Blood dribbling from my thick cut throat, heart beating faster, breath failing, adrenaline pumping, I scream out the last essence of life for help but to no avail. My pitiful almost lifeless body lay on the muddy crossroad. I am ignored, soaked in my own pool of blood to stoop to the fate of death. With my last strength, I try to crawl to reach my phone that lay on the floor steps away. I don’t know why but I feel the impulse to send a text message to my mother of which the content just dropped into my mind and then my life gradually fades away. The beginning of the end:
At first I thought I was day-dreaming, seeing my pitiful remains on the floor. I was caught up in the web of illusion and delusion; struck with the dilemma of truism and falsity. It was after some time that I came to face the reality of the fact that I was dead! Yes, dead for good! Consequently, I noticed the two white-clothed tall creatures like that of men but with wings standing beside me. Each with a shimmering snow-white cloth in his palms which they used to strap around me. It didn’t take long for me to figure it out that they were angels but what I feared was where they were sending me to spend eternity. I later reasoned that since it was angels and not demons who came to give me a transit into the realms of the life hereafter, I surely was set on a journey to paradise.
Before I could finish thinking, in a flash, we appeared before a huge gate made of the purest gold I had ever seen that had the inscription: THE CITY OF LIFE embossed on it. This inscription seemed ironical to me. “If I was dead, wasn’t I to be sent to the city of death? Why here? Was I being given a second chance of life on earth? Or perhaps I must have been the proverbial cat who it is said has nine lives”, I thought to myself. As if reading my thoughts and noticing how confused I was, one of the angels said to me with the calmest voice I had ever heard, “You are welcome to the city of life”. He paused as I gleefully replied with the most hearty ‘thank you’ I had ever said to anyone and he further explained, “This city is for those who died to live. You died a year ago which gave you a coupon entry into this city…” The ‘you died a year ago didn’t skip me’. I was pondering over it and so didn’t hear the other statements that followed. I thought I died few minutes ago only to be told otherwise. Another angel put in my palm what looked like a slate tag on which had the date 30th March, 1873. It was then that I had reminiscence of what happened that particular day. I remember it clearly (as I remember how those armed robbers robbed me of my laptop and money and slit my throat):
It was a lovely Sunday morning. I had followed my roommate to church service at Campus Believers Family (CBF) after he had severally pleaded with me for months. The choir sung melodiously after which the preacher talked for long on the message of salvation, purity and faith in Jesus Christ. This wasn’t the first time hearing a similar message but there was something different about this one. The preacher spoke compassionately under the influence of the Holy Spirit and I was touched by the message. I could feel something happening to me for I was suddenly weak and before I realized, I was standing in front of the preacher, crying to receive salvation. The preacher was delighted, prayed with me and led me into confessing Jesus as my Lord and personal saviour.
From church, I went to other places and many memorial things happened that Sunday but what sent my memory to what happened at the church after the angel had spoken to me was when I stroke a balance with what the preacher man told me after the church service and what the angel had said early on that I died a year ago. The pastor declared to me with much conviction, “You are now born again and set free from the punishment of death….you have DIED WITH CHRIST and risen with Him…you are now a living being. Today, you have died to live. Go and sin no more except if you want to live to die” I must admit that I couldn’t understand what the preacher’s words meant but now, I know it all.
I gladly entered through the gate into the city of life. The city was indeed one of life and light! For everything around looked so much alive than anything I had seen on earth. The whole scenery shone brighter than a billion suns’ light. There were different shades and hues of colours all over; it was so beautiful beyond description. I was sent into a room that had the inscription: THE WORKS OF FAITH on the door. I knew I was to receive another puzzling encounter in this room. It was a room full of books of the records of the life of men on earth. I noticed that most of the books had no writings in them, others some small scribbling and a few had more writings in them. One of the books was given to me which had my name engrafted on it. I opened it and it barely had a half page of writings. There were about only twelve records of my works of faith whilst on earth.
This saddened me very much. “I could have done better, I could have achieved more if I hadn’t died abruptly and spent more years ahead of me.”, I thought to myself loudly. However, I couldn’t believe this record. Even before being saved, I was a good person. As a child, I went to Sunday school often and was once the Sunday school prefect. I was generous, I gave money to my roommates when they needed it badly. I never had sex or did anything that was bad. After being saved, I paid my tithes often and acted holier such that the pope himself must have envied.
The angel in charge of the room interrupted my thoughts and explained to me, “All this while, you were focusing on your works and didn’t regard the faith with which it must be done. This is a record of your works of faith and not just good works. Any good work done when you are not born again is not accounted and recorded in the books of faith. Even as a believer, works done outside faith and love is just a silhouette of public show. You were just like any normal Christian; faithless, powerless and unyielding to the Holy Spirit. Your spiritual and intellectual gifting weren’t put to use and often misused. You determined your stay in heaven for eternity the day you were born again; the day you died to sin; the day you became a living being. But the essence of living beings is growth and reproduction. Your growth as a Christian wasn’t a matter of concern to you. Neither did you reproduce others into the acceptance of Jesus Christ. Your reward is according to your records of faith and by now, you should be expecting only one crown as your reward……”
You can imagine how embarrassed I felt and I wished my mum would chance upon my last text message of consolation to her that reads: “Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there, I did not die”
The aim of this fictional piece is to admonish every believer to PREPARE FOR ETERNITY. It is a wake up call for the church. Your life and situation can be just like the young guy in the piece. Today’s believers are not totally committed to the task which they have been called for and the faith in which they believe in and confess. The day one gets born again, that person dies! He/she dies to sin and lives in Christ. Most of us focus on our death to sin. Our death to sin by being saved by the grace of God (and not our self-works) means we are sons of God and destined for eternity in heaven. However, many a people after being born again
remain dormant in the Christian faith just waiting for eternity to happen to them. This is wrong! You may even say that it is enough to be in heaven but you should know that the reward that awaits Apostle Paul of the olden times cannot be compared to that of the thief on the cross. You got to prepare for eternity! We forget that the day we died to sin is the same day we begin to live in Christ. In as much as we have died already and won’t be doomed to the second death of hell, when we get to heaven, we would be rewarded according to our works of faith. You have died to live! Are you just alive or you are living and as such growing in Christ and reproducing more believers by spreading the good news?
Know ye not that you’ll surely reap what you sow? Which seeds have you sowed? What impact have you caused in the lives of people around you? When was the last time you stopped everything you were doing just to ponder on how your life in eternity will be like? What if you died today? Would you find yourself in heaven or in hell? If heaven, what would have been your records of your works of faith by now? Are you okay being luke-warm a Christian when God says He will spew such ones out of his mouth into the lake of fire? Are you the prayerful brother who is tired of interceding for people in prayer? Are you walking in purity or in sin? Are you the encouraged brother who pays your tithe often? Are you the generous brother who gives alms to the poor out of true love? Are you the backslid believer – the sex-addict and promiscuous one? See, no matter what your stance is, I came to strongly encourage us to keep up the good works of faith and shun the dead works of sin.
For the unbeliever reading this message, your lot in eternity is damnation to hell fire and so then your chance of redemption is now. Believe Jesus Christ and confess him to be master over your life. There are only two choices: You choose to live to DIE or; you choose to die to LIVE. Heaven is no fallacy! Neither is hell Ananse story. Don’t ‘die’ before you regret your judgment in eternity! For you can start changing your judgment right now. Well, I will like to end with a simple-complex question: HOW PREPARED ARE YOU FOR ETERNITY? Think about it!
