Check out this collection of famous last words:
- “Step back a bit, I can't get you in the picture.”
- “I thought it tasted rather strange.”
- “I wonder what happens if these two wires touch.”
- “Listen, I'm taking a course in chemistry. I know what I'm doing.”
- "Yes, of course, the elastic is strong enough!"
- “And that one over there—the red flashing one—what does that mean?”
Full disclosure: I got these online and can’t vouch for every source (how seriously can you take a website with a name like Mental Floss?). But what follows are the actual recorded words from people who were taking their last breath. Witnesses state:
- Frank Sinatra died after saying, “I’m losing.”
- Actress Joan Crawford yelled at her housekeeper, who was praying as Crawford died. Crawford said, “Don’t you dare ask God to help me!”
- Standing in front of a firing squad, condemned murderer James W. Rodgers was asked if he had a last request. He replied, "Bring me a bulletproof vest."
- As he was dying, Alfred Hitchcock said, “One never knows the ending. One has to die to know exactly what happens after death, although Catholics have their hopes.”
- Blues singer Bessie Smith died saying, “I’m going, but I’m going in the name of the Lord.”
- Evangelist Dwight Moody’s last words were these: “I see earth receding. Heaven is opening. God is calling me.”
- Stacy Honeycutt recalls, "My mother's last words to me were at first simply, 'I want to go home.' I told her she couldn't go back home. She was too ill. She then clarified for me by adding, 'To Jesus.'"
While it’s intriguing, if not a tad intrusive, to ponder others’ last words, I’m so grateful the Bible includes the last words of Jesus. Gasping as he hoisted himself up for breath, some of Christ’s final words featured His stunning declaration: “It is finished.”
Finished! The payment for our sins. The redemption of our souls. The possibility of hope and heaven. Finished!
There's absolutely nothing more to do, earn, or try. If you were hoping for a bit of good news today, this is it. It is finished! All of it!
(Can I get an Amen?)
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.
Ephesians 1:7
SOURCE: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/58534/64-people-and-their-famous-last-words
SOURCE: https://www.moodymedia.org/articles/dwight-l-moody-is-dead/#:~:text=East%20Northfield%2C%20Mass.%2C%20December,here%20at%20noon%20to%2Dday.
SOURCE: https://blog.funeralone.com/grief-and-healing/memorable-last-words/