I heard something over the radio a few weeks ago, the like of which I’ve never heard before — and certainly never want to hear again. I heard the last words of the pilot on No. 214, a big jet plane that crashed to earth with 81 persons aboard.

Because of the weather conditions the planes were “stacked” rather high around the Philadelphia airport, so the airport tower had just asked him: “Do you want to go on or do you want to hold?” The pilot had barely replied that he wanted to “hold,” when he said something about his big Boeing 707 being on fire! Then came the awful words: “We’re going down. Two fourteen is going down in flames.” He said it calmly, and the Philadelphia tower answered back: “We have your message, two fourteen.”

Just imagine, hearing the actual last words which the pilot uttered while he and eighty others were being hurled more than 5,000 feet to their death amid the flaming parts of their stricken plane!

Yet, one does not have to be in a plane to meet death suddenly. He can stumble off a curb and be killed or die suddenly in a hundred different ways.

The important thing is to be ready. We do not wish to frighten people into accepting Christ as Savior, but it is a fact that we ought to think more than we do about the uncertainty of life. Prov. 22:3 says: “A wise man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but fools pass on and are punished.”

No wonder Paul wrote in II Cor. 6:1,2:

“We then as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain…. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation.”

We cannot offer salvation yesterday, for yesterday is passed. Nor can we promise it for tomorrow, for the opportunity may be withdrawn by then. The best we can do is to tell you that God loves you, and that Christ died for you, and urge you to act upon this now.

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

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