According to Gods Word there is a second death. It is a spiritual death that will leave the person in outer darkness…blind for eternity without hope. On this physical plane of existence most people struggle to reach the top of the mountain. Their personal ambitions and desires shrouded in pride, and self-awareness drive their calloused hearts and self-absorbed minds ever forward.

They are intensely focused on getting to that door at the top of the mountain where they believe they will have arrived and finally fulfill their purpose for themselves and be satisfied.  No one else matters in this personal journey to self-fulfilled glory. People get there by using other people for their own benefits. Cast off on the side of their road to success are spurned people who once trusted them, loved them…broken people left far behind. They make up parents, wives, husbands, friends and children.

There is a procession of haunting memories that occasionally break into their consciousness and touches what is left of their hardened hearts.  Their climb to the top becomes increasingly harder, because the weight of those whom they have left behind clings to their dead hearts like anchors.

Finally, their journey to the top of the mountain ends. They have arrived and stand before the door. They are close enough to reach out and touch the handle to open the door at the top of the mountain. Their focus has been so intense, so self-serving that they do not see a small sign just above the door. But why should they see this small sign? All their lives they only focused on themselves, never had their gaze widened to see the needs of all those around them.

Their ears were only tuned to hear what they wanted to hear, never once did they hear the cries, the sobs representing the emotional and physical pain of those around them needing their help. They never cared about the blind, the lame, the deaf and the dumb… a world filled “With the Least of These.”

So they eagerly reach out and grasp the handle to open the door to the fulfillment of their desires. The handle is painful to their touch…it’s so very hot!  But they are consumed with their desire so they bear the pain and open the door.

Standing in the open doorway they see a light off in the distance, yet they seem to be standing in shadows. As they look out into the distance a faint path emerges that leads to the light. But as they look down they cannot see the place to put their foot on the path so they may follow it to the Kingdom of Light.  A random thought comes to their minds; words they somehow recognize but have never heard before “My Word is a lamp unto thy feet”.

So, they look up and see the little sign. It says… “If you had seeked me with all your heart, mind and soul you would have found me. You have lived your life in darkness yet you have seen a great light and now it is appointed to man once to die, and then the judgment”. The message falls on a soul filled with shadows and a heart that never became renewed; for they had lived their lives deaf, dumb and blind to the truth.

Just under the sign is a pull chain attached to a light bulb. Still not understanding the message they reach up and pull the chain that’s attached to the light bulb expecting the light to come on and illumine their path, but instead they turn ON the Darkness. They finally have arrived at the place they personally have chosen to spend eternity. They will be in outer darkness…blind and alone for eternity without hope in a place where …” the dead shall live again.”

“Yet those who live in Darkness have seen a great light”…says JESUS.