“Jesus said …I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die…” John 11:25b, and 26a.

 

It seems that from time immemorial man has been on a trek pursuing what he thinks to be the only thing that would insure him everlasting youth – the fountain of youth. Elusive as it has been to those fountain seekers in the past, it remains only a dream. Ponce De Leon traveled the world over tirelessly pursuing the fountain that would give mankind a youthful immortality. Even though Ponce De Leon himself was unsuccessful in his quest to find that elusive fountain, that baton has been unceremoniously handed off to the scientists of today. Theirs is a formidable task to be sure, but through all their failures in seeking after that fountain, or whatever else they perceive might give them immortality, no one, it seems, is telling them about the fountain that gives everlasting life which was fully established on a cross two thousand years ago.

 

Scientists and other researchers have recently been seeking to find a gene that might lead to the discovery of this greatly anticipated “fountain of youth”. They have also been manipulating man’s genome by various means in order to produce an extension to man’s life span. They say they’re close to achieving their goal and that with the right gene sequence they will increase man’s average 70 year span and grow that number to 3 or 4 hundred years.

 

Building on man’s self-indulgence and gullibility the Hollywood moguls have captured the interests of movie viewers worldwide with their never ending supply of fictional characters pursuing and obtaining immortality. Books are numerous as fiction writers see no end to the material available as they seek to capture the imaginations of millions of potential “fountain of youth” seeking readers.  

 

Man, because of his insatiable appetite for every sinful pleasure, has turned his back on God since God puts restrictions on sin. Now, because man wishes to become immortal like God, he must fully eliminate God from the scene. Man is on a mission to be reclassified with a brand new designation, he wants that title “god” for himself. Not surprisingly, men/women always fumble and fall flat when they try to replace God. We are a created being, and we are nothing without our Creator.

 

For years secular scientists have denied the existence of God, thus the very book in which all the answers concerning life and death are found is dismissed as folklore. “There is none so blind as he who will not see”; this current blindness is astounding. 

 

Here’s something to wrap your mind around, how many billions of dollars and how many years of tedious research could have been avoided if these scientists and other researchers would have only allowed their fingers to do the walking across the pages of the Holy writ?

 

Instead of heeding God’s word they continually ignore it; failure after failure will be all they will realize. And the money and time wasted on this kind of research could have been better spent, perhaps in purchasing food for the hungry. Imagine the useful things that could have been accomplished with the resources those fountain seekers have been blessed with. People who now live in poverty could be eating three square meals a day and have sufficient clothing and shelter to boot, if all that wasted money had been spent wisely. 

 

People become so fixated on prolonging their lives that they will turn to any medical research or remedy in pursuit of that goal. That goal becomes, to some, overwhelmingly important, almost to the exclusion of all the other important pursuits of this life. From the beginning God’s plan was that we live forever, and it still is. But because He knew man would rebel against Him, His plan also included His own death on an old wooden cross on a hilltop called Golgotha in Judea. God placed us here on earth for His purpose and for His good pleasure and glory. That’s right, and because of our rebellion it was also His good pleasure to die for His creation so we might still enjoy everlasting life. This was something He had planned all along, even from before the creation of the world. Interestingly, even after all our rebellion, all we, His creation, need to do to become immortal is simply to believe (place our faith and trust) in Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

 

When we finally come to understand God’s purpose for our earthly life, only then will we live life more abundantly and be what He wants us to be. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10. The abundant life only comes through placing our faith, trust, and hopes in our Savior and Lord Jesus the Christ. He alone is the giver of immortality (everlasting life).

 

Little do these researchers/scientists know that every person born on this planet will live forever. The real “us”, that is to say who we really are, is spirit not flesh and blood, that’s what those foolish scientists don’t comprehend. We remain in these earthen vessels so we can live life here on earth with some semblance of ease. We can do the work involved to support ourselves and our family, we can and are to love one another, and to do God’s will while we’re here. Until we die this will be the case. But remember this, only the flesh and blood part of us dies. The real “us” goes on to live forever. The destination of that forever life depends on Who we know, and whether or not He knows us.

 

Adam and Eve were created as immortal beings. “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” Genesis 2:25. They were clothed with righteousness, not clothing as we know it. If they had not rebelled against God they would still be in that righteous immortal state and we would be right there with them. Alas they did rebel, thus all humanity now inherits the fate of our prehistoric parents. We’re now all born mortal and sinners and if the Lord tarries we shall all die someday, yet our spirit will continue for eternity, just like those prehistoric parents. 

 

Continuing on after we leave earth will be the greatest adventure and it will never end. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel which we will follow after our short stint on earth as mortals ends; that light leads to an awesome state of immortality which God promises all can experience. But first corruption must put on incorruption. “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” 1 Corinthians 15:53. No matter what we’re forced to endure while in these flesh and blood bodies it will all be worth it when we reach our final destination, that is of course if we’ve made the right choice while in this mortal state.

 

These scientists pursuing longevity and/or immortality don’t realize it but they are actually doing mankind a disservice. God has whittled down man’s lifespan to a 70 year average (Psalm 90:10, Isaiah 23:15) which is plenty long enough to accomplish what He has planned for us. There are, of course, folks who fall into spectrums on both sides of the 70 year average, and there are plenty of reasons for shorter and longer life spans, which I will not expound on further. Suffice it to say we’ve been given enough time to do God’s will while we sojourn in this world. The question still remains, why would anyone want to prolong their stay on this evil, sick, and defiled planet for another two or three hundred years? What kind of moronic individual would really want to live forever in these corrupt, fallible, sin-riddled, pitiful bodies? Only the unsaved.

 

An indescribable paradise awaits those who’ve accepted the immortality Jesus the Christ, our Creator God, has provided for us. We will spend eternity with Him and we will be far beyond content, full of life, never to suffer again. Our immortality will be spent loving and worshiping our Lord; we’ll have a full knowledge of what’s beyond this dimension we live in while we explore all dimensions and in perfect glorified bodies.

 

Scientists want to prolong life indefinitely for the simple reason that they have no clue of what lies just beyond this four dimensional (breadth, length, depth, and height) continuum we are now engulfed in. For those of us who are born again we know that whatever the future holds while we remain here on earth, this world has nothing to offer that can possibly hold us here.

 

Secular scientists, especially those who are obsessed with seeking after immortality, don’t even want to think about what’s in store for those who’ve dismissed God as irrelevant and rejected Jesus Christ their entire lives. God promises it won’t be pretty. Since we are eternal spirits there’s no reason to seek immortality; if you want immortality look no further than your own spirit, it’s already immortal.

 

Like the scientists, those who continue searching for that elusive “fountain of youth” to live forever will eventually realize their obsession with immortality was nonsensical. At a point just after their death immortality will be achieved and oh what a huge disappointment it will be for them. All they had to do was believe and trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and true immortality, that eternal glory they so diligently pursued, would have been theirs.

 

If you know someone who is currently searching after that elusive fountain of youth, why not let them in on the God’s truth. Tell them how easy that fountain is to find. Tell them Jesus Christ is the fountain, the fountain of living waters “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” John 7:37-38, and that He alone gives every person who seeks Him and who believes in Him by placing their faith and trust in Him, everlasting life (immortality).

 

“But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:14.

God bless you all,

Ron Graham

twotug@embarqmail.com <mailto:twotug@embarqmail.com>

All scripture is from the KJV and God breathed