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Click on image credit links below each photo, for licensing names, details, tags, etc.. Most images cropped/reduced in size

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Now began the start of the last leg of our return trip to Guatemala from Tikal Mayan Indian temples. And also began the climactic finale of the torment which I was experiencing on this Vacation From Hell!

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Things were going to get hotter!

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Much hotter!

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The Scream of Nature – by E. Munch – Wikipedia – public domain by edvard munch c.1893

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CHAPTER 26:

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The True Meaning of “RX-7″

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“RIDIN’ IN AN EX-GREYHOUND LINER”…

(play on words on lyrics from 1969 Arlo Guthrie hit, “Comin’ Into Los Angeles”)

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After seeing the ruins at Tikal, and hearing about my glorious return to them (me being the reincarnation of Jesus), we began our return bus trip to Becky’s parent’s home, back in Guatemala City.

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These “Chicken Buses” as they call them, were filled to the brim with passengers. But there was room for two more (standing room only!)

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So Becky and I climbed aboard. 

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I guess I don’t need to tell you why they call them, “Chicken Buses”. But the chickens were perhaps, all sitting well-behaved in their places, in the laps of their new owners. They weren’t “flying everywhere around the place” as that old Arlo Guthrie song sang about.

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But if some of those chickens only knew where they were going, and what they’d be doing tonight, they probably would be “flying everywhere around the place!” And if I only knew where I was going, and what I’d be doing…well…like those soon-to-be-roasted chickens, there wasn’t much I could do about my situation.

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A 95 year old woman with her pet rooster. Havana (La Habana), Cuba

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HIT OVER THE HEAD WITH HITLER…ONCE AGAIN!

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This return trip got off on the wrong foot! First, we ran out of money. We asked the manager of a motel we stayed at for a twenty dollar loan. And to our amazement, this prince of a man cheerfully loaned us twenty dollars (That would be like 60 or 80 dollars in today’s money, and probably twice or three times that much in Guatemalan money!) We carefully wrote down his name and address, promising him that we’d repay him promptly. He probably realized the slim odds of ever seeing his money again!

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Never had the spirit come down on me so hard, as he did on this return trip. This was definitely a “Hitler Moment”.

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“Haven’t you considered, Chuck, that I just might not be God?”

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Well, I think I did consider this many times since the spirit first came into my life! But looking back, I’m not exactly sure about just what I was thinking, regarding the possibility that he was actually the Devil. I just can’t remember!

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“Isn’t it possible, El-Chucko, that I might be the Devil? Well haven’t you…considered this…Mr. Adolph Hitler?”

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Now I was getting really low! Now I was sinking in despair! I remember that this return trip back to Becky’s parents was so depressing, at one point (while we stopped for a lunch break in a little village, and I walked those quaint streets of an old business section), my knees almost buckled under the weight of all his condemnation!

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Photo courtesy Soman & Wikipedia. Share-alike license. Click here for link.

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PRESUMPTUOUS MOMENT…

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Later, on this, our return trip, the bus was stopped by the military. These soldiers were all holding rifles. They commanded everyone to get off the bus. We were told to line up, so they could check our identification for some unknown reason.

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But since I was dealing with beings of a much higher authority than these soldiers, I simply had no fear of them. I felt like I was impervious to anything at this point. And in my presumptuous arrogance (and reckless disregard), I decided to just sit down, while everyone else stood up. After all, what more could these soldiers do to me beyond what these spirits were already doing to me?

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And so I just sat there, while they went down the line-up of people, checking I.D.. The soldiers looked at this stupid Americano (me), just sitting there defiantly on the ground. For a moment they looked angry, until one of them, perhaps, made some joke about me, I suppose, and they all laughed. After inspecting each person’s papers, they let us go. I was probably very fortunate to not incur their wrath.

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Without a joke to diffuse that potentially volatile moment, I could have gotten myself into some serious trouble!

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Members of the Guatemalan Inter-Agency Border Unit – by Kaye Richey – cropped image – Wikimedia – Public Domain

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“NOW THAT I CAN DANCE!” (with red ants in my pants!)

(Lyrics from the 1962 Contours hit, “Do You Love Me?” with parenthesis comment by Author)

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After the soldiers left, the passengers were given some time for a break, before returning to the bus. And having to go to the bathroom, I saw some bushes off the road a-ways. I went over where I could have privacy. But after pulling my pants back up, I noticed something biting my rear end. I soon realized that I somehow acquired Red Ants from those bushes. And now they were biting me!

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I’m not sure about the story-relevance of this moment, nevertheless it hurt! But I managed to get them all off, rather easily and quickly! And then I returned to the bus. 

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But anyway, concerning my encounter with those soldiers, I eventually learned not to do foolish things, presuming that God is always going to protect me.

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There’s an old saying, “discretion is the better part of valour.” But I’d like to add this to that saying, “…But presumption is a worse part of stupidity.” 

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Stupid, young, me!

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

Ant head closeup – wikimedia commons – share-alike license

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“DESTROYED OR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE”…

Hosea 4:6

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By the time we arrived back at Becky’s parent’s house, it was probably pretty late. Clouds made the dark Guatemalan skies even darker. As I remember, the spirit was back on his assertion that I was Jesus (in a former life). I didn’t know what to think! How in the world are you gonna argue with a spirit? How in blazes can you resist a spirit’s wisdom? I had absolutely no protection against the spirit’s assertions! I sure wish I had known my Bible! The following verse really says it all…

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“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.

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Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

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For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,

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against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

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Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day…”

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Ephesians 6:10-13

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Oh, if only I had put on this armor! If only I’d been a Christian. But alas, “If wishes were horses, then beggars could ride”, as my Grandpa Frank used to say. But alas, it was much too late to think about this!

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Anyway, this thought about God’s armor didn’t even enter my mind! I knew nothing about any such armor! Nor did I know anything about the Bible, nor how it could protect a person from spiritual wickedness. I didn’t even believe there was such a thing as “spiritual wickedness” until just about 7 months earlier!

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For more information on God’s Armor, please go to signsofheaven.org, and read… “Orion & The Armor of God”

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ABOVE PICTURE: soldiers of the cross – armor up! – Orion & The Revelation 12 Dragon constellation (comprised of Hyades & Pleiades and other constellations) – www.signsofheaven.org

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“THE ULTIMATE RUDE AWAKENING!”…

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The next morning, back at Becky’s parent’s home, I opened my eyes to hear the ultimate rude awakening by the following pronouncement…

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”YOU WERE ADOLPH HITLER…AND I’M THE DEVIL!!!”

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I sat up in bed! This announcement couldn’t have been more shocking had someone thrown a live grenade in my lap! I just knew this pronouncement was for real! I realized that there wasn’t gonna be any more guessing games about who I was!

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“You are the unluckiest SOB that ever walked the face of the Earth! You have been brought back so we can punish you, you no good “&^%$#@!—S–O–B!!” Now you are going to pay for all those Jews! Now God is going to make you return three million times to pay for what you did! Three million Jews! You murdered three—million—Jews!! And don’t think you can pray to God. God won’t hear your prayers. God hates you, Adolph! God hates you with a passion! And He can’t wait for you to get off of this planet!”

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I threw on my clothes and hurried out to the living room. And just as I entered the living room, a very loud “musical” horn honked to some tune like the first line of the old tune “Dixie”. This startled me, because I’d never heard a musical horn up to this point in time (remember, this was 1980).

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And to my amazement, as the horn honked, I saw outside, a military truck with soldiers, or police riding by in the open back-bed…ALL WEARING NAZI HELMETS! I just about fell over in stark terror at the scene of Nazi soldiers riding by on a military truck outside the window.

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“That’s right Adolph. We got every thing prepared in advance for this special homecoming. We arranged this little surprise party just for you—Adolph Hitler. We brought you back here to Guatemala. Even threw in the Nazi Helmets to boot. Get it Chuck? To boot? To boot, as in Nazi Jack-boots. That’s supposed to be funny, Adolph…Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha…uh hum (pretending to clear his throat). OK, I guess that wasn’t so funny!! OK, so sue me, Adolph! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!”

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The spirit bombarded me with one terrifying thought after another! He presented many possible punishments that I would have to endure, throughout the ions of time. I had to pay for three million Jews (three million was the number of Jews killed according to many back then. At least, that’s the number I heard back in those days. Nowadays, the estimates are much higher.)

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“Yeah, you’re gonna have to pay for a lo-o-o-o-ng time! And with all the other people you killed in the war…I suppose that adds up to about double the lives…say six million lives. And if you add let’s say, 40 years times 6 million souls…that means you’re gonna be paying for at least 240 million years.”

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At this point, I returned to my bedroom, and sat down to listen to this outrageous and terrifying scenario which this spirit began to paint. The spirit was now telling me that God wished for me to begin paying right now, for all the sins I committed in this, my present life. Yes, my first punishment would be for my own sins, not yet for Adolph’s sins…

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“Let’s see now. Since you had such a good eye for deals and steals on houses…why don’t we take out your right eye!?! And don’t worry. We’ll be glad to give you all the help you need to cut it out.” And I knew this spirit could deliver what he promised!

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“And since you liked to give women the “bird”…why don’t we take off that bird finger!?!”

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I was sinking lower and lower with each new punishment pronounced against me! And on and on he went, about all the punishments that were waiting in store for me! I don’t know how long this went on. Maybe an hour or two. No, now that I think of it, this went on all day, as I began to take walks through the neighborhood. And as I walked, the spirit condemned. I was being crushed under the weight of this devilish condemnation to the point that my body got so weak, to the point of urinating. But I didn’t.

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Nevertheless, something was awaiting me a lot worse than urine! 

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Stahlhelm by Rama for Wikipedia – share-alike license

Nazi soldier firing squad – courtesy – Wikipedia – Public Domain. 

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MORE “HORROR-DUERVES”…

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So after enduring this long list of horrors and promises of him maiming me, The Devil continued…“God hates you, you dirty scum! We can’t wait to get your filthy carcass off this planet! Eat s&%$#t! you no good rat! No I’m serious! Eat s&%$#t!, Adolph!”

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The spirit was now compelling me to go into the bathroom and do just that. And so I did. I didn’t eat a whole lot. But just one piece of feces. But it was enough to make me wretch. But I didn’t.

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After this, I leaned on the bathroom sink, and coughed and spit and dry-heaved. I then washed out my mouth.

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Just remembering this disgusting moment makes me sick. But what are ya gonna do when the Devil talks to you?

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I was that startled man in “The Scream of Nature” painting.

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I was that, “Ya-Prayed-too-late!” man in the unnerving song, “Sinnerman”.

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I was that “pleading-for-mercy-rich-man-in-Hell”, from that Bible parable!!!

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The Scream of Nature – by E. Munch – Wikipedia – public domain by edvard munch c.1893

Brooklyn Museum – The Rich Man in Hell – James Tissot – wikimedia – public domain

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OUR EX-HEAVEN….

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The Devil continued…“And ya wanna know what that little black coffin you drive is all about? Here’s the real meaning. It doesn’t stand for Rx-7 as in prescription drugs. And it doesn’t stand for “Our Ex-Seven”, as in your ex-lucky number. No, no, no, no, no-o-o-o! It stands for… ‘OUR….EX….HEAVEN’!!” That’s right, Chucky, ‘El-F——y’! This Earth was your heaven! But now it’s your “EX” heaven! It’s now your HELL! And ‘to Hell with this B——-t’ !!”

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(Just a note of context, the words, “To Hell with this B——-t” were the last words which one of my two Grandfathers was purported to have said just before he took his own life with a gun, some years earlier. You see, my poor old Grandpa Bill’s body was riddled with cancer, and he was on powerful hallucinogenic medications (Percodan, etc….) when he took his own life. So I knew exactly what the spirit was referring to, with that comment! He was making reference that I, like my Grandpa Bill, was on my way to Hell)

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“To Hell with you, you piece of  s&^%$#@t!. This is your EX-HEAVEN you SOB! Get off this planet!! GET OFF THIS G..D… PLANET!!!”

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The shouts of this demonic force possibly kept reverberating in my mind…or at least they should have…

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“This is OUR EX-HEAVEN!

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This is OUR EX-HEAVEN!!

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This is OUR EX-HEAVEN!!!”

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This is OUR EX-HEAVEN!!!”

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“HOPE YOU GUESSED MY NAME!”…

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The spirit began to…OK I guess I don’t have to call him “the spirit” anymore. Now I can call him by his rightful name: The Devil. You know…ol’ “L.S.D.” (Lucifer—Satan—The Devil). He was now “out of the closet” as the current saying goes! I guess I suspected it all along. No, he wasn’t as everyone thinks he is. As I had found out over the past months, besides being evil, he could also be downright funny when he wanted to. He could be charming if it suited his purpose. He could behave warm and graciously if he needed to. The Devil could come off any ol’ way he chose to.

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He could even be religious…

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“…for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers

also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness…”

2nd Corinthians 11:14, 15

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If only I knew these Scriptures! I might have been able to shield myself from this 7 month-long deception!

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

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“NO MORE MR. NICE GUY”

(Title of the 1973 Alice Cooper song)

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But now the Devil didn’t need to fool me. No more did he have to pretend to be anything other than he really was…the Devil!

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Now he could be just plain ol’ Satan. Now he could be as mean and as nasty and as evil as he really is!

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It’s amazing to meet someone who is totally evil and is very content to be totally evil! Very few humans wish to be thought of as totally evil. Most people would like others to like them. Even your average Satan worshipers try to be somewhat likable. It’s seldom that you find someone who really tries to be as evil as they possibly can be! Oh, I suppose it happens in the movies. But not very often in real life! So when the Devil has no reason to be nice, he no longer needs to pretend to be good.

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

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3,000,000+  RE-INCARNATIONS…

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The Devil frightened me with the prospect of how many lives I would have to live, in order to pay for all those Jews I murdered. He told me that there were planets all over the universe. He told me that I would be re-incarnated on many different planets, in order to repay for my countless crimes. I would come back in many different life-forms, under the worse conditions. “Yes ‘Chucky-You-^!$#y’, you will be re-incarnated out there in the universe. And then you will pay for your crimes in a different way, in each life you will live. Three million Jews! Three million excruciatingly torturous lives! Three million planets. And another three million for all the others you killed!” (Now as I’ve already said, the current estimates are six million Jews killed. But back then, I believe, the general consensus was three million. But I could be wrong.)

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THE DEVIL’S DOG…

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The next terror began as this Devil announced to me, “You, El-Chucko are, “The Devil’s Dog!” And as the Devil’s Dog, he would use me as his “beast of burden”, so to speak. I would be kicked, and whipped, and treated as his favorite “object of abuse”. And so far, considering what I’d been through for seven months, I had no doubts I was indeed, The Devil’s Dog!

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DEVIL’S DOG ORIGIN…

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Now, prior to all this, I had no idea that there was such a thing as the Devil having a dog! Of course, prior to all this, I was instructed by society, that the “Devil” was just a myth! There really was no Devil! He simply is the product of religious folklore!

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But now I knew that he does indeed exist! And let me tell you, if the Devil tells you he has a dog, who am I to argue!?!

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Of course, I could’ve argued about ME being the Devil’s Dog! But I had never even heard of the Devil really talking with a human. That was just something only seen in horror movies. The Twilight Zone! So I just figured that if the Devil was talking with me, it must be something “really big!”

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So with all this horror rolling around in my head, I just had to conclude that, yes, I probably was the Devil’s Dog.

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Ghost-BlackDog-wikipedia-public-domain.jpg

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DEVIL SPECIFIC OR DEVIL GENERIC?…

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And while we’re on the subject, I assumed he was the Devil. At this time I didn’t realize that there were many devils. So if I say Devil, it may be just a generic devil. Or it might be The Devil, Lucifer. I don’t know. So you decide for yourself if it was “The Devil”, or just “a devil”.

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32 INCH BIG SCREEN VISION…

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As the condemnation continued, I was now sitting on my bed in Becky’s parent’s home. The bedroom door closed, of course! And I was being assaulted with every kind of damnation and threatening accusation you could possibly imagine!

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Eventually, the obvious question to ask him was … “What will the very next planet of punishment be like as I live out my next jail-sentence?” In the flash of a moment, there appeared on the white plaster wall of my bedroom, an image. It was about 2 or 3 feet long, and not quite as high. It was a very faint image. It looked like a Spanish town from back, probably in the 1800′s. It looked like the city center of a quaint little Spanish market-place, with old-looking two-story buildings, even with balconies, as I vaguely recall. There were donkeys pulling carts, and Spanish people walking to-and-fro. It was, perhaps, the main intersection of some little Spanish city.

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But the strange part of this was that each of their faces was blurred out. So you couldn’t see their faces. Puzzling. Very puzzling!

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There were antiquated buildings in the background. It looked like a very happy scene. It was not a still picture. The people and animals were moving; just like a TV. But it wasn’t a television. Nor was it some picture on the wall. It was a 100% vision! But this vision only lasted for a few moments and then completely vanished away!

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Needless to say, I was confused by this vision. It seemed to be a hopeful picture! It actually looked like a pretty good place to live!  It didn’t go along at all with the Devil’s current barrage of condemnation. Really puzzling!

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ONE LAST PRAYER…

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I can’t honestly say how long this wake-up call from Hell lasted.

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But finally, a little “sunbeam of hope” appeared in my otherwise dark world…

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“Maybe just maybe, God might hear one last prayer. Maybe one…last…prayer.”

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“But you have to do something first, Chuck. You’re gonna have to plop down on your head just like ya did back at Unit 3600.”

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I was terrified right now at this horrible thought. Nevertheless, I still had a little hope here. After all, if God might hear just one last prayer…that’s alotta hope! A whole lotta hope! With all this condemnation going on, to have one last prayer….well…that was a very big deal!

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So to simply fall on my head as he demanded, was the only obstacle between “hope”…or “NO hope”, should I NOT fall.

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Now, I had no mind to jump as high as I did back in the hospital. I wanted to live! I didn’t want to die at this moment in time!

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Yeah, back in Unit 3600 I really-really-really wanted to die! But now my attitude was vastly different, for some unknown reason.

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But I knew I had to do what the Devil was telling me to do, if I wanted to have a prayer-of-a-chance!

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So, I glanced up to make sure no one was looking down at me from outside that little window in which Papa looked at me, during the first few days of my visit.

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Next, I got on my bed, and leaned over as close to the floor as I could, holding my hands by my side. I got so close to the hard floor, that my head was only a foot or less from the ground. I tried one time, but my hands just reached the floor and broke my fall. “That’s not good enough, Chuck. No fair using your hands!” , said the Devil, mockingly.

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And so I got back into position. I took a lot of time preparing. I didn’t want to die. So finally I leaned over and fell again. But again I used my hands to cushion the blow.

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“Nope Chuck. That’s still not good enough!. Yer gonna have to do it, over and over and over until you get it right!!”, mocked the Devil, maybe like an old-fashion, “Schoolmarm” might say!

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After several failed attempts, I finally succeeded in falling on my head with my hands by my side. I fell onto that hard, ceramic-tile floor on my head, without using my hands!

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Yeah, I fell on my head, and I wasn’t hurt. And falling over onto my back made a lot of noise, however. I was hoping that nobody in the house had heard me. “I DID IT! I FELL DOWN ON MY HEAD!!”

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Cigarette smoke – wikimedia – share-alike license

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“WHAT SHOULD I PRAY FOR?”

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But now I felt that I had just one prayer. Oh…I savored that opportunity! One last prayer! It was the only ray of hope remaining for me! And needless to say, it was like the juiciest and most flavorful New York Steak dinner, just awaiting for my taste-buds to delight in its consumption!

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But what should I ask for? Maybe I should ask for a long life!

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A TWO-FEET LONG CIGARETTE?

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I suppose I could have thought about that old comedy with Bob Hope or somebody. You know, a guy standing in front of a firing squad. And he had one last request. He asked if he could smoke a last cigarette. So he pulls out a two-foot-long cigarette to smoke. And now, that old Hollywood comedy gag would make a whole lotta sense! Now I wanted something that would likewise last me a long time!

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So I got down on my knees and carefully chose my words.

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Cigarette_smoke – cropped image – wikimedia – share-alike-license.jpg

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LONG LIFE?…A YACHT?….AND A BABE?…

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But what should I ask for? A long life of seeing the world? Lots of money also? Fame and fortune? Beautiful women? Maybe I should have asked for that yacht that I was gonna sail away into the sunset with? Or maybe all the above!

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No, there was only one thing that was important right now; and such a wish would also buy me some much-needed time! And this one thing just might give me the knowledge that I needed, to get myself out of this impossible predicament! Because I felt that this one thing contained a lot of hope. And hope was just now in short supply. Very short supply!

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And so I prayed the following words…

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Yacht – Lady Moura in Monaco – wikipedia – public domain

betty boop – wikipedia – public domain

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“Please God, let me read the whole entire Bible!”

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That was it! That was my last request! “Please God, let me read the whole Bible.” The Bible!

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Read the whole Bible, cover to cover!

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That was my last request!

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That was it!

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Holy bible – cropped image – wikimedia – creative commons lic.

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To go to next chapter, click here…

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Ch. 27 “Coming To America”

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This little chapter tells of the “Orange Crush” and the “big 8/23 Skidoo” and more. Some still unanswered questions.

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Click on image credit links below each photo, for licensing names, details, tags, etc.. Most images cropped/reduced in size

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I was the reincarnation of Adolph Hitler.

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Well, at least, this is what I was being told by the unseen ones, who were making my life an absolute hellish nightmare!

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Yes, I was informed that I had been brought back to earth to begin paying for Adolph’s crimes. This is what the powerful spirit-being was now telling me!

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Now, all this ultra-condemnation was being rained down upon me just a day or two before our departure back to the USA (read previous Chapter 26, “The True Meaning of ‘Our Ex-Heaven’“).

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And this invisible spirit-entity kept up his condemnation and threats about all the horrible things I must endure in the near future. I spent the next day or two, walking aimlessly through the neighborhoods of this quaint little Guatemala City residential subdivision, listening to his, “hell-fire torments”, and his, “damning condemnations”!

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Needless to say, I was about as low as a human can go, and not die! Or so it seemed to me.

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Fortunately this month-long “vacation” was just about to come to an end.

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And this had truly been the proverbial, “Vacation From Hell”!

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But this was no proverb! (Or so it seemed to me.)

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No, this truly was a nightmarish, “Vacation IN Hell”, brought upon me courtesy of these invisible super-beings, whom the Bible refers to as, “evil angels”! (Psalm 78:49)

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Adolph Hitler – Wikimedia – Public Domain

The Scream of Nature – by E. Munch – Wikipedia – public domain by edvard munch c.1893

Paradise Lost – G Dore – Wikipedia – Public-domain

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CHAPTER 27:

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‘COMING TO AMERICA’ …

(Title of the 1980 Neil Diamond song, “They’re Coming To America”)

Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

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But finally it came time to go home. And it was only hours until the plane-flight departure.

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I decided to go for another walk, to use up the remaining hours here in “The Land of Eternal Spring” (in my case, “The Land of Eternal Torment”). And so, I began walking on a busy street in an older commercial area. I was totally crushed by Satan’s overwhelming accusations. Nevertheless, I wanted to get back to America…in the worst way! As beautiful as Guatemala’s scenery may have been… I just wanted to be back home! And now our 30-day “vacation” was almost over…thank God!

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This truly was the ultimate Vacation From Hell! Not to cast any negative aspersions on that beautiful little country. As a matter of fact, I would recommend anyone to take a vacation there in Guatemala. JUST DON’T TAKE THE DEVIL WITH YA, WHEN YA GO!!

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Devil-goat – wikipedia – public domain

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“THE ORANGE CRUSH”…

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But I had little hope!

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Yeah, my few remaining strands of hope had all but vanished away from my sight! Hope was nowhere to be found. And mercy? As the Devil said on that boat-ride to that Belize Cay…“Mercy? Oh Mercy is just a lady that lives down the street!”

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There were only more bad times waiting for me when I would get back to the USA!

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As I walked along a busy multi-lane street, there was a big billboard (not this picture) which had a large picture of an orange. It was advertising the soda pop called, “Orange Crush” (mostly written in Spanish, of course).

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But as I passed by this large billboard, the Devil began taunting me, saying, “Just wait for the big ‘Orange Crush’, Chuck!” And, “‘Orange’ you sorry that you were Adolph Hitler?” He kept repeating this line to me, “Just wait for the big ‘Orange Crush’, Chuck!”.

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“What’s this “Orange Crush” stuff all about!?”, I asked myself. And so these threats just made things even more hopeless! “Just wait for the big Orange Crush, Chuck!” Did this cryptic message mean that something was going to crush me? “What’s the ‘Orange Crush’ all about!?”

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Orange Crush Ad – 1921 – WIKIPEDIA – PUBLIC-DOMAIN

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THE BIG 8/23 SKIDOO!

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As I kept walking, he also began scaring me about another thought. There must have been some reason why he began warning me about the “big 8/23 Skidoo”. He kept repeating about the 8/23 Skidoo, as if that meant I was gonna be annihilated on that date, or something. Maybe he was talking about August 23rd. Because August being the 8th month of the year would be 8/23. And it was now June. So August was only months away! I just couldn’t tell for sure, and he just wasn’t revealing what he meant.

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But I did know that “23 Skidoo” was an old saying that someone was going to be swept away, or cleared out as though they were dirt. And so I began to think that this was some sort of reference to my being swept off the face of the Earth. “So what’s the Big 8/23 Skidoo all about?”

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Devil-goat – wikipedia – public domain

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“DIRT POOR, BUT HAPPY!”

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As I kept walking down this busy street, I passed by various shops.

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I just happened to stop by one shop and looked through a barred window at a woman inside, sweeping her shop floor…a dirt floor!

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She carefully swept the dirt in the same direction, so that the lines from the broom bristles created a very straight pattern, all in the same direction. Of course if someone walked on this dirt floor, it obviously would make footprints over the pattern. But that didn’t seem to discourage her!

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As I looked into the window of her shop, I really, really, envied this person! She’s probably very happy. She has everything! She has her health! She has the sunlight! She has the rain! She has hope for tomorrow! Yes, and she probably has her family. Maybe she even has the Lord and His wonderful gift of Everlasting Life!

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THE LOWEST OF THE LOW!

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I, on the other hand, was like that comedy skit (see Chapter 1) in which the comedian ended up in a dumpster, having lost every worldly possession! Now I was virtually in the same position as the comedian in the skit.

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Oh no, I wasn’t literally in a dumpster. But believe me, I would’ve traded places with any dumpster-diving hobo out there in the world, at this moment! Yeah, even a lowly tramp’s life would be infinitely better than what I was now facing…eternal hell-fire as I went through the ages, being punished for my past crimes!

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“But not without a star…Free!”

(lyrics from the 1980 Neil Diamond song, “They’re Coming To America”)

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Yeah, this “dirt-poor” Guatemalan lady was infinitely wealthier than me! I had nothing! I had no future! I had no hope! No God! I only had an “eternal pay-back” ahead of me! I must pay for countless ions of time, for the crimes I committed!

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It’s one thing to be sick, or homeless, or whatever. But it’s quite another thing to be without hope! That’s the one thing you don’t ever want to lose! Hope!

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My star had fallen. Her star was shining brightly. She was free! I was in prison! Yeah, the bars on her window almost seem as if they were the bars of my own prison cell…in the Devil’s prison for the damned!

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Yeah, and even in her so-called “poverty”, she was infinitely richer than me…and…FREE!

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

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“KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCKIN’ ON HEAVEN’S DOOR!” (no, rather, I’m knock, knock, knockin’ on HELL’S door!)

(Title of the 1973 Bob Dylan Song with parenthesis comment added by me)

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Now I saw this relatively poor country in an entirely new light! Now it looked rich…compared to me! I suppose it’s much the same for any dying person. The richest person on earth becomes the poorest of the poor, when knocking on Eternity’s Door. Everybody seems rich, when you’re just about to die! All those “poor” people you once pitied are now shaking their heads out of sheer pity for you!

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You’re just a lowly beggar on that day!

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

Guatemalan style weaving and tapestry – Wikipedia – public domain

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PRUDENTIAL ROCK OF AGES

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Thinking back on my life, I now realized I should have invested all my money in long-term investments, back in the days when I had the chance to! Instead of investing in real estate here on this, Terra-not-so-Firma, I should have rather invested in the Rock! You know, like that old ad… “Invest in the rock…the Prudential Rock!” Well, as good as an investment company that it might be, there is a much more prudent Rock to invest in. It’s called “The PRUDENTIAL ROCK OF AGES!” And it pays long-term dividends. Really long-term dividends! LIKE, ETERNAL LIFE DIVIDENDS!!

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Ah, but here again, my Grandpa Frank was correct in that little saying of his… “If wishes were horses, then beggars could ride!” Now it was too late to think about all that! Now I was doomed! Now I was condemned! Now my number had come up, and there was nothing I could do about it! I had my chances! But I let them slip through my fingers like ropes of sand!

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Oh yeah, people tried to tell me about Jesus! But I just didn’t listen! I had too much going for me in this world! Why worry about some “pie-in-the-sky-in-the-sweet-by-and-by”? After all, I was a young guy! I didn’t need God! All that religious stuff was for losers in life! I was a winner! I had another 50 or 60 years ahead of me! And that’s a long, long time!

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Isn’t it?

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Well isn’t it?

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Prudential ad – 1909 – wikipedia – US-public-domain.jpg

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“MYSTERY SOLVED: “RUE, RUE, RUE!!!”

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When I got back to Becky’s parent’s home, everyone was busy getting ready. Dorcas, the parrot, who was so shy for the entire 30 days, was not so shy anymore! No! He was now pacing back and forth on his perch like an expectant father, crying “Rue! Rue! Rue!!” . I thought to myself, “That’s the same word that the crazy guy (I call him, “Mr. Applewhite”) had me look at in the dictionary, back in unit 3600!” “Rue! Rue! Rue!” Dorcas cried out again. I didn’t remember what the word, “rue” meant. But whatever it meant, it freaked me out that this bird was saying that word. Was this some kind of devilish taunt? Well, why shouldn’t it be? Everything else was a devilish taunt. “Rue! Rue! Rue!” But anyway, we got all our luggage together, and out the door we went. “Rue! Rue! Rue!”, cried Dorcas the parrot.

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Okay, so I just now looked it up in the dictionary. Here it is…

rue ¹ v.

v.tr. To feel regret, remorse, or sorrow…

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So I guess this little parrot was prophesying to me of the ‘woe and sorrow’ that was coming on me. It was as if he, in essence, was crying… “Woe! Woe! Woe!”. And now that I think of it, there is a Bible passage which has three woes. Listen… “And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice,

‘Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!'” Revelation 8:13. Maybe these symbolic trumpets were now sounding for me!

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Well, it wouldn’t be long until I found out!

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Okay, okay, I know what you’re thinking! And it’s true…that word, Rue, probably means something entirely different in Spanish. But I was going through a very supernatural experience with The Unseen Spirit-Realm. So these powerful and highly intelligent, unseen spiritual beings were manipulating circumstances. And I have no doubts, that they had set up this little scenario with Dorcas, like they did everything else. Especially since “Mr. Applewhite” had shown me that very same word in the dictionary, months earlier.

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Was that just a coincidence too?

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“Rue” definition courtesy Free Online Dictionary

Photo of parrot wikipedia share-alike license.

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THIS EVIL GENIUS, SATAN!

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And so, the continual taunting squawks of Dorcas the parrot had the profound effect upon me which it was intended to have! And no doubt, the unseen spiritual being who orchestrated this little terror, has also has planted his land-mines in my story.

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What I mean is this: I’m convinced that this cunning warrior named Satan…or Lucifer…or the Devil…or whatever name you wish to call him by, is an extremely artful foe! He is so far beyond our intelligence and abilities! And his army of unseen evil angels are likewise capable beyond mortal men. These beings are thousands or perhaps, hundreds of thousands of years old. Maybe millions of years old!! Who knows!? But whatever their age happens to be, none-the-less, their intellect is far, far greater than ours!

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Okay, so I got sidetracked from the point I wanted to make. I’m simply saying that it is humanly IMpossible to out-wit Satan! He covers his tracks well! And he seems to weave his attacks on people through natural occurrences, so as to cover those tracks! Anyway, I just thought you oughta be informed. Sorry.

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Photo of parrot wikipedia share-alike license.

Satan presiding at the Infernal Council wikipedia US public domain

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“…On the planes They’re coming to America! Never looking back again!”

(Lyrics from the 1980 Neil Diamond hit tune, “They’re Coming To America”)

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We were late to the airport. Well, we were just barely going to make it. We rushed into the terminal and to our departure-window. I just wanted to go home so bad, I could hardly stand it!

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For some reason they informed us that we might have to wait for another day or two. When I heard this, I began objecting. I wasn’t gonna stay here another day! I WANTED OUTA HERE…NOW!

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After my loud objections, and after some more conference and confusion, they cleared the way. We were told we could board the plane. And so we did.

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Goodbye to this, “Vacation from Hell”.

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And, “Hell-o America!”

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

Photo share-alike license wikipedia click for link

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“THEY’RE COMING TO AMERICA”…

(Title of the 1980 Neil Diamond hit song, “They’re Coming To America”)

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The jet began charging down the runway. I had absolutely none of the fear of crashing, as I normally would. At this particular moment, I couldn’t have cared less whether the plane crashed or not!

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Compared to the last 30 days, I supposed that, CRASHING WOULD’VE BEEN FUN!!!

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As the charging plane began ascending, the passengers looked back down at this beautiful little country fading from their view. But I likely just sank back in my seat and closed my eyes and sighed a long sigh, in relief. This nightmare was over! And I, no doubt, merely sat there and thought about all the horrors I had just gone through: The Torture of Noises, the truck with Nazi-Like Soldiers, eating my own feces (at least it was MY dung, and not another’s!), and all the continuous talking, talking, talking, as I walked through the neighborhoods… continuously condemning me in my head. Plus the various phenomena such as Right Turns Only Phenomenon, and the screams of, “Rue, Rue, Rue” of Dorcas the Parrot. The various lightning storms, during which the Devil condemned me. And all the other unmentioned torments that I suffered over the last 30 days. This was truly the “Vacation From Hell” (or rather, “IN Hell)!

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But soon we were up in the air. I probably looked down at the beautiful little country. The Land of Eternal Spring. But as I’ve already said, for me it became The Land of Eternal Fire and Brimstone! I would think back on all the beautiful places, and all the lovely people (well… mostly lovely).

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But the spirit (or spirits, plural) had turned all these otherwise nice experiences into one great big giant HELLISH NIGHTMARE!!!

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

Photo courtesy wikipedia & United Airlines. Share-alike license. Click for link.

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“SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY”…

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Soon we touched down in Miami. And as we came into the terminal, we passed by a McDonald’s in the terminal. McDonald’s! What a beautiful sight! (I remember my father saying that when arriving back in America from an unpleasant vacation in another country, he actually got down and kissed the ground. At this moment, I now understood why!)

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“My country ’tis of thee
Today!
Sweet land of liberty
Today!
Of thee I sing
Today!
Of thee I sing
Today!”

(Lyrics from the 1980 Neil Diamond song, “They’re Coming To America”)

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Statue of Liberty, Silhouette wikimedia creative commons attribution

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JUNE 1980

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When we got back to Klamath Falls, Becky went her way, and I went home. After several days, I pretty much figured that I’d never see her again!

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As soon as I returned, I was determined to get to a safe place, so I would check back into Unit 3600. Not only did I feel totally hopeless, but the Devil was threatening to make me do crazy things…IN PUBLIC ! Before he outright killed me! So I felt that I better get myself somewhere safe, so that I could be tormented by the spirits, and ultimately killed in a somewhat controlled environment.

Nevertheless, I was very sad that Becky had gone. I sure didn’t blame her though! I must have been terrible company on that trip!

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Now I was all alone! No God! No hope! No Becky!

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But the spirits? Oh yeah, they were still very present! And they weren’t gonna leave me alone!

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“Farewell Becky!”

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To go to next chapter, just click here…

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Ch. 28 CHAPTER 28: . “HELLEN ASHES”… 

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This next chapter has some very prophetic moments.

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Click on image credit links below each photo, for licensing names, details, tags, etc.. Most images cropped/reduced in size

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Oh so wonderful…to be back in the good ol’ U.S. of A.!!!

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My “Vacation From (in) Hell” was now just a memory!

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Now just a bad dream!

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OKAY…A FULL-BLOWN NIGHTMARE!!!

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But now it was June, and already fully summertime…but the livin’ was not so easy!

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Because even though I was ecstatic to be back, there still hung that heavy mountain over my head!

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“What mountain?” you ask?

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Well, that mountain was the Law & Judgment; God’s Law had already judged me guilty!

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So all that awaited me was for my sentence to be carried out. And the mountain was about to drop on my head! And the executioner was ready, willing and very eager to get to it!

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“Why Don’t We (NOT) Do It in The Road!?”

(Title of 1968 Beatles song with the word, “NOT” added by this website)

As I said, I wanted to get to a place where I would be away from the public, i.e., the mental ward.

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The Devil was threatening that he was going to have me do those crazy and embarrassing things in public, prior to my soon-coming demise. If you remember from two chapters back (The True Meaning of “RX-7″), the Devil was going to snip off my middle-finger, and various other body parts, take out my right eye, and sundry other equally horrible things!

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And so, I wanted to be somewhere so I would be out of public view, so I could die without creating a big scene and an embarrassment! (And, well, maybe, subconsciously, I thought being in such a high-security setting might somehow provide me protection from these hateful, hellish beings, who were Hell-bent on cutting me into various pieces! But probably not.) 

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license.

The Scream of Nature – by E. Munch – Wikipedia – public domain by edvard munch c.1893

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CHAPTER 28:

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“HELLEN ASHES”…  

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June 1980

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“BABY COME BACK!!!”…

(1977 song by Player)

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It had been several days since I saw Becky. I actually hadn’t seen her since we got back. And needless to say, I didn’t hold out much hope of ever seeing her again. And as you can well imagine, I was sad. But I still had to do what I had to do: get myself into a safe place before the Devil did what he was planning to do to me!

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But one day, as I was coming home from our restaurant, I drove up to my little home in the woods (actually a woodsy subdivision). I was shocked to see Becky’s little orange VW Bug parked in front of my house. She was back! WOW! Was I ever happy to see that she was back!!

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license.

Volkswagen Beetle – wikipedia – public domain

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BECKY SPRINGS INTO ACTION…

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After telling her I was going to commit myself back in Unit 3600, she immediately went to work to find another hospital. Soon she had one lined up. It was a brand new Christian hospital up in Portland. I instantly liked the idea of going to a Christian hospital. I figured they would be understanding of the existence of Satan. And more than this, maybe they could offer spiritual help because of their belief in God.

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Yes, maybe they could somehow help me in my seemingly hopeless death-sentence.

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“BIRDS SING OUT OF TUNE…”

(lyrics from the 1964 tune from Lennon/McCartney, written for Peter & Gordon, “A World Without Love”) 

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In just a couple days, we were on our way up to Portland. I was crushed and hopeless because of the condemnation I was going through! I distinctly remember some birds were singing on this sunny June morning. But to me, their songs sounded discordant! The Devil was still stealing what little hope was left for my life, for my future!

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And now, even the joyful little songs of the morning robins sounded sour in my ears! Their otherwise melodious singing was now like somebody scratching their fingers across a chalkboard!

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This brought back an old memory of a song our music combo sang years earlier, when we were teens. It was a currently popular song by Peter & Gordon (actually, written by the Beatles, Lennon/McCartney), called “In a World Without Love”.

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And one of the lines of that nice little song went, “Birds sing out of tune, and rain clouds hide the Moon, etc….”.

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But on this particular sunny June morning, I finally understood those words. They definitely were coming back around in a very hard-hitting manner. They bopped me over the head like the proverbial baseball bat! Their out-of-tune song can only be heard by those who have lost all hope!

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license.

Erithacus rubecula Norway singing – cropped image – Wikipedia share-alike license

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“PRAY WITHOUT CEASING”…

(1st Thessalonians 5:17)

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Finally we arrived at the proposed place of my departure from this world. This brand new hospital was very impressive. The staff was extremely friendly, courteous, warm, and nice!

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They first gave me a room with a TV. But I just turned it on and stayed there in my room watching it. And I must say, it really took my mind off my troubles! But before long they moved me into a room without a TV.

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At least I now had a nice room all to myself.

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When I first was left alone in my new room, I decided to get down before my bed to pray. And I prayed. And I prayed. And then I kept on praying. I kept this up for about twenty hours, well into the next day. Obviously, I was praying for mercy. God’s mercy!

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Finally, the next day, a young guy came in and sat down. I was still kneeling before my bed in a prayer position. He was in his twenties. He had an Abe-Lincoln-style beard. He just sat there, watching me pray.

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After a short time, he began asking me questions. He then, in a somewhat round-about manner, convinced me I had prayed enough for now. And I figured he was right. So I got up and sat in a chair, and listened to him.

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He introduced himself as a mental-health counselor. And so we talked about spiritual matters. He actually was quite good, as far as relating to me according to the Bible. And in spite of his young age, he was maturely well-versed in his knowledge of the Bible.

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And of course, I desperately wanted to know what the Bible had to say, concerning my circumstances.

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Medical Center entrance Portland, Oregon by M O Stevens & Wikipedia share-alike license

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FREEDOM?…

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On the second day, I went out into the living area. It was nice, but much smaller than the mental ward in Klamath Falls. One of the nurses gave me a guided tour of the unit. She pointed out that the mental ward was divided into two sections. There was a high security section for difficult patients. And then there was the section I was in. She told me I could go outside if I wanted. “I can go outside?!” I exclaimed. “Oh yes, the patients on this side can go outside as long as they get permission.” Of course this made me very nervous, since the main reason I came here was to get myself into a high security atmosphere where I could wait for the Devil to “finish me off”.

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Photo: hospital, courtesy M. O. Stevens, Wikipedia share-alike license, click here.

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“LOADED QUESTIONS”…

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One of the first things I did, was to take a very long questionnaire. It had about a hundred questions or more.

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I was doing okay until it asked such questions as, “Do you think anyone is following you?” Of course I had to answer “Yes”. And another question, “Do you think someone is out to get you?”. So again, the only clear answer had to be “Yes” again.

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Christian and Apollyon – Pilgrim’s Progress – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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INK BLOT TEST

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Then they showed me some ink-blots. I think I probably saw them fairly normal.

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After all, when an ink-blot looks like a butterfly, it looks like a butterfly!

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Kerner Kleksographien – wikimedia – public domain

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“DEMON POSSESSION?…NAW…THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN ANYMORE”…

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After this, I asked if I could talk to the chaplain. And it wasn’t very long till I found him. Actually, I saw him walking down one of the hospital corridors.

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Needless to say, I was eager to ask him about devil possession. “Sir, I want to ask you about devil possession. I think I’m possessed.”

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He answered by saying, “Those things don’t happen anymore…except for idle rumors you might hear from time to time, coming from some of the third-world countries.” I was really disappointed in his answer.

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But then he continued, “Now you might be HARASSED by Satan.” I thought about this. Now that’s a possibility! Harassed!

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Hmmm.

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Devil Exorcism – Goya Painting – Public Domain

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“IS HER LAST NAME ‘FER’?”

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I returned to the ward. There was one patient, a sweet looking little old lady. I was introduced to her. Her name was Lucy. She had a nice little sweater I think, and her grey hair up in a little bun. Lucy just sat in a wooden rocker, rocking back and forth. Her thick glasses magnified her eyes, making them look, maybe twice as big. The only thing missing was a ball of yarn and some knitting needles.

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Very sweet-looking!

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“GLAD SHE DIDN’T HAVE THOSE KNITTING NEEDLES AFTER ALL!!!”

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A nurse came into the main sitting room and said in a very nice tone, something like, “Lucy, it’s time to take your meds.”

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And for some reason, Lucy began cussing and shouting obscenities, calling the nurse every name in the book! I couldn’t believe what was coming out of this sweet little old lady’s mouth! And she kept calling various people… “YOU CRETIN!” (Lucy used that ‘Cretin’ expression constantly. “You Cretin this!” or… “You Cretin that!”)

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“WHERE’S FATHER KARRAS WHEN YA NEED HIM?”…

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Anyway, the nurse hurried out of the room. It was now just me and Lucy. As I possibly just kind-of looked around, trying not to make eye contact, I saw that she stopped rocking her rocker. She just fixed her big eyes (magnified by her thick glasses) on me, leaning forward a little, staring intently at me through those thick lenses. And so, I looked back at her. She just stared at me.

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Was she going to say something?

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Was she going to do something?

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And as I watched out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a puddle of urine growing on the floor under her rocker. “This lady seems like a senior citizen version of Linda Blair (the possessed girl in the movie, “The Exorcist”).” Lucy just kept giving me her icy stare as the puddle grew under her. The only thing missing was the green vomit!

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Well, I soon discovered that this was poor little Lucy’s standard behavior. And the staff was very patient with her. And because of these kinds of things, I began to suspect that Satan was taking advantage of this science of psychiatry as a cover, in order to carry out his evil on us, using a person’s dementia or whatever, without being detected.

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And never again after all my experiences, would I scoff at those movies about Satan.

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“NO REST DAY, NOR NIGHT”…

Revelation 14:11

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These first days were really bitter! All I wanted to do was to sleep. Anything to forget my woes! But I dreaded to wake up! Reality was too hard to handle! I was still under the condemnation that I was Hitler in the last life. And I was just waiting for my life to end in some horrible way!

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“When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone?

and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day…

…My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,

and are spent without hope.”

Job 7:4-6

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I remember dozing off, while sitting in a chair. After a short time, I woke up, only to realize that I was still in serious trouble with God Almighty. I just wanted to go back to sleep…forever…anything to escape this horrific doom hanging over my head!

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“HELLEN ASHES”…

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The next day, my sister, who lived in Portland at that time, came to visit me. It was a nice day as I remember. Just the kind of day a person might go for a walk. Take in the view!

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So we went outside to chat.

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While out there in the courtyard, I looked up and saw a large plume of smoke rising from over the horizon. “What’s all that smoke?” I asked. “Oh that’s Mount Saint Helens. You know about the volcano that erupted last month, don’t you?” I thought to myself, “Man, I’m in big big trouble!” And this volcano took me by complete surprise, since I had been out of the country when it first erupted! The Devil chimed in, “Yes, Chuck, this volcano shows just how angry God is with you…HITLER!!!”

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Just a side-note of interest. A long time ago, when I was about 10 or 12 years old, my family went camping at this very place, Spirit Lake, which was at the foot of Mount St. Helens. I thought it was one of the most beautiful lakes I’d ever seen. The big dark green forest was thick around that lake! I remember walking along side the beautiful lake trail and the really cool little rustic log cabins for the campers to stay in. And there was the great Mount St. Helens, towering high above, like a majestic overseer of this beautiful blue lake!

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The Devil however, made some comparisons about the names “Helens” and “Spirit Lake”, as if they were significant to me. In other words, I was being punished by evil “spirits” from “Hell”, because I was Adolph Hitler in my former life. This made perfect sense to me, at the time. “Yes Chuck, we brought you up here to see this plume of ashes. To see this volcano which is just for you…Adolph! This is Mount St. HELL-ens and SPIRIT Lake!”

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So the Mount St. Helens explosion became the theme for me in this Portland hospital.

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PICTURES: Mt St Helens 1 day prior to eruption – 05-17-80 – and after eruption – 05-18-80 – Public Domain

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To go to next chapter, just click…

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Ch. 29 “Lucifer, Son Of The Morning”…

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This chapter discusses how “The Devil made me do it” is a lot more true than most of us would care to admit.

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Click on image credit links below each photo, for licensing names, details, tags, etc.. Most images cropped/reduced in size

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“BALL OF CONFUSION”…

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There was a song on the radio in the 70’s called “Ball of Confusion”.

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“Ball of confusion Oh yeah,

that’s what the world is today

Woo, hey, hey…”

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So even the people of the world are bewildered as to why this world is so crazy evil!

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Oh yeah, this song asked some of the same questions as this website asks: Have you ever wondered why the world is so evil? Why all the murders? Why all the rapes? Why all the hatred over skin colors? The molestations of innocent children? The wars? The sickness and disease? Why suicidal spending in Washington? Have you wondered why so many religions? Why so many differing ideologies? Why so much hatred…and bigotry…and bizarre, unexplainable phenomena?

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Is all this ball of confusion merely the result of some ancient freak and chaotic explosion?

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And isn’t there any hope in this universe?

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Well, if you are bewildered at this world’s wickedness, please read this chapter. Hopefully you’ll come away with a bit different view of why all these things are occurring around the globe.

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But, perhaps you already know all these things contained in this chapter. And yet, it’s possible that you’ll read a few things here that will make you wonder if some of the phenomena we simply write off as just “natural occurrences” are actually the product of “Ol’ L.S.D.” (Lucifer, Satan, the Devil).

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Well you be the judge as you read on…

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

Satan presiding at the Infernal Council- Wikpedia – US Public Domain

The Scream – by E. Munch – Wikipedia – public domain by edvard munch c.1893

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CHAPTER 29:

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“HELEN ASHES” Continued:

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“O LUCIFER…

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SON OF THE MORNING”…

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June 1980 (about 8 months since my woes first began)

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“NO DAD, IT’S NOT GOD, AFTER-ALL…”

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Okay, I was now firmly embedded in this brand-new private Christian hospital mental ward up in Portland Oregon. I was being terrorized by the Devil(s). Things looked hopeless for me.

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My parents came up to Portland to see me. My mother looked really troubled over my situation, and stood off in the distance of the little family/TV room where we all three were, at the moment. (Nobody else in the room at this moment.)

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My father began asking how things were going for me.

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He asked, “Son, are you still hearing God talking to you?”

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I said, “It’s not God talking to me, Dad.”

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He looked puzzled. “Well who’s talking to you, if it’s not God?”.

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I said, “It’s Satan talking to me.”

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This took my dad by total shock. “WHAT!?” he exclaimed, as he jumped up. 

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My mom, standing too far from hearing, said, “What did he say, Honey?”

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My dad answered, “He said it’s not God who’s talking to him. He now says it’s Satan talking to him!”  Upon hearing that, my mom couldn’t take it anymore, and began sobbing as she hurried outside.

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Adventist Medical Center entrance_-_Portland_Oregon – by M O Stevens – Wikipedia – share-alike-license

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“THE MYSTERY OF “8/23 SKIDOO” GETS DEEPER”…

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After that visit with my parents, I was walking back inside, and saw a poster on the wall. It showed a clock, and the following words, “Time to get off drugs.” As I looked at this poster, I noticed the time on the clock hands pointed to 8:23.

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“Eight twenty-three?!”, I thought to myself, “I wonder if this poster has anything to do with what Satan was taunting me about, back in Guatemala?” (On the last day there in Guatemala, the Devil kept repeating that he couldn’t wait until “The Big Eight-Twenty-Three Skidoo”. Read the Chapter “Coming To America” for context)

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But I wasn’t taking any illegal drugs. So I couldn’t figure out what this poster had to do with anything. Nevertheless, I just filed this into my memory-banks, as a possible clue to this puzzling riddle by the Devil, concerning “The Big 8/23-Skidoo”.

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Very mysterious!

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THE NON-BELIEVER COUNSELORS…

I had a number of sessions with my counselor. He was great spiritual help. But there were other counselors too. Another one told me that he didn’t believe in Jesus. So he wasn’t much help for me. Maybe he was good for others. I don’t know.

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Adventist Medical Center entrance_-_Portland_Oregon – by M O Stevens – Wikipedia – share-alike-license

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NO DEVIL’S DOG!?…

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One young lady staff-member was talking with me about God. I wanted to know if I was the “The Devil’s Dog”. She told me, “No, there’s no such thing as the “Devil’s Dog in the Bible”.

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She then began to tell me that, “God is our loving and kindly Heavenly Father! And as our Father, He has love and tenderness for us, just as a loving father has for his own children. God would never do anything bad to His children!”

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Well, although she didn’t quote any Bible verses, she nevertheless put things in a very nice way. God was a nice, loving Father. I wanted to believe her (not to mention that her attractiveness and well-groomed appearance made her look like a person who really had her life “all-together”.)

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JUST A BIG OL ‘SOFTIE IN THE SKY’?…

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However, her explanation didn’t quite fit what I had been going through for the past eight months. I’d been cast into a whole lot of very fiery situations, so I knew there had to be more to God than just being a kindly and loving Father.

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There must be a wrath-side to God also. I didn’t know hardly anything about the Bible. But there were pieces missing to this mega-puzzle known as God. Some VERY BIG pieces!

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I also asked the hospital chaplain the same question, as he was walking down the hall. He stopped for a moment and told me virtually the same thing…“No, there’s no such thing as The Devil’s Dog.”

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But I wasn’t totally convinced. Nevertheless, I really really hoped they were correct!

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However from that point forward, the Devil never tried again to taunt me concerning “The Devil’s Dog”. And so this ended the accusation that Satan clobbered me over the head with, during my “Vacation From Hell” in Guatemala.

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One more thing to cross off my long list of torments!

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Ghost-BlackDog – wikipedia – public domain

110413 – NOAA – tornado -National Weather Service/F. Smith – 02 – public domain

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“THE PRAYER CHAPEL”…

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It wasn’t too long after I arrived, that I discovered the Chapel Room. It was a good long walk from the mental ward towards the front entrance to the hospital. It was a very nice hospital Chapel room. I was told that the wall-sized mural had cost $10,000 (maybe as much as $30,000 $40,000, or even more, in 2020 money), and was just recently painted. And it had to have been just painted. You see, it had Jesus standing in a meadow with His outstretched arms.

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But in the background to the left, behind the tree, the artist depicted the smoke from the recent Mount St. Helens volcano rising up from the horizon, just as I had seen it rising outside the hospital, a day or two earlier. So it had to have been finished within the last 30 days or so.

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Anyway, I began to go there often to pray. It was wonderful to go in this little quiet haven, away from the hustle-bustle out there, and try to get close to God!

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 Portland hospital “Jesus of Portland“, used by special permission from that hospital.

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“MULTNOMAH FALLS…LEAP OF FAITH”…

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It wasn’t too long into my stay, that a field trip was planned. And so, we all got into a hospital van, and headed east…to Multnomah Falls.

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The falls are beautiful and very dramatic, as you can see in the photo. There was a historical ledger at the park, which told the story of some Native American who jumped off the falls to save the rest of the tribe from a sickness. I’m not sure how my spirits were, on this outing. But I’m sure they weren’t far!

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What I didn’t realize, is that I would come back to this falls in just a few months… TO JUMP OFF!

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Photo courtesy kelvin kay for wikipedia share-alike license. Click for link.

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“LONG AGO, AND OH SO FAR AWAY…”

(Lyrics from the 1975 Song, “Superstar” by The Carpenters)

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There was a pretty young lady in the ward, with dark hair. As a matter of fact, I took note that she had a striking resemblance to Karen Carpenter, the singer who died of Anorexia a few years after this incident. The girl looked a bit younger than Karen. But she seemed to have the same problem (of course, at this time (1980) I had no idea that Karen Carpenter had this problem. Karen died three years later, in 1983).

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Anyway, as I was standing close by in the hallway, near my room, I overheard the nurses and doctor trying to convince her to take a drink of a diet soda. But she kept politely objecting, saying it was too fattening. Her gentle persuaders told her the soda was diet and only had one calorie. But to my amazement, the girl said that “No, well thank you…but…ah…I  just can’t drink that. ONE CALORIE is way too many calories!”

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“WHOA!”, I thought to myself, “ONE CALORIE IS TOO FATTENING!?” And as I walked away from this gentle little confrontation (probably shaking my head in unbelief), I thought… “MAN! This girl has some serious issues!!”

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So walking away, this battle of the wills kept up. The staff still urging and the girl still (politely) refusing. I thought to myself… “Maybe she’s got a problem with the Devil too! Maybe that’s why she’s got this stuff happening. Maybe the Devil is behind all this.”

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

Karen Carpenter photo courtesy wikipedia & Carpenters under share-alike license, Click for link.

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“DAMN ASHES”…

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A THINNER ME… But this little exchange of a hospital staff trying to get a very thin person to eat, was just a harbinger of the future. And NOT just the future of Karen Carpenter’s… BUT MY FUTURE AS WELL!! Because little did I know, this was exactly what lay in store for me too!

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Yes, I never dreamed that in the future, I too would be afflicted by a similar problem, dipping below 100 pounds myself! I actually looked like a walking skeleton. Little did I know that a hospital staff would likewise be trying to force me to eat, exactly as this staff did to her! And in the future I’d be finally committed to the Dammasch State Mental Hospital. And I would be tormented by demon angels, while confined for three months with liquid being fed me through my nose! Not only this, but while in the hospital, the other patients would prophesy about my future. This was to be a very satanic experience. And my weight problem was due to evil angels. But this was all to happen in the future. And if you do get a chance to hear my similar story, you too might likewise decide that some “eating disorders” are spiritual problems, and not just “psychiatric”.

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The new Dammasch State Hospital – 1960 aerial view

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“THE ORIGINAL JESUS”…

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One day as I was in the prayer chapel, the spirit began to suggest that I was not Adolph Hitler. He began to suggest that I was, as he originally claimed… Jesus, in a previous life. But I was very leery at this point. He had done way too many flip-flops in the past!

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And so I thought of something…“If I really was Jesus in a former life…Then…make me write that statement on that expensive new mural of Jesus.” I thought to myself, ‘God would never allow me to write that statement on this very expensive, and very holy painting.’” And so I sat there waiting for him to compel me to do this deed.

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And sure enough, in a few moments, I found myself under his power, getting up. I went straight for a pen laying by a guestbook. I walked toward the mural. I began to write (the spirit controlling me) the following words on this mural, in very tiny letters, “Chuck was….” I stopped for a moment. “I don’t want him to give this spirit “wiggle room”. So he had me write, “Chuck was the ORIGINAL Jesus in a former life”.

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“Wow… that’s incredible! I must really be Jesus!”, I thought to myself. (Just a note. I wrote very small. I doubt anyone could ever find it.)

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Well, as you can imagine, this really relieved me. This proved to me that I wasn’t Adolph Hitler! I probably cried tears of relief at this moment!

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Well, this event in that Prayer Chapel that day, ended all that Hitler stuff. Up to this day, I’ve never again been plagued with the assertion that I was Adolph Hitler in my last life.

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Now just because my Adolph fear was put to rest, is not to say that I was Jesus in a former life. That false notion also came to an end, eventually.

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Portland hospital “Jesus of Portland“

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“O LUCIFER…

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SON OF THE MORNING?”…

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(STORY OF JOB)

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One day as I was talking with my counselor, I asked him how Satan could do all these things to me. This young counselor with an Abraham Lincoln-style beard began to tell me a story from the Bible. He told me about a man named Job (Job is pronounced with a long “O”).

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Job was a rich man who loved God. But the Devil took everything away from Job. So Job spent months going through illness, and heartache. And Job was tempted to curse God, because of all the evil that the Devil brought upon Job.

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Job (oil on canvas) by Bonnat, Leon Joseph Florentin (1833-1922) – Wikimedia – Public Domain

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“AND THOUGH THIS WORLD WITH DEVILS FILLED, SHOULD THREATEN TO UNDO US…”

(line from song, “A Mighty Fortress” by Martin Luther c. 1527)…

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“THE” DEVIL? OR JUST “A” DEVIL?

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Another important issue should be mentioned. At some point in time, I learned that the Devil has many “unseen helpers”. These are fellow angels who also fell from grace, long ago, at the same time that Lucifer fell. These “Evil Angels” now roam the Earth, under the leadership of their commander, Lucifer, doing their evil deeds and manipulating and orchestrating the events of the world, in order to carry out his evil master-plan; which master-plan is detailed within the pages of Scripture.

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One reason I’m making this point, is to say that…I don’t know if I was being harassed by Satan himself, or just your “run-of-the-mill garden variety” evil angel. But from what I gathered at about this time in my experience, I learned that there were enough evil angels to “go around” for everyone. In other words, this unseen “breed” of spirits, up to this point in time, have been in no danger of being added to the “Endangered Species List”! Ha ha…that’s a joke! (But not a very funny joke, however.)

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From what I was told, there are millions, but probably billions of these devils running around on this Earth.

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(The Good News is, however, the Devil and his angels will very soon be on the endangered species list…“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” Revelation 20:10).

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Martin Luther – A Mighty Fortress – Public Domain – Wikipedia

Engraving by Gustave Dore, from www.creationism.org, public domain. Click here for gallery of Dore’s Bible pictures.

Gustave Dore – Paradise Lost illustration – Lucifer becomes Satan – Wikimedia – US Public Domain

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WHY IS SATAN SO EVIL?…

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At this point, someone might possibly ask, “Why are they so evil? Why don’t they simply turn from their wicked ways?”

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The answer to this perplexing question is found in Genesis, in the third chapter… “And the LORD God said to the serpent… Because you (Satan) have done this (tempted Adam and Eve into sin), you are cursed above all… And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; It shall bruise thy head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:14, 15

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And so, at the very beginning, God put a curse on Lucifer. God was not just talking to the serpent. He was speaking to Lucifer who came to Eve through that serpent; making it seem to the woman, that it was the serpent speaking, when it was actually just old “L.S.D.” (Lucifer, Satan, the Devil). And so if God put a curse on Lucifer, then there was nothing Lucifer could do to escape that curse.

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Now I know this all sounds like some children’s story to many who read this. But when you think about it, you have to ask yourself the question, “Why is this world so evil? Why are there so many unthinkable atrocities occurring on a daily basis around the globe? And why does all this evil seem so well orchestrated at times?”

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Satan presiding at the Infernal Council- Wikpedia – US Public Domain

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TWO EXAMPLES OF SATANIC EVIL…

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EXAMPLE #1: HITLER

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Well doesn’t it seem orchestrated? I mean, it’s like…how could Hitler mesmerize an entire nation to get behind his demonic attempt to take over the world? I have a very elderly neighbor who was a little boy in Germany. He told me that he, as well as the entire nation of Germany, believed that Hitler was some sort of “deliverer” to help bring about good into the world (still being mostly ignorant as to his atrocities against the Jews). And it wasn’t until Hitler was crushed by the Allies, that my German neighbor and his fellow countrymen woke up to just how evil Hitler really was, and what he’d been up to.

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Rows of bodies of dead inmates fill the yard of Lager Nordhausen, a Gestapo concentration camp – Wikimedia – Public Domain

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EXAMPLE #2: RWANDA….HUTUS AND TOOTSIES…

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And how could a multitude of people in Africa be mesmerized in just a few months, to carry out that hateful and ruthless act of slaughtering thousands of their fellow humans and countrymen; neighbors, who just happened to be of a slightly different blood-line? I saw an interview with one of the men involved in this mass slaughter. He confessed that he and others were brainwashed by the leftist college students who were orchestrating this brutal mass-murder. And after it was all over, he woke up to the reality of the atrocities that he and his fellow countrymen had committed. And then he felt really bad about what he’d done to those innocent men, women, and children of the Tootsies.

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So how could this be? How could an entire throng of people be so easily manipulated, if there was no Satan and his evil fellow angels working behind the scenes, to inspire hateful madness within the hearts and minds of these aggressors?

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Rwandan Genocide Murambi skulls – wikipedia – public domain

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“IMAGINE THERE’S NO DEVIL…HE WONDERS IF YOU CAN?”…

(Word-play on the lyrics of the John Lennon song, “Imagine”)

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Well, these are just two examples of the well-orchestrated evil that has long plagued Mankind.

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And I could give a lot more examples. And so could you, no doubt!

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Nevertheless, it seems like there is an orchestrated effort to erase Satan out of existence. Most don’t even want to acknowledge that there is a Devil; even many Christians have joined in this effort.

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Even many in the Christian community will start pointing the accusing finger, if you speak about Satan. “Oh we’re not supposed to be talking about Satan.” Well who says? There seems to be some unwritten rule regarding this. The Bible doesn’t say anything like this!

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Oh yeah, I totally agree, we’re certainly not to become obsessed about Satan! Our daily thoughts should be mostly about Jesus and the Bible.

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Satan presiding at the Infernal Council- Wikpedia – US Public Domain

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“IT’S JUST THE NATURE OF MY GAME”…

(Lyrics from The Rolling Stones song, “Sympathy For The Devil”)

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These are just two very quick examples of the orchestrated evil in the world. But with some careful consideration, there could be shown, perhaps thousands of examples of Satan’s orchestrated evil the world over. Take, for instance, the current-day phenomenon in which a vast percentage of Americans now believe that the USA must be completely destroyed and replaced by a so-called “Utopian” Socialist regime.

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Nevertheless, Satan has done a marvelous job of “erasing his tracks” behind him. And as already stated, he has all but “erased his self completely out of existence” in the minds of most of the Human Family.

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I heard someone say,  “The greatest feat that the Devil ever performed, was to convince the world that he doesn’t exist!” Well, actually, I think that even a greater feat than that was when he convinced much of the world that God doesn’t exist!

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

Stuck Luzifer ca – 1890 – wikimedia – public domain

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“THE GOD OF THIS WORLD”

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The Bible reveals that Lucifer was given dominion over this world long ago. The Bible calls him, “The God of This World” in 2nd Corinthians 4:4.

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And also, he is titled, “The Prince of This World”, three times in the Gospel of John (John 12:31, John 14:30, John 16:11).

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And in Isaiah, Chapter 14, it is explained that Lucifer was jealous of God.

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Listen…“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like The Most High.” Isaiah 14:12-14

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Yes, Lucifer, being very powerful and extremely intelligent, had long ago taken control of this world, turning it into his very own kingdom, with his own selfish attributes, using them as tokens of his character, to be loved, admired, and even worshiped by this world’s deceived citizenry! And so, by this means, he can maintain an invisible presence, and still be worshiped

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Satan presiding at the Infernal Council – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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“IS THIS THE MAN THAT MADE THE EARTH TO TREMBLE?”

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But it’s high time that we humans fulfill this following prophecy from Isaiah…

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“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!… They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, ‘Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms?’” Isaiah 14:12-16

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Hey, at least let’s just look upon this subject “narrowly” as it says in the above verse. At least let’s give credit where credit is due! People have spent a lot of time blaming God for everything bad. How come the Devil rarely gets the blame? And he’s the one who is behind most of the evil on this fallen planet!

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Well, maybe this little e-book has given us this narrow examination of Lucifer, and how he operates in this fallen world.

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But it seems that Satan gets “let off the hook” almost 100% of the time.

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And why?

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Well, it really seems like anyone who even dares to mention the Devil is immediately scorned, as if he’s saying, “The Devil made me do it! The Devil made me do it!” Well, maybe “The Devil did make me do it!” is a much truer statement than most people think! Maybe, just maybe, the Devil is making a lot of people do a whole lot of things in this world, that they might not otherwise do! Not that we’re just “little ol’ innocent bystanders“! Not saying that!

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But when you stand back and see giant societal movements coming in and back out again, like the waves of the ocean, it makes you wonder, doesn’t it? At least it should make a person wonder.

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But hey! People, for the most part, don’t like to entertain such ideas.

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Nevertheless, the almost flawless orchestration of political and social phenomena in this world, is just too well-orchestrated to chalk off as being merely, “a coincidence”. And the horrendous depths to which so much evil sinks to, makes it quite impossible to believe that there’s no literal Satan! He just has to exist! This extremely evil world is proof-positive that Satan does indeed exist!

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But hey, for the past 8 or so months, I was freely conversing with an evil spirit on a daily basis!

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For my own self, I didn’t need any further proof!

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Lucifer Falling – lithoraph by Gustave Dore’ – Wikipedia – Public Domain

Dragon – www.theheavensdeclare.net

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“BIG-MEANIE-IN-SKY?”…

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Anyway, back to the story.

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So as soon as my counselor told me this story of Job and how Job was tempted to blame God, something happened. A strange phenomenon began to occur within me. From that moment forward, I began to become tempted to blame God whenever anything bad happened. And yet, before I heard this story of Job, it never even occurred to me, that God was to blame!

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But now, I was always encountering this temptation: blaming God, as Satan did to Job. This became a real plague in my life. I began to think of God as a big-meanie-in-the-sky. It got so bad that I began to be tempted, “to blame God for even a hang-nail” (as the saying goes)!

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But these were temptations. I’m not saying I gave into those temptations. But I’m not saying that I didn’t give into a few of them, either.

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Hans Thoma – The angry god, Jupiter – Wikipedia – Public Domain

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To go to next chapter, just click…

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Ch. 30  “Goodbye Cruel World!”

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Will Chuck take that final plunge over the falls? Will the voice be gone forever? Read and find out!

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Click on image credit links below each photo, for licensing names, details, tags, etc.. Most images cropped/reduced in size

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It’s time to get to the final act of this story. Now it is the moment of truth, as far as this e-book is concerned.

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And so now it’s time to wrap this story together. So let’s get to it and complete this story and tie up the remaining loose ends, bringing this story full circle …

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The Scream – Wikipedia – public domain – by edvard munch – c.1893

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CHAPTER 30:

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“GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD!”…

(Title of the 1979 Pink Floyd song)

Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

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July 1980

(almost 9 months after my troubles began) 

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MY TERROR ENDS…

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Well, after the Devil ceased his condemnation that I was Adolph Hitler in my former life, things began to go well for me.

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As a matter of fact, I was feeling so good, I became a general nuisance around the hospital ward. For one thing, I started a ‘petition-signing’ amongst the patients when the hospital started serving us these pathetic tofu squares at breakfast, instead of the scrambled eggs they previously served!

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And then also, I began giving my own counselling sessions to one or two patients. The staff told me nicely to “cease and desist”.

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Hey, you’d-a thought they’d like the extra help!

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At no charge!

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Go figure!

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Adventist Medical Center entrance – Portland, Oregon by M O Stevens & Wikipedia – share-alike license

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“I COME TO THE GARDEN”

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Becky came to visit and we decided to go sight-seeing in Portland. We found a large shrine called Mother Mary’s Grotto. It was a big garden that you could walk through with different shrines dedicated to various aspects of the Gospel. It was a really beautiful shrine, with lots of really nice statues. And since I didn’t actually kill the Virgin Mary (as the Devil mercilessly accused me. See “Fantasy Island” for explanation), .

I could now visit this shrine without any dread.

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We then went to a large chapel where people were entering. And so I asked Becky to go with me. I was really excited to hear a Bible sermon! After all, through my ordeal, all I ever heard in English was the Devil’s sermons, so to speak! So a real biblical sermon was “just what the Doctor ordered!”

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But as we took our place in this church, the minister, or priest, or whatever, began speaking in some foreign language! Latin, or Greek or something! And then, we all got up in line to go by the priest, who handed us each a wafer and a tiny cup of grape-juice!

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And then, to my disappointment, the service ended and everyone began leaving. I really wanted to hear a sermon…in English! Oh well. I guess I would just have to wait!

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Photo of similar Mary shrine courtesy Wikipedia share-alike license. Click here for link.

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HOLY SHMOKES!

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After this, we went into a gift shop where I bought 3 or 4 Bibles and maybe a dozen large crucifixes on necklace chains. As I was coming out of the gift shop I saw a priest. I asked him if he would bless these Bibles and necklaces. He made some gestures with his hands and said some things. I thanked him. But as I walked away, I noticed this priest was lighting up a cigarette. Well, I didn’t know hardly anything about Christianity, but I guess I always viewed smoking as a sin. And for such a holy-man, a Christlike individual, to be smoking really disappointed me, causing me to think his blessing on my Bibles and crucifixes was not so much of a blessing.

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And so, here was my first Christian-encounter with hypocrisy (not his, but my own hypocrisy, since I myself was still currently smoking!)

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Marlboro – Wikipedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

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“CRUCIFIXES FOR THE WHOLE HOUSE!!…

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NAW…DON’T WORRY!…I’M BUYING!!”…

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When I got back to the hospital ward, I waited until the patients and staff were all together in the living area. I then gave a crucifix necklace to each patient and each staff-member. I suppose I should have bought smaller crucifixes. These over-sized crucifixes were about 2 or 3 inches tall. But hey, it’s the thought that counts. Everyone was obviously so overwhelmed with gratitude, that they didn’t know what to say! LOL!

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Small crucifix – Wikimedia – uploaded by Raul654 – GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version

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TIME TO GO…

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After thirty days, the hospital staff told me I was well enough to leave. I told them that I was still hearing that voice. But they still insisted that I was well enough to leave. And it was a lucky thing I left when I did! Because when checking out at the front desk, the receptionist informed me that my 30-day-insurance-coverage ran out that very same day!

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Adventist Medical Center entrance – Portland, Oregon by M O Stevens & Wikipedia – share-alike license

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A FEW THOUGHTS…

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I was more than a little disappointed that virtually nobody in the hospital staff believed I was being tormented by a devil. It was assumed that my problem was a mental condition. There were instances, however, in which I received good spiritual advice.

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On the other hand, I was treated very nicely by everyone. By far this was the most polite staff I’ve ever encountered!

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Adventist Medical Center entrance – Portland, Oregon by M O Stevens & Wikipedia – share-alike license

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July/August 1980

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“YOU TALK TOO MUCH…YOU WORRY ME TO DEATH!”

(First line from the 1960 song by Joe Jones, “You Talk Too Much”)

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And so I returned to Klamath Falls. But the voice didn’t go away. He just kept talking and talking. After some weeks, I became overwhelmed with the fear that I was like a man with a very contagious, killer-disease: namely…I HAD THE DEVIL IN ME!!! I had the “disease of Satan”, which seemed to indwell me to some degree. Well, he had to indwell within me, didn’t he? After all, he could talk to me (in my mind). And he could somehow put thoughts into my mind. And somehow he seemed to know many things I was thinking.

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As the days went by, the voice didn’t go away. I decided that I needed to do something to rid myself of this satanic voice. I decided to go back up to Portland to the Multnomah Falls. It was where that Indian jumped off to save the rest of the tribe from some disease. Even though that legend was a little suspect, nevertheless, this still seemed like a fitting place to end my life. And I too would be engaging in a “noble act” by eliminating this satanic voice that was speaking through me, and to me. I suppose, in the back of my mind, I was doing what I’d seen in that movie, The Exorcist, when Father Karras was filled with the Devil and jumped to his death, onto the streets far below.

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

Christian and Apollyon – Pilgrim’s Progress – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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“THE WORDS OF THE PROPHETS ARE WRITTEN ON THE SUBWAY OLD BARN WALLS…(and horse’s stalls)!”

(Word-play on lyrics from the 1964 Simon & Garfunkel mega-hit, “The Sounds of Silence”)  

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As I was driving up to Portland on Interstate 5 (still very intent on doing myself in), something caught my attention. An old barn…sitting off to the west of the Interstate 5 freeway…in a field…just south of Salem…a barn…standing there as a monument to days-gone-by. And as I drove by, I was surprised to see a Bible concept inscribed on its old weathered wooden walls. Someone had painted the following sentence on the side of that old relic…

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

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“SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS…ARMOR UP…THE TIME IS AT HAND”

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These words made a strong impact on me, at that moment. “Profound statement!”, I thought to myself. “Whoever painted those words must also be aware that Judgment Day is at hand.”

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But now, I had a little hope. “That inscription on that old barn just might be the answer to my problems.” I might have thought… ”put on the armor of God. Very interesting concept. Hm-mm.”

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ONE MORE TRAIL TO CLIMB

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Upon arrival at the falls, I looked up and saw that the trail to the top was going to be a good climb. But hey, I climbed for eight hours up from the bottom of the Grand Canyon (see Chapter 1)! And this climb would only take an hour or so.

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Probably the voice was talking to me all the way along the trail upward. The climb was steep but very scenic with lots of beautiful trees, shrubs and ferns, etc.

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But the sun was going down, and I knew I had better “high-tail” it up this hill before it got too dark!

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(Multnomah Falls photo: Kelvin Kaye). Photo on right by www.oregon.com.

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BACK TO WHERE THIS STORY BEGAN…

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Well that’s my story! Now you know the basics of what I’ve gone through for over a year.

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So can you really blame me for wanting to take a plunge to my death?

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How would you have handled this, if you were in my shoes?

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When I think back on it all, it seems like a dream…a really bad dream! But I found out, that the truth is stranger than fiction! And now this will hopefully be over for good! And hopefully I will die a death that will separate me for all eternity from this voice! From this spirit! And from this Devil!

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It’s now time for me to take this leap of faith. “Lord, forgive me and receive me into your eternal kingdom….”

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My body plunges down into the water…

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…In a moment my head bobs out of the water. Hands begin to clap upon the announcement…

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“Welcome Chuck! Welcome into the family of God!”

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I carefully inspect my baptismal robe to see if every inch has water on it. I don’t want even one inch of my body to be unbaptised.

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NEW LIFE IN JESUS AHEAD

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What happened to jumping off the falls, you ask?

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Oh that! Yeah! You’re asking if I jumped off the falls. Well, no, I didn’t. What happened is this: I got to about half way up the trail, and it was getting dark. And frankly, I lost heart, and decided not to jump. So I climbed back down and drove back home to Klamath Falls.

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And then back in Klamath, I decided to start going to church in a little Baptist congregation. And after a short time, I decided the best way to rid myself of this spirit that’s been plaguing me for over a year was to die; that is, I would “die in Jesus”. I would go to that watery grave of Baptism. And so here I am! At a Baptist church! Getting baptized! That would be my final plunge! What better way to get rid of Satan than to take a plunge to almost certain death…a death that leads to life… a new life in the Lord Jesus Christ!

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But after the baptism, I’m noticing a dry spot on my baptismal robe. I ask the Pastor later if that mattered. He says “No”.

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Still it bothered me.

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LITTLE FLY FREED BY BIG GOD…

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So I guess you could say that God plucked me out of Satan’s spider-web.

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Oh the mercy of God to a very miserable wretch like me, who wasn’t even looking for God!

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Could I have stood up to Satan on my own? The “Mental Ward Games” only proved that I was no match for Satan. I miserably lost the contest! But who wouldn’t have lost the contest with the Devil? He’s way out of my league…and yours too! There’s only One who could defeat Satan. And to my great joy, that One defeated him on that hill called “Calvary”. And that One defeated the Devil, on your behalf, and on my behalf.

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And though I was cast into “Tophet” (see Jeremiah 7:32), and tormented by fire and brimstone, I nevertheless came out of it unharmed. And the smoke of my torment will rise up forever and ever, no doubt. This awful lesson-book of sin will never be forgotten! And I learned a lesson that I’m sure I won’t forget through the days of eternity. And I’m telling you this story because you should be aware of just who is this “Wicked One” who has seemingly all but erased himself out of existence; because even though he’s covered his tracks pretty well, he’s still out there working his deceptive and destructive satanic arts upon this unsuspecting world.

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But I’m also telling this story so that maybe, just maybe some person, living in unbelief and atheism like I was, might turn from their sin, becoming a Follower of Jesus.

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But don’t wait till Judgment Day!

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And truth-be-told, ya never know when your Judgment Day begins!

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“What? Did you (the readers) say something? I thought I just heard a voice. Everyone be quiet for a moment.”

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“Are you still here Satan? Is that you, Satan?”

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(Silence for a moment.)

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“I’m still he-e-e-r-re !!”

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THE END…

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Dear Reader: A question still lingers. And that question is this…

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“Who will be next to take a ride in an “RX-7” (an “Our Ex-Heaven”)?”

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Well if you do, just make sure NOT to be like me.

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Yeah, don’t you get caught on that day without having on your “Armor of God”!

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To go to next chapter, just click…

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Ch. 31  EPILOGUE

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Well, Chuck is finally released from the devilish torment, and begins a new chapter in his new life from a forgiving God.

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CHAPTER 31:

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EPILOGUE

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“HERE LIES ATHEISM…SHOT IN THE BACK”…

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And so, this has been the story of how my atheistic belief was shot dead; yes… shot dead by God! As dead as…as for instance, say, Billy the Kid…killed by a ‘bullet in the back’. And just like Billy the Kid, my atheism wasn’t looking for that bullet either!

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Yes, Billy the Kid and atheism have a lot in common! Like Billy, atheism is a ruthless killer. It has slain many-a-man, much more than Billy ever did!

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But as I said, my atheism received that bullet-in-the-back on that fateful November night when I personally met the Devil.

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But in my case, meeting the Devil turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me! Not that the Devil was trying to help me. But God is greater than the Devil, and uses the Devil for His own divine purposes.

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Nevertheless, I’m sure those evil angels must’ve had a great time anyway, tormenting me during these long months and days!

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But I hope and pray that every atheist will have his or her atheism shot dead…just like my atheism was shot dead! Just hope ya don’t have to suffer all the torment that I had to suffer.

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Billy the Kid – wikipedia – public domain

Atheist sign Wisconsin State – Cropped image – wikipedia share-alike license

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“IN TOMBSTONE TERRITORY”…

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Oh, by the way…I read the other day of an old tombstone in Maryland that said…

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“Here lies an atheist 6 feet below. All dressed up, but nowhere to go!”

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An atheist has a truly miserable ideology, or religion, or whatever you want to call it! Nowhere to go after he or she dies! Just food for daisies and earthworms…and crabgrass too! But instead of the above epitaph, I would only wish that the following words below might be inscribed on the stone marker above each and every atheist from this moment forward…

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“A former atheist lies here below. His atheism died when he found Jesus, and now he’s got a wonderful place to go!”

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Charles Darwin’s grave at Westminster Abbey – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Thomas Cole – Pilgrim of the Cross at the End of His Journey – Wikimedia – US Public Domain

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Tour De Oregon

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Sometime later, Becky’s mother came to visit from Guatemala. And we decided to go on a 3 or 4-day whirlwind tour up the awesome and majestic Oregon coast, beginning in Brookings Oregon.

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And so, I rented a motorhome.

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I must say, I can’t remember a more fun and more trouble-free trip! It was as if the Lord was blessing every moment of our little tour. While stopping in one little town, I saw a blue captain’s hat (like ol’ Heph used to wear), and bought it, and wore it throughout the trip. 

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Through the winding Redwood Highway, these awesome trees stand as gate-keeping giants to the powerful Pacific Ocean. From there we came to Brookings, just a few miles from the Oregon/California border. And from there we proceeded up the Oregon coast until we came to the incredible Sea-Lion Caves! Yes, the Sea-Lion Caves are a must-see for any tourist! Right on the edge of the narrow Coastal Highway 101, hugging a high cliff, an elevator takes you down-down-down about a 1000 feet into a large cave. Entering into this sea-lion sanctuary there they sit, barking loudly, echoing throughout the ominous-looking caverns! And all this makes for a very dramatic scenario, together with in-coming waves, crashing against the rocks!

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Next we went to Depoe Bay, a little tourist mecca in which the raging sea crashes against the sharp cliff, sometimes spilling almost onto Highway 101, which runs through this little tourist-shop burg. It’s a great place to stop to eat, while driving up or down the Oregon Coast.

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There we stopped to see the little black stone-faced building which housed the aquarium (no longer there), in which various aquatic species are seen. The main attraction was a damp and echoie room with a pool in which about 5 or 6 barking seals beg for little pieces of fish which visitors can purchase.

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There was one totally blind seal, whose eyes were completely glazed white. But in spite of his handicap, he performed more tricks, and clownishly slapped his fat belly in hopes of getting some fish thrown to him. Really funny to watch this old aquatic clown! And seemingly almost miraculously, this visually-challenged one could sense exactly when and where food was being tossed in his direction, jumping up and catching it mid-air!

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Pretty good for a “blind old seal”!

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Later on that day, while laying in the upper loft of the motor-home I began slapping my increasingly fattening belly (because of Becky’s great cooking!). When I suddenly realized I was doing a good imitation of that fat old blind seal, I laughed and laughed (I often laughed at myself over something funny. But of course, I’ve never liked other people laughing at me! Who does!?)

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From Lincoln City on the northern coast, we drove inland through beautiful state capitol of Salem (where I was born), and up the Santiam Highway. There we stopped at Silver Falls State Park where about 7 different waterfalls can be be seen along the hiking trail. (and the one in this picture, you can even walk behind!). And being raised in Salem, we kids always loved to have a family picnic at that incredibly beautiful park! My parents even had an old log cabin nearby where we spent many weekends, as kids. 

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Sunrise along the Oregon Coast – Wikimedia – by Jim Helvey for Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license

Redwoods – One Lane for Two Way – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

Oregon Sea Lion Caves – Wikimedia – Public Domain

Silver Falls Waterfall near Silverton Oregon – Wikipedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

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A FEW FINAL THOUGHTS

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This entire e-book story is concerning events which occurred prior to my becoming a Christian. To give this story proper context, I tried to write it in somewhat the same irreverent humor that I used back in those days. Forgive me for this irreverence! But I suppose I wanted for the Reader to get to know me, as I was back in those days. 

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Becky and I were finally married about 10 months after we met, on December 6th of 1980.

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The reader should keep in mind that this is just the first Part of a three-part story about a man who began a journey out of the fires of Hell, and upward toward the Celestial City of God. My unchristian behavior during this first installment was merely because I had not the slightest clue of how to be a Christian. So please excuse any offensive behavior on my part. This Part 1 of my journey should make more sense, if and when God permits me to write the next two installments.

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“Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low…” Isaiah 2:10-12

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This is the end of this e-book, “Judgment Day-RX7″. However, you may go to the companion web-site. Just click here…

www.signsofheaven.org

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ABOVE PICTURE: The armor of God – theheavensdeclare.net -use by permission only

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Click on image credit links below each photo, for licensing names, details, tags, etc.. Most images cropped/reduced in size

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Okay, so it was now about 100 days or so after finding out my public school indoctrination which I abundantly received, on the ideology of “atheism”, needed some really serious revamping!

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And now I was conversing with unseen spirits just as matter-of-factly as I would, say…talking with my Uncle Charlie!

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And more than this, the spirit was now giving me songs and telling me things about the world and about the unseen world that few persons had ever been privy to! This was unreal beyond the wildest imagination! But it was real! Very real!

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And so, I’ll share a few more of the songs given, plus some of the information shared by the Unseen One with whom I was now conversing on a moment-by-moment basis. And I really mean “moment-by-moment”! Because this was a morning till night phenomenon! It just didn’t let up!

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But now I’ll share…

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The Scream of Nature – Wikipedia – public domain – by edvard munch c.1893

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CHAPTER 20:

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“AND I WRITE THE SONGS”…

(Lyric from the 1975 Bruce Johnston song, “I Write The Songs”)   

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

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January or February, 1980

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“THERE’LL BE A LOAD OF COMPROMISING “SPIRITS RISING”, ON THE ROAD TO MY HORIZON!”…

(Wordplay on the lyrics of the 1975 Glen Campbell mega-hit, “Rhinestone Cowboy”, inserting the word, “spirits rising” in place of “compromising”)

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I was also led to believe that there were persons in the song business who were “insiders”. They knew about the spirits, and were aware that their music and success was a gift from God.

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He told me that I was going to go down to L.A. to get into the business. He told me that a certain famous recording artist was an “insider”, and knew all about how God was working within the music business. And I was to go to this famous recording artist’s home. And this recording artist (I’m too embarrassed to even mention names!), he would take me in, until I “got on my feet”. He also told me (or I played guessing games, trying to prod him into telling me) just who else in the music business knew about God, or was being led by God. And after guessing, he let me know a number of famous people he had working for him in the music business.

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Okay, Okay, I know how ridiculous all this recording artist stuff’ sounds! And it’s more than just a bit embarrassing to even put it in writing for people to read (not to mention that I myself was merely a mediocre musical talent)!

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But I’m simply telling you what happened. And, just consider how often an article appears in the news about some person claiming that God told him to do this or that! Now what I went through, hopefully begins to explain, at the very least, that some of those “deluded” persons were no doubt likewise being misled by spirits, just as I was being misled.

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Well, my experience explains alot, that is, if you believe what I’m telling you. But if you don’t believe this account, it nevertheless doesn’t make it any less the reality of the unseen spiritual battlefield which this world happens to be! And actually, unbelievers (and Christian skeptics) are truly, the “deluded ones”! 

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

Hollywood and Vine – wikipedia – public domain

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“HE HOLDETH MY EYES, WAKING”

Psalm 77:4

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A certain phenomenon also occurred at this time. You see, before this all happened (i.e., my encounter with the unseen spiritual world), I usually got a pretty good night’s sleep. But at this time (Summer 1980) I began to find it very hard to sleep. This was my first encounter with “Insomnia”. And because I realized my problems were spiritual in nature, I also attributed this sleeplessness to spiritual sources…

Just listen to this verse… “When I lie down, I say, when shall I arise, and the night be gone? And I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.” Job 7:4. This verse from The Book of Job (Job is pronounced with a long “o”) shows that Job had a spiritual problem with sleeplessness. The Devil caused Job many problems, this being one of them. Here’s another verse about sleeplessness, being brought on by God… “Thou (God) holdest mine eyes waking…” Psalm 77:4.

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Now I’m not saying that all sleeplessness is due to higher powers. But the Bible does declare that it possibly can be the cause. As these two verses point out, both Job and the psalmist were suffering spiritual insomnia: one brought on by God, and Job’s, which was brought on by an unseen evil spirit.

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And I’m not even saying that my sleeplessness was necessarily of spiritual origin. All I’m saying is that it possibly could have been.

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MHWS – Insomnia – Cropped and altered image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. (2)

Insomnia icon.svg – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Above Painting: Job – Wikipedia – US-public-domain

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“OH GOD”…

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Also, I heard something that gave credence to what the spirit was telling me regarding the music business. And this gave me belief in what the spirit told me. I heard John Denver, in an interview, tell the interviewer that the songs he wrote were a “gift from God”. And he said it in such a way, that made me think that he wasn’t just being casual or flippant. He seemed to really believe that his songs were given him by God!

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Also, at about this same time, or a little later, I heard that John Denver was in a movie, called, “Oh God!”, about a man who had an unseen companion…God. God was played by George Burns. And so I made sure to watch this movie when it came out on TV. And George Burns was a perfect God, as far as I was concerned. Burns behaved similar to the spirit I was communicating with. A lot of humor and irreverence. And so the spirit told me that John Denver was one of the special, “insiders”, in the music business.

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Photo of George Burns – courtesy Allen Warren & Wikipedia – share-alike license. Click here for link.

John Denver – 1975 – wikipedia – public domain

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“AND I WRITE THE SONGS…”

(Title of the Bruce Johnston song, “I Write The Songs”)

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These songs which I was being given triggered an old memory. Years earlier. About 1972 or so. I had just moved back to Klamath from San Francisco, where I had struck out, that is, I failed to “make it” in the pop music industry. It was then that I returned to working in the family restaurant.

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Nevertheless, one sunny spring day, back in the Basin, I was sitting in the back yard with my guitar. I began composing a song. But to my amazement, in just a few minutes time, I had composed a really nice little song. This song just kind of “plopped down into my lap”, as they say. I didn’t even have to put much effort into composing it. And I remember feeling a little weird, when I sang it, because it came so easily. Anyway, here it is. Too bad you can’t hear the music. Because the music is simple, but as good as the words…

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THE GOODBYE SONG

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1st VERSE… “This time come tomorrow I’ll be gone, And I may not ever be this way again. So I’d like for you to have this song, And ya know that you will always be my friend.”

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CHORUS “And God give ya some love to carry along. May your roads be sunny, short or long. And on your way I pray, you won’t do anyone wrong. And God give ya some love to carry along.”

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2nd VERSE “Never let the rain get in your eyes, Behind the clouds there’s a whole lot of blue skies. Just let ol’ Mother Nature be your guide, Cause that’s one girl from who we just can’t hide.”

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CHORUS “And God give ya some love to carry along, May your roads be sunny short or long. And on your way I pray, you won’t Do anyone wrong. And God give ya some love to carry along.”

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3rd VERSE “Life is just an ever-flowing song, And it’s up to you to keep the music strong. So try and fill your world with those ya love, And never lose those dreams your dreamin’ of.” 

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CHORUS “And God give ya some love to carry along. May your roads be sunny, short or long. And on your way I pray, you won’t do anyone wrong wrong. And God give ya some love to carry along. And God give ya some love to carry you along. God give ya some love…to carry along” .

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An old friend from our former high school band liked the song, and a few years later, arranged the song for his new band. He also changed the word, “things” in the last verse, to “those”. So the last line was changed to… “So try and fill your world with [those] you love…”.  One night when I was visiting Salem Oregon, I went to hear his band. They played that song very well, with the word-change, in three-part harmony. It was a definite improvement.

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

Desert Road Highway – Wikipedia – Share-Alike License

Sky – cropped image – Wikimedia Commons – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license

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“THERE’LL BE A LOAD OF COMPROMISING'”…

(Lyrics from the 1975 Glen Campbell hit, “Rhinestone Cowboy”)

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But there was another aspect to all this music business stuff. I thought that God Himself was gonna break into the popular music world. And He was gonna use me to do just that! All I had to do was to mingle together some secular songs…with some Christian songs.

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That’s so simple!

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Why didn’t somebody think of that already?!

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This of course, shows how clueless I was about Christianity! Because I had no idea just how big the Christian music industry currently was! It was perhaps already a billion dollar industry!

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But I knew it not!

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

church worship music – cropped image – wikimedia – share-alike license

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Anyway, here’s an example of one of the “Christian” songs that the spirit gave me…

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“I CAN TURN TO JESUS”…

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“When I find myself, standing all alone,

I can turn to Jesus…for he is always near.

And when I find myself, losing hope in “Love”,

I can turn to Jesus…for He is always near.”

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“I can turn to Jesus…for He is always near

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“When I find myself, losing hope in “life”,

I can turn to Jesus…for He is always near.

And when I find myself, losing hope in “Man”,

I can turn to Jesus…for He is always here.”

“I can turn to Jesus…for He is always near.”

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Okay, so these lyrics weren’t that great! But as I have stated…when “God” is giving you songs directly, even the mediocre ones seem good. And the music was actually, not too bad, even though very simple.

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But as far as his method of composing, as I also said earlier, he wouldn’t talk during these song-writing sessions. He just made my head nod “Yes” or “No”, depending on the chords or the words, if they were correct or not. I am certain he had very good (and deceptive) reasons for doing this. And I’m pretty sure I know why. But I’ll just let you figure that one out for yourself. Very simple reason.

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A DEAL WITH THE D…?

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Bob Dylan (no mediocre song-writer!) gave an interview in which he made several statements regarding higher powers helping his career. In one statement, he says he made a “deal with the D…” … and then he stops short of actually saying the obvious. When quizzed about this by the interviewer, he began to back-peddle from almost saying “deal with the Devil” and then begins to indicate that his deal was with the “Commander”. With some more prodding, he clarifies that it is the “Commander of this world and the unseen world”.

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Now for the sake of honesty, it must be noted that his comment “deal with the D…” sounded a little like he was merely being flippant. But his comment about the “bargain with the Commander” sounded very serious.  

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Bob_Dylan – June 23 1978 – wikipedia – share-alike-license.jpg

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THINGS THAT GO “CREAK” IN THE NIGHT…

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During this time, I was constantly communing with the spirit. But quite often, there was a “creaking noise” in my house. Sometimes from the wall. Sometimes from the floor. And sometimes from the ceiling. Normally, I would just think that the house was settling. But whenever this happened, I would hear a “yes” or “no” simultaneous to the creaking noise. I reasoned that he was just making it seem like he was making the creaking noise. And I figured that he was just very quick. Because there didn’t seem to be any time-lapse between the creaking noise and his answer. Often, I wouldn’t even be asking him a question, and I would hear the creaking along with a “yes” or “no”. So this was a tip-off that he was just very quick, and the house was merely settling, naturally.

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Medieval ghost – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

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A HIGHWAY SONG…

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I suppose I received about a dozen songs during these times. Some were Christian. Some were secular. All were just about okay. Looking back, I would say that none were what I would consider really good, except for maybe one (“Oregon, I’m Coming Home to You”).

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But at the time, I was totally taken in by the spirit’s story of how I was going to take the music world by storm. So the songs seemed good at the time. After all, when you have a spirit telling you these things, you tend to believe whatever that spirit might tell you (But, to be fair with myself, I suppose that with a good arranger and quality musicianship, they probably could have made a fairly good set of songs).

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But there was another pretty good song I had composed years earlier. The spirit also told me that this song was given me by God. It’s called “A Highway Song”…

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A HIGHWAY SONG

(Whistling introduction to the tune of “Oh Susanna”)

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“I been so many places…I’ve seen a lot of borderlines.

“I’ve seen so many faces… and had me some pretty good times.

“I’ve sung alot of travelin’ songs, about the things I see.

“But there’s no one here to lend me an ear—–,

“So I’ll sing this one for me.”

CHORUS

“So I keep movin’ along…singin’ my highway song.

“Some folk gotta settle down…but me I gotta roam.

“Gotta keep…movin’ along…Gotta keep…movin. along,

“Cause freedom is the highway…and the highway…is my home.”

VERSE 2

“Sometime’s I get so lonesome, lying under the starry sky,

“And wishin’ I’d-a settled down…and made that girl my wife.

“But I was young an’ restless, so I set out on the road,

“And when I looked behind, I couldn’t seem

“To find my way back home.”

CHORUS

“So I keep movin’ along…singin. my highway song…etc…”

REFRAIN

(“Singin’ Oh my Lordy Lordy, such a fine ol’ day, singin’

“Oh my Lordy Lordy, a pretty, pretty fine ol’ day, and I—am well on my way!”)

VERSE 3

“Sunrise come tomorrow, I’ll be headed for the western plains.

“Tonight I’ll stay in the Cascades, in this dang ol’ Oregon rain.

“But I heard in Carolina there’s a big bluegrass Jamboree,

“An’ for a guitar pickin country boy—

“…That’s just my cup o tea!”

CHORUS

“So I keep movin’ along…singin’ my highway song.

“Some folk gotta settle down, but I’m just a rollin’ stone.

“Gotta keep movin’ along, gotta keep movin’ along.

“Cause freedom is the highway…and the highway…is my home.”

(Ends with whistling “Oh Susanna” as song fades out)

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This song took quite a while, and with quite a few changes. But after composing this song, I became a little nervous about the music. This is because the chorus and tempo sounded vaguely like the chorus of the song, “Garden Party” by Rick Nelson (My distant cousin!!! Too bad I didn’t look the least bit like him! Just the opposite, actually! Sigh…oh well. But on the other hand, I probably would’ve gotten into a whole lot more trouble in life, than I already did! And so, my average looks probably saved me from being a complete “unholy-terror” on the world!).

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But as far as “Highway Song”, I thought it necessary to do a little re-arranging on the chorus to make it not sound so much like Nelson’s song.

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End of Guitar – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Hitchhiker in a forest – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

ABOVE PICTURE: Winter – Revelation 12 Woman with Eagle Wings

highway – Adrian – wikimedia commons – Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

Rick Nelson – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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DREAMS-N-VISIONS

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Now during this time, a very incredible phenomenon occurred a number of times. While sitting in my front living room, I would go into a trance-like state. And as I sat in my chair, I would hear a long (and annoying) buzzing noise, and then I would slip into a dreamlike state (this probably occurred just two or three times). And everything looked very surrealistic, but very real! It almost was like these computerized digital cartoons, but even more realistic! Yeah, these visions/dreams seemed so real, that I thought they were, until I would come out of them to realize I was only having a vision!

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Now I can only remember one of these, in which my parents came to me, asking me… “Where what did you do with the “Crimie?” By saying the “Crimie”, they were referring to a huge, old Chrysler, which we all sometimes used as a back-up vehicle. The reference to “Crimie” concerned my embezzling money from the restaurant, and me living such a life of crime, in various ways.

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And after a few moments, when I awoke from these dream-like visions, I was amazed that it was only a dream or vision, because it seemed so incredibly real!

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Surreal Painting – Willyvallez – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

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“IMAGINE THERE’S NO HEAVEN…NO HELL BELOW US…”