The Letter
One day a woman namedLouise fell asleep in her bed and dreamed a very fitful dream. She dreamed that someone in Hell wrote a letter to her, and it was to be delivered to her by a messenger. The messenger passed between the lakes of burning fire and brimstone that occupies Hell, and found his way to the door that would lead him to the outside world. Louise dreamed that the messenger walked to her house, came inside, and gently but firmly woke Louise up. He gave her the message, saying only that a friend had written it to her from Hell. Louise, in her dream, with trembling hands took the letter and read:
My Friend,
I stand in Judgment now, and feel that you’re to blame somehow. On earth, I walked with you day by day, and never did you point the way. You knew the Lord in truth and glory, but never did you tell the story. My knowledge then was very dim; you could have led me safe to Him. Though we lived together on the earth, you never told me of the second birth, and now I stand this day condemned, because you failed to mention Him. You taught me many things, that’s true, I called you “friend” and trusted you. But now I’ve learned that it’s too late, you could have kept me from this awful fate. We walked by day and talked by night, and yet you showed me not the Light. You let me live, and love, and die, you knew I’d never live on high.
Yes, I called you a “friend” in life, and trusted you through joy and strife. And yet on coming to the end, I cannot, now, call you “My Friend.”
After reading the letter, Louise awoke. The dream was still so real in her mind, and sweat dropped from her body in pools. She swore she could still smell the smell of brimstone and smoke from her room. As she contemplated the meaning of her dream, she realized that as Christian, she had failed in her duty to “go out to all the world and preach the gospel.” As she thought of that, she promised herself that the next day, she would call Marsha and invite her to church with her. The next morning she called Marsha and this was the conversation:
“Hello, Bill, Is Marsha there?” “Louise, you don’t know? Marsha was killed last night in car accident. I thought you had known.” Friend, is this your testimony? Are you witnessing to your friends that you are with everyday, or are you a Louise? Is there a friend in hell, asking you why you did not tell them about the Lord? Are you a Marsha who does not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? As Christians we must be Christ-Like. Christ commanded us to go out and preach his word, so that others would come to the saving knowledge of God. It says in the Bible in Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 2 Timothy 1:8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: We must tell our friends who, if they were to die right now, would spend eternity in a place prepared for the devil and his angels. Let’s be witnesses to the world, Christian friend. Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
***************************************************************************