THANATOPSIS REVISITED( or- THRILLER WAS A GREAT ALBUM- no matter what)

If you happen to be living on planet earth, you probably have noticed that LOTS of so-called celebrities are dying... and how could you NOT NOTICE?We are being bombarded with news of EVERY DETAIL of their lives.. or should I say deaths.. isnt it strange.???.Human beings die..we are ALL headed in that "direction".. but we act like something unusual has occurred.." He( or she, ) has died... THAT ca'nt be!!! Well... YES IT CAN... part of the shock is our deification of anyone that we have EVER seen on our TV screen .. - We expect our "stars"and "idols" to be super - human.( you mean the guy that did the "moon walk" could really die?). yep thats part of it.. but MOST of it comes down to this- When one of our "idols" dies, we are reminded of our mortality... and THAT makes us uncomfortable.. we do'nt want to think about it... the really strange thing is that we NEED TO BE UNCOMFORTABLE SOMETIMES.. yep, I said it( Ok, my hedonist friends, you know I love ya- but I gotta break it down for ya).. when we are uncomfortable, or faced with difficulty, tragedy, tribulation,sadness, obstacles_________-( insert your yucky situation here in the space provided)- we tend to DO A LOT of thinking.. now I know that morbid introspection is not healthy.. but sometimes we need to THINK about what's important! The late theologian Greg Bahnsen in his last sermon put it this way:" Death helps to focus the mind"He also used the sermon to talk about those that live their lives in defiance of God, those that have no regard for spiritual things:Cornelius Van Til said, " In vain they seek to die the death of the righteous".. what does this mean??? - that the unbeliever seeks to die the death of the righteous?? I think it means this: They are grasping for SOME MEANING to existence; they are looking desperately for something that validates their life.. you know what I am talking about... " Yeah, Michael Jackson was pretty messed up with those kids, he hated who he really was, he thought that he could be fulfilled by living a Disneyland existence... but HEY He was an AWESOME singer, dancer, and he sold MILLIONS of albums..." Do you see what we do??? we look for something to hang onto.. some goodness.. some virtue... some accomplishment that gives meaning to everything they did...but we do so in VAIN... because this game of stacking up their good deeds on one side of the scale- and their bad deeds on the other.. it never works.. and deep in our heart of hearts , we KNOW this... We still feel empty and sad when we think about our idols leaving this earth.. no matter how many times we listen to "Off the Wall", we are unfulfilled.. we are still faced with the awful truth, that one day the Bell will toll for us... but we can have hope.. we can die the "death of the Righteous" it's NOT OUR righteousness, it is given to us by a Gentle Sheperd who washes us with His blood, and clothes us with HIS righteousness- it's not about any GOOD WORKS that we do... it's about what HE has DONE on the cross. He offers you this FREE gift...and remember.. " Death be not proud though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, but thou are not so..."(I wonder if John Donne ever danced, I wonder if HE ever did the "moonwalk" ... I will ask him when I see him.. because ONE DAY I will meet Donne.. IN ANOTHER LAND... NOT NEVERLAND- it's really FOREVERLAND!)