Testimony Of A Former Murderer

Are You Afraid of Death? I was: I was afraid of death because I did not know where I was going. Such fear caused me to pray before sleeping, "God, please don’t allow me to die of nightmare." But that prayer did not remove my fear of death. Otherwise, I would not have prayed that prayer every night. I sought to prepare myself for death by following the golden rule, which says, "Do unto others what you would like others do unto you." But I occasionally found myself hurting others. For example, when my next younger sister would tell things that would cause my mother to scold me, I used to speak foul language to get even with my sister. That’s why my efforts to obey the golden rule did not remove my fear of death. However, in the early part of 1979, I saw a movie which reminded me that I was not prepared to die. At the end of the film, a speaker talked about a person who can help me be prepared. He is the Messiah, the Word of God, through whom God made everything. He was to be born of a virgin, die for our sins. As an evidence that He has come, He was to rise from the dead according to the predictions of the sacred writings. Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled these prophecies and as evidence, He appeared to more than 500 persons at one time. Before He comes back to reign visibly in the whole earth, He wanted to wanted to come into my life. Thinking incorrectly that I had to be good first before I could receive Jesus, I just listened intently to the prayer the speaker suggested that we pray in faith.

Some days later, I realized that I was in danger of being eternally separated from God if I postpone my decision to receive the Messiah. So I told Jesus, "God, I am willing to do anything you want. Just save me!" Then I looked for and found the part in the Bible where Jesus says, ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him...’ (Revelation 3:20). That promise made me sure that Jesus the Messiah (Isa al Masih in Qur'an) came into my life. Some time later, I learned that Jesus will never leave me. That made me certain that when I die, I am going to be with him in heaven. Since then, I have not been afraid of death. Since that time also, I no longer try to obey the golden rule to prepare myself for death. Instead, I seek to obey it as an expression of gratitude to Jesus who saved me from eternal separation from God. Not only did I seek to obey it, I actually found myself obeying it more and more. For example, I noticed that the use of foul language disappeared from my speech. I learned to love others that the hatred which caused me to use language lost dominion over me. I even shared Jesus with my next younger sister that we became good friends! Indeed, Jesus delivered me who through fear of death was subject to slavery in my life (Hebrews 2:15)! I am now free (John 8:34-36)! If you want to know more the Messiah, you may ctrl-click on this link: http://www.pdfcoke.com/doc/22396398/DoYou-Want-to-Always-be-with-God-who-Reigns.