This podcast will help you get ready to face the inevitable unpleasant things that will happen in your life — things like trouble, suffering, sickness, and death — the death of people you love and your own death. Trouble, suffering, and death are common threads that run throughout all of humanity. They are inescapable. You will never meet a person who has not, is not, or will not experience these terrible things in life. Yet, we attempt to hide from these inevitabilities, to pretend they don’t exist or that they won’t happen to us. Our world is filled with news of people dying, children suffering, entire government systems and organizations enduring trouble and turmoil, but we tend to see these as things that only happen to “other people” and never to us. Trouble, suffering, and death come equally to all people, of all races, from every socio-economic status, of every religion, in every country of the world. It makes us all equal. This podcast will show you how to accept these realities of life, and not just cope, but face trouble, suffering, and death in your own life and in the world with confidence, courage, class, and most of all, with faith, hope, and charity.
The Bible says in Ezekiel 33:8: “When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.”
The featured quote for this episode is from Henry David Thoreau. He said, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
Our topic for today is titled “Caring for the Dying, Part 5” from the book, “The Art of Dying: Living Fully into the Life to Come” by Rob Moll.
Welcome to Episode #34 of Preparing for the Inevitable – A Podcast on How to Handle Trouble, Suffering, and Death.
The Bible says in Ezekiel 33:8: “When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.”
The featured quote for this episode is from Henry David Thoreau. He said, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
Our topic for today is titled “Caring for the Dying, Part 5” from the book, “The Art of Dying: Living Fully into the Life to Come” by Rob Moll. And, I want to remind you to take advantage of our special offer. If you enjoy this podcast, please feel free to purchase a copy of this book — “The Art of Dying” by Rob Moll. It is available on our website for just $20.
— A Christian Tradition of Care
The Old Testament taught, and early Christians inherited, a belief in the unity of the body and spirit, and the sacredness of the body, created in the image of God. “It was to save the body that Christ took on flesh in the Incarnation,” writes Gary B. Ferngren in Medicine and Health Care in Early Christianity. This sense of the sacredness of the body and its unity with the soul meant that Christians saw the diseased body in a very different light. Unlike their pagan neighbors, who saw the soul as eternal and the body as dispensable, Christians could not abandon the ill, the dying and the dead.
This theological belief gave impetus to an amazing and effective health care system. “The local congregation created in the first two centuries of its existence an organization, unique in the classical world, that effectively and systematically cared for its sick.” By the year 251, the church in Rome supported fifteen hundred widows and sick members. In the fourth century, Antioch had three thousand people on the rolls of those receiving care from the church. From these early efforts came the first hospitals, dedicating to caring for the sick. Sociologist Rodney Stark argues that these efforts meant that Christians had a lower death rate and more readily converted outsiders, which is a major reason for the early church’s rapid rate of growth.
While our society has forgotten its deathbed manners, as Christians we have a wealth of useful habits gathered through churchgoing: public prayer, singing, care for the needy, testimonies, shared food and a common belief about the meaning of life and death. These habits help us today just as they helped our earliest Christian brothers and sisters.
— Overcoming Our Apprehensions
As we seek to be present with the dying and care for them in practical ways, we must overcome apprehensions that keep us from actively engaging in the life of the individual. We may fear that a visit itself, or what we might say during it, signals that we think death is near. We fear that acknowledging death’s nearness would be offensive or at least unwelcome to whoever is ill. We may have our own dislike of being in a hospital. We may feel guilty for not visiting a loved one more often when she was healthy. Now that she’s ill we feel awkward about making sudden and frequent visits.
Yet the most important thing to do is to be with someone facing death. It can bring families together, and it can be a healthy reminder that no matter how much we’d rather not think about it, none of us will be around very much longer. And in the end it will help our loved ones die more peacefully; it will help us grieve more easily.
In truth, dying people are often “not so much afraid of death as they are of the process of dying. They fear progressive isolation, and they fear being forced to go it alone.” Being present also means coming to terms with the fact that someone you love is dying. Holding out hope for a person’s recovery can be a way of isolating yourself from him or her. And we may have apprehensions about attending the bedside when death is near, because dying patients often narrow down their circle of relationships due to increasing weariness.
Caring for a dying person presents a range of challenges for the caregiver, but not because each individual task is difficult. As loved ones are able to put to rest their apprehensions, they will be able to engage more fully in loving the dying patient to the very end. We often say “there is nothing left to do” when medical options to cure an illness run out. But there is so much left to be done. As family members we can offer hope — not in extended life but in the goodness, purposefulness and blessedness of life. In addition to volunteering practical help, we can tell stories, sing songs, read Scripture and pray. For “much of what the dying and their families need can be given by non-professionals, caring friends, and churches,” says nurse Arlene Miller. “Meals, notes, funny stories, quiet presence, respite care: all are ways to say, ‘We care.’”
If the Lord tarries His Coming and we live, we will continue this topic in our next podcast.
Let’s Pray —
I am your host, Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International. This podcast will help you get ready to face the inevitable unpleasant things that will happen in your life — things like trouble, suffering, sickness, and death — the death of people you love and your own death. Trouble, suffering, and death are common threads that run throughout all of humanity. They are inescapable. You will never meet a person who has not, is not, or will not experience these terrible things in life. Yet, we attempt to hide from these inevitabilities, to pretend they don’t exist or that they won’t happen to us. Our world is filled with news of people dying, children suffering, entire government systems and organizations enduring trouble and turmoil, but we tend to see these as things that only happen to “other people” and never to us. Trouble, suffering, and death come equally to all people, of all races, from every socio-economic status, of every religion, in every country of the world. It makes us all equal. This podcast will show you how to accept these realities of life, and not just cope, but face trouble, suffering, and death in your own life and in the world with confidence, courage, class, and most of all, with faith, hope, and charity.
***
Dear friend, please understand that after you die, you will be ushered into one of two places to spend eternity, Heaven or Hell. Here’s how you can be sure that you will not go to hell and suffer eternal damnation forever and rather have a home in Heaven when you die. The Bible says, ”Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Here’s how you can be saved from sin and hell and have a home in Heaven when you die in more detail.
1. Accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God’s law. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:20: “For there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good, and sinneth not.” Romans 3:23 reads: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” In fact, I am the chief of sinners, so don’t think that you’re alone.
2. Accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”
3. Accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” The Bible says in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
4. Accept the fact that you cannot do anything to save yourself! The Bible states in Ephesians 2: 8, 9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
5. Accept the fact that God loves you more than you love yourself, and that He wants to save you from hell. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
6. With these facts in mind, please repent of your sins, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and pray and ask Him to come into your heart and save you this very moment. The Bible states in the book of Romans 10:9, 13: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Dear friend, if you are willing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, please pray with me this simple prayer: Heavenly Father, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.
If you believed in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, and rose again, allow me to say, congratulations on doing the most important thing in life and that is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour! For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door”. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
Daniel Whyte III has spoken in meetings across the United States and in over twenty-five foreign countries. He is the author of over forty books including the Essence Magazine, Dallas Morning News, and Amazon.com national bestseller, Letters to Young Black Men. He is also the president of Gospel Light Society International, a worldwide evangelistic ministry that reaches thousands with the Gospel each week, as well as president of Torch Ministries International, a Christian literature ministry.
He is heard by thousands each week on his radio broadcasts/podcasts, which include: The Prayer Motivator Devotional, The Prayer Motivator Minute, as well as Gospel Light Minute X, the Gospel Light Minute, the Sunday Evening Evangelistic Message, the Prophet Daniel’s Report, the Second Coming Watch Update and the Soul-Winning Motivator, among others.
He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology from Bethany Divinity College, a Bachelor’s degree in Religion from Texas Wesleyan University, a Master’s degree in Religion, a Master of Divinity degree, and a Master of Theology degree from Liberty University’s Rawlings School of Divinity (formerly Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary). He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Ministry degree.
He has been married to the former Meriqua Althea Dixon, of Christiana, Jamaica since 1987. God has blessed their union with seven children.
BCNN1 WP 