LXXVI

ON MY SERVANTS AND ON MY HANDMAIDENS I WILL POUR OUT IN THOSE DAYS OF MY SPIRIT; AND THEY SHALL PROPHESY

ACTS 2:18

SEVENIA SALLIE (GIRL PROPHETESS)

“Good news,” Brock declared as he lowered his phone from his ear. “Marcy and Oralee are officially our foster kids.”

“Yaaaaay!” Eight year old Oralee cheered as she leapt into Brock’s massive arms. He laughed as he caught her and hugged her. “Next step is adoption,” he added.

Sixteen year old Marcy put her hands to her face and gently wept grateful tears. Destiny rubbed a hand on her back. Marcy turned, allowing mother and daughter to hug tightly. I smiled from ear to ear as I swallowed a lump in my throat. I prayed Marcy would relax now and feel at peace in her permanent home.

It had been a few weeks since we had discovered the two girls seeking shelter under an old, abandoned railroad bridge. They had been on the run from human traffickers. Marcy had been forced into prostitution for the previous two years, and Oralee had been a new arrival,  whom Marcy felt compelled to rescue.

Destiny and Brock had opened their home to the two orphans. Not only that, with the help of FBI Special Agent Nora Medora’s “friends,” they were seeking a fast track to adopt. In the meantime, they had been granted legal guardianship through foster parentage.

Life had hardened Marcy, but not in a way you might think. Even though she is very pretty, you would only have to spend a few minutes with her to realize that the only way she could have ever been a prostitute was through force against her will. If ever a human being had their innocence stolen, it was Marcy. If ever their was attempted murder on a person’s soul, Marcy experienced it. If ever a child grew up without love, Marcy had.

It amazed me that Marcy was as well-adjusted as she was, given her circumstances. That said, you could tell she was both hungry for, yet frightened, of affection. When I had previously hugged her, she felt stiff, still, and awkward. Yet the way her hands clutched my back, it was as if she was communicating to please not let go. She needed to feel loved, wanted, and clean.

Destiny and Brock insisted she make herself at home. Yet when she moved about the house, opening the cupboards and the refrigerator, her demeanor was as if she had no right, like she was snooping or something.

When she had been invited to go to church with us, she seemed scared that her polite refusal might get her kicked out of the Knight-Storm home. When we prepared to leave for fellowship, and Marcy offered to leave and come back later, her aloneness broke my heart. Destiny reassured her that she did not need to leave, that they trusted her.

A couple days after Destiny and Brock officially became the girl’s foster parents, Marcy wanted to talk to me in private.

“I feel like I should go to church with you all,” Marcy told me with a pained expression. “But the last time I was involved with a church, I ended up kidnapped and forced into prostitution.”

“No one expects you to go to church if you don’t want to,” I assured her.

“I mean, I really appreciate what Brock and Dee are doing for me and Ora. I really do! But I don’t want to be fake either. Sevenia, the truth is, I think I’m an atheist.”

“I am, too,” I replied.

“What!” Marcy declared with wide eyes. “But you not only go to church and participate in Bible studies, Dee told me you’ve given sermons and stuff. I’ve heard that people even refer to you as the girl prophetess. No offence, but if you’re an atheist, you’re also a major phony.”

“Well, if you don’t believe me, why don’t you tell me why you don’t believe in God, and then I’ll explain why I don’t believe either.”

Marcy proceeded to give me some of the reasons she didn’t believe. The main reason being the false concept of eternal torment, which a large percentage of Christianity embraced.

“See, I told you I’m an atheist,” I smiled at her and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

“Huh?” she replied with a frown.

“I don’t believe in that God either,” I said, as I grabbed my Bible. I proceeded to give her a quick study. I explained that, although the earth will be destroyed by fire, everything will be burned up, and God will make a new heaven and a new earth. (Revelation 21:1-4)

I also clarified that the Bible clearly teaches that the souls of unrepentant sinners die. They are not languishing in a place called hell with the devil as the gatekeeper. Only the righteous have eternal life, and the wicked experience what’s called the second death. I showed her Romans 6:23 and Revelation 20:14, 21:8.

“Wow,” she replied quietly, as she gazed intently at the scriptures. “But what about where the Bible calls hell everlasting or eternal fire? The church I went to with former foster parents loved scaring people with those verses.”

I showed her Jude 1:7, how the verse says Sodom and Gomorrah suffers eternal fire.

“Is Sodom and Gomorrah burning today?” I asked.

“No,” she said slowly, and then frowned.

“Eternal and everlasting simply means the punishment is permanent,” I explained. “Not the means or element by which the punishment is inflicted. Do you follow?”

“Yeah,” she said in awe. “How come so many people believe God is a cruel tyrant?”

I shrugged. “To be honest, a few years ago before I joined Cotton Creek Cove, I belonged to a church that held to the doctrine of eternal hell as a place. I guess I didn’t think about it too much back then. It did bothered me, though. But I just shrugged it off as one of life’s mysteries we couldn’t understand. It was Captain Kirk who set me strait. And having my perspective radically change, made me fall even deeper in love with Jesus than I already was.”

“Captain Kirk?” Marcy giggled. “You mean like Star Trek?”

“Sorry, no,” I laughed. “Pastor Kirk Samson. He was a captain in the army, so he got the nickname Captain Kirk. The funny thing is, he’s never even watched Star Trek.”

“Is he the guy with the long white beard?”

“He does have a long white beard,” I replied. “Did you meet him?”

“Yes, I met a man they called Pastor Samson. He stopped by Brock and Destiny’s one night. He reminds me of an old Bible prophet, like Moses or someone.”

“That’d be him,” I said, and then we both laughed.

“Something Captain Kirk taught me not long after we became friends,” I told Marcy. “He showed me how in the first two chapters of the Bible, in Genesis, God created a paradise. Then he showed me the last two chapters of the Bible, in Revelation, how God recreates a paradise, at the end of time. Then he explained that everything in between was God’s dealing with fallen humanity. Especially the Gospels, when God came to earth as a man and not only redeemed fallen humanity, but gave us an example of how to live.

“There’re many things I love about appreciate about Jesus, especially how he died so that you and me might have eternal life. But there’s one aspect that particularly fascinates me. It’s that when God walked the earth, the religious leaders and rulers hated Him so much that they murdered Him. The amazing thing is, He could have easily stopped it. Jesus even said to a disciple that tried to stop them from killing Him. Don’t you know that I could call twelve legions angels? (Matthew 26:53)      

“Also as He walked the earth, sinners and the downtrodden sought Him for healing and deliverance. Children were drawn to Him out and sat on His lap.  One of His most devout followers was a former prostitute, Mary Magdalene. It was she that washed His feet with tears at a social gathering. Those at the gathering frowned upon this, even His disciples. Yet Jesus rebuked them, and praised Mary for her love and devotion.”

Marcy hung her head and twisted her fingers nervously. I assured her that God loved her personally, as much as He has ever loved anyone. To my delight, she asked me to pray with her. When we finished praying, Marcy declared that she wanted to go to church.

Marcy and I sat at fellowship together with two other teenage girls, who were good friends of mine. I wanted Marcy to know she had companionship besides her new family of Brock, Destiny, and little sister Oralee. I noticed Destiny stealing glances at us periodically from across the sanctuary, checking on her daughter. What an instinctually, caring mother! I love her so much!

When we were standing in line to greet Pastor Samson after the service, I felt my inwards cringe. There was a cold, uppity couple that had been attending Cotton Creek Cove off and on for a year or two right in front of us. Forgive me if this sounds judgmental, but the last thing I wanted them to do was start talking to us and ask Marcy a bunch of questions. But I needn’t worry, they whispered heatedly back and forth to each other.

“I didn’t care for this morning’s worship service,” the man told Captain Kirk in a bizarre greeting.

“That’s okay, son,” Captain Kirk replied happily, as if he had just paid the pastor a compliment. “We weren’t worshiping you.”

The woman gave a little gasp, and the man’s expression looked incredulous.  

“Well, I guess you don’t care if you see any checks in the collection box with our names on them anymore,” he told the Pastor sternly.

I’m sure they were sizable checks since she drove a new Lexus and he drove a BMW.

“I do not,” Pastor Samson replied calmly, yet bold as a lion. “God supports this fellowship. Frankly, you insult me if you think I am even a little bit interested in your money. I’m only interested in souls, yours included. God is my support right down to every breath I take. If you want to discuss any grievances with me further, please make an appointment during office hours.”

Without a reply, the couple walked briskly away with a disgruntled air.

“Hey, kiddo,” Captain Kirk greeted me, as if what had transpired seconds ago had never happened. “And hello there, Marcy, I’m so glad you could make it. Thanks for coming!”

“Thank you sir,” Marcy said shyly, but then smiled mischievously. “I thought it was a wonderful service and a fantastic sermon!”

“Well, thank you, my dear,” Captain Kirk chuckled, and then gave his long white beard a stroke.

The Pastor tugged at his ear lobe, which was a signal to me that he wanted to talk. I tugged my ear lobe to let him know I saw. I was a little like an assistant pastor of his, and he sought to council with me quite often. This was humbling for me when you consider his ministry extended a whole decade beyond a full century. I wasn’t even eighteen years old yet. It was almost an hour later, after a potluck lunch, that Pastor Samson and I snuck into his office.

“I had this really profound dream last night,” he told me. He inflated his lungs and prepared to continue speaking when I interrupted.

“Did it have to do with the angel Melanchthon?” I asked.

Captain Kirk gasped and his bright blue eyes bulged in surprise.

(DESTINY’S BIBLE STUDY NOTES and QUOTES)

The change of heart by which we become children of God is spoken of in the Bible as a birth.

The plants and flowers grow not by their own care or anxiety or effort, but by receiving that which God has furnished to minister to their life. The child cannot, by any anxiety or power of its own, add to its stature. No more can you, by anxiety or effort of yourself, secure spiritual growth.

Jesus teaches the same thing when He says, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in Me…Without me you and do nothing.” (John 15:4, 5)

You are just as dependent on Christ, in order to live a holy life, as is the branch upon the parent stock for growth and fruitfulness. Apart from Him you have no spiritual life. You have no power to resist temptation or to grow in grace and holiness.

It is by communion with Him, daily, hourly, that we abide in Him and grow in grace.

Each morning consecrate yourself to God for that day. Thus day by day you may be giving your life into the hands of God, and thus your life will be molded more and more after the life of Christ.

Let the mind dwell upon His love, upon the beauty, the perfection, of His character. Christ in his self-denial, Christ in His humiliation, Christ in His purity and holiness, Christ in His matchless love—this should be the subject for the soul’s contemplation. It is by loving Him, copying Him, depending wholly upon Him, that you are to be transformed into His likeness.

Jesus says, “Abide in Me.” These words convey the idea of rest, stability, confidence.

When the mind dwells upon self, it is turned away from Christ, the source of strength and life.

Let us keep our eyes fixed upon Christ and He will preserve us. Looking unto Jesus, we are safe. Nothing can pluck us out of His hand. In constantly beholding Him, we “are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:18.

Jesus prayed for us, and He asked that we might be one with Him, even as He is one with the Father. What a union is this!