After moving back to Delaware in the late 1990’s, I worked for one of my college roommates. John has just started a new Christian wholesale business and needed someone to help out with the Warehouse. As John and his wife Stacy focused on Retail Sales in their showroom, I spent two years as a production manager, overseeing the Inbound and Outbound shipping operations.
Blessed (happy, [a]to be envied) and holy (spiritually whole, of unimpaired innocence and proved virtue) is the person who takes part (shares) in the first resurrection! Over them the second death exerts no power or authority, but they shall be ministers of God and of Christ (the Messiah), and they shall rule along with Him a thousand years, Revelation 20:6.
Like any job that I’ve ever done, music or the radio is needed to keep me focused. When I wasn’t blasting Christian music, I listened to books on tape and famous Bible teachers. The one cassette tape that got the most replays was a series of sermons on Great Awakenings. Former church historian Leonard Ravenhill is who introduced me to the concept of the second death.
Then death and Hades ([d]the state of death or disembodied existence) were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire, Revelation 20:14.
Ravenhill looked at the past to make sure modern Christians didn’t fall prey to the mistakes of previous generations. Leonard specialty was as educating churches on prayer and revival. Ravenhill had a way of bringing alive the past as if you were part of some sort of a time capsule. While everyone goes through a physical death on earth, the second death only occurs to those not listed in the Book of Life. To avoid this eternal destination, make sure your make your reservations before it’s too late, 1 John 5:12-13.
by Jay Mankus
ExpressYourself4Him 