LXV

BEHOLD, NOW IS THE ACCEPTED TIME; BEHOLD, NOW IS THE DAY OF SALVATION

2 CORINTHIANS 6:2

DESTINY-KNIGHT STORM

It had been a few days since Zella’s pregnancy announcement, Seven’s declined marriage proposal, and then his declaration that he was ending his romantic interests with Salena. I assume due to the Christmas holiday following right on the heels, I hadn’t heard any more news on the drama.

My husband Brock half teased and half rebuked me that I was hungering after gossip. I begged to differ. I just wanted to know what was going on in the lives of people I loved and cared about. I had no intention of passing any “gossip” on. Nonetheless, to avoid any appearance of evil, I didn’t contact anybody to inquire. However when one of my favorite people on the planet knocked at the door, my first thought was surely she had information.

“Hi, Sweetie, come in, come in,” I told Sevenia.

“Hi, Dee,” Sevenia said with what seemed like a forced smile as she hugged me. “Did you guys have a good Christmas?”

“We did,” I replied. “It was kind of quiet. Amy and Dirk came over with the kids so it was just the six of us. That’s why it was only kind of quiet with little Kirk just learning to walk and Ella is a little pistol, just like her mom.”

“Yes, she is,” Sevenia replied. “But she’s also sweet like her grandma.”

“Oh, that’s nice of you to say. Thank you, honey,” I replied. Brock and I weren’t technically their grandparents. I was only 32 and Brock was 37. I was only ten when Amy was born. But both Amy and Dirk’s parents had died when they were very young. Both were raised by grandparents, all of which are now deceased. So Brock and I had unofficially adopted the beautiful young couple, thereby making us Ella and Kirk’s grandpa and grandma. “How was your Christmas?”

(Amy, Dirk, Destiny, and Brock’s story is told in the e-book ‘Knight-Storm’ by Johnathan Embers)

 “It was okay,” Sevenia shrugged. “My dad and I went to Minnesota and I saw all of my grandparents. I’m blessed to still have all four. But something pretty ugly happened with my dad and his dad that left a rather dark pall over our visit. Grandpa is developing, I guess, something like dementia. We didn’t find this out until we arrived for the visit. Grandma told us not long after we got there. He ended up calling Uncle Six queer. And when my dad told his parents about Zella being pregnant and showed them a picture of Zella…”

Sevenia’s lower lip quivered, her eyes welled, and she pinched the bridge of her nose. I caught the vibe of where this was going and told her she didn’t need to tell me, that I understood.

“He called Zella the n word right to my dad’s face,” Sevenia blurted anyway. “He said he wanted nothing to do with a black grandchild. Only he used the offensive word again. Then he said to my dad, first you take up with Mexicans and now, well, the offensive word again. I know he’s not all mentally there, but I’m part Mexican. So, ya know, it makes it hurt all the more.”

“Sweetie, I’m so sorry,” I told her, wiping my own tears.

“That’s why I love talking to you, Dee,” Sevenia laughed sadly. “You truly listen and feel other people’s pain.”

I bowed my head, not knowing what to say to that, and feeling humbled by her compliment.

“The thing I can’t help wondering, Dee,” Sevenia continued. “Is did Grandpa always have these prejudicial feelings, and now his declining mental health is bringing them out? Or is he simply not himself anymore, and just saying random things?”

“I don’t know if that’s possible to know,” I said and then frowned at how weird that sounded. “I think it’s simply a case where you need to let go and let God.”

“Yeah,” she said quietly. Given what she had just told me, one of the reasons I was glad she showed up had slipped my mind. But Sevenia reminded me. “Did you hear about Uncle Six and Salena?”

“No, what?”

“She’s going back to Florida with him, and they’re gonna get married at the church Uncle Six has been going to.”

“Wow you’re kidding!” I said and then my phone chirped.

“It’s Heather,” I told Sevenia, and then braced for a big disappointment. “Hi, Sweetie. What’s up?”

Heather was one of the two girls I had been bringing to Sevenia’s study/lecture. Chloe, the other gal, had not come to the last one, and ended up telling me later that it just wasn’t for her. Now I feared Heather was going to tell me the same thing, even though she really seemed to be making great spiritual progress. Her life appeared to be transforming for the better right before my eyes.

“Sure, you can stop by. I’m here with Sevenia. No, no, we were just having some friendly chit chat. It’s no bother at all. Okay, see you in a bit.”

I told Sevenia about my reservations.

“Captain Kirk (AKA Pastor Samson) told me before I began these study lectures,” Sevenia explained. “That typically, more people end up rejecting the truth than accepting it. Sometimes nobody accepts it. He advised me that it’s best to just look at trying to save souls as planting seeds. Even if the harvest doesn’t come right away, it may come someday by some other means. Kind of like what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:6. I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.”

“I know right, but it’s still hard though.”

“From what I’ve seen, you’ve got a pretty good track record.”

I shrugged and smiled. “Are you really only seventeen?”

She smiled shyly, shrugged, kicked of her sneakers, and crossed her legs on the kitchen chair. Watching her contort her legs into a pretzel made me wince, even though I myself often sat with my legs crossed, just not as limberly as Sevenia. I noticed her big toe peaking through a hole in her black tights. I had heard Seven tease her about razor blade toenails and having continuous holes in tights and socks. He said it also reminded him that she is still his little girl.

“Okay, so, I assume your dad ending things with Salena went well?”

“Yeah, I suppose it went as well as it could have,” Sevenia said with a shrug. “Salena actually had told me my presentations didn’t sit well with her either. She confessed that she had mostly been coming so she could be with my dad. She hoped it would bring them closer and bring healing. She said after he, um, gave in to temptation with Zella, she ultimately couldn’t get over it. Especially with her attending the studies as well.

“Then when Uncle Six showed up professing newfound faith, she felt it might be a sign from God. But she didn’t know how to end things with my dad, and start things with his brother. It seemed impossible. But when my dad ended things with her, she then became convinced it was a sign from God that she be with Uncle Six.”

“Wow,” I replied, wide eyed. “Anything new with Zella then?”

“Well, when my dad told Zella about ending things with Salena, she, well, still rejected him,” Sevenia said and then got a mischievous grin.

“Why do you look like the cat that swallowed the canary?” I asked.

Sevenia frowned. “I don’t think I like that analogy. Anyway, I saw Zella before I came over here. I told her what happened at my grandparents. She shared some personal examples of racism that she had dealt with. Then we talked about this and that. I ended up asking her about Dad. She told me she had made a vow to herself never to be in a relationship again.”

“She told me the same thing,” I said.

“I detected her heart wasn’t in it, though.”

“I did too.”

Her mischievous grin appeared again. “So I said to Zella, if you change your mind about Dad, would you mind if I called you Mom, along with my little brother or sister?”

“What did she say?” I asked, touching her arm, and wearing my own mischievous grin.

“Her eyes kind of welled, she bit her lower lip, she hugged me and said of course.”

I bit my lower lip as a knock sounded at the door. “Hi, Heather, come in, come in.”

“Hi,” she greeted with a big smile as she walked through my door. “Hi, Sevenia.”

“Hi, Heather,” Sevenia said with a smile as she stood and hugged her.

“I had a little experience this morning,” Heather told us. “I was wondering if one of you would baptize me today.”

“Okay,” Sevenia and I said at the same time, and then looked at each other.

“What was your experience that is making you feel the urgency to be baptized today?” Sevenia asked.

“Well,” she said and then blushed. “Now that I’m about to share it, it seems kind of silly.”

“Sweetie, trust me, nothing that draws you to the Lord is silly,” I told her.

“You might change your mind after I tell you.”

“Try me.”

“Okay, so, you know Chloe stopped coming to Sevenia’s studies.”

“Unfortunately, yes,” I replied.

“So, she hooked up with an old boyfriend, she fell off the wagon and started drinking again. I fear she’s gonna relapse back to heroin again, too. I’ve tried to talk sense into her, I really did. I even pleaded. But like you said in your lectures, Sevenia: You can’t drive someone to the Lord, they must be drawn.”

“Yes, I believe that’s true,” Sevenia said.

“Anyway,” Heather continued, as she tucked a strand of long bleach blonde hair behind an ear. “Chloe let this guy move in with her. He didn’t like her two Guinea pigs, so she asked me if I would take them. I said I would.”

“How can you not like Guinea pigs when they’re such sweet little creatures?” Sevenia asked.

“One of them in particular tends to chirp and squeal when you walk by, hoping for food or a treat. I guess he found it annoying. Anyway, I was cleaning their cage this morning. They don’t like to be picked up. Now, this is where you’re gonna think I’m silly.”

“We won’t think you’re silly, I promise,” I reassured her.

“Okay, well, one of them in particular gets rather frightened. When I was putting her back in the cage, I was petting her and talking really lovingly to her. I told her that I wasn’t going to hurt her, don’t you know that I love you? That’s when it occurred to me that I had always been like my little Guinea pig with God. I was always frightened of this supreme being that I figured was really disappointed with me. But you guys introduced me to the real God, the God that died for my sins on the cross. The God that had always been like me with my Guinea pigs, loving and taking care of me, drawing me to Himself.”

Heather put her face in her hands and sobbed. I gently rubbed circles on her back. “That was beautiful, Sweetie.”

“She lifted her head and wiped tears away from her light brown eyes, her thin lips trembled. “You don’t think that was corny?”

“That was one of the most heartwarming testimonies I have ever heard,” I told her.

“Yes, it was!” Sevenia added.

“That’s not all,” Heather said with a shy smile. “Dee, do you know how you told me you like to  randomly open your Bible and see what verses your eyes go to?”

“I sure do.”

“So when I was done with the piggies,” Heather explained. “I prayed, and then randomly opened my Bible. In only about ten seconds I came to 2 Corinthians 6:2. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. I reread it a half a dozen times. I felt not only a desire, but a need to be baptized.”

We called Captain Kirk and he met us at Cotton Creek Cove. He must have started a call chain because a dozen other church members showed up.

“Which one of you is gonna do the honors?” Captain Kirk asked Sevenia and me.

“Can Dee and I do it together?” Sevenia asked.

“I don’t see why not,” Captain Kirk shrugged and then grinned.

After Heather came out of the watery grave, symbolizing new spiritual life, we celebrated her ceremony with singing. It was a truly joyous event on a Monday afternoon that I will never forget. Especially with the tragedy that came on its heels.

Three days later late in the late afternoon on New Years Eve, I found myself standing on Seven Sallie’s front porch. I was completely numb and grief stricken. I must have looked it too.

“Dee, what’s wrong?” Seven asked by way of greeting.

“Is Sevenia here?”

“Yeah, come in.”

Sevenia entered the living room and as soon as I saw her, I burst into tears.

“Dee, what’s wrong?” Sevenia asked, running up to me and taking my hand in hers, a look of concern in her pretty hazel-green eyes.

“You remember the girl that was coming to your presentations with Heather and me?”

“Of course I do, Chloe.”

“She was just found a couple hours ago, dead from an apparent heroin overdose. She was only 22 years old.”

“Oh no!” Sevenia choked as she squeezed my hand and wiped at a tear with her other. “How did Heather take it? I know they were pretty close friends.”

“She was pretty broken up,” I replied. “She wondered why Chloe turned her back on the truth and returned to her old lifestyle. But she’s resilient and has learned quickly to rely on God. She even quoted James 4:14 to me.”

“Whereas you know not what shall be tomorrow,” Sevenia recited.

“For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away,” we said together.

Then Sevenia and I cried in each other’s arms.

DESTINY KNIGHT-STORM’S NOTES FROM SEVENIA’S 9^th LESSON

IS THE U.S.A. IN BIBLE PROPHECY?

The book of Revelation is built on the Old Testament and the book of Daniel in particular.

Daniel chapters 7 and 8

Lion with eagles wings = Babylon

Bear with three ribs = Medio Persia

Leopard with four heads = Greece

Beast with ten horns = Rome

Little horns = The medieval church

Judgement scene = Divine intervention

The church actually becomes the biggest enemy of the true gospel.

“The little horn” Persecutes the saints (7:25) Changes times and laws (7:25) Rules for 1260 prophetic days (7:25) Exalts himself to Christ’s place (8:11) Took away daily ministry (8:11) Cast down God’s sanctuary (8:11) Cast truth to the ground (8:12) Prospered and grew (8:12)

In Revelation chapter 13- Not literal beasts, they represent powers and kingdoms.

THE SEA BEAST

Composite of Daniel 7’s beasts

Receives mortal wound but healed

Worldwide popularity

42 months/1260 days

Blasphemes God and heavenly tabernacle

Makes war against the saints

Global authority

Ultimately destroyed by divine intervention

The book of Daniel was written approximately 600 years before Christ.

Church history in four segments: 1.Formation (Primitive Godliness) 2.Deformation (The Dark Ages) 3.Reformation (With reformers like Martin Luther) 4.Restoration

The two beasts of Revelation 13 work together to coerce conscience and force worship.

THE EARTH BEAST

Exercises authority of the first beast. Causes all to worship the sea beast. Great signs; fire from heaven. Deceives earth by signs and wonders. Makes image of “the first” beast. Gives breath to the sea beast. Threatens death for non-compliance. Enforces mark of loyalty. Employs economic threats and means.

A UNIQUELY WEIRD VERSE

Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon Revelation 13:11, 12.

Lamb represents Jesus.

Why weird? It is only place in scripture where Jesus and the dragon are together.

Verse 12: And he exercises all authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those that dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

A REMARKABLE FIT

The timing of the arrival of the sea beast is critical

A.D. 538—-A.D. 1798 this fits the 42 months or 1260 days or 3 and a half years.

On January 11, 1798, a definite order was issued by the French Government to its troops to march on Rome and occupy it.

French general for Napoleon, Berthier, commanding in Italy occupied Rome in February 1798. French forces reached the outskirts of Rome on February 9, 1798. Six days later they occupied the city itself without opposition.

On February 20 Pius VI was carried into exile at the hand of the French, signaling the long period of papal dominance in European affairs.

This significant event was intended by the enemies of the church to represent the final triumph of the French Revolution over the Christianity of the west. (Cedric Ward)

The earth beast arises at about the time the sea beast receives an apparently deadly wound.

The earth beast is in some significant sense, lamb like in its character.

DOES JESUS HAVE A PHONEY TWIN?

1.Both come up out of the water. (Jesus began his public ministry after his baptism)

2.Both resemble their father.

3.Both have horns and crowns. (Horns are a symbol of power. Crowns represent royalty)

4.Both receive authority from their “father.”

5.Both have 3 and a half year careers. (One literal, the other prophetic years)

6.Both slain, then resurrected.

7.Both worshipped after resurrected.

8.Both given universal dominion.

John in Revelation depicts this power as seeking to APE the ministry and identity of Jesus.

“Antichrist” doesn’t just mean in opposition, but to usurp.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

1.Arises in a new area.

2.Lamb like principles. No crown/king

3.Arises around 1798. (When old beast is going down, new beast is coming up)

4.Grows up (It’s a young power)

5.Has global military influence.

6.Has global economic influence.

7.Devolops close bond with the sea beast.

8.Comes to speak like a dragon.

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (JULY 4, 1976)

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among me, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government. Laying it’s foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form.

1^st CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION MAY. 23,1787

Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the FREEDOM OF SPEECH, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievance.

Royalty=Subjects. The “New World” created a “Middle Class.”

2 PRINCIPLES

1.Freedom from a king=Republic

2.Freedom from a pope=Protestantism

The U.S. Spends more money on the military than the next seven nations combined.

It’s a terrifying concept that war is a lucrative business.

PRESIDENT DWIGHT D EISENHOWER’S FAREWELL SPEECH 1961

This injunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. Total influence, economic, political, even spiritual, is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications.

Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic process. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together.

The prophecies of Revelation are fulfilling right before our eyes.

Tragically “the church” often bore very little resemblance to or connection with Jesus.

Here is the patience of the saints; here are they who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. (Revelation 14:12)

(For a more in depth study of Bible prophecy, check out on YouTube, Amazing Facts with Doug Bachelor, David Asserick, or Taj Pacleb.