God gave us the solution right in the middle of passing judgement. Yes, God had to punish Adam and Eve, but He also showed them mercy by sharing the “good news” at the same time. The good news, is that God has a plan to save us from the mess created by sin and the fall. The word “gospel” means: good news! This is the first place in the Bible the gospel was given.
Genesis 3:15: And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.
There is so much behind this one verse. Without going too deep, and taking up a couple chapters of my book, I’ll give you this: When God told Adam and Eve that He has a plan to bring them a Savior, He purposely left out most of the detail that we all have now. God didn’t tell them who the Savior would be, and He didn’t tell them when He would come. He didn’t tell them the Savior would have to die, or that He would rise again. All God said is that the seed of woman, (seed is singular) would bring down the enemy (Satan) and restore all things back to perfect.
Adam and Eve could choose to believe in this promise from God, or they could follow Satan and look to create their own paradise on earth. The word “seed,” is the reproductive material men carry, so there has to be a reason God said “her” seed. Women don’t have seed, only men do. How could a woman have a child without a man involved in the conception process? It would take a virgin birth. There is only one human ever born who did not get Adam’s corrupt, sinful, and fallen nature passed down through the normal human conception process. That was Jesus!
The snake was also there when God gave the good news to Adam and Eve. The promised Messiah was anything but good news to Satan though. He took this Word from God and started working to stop it. Since Satan is a created being, he is no match for the God who created him. So, Satan uses man to try and stop the seed from ever being born, or by corrupting the seed line, so none were worthy to be a savior. Eve thought her first born son Cain was going to be the Messiah, so Satan turned Cain into a murderer and he killed his brother Abel. That shows you how fast sin moved, when the 1st kid born on earth, kills his only brother because he was jealous.
This pattern of God keeping the seed promise alive, while Satan does all he can to stop it, happens over and over again throughout all of history. Every God-fearing Jewish mother from the time of Eve to the time of Mary, prayed and hoped their child would be the promised Messiah. This made the Jewish people Satan’s #1 target. If he could corrupt the seed line, or kill any who might be in it, Satan figured he could disrupt God’s plan.
The verse also tells us that Satan would bruise the future Savior on the heel. In human terms, you can strike a fatal blow to the head, but no life-threatening damage comes from a strike on the heel. This was God’s point in bringing up this comparison. The deeper meaning behind it was revealed when Satan thought he won by helping get Jesus killed, only to later realize it was just a strike on the heel, because Jesus arose from the dead and is alive now.
On the other hand, Jesus dealt a death blow to Satan’s head. Satan could no longer hold the fear of death over us, because Jesus rising from the dead would give us life after death. Even though the true end of Satan is not yet here, God is still in control, and Jesus is ruling from His throne in heaven. Make no mistake about it though, Satan is here on earth with a multitude of fallen angels, always looking to stop God’s next step. The problem is, Satan is not all knowing like God is, and so He is always a step behind and too late. In fact, God utilizes Satan and his minions to bring about Jesus’ return, so there is no doubt Satan can only go as far as God lets him.
It was impossible for anyone born before Jesus to know all that verse 15 meant. It didn’t become truly clear until Jesus came, died, and rose again. God slowly revealed the full plan over time, until the day Jesus was born. He did this to keep the plan secret enough that Satan would not know how it would play out. God did give the nation of Israel plenty of clues that would help them recognize when the real Savior came, but as you may know, most still rejected Him when He showed up.
The Bible tells us that until Jesus comes back again, this place will only get worse. Almost every scientist in the world thinks the earth is falling apart. They believe mankind is causing it, and if we would just stop eating cows, stop having kids, and build more wind farms, we can stop the damage. Others are drastically searching for life on other planets, trying to find a place to move to when this earth goes away. It is no coincidence that most of humankind has a feeling that the earth is wearing out. Before anyone ever thought about it, the Bible declared it over 2,000 years ago. What are the odds?
In Genesis 8:22 God says that all will remain predictable on the earth from the time after the flood, until the end. Seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night, will never stop happening. Climate change scientists say nothing will be predictable, because we are seeing weather events and ice melts, that are unparalleled in history. They argue for the opposite of what the Bible says. Climate change predictions see chaos, where summer becomes winter, or the opposite. They are always looking for “never happened before” events to support their predictions. God says everything in our environment will work as usual until the end of the earth. It’s part of a cycle that God created, and it won’t change or go away until the earth goes away.
So, the nightmare scenarios that climatologists have thrown at us for years, is all just part of God’s plan. Man isn’t speeding up or slowing down any of it. God set the timing of it when He cursed the earth after Adam and Eve’s sin. From that day forward, earth was like a ticking timebomb, waiting to be destroyed. For those of us that know this place is not home, there is no need for doom and gloom, because God replaces His creation with a new heavens and earth. It’s the same place we read about in Revelation chapter 21. If you know your Bible, then you will know when we are getting close to the end of earth. I’ll save that discussion for later.
God wants us to be good stewards of this planet and respect His creation, but holding on to a lie that we can stop God’s plan by driving electric cars is willfully ignoring Bible truth. Letting the fear they are selling you invade your life is wasted stress. The earth is passing away. Everything in this world wears out and eventually stops working, just look around. Your car doesn’t start running better, it always runs down. The same with every single thing on this earth. Can you think of anything that gets better and more efficient the longer it is used? Do you understand now why the world makes climate change such a priority? Why do they want to scare you into believing that you are responsible for the earth’s decay, and not Genesis 3?
It’s an attack against God, and Bible truth. If there is no judge, there is no judgement. If there is no fear, they you don’t need them for a solution. The Bible makes clear in many places throughout, that the world is ending because of a judgement against sin. I wrote about this earlier; unbelievers don’t want to believe in a creator God, because that implies that there is someone they need to be accountable to. Of course, they can’t believe the reason why the universe is wearing out, or they would be admitting there is a higher authority.
Almost every fear that the world tries to get you believe is debunked in the Bible. Again, I ask you to think about why they want you to be scared about this place ending? Why do they want you to think that we can do anything about it?
The next major historical event the world does everything they can to discredit, is the flood from Genesis 7. The worldwide flood Noah and everyone alive at that time experienced changed everything. It changed our topography and our ecosystem. For the first time it rained, and millions of people, animals, and birds drown. From this point in time forward, man would eat animals, and animals would eat each other. Most animals were no longer tame, and God put the fear of man in them so they weren’t an easy target.
The flood was brought as judgement on the people of earth because they had become so wicked that every thought of theirs was to do evil. After the fall, and before God brought the flood, Satan was working overtime to stop the seed line from moving forward. He had his fallen angels indwell human men and impregnate the women of earth. This was Satan’s way of trying to corrupt the lineage leading to Jesus.
Now, think for a second about what it took for God to flood this earth and start over with only Noah and his family. The place was nothing but evil, 24×7. Outside of one family, no one was worth saving. That is how bad the world was then. As a teaser for later in the book, Jesus told us in the New Testament that when He comes back again, the earth will be as wicked and evil as it was right before the flood. I can tell you it is bad right now, and getting worse, but I don’t think we are quite as bad as the people who drowned in the flood were….at least not yet. One could easily argue that we are definitely seeing an increase in the presence of spiritual darkness nowadays.
So, the real reason why the world of unbelievers has to target the flood story is this: If we can prove there was a flood, then we prove there was a judgement. If there is proof of judgement, then they have to believe there is a judge. If they believe this, then they have to believe the judge is coming back. Still seeing the pattern? It’s not just the fact that the flood happened, it is the fact that a similar judgement is coming again. That is why they deny it happened, and they tell us the story is just allegory. A righteous God, brought judgment on an evil world. This is exactly what the world doesn’t want to acknowledge. Again, the book of Genesis has so many foundational truths, that Satan is be best served when people cause confusion and doubt about its authenticity or meaning.
Someday, Lord willing, I will show you guys how the geological columns and the fossil records prove the flood, and opens up more questions about what scientists say happened. You have to jump through hoops, make assumptions, and outright try to fool people into believing their eyes are deceiving them, to proclaim our earth supports the evolutionary model. There are millions of animals that all died at the same time from the flood, and were buried instantly, creating fossils groupings that scientists can’t explain. What science tells us happened is more unbelievable than the belief of a worldwide flood. The earth’s crust was opened up and mass amount of water shot out from the earth. This should have left an impression we can see today, and it did. Scientists just won’t show you, because they can’t believe in God. It’s tough to hold onto something as truth, when all the physical evidence of a worldwide flood is everywhere. But who is going to challenge the experts?
One more thing I have to tell you about is in Genesis 10. This is where God documented the beginning of all the nations on earth. This chapter is unparalleled when you compare it to any other ancient writings about the origins of mankind. There is no document in history that comes close to explaining the beginnings of modern nations and cultures like Genesis does. Many of the names of Noah’s grandsons can be directly traced to nations of people still existing today. Other names have lost their meaning and their people groups are a mystery today. From this chapter in Genesis, we know that the world we see today, was settled by a few families moving outward from a place called Babel. All of this took place about 4,500 years ago. I have a map for you of where these descendants of Noah ended up.
Babel is a city that most of the people settled in after the flood. God told the people to be fruitful, multiply, spread out and fill the earth. They didn’t listen, and instead congregated in big cities like Babel, and built a huge tower. God forced their hand by changing their languages, which then caused them all to move away from each other. Mistrust started to build with the people they couldn’t understand, so they spread out into groups and families by language. They refused to listen to God, so He forced their hand. Now you know why your Aunt Steph tells me I am babbling a times, and where that word came from. Read the story of the Tower of Babel and check it out.
I find it interesting that in today’s world, we are moving back to one universal language, English. Hmmm, I wonder if that is a sign of something? I guess to find out, you are going to have to read the end of the book.
After sin came into this world from Adam and Eve disobeying God’s law, death also came. If you notice, before the flood people lived to be several hundreds of years old. The oldest person to ever live was Methuselah, who lived to be 969 years old. There are some interesting theories about why people lived longer before the flood, and what the flood did to change our atmosphere and climate. I’ll save that for a future study.
The rest of the book of Genesis is focused on the nation of Israel. We learn how they were formed, and what they went through as they grew into a nation. Genesis takes us all the way until Jacob (Israel) and his family move into the land of Egypt, where they would later become slaves.
In the background, throughout all Genesis, we have Satan trying to get in the way of God’s promise of a Savior, and God doing what He does to ensure the seed lines moves forward. We know who succeeded because the Savior did in fact come!
I spent the next few months before the severance money ran out, trying my hardest to get something written. It had to be the time now. Getting laid off work was the event that would catapult me in to being a successful author, right? Uh….Nope.
I tried starting my own business, and I shacked up in my sister’s office space. That lasted a couple months at best, because that darn president didn’t give me the free money I was hoping for. Still, it was way fire to spend some time with my sister! I even got to see Riley and Kali a lot because they weren’t in school yet, and the office became their daycare center some days. The conference room was their playroom/prison cell. Lol
Even with 4 months of total free time, I couldn’t get a thing done. Instead I went golfing, hung out with cousin Kenny, and spent money like I still had a job. I admit, the whole “getting paid for not working” thing was really not good for me. Your poor Aunt Steph, she saw the same pattern over and over during our time together. Make money, spend money, quit job, run out of money, find new job, make money, and on and on… It was a pattern that I’m sure she still has concerns might happen again in the future. After 4 months of pretty much stress-free fun, I started to get worried. It was obvious I wasn’t going to sell my book before the mortgage payment was due on our house next month.
I hope you learn a lot quicker than Uncle Bill, so you won’t have to go through so much of your life feeling the kind of stress I went through. Make no mistake, I brought all the stress on myself, and I had zero options left. I needed someone to save me from feeling so horrible.
I am literally bawling right now after typing out how stressed I used to be. I remember that sick stressful feeling so well, that it’s bringing me to tears because I haven’t felt that way in a long time. Wow. That is how God works kids! It’s like a total relief I can’t even begin to explain. It’s like I can finally breathe now…
Anywho, back to the story. The party was over, and I gave up. I brought in the big guns to help me. I had to do something drastic.
I need to get up and take a break. I can’t stop crying thinking about this stuff. Holy cow, things have changed a lot since those high stress times. I keep having these flashbacks in my head about what I was thinking back then. There were a lot of happy times sprinkled in there, but how could you ever really be happy, when your lifelong dreams are being shattered? It was a tough pill to swallow at the time, and that is why I am getting so emotional about it right now.
So where were we? Oh yeah, I started reading the Bible. I started praying those “please Lord, help me!” prayers with tears and sometimes fist pounding into the pillow or steering wheel of my car. I needed help getting rid of this pain and disappointment! So I went to the only option I had left: God.
It stinks that sometimes God has to bring people down so low, that they have to look up to Him for help. I am sure glad He brought me low, because it changed me forever.
Today was the first time in a long time that I looked at my life right now and said “it doesn’t get any better than this!” I try to imagine what it would be like had God decided to keep me at that job another 7 years. I can feel the stress just thinking about it. No joke, my heart rate went up and I started getting that feeling in the pit of my stomach again. At the time, I was so pissed off at the darn president, my family, the company I worked for, and anyone else I could blame. Now, I can’t imagine it all going down any other way. I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to, but with God’s twist on it.
This is how I usually notice God’s work in my life. It’s almost always when I take the time to reflect back on key events like losing my job and family fight night. Usually, when you are going through these big life changes, you’re not seeing things clearly. It is really hard to step back in the moment and ask God what He is doing, and what His purpose for it is. It takes a lot of practice, but Uncle Bill is much better at it now.
The moral of the story is that Uncle Bill couldn’t see that God had a plan that was different than his own. I never could have pictured that I would end up where I am right now. When God got the guy in the White House elected, I highly doubt He did it just so I would lose my job. There are a lot of easier ways to get me to leave a place. But He used the bill that was passed to get what He wanted done: me out of the job, and secure financially for the time being.
I should have never been stressed about a job enough to act the way I did on family fight night. I never should have let myself get so down when things didn’t turn around right after I was let go. I should have had more patience. Nothing ever moves fast enough for me, but God isn’t confined by time like we are. God is eternal, and outside of time. His timing in the events of my life was always perfect, because the things I went through and those moments in time, shaped me into who I am today. Little did I know He had quite a bit more teaching to go… Stay tuned. Next chapter I get schooled.
Sometimes I think the Bible should come with a warning label. Since it doesn’t, I will give you one: “WARNING, CONTENTS INSIDE WILL CAUSE SIDE-EFFECTS”. I think the reason I avoided reading the Bible until it was made a requirement to attend God’s school, was that I was afraid to know what was in there. I was afraid there was going to be a bunch of rules that I didn’t know about. You know what they say: “what you don’t know can’t be held against you”. It was probably some of the dumbest logic I have ever used in my life. What am I some mob boss who doesn’t want to know the details of a hit he sent his guys out on, so he can deny it later? What a whack-job I am. lol
When God enrolled me in Bible 101, the first 6 months was nothing but reading the Bible. I told you some of the things I learned during that time in my last chapter. God gave me some peace and relief from stress and worry. He taught me that I shouldn’t be anxious over things I can’t control, and He helped me understand more about heaven. One of the side-effects I got from reading the Bible, was an overwhelming desire to share what I was learning. The stuff in those pages was so incredible, that I had to share it. Naturally, I started with the people I was most comfortable with, my family.
I remember, asking God to give me boldness and courage to tell you guys about God. I got Haley & Nikk’s email addresses, as well as the emails for my sister-in-law, my parents, the in-laws, my sisters, Steph and Zach. My plan was to start sharing Bible verses through that family email chain. I was pretty nervous the first time I sent one out. I started with just a Bible verse, then as I got bolder, I added some of my commentary on it. It’s hard to believe I was nervous about sending out an email, when I would end up doing live Bible study on Facebook a few months later.
I started the thereishopemyson.com website right at the end of my first semester in Bible 101, and would use it to post the same sort of things I was emailing the family. I started giving more detail and comments on the verses as I went along. The only school major that God offers is in Biblical Studies, so I didn’t have to worry about making that decision. There is only one book, and you can get it for free. If you know the One who runs the place, tuition is not a concern, and you will get help with room and board. Wow, doesn’t all this sound too good to be true? For me it was!
Everyone is looking for wisdom and learning that will help them find success, happiness, contentment, and peace in their lives, right? Nope, not everyone. Some will always think they can get the same thing from worldly sources.
My first goal was to help Zach understand and know who God is. We started going to one of the big churches here, and we were pretty consistent with it. Every time I went to church it seemed like the message was tailored to me. It was almost too hard to believe, but I lived through it, so I know it was real. I still have all the notes I wrote on the church bulletins during that time.
It was getting pretty obvious with everything that was happening to me, that God was training me up for something. It never felt like training though. It felt like reading the greatest piece of literature, history and wisdom ever written, and then finding out more and more every time I read it. I wanted more…I needed more. Does that sound normal? Do you know anyone who is obsessed with studying the Bible? Do you know anyone who also had the time to study it as much as they wanted to? I didn’t think so. This is how you know it is a sign. You already know a lot of my story, and you know I wasn’t picked to do this because of my qualifications. There is a saying out there that “God doesn’t call the prepared, He prepares the called”. My life is an obvious picture of that being true.
I started Bible study for Zach. I figured that I’d record it so he could listen to it the way you youngins like to. I quickly moved to doing them live on Facebook. I never pressured Zach to listen to the studies, and I never tried to sell him on anything the Bible talks about. I went through the Old-Testament verse-by-verse, and it took me 2 years and around 60 videos. The result was that Zach asked to be baptized, and I got to be the one to baptize him in my mom’s backyard pool! I can’t tell you what a relief and a joy that day was. Now I don’t have to worry about Zach’s eternity, and I know I get to spend forever with him. Who cares what job he has or what he accomplishes here, because that day will go down as the proudest of him I will ever be. You can tell someone you believe in God, but until you show it by getting baptized, no one really knows. I remember thinking maybe this is the reason God had me study the Bible; just to teach Zach.
I know of at least one of you guys, who was going to be baptized, but thankfully backed out. You have questions, and weren’t sure what you believe yet. Zach had no question. That doesn’t mean he knew all the answers, he just had no doubt God is real and that he should be baptized. It’s one of those: “if you know you know kind” of deals. It shouldn’t take convincing, and you just know you need to do it. I had very little understanding when I was dunked in a tank at Immanuel Baptist Church, but I knew I wanted to do it. I’ll tell you more about baptism when we get to the reason why we do it.
When I found out Zach was saved, (he told me he believed, and then got baptized to show everyone he believed) I moved on to thinking more about you guys. I now had a few years of Bible study under my belt, and I was ready to start some videos on the New Testament. I had a lot of momentum, and two years doing live Bible study is a long time. But for some reason, I never started anything new after that. I tried and tried, but soon realized that there was still a lot for me to learn. God can slow us down or even stop us from doing something whenever He wants to. I tried so hard to get new videos or Bible studies done, but I felt like I was stuck in the mud. I was bummed every day I sat there getting nothing done.
There is this Percy Jackson movie where they end up in the “Lotus Hotel & Casino”. This place is a trap, and the way it traps you is by making you lose track of time. You are eating something that alters your state of mind. They have all the fun & games and food you would ever need, and by the time you realize you’ve been there a long time, it’s too late to save the world. Geeze, that almost sounds like Vegas. Heck, it also sounds like my life in a lot of ways. Distracted, and time flew by with nothing accomplished but a bunch of fun and games… I look up one day, and I’m 40.
Anyway, I bring that movie scene up because that is how I felt up until 3 weeks ago when I started writing this book. I kept trying, but nothing. I kept stressing, still nothing. All it took was getting on the Facebook and hitting go live. All it took was me getting on the computer and typing out what I’ve learned. It’s not like it was physically or mentally hard. I knew the stuff, or so I thought. Why nothing? Again, a wise child of God will always ask why, even if you don’t get the answer right away, or the answer you were expecting.
The same thing was still happening on the job front. Although I was more optimistic and grateful about the jobs God gave me, I never had one that lasted. Many of the jobs during Bible school were part-time and temporary jobs. If someone was paying attention, they would notice that all the same things were still happening in my life, even after I started reading the Bible and changing my life. I was broke, and I went through more jobs in those 13 years than any similar timespan in my life. I was always “trying” to write, do Bible studies, get a job, or just do something. Nope…nothing done. There is a misconception out there that once you start reading the Bible, or once you are saved, everything in life is smooth. The Bible teaches the exact opposite.
So what was the difference between pre-Bible and post-Bible time for me? I had nowhere near the stress or fear after I started reading the Bible. There wasn’t even close to the same amount of anxiety. This time, I just let God drive. It isn’t easy giving up control, but God gave me no other option. I wanted in…all in, and you can’t do that and still try to drive.
To the world this is crazy behavior. But remember, I had already spent half my life doing the same thing, but I relied on me instead of God. Look how that worked out. This go-round, I put my trust in God, and He delivered time after time after time. There is nothing like the experience of seeing God come through in ways you never could have predicted. Nothing beats having to rely on God for everything.
The majority of you guys were still pretty young, so Bible study wasn’t the option God gave me to reach you. God wanted this book to serve that purpose. The first thing God gave me to help my research for the book, was lots of time to spend with you. I can’t even begin to count all of your visits, your soccer, your basketball, volleyball, plays, graduations, school music events, spring fall and summer breaks, babysitting, and of course every holiday and family vacation. I keep telling you this, not to brag, but so you see God was at work. What kind of uncle wants to spend that much time with a bunch of punk kids? Apparently, I do.
If God was going to have me write this book for you guys, I had to have some personal investment in you. I needed to know you all very well, and that can only come with time and interaction. I had to be visible and active in your lives for you to get the most out of what I am writing to you. I had to be available to be a baby sitter on short notice. I had to be around when spring break came and your parent’s had to work. I had to be able to take time off or be unemployed to attend all the vacations we went on together. I always had to have July 4th off so I could see my nieces. All of the time God gave me to spend with you guys is not normal. It’s not normal to have an uncle who has been “in-between jobs” most of your lives.
Before I ever thought about writing this book for you, I was spending a lot of time with you guys. Once I realized God has a plan to use me to help you understand Him and the Bible, I took things to another level. I started “Operation Undercover Uncle.” You didn’t realize it, but I was like the family spy over the last 10 years or so. I watched you keenly as you grew up into the fine young men and women you are today. I listened to see how you responded when issues the Bible talks about were discussed. I wrote down the questions I heard you guys struggle to answer about God. I paid attention to see if you went to church and what kind of church it was. I was laser focused on getting to know you and what you knew about God.
I made sure I attended every event of yours I could go to. Haley was the oldest when Jesus took my wheel and made a U-turn. I didn’t get to spend as much time with her or Nikk as the rest of you, because they were both older and didn’t need babysitting when I started my undercover work. One of the reasons I include so many pictures of you guys in the book, is so that you don’t forget that I’m not just some chump off the street, I am your uncle Bill, and we spent a lot of great time together. The pictures prove I was there for all those events, in case you forget when you get older. All of it is a testament to God at work in all of our lives.
My undercover work didn’t go so well at times. I almost blew my cover on many occasions, and worse yet, I almost blew my opportunity to get some of you to listen to me about God. I told you the Bible should have a warning label on it… Zeal is a word you hear in the Bible a lot. It’s the Bible word for passionate or enthusiastic. Uncle Bill had zeal for the Lord, for example. Well, uncle Bill had lots of zeal for the Bible and making sure everyone knew what was in it. I just failed miserably on most of the opportunities I had to actually teach others about it. You don’t need a Bible study for teachable moments, they happen all the time around us. It’s the in person, out of the blue, spur of the moment, teachable times I struck out at the most.
Poor Haley. Since she was the oldest, she got to experience Uncle Bill’s “I’m gonna let everyone know they are wrong” side effect. She had friends over to the in-laws and I acted holier than though when they came back talking about the rocks and crystals in Sedona. The buildup started earlier when my mother-in-law was showing me some of the rocks they got up there. I kept hearing things like this one is for healing, this one for protection, and there was one for spiritual something or another. I literally was just studying about the Israelites and their fake gods they started to worship, and how God kicked them out of the land over it. Many worshipped trees, and other parts of nature too.
I couldn’t hold back anymore and just went off about how ridiculous all this spiritual rock and crystal stuff was. I should have just sat there and soaked it in so I could write about it later, but nope. I went nuts, and then ended up leaving before I lost it any more. I didn’t understand how they could think a rock could help them. I got home, and later got a text from Haley. She was mad at me for acting like a punk in front of her friends. (my words, not hers) I typed out a reply right away saying “ thank you for letting me know, love you”. That is what I should have sent, but nooooo… I cleared it out and started ranting about worshipping rocks and how crazy that is. Nobody was worshipping rocks, uncle Bill overreacted. We went back and forth for a few more texts, before I let it go. Dumb. I felt bad every day for almost a year. I wanted to reach out every day, but I didn’t want to blow it.
How could I let my favorite niece (whoops lol) be mad at me for that long? All I know is that I wanted to reach out, but I never did. Maybe there was a reason for that? Finally, not long before our annual trip to Hawley lake on the 4th of July, Haley texted me telling me that she loves me and doesn’t want to fight or for it to be weird up camping. I was in San Diego on vacation with most of you when I got that text. I doubt you noticed, but I had a lot more pep in my step after that. What a relief that was!
Now, I ask you again, does any of this sound like normal behavior to you? First, why did every ounce of my body ache listening to the descriptions of what the rocks and crystals supposedly do? Was it because it was so fresh in my mind from my studying of the Bible? Why couldn’t I stop myself from clearing out my original text reply and instead babbling on about how I was right? Would most uncles worry about it day after day, or would the worries of their own lives take priority? I learned a lot from this experience, and that is exactly what God wanted from it.
The next people on my holier than thou tour were my sisters and parents. I had been on a few vacations with the AZ nieces and nephews, and I learned from my undercover work that you didn’t know a whole lot about the Bible. I decided I would go to your church for Christmas one year. That didn’t go well. I didn’t flip out and leave the church in the middle of the service, but I wanted to. They had some missionary “healer” lady who spoke about her escapades in some other country. It was Christmas, and I was listening to someone tell me these wild stories about healing miracles? I believe God heals people all the time, but being healed of what ails us in this physical body that is dying, is not near as important as healing our soul that will live forever.
I went home and started watching videos of past sermons on your church’s website. No lie, I spent several days watching videos of sermons non-stop. I took a half of a notebook full of notes as I watched. I paused it to make sure I heard something right, and I paused it when I needed a break after what I just heard. So, after 3 days listening to more sermons from your pastor than any of you have, I decided texting the whole family about my frustrations would be a good idea. Again, I had to let everyone know that I thought their church was horrible at preaching from the Bible. I had to tell them I didn’t think you guys were going to learn anything there.
I rarely heard the pastor mention how someone is saved in all the videos I watched, and the little Bible preached was all from the same 4-5 books of the Bible. Almost all the sermons were filled with stories of the preacher’s time in some other country helping out those in need with shoes. There was always another book that was promoted besides the Bible. Either some Christian author, humanitarian, or the preacher’s own book. It was all milk, there was no meat, no bread to anything I heard. Anyway, that went about as well as you would have expected. My sister was pretty upset about it. I put her and all the family on the defense, why wouldn’t she come out swinging? I remember thinking I thought the whole world was against me. First the incident with Haley and the mother-in-law, now this?!! What in the heck is going on? Why do I care that much? Why did I have to watch hours and hours of sermons just to prove a point? Why did I have to send that text? Yet another experience I learned a lot from.
The next blow-up came at my dad’s expense, and it ended up being about your church again. Dad was trying to be the peacemaker so he asked me out for a walk. We didn’t talk much about the church until we got back by the cars. I told him the main mission of the church is to teach the congregation and to help unbelievers know how to be saved. Everything a church does should be centered around training and shepherding your congregation. We didn’t see eye to eye on this one, and out of frustration, I threw my water bottle on the ground and took off. He didn’t want to listen, he just said I was wrong.
I went home and skimmed through the whole Bible looking for the verses that supported my view of the church. I worked on it non-stop from the time I left the park until a few days later when I sent it to him. The word doc I sent him was 13 pages long! It is filled with Bible verses talking about the role of the Church. Who does that? A crazy uncle who is trying, and failing, to look out for you guys. Did we go through the doc verse by verse to see what was right? Not yet. (LMK if anyone wants to read the word doc & I’ll send it)
There are many more stories I may get into later, but I feel bad enough for now. I could have, and should have, handled all these situations better. One of the reasons I wanted to tell you about this is because I want you to see how unusual all of this is. The way I handled things was pretty crazy. I wish I could explain the side-effects I had. I wasn’t thinking I was better than anyone, I was frustrated that no one would believe me about what is in the Bible. It’s like I was speaking a foreign language.
I got like this when I was trying to look out for you and what you were being taught. I had control over what Zach learned first, but I have no control over what you guys did. I didn’t care if it was coming from your church, your teachers, or your parents, I wanted to make sure you got the truth from the source…the Bible. It’s not about who is right or who is wrong, it is about taking the time to do your homework and figure it out for yourselves. God is not a God of confusion; He wants us to understand Him and His plan. It’s not rocket-science, yet so many treat it like it is. You guys mean everything to me. Making sure you have the chance to know the truth is all I care about. I’m selfish, I want to spend eternity with every one of you! I am trying to leave as little doubt as I can that I did my part to share the truth and keep you away from false teaching.
Another side effect I got from ingesting the Bible every day was guilt. The more you learn about what God has done for us, the more you want to please Him. The Bible tells us the best way to please Him is to obey Him. You just read about how I did anything but obey God most of my adult life and look where that got me. I started to feel guilty about a lot. I started writing posts on Facebook telling Zach I’m sorry for letting this world get into such a mess. I told him that it was me and my generation’s fault we are in the state we are in as a country right now. I wrote apology posts to my grandma, my parents, my wife, and all the people I treated badly in my life. I’ve included a few for you below.
There are side-effects for almost anything you do. Some are good side-effects, some not so much. Although your Uncle Bill didn’t handle the learning lessons God sent his way very well, I am much better prepared to handle it going forward. God also made sure I got to learn these lessons with my family who can’t disown me. lol
The “I’m Sorry Phase Posts”
Hi Grandma Landis.
I never told you how much I love you. I don’t think I even said the words very often. I was too busy thinking about you nagging me. I didn’t realize until later that you had every reason and every right to give me grief.
Maybe you will think what I used to do to you is funny now. Hopefully you can see the changes I am trying to make in my life. I know someday I will get my payback; it might be from my own grandchildren when I get older.
I’m sorry for taking out the tobacco from your cigarettes and replacing them with random household spices and mustard to hold it all in. I still think you never knew, you never said anything about it.
I feel bad about cranking up the music on the intercom system when you had just fallen asleep. I won’t soon forget you coming out of your room screaming “you damn kids, turn that radio down!” I think I blamed it on Ken or Christian, I can’t remember now.
I feel horrible about loosening the bolts on your extendo-toilet seat. I am thankful you never fell off of it.
How about the time my parents were out of town and you were charged with watching all us rascals. You kept asking me what was going on as girls kept coming in to use the restroom. “I just have a couple friends over” I told you. “We are just swimming out back”. Well, your suspicions were correct, I was having a party. There were about 20 people out back, but I only let the girls come in to pee. Yes mom, I am finally admitting that it was my bag of empty beer bottles out in the middle of the alley behind our house. And yes, those were my beer bottle caps you randomly found around the house over the months that followed. We would flick them with our fingers to see who could make them fly the farthest; we just couldn’t find all of them.
Grandma, I still can’t believe we would call you from Aunt Joyce’s house (before caller id) saying in our best Colonel Clink voice: “this is the Gestapo; you are to report to headquarters immediately or will be shot. Do you understand me Lillian?” Yes, that was me, even though I didn’t admit it when you asked me: “Billy did you crank call me? Someone said something about shooting someone”.
One of the worst I remember was when Ken just moved out here to AZ to stay with us until Aunt Joyce moved here. We devised a plan to really get you going. We sat on the couch while you sat in that chair of yours. It started when I put on my shoes and you asked me where I was going. I told you I was going to hang out with my friend. You wanted to know if I was taking Ken with me. I said “no, I don’t like him. I don’t want him to go”. You were so mad that you started that thing where you say all your grand-kids names before you finally got to the right one: “Wendy, Kristi, Tommy….Billy.” You couldn’t believe I just said that with Ken sitting there acting all lonely and depressed. “He’s no fun grandma” I said. Inside Ken and I were busting up laughing; you just about had a heart attack. Sorry grandma!
When I look back and think about all the rotten things I did to you, it’s partly because we spent a lot of time together. I understand now how lucky I was to have you around. Ken and I both cherished the times we came to visit you in the nursing home those last years of your life. We had some great conversations and I remember feeling like I could just be myself around you. It made my day.
The day you died I showed up at the nursing home before you took your last breath and went to heaven. I remember everyone was there huddled around you. You hadn’t said much all day and you weren’t in the best spirits. When I walked in the room, you perked up, smiled and said “hi Billy”. After all I did to make your life a challenge you didn’t hold it against me.
As Ken and I drove behind the hearse in your funeral procession, I couldn’t help but feel you were there with us. It was an incredibly beautiful overcast day and Ken and I cruised with the top down in my old Toyota. We still talk about that drive all the time, it was almost magical.
I love you and miss you. I promise things will be different with me next time I see you.
Your grandson,
Billy
Tillie and Abe.
I want to thank you for having such a big impact in my life. Not many people would have accepted all us crazy friends of Gabby and Tommy. You guys opened your house up to us at all hours of the day and night. You fed us, gave us a place to crash, and offered lots of great advice when we needed it. You treated me like one of your own kids.
I learned a lot about what grace looks like from you. Yes, you got mad at “pinche Bruno” many times, but you never held it against me for very long. Usually by the next morning you were saying “mijo, come get some breakfast”, again taking care of me. I was also amazed at how hard you and Abe worked. Especially impressive after we woke you up at 3am the night before.
I’m sorry it has been so many years since I’ve seen you and Abe. I should have come over to introduce you to my son, he is 11 now. I think part of me wanted to wait until I was successful or finally finished my book. I wanted you guys to be proud of me, and I didn’t feel very good about myself so I shut everyone out.
You and Abe mean more to me than you will ever know. I have many great memories of the time I spent with you. Todos ustedes son mi familia!
Thanks for putting up with my sarcasm and smart-ass mouth. Thanks for always being such great examples for me to follow. Your marriage was always what I wanted mine to be like when that day came. You showed me a lot about how important family is. I’ll never forget it.
I know it has been a long time, but I promise to try and make up for it. I told Gabby it would be great if we could all get together sometime over the holidays.
If you guys ever need ANYTHING, I will be there for you like you were always there for me.
I love you guys,
Guillermo
Mom, I am sorry for all the stupid things I did. I am sorry for not realizing sooner how big of a role model you were. I’m sorry for lying to get my way.
I’ll never forget coming home late one night to see all my clothes you told me to pick up off the floor in my room now laying on the bushes and ground outside my window. I won’t forget coming home from a night out partying with my friends and finding my bed in the garage because I didn’t make it before I left like you told me to.
I’m sorry for being so stubborn and actually sleeping on the bed in that hot garage that summer night just to prove I didn’t really care about it, or that it didn’t really bug me. I wouldn’t let you win. I’m sorry for always scheming my way into you giving me money or using some “spin” to get out of doing chores.
I should have realized this sooner, but you are the most generous, loving, and gracious person I know. I am so happy I am finally starting to take after you. So many things I learned from you and dad I am trying to pass on to Zach.
I deserved every punishment you and dad gave me, and probably much more. I thank you for dragging me to church every Sunday and Wednesday night. I appreciate the example you both set for me.
I would not be who I am today without your love and praise.
I love you!
Your son.
I just turned 18 a few days earlier when I decided to go get my first lottery ticket. Maybe this was the way I was going to get rich. I felt it! God was going to take care of me! I sat at home watching tv with my dad that night and anxiously waited to see my winning numbers get drawn. I can’t say dad was really watching, as usual he was half asleep. Then came the moment I was waiting for my whole life. The drawing was almost here, I was soon to have it all! Suddenly my dad woke up and said “son, you need to take out the trash, they are coming to pick it up tomorrow”. Knowing me, this was probably the 10th time he had to remind me.
I pulled out the lottery ticket from my back pocket and held it up to show him. In the cockiest way I knew how I said “see this dad, I’m going to win. In the morning, I am going to pay you to take out the trash”.
How many of you would have got away with that one?
Sorry Dad! Thanks for your patience with me. I hope you are starting to see that the lessons you taught me didn’t just fall on deaf ears, but actually did sink in.
I love you,
Your son.
Son, first, you need to know what we are up against. You need to know what got us into this mess. I am to blame for much of what you are seeing wrong. If it isn’t’ apparent to you yet, there sure is a lot of “bad news” these days. It is no wonder I lost sight of what is important during times like these. Prayer and faith are the only things that can get us through. It took way too long for me to realize that.
I’m sorry I had to sit in my car for 15 minutes once I got home from work to cool off and let go of my anger and frustration. I’m sorry you had to witness me arguing with my family over things I had no control of. I’m sorry you had to hear me call our political leaders names and talk down about the great people of this country. Maybe you can reverse the curve.
Lord, thanks for this awesome responsibility! Thank you for the lessons you are teaching me every day. Thank you for helping me understand that I have to prepare harder for those who “think” they know your Word than I have to for those who have never read it.
I’m sorry I got frustrated tonight. I’m sorry I started to feel sorry for myself about how difficult this road you have me traveling down is and will be. I can read story after story in the Bible to see that these feelings are typical of all who know the Truth and try to help others realize it. I know I am not alone and you are always with me.
I’m trying Lord. Please continue to be patient with me. Please continue to use me as you will. Thank you for knowing I could handle it with your help. Thank you for equipping me with the tools to do the job. Thank you for creating me for this purpose.
Please help me worry more about what pleases you than what pleases others.
You guys have all seen the movies about the end of the world, with all the destruction and death, and a small group of rag tag humans fighting to survive each day. Usually there is only a small amount of people left because some major catastrophe, climate disaster, or nuclear war hit the planet. The earth is always dark and looks like a bomb just hit. The special effects during the disaster scenes are usually awesome, especially nowadays with CGI. Some of the things happening to the earth in those movies are not that far off from the things the Bible discusses happening at the end. At the end of this age, the earth and the universe will experience levels of destruction never seen before. The largest earthquakes we experience now will seem mild compared to what is to come.
There is so much in the Bible about the end-times that I am struggling to try and simplify it into a chapter. I figured I would put a quick list together here, and discuss what is most important to the Christian right now. The rest of the bullets below you will have to study on your own; or wait for me to do a Bible study on it. Here is what God told us is coming, but hasn’t happened yet:
The rapture/resurrection of the Church .
Elijah, a prophet from the Old-Testament will come back to Israel.
The Antichrist will start to come on the scene. He will broker a massive peace deal that will allow Israel to build their temple back on the temple mount in Jerusalem. (A Muslim mosque sits there now.)
There will be at least one more world war that will start when the antichrist takes power.
We will go from a world with hundreds of world leaders to only 10 world rulers, and they will all be under one man, the Antichrist.
Satan gets kicked out of heaven for good and is stuck down here. This is not good news for the Jews and any Christians still on earth.
Satan eventually possesses the Antichrist, and he sits on the throne in the temple like God used to. He goes back on the deal he made with Israel and desecrates the temple.
We learn that this period of time where the earth is being destroyed, and the Antichrist is killing Christians and Jews is called the tribulation period.
Before the 7-year tribulation period is over, most of the Christians who recently came to faith after the rapture/resurrection will have been killed. Some will die in all the disasters to the earth, and many more will die due to persecution from the Antichrist and for not taking the mark of the beast.
Satan, through the Antichrist, false prophet and the unbelievers still alive, will kill anyone who doesn’t pledge their eternal allegiance to him.
The last 3 ½ years of the end of the age are called the great and terrible day of the Lord for a reason. Satan will have his way going after and killing all the Christians and Jews in an unmatched period of martyrdom.
In the very last days, Satan and his army of unbelievers will go to Jerusalem to try and kill everyone in the city.
They enter the city and kill 1/3 of the people before the whole nation of Israel, will all at once, call out for Jesus to help. They all came to understand Jesus was their Messiah at the same time, and they mourn because their ancestors killed Jesus, and they think they lost their chance.
The minute Israel calls out to Jesus for help, He comes back and destroys the enemy in a flash. The example God gives is like a winepress. Satan and all of his followers are the grapes that God will squish so that all their blood comes out like the grape being squished in the press. It won’t be a pretty site, but there is a reason Jesus does it that way.
This whole conflict and more are what many call the battle of Armageddon. Turns out it won’t be much of a battle once Jesus gets involved.
After all the unbelievers in the world are killed, their spirits go down to sheol/hell as they wait until the end of the 1,000-year kingdom to be judged and sent to their permanent home in the lake of fire.
All believers on earth, and with Jesus from heaven, will enter the Kingdom and start to enjoy 1,000 years of peace and prosperity in Jerusalem.
Satan and his demons are locked up in Sheol/hell until the end of the Kingdom, when they will be let loose. They will gather all the rest of the unbelievers born during the Kingdom, and head for war to try one last time to defeat God.
God brings fire down from heaven when the enemies get close, and they are all destroyed.
Satan and his demons are then thrown into their forever home in the lake of fire. All unbelievers from the beginning of time are judged, given their new physical bodies, and thrown in to the lake of fire as well.
Next, we get a new heavens and new earth, and a new heavenly city of Jerusalem comes down from heaven and we live there forever. (Believers only)
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit will all live in the new place with us.
There will be no Sun, God will be the light.
Wow, that is a lot, and I didn’t cover a bunch of things.
If you are a Christian, the next event you are looking forward to is either going to heaven after your physical body dies, or getting caught up in a flash while still alive on earth to meet Jesus in the clouds. This is called the resurrection of the Church. All Christians are members of Jesus’ church. This event is the time when our bodies get back to the way God originally designed them…without sin. Without sin there is no death, and the new physical body we get will match up with our perfect spirit and we will live forever that way.
Did you know there is a judgement for the believers at this same time? It is called the Bema seat. Don’t worry, the Bible makes it clear that there is no condemnation that will be happening for the believers after we die, this is to judge the stuff we have done for God while we were here on earth. If God says our service meets His qualifications, we will be rewarded in the 1,000-year Messianic kingdom. The rewards are not spelled out in detail for us in the Bible, but they will be things we can use in the Kingdom. Some rewards will include positions in Jesus’ government, or some kind of leadership role. It could be the nicest house on the block; but again we aren’t sure. One thing we do know is that God knows how to reward those who do what He asks of them. I am sure we will wish we took Him up on the offer for rewards when we see what they are. These rewards will last forever; unlike any reward we get here that we leave behind when we die. I’ll take whatever rewards I can get for the Kingdom life.
Before you go rushing out to volunteer at the soup kitchen, you should know there are some disqualifiers God put in place to only allow certain good works to count for reward. Good works are things we do to serve God that the Holy Spirit inside of us is leading us to do. God knows our hearts, so if we are doing something for selfish reasons like to look good at church, or to brag to your friends, then it won’t be eligible for a reward in heaven. God’s insight will eliminate a lot of things done for the wrong reason. Next, God says we are supposed to do this stuff without letting anyone else know. I blew it a few times when I first started reading the Bible. Zach, Steph, and I went out and passed out a card with the gospel message I wrote out, and some cash to families in need. I posted it on FB, not to brag, but so you all could see there is charity we can do. I got all kinds of praise from the world, so I will lose my praise/reward for it from God. He says if we get our reward here, there will be no reward there. If it is possible, God says don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. Don’t seek praise from men, but from God and you will get a reward.
So how do you earn these rewards? There are countless ways, it’s all about what God is asking you to do. Here are a few examples:
Tell a friend about Jesus
Live a life that gets others to notice so they ask how you do it.
God pulls on your heart to stop and give a few bucks to a stranger.
God wants you to volunteer somewhere and you do it without bragging or seeking praise
God wants to you be a loving parent who teaches your kids the Bible
You stick up for your Uncle Bill when you hear his little sister picking on him. (not sure about this one, but you never know…lol)
God gives each of us different ways we can serve Him while we are here and He is in still in heaven. Some of us will have a much larger opportunity to serve than others, but everyone will have the same ability to get max rewards. Billy Graham had a lot more time and people he could affect, but your rewards can be the same as his if you follow what God asks of you.
The one thing God asks of all of us is to be a reflection of Christ here on earth. That means living a life that others will notice, and give credit to God for. The only thing we can do here that we can’t do in heaven, is help unbelievers know who God is. That is why we are still here. God could have all of His children in heaven right now, instead we stay here for our whole earthly lives. The only way to have a chance at being a reflection of Jesus, is by getting to know who He is. You can’t do that without studying the Bible. You won’t feel the peace inside that radiates out so others can see it, until you know the whole truth in God’s Word. It will be hard to answer questions about the God you believe in when you don’t know much about Him. Make not mistake though, rewards are a bonus, not a requirement. Only faith can save you, but serving God now has an incentive that we should all strive for.
Let’s get back to that rapture event. Why does God need to remove the Church from the earth? Because something bad is coming, and it wasn’t meant for us. There are a few movies about the rapture, and they are usually called left behind or something like that. They are the same sort of plot as most of the end of the world movies, a small group of people fight for survival while trying to find out what really happened. The fight is against an evil force, this time the antichrist and the false prophet. I’m going to tell you that I think when the rapture happens, and all the Christians are caught up in an instant and brought to Jesus in the clouds, most of the world won’t even notice. There will be religious people all over the world saying it wasn’t the rapture, because they are still here. The news will cover it up, and all that will be left are a few conspiracy theorists who nobody pays attention to. If it happened today, there would be so many people left behind that most won’t even notice. God doesn’t plan for the rapture to be a mass awakening event that leads to millions seeking God, so it must not be a worldwide panic when the Church is brought home to heaven.
So when is it happening? The timing is a mystery, although you will see people all over the world try to predict the day. There is a pastor in Africa who recently predicted the rapture was coming. People were selling their homes and possessions because they thought they were leaving the earth soon. This happens every 10-20 years or so. People can’t accept that God wanted it to remain unknown for a reason. In fact, if you predict the date of the rapture, that guarantees it won’t be that day. This panic that the false teacher in Africa started could have easily been avoided if the people knew the Bible. The rapture is the only event that we can’t pinpoint or look for signs that have to happen before it. It could have happened a few years after the Church started, and it could happen today. We should always be ready for the day Jesus collects His Church.
If we knew Jesus was coming back 20 years from today, how would we do things differently? Maybe some of us would get moving on being a better Christian right away, maybe most of us wait until the last minute to get ready. Think of it like me and your aunt Steph when we plan a vacation. It could be 2 years away and I am already getting ready for it. I’m ordering things for the trip, planning the itinerary, doing my research of the place, and visualizing myself on vacation almost every day until it arrives. (Yes, I’m a nut) Steph on the other hand, doesn’t like to waste all that time. As soon as we get a few weeks away, she gets ready and we go. God wants us to act like Uncle Bill and think about and prepare for His return every day even though it could be years or decades or even a century or two from now. (I think it will be sooner than later, but I’ll be prepared either way) We need to be ready as if the vacation is today and we are packed and just waiting for our ride to get there. Jesus wants us always ready for His arrival, this is why He told us no one can predict the day.
Now we get to why God is pulling the Church off the earth. Because the last 7 years of the punishment Israel earned for breaking God’s law, will be coming soon after the rapture. Chapter 24 from Isaiah below gives you some insight into how awful life on earth will be and what will be happening to it. The book of Revelation then expounds on this chapter with more of the detail.
Isaiah 24:1-23
‘Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants. And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the Lord has spoken this word. The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left. The new wine mourns, The vine decays, All the merry-hearted sigh. The gaiety of tambourines ceases, The noise of revelers stops, The gaiety of the harp ceases. They do not drink wine with song; Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. The city of chaos is broken down; Every house is shut up so that none may enter. There is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine; All joy turns to gloom. The gaiety of the earth is banished. Desolation is left in the city And the gate is battered to ruins. For thus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, As the shaking of an olive tree, As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over. They raise their voices, they shout for joy; They cry out from the west concerning the majesty of the Lord . Therefore glorify the Lord in the east, The name of the Lord , the God of Israel, In the coastlands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we hear songs, “Glory to the Righteous One,” But I say, “Woe to me! Woe to me! Alas for me! The treacherous deal treacherously, And the treacherous deal very treacherously.” Terror and pit and snare Confront you, O inhabitant of the earth. Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit, And he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare; For the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake. The earth is broken asunder, The earth is split through, The earth is shaken violently. The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard And it totters like a shack, For its transgression is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again. So it will happen in that day, That the Lord will punish the host of heaven on high, And the kings of the earth on earth. They will be gathered together Like prisoners in the dungeon, And will be confined in prison; And after many days they will be punished. Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, For the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And His glory will be before His elders.’
This chapter in Isaiah, which is in the Old-Testament, lays it all out for us in a very general, high-level way. Isaiah is telling us about the last 7 years right before Jesus comes back. In the Bible it is called tribulation, with part of it being the great tribulation. It is also called the time of Jacob’s troubles, and the great and terrible day of the Lord. These last 7 years will be a time unlike any the earth have ever experienced. Just look at some of the details in those verses.
-The earth laid waste, devastated and distorted, and humans scattered.
-There will be no class system, because aint nobody gonna care that you are rich if you are sleeping in a ditch.
-“All” joy turns to gloom.
-There will be as many people left, as grapes are left after you shake the vine. (very few) No one will want to be alive on earth during this time.
-Also notice that it talks about the curse in verse 6. This is more confirmation that the curse on the earth is still in effect, and will be until it is replaced.
This is a great example of how God worked when writing the Bible. Here is a chapter in Isaiah written around 700 years before the book of Revelation was written. In Revelation, the last book of the Bible, we learn the details of this chapter in Isaiah. God revealed His plan over time and through different people. He gave Isaiah this level of detail around 700 BC, then gave the apostle John the rest of the detail around the end of the 1st century AD. Think about it. If you had a plan that was going to take years to get done, but you needed to make sure nothing or no one got in the way of that plan, would you share the whole plan all at once so the world had years to try and disrupt it? No, you reveal only what needs to be known at each step along the way. God did the same thing when first announcing a savior would come. The closer we got to Jesus, the more the plan was revealed. Guess what, the closer we get to the end, the more of the plan can be revealed. There are parts of the book of Revelation that no one born prior to the late 1800s could have known, and only within the last 50 years or so has it become pretty obvious. Time tells all.
There are only 3 times in history that God showed mighty signs and wonders that the whole world could see and know they came from God. The first time was in Egypt, then Elijah and Elisha and their huge miracles, then Jesus and all the miraculous things He did while He was here. The next time the world sees such incredible power that they can only attribute to God, is during the tribulation period. At first, the people living on earth won’t know God is behind it all, but it won’t take long before everyone knows who is causing all the chaos and destruction. When they realize it is the creator God, they don’t get on their knees to say sorry and ask for forgiveness, they basically give God the bird and wait for someone else to help them. They find their “savior” in the Antichrist, because most will be happy with what he is doing during this time. It will look to them like the Antichrist is saving them from God’s destruction. They later find out it was just a short period of peace for them.
Just in case any of you are here during the tribulation, I put together a page of things to look out for that will tell you if you are in it. God gave us a list of things that have to happen before the tribulation period starts, so I will list them out for you in the back of my book. In the meantime, Jesus gave us some really good detail so we know when we are getting close to tribulation. He tells us that certain events will start to increase in size and regularity. Jesus compares it to birth pangs. When you first become pregnant, they are not really noticeable, but they get more severe, and come more often the closer you get to birthing that kid. We can also look at the pain that comes before childbirth as an afterthought when the new birth comes. The tribulation is painful, but at the end, a new birth: the Kingdom.
Here are the things Jesus said would increase in size and frequency the closer we get to the end. There is much more we can cover in a Bible study, but here are a few:
He tells us not to look for wars and skirmishes as a clue, but only world wars. No one ever thought we would have the first world war, but now we have had two. WWII was worse that WWI, and WWIII will be worse than WWII was. The pattern Jesus talked about is definitely there. Many people get worked up by any war that starts, and then try to show how its proof the end is near. Jesus said only world wars count, so the sign is foolproof.
There will be more famines in the world and they will be more widespread. The closer we get, areas that never had food insecurities will. Look up info on world famines and you will see they are much more widespread than they have ever been. Had Covid lasted much longer, famines would have been in most of the world.
Earthquakes is another sign God gave us. In keeping with the birth pangs theme, earthquakes will get more frequent, more severe, and show up in places they never were before. I pulled earthquake data from the government website a few years ago and the trend is moving just as Jesus said it would. The worst earthquake the world has ever seen is coming in tribulation.
False prophets will increase and mislead many. Holy cow, I can attest there are way more false prophets than real teachers of the Bible. I struggled to find Biblical based pastors and teachers, and I looked for years.
Lawlessness will increase and most people’s love with grow cold. Boy if this isn’t happening now, I don’t know what is. I just watched a Christian young man and father get shot in cold blood, and then his death celebrated all-over the place on social media, mostly from adults who influence our kids. If that isn’t love grown cold, I don’t know what is.
Lots of Christians worry that they will miss the second coming of Christ. Again, that fear can easily be removed if you read the Bible. God tells us there is no way a Christian will miss Jesus when he comes back to rules as king. We won’t be fooled by anyone claiming Jesus already came, because we know the truth. The Bible tells us that we will be with Jesus when he comes from heaven down to earth to rule. How can we miss him when we are part of the procession that will follow right behind Him? This is why the Bible tells us so confidently that we won’t miss Him, or the event. Remember, that all Christians alive on earth before the 7-year tribulation, are raptured/resurrected and in heaven waiting for the Kingdom to start. We leave to go back to earth with Jesus when he does.
Even the people on earth at the time will all see Jesus when He comes back. As you read from that chapter in Isaiah, the earth has been basically turned upside down. There will be no electricity, and the sun, moon, and stars, will not give off their light. It will be pitch black. Then, out of the blue, comes a light so bright it will be seen from East to West. Think of lightning, but constant without every stopping. The contrast is how dark the earth will be, and how bright the Son of God will be on His way down. God makes sure no one will miss Him.
The First thing Jesus does when He comes back is crush the antichrist/Satan and his human and demonic army. This is what most call the battle of Armageddon. It is Satan and his crew against Jesus. It won’t be a fair fight, and it will be over quickly. God then moves to clean up the earth after all the destruction over the last 7 years of tribulation, and we all go into the Kingdom and start with a huge feast.
After the Kingdom, when Jesus finally gets to show us what perfect rule is, this earth is destroyed and we are given a new one. There isn’t a ton of detail on the new heavens and earth, and the prophets of the Old-Testament weren’t given any insight into it. What we have is from the book of Revelation.
Revelation 21:1-4
‘Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them , and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” ‘
There is a new city of Jerusalem that will come down from heaven for us to live in. Check out the size of this city: It is a cube, 1,500 miles long x 1,500 miles wide x 1,500 miles high! Wait, what? The atmosphere in the new place must be much different than what we have now, or maybe our new eternal bodies can handle altitude differently. I can’t even image what that will be like. The best part of it all, is that we get to live with the full Trinity or Godhead. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit will all be with us. There won’t even be a temple, because God lives with us. There is One God, in three personages, that is the Trinity. God is One, but three. I don’t think anyone will really understand how that works until we get to heaven, but I can give you more detail in a study down the road. God the Father is not able to be with us here on earth now, or in the Kingdom later, because sin still exists in both of those times and places. It won’t be until the new heavens and new earth come that sin will be gone for all time. This why the Father can live with us there.
By now you should all see that the end is just the beginning. The place we live changes a few times, but we will live forever. Will you spend eternity with God or separated from Him? That’s the choice you have in front of you. Unlike what some religions will tell you, the decision needs to be made before you die. That is why there is always a sense of urgency to help people find the Truth. We never know when our day will come. We never know when Jesus is coming back for the Church, and we don’t want any of our loved ones to experience the last 7 years of hell on earth.
I could hardly sleep last night, and I couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face all day. I have never felt like this before. EVER! I’ve never been this close to finishing anything with my writing. This is it! The last chapter of the book that took 40 years of “research,” but was written in about 40 days. Right after I finished writing the last chapter it hit me. I wanted to be super stoked, but all those failed attempts to write in the past flashed in my head. I held it back. I kept telling myself: “It isn’t finished yet Bruno; you still have a chapter left. Get er done before you get too worked up pal”.
Another sign that God commissioned this book, is how excited and relieved I am about completing it, even though I have zero expectations that it will ever get published. I could care less if I make a dime off of it; that is not why I wrote it. I wrote it for an audience of 6, not 6,000,000. In the past, it was never about the subject of my book, it was all about the money honey. I always looked ahead of the actual writing of the book, to the glitz, glamour and gazillions I would get when I was done. Flash forward to today, and I am just so thankful it’s finished! If this book never goes any further than to you guys, who cares? I helped God achieve His mission in my life, and in part of yours. I think that is pretty darn cool, and much more valuable.
I’ll have to ask God what He wants me to do next. Maybe He will want me to go back to work in corporate America, or maybe a job working with young people at a school or church. Maybe it will be more writing, or the Bible study like I used to do for Zach. Maybe now that the book is done, He doesn’t need me here anymore; or maybe He has a lot more for me to do and I’ll be here for longer than I planned. Whatever chapter in my life comes next, I can’t help but feel like a huge weight has been lifted from me! Maybe now I can finally get my life started. Lol
A couple days ago, your aunt Steph and I were talking out back about all the work that needs done around the ranch. (that sounds cool calling it a ranch even though the only animals we have are two mini doodle farm dogs) I casually told aunt Steph that I would start working on everything once I finish the book. She turned to me so quick I thought she was going to get whiplash. “What? You can’t wait for that.” I said “chill girl, I’m almost done. It won’t be that long.” It was a funny and surreal moment. I have said that same phrase to her: “wait until I finish my book,” hundreds of times since she met me. This time was different though, and it felt really strange knowing I was almost done. I don’t have any anxiety about what comes next. How could I? I just saw what God did for me the last 40 years. If I am doing what He wants me to do, I expect it will all work out and end up being what is best for me. This book is proof of that.
The world will tell you to never give up on your dreams. I am here to tell you that until I gave up on my dream, it didn’t happen. God wanted me to know that writing a book wasn’t the most important thing in my life. Once I realized that, the book got done. Once I put my trust in Him, and not in my future book earnings, my dream of writing came true. Sure, it wasn’t anything like I thought it would be, and the subject of the book isn’t anything I would have ever predicted, but that is how God works. He can turn all things to good; even me and my book. My old plans were much different, but God had the right one. The way this book came about takes me totally out of the picture, so there is no way I can get credit for it. See how that works? My whole life I took credit for any of the good that happened to me. Now, the biggest thing I’ve wanted to accomplish my whole life, I can’t even brag about. I can’t say “see dad, I told you I would be a writer someday!” lol.
I am literally sitting here stunned. I don’t know what to do now. I am so happy writing this last chapter, but I still can’t believe it is happening! What an amazing God we have! This is it kids, this is it! Uncle Bill’s book is done! The moment I started writing this book, the pain and anxious feeling in my gut was gone. I don’t even remember what life was like without that feeling…and now it is gone? Wow! My world has been a blur since the moment I wrote out the first page. I’ve spent nearly every waking hour working on it. I swear it felt like I was in some sort of out of body experience, because it went so quick and easy. I know I was getting help.
I had this poster on my wall for years. This was how I imagined my life ending up. I put it on my wall hoping that if I looked at it and envisioned it enough, it would all come true. Although it would have been cool for you guys to have a rich uncle with cars and a house like that, I would have probably been a jerk, and I definitely wouldn’t have let Jack, Miles, or Nikk touch any of those cars. I bet there are a lot of mosquitos when you live by the water too. Uh, no thanks…
God had a better plan for me; and instead gave me this place. What an awesome God! Had He given me the choice when I was 18, I would have picked the poster. Now, there is no chance I’d pick the poster because what I have is perfect! God knew better than me, He always does.
Ok, so back to business. The goal of this book was never to help me feel better now that I accomplished my life-long dream. The goal of this book is to help answer some questions you guys had, and to give you the truth from a source you can trust. I wanted to tell you how God orchestrated it all, so that you know how our God works. The hope is that I can play a small part in your journey to heaven. I spent over a decade behind the scenes planning, observing, and researching the material for this book. Material designed for you guys. The rest of my book is just an awesome example of a man trying to achieve something great on his own, only to realize he can’t do it without God.
Don’t get it twisted. God wanted me to write this book, but I am not the one who He wrote if for. God pulled everything together over all the years, just for you. Its possible that for some of you, this will be the closest you ever get to hearing the truth. For some of you, it will be eye-opening and get you curious to learn more. Some of you will read the whole book right away, some will read part of it then stop, and some won’t read it until later down the road sometime. But God has His plan, and it obviously involves you guys reading it at some point. If you won’t read the Bible, maybe He can get to read my book which is mostly about the Bible. Only God knows, and I can’t wait to see what He does.
40 years to write this book. Not even one of my efforts over the years paid off. It wasn’t until I let God take control that things started moving. God made it a long journey for me because everything I lived through had to be in here. I’m also a slow learner. Don’t forget that I had to wait the last 20 years for all of you to be born and grow up. All of the time we have spent together was not by chance, and was all part of God’s plan. I can’t wait to see what the next part of His plan is for you guys too.
So what is next for my wonderful, caring, cool, and crazy nieces and nephews?
If you believe what I told you about Jesus, then you need to get baptized. Baptism is NOT a requirement to be saved; just ask the guy on the cross next to Jesus. He was saved while hanging on a cross, and he never had the opportunity to get baptized. Even though baptism isn’t required to get to heaven, it is something very important to Jesus. He would tell you that He died on the cross for you, and you can’t even let others know you believe in Him? It should be the first act we do after we come to faith. We should do it immediately, and not wait months or even weeks to do it. The good news is there is not cutoff date. The offer to please God by getting baptized doesn’t expire. Maybe some of you needed this book to remind you. Well then, let’s go before the water gets too cold!
If the savior of the world asks us to do one thing to show we have faith in Him, what is to stop you? If you don’t quite know what you believe yet, that is fine…don’t get baptized. I am strictly talking to any of you who are believers right now. I can guarantee you one thing: if you don’t get baptized, God will find ways to keep reminding you until you do it. Just make our Lord Jesus happy and get dunked already, will ya? Do you think it is a coincidence that right as I am writing this last part on baptism, that your aunt Steph tells me it was 10 years ago today that Zach got baptized in grandma’s backyard? There are no coincidences, only God incidences.
Baptism is a picture of what happened inside you when you came to faith in Jesus. Your old spirit died and was buried, and you are raised back to life with a new perfect spirit. The water is symbolic for the earth, and dunking you under it is representing burial in that earth. You then come up out of the grave (water) alive in God. This outward act of baptism symbolizes the inward act of being born again. It also represents Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. It’s telling others that because Jesus died, and was resurrected from the grave, we will too. If you have questions, please let me know. I volunteer to baptize you wherever and whenever you want me to. Yes, this means I will come do it even if you live out of state at the time.
My best advice is to attack studying the Bible like it is just as important, if not more, than anything else you learn. If you do that, you won’t end up like your Uncle Bill, and having to wait until I was in my forties before I found real peace in this world. Because I know so much about the next world, and because I know when we are getting close, I don’t have that stress. Because I know that God is in charge of when I die, I don’t worry about it. Who cares? The most important thing is that I got to get this stuff written and in your hands. I got to be a part of the plan God used to bring Zach to faith, and I pray hard that I can help Him with you guys too. What else could I possibly want? What else really matters? I’m here to please the God of the universe, not the god of this world.
I’d like to help you guys and other young people with my Uncle Bill’s Bible Hour, and I feel like I can start on it as soon as I get done with this. Again, it all depends on what God wants me to do next. I guess we will see. In the meantime, please let me know if you have any questions or if you are ready to get baptized. I’ll answer your call 24×7, and I will respond to texts when I am awake and not napping like us old people do.
I love you guys!
Uncle Bill
Matthew 28:19
‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ‘
I am so proud of the young woman you have become! I am always watching from afar; and seeing you grow and mature has been pretty awesome. No matter how far away you live, or how long in between seeing you, I am always thinking about you. I have also watched your journey to find out about God. I know some of the so-called Christians you have seen in your life aren’t the best examples. I saw you get turned off by the rock-star like church services, and disappointed when you found a great preacher, who later had to step down over something he did wrong.
I was pretty zealous when I started reading the Bible. That can be a good thing, but it can also make someone come off like a “holier than thou” person. I tried really hard for the last several years to make sure you knew I wasn’t like that. I just sat back and waited for the opportunity to talk to you about God. This book is my opportunity. I know you have lots of questions, and I know you have seen the hypocrite Christians out there. God must have given you some great discernment to be able to spot fakes or hypocrites, because I saw you doing it before you even knew what the Bible said about it. I am overjoyed to hear that you are reading your Bible. I can tell you with 100% certainty that the Bible is God’s Word, there are no contradictions, and the answers are all there.
I am so grateful that you are my niece! You are so smart and of course beautiful inside and out. The passion you have for helping others in incredible, and I can’t believe you have been able to put all the cancer charity events together to honor your grandma. It just makes me so happy that I am related to you.
Love you so much!
Uncle Bill
Nikkolina
Yo Nikk, thanks for being such a great niece! You are such a bright light when you enter a room. I have watched how much you love to help other people; and your positive attitude is infectious. That is a gift young lady, and a very unique one! You just make me smile every time I see you. It’s like I still picture 6-year-old Nikk running and giving me a hug. You have never changed, and that is pretty remarkable. I know inside, or when you aren’t around others, it may not always feel so rosy, but the joy and laughter you have brought to so many people, including those you have served at work, make a huge difference in people’s lives. That is something to be incredibly proud of!
It’s funny how us old people work. I always think back to all the “what happened to Nikk?” times in my life. The bee sting, the broken arm, falling off the swing, and many more. You are so darn tough; and God wanted you that way for a reason. I admire the joy you have in life and how it sure seems to me like you don’t take any day for granted. We could drop you in the middle of any town or city in the world and within a week you would have a ton of new friends. People are attracted to you because of the gift you have.
God blessed me big-time when I married into the family and I got to be your Uncle.
I can’t wait to see you for Christmas. I am counting down the days. Give Jack a big hug for me!
I love you!
Uncle Bill
Jack
Yo Jacko. Right now, you are my favorite nephew named Jack. You might have some competition in the future if I ever get another Jack as a nephew, so you better be on top of your game. Lol Seriously though, it has been a privilege watching you grow from just a poor farm kid on Tatooine to the Jedi fly-boy you are today. You always crack me up. I don’t know what it is, but I can just look at you and start laughing. It has been that way since you were 2. Even funnier was watching you and Miles together when you were kids. It was like a comedy routine, where you were the comic and Miles was the audience.
Dude, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate our walks together. The fact that you continue to invite me to hang out with you and chat means more to me than you will ever know. (Well maybe now you know lol) Our talks are awesome and I think we have touched on just about every topic of the day. I still think we are going to do a podcast together some day.
I will always be here for you, as long as I am still here. I hope this book can answer some questions for you, and maybe get you to ask a few more.
Thanks for being such a great nephew!
Uncle Bill
Miles
Yo, what up? You are the man, Miles. Until Jack steps up and starts wanting to golf all the time, you will be my favorite. Lol I am just so darn fortunate (unlike our sports teams) because I got to spend so much time around you. Ripping on your pop wouldn’t be near as much fun without you in the mix. I am also very impressed at how disciplined you are with work and school. You always had the craziest memory. I couldn’t ever slip anything past you. If we wanted an honest answer, and the adults weren’t giving one, we would go to you. It was great getting to coach your basketball team with your dad that one year too.
It’s been pretty special to watch you grow up. Getting to hang out with you all summer golfing was more fun than any other golfing I’ve done. Even if we played like crap, I still had fun. Thanks for letting me beat you, and thanks for always agreeing with your uncle’s sports takes over your dad’s.
Let me know if you ever have any questions or if you need anything. I am always available for you my brotha.
Peace!
Uncle Bill
Kali
Yo, what up gurl? Thanks for being such a wonderful and caring niece! I have totally loved all the time we got to spend together while you were growing up. I am so proud of the young lady you have become! The way you help others and put others first is a really big gift God gave you. I always appreciated the birthday cards, and you are still the first to respond to any of us old people when we need something.
I can’t wait to see what God does in your life and where you go next after high school. Wherever you go, I hope it isn’t too far, because we need you around here to help keep Miles and Jack in line. You are funny and smart and an awesome part of our family. Thanks for making me smile! Thanks for putting up with my sister all these years. She means well. Haha!
I am always here for you.
Love you!
Uncle Bill
Riley
Yo. Sup? What u dewin? When I was looking through pictures for this book, you were in a lot more of them than your cousins. I think It could be that you had more sporting events to photo than anyone else? You also fell down a lot, and that made for some good pics. Thanks for being such a great niece. I am so glad your mom was too busy to hang out with you and we got to spend so much time together. Lol You know I think you a fire, and I thought that way before that word was cool.
I am very proud of the strong young woman you have become. You are wicked smart and when you agree with your Uncle Bill you are right a lot. Thanks for putting up with my nephew all these years, I know that wasn’t easy. Being the youngest out of all the nieces and nephews can stink, but you make up for it by being the coolest.
Reach out to me anytime you need me.
Love you!
Uncle Bill
TEAR OUT IN CASE OF EMERGENCY
Below are signs that the tribulation period (hell on earth) is here
There is a world leader or diplomat who will strike a peace deal that allows Israel to rebuild their temple on the temple mount in Jerusalem.
If Uncle Bill was alive and went missing before the peace deal happens, then you are in tribulation. (just check local hospitals first, I am pretty old now)
There is a prophet from the Old-Testament named Elijah. He is going to come back and get Israel focused on God again.
There will only be 10 people ruling over the entire world. They might be called kings, rulers, presidents or whatever, but the key is there are 10. Right now there are hundreds, so this will be a noticeable change.
There will be another world war. We are not sure if it will be the next world war or another after it. Most say it will be WWIII, because they can’t image much survival from it with all the nukes out there.
Famines will have been increasing around the world and in places no one would have expected. Food shortages will raise the cost of a loaf of bread to around $100 or an average person’s daily pay.
Earthquakes will be increasing, and you should have noticed them happening in places they never used to. The largest earthquake ever is coming during tribulation.
Plagues will be increasing, and most of the earth will be start seeing them. Tribulation will be the only time in world history where men want to die to avoid the plagues God brings on them, but are not able to. God ensures no one can kill themselves, or die in any other way to avoid His wrath.
If you are reading this and the things above are happening, don’t lose hope. Maybe this is the time God has planned for you to come to faith. Whatever you do, don’t take the mark of the beast. You will know it when you see it, because people will be killed for not taking it. God tells us death is a good thing during tribulation because your spirit goes right to heaven and out of that hell on earth.
THERE IS HOPE MY SON 