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I had an awful dream of Hell the other night.
I moved in total darkness, not one bit of light;

no sound except within me---one long, bestial groan,
and no way out.  I knew that. I was all alone,

at my life's end, with neither friend nor enemy
to comfort or to hate in this reality,

as far from Heaven as the East is from the West,
condemned among the damned by choice---as lost, unblest.

But where, I thought, was all the heat and liquid flame?
And why had I been sent down here?  Who was to blame?

Had I not called on Christ, as preachers said I must?
Had I not done my part, once, giving Him my trust?

Then, as from some vast distance, quite impassable,
a still, small voice spoke to the rage inside my soul.

"Where was your trust after that first exciting day?
"Where was it when things did not alway go your way?

"Whom did you trust when you caved in to sin's onslaught,
"and made your choice against what you had once been taught?

"So what if they were secret sins, those things you did?
"All sins are Sin to Jesus; and you had backslid.

"Your so-called indiscretions and discrepancies
"kept you away from many opportunities

"to prove your trust in Jesus and, thereby, proclaim
"that your saved life was lived to glorify His Name.

"That does not mean the deathbed convert:  rather, these
"who get saved, then live in the world just how they please

"until their sins have so possessed them, they forget
"that once they had salvation, born again.  They let

"unholiness disrupt their walk, and then deny
"their very testimony.  After that, they die

"just like the tree," (in Mark 11), "without figs;
"or if the Prodigal had rotted with the pigs.

"A life spent without holiness is just plain phony:
"and, daily, one must live a Christian's testimony,

"for Christ's blood and a testimony overcome
"temptation, sin, and death.  This fact is taken from

"the Revelation given to our Brother John,"
(see chapter 12).  "And many saints have stood upon

"the very precious promise stated there," (in verse
11), "as the way to overcome the curse

"of sin, temptation and the lifelong, reeking taint
"that festers in the flesh of every faithful saint.

"The Lord was patient.  For as long as you had breath,
"right up until the moment that you went through death,

"you could have had your testimony back again,
"restored to you as fine as ever it had been

"as far back as the very day that you were saved,
"before the time you chose to be, again, enslaved

"to sin and shame.  You did not heed the Parable
"that Jesus told," (in Luke), "about the Prodigal.

"He meant that for just such a problem, as a sign
"to you:  to get yourself up from that pen of swine.

"The right path may have looked too rough, and way too stony;
"and yet it would have led back to your testimony."

The voice fell silent.  As my rage begin to grow,
the very air ignited and took on a glow,

as tiny sparks danced all around me and became
huge worms of fire swimming across a lake of flame.

Hotter than any funny jokes of Hell told in
the world of laughing blasphemy and easy sin,

a single second's heat could melt the coldest stone,
although my heart remained unmoved.  I stood alone.

My lips were parched, my tongue was swollen in great thirst,
and yet I found a way to blaspheme God, and cursed---

this punishment---the holiness I always spurned---
and all the scorching darkness in which I now burned.

No longer could I choose the life that once I scorned,
as friends had testified to me, and preachers warned.

Rather, this living death became my destiny
alone, with just myself to blame . . . eternally.

And pain,  Oh God, the pain.  The awful pain.  Pure pain.
Forever conscious of it, and completely sane,

caught always in the middle of a ghastly scream . . .

Then something woke me from the clutches of this dream.

ENVOI:

I thank the Lord for this nightmare he sent to tell
me of the hard reality that waits in Hell.

I thank Him for His gracious warning in the night,
and time to make my tarnished testimony right.

Friend---take my word, and do not tread where I have trod,
nor waste the testimony that you owe to God.

Be saved; then sanctified; avoid temptation's scheme.
Then Heaven will be your home.  (And Hell?---like a bad dream.)
 
Starward