Rik Mayall (deceased).

I hesitate to write about the sudden, and apparently unexpected, death of anyone, least of all someone as well-known as the late Rik Mayall.  I also extend my sympathy to his family and closest friends, whose sense of loss is keenest at this time because their love was deepest, and most personal.

However, it is a reminder that, as is sometimes said, "We never know the minute"!  I suspect that if, yesterday morning someone had asked Rik Mayall if he thought that obituaries would be being written about him by the evening, he would have laughed.  After all, this is the man who had survived a bad crash on a quad-bike, and is reported as having said, when he regained consciousness after a time when his wife had been informed that the machines that had been keeping him alive for five days, would be switched off in an hour, "I've beaten Jesus Christ"!  This, apparently, referring to the fact that the accident occurred about Easter time.

Well, I am not here to judge the late Mr Mayall.  One Who is perfect in all His ways, and Who, alone, can dispense perfect justice, will do that.  I can only say that the newspaper reports (not that I believe everything that I read in newspapers!) that quote his own words - as opposed to the words that his 'characters' - would indicate that even that experience had not caused him to consider, deeply enough, what happens at the end of our mortal lives.

To some, of course, there is total annihilation - we simply cease to exist in any shape, manner, or form.  To others, we are judged according to our good works.  If we have enough of them to cancel out our bad deeds, then we are okay; if not, we are in trouble!  To yet others, we keep returning to this planet, in different forms dependent upon our previous life, until we eventually reach the stage at which we are able to be released from that cycle of life-death-rebirth, and are absorbed into the 'oneness' that is the universe.

The Christian Gospel is, I firmly believe, the only message that brings genuine peace at such a time.  It tells me, quite simply, that I can never earn enough 'good points' to gain eternal life in that dimension that we refer to, in the English language, as 'heaven'; or that we will ever achieve 'nirvana'.  Instead, it makes an offer - a stupendous offer!  It tells me that I am a sinner, without any hope in myself.  But it also tells me that the righteous Judge has already, in the Persona of the Son, paid the penalty for my sin.  What I need to do is to acknowledge that, and accept the salvation that is offered to me through, and in, Him.  I am then adopted into the family of Almighty God, the Creator, and Sustainer, of all that is and begin, here and now, the eternal life that is His life.

It''s an amazing offer - and it is an offer of love and grace and mercy.  If you would like to know more, please feel free to contact me by leaving a comment (that will not be published!) with a contact e-mail address, and I will be delighted to be of assistance.

"God loved the world so much, that He gave Himself, in the Persona of the Son, that anyone who places their trust in Him will not perish, but have, here and now, eternal life."

Then, and only then, will you be able to meet death, whenever it comes, knowing that you are in the One Who defeated it, almost 2,000 years ago.  Hallelujah!

And the bad guys are ... ... ?

The mother-in-law of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has been allowed to enter Israel for medical treatment.  On Tuesday, The Associated Press (AP) reported that Israeli authorities had allowed the mother-in-law of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh into the country for medical treatment.

Maj. Guy Inbar, an Israeli spokesman, stated that the 68-year-old woman was allowed to enter from Gaza on Monday to receive treatment for cancer, at a Jerusalem hospital. A relative in Gaza confirmed she was in Israel.

The announcement followed Haniyeh's resignation as Gaza’s prime minister Monday in the wake of the formation of a new unity government between Hamas and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement.

This is not the first time that a relative of Haniyeh’s has been taken to Israel for medical treatment. In November, his grand-daughter was brought there, in a critical condition with a serious infection of the digestive tract which affected her nervous system. She was returned to Gaza a day later, after Israeli doctors concluded they were unable to help her and, sadly, she died a short time afterwards.

The anti-Israel media never seem to notice these simple humanitarian acts and gestures on the part of Israel - even towards those whose constantly call for her destruction and, indeed, annihilation!  Yet the demonstrable fact is that Israel regularly allows medical patients from Gaza to cross into Israel for treatment - from 40 to 70 people per day. This has gone on even as the Hamas leadership threatens Israel with genocide and terrorists from the region launch thousands of rockets towards southern Israel.

Of course, in all of this, it is obvious that it is the Israelis who are the 'bad guys' ... ... ... or is it?!

It's time to die!

I suspect that it is a common trait in mankind, and has been since the beginning - a desire to know what the future holds.  However, I do wonder how many wish to know the exact time of their physical death!  Yet this, apparently, is the purpose of a new timepiece - not yet on the market.

The Tikker watch will, reportedly, arrive with an instruction manual, and a questionnaire designed to estimate how long the wearer is scheduled to live. Once this expiration date is determined, it can be programmed into Tikker. The death watch then literally counts down the seconds to the wearer’s demise  while, simultaneously, displaying the current time.

It's an interesting concept.  However, it leads to a number of thoughts.  The most obvious one is that it does not, indeed, cannot, take into account accident, disease, or violence.  The second is that only the One Who, from His vantage point of eternity, sees all of our time simultaneously, knows the precise moment of an individual's death.

However, the third point, and that which is given by the creator, is that it could make the wearer more conscious of the brevity of life.  The professed idea behind the watch is "... to encourage wearers to realize their life has an end date and that they should make the most of their lives while they have them."

Writing to the early disciples of Jesus in Colosse, Paul encouraged them to "Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time." (Col. 4:5).  To the Corinthian believers he wrote: "Working together with [Christ], then, we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain.  For He says, 'At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation.'  Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." (II Cor. 6:1-2).

There are many references in the written Word of God to time, as we experience it.  The Bible is clear that time is has a beginning.  For example, in the soaring benediction at the end of Jude's pastoral letter, we read: "Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of His glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and for ever." (Jude 24-25; emphasis added).  That it has an end is clearly implied by Paul: "... He has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of His will, according to His purpose which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth." (Eph 1:9-10; emphasis added).

Of course, even Albert Einstein worked out that time has a beginning and an end and, to the best of my knowledge, not even as eminent a physicist as Stephen Hawking has disagreed with his conclusion.  It is, in fact, created.  The important thing is to use it wisely, not to 'count down the days'.

The hymn-writer wrote: "My times are in Thy hands.  My Lord, I wish them there."  At some point, each one of us will die - regardless of any Tikker watch - or time will end.  Be certain you are prepared for what comes next - and it isn't annihilation!