“They were very friendly,” said Fred Hoppe. “We just found out this morning. It was a terrible shock—my wife went into hysterics.”
What had happened? Fred and Margery Rollins loved to travel, but a trip to Mount St. Helens last May 18 proved to be fatal to this elderly couple. They viewed the eruption from 15 miles away. It looked safe, but it wasn’t. How it reminds us that God says, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death!” Proverbs 16:2525There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (Proverbs 16:25). There is only one safe way; that is God’s way. “The wages of sin is death"—that is man’s way: “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."—that is God’s way. (See Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)).
Heat from the eruption apparently killed the couple as they sat in their car, followed by a river of steaming mud which buried their car.
Fred and Margery could be Mr. and Mrs. Anyone. They were friendly. They loved to go sightseeing. “They never did a dramatic thing in their lives,” said a friend. They were normally very cautious. Friends described them as the kind of people who locked their car when they went into the bank. They might have been you or me.
But Fred and Margery are dead for just one reason: they did not obey! There had been plenty of warning given about the dangers of getting too close to the volcano. They thought they were safe, but they were too close! It reminds us so much of the normal, everyday peon in the world who is not obeying God’s Word. He is going on day by day knowing that God has promised judgment on this world because of sin (Acts 17:3131Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:31)). Yet by putting off accepting God’s free offer of salvation he is getting too close to the day of judgment. Don’t put it off any longer! Accept Him now as your Saviour. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31).
ML-11/09/1980