As the year of 2018 slips away and we welcome the year of 2019 I would like to tell you a story that I heard from my good friend, Glenda. Her father died and came back to life and his experience in the afterlife is worth sharing.

Glenda’s dad had renal carcinoma and when the doctors were removing the tumor they cut an artery and he started bleeding out. He was actually dead for twelve minutes.

The first thing that happened to this man was an accounting for the words which he had spoken to others. I wrote about this in another blog post.https://www.spotublog.com/christian-singles/

What was interesting was what happened after that event. He was taken through beautiful meadows and then came upon a large canyon. As he looked down into the canyon all he could see was darkness.

Then he started lowering into the canyon and came upon a gate. He heard the sound of painful crying and he saw hands reaching through the gate with long gnarled fingernails. He heard the tortured throng say, “Do you have any water? Just a drop of water is all we need. Please bring us some water.” The horrid crying continued and then he was brought back to life.

When he woke up he realized he had been at the gates of hell.

This man did not know Christ. None of his family, with the exception of his daughter, Glenda, knew Christ. He was not a mean man. He was a good husband, a good father and a leader in the community. If anyone could have gone to heaven on their own account he would have been first in line. Yet when he died he was at the gates of hell.

Without believing in Christ we have no hope of heaven. Our good works are like filthy rags compared to the holiness of God. “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind, our sins sweep us away” (Isaiah 64:6).

Martin Luther said, “The most damnable and pernicious heresy that has ever plagued the mind of man is that somehow he can make himself good enough to deserve to live forever with an all-holy God.”

My friend’s dad was given two more years to live and he realized that he needed to believe in the power of Jesus’ blood to save him from eternal damnation. When he did die he actually saw and proclaimed that God was in the corner of the room, beckoning for him to come into the afterlife.

If you are struggling with the decision of your faith. I ask you to give Jesus a chance. Ask Him into your heart and believe that his death was powerful enough to secure your eternal destination. Please don’t push Him away. Eternity is a long time to regret making the wrong decision in what you believe in.

Portions of this post were copied from this website – https://www.gotquestions.org/filthy-rags.html