My story begins when I was eight years old. My family was not religious, and rarely went to church. I don’t recall ever seeing a Bible in our home. Our next-door neighbors did attend church, and on many occasions, they would take me and my brother with them. As twins, my brother and I were a bit of a novelty in the community being the only twins in the area.
Our neighbors attended our community Baptist Church and one Sunday morning for some odd reason this young boy of eight decided to take that long walk to the front of the church during alter call and give his life to Christ. As twins we always did everything together, so my twin brother also decided to be saved and joined me in baptism.
That year the tragedies began. My cousin of whom I had the same name was killed in a car accident. He was barely out of high school. The next year our neighbor died of cancer. The next year my father also died of cancer. The following year my twin brother was diagnosed with a brain tumor and he died. During the time my father and my twin brother were battling their disease mother was always at the hospital which left me with my older siblings. My sister had married and moved away, and my brother was old enough to drive so they were not very good babysitters. So, my mother sent me to what relative at the time could care for me. I spent a lot of time with my aunt and uncle on my father’s side. They had two children a boy and a girl whom I was very fond of. They were about the same age as my brother and sister and filled that role very nicely. However, the year after my twin brother died they were shot and killed only two blocks from their home. It was a really sad day.
Now the young boy of eight has turned fourteen. In just a few years I had seen more death than most people experience in a lifetime. We spent so much time at the funeral home that I began to think the owners were part of our family. One day while at the funeral home a young preacher sat all of us kids down outside and told us the story of heaven and hell. He gave us a gospel tract which is a little story book telling in black and white telling the story of some misguided soul that had sinned and having never been saved, died, and went to hell. The story didn’t scare me, but I was attracted to the drawings. At that age I loved to draw cartoons from the funny papers.
During my teenage years I really struggled with all the deaths that had occurred and had many questions that no one was able to answer. I tried going to church to find the answers but to no avail.
I was pretty much on my own at this point. Mother was either working or dating which left me to my fend for myself. With no parental guidance, I came and went as I pleased. As most teenagers I began to smoke cigarettes, drink alcoholic beverages, and drive my car really fast. I reasoned that since my father and brother had died at such a young age, I too would probably die young, so I lived life on the edge.
By the time I’m in my twenties I had been married and divorced. There would be more marriages and divorces to come. It is odd that my first wife had the same exact name as my murdered cousin, and I had the same name as my other deceased cousin. There would be many more odd and strange things that would follow in my life.
As I got older, I still couldn’t get those questions about all the deaths out of my thoughts. I wanted to know the truth. So, I would live in the world awhile and then spend time in church. I was back and forth, back and forth but still could not find the answers that I was seeking. I attended just about every church in town. I started with the Baptist of whom said they had the truth. I went to the Presbyterian church and they said the Baptist didn’t have the truth, but they did. Of course, the Methodist said that the Presbyterian’s didn’t have it, but they did. The Catholic’s, the Episcopalian’s the Church of God, the Church of Christ, the Mormon’s the list goes on and on. I think the only ones I didn’t speak to was the Jewish community. Nevertheless, I found no answers.
So, I decided to give up my quest for the truth and go back to the world. And then a strange thing happened. One day when I was working for a local hair salon this poor pitiful little old lady came into our shop. She must have been a hundred and fifty years old. As she walked ever so softly and ever so slowly, she made her way to the front desk and ask the owner of the salon if she could get her hair done for free. The owner of the salon was a kind gentleman and agreed. Of course, he called me over to perform the free service as I always got the charity work.
As we slowly made our way to the shampoo bowl, she began to ask me questions about my life. Some questions I didn’t want to give an answer. Like, “are you married”; “do have children”; and the big one, “where do you attend church”. I wasn’t going to church at the time, so I avoided answering her question. As I put the finishing touches on my perfect hairdo, she kept quizzing me about my life.
When I finished the lady turned to me and handed me a gospel tract and said, “God wants you back.” I went blank. I didn’t know what to say. As she slowly made her way up to the front desk, she thanked the owner for the free service and then ever so slowly made her way to the front door. I had to know more about this mysterious woman, so I followed her to the door. I was right behind her and she was only seconds out the door. As I opened the door and looked out the woman was gone. She wasn’t on the sidewalk or the parking lot and there were no cars driving away. I remembered the scripture that says to be careful entertaining strangers because you may be entertaining angels unaware. This event definitely got me back on track.
The next spiritual event would be even more mysterious. Someone had left a book on Revelation in the salon, so I decided to take it home to read. I figured if I wanted to learn about the Bible the best place to start was at the end. That way I could skip all the “begots” in the Old Testament. It would be like watching the last half hour of a movie and not having to sit for two hours.
At that time, I lived in an old house that my grandfather had built. It was probably over 80 years old. The front door had a doorbell that never worked. It wasn’t important because those who came to visit just knocked before they came in. As I sat in my living room I opened the book on Revelation and began to read the part that says blessed are those who read the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear what is written and take it heart. I needed a blessing at this time in my life so I prayed to God to give me wisdom and knowledge. I remembered that King Solomon had also prayed for wisdom and knowledge and he ended up becoming the richest man in history. So, I thought praying for wisdom and knowledge couldn’t hurt.
As I ended my prayer the weather outside became dark and the wind began to blow. I could hear the leaves rustling on the tree outside and then all of a sudden it got very still and quiet. At that moment the front doorbell, that never worked, began to ring, and ring, and ring, and ring. I went to look out the door and of course there was no one there. I finally had to cut the wire to the bell to get it to stop ringing. The Lord rang two bells that day.
After the doorbell incident the knowledge began. The more I read the book of Revelation the more I understood it. The knowledge kept coming and at times filled my head to the point that it hurt but I kept reading and studying. I started to regularly attend church and as I sat listening to the pastor’s sermons, they made more and more sense. As this continued something strange began to happen. People in my life began to leave me. My son, my girlfriend, relatives, I even lost my job that I had been at for over 8 years. As I studied scripture, it was revealed to me what was happening. It’s called the “hardening of hearts.” It was said that God had to harden the heart of Pharaoh before Pharaoh would let the Hebrews go. This “hardening of hearts” had to happen to keep me on track as I was again getting more and more involved in worldly affairs. In the Spirit if you are not able to leave a situation or a person to continue your spiritual journey, they will harden their hearts against you and you want have to worry about leaving them for they will leave you. The light and the dark cannot coexist. One of them has to go away.
The Bible is plain; you can’t serve two masters.