they will go to Hell. The deciding factor will be determined on what a person did with Christ. If you accepted Him as your personal Savior, you would go to Heaven. However, if you rejected, you would go to Hell.
When the death angel visited Gene, he was as surprised as each person is when they take that last breath of earthly air. The day that Gene accepted Jesus as his personal Savior, his life turned completely around. He started going to church on Sunday and attending both services. Gene said he was not going to go back on what he had said. He was truly committed to the things that he believed and because he believed what the Bible said, he knew he had to change. As you know, the change took place immediately.
The day that the Death Angel visited Gene was one of those days when nothing seems to go right. Gene had been at the church since nine and he was putting together his Sunday morning sermon on the topic of the false prophets of the Old Testament. The first thing that went wrong was the copier jammed and the paper was stuck, so that he had to call for a repair man to come out and fix it. The repair man said it would be about two before he could make it to the church. The second thing that went wrong was the coffee maker had a short circuit. That meant there would be no coffee for the rest of the day. The third thing that went wrong was the secretary called in sick. After that, the associate pastor called and said that he would not be there until one. He said that his hot water tank went out and the repair man would be out to fix it at twelve. It was just one thing after another that went wrong that morning. The best thing to do was to go home and take it easy for the rest of the day. And that was exactly what the Devil wanted him to do. He knew he had to finish his sermon and then the rest of the week would be open for calls and visits to his members.
However, Gene was not one to be superstitious about bad days. Everyone has a bad day or two. That is when you rely on your prayers to get you through the rest of the day. Gene stopped everything and sat down and prayed for sixty minutes. One of the last prayers he prayed was that, if this was his last day on earth, the Lord would let his death be swift and painless. This day, the Lord was going to answer that prayer. His death was going to be very swift and, as far as being painless, he would feel the pain only when the blood clot reached his lungs and his heart.
His death did not happen just over night, it started a week before. Gene was always helping people with moving and building and other things that needed to be done around the house or around the church. On the last Sunday, the Weber family asked if they could get help from people in the church with their move into their new two-story home. There were over fifty people that said they would help and with that many people, the Weber’s could be moved in less than a day.
On the day of the move, Gene was carrying a table up the steps of the Weber’s house, when he felt a pain in his leg and he fell down the steps. The fall only put a few bumps on him and, as far as being seriously injured, he was not. Well, I should say he did not think he was seriously injured. However, one of the bumps he suffered on his leg would turn into a blood clot that would travel up his body and would finally reach his lungs. Another smaller clot would reach his heart at the same time. With two clots reaching vital organs, his time would be over in seconds.
While Gene sat and prayed about the day, the Lord started to bring things back to his memory. The first thing he thought about was the day that he asked Christ into his heart. He remembered the peace he had from that day until now. He still had that peace and he was wondering why he was thinking about the past, while he was praying to the Lord. He also remembered about Dewey and how young he was when the Lord took him to Heaven. For all of these years, Dewey was in Heaven having the grandest time a person could have. He thought to himself how great that day would be when the Lord called him home and he was able to walk on the streets of pure gold and see all the marvels of Heaven. He thought about reuniting with his mother and his dad and all the other relatives that had gone on before him.
The more he prayed, the more he thought about the things that had happened in his life. Mr. Bishop came into his memory and how he was so scared the first time he encountered him. He also remembered Mr. Bishop giving half of what he had to him and to Mike. It was just one thing after another that was coming back to him and he was thanking the Lord for all of the great times he had since he accepted.
One of the greatest moments he remembered was the family reunion that had occurred at the beginning of summer. All of the children and all of the grand children were together for the first time in five years. As he looked over all of his family, he could not believe that they were all saved and they were all going to be in Heaven with him and Sandy, one of these days. Just the thought of his entire family being in Heaven made him think about those that failed to accept and how tormented they were going to be for eternity. If he could just reach three or four more thousand before the Lord called him home, it would be so great. He didn’t want one person to go to Hell and to be lost for eternity. But the Lord does not make that decision. That decision is up to each and every person. All the Lord can do is to provide those things that a person can see or that a person can hear to convince them that they need the Savior.
After the prayer, Gene continued to work on his sermon and then a small pain started on the back of his leg. The pain would go up his leg for about four or five inches and then the pain would stop. He wondered about that pain, but it was not the kind of pain that made a person think that anything was wrong. It was just an annoying pain. The pain went up a little further each hour. Gene started thinking about the pain and then he knew exactly what it was. With all the bad things that were happening, he knew it was going to be one of those days. But, when the coffee pot would not work, he stumped his foot really hard against a door. That is when the first pain started. He stubbed it so hard, it probably caused a bone bruise is what he thought.
He thought back to the summer after Dewey was killed when he and the rest of the boys on the block were playing a game called Kick the Can. The idea was for one person to be IT and the rest of the kids would hide. One can was in the middle of the yard, right in front of HOME BASE. If the kids could kick the can before the person that was IT could touch home, you were home free. But if that person could touch home before you kicked the can, then you would be the new IT.
That summer, a new boy moved into the neighborhood. His name was Johnny, but everyone called him Johnny the Joker. He was always coming up with new games and he was always making everyone laugh at his jokes and other things that he would do. That night, when they played Kick the Can, they all had fun.
The next night, Johnny said he had a better idea for the game. When the next night arrived, he said he forgot about the better idea and they would just play Kick the Can again. He said he would be IT and everyone went out and hid. He started to count and when he reached twenty five, he said, “Here I come, ready or not.” He walked away from the yard and walked toward the side of the house. That is when Gene knew he could take off and kick the can. He ran as fast as he could, and when he kicked the can, he could hear bones in his foot start to crack.
Gene figured Johnny had mixed concrete up that morning and placed it in the can. By the time night came, the concrete was as hard as a rock. If you think that he broke his foot, you were right. He was in a cast for weeks. The pain in his foot was really bad at first, but later the pain
went away. This day, he had stumped his foot on the floor and it was the same kind of pain that hit him when he kicked the can. So he didn’t think much of the pain that morning.
The pain continued from time to time, until it reached his chest. The clots both reached their destinations, his heart and his lungs, about the same time. Gene had just looked at his watch and he noticed it was four minutes after three. Before it was five minutes after three, Gene had taken his last breath on earth. When the clots reached the heart and the lungs, he grabbed his chest and down he went. There was no talking or saying any words to the associate pastor. The associate pastor called for an ambulance. Before the ambulance arrived, there were no signs of life in Gene.
The ambulance attendants started working on Gene as soon as they arrived, but the look they gave the associate pastor was that look that said there was no hope. All the way to the hospital and steadily in the Emergency Room, people were working on Gene. Five minutes after he arrived, the doctor in charge looked at his watch and gave the time of death to the nurse. That was final. Gene was dead.
The associate pastor had called Sandy and told her what had happened and that he was going to call a couple of the women in the church so the prayer chain could start immediately. Those two ladies started to pray and make their calls to let the whole church know about the pastor.
At the hospital, Sandy was wondering if Gene was going to be okay or if the bad news would be coming from one of the doctors. The associate pastor assured her that, if it is the Lord’s will for Gene to continue with his ministry, then he would recover. Sandy looked at the associate pastor and said, “If the Lord says his ministry is over, then he will be promoted to glory this very day.”
“That is correct,” was the associate pastor’s reply. “Just think, walking in Heaven and seeing all of the marvels the Lord has prepared for us. Sometimes I pray for my promotion, so I can leave this evil world.”
After ten minutes, the doctor walked out and asked the nurse if Pastor Pittman’s wife or any of the family members had arrived. The nurse informed the doctor that the lady in blue was the wife of Pastor Pittman. The doctor walked over to Sandy and told her they did everything they could do, but there was no hope. He gave her the exact time that the hospital registered his death. With tears coming down her face, she and all the others from the church who had arrived could not believe what the doctor had said.
However, everyone must accept the reality of death. If the rapture does not occur first, everyone will be visited by the Death Angel.
Gene had anticipated his death. He knew, because of his age, death could come at any moment. Inside his top drawer at the church were the instructions for his funeral. He informed his family that he wanted Terry, the associate pastor, to perform the services. He wanted Terry to tell about him getting saved and how, for all those years, he worked for the Lord in getting people saved. After five or six minutes of telling about his life, the first song would be sung. That song was “Amazing Grace.” He wanted the people to know it was the amazing grace of Jesus Christ that saved him, a sinner. The second song would be “Victory in Jesus.” He was to say, “Because of what Christ did on the cross, we know, through Jesus, we have victory over death and victory over the Devil and his evil forces.” The third song was to be “A Child of The King.” Terry was then to say, “No matter what happens in the life of a Christian, he always knows that he is a child of God. Even when good times and bad times come, his Father is God, and God always watches out for His own.” The last song was to be “I’ll Fly Away.” Terry told everyone that one of these days the rapture of the Church was going to occur. If you were Born Again, you would never experience death, but you would be caught up with all the other believers when the trumpet sounded. He said in other words, “I’ll Fly Away.”
At the grave site, there were words about Heaven and about how each person must continue with their lives. Terry explained that with the death of one person that was a believer, there would be many others that would take his place. “The Gospel must continue until Jesus calls us all home. All the glory goes to the Lord, when He calls a believer home. We will be sad that Gene is not with us, but if we were able to ask him if he would like to come back, we all know that he would say, NO!”
The very moment the clots reached Gene’s heart and lungs, he took one deep breath and that was it. There was just a little pain, but nothing to really get scared about. That very moment, the angel who comes after believers is given the name of the next person who will be promoted to glory and the angel is on the scene. The same was true for Gene. The Lord has the Book of Life with every believer’s name written in it. The angels, who make the trips to earth to take the believer to Heaven, know the exact time of that person’s death. All they have to do is to look and see when the believer’s promotion time will be.
When Gene arrived in Heaven, he could not believe what he was seeing. There was no book or picture that could even compare to the beauties of Heaven. As he walked around Heaven, he was totally speechless with what he was seeing. The first place he went was to the Gathering Place. There, he met all of his relatives that had accepted before him and he also met those people that he had led to the Lord. They all thanked him for sharing the Gospel with them and they all said they were so happy to have him in Heaven with them. Gene toured Heaven for what seemed to be an eternity, but he was there for only a short time. After what seemed to be a very long time, Gene dropped to his knees and thanked the Lord for saving him and for letting him see Heaven.
All of a sudden, there was a flash, and Gene was transported back to the compartment of torment. Gene blinked his eyes two or three times, and then he started to ask the Lord, “Why am I back in the compartment of torment, Lord?”
“GENE, IF YOU REMEMBER, I TOLD YOU NO ONE EVER GETS A SECOND CHANCE. YOU LIVED YOUR LIFE WITHOUT ME AND NOW YOU MUST SPEND ETERNITY IN HELL. YOU WILL BE IN THE COM