Complimentary Story
September 2023“There is one death bed repentance recorded in the Bible (the thief on the cross), so that no one despair, but there is ONLY one, so that no one will presume.” -Matthew Henry
Did you know that an estimated 68% of released prisoners were arrested again within 3 years, 79% within 6 years, and 83% within 9 years. This is criminal statistics on the recidivism rate, criminals that reoffend once they get the chance to do so.
One of the most common things that are taught today is that people can always say a prayer before they die and be assured of heaven.
Sinful men are further deceived by the children of the apostate in the pulpits that have been preaching this, which is another Gospel (John 10:12; Galatians 1:8).
They are taught that once they are at the end of their days in serving the devil that they are now assured that they are heaven bound because they accepted Jesus. That is NOT repentance, it is fire insurance, and it is NOT scriptural. I have always noticed this cycle of hypocrisy within the walls of the American Church.
Men make the choice to live their lives for and by the devil (John 8:44), they ignore the impending judgments of the Living God given by faithful witnesses (Acts 17:31; 2 Corinthians 5:11; Proverbs 14:25) only to continue in their sins and then end up on their death beds to give the remainder of their feeble lives to Jesus and are now Heaven bound. Again, this is NOT true repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10-11).
They don’t fear God (Proverbs 16:6). THEY FEAR HELL. They have it backwards.
What if they were not on their death beds? How would they have lived their lives? I can tell you, the same way that they did up until the point that they got there.
More than not, you will find that if these death bed confessors were given the years all over again, they would live their lives the same way that they did up until the point of death.
The prince of preachers once again highlights this topic. He said,
“Death-bed repentances are often looked upon as very sincere, although too frequently we fear, they are but the first gnawings of the worm that never dies.
“I have read, this week, an extraordinary anecdote, told by Dr. Campbell, of a woman who, many years ago, was condemned to death for murdering her child, and was hung in the Grass Market at Edinburgh. She very diligently improved the six weeks allowed her by the Scotch law, previous to her execution and the ministers who were with her continually gave it as their opinion, that she died in the sure and certain hope of salvation.
“The appointed day came; she was hung; but, it being very rainy, and no awning having been prepared, those who had the charge of her execution were in a great hurry to complete it, and get under shelter, so she was cut down before the legal time, and, as the custom is, the body was give up to her friends to be buried.
“A coffin was provided, and she was removed in it to East Lothian, where her husband was going to bury her. They stopped at a public house, on the road, to refresh themselves, when, to their great surprise and alarm, in rushed a boy, and said he heard a noise in the coffin. They went out and found that the woman was alive; the vital powers had been suspended, but the life was not extinct, and the jolting of the cart had restored her circulation. After a few hours, she became quite well; they removed their residence, and went to another part of the country.
“But the sad part of the tale is this, that the woman was as bad a character afterwards as she ever was before, and, if anything, worse. She lived as openly in sin and despised and hated religion even more than she had previously done.
“This is a most remarkable case. I believe that you would see that the great majority of those who profess to retreat on their deathbeds, if they could rise again from their graves, would live a life as profane and godless as ever. Rely on this; it is nothing but the grace of the Spirit of God that makes sure work of your souls.”
