I am acutely aware that when some of us were young, we heard from our parents, “Don’t worry about what I am doing, you do as your told!” And so for many of us, we grew up thinking about that a lot. Mom and dad were the ultimate authority and what they said was to be considered law. Well, at least, if we chose not to get a paddling for the day.

I know from my childhood, this was a fact and thus, we are able to see how different my childhood was to that of today’s kids. In the previous years, we find we have been a bit more lenient than our parents; we now see how everything is: “It’s all about ME.” We see how everyone is more concerned with “What I get” rather than how well are we off as a group.

Many of us know from our parents that in their generation they were more concerned in how everyone was doing. Our parents were concerned with how the nation was while engaged in war and otherwise. Our parents were concerned with the congregation as compared to whether they were personally offended by anything that was said. Consider this:

John 13: 34-35 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

How odd is it, many of us attend church and yet we do not adhere to what the Lord has instructed us to be like. How many times is there conflict in the congregation, with the Lord’s people? Or maybe you have never wondered why people flock to see a movie star wearing so little clothing. Has it ever occurred to you that they are playing to each person’s tune” of “It’s all about ME” and “It’s about what I want to see, what I want to hear.”

Look at how people care about personal wealth: “It’s all for me and what I want!” Now go and ask that person if he or she would be willing to give you a loan. People actually get hostile, if anything they say or do, is considered wrong. And why is it this way? People want whatever they want, they want it to be in their desired manner and that is the end of it all.

Even in the churches today, using the Lord God Almighty as a personal ATM machine, the prosperity and the “feel good” gospel. Whatever it takes for ME to “feel good” and to be happy with what I have, right? Come on folks…let’s be honest about this. How many reading this article are being described here?

People that are well off, drive their Mercedes or BMW’s to church and sit in the pew in their $1000.00 dollar suits and dresses. Do you ever wonder that you will never see “street persons” enter the doors of that church, regardless of how hungry they are? Shameful!

When was the last time you entered into an old folks home? Don’t you just hate how awful it smells in there? All those poor sick people. The old have some real problems to deal with, so let me ask you, do you have any old folks that you have placed in there and forgotten? How would YOU deal with sitting alone every day without the opportunity of thinking someone is going to remember you and come and visit.

How would YOU deal with the idea that YOU have been forgotten and left alone, even to the point of death. How bad is it that YOU are forgotten, that no one cares to be with YOU when you pass away, that you must face that alone? I wonder, how many know about the verse above?

My friends, these are the same people that wouldn’t dirty their hands to help you out of a mud-puddle. Then think, these people have children and then, what are they teaching their children? Now look around, look at all the people; ask yourself, how much do they truly care about anyone else?

Am I being too harsh with everyone here, or are you able to see how well it hits the nail on the head? You talk about how bad the wars are, how horrible that people of every creed and color, die needlessly every day. I must ask, what all are you doing about it? Have you contacted you “representatives,” have you written any letters, changed your vote and told everyone WHY?

How well are you representing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…in your daily life concerning others around you? Do you know anyone that is hungry…anyone that is sick…oops…sorry about that, I must have lost my mind! I KNOW: “It’s all about YOU!”

So now you’re busy thinking that I am hurling accusations at you and yet you have missed that I have also said “ME!” I have far too many faults of my own! Every day, I see the tombstones of those I killed in war! If I had been more concerned with everyone that is hungry in this world, more concerned with those that are sick in this world, I wouldn’t have to be on my knees asking the Lord God for HIS forgiveness of my own failures.

And those that died at my own hands, would now be my friends and their families would have prospered. Maybe if I had not been so concerned with what I think this world should be like, I would have seen how cruel this world of people really is.

I would have tried my best to be different and better, according to the Word of God…to others. My Lord and Savior…Jesus Christ…I have failed you so miserably. Please forgive me. Because I am not able to erase the memories of my own failures there are far too many tombstones in my life!

“Father forgive me for those I have hurt, forgive me for not seeing their needs, forgive me for not putting them before my own wants. If my ‘just rewards’ were according to my actions, the lake of fire would not be horrible enough for someone like me.”

So my friends….what tombstones, what skeletons are you hiding? We will never be good enough for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Thankfully…HE loves us more than our failures…HE is willing to forgive us of our failures. We must firstrecognizewhere and when we failed HIM…withOTHERS.

We have failed at doing what HE has asked us to do, while alive here on this little planet. And for a lot of us, we will not want to read about our failures and know in our hearts…we have failed HIM from the get-go.

So the question now is this: “What do we do from this point forward, how will we change, how can we be according to our Lord and Savior?”

Trials and Tribulations? I believe it’s time for you and me to re-think our lives and what we wish to live for. Maybe this is nothing more than a wake-up call, a siren or a call-to-action alert…but something must change. If not, could it possibly change the numbers of those that will go in the Rapture?! Oops…it just got really serious, didn’t it?

I am a little concerned today. I say this because of the people that read the Bible or even quote the Bible, God’s Holy Word to you and me. Yet they never once accept the gift of Jesus Christ and His shed blood on that Roman cross at Calvary.

They enjoy going to their churches, sitting in the pews, singing the Hymns and feeling so good inside, when they have no real idea of who Jesus Christ is. Somehow and some way, they have gotten it in their heads that simply “Feeling Good” about church, is what it is all about.

Do you know, that if that were the case, the majority of the world would be headed for heaven. When the Bible is explicate, few will find the path, the narrow gate and the majority will walk the highway to eternal destruction.

Matthew 7:13-14  “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.”

If there is one thing that the Bible is, it is specific, it is to the point, thus never leaving anyone with questions about anything—that is if they read God’s Word in earnest. If that individual is truly seeking to know the Lord God Almighty, they will find HIM, in HIS Holy Word to you and me.

The Word of God requires us to be humble and to approach HIS Throne with all humility and reverence, simply because you are in the presence of Almighty God, the Creator of all that there is.

2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Did anyone notice, the Lord God stated, shall humble themselves? How many will try and come to the Lord God in Prayer and ask HIM to be their personal ATM machine! Oh! I am so sorry…did I offend someone here? Is that YOU that is doing so, as I have stated here? And so you may wonder, exactly what is blasphemy to the Lord?

Oh yeah…isn’t there something about vexing the Holy Spirit? Yeah…Yeah…I know, you wouldn’t do that, would you? And yet any such arrogance to the Lord, does VEX HIM.! We have all been there, the exact same sin. That still does not make it all right.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Trust me my friends, this has nothing to do with you being gracious to anyone else. It is speaking of God’s grace to us. We are the fallen species here…remember? We are the ones that need the Lord God to save us; it is not the other way around. The Word of God states it is HIS Grace that saves you and me. It is HIS precious blood shed at HIS Cross that covers our sins.

It is HIS LOVE for you and me that holds us and everything else together for another breath of air, for another day or night. If that is true and we already know it is the truth, the absolute truth…then how great is HIS LOVE for you and me?

It bothers me to no end, the Bible…the Holy Word of God…has been around at least for 4500 years. God Himself, has been here forever already. We get a measly 90 years or so and then it’s over… and we think we know what is right and what is wrong?

We think to tell God Almighty how things should be? We think we have all the answers to everything…and yet…we can’t save ourselves for one day, one moment, one second…from eternal hell and the lake of fire!

Why don’t you tell me, how it should be. Better yet, you write it down on paper and then refer to the Word of God—the Bible, and see how well your answers meet up with God Almighty. Sad to say my friends, you may come away feeling more insignificant than when you started. I fail to understand how this concept can be so easy for so many to miss.

My friends, I know I am being hard here, yet there is good reason for being so. You should  never call Jesus Christ…JC. That is blasphemy. And so it goes on to everything else, when you call upon the Lord God Almighty…it should be with great humility and reverence.

You are calling upon the GREAT I AM…The eternal Father..the Creator of everything, absolutely everywhere; the Creator of the entire universe and every single Being, whether angel or human or otherwise. Every particle in this world; rock, soil, water…absolutely everything…belongs to God the Father.

If we were to begin everything in total reverence and humility to HIM…this entire world would be so different, so wonderful and filled with peace. It’s all right there in the Bible and has always been there, and will always be…because HE said it would. IF…this is indeed the truth, then what are we waiting for?

Why doesn’t everyone look for this in the Bible? What do you have to lose by reading the Word of God and accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? NOTHING.

My friends, my mom and dad adopted me as a baby and they began to build a family that would honor Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Our family was filled with Love for HIM first and then for each other. When my parents passed away so many years ago, I wanted to honor them, for their sacrifices.

My mom told me to always look at the road I was walking in life and see if I was walking the narrow path to Jesus Christ…or walking that highway of destruction to hell and the lake of fire. One day the Lord touched my heart and gave me a glimpse of where I was and I saw that  I had created an entirely new lane on that highway to destruction…just for myself. It scared the living daylights out of me…I was headed for hell and the lake of fire

I sat down in one of the cars connected to my train in life and I looked in every single bag on  that train. I was mortified, ashamed and felt totally naked before the Lord God…Jesus Christ as he could of course see what I was seeing. The tears of shame began falling down my face like a flowing river.

There was so much garbage there, so much pain and humiliation, I couldn’t stop saying “Lord…I am so sorry! I am so wrong, please don’t look in any more of my baggage. I am beyond ashamed and broken!”

Finally…I cried, “Jesus Christ please save me. Forgive me of my sins. Cover my sins with your blood from your Cross and teach me, Father!” My heart was totally broken and I felt like I would never walk again…and then…but I had His assurance from His Word that I was forgiven and now belonged to Him.

My train of cars were now empty and the majority of the cars began to fade away. I wouldn’t need them anymore. A cool breeze came along and dried my tears and ruffled my hair and I could finally see where I was now headed and that the Lord had a future for me.

I have only one question to ask of you…what are you waiting for? How long is your train, how many bags do you have? Most of all…where are you headed…heaven or hell?