IM: Gadfly, we have not heard from you since
early March.
Old Gadfly: I apologize for the lack of
communication. My father was very
ill. He experienced congestive heart
failure at the end of October 2014 and initially was not expected to leave the
intensive care unit alive. He received
some blood transfusions that turned his situation around and was released from
the hospital with the expectation that many follow-up actions take place with
specialists. He agreed to let my wife
and I be primary care providers from our home.
While it changed our routines, it was a true blessing because it gave my
wife and me an opportunity to really get to know my father.
AM: I was wondering why we had not heard from you, Gadfly. How did things go?
Old Gadfly: Most of my father’s care was through the VA
system. We experienced first-hand many
of the concerns that have put the VA in bad light. I would like to save that discussion for
another day.
IM: Why?
Old Gadfly: There is something far more important to
share.
AM: What could be more important than
the arguably criminal activity at the VA hospitals?
Old
Gadfly: As I process things going on in our society, there
is something even far more important than the negligent or criminal behavior at
VA hospitals. It is spiritual
accountability.
IM: Tell us
more, Gadfly.
Old
Gadfly: I was with my father in hospice, as he was
dying. The last words he spoke were on
the 9th of March. He sat up
in bed, reached for me, looked me in the eyes without any fear and said, “I see
hell.” He was not afraid, so I
immediately recognized that he was a messenger—revealing a message for me and
all living human beings. There is a
heaven and a hell. All of us will be
rewarded with one or the other based on choices we make in this life.
AM: Your
father did not say anything else after this?
Old
Gadfly: My father communicated in another way. At around 4:00 AM on the 10th of
March, he sat up in bed. He opened his
eyes. They shined and radiated pure
joy. He let go of my hand and reached
out to entities in the room I could not see.
Who did he see? Angels? My mother?
Other family members? There was
no doubt that he had connected to a dimension that we might call the afterlife.
IM: What
are we to take away from this?
Old
Gadfly: Most of us are so consumed by our daily lives that
we typically accommodate the easy path.
It is easier to be on good terms with those we know as opposed to
enduring commands or principles.
AM: Let
me be the devil’s advocate. What if I
have a loved one who is engaging in behaviors that might be considered sinful
by a God? Should I not show compassion
for this loved one?
Old
Gadfly: Absolutely.
Jesus was far more interested in the lost sheep than those that were not. Yet, His role was not to celebrate being lost
or to keep them lost, but to return them to the flock of salvation.
IM: But
there is a growing population that believes the state is just as capable of
establishing the standards of moral behavior—as in a very recent US Supreme
Court ruling on same sex marriage.
Old
Gadfly: From a secular legalistic perspective, two Supreme
Court Justices violated the law by not recusing themselves because they had
presided over same-sex marriages before making a judgment in this case. They
violated the law (man-made law) by not recusing themselves in the case. But, apparently, it was more important to violate
the law than to advance a political
agenda. And what is that
agenda? That man determines rights, not
God. Of all the things that my father
might have said as he was dying, he said, “I see hell.” My Dad always offered good “fatherly advice”
to me in my lifetime. Why would I doubt his
counsel at this existential point in his own life?
