Preparing for a Glorious Death

Preparing for a glorious death

PREPARING FOR A GLORIOUS DEATH

Vuyani Ntintili

Copyright © 2021 Vuyani Ntintili

Published by Vuyani Ntintili Publishing at Smashwords

First edition 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without permission from the copyright holder.

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DEDICATION

The Bible says, in Revelation 14:13, Then I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labour, for their deeds will follow them.’ There are brethren with whom I laboured for the Lord who have been taken by Him to their eternal resting place. Blessed indeed are they, because they died in the Lord. They rest from their labours and their deeds follow them.

I lovingly dedicate this book to these brethren who departed in December of 2020 and in January of 2021. Firstly, I dedicate this book to Dr Sunday Mihigo, with whom I served on the Elders Board of Mthatha Baptist Church. He was a man of uncommon wisdom and I benefited from that wisdom. When there was a difficult matter that we were dealing with, he was not in a hurry to make any decision He would urge us to wait on the Lord for His wisdom. He is now with the Lord on whom He often waited while on earth. He loved discipleship so much and was instrumental in helping us to get a permanent place for discipleship work at Mthatha Baptist Church. He is resting from his labour now. May he enjoy his deserved sweet rest!

The second person to whom I adoringly dedicate this book is Mrs Nokwanda Magwentshu. When the Lord led me to start a ministry called Equleni Kingdom Ministry in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, she was one of the founding members. When the Lord led me to spearhead the work of the Living Seed Team in South Africa, she joined me in that labour. Later on God commanded me to start Fulfilling the Great Commission Missions, and after prayer and seeking the Lord’s guidance, she felt led of the Lord to come with me. She was such a peacemaker and a person of depth. She was committed to intercession and she would send us voice notes of her prayers. She organised monthly half-night prayers. Now she is in the presence of the One to whom she interceded. Could it be that she is continuing to intercede for us there? Christ is at the right hand of God interceding for us (Hebrews 7:25), and it could be that Nokwanda has joined Him in praying for the Church. It pleased the Lord to take her home. We will continue, in her place, to labour in the place of prayer.

The last person to whom I dedicate this book is Reverend Khayalethu Kunene Mgolombane, an ordained minister of the Baptist Church, who also decided to be a committed disciple of Christ. He was an extremely humble man of God and yet fearless when it came to the defence of the truth. He had a rare combination of being both an evangelist and a meticulous teacher of the Word of God. He had a deep passion for lost souls and he seized every opportunity to tell people about Christ who saves people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). We worked so well together and I was quietly looking forward to us collaborating for the furtherance of God’s Kingdom, however, it pleased God to take him home in his mid-fifties. To us, his departure is a great loss but to him (Pastor Mgolombane) it is a great gain (Philippians 1:21). Precious in the Lord is the death of His saints (Psalm 116:15). To the Lord, his death is precious!

It is our prayer that we also will die the death of the righteous and we pray that our end will be like theirs (Numbers 23:10b). It is up to us to pick up the armour that these courageous soldiers of the Cross have left behind. For them, the battle has ended, but for us, it is still raging. The Captain of the army is leading us (Joshua 5:14-15; Hebrews 2:10). Our battle cry is:

Onward Christian soldiers! Marching as to war,

Looking unto Jesus, Who is gone before,

Christ, the Royal Master, Leads against the foe,

Forward into battle see His banners go.

PREFACE

I am writing this book in the midst of a pandemic which has baffled the world, leaving it aghast, groping for answers which seem to be elusive. It is said that the COVID-19 virus is the worst pandemic since the Spanish flu of February 1918 to April of 1920 which killed an estimated 21 million people worldwide. This COVID-19 pandemic started around November 2019 in Wuhan, China, and (at the time of writing) has infected over 107 million people and has claimed 2,33 million worldwide. In my country, South Africa, it has infected an estimated 1, 479, 253 and has killed 46, 869 people. These figures are staggering. We have never experienced such overwhelming numbers of people contracting a serious illness and losing their life. The matter of death is no longer a theoretical idea. Most people know friends and relatives who have died because of the Coronavirus.

It is not my intention to discuss the destructiveness of COVID-19. Rather I intend to focus on the reality of death and that each one of us has an appointment with it. We cannot evade or postpone this appointment. We need to confront death squarely and to prepare for it prudently. You and I will die ultimately.

People are reacting differently to these staggering numbers. Some people have responded in fear and trepidation, afraid to venture out of their houses, particularly those who are 70 years and above, because they are the most susceptible to this Coronavirus. On the other hand, others are spawning all kinds of conspiracy theories and think that the numbers have been highly inflated. The truth is that the numbers are actually suppressed because governments around the world are afraid of being accused, by their citizenry, of not exerting enough effort in fighting this disease.

I was reflecting on this recently and God confronted me about my own response. He was chiding me for not expressing sufficient care and for not praying incessantly for people who have been infected by this pandemic around the world. He also said that I am not working hard enough in preparing people for death. In addition, He said that if the number of people who are being infected were the number of people who were coming to Christ, how wonderful it would be, and pointed out that this would be possible if there were enough Christians around the world praying for the salvation of their fellow human beings. What amazes me is that all those who have died and are dying are those who were destined to die according to God’s agenda. We will all die of different causes, and a pandemic is one of them. We should be expecting death to occur whether there was a pandemic or not. May we be more sensitive, caring and vigilant, expecting our own death to occur on any day! We should be ready for it and not taken by surprise when it comes.

In this book, we are exploring the topic of death and how people could have a glorious death. The emphasis is on how to prepare for death. It is in life that we prepare for death. We should not suffer from denial and behave as if we are not candidates of death. We should not avoid thinking and talking about death, and planning for it while we are still alive. May God help you as you peruse the pages of this book!

Professor P. V. Ntintili

Fulfilling the Great Commission Missions

Mthatha, Eastern Cape, South Africa

August 2020

Table of Contents

About the Author

Introduction

1. Death was not Part of God’s Original Plan

2. An Appointment with Death

3. The Inevitability of Death

4. Death is the Leveler of Life

5. Two Kinds of Death

6. The Story of the Death of Two Men

7. How to Prepare for Death

8. Two Eventualities to Prepare for

9. At Death we Will Take Nothing with us

10. Practical Things to do Before Death

11. Do not Idolize People at Death

12. Preparing for Death and for the Funeral

13. How to Prepare People for Glory

14. Preparing Children for Death

15. Pastors Preparing their Congregants for Death

16. Make Sure you Finish Well

17. Three Important Terms Related to Death

18. Resisting Death

19. The Holy Ambivalence

20. Challenging Scriptures on Death

21. The Truths in Brief of this Book

Bibliography

About the Author

Professor P. V. Ntintili is committed to the service of the Church of God (the Body of Christ at large). He sees leadership training as vital in God’s work and the vehicles he uses to train leaders are discipleship, workshops, conferences, and retreats. He runs many virtually. Professor Ntintili is also deeply committed to supporting and grooming the younger generations. He strongly believes that the future of God’s work depends on how we equip the youth of today. He has a programme known as Raising Replacement Sons and Daughters, which prepares young people for a take over from today’s leaders. He has written a book aimed at the youth called There is a Bright Future Ahead of you: Don’t Mess it up!

A prolific and passionate author, Professor Ntintili has written many other books such as Professionalism, Maximize your Impact, Ministers and Ministries, Introducing Biblical discipleship, Discovering and Doing the Will of God, the Riches of His Grace, the Inheritance of the Saints, and many others.

Dr. Ntintili resides in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, South Africa with his wife Felicia N. Ntintili. Together they have three grown up daughters and grandchildren. His contact details are: +27 82 297 1931, +27 61 456 5805. His email addresses are: [email protected] or [email protected]. If you have any questions, you would like to receive counselling, or you would like his service, you could use these contact details to contact him.

Introduction

Most people evade addressing the topic of death and do not even want to think about it. The reasons are obvious. We are afraid of the unknown and no one has ever gone to the world beyond and then come back to give us a conclusive report about it. The finality of death makes us feel extremely uncomfortable to think about it, let alone to look forward to it with a sense of anticipation. The second reason that makes us uneasy to think about death is the idea that there is a God to whom we will be accountable after death. This prospect is not exhilarating to many of us. So we choose one of the many psychological defence mechanisms to deal with physical death, namely suppression.

What is sobering is that whether we think about death or not and whether we prepare for it or not, we will die. It is therefore imprudent to avoid something which is inevitable. The most sensible thing to do is to look at death as objectively as it is humanly possible and not only anticipate it, but meticulously prepare for it. Death ought not to take us by surprise and catch us completely unexpectedly. On the other hand, we should not live life with the foreboding and apprehension that death is following us like a shadow. We need to enjoy life to the fullest. Even more importantly, we need to discover why we were put on this planet and make sure that the reason for our existence has been fully pursued and fulfilled. We should work with the understanding that one day we will not be able to do anything on this earth. So Solomon wisely counsels us as follows, in Ecclesiastes 9:10, in the Good News Bible, Work hard at whatever you do, because there will be no action, no thought, no knowledge, no wisdom in the world of the dead---and that is where you are going. Solomon is urging us to live with the consciousness that one day we will die. Even more importantly, we should live with eternity in view.

I have already alluded to the fact that the Coronavirus which has confronted and confounded the world has made me think more deeply about death. I have lost friends that were dear to me and with whom we served the Lord in the 1970s and even currently. I always try to avoid thinking of where people have ended after death. The reason is that the destiny of people after death is completely out of my purview or jurisdiction. Only God determines that. But what haunts me, when a friend has died, is what I could have done but I did not do. I felt an urge from the Lord to write this book in which I help people to prepare for their death. I hope that this is the kind of book that could be given to those who are robustly healthy as well as to those who are not so well. It is hoped that it will make a difference for both sets of people.

The attitude that we should all avoid is that of presumption. Men and women of old were never presumptuous when thinking and talking about death. They were never as confident as we seem to be that our destination will be with God. They wanted to avoid anything that could result in being rejected by God. The renowned and highly celebrated Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:26-27, Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. The words that stand out for me in these two verses are I myself will not be disqualified. He lived with the consciousness that He could be disqualified and he wanted to avoid that as much as possible. It would behove us to be as circumspect as possible in all that we do lest we miss the destination after this life which we desire the most.

The early apostles were not happy just to officiate at the funerals of those they had led. Rather, they wanted to make sure that these people would make it to heaven after this life. Consequently, they did all they could to ensure that this was the case. In this regard, the Apostle Paul writes in Colossians 1:28-29, We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labour, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me. This should be the aspiration of every pastor. If it were up to me, I would wish that every person who has ever been associated with me should make it to heaven. I trust that this book will contribute to fulfilling that desire which I have.

The focus of this book is on how one should prepare for glory. There is an unmatched glory that awaits those who have committed their lives to Christ and who have vigilantly guarded their garments so that they are not soiled or sullied by the defilement which is so prevalent in the world. We will elaborate on how one must prepare for death. Please pay attention and implement what you read from this book. May we all make it to heaven!

CHAPTER 1

Death was not Part of God’s Original Plan

When God created human beings in the beginning, He did not plan for them to die. He created them to live forever. Genesis 1:26-27 says that God created them in His image and likeness. God is eternal and He created them to live eternally. The only difference between them and God, as far as eternity is concerned, is that God has no beginning and no end. Human beings had a beginning but they were to have no end. To emphasize this, God placed in the midst of the trees in the Garden of Eden the Tree of Life, and Adam and Eve were not forbidden from eating from it before they fell into sin. To show that they were meant to live forever, even after the Fall, human beings lived for many years. There are seven men whose age exceeded 900 years. They are Methuselah who lived 969 years; Jared, 962 years; Noah, 950 years; Adam, 930 years; Seth, 912 years; Kenan, 910 years; and Enosh, 905 years. These men are known as Antediluvian patriarchs. But it was not God’s plan even for these men to die in their 900s. He wanted them to live forever.

God gave Adam an instruction to eat from all the trees in the Garden of Eden, but He warned him not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He gave the reason for this prohibition. He explained to him that the day he ate from that tree he would surely die (Genesis 2:16-17). What God meant was that he would die spiritually, which meant he would lose the life of God in him. He would also die physically which meant that he would become mortal. He was created to be immortal but God told him that the day he eats from the forbidden tree, from that moment mortality would invade him and he would continue in a dying state until he finally died. From that time on, human beings live in a state of dying until the day the soul and the body are separated. That is when final physical death will take place.

What introduced death to human beings, was sin. When God created human beings in the beginning, as we have said, He meant for them to live forever. But when sin entered into the Garden of Eden, through disobedience, death also entered. Adam was warned that the day he disobeyed God, eating from the forbidden tree, he would surely die. The warning comes in Genesis 2:16-17 and these two verses state, And the LORD God commanded the man, You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die. The real issue was not eating the fruit of the forbidden tree. Rather it was flagrant disregard of God’s command. This was blatant and defiant disobedience. Romans 5:19 explains that sin entered into the world through the disobedience of the one man and as a result the many were made sinners. In Romans 5:12 the Bible explains that death came as the result of sin. It states, "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned." (See also Romans 6:23; Ezekiel 18:4; James 1:15.)

Because sin has not been eradicated on earth, so also death has not been eradicated. But Christ defeated death. After speaking almost mockingly about death in 1 Corinthians 15:55 where death is asked where its victory and sting is, in verse 57 Paul concludes by giving thanks to God who has given us victory over sin through Christ. In this verse he says, But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to note, though, the association of sin and death. Death invaded humankind after the entrance of sin into the human race. What is regrettable is that the sin of human beings introduced death not only to the human race, but to all created things. Death entered into the animal kingdom, into vegetation, into the lives of the creatures that live in the sea, etc. That is why the Bible says that the whole creation is waiting for the redemption of the sons of God (human beings) because this is how it will also realise its own redemption, which includes redemption from death. Romans 8:19-24 talks about this anticipation of lower