CXVI

THE LORD WILL BE A REFUGE FOR THE OPPRESSED, AND A REFUGE IN TIMES OF TROUBLE

PSALM 9:9

BROCK STORM

“Hey Dad, can I tell you something?” Marcella asked as she entered my shop. My seventeen year old adopted daughter had only recently started calling me Dad, and the name made my spirit soar. It was still new enough I had to refrain from asking her to say it again.

“Of course you can tell me something, Marcella,” I replied cheerfully. However, my cheeriness would be short lived.

“Oralee had a dream,” she told me with a wince. “It’s probably nothing. But considering the dream Sevenia had about Ora and me almost a year ago, well… And since Ora is kind of a mini me of Sevenia. And considering one of the subjects of the dream is the guy you are sort of protecting. And considering her dream insinuated he was, um… hurt… badly…”

“You’re talking about Oscar,” I said as my adrenaline began to spike.

“Yeah,” she said with a shrug, as she twisted her long blonde hair nervously. “I just thought you should know. Then you could, I don’t know, watch him a little closer or something.”

“Well,” I said, sighing heavily. “That might be a little tricky.”

“How come?”

“He’s a thousand miles away.”

“Huh? How can that be? I just saw him this morning.”

“He flew back home to New Jersey early this afternoon.”

“Oh no, Daddy, do you think he’s in trouble?”

Normally I would have relished Marcella calling me Daddy, but I felt a growing apprehension with the direction of our conversation.

“I don’t know, Honey,” I replied with a calmness I didn’t feel. A year ago I would have scoffed at a dream indicating real trouble. But after Sevenia’s dream about Marcella and Oralee living in a ramshackle tent under an abandoned railroad bridge, I needed to take my daughter’s nightmare seriously.

“Why did he go home, how come you aren’t guarding him anymore? I thought he was in danger.”

“Well, Oscar was getting restless, and nothing dangerous seemed to be happening. I consulted Agent Medora, and she said to go ahead and let him go if he wanted to go. She said to just make sure he knows that a risk still exists, and to be careful.”

Marcella began to chew on her lower lip, and her eyes looked concerned.

“Why don’t you tell me Oralee’s entire dream?” I petitioned.

She did. When she finished, she asked, “Do you think you should contact Agent Medora?”

“Yeah,” I replied somberly, but I was already reaching for my phone to do just that. When I saw I had a missed call from Nora Medora almost an twenty minutes previous, my toes curled. I pushed dial on the missed call and ten seconds later my ex-girlfriend’s voice was in my ear. She spoke without a greeting, as if we were in the middle of an intense conversation.

“We should have never told Oscar he should go home,” she said heatedly. “You need to have Seven Sallie and his family stay with you ASAP, in particular his wife.”

I could feel the blood drain from my face. “What do you mean?”

“I’m on my way to New Jersey right now, and it’s not good.”

“Is Oscar hurt?”

“I’ll say. He’s dead!”

It now felt like the blood drained from my entire body. “How?”

“Murdered, brutally murdered. There are more than thirty stab wounds.”

“I understand why Seven, and even his family could be in danger. But why did you say in particular Zella?”

“I’ve been told that Oscar’s arms were spread and nailed to the floor, as if he’d been crucified. Nailed to his hands were erotic pictures of Zella LaStella-Sallie. Apparently she had been an adult model around ten years ago. Written in Oscar’s blood over one hand was the word ‘phony,’ over the other was the word ‘hypocrite.’”

“Oh my,” I muttered. Then I glanced at Marcella. Her mouth was agape, and her eyes were wide and frightened. My protective instinct kicked into high gear. “Hang on a second, Nora.”

I held out an arm to Marcella. She made a little squeak and slammed her body into mine, her slender arms wrapping around my body and squeezed tight. She began to whimper. I hugged her to myself, and said, “Nobody’s gonna hurt one of my daughters, okay?”

She sniffed, and with a small, girlish voice said, “Okay.”

“Brock, did one of your daughter’s overhear us talking?” Nora asked.  

“Yeah, Marcella.”

“Let me talk to her,” Nora demanded. I handed Marcella the phone and the two exchanged tense greetings. Then Nora endeavored to comfort my daughter. “Listen, your dad was a professional bodyguard for more than a decade. Not only that, he was the best of the best. You may not realize it, but that big farmhouse you live in has tighter security than a bank. So take courage, and trust your dad, okay?”

The word “was” echoed in my head.

“Okay,” Marcella said, and smiled at me fondly, even as a tear came from her eye. “But I’m still gonna feel sad for Oscar.”

“That’s understandable,” Agent Medora said. And, not one for strong sentiment, said, “Can you put your dad back on?” Then she said to me, “Hey, I need to let you go for now, an agent on the scene is calling me. I’ll get back to you later.”

Needless to say, my cousin Seven was beyond upset. Not only to find out that his good friend had died, but was brutally murdered. Not to mention the disturbing fact of photographs of his wife, not only at the crime scene, but violently attached to the victim. Plus, the cryptic two word message, phony and hypocrite.

Thankfully, we were able to get the Sallie family settled into our home as smoothly as could be expected. Oralee was delighted to have her hero, Sevenia, staying with us indefinitely. Even though she had something like a prophetic dream about Oscar’s demise, she was mostly, and thankfully, oblivious to the reality of what actually took place.

My wife and Zella were upstairs getting a crib ready for Zella and Seven’s baby. I handed Seven a cup of Relaxed Mind tea and we sat at the kitchen table. I bobbed the bag up and down in my own cup of tea as I groped for something to say. My usually talkative cousin was eerily quiet. You never know how someone is going to handle grief and stress.

Marcella grabbed a sparkling water from the fridge and asked to join us at the table. I looked at Seven. This was his party, even though it was at my house. He shrugged and said, “I have nothing to keep secret. It’s up to you whether you want her to hear what might be said though.”

“Have a seat, kiddo,” I told my daughter.

“Sevenia wanted to join you guys,” Marcella told us with a reluctant smile. “But Oralee is kind of her shadow right now, so Sevenia wanted me to be her ears. If that’s okay?”

“It’s okay with me,” I said, then opened my palm at my cousin. “One more time?”

“Like I said, I have nothing to hide,” Seven said, and then snorted bitterly. “The more the  merrier I guess.”

Marcella averted her eyes and gazed at the table. I took her hand, squeezed gently, and told her, “Under the stress of this situation, Seven may revert to his old obnoxious, sarcastic self, so don’t take anything personally.”

Seven looked at me with startled, angry eyes, then soften as he turned his gaze to Marcella. “He’s right. Under my current mental state, my flippant proclivities may get the best of me. You’re a fine, sweet young lady, Marcella, and your presence at the table here is truly a comfort.”

“Thanks,” Marcella replied shyly.

Our trio at the table was quiet for a long minute, before Seven spoke again. “I just don’t get it. Oscar couldn’t have been home for more than an hour or two when he was attacked. How could his killer have acted so fast?”

“Obviously, they had been keeping tabs on him,” I replied. “Tapping in on someone has come a long way since bugging land lines.”

“You said they,” Seven said. “You think there are more than one involved.”

“I do. I think there was at least someone here, and someone out there. Most likely even more involved.”

“But they never got to him here.”

“I’ve got cameras all over the place, and they must know it.”

We were silent for a short minute when I half asked half commented, “I didn’t know Zella was an adult model.”

“Didn’t you read the e-book, ‘Billy Bob Booker and the Hooker’?” Seven asked.

“I did.”

“Don’t you remember, she and Willa met out on the west coast when they were both modeling.”

“I knew Willa posed for a magazine in her birthday suit, but I didn’t know Zella did.”

“They both did,” Seven shrugged. “Their erotic modeling was mild by today’s low standards, and brief.”

My phone sounded, and it was Nora. Before I answered, I asked, “Speaker?”

Seven nodded. After abrupt greetings, Agent Medora didn’t pull punches. “Put your security on highest alert.”

“Why, what else did you find?” I asked, and I could hear Nora sigh heavily.

“Phony and hypocrite were not the only words written with Oscar’s blood,” she informed us. “His thumbs were cut off, and shoved into his mouth.”

She paused and I asked, “You said something more was written?”

“Yeah,” she said, sighing heavily again. “By the severing of his thumbs, something wicked this way comes, with an arrow pointing at a photo of Zella reading Tarot cards.”

(DESTINY’S BIBLE STUDY NOTES AND QUOTES)

(The LIFE and MINISTRY of JESUS Part VIX)

When Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted, He was led by the Spirit of God. He did not invite temptation. He went to the wilderness to be alone, to contemplate His mission and work. By fasting and prayer He was to brace Himself for the bloodstained path he must travel.

Mighty issues for the world were at stake in the conflict between the Prince of light and the leader of the kingdom of darkness. After tempting man to sin, Satan claimed the earth as his, and styled himself the prince of this world.

At the birth of Jesus, Satan knew that One had come with a divine commission to dispute his dominion. Satan well knew the position that Christ had held in heaven as the Beloved of the Father. That the Son of God should come to this earth as a man filled him with amazement and with apprehension. He could not fathom the mystery of this great sacrifice. His selfish soul could not understand such love for the fallen race.

Many look on this conflict between Christ and Satan as having no special bearing on their own life; and for them it has little interest. But within the domain of every human heart this controversy is repeated. Never does one leave the ranks of evil for the service of God without encountering the assaults of Satan.

The enticements which Christ resisted were those that we find so difficult to withstand. They were urged upon Him in a much greater degree as His character is superior to ours. With the terrible weight of the sins of the world upon Him, Christ withstood the test upon appetite, upon the love of the world, and upon that love of display which leads to presumption.

For thousands of years the human race had been decreasing in physical strength, and moral worth; and Christ took upon Him the infirmities of degenerate humanity. Only thus could He rescue man from the lowest depths of his degradation.

As by the indulgence of appetite Adam and Eve fell, so by the denial of appetite Christ must overcome.

Satan sought to instill into the mind of Eve the thought that God would not do as He had said. That the withholding of such beautiful fruit was a contradiction of His love and compassion for man. So now the tempter seeks to inspire Christ with his own sentiments. “If thou be the Son of God.”

Would God treat His own Son thus? Would He leave Him in the desert with wild beasts, without food, without companions, without comfort?

When Satan and the Son of God first met in conflict, Christ was the commander of the heavenly hosts; and Satan, the leader of revolt in heaven, was cast out. Now their condition is apparently reversed, and Satan makes the most of his supposed advantage.

One of the most powerful angels has been banished from heaven. The appearance of Jesus indicates that He is that fallen angel, forsaken by God. A divine being would be able to sustain his claim by working a miracle. “If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.”

It was in this time of greatest weakness that Christ was assailed by the fiercest temptations. But Jesus met Satan with words of Scripture. “It is written.”

In the same way, Satan has taken advantage of the weakness of humanity. He attacks our weak points of character. He seeks to shake our confidence in God, who suffers such a condition of things to exist. He hopes to discourage the soul, and to break our hold on God. If we would meet him as Jesus did, we would escape many a defeat.

“The prince of this world comes,” said Jesus, “and has nothing in Me.” (John 14:30). There was in Him nothing that responded to Satan’s sophistry. He did not consent to sin. Not even by a thought did Jesus yield to temptation. So it may be with us.

By what means did Christ overcome in the conflict with Satan? By the word of God. And every promise in God’s word is ours.

“Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” (Psalm 119:11)