HEAVENLY NEWSPAPER

   The Holy Bible is truly an amazing book!
   The Holy Bible is the Holy Book:  the only holy book on the face of the earth, and it is a sacred book.
   The Bible is a gift from God to us:  freely given that we may freely receive.  The cost to you for all of the information in Bible is absolutely zero.
   To begin, the Bible is a collection of many books, from many authors, and all of the writers were inspired by the Holy Spirit to dip their pens in the inkhorn and to write, "Thus saith the Lord."  And having been inspired by the Holy Spirit, we can then believe that the Bible is God-breathed.  God spoke to the writers and the writers recorded the words from the mind and the voice of Almighty God.
   Translated into more than 1200 languages, all of the books of the Bible are relatively short, the chapters are short, the verses are short, and, for the most part, even the sentences are short sentences.
   In this revelation of truth from God, the Lord gives it to us straight, holding back nothing:  the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  He tells us of things past, things present, and things future because He wants us to know truth:  which includes the good, the bad, and also the ugly.  In short, God tells like it is.  This way, you will know how you stand with God, but also you will know how He stands with you.
  The Bible is not complex; neither is it difficult to understand. You do not need to be a "rocket scientist" nor an Einstein to understand the Bible.
   The writers of the Bible were simple, everyday people, just like you and me, yet they were people who believed and served God.
   For example, having been raised in Pharoah's house in Egypt, Moses was highly educated, and he wrote the first five books of the Bible;
   David, having been a shepherd, became a King of Israel and wrote the Psalms;
   Nehemiah was the cupbearer to a Persian king;
   Esther was a Jewish lady who became queen of the Persian king, Ahasuerus, and she wrote the Book of Esther, which is still read today in Israel during the annual Feast of Purim;
   Paul, fluent in Greek and Hebrew, was educated under Gamaliel the Elder of Israel, a Pharisee doctor of Jewish Law;
   Matthew was a tax collector by profession while Peter, James, and John had been fishermen.
   God drew stories out of the lives of people, from which came the books of the Bible, so that the writers were God's journalists on the ground and thereby experiencing the stories they wrote; and God, as Editor-in-Chief, printed their stories in His Heavenly Newspaper for all the world to read.
   We, also, are experiencing life as journalists on the ground, and are we "writing" about our experiences.  Would He print your story in the Heavenly Newspaper if you wrote a paper and filed your report?
   Your life is just as important to God as the life of any person on the face of the earth, and your life is also just as important to God as the lives of the men and women who wrote the Bible.
   In your own life, God can reveal truth to you from your experiences if you will open your mind and your heart to Him and to His leadership.  He will reveal truth to you in your environment if you are open to Him.
   The people who wrote the Bible were ministers of God as well as His messengers in order to reach people with truth from God that they may be saved from their sin by the Lord Jesus Christ.  Our writings will not replace the Bible, but they can become testimonials of His love and grace, which is also important to God.
   So then, no matter if you are brickmason, an engineer, a college professor, a shrimper or a baker, and, no matter if you live in the United States, or Russia, or China, you and your life are important to God. 
   If you do not have a Bible, you can click www.bible.com and read it where you are living now.
   Amen.
  

HEADS OF STATE

   In the State of the Invisible Universe, there are two seats of authority, and both have influence upon the visible world in which we live.  Outside of these two, there are no more invisible influences in the world, and these two are not on equal platforms in the State of the Invisible Universe.  Christ is above and in Heaven, and Lucifer represents all that is evil.

    I.  JESUS CHRIST:  the Son of God, who sits and reigns at the right hand of God the Father.
  II.  LUCIFER:  also known as Satan, devil, and the prince of darkness.

   If people are not submitted to Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, they are, by virtue of their rejection of Him, being influenced by Lucifer.  Because of Lucifer's power of deception, these people are under his leadership and they do not even know it.  They are, in fact, against Christ, and they do not even know this either because of Lucifer's power of deception.  Remember, Lucifer is invisible and he is the master (or god) of deception.
   The evil that people do is because they are doing the will of Lucifer without even realizing they are following his leadership from his invisible influence.  Without Christ, people are accomplishing Satan's will even though they have never submitted themselves to Him. 
   This is why the new birth is vital and absolutely essential to understanding this truth.  Without Christ and the new birth, you will never see this truth because it is impossible for you to believe this truth until there is a spirtual change inside of you.  By accepting Christ as your Lord and Saviour, the Holy Spirit will indwell with you, which is the same as a spiritual union with the Lord.  This choice is based on the words you speak and not from anything you can do, for the Lamb of God paid the price for your salvation when He was cruicified.  He died for your sins, just as He died for my sins.  These words of confession are truly simple:
      That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  (Romans 10: 9)
   These are the words that I confessed on the morning of my salvation and these words are truth. 
   Without salvation, I would have never written this blog, and you would not be reading these words at this exact moment in time.  This is neither an accident, nor a concidence, that you are experiencing at this exact moment in time.  Therefore choose Christ, for He waiting for you to say yes.
   Amen.

THE WATCHERS

   Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.  (First Corinthians 13:1)
  
   Jesus was a good man.  Jesus was a nice man.  He was considerate, respectful, helpful, kind, pleasant.  He was a teacher, a preacher, and a prophet.  As the Son of God, He had the power from the Father to do anything He wanted to do and no one could stop Him.  Yet the Lord restrained His divinity and maintained His humanity during His time on earth, limiting Himself by submitting Himself to the will the Father in Heaven.  (And by the way, Jesus is also a King.)
   Wherever Jesus went and in all of His teachings and healings, He was welcomed and well-received by the people.  No one through rocks at Him, no one chased Him out of town, and no one asked Him to arise and leave their homes.  In fact, no one had anything negative to say against Jesus.  No one had a charge to file against Him with either the religious establishment, nor with the Roman government, for even Roman soldiers had no problem with Jesus.
   Had Jesus been campaigning for the Office of the President of Israel, for example, whom do you think would have won the election?  Jesus would have had a landslide victory. Therefore, to crucify Jesus did not make any sense to the people of Israel, nor to many people in Jerusalem.  The Lord's crucifixion to many people was a total surprise, and perhaps many were stunned and shocked to see or know that Jesus was executed.
   So then, we arrive at a conflict of interest, for there were others in Israel who did not see eye-to-eye with Jesus, nor with the people who had no fault with him. 
   Please remember this:  Satan knew Jesus.  Satan knew the Son of God and where He was from.  Satan also knew the Lord's ambition. 
   Satan is the god of this world as well as the prince of the power of the air as well as the Prince of darkness. This world we live in is Satan's domain, by virtue of Adam's defeat in the Garden of Eden.
   Jesus was now in Satan's arena, Satan's world, Satan's playground and sandbox, and Satan did not like it!  Satan has spiritual influence even though Satan is invisible, and, while the human mind is subject to receive invisible influence from God, the human mind is also subject to receive invisible influence from Satan.
   Therefore, it should be clearly understood that there were people in Israel who were under Satan's influence:  namely, the scribes and Pharisees as well as other people, which we will see as the Watchers.
   The Watchers did not care about Jesus, nor did they agree with the Lord's message.  The Light of the world was in this world and the Light of Christ was shining on the sins of people.  The Light was exposing their evil minds and hearts.  They resisted the Light and were submissive to the Prince of darkness, and they had to extinguish the Light.
   Therefore the Watchers went about to find fault with Jesus.  They followed Him, they stood in shadows, and sent spies to gather information.  They had to be careful because Jesus was accepted by many, many people, and they did not want to draw attention to themselves that would indicate that they were up to something.  They were sly, they were sneaky.  They needed facts to support their legal claim.  They met in secrecy to compare notes as well as to manufacture charges.
   The Watchers was not a small group.  There were more people involved than the scribes and Pharisees and Sanhedrin.  To bring down Christ was not a small matter.  In the minds of the underworld of crime, Jesus was a big "hit".  They had to "cover their tracks" and eliminate trails of evidence that would lead back to the people who did not want to be known.  They had to have people in certain places to make their plan work to their benefit.  They had to have a "fall guy"---someone to take the rap, the blame.  They had to have people in certain places to justify the cruicifixion of Christ in order to make it appear that this was a legal process for execution and not a public lynching.  They had to hide their crime.
   Thus they watched from windows to see if Jesus would mow His grass on the Sabbath.  To see if the Lord would help a homeless puppy to find its home on the Sabbath.  They contested and questioned the words of the Lord at every opportunity.  They argued instead of debated:  for they could not debate with Christ because He had the sharpest mind in the universe.  Thus they needled Him with verbal darts, with silly questions, and mixed with the attitude to get Jesus to lose His cool, or to erupt in a fit of anger, or even to curse.  They did not want Jesus to influence people with his teachings and sermons.  They wanted Jesus to go away because He was gaining ground in both power and popularity, which the Watchers was losing.  The Watchers had the power and the control over people and they wanted to keep it that way.  Satan has power and control over people and the devil wants to keep it that way.  So this Jesus had to go, for Jesus was a problem for the rich, the powerful, and the corrupt:  and Satan stood to lose souls for hell if Jesus was not eliminated.
    Even after the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord, the Watchers continued their evil ways by turning their power on the disciples and the apostles.  Jesus had been killed; now they went after the Lord's messengers and killed them also. 
   Over the past two thousand years, the Watchers have been perpetually active throughout the world to try to put an end to the message of Christ by taking down the messengers.  They have killed millions of Christians in an effort to stop Christ from being preached throughout the world, and they are not finished yet.
   If you are a Christian today, you can expect the Watchers to watch you, to spy on you, to mock you, laugh at you, belittle your belief in Christ, your belief in the Bible, and your belief in the return of the Lord.  You can expect people to shoot you with verbal barbs and darts to prick your position with Christ, laugh at you, and even mock you. 
   Today, if you take a stand to do a work for the Lord, you can expect repercussions and retaliations for your conviction:  from people you know and know best:  from your family, your friends, and even people you meet later.  People will look to find fault with you.  For the Watchers are part of the army of Satan, and it is their nature to find fault, criticise, and condemn.
   Jesus used the words hypocrites and vipers when addressing people like the Watchers.
   Hypocrites:  an outward appearance of being sparking clean, but internally they are bad to the bone.
   Vipers:  because they are snakes.
   The Watchers are all over the world today, included in families, communities, and also in churches and religious institutions.  They are people in love with religion, but not in love with the Lord. They are sounding brass and tinking cymbals because they are void of the love of God.
   The Watchers are deceived people and they are also masters of deception.  If you listen to these silver-tongue brutes, they have the persuasive power to convince you that Jesus:  is still on the cross.
   The Watchers are snakes.  They are sneaky, they are sly, they are quick, and they like to bite.  They enjoy injecting their fangs in the messengers of Christ.  It thrills them to criticise, condemn, ridicule, judge,gossip, find fault, and mock the children of the Most High God.  Their behaviour is exactly like their daddy, Satan, and their venom is evil.  Unless they come to know Christ, they will continue to reflect the characteristics of their habitat.
      For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.  (Matthew 5: 20)


  

SON OF PERDITION

   Judas Iscariot was a man who had never known love.  Rejected by his parents, rejected by everybody he came to meet and know, and therefore it is doubtful that Judas never sought acceptance, but rather to be free and to live freely, away from other people.  Never looking for a place to get in and fit in.  To join a group.  To join a gang.  To wear the bandana or any other symbol that would help him gain recognition that he had arrived, or a person of importance, or holding a postion that he certainly deserved.  To join the Little League and wear the uniform?  Play golf?  Go bowling with the guys on Tuesday nights?  No.  Of course he would never ask the homecoming queen for a date:  she was in a galaxy where he would not allow himself to travel. 
   Judas was never competitive.  He could get hurt playing football, and he did not like pain.  Running up and down a basketball court was more like work than fun.  Getting in fights was not his arena, either, because he did not like confrontation.  He never tried out for the debating club, and thus he could have never been a lawyer.  He spent most of his time in his own room, reading and studying books, gaining knowledge. He sought employment that would be more challenging for his intellect, than for his physical capabilities.  Thus he stayed by himself, investing his time in his own projects to busy himself and to avoid team efforts, or group activities.  This way he was in charge and in control---of himself as well as his circumstances---for Judas was a loner, an anti-social, and his one and only interest in life was himself.
   Remaining by himself enabled him to avoid confrontation and thus he would not have to defend himself if someone bumped him in the hallway at school, or threw him to the ground playing touch football, or if someone said his girlfriend had the face of an elephant.  He could not stand up for himself, or fight his own battles.  Even at work, he worked alone.  Not wanting any help, not asking for any help, because he did not need or want any help.  He was in his own universe all by himself where there was no room for anybody else.
   Perhaps Judas had been doted too much by his mother, and his father, being of the out-of-doors type, thought his wife was training him to be too womanish, or too soft, and his father thought his son should be stronger and tougher.  Thus there was conflict at home.  After all, boys should play football instead of spending his days helping his mom clean house.
   According to biographies about Judas, he was the most educated member of the Twelve.  Of course he was educated!  His education was the result of his isolation.  Thus the subjects Judas preferred to discuss were those out of his fountain of intellect and not from the world outside of himself.  But also from not being competitive, he never engaged in friendly debates about politics other than to point out something he heard on the six o'clock news.  But that would be an opinion of others and not an observation out of himself.  Judas would quote others because he had no quotes of his own to offer.  He couldn't.  That would not be safe, stepping out to the unknown.  People may not like him for speaking his own mind, yet Judas never wanted to be liked, to be accepted, and offering his opinion would have been like rolling the dice, taking a chance, and he was not a gambler of sorts.  A nice guy and not someone who stirs the water, or agitates conversation at the local diner.  After all, he had his image to protect, no matter how warped it was.  But it was still his image. 
   Judas Iscariot had no friends.  His isolation was also his insulation.  He did not want others to know who he really was, so he devulged as little about himself as possible:  which was usually zero.  The less people knew about him, the better for him. 
   Biographers also report that Judas was wealthy.  Of course he was wealthy!  Money was all he had to cling to.  If he had no money, he would have nothing.  He preferred to spend the money of others than to spend his own.  No matter if he earned his cash, interited it, or skimmed from the top of the disciples' money bag, it was his money once he deposited the money in his own pocket.  To Judas, money was his god, which increased his feelings of self-worth and self-importance.  As it is written, however, the love of money is the root of all evil.
   Judas Iscariot was a flatliner:  he was void of emotions.  If he had been in a hospital, doctors would have said he was dead.  His face was the face of bark on a tree.  If he laughed, leaves would fall.  He never laughed.  And when he smiled, his grin was forced and not real.  Now and then he would crack a wiseguy joke, but his jokes were not funny---even though he thought they were and wanted them to be. For even his humor was forced and not natural.  He never stood up for anything or stood against anything.  He never spoke for anything, or spoke against anything.  He was a loner and being alone was his natural habitat.  If he did good deeds, it was usually to receive the praise of others because he wanted to be praised. 
   In his lifetime, Judas could not be honest, which raises the question about his conscience.  He was a liar.  A thief.  Manipulater.  Deceiver.  Always looking for opportunity to advance the cause of himself.  Even though he was the master of his aloofness, he still sought adoration of others because that helped him feel like he was somebody:  or at least have others to think that he was somebody.  It was important to him to believe that others believed that he was one of the good guys, one of those people who are indispensible as well as trustworthy.
   So then, why did Jesus choose Judas to be one of the Twelve?
   Jesus knew all about Judas.  The Lord knew Judas before he was a baby in his mother's womb.  Jesus knew all of Judas's life:   his rejections, self-worth, education, and financial portfolio.
   Jesus is the Lord of second chances.  By inviting Judas in with the Twelve, Jesus was giving Judas the chance of a lifetime, and the chance to be saved.  For you see, the Lord loved him.  Regardless of Judas's nature to do evil, the Lord still loved him.
   Jesus Christ is the only person on earth who truly accepted Judas:  for all that he was and for all that he could become if he would come clean.  This is unconditional love, so perfectly demonstrated by Jesus, as only Jesus could do. 
   Judas Iscariot watched the only person to ever love him die on the cross, suffering the pain of death by execution by crucifixion.  Judas watched the nails as they were hammered in the hands and feet of the only person who ever loved him.  This was when the message of Christ struck the heart of Judas. This was the moment when all that Judas had been masking fell from his face, and his emotions finally broke through a facade of cement and concrete.  This was the moment when a jackhammer ripped open his chest and his heart began to pound for the first time in his life.  This was when he finally stood up for something, and to even stand up for himself and his wrong.  This is when Judas ran!
   Judas, however, made the wrong decision.  Instead of confessing his sin to God, he ran to the temple and expressed his remorse to the Sanhedrin---as if they could fix his sin against God.  When they rejected his confession, Judas, hopeless and helpless, resorted to his world of loneliness and hanged himself.  He offered the Sanhedrin the thirty pieces of silver, which they declined because that was blood money, and, being such, they could not accept because that would have been unlawful. To them, their murder of Christ was justified leagalism, for they were all about law and not about mercy and grace.
   Perhaps, too, Judas never knew that the conspirators had killing on their minds.  Perhaps Judas was under the assumption that they merely wanted to have a chat with Jesus in an effort to persuade the Lord to stop His preaching and teaching.  Thus the conspirators used Judas in the same way that Judas used others.  Judas had therefore been deceived, just as Judas had deceived others throughout his whole life.
  Judas could have been born again in Christ Jesus, but he sold his birth certificate to heaven for thirty pieces of silver, for money was his treasure.  Knowing this, Jesus made Judas one final offer on the morning of the Lord's cruicifixion.  Jesus called him:  "friend".
   The life of Judas Iscariot was a life of total deception:  for his heart was totally evil, from which he could not be converted.  And while Jesus was shedding His blood for the sin of the world, Judas Iscariot was experiencing eternal damnation of his soul.
      That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  (Romans 10: 9)
   Amen.
 

THE GREAT WALL

   Standing in front of Brandenburg Gate of the Berlin Wall on June 2, 1985, President Ronald of the United States said to Mr. Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet leader of Russia:
      "TEAR DOWN THIS WALL"
   The Berlin wall was 28 miles long, dividing East Germany from West Germany.  People in the West were free; people in the East were held captive, unable to move freely to the West.
  On November 9-11, 1989, the people of free Berlin:  TORE DOWN THAT WALL!
   After the wall came a-tumb-a-ling down, people ran.  They danced in the streets.  They were free to move to and fro as West Germany and East Germany became an undivided nation.  The wall was gone and no longer a physical barrier.
   Today, I am asking you to do something that perhaps you have never considered before.  If you are a member of a religious institution, I am asking you to TEAR DOWN THAT WALL!
   Just like the people of Germany, you are being held captive, you are not free to move to and fro, and you are not free to go dancing in the streets.
   The Great Wall of Religion is manufactured by engineers of deception.  For if they knew God, they would not need religion.  But because they do not know God, they need religion.  So they build substitutes.  Oleo is BUTTER.  Powdered milk is COW'S milk.  Coffee is DECAF.  Sanctuaries are AUDITORIUMS.  Unholiness looks HOLY.  The Holy Bible is a GOOD BOOK.  And Jesus is STILL ON THE CROSS.
   See?  Manufactured by engineers of deception.  Just look at all of the amenities they have provided.
   Come on in.  Carpet floors.  Padded pews.  Chandiliers.  Sparking vessels.  Candlelights.  And the uniforms of the day have been drycleaned and starched. 
   Take a program.  Read along.  Follow the script.  If you enjoy the music and singing, APPLAUD.  If you enjoy the jokes that tickle your funnybone, LAUGH.  LAUGH OUT LOUD.  But Shhh!  Remember to maintain an air of dignity and not be like that other group across the street.
   This:  is ENTERTAINMENT.  And if you have been thrilled, please leave a generous GRATUITY because tithes are now TIPS.
   Ya'll come back, hear?
   You are now a bird in a CAGE.  A fish in a glass BOWL.  A dog on a LEASH.  A tiger in a ZOO. For in religion, you are treated as an ANIMAL.  You are conditioned to accept the unacceptable.  For creation is now EVOLUTION.  Creation is now THE BIG BANG.
   All of this, dear people, is nothing but stench in the nostrils of Holy God.  This is a mockery of Lord God Almighty.  A private demonstration of the arrogance of man behind the Great Wall of Religion.
   If you are in religion, you are its PRISONER.  You have been CAPTURED.  You are on a LEASH.
   The engineers built this great wall, and sitting atop is (though invisible to human eyes) is the Prince of Darkness.  Satan reigns over religion.  And all of the people inside are behind closed doors, a place of spiritual darkness.  For the Light of Christ is not there, for the engineers have you believing that He is there:  for even they are deceived.  All of the elements are designed to appeal to your physical senses through your eyes and ears.  Designed to help you FEEL good.  FEEL better. FEEL relieved.  And to FEEL like your sins have been forgiven.  But they have not! 
   Today, dear people, you have two choices:  you can choose to remain behind the Great Wall of Religion, or you can come out and come to the Lord Jesus Christ.  He will forgive your sin.  He will set you free from the enslavement of spiritual bondage.  For in Christ, you will be free to walk and free to run.
   Remember what happened in Germany when the fall came a-tumb-a-ling down?
      For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.  (First Timothy 2: 5-6)
   Amen.
 
  

PONTIUS PILATE

   Pontius Pilate was the fifth Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea from A.D. 26-36, and his name stands tall among the most recognized names of human hisory.
   After researching Pontius Pilate on the internet, here are my findings for your consideration, and I will tell you that I was absolutely suprised with this information.
   Little is known about Pilate before his tenure of Prefect in Judaea, and, in a way, it is as if his slate has been wiped clean.  There is no secular record for the day, or month, or year of his birth; neither is there a record of his natural parents, nor of any guardians.  Perhaps he was born in Italy. Perhaps he was born in Scotland.  Spain and Germany have made some claims regarding Pilate.  Offically, however, his birth has no legitimate documentation of any kind.
   Likewise, there is no secular record for the day, month, or year of Pilate's death, nor where he could have died, or how he died.  The only information for his death are legends.  Perhaps Pilate was exiled to Gaul during the reign of Caligua Caesar, and perhaps he committed suicide in Vienna.  Perhaps he died in Switzlerland.  Like his birth, there is also no legitimate documentation of any kind regarding his death, and, just like his birth record, it is as if his death record has also been erased.
   According to various apocryphal writings, there is a legend that Pilate became a Christian, and that his wife, Claudia Procula, also became a Christian.  Whether these legends are true or false, no one knows for sure.
   Yet, for all that is not known about Pontius Pilate, secular historians have volumes of information that speak of Pilate's association with a man by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, and all of those volumes of writings support Pilate's association with Christ as being true.  They also report Pilate's fear of Rome.
   What happened to Pontius Pilate?  Where and when was he born?  Where and when did he die?
   About all that we know of him was during his tenure as the fifth Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, from A.D. 26-36, in the time of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
   Pontius Pilate rendered a decision that led the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and yet the two most important vital records of Pilate's biography---his birth and death---are missing.
   The Roman Empire did a better job of tracking its own people than this report shows.  The Romans were pagans, yes, but they were not stupid.
   But remember:  the most important part of Pilate's life was not his birth or his death.  Pilate's most vital record was the time he had in the presence of Jesus Christ.  Pilate had opportunity for salvation and he refused the Lord. 
  
  
  
  
  
 

FEAR STRIKES FAST

   Fear is as fast as lightning.
   In October, 2000,  I made a wrong turn on a road in the mountains of North Carolina. 
   The road was a stranger to me, having never traveled it before.  The road had two lanes, though narrow, and it had many curves.  Neither did I know where the road would go on the other side of the mountain.
   As I continued to ascend the mountain, suddenly and unexpectedly a fog descended and I was quickly engulfed in a cloud of darkness as the fog reached all the way to the ground.  I slowed down to about 15 miles per hour, turned on the headlights, and turned on the emergency flashers.  Glancing at the fuel gauge, the needle was hugging the big "E"---I was running out of gas!
   And just as suddenly and unexpectedly---as in a flash of lightning---I became fearful!  What in the world was I going to do!  I was on a strange road, on a strange mountain, in a cloud of darkness, and running out of gas.  I could barely see the pavement in front of my eyes. 
   As I continued driving, my eyes kept darting at the fuel gauge while wondering what in the world I would do if I ran out of gas and stopped on road covered in a cloud of fog.  There were no other vehicles traveling to and fro.  How would I get help?  Have far would I have to walk to get a can of gas?
   Thus I did the only thing I knew to do at the time:  I prayed.  I said God please help me!  I can't see!  I don't know where this road is going!  I'm running out of gas!  If you don't help, Lord, there is no help!  As I continued to drive I continued to pray, saying those same words over and over.  I was fearful.  I was anxious.  For me, this was a like a tsunami that comes from out of nowhere.
   And just as suddenly and unexpectedly, my eyes caught the reflection of a dim light to my left and I was able to recognize the colors on a neon sign of a certain petroleum company!  I quickly eased on the brakes, turned left, and stopped my truck at a gasoline pump!
   I sighed and gave thanks to the Lord for delivering me in my time of trouble, for it is good that we give thanks unto the Lord.
   After refueling, I returned on the road in the direction from whence I came because I did not know where the road went in the other direction.  At least if I returned to where I had been, I could find my way home. 
   As I began my journey back down the mountain, I began to drive under the lifting fog, the sun was shining brightly, and in a few minutes there was nothing above me except blue skies and abundant sunshine!  I looked at my watch and the time of day was 3 p.m.  My whole experience was as if the day was at its darkest hour of midnight.
   Fear strikes fast and at the speed of lightning.  But even in times of fear, God is still available for help and strength in the darkest hours.