"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. ... any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."  This quote is from one of John Donne's philosophical writings called, "Devotions upon Emergent Occasions", written in 1623.  He was not only a famous poet but also a well known Anglican preacher. 

 John Donne seemed to be pre-occupied by death a lot and so are we today.  Do you ever notice that people are always saying things like, "I was scared to death" or "I am just dying to go to that movie" or "I just love him to death".  These are not good sayings. 

In keeping with my theme of The Promises of God, I would like to point out that God has quite a few promises about death that may help you from being pre-occupied with death.  For starters, Psalm 23 verse 4 says this, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil".  Why could the Psalmist say that?  The answer is in the rest of the verse: "for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me".

In I Cor. 15 the Apostle Paul talks a lot about death, but it is all positive.  In verse 54 he says, "So when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." and verse 55 concludes with "O death, where is thy sting?  O grave, where is thy victory?". 

At this point you may be breathing a great sigh of relief; but not so fast.  These promises of God are not for everyone.  Well, you say, that's not fair.  God must be prejudiced or have some favorites or something like that.  It is true that He has favorites, but He is not prejudiced.  His favorites are his "born again" sons and daughters and all God's promises are for them. 

If you want freedom from the fear of death and want the assurance that God will be with you when you "walk through the valley of the shadow of death" just go to Romans 10:9 and "confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead you will be saved".  It's that simple.  You will then be "born again" and become one of God's sons or daughters and when you do all the Angels in Heaven will be doing high fives just for you.

God Bless in Your New Freedom,
Glory to God,

Hal Mitchell
halmitch@cox.net