Just when you thought you had heard everything...
Dare 2 Share - For the word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are. Nothing in all creation can hide from him. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes. This is the God to whom we must explain all that we have done. (Hebrews 4:12-13)
Just when you thought you had heard everything, you immediately find out that you haven’t. Especially when it comes to people who we can’t hear from anymore, mainly because they aren’t here anymore.
What in the world am I talking about? A new concept that has to do with places out of this world by people who are apparently out of their minds.
The company is called “Afterlife Telegrams”…yep; the name pretty much says it all.
If you’ve got a few bucks ($10 a word), you can have a ‘telegram’ delivered to someone who has died. The way it works is that your message is transported to the deceased by a terminally ill person who has memorized your memo.
Scary thought: what if your telegram was returned with postage due?
On a more serious note: how incredibly sad that there are people who would put forth the faith (and the dough) to a flim-flam outfit who is preying on the grief of people when they should be praying for the forgiveness of God.
It just goes to show this world’s fascination with the supernatural- which brings up another point: are you taking advantage of this fact? People today are much more willing to talk about spiritual things, and we have the only spiritual truth. In fact, did you know that the words of Scripture are more powerful than the words of a ghost?
In Luke 16:19-31, we read about a rich man who died and went to hell. I don’t think anyone would have wanted to send him a telegram, because it sounds like he’s your basic definition of greediness.
While there, he suddenly gets concerned about his family having to join him down under (isn’t it amazing how the heat of Hades turns evildoers into evangelists?)
Turns out his brothers never trusted in God- maybe because they had life pretty easy like he did, so they’re not too concerned about the afterlife. So the rich guy comes up with this brilliant plan to convince them that Scripture is true: send a televangelist telegram in the form of a ghost- and then they’ll believe.
That sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? I mean- it worked for Scrooge in The Christmas Carol (sure, it took three ghosts, but it did finally change him).
Have you ever wished that you could produce something supernatural for your friends or family to convince them of the truth of Scripture? Yet Abraham’s response was: `If they won't listen to Moses and the prophets, they won't listen even if someone rises from the dead.'
In other words, The Bible is not just a collection of letters on some paper. If you are witnessing to people using God’s word, that is as powerful as it gets. Not even a ‘gospel ghoul’ would be more convincing than John 3:16. Talk about the ultimate ‘afterlife telegram’!
So if you are discouraged that people don’t seem to be responding to your efforts to share the good news of Christ, be encouraged by Luke 16. If you are presenting the gospel with the words of Scripture, you are doing exactly what God wants you to do. Fancy talk, flawless arguments, and flashy methods add nothing to the power of the Word. Think about the fact that everyone on this earth has some level of interest in spiritual things- and remember that quoting the Bible is more effective than calling a ghost.
Questions:
1) Who in your life needs the Biblical version of the ‘afterlife telegram’?
2) Why is God’s Word more powerful than a poltergeist?
3) How many verses could you quote from memory?
