I was so unlike your average 20something. While all my friends, my sisters, my cousins, and my sorority sisters were dating, exclusive, and getting married, I was alone. For the past few years (which is the time since I've been saved) I rarely went out on dates or chatted on the phone for long hours into the wee hours of the morning. Nunna that! I was single and solitary for a few years.

Why?

I like to consider myself a “good steward” of my precious time. I don’t sit idly while things happen around me. I get a book, and I read. I study on anything and everything. So during this time while my dating life was “Under Construction”, I utilized this time to see why I and other people like me were single while everyone else our age was dating. Here are a few of the books that revolutionized my love life:

Are You The One For Me? By Barbara DeAngelis

Changes That Heal by my favorite author Dr. Henry Cloud

Honoring the Self by Nathaniel Branden

How To Get A Date Worth Keeping by Dr. Henry Cloud

What Men Think by Bradley Gerstman, Christopher Pizzo, and Rich Seldes

For Young Women Only: What You Need to Know About How Guys Think by Shaunti Feldhahn and Lisa A. Rice

There are other books that have contributed bits and pieces, but these were the most helpful six books. This is actually kind of embarrassing telling people that I couldn’t get a man without the help of some books, but I KNOW I’m not the first or only person to have this problem. I already wrote posts on the last two books – “The Ugly Truth About What Men Really Think About Women” and “Modest is the Hottest” – both of which have been featured. So I’m just going to write on what I gleaned from the first three books.

Are You The One For Me? By Barbara DeAngelis

This book was a gift from my dad. He gave it to me when I was in college. It was SO helpful. It was the first psychological book I read for leisure. It is amazing. This book tells you how to tell if you’re ready for a serious relationship and if the person you are interested in is ready too. Here are some of the more important points:

It is possible to subconsciously sabotage your romantic relationships if you have unresolved issues from the past. The way you grew up and observed your parents’ marriage or relationship will have a profound impact on how you date others. The author said that 90% of what you believe about how the world and relationships work will be determined before the age of 8. If your dad was emotionally distant from the family, you will tend to go for men who are not emotionally intimate with you. If your mother was weak, needy, and dependent upon you, you will tend to attract women who are immature and need a man to take care of them. I learned from this book that I have to observe my past relationships and current relationship to see if I’m repeating any dysfunctional patterns that were modeled to me from my parents’ marriage. Did they fight a lot? Do I? Did they leave each other/divorce? Do I easily break up with my boyfriends? Did they rarely show affection to each other? Do I feel uncomfortable doing the same? When you find out the destructive patterns and realize that you are repeating them, you can do better. I did the work, and I am better.

Also, it introduced me to a concept I believe she called, “Going Home”. She said that for some reason, people have this desire to reproduce their childhood home lives in their romantic relationships either subconsciously or consciously. If your dad was abusive, you might go for abusive men. If you mother was an alcoholic, you might go for alcoholic women. DeAngelis said that children have this desire to want to “fix” their mommy and daddy. So they try to duplicate their parent in a future relationship and then fix them. This is where “codependent” and “enabling” relationships come from.

Changes That Heal by Dr. Henry Cloud

This book has changed my life THE MOST second to the Holy Bible. I reached so many epiphanies with this book. It’s like I kept waking up from a deep sleep in different parts of my life. I studied child development in college, so a lot of the things he said here made perfect sense to me. This book is not specifically on relationships, but it did touch on them a lot. Here are some of the more important points I learned from it about relationships:

This book states that there are FIVE concepts that humans MUST achieve in life in order to be fully successful. One can survive without all of them, but in order to have a life that is not dysfunctional and that is successful, it is SO important to get these down! They are TRUTH & GRACE, BONDING, BOUNDARIES, SORTING GOOD AND BAD, and ADULTHOOD. Truth and grace are about how in a relationship, there MUST be both aspects of truth and grace in order for it to be successful. For example, if my boyfriend always told me, “You are stupid and have a funny smell,” the relationship would suffer. But if he told me, “Baby, you know I love you. The next statement I tell you will have no bearing on my love for you. But sometimes you say things that I think sound stupid, and you also sometimes have a funny smell. But even if you never change these things, I still will love you unconditionally.” If my boyfriend told me that, I would change because of his love for me. I wouldn't be so angry and insulted that I would act more stupid and take less baths. This would ALL be because he delivered the message out of a place of 100% LOVE with 100% TRUTH. That’s how God loves us. He gives us 100% truth with 100% love. It’s hard not to have a great relationship with those two aspects involved.

When it comes to bonding, babies have to bond with their biological mothers in order to have a chance at a normal life even if everything else goes haywire. If the biological mother isn’t there, another woman needs to be there consistently for the first 6 weeks of life. If not, the baby is virtually messed up for life when it comes to bonding and trusting. In child development, this is known as the critical period. It is critical for the mother to be with the baby whenever the baby is awake because if not, the baby will have an insecure attachment. There are 3 types of attachment: secure, avoidant, and anxious. Secure is when the baby is fed and comforted and changed when it wants to be. Avoidant is when the baby has come to grips with the fact that the mother is not going to be consistent in changing, feeding, and comforting it and so the baby loses its attachment to the mother. Anxious is when the mother is there enough of the time for the baby to kind of trust her, but the baby still lives in fear that the mother may not deliver when the time comes because there had been times when she didn’t come when needed. These 3 attachment types will follow you for the rest of you life unless you get help from God. I learned that I had an anxious attachment style. This style made me desperate and needy in relationships to the point that it ruined them. I didn’t totally trust that the man wouldn’t leave me, so I would live in fear that he would. But I brought that to God, and He’s doing an awesome job with it!

When it comes to boundaries, I learned that I must NOT try to swallow my partner whole. Boyfriends and girlfriends should not be so absorbed with the other to the point that they have no lives outside of the other. My boy friend and I are two separate entities. We don’t have to spend every free minute on the phone with each other or hanging out with each other. Every thought in our head should not be about the other. That is dysfunctional and unhealthy. You will get sick of someone like that. Just like with Halloween candy – you want to eat all of it at that moment, but eventually you’ll get sick of it. It’s best to have a little at a time. Eat other things too! I also learned that you have to tell your partner NO sometimes. It’s kind of hard to do for some people, but it’s so important. No one wants to date someone who only says, “Yes, sure, why not, I’d love to, yea, okay, you're always right.” You want someone who is honest and who can say, “That sounds like fun, but why don’t we try doing this today just to switch it up a bit?” “I know how much you love sports, but I’d really like it if we spent this Saturday doing something I enjoy also.” “No, I don’t like it when you say that to me.” “I love you, but please don’t call me that anymore.” It’s okay not to be a “yes-man”. People who are healthy are actually attracted to you more when you resist them on something. I also wrote a post on this topic of boundaries called, "Please Get My Permission Before Crossing My Boundaries. Thanks!"

Regarding sorting good and bad, I realized that no one is perfect. No one is all great and no one is all bad. If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that we have flaws and imperfections. And some of these imperfections will find their way within our relationships IF we are being our real selves. And we have to accept that. There will be no fairy tale relationships. It may feel that way at times, but there will be arguments and disagreements. That doesn’t mean you and your partner are incompatible and doomed for failure. It just means you’re both showing your true selves in the relationship and that you have to compromise on things. There’s no need to be perfect in a relationship! You just have to make it your business to work on the bad flaws and to accept the unimportant flaws in your partner. For example, if your flaw is that you are a little messy or a little overweight, that’s no biggie! But if you flaw is that you have a very sarcastic mouth and are promiscuous, that definitely needs to be worked on because cheating and sarcasm destroys relationships.

Adulthood is a necessity in relationships because CHILDREN DON’T DATE! You have to be an adult in serious relationships. Children need to be outside playing. Adults have relationships. If you are still emotionally or mentally immature, a serious romantic relationship is not for you. Grow up first! If you whine, pout, and give the silent treatment when you don’t get your way from the other partner, you are still a child. If you are ashamed of your body, you are still a child. If you are ashamed to say the words or blush when you hear the words “sex”, “vagina”, and “penis” you are still a child. If you still depend on your parents for everything and even EXPECT them to take care of you when you’re old enough to take care of yourself, you are still a child. If you don’t know how to take care of your own hygiene (hair, washing, clothes), get a job, feed yourself, etc., you are not yet an adult emotionally and mentally, and you need to be single child until you grow up and can have an adult relationship. When you get married, you will be having sex. If you are ashamed of sex or of your body, you can develop sexual dysfunctions like impotence or inability to have orgasm because your will subconsciously feel like a 10-year-old child who is doing something children ought not be doing! This is what the book said!

Honoring the Self by Nathaniel Branden

This book was very helpful regarding self-esteem. It talks about how low self-esteem can impact your relationships. For example:

If you think that you aren’t even worthy of taking up space on the planet, you definitely won’t think yourself worthy of a happy relationship.

If you really believe that you shouldn’t have even been born, you definitely won’t think that you should be dating - which is a pleasant experience that is reserved for people who deserve to be here and who deserve to be happy.

This book showed me that my self-esteem was low. I never knew that it was until I read this book. I had a false sense of confidence that I tried to pass off as high self-esteem, but it was just insecurity coated in confidence. I felt that I was only worthwhile if I had talents and achievements. Instead of thinking, “I deserve to be on this earth because God planned for me to be here before the beginning of time and because He gave me a purpose of leading souls to heaven,” I thought, “I guess I earned my existence because I did well in school, I’m in a sorority, I have a good sense of humor, I’m pretty enough, I have nice hair, I won the spelling bee, I am a neat person, I can sketch, I can write well.” I honestly thought that I only deserved to be on this planet if I had something to contribute. I never thought, “Self, I have just as much right to be here as anyone else. If I never accomplish another cool thing in life, I am worthwhile. I deserve to be alive."

Many people who were born out of wedlock or who had parents that told/tell them, “I wish you had never been born; you were a mistake; I wish I had aborted you"; etc., etc. have similar outlooks on life. They think that they had to be planned by these two adults in order to have earned their right to exist. But I’m here to tell you that YOU WOULDN’T BE HERE IF GOD HAD NOT PLANNED IT AND OKAYED IT! I was not born out of wedlock, and my parents “planned my birth”, but for some reason, I felt that I was intruding on other people’s earth. For example, if I was walking down a grocery store aisle, I felt bad if someone had to walk around me. I felt that they had more right to be there than I did. If I was using my mom’s laptop and my stepdad needed to use it, I felt bad that I was in his way. I felt that I shouldn’t have inconvenienced him by making him wait for me to get up! If I knocked on the door of a bathroom stall and someone was in there, I felt bad that I disturbed them and made them feel they had to hurry. There are so many little examples like this that I felt up until even a couple of months ago. I felt that I should not even BE here for people to even have to move around my body at a store. Now THAT’S low self-esteem. I thought low self-esteem was sleeping around, having an eating disorder, and cutting. But there are other manifestations of low self-esteem.

But when I learned that I had every bit of as much right as the other 6,000,000,000+ people walking on this earth, I started to take up space. If I’m looking for a book at a bookstore, I will make you wait until I find what I’m looking for. If I’m next in line at a cash register waiting to check out, I will not let you skip me. If I need assistance at a fast food restaurant, I don’t feel the need to wait until you finish chatting with a coworker. I’ll say, “Excuse me, ma’am. Could you bring out some more ketchup? There’s no more out here.” I can choose to let someone get in my lane in traffic or I can choose NOT to. I know these scenarios seem silly, but they are GREAT accomplishments to me. I know now that deserve to be here on this earth. I have a right to the space I occupy. I can bother, disturb, interrupt, inconvenience, and block people's way. Of course, I respect people and have no problem waiting or putting myself on the backburner because this is part of the Christian walk. But never again will I see myself as a being that is a waste of space. I’m here and I will be noticed!

So to relate all that back to dating, it has helped tremendously. I am my real self in relationships. I don’t feel the need to be scared of being my true self in case my true self isn’t totally liked. I love my real self. I have high self-esteem now. I consider my guy friend very fortunate to have met me. I’m worth getting to know. I don’t mind asking him to swing by here or there even if it’s out the way from where we’re headed. I don’t mind asking him to cut the air down if I’m cold even if he’s still hot. I don’t think of breaking my fast early just because he's hungry now. I don't change my schedule around or cancel my appointments just because he wants to see me; he can wait. I don't mind saying that I want to eat at IHOPs even though he let me know that he’d rather have Red Lobster. I let my voice be heard in the relationship. I know when to back down and when to be quiet, but I also know when to express my feelings and thoughts because they are all equally as important as his. All of these little things add up. But those things would never have been had I still had low self-esteem. If we break up, my self-worth will still be 100%, and if we stay together until Jesus’ return, my self-worth will still be 100%. It won’t change. It can’t change based on external circumstances. It’s constant because God set it that way.

So in closing, you might just be single because you're not ready. Your negative thoughts or wrong thinking about the world, others, and yourself may be sabotaging your chances at happy love. You might subconsciously think that you are so worthless that you are not worthy of love. If you can't look yourself in the mirror and say, "I'm worthwhile. I deserve good things to happen to me," then you are probably a low-self-esteemer. Find out what are the roots of your problems because until you do that, the fruit of your tree won't change. YOU are the only person keeping you from dating and being happy.

REPOST!!!

IT'S THE OFFICIAL PARTY OF THE YEAR, DECADE, CENTURY, MILLENNIUM, OF ALL TIME!

Hey, everybody! You are all cordially invited to the party of ALL TIME! The party of your lifetime! Everyone will want to be there, I guarantee. The only thing is that you have to follow the requirements to go. First, you have to get to know the Bouncer. His name is J.C. The only way to get in is through JC, or else the host won’t even let you come in. People all over the world are coming.

Keep this on the hush though. It’s a surprise party. JC doesn’t even know when it’s going to happen. He knows it’s coming soon, but His Dad won’t tell him the day OR the hour. So we just have to be ready. This party is a little different than most because at this party, the host gives YOU all gifts.

But in order to get in like I said earlier, you have to get to know the Bouncer. He doesn’t live anywhere near here, but He visits a lot of meeting places that a lot of people meet Him every Sunday, and a few people meet Him mid-week. Some gathering places CLAIM to have Him visit, but He never really does.

The thing about the party is that no one but J.C.’s Dad knows when it’s going to happen, so you have to hurry up and meet Him while there’s still time. His Dad likes to refer to the surprise happening, “like a thief in the night,” because that’s how unexpected it’s going to be. Well, it’s very expected by many of J.C.’s friends, but it’s at such a weird time, that if you’re not vigilant and sober and prepared, you’ll miss it!

You can’t ride to the party. There’s an escort service that’ll come to WHEREVER you are to pick you up. The only way to get to the party is to catch a ride with J.C. You’ve never seen a carpool like this before!

The dress code for the party is all white. You have to be wearing a white robe or a white gown. No make-up, jewelry, perms, relaxers, weave, contacts, fake nails, silicone injects, or other body additions will be allowed inside the party, but you don’t have to take them off until you get in the ride of the carpool. AND YOU MUST KNOW THE PASSWORD.

You don’t have to bring any food or drinks. The only music you have to bring is your voice.

Like I said earlier. EVERYONE’S INVITED! Every race, creed, nationality, socio-economic status, and gender. The ONLY discrimination at this party is against different religions. Don’t get me wrong, J.C. and His Dad love EVERYONE, but there are a few requirements in order to get to come.

Here’s your invitation. It’s up to you whether or not you want to follow the rules or not.

I’m sure some of you have seen MTV’s Super Sweet Sixteen where the fifteen-year old girls have some friends help them pass out invitations. The girls decide early on who they want to come. They usually exclude freshmen and people who are mean to them. And at the door the night of the party, they exclude people who don’t have the invitation with them. The invitation is usually very creative-looking like a fancy key, a key-chain, or a dog chain. And if you come to the door without the cool-looking invitation, you can’t get in! Or if you’re not dressed according the dress-code, you can’t get in!

Well, that’s kind of how the party is like. You can’t get in on your own rules. You can’t say, “Well, I don’t care WHAT J.C.’s Dad says, I’m not going to bring my invitation. I refuse to wear white, and I’m not going to sing either! But I AM getting into that party whether they try to kick me out or not.”

Well, I forgot to tell you that security will be strictly enforced. They have hired guards from Angel’s Security Service. They will be there in full effect. NO ONE’S getting in without meeting the requirements.

So here’s the password to get in. First, J.C. will want to know did you ever bother trying to meet him at the gathering places or by reading His best-selling book. And He’ll want to know if you recited a certain paragraph that they say a lot at the meeting places and in His best-selling book. For those of you who don’t know it, it goes something like this.

Dear Lord. I admit that I am a sinner. I have sinned against you. I am sorry, Lord. Please forgive me. I repent of my sins. I accept you as Lord and Savior of my life. Come into my heart. Wash away my sins. I believe what the Bible says about you. I believe that you are the Son of God. I believe that you were crucified on the cross to die for my sins. I believe that you were buried in a tomb, and that you rose three days later. Please come into my heart and help me to live according to your will.

My friend, if you’ve said this paragraph with sincerity, you are coming to the party! YAY! WHOO-HOO! YIPPEE!

But keep this in mind. If you turn back away into your sins, you can be given over to a reprobate mind. That means if you continue to sin when you know it’s wrong after you have accepted Jesus, then God will sometimes give you over to a reprobate mind where you won’t even have the mind or desire to repent and live right.

Romans 1:28

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

Definitions of reprobate:

• noun:   a person without moral scruples
• verb:   reject (documents) as invalid
• verb:   abandon to eternal damnation

Example: "God reprobated the unrepenting sinner"

So here are the people who will be turned away from coming the party unless they repent and get some act right. So that I will not appear judgmental, I will quote exactly from J.C.'s best-selling book called The Holy Bible. He has many versions/translations. I have only used the King James Version and the New International Version.

Revelation 21:7-8

He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Romans1:26:32 

For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

1 John 3:14-15 

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God ? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God . And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Revelation 22:14-15 

"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

Now, for those of you who already knew about the rules and who follow the rules, I will warn you that people who know the rules but yet don’t like and don’t plan on following the rules will say that J.C.’s Dad is unloving because He won’t let them come as they are. They will say things like, “I thought you said He was loving? Why would a loving Dad not let us come to His party. Didn’t He say we’re all invited?

And you just tell them, “How would you feel if you had a party, and the people you were so kind to invite when you really did not have to, told you that they weren’t going to do a thing you said. They called you names, disobeyed you, blasphemed you, sinned against you, and then have the audacity to say, “You, meanie! You don’t love me!” Wouldn’t you not let them in unless the apologized? If you told all your friends you were having an All-White affair where everyone had to wear white to get in, wouldn’t you have to turn them away for knowing the dress code, and yet they deliberately decided they wanted to wear neon green? Wouldn’t you turn them away if you said, “If I hear you talking about me behind my back, you can’t come.” And then you heard them talk about you like a dog behind your back?” Even certain fancy restaurants and clubs will not let you in even if you had a reservation if you are dressed inappropriately. Some schools won’t let the kids come in without a uniform. Some courts and federal buildings won’t let you bring cell phones and other things inside. But yet when J.C.’s Dad wants to throw a party, people call Him mean for having a password and a “dress code” to get in. He’s not mean, you’re just being silly for not following the rules. If you really want to go, follow the rules. None of the rules are impossible to do.

1 John 5:3

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Definitions of grievous:

adjective:   causing or marked by grief or anguish

adjective:   of great gravity or crucial import; requiring serious thought

adjective:   causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm

adjective:   shockingly brutal or cruel

You see, I can consider mean as throwing a party and only inviting a few of your friends. Mean is throwing a party and inviting none of your friends. That’s mean. But mean is not inviting the ENTIRE WORLD to your party regardless of how cruelly they’ve treated you as long as they say a paragraph and mean it. Mean is not giving all the invitees a million chances to say the paragraph and to repent and to live right.

Now, if I had a birthday, I wouldn’t invite any of you. I’d invite about 30 people that I know, and we’d be cool. If I was a jerk, I’d invite no one. You see, NO ONE has to be invited. J.C.’s Dad is just so loving, merciful, and gracious that He offers you an invitation to spend an eternity with Him in paradise. Whatever you imagine as being an amazing, awesome, wonderful paradise, will result in your being a happy failure because no one can imagine how wonderful it will be. So He’s nice enough to invite you all, but then some people tell Him, “I’m coming alright, but on my own terms. If you don’t like it, you might as well get over it. I know I was born this way. I know I’m a good person inside even though I might not live right. I’m not as bad as Junebug and Billy Joe. I never murdered anybody. So I’m coming to your party just as I am. Didn’t you say come just as I am?”

When the Bible says to come just as you are, it means come just as you are to meet Christ on this earth. It didn’t mean you could come just as you are to heaven. This is not something you want to doubt me on, and it’s not something you want to gamble with. In some people’s eyes, they have a 50% chance of going to heaven and a 50% chance of going to hell. Well, I’m offering you a 100% chance to come to heaven and a 0% chance of going to hell. All you have to do is recite the paragraph with sincerity and a desire to change. Also, it's a good idea to read His best-selling book in order to live according to His will. Don’t think you can by-pass getting to know the Author, YOU HAVE TO GET TO KNOW JESUS CHRIST FIRST. And then you live according to His way. You can’t get to heaven just following the laws without knowing Him. You need to know Jesus, and He will help you live right. Without Jesus, living according to the laws is hard, depressing, and in vain (in vain because you still won’t get to heaven). But Jesus will give you grace and His Holy Spirit that will help you WANT to live by the laws. I’m not talking about all those many, many laws in Old Testament, but by the ones Jesus talked about in the New Testament.

Matthew 22:36-40 

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

See, I told you it wasn’t so hard! If you love God a lot, you won’t do anything to hurt Him. And if you love your neighbor a lot, you won’t lie to or on him, you won’t steal from him, you won’t covet his belongings, you won’t kill him, and you won’t sleep with them outside of marriage. Those two laws fulfill the whole law!

But if you DON’T come to party, you only get one more chance to come and then it’s over. And don’t think you’ll be chilling at the house until you die. There will be A LOT of craziness going on. No offense, but imagine a world with absolutely NO TRUE CHRISTIANS! Of course, there will be fake Christians who pretended to be saved for a long time, but in their hearts, they did not follow the two greatest commandments. They will all be exposed. But the good news is that they will at least know what’s going on so that they can offer the invitation again to more people who have never read the Bible. The bad news is that only 144,000 will be invited after the first carpool goes up. Those 144,000 are sometimes called the Tribulation Saints because they got saved during the Tribulation period. So if you don’t join with the first group, you’ll have to make sure to be one of those 144,000, and that will not be easy in a world with no true Christians and full of evil and deceit. I assure you ONLY 144,000 will get to come. Not to mention the “babysitter” that you’ll be left with. His name is the Anti-Christ. He’ll seem nice at first, but after awhile, He’s going to be more evil than you could have ever imagined. He’ll make it hard for anyone who wants to live right. He’ll even kill many Christians because they won’t worship and obey him. But the second those Tribulation Saints die, they get to join the party! I hope no one tries to commit suicide so that they can be one of the 144,000 because that’s not a promise.

Revelation 14:1

Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion , and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.

So there’s the invite. A four page invite. But even though it sounds all fun and games, it’s very serious. As I mentioned earlier, no man knows the day or the hour the party will be. So you need to live every day and every hour as if He’s coming to pick us up. Christians usually refer to this pick-up time as the Rapture. It’s not called that in the best-selling book, but that’s what we call it. I haven’t even mentioned the fact that you may not even live until the day and hour of Rapture. You could die right after reading this post. So stop flirting with sin and death. Stop flirting with the occult. Stop flirting with things God said to leave alone. He’s trying to warn you.

Matthew 24:36-37

"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

Hurry up and get ready! He’s coming soon.

Revelation 22: 20

He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." 
      Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!