Deathbed Confession of a Hypocrite

Just before Thomas Randele died of cancer, his wife asked his friends to come by their home to say goodbye to a man they called one of the nicest and most honorable people they had ever known. No one had any idea that Randele called them together to make a shocking deathbed confession.

Randale confessed that 52 years earlier, when he worked as a bank teller, he stole $215,000 from the vault, which amounts to $1.6 million today. For over five decades he had been a fugitive, and wanted for one of the largest bank robberies in Cleveland’s history. The bank heist in 1969 didn’t capture the nation’s attention because everyone was focused on Apollo 11’s historic landing on the moon.

His wife and daughter were even more stunned when he admitted that Thomas Randele wasn’t his real name. His true name was Ted Conrad, and he had created that new identity to keep from being discovered.

Unlike the repentant thief on the cross who admitted he was guilty and accepted the punishment for his crime (Luke 23:41), Conrad admitted to his crime, but he wasn’t willing to do his time in prison. People who confess sins on their deathbed want to get rid of the guilt for what they did, but they don’t want to pay for what they did.

Something happens to us internally when we hide our sins in darkness. After David committed adultery and murdered Uriah, he covered up his crimes for about a year. During that time, he suffered physical and psychological sickness which he described in Psalm 32:3-4 and 38:2-3. After Nathan the prophet confronted him about his sin, David confessed, “I have sinned against the Lord,” and God forgave him (2 Sam. 12:1-13).

Confession is the beginning of the healing your soul. “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for each other, so that you may be healed” (James 5:16). It’s like opening a closet door, which allows the shining light to kill the dark secret that thrives inside. Darkness cannot live when it’s exposed to the light (Eph. 5:12-13).

If you’ve done wrong, get honest before God and own up to it. It may be embarrassing to admit, but the relief you’ll experience will heal your soul.  www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com   www.makinglifecount.net

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From a Human Perspective, God's Timing Seems Wrong

The builders and decorators of a large cathedral made the mistake of admitting visitors while remodeling work was in progress. The workers heard nothing but complaining about the renovation being done. All the negative comments forced the construction team to close the doors and not admit anyone except the workmen. After the remodeling and decorating was finally completed, everyone had nothing but praise for the beautiful work the construction crew had done.

When God is at work, many people complain because they only see how the present situation looks. They don’t realize that God isn’t finished yet. In His perfect timing, everything will come together and the doors will open. “He has made everything beautiful in its time” (Eccl. 3:11).

After Joseph was unjustly thrown into prison in Egypt, he asked Pharoah’s cupbearer, who was also a prisoner, to remember him after he was released. After the cupbearer got out of prison, he forgot to tell Pharoah about Joseph. It wasn’t because he has a bad memory, but because the timing wasn’t right for Joseph to be promoted.

Two years later, Pharoah had two dreams that needed interpreting, and that’s when the cupbearer remembered Joseph. After Joseph interpreted Pharoah’s dreams, the time was right for him to be promoted to prime minister (Gen. 40-41).

God could have given Pharaoh the dreams two years earlier. Instead, He allowed Joseph to spend two more years locked up because it wasn’t his time. Psalm 105:17-19 says Joseph served as a slave and was imprisoned “until the time his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him.” “Until the time” means it wasn’t time to get out. “The Lord tested him” means waiting for two more years was a test of his faith.

The funny thing about God’s timing is, from a human perspective, it always seems to be wrong. We usually think God should come through for us sooner—and that’s why people complain. But when everything is ready and all the pieces of God’s plan comes together, then we see His timing wasn’t wrong after all.  www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com   www.makinglifecount.net

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Have You Ever Felt the Holy Spirit Tug at Your Heart?

A little boy was flying his kite. It flew so high that it rose into the clouds where he couldn’t see it. A man standing nearby tried to have some fun with him. He asked, “How do you know the kite is up there? I can’t see it. Can you?”

“No, I can’t see it,” the boy replied. “But I know it’s up there because I can feel a little tug now and then.”

The Holy Spirit will lead you by tugging on your heart in the direction you need to go. Left to itself, the heart will selfishly mislead you every time and pull you in the wrong direction (Jer. 17:9). But when your heart is controlled by the Holy Spirit, He can direct your steps on the right path. “Following your heart” doesn’t mean fulfilling your selfish impulses, but following the Holy Spirit’s leading.

When you are being led by the Holy Spirit, one way He will guide you is by placing His desires into your heart so that you will want what He wants. “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). When you find your joy in pleasing the Lord, the Holy Spirit tugs inside your heart to pull you in the direction where He wants you to go.

It’s not a normal desire to want to leave the comfort of America to serve as a missionary in Africa or India. Yet, I have known people whose passion was to live in poverty-stricken countries to reach people for Christ. That desire comes from the Holy Spirit.

God has a unique plan for each person, so He guides everyone on different paths. When you yield yourself to His control, He will put His desires in your heart so He can guide you down the path He wants you to travel. His guidance will never contradict what He has already told us in the Scriptures.

The key to receiving God’s guidance is surrendering yourself to Him and His plan for your life. It’s never selfish to want what God wants for you. (see Gal. 5:16-17)    www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com   www.makinglifecount.net

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Lessons From Pavlov's Dogs

Does the name Pavlov ring a bell? Ivan Pavlov proved that two stimuli repeatedly linked together can produce a conditioned response. He observed that dogs would salivate when they were about to be fed. Pavlov rang a bell each time prior to feeding the dogs so they would associate the bell-ringing with dinner time. This conditioned them to salivate in the anticipation of being fed because bell ringing and eating were connected together. FOOD + BELL RINGING = SALIVATE

This explains why you crave popcorn when you go to the movies. You’ve eaten popcorn so many times as you’ve watched movies that popcorn munching and movie watching are connected together. Now you cannot watch a movie without eating popcorn—and you’ll even pay outrageous prices at the theatre to get it! MOVIE + SALIVATE = EXPENSIVE POPCORN  Here are a couple of examples about conditioned responses:

Example #1: Ecclesiastes 8:11 says, “Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.” When a person commits a crime, punishment must be executed quickly so that the criminal learns that his evil deed results in a painful penalty.  CRIME + PAIN = DETERRENCE for repeating the evil deed.  Failure to punish quickly will encourage others to commit crimes because they think “nothing will happen to me.” (There’s a lesson here about parenting a rebellious child)

Example #2: I once counseled a married couple who were always fighting. The husband said, “She hits my hot button and then I respond by hitting her hot button.” Their continual arguing had conditioned them to explode and know exactly how to retaliate.

The only way to “reverse the curse” of negative conditioning is to respond in the opposite way with kindness. First Peter 3:9 says, “Not returning evil for evil or insult for insult (negative conditioning with hateful words), but giving a blessing instead” (positive conditioning by speaking kind words). It takes time to recondition a marriage, but a happy home will be worth it.  www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com   www.makinglifecount.net

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The End of the World

Newspaper columnist Mike Royko wrote a story about a practical joke that was played on a man in Madison, Wisconsin. The man and his three friends went on a fishing trip to a secluded lake. Each night they went to bed at 10 o’clock and got up before dawn every morning to fish.

One night Joe went to bed first and quickly fell asleep. And that’s when one of his friends got an idea. He got Joe’s wristwatch and changed the time to 4:45. They all changed the times on their watches and clocks, and set the alarm to go off at 5 o’clock. Then they got into their beds and waited. 

Fifteen minutes later, the alarm went off. They all got up, rubbed their eyes, and shuffled around like they had been sleeping for seven hours. They made breakfast, just like every morning. Joe complained that he felt like he hadn’t gotten any sleep that night.

After they started fishing, every few minutes Joe would look at the eastern horizon and say, “What time do have?” One guy said, “6:00.” Joe said, “Shouldn’t it be getting light soon?”

At 6:40, Joe stopped fishing and stared into the darkness, “Guys, I’m tell you, something is wrong! The sun isn’t coming up. It should be up by now!” He started freaking out, “Guys, this must be the END OF THE WORLD!” His friends burst out laughing and let him in on the joke.

One day the end of the world will come, and that’s no joke. Jesus described the signs of the end by saying, “Men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth” (Luke 21:26). Clearly, those terrified people Jesus is talking about aren’t ready to meet God.

You might not see the end of the world, but when you die, it’s the end of your world. The end of your time in this world is the beginning of your time in the next world in one of two places.  Will you make peace with God before that time comes? CLICK HERE to find out how to do this.   www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com   www.makinglifecount.net

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Cold Turkey

Garrison Keillor tells a story of a family get-together at Thanksgiving, and how every year it was the same uncle who gave the blessing at the family dinner. It was always a long prayer, and inevitably it got stalled at the point where he began giving thanks for Jesus’ death on the cross.

While the rest of the family began to worry about the turkey growing cold, the uncle would begin to weep. Keillor said, “I don’t know, I guess he just never got over Jesus’ death the way other Christians have.” Sadly, Jesus’ death on the cross doesn’t move many people to tears.

Jesus was dining at Simon the Pharisee’s house when an immoral woman came into the house. She kissed His feet and poured a vial of perfume on them, and as she wept, wiped His feet with her hair. The Pharisee was offended by her actions. He thought, “If this man were a prophet, He would know that she is a sinner” (Luke 7:36-39).

Jesus said, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” He then told a story about a moneylender who had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii, and the other owed 50. When both were unable to repay, he forgave them both. Jesus asked Simon, “Which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” Jesus said, “You have answered correctly” (7:41-43).

According to Jesus, our love for God has everything to do with our realization of how much we have been forgiven by Him. He said, “Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little” (Luke 7:47). 

That’s why the woman cried and wiped His feet with her tears. And that’s why the uncle cried every Thanksgiving when he gave thanks for Jesus’ death on the cross. He focused on what Jesus did to purchase his eternal salvation, while the others seated at the table were focusing on the turkey getting cold. www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com   www.makinglifecount.net

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Jumping to the Wrong Conclusion

In April 2000, a woman in Houston, Texas was killed in a car accident. As the coroner was doing the autopsy, he discovered a bullet in the deceased woman’s brain. He changed the cause of death from an accident to first-degree murder. 

What looked like a car accident apparently was a diabolical coverup for a crime. Of course, the husband would be a primary suspect in such cases. But before we lock him up in a prison cell on death row, we need to gather all the facts. Maybe the butler did it, or someone else was involved.

Upon further investigation, the coroner discovered she had been accidentally shot in the head in 1978 and never had the bullet removed. Once the coroner gained this new information, he changed the cause of death from murder back to a car accident. 

Do you see how easy it is to jump to the wrong conclusion? We take one bit of information and think it’s the whole story. We make wrong assumptions when we fill in the blanks with our biased opinions and mentally connect the dots that aren’t there.

The prophet Samuel wrongly assumed Eliab was going to be the next king of Israel (1 Sam. 16:6). Saul wrongly assumed David wanted to usurp his throne (1 Sam. 18:8-9). Samson wrongly assumed he would always have supernatural strength (Judges 16:19-20). The scribes and Pharisees wrongly assumed Jesus received the power to cast out demons by Satan (Mark 3:22).

Proverbs 18:13 says, “He who answers before he hears the facts—it is folly and shame to him.” If you don’t know all the facts, and if you don’t know the other person’s motives, hold off from forming an opinion or making an important decision. It might save you from being embarrassed later.  www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com   www.makinglifecount.net

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