Death's Sting Removed

She had just finished hearing a news report of a car that crashed killing all those in it-instantly over the CD cum radio besides her bed.
"With all the hulla baloo about better technology and hotter safety devices cars still crashed," she exclaimed softly. Some more gone. There were other kinds of death too, taking place in the world even as she reasoned, by gunshots, aircrashes maybe. Of late that had become quite a frightening phenomenon. Sudden deaths-were just what they are termed, sudden.

They slam you when you least expect them. There was also protracted deaths those usually took time. In a sense we are all victims of that kind of death. Isn't aging some what like that she thought, oblivious of the music playing besides her as a hot cup of cocoa steamed away in front of her on the...she didn't want to think about that.

Protracted deaths were usually delayed, sometimes it basically serves you notice. After a while HIV without a regimen of antiretroviral drugs, becomes full blown AIDS and serves you notice-through opportunistic diseases. So does Tuberculosis if it is not well treated and so does cancer and any other terminal disease. Terminal. Was the departure hall in an airport not sometimes called a terminal. She thought.

She was a Christian has been for years, so all she could offer the world was a Christian POV-Point of View. She had been experiencially born of the Holy Ghost-Born Again. She knew the time, she knew the place and how she had felt the grace! Those meetings were memorable, the Holy Ghost moved as they sang, He moved emotionally when they prayed. And how the glory did roll when they worshipped...

She had heard a very strange tale indeed. A lady she knew, knew very well, she smiled. This woman also Christian had slept on day and had dreamt she was being chased by an evil spirit and had then been outrun by the same in the and then...gosh, the thing... invaded her!!

Even where she sat she shuddered at the thought. And then this was the eerie part. Her friend claimed she had not just been invaded by evil spirits but also linked to evil spirit by birds. Wow, who would have thought that birds can link anyone to evil spirits!! The woman claimed she could do a lot of extra perceptory stuff with the bird thing.

Sounded unbelieveable. But her friend claimed it was all true. Beyond a shred of doubt.The story was by no means over...

It was night time and there she sat feeling the blood oozes out her body without flowing out visibly. A feeling of lightness began to take over, there was strange hum from the electricity,,,if she did not think herself crazy, she would...but it was the electricity was draining the blood and life out of her!

Are you ready to die? A thought resonated through her mind. You know a demon possesed person goes directly to hell, why not, accept the mark of the beast and this could all be over. You say you would and someone would come running in. Once you do all this ends. Dying, naa, you don't want to die, you can't die, hell is... forever! You know!

She shrugged the thought off, trying so hard to not to be scared. The feeling worsened until she nearly passed out and then it eased. This is your last chance the voice said. Her heart gave way to her fear as she then yelled, "alright, okay I'll take the mark!!!! I'll take it!!!!"
The feeling eased and to her surprise someone knocked her door. And then came in, and there she stood; a neighbour, holding some...
"Are you ready? Stretch out your right arm."
She did. What options did she have. Her wisdom failed her, it seemed everything had failed her, and hell was one option she just...She stretched out her right arm and...then it was done. Being demon possessed she had recieved the mark of the beast.

Just as she had come in, her brander left...

"Well madam the results do show the growth is...em malignant."
"Please speak english."
"You have cancer. You're dying-ma'am."
Her whole world was more than rocked...first demon possession, then seven years ago she recieved 666, now this...she simply had to die!!! What was she to do. She mussed. She slank into a nearby seat, the young doctor could only sense it was just the medical report that weighed heavilly on her. It was far more than that!!!
She looked up into the young doctors eyes and inquired, "how long do I have to...
"Three months, maybe less."
"Three months!! She said no more. What was there to say. How could he help. She got up and began walking away.
"Ma'am I know a counselor who can-
"What I need now is a pastor and even he...she let the words trail off...

For two months she had hidden the news from everyone she knew particularly from those who she went to church with. How do you tell anyone you were invaded with demons and have received 666 and not expect them to basically freak out.

Now she was getting to that stage where she was increasingly becoming too weak to move around. She lay there on her bed, the pain she felt throbbing horrendously through her frame. She could feel the life eebing away. That wasn't really the problem. If only she could remove the sting in death. Then it wouldn't be that bad. She knew the scriptures, she had been born again. So she knew God existed, the Gospel of Christ true. The experience of the Holy Ghost she, like maybe billions before and many who lived in those years, had felt was real- as real as her right hand.

If someone could only remove the sting in death!! She thought, the pain would be as nothing.

Krok! Krok! Krok! It was her door. How she wished it was the Lord Jesus Himself, so she could cry her heart out for mercy. Creeeeeek! The door turned on its hinges. It was the young doctor dressed in purple shirt and black trousers and black shoes and a man dressed in jeans a v-necked polo top. He didn't look...

"Wow ma'am you have no one to take care of you!!!"
She tried to smile. Her cranial features only distorted to reveal what was soon to follow.
"This is the pastor I was talking about."
She looked at him from where she lay. Well what did she have to lose. If she didn't talk...
She beckoned to him with her right hand, he drew near. She tapped the bed beside her with her right hand, he sat besides her.

And then she opened up and began telling him how she had been invaded by demons one night, the link to birds and then how she had been branded with 666 soon after. The pastor listened and then simply smiled.
Was there anything to smile about? She wondered.

"Well luckily I am also a masters degree holder-of the english language. As well as a pastor well grounded in scripture. First the original text says "If any recieves the mark...(Rev. 14:9). Words have meanings. A word only means what it means. Ma'am did you know the "any" in the original included meanings for a demon possessed lady linked to birds?"
"No," she said weakly affraid that shaking her head alone could be misleading.
"So it means you did not know the commandment. How do you do what you don't know."
She brightened up.
And even if you develped a motive...can we even say you developed a motive, where is the language that has meaning for demon possessed person the whole thing from thought, motive, decision, choice to action amounts to nothing.
Her ignorance had saved her.

"Let me take it further," the young pastor said.
"We have taking many things for granted. For instance did you know the new testament was actually written in Greek, the old testament in Hebrew and one chapter of the book of Daniel in Chaldee? And that the last book Revelations was written say AD or CE 98. That is about 1008 years ago. Language is dyna-language changes. Some encyclopedias say Greek has changed overtime. So how do we who live in the 21st century know the meanings appended to the original and translations we read are in fact the meanings God meant to convey," he said smiling.
"That again is a plus, it means, till that day we can ascertain we do for a fact have Gods meanings-we can never know we know the will of God based on just the meanings the language or languages we have today appends to those word. Even the translations we have can be affected. And if one, again in her case I'm using semantics-for again can we say she is a she by language or a one or a person-since she's demon possessed; so if one don't know the thing is revelation you just don't know. How do you become an offender by doing what amounts to-you just don't know?" He stopped to see her face brighten up some more and then continued.

"Oh but there's more, since we cannot ascertain that just by reading the originals with the meanings we have today and that just by reading any translation we know the will of God. It means there is nothing in those things you are sure of for now. Don't get me wrong. There is a real born again experience, the scripture with the original meanings God conveyed will ever be scripture and Divine revelation inspired by God the Holy Ghost, what we are seeing here is the possiblity of human frailty-frailty in documenting the exact meanings God conveyed with human language over the ages.Leaving us with room for a good number of possibilities, since those words could have changed their meaning; without any of those who helped to put meaning to those Greek, Hebrew and Chaldee words-later on even knowing it. Further more things we term Divine leadings as good as they are could be faulty. Even if God uses it. "' All things work together for good for those who love God.' If that was properly conveyed then God could use a faulty leading. If you were to hear a voice giving you an instruction. You for instance told me Ma'am, you hear voices and that demonically possessed people can converse via telepathy. Whose to say which voice you hear in the world.

If you were anointed spiritually-in the experience of salvation, real anointings are genuine, but who gives you the intepretation to that anointing in your mind, demonically enabled inteference or God, do you know?

So once again how do you know for certain it was God? You said demon possessed people linked to birds can give you dreams. So that rules dreams out. Unless you as sure as Joesph and are you? Again who gave you the understanding or intepretation of that dream-demonically enabled inteference? If you had a spiritual impression from the Holy Ghost we can again ask who gave you the interpretation to that impression even if it's real?

"So basically you're saying she lacked the knowledge base to do anything that amounts to anything?" The young doctor asked.
"Yep. There's more. Dictionary terms-definitions and all are not doctrine."
"You're catching on." The pastor told the young doctor.
"And I would have you know that there is no way you can tell a dictionary defines what you've done, the people who defined those word in the dictionary, were they in touch with all the seen and unseen factors that contribute to actions? She said demon possesed people linked to birds knew how to motivate others to do stuff, especially bad stuff. The dictionary doesn't cover that. And there's no way she would have known all her life which act she thought up, decided to do, chose to, and did that was not motivated by such personalities-even in a manner she like anyone would not even sense. Take for example the word steal. The dictionary would define it something like: 'taking something that belongs to another without lawful permission,' right? In defining by classification when you do this you have stolen. Now take this one, taking something that belongs to another without lawful permission having been motivated by demon possessed persons to do so.
No dictionary had such a definition right and there's no way to tell any does, because you cannot tell if those who defined the words in the dictionary knew such ideas or bothered to include them in what was expressed in language. And you can do the same thing for choice, decide, think and any verb, and you know verbs expresss, action, occurence and existence. Goodness you can apply it to any word-verb or not.
"So she's home free. Because she can't tell which of her past actions before she was demon possessed were motivated or not."
"And now that she's in demonism?"
"There are no concepts-ideas in formal language to use to define her actions and as such cannot be in breach of any Divine revelation! No breach no parameters for curse, retribution, jugdement for wrong doing and disobedience."
"But like her any who knows all these things are true for him or her you could just be a good personality and still pray about any past action or actions that did occur that you just feel God may not be happy about. These I would summarize as the "Anything(s) that stands between you and everlasting life.For how do you breach what you don't know."
"This is good. It's beyond good-its eternal!!
But again I recall some pastor saying something about being caught up."
"Well...she again did say those demon possessed people can make people forget stuff imperceptively, so how does anyone know the pastor delivered the message intact."
"No one can."
"That my friend then means no one can be sure such a person delivered the whole message...If the person is sure-you the hearer just can't be sure."
"As such can't tell they heard the whole will of God when the men delivered it and that is if we're talking about a credible pastor here."
"That done. One more thing...
"Before then... I heard they could even give you dreams and make you really believe they are real. No kidding!"
"Once you are certain, no matter how well the do that, once you are certain you can't tell it was deliberate and something you did being stark awake, you cannot tell what it is and still it is nothing, nothing attracts nothing. Now can we pray."

The two men bowed there heads, while the women lying on the bed for the moment oblivious of her pain closed her eyes, "Father in heaven we know we are just conveying words with the language we understand, but we know you are a Faithful God. Please forgive this woman here for anything that stands between her and everlasting life, because of the Lord Jesus Who is with you in Holy High Invisible Heaven and because of the Mercy we have in Him, in the gracious name of the Lord Jesus Who is with you in Holy Invisible Heaven I most humbly pray, amen." The pastor concluded.
The others chorused an amen.
And then the lady whose name they didn't even know looked up and smiled and said thank you.
"What was with the Jesus in Holy High Invisible Heaven thing."
"Not meant to freak you out. There's a whole of name calling out there-we have to make the person we are praying for sure we know the Jesus we are referring to."
" Gee, I feel that. I really do."

She sat there reading the detailed letter of the event that had come to her. The woman in the story had been her twin sister. And how the story had consoled her. Her sister was always the one preaching "we need to know how to take the sting out of death" and the sting was taken out of hers. Her sister had gone to be with the Lord, she on the other hand was healthy but down with a little flu; but had been forced by her daughter to have bed rest... She sat there suddenly noticing the cup of cocoa beverage, "you must be getting cold, time to tuck you away," and she picked up the mug from the tray on her bed and drank up.
She too had learned how to take the sting out of death. She looked out the window wondering if she didn't have a duty to publish her sister's letter since she knew just like her sister anyone who understood all the issues the pastor stated could remove the sting in death with a single prayer-even saying the same words the pastor said and meaning each word-even though they were not branded at all, but also simply had to die...