It is God’s desire that His children will be having access to Him at all times. In His most wonderful wisdom, He instituted prayers, so that we will be in communion with Him. Through prayers, we appreciate Him for Who He is, what He has done for us and what He is doing for us. Through prayers also, we make our requests known to Him and we have the opportunity of interceding for other people. To encourage us, He said, “Ask and it will be given to you”

It is not, however, every prayer we offer to God that He answers. Prayers, praises and good wishes are showered often on people at death, especially during their burial ceremony. Many people will be detailing, usually, great and wonderful things the man did. In some cases, the man might have being very wicked and had brought much pain and tears to many people. He might have grabbed even the land of some widows, which led to their early death. It is amusing that he could be someone some people had been wishing to be dead all the years because of his notoriety in evil.

Surprisingly, when the news of his death is heard, some people, in their condolence messages to the bereaved family members, will include, ‘May his gentle soul rest in peace’. I do not know what they mean by ‘gentle soul’, but whatever it is, at death, it does not matter, whether the fellow’s spirit was gentle or wild. In the classroom, the reason why a student missed a paper during a test may not matter. It will however, matter if he missed it during his JAMB or degree examination. While missing a class test may lead to warning or punishment, missing a paper during his JAMB or Degree is failure. Nobody can do anything about it.   

A young minister of God, who was transferred recently to a new circuit, broke the ice during the burial of his church member. Many people were coming out, singing the praises of the dead woman. They were all narrating, how she was supporting a particular age group and also various cultural practices in the village. The minister, now an Archbishop, challenged them, and was worried that none of them mentioned anything she did for the Lord Jesus. Angry with the minister’s comment, and seeing it as a slap on their faces, the church leaders conspired for his transfer to another circuit. Nobody could, however, erase the truth he revealed.    

Human praises or curses cannot determine someone’s fate after death.  The word of God is clear on it. “It is appointed unto man once to die and after that, the judgment,” Heb 9:27.  It means that death is a must for everybody, but it is not the end of life. There will be judgment. It is not a situation of sitting in the court with accusers and witnesses, and someone will be defending himself. God has made it in such a way that before someone stops breathing, his destination has been determined, based on the choice he made when he was alive.      

I know that people pour their praises and good wishes to the dead man because of their love for him. It is, however, wasted affection. The best and only way to demonstrate true love to someone is by ministering God’s word to him, so that he will repent and be born-again.

The new birth is the only guarantee for someone not to end in hellfire. It is possible that the person may not appreciate your ministration until he is saved. He may even be angry with you but it does not matter. Medical doctors do not give up on a patient, though he is angry or crying when they are administering injections on him. It is when the patient recovers and is discharged from the hospital that he will appreciate the doctors.

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May I stress once again, that once someone is dead, nothing can change his spiritual situation. If all the Archbishops, General Overseers, et cetera, from all the churches in the world, will attend his burial, declaring wonderful things about him, offering powerful prayers before interment, it will not change his eternal destiny. What is important is whether he was a child of God. Did he surrender his life to the Lord Jesus when he was alive? If he did, he will make heaven irrespective of what anybody said or did not say about him. It does not matter if he was buried or not.

When the rich man in Luke 16:19-31, died, one could imagine the number of the VIPs who visited the family and signed the condolence register! One could imagine what each of them wrote about him! One could imagine his obituary publications in the pages of the various newspapers! One could imagine the various state, national and international guests that came to honour him during his burial! One could imagine that the Message that day by the Archbishop or General Overseer was all about his greatness and wealth. One could remember that nothing was said about the Lord Jesus and his relationship with Him! 

One could imagine that after his burial, as the people were going home, their discussion was about the wonderful burial, but unknown to them, it was in hell, that Uncle opened his eyes! Yes, in hellfire, the home of unbelievers! Yes, in hell, where wealth, material possession, position in society, titles, et cetera, are worthless. It was in hell that he went, while people were busy sending condolence messages to his family and wishes of, ‘May his gentle soul rest in perfect peace’!

On the contrary, Lazarus, the poor beggar, who lived close to the rich man’s palace, died also. In fact, he died before Uncle rich man but God sent His angles to receive him, being a VIP in Heaven. It was at the bosom of Father Abraham that he landed. Yes, on earth, he was poor in material possession. It was not poverty that brought him to Heaven. It was the fact that he was rich in the spirit. There are many people who are rich in material possessions, who will make Heaven.

Imagine how Uncle felt when he found himself in hell and Lazarus, sitting on Abraham’s bosom in Heaven! It would have been different, if he did not see Lazarus in pleasure. He must have remembered their last church harvest, where he bought a goat for N50,000 and Lazarus bought nothing! If he was in the world, he would protest for the prestige denied him. His personality would bring him victory, but not in hell! 

Yes, as God does not answer our prayer for the dead, He does not answer also the prayer of anybody after his death. In hell, the rich man prayed, pleading for mercy and for Lazarus to give him some water. It was denied him since prayers for needs or for mercy are not answered in hell. Now that we are still alive, unbelievers should be praying for God’s mercy, and we, believers, to be providing quality time for our needs.     

For further comments, Please contact: Osondu Anyalechi: 0909 041 9057; [email protected]