CHAPTER 14: “TV DEMONS & THE CHESS-GAME FROM HELL”… PART THREE…
By admin On March 3rd, 2021Click on image credit links below each photo, for licensing names/details/tags/etc.. Most Images cropped/reduced in size.
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I suppose it was now about two or three weeks of this Spiritual Armageddon, which I had been thrust into.
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“Mental-Ward 3600” had been converted into the Devil’s, Chamber-of-Horrors, at least, for me it was!
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For everyone else, well, it was most likely normal (well, as normal as a mental ward can be!) But as far as I was concerned, there seemed to be nothing…nothing…that wasn’t, in some way, being manipulated by the Unseen Powers! It mattered not whether it was animal, vegetable, or mineral. Nothing seemed beyond the reach and use of these invisible beings!
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And the television was no exception! Yeah, it seemed like these spirits were literally everywhere…even in the very television stations…working in harmony with the unseen beings here within Ward 3600. It appeared as if they had perfect ability to communicate one with another, and also with me.
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And I had become a player in some sort of contest, maybe you could call it a “chess-game” of sorts, against these unseen spiritual entities.
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Yeah…a “Chess-Game From Hell”!
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But just let me simply tell this story…
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The Scream of Nature – by E. Munch – Wikipedia – public domain by edvard munch c.1893
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CHAPTER 14:
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“TV DEMONS &
THE CHESS-GAME FROM HELL”…
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PART THREE…
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LOSIN’ THE REPS…
The contest continued. I underwent similar tests. And I was losin’ em all!
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Not only were the spirits and the TV condemning me, but also, the patient-representatives were preparing for release from the ward.
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YIKES!! I WAS LOSING THE CHESSMEN!!
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chess – checkmate by Friedriech Moritz August Retzsch wikigallery.org
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THE SHAH WAS SLIPPING FAST…
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Oh yeah!
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In this contest, the old man in this lock-down ward, whom I was informed (by the spirits), represented the Shah of Iran, was having troubles of a different sort. Physical health troubles, in addition to whatever mental troubles he was already experiencing here in the ward.
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You see, this “chess game” was concerning America against the hostile takeover of Iran. And so, the Shah would be akin to the king on a chess board.
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And his physical condition was worsening. At one point, they even put a bag of liquid on a pole. Then they connected it with tubes to the “Shah’s” arm. The “Shah” would push this pole on wheels around the mental ward. And this made this already frail, sickly man look even worse! So I knew this meant that the real Shah was in danger of being permanently ousted from his kingdom! And he was the King in this incredible game of chess!
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And so, if I lost him, I lost everything! The game would be over! So naturally, I watched him intensely…to see if he was getting better or worse.
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Photos of Shah & public domain – by Wikipedia.
chess – checkmate by Friedriech Moritz August Retzsch wikigallery.org
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THE AYATOLLAH
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And more frightening than this, on the TV, they kept showing the Ayatollah looking stronger and stronger! He would, of course, also be akin to an opposing king on a chessboard. And this dark, foreboding figure was getting more and more defiant, seemingly making the entire world bow to his demands, as he just sat there on his rug.
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In the mean time, over there in Iran, there were a number of hostages let go until there were now only 52 hostages. To me, this only made sense, since the U.S. had 50 states and two territories (we learned back in school at that time, that there were two US territories in the proximity of the US, considered for statehood. Now maybe there were more, but I was taught there were only two such US territories. Of course, I didn’t always pay close attention to my teachers, so it’s possible that I could be mistaken about that number. LOL! And so, whether or not this was the actual reality, the spirits were working within the parameters of my ignorance.)
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So these 52 hostages seemed to me, to be a very fitting symbol of America.
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Now I must put in this disclaimer. Looking back on all this, I have no idea just what these two men were like, in real life. The Shah and the Ayatollah, I mean. I was just going by what these unseen spirits were communicating to me, and as the news networks were portraying them. But I was merely a pawn in this chess-game. I knew I was actually, “a big dumbo” about these matters. And so, I had no choice but to believe what I was being told! The spirits were definitely in control! And I had no ability to resist nor contradict their superior knowledge and abilities!
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Ayatollah Khomeini – خمینی_در_نماز – wikipedia – public domain
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IN-TOUCH WITH THE “GOOD SPIRITS”…
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As I’ve already said, it seemed as if there were both, good spirits as well as evil spirits in the ward. At various times during this contest, I was directed (by the spirits) to go to my room. I would then lay down, and stare up at the ceiling. With the spirit in partial control, my eyes begin to cross—very slowly. As I did this, the designs on the ceiling tiles began to appear to mesh together. I crossed my eyes so much, it felt like my eyes actually made a full 360 degree turn! (Now looking back, I’m sure they didn’t. But thoughts to this effect were being fed into my mind by the spirits.)
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At this point, it seemed like I had achieved a half-trance-like state. And in this state, I could communicate freely with this “good” spirit. It was then I could ask questions and the spirit would cause my head to shake up and down for “yes”, and back and forth for “no”. And so, I was very happy to get myself into one of these so-called “trances”. And I would try to ask as many questions as I could to give myself every advantage in the game.
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Nevertheless, in spite of these “helpful” trances, I was losing the tests. Every test! And several of the patients (representatives) were released. I was getting more and more afraid! The “Shah” was looking worse and worse! I was constantly checking on him. The TV was still mocking me! Even a few of the other patients were making ominous comments! I didn’t know if these patient were mocking me knowingly or merely being used by the spirits without realizing that fact. But whether or not these patients realized what they were saying, it didn’t matter! Their taunts were like sharp arrows…
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“Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: Who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:” Psalm 64:2,3 (Of course, it wasn’t those patients, but rather, the spirits’ speaking through them, whose bitter words were like arrows!)
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chess – checkmate by Friedriech Moritz August Retzsch wikigallery.org
Cross-eyed – Not me, but an unknown individual – cropped & altered image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
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TRANCES, ETC: STANDARD PROCEDURE IN THE OCCULTIC WORLD
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Now if all this seems crazy to you, I fully agree with you! But remember this: there are many thousands of people, perhaps even millions around the world, who are putting themselves into trances, each and every day! Oh yeah, many, many occultic books have been written on such topics. And these curious books are filled with so-called mystic spells and magic potions and complicated rituals of all sorts. And it’s not that any of these rituals, potions, spells, etc., have any inherent power in themselves. But those who dabble in these things are as deceived as I was! There is no actual power in rituals: it’s merely a ploy by demonic forces! But there definitely is a power in charge of these occultic rituals! Make no mistake about that! But please don’t think that there is any power in the rituals I was led to perform. Well, it just seems that spiritual entities are happy for people to ascribe power to such meaningless rituals. And people obviously like them too!
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So if the trance described above sounds crazy, just think about all those cats who donated their bodies and blood and bats their wings, and all the trances, dances, and prances, and potions, and magic spells spoken, and whatever else has been used over the centuries, to seemingly, “conjure up” the unseen powers of the Dark World around us!
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Anyway, I guess maybe, I’m just trying to justify these crazy rituals I was performing at this point in time.
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headphones – photo-psychic-Ganzfeld-Wikipedia-public-domain
Occultic book & psychic trance photos-Wikipedia public domain.
Psychic shop window-Wikipedia-share-alike license. Click here for full size link.
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“THE 10 COMMANDMENTS TEST”…
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But the spirit was not finished with my tests.
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And there was one night in which a strange test emerged. It was like some bizarre Judgment Day test! Let me explain…
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I had to recite the Ten Commandments, and perhaps other similar Bible questions. As I said, it was night. The lights in the ward were dim. There were no noises, like in the day-time. Everything was quiet except for the soft low hum of the air coming through the ducts from the hospital heating system, and the occasional faint whispers of the night-staff.
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Each time I got one commandment correct I would advance down the hall by one patient sleeping-room. Whenever I advanced to the next room, I tried to peek into the window to see if the patient in that room was okay. Needless to say, I didn’t advance very far. I simply did not know the commandments!
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chess – checkmate by Friedriech Moritz August Retzsch wikigallery.org
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“SINNERMAN, YA SHOULDA BEEN A-STUDYING!!!”
This was all going on just 20 feet or so from the nurses station. And as far as the night-staff could tell, I was merely standing quietly in front of the sleeping rooms. Very harmless. And then after a time, I would simply move forward about ten feet. What they couldn’t see, was all the terror which was raging through my mind!
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The sad thing, or should I say, the really tragic thing about this, was that I had never studied the Bible! Oh yeah, I attended church as a boy. But that was so long ago. I didn’t even know the Ten Commandments!
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And I’m not even sure if my church ever taught us the ten Commandments.
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Nevertheless, I suppose I got one or two correctly. You know, like maybe, “Don’t kill” and “Don’t steal”.
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I remember a few years earlier, that some “Bible-Thumpers” came to my door, offering some studies on the Bible. The response to them was that the Bible was, “A crazy old book about a man getting swallowed by a fish, or man thrown into a den of hungry lions and lived? HELL NO!!!”
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If only I had let those people in! If only I had studied with them!
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But now it was too late! And just now, my Day of testing had come…AND I WAS TOTALLY UNPREPARED!
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Ten Commandments National Museum of Scotland – wikimedia – share-alike license
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“THE…LIGHT…THAT SPLIT THE NIGHT”…
(lyrics from the 1964 mega-hit song, “Sounds of Silence”)
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Finally, doing really awful, I came to the next room. And after answering badly, I tried to peek into the window to see if the person inside the room was okay. It was “Lady-Blue” (the very disturbed lady: she being the chessman who represented this mental ward). As I tried to peek in the small window to see if the girl was alright, the light inside the room instantly flashed on and then off. I was completely startled by this! This phenomenon could’ve knocked me over! I mean, it happened so quickly! I wondered if this flash-in-the-night signaled that she had expired. At least, this was the fearful thought the spirits were just now putting into my mind!
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“Her face, at first just ghostly…”
(Lyrics from Procol Harum song, “Whiter Shade of Pale”, courtesy www.lyricfind.)
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I went back to my sleeping room after this contest. I was worried about how this patient was doing after this flashing of the lights from her room window. Did it mean that her life-light had expired? Did I lose this important representative?
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“…turned a whiter shade of pale”
(Lyrics from Procol Harum song, “Whiter Shade of Pale”, courtesy www.lyricfind.)
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And so, back in my room I stared intently across the ward, where there were the windows on each door of the other row of sleeping rooms.
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After all, I was extremely and desperately concerned about how the representatives were doing! And of course, mostly concerned about the young lady, Lady Blue!
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As I looked at the window of the sleeping room of the disturbed young lady representative, to see if she was okay. I saw a very faint, but very distinctly, a ghostly image like a skull appear in that window for just a flash of a moment. It was terrifying! Really terrifying! I just can’t describe the terror that ran through my veins at this moment! This frightening sight only made me fearful of losing another contest chessman!
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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license
chess – checkmate by Friedriech Moritz August Retzsch wikigallery.org
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“SINNERMAN, YA SHOULDA BEEN A-PRAYIN’!!!”
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In just an instant, the ghostly image disappeared.
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Did this mean that she died?
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I couldn’t tell!
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All I knew was that I was in this hellish chamber of horrors! And as far as I knew, nothing was beyond the realm of possibility in this total surrealistic “Bizarro World”, in which I was now an invited guest, or maybe I should rather say, “a helpless captive”!
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“SINNERMAN, YA SHOULDA BEEN A-WATCHING!!!”
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At some point in time, I somehow became convicted that I must spend an entire night awake, perhaps praying. Well, I don’t know how I knew about the biblical concept of, “watching and praying”.
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But no matter where I learned about this concept, the spirit compelled me to stay awake for an entire night.
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Well, I started off my sleepless night okay. But as the night began to wane into the morning hours, I couldn’t seem to help myself to just lay my head down.
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My eyes opened.
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It was morning.
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I suddenly realized that I had once again blown this test!
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I didn’t stay awake!
Horrific condemnation swept over my soul like an ocean wave of fire!
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But every night was the same! I’d eventually lay my head down in exhaustion. Then I would open my eyes some hours later. And then, once again, I would fall under the same terrifying condemnation that, “I blew it once again!”
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Night after night, this same test came back around! And night after night I would eventually fall asleep, followed by awakening to utter condemnation!
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I’m not sure how long this went on.
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Maybe weeks of this post-nocturnal terror!
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“And He (Jesus) cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith….’What, could ye not watch with me one hour?'”
Matthew 26:40
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Thinking back on this, I suppose this test was probably some vague reference to the test put to the three disciples (Peter, James, and John) to stay awake with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus prayed until great drops of sweat-like blood ran down his brow. The disciples were commanded to stay awake and pray. But of course, they all fell asleep, thus failing the test.
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Now I didn’t know a thing about this Bible story concerning staying awake. But obviously, the spirit did. And I failed just as miserably as did those disciples back in the garden. Oh, I would try to stay awake. But sooner or later I would once again doze off. And then in an hour or two, I would wake up only to discover that I failed again. Then an overwhelming sense of guilt-ridden grief would sweep over me. “I blew it again!”
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chess – checkmate by Friedriech Moritz August Retzsch wikigallery.org
Sleeping Disciples – Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane
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A THANKSGIVING FROM HELL…
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(“NOW I KNOW SATAN CONTROLS TV!”)…
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Well, November brought about that much-beloved holiday, Thanksgiving.
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But I was amazed on Thanksgiving, as I watched the television.
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Usually I would expect to see some nice show about Thanksgiving. Maybe an old movie which somehow fit the occasion. Or perhaps a great old movie, like “It’s a Wonderful Life”. And also, as a child, I always loved the magical old black-n-white version of the movie, “Miracle On 34th Street”.
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But on this Thanksgiving, I was shocked to see a Thanksgiving special with Hugh Hefner dressed up as an Indian Chief, with tomahawk, doing a war-dance with his tribe: consisting of a half-dozen or so, scantily-clad Playboy Bunnies! They were all following him around the set, doing a mock war-dance!
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chess – checkmate by Friedriech Moritz August Retzsch wikigallery.org
Photo of Hefner courtesy © Glenn Francis, www.PacificProDigital.com
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HELL’S MIRROR…
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Now don’t get me wrong. Prior to all this, I was an avid reader of that magazine up till all-Hell-broke-loose in my life. But to see him on prime-time TV engaging in this Thanksgiving special!?! It just seemed so surreal!
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And so, as I watched this spectacle, I wondered if the Devil had taken full control of television. After all, Thanksgiving is a time for family. It’s a time for….giving thanks! It’s NOT a time for decadent lust to be displayed on TV!
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Even a hedonistic young wretch like myself could comprehend that concept!
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Photo of Hefner courtesy © Glenn Francis, www.PacificProDigital.com
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CHUCK IN “UNDERLAND”!
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It was as I said earlier in this chapter: The television (and the world) now seemed like some hellish version of Alice in Wonderland’s magic mirror.
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Only this was no Wonderland!
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It was more like, “UNDER-Land”.
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“Under” as in, “WAY DOWN UNDER!”
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Op-art – 4-sided spiral tunnel – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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THE INSIDERS…
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In the front of the ward was the nurses station. A row of desks in front of several rooms, with large windows, behind the desks. There were three shifts throughout a 24-hour period.
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It was impressed upon me, that there were certain staff-members who were representatives of my team. Then there were those who were representatives of the opposing team. Both of these comprised the “insiders”. But the problem was, I didn’t know which were which!
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However, there were clues. You see, some of the staff were nice, even cheerful. But others were serious, and even distant, maybe even a little dark, personality-wise. Some were rather innocent looking. Others were not. I began to suspect that these were the evidences of which side they were on. So I tried to hang close to the ones I thought were on my side, in order to possibly hear them say something that would be helpful to the games.
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chess – checkmate by Friedriech Moritz August Retzsch wikigallery.org
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“ANKHS A-LOT!”
(Wordplay on the common sarcastic, negative phrase, “Thanks alot!”)
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One night, while most patients had already gone to bed, I walked by the desk and saw one of the night nurses reading a book titled “The Omen”. On the cover was the Egyptian symbol known as the “Ankh”. So I suspected this person to be working for the enemy. And my suspicions were validated several nights later, when I saw this same person wearing a necklace with an Ankh.
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A day or two later, I saw another nurse reading the same book, and maybe also wearing a necklace with that same symbol. I mustered up the courage to ask her, “What does that symbol mean?”. She said, “It indicates a belief in after-life, but not any specific idea of what that after-life would be like.”
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As I thought about this, and about the meaning of that symbol, I became convinced that these were two “insiders” … on the enemy side. After all, an Ankh was obviously some sort of pagan symbol.
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Even a scripturally-challenged dumbo like myself could figure that much out!
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Ankh – wikipedia – public domain
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THE TWO VISITORS & THE BODY SLAM FROM “HEAVEN”!
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Over the years, our buffet restaurant served a large amount of churches and religious groups. So I knew many Christians around town. We sometimes catered church groups. Yeah, for a few dollars extra per-person, we would set up a buffet line anywhere in the county. Unfailingly, these religious groups were very nice, and easy to deal with.
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Well, anyway, I often cut roast beef and ham on Sundays, when things got really busy. And so this gave me the opportunity to examine these Christians close-up, as they came down the buffet line. Well, as I said, they were all nice. Some were jovial…always making funny comments. I liked them. I could relate to those types. But there were several which I really saw as being…well…really holy! Those were not exactly the type of people I would try to joke with. I even had several friends among them…I mean among the ‘good-ol-boy’ types. But I had no friends among those few “holy types”. Nevertheless, I respected them anyway…but kept a little distance from them, because of their sober demeanor.
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chess – checkmate by Friedriech Moritz August Retzsch wikigallery.org
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“He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.”
1st John 2:6
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At some point, one of these “holy types” came by to pay a visit to Unit 3600. He always seemed like a devout Christian. As a matter of fact, he was about the most holy-behaving of all the Christians I knew. He was a very serious type person. Oh yes, he would smile. But he was a man of few words. Very stoic in demeanor. A lot like my conception of how Jesus would behave. Anyway, I had a high level of respect for him as a Christian! But even though I would never seek him out under normal conditions, yet now, he was my first choice to seek answers from. As I just said, this guy really reminded me of Jesus. He exuded the same type of holy…uhh… reverence, that I would expect to come from Jesus.
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I guess my point is: even though I was “yer-typical-heathen-dog-type”, I was still convicted in my heart of just who reminded me of Jesus, among the hundreds of Christians I saw each week at the buffet. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that all the others were not Christ-like in other ways. I just seemed to instinctively know that Jesus was very holy and serious during His life on earth. That was just something most people took for granted! Even so, did most Hollywood movies of those years!
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chess – checkmate by Friedriech Moritz August Retzsch wikigallery.org
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“Is this my Judgment Day?”
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Anyway, he was here at the hospital. I desperately wanted to ask him a question. Of all the people I knew around town, he was the Christian I wanted to talk to. So I asked him the question that was plaguing me…
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“Is this my Judgment Day?”
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He answered, “I don’t know. Maybe it is.”
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Needless to say, this wasn’t what I wanted to hear. Not very comforting.
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chess – checkmate by Friedriech Moritz August Retzsch wikigallery.org
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PRAYER MEETING: WEDNESDAY NIGHT, 7PM…
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Another man came by to pay a visit. He also was a very nice person. He told me of all the wonderful miracles and healings that went on at his church services. He told me that his church would be praying for me during their 7-pm Wednesday night service. And I was extremely happy to hear this. It was now Wednesday afternoon, so I was excited that I might be delivered from this horrible thing, or at least helped somewhat.
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chess – checkmate by Friedriech Moritz August Retzsch wikigallery.org
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BODY SLAM FROM HEAVEN?…
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I waited eagerly all day for 7 pm to arrive.
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Well, that evening, as it approached 7 pm, it was impressed upon me to go into my room. I could envision this congregation standing around in a circle or something, praying for me (somewhat like this photo I found on-line). As it got close to 7 pm, I was instructed to sit on my bed with my back against the wall.
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But at exactly 7 pm I felt something very incredible. I felt my stomach began to protrude out as far as possible. Then my lower lip began to go into a pouting manner. I couldn’t figure out what in the world was going to happen! I just sat there in this ridiculous pose (kind-of like a little pouting child, sulking in the corner, after being caught with his hand in the cookie jar). And then all of a sudden, I felt like I was being slammed against the wall. It was as if the spirit was grabbing me by my shirt, and shoving me against the wall. As if God was angrily saying to me, “YOU’D BETTER NOT BLOW THIS CONTEST!!!”
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Photo of people praying on share-alike license.
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A HIGH-SCHOOL ‘BODY SLAM’ MOMENT
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Now this wasn’t the first time I’d been shoved up against a wall. An old high school buddy, also a member of our rock band, reminded me of a time back in high school when Mr. Ediguard, our hard-nosed, never-smiling, crew-cut donning, ex-Marine, Vice-Principal, raised me up by my shirt, slamming me against a hall-locker, and asked me, “Don’t you think your hair is getting too long, Whittemore?” I can’t remember exactly what I answered back, but probably something like, “Uh…yeah, I guess so, Mr. Ediguard!”
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But even though I forgot all about that high school body slam, I was never gonna forget this mental ward body slam.
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I was terrified, to put it mildly!
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MURDER IN THE RUE MORGUE…
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Well, there were many other experiences which I went through up there in Ward 3600. But I’m just relating the most memorable ones.
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“Mr. Applewhite” came over to me one day with a Webster’s Dictionary. He pointed to the word “rue”. Of course, I looked at the word in the dictionary. I thought of that old movie, “Murder in the Rue Morgue”. So I figured the spirits were making reference to that “Rue Morgue” for some unknown reason.
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Okay, so you’re asking yourself the question, “So what?” Well I would much later encounter someone crying out this little word saying, “Rue! Rue! Rue!”
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And the one who did so was not a human being! Nor was he a spirit-entity.
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And this NON-human was prophesying to me! (But keep reading to discover who said it and why he said it.)
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chess – checkmate by Friedriech Moritz August Retzsch wikigallery.org
Poster from Wikipedia under fair-use-rationale.
- For an article about a film, the original poster is arguably one of the most important images that could be included.
- No free or public domain images have been located for this film.
- The image is of lower resolution than the original poster (copies made from it will be of inferior quality).
- The poster is to suggest something of the film’s genre and style.
- The poster is being used for informational purposes only, and its use is not believed to detract from the original film in any way.
- The poster is used on various websites, and its use on Wikipedia does not make it significantly more accessible than it already is.
- The poster’s use on Wikipedia is entirely encyclopedic in nature.
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THE DREAM
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“WE CAN FLOAT AMONG THE STARS TOGETHER, YOU AND I”…
(Lyrics from the 5th Dimension song, “My Beautiful Balloon”)
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The next day or so, I fell asleep and was having an incredible flying dream in which I was soaring past colorful planets and asteroids. The colors were bright and beautiful. It seemed that God Himself was taking me on this magical tour through the heavens. And in a moment of euphoria, a voice spoke saying, “Promise God that you’ll always do what is right”. And in my rapturous euphoria, I said, “Oh yes, yes, I promise! I promise!” .
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I never wanted this dream to stop! But as soon as I made that promise, I woke up and realized it was just a dream. But just before I awoke, I saw a vision of a picture of four strands of thick rope coming from four different directions, converging into a single knot. It was exactly like a picture in my room on the wall. I was devastated to realize that I had made a rash vow, that I could not possibly keep or get out of. (I only wish I had read the story of Jephthah in the Bible, who made a rash and stupid vow, and how that vow cost his daughter’s life, as God allowed him to perform that vow. Of course, by this true account, God is teaching us to not make such foolish vows! See Judges 11:30-40)
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Anyway, I should never have made such a promise. I wish I had known this verse…
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“Again, ye have heard that it has been said by them of old time, You shalt not forswear yourself, but shall perform unto the Lord your oaths: But I say unto you, Swear not at all… But let your communication be, Yes, yes; No, no: for whatsoever is more than these comes of evil.” Matthew 5:34-37
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I was overwhelmed with grief over this new development. But I didn’t know exactly why. Only the future would tell. And the future was almost here!
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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license
Above photo from NASA-Chandra public domain.
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RAPTURE 2.0…
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Back to the story. This bizarre chess game had come down to the “bare wire”, as the saying goes. I knew I was in serious trouble! The family who represented Oregon had all left the ward. (Not an actual family, I think. Just a man, woman, and teen, in the same sleeping room, as I recall. Or, maybe they were an actual family. I dunno).
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The “Shah” was so ill, he was now confined to his room. Only “Lady Blue” and “Mini-Me” were left (the young lady who was the mental ward rep, and the boy who was my rep). So I was getting close to a total defeat!
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APPLEWHITE IS GOING UP…
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On one Sunday morning, a very amazing phenomenon occurred. The TV was going in the main sitting area. A very well-known evangelist was on TV. Standing in front of the TV was Mr. Applewhite (the man who looked like the Heaven’s Gate cult-leader, Marshall Applewhite). I went over to listen to this evangelist on TV. This evangelist was very excited (and so was Mr. Applewhite).
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You see, this TV evangelist was preaching on the soon-coming of the Lord Jesus. And he was really pumped up about this, and was shouting as he preached! And Mr. Applewhite was also getting caught up in all the excitement. He was standing right in front of the TV, waving his hands in the air, and all the while this evangelist was getting more and more wound up!
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“IN THE TWINKLING OF AN EYE”…
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The evangelist proclaimed that it was a lack of faith that prevented the Lord’s return. As I listened to the evangelist get excited, and as I faintly recall, I watched “Mr. Applewhite” perhaps doing a little jig, and waving his hands in the air. I felt an overwhelming euphoria come over me. And soon I was lifting up my hands into the air, as Mr. Applewhite, the evangelist, and myself were a heavenly trio… celebrating the imminent countdown to Rapture. And it seemed like I was almost getting swept up in a spiritual cyclone. Everything around me began to look white and swirling!
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I kind-of remember it as if we were swirling around. It was a very awesome experience! And so I tried to “exercise my faith”, so as to not doubt. Maybe this evangelist was right. Maybe we only need more faith! And it just seemed like at any moment, we would be taken up. The euphoria continued to grow! I just wanted to be lifted up, and out of this entire hellish mess! And so did Applewhite….I think! The evangelist got more and more excited. It almost felt like this would be the moment that we would be taken up. As if some cyclonic heavenly whirlwind was beginning to lift us up and whisk us away into eternal bliss!
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LEFT BEHIND…AGAIN…
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As the countdown continued, the evangelist finally began to wind-down his sermon. The evangelist mentioned something about a ten year delay (at least, that’s what I thought he said). “Oh no!” I could feel the spirit of the moment begin to wane. I tried harder to keep it all going.
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But the show ended. And the euphoria likewise ended for me.
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And well, I guess we’d just have to wait for another Rapture chance in ten years, like the evangelist seemed to say.
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Too bad! To get zapped up outta this entire hellish mess woulda been nice.
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REALLY NICE!
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