If Death Comes Now...

As a kid I had this bizarre notion of children being free from death. I supposed that dying was something meant exclusively for adults and the aged. How mistaken I’d been!

Soon I discovered that my idealised view just didn’t square with reality. Infant mortality quickly showed me that the enemy called Death doesn’t discriminate on the basis of age. Also, cases of miscarriage drummed it into my head that an unborn child is ‘dieable’ as soon as conception takes place.

Get yourself a local newspaper. What says the first obituary you see? Does it not say that one Mrs Dorothy Shaw died at 37? Didn’t the Dansvilles in your neighbourhood lose their teen child last year? Didn’t Alexander the Great, Jim Reeves, Whitney Houston, Aaliyah, Heath Ledger, Brad Renfro all pass on in their prime? All these are proof that Death is no respecter of age.

Death is the most irrational of all. It strikes blindly. Death doesn’t always respect our desire to live a hundred years or more. It ignores a doddery centenarian and takes away a boisterous six-year-old. That’s why people often portray Death as the Grim Reaper.

Many people hate to discuss the subject of death. They even shudder at the prospect of dying. But the grim reality is we’ll all die some day. Death is the ultimate destiny of all life. David in the Bible called it ‘the way of all the earth’ (1 Kings 2:2).

Saddest of all, Death sometimes comes for us when we don’t expect it. One woman slumped to the ground and died in the middle of a procession. One of my church leaders once passed away while reading his Bible in his room. You too could die before tomorrow. I could be gone before you’re done reading this post. I know telling you this really sucks, but isn’t that a fact of life?

So I think your worst fear shouldn’t be whether you could die today but what happens to you if you actually do? Are you fully prepared to meet your deadline? If you breathed your last this very hour, to which side of eternity would you go? Would you make it? Would there be a welcome song for you at the celestial shore?

Unfortunately, billions of people around the world journey through life without thinking about death. Instead, they are engaged in desperate pursuit of worldly things. They want to get more money so they can ride the best cars and buy bigger mansions. They believe they can start thinking about death when they reach 75 years and above. Such people are deluded for two reasons.

First, they don’t know for sure if they will see the light of the next day, not to talk of living for the next five, eight or fifteen years. Death can come for them ANYTIME. James 4:13-14 says, ‘Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.’

Second, the material things which preoccupy these people today will ultimately prove worthless. One may idolise money while on this side of life, but a time will come when such a one is given every note there is, they won’t be able to spend it. In the end, it doesn’t matter whether one dies old or young, naturally or tragically, rich or poor, happy or sad, fulfilled or frustrated; it only matters where one stands before the Creator. ‘For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?’ (Matthew 16:26).

Dear friend, do you want to wait until you reach 70 or 90 or 100 before you begin to think about death? Surely you’re in great danger because your life might be required of you tonight. Now is the best time to decide where you’ll spend eternity―delay could be costly.

Lessons from Cynthia’s Murder

The family and friends of Cynthia Osokogu wouldn’t forget the 22nd of July this year in a hurry. Perhaps that day would remain indelibly etched on their hearts. It was on that dreary Sunday two cousins snuffed life out of Cynthia. Cynthia was the daughter of one retired Major General Frank Nwafor Osokogu.

According to news reports, Cynthia had left Nassarawa state for Lagos state the day before she was murdered. She went on that trip in order to stock up her Nassarawa-based boutique. At the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Cynthia was welcomed by friends she’d met on Facebook. Then they lodged her at one hotel around FESTAC.

Poor trusting Cynthia! She hurried into danger like a lamb to the slaughter. It turned out that Cynthia’s hosts were hardened criminals who specialised in robbing innocent and unsuspecting women. They drugged her Ribena drink with Rohypnol, a powerful sedative. This they did in order to easily dispossess Cynthia of valuables such as money, international passport, shoes, and mobile phones. However, the drug seemed not to be very effective on the girl. The bastards therefore went angry and violent. They chained their victim, sealed her mouth with Sellotape, and beat her to death.

Meanwhile, Cynthia’s family had declared her missing. Distraught friends and concerned neighbours circulated news of her disappearance on Facebook, h

oping that someone would know her whereabouts. No one had an inkling that Cynthia had been gruesomely killed. Her corpse was eventually found in the mortuary at Isolo General Hospital.

When informed of the crime, detectives from Area E Command of the Nigerian Police commenced investigation immediately. Footage from the CCTV of the hotel where Cynthia had lodged helped the police identify the culprits. The suspects were eventually arrested. They have confessed to having committed the crime. They currently face trial in a Lagos court.

Cynthia, 24, was the only female child of her parents. She was a postgraduate student of Nassarawa State University. Until the time of her sad demise, Cynthia owned and managed a boutique in Nassarawa state. Reportedly, the Delta-state-born girl had promised her mom that she’d bring home her fiancé before the end of August. Sadly however, Cynthia didn’t live to see August.

Cynthia’s murder is a sad reminder for Internet users the need to use social networking sites (SNSs) with great caution. Granted, SNSs are a great place to socialise and catch fun. The services enable users to share interests, ideas, activities, and events; to upload and share photos; to upload or stream live videos; to create forum topics; to chat and play games; to meet up with new friends; and to find old ones. It’s always fun to be on SNSs such as Facebook, Twitter, G+, MySpace, LinkedIn, Netlog, Ning, Meetup. Trust me, there’s never a dull moment on SNSs.

However, SNSs aren’t always a safe place to be. The Internet is awash with criminal minds who seek whom to take advantage of. For instance, one online article cites one news programme which itself quoted one authority as saying that there were ‘as many as 50, 000 sexual predators online at any given moment’ as at January 2006. Because plenty people use SNSs, unscrupulous minds use these sites as a

n avenue to locate their targets. And sadly like Cynthia, many people have fallen under the sway of criminals on the Internet.

Not so long ago, the story of Funmi (not real name) made newspaper headlines. NDLEA officials had arrested Funmi at a post office. The parcel she’d come to collect contained an illegal drug. When interrogated, Funmi confessed that it was her Facebook friend who sent the parcel to her from the UK. The ‘friend’ wanted Funmi to deliver the parcel to someone she didn’t know.

You can stay out of trouble by avoiding the costly mistake Cynthia and Funmi made. Never arrange a rendezvous with someone you met on the Web. No matter how hard the stranger presses you to meet with them in person and one-to-one, always muster the courage to say no. In addition, never give out personal information such as home address, office address, school address, your location at a specific time, mobile number, e-mail address, BB pin to total strangers. Remember to always turn on your privacy controls, so that unauthorised persons won’t have access to your profile.

The shocking stats below underline the importance of not sharing personal information on SNSs.

‘In 82% of online sex crimes against minors, the offenders used the victim’s social networking site to gain information about the victim’s likes and dislikes’

‘65% of online sex offendors used the victim’s social networking site to gain home and school information about the victim’

‘26% of online sex offendors used the victim’s social networking site to gain information about the victim’s whereabouts at a specific time’

―Journal of Adolescent Health 47, 2010

Learn a valuable lesson from Cynthia’s death. The ‘friend’ you spend plenty of time chatting with may be a sexual predator hoping to molest you some day. Always remember never to sacrifice your personal safety on the altar of pleasure. Be wise. Don’t let your story become a lesson for others. ‘Shine’ your eyes.

Finally, I’m using this medium to condole with the family and friends of Cynthia Osokogu. I pray the God of all comfort will comfort them, offer them hope in their depths of despair, and give them the fortitude to bear the loss. May her gentle soul find eternal repose in Paradise.

Credit
Stats retrieved from http://internetsafety101.org/Predatorstatistics.htm

When A Loved One Dies

The Bradleys received the grim news with shock. At first they found it hard to believe that their 32-year old son had been tragically killed in a ghastly car accident. It seemed more surreal than real. Little wonder, when a caller who had introduced himself as Sergeant Fisher first told Mrs. Bradley about the incident, she assumed he’d got the wrong person or was at worst only playing some malicious hoax. But the woman was alarmed when the policeman kept on phoning back. His voice was freighted with seriousness. Then she quickly grabbed her car keys and raced her way to the prestigious Murphy Elliottes University Teaching Hospital.

At the hospital mortuary, Mrs. Bradley met a scene of stark horror. She found Jill’s lifeless body lying on a stretcher, completely covered in blood.
The sight was so sickening that she fainted. It took medics several hours to resuscitate her.

Now back at home, and with her grief still unabated, Mrs. Bradley held Jill’s picture. She recalled vividly their last phone conversation the previous night. The deceased had called to announce that he’d be returning home the next day after fifteen months of peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. She was elated and planned to throw him a party. He was so full of life anyone could have thought he’d live a hundred years. She remembered having prayed to God to grant him a safe journey. Then the next thing she heard about him was sad news. She couldn’t understand why God would allow death to snuff life out of their son.
At this point, Mrs. Bradley couldn’t suppress her anger at God. In a fit of rage she shrilled: ‘God why us?’ ‘How come you couldn’t save our son despite our commitments to your cause?’ ‘Is this how you reward your children?’ ‘God this is unfair.’ ‘Why?’ her cries reverberated across the sleepy street.

When death snatches someone so dear to us, we’re overcome with grief. It’s like our world has crumbled completely. This is natural. To not mourn the sad demise of someone we love would suggest that the person didn’t mean anything to us. On one occasion Jesus wept because of his friend Lazarus (John 11:35).

However, some grief-stricken Christians do something weird in the course of their mourning. They question God why He didn’t avert the painful death of a loved one. Like the Mrs. Bradley in our illustration, they query God why He failed to prevent a tragic event in their lives despite their good work. This is wrong; those who display such a bad attitude are ignorant of two eternal truths. Let me explain.

A Reality of Life

Tragedy is intrinsic to life, and everyone will have a measure of it. Whether one is a Christian or not is pointless in this regard. Job 5:6-7 states: 

‘Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;
Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.’

When we become God’s children, He doesn’t promise us an earthly life devoid of pain and sorrow; it would be sheer ignorance to believe otherwise. For believers, as for any other people, life’s not a bed of roses but a mixture of good and evil, ups and downs, certainties and uncertainties. We’ve not been promised a smooth voyage but a safe landing; God doesn’t say we’ll not pass through a fiery furnace or sail through deep and turbulent waters―He only promises to be with us during those dark chapters of our lives.

‘When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up―the flames will not consume you.’
―Isaiah 43:2, The Living Bible.

Think of it. If Christians are exempt from the travails of this life then our lives would have been bereft of troubles like they have it in a never-never land. The Bible wouldn’t have contained a promise of paradise earth in the future. If Christians are free from tragedy, Rev. S. B. J. Oshoffa wouldn’t have died after a car crash; Pastor Bimbo Odukoya wouldn’t have been killed in a plane crash; Mrs Abiodun Kumuyi would be alive to this very moment; one minister of God wouldn’t have passed away in the prime of life; his wife wouldn’t have died of breast cancer few years after.

Believers who know this truth don’t angrily lash out at God when pummelled by the Grim Reaper. Instead, they look up to Him for hope and comfort. Like Job, they react to sad news by declaring the words of chapter 1 verse 21 of the book that bears that man’s name

Tragedy Not Always Evil

Unbeknown to many Christians, tragedy isn’t always hundred per cent evil. The problem is they only focus on the evil side of it. I believe there’s at least a trace of good in evil. Sometimes God in His infinite mercy allows calamitous events in our lives for a purpose. He may not reveal that purpose to us, but whatever the reason it’s for our benefit. His plan is to ultimately bring us to an ‘expected end’ (Jeremiah 29:11).
For example, God may allow a pastor to lose his daughter to a disease as a divine retribution, to test him as He did to Job, to enable him learn to trust Him the more, to strengthen him in his Christian walk, or even to prevent the departed soul from backsliding.

A friend of mine lost his brother after a protracted illness. When he called to inform me, he was traumatised. I texted him to comfort him. I told him that sometimes God uses death to help us. I asked what if his brother were to be alive but in great pain? What if they had to pray to God to call him home? What I told him wasn’t an attempt to give him a false sense of comfort but the truth. We don’t want to see our loved ones suffer indescribable pain or become insane before they pass on, yet when God suddenly takes them away in order to avoid such situations, we’re mad at Him. How ironic!
May God give you strength to remain sinless during your troubled hours.

Further Reading: Job 2:10; 14:1; Isaiah 48:10; John 16:33

"There is a saying in Tibetan, ‘Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.’ No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful an experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster."
―Dalai Lama XIV