Swallowed by LIFE--A glimpse into the book

From the Preface:

Several million U.S. citizens suffer from terminal and chronic illnesses at any given time. Fear and grief are natural responses for the patients and their families and friends. Yet, we’re all terminal. No one will get off this earth alive in his mortal state.   But evidence shows we’re more than a body. Just ask the person who lost a hundred pounds, someone with a transplanted heart pumping his blood, a patient who has had part of his brain removed, or the soldier with no legs. Study regenerative medicine and you’ll understand the experts estimate our skin completely rebuilds itself every seven days or so, and with the exception of our neurological system, almost every single cell in our body is replaced every seven to ten years.

           As a former medical reporter for a daily newspaper, in this book I reveal how science shows us that death is swallowed by life every day. I also examine the words of Jesus Christ concerning eternal life, as well as testimony from witnesses about His death and Resurrection. In addition, I tell the story of a man who was clinically dead, but revived; I interviewed medical professionals and did other research about life and death.
        This book grew out of my search for everything that testifies of eternal life after we lost our thirty-one-year-old daughter to a deadly form of lymphoma. When she died, I needed to find out if I believed what I previously thought I did. Was I still certain that those who accept the Redeemer God sent and His sacrifice for sin will never die? Was I still sure heaven exists?
       Swallowed by LIFE hinges on this scripture: “While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life” (2 Corinthians 5:4 NLT).
        We’re talking about victory over death here. The Apostle Paul also put it another way in his first book to the Corinthians:

I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory’ (1 Corinthians 15:50 NIV).

 Only our Creator knows how many days we have here. I often think of the patient who was in hospice twelve years before his death, able to enjoy life and family long after diagnosis of the fatal disease.

         We don’t abandon our faith by looking at our eternal future--we build it. If the Lord allows me to live a century, I’ll still need to be prepared for the time He calls me home.
         I’ve discovered life is a powerful force, and all life is supernatural because our Heavenly Father created it. In this book I share the wonder of it all.
         Use the question and answer sections after each chapter for review, or discussion, or to test what you have learned. If your class is a 13-week session, I suggest dividing two longer chapters and using the last day for discussion and sharing.

A tombstone and a cross

Ever noticed the contrast between a tombstone and the crosses that line up in a perfect grid in a cemetery?

These symbols speak to us no matter how cloudy the day, how long the grave has been there, or how elaborate or inexpensive the headstones are.

Both of these emblems tell us something. A tombstone says, "This person lived on this earth, laughed, loved, worked, sang, and other people loved him.

The cross, not a crucifix, but an empty cross, signifies that this person who walked the earth but now has departed from his earthly home may sometime come to life as the dry bones Ezekiel testified would come together one bone and joint at a time, as Jesus walked out of the tomb alive. If the person whose body is in the grave believed in God, repented of his sins and accepted the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross and followed Jesus, according to Scripture, there will be a "coming out" day.

The narrative is found in 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18: "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as those who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
(Apparently they have been with the Lord as spirit creatures, and he brings them back to earth to unite with their resurrected bodies.)

"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of god: and the dead in Christ shall rise first;

"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

"Wherefore, comfort one another with these words."

Will you and your family be ready for the Second Coming?

             I expect the Lord Jesus Christ to come back to earth for the church during my lifetime and it is important that we and are families are ready not only for His coming, but to also have a strong relationship with God should we die. Here are some good scriptures to hide in our hearts and to share with others not only to motivate them, but to encourage them as well.
         
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            Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold. “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think.  Then you will learn from your own experience how his ways will really satisfy you” (Romans 12:2LB).
            “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.  If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  And the world passes away and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).
            “You are the salt of the earth.  But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?” (Matthew 5:13).
            “Not one sparrow falls to the ground without your (Heavenly) Father seeing it….  And the very hairs of your head were all numbered. So don’t worry.  You are more valuable to him than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:30LB).
            Another thing, Jesus IS coming back even if he delays His coming.  “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout … and the dead in Christ shall rise first; Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
                                                           

SAFETY IN THE EARTHQUAKES OF LIFE

     Our daughter lay dying down the hospital corridor and my heart screamed, “Where are you God?”

      It was the first time in my life an earthquake struck my faith in the message of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall  not perish but have everlasting life.”

      The Bible says, however, if you build your life on the sure foundation of Jesus Christ you can stand through the storms, even a large spiritual and emotional quakes and the aftershocks, as I discovered.

      The interesting thing about faith is it’s an act of the will. “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see,” we’re told in Hebrews 11:1 (NIV). The scripture further explains: “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command. So that what is seen was not made out of what was visible…. Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (verses 3, 6).

      When we back up into Hebrews 10 we’re admonished to keep believing, even when our faith has been shaken: “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him” (Hebrews 10:35-39).

            Abraham after living a long life of believing and communing with God had his crises when Sarah got tired of waiting and tried to bring about their desires for a child herself. But apparently Abraham kept believing he would father a son and many nations: ^“And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God” (Romans 4:19-20)

            Sarah did become with child and Isaac was born.

            Through prayer, study of the Word and surrounding myself with brothers and sisters in Christ, I found I truly believing those who have faith in Jesus will never die, but have eternal life.

   

The Wonder of an Egg

          Ever really looked at a raw chicken egg?
          Do you glimpse the miracle of life? Yellow scrawny feet? Wee eyes that blink and see? Feathers?  The orange bill? Inward parts necessary for survival and to create other chickens? Mechanisms for the chick’s peep, the hen’s cluck and the rooster’s crow?
        Those things are in there if the egg is fertilized. God put life into eggs—DNA that blueprints what color the feathers will be, the size of the poultry—awesome things— just as He put amazing designs in the tiny eggs that became you and me.
         The life within eggs is why they symbolize Easter. Eggs hint at the wonder in all of us at a time when we think about Resurrection of the human body. Life beyond the grave is an amazing concept, yet science reveals we are more than flesh.
          I weighed about 7 pounds at birth. I could gain 500 pounds and still be the same person, then lose several hundred and still be me. My arms and legs might be amputated, and still I’d be the person who started as a wee fertilized egg in my mother’s womb. Surgeons could cut away bits of my brain; or remove organs and transplant someone else’s liver, a kidney, lung or heart and I’d still be who I am.
        My body’s 100 trillion cells are constantly dying and being replaced, which means I don’t have the same body as last year. Scientists state the body rebuilds itself several times during a normal lifetime, with the exception of the nervous system, which includes the brain.
        Yet, new brain cell growth has been discovered in the hippocampus, a center of learning and memory. The discovery occurred in a neurogenesis study at the University of Lund in Sweden by neurobiology professor Anders Bjorklund and Fred H. Gage, a neurobiologist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies at the University of California, San Diego. Now Gage seeks to learn whether brain-cell growth occurs in the cortex.
         Scientists from Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine estimate our skin is completely rebuilt every seven days and every single cell in our skeleton is replaced every seven years. About 300 million cells die every minute. If they did not regenerate, all would be dead in about 230 days.
         The future of medicine lies in understanding the mechanisms by which the body renews itself throughout life, according to Stanford’s researchers.
          Life is miraculous, but a mystery. Our eyes can’t see the awesome life in an egg, nor can we perform surgery and find the eternal soul of a man. But we know by remembering how we arrived here and the magnificence of the temple in which we live, we are more than a body. It’s not difficult for me to believe the life inside us is eternal, though our bodies die and decay.
         The Easter story and history declare Jesus endured Rome’s capital punishment, but their soldiers couldn’t hold him in the tomb and He walked out alive three days later.
         We’ve heard the words of Jesus so many times at grave sides: “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall live. Whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die” (John 11:24-26).

         But how we got here and where we’re going is a question of faith. No theory on the origin of life can be proved. I choose to believe the Bible.

Ada Brownell is a retired medical reporter for The Pueblo Chieftain in Colorado and the author of the 2011 book,  Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal available at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.

Life: The message of Christmas

John 3:16 says it all: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Jesus is the only way any of us will get off this earth alive. He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).

Reaching him is as simple as whispering a prayer in faith. "Without faith it is impossible to please him, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (Hebrews 11:6). Faith is a decision.  We decide to take the leap into belief.

Hebrews 11:1,3 says faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see....By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command and that what is seen was not made out of what is visible."

I don't find it difficult to believe he formed everything because creation is awesome. Just take the seeing eye, the hearing hear or anything as common as gravity, and I have to believe we have a Designer. But believing he cares about me and will answer prayer? Well, truth is when I think of a baby born of a virgin who grew into a man leaving a trail of love and miracles behind him, I must believe. I have experience miracles and answers to prayer. Sometimes the answer is "no," however.

Of course faith is a choice. Yet we have evidence Jesus lived and died on the cross for sins and no matter how his enemies wanted to, they never found a body. Everyone of his followers except Judas and John gave their lives to preach about his resurrection from the dead and forgiveness of sins. People do die for false doctrines--but no one will give his life for something he knows is a lie.

Any idea about who we are, where we came from and where we are going takes faith--and faith is required by God for salvation.

I hope you decide to believe today and accept Jesus as your Savior. Christmas is a great time for spiritual birth.

THE REASON FOR CHRISTMAS JOY

THE REASON Jesus came to earth was to do something about death. Jesus is the Redeemer promised in Genesis 3:15 right after Adam and Eve sinned. God warned the first couple if they ate the forbidden fruit, they would die.

There in God’s garden, they became mortals. Their flesh would be subject to illness and dying, and it would affect every person born thereafter.

 Yet, in His mercy, God would do something about death through the Promised One. Sin is so terrible because it hurts us or someone else, so horrendous, the Heavenly Father required a blood sacrifice to atone for it.  But the blood of bulls and goats was only accepted because the Messiah would come, and Jesus became the sacrifice for sin—once, for all, so we can live forever (See Hebrews 10).

 Those who killed Jesus thought the joyful songs that filled the earth after His birth would be silenced. Yet, three days later, the Messiah was out of the tomb, and the singing began again and continues to this day.

JOY TO THE WORLD, THE LORD IS COME