End of the World? May 25

Dearest Ones,

No doubt, you heard about the prediction of the end of the world, which was supposed to happen on Saturday, May 21, 2011. Well, as you know, it didn't happen. This prediction was made by 89 year old Harold Camping, a minister who owns a Christian broadcasting station in California. Because he is a broadcaster, he can reach a lot of people, but that doesn't mean he has the truth. He and his followers believe doomsday is when Christians will be called up in the rapture (meaning they go to heaven) leaving sinners to suffer on earth. Looks like his congregation is following him instead of JESUS CHRIST. If you're a Christian who believes the Bible, Jesus clearly says no one knows the hour or the day of the return of Jesus. God gave each of us minds and we are supposed to use them on our own. Ask for help from the HOLY SPIRIT as He will lead you to the truth. Don't believe everything you hear.

One thing that is good about something like this happening is that it gets people praying and talking about their faith. Another person who made the news recently, is an atheist, Stephen Hawking, a 69 year-old respected physicist from England. He published a statement saying he did not believe in an afterlife. He has lots of followers, so he probably influenced many people. I feel sorry for him, as he has nothing to look forward to. Hawking is nearly totally paralyzed by a motor neuronal disease, diagnosed when he was 21. His beliefs may not be his fault, if he was brought up with this way of thinking. Usually, we believe what we are taught as children. We may lose it for awhile when we get older, but people generally come back to the faith of their childhood. We must pray for those who are lost.

Why doesn't God simply reveal Himself to people, proving that He exists? Surely if God would just appear everyone would believe in Him! The problem with this idea is that it is not God's desire to just convince people that He exists. It is God's desire for people to believe in Him by faith. God did reveal Himself when He came to live on this earth as a man, in the person of Jesus Christ. But what did people do to Him? They crucified Him.

I am reading "Heaven Is For Real," 2010, written by Todd Burpo, the father of a 4 year old boy, Colton, who died for a few minutes, then came back to life. The Burpos live in the small town of Imperial, Nebraska. Colton told his parents he left his body during surgery and went to heaven and back. He described exactly what his parents were doing in another part of the hospital during the surgery. There was no way he could have known.

He talked of visiting heaven and stories told him by people he met there before he was born. He amazed his parents with details about heaven that matched the Bible exactly, though he had not yet learned to read. Colton tells of meeting long-departed family members. He said he met his older sister there. His parents were astounded at that because they had not told him about a miscarriage they had a few years before he was born. He describes Jesus and the angels and how much God loves us. His father writes the book and uses the exact words of his son, Colton, when describing heaven.

If you get a chance to read it, it may change forever the way you think of eternity. Most libraries have the book.

In God's love and mine,
Sister Francelle

I'd like to share:

"BEST POEM IN THE WORLD"

I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered Heaven's door
Not by the beauty of it all
Nor the lights or its decor.

But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp -
The thieves, the liars, the sinners
The alcoholics and the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.

Bob, who I always thought
Was rotting away in hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus, "What's the deal?
I would love to hear your take.
How'd all these sinners get up here?
God must've made a mistake.

'And why is everyone so quiet,
So somber - give me a clue.'
'Hush, child,' He said,
'They're all in shock.
No one thought they'd be seeing you.'