In a time when a soldier’s heart is ripped out of his chest and eaten amid shouts of vengeance or a man is mowed down in a metropolitan area, hacked to death with a meat cleaver and then the perpetrators calmly pose for pictures–we had better be listening for and to God.
FOR ONE THING
We need to wake up! Somehow, dear children of God, we need to grow up and out of the naïveté that tells us that Christians are automatically protected and cannot be touched by evil or the perpetrators of evil: the demons. Does not the book of Ecclesiastes warn us about being naive?
I do not say that I am wise. Oh, no, instead it is my carelessness that has taught me. But I do hope I am wiser now. Therefore, because I, myself, have been an offender–thereby learning the “hard way”, I am going to share with you one of my own mistakes that almost cost me my life.
THE MISTAKE
It was January. The Lord had just asked me to write THE PRIESTLY BRIDE (the second book that is part of HEAVEN AWAITS THE BRIDE). He confided in me that this book was important to Him. But before I began to write, the Lord warned me that the enemy would try to kill me while I was writing the book.
So I reasoned: “Hum–I run three miles a day, eat only turkey or chicken for meats and lots of salads. I am my proper weight–therefore, this plot against my life must be from some accident–a car accident, perhaps.” Therefore, I began to drive very carefully.
THE ATTACK
In June of that year I was halfway through the book and I had a stroke. I went blind in my right eye, lost the use of my right arm and hand and my right leg. So there I was. When I finally regained my ability to speak, I asked my husband to go into town and get me a bottle of aspirin. (You see, we were so healthy we didn’t even have aspirin in the house). I knew aspirin thinned the blood.
After he left, I spoke to the Lord: “Lord, You asked me to write this book. If You no longer want it, I am ready to come home. But if You do want it–You will need to pull me through this.” When my husband returned from town he took me to the hospital–where I was given every test. They could find no reason for the stroke. “Just a fluke”, they said. I was damaged, though. I drug my right leg and had difficulty writing with my right hand–but finished the book. Gradually I regained full mobility–but it took a while.
AGAIN
Then, one year later, on the same day in June, I had another stroke. “Impossible!” I thought. “You can’t have stokes on the same day one year apart.” This time I asked Bob Jones how this could occur. Bob asked the date of the strokes. I told him the day in June they had occurred. “The Summer Solstice,” he said. “After your first book, (The Heavens Opened), you were put on the witches list. Worldwide they pray against those on that list on the Summer Solstice. From now on, you will need to be careful on that day.” And I have been.
THE LESSON
Now–what did I need to learn? Were there precautions? What was my initial mistake?
FIRST OF ALL
God warned me. I believe in these times God will warn us all: directly (audibly or by impressing the danger upon our spirits). Or He will speak through a friend or stranger. However, with me, after the warning, I decided to use my mind to decide how the enemy might attack me. I was wrong.
WHAT SHOULD I HAVE DONE
Since God was warning me, why didn’t I ask Him HOW the enemy was going to try to kill me? Instead, I sort-of said: “Thanks for the ‘heads-up’ but I’ll take it from here.” I was careless, naive, and let me say it–arrogant. Since with each of the strokes the doctors could find nothing wrong with me, if I had known that the attack would come from a stroke I might have taken one baby aspirin a day and averted this means of attack. Certainly, I would have been in deep prayer to block such a move against my health–and perhaps even consulted a doctor.
WHAT DID I LEARN?
God was talking but I wasn’t listening–well, not fully. I should have asked Him for a fuller explanation–not just start with the Spirit and then try to go the rest of the way in the flesh.
WE NEED TO BE ON CONSTANT ALERT
I really believe that additional demons have been loosed from the pit. Truly we are in a war zone and must conduct ourselves as soldiers on the front lines. We may want to whine that: “we can’t live like this in a constant state of war.” Oh, but we can–and must. When I lived in New York, I used to run at 6:00 a.m. in Washington Square. Not many policemen were out when I ran. The same was true of running the track around the reservoir in Central Park. You kept your wits about you. People disappeared there. People were killed. To ensure your survival your senses became heightened—like a wildebeest on the Serengeti that grazes but also keeps an eye on the lions in the tall grass–calculating, always calculating the nearness of the predator in ratio to its own possible “get away” speed and the availability of a clean escape route.
If New Yorkers can remain alert and vigilant just to stay alive in the city, certainly we can be as vigilant and more so to insure the health of these bodies and battle–readiness of our minds, emotions and wills.
The times are increasingly dangerous. The enemy is getting bolder–brazen, even. Therefore, we must listen for our Father’s warnings AND ask for any related details that might help us counteract the threat.
