3 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:3 (NKJV)
By Bro. John L. Cash
I read all the time. But I almost never read fiction. It seems to me that whenever somebody makes up an interesting story, there is already something that has really happened that’s even more interesting than the make-up story. The world is full of stories of incredible things that really happened.
For instance, I read in the newspaper one time about a man who was afflicted with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. His days were consumed with worries about germs and he endlessly washed his hands. One day he was complaining to his mother about how terrible his life was, and she said, “If your life is so bad, why don’t you just shoot yourself in the head?”
So, the man shot himself in the head. He didn’t die, but he was in the hospital for about three weeks. And by the time he was well enough to go home, the doctors realized that the man’s OCD was markedly improved — almost cured. Somehow the bullet wound had removed the part of his brain causing his neurological problem. I was able to find the newspaper article by Googling for it, and you can read it by clicking this link to the New York Times article.
(Note: If you or a family member is suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, please do not try the aforementioned remedy at home. It probably won’t work the same way for you. And yes, it’s hard to imagine a mother suggesting this course of action for ANY reason. But I digress…)
Some of the most fascinating true stories are in the Bible. For example, in the book of Genesis, chapter 38, there’s a lady who is giving birth to twins. In the process of the delivery, the midwife sees the hand of one of the twins emerging from the mother. So she ties a scarlet thread around this baby’s wrist so that she will be able to remember that this child is born first.
But then something very unusual and shocking happened. The hand and wrist go back inside the mother, and then the other child is born first. And the midwife says something like, “Well look, you’ve broken out of there.” Amazing story, but entirely true. You see, truth really is stranger than fiction.
People sometimes ask me things like, “Do you really think that the Resurrection of the Body is literal and true?” Again, my familiarity with nonfiction saves the day. I have no problem believing that our God will raise this body of mine on the Last Day. After all, he has given me the life I enjoy now. I am so complicated that I am sure that I had a Creator. I never cease to be amazed at how many different ways I can feel in the morning before it’s time to eat breakfast!
You can rest easy that the God who raised you to life this morning is able to raise you on the great everlasting morning of Eternity.
Rejoice that the Lord is coming. Put your faith in Jesus Christ, and rejoice that He is able to raise you on Resurrection Day. You can depend upon this fact as the truth. After all, stranger things have already happened.
Dr. John L. Cash is the “Country Preacher Dad.” He was raised in Stuttgart, Arkansas, and has spent the last 28 years being a country preacher in the piney woods five miles south of the little town of Hickory, Mississippi. (On week days has a desk-job at a public school, and until recently taught Latin on closed-circuit-television.) He and his lovely wife, Susan, live in the parsonage next door to the Antioch Christian Church (where it was 8 degrees on Thursday, and where forecast is for 64 degrees today.) Their kids include Spencer (age 22), his wife Madeline (age 22), and Seth (age 19).
