This is entirely copied from from a booklet that someone gave me.  I thought it extremely fascinating, not only to believers (we all have to face death unless Christ returns first), but also for an unbeliever, who may be searching for truth and the right way to die.

Famous Last Words

Napoleon Bonaparte, the famous military strategist of France, said, while waiting for death, “I die before my time, and my body will be given back to the earth.  Such is the fate of him who has been called the great Napoleon.  What an abyss between my deep misery and the eternal kingdom of Christ!”

Voltaire, the noted French infidel, said to his doctor: “I am abandoned by God and man!  I will gave you half of what I am worth if you will give me six months’ life.  Then I shall go to Hell, and you will go with me.  O Christ, O Jesus Christ!”

Thomas Hobbes, a skeptic who corrupted some of England’s great men, sighed: “If I had the whole world, I would give it to live one day.  I shall be glad to find a hole to creep out of the world at.  About to take a leap into the dark!”

M.F.Rich, an atheist, cried, “I would rather lie on a stove and broil for a million years than go into eternity with the eternal horrors that hang over my soul!  I have given my immortality for gold, and its weight sinks me into an endless, hopeless, helpless Hell.”

Sire Thomas Scott, on his deathbed, said, “Until this moment I thought there was neither a God nor a Hell.  Now I know and feel  that there are both, and I am doomed to perdition by the just judgment of the Almighty.”

Dwight L. Moody, the great evangelist, exclaimed, “I see earth receding; Heaven is opening.  God is calling!”

John Wesley, English preacher and religious leader, said with confidence: “The best of all is, God is with us!”

Mrs. Catherine Booth, wife of the Salvation Army General, said joyfully, “The waters are rising, but so am I. I am not going under, but over.  Do not be concerned about dying; go on living well. The dying will be right.”

Mrs. Ann Hasseltine Judson, missionary to Burma and wife of Adoniram Judson, faced death with these words, “Oh, the happy day will soon come when we shall meet all our friends who are now scattered–meet to part no more in our Heavenly Father’s house.”

Samuel Rutherford met death with this attitude: “I am the happiest pass to which man ever came.  Christ is mine and I am His; and there is nothing now between me and resurrection, except–Paradise.”

What a difference in these famous last words!  Why?

The Bible has the answer.  “He that believeth on the Son (Jesus Christ) hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:35)

*A personal faith is Jesus Christ made–and still makes–the difference!

The modern outlook is, “It doesn’t matter what you believe so long as you’re sincere.  The important thing is to believe something!”

But this doesn’t work in real life, nor in real death.  Napoleon, Voltaire, Hobbes, Rich and Scott all believed in something–but it didn’t help them!  The other five believed in Someone–JESUS CHRIST, and this personal belief brought personal peace, even in the hour of death.

The soul who can claim, “The Lord is my shepherd,” is the only one who can truthfully conclude, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of eath, I will fear no evil; for thou (God) art with me” (from Psalm 23)

Remember, Christ’s famous last words were: “It is finished. . . Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” (John 19:30, Luke 23:46).  He completed full and free forgiveness for you.  There is nothing you can or need to do to be converted from your sins, except believe!  “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts16:31)

Will you believe Christ? 

If you will, you can say with the Apostle Paul: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phillipians 1;21)

What better last words could you say?

~ Nathanael Olson

“Do not be concerned about dying;
Go on LIVING WELL.”
-C.Booth