Campina Grande, PB, 13.May.1997.

Dear reader




Our much beloved son MAURO NUNES SILVA, a ***true*** believer, 27 years old, was yesterday run over by a truck, while normally riding his motorcycle. To a Christian who took him to the hospital and was somehow spiritually cold in the last months, Mauro lovingly encouraged to go back to his first love and to live for Christ. To us (his parents), to his blood-brethren, and to many brethren in Christ, Mauro comforted and lifted up, and only today he did fly to God's glory. As we contemplated his face, dead but peacefully smiling, radiating peace and joyful happiness, we recalled Acts 6:15; 7:55-60 "... they saw his [Stephen's] face as it had been the face of an angel. ... But he, being full of the holy Ghost, looked up steadily into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And [Stephen] said, 'Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. ... Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' And when he had said this, he fell asleep."

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Oh friend, Christ himself raised from His throne to welcome Mauro, as He does to each ***true*** believer! This is not a mere, naive, unsupported, and wish-wash hope, it is not a mere strong desire from us. It is the most total and absolute certainty of all the certainties existing in the universe, because it is the objective and unbreakable promise of God! He has revealed  to us that there exist both a literal, horrible hell, and a literal, blissful heaven; that, as to deserving, all of us (Mauro included) ***deserve*** just hell, inasmuch as we are sinners and God is just and holy, not tolerating sin; but He also revealed to us that a few men are graciously and undeservedly saved, through truly and wholeheartedly believing Christ, each and every phrase, word and letter in God's Word, wholeheartedly desiring to obey His Word; God assures us that He gives and guarantees everlasting and unspeakably blessed salvation to those few, only to those, and only in that way.

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Today, we learned that Mauro had written a letter full of Christ's love to one of the Professors at the Faculty of Law, where Mauro was one of the brightest and most loved students. We know that our son would like to extend the words of that letter to those he and us cherish the most, and that is what we are doing here.

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Psalm 116:15 "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints."

Ezekiel 33:11 "Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die...?"      (Note: every man is wicked, until he receives salvation through faith in Christ).

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Helio & Nira, Mauro's parents.

Rua Buarque 198, Joao Pessoa, PB, 58045-160, BRAZIL

; (++5583)226.5219

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Dear Professor: XXXXXX

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[Moved by friendship and love] I took the audacity of preparing and presenting you this brief dissertation on the celebrated phrase from the apostle Saint Paul, which he wrote in his second epistle to the Corinthians: "...the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." If we take its due context into consideration, we see that, all along the 3rd. chapter of 2 Corinthians, the apostle Paul draws a parallel between two types of dealings from God: one through the Law, and another through the Holy Spirit.

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Many times, as we read the Word of God,  we see the terms "DEATH" and "LIFE", the first one meaning "ETERNAL, SUFFERING SEPARATION FROM GOD", and the second one meaning "ETERNAL, BLESSED FELLOWSHIP AND COMMUNION WITH GOD".

In John 10:28 we read: "and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand."

If  we turn a few pages back in the same gospel according to Saint John, we will read, in John 3:5,7: "Jesus answered and said unto him, 'Verily, verily, I say unto thee: Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ... Marvel not that I said unto the: Ye must be born again."

The letter (the law) leads only to eternal separation from God, as we will see down in this brief dissertation.

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I hope that all the truths that I will expose to you will touch your heart in the same way they have touched mine [some years ago]. I hope that you [my dear Professor] will contemplate and believe the very same words that some day I contemplated and believed, while studying God's Word. May God use those very same words and that from them you may benefit! This is what I hope and pray for!

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Your student,            Mauro Nunes Silva.

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If a man, guilty of a crime, is taken to judgment, his only hope is to plead and beg for mercy and not for justice. If he receives the justice which is according to the law, there is no other fate to him, but the right condemnation and penalty. If we received justice for our crimes, we would not walk freely on this earth.

However, the crimes (mine and yours) which I wish now to talk about, have nothing to do with this earth, but with God's law.

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THE VERDICT: ALL OF US ARE GUILTY

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Romans 3:19 "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God."

God says that all of us are guilty. Perhaps you say: "I do not feel guilty", but God has a case running against us. Trying to live a righteous life and obeying the commandments will never remove our guilt. The Word of God says: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one [point], he is guilty of all." (James 2:10).

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THE ACCUSATION AGAINST US

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Romans 3:23 "... For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."

All of us were already born as sinners; and sin is nothing more than transgressing God's law. The apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, says: "... Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law. ..." (Romans 7:7). Perhaps you try to protest "Not me! I am a good and just person!", but God says: "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." (Romans 3:10-12).

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THE PENALTY

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We already know: we are condemned to hell!

Jesus preached about hell more than about heaven. He also warned that more people are going to hell than to heaven. The Word of God, in Matthew 7:13,14, says: "Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

God's Word warns us against this literal place, where "... there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 13:42).

In Psalm 9:17 we read "The wicked shall be turned into hell..."

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YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED

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We cannot be justified by God's law: we inflicted it, it only serves to show that we violated it and are sinners, guilty before God. The Bible says: "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by law is the knowledge of sin." (Romans 3:20).

But we can be justified through Jesus. The apostle Paul says in Romans 3:24 "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

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SOMEONE PAID FOR YOUR CRIMES

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We do not have to die and go to hell. The law and the justice were satisfied when Jesus died on the cross, for the sake and in the instead of you and me.

The apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 3:13 "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a  tree."

Next, Christ resurrected from the dead to show His power and His victory over sin and death.

He is alive in heaven, waiting and expecting that we repent from our sins and kneel at His feet recognizing ourselves guilty and pleading for mercy.

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If you [Oh, my Professor!] will come to Jesus this way, He will save you and transform your life. You will have peace in your soul, for you will be justified [declared righteous] and no more will be condemned. Meditate on what John 3:18 says: "He that believeth on him is not condemned. ..."

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COME TO JESUS   T-O-D-A-Y!

"Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah 55:6,7).

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:13).

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IF, RIGHT NOW, YOU WILL [SINCERELY!] PRAY TO GOD AND IN FAITH COMMIT YOUR SOUL TO HIM, HE WILL SAVE YOU!!!

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