The reverend Franklin Graham had words of comfort, but also of warning in the wake of the shocking death of 54-year-old actor Matthew Perry, who died in his jacuzzi during a likely heart attack on Saturday.
Graham took to his Facebook account to note that many people are grieving over the actor’s death.
“Many people are grieving at the passing of Matthew Perry. I never watched an episode of Friends, but I am saddened for all of his family and loved ones,” Graham said to start out.
“His life came to an end early,” Graham added.
Perry suffered from drug and alcohol addictions for many years.
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The “Friends” star had been straightforward about his past bouts with addiction. In 2015, The Hollywood Reporter reported on a video he appeared in for the Phoenix House, a drug and alcohol rehab center.
“You can’t have a drug problem for 30 years and expect to solve it in 28 days,” Perry said in the video. “I was very moved by the hope that I saw there, which is what this is all about.
“Getting sober is a really hard thing to do.” Still, Perry did pour his thoughts into a play entitled “The End of Longing.”
Perry also wrote extensively about his struggles in his recent autobiography, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.”
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But the actor also had a long list of health scares over the years.
In 2018, for instance, he was rushed into emergency surgery to repair a gastrointestinal perforation.
But addictions and health issues were not the only things on Graham’s mind in his message to his ten million Facebook followers on the tail of Perry’s passing.
“For all of us, we only have a short time on this earth and we need to make it count,” Graham reminded his flock.
“The Bible says that after death comes the judgment and we will have to stand before God and give an account for our lives. The only question that will matter is — What did you do with Jesus Christ? God sent His beloved Son to earth to bear the penalty for our sin — which is death. Jesus took our sins to the cross, died, was buried, and God raised Him to life on the third day,” Graham wrote.
“What have you done with Jesus Christ? Have you trusted Him? Have you invited Him to come into your heart and forgive you of your sins? Did you receive Him — or reject Him? That’s the question we all have to be ready to answer,” Graham exclaimed.
“I was 22 years old when I asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart and be the Lord of my life. How old were you? If you haven’t done that yet, do it right now before it’s too late,” he urged readers.
It is not certain where Perry’s ultimate fate lies with his passing, and Graham did not speculate.
But the reverend’s message is for the living, rather, and not for those already standing before their judgment.
“Before it’s too late” is exactly the message many need to hear. Don’t wait. Repent now and take responsibility for your actions.
Then lead a life worthy of the best of us and stand as an example for your family, your children, and your neighbors. It is never too late to do so while we still live and breathe and walk this mortal coil. But don’t make the mistake of pushing it off until later. We never know when our last days will fall upon us. So, sooner is better than later.
