On April 10, 2006, a special home-going service was held at Foundations Bible Collegiate Church for a dear church member. She was a wife, mother, sister, daughter, daughter-in-law, and dear friend. Her spiritual journey to Christ and with Christ is briefly recounted here as a witness and testimony for the Lord.

For a number of her married years, she was a good woman as the standards of the world would view it. Although she ran hard from the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, for seventeen years her husband and the Foundations Ministries earnestly prayed for God to save her soul. On Sunday night, February 13, 2000, in the balcony of the Whitefield Sanctuary of the Foundations Bible Collegiate Church, she knelt and gave her heart to Christ. Her conversion brought a great and obvious change in her life. Her labor of love in this ministry was particularly precious as she served in the kitchen along with other ladies for special events and conferences. It was refreshingly evident that she enjoyed being with God's people; she loved attending the House of God.

A little over two years ago she was diagnosed with cancer at a severe stage. The immediate months following the diagnosis were marked with constant suffering. She underwent extensive and painful surgery, followed by intense chemotherapy and radiation. Although these months were extremely taxing physically, she attended church and sat in a special, red-velvet chair provided for her comfort.

Eventually her doctors informed her and her husband that the medical world had exhausted its help. Although we had prayed for God to heal this dear lady, it was evident that God's will was to be otherwise. When she and her husband were given the news of this terminal sickness, she immediately resigned her heart to this divine appointment of God. Regarding her concluding days, she told her husband that she "wanted to do this well," desiring spiritual dignity in witness for God.

A Pastoral Letter

In the last number of weeks of her life at home, she lay in a bed in her living room. When her husband was working, the ladies of the Foundations Ministries along with her sister spent the mornings and afternoons with her. As her pastor, we felt the need to help ready her soul for the "shadow of death" with spiritual exercises as she drew nearer heaven's gates. We sent her a pastoral letter to express our heart for the importance of these remaining weeks to prepare for her home going. A portion of the letter sent is the following:

February 21, 2006

Dear Sister:

It is with choice Christian greetings that I write you today with thanksgiving to God for being with you to this hour. It has been in recent days that the Lord has laid several things upon my heart as your pastor; I believe it is now time to express these matters to you. May the Holy Spirit accompany my written words to you at this time in your life.

The Lord saved your soul six years ago this month, forgave you of all your sins, and brought you into the family of God. He is now drawing upon this spiritual family to prepare you for your home going, especially with the ladies of the Foundations Ministries assisting a part of your daily life now. I have been seeking the Lord as to these appointed days of your life and what must be done to prepare your soul for your home going. This is the burden of my letter today believing it is important how you prepare yourself for the crossing into eternity.

Your life has been in much pain, and medication is now a part of your daily need; nonetheless, you must be conscious of these days and your need to prepare your soul amidst the decline physically of your life. Therefore, I believe what I shall tell you will aid you in this final preparation of soul and mind for the glory of heaven.

These days need to be given to prayer, Bible reading, and words concerning the Lord. The ladies of this ministry desire to aid you in this spiritual exercise. It would be wonderful if you would allow them to spend a little time with you in the morning, as well as in the afternoon, in Bible reading, reading from a devotional book, and a time of prayer. We certainly want you to rest as you need it, but these moments will be important too. Perhaps they can ask you as the morning unfolds the appropriate time for these spiritual exercises.

There is the matter of dear _____, your son. Another reason for you to pursue the things of God with greater intensity in these final weeks is so that God will speak with him in your behalf. I am truly praying that God will save this young man before your home going. If he sees your increased burden for spiritual things and less of the secular world, God may use it to speak to him of the futility and vanity of this world and the need of preparing for the world to come.

Dear Sister, these days could be the greatest of your life with God if you will spend them wisely with Him and with your dear husband and son. Conversations of resolve, of love, of hope, of reflection and memories; all of this will be important at this time in your life.

I want to truly be a pastor to you at this time, dear Sister, not being in the way but being there for spiritual assistance and guidance. God has given you a dear family at Foundations for this season in your life. No other kind of family will be able to do what they can for you.

Please accept my words as from one who dearly loves you and your husband, and I want only the best for you in Christ. May the Lord bless and keep your heart during these days. May God pour out His Spirit upon you and deepen your spiritual life as you anticipate meeting your Savior face to face.

Remembering you in prayer today,

In His Majesty's Service,

H. T. Spence, Th.D.

Your Pastor

Care in What Is Seen and Heard in the Shadow of Death

Another important concern in our day and time as the Christian enters the "shadow of death" is the matter of occupying remaining time. Television is a natural interest to individuals confined to bed; however, it can become a grief to the soul and one's relationship to God. Apart from escaping its mostly unwholesome influence, the minimizing of the television watching also gives more quality time with friends, family members, and caregivers. One needs to take advantage of Christian conversations with those visiting. It is better at this final season of earthly life to fill the time with such things as sacred recordings. Even certain videos that spiritually contribute to the soul and mind in the things of God can prove both beneficial and honorably enjoyable.

Amidst these possible suggestions, one must desire to do all he can to prepare for God's call home. The mind should be filled with thoughts that will bring glory to Him and give the soul confidence at the moment of departure. The Devil will often try at this final season to contaminate the mind and draw the heart away from God. It is not that the Christian will go to Hell if this is not fully a part of those conscious, final days; it is simply to fill the days with anticipation and expectation of a home going. This season is not to be feared or dreaded. The Christian, if it seems inevitably God's will, should be preparing in an honorable way. We tend to be anxious to resolve funeral arrangements and service; yet, how much more should spiritual preparation be of benefit.

The Body of Christ in Ministering

After the previous letter was sent to our beloved sister in Christ, the ladies of the ministry began staying with her in shifts during the day as her husband worked. Each lady provided not only companionship of presence but also the reading of Scripture, readings from selected books, seasons of prayer, and God-honoring conversation. The ladies kept a "Spiritual Journal" on their shift which included information of Scriptures read, prayers, hymns sung, pages of books read, an honorable description of her physical condition that day, and what medicine was given. In addition, as a token of their care, those ladies who had assisted in her last weeks of life were chosen to stand by her casket two at the time at fifteen-minute intervals during the visitation service. In the final days her beloved husband kept his hours at his business to three mornings a week with the rest of the time caring for his dear wife.

In the last five days of her life my wife and I visited daily. Although her eyes were closed, she seemed to be hearing us. We read through all of the passages in the book of Revelation dealing with heaven. Singing a hymn about heaven followed by a closing prayer would follow the Scripture reading. In the providence of God the last reading took place on a Friday with a text taken from Revelation 22. Then we sang the hymn "I Shall Know Him." That afternoon at 4:30, with her husband and mother-in-law present at home, she passed from this life into the presence of her Lord.

It must be acknowledged that in the last few weeks she often would speak of the Lord to those who were present. In her final days, in a semi-conscious state, she uttered words of love to God, His Son, and audible thoughts about heaven.

The Need of Dying Well

Many on this planet do not die well. Yet death is a crucial time in a person's life. Apart from the Rapture, death is the only portal through which one can get to heaven. The prelude to death is when the soul readies itself for the transition into eternity; it goes into the shadow of death. This is a very important season if God allows death to linger for any portion of time. The Christian must face it well and not fearfully. Some enter this season with fear and bondage. But Christ's death was also to help us through this dying process. "That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Hebrews 3:14-15).

Sadly, many reject the concept of Heaven and Hell creating their own concept of "after-life." America is becoming more and more a nation given to a Neo-Christianity that has given to the populace a gospel of Universalism. Universalism is the belief that everyone is saved and everyone is going to heaven because of "the love of God." But it must be understood that the love of God does not save anyone; only the grace of God saves. Love is the motive for God's sending His Son to the earth to die for us, but grace is the singular means whereby that salvation comes. The Bible condemns Universalism and tells us that God is preparing a place for the believer in Christ (John 14:3), and God is preparing a place for the unbeliever (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:11-15). It is not whether we have lived a good life or a bad life. There is only one sin that keeps a person from going to heaven: the rejection of Jesus Christ as one's personal Savior.

America is also in a growing belief of cults and secular humanism. Some of the cults believe in annihilation while others believe we will be placed on some planet or island with many wives for sensual purposes. Others believe we will be absorbed into a bright, white light or into some cosmic energy, while others believe we will be recycled through reincarnation.

The Bible is the only infallible revelation God has ever given to man to reveal the life to come. It is within its pages exclusively that the truth of the matter of salvation and heaven is to be found for those whom God has saved.

A Soul at the Border

On several occasions God has allowed us to be present with a Christian at the border of heaven. It is a precious thing to witness the home going of a redeemed one. It is at such a time that God will witness to His own. There truly is a moment, as heaven's pull strengthens in the thoughts and heart, that the soul is hesistant to leave loved ones here. There is a final earthly burden for responsibility, of leaving behind loved ones, and what such a departure will do to a dear husband or wife or children. But God comes to help the dying one. It must be stated that the living do not know the way of dying and should not know it until they are dying.

There also comes another moment in the shadow of death, as heaven pulls the dying, that they begin to let go of this world and even their family ties. They are ready to go as the shadow of death now leads to death itself. Thoughts of wanting to leave will now become imminent. There is the appropriate desire to say "I love you" to the spouse and a longing to resolve with children and friends all things. Then more talk to God begins; some things will be said in soft words to God—at the border.

Then the moment comes that God summons the soul. It seems that God appoints angels to accompany the soul of a true child to His home. Is the antithesis true for the sinner? Do demons accompany the soul of the wicked to Lower Hades, where they will wait the final White Throne Judgment at the end of time? The White Throne will be the consummating moment when an eternal soul stands before an eternal God to receive an eternal decree of eternal damnation to be cast into the eternal Lake of Fire, which is the Second Death.

The child of God at the moment of death may somewhat linger and finally be released. Immediately he is with the Lord in Heaven. According to Scripture, what happens right after death? Because the soul's arrival precedes the body's resurrection, the soul arrives naked, without a body. That soul is in Christ, conscious, communicating, but naked. The soul will wait the first resurrection, which will take place immediately after the rapture when Christ will bring those souls "in" Him with Him (I Thessalonians 4:14-18). Then they will receive a body, fashioned like unto His (I John 3:2). After history has come to its completion and eternity begins (Revelation 21 & 22), God's people will serve Him forever (Revelation 22:3b).

Conclusion

The dealings of God on the day of this dear lady's conversion began that Sunday morning with a message from John 4:13-15:

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

That Sunday evening she once again sat in the balcony of God's House; the Holy Spirit came to deal with her again. My dear wife was led of the Lord in the closing part of the Sunday evening service to go up in the balcony and speak with her about giving her heart to the Lord. Over the previous years this lady was bold to stop the words of any witness; however, this time she was readied by the Lord and immediately fell to her knees and prayed to God in confession of sin receiving Christ. When she came down from the balcony after the service, it was evident to her husband and others that the crowning work of Christ had been done in her.

When asked during her trial of suffering how she was able to endure the pain with dignity, she simply responded that her dear Lord had suffered much more on the cross. Such a heart demands that there is no room for complaint and there is no room to glory. May the Lord enable all of us to desire to end life well, to honor and glorify Christ Jesus the Lord through the shadow of death and even unto death!