One of my great born-again Christian friends, Vastine narrated to us one of the saddest stories I have ever heard, a story of a young Somali Muslim boy who wanted to receive Jesus Christ as his personal life at the before he died. Vastine she says met this young man while he was battling some sickness of sorts, visibly ill and vulnerable, when she had preached the gospel of eternal life to the young man, it was clear the young man was interested in this eternal life, he was elated at the prospect of going straight to heaven after his physical death, perhaps to him it was some sort of escape or insurance policy, to say the least, he was apparently not ready when Vastine preached to him. Vastine at the time or point of departing, left him with a blank cheque, that whenever he wanted to become born again, he would count on her to lead him to Christ or so she thought.
Vastine kept in touch with this young man and in the process, they exchanged contacts, the young man himself owned no phone and relied on a relative's phone. One day Vastine’s phone rang, the young man was probably on the other end of the call, for some reason, Vastine was not near her phone, the phone rang many times and the buzzing vibration faded when the call was not answered, "where is the girl who promised to lead me to Jesus Christ" he thought to himself. When Vastine finally got access to her phone, her heart raced within her chest, what could be the problem? "Ismail hadn’t called me these many times before, is everything okay?" She spoke under her breath.
"Hello" she muttered on the phone, "Hello" the voice on the other end of the call responded, "Is this Ismael?", Vastine asked, before even her inquiry could be answered, the mourns and wails in the background were enough for her to know something unusual had happened, Ismael had just passed away, He had most certainly called to receive Jesus Christ? Vastine broke down in frustration, anger and disappointment at how somebody nearly made it to heaven had she been near her phone.
So sad as it sounds, preaching the gospel is a very urgent business, any minute spent wasting time is a function of the souls that will perish in hell, you could argue that people going to hell is not your business and you could be right, but what about you Christian, the old woman that prayed for you every day you staggered across her house while drunk, what about you erstwhile prostitute, the man that sent you an invitation to come to church, did they think like that? If they did, would you have been saved?
Sometimes we are misunderstood by family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances simply because we take the gospel seriously, why shouldn’t we, this very thing that men play with and in, led to the death of many saints on the stake, death in sleep is agreeable to many but death by driving a tree through your mouth then through the belly is nothing short of cruel and grotesque, missionaries braved malaria, wild animals and unfriendly tribes to bring this thing to Africa, some left wife, children and property to bring the good news to Africa, why shouldn’t we do more, the martyrs in Uganda disobeyed the most powerful king of their time to serve God. Paul was physically spent all he had for the gospel’s sake. Why are we not reaching out, why are we so comfortable when sinners are sliding into the gaping pit of hell.
I don’t know many things but I have lived long enough to know that God’s ultimate desire is that all men come to the saving knowledge of his son Jesus Christ.
Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:4
You might not be like Vastine but there are certainly hundreds of people in your community that are perishing because you haven’t shared with them the good news of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The bible says how will they will know if they are not told.
How can they believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how can they hear unless someone proclaims him? And who will go to tell them unless he is sent? Romans 10:14
May the preaching of the gospel become our ultimate purpose while we live for therein we can be able to help many escape death of the damning hell fire by the skin of their teeth, eternity is such a long time that no one deserves to spend time there leave alone go there.
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