Do you remember the days when a policeman would ask you, “What’s the rush?” after he stopped you for speeding? Do you remember when becoming a police officer was a good thing, something to look forward to, or for that matter, a fireman? How about those of my age group: Remember, “leaving your house,” meant closing the screen door? Or remember playing, “Hide and Go Seek” in your front yard or the street…after it was dark?
We could go on and on about those days, when we stood up and covered our hearts and recited the Pledge of Allegiance and heard a short prayer before class started. When we stood up during the national anthem, before a cartoon and the newsreel, at the movies. When we, as kids, used to call adults “Mr. or Mrs. Such-n-such” and never by their first names!
And most easy of all to witness, was when people were courteous to other drivers on the road. And then when we do speak of these things, what do we always say, “Boy, I sure do miss those days, it was more simple and cordial back then!” Yuppers…things have definitely changed and I do NOT mean for the better either!
I remember sitting in front of the TV and getting all wide-eyed when The Twilight Zone came on and even on Friday or Saturday night, there was “Fright Night!” I cannot tell you how many times, though few they were, when my mom and dad allowed my sister and me to watch it (from behind the couch that is).
We would run from the theaters after watching Monsters from Planet X or Bela Lugosi in Dracula, but we never feared the dark or other people. We never had to worry about someone running through the school with a hand gun and an assault rifle, much less anyone entering our homes when we were out shopping…That would never happen! And so we sometimes like to sit back and remember those innocent times.
Today, some 50-60 years later, things are more than just different, they are depressing, agonizing and hurtful days. People are suffering now, more than they ever did back then, but…who is noticing any of this? Have YOU taken the time to see the changes that have taken place, since those days? And if you have, what are you doing about it?
Do you know why we paid 18 cents a gallon of gas back then and we are paying almost $4.00 a gallon now? Let’s see here, well there’s the state tax on gas and then the federal tax on it, the cost to get the gas to the station and then the attendant’s pay and the divided cost in property taxes of the station and we could go on and on. Do you understand what GREED really is? If not, it’s all rolled up in that $4.00/gallon of gas you just purchased. And the “powers that be” call this progress!
Again, back in the day, women and men never shed their clothes unless they were at home or the doctor’s office and even at that, it was discretely done; it was NOT for the general public. There are singers and actresses that take their clothes off for anyone and everyone and that means they are progressive and sophisticated? NOT in my book…they are simply naked and that’s it! They are showing everyone things that should be kept between themselves and the Lord…and that’s it! And after seeing these things, you wonder why there is rape, date rape, murder and depression and suicide? It is evident, far too many have not read the Holy Word of God.
Matthew 5:27-28: “Ye have heard that it was said by them of ‘old time’, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
Oops! Don’t ya just hate those moments? “Intent of the heart”…wow, who would have ever thought, right? Do you ever get the feeling that such things could possible jeopardize your faith? Or for the unsaved, it could jeopardize your salvation unto the Lord?
So how’s that supply and demand concept working for ya? The girl is really gorgeous, so the guys all “demand” it and then later on the girl “supplies” it for them…and so now you’re wondering, “Who does this hurt, right? How about everyone!
The odd thing is, this will permeate into just about everything else in your life. You don’t need to do anything about it, just let it run its course. Then we get to read about all the abuse, the neglect, the pain and suffering from women, because they are now stigmatized, they have become a “thing” instead of a person. And no one cares about a “thing”—right? After your done, just throw it (him, her) away. Are you starting to see what I see?
The problem is, in these last days, it is not going to get better. No one is willing to back up and do it the right way. And then the man wants a “relationship” with a nice girl, but she doesn’t want one. How many times must a person be “thrown to the curb” before that person no longer believes anyone about anything, especially anything concerning love?
Oddly enough, this same type of thinking goes beyond between a man/woman relationships. The guys are thinking only of themselves, right? And then the next thing you know, selfish greed ends up being used in the conference rooms of big business, it becomes cut throat tactics.
“I gotta get mine first! Hooray for me and to hell with you! It’s all about ME!” And that proverbial hole of degradation just keeps getting deeper and deeper. It’s at the point now, it would be better to call it a black hole, where it simply sucks everything in and destroys it, no matter what it is
It’s at the point now, there is NO backing up. No one knows what is right and what is wrong, so they continue to do the exact same thing, over and over again, expecting a different outcome…we call that the definition of insanity. The Bible is simple, it’s called just plain old sin. The Bible is explicit on that too, “For the wages of sin is death!”
Psalm 5:4-6: “For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.”
2 Timothy 3:1-7: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Do you ever feel like nothing will ever get better, that all we will do is destroy ourselves? I can’t say that I completely believe that. By that I mean, we will continue to delve in things we ought not to, think things that should never cross our minds. In the end, it will be our own self-reliant ignorance that will defeat us. It will come from our desire to govern ourselves, to not rely on anyone else or help anyone else, lest we lose something. “Mine, mine, mine!” The child yells, but…where did he learn that from?
When we finally come to our senses, we will drop to our knees before Jesus Christ and we will beg Him for the forgiveness of our sins, to cover our sins with His precious blood and then we will nail our “old selves” to His Cross and leave it there. If we do NOT do this, our sins will be accounted to us and we will spend eternity in the lake of fire…that IS death! The Word of God is CORRECT and TRUTHFUL
Here’s the real problem. We are already in the “last days” and the Rapture is very, very, close! So close you could actually reach out and touch the hem of our Lord and Savior’s robe. Thing is, don’t let Him pass you by! Jesus Christ is our ONLY Hope. HE is the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega…HE is God!
If you love life, does that mean you want to live or to die? If you want to live and live longer than 70 years or so, Jesus Christ is your only way to make that happen. In your mind, compare 70 years here to that of eternity and I would be willing to bet, you can visualize the difference. Having said that, why would you want to give up eternity for a measly 70 years or so? Do you see my point here?
When you were young, you were willing to accept that old jalopy, rust and all, but years later you wanted the Cadillac Escalade. In other words and like many, many other things, you wanted the bigger and the better right? So why would you settle for a measly 70 years or so here, instead of eternity?
According to auto sales, if you have a small income and huge debt, you are “upside down” in your debt. If you can’t figure this simple solution out for yourself, 70 years instead of eternity, you are “upside down” in your thinking! As my daddy used to say, “I ought smack you upside the head for being so dumb!” Trust me, there were a few times he did indeed smack me upside the head, therefore I was thinking…Dumb.
Thankfully and by the grace of the Lord, I finally grew up and started thinking, really thinking. Now I do not make those same mistakes and yet, there were still times when I had to learn things the hard way and that hurt more than a smack upside the head. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ has always been about second chances and making up for past mistakes and sin.
Jesus has never gone away or given up on us, but there is coming a day, when He will leave you to your own devices. Looking back across all the years humans have been on this earth, we can see that our “track record” was one of continual failure. Having stated that, why do we keep trying to do it for ourselves? Have we not failed enough already?
As we move about in our lives today, we already know something is about to happen and we know it will be earth shaking. Everything is falling apart all around us and we also know what that smell of carnage is like. The real question is, are you sure THIS is what you want?