“... STILL WHY DIE SO YOUNG?” By Sunday Adelaja (Expanded Version) “Hmmm… but still, why die so young?” Such a sigh of despair is but commonplace in almost every family, especially amongst devout families of Christians worldwide. Early death and sorrow among young people far from their prime has become a dilemma to the age-long doctrine of Christian faith. We have a tradition in Christendom of believing that people must not die young; at least if they are good people, but life’s realities force us to sometimes reexamine ourselves. I am writing this article as a covenant brother and friend to Dr. Myles Munroe to give some explanations and clear the air about his sudden demise. However, in the process of writing this article, I realized that the question of early death is not exclusive to the life of Dr. Munroe. Many godly families have had to be confronted with such cruel reality in life. Tragic death, sorrow, catastrophes, and accidents prevail in our world today; which challenges us to delve deeper into God’s word in order to gain better understanding of God’s opinion on the question. According to Psalm 90:10, the days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away, Christians fundamentally are supposed to live an average of seventy to eighty years. We all believe this; and it is probably God’s best for everybody but there is no scripture that assures us that Christians and good people will not die before the seventy-year limit. What we are faced with daily as pastors and Church leaders, is that many of our congregants are battling with terminal diseases such as cancer, AIDS and a plethora of others. It is not always right to say that these people weren’t faithful or devout believers. Besides this horrific list, there are several Christians dying from accidents in cars, airplane crashes, shipwrecks and so much more. The point being made in this article is simply that people die young and they aren’t necessarily bad people. Even though the natural instinct of believers worldwide is that it is our birthright to live a long life. Do we say that it is scripturally wrong to die young? Is it really a curse as some are made to believe? Or could it be that God has actually made provisions in scriptures for early death? Could there be provisions in God’s word for tragedies, catastrophes, etc.? What about the righteous and devout individuals? Is there any probability of them having to leave the world early? Could it truly be considered a curse as many suppose when people have a tragic early death? I believe the scripture below will shed some light on all these questions. The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. (Isaiah 57:1) The reality of death (especially for the believer) is to set the spirit man free from the captivity of the body. Therefore, it really doesn’t matter at what age an individual is set free from the bondage of one’s body nor the time of his or her departure from the earth. That body which gets left behind is merely a “shell” and it actually returns to the dust. So, it doesn’t matter as much to God and it shouldn’t really matter to the person involved “when” it happens. So as Christians, it is rather irrelevant to be overly concerned about when a person reaches the end of their earthly life. God knows better! We however must understand that sometimes our religious upbringing and dogma is where the problem is. God’s perspective on death is different from ours. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. (Psalm 116:15) From the above scripture, we see that the death of God’s saints (or children) is always PRECIOUS in His sight. Therefore, what makes the death of a saint precious is not the time of death or how long they lived; but the fact that they are “saints” and the fact that they are going home. The death of the saints is always precious in the eye of the Lord even if the saint is young, middle aged or aged. In God’s eyes it is still something very precious. Another perspective on the tragic death of Christians and God’s servants is revealed to us in Isaiah 57:1, which states: The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. In this scripture, we see that the Lord is speaking about the type of death that Dr. Munroe died – a tragic death. “The righteous perisheth …” refers to a tragic death as with Dr. Munroe and his team members. The dictionary meaning for the word “perish” is “to suffer death, typically in a violent, sudden or untimely way” which is exactly what we have been talking about. So we see that God makes provision for such a death in the scriptures. The importance that God attaches to this scripture is to diffuse confusion about such death and to bring understanding to His people. “… and no man layeth it to heart…” this statement denotes lack of understanding and confusion from people. God knows people may not understand why things like this should happen and they will question and query God on the matter – especially the religious mind who will not understand such an early death in comparison to Abraham who lived for so long and died peacefully. Why would God allow His servant to die in any other way than Abraham or Jacob? Could a good God be so inconsistent and unjust to “repay” faithful servants with untimely death? This is what makes our God: a God of unsearchable wisdom, a God of mystery and a God of incomprehensible depth! God cannot be put in a box, God cannot be predicted, and He cannot be fully understood. He can only be trusted! O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! (Romans 11:33) Dear friends, please, note that the word “perish” in Isaiah 57:1 was not referring to worldly people, it was referring to the righteous. The God of love, the God of compassion, the God of depth and the God of wisdom gives room for the righteous to perish for reasons only best known to Him. More so, God also would allow good and “…merciful men…” (This infers to men that are much better than average men) to be taken at a time or in a manner that most people would not expect. Is this confusing? Well, these are the things that make God, God! Friends, we better not question Him! “… none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come”. There are things God is seeing that no man is seeing. At any given point in any tragic story and in all unfathomable misfortunes, there is something that God is seeing which we are not seeing. When we only consider our own point of view, we are not always aware of the blind spots in our understanding. This lack of understanding often leads to confusion, disillusionment and disappointment. The passage above tells us that we should consider that maybe these men are actually taken away from some form of evil that is to come. This evil could be global or personal. If we could only see behind the scenes as God sees, we might end up rejoicing about what we had earlier called a tragedy. Dear readers, it might be of interest to you to see how Jesus would react to untimely death if he were alive on the earth today. And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison. And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus. When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. (Matthew 14:10 – 13) The death of John the Baptist who was Jesus’s cousin, friend, colleague and partner was one of the greatest tragedies that happened during the life of Jesus Christ. Yet, God did not stop it, despite the fact that he was so young. Furthermore, John’s presence in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ could have been a great boost to Jesus’ ministry, but yet this argument was not enough to cause God to intervene and stop the execution of John the Baptist. WHY? Well, God was seeing further, and deeper than we could imagine. The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law (Deuteronomy 29:29). Of course Jesus was the greatest miracle worker on earth, he could have raised John up from the dead, but he didn`t. Jesus even heard the news and refused to respond in the flesh, but rather chose to accept the will of God. This is a challenge to all of us today. In times when tragedies occur, God may be speaking to us to put our lives in order, or to become more focused. Sometimes it is God’s method of helping us get better concentrated to fulfill our purpose on earth. That is exactly the response we saw from Jesus. Take note that after hearing about the untimely death of John, rather than complaining and whining about the untimely and tragic circumstances, Jesus put himself into the right perspective by going to the mountain to seek God’s face. Meaning, our paramount assignment and engagement on earth should not be interrupted by anything whatsoever. Instead, we should leverage the impact of our losses to maximize our relationship with God and further our calling by renewing our dedication, focus and diligence. Furthermore, Jesus also knew that his disciples and follower (including those of John the Baptist) were in a state of shock by John’s tragic death and the cruel reality of having to bury the body of their erstwhile leader and brother without a head. Jesus’ response was not to open a debate or a forum where people express their own hypothesis of what happened, rather he decided to use the circumstances to strengthen and renew the focus and dedication of the disciples by organizing a time of retreat and solitude with them and then continued with his mission. A leader should not only care for one’s self and personal survival in trying times but must also be sensitive to the pain and plight of the people around them – their followers, teams and colleagues. In a way, that is what I have tried to accomplish through the numerous articles, publications and videos that I have released to address the untimely death of my dear friend and brother, Dr. Myles Munroe. While we cannot do anything about our deceased friends and family members, their death should actually be a springboard that should launch us into the next phase of our mission. We should thank God for the time and opportunity spent with such individuals on earth, and strive to fashion our lives after these individuals faith, especially if they were mentors and leaders who we were particularly impacted by. In the days of the early Church in Jerusalem, one of the prominent apostles, Stephen, was tragically and brutally murdered by being stoned in the presence of the other apostles. These same apostles were the foundation and really, the patriarchs of the Christian faith. Yet, with all their faith, they could not prevent the execution of one of their faithful colleagues. I don’t buy into the notion that they did not have enough faith. I don’t want to believe also that they were oblivious of the scriptural promises for longevity of life but yet, they could do nothing about it. Stephen had to suffer an early tragic death and I am not by any means sure that he was seventy years old. I am not saying that God’s preference is early and tragic death for us all or that He wants all of us killed or murdered, I am simply trying to say that in different situations, God will make different decisions: sometimes, it could be for a particular person to live, while in other situations, an individual gets called home. Only God knows the basis of His decisions, ours is to trust that His judgments are righteous and true. In such cases, there is nothing we can do about it; just as Jesus could not stop the execution of John the Baptist nor could the disciples stop the killing of Stephen. We just have to believe that His ways are perfect and His wisdom past finding out. And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young mans feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep (Acts 7:56 – 60) A few years later, other apostles and disciples of Jesus who were leaders of the early Church fell to similar tragic ends: And he killed James the brother of John with the sword (Acts 12:2). After the death of James, God supernaturally intervened to save the life of Peter – this clearly depicts the sovereignty of God. One moment He allows tragedy, while in the next He prevents it. God cannot be boxed-in or pinned-down by our doctrines or beliefs. We cannot say that God is unaware of all these occurrences, if He is aware of every hair that falls from our heads. Therefore, it is absolutely logical that God must be aware of the death of some of His top apostles. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered (Matthew 10:30) However, in hindsight we can see how each one of these deaths: John the Baptist, Stephen, James, Jesus have all come to benefit the Church one way or another, even though at the point of occurrence, they looked like tragedies. Without their deaths we would not have our Christian faith and the Church as it is today. So we can clearly see in all these examples that what we call a “tragedy” might not really be a tragedy in God’s eyes. God might just see it as a seed, or an investment! Friends, let me therefore encourage you to look at the events in the lives of our loved ones from God’s perspective rather than from our temporary feelings of pain and loss. Even though I believe we ought to live long, I endorse God’s choice whenever He chooses to take one of his children earlier than we might have expected. I believe such early death could be just as good and beneficial as when someone lives to a ripe old age. Just like we see in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Therefore, why should we question God in the case of the death of Dr. Myles Munroe, his wife, Ruth and the other passengers on that ill-fated flight? Why should we doubt God in this? My understanding is that if God would allow something like this to happen, then according to God’s infinite wisdom, it is possibly the best thing that could happen under the circumstances. At this stage, I wish to detour a little by giving some historical perspective and establish some hypothesis for the benefit of people who have lost loved ones that were in their prime. I think there is a possibility that God would use the death of someone in his or her prime for His own glory. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: (Philippian 1:21-23) Paul himself was eager to die young, and the only reason he remained behind was for the benefit of those who needed him. He clearly stated that if he had his own choice in the matter, that he would rather choose to go to heaven, and even said “to die is gain.” In the end he too suffered the fate of dying early, and tragically. Historically, when leaders died in their prime, they tend to become legends of their days. Although we may not share the mindsets or values of the following individuals, it goes without saying, that each of these individuals died in their prime and achieved legendary status: Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Che Guevara just to name a few. This does not necessarily mean that older people who pass on do not gain legendary status as well, but the fact still remains that those who die in their prime are not always worse off. Human beings tend to be more comfortable with strength, vigor, energy, beauty, and charisma rather than weakness, weariness, brokenness and old age. For example, in recent American history both Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy were Presidents of the United States. Both were equally great with respect to their track records; however, after JFK died in the prime of his life, his legendary status have become larger than all of the other presidents to date. Some historians would argue that there are other American presidents of recent history that have done much more than JFK. Yet, their names are not as renowned and famous. Even though he was only in office for 3 years, he truly became a household name. While on the other hand, Ronald Reagan who was in office for two terms and arguably accomplished much more, does not command the measure of popularity and clout of JFK amongst ordinary people all over the world. Their funerals were absolutely incomparable: while the whole world stood at attention to celebrate the life of JFK, very few outside the United States were aware of the death and funeral of Ronald Reagan which occurred in a good old age. The difference? The age and nature of their death! That is to say, God does use early and tragic death to accomplish His purpose. A similar thing could be said of African American civil rights leaders, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Both of who died in the struggle for social and racial equality in America. They have now attained legendary status crossing all racial barriers throughout the nations of the world. Surely, they were not the only leaders of the civil rights movement, yet they were the only ones that attained such legendary status. The difference? The age and nature of their death! If we look into the showbiz and entertainment world, we see a similar trend; whenever a star or a leader dies young in his or her prime; they are immortalized and almost immediately attain legendary status. For example, the Jamaican reggae artist, Bob Marley is now a legend. The same goes for the renowned king of rock and roll, Elvis Presley, John Lennon of the Beatles, Jimmy Hendrix and an array of others. The difference? The age and nature of their death! Even though I am not a supporter or believer in the values and life-choices of some of these individuals, as a thorough student of history I cannot deny this consistent pattern and historical trend. I am sure there are other incredibly talented and gifted individuals who died in a good old ripe age and became legends, and on the other hand there are others who died young and did not attain such status. Yet the trends and patterns still seem to suggest that when leaders die in their prime, they tend to become legends. Two great women died in the same week: both women accomplished unbelievable feats in their lifetime but while one died a peaceful death in old age, the other died young and tragically. The whole world and media houses globally were busy covering the death of one of the ladies, while only few people managed to hear about the death of the other even though she was perhaps more accomplished than the former. The two women were Mother Theresa of Calcutta and the Princess of Wales, Diana. The difference? The age and nature of their death! We see a similar outpouring of condolences from all nations of the world and from most of the top media outlets for Dr. Myles Munroe. Amazingly for a few days, social media majored on nothing else but the death of a humble preacher from one of the smallest nations. I am not trying to say that fame and legendary status is the ultimate assessment of the value of our life on earth, but as believers, real influence on our world ought to be our paramount objective. When the whole world talks about the death of one Dr. Myles Munroe it has a ripple effect on the gospel throughout the world. In fact, YouTube views of Dr. Myles Munroe messages and sermons after his death skyrocketed several times over. Many people who had not paid attention to him while he was alive started buying his books, and listening to his sermons, bringing the light of the gospel to the dark places of the earth. Dr. Munroe’s books and materials also increased in sales at an astonishing rate leading many to believe that in death he may have reached more people than he did in his lifetime. Now I am of course not trying to establish a doctrine regarding the advantages of dying young, or in your prime. What I am saying is that the length of time God permits you to live on this earth is for a reason. So therefore to be 70 or 80 years old could be a good thing, and at the same time, to die young could also be a good thing! In either of the two cases, God could choose to glorify Himself in the manner of life or death of his children. Let’s take a look at Acts 21:13: Then Paul answered, what mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. Paul, one of the premier apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ didn’t see death as a tragedy. He saw death as victory! There is no question about that. The most important thing for Paul was that his death or life would glorify the Master. So the question of age or length of life should not be a point in contention at all. This goes a long way in affirming the statement of Dr. Myles Munroe when he said, “Life is not measured by its duration, but by its contribution.” It is also very evident that the disciples of Jesus Christ died in the same manner. Eleven of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ died an early and tragic death and they didn’t seem to see much tragedy in this. In the history books of the Church, it is said that the “blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” In the earlier Church, Christians believed that it is to the advantage of the Church when they were martyred because through their death, the Church grew in grace and influence. Again, I am not propagating any new doctrine; I am only trying to reveal to us that whatever God does is always GOOD even if we don’t understand it. I am also not trying to allude to the fact that Dr. Myles Munroe is a martyr by any means; rather, our focus is on people who die early and tragic deaths. Let me encourage you with the words of Dr. Myles Munroe, to try to “die empty”. Dying empty doesn’t mean you are devoid of content or vision, but rather, that you would fully release the vision and the content of your calling for the next generation to run with. Of course if Dr. Myles Munroe were to live another hundred years he would always have something to say, but even at the age of sixty when he died we can all testify to the fact that we have all heard his message clearly. He has truly spoken loudly and has totally released his message to the earth to consume! We Christians profess to love the Lord with all our heart, soul and strength, which should naturally infer that we desire to go and be with the One we love. Especially, if we say we love Him more than everything, including life itself. Yet, we are afraid of death. How are you going to be with the One you love without dying? If we really love Him as much as we profess to, then going to be with Him would have been our paramount desire in life. The question then arises: Are we sure that we are really in love with Him as we confess to be? Because, with the exception of the rapture, we will all need to die to go be with the Lord. Death therefore should not be a thing or source of fear to the believer; rather it should and must be a source of inspiration, excitement, joy and nostalgia. On the other hand, we believers say we all want to go to Heaven. We preach about it, sing about it, pray about it but when it comes to dying which is the only way to get to Heaven right now (with the exception of the rapture), we kick against it, we fight and protest instead of rejoicing about the prospect of getting to where we have sang about all along. Brethren, lets be real! I sincerely dont believe that we are hypocrites but I am convinced that most Christians are not being realistic. We must teach our congregations to be more in the here and now, to live in active consciousness and to add to their faith understanding. Speaking of myself, I would say like Paul, that for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. It is my earnest desire to leave this earth as fast as possible and I am not seeing this as a tragedy at all! Living on this earth is not my greatest dream. My dream is to live in heaven. The life I am living on this earth is being driven by my passion to get to heaven. Therefore life on earth is not my motivation. Nothing motivates me on this earth as heaven does. My image of heaven is so clear that I am dreaming and earnestly preparing to go there and I pray that it happens as fast as possible. So even though in the meantime I have to remain on earth, it is actually more of a sacrifice for me! To be honest, whenever I voice this kind of sentiment, people around me get nervous and try to convince me otherwise! However, I don`t need to be convinced otherwise. I think anybody who is dreaming of merely a better life on earth is the one who is mistaken. Even though we are in the earth, busy with the work of the Lord, we should not be overly captivated by the desires and pleasures of this earth. I believe that we must keep our focus on heaven and on eternity. That is where our passion should be. That is what our vision and goals should be focused on, and that should be the source of our motivation. It is misguided to think that the earth is our ultimate desire. No my friends, heaven is! For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20); They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world (John 17:16); If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth (Colossians 3:1, 2) Many people who have never heard Dr. Myles Munroe are hearing about his death, the words people are saying of him, and are listening to his messages and teachings. The reality is that so many people have been encouraged through this death, so we really don’t always realize how God can turn negative situations into positive ones for His glory. Now, we can begin to see other people who died young or in tragic circumstances in another perspective. Amazingly, most people had not heard of the other people who were on board the ill-fated aircraft until that incident. Ironically in their deaths, they have probably made more impact than the more than 7 billion people living in our world today. Tell me which is better? They have made more positive impact for the kingdom of God in their death than when they were alive. They have made more news for the kingdom of God, in their death than maybe 99% of the people who are still living today because thanks to the news of their demise, a lot of people actually began to reconsider the essence of their lives. More people than we can imagine are beginning to reexamine their purpose and putting their lives in order. Can you imagine how many people are rededicating their lives back to the Lord because of this situation? Again, I am not trying to say that the essence of our lives is to have fame, popularity in life or death but in this particular situation when Christians are being spoken about worldwide, as in Dr. Munroe and his team, it has a ripple effect on the gospel. Meaning, people are one way or the other being touched to begin to think about the things of God, about their lives, about eternity, yet others are getting saved, becoming more dedicated to the Lord, renewing their faith and walk with God. Amazingly, such tragedy could bring more benefits to the Kingdom of God, though it is at a very high price. Nevertheless when you think about the value of one saved soul in eternity, you can deduce that everyone who perished including Dr. Myles Monroe is presently rejoicing in heaven because their death have brought so much life to others… A good name is better than precious ointment; and THE DAY OF DEATH THAN THE DAY OF ONE’S BIRTH (Ecclesiastes 7:1)
Posted on: Fri, 28 Nov 2014 08:49:38 +0000
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