AT LAST The End of Roe v. Wade

We only imagined this day for SO long.  

Roe vs. Wade was decided while I was yet too young to vote and when I really wasn’t paying attention to world events.  

On January 22, 1973, I had recently moved to Southern California to start the last leg of my education at Artesia High School, second semester, Grade 11.  I was pre-occupied with the cute boys there and what they thought of me.  I was not thinking of abortion at all.  I was thinking about the color we were going to paint the room I shared with my sister.

I didn’t know that Norma McCorvey (“Jane Roe”) was being used by feminists to have all the pro-life laws in all 50 states nullified so that she could abort her baby -- which she did not do because the baby was already born and the case was moot.

I didn’t know that an all-white all-male Supreme Court ruled that women should be able to abort their babies and that a companion case -- Doe v. Bolton -- redefined “health of the woman” and further clarified that abortion would henceforth be legal throughout the land for any reason up till the day of one’s birth.

I didn’t know in ‘73 that my own mother was pro-life (because I didn’t ask her), or that I could have also been at risk of being aborted since I had been conceived before my parents were married and that in 1956 they lived in a state where you could get an abortion.

I didn’t know that I was being trained, even back then in my high school years, to accept the concept of the “Population Explosion,” and that it followed that abortion was good for the Planet, though I really didn’t even know what it was.

And back then I did not know that God would speak to me through a speechless slug, who writhed in agony when I salted its tiny body, causing me to remember that a saline solution would do that to a tiny human during an abortion.

Back then, I did not know that eventually I would be part of the pro-life movement, fingerprinted and jailed for attempting to stop the daily killings at a few abortion mills.

In 1973, I had no idea that I would have eight children who would be extremely important to me, and that their stirrings and flutterings in my body would convince me of the sanctity of life at all stages.

I didn’t know that eventually “Jane Roe” would become pro-life, but her daughter, who was famously supposed to be slain, would grow up to hate her mother.  I also didn’t know that “Mary Doe” of Doe v. Bolton never even wanted an abortion and nobody even told her she had been used to change abortion laws.

And in 1973, I didn’t know -- how could we have known? -- that over 60 million children would be killed over the next nearly 50 years here in this civilized nation with “In God We Trust” inscribed on all our money.

But now we do know.  Now we have 3-D ultrasounds and we can watch the little children suck their thumbs, wave, swim, and yawn in utero.  We have the testimonies of former abortionists and clinic workers.  We have websites that prove abortion is killing not just babies, but their mothers.  

We know that Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood was a disgustingly racist eugenicist. 

We have information about Abortionist Kermit Gosnell and the Planned Parenthood baby parts traffickers.  We know about the Indiana Abortionist Ulrich Klopfer, who had over 2,400 jars of baby parts he had collected as souvenirs stored on his property when he died, and his heirs had the misfortune to stumble upon them.

We know that the Satanic Temple challenged the State of Texas because their Heartbeat Bill supposedly deprives them of their “freedom to practice their religion” -- with ritual killings of babies targeted for abortion.

We know that the “pro-choice” movement is not about choice at all.  It is all about abortion.  That is why enraged pro-aborts are targeting pro-life pregnancy centers, burning them down in an effort to eliminate all loving alternatives to killing babies.

We know that Roe v. Wade was improperly decided, because there is NO Constitutional right to abortion.  It couldn’t hold water.  And when Planned Parenthood vs. Casey expanded “abortion rights,” it made matters even worse.

Every day at 3:00, our church prayed that God would close the Planned Parenthood in Lafayette.  He answered yesterday, with this ruling.  Planned Parenthood v. Casey was also thrown out along with Roe.  God wanted to not just close down that one Planned Parenthood, but all of them.

Friday, June 24, 2022, was the most significant day in my adult life.  I was in the kitchen having a coffee break when the news flashed across my phone:  “RSB Network with breaking news -- Roe v. Wade OVERTURNED!”  I gasped and then immediately sent a text to some of my friends  Because this is bigger than 9-11, much more important than Jan. 6, bigger than any war in our history -- it is a life changer.  President Trump said “God made the decision.”

This picture shows a POW bracelet my parents bought for me as a teenager.  The idea was to wear your bracelet until the POW or MIA from the Vietnam War was released or we recovered his remains.  Then we were supposed to send all of them to the families.  I wasn’t diligent enough to wear this reminder and I totally missed the event where Lt. Col Gilbert Palmer’s remains had been sent home to the States.  I know the families were melting down the bracelets and making memorials to their loved ones.

But the other bracelet was made later, maybe in the late ‘80s.  We were supposed to wear those until Roe v. Wade was overturned, which just finally happened yesterday.  Nobody knew the abortion holocaust would take nearly 50 years to stop.

Like with the POW bracelets, there should be a monument made to honor the 60 million+ children who were killed during the era of Roe.  But the number of Jews killed in the Nazi Holocaust was only a tenth of that and museums to remember the dead are overwhelming.  The number of names on the Vietnam War Memorial is less than one thousandth of the babies slaughtered during Roe, but a visit there leaves its mark. 

A memorial to the casualties of Roe would be really huge … but with only a few names.  

The truth of the matter is, the work is still not over, for the job of protecting life has been sent back to the individual states.  And now the next phase begins, where the states must respond to the ruling and do what is right.  Missouri became the first state to abolish abortion, and several others had “trigger laws” in place.  Others will be slower at signing on.  Some will make themselves sanctuary states for baby killing and that is simply demonic.

We must do several things:

1. Make certain that our own states enact pro-life laws stating that Abortion is NOT protected here.  Every day we wait will cost more lives.

2. Declare in our states that children in the womb are persons, deserving of protection.  Pre-born children are people, in every way imaginable.

3. Thank the Lord for the answer to nearly 50 years of prayer, and for allowing President Trump to be elected and to nominate three key justices to the Supreme Court.

4. Pray that God will finish the work of closing down those Planned Parenthoods -- all of them.

5. Pray for the safety of the members of the Supreme Court, who had the courage to do what was right.

Our governor has stated, in response to the Supreme Court ruling, that he has always said he is pro-life, so let’s get it done, Governor Holcomb!  There’s a special session of our state legislature scheduled for July 6.  It needs to happen.

Today at 2:00 there’s an event at the Statehouse in Indy.

And this Sunday, tomorrow, there’s a rally at the Tippecanoe County Courthouse at 2:00 to attract the attention of our lawmakers.  The pro-aborts will certainly be rioting and burning at night, while we rally during the day.  We must not be afraid.  The Supreme Court did their part, and we must now do ours.  

Dear Father in Heaven, the news yesterday was glorious!  We thank you, for as President Trump declared, You made yesterday’s decision.  He is right to credit You.  We are in awe as we consider how You heard our cries and changed the make-up of the Supreme Court so that this time could finally come.

Now we pray for healing, for our country, and for the families who were directly impacted by the senseless slaughter of innocent human life.  

We pray that our justice system would rise up and protect the pro-life pregnancy centers so they can minister to the mothers and babies.

We pray for the safety of the Supreme Court justices, that they would be surrounded by your hedge of protection as the anti-life forces turn out to inflict their wrath.

We pray for the state legislators who now are faced with the task of reimplementing life-honoring laws, that they would do what is right and do it quickly.  Most especially, I am asking you to nudge our state senators and representatives here in Indiana to get this job done.

And Lord, we pray that we would not rest until every single abortion is outlawed in America and around the world.  And not only outlawed, but unthinkable.

For we pray in Jesus’ Name, Who called Himself “The Way, the Truth, and the Life,”

Amen.

Doing Life Right: Practicing Counting My Blessings

This week, we had several notable events, including the birth of Baby Amos, the fixing of the air conditioner in our car (very good for a heat wave), the second round for the car when the serpentine belt broke, and Father’s Day.  These things are neither earth-shattering nor mundane, but it is easy to lose perspective.  As is true in most cases, we can be constantly grumpy or constantly joyful, and it is our decision which it will be.  So we must practice doing life right.

Baby Amos Haley was born on Thursday in a small Catholic hospital in Kokomo, and we’ll need to get his entry in our family Bible soon if we’re going to keep up with this.  He’s a very good-looking child, but he was keeping everybody in suspense, so Kim’s labor was started up on Wednesday night, well past her due date.  He clocked in at 7 lb. 13 oz.  

Blessing #1: Though I was concerned she might have been perceived as “taking too long,” Kim had a good delivery, without even a hint of a C-section. 

 

Blessing #2:  Both Kim and Baby are healthy.

Blessing #3.  Amos.  Period.

Amos has bright blue eyes and super-soft, dark hair, and as babies generally are, he is an endearing little human, so Rori is enjoying this, her first and only actual sibling.  It may be that Amos will be a life changing experience for her.

Blessing #4:  Amos and Rori are bonding, as siblings should. 

Blessing #5.  Amos has been born into a home where his parents love God and love each other..

Unfortunately, Eric and I didn’t get to meet him face to face until Friday night, since about the time he was born on Thursday, we were camped out on the lawn in front of the Caterpillar plant in Lafayette, waiting for a tow truck during a heat wave with our dying smartphones.  The air conditioner in the car had just been fixed the day before, but it didn’t really make much difference on Thursday because we couldn’t even start the car.  Therefore, it was okay for us to be there in front of Caterpillar, we told ourselves while eating a scant picnic dinner under their tree.  Besides, we’re stockholders!

Blessing #6:  The breaking of the serpentine belt happened on Thursday because the folks at Leonard’s informed Eric that there was an immediate urgent need for supplies.  So he went to town in the cool air conditioned car.  Though it was a bit inconvenient, we are thankful it happened on Thursday and not when I was on the road to see my dad.

Blessing #7:  The car problem and the need to drive the old car to town to rescue Eric gave me ample opportunity to shop for Father’s Day gifts and a few other things we needed as well.

Blessing #8:  The smartphones stayed working long enough to get messages from the dispatcher and towing company and didn’t die in the middle of the ordeal.  We don’t know how, but we had enough charge.

Blessing #9:  Even that tree, and the “winter emergency” blanket we had in the car were blessings.  Remember Jonah and his complaint to God about the worm that had killed his shade plant on a stifling hot afternoon of waiting for the destruction of Nineveh?  Remember how the Israelites moved in the wilderness when the cloud moved? Yeah, shade is a blessing.

Blessing #10:  I bought some food, just Smart Carb bread and sliced turkey breast lunchmeat, while we were waiting, and that proved useful when our wait time extended past dinner time.  We didn’t go hungry.

On Father’s Day, I left for Southern Indiana by myself after church.  I mostly let Siri tell me what to do and I don’t get lost anymore like we used to before we had smartphones.  I know this is drawing us into the spring-loaded trap of the New World Order and the NSA is tracking our every move at all times.  But for now, I would rather know I’m not going to get lost.

My dad has had some hearing loss that started in February, on top of what he’d already lost.  An ENT told him it was just fluid in his inner ear, but so far what he has prescribed hasn’t really helped.  Unfortunately, his worst ear is the right one, and when he’s driving, he can’t hear me well.  So at times when we were having animated conversation, while driving to a restaurant in Seymour, he would turn his head to face me so he could read my lips, and once, he just pulled off the road completely.

“Dad, what are you doing?”

“I pulled off the road so I can hear what you’re saying!”

Dad will be 88 next month.  He’s still getting on pretty well!  Both of us ordered something from the senior menu because we dislike large price tags on more food than we could ever comfortably put in our small frames.  Dad ordered liver and onions, which he said he hadn’t had for a long time.

“Ewwwwwwwwwwwww!”

(I don’t like liver and onions.)

But the restaurant must not have had enough help because it really took a long time to bring our small portions of liver and chicken stir-fry.  It was okay though -- more time to sit across from him in the comfy booth and talk.  That’s what I was there for.  We become a little bit Ultra MAGA when we get together, which is good for Dad.  He can’t talk to my little brother about things that matter.  My sister won’t talk to him at all, because she still thinks Joe Biden is doing a good job.  But there’s me, and we’re on the same page.  Except for liver and onions.

Blessing #11.  The auto repair place fixed our serpentine belt quickly on Friday and I had a car that was safe and cool to drive to my dad’s house.

Blessing #12:  The gas in Southern Indiana was cheaper than it is in Lafayette.  

Blessing #13.  Talking with my dad.  He and I have so much to talk about and don’t often get to do that.

Blessing #14.  My dad.  Yes, I still have my dad on Father’s Day.

Blessing #15.  Even though I somehow missed my turn on the way home, Siri was there to do a quick recalculation and tell me what to do.

Eric went with Joe and Susie after church and spent time with four of our kids altogether.  Three others have checked in for Father’s Day by phone so far.  We are blessed!  There were grilled burgers for lunch, with two families in attendance, and there was pizza for dinner and a cheesecake with two other families, including Chris, Kim, and Baby Amos -- his first “outing.”  

There was news from the families, including their current events like a Chick-Fil-A convention in Atlanta the next day, …

… and their aspirations for the future. Believe it or not, parents of adult children really love it when they are asked for advice and input.  We may not have all the answers, but we can sure pray about it!

Blessing #16.  Having all our kids talking to us and wanting to be with their dad on Father’s Day.  Nowadays, it seems to be more common for your kids to shoot you, or at least talk back.  But there’s love and respect there, and love for Jesus, and we couldn’t ask for more.

Blessing #17.  Twenty-one air-breathing grandkids to snuggle, and more on the horizon.  Okay, some of the grandkids don’t really want us to snuggle them anymore, but they don’t mind if we transfer that to their own kids now.

Blessing #18.  Father’s Day gave Eric a good excuse for having grilled burgers on Juneteenth.  Even though it was broadcast that white folks weren’t allowed to go to any Juneteenth cookouts.  Even though it was a new federal holiday.  Father’s Day is still around, and we’ll take it!

And then we came back, and we still had jobs and income.  All our kids still have jobs and income and food.  Until recently, that wasn’t so big a deal, but it is now.

Blessing #19.  Jobs.

Blessing #20.  Income

Blessing #21.  Food.

Here’s what I posted this morning on Facebook:

I have heard and know full well how much evil lurks within Big Government, Big Education, Big Pharma, Big Abortion, Big Tech, and Big Ag. I do not know the full extent. There’s also great evil and corruption in the Mainstream Media and even the Mainline Church.

BUT there are forces far greater than these that have them trembling in their boots. Those are the Power of our Heavenly Father and Great Creator God, the Name of our Almighty King Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word of God and the Gospel, the True Saints of God and the Prayers and Praise of His Church.  We are truly unstoppable.

“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

    ~1 John 4:4

There will be a final reckoning. Guess Who wins?

Dear Father in Heaven, that’s a lot of blessings.  But I know not everyone has all the same blessings I have.  Some people don’t have their dads or their kids aren’t on the same page with them.  Some people are not in good health anymore; rather, they are in pain.  And their situations are grievous, to be sure.

But most of us can still thank you for our blessings here in America, choose to focus on them rather than on our own set of difficult circumstances, and trust You.  Because You are bigger and far greater than any power that comes against us, and we will fear NO evil, for Thou Art With Us.

And so we will trust You.

In the Wonderful, Matchless Name of Jesus,

Amen

Success, Starvation, and the Second Amendment

How do the three things in the title relate to one another? I’ll explain …

A couple weeks ago, I reached my weight loss goal, so this popped up on my Numi phone app: 

NutriSystem’s app wanted to switch me over to the “Success” plan, for maintenance. So I did it, since I am generally easy to get along with. 

I found out that that plan included a whole new kind of program, where we ditch what we knew before as “Smart Carbs” and “Power Fuels” in exchange for “Pinks,” “Oranges,” “Whites,” “Purples,” and “Greens.” I found some of it was intuitive, such as “Greens” were non-starchy vegetables… except that some non-starchy vegetables are not green—like tomatoes, for instance. “Purples” were fruits, which reminded me of grapes and plums… but many fruits are not purple, such as mangos and pineapples. “Pink” is the color of your medium rare steak so it’s meat… but also dairy, which has little to do with pink, unless it’s maybe a cheddar with streaks of wine in it or something.

So I found it too confusing after nearly 2 years of being faithful to the prior system. Numi also wanted to raise my calorie count from 1200 to 1700 a day. That would not work at all, unfortunately. I only lost weight, and that very slowly, because I adjusted that calorie count on my own down to about 950 a day. At 1700, I would very quickly gain back everything I had lost, no joke.

I talked with a NutriSystem weight loss counselor, and as I expected, she didn’t like it that I had skimped on the calories. Basically, there’s some kind of consensus among weight loss “experts” that your body is unable to live on less than 1200 calories, so there’s this hard and fast lower limit, whatever your size or age.

She spoke of starvation mode. She said when you stay on a low-calorie diet for very long, your body metabolism slows down to make up for the missing calories and tries to gain them back.

Well, I suppose that could happen, but I know I have never truly been at risk of starving. In fact, my mother and I both joked about how if we ever had a famine, we could survive for quite a while off “the fat of the land.”

But the mention of “starvation mode” reminded me of a scene in the book 1984, where our hero Winston has always blamed himself for the death of his sister. He called to mind how he reacted when the family was trying to survive as he grew up but instead of sharing gallantly, he had hungrily gobbled up both his share and his sister’s. Afterwards, he could recall how sickly his poor little sister had looked, and how she had disappeared… 

And I remembered how I had “shared” a can of tuna with our housegirl in the Philippines. Her one small can of tuna was her whole dinner, but she was watching us kids while my parents were gone, and I was watching her tuna. I had this great idea of how we could make the tuna into a tuna salad and both of us could eat tuna salad sandwiches—wouldn’t that be great? She saw how I coveted her can of tuna and eventually just handed it to me and went without. I got in trouble of course. I also got fat while I lived in the Philippines. It was too hot to play and I was always overly concerned with getting my fair share of anything served at mealtime. Usually other family members just rolled their eyes and gave me all of it.

Was I starving? Of course not. But sometimes I have eaten as if I didn’t know where my next meal was coming from. Compare this attitude of mine with that of the birds, who are always trusting God for their next meal, remembering that He provides for all of them just fine.

But there’s evidence of a coordinated attack on our food supply right now—case after case of factories mysteriously catching fire—even a fertilizer factory in North Carolina, which will make it difficult for farmers to raise crops. Farmers have been ordered to destroy their crops or lose government subsidies, and whole farms full of chickens and eggs have been destroyed because of a few cases of bird flu. 

Similar to every other manufactured crisis of 2021 and 2022, Biden wants you to blame someone else, not him or his leftist policies. In this case, it is obviously Putin’s fault for the food shortages, right? And an actual famine has been predicted by the administration, for sometime in the fall—and fortunately, we “have all summer to prepare.” Since these self-fulfilling “prophecies” tend to come true fairly frequently, we should be paying attention to them, but this won’t be caused by Putin as they say, neither will it be caused by weather or bad soil, locusts or hail—just crushing, horrible government policies.

But things are getting serious, folks, enough for some people to point to the food shortages and say yes, we’re definitely in the Tribulation period. (Not everybody, … not me.) 

What happens when people are actually hungry, though? This is something most of us have never really had to worry about beyond being uncomfortable because dinner was late. We may say, “I’m STARVING!” but… we’re not, any more than I was truly starving when I was “sharing” (stealing) someone else’s food as a child. 

But if Americans were actually hungry, like out-of-food hungry with nothing on the grocery store shelves, I doubt that very many among us would just willingly lie down and die so that others could live. When people are actually starving, they very well may be a bit rude (like on Black Friday). They may steal. They may kill. It could get ugly.

In desperate times, people do desperate things.

In the book of 2 Kings, the city of Samaria was besieged by Ben-Hadad, King of Syria, and the people were slowly being starved out. Before the Lord came to the rescue, they were buying and eating anything they could find, including dove droppings and donkey heads. The King of Israel heard an oral argument between two women, who had earlier agreed to eat their sons one at a time, but when it was time for the second one to give up her son to be the meal of the day, she didn’t. And the first one thought that wasn’t fair, so she appealed to the King. That was pretty desperate!

Here are things some people are recommending to prepare for the coming days:

• Do not go anywhere alone or with only children. Have two adults together at all times.

• Consider carrying a gun.

• Store up food now, while you can.

• Grow your own food, including sprouts or garden foods, inside or outside. 

• Learn to hunt or fish.

• Be an entrepreneur. Find alternative ways to make money.

• Invest in gold, silver, and cryptocurrency.

• Get off the energy grid.

• DON’T let them bully you into being afraid and complying.

Not everything on the list is imperative, but if any of it rings true to you, and you feel led to do so, then do so.

Eric and I decided to get some backup food, which is never a bad idea anyway. We didn’t get the package deals advertised on the internet because there’s a lot of macaroni involved, and most of the meals heavily depend on being able to access water and a stove. If our power grid is also attacked while we’re having a food shortage, we would be out of luck. Granola bars in a storage tub truly would be a better idea. We’ll try to store enough for us and enough also to share with others.

Then Sunday afternoon we took a free gun safety class at Geneo’s Hunting and Fishing, and it was very interesting. I know I have been harassed a lot for being a military veteran who never handled a weapon during my military experience. But maybe it’s high time to do something. Because the Left has been talking about gun control, and some are talking more openly about confiscation. If you read history, you know that that always happens just before a dictator takes over. An unarmed citizenry assures the dictator that no one can successfully resist him. You may want to read “The Auschwitz Escape” by Joel C. Rosenberg for some perspective. (That link is a 30-second trailer for his book.)

We the American people are watching our Constitutional rights evaporate before our very eyes. The Second Amendment is the latest of these.

Meme from Sizzle.com

Gun control is not the answer to the violence in our society. Here are better answers:

1. If every armed bad guy knew that everybody he intended to victimize had a concealed weapon and knew how to use it, that would seriously cut down crime. That would be multiplied if armed bad guys who intended to shoot up a Wal-Mart experienced dozens of shoppers aiming their weapons at him.

2. If the police were allowed to do their job and not be brutalized every time they had a confrontation with a criminal that ended up in the use of deadly force, that would greatly help.

3. If criminals knew they would not be released as soon as they had checked into a prison because of lenient prosecutors, they might think twice before committing a crime.

4. If prisoners on death row were speedily executed without spending years and years there, that might be a deterrent.

5. If we had a great outpouring of God’s Spirit and a coat-to-coast revival in America that caused great changes in the way people lived, that would be the best thing we could ever hope to see in our lifetime, short of the Rapture itself. Revival doesn’t have to be something that happened back in the good ol’ days. It can happen again, especially when people are desperate and seeking for answers.

Consider carefully and prayerfully what you must do: Vote, run for office, store up some emergency food, grow vegetables, carry a weapon, pray for guidance and revival and peace, share the Gospel… Maybe all of the above?

“Lord Jesus, Your Bride the Church is still here on Planet Earth, watching the earth-dwellers scurry around like anxious ants after their hill has been kicked. We see trouble on every side, but we are not troubled. As we wait upon You, we are hoping for revival and trusting in Your providence and Your deliverance in the midst of this crooked and perverse world. As You taught your disciples to pray, so do we: 

“Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. 

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. 

Amen”

Do You Have a Left Behind-Phobia?

This last Sunday morning after church, a mildly frustrated father asked me, “Did you ever accidentally leave any of your kids behind?”

And he proceeded to call his little sons by name:

“Ethan, come on back! Don’t disappear again! Nehemiah, where are you going now?”

I was sympathetic, of course:

“Oh yes, more than once!”

I remembered, as a matter of fact, the time when our neighbor was annoyed with us because he saw our child outside crying after the Haley bus had pulled away on a Sunday morning, and he decided to take her into his home and comfort her until her parents returned in the afternoon. I think he fed her a second breakfast, too. With that particular incident, I don’t even remember how long it took before we recognized the error of our ways.

I told the father on Sunday that we had adopted a counting system-—“Sound off”—where the children would recite their personal numbers, from 1 (the oldest) to 6 or 7 (the youngest) and if there was a number missing, we would stop the proceedings and search for the missing child. That didn’t always work, but most of the time it helped.

But I think it really doesn’t even hurt children to have a somewhat healthy fear of being left behind. It might give them an incentive to not run into the house to get one more thing at the last minute without telling anybody when they’re supposed to be buckled in the car. It might prevent kids from being tempted to take a side trip away from the rest of the family during a hike. The experience of crying, panicked, in Aisle Five when Mom’s in Aisle Four might remind them not to leave her sight.

In fact, a healthy fear of being left behind would be great for adults, too, and that is NOT in the sense of not having the latest iPhone. After all, if you don’t look forward to The Rapture with starry-eyed anticipation, you can at least be afraid of being here on earth during the Great Tribulation. And if the Lord still delays His coming, a good fear of Hell might be more convincing than an anemic longing for Heaven.

Most people still remember the Left Behind books by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye. They consisted of fictional accounts of the adventures of people who didn’t make the grade at the time of the Rapture. Of course, it’s all speculation anyway, because in books like that there’s always some remote possibility that the left-behinder can survive by keeping his wits about him for seven years and refusing to take the Mark of the Beast. Unfortunately, there’s a much higher likelihood of martyrdom for a true believer than survival.

But the books are fun adventure, if you don’t mind reading about all the death and despair that comes with being around during the judgment of the world. Surprisingly, I never did read any of the books when they were popular. Probably I was too busy in the here and now, making chicken and biscuits and washing dishes. But I was pretty sure Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye weren’t disappointed that I didn’t read them. I think their intended audience was the unbeliever.

To illustrate the need for unbelievers (or maybe we should call them “pre-believers”) to read the books, here is one unbeliever’s idea of a romantic song that I happened to hear on the car radio a few years ago, when I was on the “wrong station.”

Even if we're breaking down, we can find a way to break through, come on

Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through Hell with you

Love, you're not alone, 'cause I'm gonna stand by you

Even if we can't find heaven, I'm gonna stand by you

Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through Hell with you

Love, you're not alone, 'cause I'm gonna stand by you

Love, you're not alone

Oh, I'm gonna stand by you

Even if we can't find heaven, heaven, heaven

Yeah, I'm gonna stand by you

(from “Stand By You” by Rachel Platton, 2016)

It is written out of ignorance, or maybe defiance of the Creator. Underlying it, this unbeliever does seem to have a fear of being left behind, but rather than seeking how to not have that happen, she grants herself a make-believe conception of Hell, which in her world is a little warm, like sitting too close to the campfire till you’re sweaty and your hair is a bit singed. But it’s still survivable. And as long as you have your boyfriend there with you, who also is a little smoky smelling, Hell isn’t so bad. It’s just bright orange with some acrid smoky haze—like a bar, more or less. Or maybe she doesn’t even really think Hell is much more than high gas prices or a bad day at work.

As I see it, the unbeliever, who chooses never to receive forgiveness for his sins through faith in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross, faces two possibilities:

1). He will be left behind when he dies and the bus leaves for Heaven, and he will spend eternity in Hell.

2). He will be left behind when Christ returns for His Church at the Rapture so he will experience the wrath of God and the atrocities of man during the Dynasty of the AntiChrist. That is, unless or until he is killed, at which time, #1 still goes into effect.

When I lived in Arizona, I was always taking too long to get ready for school and then missing the bus, until Mom decided she’d had enough. The next time I missed the bus, she told me I had to ride my bike to school—she was not going to drive me there. Not only would I miss my early classes, but riding my bike home in the afternoon was actually pretty dangerous in Arizona. Fortunately, my dad must have heard about it, and “happened” to drive by my geolocation on the way to a hardware store in his air conditioned pickup truck. When he found me, I had clambered down into a cement irrigation ditch to put some of the water on my head. He rescued me from the afternoon heat and saved me the work of pedaling home. I didn’t forget that and a healthy fear of missing the bus was thereby planted.

I think I got a little taste of Hell that day, in an extremely small way. Because real Hell has no escape, no relief—not even a temporary one—and no companionship, just misery. The poem above, about walking through Hell together? Not possible. Hell is a burning fire, but along with that is total darkness—outer darkness. It is not possible to visit with loved ones or even to play poker with the devil. It will be the literal fulfillment of the unbeliever’s request to God to “Just leave me alone!!” That’s exactly what will happen.

Concerning the wrath of God, well, there is an escape! Here’s the verse about it:

“Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man." ~Luke 21:36

This is no Darby speculation, folks, it’s Jesus talking. Now here’s a shot of the presentation page in the Cambridge Bible my boyfriend Joe gave me the year I graduated from high school, because he didn’t want me reading that old Catholic RSV Bible anymore.

You can ignore the toddler artwork. Over the years, our kids got a hold of my Bible and embellished it, and one of my babies swallowed part of a page in Ephesians, too. But see what I wrote at the bottom? The two passages are as follows:

Revelation 7:9-17:

“After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.’

“And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, ‘Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.’

“And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, ‘What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?’

“And I said unto him, ‘Sir, thou knowest.’ 

“And he said to me, ‘These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

“‘They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.’”

And Revelation 20:12-15:

“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

“And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged, every man according to their works.

“And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

There is a Rapture. It is our Blessed Hope. But even after the Rapture, there is still the possibility of forgiveness of sins. Jesus died to save those who miss the Rapture as well, if they finally decide to accept the Gospel message in the midst of the Tribulation. There’s a happy ending for them, but it’s a rough road to travel.

In summary, never receiving Christ as your Savior is certain death. You’ll be left behind. 

Receiving Christ, whether it is before you die, before the Rapture, or after the Rapture, is Eternal Life. You won’t be left behind.

You must decide. But if you’re still here when I leave, you can have my Bible. That one has been rebound in kangaroo leather …