HomeARC ML 0680
"DEATH IN YOUR ARMS!"--Father David Dec. 24, 1976 MO GP NO.680
Copyright © by The Family of Love, March 1978, C.P. 748, 001000 Roma, Italia.
1. THE TIME'S COMING WHEN I'LL BE HERE NO MORE--WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO THEN? You're going to hear from the Lord through the mouth of His prophets and His prophetesses, amen? The Lord will still be here, and I hope I'll still be here in spirit.
2. I DON'T KNOW JUST WHERE THE LORD WILL PUT ME, BUT I'VE ASKED HIM THAT I CAN STILL BE WITH YOU, thank You Lord! Even if I have to leave this poor old tired body, I'll be free, thank the Lord? We'll be free, thank You Jesus!
3. I WANT TO TELL YOU ABOUT THE SUNDAY MORNING THAT A MAN DIED IN MY ARMS. I was sitting in Café de Paris in Puerto when this great big tall fine-looking man, a giant of a man, big, robust, walked into the cafe with his family. He looked like a Russian and it turned out that he was from Eastern Europe.
4. LATER WHEN WE TRIED TO READ HIS MEDICAL TAG THE WRITING LOOKED LIKE RUSSIAN or Czechoslovakian or something. But because of the colour of the tag the English doctor knew--of course we didn't know when we first saw him--that he was a heart patient and he had a pacemaker. He had one of those pacemakers buried in his abdomen somewhere to make his heart keep beating on time. He looked like he was in his 70s quite an old fella, but he looked fine, robust, healthy, but walked with a cane.
5. WHEN HE FIRST WALKED IN I SAID TO MARIA, "LOOK WHAT A FINE-LOOKING MAN THAT IS! ISN'T HE BEAUTIFUL!" My, how wonderful to grow old like that!--Looking so beautiful and strong and robust, a fine-looking man, as he sat there! I imagined he must have been a military officer sometime, from his bearing as he sat in that chair.
6. HE HAD A BIG STALIN MUSTACHE and a very Jewish nose like mine only much bigger, if such a thing can be. Some of us Jews can sympathise with each other. And he sat there with his family, it looked like his family, who came trailing in after him.
7. HE WAS LEADING THE WAY LIKE THE GENERAL AND HE CAME AND SAT WHERE WE USUALLY SAT in the corner, there where we could see the passing parade. The biggest show in town is on the corner of Avenida Colon and Avenida Venezuela! If you sit there long enough you'll see everybody in town, everybody you know.
8. I THOUGHT, "WELL, HE'S GOT GOOD TASTE, HE WANTS TO SIT WHERE HE CAN SEE what's going on." And this woman sat down with him, she didn't look like she was near as old as he was. I didn't really pay much attention to her.
9. I WAS SO ADMIRING HIS LOOKS and several fine-looking young people--I noticed one very pretty girl, I never miss those! Thank You Lord, in Jesus' name, help these young people to get the lesson even though we're a little humourous.
10. BOY, THAT'S THE KIND OF THING THAT WILL SOBER YOU UP, beloved! That restaurant was shook up all week from what happened there that day! So I said, "Maria, look at that gorgeous man, isn't he beautiful?" and he was beautiful, magnificent!
11. HE SAT THERE IN THAT CHAIR LOOKING AROUND MAJESTICALLY, a big strong fellow. I think he had a cane though, and I looked down at his foot and it was all bandaged up. People with heart trouble often get foot trouble because of poor circulation, or older men sometimes get gout from sitting too much, a sedentary life. Even truck drivers get that sort of thing from having to sit so much at a job. If you have a desk job, an office job like I do, you're apt to get the gout or heart trouble or several things, or get a big fat bay window or fat tummy just from not getting enough exercise.
12. ANY WAY, HE SAT THERE AND HE JUST LOOKED BEAUTIFUL! THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN HIS WHOLE FAMILY LEFT and he was sitting there all alone! And I looked down at his foot and it was all bandaged up and I said to Maria, "Oh, that poor fellow, isn't that a shame? He must be really suffering from that foot!" They'd apparently parked him there and all gone off and left him sitting there all alone.
13. AFTER THEY LEFT, HE LOOKED KIND OF SAD AND LONELY AND A LITTLE BIT FORSAKEN. I said, "Poor man! He looks sad and lonely, and now his family's gone off and left him just sitting there!" I said, "You know, when you get that old you feel like a burden already," and they'd apparently dumped him there to get rid of him so they could go shopping or something.
14. HE PROBABLY DIDN'T WANT TO SIT UP IN A HOTEL ROOM ALONE and do nothing, he wanted to get out a little bit and see something. So they had set him, plunked him down there in that chair and walked off and left him! And I said to Maria,
15. "WE OUGHT TO PRAY FOR THAT POOR MAN that the Lord will heal his foot and deliver him!--At that age he must have a lot of aches and pains and troubles."
16. I THINK IT WAS DAVID WHO SAID THAT "THE DAYS OF A MAN'S LIFE ARE THREE SCORE AND TEN," 70 years. (Ps.90:10.) That's the average that God has said that we would have after the flood, the average. Some of us don't come up to the average, some people live long beyond the average. If they've lived good normal healthy lives, worked hard, a lot of old people 100 years old are still working. Usually you find them out in the country on farms living a good healthy life. I haven't heard of many city people living to be 100. And I said to Maria,
17. "I GUESS HE'S PROBABLY GOT A LOT OF ACHES AND PAINS AND HEARTACHES AT HIS AGE," and I was telling her, "I hope I'm never a burden, I hope I don't get sick and you have to take care of me for years as an invalid before I die.
18. "WHEN I GO I WANT TO GO FAIRLY QUICK so that I don't cause you a lot of trouble. I don't want to be months and months in bed as an invalid, that's a waste of time."--Well, I don't know, Lord, whatever You want, it's up to You, Lord. It's Your business and whatever way You want to do it is just fine.
19. I REMEMBER MY FATHER HAD A STROKE AND HE WAS PARTLY PARALYSED for the last two or three years of his life and it was quite a burden for my mother and for Ho too, who took care of him for awhile. But God knows what He's doing. So I looked at that poor old fellow and I said,
20. "YOU KNOW, WE OUGHT TO PRAY THE LORD WILL HEAL HIM AND HELP HIM AND REALLY DELIVER HIM from his aches and pains and whatever trouble he's got. We ought to pray for real deliverance for that fellow!" And I hardly got the words out of my mouth and the prayer off my heart when the Lord delivered him!--Not the way I was expecting it, but the Lord delivered him!
21. MY WIFE'S UNCLE WAS A FIRM BELIEVER IN THE LORD AND HIS HEALING. He was up in years, quite sick and had gotten to be somewhat of a burden, so he prayed the Lord would deliver him.
22. HE SAID, "THE LORD TOLD ME HE'S GOING TO DELIVER ME on a certain day. He's going to heal me, totally heal me and deliver me!" And he was positive he was going to be totally healed that day--and that was the day he died! He was totally healed, totally delivered, all right!
23. WHAT BETTER DELIVERANCE CAN YOU HAVE BUT TO GET RID OF THE WHOLE THING?--The old body that gives you so many problems? Just think how much trouble that body causes you from the time you're born!
24. YOU'VE GOT TO FEED IT AND CLOTHE IT AND CHANGE IT and feed it and clothe it and change it, and unclothe it and then when you get older you've got to satisfy it all kinds of other ways. Then when you get as old as I am you begin having all kinds of aches and pains and problems as it begins to fall apart.
25. I HAVEN'T FALLEN APART YET!--DON'T WORRY! I have a few aches and pains, but thank the Lord it hasn't killed me yet. But we had just prayed, Maria and I had agreed together, we held hands and prayed, didn't we? "Lord deliver him!"--And He did!
26. I WAS WATCHING THE VERY MOMENT WHEN HE FELL OVER AND I RUSHED FORWARD AND TOOK HIM IN MY ARMS, because when people faint one of the greatest dangers is they'll fall and hurt themselves. That's what happens with epileptics and people who go into a faint from heart trouble or sickness. So I quickly held him so he wouldn't slip and fall on the floor. He was a big heavy man and he could have hurt himself badly like that.
27. I DIDN'T REALISE THAT HE WAS DYING IN MY ARMS, but immediately this British doctor rushed over and the woman with him was a nurse. He said we had to get him out of the chair quickly and lay him on the floor and give him heart massage.
28. SO THE WAITERS HELPED ... those waiters there do move slow, even when somebody's dying! But I think it has something to do with their faith. They figure, well, whatever's going to happen is going to happen, so why get excited about it?--Especially your dinner! But they finally helped us and I pulled the chair out and we laid him down.
29. WE KNELT DOWN BESIDE HIM, THE DOCTOR AND I. I WAS STILL HOLDING ONE HAND doing whatever the doctor told me to do, and he was massaging his heart. He shook his head--no pulse, no breath, for 5 minutes he was dead, no pulse, no breath, no nothing!
30. FIRST I STARTED PRAYING IN ENGLISH, THEN I PRAYED IN SPANISH. I didn't know what language he knew, I thought maybe if he heard somebody praying it might encourage him, if he could hear anything at all. I've often prayed with people in accidents who were dying, and it sometimes encourages them to know that somebody is praying for them.
31. THEN SUDDENLY I BEGAN TO PRAY IN THE SPIRIT IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE!--Very Slavic, very Eastern European, and I suppose it was Abrahim praying for this man. I was too involved at the time to really pay much attention to what he was saying, or understanding.--I was praying by the Spirit and not my understanding--but it was something about, "Even for your father David's sake, touch this man for the testimony of answered prayer, touch him, do something!"
32. AND JUST AS I DID THAT AND PRAYED THAT, HIS PULSE CAME BACK and he began breathing a little bit! The doctor said, "Ah, here it comes again, it's coming!" But then it soon faded away.
33. I THINK THE LORD DID IT JUST TO ENCOURAGE MY FAITH, TO SHOW HE COULD DO IT IF HE WANTED TO and as a witness to the doctor. Because the doctor could hear me praying since our heads were only inches apart, and I was really praying and holding his hand.
34. BUT THEN I SAID, "NEVERTHELESS, LORD, NOT MY WILL BUT THINE BE DONE. You know what's best, You know what's best." And it began to dawn on me,
35. "WE JUST GOT THROUGH PRAYING THE LORD WOULD DELIVER HIM, SO MAYBE IT'S NOT BEST FOR HIM TO COME BACK! You know what's best, Lord, Your will be done."--And his pulse was gone again, he stopped breathing, and the doctor pronounced him dead. Well, it was a real testimony to the restaurant and it made them all very sober.
36. BUT I WAS REALLY AMAZED AT HOW FEW PEOPLE EVEN PAY ANY ATTENTION TO THINGS LIKE THAT, how few people are even concerned about death! Here they were face to face with death, something that is going to happen to every one of them sooner or later, and most of them are not prepared for it, have made no preparation whatsoever.
37. HERE WAS A MAN DYING RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM AND THEY'D JUST AS SOON FORGET ABOUT IT, didn't want to think about it. It reminds me of the story, maybe I've told it to you sometime or other:
38. THERE WAS A FAMOUS KING WHO HAD A FAVOURITE JESTER in his court to whom he finally gave some property and quite an income and retired him because of his good work all those years in cheering up the king and making him happy and cracking jokes and being funny and so on.
39. HE GAVE HIM PARTICULARLY THIS VERY BEAUTIFUL CANE with gold wrought into the wood, and he said, "I want to give you this, my own cane, as a special present to you from me, because you have been such an encouragement to me and so good to me all these years." He said,
40. "YOU'RE GOING AWAY NOW ON A TRIP because I have set you free and I want you to take the cane with you. That's my special gift for you for being the greatest fool I ever had!"
41. SOME YEARS LATER THE KING'S FOOL HEARD THAT THE KING HIMSELF WAS DYING and he came to his deathbed and began to sympathise with him and he asked the king, he said, "Are you ready to go?" He said, "What do you mean?" He answered,
42. "ARE YOU READY TO DIE? HAVE YOU MADE PREPARATIONS FOR THIS JOURNEY into death?" The king said, "How could I make preparations to die, what do you mean?" And the king's jester said, "Have you received Jesus Christ as your Saviour? Are you saved, are you ready to die?
43. "ARE YOU READY TO GO TO HEAVEN?" THE KING SAID, "NO, I'M NOT!" The king's jester said, "Well, since I last saw you I have met Christ and have found Him as my Saviour and I am ready to go." They were both close to the same age. He said, "Once I was going on a long journey, and
44. "YOU GAVE ME THIS CANE AS A PRESENT BECAUSE YOU SAID THAT I WAS THE GREATEST FOOL you ever had. But I have made my preparations for that journey, the longest journey we'll ever take, and one from which we'll never return. But you have not made preparations for that journey." He said, "So I want to give you back the cane: You're a greater fool than I am!"
45. PEOPLE DIE ALL THE TIME, DEATH IS A VERY COMMON THING. You know, people try to hide death, they don't like to think about it. It's supposed to be very sad, funerals are so sad, so pagan, they go look at that dead corpse, how morbid! They sing dirges, sad songs, they cry, they weep. My Lord, don't ever do that for me, please!
46. YOU KNOW WHAT I WANT YOU TO DO WHEN I DIE? I want you to do like they do in Wales.--They have what they call a "wake." They put the coffin down in the church basement--don't take me to church though please--and they have a party!
47. THEY HAVE A DANCE! They dance around the casket and have a great time! I'm sure that must have originated from some early Christian practice of rejoicing over the death of a saint, rejoicing because they've gone to be with the Lord.
48. WHY CRY, WHY BE SAD, WHY PLAY SAD MUSIC? When my uncle died I had such a funeral as I think Miami, Florida has never seen! They thought I was crazy! We clapped and we sang and we practically danced and we just had a great time, we had testimonies and everybody was happy! I said,
49. "WHY BE SAD, HE'S GONE TO BE WITH THE LORD, HIS TROUBLES ARE OVER! We ought to all be happy, right?" So, please do that for me, will you?
50. WHEN IT HAPPENS, PLEASE DON'T CRY FOR ME. "Weep not for Me," Jesus said, "but weep for yourselves" (Lk.23:28). And you know, at most funerals that's what people are really doing? They're not weeping for the departed, they're weeping for themselves!
51. I WOULDN'T BLAME YOU IF YOU WEPT A LITTLE BIT BECAUSE I'M GONE and I'm not with you personally in body any more. My old body is not going as strong as it used to anyhow. Maybe you'd get on the ball if I'd get behind you spiritually and haunt you a little bit!
52. BUT I THINK FOR A CHRISTIAN, THE TIME OF DEATH SHOULD BE A HAPPY TIME. You should have rejoicing, sing happy songs, be happy, amen? Please, talk about the good things, and praise and thank God that I once lived and that I still live, amen?
53. I DREAMED OF ONE OF YOUR DEATHS THE OTHER DAY and in my dream I walked over to your grave. I didn't want to go see the grave, I said, "No, I don't want to see it--she's not there--she's risen!" But you insisted I come over and look at the grave. "Look how nice we fixed it, and the flowers and all. Here's the coffin."--They hadn't put it in yet, she was lying there like an angel. And I looked at her and said, "I tell you, she is not here, she is risen!" Hallelujah!
54. WHY DO WE CRY?--FOR OURSELVES! How can we cry for the dead saints who've gone to be with the Lord, who are better off, rid of all the pain, the suffering, and the heavy old flesh and all its problems! Their education on this Earth is over, and has just begun in Heaven.
55. THEY'RE GETTING A WHOLE NEW START! They're doing great, don't worry about them! But for yourselves, well, yes, you can cry a little for yourself if you want to, if you're sad because I'm not here to help you like I used to.--But I'll try to be.
56. I DON'T KNOW WHAT HE'S GOING TO LET ME DO YET, BUT I HOPE I CAN STICK AROUND AWHILE. And I know Jesus will be here and I know His Spirit will be helping you if you keep on working hard for Him and giving others love, His love, and telling folks about Jesus. Amen?
57. HE'LL BE HERE TO THE END. He says, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world!" (Heb.13:5; Mt.28:20.) Amen? Praise God!
58. SO I'M NEVER GOING TO LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU EITHER, if I can help it, even if I have to haunt you afterwards! I hope the Lord will let me stick around and see what you're doing and see if you're still obeying and doing what He wants you to do, telling folks about the Lord, about Jesus, and showing them God's love, amen? Praise the Lord!
59. BUT I THINK EVEN THAT DEATH IN THE RESTAURANT WAS A GREAT TESTIMONY. Three or four days later, the waiters were still talking about what happened and how I went over and took him in my arms and was praying for him. So the Lord let it happen not only for his sake but as a testimony to others. Oh, I forgot to tell you one of the best parts!
60. SUDDENLY AS I WAS SITTING THERE AFTER THEY HAD REMOVED HIS BODY, I SAW HIS FACE smiling at me! I was just telling someone what had happened, when there he was, his face just below pavement level out in the street, as though his spirit was just leaving and wanted to tell me goodbye and thank me!
61. BUT HE LOOKED SO STRONG AND HEALTHY AND LOOKED LIKE HE WAS 20 YEARS YOUNGER, maybe 30 years younger, but he was still the same man, very recognisable!
62. ALL I SAW WAS JUST LIKE AN OVAL PORTRAIT, JUST HIS HEAD only, and he was looking straight at me and he nodded his head and smiled like, "Thank you!" It was so sweet, and that was really the payoff!
63. I WAS WONDERING, "WELL NOW LORD, DID WE DO THE RIGHT THING? Should I have prayed for him to be delivered? Somebody might think I put a curse or a hex on him or something!"
64. I WAS JUST PRAYING THAT THE POOR MAN WOULD FEEL BETTER AND BE DELIVERED, AND HE DIED! I thought, well did I do the right thing? I was telling other people how it happened and there his face appeared and nodded "Thank you!"--just as clear as anything, like I can see your face right now! Thank You Lord! Like I saw Abner that time.
65. SO BELOVED, DEATH IS ALWAYS WITH US, NEVER VERY FAR AWAY, as they say, only one heartbeat away! But to you, it shouldn't bother you. If you die, sudden death, sudden glory! Your troubles are over! If I die, sudden death, sudden glory, my troubles are over!--Except I'll be praying for you and working for you all I can in the Halls of Heaven to promote your cause, the Lord's cause, amen? I believe it! I know it!
66. AND I KNOW I'M GOING TO BE SPENDING A WHOLE LOT OF MY TIME ASKING QUESTIONS OF ALL THOSE GUYS UP THERE, "Well, what about this? Now Paul, why did you say that? I don't agree with that. Now Moses, how come you did that? David, how could you do such a thing!" We're going to have a lot of time to get acquainted, hallelujah! So I'll be having a good time!
67. I HOPE YOU DON'T CRY TOO MUCH, BECAUSE I'M GOING TO BE HAVING A GOOD TIME where I'm going, and I'll try to find out all I can and let you know all I can, amen? So I hope God lets me stick around and help you like Abrahim helps me, thank the Lord, because he's been a big help.
68. THANK GOD FOR HIS HEAVENLY SPIRITS, HIS MINISTERING SPIRITS, His angels that help us all the time. We thank the Lord for everything, of course. We thank Jesus for it all, and God the Father for it all. But don't forget to thank all the rest of your helpers too.
69. "WHEREFORE SEEING WE ALSO ARE COMPASSED ABOUT WITH SO GREAT A CLOUD OF WITNESSES!" (Heb.12:1) They're all watching! They're all rootin' for you! Better than for a football team!
70. IMAGINE HOW MUCH THEY MUST JUMP UP AND DOWN AND SHOUT WHEN YOU DO THE RIGHT THING! Everytime you win, everytime you make a goal, everytime you win a soul, amen? I imagine they yell and holler as much as the football crowd does! Why not? They're still human!
71. JUST BECAUSE THEY'VE GOT A SPIRITUAL BODY NOW DOESN'T MEAN THEY'RE NOT HUMAN. You're going to have a lot of the same characteristics.--It's still going to be you. You're even going to look a lot the same, only better, only better!
72. THE CHILDREN THAT HAVE DIED THAT I HAVE KNOWN, WHEN WE HAVE SEEN THEM IN THE SPIRIT, WERE OLDER, FULL GROWN, BUT BEAUTIFUL! The old people that I have seen in the spirit that have died, look younger. It seems like the ideal age is somewhere between 30 and 40, something like that, everybody's in their prime, hale and hearty and beautiful! I know I never saw my mother so beautiful as I saw her in a vision one day!
73. SO IT'S A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO BE, FULL OF BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE HAVING A BEAUTIFUL TIME, and trying to help you all they can with their prayers and with all the help they can, thank the Lord? Do you believe it? It's the truth!
74. JUST WATCH OUT ABOUT PRAYING "LORD DELIVER ME!" It reminds me of the little girl who was late to school and she was running real fast and said, "Oh God, help me to get to school on time, help me to get to school!" And all of a sudden she tripped and fell flat on her face. She was crying, "Well, You didn't have to push me Lord!"
75. SO DON'T PRAY TOO MUCH FOR MY DELIVERANCE, or He might give me a little extra shove like He did the old man the other day!--And I'll die in your arms!
76. THAT'S WHERE I WANT TO DIE--IN YOUR ARMS!--What better way to go? That's where I've found the greatest human love, this life's greatest joys and pleasures!--In your arms!
77. AND I'LL SLIP SWEETLY FROM YOUR ARMS INTO THE ARMS OF JESUS!--Safe in the arms of Jesus!--Forever!--Where I'll see you too very soon! PTL! TYJ! ILY! I'll just say,
78. "BYE, BYE FOR NOW," for just a little while! We'll be together again soon, so please don't cry too much!
79. PLEASE BE HAPPY AND COME SOON!--When you've finished the work of love He's given us to do! Bring them all with you when you come! I'll be waiting for you! I love you! Hold me tight!--ILY!--Dad.
Copyright (c) 1997 by The Family
