Urgency from Reagan

While having permission from the Reagan Presidential Library to go through a privately stored box of Nancy Reagan’s personal things for purposes of a biography on the former first lady, national political correspondent and columnist Karen Tumulty recently unearthed a letter written by former president, Ronald (“Ronnie”) Reagan. In this letter, we read that Reagan urgently pleaded to his father-in-law, Loyal Davis, an atheist and pioneering neurosurgeon who was on his death bed, to accept Christ in his final days.

"Aug 7 [1982]

Dear Loyal

I hope you’ll forgive me for this, but I’ve been wanting to write you ever since we talked on the phone. I am aware of the strain you are under and believe with all my heart there is help for that.

First I want to tell you of a personal experience I’ve kept to myself for a long time. During my first year as Governor you’ll recall the situation I found in Calif. was almost as bad as the one in Wash. today. It seemed as if the problems were endless and insolvable.

Then I found myself with an ulcer. In all those years at Warner Bros., no one had been able to give me an ulcer and I felt ashamed as if it were a sign of weakness on my part. John Sharpe had me on Malox and I lived with a constant pain that ranged from discomfort to extremely sharp attacks.

This went on for months. I had a bottle of Maalox in my desk, my briefcase and of course at home. Then one morning I got up, went into the bathroom, reached for the bottle as always and something happened. I knew I didn’t need it. I had gone to bed with the usual pain the night before but I knew that morning I was healed. The Malox went back on the shelf.

That morning when I arrived at the office Helene brought me my mail. The first letter I opened was from a lady — a stranger — in the Southern part of the state. She had written to tell me she was one of a group who met every day to pray for me. Believe it or not, the second letter was from a man, again a stranger, in the other end of the state telling me he was part of a group that met weekly to pray for me.

Within the hour a young fellow from the legal staff came into my office on some routine matter. On the way out he paused in the door and said: “Gov. I think maybe you’d like to know — some of us on the staff come in early every morning and get together to pray for you.”

Coincidence? I don’t think so. A couple of weeks later Nancy and I went down to L.A. and had our annual checkup. John Sharpe, a little puzzled, told me I no longer had an ulcer but added there was no indication I’d ever had one. Word of honor — I never told him about that particular day in Sacramento.

There is a line in the bible — “Where ever two or more are gathered in my name there will I be also.”

Loyal I know of your feeling — your doubt but could I just impose on you a little longer? Some seven hundred years before the birth of Christ the ancient Jewish prophets predicted the coming of a Messiah. They said he would be born in a lowly place, would proclaim himself the Son of God and would be put to death for saying that.

All in all there were a total of one hundred and twenty three specific prophesys about his life all of which came true. Crucifixion was unknown in those times, yet it was foretold that he would be nailed to a cross of wood. And one of the predictions was that he would be born of a Virgin.

Now I know that is probably the hardest for you as a Dr. to accept. The only answer that can be given is — a miracle. But Loyal I don’t find that as great a miracle as the actual history of his life. Either he was who he said he was or he was the greatest faker & charlatan who ever lived. But would a liar & faker suffer the death he did when all he had to do to save himself was admit he’d been lying?

The miracle is that a young man of 30 yrs. without credentials as a scholar or priest began preaching on street corners. He owned nothing but the clothes on his back & he didn’t travel beyond a circle less than one hundred miles across. He did this for only 3 years and then was executed as a common criminal.

But for two thousand years he has had more impact on the world than all the teachers, scientists, emperors, generals and admirals who ever lived, all put together.

The apostle John said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that who so ever believed in him would not perish but have everlasting life.”

We have been promised that all we have to do is ask God in Jesus name to help when we have done all we can — when we’ve come to the end of our strength and abilities and we’ll have that help. We only have to trust and have faith in his infinite goodness and mercy.

Loyal, you and Edith have known a great love — more than many have been permitted to know. That love will not end with the end of this life. We’ve been promised this is only a part of life and that a greater life, a greater glory awaits us. It awaits you together one day and all that is required is that you believe and tell God you put yourself in his hands.

Love

Ronnie"

Like the financially poor mother who would give her child the good meat while she ate the fat and lied saying she liked it better, or the father who would wear old, uncomfortable shoes that do not fit while his kids had the latest and greatest, we need more people who make the selfless sacrifices for especially our youngest generations. We must wake up to reality about what is truly important in life. The reality in the seriousness of our mortality should not only hit us when in those intimately helpless times, such as riding out a severe storm without electricity, our homes and belongings being destroyed by the elements, or when a loved one is deathly sick in the hospital. To simply brush off the truth as not being worth your time is a very dangerous thing to do. Atheist and half of the famous magic and comedy team, Penn & Teller, Penn Jillette adds to this line of thought:

"If you believe that there’s a Heaven and Hell and people could be going to Hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward – and atheists who think people shouldn’t proselytize and who say just leave me alone and keep your religion – how much do you have to hate somebody . . . to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I mean, if I believed beyond the shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you, and you did not believe that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that."

We put helmets on before riding bicycles and seatbelts on in cars; how much more important is it to protect our souls? Yet, we do not take eternity seriously. Only 48% of people in the U.S. believe in Heaven and only 36% believe in Hell; popular books claim to be the supposed ultimate guides to what happens after we die; and it is commonly seen that popular figures such as the Dalai Lama will say on TV that Heaven and Hell does not exist, and Joel Osteen who, in his sermons streamed on TV and online around the world, among other questionable things, refuses to preach about the existence of Hell. Author, Randy Alcorn adds:

"The sense that we will live forever somewhere has shaped every civilization in human history. Australian aborigines pictured Heaven as a distant island beyond the western horizon. The early Finns thought it was an island in the faraway east. Mexicans, Peruvians, and Polynesians believed that they went to the sun or the moon after death. Native Americans believed that in the afterlife their spirits would hunt the spirits of buffalo. The Gilgamesh epic, an ancient Babylonian legend, refers to a resting place of heroes and hints at a tree of life. In the pyramids of Egypt, the embalmed bodies had maps placed beside them as guides to the future world. The Romans believed that the righteous would picnic in the Elysian Fields, while their horses grazed nearby. Seneca, the Roman philosopher, said, “The day thou fearest as the last is the birthday of eternity.” Although these depictions of the afterlife differ, the unifying testimony of the human heart throughout history is belief in life after death. Anthropological evidence suggests that every culture has a God-given, innate sense of the eternal—that this world is not all there is."

What those statistics and those words from celebrities and everyday people alike from cultures around the world all have in common is that they are merely subjective opinions that are not worth betting your eternal destination on; the fact that no human being knows for certain what will happen to our souls upon death cannot be overstated. With that said, we know opinions can have serious, eternal consequences. Thus, if Jesus is the Son of God (and we have very reasonable evidence to trust that He is), then if we live by subjective opinions alone and not what He specifically says about the afterlife, then our very souls are in deep trouble upon death. Alcorn continues:

"For [everyone] who believes [they’re] going to Hell, there are 120 who believe they’re going to Heaven. This optimism stands in stark contrast to Christ’s words in Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” . . . Judging by what’s said at most funerals, you’d think nearly everyone’s going to Heaven, wouldn’t you? But Jesus made it clear that most people are not going to Heaven. . . . We dare not “wait and see” when it comes to what’s on the other side of death. We shouldn’t just cross our fingers and hope that our names are written in the Book of Life (Revelation 21:27). We can know, we should know, before we die. And because we may die at any time, we need to know now – not next month or next year. “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14). It’s of paramount importance to make sure you are going to Heaven, not Hell. The voice that whispers, “There’s no hurry; put this book down; you can always think about it later,” is not God’s voice. . . . The reality of Hell should break our hearts and take us to our knees and to the doors of those without Christ. Today, however, even among many Bible believers, Hell has become “the H word,” seldom  named, rarely talked about."

The world offers promise full of emptiness, but Jesus' tomb offers emptiness full of promise; what happened to Christ can happen for us; death is not the end if we trust in Him to eternally save us. Death is either a period or a comma, and with Christ alone it is merely a comma. That is the message of the resurrection. With 150,000 each day (55 million per year), death barely misses us with every passing day. We are still on this side of eternity, and we must wake up to reality. A handful of those who “get it” cannot do the immense job alone of leading everyone to Christ – especially those who you are closest to that need to hear the Gospel message. You must know God and make Him known. Trust Him in times of happiness, trust Him in times of pain, and trust Him that He will give you the strength to comfort others and lead them to His salvation in ways that only you can. Look first to your family – even to those who have been to church every single time the doors are open, perhaps they have never asked to be saved. Look into the innocent eyes of your young children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews; you must be their rock; they are your life's purpose.

As for the conclusion to what happened to Loyal Davis: he gave his life to Christ two days before he died, twelve days after the letter was penned. This letter is a great reminder that, not only are our souls precious, they are also vulnerable to two paths of eternity. The question for us today is do we have enough courage to reach out to a lost person and appeal to him or her to seek reconciliation with God? Whether it’ is a friend, a neighbor, a perfect stranger, a family member at a reunion or one sitting in jail, are we courageous enough to do the hard but holy right thing and tell them about Christ? Will such a pain for the lost be the core of who we are? As stated on the written plaque on Reagan's desk (the photo below taken myself at the Reagan Library): It CAN Be Done.