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.scribd.com/doc/22396398/Do-
You-Want-to-Always-be-with-God-who-Reigns.