The Dead: Of Sleep, Ashes, and the Hour No Man Knoweth

I originally wrote these thoughts a few months back, and maybe even last year. I tend to write ideas down, then get back to them when the Spirit stirreth me, or when the news of the day bringeth them around again.

Ye shall not get through this life alive.

The end is never set by man, but by God alone—not even the Son. This truth setteth forth a distinction in the Godhead: the Father alone knoweth the appointed times.

As it is written in the Holy Scripture:

“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”
— Matthew 24:36, KJV

Many attribute this Scripture only to the coming of the Lord in the last days, yet I feel it speaketh also unto the hour when each of us shall die.

No man knoweth the hour of his own departure.

Even those in hospice know not the exact moment when the breath shall leave the body. A man may be told that his days are numbered, yet he knoweth not which breath shall be his last.

It is a marvel that Christ Himself knew not the appointed hour concerning the coming of the Son of man. And if God alone knoweth the appointed times, then what man can truly declare the exact hour of another man's departure?

No man.

With this understanding, those who have lost someone may understand them as sleeping. Yet perhaps people do not desire to understand this, because they think they shall live forever.

We live as though tomorrow were promised.

We collect things. We save things. We accumulate possessions. We hold onto things that have not been touched in decades—like the hoarder who still needeth that scrap of paper containing advertisements from 1982, or the man with piles of automobiles saying that he is working on finishing them soon.

Yet eventually the man dieth.

He never finishest the work.

He leaveth the possessions behind, and the cleanup unto the next of kin.

Perhaps that is one of the great lessons of death: we are not owners forever; we are stewards for a season.

What Saith the Scripture Concerning the Dead?

I hear people say sometimes:

“I know they are watching us from heaven.”

But what saith the Bible concerning that?

Lazarus was dead, yet Christ said:

“Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.”
— John 11:11, KJV

The disciples thought He meant natural sleep, but Jesus spake of his death.

And when the damsel had died, Christ also spoke of her as sleeping:

“The maid is not dead, but sleepeth.”
— Matthew 9:24, KJV

And they laughed Him to scorn.

Why?

Because they knew she was dead.

Yet Christ called it sleep.

When Cain slew Abel, the Lord said:

“The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.”
— Genesis 4:10, KJV

Notice something here.

The blood cried.

The blood spake of the crime.

The blood bore witness.

Yet Abel himself was resting in death.

I wrote a song about this very thing on my 1997 album, A Generation of Time VII. The blood cried out, yet Abel himself rested.

There is something profound in that distinction.

The testimony remained.

The consequence remained.

The memory remained.

But Abel was not walking around upon the earth.

Is There Time Beyond This Life?

I feel personally that there is no time as we know it on the other side.

Many people have fallen into comas for years, only to awaken believing that almost no time hath passed at all. Their bodies remained here, while their perception of time was altogether different.

What if death is something similar?

Religions speak of purgatory, waiting rooms, Dante's Inferno, places of punishment, gates of heaven, and souls waiting for judgment or returning unto the body.

But Scripture pointeth again and again toward death being described as sleep, with the resurrection yet to come.

Paul wrote:

“For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:21, KJV

And again:

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:22, KJV

The resurrection is therefore central to the Christian hope.

Not merely death.

Resurrection.

Not merely the grave.

Awakening.

My Dad and the Ashes

My Dad passed last year around October and was cremated.

I have some of his ashes in my truck. I plan to put them in a coffee can, for that is what he wanted.

But is he gone?

Where doth the spirit dwell?

Or doth time stop completely?

And if so, why do so many like to say that those who have died are looking down upon us?

I do not pretend to know the answer to every mystery.

Perhaps we shall never fully understand these things while we remain in this flesh.

But Scripture giveth us something greater than speculation:

The promise of resurrection.

My dad was also a man who would “get to things,” but never quite finished anything.

He had a tool that he had not used for ten years. When I used it and it broke, his response was:

“It worked when I last used it.”

That was Dad.

He left me a 1955 Flxible bus—his faded dream to set it up and tour the United States.

After a new motor, transmission, and nearly everything else, he never finished it.

Prior to his death, I tried to get it started. But he had forgotten what he did or did not do, and that was the reason it would not start.

It still sitteth in his backyard.

He left it to me in his will…

to move it.

Thanks, Dad.

If anyone would like a great old bus, give me a call.

Seasons, Signs, and the Death of Men

Back in 2014, I was given a time and a season concerning when Billy Graham would die—never an exact moment, but a February and the Winter Olympics.

Four years later, he died.

This came after many scoffed and called me a false prophet, only to see what I had spoken concerning the season come to pass.

The same happened with the Queen.

I made statements—not prophetic claims concerning the day and hour—that she would have to give up the throne, six years prior to 2028, also back in 2014.

Again, I did not claim to know the exact day of death.

There is a difference between declaring an exact hour and recognizing a season.

Scripture itself speaketh of seasons.

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
— Ecclesiastes 3:1, KJV

Yet even when a season seemeth apparent, the exact hour remaineth in the hand of God.

This year, on January 28th, seeing many of the same signs from 2014—like the Winter Olympics and the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl—I knew another religious leader would die.

And on February 28th, Iran's leader Khamenei was killed in a US-supported military strike.

We see what hath transpired since.

I know that last year I said I felt Trump would not see eighty, but it seemeth he hath lived.

Again, no man can tell the hour another man shall die.

And since I am not God, I will never make such a statement concerning the exact moment.

Yet I believe I have been given seasons for warning.

The Numbered Days of Men in Power

Lindsey Graham of South Carolina hath died in July of 2026, and as I write this I am seeing what seemeth to be another repeating of 2014.

Billy Graham came from the Carolinas.

One from the North.

The other from the South.

Both Grahams.

And this bringeth another thought unto my mind.

I think upon the vast unwillingness of people in positions of power who pass bills and laws that further place the people into bondage and debt, while at the same time writing laws and systems that seem to exempt themselves from the very burdens they place upon others.

Do they not understand that God knoweth all that they have done?

Do they not understand that death cometh for the powerful just as surely as it cometh for the poor?

A man may escape a courtroom.

A man may escape an investigation.

A man may escape the judgment of other men.

A man may even write laws that seem to protect himself from the consequences of his own actions.

But no man escapeth the grave.

The king dieth.

The president dieth.

The senator dieth.

The billionaire dieth.

The poor man dieth.

The tradesman dieth.

The preacher dieth.

The politician dieth.

And when that hour cometh, the titles of men cannot hold back the hand of God.

Men of power sometimes behave as though they shall never die, as though the legacy of their wickedness and bondage shall never find them beyond the grave.

But they shall answer for what they have done.

For Scripture saith:

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”
— 2 Corinthians 5:10, KJV

The works of darkness do not disappear merely because men bury the evidence.

God seeth.

God knoweth.

God remembereth.

If leaders numbered their days, perhaps they would number them wisely.

If they truly understood that their own breath is in the hand of God, perhaps they would think differently about the burdens they place upon others.

Moses prayed:

“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
— Psalm 90:12, KJV

That prayer ought to be upon the lips of every man in authority.

For the day shall come when every earthly office shall end.

Every law shall cease to matter.

Every possession shall be left behind.

And every man shall stand before the One who gave him breath.

We Know Not the Hour

We are told that no man knoweth the hour of death.

Therefore, prepare thy soul for thy journey, which may begin this very day.

I guess we shall never know the full truth until we experience it for ourselves.

And perhaps that is part of the mystery.

If we knew the exact hour of our death, how would we live?

Would we repent tomorrow instead of today?

Would we forgive tomorrow instead of today?

Would we tell our children that we love them tomorrow instead of today?

Would we put our house in order tomorrow instead of today?

Would we make peace with God tomorrow instead of today?

But tomorrow is not promised.

James wrote:

“Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”
— James 4:14, KJV

The fact that we do not know when this shall take place meaneth that we should always be ready to pass.

Put thy things in order as much as thou canst.

Make provision for those left behind.

Finish what thou canst finish.

Forgive what thou canst forgive.

Say what needeth to be said.

And above all things, make thy peace with God.

What Are Your Feelings on This?

What are your feelings on this?

Evil seemeth to work with the understanding that the days are numbered.

Men scheme.

Men build kingdoms.

Men gather wealth.

Men seek power.

Men create systems that they believe shall outlive them.

Yet even Evil doth not know the day when God shall end the breath of life.

Satan may know much.

Men may know much.

Governments may know much.

Scientists may know much.

But God alone holdeth the appointed times.

Therefore, I pray that God endeth the works of darkness sooner rather than later.

For no kingdom built upon wickedness shall stand forever.

No empire of man shall escape judgment.

No man shall outrun death.

And no man shall know the exact hour appointed for his departure.

Be Ye Also Ready

Christ warned us:

“Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”
— Matthew 25:13, KJV

And that warning ought to cause us to examine our own lives.

Not tomorrow.

Today.

For we know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh—

nor the hour when our own breath shall return unto God who gave it.

“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”
— Ecclesiastes 12:7, KJV

The dead sleep.

The ashes remain.

The blood may cry from the ground.

The possessions remain for others to sort through.

The unfinished projects remain unfinished.

The bus still sitteth in the backyard.

The tools still wait.

The houses remain.

The kingdoms continue for a season.

But the breath of man returneth unto God.

And one day, the dead shall hear the voice of the One who calleth them forth.

Therefore, while we yet have breath:

WATCH.

REPENT.

FORGIVE.

PREPARE.

NUMBER THY DAYS.

BE YE ALSO READY.

For ye shall not get through this life alive.

And the hour of thy departure is known unto God alone.