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PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD, THAT YOU MAY BE ABLE TO STAND AGAINST THE WILES OF THE DEVIL.

EPHESIANS 6:11

SEVEN SALLIE (FATHER OF SEVENIA GIRL PROPHETESS)

“Daddy, what do you think you’re doing?” my daughter asked me with a whisper, but her teeth clenched. She had been about to sit back down and continue the interview with Lexi on the occult. But before she sat, she had taken a couple quick steps toward me and clutched my arm.

“What do you mean?” I asked dumbly.

“You know what I mean,” she replied as she looked at my phone, which was still recording a video. She grabbed it from my hand, pursed her lips, and pushed stop. “Shame on you.”

“Sorry, I just did it reflexively. It’s not like I’m gonna post it or anything.”

“Well, watch it or you’re grounded,” she said with a mischievous grin.

I grinned  back and pulled her in for a hug. I kissed her forehead and ruffled her short, mildly spiky, auburn hair. It occurred to me that she had never even been under consideration to be grounded. I needed to thank God more often for blessing me with a saintly daughter.

“What’s going on?” Lexi asked.

“Just exchanging some instructions with dear old dad,” Sevenia said.

“Hey, watch the old part,” I said. “I’m not even forty yet.”

“Pretty close,” my daughter said with a wink.

“Oh wow,” Lexi said. “I thought you were like 43 or 44.”

“Gee thanks.”

“Oh, no, I mean like, I thought you looked great for your age. But aren’t you and Brock the same age? I guess I keep thinking you and he are twins rather than you and that Six fella.”

“Six and I are several months older than Brock.”

“So he’s not in his forties, he looks like it,” Lexi joked.

“Too many fights, I guess,” I replied. “And too many years in the Florida sun. Anyway, are you two ready to resume?”

“Yes,” they replied in unison.

I didn’t know if I was. Lexi mentioning my brother got me wondering how he was. Plus I couldn’t stop thinking about the upcoming Bible study in a couple days. It sounded like both Zella as well as Salena would be there. Like never before, I didn’t understand my feelings for either woman. I was distracted. Then Lexi snapped me out of it with her testimony regarding her sisters.

“When Jezebel fully intended to kill our little sister in a satanic ritual, it opened my eyes like never before to her true colors. I was technically a member of her organization, even though I didn’t take it as serious as most. I went to the cops. But after what had transpired with the attempted gang rape on Amy, and the role I had played in it, they did not take me seriously at all.

“Thankfully, Brock, Dirk, and Bentley Bonnano came to the rescue. Poor Bentley ended up losing his life in the mission to save my little sister,” Lexi wiped at a tear and her lower lip trembled as she continued. “Right there is a sobering example of the ripple effect of sins we take so casually.”

Lexi choked on a sob and pinched the bridge of her nose. I could tell she was truly sorry for her sins. Sevenia gave her a moment to collect herself. I hoped the viewers took note of the love and compassion in my beautiful daughter’s eyes as she prodded Lexi on.

“What did you mean by ripple effect?” Sevenia asked.

“Well, if I wouldn’t have sicked those guys on Amy, the police might have taken my warnings more seriously. Therefore Bentley Bonnano would still be alive.”

“You had mentioned your eyes being opened like never before on true colors,” Sevenia said. “What did you mean?”

“Up to that point, I had resented Amy and admired Jezebel,” she replied. “You see, Amy was mostly raised by her father’s parents, whereas Jezebel and I were raised amongst the revolving door of men in our mother’s life. Many of whom felt inclined to attempt inappropriate things with little girls. I credited this as the reason Amy was wholesome and her two twisted sisters were the opposite.”

“But now that I know Amy better, I can see in hindsight that she didn’t exactly grow up in a bed of roses. Her dad was killed in Iraq when she was still little. Then as a teenager she was pretty much a caretaker for her cranky grandfather. This kept her from experiencing typical teenage girl stuff. Yet it also helped keep her wholesome. The responsibility and what not.”

“What exactly caused you to admire your older sister, but then have your eyes become opened?” Sevenia asked.

“Like I kind of mentioned before, some of our mother’s boyfriends were apparently pedophiles. Yet I noticed after initially showing interest in Jezebel, they steered clear of her and focused on me. When I asked how she did it, she told me that people tend to steer clear of crazy Satanists. Then she explained.

“At the time I had consulted her on the problem, our mother had brought the biggest, meanest, most pathetic creature into our home thus far. When he tried to get Jezebel to preform a sex act on him, she bugged out her eyes, waggled her tongue, and made a hideous screech. Then she bared her teeth, chomped down hard, and asked him to repeat what he wanted her to do. He said if she did that, he’d slap her across the house and back. Then she showed him a switch blade knife and told him he better be a light sleeper.

“He then called her a crazy female dog and said he would turn his attention to her sister, meaning me. She then told him he would have a hard time doing that with a slit throat and being newly castrated. It explained why he not only left me alone, but also didn’t stick around our dysfunctional home very long.

“From that day forward, my older sister was my hero. Even though I didn’t take her dark theology all that serious, I respected and admired her. I thought she was tough, smart, and worldly wise. But then she talked about how a virgin sacrifice would complete her violation of all the commandments of God. I suspected that she meant our youngest sister, Amy.

“That was when the first tiny glimmer of light penetrated my own dark mind. I was appalled at the thought of Amy being killed in a ritual sacrifice. Yet at the same time I had plans to make her a porn star. That’s how twisted the human condition can get.”

“You said the first glimmer of light,” Sevenia said. “By first, I assume there were more glimmers of light or maybe it expanded.”

“This is where it gets tricky,” Lexi laughed without humor. “So thanks to me, Amy almost gets raped. Then not much later, she gets kidnapped by Jezebel’s cult. Then she barely escapes being murdered in a ritual sacrifice. In the aftermath, Jezebel was no longer my hero. But gradually, my little sister became my new hero.

“You see, for all my life I had hated Christians and Christianity. I thought of them all as hypocrites, phonies and people that simply needed to be in a herd. The preachers seemed to be begging for money, even though they wore thousand dollar suits.

“Then I began observing Amy and her Cotton Creek Cove church members. It was different than most churches. They seemed Amish, but without, or maybe I should say with, modern conveniences. I wanted what they had. But something else was also happening. When I tried to, I, um, I, I…”

“When you tried to come to the light, you were controlled by demons,” my daughter interjected solemnly, yet soothingly.

“Exactly! It was like I had a split personality. There was this side of me that was slowly learning about the love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And there was this other side that was consumed with hatred, cynicism, and just plain selfishness. It was like the fire I had against Christianity before, against humanity in general,  was suddenly doused with gasoline. I didn’t understand it and I couldn’t escape from it.”

“Yes, but you did!” Sevenia said. “Yet so many people, without necessarily being demon possessed, can’t seem to escape demon oppression,” Sevenia said.

“Yes,” Lexi replied meekly.

“Praise God!” my daughter enthused.

“The need to put on the whole armor of God is very real,” Lexi said emphatically. “And don’t be deceived. If you are a church going Christian and don’t have, not just the armor, but THE WHOLE ARMOR, the demons are happy to just leave you alone. If you’re not all in, you’re serving their purpose, not God’s. If anyone knows we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, it’s me.” (Ephesians 6:11, 12).

“Lex,” Sevenia said softly. “What was it like when you were being delivered from the demons? I mean when you were laid out on that bed writhing and choking your sister?”

“Stop!” she barked, and then sighed heavily. She bowed her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m sorry. It’s just that that moment in time was both the best and worst of my life.”

“That’s okay, we don’t need to go there,” my daughter told her gently.

I knew it would be better to have Sevenia interview her rather than me. “Let me ask…”

“No,” Lexi said, lifting her head, her eyes blazing with intensity.

I was at her deliverance. Her countenance was similar, but now there was a huge difference. Back then, her eyes looked supernaturally crazed. Now they were filled with righteous indignation. “No, I have to do this. I need to tell what my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did for me!”