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Contents Introduction I Hear Dead People (Abel) The Undead (Enoch) When Time Runs Out (Methuselah) Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.” (Noah) The Mystery of Madam X (Lot’s Wife) She Died Laughing (Sarah) As Good As Dead (Abraham) The Mummy’s Return (Joseph) Lost at Sea (Pharaoh and His Army) Ashes to Ashes (Nadab and Abihu) Abra Cadaver (Moses) Purple Heart (Joshua) Midnight Warrior (Gideon) Let’s Roll! (Samson) Terror at Shiloh Gate (Eli) The Bigger They Are, the Harder They Fall (Goliath) Death Wish (Saul) A Matter of Life and Death (Abigail and Nabal) Hair Today—Gone Tomorrow (Absalom) Shadow of Death (David) You Can’t Take It with You (Solomon) All the King’s Horses (Ahaziah) Chariot of Fire (Elijah) No One Cried (Jehoram) All Dressed Up and No Place to Go (Jezebel)

6 7 11 15 19 23 27 31 35 39 43 47 51 55 59 63 67 71 75 79 83 87 91 95 99 103

Black Widow (Athaliah) The Watchers (Jehoida) Fatal Attraction (Amaziah) Depths of Darkness (Jonah) Nightmare! (Sennacherib and the Assyrian Army) Cheating Death (Daniel) If Looks Could Kill (Esther) Remember Me (Nehemiah) When Demons Speak (The Homeless Man of Gadara) Off with His Head! (John the Baptist) Tomb with a View (Lazarus) Zombies (The Pharisees) Dead Wrong (Judas Iscariot) Living Will (Mary) Drop Dead (Ananias and Sapphira) Face of an Angel (Stephen) Dearly Departed (Dorcas) Dead Meat (Herod Agrippa I) She Dyed and Then She Died (Lydia) Talked to Death (Eutychus) CSI (Thomas) Never Too Late (James) Life Sentence (Paul) Rest in Peace (John the Apostle) It Is Finished (Jesus) Topical Index

107 111 115 119 123 127 131 135 139 143 147 151 155 159 163 167 171 175 179 183 187 191 195 199 203 207

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I Hear Dead People Here Lies Abel, the world’s first murder victim

the body Abel died on page four. How can he be important enough to mention, I wondered, if he doesn’t even appear in the rest of the book?

Then I remembered Rebecca.

cause of death Murdered by his brother Cain (Genesis 4:8).

last words No words of Abel are recorded in Scripture.

She’s the main character in the gothic novel Rebecca, but she doesn’t appear in the book at all . . . at least, not bodily. She’s already dead, but Rebecca de Winter still influences the residents of the mansion: Mr. de Winter has been moody and restless since her death; the new bride is in torment trying to fill life line Rebecca’s shoes. And then there’s “Set the standard for Mrs. Danvers, the creepy houseexcellence early.” keeper, who is haunted by Rebecca’s — Bob Russell, minister absence. “Sometimes,” she says, of the 12,000 member Southeast Christian Church, “when I walk along the corridor here I Louisville, Kentucky fancy I hear her just behind me. That 7

y y y y WORDS TO LIVE BY

“Abel brought the best.”

quick, light footstep. I could not mistake it anywhere.”

Rebecca lives on.

Genesis 4:4, ICB

y y y y

Abel died on page four of a 1300page Bible without leaving us a record of any words he spoke. But page 1262 (which takes place maybe 3,000 years later) says Abel is still speaking! And we’re reading about Abel 2,000 more years after that.

Abel lives on.

God thought Abel was worth mentioning in the Bible. Abel brought the best of his sheep as an offering to God. It was generous. It was excellent. His brother Cain brought an offering too, something 3 EPITAPH 3 from the soil. Maybe it was some Tranquil & silent here lies fruit, some vegetables or some grain.

Dill, What gifts he had he manBut his heart wasn’t in it—it was just aged well. some old offering. Abel’s offering He did his best to merit made Cain look bad. So Cain murfame dered Abel—“because his own actions And left behind him a were evil and his brother’s were righgood name. teous” (1 John 3:12, NIV).

Remember Dill and do the Abel’s death doesn’t seem fair. Abel was the good guy. But, in case you haven’t noticed, sometimes the bad guys kill the good guys. In the end, how

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same.

—in Vermont, died 1804

EEEEEEEEEE heart-stopper Mahatma Ghandi was the beloved leader of India who promoted peace. After he was gunned down by an assassin, someone said, “Now we know how dangerous it is to be good.”

Abel lived is more important than how Abel died. And Abel lived excellently.

six-feet-deep thought “Do one thing, and do it better than anybody else.”

Do you have a test coming up?

— Orville Redenbacher, Do your best. Are you cleaning your the popcorn guy room tomorrow? Do your best. Do you have a part in the school play? Do your best. Bringing an offering to God in worship? Do your best.

Whatever you do, give your best to God. Abel is still speaking, by his actions, thousands of years after his death: “Do your best. Do your best.”

Can you hear him? Listen to Abel. And live on.

o

midnight tale

They, being dead, still earn money! The August 2003 Reader’s Digest listed the dead celebrities who are bringing in the most money: No. 1—Elvis (the king of rock and roll) No. 2—Charles Schulz (creator of the Peanuts comic strip) No. 3—John Lennon (of The Beatles) No. 4—Dale Earnhardt (race car driver)

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