Dear Members and Friends:
On August 2, I received an emotional phone call from my older brother that his wife had died at the hospital after she had broken her hip. It was not until a little over a week later that he called again and I was able to get the details as to what had actually happened. She was taking treatments for cancer at the hospital that day and after the treatments, while still in the hospital, she felt nauseated, fell and broke her hip. They took her to the ICU and were in the process of assessing exactly how to proceed when she died. My brother was in the hallway at the time, talking to his daughter.
After I had started writing this letter, news reached us that our beloved Margaret Adair had died of a sudden massive heart attack on August 23. She had been taken to the hospital by ambulance, and they tried, unsuccessfully, to resuscitate her twice. Norbert and Johanna Link were able to see her just before the ambulance took her, but while waiting outside the emergency room together with Margaret’s son, daughter-in-law and her two grandchildren, the doctor came out and told them the shocking and unexpected news. Margaret will be buried in Ireland next to her late husband, Evangelist Colin Adair. Brian Gale will be conducting the funeral service in Belfast. Later, we will be having a memorial service in California. More details will be forthcoming.
Margaret was truly a faithful and dedicated servant in the Work of God. We can surely say with the words of the Apostle Paul that she has fought the good fight, she has finished the race, she has kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for her the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to her on that Day, and not to her only but also to all who have loved His appearing (compare 2 Timothy 4:7–8).
Such a sudden death is somewhat of a shock as compared to someone who has been sick for a long time and is expected to die.
I was pondering what had happened and was thinking that we should be grateful for every day since we do not know exactly when our physical life will end.
We are living in the end times, and even though we do not set dates, we believe it is not decades down the road, and we are admonished by Christ to watch and to warn the world which is part of our mission of preaching the gospel. This is a serious responsibility, and all hands have to be on deck, as it were, to complete this task, since it has to be accomplished until God decides to allow the Great Tribulation to begin. But because of the elect, the true members of the Body of Christ, He will cut those days short to save mankind from total annihilation which the wrath of Satan the Devil would otherwise bring about.
It’s kind of hard to fully understand such a train of thought and direction for someone of a stable mind, but bear in mind that Satan, in his vanity and pride, will for the second time try to throw God off His throne and take over the rulership of not only the earth and the universe, but also the spirit realm. He will fail and he will be cast down to the earth and in his wrath bring tremendous destruction on the earth, first targeting the Church (but God in His great mercy will protect some Church members), and then the rest who will have to experience the Tribulation.
These are not pleasant things to think about; yet, it does give us the opportunity now to straighten up our relationship with God and stay close to Him. The reward for doing so is enormous, including
being given the gift of eternal life. Death, which is our enemy, separating family and friends, will be a thing of the past.
God the Father and Jesus Christ will always be there with the faithful members of His Family who make it into the Kingdom of God. The only tears we will experience are the tears of joy and gratitude, so in order for us to participate in that glorious future, we must now be engaged in whatever capacity God has decreed in finishing the most important Work in the world today. Nothing is more important for us and also for mankind, even though they do not appreciate and understand our dedication and sacrifice at this time. We need not worry how much time there may be left, and even if we were to die prior to Christ’s return, we know that in the next moment of our consciousness we will be awakened by the sound of the last trumpet, raised as incorruptible God beings of His Family, and the angels sent by Christ will gather us, His elect, at His coming to bring us to Him.
These are really all wonderful events in the future, in spite of trials, but like a woman who gives birth soon forgets the pain of childbirth but rejoices in the presence of a newborn, so we will forget about the pain, trials and sufferings which we have gone through, and rejoice in being in the Family of God where there will be no more death—only joy for evermore. So, we are admonished by Christ to endure to the end since it is well worth the gift of eternal life and the reward of rulership which will last not just for a few hundred years, but down through eternity.
In Christ Service,
Rene Messier
