Mrs. "G" asked me: "Would you teach me to die?" Please read this letter.

“The great escape.”

Only the believer is equipped to live and equipped to die.

In Solomonic fashion I have come to the conclusion that, “Ideas run the world.”

As someone said, “As the man thinks, so is he.” ‟You are your thoughts.”

Thoughts and ideas are like the Central Nervous System invisible to the eye and delicately placed in the backbone and inside the skull and are effectively protected by the powerful muscles and skin of the body.

A natural man is like a brute beast in the path of self-destructive behavior learning that it is harmful for him and those around him.

When the greatest miracle of miracles of conversion happens in an individual, the light of God as if through a crack enters the mind of man with an ever-prevailing power so that at first he might be blinded for excess of light such as Paul on the road to Damascus.

Like newborn babies, at first, they are uncomfortable with the light outside the dark womb so that they close their eyes but in short order and on their own they gradually open their eyes to write with their senses in the blank sheet of their brains that which will be called memory that will equip them to face life and death.

As a sword in the hand of a soldier, is the word of God in the memory of a Newborn baby believer. I remember as if it was yesterday the first verse I memorized as a new believer.

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

From this verse I learned that I will be placed in the battle ground of temptation and in those times I will not be treated any differently than any other believer including Jesus who was also tempted severely in every way.

What I understood between the lines is that, “I was equipped to live therefore I was also equipped to die to the point of seeing death as the great escape to gain eternal life.”

When sickness, tragedies, crisis of all kinds come to the individual believer, our tendency is to think, “Why me?” In other words, “Self-pity.”

In those times of pain, as many now are facing with the pandemic and other discomforts, it is wise to draw the Sword of the Spirit and remember that we are equipped by the Word of God to face affliction totally armed.

What are we to remember?

That there is a Sovereign God who is the blessed controller of all things. He is not only aware of our situation but he is also personally involved as the one who has allowed what we are going through in the same way as he was involved in the life of Job.

Conversion at its core is anchored in the understanding of the sovereignty of God where by the reformed mind does not have the luxury to think of God in any other way but as the one who wounds as well as the one who heals.

“This is our Fathers World and we should not forget that.”

It is also good to remember that the sovereign God knows and allows the wicked to plant weeds at night in his field of wheat. God also allows the cup of iniquity of the wicked to fill and prosper until harvest time where their destiny will meet a wretched end.

When I was young my grandfather kept the whip of discipline within reach and in a visible place. In the same way God has also created the wicked to use as a rod on the back of the fool.

I am going through a lot of testing, trials and tribulation. The one thing I remember in such a time as this is that our Lord is at work in me and he will keep on working as he is making me like his son Jesus.

Those of us who came to know Jesus by conversion in adulthood have much to “unlearn.” But those raised as Christians who grew up in Christian homes are blessed to have grown in the protection of the Covenant Tent. But at the end we both should be equally thankful to our sovereign God who kept some from the guilty stain while to the others he has given extra measure of grace to cover their sins. Might the name of our Lord be praised.

Joel, a fellow elder from Missouri asked me to write something about the lessons learned from Coved19. Armed with 1 Corinthians 10:13 I am attempting to respond publicly.

Just because multitudes are dying as a result of the Pandemic, we should not think that multitudes are more important than individuals to God. One glance at the book of Leviticus will lead us to the conclusion that Sickness and hygiene and the social distance with the unclean was a common practice to live healthy lives and avoid death. Polio, German measles, Spanish Fever, leprosy, Chinese Virus are not sicknesses with a life of their own. Neither is God trying to kill us and obviously not succeeding.

Should the Lord decide to put an end to the human race, he would not need virus or bacteria, not even and snap of his finger but only a word of his mouth will send everyone back to nothing.

The God of Adam, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of Jesus, your God and mine is not a God of the multitudes but the God of the individual.

Times of crisis are times of quiet time for the individual and his God. Without option but to look upwards, millions of INDIVIDUALS are in their beds looking heavenwards not in an enormous pavilion full of hospital beds, nurses and doctors but in the chamber of their hearts.

Yes, it is God the invisible and personal Primary Care doctor that is at their bedside teaching them the only lesson that from the very beginning he has been trying to teach them. The purpose of God is to teach us childlike dependence to every one of his children before they call God ‟Our Father who art in heaven.”

To see the Kingdom of God in Jesus is only possible for those who are born again and become like little children.

The fear of death is directly proportional of your vision of the kingdom of God in Jesus.

Saint Stephen was stoned to death, and his last words were full of love preaching to the enemies his vision of Jesus already standing and ready to welcome and embrace him personally as a father to a son arriving home from a long trip.

Should the Pandemic or any other illness takes you home to Jesus, you must never think that you will be one more impersonal statistic but one for whom heaven will stopped doing business as usual and together with Jesus millions of Angels will welcome you home as if you were the only one for whom Jesus died.

For the unbeliever death is like falling from the frying pan into the fire, but for the followers of Jesus death is gain. God in his faithfulness has provided an escape from the temptation of hopelessness and despair.

You have been equipped for life and for death.

You are the apple of his eyes. You belong to Jesus.

You are not your own. You are of God and for God created to be loved.

“You are one who will escape with your life.”

Remember that sicknesses do not put an end to your life but he who has the power to save you from hell has budgeted the number of heartbeats of your heart and by worry you will not take away one heartbeat or add a single heartbeat to it on earth.

This was a warm little chick tucked under the wings of mother hen Jesus, “ON DUTY.”

Gerry Gutierrez.

Photos are of my mentors and friends, the Smallman's and some family pictures.