OPTIMIST or PESSIMIST?

[Dennis1209]

We are seeing all the global problems coming on like birth pains and their effects on America and the world. We cannot get the products and services we were privileged to enjoy a couple of years ago. I could write a laundry list of delays I've experienced trying to get a repair part, service, or product for something. 

Monday, I went to get four new tires for my pickup truck, no big deal, right? They didn't have four of anything, they had to call different suppliers around the region to get them piecemeal. I would not be surprised to see $10.00 a gallon gasoline shortly. I have some written estimates of a couple of months ago I neglected to act upon. Guess what the prices are since then?

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the problems we are now dealing with, will they eventually get better or worse? 

I believe we are the terminal generation that will see all these things come to pass spoken of in the Bible. As a pretribulation believer, I am optimistic that I am not a citizen of this world, and that Jesus can come at any moment to take us home. The Bible is not specific on how much of the end-time we will witness and experience, each having a different hermeneutic viewpoint. 

I personally suspect right now is the first blip on the fetal monitor, and the contractions get stronger and closer together from here on out. 

Your thoughts? 

[Starise]

Hi Dennis,

 Well we all come out of the womb usually in a bad mood the first time we try to open our eyes crying. I think it's a natural tendency to be more pessimistic than optimistic. It seems the bad things are easy to spot while the good things take extra effort.

Jesus said in this life we would have trouble. Boy He wasn't in any way sugar coating it was He? As we get older it seems troubles mount up, accumulate.

I guess I would say I'm pessimistic of good times in the short term and optimistic of good times in the long term. Remember that song " Life is Hard, God Is Good"? 

Christians live in faith and hope knowing this is not our home. We know it's going to get better, but first it's probably going to get worse.

If we are READY for the Lord's return, the time table doesn't matter as much. If we are READY, present tense, the staying power of being ready in Christ is enough to go through whatever He is going to allow.

I would advise against an expectation that might not develop in the way we though it would. Live each day in Christ and only expect what He has for us. HE is enough to get us through anything. Whether we die or whether we are here when Christ returns, He is with us.

[WilliamL]

6 hours ago, Dennis1209 said:

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the problems we are now dealing with, will they eventually get better or worse? 

Worldly problems are getting worse, but I don't spend a whole lot of time in the world. My Christian community seems to be coming more and more together and blessed. Because we have been preparing for just such times, for quite a while. For example, I grow a great deal of my own food, give away quite a bit of it, and get most of the rest locally. Country folks don't need a whole lot of stuff, and know how to get by.

Proverbs 22:3 A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself,
But the simple pass on and are punished.

[OneLight]

I'm as best of a Realist as I think I can be.  I see good where good presents itself and bad where bad is presented.

[Guest]

I am a pessimist.  Here's a perfect example.  A man walks up to my wife and I (in handicap parking) as we are loading our small SUV with groceries.  He gives a story about his car having some mechanical problem and abandoned on the interstate about a block away.  He asks us if we could give him two dollars for a bus pass so he could get home.  My wife gives him five dollars and he thanks us and continues trolling the parking lot.  I kept watch on him and saw him hit up more people for money including folks in a fast food drive-thru.  The local TV news has investigated these people with homemade signs asking for money.  It's a con.  There are jobs available for those wanting to work.  I don't have faith in humanity, politicians, countries, etc.

[AdHoc]

9 hours ago, Dennis1209 said:

We are seeing all the global problems coming on like birth pains and their effects on America and the world. We cannot get the products and services we were privileged to enjoy a couple of years ago. I could write a laundry list of delays I've experienced trying to get a repair part, service, or product for something. 

Monday, I went to get four new tires for my pickup truck, no big deal, right? They didn't have four of anything, they had to call different suppliers around the region to get them piecemeal. I would not be surprised to see $10.00 a gallon gasoline shortly. I have some written estimates of a couple of months ago I neglected to act upon. Guess what the prices are since then?

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the problems we are now dealing with, will they eventually get better or worse? 

I believe we are the terminal generation that will see all these things come to pass spoken of in the Bible. As a pretribulation believer, I am optimistic that I am not a citizen of this world, and that Jesus can come at any moment to take us home. The Bible is not specific on how much of the end-time we will witness and experience, each having a different hermeneutic viewpoint. 

I personally suspect right now is the first blip on the fetal monitor, and the contractions get stronger and closer together from here on out. 

Your thoughts? 

A very good question. If we look at the verses the answer is not so easy.

 6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Who likes war? A handful of born soldiers. So we all feel rocked by war. When the comforts of life cost double, we feel unsettled. When the refugees come streaming in and eat our taxes, we again are unsettled. And when we are in that "diverse place" and see the bodies, we are greatly moved. We see "the old way" passing - and we cannot but be pessimistic.

But what is actually happening is a simple work by the Lord. In Matthew 13 the end of the age is said to be a HARVEST. And the difference between Wheat and Tares is that the Tares have very robust roots to attach it to the earth. Wheat, on the other hand, dries up at the root as the day of harvest approaches. It becomes ready to be harvested and REMOVED from the earth. The Lord is just weaning us from this world for His harvest. But we must be like Abraham. He left all that was dear to him and went to a Land he did not know. We too must see what the Lord is doing. It is very gracious of Him to wean us from this world. Wouldn't it be tragic if we, like Lot's wife, looked back when the angel takes us upward.

[OneLight]

11 minutes ago, Saved.One.by.Grace said:

I am a pessimist.  Here's a perfect example.  A man walks up to my wife and I (in handicap parking) as we are loading our small SUV with groceries.  He gives a story about his car having some mechanical problem and abandoned on the interstate about a block away.  He asks us if we could give him two dollars for a bus pass so he could get home.  My wife gives him five dollars and he thanks us and continues trolling the parking lot.  I kept watch on him and saw him hit up more people for money including folks in a fast food drive-thru.  The local TV news has investigated these people with homemade signs asking for money.  It's a con.  There are jobs available for those wanting to work.  I don't have faith in humanity, politicians, countries, etc.

I'd call that being a realist ... just saying.

[Sower]

13 hours ago, Dennis1209 said:

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the problems we are now dealing with, will they eventually get better or worse? 

Take no thought for the morrow.       God's got my back, through better or worse!

These are exciting times (optimistic) to get a good glimpse of just how strong our faith really actually is.
Are we giving God the opportunity to show His faithfulness? Do we really trust the Lord of Lords.
Are we continuing to sow the seeds of the good news to whosoever will as the time is getting short.
Or are we building bomb shelters like back in the fifties. To hide.

The covid/CDC debacle got my wife and I on our knees to decide what to do, jab or no jab.
It was like when we discovered what was going on in the government run schools back in the mid eighties.
We were on our knees then, should we leave them under the influence of government run school curriculum,
or home school them in a Christ oriented environment. We got excited then too, though plenty nervous.

God is on the throne, and He never left us nor forsook us. He was so faithful.
It was illegal in Texas to home school at the time and there were school principals and homeschooling parents jailed!
God led us to home school all our kids and He cleared the way from first grade through college. Ain't God good!
We decided that fear should not be a deciding factor when making decisions. Fear was on TV, radio, newspapers and forums.
We did not get the vaccine(s-s-s) but built up our God given immunity's with all those illegal forbidden age old drugs/vitamins.
We eventually both caught covid at church, and wife was back to work at her business in 5 days, and myself ten. No aftereffects.
We both have had worse cases of flu during our younger days. Back when patients were not drugged/incubated to death.
I'm beginning to believe that anything the (present) government forbids, or makes illegal, then the opposite is the best way to go.
Think about that a minute, in this woke/LGBT generation .

Times are hairy for sure. For my wife and myself it's like the end of the toilet paper roll, getting faster-getting shorter.
Getting exciting cause we know were going home soon. And with all the media fear mongering, gas prices, shortages
of food and commodities, (please don't forget to fill up two closets min of toilet paper:) people are afraid.
I have the niche (God given boldness) to steer a conversation to the hard/scary times, and then tell why my wife and I are at peace.
People that need to hear about the good news are all over the place, and today is the day of salvation.
The simple phrase "Jesus loves you" seems to open the door, and especially the ears. Many actually start the asking questions,
 and seeking, wanting to know the truth about God, and hear some good news, the real 'good news.'
I've been passing out an inexpensive neat looking "Bible Promise Book for Men-Women" and have their
spouse asking for another for themselves. People are searching in these "the problems we are now dealing with"
My wife and I have been so blessed with so many true riches it's hard to not to be so grateful.
: "Only one life, 'twill soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last".
Our goal is to pass on His blessings and not whine and complain about what God decides is best for us.


 

                  “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
                                                  therefore
  pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

 

                        

 

 

[Sower]

15 hours ago, Dennis1209 said:

We are seeing all the global problems coming on like birth pains and their effects on America and the world. We cannot get the products and services we were privileged to enjoy a couple of years ago. I could write a laundry list of delays I've experienced trying to get a repair part, service, or product for something. 

Monday, I went to get four new tires for my pickup truck, no big deal, right? They didn't have four of anything, they had to call different suppliers around the region to get them piecemeal. I would not be surprised to see $10.00 a gallon gasoline shortly. I have some written estimates of a couple of months ago I neglected to act upon. Guess what the prices are since then?

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the problems we are now dealing with, will they eventually get better or worse? 

 

Your thoughts? 

I'm having the same problems Dennis getting specialty sheet plywood that I ordered a large load of that's sitting in train box car at the rail head in Oregon (I'm in Texas) and has been delayed almost two months now. I'm wishing but not hopeful. I may lose my customer and the business but I consider my business belongs to the Lord, so maybe I'm finally going to get to retire. Either way will be a blessing for me.  Waiting to see what God has got in store for us, knowing it will be His best blessing, whatever happens.
Trust and obey.

Wonder what our great/grandparents who went through the 'Great Depression', starving in soup/bread lines living in shacks,
no work to be found,  with the threat of  German Nazi occupation/holocaust looming certain on the horizon, would say about our so called "tough times".   It's all relative. To whom much is given, much is required.

Today nobody wants to work when the government checks keep rolling in, and welfare checks are bigger than going to work,
and our Amazon Prime orders are sometimes taking two whole days to arrive. Rough.  Students today believe it their right and protest  for free college education. I had to enlist in the military combat to receive the same privilege. Tough times for sure....

 

                  

 

 

 

 

Today's generation..........

 

 

 

Imagine having to pay for services received. How unjust!!

[angels4u]

13 hours ago, Saved.One.by.Grace said:

I am a pessimist.  Here's a perfect example.  A man walks up to my wife and I (in handicap parking) as we are loading our small SUV with groceries.  He gives a story about his car having some mechanical problem and abandoned on the interstate about a block away.  He asks us if we could give him two dollars for a bus pass so he could get home.  My wife gives him five dollars and he thanks us and continues trolling the parking lot.  I kept watch on him and saw him hit up more people for money including folks in a fast food drive-thru.  The local TV news has investigated these people with homemade signs asking for money.  It's a con.  There are jobs available for those wanting to work.  I don't have faith in humanity, politicians, countries, etc.

Best thing is probably to get him food instead of money?