I'm Just Not Ready!

This is a true story about Dr. Moore’s father and an incredible experience that goes one step beyond! Nevertheless it is true. It is a message of urgency to be saved. It is just the message for a loved one who knows how to be saved but who is putting it off.

My father was born on Halloween, October 31, 1903. This story is being released on the one-hundredth anniversary of his birth. Many will not believe what I am about to share. Others will disagree that I have shared it at all. But, share it I must, for I believe the incredible tale that I am about to relate will change the destiny of many souls.

I promise that every thing that you are about to read, even the last part, is the truth before God. My prayer for you is that you will seriously consider the implications of what you are about to read.

By all accounts, my father was a man ruined by liquor. I was the third child born to an unhappy marriage. At the time of my birth in 1952, my dad was 49 years old. Two years later my parents divorced.

For all practical purposes, I met my dad when I was a newlywed, barely twenty years old. My wife, Sandy, and I met him for the first time together. I immediately liked him and we bonded instantly. He didn’t seem to mind that his second son had chosen to become a preacher. During this, the first and only visit he ever paid me, I sat in my father's motel room in Bethany, Oklahoma and showed him the complete plan of salvation from the Bible, along with tears of sincerity. When I asked my seventy year old father to pray and ask Jesus to save him, he simply responded, "Son, I'm just not ready."

The last time I saw my father alive was on the last of several visits to his run-down Texas bungalow, located at 330 E. Thompson in Jacksboro, Texas. We watched a Texas Rangers baseball game together. We had a good time. Before bed, I again witnessed to him from the Bible. This time, my father said to me, "Son, I believe every word in that book, but I'm just not ready."

Some time later, we received a phone call informing us that if we wanted to see my dad alive, we must hurry. When we arrived, he was already dead.

A dear, sweet, elderly Christian lady from the First Baptist Church of Jacksboro told us that she had again witnessed to him on the very night he died. She was sorry to inform us that the last words he said to her were. "I'm just not ready." He was buried three days later in an unmarked Jack County grave in the country. To my knowledge, no one has ever visited his grave since.

Twenty-three years later, on May 14, 2003, I decided to go and find my father's grave. After a thorough search through obscure records, we were able to locate the graveyard known as the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. I went alone and prayed upon his grave. I asked God for the power of the Holy Spirit to win others to Christ. This was a very moving experience, and I have since found a great renewal of God’s power upon my life and ministry.

Here, however, is the part of the story that many will find hard to accept. Nevertheless, it is true, and I am compelled to share it with you now. As I was about to get off my knees and leave the cemetery that spring afternoon, I asked the Lord to speak to my heart through the Word of God. As I gently opened my Bible, my eyes fell on Luke 16:27-28 which reads:

"Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.”

I was speechless, as I recognized this to be the story that Jesus told about the rich man in hell. I give it to you now, just as Jesus gave it in Luke 16:19-31.

“There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments; and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazurus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they that would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can any pass to us, that would come from hence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come to this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”

No, my father did not come back from the dead, but I do believe that God allowed me to hear a message from beyond the grave. Just like the rich man in Jesus’ story, my father had said, "Son, I'm just not ready." Now he was saying, "Son, please warn others not to make the same mistake!"

Oh friend, can you not hear the clear warning of the Holy Bible when it says:

“How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken of by the Lord?” (Hebrews 2:3)

Lord, please tell my dad, that I received the message and that I will do all I can to keep others out of hell! "Knowing therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." (II Cor 5:11)

Later that same day, my wife and I went to the house where we had last seen my father alive. Sandy and I bought one of the stones that had been a part of his walkway. I later carved the headstone with the inscription that is pictured on the front, and placed it upon his grave as a stone of remembrance of what happened on that day. (Gen. 31:45)

Dear reader, there is one who rose from the dead! It is Jesus Christ, who died for our sins to keep us out of hell! The Bible promises salvation to any and all who repent of their sins and call upon the Lord to save them. It says:

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13

However, the Bible makes no promise of another opportunity to be saved. In fact it urges immediate response when it says:

“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation!” II Corinthians 6:2

My friend, do it right now! Don’t put it off like my father. He waited one day too late. Pray a sincere prayer something like this:

“Dear Heavenly Father, I believe that your Son, Jesus Christ, died for my sins, and that He rose again from the dead. Please forgive me of all my sins. I am trusting Christ, and His shed blood as my only hope for forgiveness. Lord Jesus, come into my heart and life, and save my unworthy soul. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”