ALMOST SAVED...BUT LOST!!! <========================> LAST WORDS OF WILLIAM POPE (THE AWFUL END OF A BACKSLIDER) <========================> "Then Agrippa said unto Paul, 'ALMOST' thou persuadest me to be a Christian" ( Acts 26:28). "And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt" ( Genesis 19:17,26). A very sad thing in life is for someone to be very close to achieving something important, but lose it at the end. It is more painful if what is lost is one's future, one's soul or one's eternity. King Agrippa had the opportunity of making a decision that would have secured his eternal abode when he was confronted with a heart-piercing message of salvation by apostle Paul, but he misused it... He could have decided wisely, where he would spend eternity when he was 'ALMOST PERSUADED TO BE A CHRISTIAN', but he did nothing about it. Perhaps, he considered that he might lose some of his privileges as a king if he became a Christian. He was 'ALMOST SAVED...BUT LOST IN ETERNITY FOREVER!' "Remember Lot's wife" who was ushered by Angels out of the marked-out city of Sodom and Gomorrah for destruction, but sadly, she looked back and became a pillar of salt. She had the opportunity, and was 'ALMOST SAVED...BUT EVENTUALLY LOST FOREVER!!! A billion years will bring Agrippa and Lot's wife no closer to the end of their torments... LAST WORDS OF WILLIAM POPE OF BOLTON ( A BACKSIDER) ------------------------------------------ During his last moment, Mr. Rhodes was trying to lead him to Christ and he said, "I cannot repent. God will damn me... I know the day of grace is lost. God has said of such as are in my case, "I will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh". ' Have you ever known anything about the mercy and love of God?' Asked Mr. Rhodes. "Oh, yes," he replied; " many years ago i truly repented and sought the Lord and found peace and happiness". He added. Mr. Rhodes prayed with him after exhorting him to seek the Lord for salvation and left. When Mr. Rhodes came again to him, as soon as William saw him he exclaimed, "you are come to see one who is damned forever!" 'I hope not; Christ can save the chief of sinners'. Replied Mr. Rhodes. "I have denied Him, i have denied Him; therefore hath he cast me off forever!" Exclaimed William. "I know the day of grace is past, gone, gone, never more to return! Oh, the hell, the torment, the fire that i feel within reel! Oh, eternity! Eternity!! To dwell forever with devils and damned spirits in the burning lake must be my portion, and that justly." He lamented regretfully. On Thursday he was found groaning under the weight of the displeasure of God. His eyes roiled to and fro; he lifted up his hands, and cried out," Oh, the burning flame, the hell, the pain i feel! I have done, done the deed, the horrible, damnable deed!" After a short pause, he cried out, "Oh, how i long to be in the bottomless pit, in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone!" The following day Mr. Rhodes said, 'William, your pain is inexpressible.' He groaned, and with a loud voice cried out, "Eternity will explain my torments. I tell you again, I am damned". At another time he said, "I have crucified the Son of God afresh, and counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing! Oh, that wicked and horrible deed of blaspheming against the Holy Ghost! Which i know i have committed!" He was often heard to exclaim, "I want nothing but hell! Come o, devil, and take me!" At another time he said, "Oh, what a terrible thing it is! Once i might, and would not: now i would and must not". When death and eternity finally dawned on him, he cried out with great strength, "NO!" and passed to a Christless eternity. Backslider, do u know you are in danger of the fires of hell? Do u know you are fast approaching the "line by us unseen, that crosses every path, that marks the boundary between God's mercy and His wrath?" You are, and unless you turn quickly, you with William pope will be writhing in hell through all eternity. My humble reader, God's time clock is ticking louder and louder. Soon it will all be over, soon the door of mercy will be shut forever. Why not turn to Jesus while still you may? If you perish as a sinner or a backslider, each moment in hell will remind you of this warning. Perhaps, this is the last warning you are reading before you meet the Lord in eternity. "ESCAPE FOR YOUR LIFE. Remember, life is short and eternity is endless. And because each tick of the clock brings you closer to the shores of eternity, "PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD".