I wrote this on Saturday Morning on Barry's FaceBook wall for the benefit of his "friends". However, I feel that I should post it to my "friends" as well. Here it is:
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This post is for the benefit of Barry Taylor's friends. He mentioned some of you in the weeks before he passed away. He also expressed regret over lots of things in his past.
Barry was an "intellectual" who always wanted things "proved" to him. He fell into satan's trap of even denying the very existence of God, much less salvation through Jesus. Barry started breaking free of satan's hold when... our mother was diagnosed with cancer last year. Many times my mother had prayed that he would find out the truth that it took only a simple childlike faith and God would confirm to his mind with a heart change. At the end of our mother's life, she expressed her visions of her journey crossing "Jordon" to get to the Promised Land of heaven. Barry was able to witness first hand what happens for a true believer in the power of Jesus Christ.
At that point, he realized that his atheist leanings were flat out WRONG! He started searching again. This time instead of buying blasphemous books denying God, he purchased a new Holy Bible! God's true Word for mankind. He read, researched and still was struggling from an intellectual standpoint because it is faith not logic where that missing link appears. His heart knew that there had to be a God but his intellect just couldn't connect.
Barry was then diagnosed with terminal cancer. He realized that according to all the research, his physical life was going to be over soon. Then he was hit hard with his own mortality.
Once he made the connection about life and death and an eternity spent somewhere, he accepted that God did, in fact, exist and believed.Then, he was too ashamed and felt too unworthy to repent of his sins and ask God to forgive him. He had wanted to but knew he didn't deserve salvation. Finally, he realized that none of us deserve salvation. It is simply a free Gift of God through His grace.
Once Barry cried out to The Lord for salvation, there was an instantaneous change in his heart on the inside and a miraculously obvious change on the outside.
You see, prior to his conversion, we saw an extremely sick man whose face was showing mortal fear. He already knew that there really was a heaven to gain and for him a real hell that he was destined to go to. But once he received the gift of God by accepting Jesus Christ as his Savior, he was filled with the Holy Spirit of God on the inside that came bursting to the outside. He went from a broken, fearful man of death and despair to a restored, redeemed man of hope and an eternal future with God.
Today he IS in heaven! And friends, he would love to see you there too one day when you lay your mortal body down. Those of you who don't know the free pardon of sin, Barry would plead with you today to turn to Jesus before its too late.
