Ch. 17: “Silent Night”
By admin On December 8th, 2012.
Click on credit links below each photo, for licensing names/details/tags/etc.. Most images cropped/reduced in size
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“WE ARE NOT ALONE!”
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If we would, ever-so-carefully, watch, look, and listen, there are clues to be discovered, which only confirm that we humans are not alone in this so-called “atheistic, accidental, cosmic explosion called, ‘The Universe’“.
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And this true account of my own personal introduction to the unseen and invisible spiritual Armageddon which rages all around us has various proofs to this fact!
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Yes, these proofs can be seen, if the truth-seeker would just set aside his or her skepticism and unbelief long enough to consider these affirmations which are often hidden “between the lines”.
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And even nature itself has its own various proofs, that we’re not here by some accidental explosion, chaos-to-cosmos, but rather, by the design and forethought of an infinite and loving Creator Being.
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Just listen to the ancient Book of Job (Job pronounced with a long “o”)…
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But ask now the beasts,
and they shall teach thee;
and the fowls of the air,
and they shall tell thee:
Or speak to the earth,
and it shall teach thee:
and the fishes of the sea
shall declare unto thee.
Who knoweth not in all these
that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?
In whose hand
is the soul of every living thing,
and the breath of all mankind.
Job 12:7-10
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Yes, all of nature has been masterfully engineered to give us hints and clues as to just Who created all this awesome and beautiful and marvelous universe!
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So read on, and maybe you will likewise agree (or not agree) with my observations of just a few of the so-called “coincidences” which occurred through the first 50 days of this my encounter with the unseen spirit-realm (which “coincidences are found towards the end of this chapter).
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Father & Son – Wikimedia – Public Domain
South American Butterfly – cropped image – Wikipedia – Share-Alike License
Family Portrait – cropped image – Wikimedia – Share-alike License
ABOVE PICTURE – Starry Night at La Silla – cropped – Wikimedia – Share-Alike license
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CHAPTER 17:
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“SILENT NIGHT”…
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About December 23rd, 1979
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A TIME OF REST…
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I had been in the hospital since about the middle of November. It was now almost Christmas. And as far as the mental-ward staff was concerned, I was greatly improved. The “medicine” which they injected in me, seemingly had done its assigned task: bringing me back into normalcy.
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And I desperately wanted to get out of the hospital! My family was planning to spend Christmas at my Aunt’s and Uncle’s cabin at the Oregon coast.
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Finally at the last moment, I was released!
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The Scream of Nature – by E. Munch – Wikipedia – public domain by edvard munch c.1893
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FREEDOM! FREEDOM!
(1969 improvised song by Richie Havens, based on an old spiritual, “Motherless Child”)
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Oh you can’t imagine just how absolutely great it felt to walk out of that hospital, free at last! And to hop into my several-month’s-new RX-7, and zoom off! Well, it was like the first time I drove it, all over again! Not to mention that being outside in the fresh air, once again, was like being born all over again!
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Oh yeah, I was still pretty shaken up over what I had been through for the last two months! And yes, no one needed to tell me that I’d never be the same, ever again!
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But, the torment had stopped!
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For now, at least, it stopped!
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Mazda Rx-7 dash – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
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AT THE COAST
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On a high, wind-swept, tree-lined cliff, overlooking the blue Pacific (sometimes green, or gray, etc., not far from this photo, as I recall), were two houses next to each other. My parents stayed with my aunt and uncle in their large two-story cabin. The next-door house, where my brother and I stayed in, was a smaller, two-story, octagon-shaped cabin.
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Both cabins were just 20 or 30 feet from the edge of a very high cliff overlooking the beautiful Pacific.
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My brother was probably the only one who could have handled me at that point in time. Not that I was hard to manage. I was just extremely sullen, melancholy, and quiet. Too depressing for most others, no doubt.
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But gimme a break! After all, I was still rocking and reeling from the past 50 or so, days! But my brother didn’t usually let adverse circumstances get the best of him. Plus we had been best buddies since the days we first came into this world! So this little octagon-shaped cabin worked well for my brother and I…and for every one else, I suppose.
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Oregon Coast at Lincoln City – Photo above by Scott Catron – Wikimedia – share-alike. Click here for link.
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“HEY 98.6, IT’S GOOD TO HAVE YOU BACK AGAIN!”
(Lyrics from the 1966 hit tune, “Hey, 98.6!”)
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Now, during this Christmas time at the coast, I was returned to my former condition prior to my supposed, “insanity”. It seemed like the spirit had left for good. And while I was in a very quiet and melancholy state, it just seemed that all that spiritual battle was now behind me.
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Those 50, or so, days had been like a spiritual Armageddon! It was like being picked up in a giant cyclone for 7 weeks. And now I was let back down to the ground once again.
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This spiritual holocaust was presently behind me. And if ever there’s space for the human spirit to heal, there’s no better place than the Oregon coast. The awesome grandeur of the ever-restless Pacific Ocean! The solitary beaches. The timeless roaring of the waves. The sounds of gulls as they sweep back and forth above the shoreline, hoping for some new morsel of food to show up. It really seemed weird to not feel the presence of this spirit (or spirits).
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I clearly remember standing at the cabin’s cliff’s edge, at one moment during this December, gazing over the steep and abrupt edge at the powerful ocean below. And yet, a very strange feeling came over me. It was so peaceful, except something was missing. The spiritual battle and the spirits themselves seemed so far away now. It was like Heaven and Hell, and the battle of Armageddon had just packed up and moved on!
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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license
Picture of Lincoln City area courtesy Wikipedia. Share-alike license. Click here for link.
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“HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN?”
(1971 hit song by Creedence Clearwater Revival)
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So, have you? Have you ever seen the rain?
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Well, if you’ve ever spent any length of time at the Oregon coast, you, no doubt, have seen LOTS AND LOTS OF RAIN!
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But to my thinking, there’s no greater natural beauty to be found anywhere in the world! The entire Oregon coast is an amazing drive! As long as you don’t mind the slow-driving/much-winding/quite-narrow/constantly-repaired, Highway 101, plus lots and lots of mist, rain, and/or fog!
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Sunny days at the Oregon coast are at a premium, to say the least!
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Now, Lincoln City is not such a big town. At least it wasn’t, back at this time (1979). But it was long. It lay smack-dab on Highway 101 in Northern Oregon. And Lincoln City is a conglomerate of several smaller towns, Nelscott, Taft, Delake (short for “Devil’s Lake”), Oceanlake, Cutler City, which all got swallowed up together over the years. So it is now five or more miles long! And much of it consists of sharp cliffs above the awesomely beautiful Pacific Ocean.
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There are many rustic and weathered old cabins throughout Lincoln City. And there are many old and quaint little tourist shops along Highway 101, and even some tiny salt-water taffy factories/shops along that five-mile stretch. And there’s a lot of nice beaches, just right for agate-hunters, and clam-diggers, crabbers, and those who take long walks along the beach. And it’s a great old fishing mecca! But I haven’t been there for some years, so it’s probably changed now (I hear there’s now a big new casino).
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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license
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OREGON COAST…
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Yeah, But in spite of the weather, I still maintain that the Oregon coast is a fantastic place to visit!
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It’s my favorite place to be!
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I learned to appreciate the coast as a young boy. My parents or sometimes my grandparents would drive the 50 miles from our hometown of Salem, to stay in a rented cabin at Newport or Lincoln City. We kids would play on the beach for hours, and jump into the surf.
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Lincoln City Oregon – wikimedia – public domain
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THE SUMMER OF ’61’
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I still vividly recall one week-long summer vacation back in our early years, when my brother and I were down on the beach, trying to make a fort out of a few of the countless logs which had washed up on shore.
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Well, all was going according to plan, until one heavy log we were carrying dropped, having a large rusty nail, which went right through my brother’s foot just above his toes! Of course, he let out a loud “Owww!!!”.
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He then yelled to me to “put it down!” Unfortunately, instead of setting my end down carefully, I simply (and stupidly) just dropped it in obedience to my older brother’s command, causing the log and nail to further agonize him!
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But, for some reason, he started to laugh. And so, thinking he was okay, I began laughing along with him. But then, he suddenly yelled, “WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING!?” I realized that he was probably laughing out of shock, and sheer agony!
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Well, after hobbling off the beach, and up several hundred VERY steep old wooden stairs he got back to our rented cabin. And after a trip to a nearby doctor’s office, a tetanus shot, and some stitches, he was well enough to resume our vacation.
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ITSY-BITSY-TEENIE-LITTLE-BRAINS GET ADULT EDUCATION!
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Well, my 11 year-old brother was probably not able to return back down to the sandy beach in his now-wounded condition.
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But about that same time, the weather got bad. So we spent the last few remaining rainy days indoors at “Gakkie’s Cabin” there in Lincoln City (also high on a cliff, overlooking the ocean).
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Actually, this rustic old cabin belonged to Dr. Gatky (Gakkie was how I mispronounced his name when I was 4 or 5).
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Yes, Doctor Gatky lived across from my grandma on 23rd Street, just one of Salem’s many beautiful old tree-lined and flowered streets. He rented that cabin to our family for the “exorbitant” sum of about $5 per day (And that was cheap even for the early 1960’s!)
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But in spite of the pouring rain outside the large ocean-view windows, we young kids (and everybody else too) had lots of fun playing games, peeling off our sunburn blisters, and listening to the thin-sounding music on a small radio (little or no TV reception back in those days, in Lincoln City. But they did have a radio station there).
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One other unforgettable aspect to this vacation was when that almost toneless old radio began playing two songs for the very first time, which were big new “hit songs”. One hit tune was called, “She Wore An Itsy-Bitsy-Teenie-Weenie-Yellow-Polka-Dot-Bikini”.
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Yes, bikinis had become the newest rage across America at that time by young girls who hadn’t yet lost their teenage figures. And that song glorified the new craze.
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And if that new “Itsy-Bitsy-Teenie-Bikini” song wasn’t enough to send a youngster’s mind for a spin around the block, the next hit tune was sure to catapult a kid’s brain clear up to the Moon! This second little number was titled, “Never On A Sunday, Cause That’s My Day of Rest!” And although fresh out of the 4th grade, the not-so-quaint gist of that little ditty didn’t escape my tiny 9 year-old mind!
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Well, those two songs got a lot of airplay that week, often mixed in between the other, mostly relatively benign, tunes. We heard them over and over again…until their dicey lyrics no longer caused us to go “saucer-eyed”.
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Nevertheless, these naughty-but-nice little songs must have made a deep impression on me, cause I still vividly recall hearing them! (Now I’m fully aware that, in 2020, those two songs, with their light-hearted melody/lyrics might even be considered kid-friendly, compared to much of today’s sexual/violent/scuzzy/graphic music and videos. But even though the “Sexual Revolution” was already well underway back in 1961 U.S.A., these two world-wide mega-hits were just another “bold new step forward” in the further sexualization of America and of the world!)
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But in spite of these few glitches, our summer vacation was otherwise filled with lots of innocent fun (as I’ve already stated), laughing, snacking, playing games, etc., during those rainy days at Gakkie’s Cabin.
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Polka dots.svg – Wikimedia – Public Domain
Salem Oregon Path by the River – wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license
Front view of an Arvin radio, – 1940s. – wikimedia – No known copyright restrictions
prostitute taking her shift – Wikimedia – Public Domain in country of origin
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THE SUMMER OF “56 (or 58)”, IN “GAKKIE’S” GARDEN
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Now Doctor Gakkie was kind enough to allow us (about 9 guests or more, including relatives) to rent his old beach cabin (and it still stands there today).
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But truth-be-told, I was kinda scared of the old gent, ever since the day (back in ’56’, or so) when he chased us kids out of his prize-winning, half-acre flower/rose/shrub garden (at least it seemed to us like a half-acre or more). Man, that vast garden had so many flowers, shrubs, etc., it was like walking through the winding pathways of a thick jungle! And we, most likely, were sizing it up as a potential new battle-field, for the next time all us kids would play, “Army”!
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And so, our curiosity got the best of us, and we couldn’t resist the temptation to check it out. But no sooner did we make our way through the first leg of our search/quest, we heard a loud and very angry voice, “You kids stay out of my garden!” (Well, my brother’s recollection was that I had plucked one of Gakkie’s prize roses which provoked the old gent’s angst. Imagine that! How intolerant! LOL!)
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And so we hightailed it back to the safety of Grandma’s big old front porch (Grandma pictured here, and my Grandma’s incredible flowered/shrubbed yard was perhaps the neighborhood’s showcase as well, back in those days. Not-so-much these days…new owner)!
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And that was the first and the last time we would ever explore that “mysterious jungle” of Doctor Gakkie’s garden!
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“NO, NOT THAT KIND OF DOCTOR!”
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Now just whatever kind of doctor Gakkie actually was, to this day, I’ve never found out. But I do remember when very young, I saw two ladies walking down the old Salem sidewalk in the direction of his house, and one of them was laughing hysterically.
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And so I turned to my grandma and asked, “Grandma, is that lady going to see Doctor Gakkie?” Well, my grandma laughed and laughed, and said, “No, Chuckie”, still laughing.
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And so I instantly deduced that he was not, “that kind of doctor”.
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But to tell you the truth, in all those years of countless visits to Grandma’s house, I don’t think I ever actually saw the old man!
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Just heard his angry voice that one time.
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Oh well. (And for all I know, under different circumstances, he might have been a really nice old guy! And really! Who would want a bunch of irresponsible little neighborhood rapscallions-on-the-loose, traipsing through your prize-winning flower garden, not to mention that I might have plucked one of his prize roses, as my brother insists!?)
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And if time permitted, I’d tell about the day when our neighborhood Army-Club members decided to embark on a search-and-rescue operation (a fruit/vegetable scavenger-hunt in another neighbor’s vegetable/fruit garden!)
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YES, “THAT KIND OF DOCTOR!”
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But it was now the Christmas of 1979, and those old days in the 50’s were just a few, distant and faded old memories.
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But now, BUT NOW…I WAS THE ONE WHO NEEDED, “THAT KIND OF DOCTOR”! And yet, I can fully assure you, that I was not laughing hysterically at this moment, like that lady was laughing her way down the sidewalk, some 25+ years earlier!
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No, I wasn’t laughing at all, right now!
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BACK TO MY OLD SELF…ALMOST
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But in spite of my somber demeanor, all that remained in the former spiritual battlefield of my mind, was peaceful silence! Yeah, this battlefield now lay desolate, except for the dead bodies strewn from one end to the other (the dead bodies of all my former atheistic ideas and philosophies, and other misguided notions about life, which I had accumulated over the years!)
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And now, before me was just the timeless and soothing roaring of the waves, and the sound of the gulls as they swept back and forth above the shoreline.
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But even though, to a certain degree, I felt like my old self again, yet I didn’t feel quite right for some reason.
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Something was missing!
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Northern Oregon Coast wikimedia Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
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THE GULL
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Another foggy day in Oregon. The rain had stopped—for a while. But the air was heavy with the cold, wet mist. The gulls were now making their endless sweeps back-and-forth along the shore-line. The tide had receded, leaving a table of food for the ever-hungry, never-satisfied scavengers.
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Down below, a solitary form lay atop a mound of a rock, close to the incoming surf. A few of the gulls, seeing, swept down for a closer inspection of the wounded bird. They couldn’t understand why their fellow gull just sat down there instead of flying with them like usual.
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The gull lifted up his head as if to remember his former friends/rivals, who were still winging back-and-forth, making their daily coastline inspection.
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But just then, another great wave swept over the wounded bird, causing the bird to hurt once again with its open wounds. Besides being caught in a large piece of fish net, the bird had a fish-hook caught in his flesh. The pain made each moment seem like an hour! (“…in an evil net, as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.” Ecclesiastes 9:12)
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The bird vainly struggled to get itself free. But he was totally helpless! And now the tide was once again coming back in, sweeping over the bird. Wave after wave swept over the bird. (“Thy {God’s} wrath lies hard upon me, and Thou {God} hast afflicted me with all Thy waves. Selah.” Psalm 88:7)
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Finally came the night. The Moon, fully illuminated, stood watch high above the dark blueness of the sea.
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The exhausted bird just lay there throughout the long night. And before the morning, even the Moon turned away his face from the gull; turning toward the East, as if eagerly awaiting the arrival of the morning Sun, as He (the Moon) resumed His appointed place once again.
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But in the early morning hours, just as the Sun shone His bright rays through the heavy mist, a dark silhouette blocked the Sun’s rays, casting his great shadow over the wounded gull.
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The bird was tired. Too tired to struggle. Too weak to flee from this dark enemy! And as he lay there, knowing he had arrived at the end, a large, wrinkled hand reached down and lifted up the bird. But before the bird knew what happened, the Fisherman was out of sight. The gull was surprised that this strange form was now gone, but hadn’t killed the gull! No, the bird realized he was free at last from both the hook, as well as from the net. Hobbling over the rocks until he finally came to one great rock by a large drift log. “A quiet place to sit. To heal. To think”, the bird decided. To rest until he was healed enough to fly once again.
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The cool breezes seemed to sooth and restore this bird. The old fisherman had mercifully given it a second chance.
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The gull would soon again be flying, once again making his endless sweeps back-and-forth along the sand of the sea. Seeking.
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Kelp Gull South Africa – wikipedia – Share-Alike-3.0.jpg
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CONCLUSION…
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Reflecting back on those “mental ward games”, as I earlier said, they seemed to be a weird sort of analogy to the Gospel story of Lucifer’s rebellion and Christ’s redemption of the world, represented by the Ayatollah and the Shah.
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Fortunately, the fate of the world didn’t actually rest on my shoulders, as I was led to believe by the spirits. And thankfully, Christ, the Son of God has already won back the world by His own sinless life here on Earth, and by His own sacrificial/redemptive death on the Cross.
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The problem is, I just didn’t know any of this at that time! So I was a real “push-over”, an “easy mark” for the spirits, who had, no doubt, gleefully orchestrated that whole business back in Unit 3600!
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chess – checkmate by Friedriech Moritz August Retzsch wikigallery.org
Public beach entrance at Lincoln City, next to chowder house. Photo courtesy Wikipedia. Share-alike license. Click here for link.
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“HMM…KIND OF INTERESTING”…
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And just a side-note. I was much later surprised that some months later, while listening to the news, to hear that the American hostages were finally released from Iranian captivity on the 444 day of their captivity. A spirit reminded me that 444 is two-thirds of 666. Maybe that’s just a coincidence. But it’s an interesting coincidence.
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No big deal, I guess.
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Iran hostages – wikipedia – public domain
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“HMM…VERY, VERY, INTERESTING”…
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And as long as we’re talking about interesting coincidences, here’s another one for ya! Remember how I told you that our restaurant had the address, 3600, South 6th? And of course, if you’ve followed along with this story, you know that the mental ward I was in, was Unit 3600. And remember how shocked I was that our restaurant address and the mental ward I was tormented in, both had the same number, 3600?
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Now do you also recall that I mentioned that it seemed as if I was much like that rich man in that parable of the Rich Man & Lazarus, who was tormented in Hell (painting to left)? And I was being tormented by fire and brimstone (“spiritual fire & brimstone”, not literal)?
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Well, the other day (Fall, 2013), I was doing a word search in my “Strong’s Concordance”. And I just so-happened to look into the Greek for the word, “Torment”. And I discovered that there are several Greek words for “Torment”.
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But to my amazement, it just so happens that the very Bible passage this particular Greek word #3600 (in Strong’s Concordance) is used in, is none other than that very parable of the Rich Man & Lazarus!
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Listen… “And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented (Greek word #3600) in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that you, in your lifetime received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and you are tormented (Greek word #3600).” Luke 16:24, 25.
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Coincidence? Not a coincidence? Well, whichever way you decide, I certainly won’t argue with you!
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But you have to admit, it is a very, very, interesting co-incident, if that’s all it is!
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Brooklyn Museum – The Rich Man in Hell – James Tissot – wikimedia – public domain
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COINCIDENCE? MENTAL ILLNESS? SATAN?
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But please indulge me in one last, yet extremely interesting “coincidence”, in my hospital stay!
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Remember how the sun shining on the window mesh-screen in the high-security lock-down room flashed an incredible cross-like light-beam, as I was praying?
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Well just look at this 300-plus-year-old graphic plate showing almost the exact same “coincidence” occurring to an “insane” individual praying back in those times, and thinking the sun shining on his cross was a sign from Heaven!
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Coincidence?
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Insanity?
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Same old Devilish Deceiver today as in olden times?
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You be the judge!
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To go to the next chapter, just click here…
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Ch. 18: “On Such A Winter’s Day”…
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The spirit returns. Big-time!
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