AGGGGGH! We're all gonna die! (About that Mayan Prophecy...)

Duh.

Of course we're all gonna die. Everything and everyone who ever lived, died eventually. 

Even Jesus. 

Sure, He was resurrected, but still, He died. Even those He raised from the dead, did die eventually.

It's amazing how many people are talking about this Mayan calendar, December 21st, Doomsday thing these days. People all over the world - entire cities - are doing everything from buying camping supplies, storing food and water and guns, to buying underground shelters. If they had a theme song, it would be that popular BeeGees song, "Stayin' Alive!" Throughout human history, people have sought immortality. They longed for that illusive "Fountain of Youth" to keep them away from death. Massive sales of make-up, vitamins, dieting and gym memberships are all part of humanity's anti-death regimen.

As a Workplace Chaplain, one of the places I minister is to Employees working in nursing homes. On occasion, a staff member will call my attention to an elderly Resident, laying in their death bed. One day, I was directed to a woman who, I was informed, was terrified of dying. When I entered her room, she was bundled in her blankets like an infant baby, her bedding pulled tightly around her face which barely showed. I kneeled next to her, asked her what's wrong, and she replied, "I'm scared. I'm gonna die. I'm so ashamed... I'm Pentecostal and I shouldn't be scared..."

She lived another 8 months after that.

Fear of death has been common among earthlings since the beginning of time. First time Adam accidentally stepped on a bug, I'm sure he wondered about the sudden ending of the thing stuck to the bottom of his bare foot. One minute that bug was crawling and happily minding his business. The next minute... SQUISH! Life was over for the bug but the world kept on spinning and didn't even notice its absence. 

I've been privileged to have been the very last human voice heard by many on their death beds. Ever since I learned the sense of hearing was the last sense to go, I started speaking to dying people as if they were completely conscious. I will say things like, "No one is going to forget you, Willy," and "Everybody here loves you, they'll think about you often and we'll all be together with you very soon."

In general, all have expired within 12 hours or so later.

Hebrews 2:14-16 is one of my favorite verses. Note my italicized emphasis in this, the "God's Word" translation: "Since all of these sons and daughters have flesh and blood, Jesus took on flesh and blood to be like them. He did this so that by dying he would destroy the one who had power over death (that is, the devil). In this way he would free those who were slaves all their lives because they were afraid of dying. So Jesus helps Abraham’s descendants rather than helping angels."

Did you catch that? Some folks are slaves - they are in bondage - all their lives because of their fear of dying. You see it manifesting these days everywhere you look in the midst of all the Mayan Calendar stuff.

Are you afraid of death? It's ok. There's a healthy fear of death and there's the kind that can hold you in bondage. A healthy fear of death causes you to go indoors during a lightning storm or grab a thick coat when it's freezing. It encourages you to eat when you're hungry, lest you starve, and take that nasty medicine when you're ill. This kind of fear is NOT a bad thing.

Jesus didn't want to die, even though He willingly "gave up the ghost" and "for the joy set before Him" endured the cross. In other words, He knew what came next. 1 Corinthians `15:55 reads, "O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?" The apostle Paul wrote, "To live is Christ, to die is gain," (Phil 1:21). In other words, if Paul lived, he got to serve Jesus and, if he died, he got to be WITH Him. 

I have prayed for people who were on their death beds. The fact they continued to live and even left the hospital showed me God's mercy upon their families, affording them additional time to get used to the idea of life without their loved one. In some cases, death postponed allowed additional family members to see them alive one more time. 

Maybe they weren't ready to see them go. 

Maybe they needed to make amends. 

Maybe... lots of reasons. 

In one instance, a young man was on his death bed after a terrible car crash. His family "pulled the plug" but he continued living. After our intercessory team prayed over him, he not only left the hospital but is now married with children.

Go figure. 

It's been said "Life is like a roll of toilet paper; the closer you get to the end of the roll, the faster it disappears." Are you ready to die? Many have done it, including Jesus. It's part of life - the longest part of living, actually. As a result of the Mayan Prophecy 

scare, "scheduled" by many to take place in just ten days (Dec 

21st), Ron Hubbard, a manufacturer of hi-tech underground 

survival shelters, has seen his business explode.

"We've gone from one a month to one a day," he said. "I don't have 

an opinion on the Mayan calendar but, when astrophysicists come 

to me, buy my shelters and tell me to be prepared for solar

flares, radiation, EMPs... I'm going underground on the 19th and 

coming out on the 23rd... just in case anybody's right." 

Well, the world will probably NOT end on December 21st. Even if it does, life on this planet is NOT "it" for us, so we shouldn't try and get too comfortable during our stay here. It gets better afterward! 

Every blessing,

Michael Tummillo

Founder, The Church @ Work