Why Conscientiousness Continues Beyond Life
Tuesday, May 26, 2026
Sunday, May 17, 2026
What Do We Know About the Final Judgment?
The Great White Throne Judgment – Dennis Edwards
We true believers in Christ do not take part in the judgment at the Great White Throne of God, nor in the second death. We get judged at the judgment seat of Christ at our death. “For we must all (Christian believers) appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad,” 2 Corinthians 5:10.
In Romans, Apostle Paul touches on the same subject. "For none of us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you set at nought your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then everyone of us shall give account of himself to God," Romans 14:7-12.
Apostle Paul also said, “For to me to live is Christ, and to
die is gain…For I am in a straight between two, having a desire to depart, and
to be with Christ; which is far better,” Philippians 1:21&23. Paul is
expressing his belief that at death he will go to be with Christ, not to
purgatory, nor to remain in the grave waiting for the rapture/resurrection
event. It seems at death, we who are in Christ go before the judgment seat of
Christ for our rewards or punishments.
In Daniel we read, "And many of them that sleep in the
dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and
everlasting contempt," Daniel 12:2. If Daniel is talking about the
rapture/resurrection of believers, then it seems some will be honoured in the
new life, while others, who knew their master's will but didn't complete it,
will live in shame for their failure. We true believers take part in the first
resurrection. Those who are not saved, who don’t believe, will be judged by
their works at the judgment that takes place at the Great White Throne Judgment
of God.
“And I saw a great white throne,
and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and
there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead,
small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book
was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those
things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea
gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead
which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And
death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of
fire.” Revelation 20:11-15.
God is very merciful and will
not condemn anyone unjustly. If we believe on Christ and follow Him closely,
His blood covers our sins and we are forgiven and walk with His righteousness.
If we reject Christ or have never heard of him, we will be judged by our works,
whether they we good or evil. For the ungodly, this is still an example of
God's love and mercy.
Where exactly the souls of the dead who don't believe remain until the time of the Great White throne Judgment is debateable. Some say they remain "dead," or “asleep.” Others believe they are in a type of purgatory until that time. Wherever they are, we will not be with them, if we are faithful unto the end for Jesus. And we will be faithful, for He will not let any of His children fall out of His hand.
“My sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them
eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater
than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand,” John
10:27-29. “Being confident of this very thing, that He which has begun a good
work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ,” Philippians 1:6.
We that are believers will be
with God in death, as Jesus has explained. “But as touching the resurrection of
the dead, have you not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am
the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the
God of the dead, but of the living,” Matthew 22:31-32.
In other words, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were already living with God in
death, not waiting for the resurrection. Jesus also has Abraham in heaven in
the story of Lazarus and the rich man, Luke 16:19-31, which seems to indicate
that Abraham was already with God in his death, not waiting
around for the Messiah to die and resurrect.
Nevertheless, we also find in the Scriptures at the time of
Jesus’ resurrection, “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints
which slept (or were dead) arose, and came out of the graves after His (Jesus’)
resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many,” Matthew
27:52-53. At the time Jesus arose from the dead, it seems some of the old
Prophets whose bodies had been buried in or around Jerusalem came out of their
graves and appeared unto the believers.
In Job, we read that even then, 2000 years before Christ,
men had the knowledge of the resurrection event. Job confirms, “For I know that
my redeemer lives, and that He shall stand at the latter day, upon the earth:
and though after my death worms destroy the skin of my body, yet in my (new
resurrected) flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself (in my new
resurrected body), and my own eyes shall behold, and not another; though my
body be consumed by death,” Job 19:25-27. Job had hope that the Messiah would
come and restore our relationship with God, so that we could have eternal life
and receive our resurrected supernatural bodies, yet maintain our own
personality and character.
Isaiah also wrote of the rapture/resurrection event. “Your
dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and
sing, you that dwell in the dust: for the dew is as the dew of herbs, and the
earth shall cast out the dead,” Isaiah 26:19. Isaiah seems to be picturing the
rapture/resurrection event, where “the earth shall cast out the dead.” Sounds
similar to Prophet Daniel’s description in Daniel 12:2, which we read earlier
which said, “many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.”
Prophet Ezekiel, also, had a prophecy that some scholars
believe is referring to the rapture/ resurrection event. “Thus, says the Lord
God; Behold, O My people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out
of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel, (to rule a 1,000-years
with Christ during the Millennium?). And you shall know that I am the Lord,
when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up out of your
graves, and shall put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place
you in your own land: then shall you know that I the Lord have spoken it, and
performed it, says the Lord,” Ezekiel 37:12-14.
Apostle Paul when writing about the rapture/resurrection
event said, “the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and
remain shall be caught together in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and
so, shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these
words,” 1 Thessalonians 4:16b-18. He also wrote, “Behold, I show you a mystery;
we shall not all sleep (die), but we shall be changed, in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the
dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this
corruptible must put on incorruptible, and this mortal must put on
immortality,” 1 Corinthians 15:51-53. Then death shall be swallowed up in
victory, the victory of Christ over death! 1 Corinthians 15:54.
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there
be any more pain: for the former things are passed away,” Revelation 21:4.
“Behold, I make all things new,” Revelation 21:5b. “I am Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of
the water of life freely. He that overcomes shall inherit all things; and I
will be his God, and he shall be My son. But the fearful and unbelieving, and
the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolater,
and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and
brimstone: which is the second death,” Revelation 21:6-8.
Have you received Jesus as the Son of the living God? He’s
standing at the door of your heart, waiting for you to accept Him into your
life. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life, John
3:16. Call upon Him today. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved,” Romans 10:13.
“And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with me, to
give every man according as his work shall be….Blessed are they that do His
commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in
through the gates into the city. …Surely I come quickly,” Revelation
22:12,14,20b.
In Matthew 25:31-46, we see the Son of man judging the
nations. It seems to be talking about the Great White Throne judgment after the
1,000 year Millennium.
"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
"Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was hungry, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
"Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch, as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
"Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
"Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch, as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."
We all have a choice. It’s time to stop halting between two opinions. Elijah challenged the people to decide whom they would serve, God, or Baal. Baal was the demonic god of the Canaanites, to whom they sacrificed their very children in infant sacrifices. They didn’t have abortions and birth control pills at that time. In 1 Kings 18:21, in God’s word, we read, “And the people answered him not a word.” Why didn’t they answer, because they were still desiring to follow Baal. They were still double-minded, and wanted to follow the gods of this world.
It’s time to make a choice. Do we need fire to come down from
heaven and destroy the gods of this world, before we believe in God and follow Him? “And when the
people saw it, (the fire from heaven consuming the drenched with water
sacrifice), they fell on their faces and said, The Lord, He is the God; the
Lord, He is the God,” 1 Kings 18:30. If Jesus is the Son of God, serve Him. If
the world is your god, then serve it. “As for me, (and Lord willing), my house,
we will serve the Lord,” Joshua 24:15. Amen!
Originally published November 8, 2024
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
A Prayer for a Friend!
Good morning, Mr. Dennis, don't forget to include Sandra in your prayers. She is already waiting for the time to leave for the Father's house. She can go at any moment.
Dear Branca, I am so sorry to hear that. I personally believe
the turbo cancers that many are experiencing are a result of that Satanic
mRNA vaccine. May God judge those that perpetrated it.
Send Sandra my love. She is indeed going to a better
place. Jesus loves her and though it may look like the devil has won, Jesus
died for her and has saved her soul and she has eternal life. He said,
"Fear not those that can kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.
But fear Him who is able to cast both body and soul into hell." Matthew 10:28.
That is whom we fear, the God of heaven and earth and not man nor the devil, as
Solomon wrote, “Fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty
of man,” Ecclesiastes 12:13.
God's word says, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
neither has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared
for those that loved Him." 1 Corinthians 2:9. Jesus said, "In as much
as you have done on to one of the least of these my brethren (all those
children and teens at the Centre for Abandoned Children), you have done it unto
Me." Matthew 25:40. He said, "Well done, you good and faithful
servant, enter into the joy of your Lord." Matthew 25:21.
He didn't say perfect servant, one without sin; He said,
"good and faithful." Sandra was a good and faithful servant, as we
all know. She has a reward awaiting her in the heavenlies, but most of all, she
has the love of Jesus and God the Father and the Holy Spirit and the promise of
a new body. Jesus rose physically and said, "Come touch Me and see that I
am flesh and bone and not just spirit." Luke 24:39.
In Revelation, we read Jesus saying, "And God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither
sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things
are passed away. Behold, I make all things new." Revelation 20:4-5. Sandra
is going to a better place, where men dwell with God, and they shall be His
people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God, and time shall be
no more. Revelation 21:3 and Revelation 10:6b.
"Blessed are they that do His commandments, (to
love God and to love our neighbour as ourselves), that they may have the right
to the tree of life, and may enter through the gate into the city."
Revelation 22:14. Apostle Paul wrote, "O death, where is your sting? O
grave, where is your victory? For death has been swallowed up in Christ's (resurrection
and) victory over death. And thanks be to God who gives us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my brethren be steadfast, unmoveable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labour is
not in vain in the Lord." 1 Corinthians 15:54-58.
God bless you, Sandra. God is transforming you into a
new creature. Do you believe on the name of the Son of God? Jesus said, "I
am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in Me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live: and whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do
you believe this?" Martha responded, as we do, too, "Yes, Lord: I
believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world."
John 11:25-27.
That's our faith, in Jesus. The prospect of death should
motivate us to live a life in the love of Christ, in thanksgiving for what He
has done for us. I love you, Sandra. Hold onto your faith. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Acts 16:27. This is the promise He has
given unto us. Hold onto that promise, for He that promised is true and
faithful. “For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to
keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day,” 2 Timothy 1:12.
"Nothing in our hands we bring, simply to the Cross
of Christ we cling." Jesus loves you, sweetheart. You won't be
disappointed. You did what you could. Now trust in Him with all your heart. He
is the author and finisher of our lives. Hebrews 12:2.
Prayer: Dear Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God who
was to come into the world and show the path to eternal life. Forgive me for my
sins of doubt and unbelief. Forgive me for my selfishness and faults common to
man, for my secret sins and iniquities. I receive you into my heart and
dedicate the life I have to serving You will all my heart and soul and mind and
body, In Jesus' name I pray.
I will see you on the other side, Sandra. I have two
sons who have gone on before me. Give them a big hug on my part. I love you,
Sandra. A big eternal hug, Dennis
Saturday, March 22, 2025
Friday, February 7, 2025
Thursday, December 5, 2024
Sunday, January 14, 2024
Friday, August 18, 2023
Sunday, June 25, 2023
An interview about my son Christopher’s passing by Greg Laurie
An interview about my son Christopher’s passing
by Greg Laurie on Jul 22, 2009
Hey everyone.
As you may know, this Friday, July 24, will mark the one-year anniversary of the passing of our firstborn son, Christopher, to heaven. I appreciate all of your prayers, and I plan on writing about this in a day or so.
Here is an interview that my son Jonathan and I recently did with Dan Wooding of the ASSIST News Service. It sums up where we are at during at this time in our lives.
The agony and joy of Greg Laurie
He talks about the tragic death of his son Christopher; his younger son, Jonathan, shares movingly about how he recommitted his life to Christ because of the death of his brother.
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
SANTA ANA, CA (ANS) — Thursday, July 24, 2008 was the most devastating day of Greg Laurie’s life. The unimaginable happened when his son Christopher, 33, was killed in a tragic car accident on the 91 freeway on his way to work as art director of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, where Greg is the senior pastor.
Now, almost a year from the tragedy, Greg Laurie agreed to talk about his heartbreak and his younger son, Jonathan Laurie, revealed how the car accident that took his brother transformed his life – for good!
Both father and son came into the studios of Southern California’s KWVE 107.9 FM to talk with me for my Front Page Radio program.
I began by asking Greg to relive that terrible moment when he found out about the accident.
“It’s been almost a year now, Dan, and it was the most devastating experience of my life,” he said. “In fact, of all the bad experiences I’ve had — and I’ve had a few – none came even come close to what this was like. It’s the news no parent ever wants to hear you never expect to hear it.”
How did he first hear about the accident?
Greg said, “It was really strange the way I found out. My wife was leading a Bible study for Christopher’s wife Brittany and her mom. I was babysitting my granddaughter Stella. Brittany mentioned that she’d called Christopher and he’d not responded. Then I got a call from the church. They were asking, ‘Where’s Christopher?’
“So I called him and he didn’t answer; I then sent a text to him saying, ‘Where are you?’ Again, he didn’t answer. Then, from that point on, we started making calls to try and find out where he had gone. After about 45 minutes, we knew something was not right, we didn’t know what.
“Obviously we were praying; we were concerned and worried. Then, Don McClure, a pastor friend, showed up at my house and said, ‘Christopher’s been in an accident.” But he wouldn’t tell me the extent of it. I was told that some of the pastors from our church were going to come and talk to me. At this point I knew it was bad, but I was still hoping that it was not fatal.”
Greg said that when the pastors from his church arrived, one of them told him, “Christopher is with the Lord!”
Greg closed his eyes and told me, “When I heard that, it was like time stood still and the air was sucked out of the room. I couldn’t comprehend what I had just heard, and it really was, in many ways, incomprehensible. It was so hard.
“I have to say that although it was devastating and crushing, and I fell to the ground weeping, the Lord was there with me. I sensed His presence and His peace and I have never, for a moment, doubted that Christopher’s in heaven.”
I then asked Greg how his wife Cathe responded to the shocking news.
“She wept and she may have screamed. I don’t remember,” he said. “Brittany was crying also, as we all got the news at the same time. We were all crying. But we were also praying at the same time, saying things like, ‘Oh Lord, we look to you. We call on you.’”
Greg went on to say, “How could anyone survive such news if they didn’t know God? I can’t imagine trying to deal with this: without one’s faith in Christ; without the presence of the Lord; without Christian friends surrounding you and praying; knowing what to say and, hopefully, knowing what not to say,” he said. “We were surrounded by some wonderful godly people that helped us through those first few moments, those first few hours and the first few days.”
I told Greg that for anyone, this was so traumatic, but because he was so well-known in Southern California and across the world, this must have made it even more difficult to cope with. I wondered if he had thought about just giving up and retreating from the world for the time being.
“Well, you know one thinks about retreating but, really, you want to be around the people you love. You want to hear their words of reassurance,” said Greg. “I was surprised at how public it was, not only in the Christian community, but it was on the front page of the local newspaper with the headline, ‘Son of evangelist killed.’ To read those words in print, though you know it’s true, and see a photograph of your son — that was really painful.
“Then people were talking about it and it was on the radio and TV news. Of course, it was an auto accident, so it was a very horrific thing.”
Greg said that despite it all, it began changing his attitude to people.
“I gained a new compassion for people who have lost children,” he said. “When a celebrity dies, everyone talks about it and people opine on it. But, I’ll tell you that every one of these people that die have a mom and a dad and they have a family. It’s devastating for them. I looked at the way some people spoke about it — so matter of factly — and I had to say to myself, ‘You know, that’s my son they’re talking about.’
“But then there were many believers that said such sweet things. My blog site was inundated with messages. I had some 15,000 messages on my blog. I, frankly, have never read all of them, but I’ve read many of them and they were very comforting to me. I still go back to them and read them and they have encouraged me along with the prayers that people offered.
“Here it is, almost a year later, and I’d like to say its all better, Dan. I feel fantastic and you know there are moments when everything aligns in my mind and my heart. I think that Christopher’s in heaven and he’s happier than he’s ever been and that I’m going to see him again. It’s glorious and I have peace and even a bit of joy. Then, five minutes later, a memory is triggered by something and the pain of missing him comes right back.
“Last night, I had dreams about him again and in them I’m having conversations with him. Usually, in my dreams, I’m with him and then he’s suddenly gone. He disappears. In one dream I had, while I was talking to him, I reached out to and he disappeared. So you can’t stop your subconscious from processing these things. It is still very painful but the Lord has been with us. We have the Lord, we have our friends, we have our faith, we have our hope for the future of reunion, we have our memories of yesterday and we have today. And today, we want to try to the best of our ability to glorify God through this and try to minister to others who are hurting.
“I’ve come into contact with many people who have lost loved ones, especially children, who’ve reached out to me. When I meet someone who’s lost a child, I stop what I’m doing and I take time for them. I listen a lot more than I used to. I used to be quicker on the draw with a verse or two. I still will share verses and encouraging words, but I’m quicker to listen and slower to speak when someone comes and tells me of their pain.”
Sitting next to his father and listening intently to the interview, was Jonathan Laurie, Christopher’s younger brother. So I asked him where he was when he first heard the news about the accident.
“I was working for a plating aerospace company in Santa Ana when my foreman came over to me and asked me how I was doing,” he recalled. “At that point, I didn’t know what had happened to Christopher, but apparently it was already going around on the channels. I didn’t have my phone with me at the time so I hadn’t heard anything. He left me alone for a few minutes with a Christian police officer friend who I knew quite well and who was a Christian man and he said, ‘You need to go home to see your parents.’ That’s when I knew something had gone wrong. When I got access to my cell phone, that’s when I began receiving text messages and phone calls. I just refrained until I got home. Actually, Don McClure, the same person informed me that told my Dad. He said that my brother ‘was with the Lord.’
“I went into shock immediately. I couldn’t comprehend it, or believe it. It took me probably an hour or so for it to really start to click — that this actually happened. It was almost like I went into a dream state. It was so surreal.”
I asked Jonathan to recall the last time he saw his brother.
“My last vivid memory of him was last Fourth of July,” he said. “We were in Montana and it was probably one of the best family vacations that I can remember.
“We were quite distant in age but, as we grew older, that gap began to close. The older I became, the closer I grew to him. We grew as friends and brothers. He was always looking out for my best interests. He kept me accountable a number of times.
“He kept his eye on me. You may think that being raised in a pastor’s home would make us instant Christians and followers of Christ. You know we always did have that faith in Jesus and we always believed in Jesus, but there was a time when I rebelled and there was a time when Christopher rebelled.
“He knew where I was at as he’d lived a similar lifestyle. He was just kind of living as a ‘prodigal son’ running from his Christianity for a short time. But we both always wanted to end up back there. It was just a matter of what it was going to take.
“Up until the time that he went home to be with the Lord, he had actually been very encouraging of me: to get my life right; to quit living this double life; to stop partying and doing all that lifestyle entails. In fact, the night before his death, I was out with friends, doing the party thing; smoking and drinking. That night I really thought about how I wanted to go see my brother the next morning and talk to him about how miserable I was. I told had him previously that I wanted to get back there and he’d asked me, ‘Well, what it is going to take?’ That next morning, I got my answer. Christopher going home to be with the Lord was my wake up call.”
Jonathan went on to say, “When I got the news at home. I just sat on my bed and looked at pictures of him. After I began to comprehend what had happened, I just began to weep. Then I went through my room and just ravaged it, grabbing all the stuff I knew that was bringing me down. I held it all in my hands, prayed to the Lord, and I said, ‘God, you know that I’ve proven to you and myself that I’m incapable of doing this on my own. I can’t stop using this stuff on my own strength so you’re going to have to help me, but I want to do this.’
“He’s been faithful to do that since I prayed that prayer and He’s been faithful to help me stay clean. I’m walking with the Lord now and I know that I honor my brother’s advice. That’s the best thing I think I can do for Christopher in heaven.”
Greg Laurie was close to tears as his son told his story.
“It is a great blessing and I have to tell you, Dan, that Jonathan has shared this testimony all over in our crusades that we’ve held in different places this last year,” said Greg. “He’s stood up in front of thousands of people and Jonathan was never that kind of a person that would want to get in front of a crowd and talk. Some people like attention but he was never that way. He was more of a quiet, soft spoken, young man. But because of this thing that has happened to him and what the Lord has done in his life, he’s gotten up boldly.
“We were just in Pennsylvania at something called the Creation Festival, a Christian event that’s been going on for over 30 years. I was speaking and I brought Jonathan out to give his testimony. He gave it before 70,000 and I’ll tell you what — those kids started listening. When he talked about the compromised life, there are just a lot of kids raised in Christian homes who know what’s right, but aren’t living it, and they’re in that miserable no man’s land.
“When one of them, like Jonathan, speaks and talks about how the Lord’s gotten a hold of him, there’s an authenticity. Not that the adults don’t have it, but they think, ‘Well, you’re an adult.’ But when it’s a fellow kid, a peer speaks, it means so much more to them.
“This is one of the good things that have come of this tragedy. There’s still a lot of pain and there’s a lot of heartache, but God promise is to work ‘all things together for good’ is true. We have seen how the Lord has brought glory to his name through Jonathan’s testimony and also through Brittany, Christopher’s wife’s testimony. We’ve all felt a greater determination to serve the Lord with even more intensity than we had before.”
“I’ve determined not to put a happy face on it, meaning I want to be real. I want to be honest. I want to be truthful about the difficulty, but I also want to be honoring to the Lord and tell people how He’s sustained us through this and how I still depend upon Him every day to make it through.”
Greg then shared the good news, that late last year, Brittany gave birth to Lucy Christopher Laurie, who joins Stella, the other daughter.
“Stella is going on to her third birthday and if a father ever doted on a daughter it was Christopher,” he said. “He was a great daddy, but he did not live to see little Lucy born, at least on earth. One wonders what people know in heaven. I think it’s entirely possible that he’s fully aware of Lucy there in heaven. But he missed the birth here on earth. She’s growing and she’s just a sweetheart, one of the happiest little babies I’ve ever seen. They’re both just sweet hearts. I love them both.”
Greg is now preparing for his latest Harvest Crusade, which have drawn nearly 3 million people to ballparks and arenas across the Southland since 1990, and will mark 20 years in Southern California with its annual evangelistic outreach at Angel Stadium of Anaheim, August 14–16.
Shortly after Christopher’s death, Greg somehow preached each night at Angel Stadium last year surrounded on stage by the designs of Christopher.
“He was the lead designer in our graphics department at Harvest and he’d done the entire campaign,” he said. “So I stood on a stage that was designed by him, surrounded by art that he’d done. Even our crusade campaign this year is sort of built off the template of what he’d designed the year before.
“When I see his art around me, it inspires me. One thing Christopher uniquely implemented in the campaign last year was an animated arrow going up to heaven. There were these little arrows constantly going up and so we kept that arrow in a lot of the design that we’ve done because it just reminds us of where Christopher is and that we are to keep ‘looking up’. As the Scripture says, ‘We are to be heavenly minded. Set your minds on things above,’ Paul says in Colossians 3, ‘not on the things of the earth.” Another way to translate that is to keep thinking heaven. I think we all need to think more about heaven because we’re all headed there as followers of Jesus.”
Thursday, April 7, 2022
Saturday, March 19, 2022
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
Sunday, September 2, 2018
Monday, July 16, 2018
Sunday, June 10, 2018
Is There Life After death? or Is It All a Myth?
Some of you have told me that life is all there is and when you’re dead you’re dead. You’ve said that it doesn’t really matter if there is life after death. You’re just going to live for the here and now and be good for goodness sake. I want to share something with you, some evidence to the contrary. I don’t know if you’re really interested in evidence. Your mind might already be made up and you don’t want to be bother with “more evidence.” After all you’ve come to your conclusions and this God stuff has only gotten us war after war. Look at the Middle East with the Muslims, Jews, and Christians. And, how can you know the truth? Look at all the different Christian denominations and sects there are. It’s just too much even to bother.
Besides, Dennis, you Christians are really homophobic. I read one of your articles about same-sex relations. You need to bring your ranching up to date. Pope Francisco is more in tune with the 21st century than you are. You’ve been reading that Bible too much. You actually think it’s true. Come on, Dennis, take your blinders off. Relax, people have been warning about the “end of the world” for I don’t know how long, and we’re still hear. We’ve muddle through this far and we’ll keep muddling through. Calm down, take a vacation, watch some television and put that old book made for monks in the monastery away and enjoy the last years of your life. If there’s life after death we’ll find out when we die. Stop worrying about it now. Just be good for goodness sake, like us. That’s all you need. That’s all the religion any of us need. So don’t try to convince us otherwise.
I am sorry you feel like that and have had such a bad experience with religion some place in your life. However, to be truthful with you, I had a pretty similar experience with religion which left me an atheist. But when I saw the arbitrariness of my atheistic faith, when I saw I couldn’t be a consistent atheist, I abandomed atheism for ignosticism. But the fact that love existed, and nature proclaimed the existence of something more, plus the perfect harmony of the stars and planets pushed me further along into Deism. It just seemed more logical that some kind of force or power or energy was in some way in control of the universe. Maybe it just got things started, but life and living things, and sunsets, and mountains, and beautiful people just seemed to cry out that there was some sort of creator or alien race out there somewhere that made us.
I just wanted to share with you some experiences I have had or have been told to me by others, experiences that give us some glimpses into the “other side,” or other dimension. I know you’re not ready for it and don’t want to hear it. But for those of you that do, here goes.
The first experiences comes from close friend of mine who I work with regularly. She’s a woman of great faith and worked in Brazil with a Christian organization that helped the poor people in the favelas to improve their living conditions. However, her greatest pleasue was not just transforming the favela physically, but helping to transform the lives of those who lived within the favela with the love of God and the truth of His word. She not only helped transform their lives, but also the lives of those who became partners with her in her humanitarian work: business owners, teachers, pyschologists, lawyers and other volunteers. Here’s one of her stories which just took place recently in Portugal.
Maria, my friend, was asked by a young woman she had met and talked to about Jesus, if she would go and visit her Aunti who was dying of cancer in a local hospital. My friend agreed to go with her one day soon for a visit. The day came and they arrived at the hospital, but only two people were allowed in the room with the patient at a time. Finally, it was their turn to go in and visit the dying woman. The friend who had invited Maria, chose to stay in the hallway and asked Maria to go in alone. Maria entered and went to the side of the woman’s bed. Maria could actually see how the cancer was destroying the woman’s insides as the nurses were doing some changing and the sheet was up.
Maria asked the woman if she believed in God. The woman responed that she did. Maria asked her if she was sure she was going to heaven when she died? The woman said she thought she was but she wasn't sure. Maria explained to the woman about asking Jesus into her heart to forgive her of her sins and to give her the free gift of eternal life, if she believed. The woman said that she indeed believed and wanted to say the prayer with Maria to receive Jesus. After they prayed, Maria asked the woman if she was at peace. The woman responded that she was, that she was at peace. She asked Maria to help her husband as it would be difficult for him to lose her as he was very dependent on her spiritually.
At that point, the woman told the nurse who was standing near by, she said, “I won’t be needing this mask anymore.” (She had been using a mask for breathing) "My angels are coming for me. I can see them. They are coming for me." Maria said that though the cancer was eating up the woman’s internal organs it hadn’t affected her mind and she was very lucid in her thinking, and even happy and bubbling, though she was dying. At that point, Maria gave the woman a kiss and said goodbye. Her husband was then able to return to the room and the woman and her husband had a few more minutes together and then she died. Maria was standing out in the hall with her friend when it happened. The woman had indeed seen her angels. Watch this scene from the movie Ghost giving us a glimpse at this event.
How can we explain that? Illusion? Imagination? Maybe the food or medicine she was taking caused her to see things? If there is no spiritual dimension and death is the end to everything why did she see her angels? Was it wishful thinking so that she would accept death peacefully. Had evolution developed the mind so well that it could conjure up visions to placate the soul in times of distress? I don’t think so. I’m more inclined to believe that the woman did see her angels coming for her. The whole event reminds me of the old song, “Swing Low Sweet Chariot,” song by the colored people during their times of affliction. Here it is sung by Johnny Cash.
Here’s a similar account from my own history. I had been visiting a friend of ours called Mimi. She owned a restaurante in town and came down with cancer. I think it was stomach cancer. During her time of treatment I would go and visit her at her home and sing Christian songs and read the Bible with her. She was a dear old woman of faith, generous, and loving. She had five children. Funny enough her husband was about twenty years older than me, but we had the same day of year for our birthday. While she was about twenty years older than my wife and their days of birth were just two days apart. She was born on March 9th, and my wife on March 11th. So we had this close bound with her and her husband, a sweet couple who came from Angola in 1975 when the revolution took place there.
Anyway, as things turned out, Mimi took a turn for the worse and her organs started to fail. The doctors told the children who were about ten to fifteen years my younger. Mimi went home from the hospital for a weekend and was going to go back to the hospital on Monday morning. Her oldest son called us to let us know to come and visit her on Sunday, as she was dying and it would be our last chance to see her. But he asked me to please not tell their Mom she was dying. That’s what they thought was best to do. That really annoyed me as I felt that if I was dying I would want to know about it and not be told a lie. With regrets even now when writing this, I conformed to their wishes, though now I wish I had done otherwise. But peer pressure is a powerful tool to silence us from speaking the truth to one another.
So, my wife an I got ready and drove over to Mimi’s new apartment they had recently bought. We rang the bell and waited for someone to open the door. Lo and behold, it was Mimi herself. She smiled, with that sweet loving smile of hers. Then she said, “Do you know what? I can see your angels. You have two shining angels standing right beside you.” She went on, “It’s funny, some of the others that have entered have angels also.” See this short clip on seeing angels.
We knew God himself was preparing Mimi for her soon departure by giving her a glimpse of the spiritual dimension. Even though our lips were sealed, God would not be mocked and He Himself was revealing the spiritual realities to His beloved daughter. She died the next day in the hospital. I was able to be with the family almost to the time of her death. But the nurses came in and saw so many people, Mimi’s five children and myself and a young portuguese adult who spoke English whom I brought with me to help in communicating to the family and she monitored me and my friend out. Family only, she commanded.
It’s really a shame that we are so afraid of death that we hardly want to talk about it. It used to be a natural thing that people did at home with there loved ones standing there besides them. The famous Christian Evangelist Dwight L. Moody died with his family all around him. He had been going in and out of consciousness throughout the day. The doctors had told the family that Moody was coming to his end, so they were all respectfully there at his side. But something unusal happened just before he died. There he had been almost the whole day sleeping or unconsciousness, yet just before death he awoke and said excitedly to his family, “I’ve been there. I’ve been inside the gates. It’s beautiful. More than you can image.” His oldest son replied, "Dad, you’ve been dreaming." Moody responed, “Son, it was more real than any dream.” With that he fell back into unconsciousness and died shortly afterwards.
My own father told me that he didn’t want to be recusitated when he died. He had been there to see the proceedure used on my grandfather whom the doctors brought back to life. My grandfather did not gain consciousness afterwards and laid for two more weeks in bed sleeping. My father was there when he died. Suddenly grandfather, who hadn’t shown any signs of life during that two week period, sat up with his eyes wide open as if he saw something entering the room. Just as quickly as he sat up, he laid back down and died. My father said he was sure that grandfather had seen the angels coming into the room for him.
My mother also shared one of her death experiences with us when we were children. I can vaguely remember the event. I was a small child when it happened. My mom’s God-father was sick. He lived out on Long Island while we lived in Central Jersey about an hour and a half apart. On the night of her God-father’s death she dreamed he came and said good-bye to her. The next morning, her auntie, her God-father’s wife, called her informing her that her God-father had died the night before. How do you naturalists explain that? Did they have such a strong emotional connection that her God-father could communicate with her over a hundred miles?
At the time of my 27 years old son’s death, I , too, had a spiritual experience. I had put down the phone from the call from my son’s roommate in the Bermudas who had informed me that my son had gone missing and that they had found his clothes on the beach side. I fell to my knees in prayer. “Oh, God, oh God, why?” “Please be with him, help him.” In that moment, suddenly, I saw in my mind's eye a vision of my son entering into the gates of heaven. It was more like he was getting off a boat and going up a ramp into a crowd of people. I could see my father embracing him. A friend who had just recently died of brain cancer, was also there to well-come him. There was a throng of people celebrating my son’s arrival. That was the end of the vision.
From that point on, I knew he would not be found alive. Five days later his body washed ashore and was found by some German tourists walking along the beach some 21 miles from where his clothes had been found. It was really a miracle for the police told me some other foreigners had also gone missing in the water never to be seen again. I thanked God that I was able to mourn knowing without a shadow of doubt that my son had gone home to his reward.
But that was not the only spiritual or super-natural event that took place at my son’s death. The next one happened when I was in the Bermudas cleaning up my son’s things. I was getting his clothes ready to give away to the local Red Cross and tying up his loose ends. But grief would overcome me like tidal waves. I was in his room, cleaning up his remaining things, and I couldn’t go on any longer. The pain was just too much to bear. I was crying uncontrollably. I stopped working and went to my lap top to check my mail. Maybe there was something there that would help me.
And there it was. A former girlfriend of my son had written me an e-mail. She said, “Dennis, I wanted to tell you that this morning I had a dream with your son, Martin. He told me to tell you that everything is alright. Not to worry about him. He said now he understands everything you tried to teach him.” End of message I just broke done and bawled even more, and yet my tears changed from mourning into rejoicing. Martin was home, safe in the arms of Jesus, my beloved Friend and Savior.
There you go, dear friends. I hope these testimonies have helped you have faith that there is more to life than meets the eye. Jesus said that unless a man be borned again he could not see the kingdom of God. Maybe you are not seeing these things because you haven’t been born again by God’s spirit into the new life. Maybe you haven’t been hungering and thirsting for righteousness and have just accepted the weary meaningless world that we have. But it doesn’t have to be so, my friend. Call out to God in honest desperation and He promises to answer you and reveal Himself to you.
You could pray a simple prayer like this one, or something similar from your heart. “Dear Jesus or God or whoever you are, reveal yourself to me. I don’t want to be in darkness. I don’t want to be deceived. Like Neo in the Matrix movie, I want the truth. Reveal the truth to me. Is Jesus really the son of God like Dennis claims? Is all this true that he has shared with me? Help me God, or Jesus, if you are there. I’m tired of doing things my way. I’ve done it my way for too long. If You have a better way show me. My head has been bloodied and unbowed, but now I bow my head and ask that You really reveal Yourself to me. Help me. I need your help. I pray this, in Jesus’ name. Amen."
If you pray a prayer like that one, God has promised to reveal Himself to you if you are seeking Him in sincerity. You’ve got to make an effort and not let compromises keep you from the truth. If you need any help, please feel free to write me on messenger or whatsup, or at my google address: dennismedwards@gmail.com I love you and am praying for you that you’ll make the right decision and stand up and be counted for God. Love, Dennis The following video from the Billy Graham ministry might be helpful.
Thursday, February 8, 2018
Thursday, January 11, 2018
Death, Be Not Proud!
Holy Sonnet 10
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
1 Corinthians 15:26: "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death".
Revelation 21:4: "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."
