The Good Death
Good morning brothers and sisters This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series
where we seek to explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years,
the heavenly Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them
with you. This morning we seek to understand the meaning of a good death.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Good Death
"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believth in me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believth in me shall never die." John, Chapter 11, Verse
25.
If a man dies, will he live again?
Brothers and sisters, in today broadcast, we shall discuss the concept of the good death, which seems
to be an oxymoron. We don't usually use good and death as modifiers, the one of the other, but it is
possible to die a good death. The material mind wants to live, and will do everything in its power
to do so, if only it is a for a few minutes more or a few seconds more. We all know of people who
have been killed away from the scene where they were abducted. And some of these people had an
opportunity to cry out at the time of their abduction, and though it may not have saved their life at
that point may, it may have made it possible for the authorities to apprehend the suspect more
quickly. But the survival instinct is so great in mortal man that he will cooperate with the killer even
though he knows that ultimately he will be killed.
This topic was inspired by a movie about a teenager who had discovered the secret identity of a Nazi
war criminal. This teenager wanted to know all the details of the criminal’s termination of thousands
of innocent Jews during the Holocaust. The teenage was particularly interested in the behavior of the
Jews at they were being gassed. The Nazi war criminal described how Jews were locked in the gas
chambers that were disguised to look like showers. When the gas was released, these victims tried
to get to the top of the gas chambers even though the gas was coming from the shower heads. This
was an instinctive urge to try to climb to higher levels in the chambers, as if the air were more
breathable. In their effort to achieve this they piled over each other like crabs in a baskets, trampling
those below. When asked about the children who were also being gassed, the criminal said that they
were on the bottom, along with the other physically weaker individuals.
Before Jesus’ apprehension by the religious authorities, he said: "Yet a little while am I with you,
and then I go unto him that sent me. Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither,
ye cannot come. Ye are from beneath: I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.
I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in yours sins: for if ye believe not I am he, ye shall die in
your sins.” By rejecting Jesus, the religious authorities were rejecting the truth of life. They were
consciously being disloyal to truth, and when they died, they would die without the comforting and
saving presence of truth. We all die the mortal death sooner or later, but that is not the truth of life;
if a man dies, he will live again if he does not reject the truth of life. The truth of life reveals that if
we believe in Jesus, though our bodies die, our souls will live on. Awareness and acceptance of this
truth quiets the material mind and imparts tranquility to the soul. If such a truth is rejected, then man
does not go quietly into the night of mortal death. He struggles and struggles until the death process
is completed, all the time filled with unmentionable despair and unrelenting fear. We know that by
exercising faith in the truth of life, we can become aware of life’s transitions. We can become aware
that we are never alone: when we die the mortal death, we die with the Spirit of Truth embracing our
souls.
History tells us that not all of the inmates in the concentration camps died in their sins. There were
some who refused to stoop to the level of animals. There were some who followed the light of truth
in their souls. They were the ones who recognized the dual consciousness in their minds, the human
self and the divine self. They responded to the divine urges in their souls and minds, and even though
they shared the same deplorable inhumane conditions, they unselfishly ministered to their fellow
inmates. And when those of them who obeyed the divine leading were finally liberated from the
concentration camps, they emerged from the camps better human beings then they were before they
went in. And when those believers in the Truth of life were called to give up their life, they went
quietly, without complaint and with quiet divine dignity. What is the explanation of this paradoxical
behavior? How were they able to override the mandates of the material mind for survival? Well in
order to understand and comprehend this paradoxical behavior, we must look to the example of the
original discovery of the Truth in human form. We are of course referring to Jesus of Nazareth, the
Son of God and the Son of Man, who left the heavenly courts of glory and assumed the form of a
human being to reveal to mankind the truth of life.
During his sojourn in the flesh, the divine Son in human form went about doing good, revealing the
Father's love and mercy to his human brothers and sisters. The religious authorities for the most part
rejected his divine revelation, and they all died in their sins. And when the mortal end became
apparent for Jesus, he went quietly in the night with a calm assurance and divine dignity, with
complete faith in his ability to conquer death. Let us look at his example: Jesus was put on the cross
by the Roman soldiers. This form of death was designed to linger, sometimes requiring days before
the condemned would die. He was nailed to this cross and made no reply to his tormentors. He
ministered to one of the thieves who was also being crucified. And he forgave those who were
responsible for executing him. He said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." And
when it was finally finished, he cried out in a loud voice: "It is finished! Father, into your hands I
commend my spirit." And when he had thus spoken, he bowed his head and gave up the life struggle.
When the Roman centurion saw how Jesus died, he smote his breast and said: "This was indeed a
righteous man; truly he must have been a Son of God." And from that hour he began to believe in
Jesus."
We see how Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man, died. But he did much more than that. After
his victorious death of fully submitting to this human experience, he left behind his victorious spirit
for his mortal brothers and sisters of all ages. Thus we see how each generation of mortals can die
the good die even as Jesus did. Mortal man can by faith acquire the power to be even God revealing
in their death. They die with the assurance of eternal life, and this assurance of eternal life overrides
the craving of the material mind for material life. This material mind yields to the Father's will, and
in doing so acquires all of the Father's power to make the transition through the mortal life to the
other side, where there is eternal life. And all this is done with serenity, peace, and calmness. To die
with consciousness of the heavenly Father is to die realizing that you are spiritually indestructible.
The fact of this consciousness spiritually means that you are like the Father, for that is the only way
that you can know Him. Can man die the good death? Indeed, he can. With God all things are
possible, if you only believe.
This concludes today's message on understanding the meaning of the good death. We hope you find
something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day.
Until next time, this is Dr. James Perry.
Inspirational Messages
By Dr. James Perry
Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done!
The Good Death
