Tag: faith

BLACK SABBATH – CHAPTER 29

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

BLACK SABBATH

CHAPTER 29

SEVEN SALLIE

BECAUSE YOU HAVE KEPT MY COMMAND TO PERSEVERE, I ALSO WILL KEEP YOU FROM THE HOUR OF TRIAL WHICH SHALL COME UPON THE WHOLE WORLD, TO TEST THOSE WHO DWELL UPON THE EARTH. (Revelation 3:10)

            “There they are!” The leader of an angry mob of about two dozen men yelled.

            Inga and C.S. Lewis were sprinting out of the woods with the mob on their tail. They came toward the small group of us that were sitting on Lewis’s deck overlooking his back yard. Between their hostility and the side effects of the loathsome sores from the first plague (Revelation 16:2), they looked like a band of demons.

            All of us offered up prayers on the order of ‘Lord help us!’

            There were about twenty steps leading up to the large deck. No sooner had Inga and C. S. taken them two at a time, when a being that glowed bright white suddenly appeared at the foot. He waved a laser like sword that blazed with a brilliant silvery hue.

            The angry group fell back in a manner that reminded me of John chapter eighteen when the mob was seeking to arrest Jesus. Our Savior had asked who they were seeking. When they replied, “Jesus of Nazareth,” our Lord replied, “I am He,” and they all fell back.

            Sin makes people stupid. Instead of fleeing, the mob still pursued Jesus. Although He could have annihilated them with a word, our Lord allowed Himself to be taken. Not only that, when one of his disciples cut off an ear of one of Jesus’s captors, Jesus healed it. Yet another element that should have given them pause.

            Not unlike those responsible for the death of our Redeemer, this mob stood their ground. Well, actually they did take a couple steps back. But then the hair on the back of my neck raised when the leader barked, “Just give us Seven Sallie!”

            “We’re sorry, Seven!” Inga said, a look of consternation on her face. “We were running scared, we didn’t mean to lead them here.”

            “It’s not your fault,” I replied. Then I frowned as I realized that wasn’t true. Nonetheless, I didn’t hold it against them.

            A chill ran up my spine when the angel looked at me and said, “Come on, Seven.”

            “You’re gonna give me up!”

            The majestic being smiled reassuringly and said, “Fear not, I will approach them with you.”

            “Cool!” I replied confidently. But it turned out to be a similar experience like Peter’s. I’m referring to when he walked to Jesus on the water in Matthew chapter fourteen. Only my experience happened as we walked in C. S. Lewis’s backyard.

            Between the result of their loathsome sores and their open hostility, the mob truly looked like a pack of devils. Yet for every step the angel and I took, the angry mob took two steps back as their fuming countenances turned to fear. Then something changed. The group stopped. Their expressions changed to vengeful delight and bloodthirsty hunger.

            I looked toward my angelic companion, but he was gone! In his place was a feeble looking old man. With a long white beard and kindly eyes, he reminded me of Captain Kirk, our Pastor at Cotton Creek Fellowship back in eastern Iowa.

            “Where’s the, ah…” I frantically looked around! I was about to do a quick retreat when the old man grabbed my forearm with surprising strength. He calmly declared, as if we were out for a casual stroll, “Once again, you need not be afraid. Do you believe me?”

            I could tell by the strong grip on my arm that this was no ordinary geriatric gentleman. I nodded and as the mob descended upon us, the old man simply held up a hand in a stop gesture. I don’t know what the demon inspired group saw. I saw nothing out of the ordinary. But they not only stopped on a dime, they turned and fled, falling over each other in their haste.

            “Who are you?” I asked in awe as I went to one knee and bowed my head.

            “Stand up,” he ordered. Then he quoted the last half of Revelation 19:10 as he gave me a gentle rebuke. “I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

            “Yes, sir,” I conceded. Then I tried again. “Who are you?”

            “The name the Savior gave me is Querida,” the old man told me with a gentle smile as he offered me his hand to shake.

            I paused, looking at the hand that caused two dozen men armed with clubs, knives, and even a couple guns, to flee. Still cautious, I raised my eyes from his hand to his eyes. They seemed to be laughing. As I took his hand in my right, I pointed with my left toward the area where the mob fled. “How did you do that?”

            “Would you have asked that if I had remained in my heavenly body?” Querida, pronounced Kayreeda, asked. I found out later that his name means ‘beloved.’

            “You know, I don’t think I would have,” I admitted.

            “Do you not believe that the Lord’s strength is made perfect in weakness?” he asked, quoting a portion of 2 Corinthians 12:9.

            “Until now I would have said yes,” I replied, feeling humbled. Then I cast my gaze that was upon him downward. “But my behavior a moment ago proved otherwise.”

            He patted my shoulder. “Well done.”

            “Well done? I just admitted failure. I just acknowledged that when you transformed from a brilliant angel into a feeble old man, my faith wavered big time.”

            “Just like courage doesn’t mean the absence of fear, going forward in faith doesn’t necessarily mean the absence of doubt. When I asked if you believed, you nodded and went forward. This despite wondering whether I was of God or of the ruler of this world. What convinced you to go forward?”

            (To reference ‘ruler of this world’ see the Gospel of John 12:31, 14:30, and 16:11)

            “Well, I tended to believe you were from God. But I suppose I figured if you weren’t, I trusted what Jesus admonished in Matthew 10:28. They would be able to kill my body, but my soul was safe with God.”

            “Splendid!” Querida beamed.

            “But why an old man?”

            “You mean as opposed to somebody like Brock Storm?” he asked, referring to my cousin who was built like a linebacker who became a pro wrestler.

            “You know of Brock?”

            He arched an eyebrow.

            “Oh right,” I replied to his unspoken insinuation that he was a supernatural being. “How long can you stay in a human body?”

            “It’s human like, but not quite like you. It’s more like a cloak I can only wear for a short time.”

            “Do you always use an old man for a, um, cloak.”

            “Actually, I became an old man this time because I’m tired of this world. Just plain wore out!”

            “You get tired?”

            “Not in the same way you do.”

            “Obviously the second coming of Christ is closer than ever now that the seven last plagues have fallen. So do you know exactly when Jesus will return now?”

            He shook his head. “Matthew 24:36 will be in effect until 1 Thessalonians 4:16 happens.”

            “I see, makes sense. I just thought, well, you know…”

            “I can tell you this much. Between the destruction of the plagues and the very nearness of Christ’s glorious appearing, I’m afraid you won’t be able to go home.”

            I was stunned. “You mean I won’t see my daughter and son again?”

            “Not on this earth, I’m sorry to say. But I’m happy to say you will meet them as you rise into the air to meet Jesus.”

            “And so shall we ever be with the Lord!”

            “Amen, brother!”

            An angel called me brother! “How often have you made yourself known to us humans?”

            He shook his head. “With the seven last plagues having fallen, things are different. There are many cells of believers, like you here, who have obeyed the law of God rather than the laws of men. They need reassurance and sometimes protection.”

            “Acts 5:29,” I added happily, quoting the scripture about obeying God. “So is this the first time you’ve appeared as a person to a person?”

            “Oh no,” he said shaking his head. “But always before, the person I’ve assisted either couldn’t see me, or they thought I was a fellow human.”

            “I feel privileged.”

            “Your friends look worried,” Querida said, pointing. Everyone on the deck was standing at the railing looking concerned. “Come on, let’s go back to our soon to be heavenly, eternal family and reassure them. The dark night of this earth’s history is almost complete.”

(Writer’s note: FYI, next week will be the last installment of ‘Black Sabbath.’ The next story I plan to write will be about angels. They are mentioned numerous times in the Bible, even the fallen angels. I’ve always been fascinated contemplating the angelic realm and want to explore in imagination what angels, even fallen ones, might think about our world, etc. I plan to do this mainly through the character you just met, Querida. As always, I thank you for your interest! And I pray God blesses you and yours!)

BLACK SABBATH – CHAPTER 28

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

BLACK SABBATH

CHAPTER 28

SEVEN SALLIE

THERE IS A GOD IN HEAVEN WHO REVEALS SECRETS (Daniel 2:28)

            I had just opened my mouth to speak when a majestic voice from the heavens filled our ears. It was like the sound of rippling water, deep and melodious. There were a half dozen of us on the deck overlooking C. S. Lewis’s back yard. My companions all looked at me with surprise, as if the words had come from me. But then they turned to the sky, knowing that someone as puny as me could ever vocalize in that manner.

            “It is done!” the sky seemed to declare. But we all knew it was a fulfillment of Revelation 16:17 as the seventh and final plague fell. So none of us were surprised when verse eighteen was fulfilled moments later.

            Yet we were not afraid as the longest, loudest peels of thunder roared across the blue- charcoal gray sky. We gazed around in awe, and I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up and my skin prickle. Then lightening like nothing we had ever seen, a light show no earthly technology could ever duplicate strobed to and fro.  

            Then came the biggest earthquake in earth’s history. The trees began to sway and the ground trembled. The groaning of the earth made me think of the Jolly Green Giant with indigestion. We all gripped the sides of our chairs as if on an amusement park ride. Yet we were not afraid.

            Our faith was such that we knew we were protected. We were all on the archetypical Ark, if you please. So we were the opposite of afraid, we were in awe, even excited! We had preached the second coming of Jesus for years. Many accused us of crying wolf. Most trusted in their traditions rather than Bible truth. Most followed the teachings of man rather than studying the Word of God themselves like the noble Bereans (Acts 17:11).

            One man had told me a year or two earlier. “You’re waiting for a show that is never gonna happen. The Bible is mythology.”

            Well sir, the lights have just gone down, and the curtain is about to go up! 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 was on the verge of being fulfilled, and we had been exercising verse eighteen which instructed ‘Therefore comfort one another with these words.’

            We did this right up to the voice, the thunder, the lightning and the earthquake. Mostly by sharing testimonies. We heard one more only moments before the last plague fell. This one was more about enduring love rather than the sweetness of a beautiful dog playing matchmaker. The miracle of this enduring love is that neither of the two individuals knew they were inadvertently waiting for the other.

            Like Mick, Luke Daniels was the lead singer of a Christian band. Like Mick and Lindsey, Luke and Hannah’s romance began in full force after one of Luke’s shows.

            “My dad was career military, so we moved a lot,” Hannah said. She had long, nut-brown hair and large, doe like amber eyes. “What made it both better and worse for me was being an only child.”

            “What do you mean by better and worse?” Zella asked.

            “Are you skipping ahead to your wedding vows?” I asked with a little smile.

            Zella smirked at me as she gave me a sideways glance. “Do you think you’re funny?”

            “It was part of our vows.” I defended because I was indeed trying at a little humor, albeit unsuccessfully.

            “Hannah was referring to moving frequently and being an only child,” Zella explained to me as if I were a child. “She hadn’t even gotten to meeting Luke yet. Let alone marriage vows.”

            “Gotcha,” I replied feeling a little dumb. Trying to be funny is an odd thing. You feel brilliant when everyone laughs and like an idiot when it falls flat. “Sorry Hannah, please proceed.”

            “No problem, Seven,” she smiled. “What I meant by worse, was obviously not having a sibling to share and comfort with the anxiety of moving to new places and in particular new schools. What was better was learning to find comfort and solace in God. A friend that sticks closer than a brother, if you please (Proverbs 18:24).

            “When I was twelve, in anticipation of yet another move, I prayed like never before,” Hannah told us with such earnestness I perceived she was back in the moment, experiencing the emotions she felt back then. “The thing that made it extra worse this time was adolescence. It wasn’t very kind to me. I was gangly and clumsy. I had braces, glasses, and a bit of acne.

            “Whenever we moved, my parents tried to find a conservative, non-denominational church.  My dad got stationed in Georgia, and we moved into a small town ten miles from the base. He rented a house from a guy who in turn turned him on to his church, a place called Meadowvale Church of the Open Bible. That’s where I met Luke and his brother Matt for the first time.

            “I actually had a huge crush on Matt when we first started attending,” Hannah laughed. “He was fifteen, spiky blonde hair, blue eyes, and an amazing guitar and piano player. He gave lessons at the local music store.

            “Although younger, my age actually, Luke was out going and athletic. I guess you could say he was a more macho image of his older brother. They were both nice to me, but Luke intimidated me. My first impression was that he was the popular type. The type that often would tease and bully me.”

            A look of sadness came into her eyes. “I never understood why so many popular kids pick on the less fortunate. They seemingly had so much going for them, why did they have to make life more difficult for those that didn’t? I suppose it just proved that in reality they didn’t have so much going for them after all. It’s like their image was a facade and at heart they were every bit as insecure as those they picked on. Probably more so.”

            “Immaturity plays a role also,” Luke added.

            “We moved to Meadowvale in the middle of the summer,” Hannah continued. “So I had a few weeks to adjust before the start of sixth grade. And the adjustment was an answer to prayer. There were a couple other kids at the church that were our age. Luke and Matt’s cousin John and a spicey redhead named Cassidy. John’s brother Mark was Matt’s age, and the four cousins ended up forming a band together.

            “For the first time I started a new school with friends. Then I had an immediate hiccup. Two days into school, we were playing dodgeball in gym class. It was scary for me. Other schools didn’t play dodgeball, let alone using actual playground balls instead of nerfs.”

            “One of the benefits of a smaller community,” Luke interjected.

            “Some benefit,” Hannah added dryly. “Right off the bat I got hit in the forehead. My glasses went flying, and I stumbled and fell. But the worst part was the panic of embarrassment. I was sure I was gonna be laughed at. Also, if I wasn’t already classified a nerd, I would be now.

            “But I only heard a few snickers before Luke was by my side, putting an arm around me and asking if I was alright. He helped me up and retrieved my glasses. Unfortunately I wasn’t out, the boy who threw head high was. But then Luke told me to stay by him so he could protect me.”

            Hannah smiled fondly at Luke. “So, I wasn’t out, and my crush on Matt Daniels transferred to falling in love with Luke Daniels. And that love only grew as he and I, John and Cassidy became weekend pals, playing in the woods behind the church, going for horseback rides on the Daniels’ family farm, and my favorite, getting rides on Luke’s dirt bike motorcycle, where I got to hug Luke from behind, and hold him tight as we zipped up trails and down ravines.

            “But then two years after we moved to Meadowvale, my dad got transferred to Fort Hood Texas. I had never been so disappointed in life. Those two years in Meadowvale were the best years by far, until I met Luke again seven years later.”

            “You two didn’t keep in touch?” I asked before Zella could.

            “I tried,” Hannah said, giving her husband a scornful, yet playful look. “But Luke only responded a few times and I eventually gave up.”

            “What can I say, I was fourteen,” Luke shrugged. “But I gave her a sendoff that kept us subconsciously bound for all our years of separation.”

            I opened my mouth, but sound came out of my wife’s instead. “What kind of sendoff?”

            “They had a going away party at the church,” Hannah related happily. “Luke took me out to the woods and kissed me for the first time.”

            “Then a second, third, and fourth,” he laughed.

            “Those kisses sealed the deal for me,” Hannah said. “My time in Meadowvale must have given me confidence. The rest of my school career finished with very little harassment. I ended up going to a college in the Pacific northwest. I was a late bloomer and by then I was getting quite a bit of male attention, of which I mostly ignored.”

            “Because of Luke?” Zella interjected.

            “I think it was a couple things,” Hannah explained. “Mostly nobody ever came close to matching the popular preteen that wasn’t afraid to comfort a distraught nerdy girl after she was embarrassed. But then also, I became cynical. I mean, so many guys mocked and made fun of me as a girl. But then after I transformed into a, forgive me for sounding vain, an attractive woman, the same type of guys tried to charm and sweet talk me.

            “Anyway, let me get to meeting Luke again. The seven years in between are not all that fascinating. I studied a lot and socialized a little. But I did become good friends with a girl I met in Texas, where I finished high school. She went to a Christian college in Washington, so I tagged along.

            “We became friends with some other girls we met, but I usually stayed aloof from going out. They were good girls as far as that goes, but their primary interest was doing things where the opportunity to meet the opposite sex was prevalent.

            “So during our junior year this Christian rock tour was stopping by our campus. Mick’s band Cornerstone was going to be there, and so was Luke’s. I just didn’t know it at first. I didn’t even know Luke was in a band with his brother and two cousins. So when my girlfriends tried to get me to go, I initially declined.

            “Then three days before the show, I’m walking past my roommate’s dresser, and she has half a dozen C.D.’s sprawled out on top. One of them caught my eye. It was called ‘The Band of Daniels.’ And on the front were four guys who looked older but familiar.”

            “Obviously the name of our band was both a play of our name, combined with the book in the Bible,” Luke cut in. “And obviously we knew the famous stories. Daniel and the lion’s den, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. But I didn’t understand the deep prophetic meeting of the book until we met Arlo Aldo several years ago.”

            Then he looked at his wife. “Sorry Hon, go ahead.”

            “Rhonda, my best friend from Texas and college roommate didn’t know that one of the C.D.’s she had was the guys I knew in Georgia. One in particular the boy I loved. The guy she had heard me talk about countless times as I reminisced about my glorious days in Meadowvale.

            “But I kept my mouth shut about knowing them, in particular Luke. I was a fourteen year old middle school student when I moved away. I was now a twenty-one year old premed student living clear across the country. I was sure I was no more than a distant memory.”

            “She couldn’t have been more wrong,” Luke said. “I mean, I did think I’d never see her again. But a distant memory? Far from it. She left an impression on my soul that would last a life time. I often felt no girl could fill the void she left in my life when she left. But I believe it was the Holy Spirt that caused her to brand my mind until we met up again. I think that’s why I was so picky when entertaining the possibility of the opposite sex.

            “Hannah’s sweetness and wholesomeness drew me in like a bear to honey. Plus she had the prettiest eyes I’d ever seen, and very kissable lips. The rest of her was just like she said ‘nerdy beyond compare.’”

            Hannah gave him a playful whap, and they both laughed.

            “You’ve heard of guilt by association?” Hannah asked.

            “Sure I have, “Zella replied. “I’ve experienced it time and again by being married to Seven.”

            They all laughed, but I held mine in so I could give my wife quality stink eye. She mouthed ‘sorry’ and I couldn’t help giving in to the smile I repressed.

            “Anyway, knowing the Daniels’ from church was like credibility by association. They were like the noble four guys in the Bible book of Daniel that their band was sort of named for. They set a precedent for our school. Bullying was pretty much nonexistent.”

            “Keep in mind it was a small school,” Luke said. “Only about forty in our graduating class.”

            “So we were standing outside in line for the concert,” Hannah continued. “I was feeling anxious about seeing Luke as well as my secret. Then I saw a fellow nerd from my Meadowvale days come out of a trailer pulling a black crate that had Matt Daniel’s name stamped in white. So I hollered, ‘Grant.’

            “He turned his head briefly, but assumed he wasn’t the Grant being called for by a female in line. After all he was two thousand miles away from Meadowvale. So I tried again using his last name, ‘Grant Sims.’

            “Then he stopped and looked my direction. I waved. He was, I don’t know, fifty feet away. He began to walk toward me and stopped ten feet away, squinted and put hands on his hips. ‘Hannah? Is that you?’

            “One and them same, I told him with a big smile. He took of his baseball cap and laughed. ‘Well, I’ll be.’ I went to him and we hugged. He reminded me of chubby Chet Morton from the old ‘Hard Boys’ series.

            He told us the guys were about to start sound check, and asked me and my girlfriends if we wanted back stage passes and to come watch. All three of my girlfriends stood with their mouths hanging open in disbelief.

            “Let me take Matt his extra guitars and I’ll get y’all back stage passes.”

            “My girlfriends looked at me like I had two heads. So I shrugged and explained that I knew the band when I was in middle school. None of them were ever prone to violence, but Rhonda grabbed me by the shoulders and scolded me for not telling them I knew the guys in ‘The Band of Daniels.’

            “It was general admission, so we got the best seats in the house. The band was in the midst of a song that would end up on their second CD. When they finished, I noticed Grant walk on stage and say something to Luke. His head whipped in our direction and my heart fluttered. Then it pounded when he moved in our direction, climbed up on a riser, put hands on the railing by where we were sitting and stared at me in disbelief.

            “I smiled and waved, then he grinned and vaulted the railing. As if on cue I stood. The cute boy who kissed seven years earlier was now a gorgeous man who hugged me tight to himself. Even after all those years I felt the love. I also felt eyes on me.

            “When we separated from our embrace, my three girlfriends were watching in incredulity. Three months later ‘The Band of Daniels’ finished their tour. Three weeks after that, Luke and I were married and my three girlfriends who witnessed our reunion were my three bridesmaids.”

            “Wow,” Zella said. “So the vast majority of your courtship happened when you were in middle school.”

            “It did,” Hannah giggled, shrugged. “But when you know you know.”

            “That’s the way it was with Zella and me. When we knew we knew.”

            “Welllllll,” Zella drawled with a wince, but then she laughed when I made a pout lip.

            I opened my mouth to speak, but another voice was heard. Something beyond human utterance. Followed by thunderings and lightenings like nothing we had ever seen!

BLACK SABBATH – CHAPTER 23

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

BLACK SABBATH

CHAPTER 23

INGA LIKAS (AKA INGA COGNITO)

IF ANYONE IS IN CHRIST, THEY ARE A NEW CREATION. OLD THINGS HAVE PASSED AWAY. BEHOLD, ALL THINGS HAVE BECOME NEW. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

            It was too wonderful to take in! I moved about in a daze. If ever reality felt like a dream, it was now. How do I even describe meeting my son, a beautiful nine year old boy that I thought had died in infancy?

            How about reuniting with a man I despised, having believed for all these years that he was responsible for our son’s death? Then I find out that the dark, nihilistic boy that impregnated me, turned out to become a serious minded Bible believing Christian. But was it possible for me to like, or even trust a guy I had subconsciously trained my brain to loathe for almost a decade?

            Jackson and his Aunt Holly invited us to spend the night in their home. The afternoon turned into evening as I got to know my son and also became reacquainted with Jackson. But I use the word reacquainted loosely. For Jackson and I were not the same people that knew each other all those years ago. Plus, our relationship had been closer to two ships passing in the night rather than anything with real substance.

            However, over the next forty-eight hours Jackson and I got to know each other better than our year together a decade earlier. Our association as teenagers was filled with insecurities and secrecy. The glue that kept us together was lust. This proved to be a rather flimsy adhesive.

The bond that pulled us together all these years later was Christ and mutual love for our son.

            As we caught up with each other, I didn’t have a whole lot to share, or even want to, until I came to the part when I met Seven Sallie at a courthouse. My life up until then had been like that of a vagabond gypsy. I never stayed in one place long. Jackson’s existence was quite different.

            As I learned his story, my feelings for him changed like from night to day. I went from loathing the man I thought he was, to loving the man he actually is. Although our relationship was brief and long ago, it was a hard adjustment referring to him by his changed name. He said he changed his name more out of distancing himself from a dysfunctional family rather than concern about being found. But my mouth hung open in a grin when he told me what he changed it to.

            “C. S. Lewis,” he had said. Then he smirked when he saw my response and said, “What?”

            “You changed your name to that of the famed Christian author, Clive Staples Lewis?”

            “I beg to differ,” he said, raising a finger. “I changed it to that of my mother’s and Aunt Holly’s father, Charles Scott Lewis. But in all honesty, the English writer was also a motive. He is my favorite author, and Benny’s too. He loved the Narnia series.”

            At the mention of this small aspect of my son’s life, my heart ached at how much I had missed. His first steps, his first words. Might they have been ‘Mama’ had I been there?

            “Back home a dear friend of mine’s name is Lewis,” I said, and then pondered one of my words. Home.

            Until I met the Sallie’s, I never really had a home. For home is where love is, and I felt loved by everyone. And I loved everyone in return. The Sallie’s, the Storms, Seven’s daughter Sevenia, Louis Lewis. Sure, my sister, brother and I loved each other. But it was more of a looking out for each other, since our mother only loved herself, and we lived in something like dorms.

            “This Lewis you speak of, what’s her first name?”

            “Oh, it’s he, not she.”

            What was that look that came over Jackson’s face? Jealousy? I’m sorry, although our relationship had been brief, I always knew and thought of C. S. Lewis as Jackson. But out of respect for the main reason he changed his name, I made myself begin to think of him as C. S.

            “I see, okay, what’s his name then?”

            “Louis.”

            “I meant his first name.”

            “It’s Louis.”

            “Okay, I thought you meant his last name was Louis.”

            “It is.”

            A baffled look came over his face. He scratched his head, opened his mouth, and closed it. I started laughing, I was messing with him a little bit. As I giggled, I subconsciously reached out and took hold of his hand. We were sitting across from each other on his deck in a couple of deck chairs.

            His eyes went to our joined hands. Then they turned up to my eyes. What was that look, tenderness? I didn’t know what to make of it and gently pulled my hand away. “Both his first and last names are Louis (Lewis).”

            I spelled the two for him and he burst out laughing. “You’re kidding?”

            “I am not. He’s actually Zella’s cousin,” I said, pointing to her. She and Seven were talking with Holly at the kitchen table where they were having a Bible study with his aunt. Benny was playing with two neighboring kids in the large yard. “He’s a few months younger than Zella. His parents thought it was cute how her first name rhymed with her last, LaStella. So his parents called him Louis.”

            “Interesting,” he replied.

            “Another interesting thing. He was a police Lieutenant, so we all called him Triple Lou. But then he got fired, so we all dropped the triple.”

            “Why’d he get fired?”

            “He was in charge of Sunday law enforcement when Sunday laws first came into effect. But then, mostly through Seven’s influence, he began studying the Sabbath in the Bible and became convicted of the issues at stake. Namely, the Sabbath God instituted at Creation on the seventh day vs. the sabbath of man’s creation, the Venerable Day of the Sun, Sunday.”

            “So he lost his job over it?”

            “Not at first. He had himself removed from his position. But then as Sunday laws became stricter and stricter, he actually got arrested over mandatory worship.”

            He nodded and a smile eased onto his face. Then his hand came toward mine and he took hold of it, squeezing gently. “I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you again, Inga.”

            Looking at him was surreal. Obviously he seemed older, yet he was so familiar. I had suspected he died his hair black all those years ago, but I genuinely thought the blue eyes looking at me now were dark brown back then, not colored contacts. I relished his hand in mine. I even longed to kiss him. But those feelings also opened the door for him to seduce me all those years ago. I eased my hand out of his.

            He smiled sadly. “I want you to know something. You’re the only female I have ever been with, you know, intimately been with.”

            Seven Sallie and I were two of a kind. Before I could stop my mouth, I asked, “Are you gay?”

            “No,” he replied with a smirk. “What with raising Benny, I didn’t date much. How about you?”

            I snorted. “I never stayed in one place long enough to establish a bond.”

            “But there were guys?”

            “Not really. I have never been on birth control, so you’re also the only one I ever, you know,” I explained. But not wanting to delve any deeper than that, I quickly changed the subject. “So how did you become a Christian?”

            “Well, having Benny was a start. Having this little creature to protect, that was half from me, shifted me away from a nihilistic life view. Then another shift came living with Aunt Holly, who is not only Christian in name, but devout.”

            “Can I ask what you’ve done for a living?”

            “I had a trust fund that I was able to access after I turned eighteen. As you know, I was eighteen when Benny was born. I withdrew my trust fund the very morning of our… I’m sorry, my escape with Benny.”

            “How much?”

            He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “A million dollars.”

            I gasped. “So you never had to work? You were a millionaire and I was homeless?”

            “You knew my dad was mega wealthy. One million isn’t even one percent of his financial worth. You must not believe me when I say it was completely my intention for us to flee together.”

            “I’m sorry. I do believe you.”

            “So, I bought this acreage here, and a tourist boat.”

            “A tourist boat?”

            “I love Lake Superior,” he shrugged. “I grew up by the Pacific ocean, so I love the water.”

            Another irony between now and then. Then Jackson always had pale skin, despite living near the ocean in southern California. Now he was tan while living in northern Minnesota. Go figure.

            He shrugged. “I didn’t say I was a surfer. But up here I am a boater. Captain of my own little ship if you please. And it paved a way to have an income and enjoy the water at the same time.”

            “You must not be happy with the last two plagues, what with the waters turning to blood.”

            “Yeah, it’s not good for business. But it’s not like the Bible didn’t warn us and prepare us.”

            “Very true.”

            “So I piloted the boat and a guy named Mick Wadena, who’s my neighbor across the woods, guided the tour up and down the shore. He was natural at talking to people. He used to be the lead singer of a Christian rock band. As a matter of fact, those are his kids playing with Benny. Another bonus having him as a partner is he’s more than twenty years older than me, so it added maturity to our little crew. I was barely twenty when I bought the boat.”

            “You say he was in a Christian band. Did he avoid the first plague?”

            “He did. But when we met, we both observed Sunday. Mick was also instrumental in my Christian growth, besides my Aunt Holly. So about five or six years ago, an old friend of his from his band days came up and stayed with him for a few weeks. He started teaching us about prophecy and the Sabbath.

            “Mick’s friend and I also bonded over shared experiences with the occult. He helped me through some ramifications I still had dealt with. You see, before he was a Christian, he was in a Satanic band. For him it was more like a gimmick. For me I grew up around it. But we still suffered something like PSTD when we separated from the demonic. I guess you could say it was something like guilt by association.”

            “Was his name Arlo Aldo?”

            C. S. Raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Yeah, are you a fan of his music or something?”

            I suppose I was, but that wasn’t the point. “I know him.”

            “You know Arlo Aldo?” He frowned.

            “I should say I do. His son is married to a good friend of mine. She’s also the daughter and stepdaughter of Seven and Zella,” I told him as I point at the couple sitting with his aunt again.

BLACK SABBATH – CHAPTER 20

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

BLACK SABBATH

CHAPTER 20

INGA LIKAS (AKA INGA COGNITO)

SUBMIT TO GOD. RESIST THE DEVIL AND HE WILL FLEE FROM YOU. DRAW NEAR TO GOD AND HE WILL DRAW NEAR TO YOU. CLEANSE YOUR HANDS YOU SINNERS, AND PURIFY YOUR HEARTS YOU DOUBLE MINDED (James 4:7, 8)

            It was like being in a real live science fiction movie! The second and third plagues had fallen, and the seas and waters became blood. (Revelation 16:3, 4) Lake Superior was dark red and foamy on its banks. The smell of it along with the dead fish was gagging me. The thought of paying a visit to Jackson Bronx was making me nauseous with anxiety. I’m surprised I didn’t throw up.

            But I kept remembering Bible verses about confidence in God. Like there is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear. (1 John 4:18) Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10) God will keep you in perfect peace when it stays on Him. (Isaiah 26:3) For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)

            I was with Seven and Zella LaStella-Sallie.  We were riding in their dark green Subaru Outback. I was in the back seat with Seven driving and Zella riding shotgun. My two close friends were also a comfort provided by God.

            Our trip up to the north shore of Minnesota was another element like out of a science fiction movie. For one thing, it was as if we were teleported. It seemed like we were barely on the road, and we were driving through Duluth. It should have taken us about five hours to get there, but it seemed like only minutes. The city was desolate. Like the COVID lock down times ten. The few people we did encounter eyed us skeptically.

            But just as the angel assured us, we would be protected from any angry people or mobs that blamed Sabbath keepers for the plagues. The angel also had programmed Jackson Bronx’s address into the GPS. It turned out to be a cabin several miles off of highway 61. Very remote.

            I should have felt creeped out as we got closer. Jackson Bronx was a strange, sinister boy who was almost two years older than me. He was seventeen the last time I saw him. After I tell you what happened the last time I saw him, you’ll understand why I felt anxious as his cabin came into view. But the Word of God gave me courage to go forward.

            Not quite a decade previous, he had crept into my room at midnight. I awoke to a hand over my mouth and a knife blade’s tip an inch from my eye. A full moon’s light shone in through the window and  his dark eyes glazed crazily into mine. Yet his bizarre actions supposedly came as a warning rather than a threat.

            “Uncle Bronx thinks you’re pretty bright blue eyes are magical,” he had whispered. “He intends to make you his wife…. Do you want me to gouge them out? Ouch! Why’d you bite my hand?”

            I wanted to say, ‘what do think you, idiot?’ But that wouldn’t be wise to ask that of an evil person while they held a knife to your face. So I said, “I have allergies. I can’t breathe through my nose.”

            My heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest as I prepared to be slashed. But he sat back on his haunches and spoke patiently as he lifted his hand toward the window and the moon’s light to check it over. “I can’t believe you bit me.”

            “I can’t believe you snuck into my room and threatened me!” I replied but then realized I shouldn’t have been surprised. There was a reason I kept my distance from him as much as possible.

            “I didn’t sneak into your room to threaten you. I came into your room to warn you. Maybe you should lock your door.”

            “There are no locks on the doors,” I told him. Then I almost called this place what it was, a cult. But I didn’t know just how close Jackson was to the cult leader, his Uncle Bryson. So I said, “At this compound.”

            “Put a chair under the doorknob,” he said, pointing at a chair under a desk.

            “It has wheels.”

            “Well, get creative then. Hang bells on the door or something.”

            “That still won’t keep creeps like you out,” I blurted, and instantly tensed. I guess diarrhea of the mouth began early for me. I wonder when it started for Seven?

            But he didn’t seem to mind. He shrugged and said, “But it would warn you when a creep like me comes in.”

            “Do you think you’re a creep?” I asked mildly. Then I tensed again. Why did my mouth tend to speak before the rational part of my brain gave it permission to?

            “No, but you apparently do.”

            “Can you blame me? You’re always wearing black with dark satanic imagery.”

            His eyes suddenly looked crazed in the moonlight, and he pointed his index fingers up from his forehead like devil horns. Then he gave a ghoulish grin. No, more like a silly grin. He waggled his tongue and went, “Aaaaah.”

            I don’t know why, but this made me want to laugh, but I held it in. So then it came out as a burst when I couldn’t hold it any more. It was along the lines of not supposed to laugh making something seem funnier.

            “I like you, Inga,” he said softly and ran a finger gently against my cheek.

            I was stunned. I’d never seen Jackson be anything but dark and brooding. It took me off guard, first by him acting silly and now acting sweet. The truth is, I always thought he was cute. But the evil persona he took on turned me off. So instead of saying I liked him too, I asked, “Why are you into devil stuff.”

            “I’m not,” he shrugged.

            “Yeah? Could have fooled me. Actually you’re not fooling me. You don’t just accidently wear inverted crosses and pentagrams, listen to death metal music, sneak into girls rooms at midnight, and put knives to their face.”

            “In my defense, you’re the only girl I’ve ever snuck in on and done that.”

            “Well, how special for me,” I mocked, tilting my head. Then I frowned. He had in fact just awakened me with a knife practically in my eye, yet I wasn’t afraid anymore. But never trust a devil, they will be charming one second and diabolical the next.

            “Like I said, I came to warn you, not harm you.”

            “So why the knife to the face?
            “I didn’t want you to freak out.”

            “Didn’t want me to freak out! You’ve got to be kidding!”

            He shook his head and waved his hands. “I wanted to make sure you kept silent. If I would have simply shaken you awake, you might have screamed.”

            “No might have about it,” I admitted.

            We gazed at each other in the moonlight for several long seconds. Then he said, “Well, you’ve been warned. I better go.”

            Strangely, I didn’t want him to go. He had been sitting on the side of my bed and arose. I had been sitting up in my bed at that point and grabbed his hand. “Let’s talk some more.”

            “Ouch,” he responded, pulling his hand away from mine. But then he sat back down on the side of my bed. “I still can’t believe you bit me.”

            “Sorry,” I said and then frowned. Why was I apologizing? He’s the one that snuck into my room, put a knife to my face and hand over my mouth. My reaction was just instinctive, self-protective.

            “I ought to bite you,” he said with a coy smile.

            He suddenly pulled me to himself and nibbled on my neck. It tickled, so I giggled, but I pushed away from him. Then he grabbed me by the shoulders, yanked me back toward him, and kissed me. The weird thing was, I kissed him back even as I halfheartedly tried to push away.

            It’s strange how the mind works. This duel nature in us humans. There’s part of the mind that draws us to wrong things, also known as sin. Then there’s this other part of the mind that tells us to do what is right, also known as the conscience. It is here, I believe, where we either cooperate or ignore the working of the Holy Spirit. Even back then, when I wasn’t a follower of Jesus, I felt this struggle within me.

            I think the Apostle Paul explains this struggle very well in Romans chapter seven. But that evening with Jackson kissing me in my bed at midnight, with me wearing nothing but a little nightgown, a garment that was really only a big t-shirt? For that I will boil Romans chapter seven down to verses 23-25.

            ‘I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Oh wretched person that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God. But with the flesh, the law of sin.’

            But I knew very little about Jesus or the Bible back then. So the law of the flesh was ruling over the law of my mind as Jackson kissed me. Something inside me said, no this isn’t right, get away. Where did that instinct come from? Yet another part of me said, this feels good, put your arm around his neck. So I did, and carnal passion smothered out good sense and reason.

            But there were a couple moments of conscience and reason fighting for air. After several minutes of kissing like they do in France, Jackson lifted my night gown. I yanked it back down. “No!”

            “I like your feistiness,” he said with a laugh, trying again with me rejecting again.

            Then this typically brooding, scowling young man, not only smiled, but laughed. This disarmed me even further. But then he began to arm me back up by saying. “Uncle Bryson wants you as a virgin bride as soon as you turn sixteen. We can eliminate half of the equation of virgin bride right now.”

            Fear erased the passion I was feeling, and I rolled away from him. “No! You better leave right now!”

            “Okay, suit yourself, Inga,” he said mildly. He actually got up and walked to the door as if to leave. But he stopped, turned, and said, “I must say, it hurts that you would rather have a guy almost old enough to be your grandfather rather than me. But, like I said, suit yourself.”

            “Like I have choice? If he finds I’m not a virgin, he will likely kill me.”

            “Not if I tell him you’re my girlfriend.”

            “Do that and he’ll kill you too.”

            Jackson snorted. “Oh, lovely Inga, you know so little. Uncle Bryson acts like he’s superman, but my brothers and me are his kryptonite.”

            He didn’t explain why he and his brothers were like kryptonite, that I found out later. But I was an infatuated teenage girl and foremost on my mind was, ‘he called me lovely!’ Me, a gangly girl making her way out of puberty. Did he also say girlfriend? That had a ring of permanence.

            But Jackson was dark, sinister and not to be trusted. However, that night he was sweet and charming. Can leopard a change his spots? No, but maybe I could change him. How many millions of women got into a mess thinking that?                                                                                      I hopped out of my bed and went to him. “You really want me to be your girlfriend?”

            “I do,” he said gently, caressing my cheek with his finger again. Like the foolish girl I was, I whimpered and we started kissing again.

            Back to the current situation. I heard Zella say, “You’re awfully quiet, Inga. Penny for your thoughts.”

            “Huh?” I replied, a little rattled. My little trip down memory lane was getting more bumpy by the mile, or I guess I should say minute.

            “You seemed to be deep in thought,” she added.

            “Yeah, I guess so,” I said and then paused, considering my very dear friends in the front seat. ‘Confess your trespasses to one to another’ came to mind. (James 5:16) “You know how I told you I ran away from that cult in California when I was sixteen.”

            “Sure I do.”

            “What I left out was that I was pregnant… By Jackson Bronx.”

BLACK SABBATH – CHAPTER 19

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

BLACK SABBATH

CHAPTER 19

INGA LIKAS (AKA INGA COGNITO)

THEN I, JOHN, SAW THE HOLY CITY, NEW JERUSALEM, COMING DOWN OUT OF HEAVEN FROM GOD (Revelation 21:2)

            Sevenia Sallie and I were both pumped with positive adrenaline. Yet as we anticipated a supernatural encounter, possibly even meeting an angelic being, we had butterflies flittering in our midsections. The young woman I walked along beside voiced my own concern. “Inga, I feel unworthy for what we may encounter.”

            The positive adrenaline flipped to a negative panic attack. The flitter of happy butterflies turned to a flutter of angry bats. I stopped dead in my tracks. Sevenia Sallie, who as a teenager was known as the girl prophetess felt unworthy? How much more a woman who had thus far spent most of her adult life as a homeless vagabond feel? A woman who several months ago had been arrested for shoplifting.

            Sevenia took two more steps without me by her side. Then she turned and took a step back toward me. Her Emerald eyes were wide and expressive. “Inga, what’s wrong?”

            “If you feel unworthy, then I have no business proceeding to our destination. You better go without me.”

            “Inga, remember what Captain Kirk told us? If we follow the Holy Spirit’s lead, we will be blessed. If not, well?”

            “You know my background Sevenia. I was thief, a liar, a…”

            “Did you hear what you said?” she interrupted with a gentle smile. “You was. Hand me your Bible.”

            She put out an open palm. I pulled the small New Testament from the pocket of my blue flannel shirt. I meekly asked, “What for?”

            She opened it to first Corinthians chapter six and read some verses describing different manners of sin. Then her almond shaped green eyes looked into my round arctic blues as she read verse eleven. “Such WERE some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

            This is why fellowship is so important. The Bible instructs us to exhort one another daily. (Hebrews 3:13) Sevenia’s encouragement chased away the devil’s discouragement. Like the song, I turned my eyes upon Jesus and looked full in His wonderful face. I felt the comfort of the Comforter ooze into me. The precious gift of the Holy Spirit that Jesus also called the Helper in John chapter fourteen.

            “Thanks for that,” I told Sevenia.

            “Just doing what you’ve been doing for countless others,” she said with a grin. I had thought the song ‘Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus,’ but now Sevenia began to sing it. I joined her and when our choir of two finished, we hugged. Then we proceeded to the two hundred year old oak tree behind the big, faded red barn.

            Brock Storm had tied a bench swing to a thick limb that jutted out horizontally from the large tree. The limb was about as large as a full grown tree itself. Sevenia and I watched the beautiful multicolored sunset as we sat side by side. As talented as many artists are, nothing can match the living art from God’s orderly Creation.

            This was a special sunset, set apart from the previous six that week. For this sunset signified the beginning of the Sabbath, representing the rest God Himself took after Creation. (Genesis 2:2, 3) Then He commanded us to do the same every week in Exodus 20:8-11 and  Deuteronomy 5:12-15.

            Sevenia led us in a prayer, thanking our Lord for the Sabbath as the big orange ball slipped beneath the horizon that Friday evening. For we believed the Biblical Sabbath was from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday. (See Genesis 1:19, 23, 31)

            Many had called us legalists, especially those who were angriest as the seven last plagues fell. But were we who kept the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus legalists? (Revelation 14:12). I should say not! Were we saved because we kept the law? No, we kept the law BECAUSE we were saved. We didn’t keep the law TO be saved.  

            It’s called righteousness by faith. In other words, we are saved by grace through faith, it is a gift from God, and not by our works (Ephesians 2:8, 9). However, in Romans 6:1 the Apostle Paul asks if we continue to sin because we are saved by grace. In verse two he answers his own question. Certainly not!

            So why do we who are saved keep the commandments, the one part of the Bible God wrote Himself with His own finger? Jesus put it as simply as He possibly could in John 14:15. “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” And when you spend time with Jesus, examine and contemplate His life through study and prayer, you tend to fall in love with Him.

            The interesting thing is the only one of the ten commandments that mainstream Christianity seemed to have a problem with is the fourth. Maybe that’s why God allowed it to be the test of love and loyalty. He says in Jeremiah 17:10 that He searches the heart and tests the mind.

            The other interesting thing to consider is why exactly did Satan seek to change this aspect of the law of God. Quite simply because it was the one commandment that recognizes God as Creator. Isaiah chapter fourteen tells of the fall of Lucifer, who would become Satan. He declared in verse fourteen that he wanted to be like the Most High.

            So the seal of God or the mark of the beast came down to the Sabbath of the Bible verses the sabbath made popular by the Roman Empire, Sunday. Mankind, through religious and political leaders, would attempt to change the Bible Sabbath, that element of time, which is also part of the law (Daniel 7:25).

            Because of this, Sunday would become what most of the world would embrace as the sabbath, centuries after the Bible predicted that it would think to do this in the book of Daniel. But just because mankind declared it changed, does that make it so? God says of Himself that He does not change. (Malachi 3:6)

            If you followed the world, or the majority, you received the mark of the beast. The mark in one’s hand or forehead that allowed you to buy and sell. Was this referring to a computer chip? It played a part, but it wasn’t what the scriptures were actually warning of. The mark represents what we think, forehead, and what we do, hand.

            Thankfully Jesus called us out of the world (John 15:19). He wanted to give us the seal of God by doing so. But He doesn’t force us to follow Him. Satan does, simply by using our selfish human natures. But Christ stands at the door of the heart and knocks, politely asking for entrance. (Revelation 3:20).

            So the majority of the religious world had blamed us Sabbatarians for the seven last plagues. This was primarily due to false prophets and teachers doing miracles (Matthew 24:24). They sanctioned Sunday observance in the process. The biggest swing was when Satan himself appeared as an angel of light and deceived the vast multitudes (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). We needed to become like the noble Bereans who searched the scriptures daily (Acts 17:11).

            When Sevenia ended her prayer, we both said amen. She had a look of delightful expectancy on her face after we lifted our bowed heads. I wonder if I had the same, because when she turned her gaze upon me, the wattage of her lit up countenance only increased.

            In only a few minutes of prayer, the beauty of the setting sun had shifted colors and patterns. The sparse clouds went from an orangey lavender to a radiant hot pink. Sevenia emitted a happy sigh. “That beautiful sky sure is a welcome site.”

            “It sure is,” I replied with a strange mixture of calm excitement, wondering what we were welcoming.

            As twilight began to fade into darkness, it happened. It was as if the sun reversed itself. But it wasn’t the sun that lightened our eyesight. It was an angel, a messenger from God that took Sevenia and I off into vision. It was like the ultimate good dream. Yet we were fully awake. I think.

            Our heads tilted up, and our arms extended palms up. Our necks were powerless to move our heads down and our arms powerless to retract to our sides. But we cared not. We were completely enthralled by the vision before our minds.

            It was as if it was happening in the sky. I even wondered if our friends back at the house were seeing the same thing we were. Our guide was a bright light, the voice like a rippling stream, beautiful and melodic as it spoke. “This is a little preview of the city of God, the New Jerusalem. This is to strengthen your resolve.”

            This spectacular city, spoken of by John in the twenty-first chapter of Revelation, had been moving toward us. It had stopped as soon as our guide said, ‘little preview.’ Then our guide became a little like a realtor showing us a house. But this was the heavenly city that was described in Revelation. It was three hundred and seventy five miles on each side. Plus instead of studying every room of a house, we got quick glimpses of different aspects of the city structure, both from near and afar. Zooming in and out.

            The walls were over two hundred feet high and eighteen inches thick. They were made of solid jasper. There were twelve gates made of pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. The aforementioned foundation had twelve layers of precious stones: jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, jacinth, and amethyst. It was beautiful! How often is that said about a foundation?

            The music, oh the music bringing praise to our Savior! It was like nothing ever heard on earth! We could feel the love all around us, although the images of inhabitants were vague, maybe even veiled. Then as quickly as we were whisked away in vision, we were back on the swing on the oak behind the old barn. The last remnant of twilight was giving way to the stars. It seemed time had stood still while we made this little trip. If that’s what you call it.

            Our guide had been as it were a beam of light. But now in the coming night, he took on a shadowy human form.  We could make out no features, but his voice, before heavenly, unearthly, was now that of an older man. Not unlike our beloved Pastor, Captain Kirk.

            “I suppose you are wondering why you two were giving a glimpse of what is to soon come,” he said.

            Sevenia and I, both speechless at first with awe, simply nodded. Then she said, “You said something about strengthening our resolve.”

            “Yes, okay, I will fill you in. It is really quite simple,” he told us. “You both have proven faithful and highly favored. You both have proven to be a blessing to others, especially those who have come to the truth of late, during the loud cry.

            “But many are experiencing wavering courage since the falling of the first plague. Many do not understand how they avoided the first plague. They have very limited understanding in spiritual things. But when push came to shove with mandatory worship, they simply obeyed God rather than men. When you return to the house, you will discover the second plague had fallen. The seas have become as the blood of a dead man.”

            “Oh my,” Sevenia and I said at the same time.

            “Inga, you will need to leave the safety of this refuge for a while. Are you willing?”

            “Yes.”

            The angel laughed. “I figured as much. Your mission is relatively close, Sevenia. You will be needed here to keep believers encouraged, so you will remain close by.”

            I never felt so alive in my life. I would try to run through a wall if asked. Then his next words would humble me. But strength is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9).

            “You will be needed to pay a visit to one of Bryson Bronx’s nephews.”

            This was where I was humbled. At the name Bryson Bronx, the cult leader with whom I partially grew up under, I felt a wave of anxiety. I didn’t like any of Bronx’s family members, especially any of his four arrogant, entitled nephews. Was it even possible even one of them avoided the first plague? But who was I to judge? Only God knows the heart. With great apprehension I asked, “Which one?”

            I silently prayed that it wouldn’t be Jackson. It certainly couldn’t have been him. He was as dark and brooding as the other three combined, and they were all bad enough individually. But it wasn’t the Lord’s will.

            Almost apologetically he said, “Jackson Bronx.”

BLACK SABBATH – CHAPTER 18

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

BLACK SABBATH

CHAPTER 18

INGA LIKAS (AKA INGA COGNITO)

IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THE LAST DAYS, SAYS GOD, THAT I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT UPON ALL FLESH; YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHECY, YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS (Acts 2:17)

            I couldn’t believe I didn’t see this one coming. Sevenia Sallie, Seven’s daughter, asked  “Do you know why my Dad’s twin brother Six is afraid of him?”

            “He is?” I frowned, recalling the two sibling’s warm embrace after Six’s arrival put the head count at the Storm’s farmhouse up to seventy.

            She tucked a strand from her shoulder length auburn hair behind her ear. Her almond -shaped green eyes looked earnest as she said, “Yeah, it’s because Seven ate nine.”

            I still didn’t get that she was joking for a few seconds. My frowned deepened. Was she talking about cousins? Because I knew that Sebastion ‘Seven’ Sallie was the youngest of seven children, and that Six and Seven were their actual middle names.

            Sevenia started giggling. I secretly fancied myself as a sharp cookie. How could I have been so dull? I once heard Seven express something a bit similar. ‘The funny thing about humility is the second you think you have, you lost it.’ I had told him this must be a regular occurrence for you.

            I think the funniest jokes are the ones that baffle me at first. So I burst out laughing after I said. “Oh, ate, not eight.”

            As I wiped a happy tear from my eye and relished the good endorphins just released in my brain, Sevenia was smiling sweetly at me. There was nothing malicious in her joke. Sevenia was right up there with the kindest, most Godly people I had ever met. There was not a mean bone in her body.

            “Thanks for that,” I said. “Nothing like a good laugh.”

            “Thank you,” Sevenia replied as she patted me on the knee. “For all you have taught me.”

            I tilted my head inquisitively. All that I taught her? She and I were roughly the same age. But I looked to her as a mentor. Her knowledge of scripture was unequaled. And I mean with not only with someone like her father, but she was right up there with Pastor Kirk Samson. He was the patriarch of Cotton Creek Cove Fellowship. He was more widely known to his parishioners as Captain Kirk, due to his decade as an Army Chaplin.

            “Actually it’s the other way around,” I smiled, giving her hand that had come to rest on my knee an affectionate squeeze.

            She shook her head. “Nobody has calmed, encouraged and exhorted like you have since the first plague fell. You’re one of the main reasons the children are behaving, well, like contented children.”

            “It’s God, not me.”

            “Right, but He’s working through you. And your humble attitude is what makes it possible.”

            “You know what your dad says about humility?”

            “I do,” she giggled, then asked. “So do you think you are humble?”

            “That’s a loaded question if ever there was one,” I laughed.

            “Haven’t you noticed that Francine practically follows you around like your shadow?”

            I smiled at the thought of Franny. She was a very shy fifteen year old who opened up to me about being bullied. Adolescence had not been kind to her. She was gangly and had pretty severe acne. So I showed her pictures of me when I was fifteen. Puberty was hostile to me as well. She and I had something else in common, unique eyes. Whereas mine were very light blue to the point of almost glowing, her eyes were violet. A color rarely seen in windows to the soul.

            “I honestly don’t mind,” I told Sevenia. “Her meekness quells my potential for being obnoxious. Especially around your dad.”

            She laughed, then rolled her eyes. “He loves exchanging good natured barbs with you. I know he looks at you like a daughter.”

            Sentiment swelled in my heart. “I guess that makes you and me sisters.”

            “We already were,” she smiled, indicating our sisterhood in Christ. Our hands were still joined, and she gave mine an affectionate squeeze. I reciprocated, and then our eyes turned to the door as a knock emanated from the old oak wood.

            Like I said, we were now seventy strong at the Storm residence. Their renovated farmhouse was very large, sporting eight bedrooms. It also had makeshift sleeping quarters in the basement, attic and living room. All these people seeking refuge here made it seem rather small, yet somehow cozy.

            I shared a room with Sevenia, Nancy Aldo, and the aforementioned Francine, who we called Franny. Sevenia’s husband Jerry was rooming with his brother Drew, who was married to Nancy. They also had to put up with Sevenia’s dad, Seven Sallie. Of course I jest by saying ‘put up with’… Well, maybe. Seven’s twin brother Six made it a foursome like our own room.

            So we assumed the knock at the door was one of our roommates. If the door was shut, we knocked in case one of the married roommates was having some private time with their husband, if you know what I mean. But low and behold, we were surprised to see the knock had come from Pastor Samson, AKA Captain Kirk.

            “Pastor, come in,” Sevenia invited.

            “Thank you, my Dear,” Captain Kirk replied as he shuffled in. The man of God was now in his nineties, and although typically spry for his age, he did have moments of appearing frail. He admitted such by joking about the oldest person recorded in the Bible. “Today I feel like Methuselah.”

            We laughed and then Sevenia asked, “To what do we owe the pleasure, Pastor?”

            With Pastor Samson’s long white beard and his reputation for impeccable character, he always reminded me of the Prophet Moses. He ambled toward a desk chair, pointed at it, and with raised eyebrows asked, “May I?”

            “Of course, of course,” Sevenia enthused.

            Captain Kirk groaned a little as he sat. The wood floor squeaked as he did so and with a chuckled he asked, “Was that my bones creaking?”

            Sevenia and I laughed again, then he asked, “How are you ladies holding up?”

            Sevenia and I glanced at each other, then looked at the Pastor and replied at the same time with the same response. “Good.”

            “Good.”

            “How about you?” I asked.

            “Fair to middling,” he replied.

            With the first of the seven last plagues falling, world chaos had ensued. So both Sevenia and I assumed the Pastor was just making rounds to check on the welfare of his flock. But he surprised us.

            “I had a vivid dream about you two as I was taking an afternoon nap today.”

            “Do tell,” I blurted. Then I wondered if it came across as flippant. I opened my mouth to utter an apology, but the Pastor spoke first.

            “I absolutely love your childlike faith, my Dear,” he told me with a chuckle. Then he became serious. “But I do not mean you are childish. Jesus admonished us to become like little children with their simple faith and humility.” (Matthew 18:1-5)

            He looked away and scratched his head. “Sure has been a long time since I was a little child though. Anyway, I had a dream about you two, but I’m not sure how to explain it.”

            “A dream or a nightmare?” I blurted again. You would think I was the daughter of Seven Sallie. But Sevenia did call us sisters.

            Captain Kirk chuckled. “Well, a dream if you follow God’s lead, or a nightmare if you don’t. But I have a good feeling about you two. Plus, it happened this afternoon, so it wouldn’t have been a nightmare in the truest sense.”

            “So what happened Pastor?” Sevenia asked.

            “Well, it was more like an instructive situation rather than anything specific happening.”

            “What do you mean?” Sevenia asked.

            “Can you two keep a secret?”

            “Wasn’t it Ben Frankin who said three people can keep a secret if two are dead,” my mouth spurted yet again. I instantly regretted it, especially given the Pastor’s age and frailty.

            But he chuckled. “It’s not that crucial of a secret. Several people already know about it. It’s just the fewer that know the better. I don’t want people thinking I’m off my rocker.”

            I stopped myself from a foot in my mouth statement, if I hadn’t already placed it there and simply asked, “Know what?”

            “I think I know,” Sevenia said. “Did you have an angelic encounter?”

            “Yes, my Dear, I did.”

            “And you’ve experienced that before?” I asked.

            “It’s complicated,” Captain Kirk replied with a frown as he began stroking his long white beard. “On a few occasions over the last twenty years, I’ve been given a message or instructions from an angel of the Lord. Whether these are actual encounters, dreams, or visions, I don’t know. What happened in my dream this afternoon was very, very real. But also very short. But the message was clear.”

            Despite his age, Pastor Samson gazed at us with the intensity of an NFL linebacker eyeing a quarterback. At the same time, Sevenia and I both said, “What is it?”

            “I don’t know.”

            Sevenia and I gazed at him dumbfounded. Then she said, “But you said the message was clear.”

            He shook his head. “No, no, we got off the same page. Let me clarify. I don’t know what your message is. My message was clear. It was to tell you two that you will be receiving a message yourselves. The purpose of me as a go between was twofold. It was so you weren’t surprised by the encounter and so you have faith in its legitimacy.”

            I felt a spike of positive adrenaline. “Are you saying Sevenia and I are going to have an angelic encounter?”

            “Either that or you will be given a vision. You both have been considered highly favored.”

            “When?” my spiritual sister and I asked at the same time.

            “Go to the two hundred year old oak tree behind the big barn at sunset. Keep this to yourselves. And may God richly bless you.”

BLACK SABBATH – CHAPTER 15

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

BLACK SABBATH

CHAPTER 15

ZELLA LaSTELLA-SALLIE

BUT YOU, DANIEL, SHUT UP THE WORDS, AND SEAL THE BOOK UNTIL THE TIME OF THE END; MANY SHALL RUN TOO AND FRO, AND KNOWLEDGE SHALL INCREASE. (Daniel 12:4)

            There were about a dozen of us watching Seven’s program in stunned silence. It was a live podcast feed from the congressional hearing featuring my husband and Congressman Redburn. Brock Storm was operating the camera from his seat twenty feet away. Whether or not he was recording in secret I didn’t know—God knows.

            The stunned silence in the Storm’s home wasn’t because of the dialogue between Seven and the Congressman. Our eyes were riveted to the TV screen due to the chaos in the courtroom. What was causing the pandemonium was apparently the beginning of the seven last plagues.

            As Brock operated the video camera, he had been rotating back and forth between which of the two men on display were speaking. He had just zeroed in on Mr. Redburn when the Congressman’s face began to discolor. He truly seemed to be living up to his last name.

            His complexion suddenly transformed from a pale alabaster to something like a bad sunburn. Then in a matter of seconds his skin transformed again when his face seemingly broke out into a case of severe acne. That’s when we noticed murmuring and shrieks. Brock rotated the camera around the courtroom and virtually everyone in the room had the same thing happening to them.

            Then the video screen took in both Congressman Redburn and Seven. The appearance of pimples on the Congressman had now turned into boil like sores, oozing puss. Yet my husband was not affected! His light complexion was as smooth as could be. That is for a man over forty with a five o’clock shadow. He seemed to be staring at the camera with a stunned expression. But it was actually Brock he gazed at as he nodded an acknowledgement of some type of communication between the two.

            Next the camera swirled and jiggled as Brock, my husband, and my cousin, Louis Lewis, quickly exited the courtroom.  We caught glimpses of people screaming and clutching their faces. Then the camera bobbed up and down as the trio ran out into the street. The picture on the large TV screen gyrated so much it started to give me motion sickness.

            Yet I couldn’t take my eyes from the scene on the screen. Then the picture stopped vibrating and stilled. Out on the street Brock had stopped and allowed the viewers to take in the commotion outside even the courtroom. Scores of people were clawing the loathsome sores on their faces. Thankfully there were some unaffected as they looked around, amazed at the turmoil.

            For about two seconds my cousin’s face appeared on the screen as he made his way past Brock. Thankfully his ebony complexion was unaffected by the plague. But his brown eyes were super wide and intense as he said, “Come on, Brock!”

            Then Brock whirled and captured the sight of my slightly overweight cousin scrambling down the sidewalk. Between Louie’s wide eyes and the sight of a middle aged man in dress shoes high step running as fast as he could, it caused several of us to snicker, despite the gravity of the situation.

            That view only lasted a few seconds as well before we heard a grunt and the picture on the screen briefly giggled. The camera spun around and captured my husband, the venerable Seven Sallie, sitting on the sidewalk with his arms behind him propping himself up. His gray-green eyes were as wide as Louie’s. “Why’d you stop, Brock?”

            “I was taking in the scene around us, just like you apparently were, as you weren’t watching where you were going.”

            With surprising agility for a middle aged man, Seven leapt up and sprinted away as he said, “Come on, let’s get outta here.”

            The picture began to giggle again as Brock pursued his two companions. My husband, an avid runner, passed my chunky cousin. It reminded me of John chapter twenty when John out ran Peter to Christ’s tomb. But leave it to my husband, he flung open the back door of a dark blue Chevy Malibu and dove in.

            Three cars away, Louie opened the door of his dark blue Crown Vic, but he then froze as he gazed toward the car Seven dove into. “Seven, over here.”

            “I’ll get him,” Brock’s voice said as the camera caught his muscular forearm opening the door to the Chevy Malibu. “Seven, you’re in the wrong car.”

            “Shoot!” he said as he scrambled out. Suddenly my husband’s eyes filled the entire screen for a couple seconds as he said, “Is that camera on?”

            “Yeah, this is a historical moment.”

            “What, by sticking it in my face as I get out of the wrong car?”

            “I’m just trying to help you out.”

            “Well turn that camera off or we’ll have to call this ‘The Three Stooges Escape the Plagues.’”

            Next we see Louis Lewis fumbling with his keys, starting his car, and then a view out of the windshield as they shot out of a parking lot. They had to make their way cautiously down the city streets. Cars were pulled over left and right, and people were running around in a panic.

            “Can you believe what we are witnessing?” Seven said.

            “That’s why I’m filming,” Brock replied, as he turned the camera back on Seven as my husband leaned on the front seats from the back. Seven’s eyes as well as his nose filled the screen this time.

            His eyebrows too as he frowned. “Will you stop sticking that thing in my face?”

            The camera rotated to Louie. My cousin glanced at it, then did a double take. “Well, don’t be pointing it at my ugly mug.”

            As we watched the trio escaping the city via the live feed, Destiny turned her pretty face toward me. She was chewing nervously on her lip but then chuckled. “I’m kind of glad they’re reluctantly playing ‘The Three Stooges.’ It’s sort of relieving how freaked out I feel.”

            “Me too,” I said as we both gave each other’s hand a reassuring squeeze.

            A knock at the door made us jump. Destiny clutched my hand tighter, so together we cautiously made our way to her front door. She peeked through a window and sighed with relief. Glancing at me, she said, “It’s Anna Clayton and her daughter, Brianna. They have no sores, but they both look terrified.”

            Dee opened the door and with her typical warm smile, in spite the turmoil. “Anna, Brianna, please come in.”

            Anna Clayton had learned about the true Sabbath during the loud cry. The loud cry came on the heels of the national Sunday law, in conjunction with the out pouring of the Holy Spirit, which was the Latter Rain.

            I knew the Sabbath issue had become a divisive sticking point between Anna and her husband. After fellowshipping with us a couple of times, she and her eight year old daughter Brianna stopped coming. Her reason was for the sake of her marriage. Her husband was in adamant favor of the Sunday laws.

            However, a few weeks earlier, when Sunday worship became mandatory, she showed up at our fellowship with a tear steaked face. She informed us that when the rubber met the road, she couldn’t deny her convictions. She clearly saw the Seventh Day Sabbath as the seal of God, and the mandatory worship on Sunday as the mark of the beast. It now had seemed to have driven a wedge between her and her husband. Her husband refused to let their daughter come with her.

            We didn’t know much about Anna those few weeks ago when she took her ultimate stand of faith. She was a plain Jane, meek and kind of timid. Her shoulder length hair was somewhere between dirty blond and light brown. In the limited time I had been around her, it had always been corralled in either a ponytail or hair clip. She wore glasses, but no makeup, and no jewelry other than a wedding band. Her gray eyes were close set, her nose small and her lips thin. Her smile, although rare, was lovely and made endearing by slightly crooked canine teeth.

            “I didn’t know what to do other than to come back to your church,” she had told Destiny and me after we led her into the pastor’s study for some privacy. “Brad refused to let Briana come with me.”

            “First of all, lets pray,” Destiny said, and then led us in a heartfelt prayer petitioning God’s help with Anna’s family situation as she courageously took a stand for her convictions.

            “There’s something else I should share,” Anna added. “Our two sons take their dad’s side in this controversy.”

            “Oh?” Destiny replied with raised eyebrows, looking as surprised as I felt. “I assumed Brianna was an only child.”

            Anna shook her head vigorously. “Brad and I have a twenty nine year old son and a twenty seven year old son.”

            I frowned. “I see, but I thought you had told us before that you were married the summer before Brianna was born?”

            She shook her head again. “We renewed our vows the summer before Brianna was born. We actually got married two weeks after we graduated from high school. Bradely Junior was born late the following spring.”

            “Oh, so you two have been married thirty years then?” I asked.

            She nodded. Then she bit her lower lip nervously. “I feel I should share something else with you as well. It’s actually making my situation with Brad much more complicated than just our differing views on the Sabbath.”

            She paused and looked at her lap. She wore a blue and white house dress, and she twisted her fingers nervously in the folds between her legs. The church she had belonged to was very conservative and the women always wore skirts or dresses.

            She looked up at us and a tear leaked from her eye. “I feel like I’m betraying Brad with what I’m about to share.”

            She paused for a very long time, but Destiny and I sat quietly and gave her space. Anna surprised us by suddenly snorting a laugh. “Well, you two sure aren’t the nosy, gossipy type. So at least I can trust you to keep it to yourself.”

            She paused and looked at her lap again. Especially given the little compliment she had given Destiny and me, I had to stop myself from saying, ‘Keep what to ourselves?’

            “Brad isn’t Briana’s father,” she finally and quietly admitted.

BLACK SABBATH – CHAPTER 14

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

BLACK SABBATH

CHAPTER 14

SEVEN SALLIE

NOW WHEN THEY BRING YOU TO THE SYNAGOGUES AND MAGISTRATES AND AUTHORITIES, DO NOT WORRY ABOUT HOW OR WHAT YOU SHOULD ANSWER, OR WHAT YOU SHOULD SAY. FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL TEACH YOU IN THAT VERY HOUR WHAT YOU OUGHT TO SAY. (Luke 12:11, 12)

            “You just don’t get it!” the Congressman barked. His silver hair was perfectly coifed, and his capped white teeth seemed like a tight fit in his mouth. “It’s been proven that the Sunday laws have brought peace out of chaos. Mandatory worship has brought reverence back to God from a disrespectful and sinful society.”

            “Reverence to the god of this world, and of this age,” I replied.

            “What’s that supposed to mean?”

            “The Bible says, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17). When you tell someone they HAVE to worship a deity, where is the liberty in that?”

            “Do you have children, Mr. Sallie?”

            “You know that I do. It was my daughter that arranged this hearing.”

            “When you instruct a child to say their prayers before bed time or at a meal, is that removing their liberty?”

            “Are you saying the citizens of this state and this country are like children that need their elected representatives to parent them and order them to say their prayers?”

            “Part of my campaign when I ran for office was supporting the agenda to bring our country back to morality. So you see, Mr. Sallie, you are not just rebelling against the authorities, you are rebelling against we the people.”

            “Well, if the majority of we the people want to take away my freedom to worship God according to my convictions, then I guess that would be rebelling. I obey the government of the God of the Bible first and foremost.”

            “Ah, and that’s where you missed the boat.  Don’t you see? We have joined our government of this fine country with the government of God.”

            “Poppycock.”

            “Poppycock?” he laughed mockingly. “Who uses poppycock in this day and age?”

            “It seems I just did.”

            “I suppose an archaic term goes with archaic reasoning.”

            “My reasoning comes from the Bible.”

            “With all due reverence to the Holy Scriptures, that’s part of your problem. Even the newest portions of the Bible were written two thousand years ago. That’s why Jesus gave authority to the church. Societies change and evolve, and then they need to adapt to those changes through the democracy of the ecclesiastic.”

            “Help me understand, Congressman. Are you saying the church has authority over the Bible?”

            “It does indeed.”

            “Not in my religious convictions, Sir. The Bible warns of an apostate religion. It predicted the dark ages, and it warns of persecution once again at the end of time. So the Bible has absolute supreme authority over the church. ”

            “And you have a right to those beliefs, Mr. Sallie. But you also have an obligation to obey the law of the land. The view that these Sunday laws will bring about persecution is ludicrous. The majority of we the people have concluded that Sunday reverence and worship is for the betterment of society.”

            “The majority killed Jesus. The majority refused to get on Noah’s ark. The majority bowed down to Nebuchadnezzar s golden image, save for Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego. Now you’re trying to force Bible Sabbath keepers to bow down to your idol of Sunday.”

            “How dare you call the holy day of God an idol! I think our patience with the obstinacy of you anti-Sunday rebels has run its course. I think it’s due to your irreverence that we haven’t eradicated natural calamities, famine and strife. Maybe it might be best if you all were eradicated.”

            “Seriously? You just said Sunday laws wouldn’t lead to persecution.”

            “I miss spoke, I do apologize,” he back tracked. “Scratch that from the record.”

            “So by eradicated, you mean that it is expedient that Sabbath keepers be eliminated for the good of the country? Kind of like what Caiphas said regarding Jesus in John 11:50?”

            The Congressman looked around puzzled. I suppose he didn’t know what I was referring to. But he quickly regained his composure and made an attempted at a joke. It did obtain a few snickers when he declared, “Maybe they should bring back the frontal lobotomy for you fanatics.”

            The joke was tasteless, so I wondered if he was trying to lure me into something I said when I was a well-known, polarizing talk show host, during my pre-Christian days. I’m not proud of the many things I said and did back then. Especially of my reputation as a carouser, which led to my comment.

            So I will fill you in, because he was in fact trying to entice me with a well-known quote of mine from my syndicated show from the past. I had a guest on my show that was discussing realms of psychiatry. After he shared the history of the frontal lobotomy, and how it turned so many into zombies, I had said, ‘I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.’

            The Congressman smirked at me in anticipation, but I didn’t take the bait. I calmly asked, “Congressman, do you understand the rebellion in heaven? Do you understand the reason we exist in a sin filled world?”

            “Since you seem to have all the answers, why don’t you enlighten me?”

            “With all due respect, Congressman, you are very public with your profession of Christianity. Would you mind explaining your view on the fall of mankind?”

            “Your agenda is the one under scrutiny here, Mr. Sallie. I have simply been selected by my colleagues to lead this inquiry, which was, as you know, requested by your daughter. My personal views are irrelevant. I am here to uphold what has become the law of the land, and to stop people like you from thinking they can make their personal views the law of the land.”

            “That’s absurd!” I replied. “I am in no way, at all, expecting or even wanting my personal views to be the law of the land. I am simply arguing for the right to exercise freedom of religion, established by our founding fathers. And part of that freedom is not being required to observe a day contrary to the Ten Commandment Law of God.”

            “Objection!” the Congressman barked.

            There was a judge presiding over our conversation, but up until now he had been a silent observer. “Congressman, this is an informal hearing, not a trial, so there are no objections. On the other hand, Mr. Sallie, be careful not to defame other persons’ convictions of faith.”

            “Have I done such, your Honor?” I asked.

            “No Sir, but you are getting close.”

            “May I ask how?”

            “By insinuating that the sabbath of the majority is not part of the Decalogue.”

            “With all due respect, your Honor, it is not.”

            “That may be your truth, Mr. Sallie. But you need to respect the truth of your fellow citizens.”

            “In reality, is there such a thing as your truth and my truth? Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and the Holy Bible is the book that testifies of Him. So anybody’s personal, so called, truth is irrelevant. The Bible is the only source of genuine truth. Creation is truth, while evolution is a theory.”

            “Can you explain Creation, Mr. Sallie?” The Congressman asked.

            “Only from the perspective of the Bible. God created in six days and rested the seventh, establishing the Sabbath.”

            “Very well, Mr. Sallie. But many of us believe in a combination of Creation and evolution. There’s no way you can prove it was six literal days. The six day account is likely a hypothetical situation.”

            “Is that why the accuracy of the real Sabbath is unimportant to your side? Because you view Creation as hypothetical?”

            “I do not view Creation as hypothetical, only the duration. But you are getting side tracked. We may just need to agree to disagree. I say the church has authority to declare what is the sabbath, and you say it doesn’t. But regardless, of what you or I want, the Sunday sabbath has become the law of the land.”

            “Yes, it has become the law of the land,” I agreed. “And the Bible predicted this would happen. In the Old Testament book of Daniel no less (verse 7:25), it says that man would arrogantly intend to change times and law, as well as persecute God’s people. The Sabbath as well as Creation represent time, and obviously the Sabbath also represents law.”

            “Once again, Mr. Sallie, you interpret the Bible one way, John Doe another, Joe Smith yet another. That’s why the church, now finally combined with the state, has supreme authority over the Bible and all of its interpreters. This is now the entity that has moral authority, and you might as well get used to it. Signing in with a worship service, of your choice mind you, once a week every Sunday is not a tall order. There are some services that are not even a half hour long. That’s easier than paying taxes.”

            “My church doesn’t have a Sunday service.”

            “Well maybe it should.”

            “Why don’t you make a law requiring that?”

            “It’s not a bad idea, Mr. Sallie. You know, you ought to be grateful. In some places people like you are imprisoned and even put to death.”

            “I am grateful. Because I have no fear of what man can do to me (Matthew 10:28). I have eternal life through Jesus Christ.”

            He emitted a sarcastic snort. “Maybe you and you fanatical supporters should start having some fear.”

            I had noticed his face getting a hot pink. I assumed it was because he was agitated with me. Then he suddenly appeared to have a bad case of acne. He started grunting and scratching his face. Other observers in the court were doing the same, including the judge. A foul smell filled the court room as the rashes became loathsome sores (Revelation 16:2).

            I glanced at my companions, Brock Storm and Louis Lewis. They looked as baffled as I felt. We were the only three in the courtroom without sores. Cries and shrieks echoed from the tall dome like ceiling. Then we started to hear a few of them blame us Sabbath keepers for the plague.

            My eyes locked with Brock’s, and he gave a wave of his head, communicating ‘let’s get out of here.’ I made my way to my compadres, and the three of us headed for an exit. Everyone was so discombobulated by the pain of their sores and so freaked out at seeing them on everyone else, we slipped out unnoticed.

            Former Lieutenant Louis Lewis drove a former squad car. It was a dark blue Ford Crown Vic. Lou gunned the engine as we left the city post haste. Brock rode shotgun and I leaned in between the seats from the back. Then with a racing heart, I said, “That was the first of the seven last plagues. Do you know what this means, fellas?”

            Lou glanced at me with uncertainty. He was still new to the study of eschatology. Brock glanced at me with certainty. “We are getting closer than ever to the second coming of Christ.”

            “That’s right,” I replied. “Now we need to get back to the group and pray earnestly for direction with our next move.”

BLACK SABBATH – CHAPTER 10

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

BLACK SABBATH

CHAPTER 10

SEVEN SALLIE

  WE OUGHT TO OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MEN (Acts 5:29)

            When it rains it pours! As I sat in a holding cell at the county jail, this idea had never applied to me more than now. First Inga Cognito’s sister was found murdered down by the river. The next day an arsonist burned our house to the ground. Three days after that I was charged with civil disobedience and therefore arrested.

            I was given one phone call and chose my lawyer. He was not only a good friend, but a brother in Christ. He was also very astute. Just as the prophet Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s delicacies (Daniel 1:8), Roger Maxwell refrained from all artificial stimulants and ate whole foods rather than junk foods. His daily exercise routine also kept him in better shape than most twenty year olds, despite being sixty something.

            This fitness coupled with an unwavering faith in God made him, in my opinion, the most honest attorney on the planet. Those of us that were close to him affectionately called him Mad Max. Obviously his name was part of the reason we referred to him by this moniker. But there was something else.

            The other reason was an ironic twist of Roger Maxwell being just the opposite of angry. Even in heated court battles, Roger never lost control. As a matter of fact, his friendly countenance garnered him a second nickname, Mr. Roger. This one after the legendary host Fred Rogers of the children’s program ‘Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood’. He even looked a little similar to Fred.

            The first time I was arrested, an officer escorted Roger to my cell. So that’s what I was expecting the second time. But before he arrived, Lieutenant Louis Lewis entered with two officers. I found this curious.

            I was getting the feeling that his sympathies lay with our cause. But now he appeared to be coming to talk with me accompanied by two uniforms. But it only appeared that way. The trio went past my cell to the empty one next door. But it wasn’t empty for long. As Triple Lou entered my neighboring cell, one of the escorting officers, clearly the younger of the two, said, “Sorry to have to do this, Lieutenant.”

            “You’re just doing your job, son,” Triple Lou replied.

            “You don’t need to apologize,” the older uniform said. “He’s essentially our former Lieutenant. Didn’t earn the rank either, got it for another reason.”

            “Is that right, Hanover?” Triple Lou said testily. “What would that be?”

            “I think you know. You’re the one that busted me from sergeant for getting rough with one of your kind.”

            “What’s my kind, Hanover?”

            “This…” Hanover was beginning to say a racial slur but stopped himself. “This lowlife was resisting arrest, and I put the poor little angel in the squad car too rough.”

            “The poor little angel was knocked unconscious and had to get a dozen stiches, because my undisciplined officer slammed his head into edge of the car’s roof. I wanted to fire you, not just demote you, but I got overruled.”

            “Jail duty on top of it,” Hanover complained. “I’d have been better off fired. Do you know how many low life’s I’ve had to see drop their drawers and bend over?”

            “Don’t lie, you probably enjoy that, Hanover,” Triple Lou said testily.

            The young officer looked like a deer in the headlights. I’m sure I looked a little stunned myself. I had gotten to know Lieutenant Louis Lewis a little over the previous weeks, and he was one of the most even keeled people I had ever met. So to see him lose control, if that’s what his comment suggested, I was a little surprised.

            Hanover turned and began to walk away. As he did so, he said, “I better get out of here before I get another charge of police brutality.”

            Triple Lou snorted, shook his head, and folded his arms across his hefty chest.

            In a voice like a 1930’s gangster, I asked, “Hey pal, what cha ya in for?”

            He glared at me, his dark eyes looking like burning coals in their sockets. “Why did our lives have to cross paths?”

            His comment took me by surprise. When that happens, my mouth often cracks wise before my brain can stop it. “Well, I’m quite fond of you too, Lou.”

            He snorted, sat down hard on his cot and glared at me. I sat on my cot and raised my eyebrows at him. “Please Lou, I don’t mean to be flippant. But how on earth did you end up in a jail cell?”

            “For defending your fool mouth.”

            “My foul mouth? What do you mean? I don’t swear or talk crude.”

            “Your fool mouth, fool.”

            “Oh, fool, as in foolish.”

            “Ding, ding, ding, give the man a prize.”

            “Now you’re calling me a ding bat?”

            Triple Lou dragged a hand over his weary hound dog face. I truly thought he said foul rather than fool. But now I was being facetious with ding bat. Thinking better of it, I got us back on track.

            “Listen, Lieutenant…”

            “Former Lieutenant,” he interrupted.

            “Okay, listen, Lou…Is. I’m sorry if you got in trouble over me, but…”

            “No if about it,” he interrupted again.

            “Like I said, sorry. But if you wouldn’t mind, tell me how this came about.”

            He sighed. “It started with Agent Medora. She and I got into a debate about the Sabbath. I was defending your position. Long story short, she threatened to tell my superiors that I was rebelling against the Sunday laws. She followed through, and as I was sitting in your church the other day, I got notified by my Captain that I was suspended. When I went in to talk with him and the chief, they were not happy with my position. Then today they decided to fire me. I cleaned out my desk, and when I exited the station, low and behold, the press was there. After I explained my getting fired, they asked me about you and your latest arrest. They said you were inciting people to disobey mandatory worship. They asked if I agreed with you, and I said your dog gone tootin. Then I expanded on the topic. Next thing I know, I’m cuffed and stuffed.”

            “Dog gone it, Lou, you shouldn’t have sworn at ‘em.”

            “I didn’t swear… Sallie, I don’t know about you.”

            “Sorry, sometimes my mouth speaks before my brain can stop it.”

            “Sometimes? How about most times. Your mouth is why you’re sitting in lock up.”

            “I guess you’d know,” I said and then winced. “Sorry, there I go again. But so much for free speech. I guess it’s a thing of the past. Huh?”

            “Yeah,” he sighed. “But it is confusing.”

            “What is?”

            “I mean all of the revivals and miracles that have taken place seem to have combated crime and violence better than law enforcement. I can see why there has been a call to worship. I do question whether I made the right stand.”

            “This was prophesied to happen.”

            He snorted. “What, me ending up in a neighboring jail cell with you?”

            “No, that right before Christ returns there would be a controversy over the law of God. The Sabbath aspect of the Ten Commandments in particular. Obviously the Sabbath was instituted at Creation (Genesis 2:2,3). So I find it fascinating that Revelation 14:7 instructs us to worship Him who made heaven and earth. Then in verse 12, it says here are they who keep the commandments of God. Which obviously includes the fourth.”

            “At this point you’re preaching to the choir. I wouldn’t be sitting here if I didn’t have a basic understanding of the prophesies.”

            “You’re the one that said you were confused.”

            “I know, I know,” he said waving a hand. “But it’s one thing to be sitting in my study reading about it. It’s another thing to lose my job and get arrested in a protest.”

            “Remember that you’re gaining treasure in heaven,” I reassured him. (Matthew 6:20) “All things are possible to him who believes.” (Mark 9:23)

            He nodded but said, “Lord I believe help me with my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24)

            The main door opened and the young officer that was with Hanover escorted a bedraggled looking man with a scraggly gray beard into a cell. Then he stopped in front of me and said, “I’ll be coming back in a few minutes to take you before the judge. Your lawyer is here as well.”

            “Thank you, officer,” I replied.

            He grinned at me. “I don’t get thanked by the inmates very often.”

            After the officer left, I said, “I should be home by supper then.”

            “I wouldn’t count on that,” Triple Lou said.

            “What do you mean?”

            “This is your second misdemeanor. Two together equals a felony. You’ll be transferred to the main jail indefinitely awaiting trial.”

            My whole body electrified, and I numbly said, “You’re kidding?”

            With a deadpan expression he said, “Yes I am.”

            His face was so utterly serious, I repeated, “You are kidding, right?”

            For the first time in our short relationship, I saw him not only smile but laugh. Then he said, “How does it feel, Mr. Jokester?”

            I felt relief wash over me as I grinned back at him. It was an odd place to be sharing a bit mirth with each other. Especially for the first time in what was actually becoming a friendship. It made me think of when Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns in prison. (Acts 16:25)

            (Writer’s note: I would just like to reiterate that this is a work of fiction, and my imagined scenario of future prophetic events is simply what I’ve been envisioning could happen, not what will happen. Just as no one knows the day or hour of our Lord’s return (Matthew 24:36), no one knows the exact circumstances that will bring about the final events and test for humanity and God’s people. Only that it will center on the law of God vs. the law of man. In other words a combined religious/political system in the future will institute a system where you will not be allowed to buy or sell unless you have this mark of the beast (Revelation 13:16,17).

            I personally believe the particular test point will be over the  Biblical Seventh Day Sabbath, opposed to Sunday. Sunday as a sabbath really took flight when Constantine made Christianity a legal religion in the fourth century. A side effect of this legal religion was many pagan rites were brought into this church/state religion. One crucial aspect had to do with sun worship and the venerable day of the Sun. So Sunday quickly evolved into the day most of Christianity recognized as the Sabbath.

            If you would like a more concise study on prophetic issues that go much deeper than my little story, issues like America in prophecy, who is the antichrist, what is the mark of the beast, I have a couple suggestions which I have mentioned before. Amazing Facts Ministry has excellent study materials. You can also find their main speaker, Doug Batchelor, on YouTube. Also on YouTube, and maybe my favorite prophecy series, is David Asscherick’s ‘Five Good Reasons.’

            One more thing I would like to reiterate while I am here. I do this because I love to write, but these stories are rough manuscripts. My wife is my first reader, and although I am very pleased with her work, she is not a professional editor. So there will be errors and inconsistencies from time to time. That said, thank you for your interest! May God richly bless you and yours!)

BLACK SABBATH – CHAPTER 9

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

BLACK SABBATH

CHAPTER 9

LIEUTENANT LOUIS LEWIS

TO GIVE THEM BEAUTY FOR ASHES (Isaiah 61:3)

            The Sallie’s home was a total loss. But all was not lost. In a large fire proof safe covered in ashes, they retrieved family heirlooms, pictures and financial records. Most importantly, they had their health. They also had the support of friends and family. In particular, Seven’s cousin Brock Storm and his lovely wife Destiny Knight-Storm.

            The Storm’s lived in an old renovated eight bedroom farmhouse on about a dozen acres way out in the boondocks. Brock had been a high level body guard, protecting celebrities and those of great financial wealth. I had first become aware of him when a big city gangster sent several of his goons to our area to seek revenge on the couple.

            Many moons ago, Brock’s wife Destiny had been an exotic dancer. In other words, she was a stripper. Brock had been a bouncer at the so called gentleman’s club where she performed. He had gotten wind that a certain notorious gangster was going to follow his future wife home. So Brock followed her home as well.

            Just as the said gangster was about to consummate a sexual assault, Brock ran interference, knocking the gangster out with a round house kick to the noggin. When the gangster regained consciousness, the first thing he saw were several police officers with guns drawn. When all was said and done, he ended up doing ten years in the pen.

            After the skirmish, the future spouses went their separate ways. Fortunately, being nearly raped, the episode convinced Destiny to put an end to her dancing career. Unfortunately, she turned to nude modeling and porn instead. Brock on the other hand was offered a job with the high end security company where Inga Cognito’s brother was currently employed.

            A decade later, Brock began to experience a Christian conversion. After reading a book authored by Pastor Kirk Samson, a retired Army Chaplain who was affectionately known as Captain Kirk by his congregation, Brock stopped to visit the country church the former Army Captain pastored and never left the area.

            About a year after he began attending, low and behold, Destiny showed up. The pair couldn’t have been more surprised by their reunion, especially given the circumstances of their association. Who would have thought they would meet again at a country church in Iowa? Coincidence? More like providence.

            Although sparks flew between the couple, Brock was in a complicated relationship with a woman named Nora Medora. This is the same Nora Medora that became an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The same agent I had briefly worked with monitoring Seven Sallie’s podcast. We met up again in the aftermath of the Sallie’s housefire.

            Agent Medora’s involvement with the enforcement of national Sunday laws had increased, whereas mine had decreased. One of her tasks was to still keep tabs on Seven Sallie’s podcast. She was keeping an eye out for anything deemed hate speech. Also she was monitoring if he was encouraging defiance of the ever increasing push for mandatory worship, which could lead to a charge of civil disobedience.

            I had just finished talking to the chief fire inspector when Agent Medora arrived. The inspector confirmed what we already suspected. Arson. In black spandex pants and orange spandex shirt with florescent orange running shoes, she looked more ready to run a race rather than do detective work.

            I reflexively sucked in my gut as she approached me. But I had made a covenant with my eyes (Job 31:1) and kept them trained on hers rather than her painted on clothes that clung to her like a second skin.

            “Lieutenant Lewis,” she greeted.

            “Agent Medora.”

            “Any clues on who did this or how it started?” she asked.

            “I don’t believe this is a federal investigation.”

            “I beg to differ. Seven Sallie is of national interest.”

            “So are you building a case against him?”

            “Let’s just say we’re watching. Seven walks a fine line with his rhetoric.”

            “So free speech has become a thing of the past.”

            She frowned. “Whose side are you on, Lieutenant? You were once in charge of Sunday ordinances in this neck of the woods. What happened?”

            I shrugged. “I guess I’m desiring truth in the inward parts.” (Psalm 51:6)

            Her frown deepened. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

            “It means I’ve been studying out this Sabbath issue from both sides, and I’ve come to believe that those pointing to scripture after scripture advocating the Seventh Day Sabbath are correct. God established it at creation, and He wrote it in the middle of the Decalogue with his own finger.”

            “What’s the Decalogue?”

            I don’t think I was trying to crack wise. But I arched an eyebrow. “Agent Medora. You seem to be rapidly gaining rank enforcing the national Sunday laws, yet you don’t know what the Decalogue is?”

            Her gaze was cool as we had a several second stare down. Then she asked, “Is it the Ten Commandments?”

            “Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner.” Okay, that was cracking a bit wise. But it was spontaneous, and I was trying to make a point. “Do you see the problem? We have all these leaders making and enforcing moral law, and they don’t even fully understand the issue.”

            She abruptly folded her arms under her chest, cocked her hips to the right, and jutted her left leg so her foot was arched at an angle. The sudden movement caused my gaze to divert down her body. She was in phenomenal shape and the clothing that seemed like a second skin only enhanced her physique. My eyes wanted to linger, but I silently told myself, “Covenant with the eyes, fool.”

            “For my part, I enforce what’s made into law,” she defended.

            “Whether you believe in it or not?”

            “Who said I don’t believe in it?”

            “You told me yourself that you are an agnostic that leans toward atheist.”

            “People evolve. Now I’m an agnostic that leans toward the spiritual. These are volatile times. The revivals across the country are doing a good job combating civil unrest. Something you need to ask yourself, Lieutenant, is can all these religious leaders uniting and coming together for the common good be wrong?”

            “Of course they can. When has the majority ever been right in spiritual matters? Did the majority get on the ark? Did the majority refuse to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image? Did the majority welcome Jesus at his birth?”

            “You’re missing the point. You believe the few radicals bucking the system are correct and the leaders of the prominent churches are wrong?”

            “When the whole world is running toward a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind.”

            “Really? You see these Sunday laws as running toward a cliff? Look, I admit that I’m not religious. But I have to admit that after the installment of the Sunday laws, crime has been  decreasing. I believe that when, and not if, mandatory worship is put in place, crime will not only continue to decease but dramatically decrease.”

            “I see. So you being, admittedly not religious, will have no problem being forced to go to church every Sunday?”

            “Am I forced to pay my taxes? I think giving an hour of my time once a week will be much easier than being forced to hand over almost a third of my income every year. Plus it will benefit me. I otherwise might not try to get in touch with my higher power.”

            “Your higher power? Right off the bat there’s a problem. You can’t love God without freewill. Mandatory worship will just be the amalgamation of all these different beliefs. God is not the author of confusion.” (1 Corinthians 14:33)

            She shrugged. “You see the glass half empty. I see it as half full. These Sunday laws are helping the world unite. All of us have our own truth, but now we are all uniting under the Sabbath banner.”

            “Sunday is not Sabbath. Even in other languages, for instance Sabado is Saturday in Spanish. Even if it was the Biblical Sabbath being enforced by law, that would still be wrong. Forced worship is not true worship.”

            “Like I said, you have your truth, and I have mine.”

            “Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

            “That’s nice for you. But my destiny is to be a law officer. To use your religious term, I was called to fight evil,” she told me, using air quotes for called. “The revivals that have gone on across the land have led to the Sunday laws. Now that the powers that be have decided on that, that’s where I come in. They were designed to bring about peace, and I’m a spoke in the great wheel to see that they do.”

            “When they say peace and safety then sudden destruction comes.” (1 Thessalonians 5:3)

            Her eyes narrowed. “You know, Lieutenant, if an officer of the law doesn’t like the law, maybe they should resign.”

            I felt a chill go up my spine. She was cold! “Gonna tell my Captain to keep an eye on me again?”

            She didn’t flinch. “No, this time I’m gonna recommend you either change your tune or be discharged.”

            I felt numb. I didn’t know what to say, but something seemingly outside of myself caused my head to nod and mouth to say, “You’re probably right. If I don’t agree with laws being instituted, I have no business being in a position to enforce them.”

            Nora Medora was a hard no nonsense woman. But with my non combative response, I noticed her eyebrows raise a little. “Look, for the time being you have a murder to investigate and now we both have this arson situation that might involve cases we are working on. So back to the beginning. Do you have any clues?”

            “The gentleman that lives across from the Sallie’s said he noticed a Ryder sprinter van in their driveway about ten minutes before he noticed smoke and flames coming from the backside. Thinking it was Amazon making a delivery, he didn’t think anything of it. I had some officers canvas the area and we actually got a better description of the suspect.”

            “Good,” she replied, vigorously writing in a note pad. I wondered where it materialized from given her skin tight clothing.

            “That’s all I know,” I said.

            “Very well, thank you,” she said and began to briskly walk away.

            “Off to see my Captain?”

            She stopped and turned. “Why, do you want me to?”

            “You do what you gotta do.”

            “Just to be straight, the next time I talk to your Captain, I am gonna voice my concern. However, I do not intend on giving any recommendations. Obviously that’s up to him anyway.”

            “That’s very big of you.”

            I honestly didn’t mean to sound flippant, but I’m afraid it came across that way. She seemed to glare at me for a couple seconds, and then without another word, she turned and left.

            As I started to watch her walk away, I diverted my gaze and told myself, “Covenant with the eyes, fool.”

            The next day was the Sabbath. I was driving around, my head churning with a multitude of topics. I honestly had no destiny in mind but eventually found myself in the parking lot of Cotton Creek Cove. It was the Sallie’s church, made from a renovated barn.

            The service was already underway when I took a seat in the back. I was just in time to hear Seven give a testimonial. I was impressed by his relationship with his personal Savior. With the gratitude he expressed, you would have never guessed his house had just burned to the ground. He was thankful for everyone’s safety. He was grateful to Brock and Destiny Knight-Storm for taking them in. He quoted scriptures written by the Apostle Paul which addressed enduring hardships. He ended by praying for strength to press forward.

            After the service, my cousin Zella greeted me warmly, peace radiating from her face as she expressed pleasure at my presence. Inga too seemed glad to see me. I wanted what these people had! By the world’s standards they had lost almost everything. Yet to watch them, they seemingly had everything. I was now truly convinced. And it came just in time.

            My phone whistled like a choo, choo train indicating an incoming call. “Hey, Captain.”

            “Hey, Lou,” he responded. Then I heard him sigh. “I was just in the chief’s office, and he wanted me to contact you right away.”

            “News on the case?” I asked.

            “No,” he replied. Then thinking of my conversation with Agent Nora Medora the previous day, my gut twisted. “Lou, I’m afraid you’re being suspended indefinitely.”