Death, Heaven and Hell

Death comes for us all no matter what our state.
It comes for the rich and it comes for the poor.
It comes for the old and it comes for the young.
It comes for the strong and it comes for the weak.
It comes for the wise and it comes for the simple.
It comes for the celebrities and it comes for the nobodies.
It comes for righteous and it comes for the unrighteous.
It comes for those that are prepared and those that are not expecting it.
It comes to all of man equally, and no one cannot escape it grasp.

In the twinkling of an eye, I find myself no longer journeying in this world. Instead, I in a strange and heavenly place filled awe and splendor. My body is no longer sick and dying but healthy and strong. There is no sun, yet it is brighter than the brightest day on Earth, the light reflecting off every nook and cranny. The clouds once above my head are now beneath my feet. The air is overflowing with music and the sounds bring joy to my heart. I hear harps, violins, cymbals, and a million voices more beautiful than you could ever dream each in perfect harmony, a symphony beyond words. There are a thousand never-ending songs of praise yet they are all united as one tapestry woven skillfully together. The streets are made of gold with a thousand feet dancing joyfully upon them. The buildings are grand, each a mansion lovely for the eye to see. They shine and shimmer brighter that any diamond, sparkling, radiating rainbows of light in every direction. Wonderful fine marble and flawless perfect pearl towered everywhere you looked. The gardens were filled with beauty, a riot of color exploding everywhere yet somehow balanced and dancing in the light. The grass was green as emeralds, a lush blanket begging one to lie down and rest. A gentle stream gurgled and laughed as it traveled on it way. The exotic smells filled your being with a sense pleasure. No perfume made by man was every as sweet as this. It is pure delight. The birds sing their songs of love, while butterflies danced carelessly across the sky. The lion and the lamb sleep peacefully together curd up tight beneath the shade of the mighty cedars. Time itself seems to stand still and peace was everywhere. If you had a lifetime to explore you could not be bored. I could feel a love here, as I had never experienced before. It was as if he knew everything I had ever done yet somehow still accepted me. A love that started before I was born and travel across time. It saw my faults and failures but love me anyway. It was ever faithful, ever true. It wooed me as a groom longing for his bride willing even to lay down his life for me. Such comfort, peace, and joy never before had I ever even thought possible. It was as if the arms of everyone that I have ever loved, was holding me tight.

Again, in the twinkle of an eye, I stood before a great white throne. Angels stood guard around it crying holy, holy, holy. The power it held was unimaginable. A light so pure and innocent shone forth from it and I could not bear to look at it. I saw myself; as I truly was, unclean, contaminate, tainted, and containing no good thing. I felt to my face and shook in fear and dread. I was aware now, just who He was and who I was. I felt ever ounce of strength leave my body. I stood now, in court before my judge and maker. An angel lifted me unto my knees and I bowed before the King and confessed his name. He showed me everything that I had ever done wrong: the white lies and not so white ones, the cross words I spoke, the pain I had cause others, the things I had stolen, the things I had taken for granted, the lust that had fill my body, the evil thought that filled my mind, the times I had denied Him and turned the other way. I watched in horror to know that each sin had been seen, recorded, and written down including the reason that I did it. The trial seems to go on forever and I sank lower with each and every charge. When finial the last charge was read, He asked me how I pleaded. There was nothing that I could said, the excuses I had told myself at the times seemed so lame even to me; “I do it later, it cost too much, it is not hurting anyone, everyone doing it, my way is just as good as anyone else, it only a little sin, no one will ever know, I am just as good as them, no loving God would seen anyone to Hell.” I could not mention them because I knew that they were lies. He and the elders declared me guilty of sin. He pronounced the only sentence he could Death and Hell. There came a cry from the angel Gabriel to wait, to look in the Book of Life and see if there was a pardon there for me. I begged please let there be. He looked once he looked twice but there was none to see. Christ looked upon his hand and my name was not written there as well. The name I took so many times in vain I wish now that I could claim for I had never taken it into my heart. I begged for mercy for I knew it was my only hope. He said too late the time has come and gone. He showed me all the times he spoke, the times He called to me. The times I saw His Holy Word that I failed to believe. He showed all the people he sent to tell me about him that I had turn away. He showed me all the ones that knew Him but turn away and never spoke a word to me. Last, He showed me when I knew that He was true, but turn my back to Him. Then He said, “Away with you for sin cannot abide with me.”

In the twinkling of an eye I found myself being dragged down to a fiery lake by two giant angels and thrown into a black abyss created for Satan himself and the minor demons of fear, pain, hate, wickedness, murder, rape, battery, bitterness, unforgiveness, envy, selfishness, bigotry, prejudice and pride. Darkness was everywhere like a night with no moon or stars. Discordant sounds accosted my ears, a cacophony of men and demons crying out in pain, and torment. Weeping and gnashing of teeth where heard all directions. The stench of smoke filled my nostrils with a caustic foul sulfurous smell. The superheat smoke burned my throat and lungs searing and cooking the flesh from the inside. I choked and fought for a breath of good air but there was none. Every breath was pure agony. My parched dry tongue and lips cracked begged for liquid. The lake consumed every drop of moisture and my body called out for just one drop to lessen the pain to the fire that burned within. I heard myself screaming as the nerves in my body pulsed with horrendous, excruciating pain. I watched as my flesh melted before my eyes on fire but never consumed. There was fighting and jostling from one being unto the next. All were hoping to find a way to relieve to torture if only for a moment. Time again was frozen only this time I begged for it to end. This place was not made for me, but I had chosen to come. I looked above and could see dimly the light of what could have been. A great barrier that allowed only entry now stops my attempt to cross the chasm that separating me from God. “If I had only” and “The choice was your” never not stop repeating. A thousand regrets fill my mind. Memories tormented my soul as I beg for nonexistence. I longed now for the one thing that I could never have, just one moment to seat at Christ feet and rest in His love so sweet, so good and so kind. Why did I not listen? Why did I refuse his gift? Oh, if I could turn back the hands of time. I would gladly pay any price for it. Never again, to see His face, never again to look into that heart so filled with love. It is too much to bear. Forever separated from Him by this place with no hope of rescue. I go on in despair each moment worst than the last, knowing that it will never end. Look there come the angels with another soul. No, go back! You will not like it here. Run before it is too late! Do not join us here!

Kathy Barnes
Copyright 3-23-09