His Last Tweet to Me

Last week a friend of mine pointed out a tweet from a pastor in Memphis, Tennessee I was not familiar with, but it seemed like an interesting topic to engage this minister with. The pastor, Samuel Onwuchekwa (@SamOhhh) of the Fellowship Memphis Church had tweeted:

For those who don't know Jesus this life is the best it will ever get. But those who do know Him this life is the worst it will ever get!
— Samuel Onwuchekwa (@SamOhhh) April 7, 2015

At first glance, this seemed to me to be a slight misconception. Those who had little or no knowledge of Christianity might, in my opinion, think that Jesus offers nothing to our life. I felt that Christ had come to give us life in abundance, not just the promise of a life in Heaven.

Thus began an interesting conversation. I tweeted back:

@SamOhhh Not according to Jesus. "I came so that they could have life—indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest." John 10:10
— Timothy McPherson (@Forward2000) April 8, 2015

@Forward2000 Even "life to the fullest" here, no matter how good, will pale in comparison to eternity with the Father... according to Jesus
— Samuel Onwuchekwa (@SamOhhh) April 9, 2015

@SamOhhh I agree, but your first statement seems to suggest that there is nothing in this current life to live for. This is wrong.
— Timothy McPherson (@Forward2000) April 9, 2015

@Forward2000 & no matter how good this life gets. There will still b pain & suffering & 4 all men death. None of which will exist in glory
— Samuel Onwuchekwa (@SamOhhh) April 9, 2015

@SamOhhh What is the point of living if this life is so terrible? Your first statement seems to suggest that suicide is better.
— Timothy McPherson (@Forward2000) April 9, 2015

@Forward2000 Philippians 1:21-25 not suicide but to die indeed is of infinite gain for those who know Christ. pic.twitter.com/Ag13h0Mt0c
— Samuel Onwuchekwa (@SamOhhh) April 9, 2015

With that last tweet from Pastor Onwuchekwa, I decided to leave it at that for the time being. I had said what I meant. I also did not disagree with the substance of what Pastor Onwuchekwa said, but just how it was said. That, in and of itself, was enough.

A few days later, Pastor Sam's last tweet to me was being retweeted and favorited and quoted over and over again. You should understand something about my Twitter account. I rarely use it. I have few followers and I follow more people than people follow me. I am OK with that, too. I just thought I would engage a fellow pastor in a discussion of semantics.

I couldn't understand what was going on. Why in the world would Pastor Sam's last tweet to me be tweeted so much and so often? So I went back to Twitter and checked it out.

Pastor Samuel Onwuchekwa had passed away.

I was dumbfounded and quite saddened. I looked at Pastor Sam's last tweet to me. He had quoted from Philippians 1:21-25 (ESV):

²¹ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²² If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. ²³ I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. ²⁴ But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. ²⁵ Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith,

Was God preparing Pastor Sam for his final moments in this life? I do not know. I would like to believe so. Let me be honest:  I had nothing personal against Pastor Sam. I simply wanted to engage him in this discussion about life in Christ and our life in Eternity.

I sincerely believe that Christ had come into this world to show us how to live so that we may emulate him and have life in abundance. I also believe that death does not have the final word and that we have eternity with God as well.

Having served in Germany for 10 years, Philippians 1:21 is more poignant to me in German, which states:  Christus ist mein Leben und Sterben mein Gewinn.  This translates as:  "Christ is my life and dying is my gain (or victory)."

I extend my condolences to the family of Pastor Onwuchekwa and to the whole congregation at Fellowship Memphis. May God grant Pastor Sam eternal rest.