People everywhere are going about their lives in the same manner as they did yesterday, rising at the same time every morning, working a certain number of hours, coming back home and repeating the same as other evening and then off to bed…again. Then they wake-up the next day and do the exact same thing as every other day. So I ask the question: “What would you change in your day if there were only a few months left?” Please don’t misunderstand, this works the same way for the “saved” as it does for the “unsaved.” Tough question, right?

How about this one then, “What would you do differently, if you knew the Rapture was to take place in a few months?” I ask this, not trying to predict anything, just asking you how would you change, what would you change or would you change anything at all? Now the two differences are always on the table to be considered. The first consideration is always about our physical death because we are always more concerned about ourselves than anyone or anything else (where do you think that phrase), “It’s all about ME” comes from?

There is one other consideration to make when faced with this, “How much time do I have left?” Let’s look at this way, say the doctor walks in after an examination and says to you, “Well I have bad news and then I have some…really bad news.” I doubt seriously, you’ll be concerned with him saying, that because your diabetes is so far off the charts, you’re going to loose a toenail. You would probably be more attuned to hear him say, “Well you have squamous cell carcinoma of the lungs so badly that you are considered stage four already and you have about three to four months before you blow up and die!” Am I not right?

Of course, if that is or was your diagnosis, your first thoughts would be too outrageous to consider! Shortly thereafter you would more than likely settle down to an extent and begin to look at your “bucket list” and begin to make some real changes. The reason being, you have…maybe…three to four months left to live and you need to get done all those things you have always wished for, but never felt you had the time for. All of a sudden, time is of the essence! Consequently other hindrances no longer matter, cost, distance, whatever it may be. You’re going to pack in as much as you can and live like there is no tomorrow, because the doctor has already told you…literally…tomorrow may not come. There is suddenly this palpable “urgency.”

Now! Let’s say the doctor comes in and says to you, “Oops…we messed up a little here, you don’t have months left, you have between three to seven years!” Yeah, I know, the first thought would be to shoot the doctor in the face with a bazooka for the heart attack and the stroke you just had in the last ten minutes. But, now you feel…relieved. Three to seven years sounds a whole better than three months right? I mean, we’re talking a lot more than ninety days left. At the same time, would this experience give you a more personal insight as to what you think is REAL and what is not…for you that is. Does this make you rethink your “bucket list?” Will it bring you closer to your family and friends, or how about your salvation and relationship with Christ?

“Wait-a-minute-hold-it, let’s not go off half-cocked here,” you begin to say to yourself and others, as you tell them your story for the day. Maybe your “bucket list” isn’t all it was first cracked up to be. How many of you, would have dropped to your knees and thanked the Lord for the time you have had here, for your family and friends, whatever the case may be. Would you be more thankful for three months, as compared to three to seven years, or the other way around? Come on now, this says a lot about you and what you really feel is important in your life. It is worth considering. Lets change the scenario a bit, okay?

Let’s say you had a dream, where God came to you and said, “You have three months to live” or lets say HE said, “You have three to seven years more to live and that’s it.” Which one would you choose to hear? (Drum roll please.) Yeah, I know, it would depend on so many things that it would be difficult to consider, right?

Now you’re thinking to yourself, “Well, if it’s just a matter of time that we’re talking about here, I’ll take the three to seven years. I mean, if I’m in good health and all things remain the same and all, and hmm…yeah! I’ll take the three to seven years!” I doubt you would be surprised to hear any of the disabled, the medically infirmed, the cancer patient in stage four complain about more time, am I right? I think, you would be more surprised to know there are many who would choose the ninety days! Strange concept…or what?

Okay, let’s change this again─just one more time. Let’s say God told you in a dream that the Rapture of the church of Jesus Christ was to take place in roughly three months and then the Tribulation would follow? Now how would you feel? Would your perspective of life here on this earth change any? (Ah-oh! A quasi-strange or surreal twist is a foot, might be one of your thoughts…am I not correct?) Please remember now, I am NOT making a prediction. I am simply asking some important questions, okay?

If we turn the projector back, say, anywhere between fifteen to fifty years, things were very different. If these questions were asked back then, it would have been this: (even in churches), “Well…umm, if God had said this, then…umm…God would do what God wants to do and…umm…that would be that!” There was not the urgency back then…or was there? “Well, we didn’t have all these earthquakes and tsunamis or all the volcanoes erupting all over the place; global warming, seas rising, people hating everyone else! You know! We didn’t have all the “Signs of the Times” as in, the “End of Times,” right? Or were they just less frequent back then?

Let’s be clear here, “less frequent” is not the same as “none at all.” Less frequent just means no one really paid any attention to these things…back then. There’s this strange thing, taking place now days as compared to the years before. Let’s take a look. We see all the death and dismay taking place, almost every day now, something is always happening somewhere in the world. It is so common now days, it is no longer a front-page news item any more. How strange is that?

Fifty years ago, “Oh Wow, there was a 3.5 magnitude earthquake!” Today, if we read of a 3.5 earthquake in, say California, “Yeah…well…they have them all the time. No big news there. Or maybe, “Yup…we had a 3.5 earthquake here, but we know it’s caused from fracking so…no big deal.” What? No big deal? An earthquake is an earthquake, regardless of magnitude. Something is changing, something is happening. We are seeing REAL change taking place and all we can say is, “No big deal?”

It is this iconic, “It’s all about ME” thing that troubles me. If it did not happen to you, then it’s “NO big deal.” WOW. What a statement for anyone to have. Then again, that is a statement that describes the times in which we live and says so much about the person that stated it. That 3.5 earthquake broke a few special dishes, but as long as the dishes yours then it’s, “No big deal.” That is insane!

Daniel 2.32-33:“The head of the statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.”

Daniel 2.40-43:“Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. And in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have the toughness of iron, and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.”

2 Timothy 3.1-5, 7: “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

1 Timothy 4.1-3:‘But the spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. By means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.”

Matthew 24.5:“For many will come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and will mislead many.”

Matthew 24.11:“And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many.”

Matthew 24.6:“And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.”

Matthew 24.7:“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.”

Matthew 24.8-9:“But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of my name.”

Matthew 24.14:“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations,and then the end shall come.”

Yuppers! All of that is happening today for sure, but how many are paying any attention, as in being, signs of the times? Here’s what is strange to most, even some born-again Christians: We are in these times right now. All these predictions, known as prophecies have been in the Bible for more than 4000 years! And still…FEW…are paying any attention. Is ignorance truly “bliss?”

Luke 21.34-36:“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so thatday come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”

Well, there it is! I didn’t say those things; God said it in HIS Holy Word─the Bible. Now considering all the things taking place all around the world today, I am more inclined to read the news KNOWING my redemption is drawing nigh. How about YOU? Are YOU able to decipher the “writing on the wall?” Do YOU see that that time is short? Are you on the wall, waiting and watching for your Lord and Master’s coming? If you haven’t figured it out just yet, time is SHORT.

When YOU are weighed in the balance and then measured, will YOU be found wanting?

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).

We all have stories of how our lives were changed and how we grew up as children, events that have been the cornerstones of our lives. It is from these times and experiences that we are formed to be the adults that we are today. For some, the events were not good all the time, and for others they are the highlights of their lives─the best of times. All in all, though, they have shaped who we are today. I am not able to say what your experiences were, but at times, I like to write and share mine, thus…this article.

Sometimes the articles will come out sort of hot and can be used to start fires and burn some bridges down! Those articles are meant to give a spotlight on things that are serious, ones that need to be given in their bare essence, straight forward and to the point. My endeavor is never to harm anyone, but rather to show a specific point that few seem to be looking at any more, like salvation—which only comes through the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. Salvation is a two way street, you are on one side or the other, straightforward and to the exact point. You either belong to Jesus Christ or you do not, it’s as simple as that. Eternity and WHERE you end up, is according to the CHOICE you make. What has been experienced by you in your youth has a lot to do with this, thus the importance of how you were brought up makes such a difference.

I am so very thankful to the Lord and my mom and dad for how I was raised; my mom and dad, born-again Christians and military as well. I had the exclusive opportunity to be raised as a military brat, a name I am so very proud of. Many people think of it as making someone smug and thus they are repulsed by the idea. As a military brat I have seen things and places no one has pictures of or would never experience for themselves: Like swimming in the clearest water I have ever seen, more than 100 feet deep and so clear you could count the stones on the bottom. (Pangasinan Falls in the Luzon Philippine Island.)

It made me think of all the Tarzan movies with Johnny Wiesmiller with towering walls and huge vines, deep green tropical foliage everywhere and then the falls themselves. Bankas (canoes) that two young men would push up stream across big rocks and steep curves until arriving at the falls. You can hear your own voice bounce off these really high rock walls (covered in foliage and vines at some places no more than 50 feet across). The river is emerald green all the way up to just before the falls and then the water falling from the high cliffs is crystal clear. I remember trying to dive to the bottom, but never made it, my ears would begin to ache from the pressure and I would resurface.

How wonderful and beautiful the Lord had made that part of  world. Never once during World War II had a single bomb ever fallen there. I do not know whether any troops have seen this place, but I do know it is an absolutely incredible place to go and see. The photographs are not able to do justice to its beauty and tranquility. How odd for me that some ten years later I would be in the Philippine jungle for jungle survival school. As a prelude to a war we were involved in what few could ever erase from their minds. Bugs and spiders as big as your hand, clouds that were not of water, but of rice beetles called Mingda. Spider webs that were 6-8 feet across and centipedes that were a foot long, mountains and valleys of unbelievable beauty, but so filled with pain, suffering and horror. I have since wondered what the Bay of Saigon would look like without all the damage from war.

I have walked the halls of the hospital on Clark Air Base many times with my parents and now it is nothing more than a hollowed out hulk of concrete and overgrown vegetation. And still as yet, I can hear the voices of all the people resonate through those now empty rooms─rooms that I had seen during the war, filled with people and healthcare. I find it sort of funny in a way, the effects of war, in a place of such beauty, certain death miles and miles away.

I am sure the old barn homes on the base are gone now from the ashes of Mount Penatubo and neglect. I know tears would come if I were to go there now and see the devastation of what was once my most favorite home. I know the NCO club would not be there and is forever silent, no longer full of people searching for happiness and acceptence, achingly wishing for some semblance of home and family—some place safe from the pain of a world in war. I still remember thinking to myself if I closed my eyes and then opened them, I would be a military brat again, living there with my mom and dad and everything would be right with the world; happiness and safety would abound.

I can no longer recall the pain I felt the last time I was at Clark Air Base, I was in the military by then. I was in a uniform, a cast was on my right leg from my hip to my ankle and all I wanted to do was to build a fort on one of the hills there again or ride my scooter around the base again. I remember stopping on the ramp as I was about to board an airplane—taking one last look around at the home that I had once loved so much and told myself to say, “Goodbye.” It almost killed my heart, but such are the times of my life, at two divergent periods and now are so intricately woven together. The Bible is truly the Word of God and it can be so specifically applied everywhere! I praise the Lord for my life.

I’m not too sure how this will come across to you, everyone has a past and it is always different in some way or another. As a military brat and later as a military man, I was privy to how the Lord worked in my experience of life, yet from two different directions. I am no longer saddened by this experience,  although at one point in time I was. I believe the Lord has made our lives to be best viewed in hindsight where we can better see what HE was doing for us, especially when we didn’t know it. Some things are hard and difficult to remember, while others are a salve that heals and smoothes out the bumps and wounds of our lives. We must learn to give credit where it is due and that always comes back to the Lord, HE is the giver of all things and we need to be respectful in that regard.

Hebrews 13.5-8: “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”

We must remember that the Lord is working with us and through us every day that we live, and all of it is to HIS glory! As we all look back across our own lives, we should try and see where the Lord has been working and will continue to until, we meet HIM in the clouds! Let’s come together and thank the Lord for HIS great love for us, that our memories are such a hallmark in our lives. We must in some cases seek out HIS wisdom to understand, but knowing HE is and was always there means more to me than I can ever fully express. Now I look forward to what HE is going to do in my tomorrow!