I was both saddened and elated to
hear of the passing of D. James Kennedy, one of America’s most
beloved evangelists and a tireless worker for our Lord.
I was saddened because he was called at a time when we need
knights like him swinging the sword of truth--our Bible--more than
ever before. His wit, half smile, and articulate way will be missed.
But I was also elated because he believed his passage to be with our
King was secured.
"Now, I know that someday I am going to come to what some
people will say is the end of this life," he states on
a special
memorial page on his website:
"They will probably put me in a box and roll me right down here
in front of the church, and some people will gather around, and a
few people will cry. But I have told them not to do that because I
don’t want them to cry. I want them to begin the service with the
Doxology and end with the Hallelujah chorus, because I am not going
to be there, and I am not going to be dead. I will be more alive
than I have ever been in my life, and I will be looking down upon
you poor people who are still in the land of dying and have not yet
joined me in the land of the living. And I will be alive
forevermore, in greater health and vitality and joy than ever, ever,
I or anyone has known before."
My dear friend and Christian editor, Barbara Brabec, asked me a
question that ripped deep into my mind, like someone throwing cold
water on me in a hot shower. She asked, "You would think that God
could extend the life of a man who worked so hard for him for so
many years, wouldn’t you?" I pondered this for a couple of days and
decided to write this tribute because it goes along with the
question we all ask at some time of another, namely, "Why do bad
things happen to good people?"
How hard it is to understand in our finite minds the true concept
of infinity—an
infinity with the God who created us, who put a huge hole in our
beings called the soul to be filled with his love. With swelled
chests, smiles, and confidence, we talk about trusting Him. But
really deep within us, in that place we reserve for nobody else, we
are like lost children in the mall desperately seeking our parents.
If not our parents, then someone else that will take us by the hand
and show us where we’re going. It was no coincidence that Jesus
likened us to sheep, ignorant enough to follow whoever would lead
them. Dr. Kennedy was a man you could follow; his books and
televised sermons mirrored that of our beloved Apostle Paul.
We can’t grasp that this place we all try to make heaven is
really like purgatory. We’re all here because we were banned from
heaven, kicked out of utopia, thrown from the presence of God. We
are born to earthly parents because we aren’t good enough (yet) to
be born to our heavenly Father. The whole concept of "being born
again" is steeped in this truth. Although I’m sure Dr. Kennedy loved
his family and friends deeply, he understood that we are all dead
here—dead in the sin thrown upon us by our own making.
This thing we call life is a battlefield, one nasty dirty battle
after another in a war for our soul. This war, ladies and gentleman,
is to see where we spend eternity. Mr. Kennedy understood that we’re
not here to do for ourselves but rather do what Jesus said in
Matthew 6:19-21: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where
thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also."
I hope Dr. Kennedy gets a lot for what he did for me during my
conversion. His last quote is in the same area with the apostle Paul
during the last days of his life when he said, "For I am already
being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my
departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I
have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me
on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for
his appearing."
Dr. Kennedy understood that, as men, we are not to be praised
here, that the business of sainthood is for God, the Son, and Holy
Spirit—not catholic men or woman. He has finally gone to a place
where he can be perfect, the perfect man he so longed to be, but
could not attain while a slave to sin. Never doubt, my brothers and
sisters, that we never stop fighting while we’re here. Dr. Kennedy
did not teach the healthy-wealthy-fat nonsense of liberal
Christianity. He knew that our sinful flesh was like the abyss I
talk about in my book, Find Happiness! You can never stop
fighting or you will sink.
The second part of Barbara’s wonderful comment went like this:
"Sure says a lot about how little we can expect in terms of
living longer just because we’re doing good work, doesn’t it?" She
just made me smile from the inside out with that statement because
that sums up the wisdom of the real knights like Dr. Kennedy."
With a tear in my eye, Sir, I’m hoping that while you’re having
the communion with our Lord that you know we all still need you
here.
_________
Shawn is the author of FIND HAPPINESS! How to
Fill the VOID in Your Life by LOOKING, FEELING, and LIVING BETTER!
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