Can I Have A Second Chance

By L C Walker

This is the first book after the three book series about the End Times.  In the three book series, there were many questions about different topics relating to the End Times and what occurs after death.  One question that was asked pertained to the body and where it will go after death.  Does the body cease to exist?  Is the Bible correct when it speaks about Heaven and Hell? 

Some people believe that a person can be reincarnated and come back as an animal or some type of living creature.  Christians believe what the Bible teaches; once you die, there is no second chance. 

In this novel, Can I Have a Second Chance, it will answer the question of where a person goes after death.  I know some people may not like the answer, but it is the truth. 

The novel is about Gene Pittman and his life.  When he dies, he goes to the compartment of torment to wait for the Great White Throne Judgment.  While in the compartment, he prays to God for a second chance at life.  He knows there is no way out of that compartment, so the only thing he can do is to pray for a second chance.  To Gene’s surprise, God hears his prayer and gives him a second chance.  During his second chance, he will see every bad mistake he made in his life.  Then God will let Gene live his life all over again and, this time, he makes the correct decisions. 

One thing Gene must remember is what God told Gene when he asked for a second chance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mount Sinai Publisher
• Release date: Aug 5, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386265511

Book preview

FOREWORD

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Many, many times in a person’s life they will hear how a person was close to death and they were healed.  People will use terms like, They found religion or they found Jesus and now they are Jesus freaks.  Some will say, Their religious trip won’t last long and they will go back to their old ways in a very short time, just wait and see.  However, many, many people that make that conversion and become Christians really do believe and they are born again and they are going to heaven at the rapture or at death

This book will show you what happens when a person has many chances to accept Christ and what happens when that person dies and goes into eternity without the Savior.  It will also tell you what happens when that person finally comes to an understanding, that to reject Christ is a very bad mistake.  Can a person have a second chance to redeem themselves or are they lost forever?  That question and many others will be answered in this book.  Follow along as Professor Wilson tells the story of Gene Pittman.

All characters and dates are fictitious and any comparisons to people living or dead are just a coincidence.

PROLOGUE

If you have followed Professor Wilson through The Past or the Coming Future, The Tribulation and The Great Tribulation and Beyond, you know that he continued to answer questions that were asked when he was telling about the events before and during the tribulation.  One question which was asked was, Once a person dies, does he or she have a second chance for salvation or not?  In this book, CAN I HAVE A SECOND CHANCE? Professor Wilson tells us how the question is answered when Gene Pittman asks the Lord for a second chance.

All eyes were wet from tears as friends and family members viewed the body of Gene Pittman for the last time.  Gene was a good man and a man that loved his family and would do anything for his friends.  Three days before, no one suspected that a massive heart attack would take Gene and leave everyone devastated with grief.  The one that grieved the most was Gene himself.  When he took that last breath of air and passed from this world into the unknown, he had always believed that you ceased to exist.  However, he found out very quickly that you do not cease to exist, but you go to one of two places, either HEAVEN or HELL.  The very moment that he passed from earth into the holding compartment in Hades, he knew he had made a very, very terrible mistake.  He was now awaiting the end of time, when he would be released from the compartment of torment to stand at the Great White Throne Judgment and receive his final sentence:  The sentence of death; eternal death.

Part 1

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A

Life

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Without Christ

CHAPTER 1

OH, I CAN’T believe it‘s true!  This place does not exist, but I am here.  Please, Lord, let this place just be a bad dream.  Please, Lord, let this place just be a bad dream.  Please let me wake up and I will be in my own bed and I will be thinking about this dream and how real it seemed.  Oh, please let this be a dream. I don’t believe there is a hell or life after death.  Even if I don’t believe it, I am here.  I must believe, because I am in a place of pain, so it must be eternal punishment.  Please, Lord, I pray that you will let me out of this place.  I can’t stand the screaming and moaning and I will go crazy if the crying doesn’t stop.  It is so dark and the fire is so hot, but the fire is not burning me up!  Why can’t I just cease to exist?  Why won’t this fire just consume me?  OH!  OH!  PLEASE!  PLEASE, give me a second chance!  I know I would accept, if I had a second chance.

I remember what I said to one of my Christian friends when he told me about this place.  I told him it was all just religious stuff that people want to use for a crutch so they can be good.  I never thought for a minute that there really was a place like this.  I believe now, but I still wish it was a dream.  I know it is not a dream, and I know that I cannot escape from this terrible place.  It is so hot and the feeling of pain all through my body makes me think of how nice it was before I suffered that heart attack.

I know I should not have made fun of that Christian friend of mine, but the stories he would tell about going to heaven seemed so far-fetched.  They were almost impossible to believe. 

The story he told about the compartment of torment was so unbelievable; I rejected his idea of heaven and hell.  Even when he gave me scripture to prove his point, I still thought he had a couple of screws loose. 

When I first arrived here, I thought back to the story of the rich man and Lazarus that my friend had told me about.  He said the story was in Luke 16:19-31.  (I wonder how I can remember that so clearly!)  He opened his Bible and asked if I would like to read it for myself?  I told him I really wasn’t interested, but that did not stop him.  He started to read: "There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day.  And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table; moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores.  And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom; the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.  And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.  But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed. So that they who would pass from here to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from there.  Then he said, I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.  Abraham saith unto him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’  And he said, ‘Nay, father Abraham; but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.’  And he said unto him, ‘If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.’ (How am I able to remember all of these details? Is someone putting it into my mind?)

When he was finished, he told me what the story meant.  He said that the rich man had everything he ever wanted.  He had food, money, a place to live, and he had prestige.  He never wanted for anything because he had it all.  On the other hand, Lazarus who had nothing, only wanted the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table.  My friend then asked me a question.  What is the difference between these two men? 

I answered and said that the rich man had everything while the beggar wished that he had everything.  My Christian friend said that was a good answer but it was wrong.  You see even though Lazarus was a beggar and had nothing, he had something that was more valuable than anything the rich man had.

I stopped him and said that the rich man had everything, what in the world did Lazarus have that the rich man did not have?  Also, if the rich man did not have what Lazarus possessed, he could have paid a large sum of money to Lazarus and Lazarus would have sold it.

What Lazarus had, he could not sell, he told me.

You tell me what Lazarus had that the rich man could not buy? I demanded. 

"Lazarus had eternal life through Jesus Christ.  It does not make any difference if a person has all the money in the world, they cannot buy salvation.  Lazarus knew about the coming Messiah and about the two places where a person would go once he or she died.  Lazarus accepted the free gift of salvation and when he died, he when into the compartment known as paradise or Abraham’s bosom.  The rich man also knew of the Messiah and of the two places that a person would go once he died.  But the rich man was more interested in the things of the world.  As a result, he rejected eternal life and he chose to be separated from the Lord for eternity.  When the rich man died, he went into the compartment known as torment.  The compartment of torment is still active today.  Each person that dies will go to that compartment or they will go directly to heaven.  The reason we do not go to paradise or Abraham’s bosom is because Jesus took that area, the believer’s waiting place, with him when he was resurrected.  Now there is only one compartment in Hades, that being the compartment of torment.

You must accept Christ to have eternal life, my friend continued.  If you do not accept, you will go to that compartment of torment and you will be tormented until the end of time.  When the end of time comes, everyone that is in the compartment of torment will stand before God at the Great White Throne Judgment and will be judged.  One of God’s angels will open the Book of Life to see if your name is written in it, and if your name is not written in the Book of Life, you will be cast into the lake of fire, which is called Hell. 

I don’t believe that for a moment, I told him.  You want me to believe that a loving God would cast me into Hell because I did not accept Jesus Christ as my Savior? I’ve done nothing to deserve that! 

No, you have it all wrong.  God does not cast you into Hell. You cast yourself into Hell.  By rejecting, you have chosen the second death.  God gives each and every person a choice of either life or death.  If God could choose for you, He would choose life instead of death, but God cannot choose for you.  It is left up to you and it is left up to each person where they will spend eternity.  I accepted and chose life and if you continue to reject, you may never have another chance to accept.  If you never accept, one day you will regret that decision.

When he was finished with the story, I told him I would accept, but not at this time.  There was plenty of time for me to accept, so I decided I would just put it off for a little while.  That little while went from days to weeks and from months to years. I also explained to my friend that I had a lot of living to do and I did not want to be tied down to a lot of rules and laws from the Bible.  I wanted to have parties and girls, lots and lots of girls.  I just wished I would have accepted before I ran out of time.  I can remember very clearly the day my heart gave out, and before I decided to accept.

I was up early in the morning with a cup of coffee.  Next I would fix myself three eggs, 3 slices of bacon, one pancake, hash browns and two pieces of toast.  I was always told to have a really good breakfast in order to set the mood for the rest of the day.  After breakfast, I dressed, kissed my wife good-bye, and off to work I went. 

Once I was in my pickup truck, I turned the radio on to my favorite program.  I had driven about three miles when I had this pain in my chest.  I knew exactly what it was.  It was heart burn.  I had been having heart burn for the last six months and every time the heart burn started, I would take a swallow of Mallox.  Within a minute or two, the heart burn would go away.  When the heart burn started this morning, I opened the Mallox and took a bigger drink than I ever had taken before because the heart burn hurt more this day than any other day.  The rest of my trip to the office only took ten more minutes.

At the office, the normal things I always did seemed to be in the farthest parts of my mind.  The only thing I had on my mind was the idea of retiring.  I was sixty years old and had spent thirty one years of my life doing the same thing.  If I retired now, I thought, I would have enough money in savings and in the retirement plan to live on for the rest of my life.  The decision had to be made.  Retire now or wait for another two years.  As I sat there thinking about retiring or continuing to work, the pain hit me once again.  This time the pain was almost unbearable.  I hollered at Sam who was only twenty feet from me. 

What’s the problem Gene?

I left my Mallox in my truck and my chest is really hurting.  Sam came running over to me as quickly as he could and told me to relax and take it easy. 

He said he was going to call for an ambulance. He thought I was having a heart attack.  Sam, it’s just heart burn. I’m in great health.  With the word health still ringing in my mouth, the massive heart attack hit.  I grabbed my chest because the pain was so severe and then I saw the floor coming up to me very, very slowly.  I heard a thud and then I also felt a pain on my forehead.  I had hit the floor hard, very hard. 

Sam was hollering and screaming, Someone call an ambulance! Gene has had a heart attack!  The rest of the people in the office came over to see if there was anything they could do, but it was useless.  I had taken my last breath.

I remember leaving my body and ascending just a little way above where my body was laying.  I could still hear and see Sam giving orders and saying he could not feel a pulse.  It seemed as if I was floating in mid air and the feeling of being free from my body was overwhelming, but then something took a hold of me and when I turned, I saw an angel with his hand around my arm.

I am sorry, but you must go with me, he said in the most authoritative voice I had ever heard.  For some reason I felt I was not in a very good situation.  I felt as if I was in a lot of trouble.  You know when you get caught doing something wrong.  However, this feeling was a feeling of guilt and that I was about to be punished for something I had done.  I had no idea I was going to be punished for something that I did not do.  You see the thing that I did not do was to accept Christ as my personal Savior. 

I took one look at the angel and I started to panic.  I hollered as loud as I could for Sam.  He acted as if he did not even hear a word I said.  I hollered even louder and then I started to scream.  Sam, Sam please help me!  Please, someone help me.  But Sam and the others never even looked in my direction; he just kept giving orders.  I shouted out again, Sam, you idiot, I am up here! Help me!  The angel who had a hold of me said we must leave for a short trip and that he was very sorry that I had rejected for all of these years.

He then took me on that trip that I would never forget.  I asked where we were going and he stated that he was sorry, but that he was taking me to the compartment of torment.  I started to ask about the compartment of torment and then I remembered the story of the rich man and Lazarus.  I knew where I was going, but deep down I thought I was having a dream.  A voice told me I was not dreaming.

THE COMPARTMENT OF TORMENT IS VERY REAL AND YOU HAD MANY CHANCES TO ACCEPT CHRIST, BUT EACH TIME YOU PUT IT OFF UNTIL YOU REACHED THE POINT WHERE YOU WOULD NEVER ACCEPT. WHEN THAT TIME CAME, YOUR LIFE WAS REQUIRED, I heard in my mind.

The trip seemed to last for only a few seconds, but I know it lasted longer than that because we traveled a very great distance.  Off in the distance, I saw something that was very bright and I saw steam coming up.  The closer we came to the bright light, the more I thought I could hear a strange sound.  The sound continued to get louder and louder.  I began trying to pull back. He continued to propel me, against my will.

When we finally were close enough to the bright light, I realized what the bright light was and what the sound was.  The bright light was the fire coming up from the compartment of torment and the sound was the sound of people, billions and billions of people.  The people in the compartment of torment were crying and begging to the Lord to let them out of the pit.  The people were not only crying, but they were gnashing their teeth and biting their tongues from the pain.  Most of them were also begging for just a drop of water for their tongues. 

I thought about the rich man begging for a drop of water for his tongue, also.  I wondered to myself if the story was true after all or if it was just a story.  That same voice sounded in my mind once again. 

THE STORY OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS IS TRUE.

The closer we came to the pit, the more anxiety I began to feel.  I again tried to pull back to no avail. This angel was about to drop me into the pit.  I had never been so scared in all of my life.  I was sweating and breathing so heavily, I thought I was going to have another heart attack or I was on the verge of bursting my lungs.  I wish I could have been that lucky and ceased to exist.

When we finally reached the pit, I looked inside and saw the flames, but I could not see any of the people that were screaming.  I know those sounds of screaming and crying will be with me for eternity. I just wish I had accepted before it was eternally too late.  The blood curdling screams made me realize that I was about to do the same thing.  Looking into the pit, I was holding on to the angel as tightly as I could and I was praying that he would not let me go.  But let me go he must, for he had another trip to make to bring another person to this place of torment.

Once he released me, I watched as the flames grew closer and closer.  Then, I could feel the heat from the flames getting warmer and warmer.  The closer I came to the flame, the warmer and warmer I was getting until the flames were completely around me.  The heat was so hot, I thought I could now hear and feel everyone screaming, but the screaming was coming from me.  I never thought I could scream that loud, but the longer I was in this pit of hell, the louder I screamed.  It was hard to believe the fire was so hot.  It was hotter than anything any person could possibly imagine in a million years. I reached up and put my hands to my ears to stop the sounds caused by the terrible screams of the billions of people that had arrived before me.  However, no matter how hard I tried to stop the sounds of this place, they continued to ring in my ears.

I started to think about this place called the Compartment of Torment.  If this terrible place is the holding compartment before a person is cast into Hell, then Hell must be even worse than this place.  Now, I am really starting to panic.  Hell, I remember Sam telling me, is worse than this place and this place is the worse place I have ever seen or I have ever been.  I have to find a way out of this place. I just have to.

Thinking back to what I had experienced in past years, I started thinking about how it would be with my family. Back on Earth, my family and friends would be starting to call my home and ask about the funeral and all of the details.  My wife would say she was going to leave everything up to our oldest son, Gene, Jr.  Gene, Jr. is just like his father, she would say.  He did not believe there was life after death.  He believes exactly what I have told him, When you die, you cease to exist.

Gene Jr. will decide the best thing to do is to show his father honor and have the funeral at the local church.  It is really the only place that is big enough to hold all the people.  Gene Jr. is probably talking to the new preacher and saying, Dad would want a small, short funeral, and he does not want anything said about Heaven or Hell.

The preacher will tell Gene, Jr. that it may be better if he asks one of the other churches, further down the road, about having the funeral services in their church instead of this one.  The pastor will state that in all the funerals he preaches, he tells about Heaven and Hell.  He will, also, let everyone know that anyone can come and talk to him about accepting Christ as their personal Savior, even after the services.  Gene, Jr. will decide he will let the preacher have his way, and allow him to tell about Christ dying on the cross for the sins of the world.  It will not matter to him what anyone else thinks or does.

The next two days, the house will be full of family and friends.  People in the community are probably bringing over food and all kinds of drinks for the crowds that are expected.  Many that come in are saying they were sorry and that I am in a better place.

If they could come and see this place, they would change their minds very quickly.  Just maybe, I thought, the preacher will preach a really strong message and all of my relatives will accept.  I hate to think that my wife, my sons, my daughters and all the rest of my relatives and friends will come to this place of torment, because they never accepted.

Today is Gene’s funeral.  At the church, the pews are packed.  His body is lying in the coffin at the front of the church so everyone can see him.  The preacher is beginning the service by saying that the Bible says we will all die, if the rapture of the church does not occur first.  "We brought nothing into the world and we will take nothing out of this world.  There is one of two places a person will go after death, either Heaven or Hell.  I never met Gene, so I don’t know if he ever accepted Jesus as his personal Savior or not.  I don’t want to dwell on the place where Gene is now, because it would only be speculation.  What I want to concentrate on is the realization that each and every one of you will die one of these days. 

"Do you know where you are going to spend eternity?  If you do not know, then I would like to tell you.  Jesus said that He is the way, the truth and the life, and that no man cometh to the Father but by Me.  In another passage in the Bible, Jesus said, ‘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.’  Those of you here today must ask yourselves that question.  Are you saved?  Have you accepted Christ?  Do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are going to Heaven?

"There are many, many