LXXI

IN ME YOU MIGHT HAVE PEACE. IN THE WORLD YOU SHALL HAVE TRIBULATION: BUT BE OF GOOD CHEER; I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD.

JOHN 16:33

BROCK STORM (DESTINY KNIGHT-STORM’S HUSBAND)

I’ve discovered in life that it is more difficult to observe people you love suffer hard things rather than endure them yourself. Not only was my precious wife dealing with the imminent death of her father, but she was also processing deep, dark, family secrets along with her beloved Aunt Belle.

“Who’s Jason Parnell?” Destiny asked her aunt. “I’ve never heard of him. It doesn’t ring a bell.”

Aunt Belle looked, not only troubled, but deeply pained. “How about I tell you some other time? After we deal with your father’s, um, situation.”

“I can tell this is hard for you, Auntie,” Destiny said sympathetically. “But I’d really like to know what he was talking about before he, you know… Anyway, he refused to tell me anymore than this name I’ve never even heard of. He said it was better for you, not only being a woman, but…”

Destiny stopped speaking, and now she chewed her lower lip in anguish as she studied her aunt.

“But what?” Belle inquired.

“Well, he said since you took over parenting duties, you should be the one to tell me.”

“Parenting duties?” Belle frowned. “Did he mean with you?”

Destiny shrugged and nodded.

“I could probably count on one hand the number of times I saw you when you were a child,” Belle said, and then she snorted a non-humorous laugh. “It’s not my fault he drove your own mother to drink herself to death, and he was an overbearing jerk. I mean, as an adult, I didn’t see you at all until you were what? Twenty-eight?”

Destiny shrugged, and then nodded meekly. Belle sobered, and gazed fondly at her niece, putting a hand to Destiny’s cheek. “I’m sorry for that rant. This has been a stressful and confusing time for both of us.”

“Yeah,” Destiny said, forcing a smile and putting a hand gently over her aunt’s.

“You know what though,” Belle continued smiling lovingly at my wife. “Over the last few years you’ve been like the daughter I never had.”

“Oh, Auntie,” Destiny cried as she hugged her. “I love you like a mother.”

“You may not feel that way when I tell you about…” Belle said and then made a face like she might vomit. “I can’t even say his name. I haven’t said his name in more than half a century.”

“Why?” Destiny asked, and then demanded with a stomp of her foot. “Who is he?”

Belle looked at me, and I hated the look of pain and anguish on her face. “Brock, Honey, can you leave Destiny and me alone?”

“Absolutely.”

“I’m sorry, but I haven’t spoken to anybody but God about this person in, well, half a century. I promise she can tell you everything I tell her. I just can’t…”

“I understand.”

Destiny was like a zombie when we left the hospice and drove to our hotel. I was dying to know what Belle told her about this Jason Parnell guy. But I needed to give her space, time to process whatever it was that Belle told her. When we got to our room, Destiny sat down hard on the bed and became stone still.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked after a minute.

“No,” she replied quietly, and with a quivering lip.

“Okay,” I replied softly as I went on one knee in front of her. I pulled off her shoes and started to massage a foot. She fell back on the bed and sighed heavily. Five or ten minutes later, I switched to her other foot. She was so quiet that I wondered if she had fallen asleep. Suddenly, she sat up and the words began to spill out of her.

“The man Belle spoke of,” Destiny began. “I don’t even want to say his name. I want to forget his name. I wish I never heard his name. I wish I never heard what he did to my aunt and my father. Yet on the other hand, because I know, I have such compassion for both of them. I see my dad in a brand new light. Now I can not only love him, but like him as well. That poor man! That poor little boy!”

Destiny put her face in her hands and sobbed. I sat next to her on the bed and put my arm around her.

“You don’t have to tell me anymore, Dee,” I said gently.

“No!” She said, shaking her head violently. “I need you to know. You are my soul mate, and just being with you right now is like a warm comfy quilt when I’m freezing cold.”

I kissed her on the temple. She clutched my face in her hands and kissed my lips. When she pulled away, she choked on a sob, and a stream of snot came out her nose. I pulled on my sleeve, stretching it to her face and wiped the mucous from her face.

“Brock, gross!” She said, softly slapping my chest as a laugh broke through like a quick burst of sunshine on a cloudy, rainy day.

“Nothing about you is gross.”

“You’re sweet,” she said as she leaned her head against my should. “But I sure feel gross after hearing what Belle had to say. Beyond dirty.”

She became quiet. I gave her time.

“This guy was apparently their stepfather,” she finally said.

“Jason Parnell?”

“Please don’t say his name,” Destiny winced, and put her hands to her ears as if the name hurt. Actually, it probably did. “After I tell you what transpired, I hope to lock it in some deep, silent vault in my brain and throw away the key, or combination, or whatever.”

“Sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry for being so melodramatic.”

“You’re not. It’s clear what she told you is painful.”

Destiny nodded and continued. “This guy molested and psychologically manipulated Aunt Belle from the time she was thirteen until she was sixteen.”

“Wasn’t she sixteen when she ran away from home?” I asked.

“Yes, that’s how her abuse ended. Or maybe I should say changed. What happened to my dad might have been worse. How do you compare evil with evil though?”

“He molested your dad too?”

“Well, yes, but it was different,” she said with a wince. “He used my dad in child porn.”

“What!”

“Yes, starting before he was even ten, and lasting a few years. Belle was racked with guilt when she first found out.”

“How did she find out?”

“The guy was caught and arrested.”

“Good!”

“She found out when some detectives questioned her.”

“So he went to jail I hope.”

“He did, but he didn’t last a month. He was shanked, or something, and died from the injuries. Belle was devastated that she didn’t protect her little brother from him. When she left home, she thought my dad would be safe since he was a boy. She said the guy wasn’t prone to be violent, and she didn’t realize the depths of his perversion.”

“Wow,” was all I could quietly respond. “What a low life.”

“Not by appearance.”

“What do mean?”

“The guy was fairly wealthy, and he was politically connected.”

“I’m surprised he didn’t get out of it somehow.”

Destiny just shrugged. “No wonder my dad was so upset when I got into adult entertainment. I mean any decent father would. But I mean, with his own sick experiences on top of it.”

She fell back on the bed exhausted. In the morning, the phone woke us up at half past six. Destiny answered it, said ‘I see’ a couple times and then thanks. The hospice said we should come right away. We dressed hurriedly and left to go see her dad. Belle met us outside his room with a tear streaked face.

“He passed away about five minutes ago,” Belle told us.

She and Destiny held each other and cried.

“You were the last thing on his mind,” Belle said when they came apart. “He was trying to say ‘tell’, but was too weak to say any more. So I asked, ‘tell Destiny you love her?’ He smiled, and a couple minutes after that he was gone.”

A few days later, as we headed toward home, Destiny quietly sang along to an old time gospel CD I found at a thrift store. Her phone chirped. When she looked at the caller ID, she emitted the first truly happy smile I had seen from her in days. It was Sevenia. “Hi, Sweetie.”

“Yeah, it was a tough few days,” Destiny said with a big sigh. “Thank you… Yeah, I’m okay, thanks… Uh huh… I see… No, that’s not crazy, you know my testimony and the role a dream played… We’d be glad to… Sure, I’m sure… Listen, we’re about an hour away from home, why don’t you come over… Sure I’m sure… Okay, we’ll be seeing you then, bye.”

Without a word, Destiny turned up the music, and began to quietly sing along again.

“Aren’t you gonna tell me what that was about?” I asked.

“Aren’t we nosy?” Destiny asked with a coy smile.

I couldn’t help laughing. It felt good to be getting my cheerful, playful Dee back.

“Sevenia said something about a profound dream she had last night. She just wanted to discuss the meaning of it with us. She thought we might have already been home by now.

“Oh,” I replied casually, not realizing Sevenia’s dream was going to lead us into a horrific, ugly situation on par with the abuse Destiny’s father and Aunt Belle had endured.

DESTINY’S BIBLE STUDY NOTES

(Written with the finger of God. Part two)

Isn’t a Christian who has faith and is living under grace freed from keeping the law? “Sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin (break the law) because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!” (Romans 6:14, 15). “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law” (Romans 3:31).

Answer: No! The scriptures teach the very opposite. Grace is like a governor’s pardon to a prisoner. It forgives him, but it does not give him the freedom to break another law. The forgiven person, living under grace, will actually want to keep God’s law in his or her gratitude for salvation.

Are the Ten Commandments of God also affirmed in the New Testament?

Answer: Yes, and very clearly so.

1. “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve” (Matthew 4:10).

2. “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). “Since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising” (Acts 17:29).

3. “That the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed” (1 Timothy 6:1).

4. “He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: And God rested on the seventh day from all His works. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:4, 9, 10).

5. “Honor your father and mother” (Matthew 19:19).

6. “You shall not murder” (Romans 13:9).

7. “You shall not commit adultery” (Matthew 19:18).

8. “You shall not steal” (Romans 13:9).

9. “You shall not bear false witness” (Romans 13:9).

10. “You shall not covet” (Romans 7:7).

The law of God in the Old Testament.

1. “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3).

2. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and forth generation of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments” (Exodus 20:4-6).

3. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain” (Exodus 20:7).

4. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8-11).

5. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12).

6. “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13).

7. “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14).

8. “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15).

9. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16).

10. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbors wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17).

Are God’s law and Moses’ law the same?

Answer: No—they are not the same. Moses’ law contained the temporary, ceremonial law of the Old Testament. It regulated the priesthood, sacrifices, rituals, meat, and drink offerings, etc. All of which foreshadowed the cross. The law was added ‘till the seed should come,’ and that seed was Christ (Galatians 3:16, 19). The ritual and ceremony of Moses’ law pointed forward to Christ’s sacrifice. When He died, the law came to an end, but the Ten Commandments (God’s law) “stands fast forever and ever” (Psalm 111:8). That there are two laws is made clear in Daniel 9:10, 11.

(Consider the following contrasts.)

MOSES’ LAW                                                                                 GOD’S LAW

Called “the law of Moses” (Luke 2:22)                                   Called “the law of the Lord (Isaiah 5:24)

Called “law…contained in ordinances” (Ephesians 2:15)   Called “the royal law” (James 2:8)

Written by Moses in a book (2 Chronicles 35:12)                Written by God on stone (Exodus 31:18)

Placed in the side of the ark (Deuteronomy 31:26)            Placed inside the ark (Exodus 40:20)

Ended at the cross (Ephesians 2:15)                                       Will stand forever (Luke 16:17)

Added because of sin (Galatians 3:19)                                   Points out sin (Romans 7:7, 3:20)

Contrary to us, against us (Colossians 2:14)                          Not burdensome (1 John 5:3)

Judges no one (Colossians 2:14-16)                                        Judges all people (James 2:10-12)

Fleshly (Hebrews 7:16)                                                               Spiritual (Romans 7:14)

Made nothing perfect (Hebrews 7:19)                                   Perfect (Psalm 19:7)

How does the devil feel about people who pattern their lives after God’s Ten Commandments? “The dragon (devil) was enraged with the woman (true church), and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God” (Revelation 12:17). “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God” (Revelation 14:12).

Answer: He hates those who uphold the law of God. He even uses religious leaders to deny the Ten Commandments, while at the same time upholding the traditions of men. No wonder Jesus said. “Why do you also transgress the law of God because of your tradition… In vain they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:3, 9).

A few questions that came up.

What does Galatians 3:13 mean when it says we are redeemed from the curse of the law?

Answer: The curse of the law is death (Romans 6:23). Christ tasted death for everyone (Hebrews 2:9). Therefore He redeemed all from the curse of the law (death) and in its place provided eternal life.

Romans 10:4 says that Christ is the end of the law. So didn’t that end it?

Answer: End in this verse means purpose or object, as it does in James 5:11. The meaning is clear. It’s to lead people to Christ—where they find righteousness—it is the goal, purpose, or end of the law.

Why do so many people deny the binding claims of God’s law? (The girl who asked this had people calling her a legalist because she began keeping the Biblical Sabbath).

Answer: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then those serving the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Romans 8:7-9).

Why worry about the law? Isn’t conscience a safe guide?

No! The Bible speaks of an evil conscience, a defiled conscience, and a seared conscience—none of which is safe. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). God says, “He who trusts to his own heart is a fool” (Proverbs 28:26).