ICR:HOW A CHRISTIAN DIES (The Home-going of Andy Morris)  by Henry M. Morris

   "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His sdnts" (Psalm
116:15)

   My youngest son, Dr. Ardrew Hunter Morris, Assistant Professor of
Management Information Science at Florida State University and Adjunct
Assistant Professor of Statistics and Computer Science in the ICR
Graduate School, went home to heaven on May 7,1989, after a three-
month battle with an aggressive and incurable type of cancer (T-cell
Iymphoma). He is survived by his wife Rebecca and three children--
Elizabeth (11), Daniel (8), and Thomas (3).

   Those are the facts, but the story woven around the facts also
deserves telling for it shows how a Christian can die and how other
Christians can respond to the reality of a dying member of the
Christian family. Andy, as everyone called him, was in the prime of
life (age 39), with a Christian wife, lovely family, excellent
position, and a very promising professional future. He had always been
strong and healthy, yet gentle and soft spoken, highly moral and
ethical, firmly committed to Biblical Christianity in general, and
scientific Biblical creationismn in particulara practicing, believing
Christian, faithful husband, dedicated father, and loving son and
brother.

   Yet Satan severely bruised him, and the Lord allowed it, despite the
fervent, believing prayers of literally thousands of concerned
Christians around the world, as well as his own family and friends. One
is naturally tempted to ask: "Why?"

   Andy himself, however, did not ask. Instead, he left a
testimonyhalf written, half dictated after he became too weak to
write. He soon also became too weak to talk much, but he asked everyone
who came into his roomnurses, friends, faculty colleagues, students,
fellow church membersto read his testimony. This was his means of
continuing to witness, and it profoundly affected many who read it.
Here it is:

   ANDY'S TESTIMONY

   I remember well when I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal
Savior, even though I was only six years old at the time. It was in an
evangelistic meeting at the First Baptist Church in Lafayette,
Louisiana. Dad was out of town at the time, speaking in a Gideon
meeting. Mother was seated near the front of the church, with all six
of their children, and she was reluctant to let me go forward at the
invitation, since neither she, nor Dad, nor the pastor had discussed it
with me. Nevertheless, I had been raised in a Christian home where the
Bible was read every day, and I really did understand. Mother and Dad
agreed, when they talked and prayed with me. I was baptized the
following Sunday, and have been confident of salvation ever since,
according to God's promises, even when I was falling short of His best
will for my life.

   God has been good to me, blessing me with a good education, good
health, a Christian wife, and three fine children. I was certainly not
prepared for the blow of a sudden incurable cancer. Nevertheless, the
Lord has helped us to grow spiritually through this experience, and we
do need your prayers that He will continue to use it in the years ahead.

   God has been so good through all of this, and I have found a real
peace through it all. The assurance of salvation is so real. I know
that, in spite of all my sins and my failure at times to use my talents
and opportunities for God, it really doesn't matter now, for Christ
took care of that long ago. What a blessing that is when you are in the
valley of the shadow of death. I fear no evil, for God is with me. Even
if I die, I know that God will take care of my family, and that is
great peace.

   I am also praying for ICRI know that there is a real attack of
Satan under way on ICR. Trust God day by day, for strength to continue
another day, and keep on keeping on.

   As far as my condition is concerned, my only real hope is in the
Lord. He can stop this cancer, and we pray that He will. Whatever time
I have left will be different. I know that Rebecca and I have grown so
much these weeks. I am praying that God will give us a special ministry
or outreach where we can share all we have learned. Each day is
important.

   Thank you for your prayers. Many, in many places, have been praying,
and all the prayers have really lifted the burden.

   With love in Christ, Andy Morris

   REMEMBERING

   Andy seemed in his last days to grow stronger spiritually, even as
he deteriorated physically under the blows of the lethal Iymphoma. He
also had to endure pneumonia, diarrhea, and high fever, caused by
infections which he could no longer resist after the chemotherapy
treatments. The strong pain-relieving medications eventually began to
cause frequent spells of irrationality.

   Still he remained firm in faith, and loving and considerate in
attitude. This was no religious veneer, but a confidence based on sure
knowledge of the Word and the ways of God. Andy knew the Bible well,
and also knew God's creation well. For one whose formal training was in
physical science, mathematics, and systems analysis, he had also taught
himself much biology, and could identify and describe an amazing number
of plants and animals. He had spent much time outdoors, observing and
loving all of God's creatures, as well as the stars of the heavens, and
he taught all these things to his children.

   Andy also loved music, both as an artist and as a scientist. He had
a beautiful bass voice, and was a skilled trombonist. As a teacher, his
students and faculty colleagues always appreciated and honored him. He
persisted in teaching his classes and counseling his graduate students
right up to the time he had to be hospitalized. He even declined the
offer of a "handicapped" parking space near his office, insisting he
was still capable of walking the several blocks from his car.

   At first the chemotherapy seemed to be working, and we were all
hoping for his recovery. Then it was discovered that he had the vicious
"T- cell Iymphoma," and only a real miracle could have saved him. We
prayed for this, of course, and so did literally thousands of others,
all over the world, but the Lord had another plan and purpose, which we
can only dimly discern at present. This will be known in its fullness
some day, and then we shall praise the Lord for accomplishing His holy
purpose in Andy's homegoing. "Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep
of His hand" (Psalm 95:6,7).

   One part of that purpose was surely to give many of God's people an
opportunity to share their lives with the needs of Andy and his family.
They had only recently joined Tallahassee's First Baptist Church, but
the love and unselfish concern of Pastor Jim Chavis, along with the
church staff and many of its people, were unique in all our experience.
A more loving, caring church would be impossible to find. During each
night of Andy's last three weeks, the men of the church took shifts at
staying in his room, praying and helping, throughout the night. These
included his own college dean, the associate academic vice president, a
district judge, professional men, businessmen, men from all walks of
life. The ladies brought food, helped with the children, and showed
their Christian love in many ways. So did Andy's neighbors, and people
from other churches.

   Furthermore, Andy's colleagues at the university, staff and students
alike, rallied behind him in a marvelous way. He had been on the
faculty there only two years, but his life and testimony had made a
profound impression. His adviser at Texas Tech (where he had recently
finished his Ph.D.) and his fellow graduate assistant and doctoral
student there (now teaching at the University of Houston) even made a
special trip to Tallahassee to visit him in the hospital, and Texas
Tech has established an endowed doctoral fellowship in his name.

   Many at his memorial service in Tallahassee told us, weeping, that
they had come to comfort Andy and had themselves received comfort and
blessing from seeing his faith and testimony. The service, conducted by
Pastor Chavis and assisted by Dr. Henry Morris III (Andy's older
brother), was a stirring experience for all who attended, Christians
and nonChristians alike. Two days later a similar service was held in
San Diego, conducted by Henry and assisted by Andy's older brother, Dr.
John Morris. If anything, it was an even more glorious service than in
Tallahassee; the funeral director testified it was the most moving in
all his experience. Both services included the singing of Andy's
favorite songs first, "There's Going to Be a Meeting in the Air," then
the concluding song, "What Wondrous Love is This?" The latter ends with
the line: "Through all eternity, I'll sing on, I'll sing on."

   And he will! All the redeemed of the Lord, trusting in Jesus Christ
as Creator, Savior, and coming King, will sing "Thou are worthy, O
Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou hast created all
things. . . Thou art worthy. . .: for Thou was slain, and hast redeemed
us to God by Thy blood....And we shall reign on the earth" (Revelation
4:11; 5:9,10). Andy has already joined the celestial choir, but all who
know the Lord will be there soonand forever.

   A 94-year-old Catholic man, also dying of cancer, in the room across
the hall from Andy, was so stirred by Andy's testimony and by the
Christian love manifested so freely by those coming and going that he
began to pray that God would take him and spare Andy. One night as he
was praying thusor so he testified, at leastan angel appeared to him
and said: "God has heard your prayer, but He cannot answer it now, for
He wants Andy in heaven."

   We have to believe that God must have wanted Andy in heaven, even
though we wanted him here so much. He is the first member of ICR's
Graduate School faculty to enter into the joy of God's presence, and we
are proud and thankful that he has given a good confession of Christ,
both by life and by death. But we miss him keenly.

   As his father, I miss him very much, for he truly was a beloved son
and I would willingly have died in his place, had it been possible. I
begin now to understand something of Abraham's anguish when asked to
offer up Isaacor perhaps even a glimpse of the heavenly Father's agony
of heart when He "spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us
all" (Romans 8:32). That God gave His own Son to die for us surpasses
all human comprehension, but He did! "What wondrous love is this, O my
soul, O my soul?" Christianity and Christ are real indeed!

   Dr. Andy Morris has, indeed, shown us how a Christian can die, even
when that death is lingering and very painful. Furthermore his
suffering and dying served to draw out the Christian love and unselfish
concern of many, many Christian people in Tallahassee and around the
world. It has brought our own ICR family closer together in love for
each other than ever before. I believe all of us now love the Lord more
and feel closer to heaven, because Andy is there.

