HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

PART 2

CHAPTER 14

JEREMIAH “JERRY” ALDO (DREW’S BROTHER)

HE IS A DOUBLE MINDED MAN, UNSTABLE IN ALL HIS WAYS (James 1:8)

            “You gotta be kidding me!” I told my little brother.

            “About which?” Drew responded with a chuckle.

            “Both,” I replied, initially feeling more concerned than happy for him.

            He had just told me that he was reunited with Nancy, his longtime friend that was a girl. But strangely, after more than three years of animosity between them, she was now his girlfriend. Not only that, he had just revealed his plan to propose marriage. But before informing me of this, he declared Nancy’s intention to be baptized.

            This whole situation was a head scratcher. I always knew Drew was crazy about Nancy. The great divide in their friendship more than three years ago had to do with religion. She professed atheism and my brother seemed on his way to sainthood. So as they got older, their union became more like oil and water.

            As for marriage, I had been certain that Nancy was a lesbian for a few reasons. For one thing, although she’s kind of pretty, she never tried to look girly. She typically sported a short, boyish haircut, boyish clothes, and wore no jewelry or makeup.

            For another thing, it didn’t seem like she reciprocated Drew’s feelings. And little bro is a good looking guy. Also, after her rift with Drew, her constant companion became this big, strong athletic chick, Addie, who always wore rainbow colored bracelets. Then they moved in together after high school. Forgive me for assuming, but if it looks like a duck.

            “Well, this is ironic,” I told him.

            “What is?”

            “Both.”

            “Both of what?” Drew asked with both a grin and a frown.

            “You and Nancy married, and Nancy baptized.”

            “What’s ironic about it?”

            “For one thing, Nancy being an adamant atheist getting baptized.”

            “She was more agnostic than atheist, but now she has seen the light.”

            I considered telling him that another part of the irony was Nancy joining our church as I had fallen farther and farther away from it. But I sat on it, so he asked, “What’s the other irony?”

            “You the consummate loner when it comes to dating is getting married. And me, the guy with the unfair label of womanizer is all alone.”

            “I don’t think your reputation is unfair. You’re not even twenty and have dated more than a dozen girls. And as for me getting married, I haven’t even asked her yet.”

            “Yeah, I’ve hung out with a lot of girls. But can you name me one actual girlfriend?”

            “What about your current lady, Brenda?”

            “Former. But if you thought of her as my girlfriend, you’re right, she was my longest relationship at a whopping six weeks.”

            He looked at me with concern. My brother knew I was a hypocrite. He knew I rode the fence between the world and the church. But as closely as he walked with the Lord, he didn’t know my heart, only God did.

            “So what happened?”

            “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

            “You know me better than that.”

            “Brenda and I broke up because she wanted to have sex.”

            I couldn’t help laughing through my misery as my brother looked at me like I had two heads. Then he chuckled. “I thought you said she wanted to have sex. You must have meant that she refused to have sex.”

            “No, you heard me right.”

            Now he looked at me like I had three heads, but this time I didn’t laugh. Even my own brother, who I felt very close to, assumed I had bedded several females. But I didn’t hold it against him. He was never nosey about my private life, and I usually didn’t kiss and tell.

            “I don’t understand,” Drew frowned. I would now have to change him from never nosey to seldom. “It’s well known that you’re a, you know, player.”

            “Some reputations are unfair. But to be fair, I never minded the assumptions.”

            “So you’ve never actually had, you know, intimate relations?”

            “Nope.”

            “How can that be? You go to parties, you drink stuff that you shouldn’t, you often come home when the sun is coming up.”

            “I’m not gonna deny kissing and getting touchy feely with the girls, but I’ve never actually had sex.”

            “Why?” he asked dumbfounded. Not that he thought I should have, he just didn’t understand the reality.

            “I know I haven’t always followed the fundamental beliefs of our church,” I admitted.

            “Ya think,” he replied with a little smile as he tossed me a subtle rebuke.

            “But due to our upbringing, I don’t know, I couldn’t bring myself to use a girl for sex when I didn’t feel like it was someone I wanted to commit to.”

            “I see,” he replied as he put a thoughtful finger to his nose and gazed at me as if he were a psychoanalyst.

            My feet shifted uneasily. I guess I was hoping for some kind of pat on the back, not just ‘I see.’ So I said a little testily, “It’s as simple as that… I suppose.”

            “I’m pleased to find this out, Jerry. Don’t feel weirded out.”

            Okay, that was more what I was looking for. He was pleased. “I’m not weirded out… Well, maybe a little.”

            “Can I ask you something without you thinking I’m being judgmental?”

            “Go for it.”

            “You basically admitted to being backslidden.”

            “I suppose I did.”

            “How?”

            “What do you mean how?”

            “I mean we have an understanding of the whole Bible. Especially our understanding of prophecy and how it has been mostly fulfilled in history, and not some fake futuristic interpretation. I still get goose bumps thinking about Daniel 7:25 and how approximately one thousand years after it was written, it was profoundly fulfilled by Emperor Constantine in the fourth century when he made Christianity a legal religion. Thereby bringing many pagan sun worship characteristics into the church. In particular Solis Invicti, which is the day of the sun, Sunday.

            “He declared this the ‘Sabbath’ of the Roman Empire rather than the Sabbath God wrote with His own finger in Exodus chapter twenty, and instituted at Creation in Genisis 2:2 and 3. Thereby arrogantly thinking to change times and law predicted by in Daniel 7:25. The Sabbath being both a time as well as a law. This same verse also predicted the result would be a religious power that persecuted God’s people, the saints. This was fulfilled to a T during the dark ages. Now there is just one major piece of the prophetic puzzle to be fulfilled, and it’s rapidly building to the conclusion.”

            “If you really believe the end of the world is near, why do you want to get married?”

            He shrugged. “We know the end is close by the signs of the prophetic times, but no one knows the day or the hour. It could be this year, or another hundred years plus.”

            I’m ashamed to admit that although I grew up in the same church as Drew, I goofed and fooled around more than I paid attention. I counted down minutes until the service was over, instead following the scriptures the Pastor instructed us to look up. So I only had a superficial understanding of what Drew was expounding on.

            I admitted all this to my brother. “So I guess I got drawn away by the things of the world. I was more interested in dreaming about a career in sports. I got sucked away in the parties and the girls. Then I blew my knee out, and tore my rotator cuff, and I just wasn’t the same after. So I lost myself in the party lifestyle, looking for adventure, and looking for love. So now I find myself here talking to you. Lost in love, lost my sporting career, and I’m finding parties and looking for thrills a dead end road.”

            “Well, God’s mercies are new every morning,” Drew told me with a reassuring smile. (Lamentations 3: 22 and 23)

            I shrugged. “I guess that’s good to know.”

            “No guessing about it,” Drew replied happily.

            I felt a strange mixture of irritation and hope. It had only been two days since I had experienced another failed chance at a mate. Plus I was hung over from trying to drown my sorrows with a bottle of Jim Bean Kentucky Bourbon. I pinched my nose and groaned.

            “Hey, I think God’s timing is impeccable,” Drew told me enthusiastically.

            I felt the balances shift on my mixed emotions, but it was irritation that was outweighing hope on the spiritual scales. Sarcastically I responded, “Well, I’m glad you think my discouragement is a positive thing.”

            “Dear brother, sometimes we need to be brought low in order to see our, well, need. I can see you’re in need right now, and it comes at just the right time.”

            “What are you talking about?” I asked impatiently.

            “Sevenia Sallie is going to be leading a revival, slash, prophecy seminar.”

            “Is she that teenager some have called the girl prophetess?”

            “Well, she was a teenager when she did her first one, but she might be twenty years old now. So have you met her?”

            “No, you know I haven’t been to church much the last couple years.”

            “It starts the day after tomorrow. Why don’t you come?”

            “I don’t know,” I whined.

            “What else you gonna do? Drink yourself into oblivion like you did last night?”

            “How’d you know I got drunk last night?”

            “It’s pretty obvious you’re hung over. Just give it a try. Sevenia is a compelling teacher. If it doesn’t trip your trigger, well, just don’t come again. But I think you can spare an hour to give it a chance.”

            I reluctantly agreed and then couldn’t believe I almost chose to miss out. Sevenia, daughter of the radio broadcaster Seven Sallie, was indeed a captivating speaker. I was also smitten with her look.

            To most guys, she would probably appear to be a plain Jane. Like Nancy, she wore no makeup or jewelry. But unlike Nancy, her shoulder length auburn hair and knee length denim skirt made her appear more girly. Plus, her tan cowboy boots with light blue and lavender plaid shirt gave her a country girl appearance I loved.

            I was being drawn in two directions as I not only listened but took notes on her presentation. Her teachings were drawing me toward repentance, and her person was making me wonder if she was single. Would she go for a guy like me? When we shook hands after she ended the seminar for the evening, any hope of romance between the two of us was quickly shot down.

            Before my brother had a chance to introduce us, she beamed at me and said. “Is your name Jerry?”

            Although I wasn’t famous like my father had been, I had been a locally prominent athlete. I assumed that was why she knew my name, and with exaggerated bravado, I replied, “Yes, ma’am, it is I.”

            She laughed and I grinned from ear to ear. But what she said next immediately wiped the smile from my face.

            “My cousin showed me some pictures of you on her phone several days ago. Although I thought you looked familiar, I didn’t put it together that you were Drew’s brother.”

            With a sinking feeling, I asked, “Who’s your cousin?”

            “The girl you’re dating, Brenda.”

(Writer’s note: If you would like to learn more about authentic Bible Prophecy, please look up David Asscherick’s 5 Good Reasons series on YouTube. Or Amazing Facts ministry featuring Doug Batchelor.)