Shall Not Taste of Death

This post is an update, a testimony and a teaching about life and death.

"Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not tastes of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom." ~ Matthew 16 : 28

"And He said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the Kingdom of God come with power." ~ Mark 9 : 1

"But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Kingdom of God." ~ Luke 9 : 27

Here we have three witnesses, three disciples, who walked with Jesus, all testifying of His gospel, a mystery of life and death. Those whom Jesus was speaking to did not understand the meaning of these words or how it was possible. Even today there are believers, who find this a mystery. Some may believe Jesus was speaking of the rapture, where "we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thessalonians 4:17) But no, Jesus was not speaking about the rapture.

He said "there be some standing here", there in His presence at that time. We know that every one of those standing there have all died physically. But we also know that some of those there with Him, did not taste of death, even though they died in the natural. We who are here on Earth are constrained with time and natural laws, our minds forget that God, who wrote the end from the beginning, is not constrained with time or natural law, neither is His Kingdom. Jesus' death and resurrection truly is everlasting life for Christians. Yes, our bodies are destined to die, but no, we will not taste of death. Jesus said this 'truly'. In Him is truth and life. He showed me, or reminded me of the meaning of this mystery, through the end of life journey of my Dad and his transition from death, to life.

On Thursday, May 5, 2022, I awoke the morning, said my prayer, posted the daily scripture. It was Romans 8:4 "That the righteousness of the law might be fullfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit." I did not realize it at that moment, but a few hours after posting this scripture, my Dad would literally begin to shed his failing flesh, and he would transition to the spirit.

That day was a spirit filled day. Literally, he spoke from the spirit, he saw from the spirit, and he testified of the spirit.

I left my laptop, got dressed and went over to take care of him, the morning of May 5, 2022. My Dad had intrahepatic metastatic cholangiocarcinoma (Stage IV Biliary Tract Cancer). I will not go into the details of the weakened state I found him in, for your sake and the sake of his dignity and respect, and because it was traumatic. I called his hospice nurse. She came out, the hospice Chaplin came out, and several other nurses and caregivers would come out that day. That evening family members came in to say their goodbyes, and others were notified.

Inside of Dad's cabin room, we were slowly saying our farewells. Dad hugged me, kissed me and told me he would love me forever. I assured him we would be together again one day soon. He spoke of his burial and I assured him that he would have a burial with veteran military honors. He sort of chuckled and said "ok, if you say so" as if he half believed it. We prayed, we played worship videos, talked about the Lord and Dad assured us of his salvation. He said he was forgiven and that he forgave others. He made peace with things that he unnecessarily carried with him in this life. He let it all go, all the regret, resentments, emotional pain. He said he was ready to go and he wanted to go so bad. As family came in to see him for the last time here on earth, he gave encouragement and kind words to the younger ones, his love and wise words to everyone.

As he transitioned he began to see what the flesh cannot. He saw his grandson pulling up without even leaving his bed. He saw people, who were not there in the flesh, but in the spirit "about six of them" he said. Not knowing that my husband had prayed and asked God to send certain people from Dad's life who had already passed on to help him transition home to heaven (those certain people, numbered six), Dad saw them. Minutes later he would tell my sister "they are calling me. They are saying 'James. Jaaammesss.'" His testimony of what he was seeing in the spirit, was also a testimony that God had heard and answered my husbands prayer. Dad was in that secret place, where only the spirit can go and God was allowing him to testify of it through his flesh. Though he could no longer see the physical world or respond to it, he was speaking from the spirit, of things of the spirit.

A few hours later, though he was totally unresponsive, he would reach up and say 'Apple'. A few hours after that, he would be facing straight, even though he could not hold his head upright, this time he did, as he said 'The King!". Praise GOD!!! But Dad was still breathing. About 10:00 the next morning Dad's body was still breathing, but that's all. The nurse could not find a pulse or a heart beat.