Avalon Chronicles #137: "God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Angels and Our Ultimate Enemy" #3

BORN TO DIE!

     Typically, the furthest most arrive in learning about the ultimate historical being on earth, Jesus the Christ, is in our youth Sunday School classes. We learn all those touchy feely stories about the beautiful baby Jesus, who was born divinely to Mother Mary, grew up in Nazareth north of the Sea of Galilee, learned carpentry from His earth father Joseph, somewhere around thirty gathered His twelve disciples and then began His ministry filled with teachings, miracles and lessons of how to treat others with the ultimate emotion we can express, which is LOVE, the least-expressed emotion in humanity.  

     God, the Creator of all, had a plan from the beginning. God knew eventually that there would have to be a flesh and blood human on earth to be a living and breathing example of how God desired humanity to treat each other. The genealogical line was established through the Hebrew nation by calling forth Abraham from ancient Iraq to travel to current day Israel to begin the family line. The Old Testament documents the history of the nation that evolved. That Ultimate Enemy, Satan, who gained power and control over planet earth after the disobedience of Adam and Eve, tried every trick in his malignant and devious line of work to keep Jesus from appearing on the stage of history to play His part for us. Satan tried to keep Jesus from being born. But, our all-powerful God brought Jesus forth to lay the groundwork for a world of peace and tranquility. It has become nothing but chaos!

     Today is Resurrection Day 2024. I know most call it Easter, embellished with cute rabbits and colorful eggs and squealing children filling their baskets. But, the true and unfailing significance of this day is that the Son of God, who appeared in that insignificant village in Israel, and not in some palatial mansion or castle to some historical and famous king, lauded and applauded with feasts and holidays and trumpets announcing the birth, was born most innocently and unnoticed. But, His impact on us until the end of time will be the most significant of the ages. Three days before his miraculous emergence and coming to life from His burial tomb, after the well-witnessed beating, scourging, piercing and bleeding on that horrendous hill in Jerusalem, the stage was set for the ending of the life of "The King of the Jews." But, it was just the beginning.

     Jesus, divinely and according to God's original plan, emerged alive and is still ALIVE. He went back to the Father and left us the Holy Spirit. What He did on the cross was to bleed and die for all of us. We have the opportunity to ensure our eternal existence after bodily death by believing He was, Who He said He was, sent to earth to show us the way to be forgiven of our sins, but there is a catch! We must believe that Jesus lived and we must be repentant and ask forgiveness of our sins to receive that forgiveness. Oh, yes, and we must forgive all others so that we may be forgiven. All the above seems insurmountable, but it changes lives and lays a path of life that has no better alternative. We are accustomed to follow the earthly Captains and the Kings, but following the real King Jesus heals our broken hearts, breaks the curses of our family lines and our own, and brings forth a greater joy than we ever had without Him! One must let Him take charge of the wheel of your life and keep you on the right road.

     

Avalon Chronicles #136: "God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Prayer, Angels and Our Ultimate Enemy" #2

The Coming of the Christ

Note: The following about Jesus is derived from my writings in my third book:

          Soldiers Blood and Bloodied Money: Wars and the Ruling Elites (link: https://a.co/d/78o95s3)

     There is a whole other story about why God caused the flood in which Noah and his family began recorded history anew and I will address it in a future message. After that catastrophe the true bottom line of Old Testament history was that our mighty God was preparing humanity on this planet, created by Him, to enter history as an actual Person to demonstrate visibly and concretely how much he loves us. God introduced humans to the practice of worshipping Him. He called Abraham, residing in modern day Iraq, to migrate to what became today's Holy Land to begin with his group of fellow travelers a new land in which their descendants became true worshippers of God. However, as time passed many chose to worship the elements God created such as the stars, the sun, fire or wind rather than the Creator of all. 

     Even in primitive societies worldwide the stories of the one True God and His Son were repeated over and over. The Genesis and yes even the salvation story, were planted in the hearts and minds of the previous generations of their cultures. Eventually the descendants of Abraham developed the Hebrew nation, which became divided into north and south. Prophets began to call out the people for their apostasy in falling away from the worship of God for the worship of idols. There was the abominable sacrifice of infants, a release of blood upon the land. The people became complacent and they believed God would protect them indefinitely. Due to the sinning of the Hebrew nation, God allowed conquests by Assyrians and Babylonians and the exile of the Hebrews. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah 66:2 (NIV) proclaimed, "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word." This behavioral condition of our hearts is very challenging in a world built upon materialism, status, impressing others with our toys and extreme competitiveness. 

     The Old Testament began to relate how there would be a God in human form as the Son of God to appear on earth. There are over ONE HUNDRED prophecies in the Old Testament that relate the specifics of the entry into history for Jesus to walk the paths of modern day Israel and experience life, ministry, and death, all of which were fulfilled in the New Testament. A good life for each of us exists in contrast to some lives in Old Testament times and today's world, if we believe that God sent, as He did, His very own Son to be supernaturally birthed, live and minister for about thirty three years and then be crucified on a cross in Jerusalem. Contrast then and today many, who deny Him and choose to live their lives in the pursuit and fulfillment of power, self-aggrandizement and satisfaction of the baser instincts of behavior. Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth to establish a standard of behavior that would be pleasing to God and, if followed, would lead us to a life filled with peace. Stay tuned for a review of what Jesus meant to us all.

When one gets serious about faith in Jesus we may pray as do I, "I pray that I may have imparted to me from the mind of Christ, Wisdom, Insight, Discernment, Knowledge and Maturity." It works!

Avalon Chronicles #135: "God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Prayer, Angels and Our Ultimate Enemy" #1

Biblical Quotes from Life Application Bible King James Version Tyndale House Publishers 

    Let us begin at the beginning to learn how we got here and started down the trail of each of our lives and back way past our own individual creation to Creation. 

THE CREATOR: Who was the Creator?

     He was the all-powerful entity that was there at whenever was the beginning and before. To understand how wide it is to comprehend God and where He resides, we must look in the New Testament at John 8:23 "Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world." John 18:36 "My kingdom is not of this world." To us mere earthlings our world is planet earth as we know it, admittedly a very small planet in our small solar system amongst many other solar systems and uncountable galaxies. The God we know has a pretty big responsibility over ALL the galaxies. Despite this massive responsibility, we learn in Genesis 1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." God created us.

     The first book of the Old Testament tells the story of Creation of our planet and Heaven itself. God just spoke it into existence and our earth was formed. It was not "built," but, just "became" through the power of God. God resides in the third Heaven above earth.

     Our God chose to begin recorded history on our planet earth and that first male and female created were Adam and Eve, who began their lives in a location known as the Garden of Eden, a geographic location in the Middle East, most probably in modern day Iraq. Most importantly all must recognize that God allowed humans to exert free will in making choices. He did not desire we become "puppets." Lucifer/Satan, who will be covered in future writings, caused them both, by their expression of free will, to disobey God, thereby establishing his legal authority over the earth and its inhabitants. God established a code of justice that must be followed.

     I have heard the theory that, "If God is so powerful, why does He allow evil to prevail?" That is explained by a recognition that we have free will and if it is exerted in negative ways, we play into the hands of Satan, who is the god of this world. Our free will choice is to follow God's Commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight, so we will be armed against the forces of evil spiritually each day. That is the only hope we have to prevail against all the personal and corporate challenges besieging our personal peace and well-being. 

Avalon Chronicles #134: The End of the Dusty Trail!

      For the purposes of discussion let us assume our mortal lives are lived along a "trail." As a minimum the trail of our lives not only is "dusty," but, actually has side paths to explore to sidetrack us from our destination, holes, slopes and inclines, boulders, muddy areas, pools of deep water, rain, torrential downpours, snakes, tarantulas, bandits, dangerous wildlife and hopefully, a few covered rest places along the way. We keep wondering, when the dusty trail will end, so we may find a paved road and then perhaps we may even progress to where we encounter an interstate highway and it is a smooth ride to achieve the final destination of our travels, which is our afterlife. 

     The alternative to not ever coming upon the interstate to smooth our way and expedite our journey is also an option. It depends on our life's choices. For those that deny there is a God at all to those, who do not desire to be tied down to God's standards of behavior or just never get their act together, they can just keep on down that dusty trail. They probably never think about a way to avoid many of those conditions and situations in the beginning paragraph. But, there is a way! They may continue to experience the negatives of life because they received a poor financial upbringing, were wounded by sinful behavior of others, suffered Post Traumatic Stressors, were raised in unloving homes, were wounded emotionally, were let down by others, succumbed to the lures of greed, promiscuity, criminal or ethical failures, or were not fed spiritually in a worship environment. Those can all legitimately be reasons why some may never get off that lonely and tainted trail in life. 

     However, for all, the Creator of all, our Lord God Almighty, has established an alternative trail and path upon which to walk each day. It takes a commitment of a certain style of life, which may initially be challenging, but gets smoother each day. God created all of our home planet in seven days by the simple, but, powerful method of "speaking" all into existence, ending with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Their original fall from grace was due to disobedience and that is a key word, disobedience. The easy way in life is to be a "free spirit," not tied down to a faith walk, standards, integrity or belief in the Divinity of God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. The advantages of grasping and appropriating the power of faith in that Trinity are overwhelmingly positive, situationally, emotionally and physically. Once that decision is made to follow a new path, the trail straightens out, the dampness of the dew smooths the ground and the diversions and obstacles of our trails followed, lead sooner to the interstate. 

     Those, who choose to keep on keeping on, may do so, but with a different end. It brings to mind the two Christians beside the road, who held up placards proclaiming, "The End is Near, Turn Around." One approaching traveler, mocked them by saying, "You Christians, leave me alone!" He raced on past them and as he approached the precipice and fell into the raging waters of the river below, still in his automobile, one Christian said to the other, I guess we should have had another sign that said, "Bridge Out!" 

     If the trail you are on is a "Dusty One," try another trail! You make like it. 

Avalon Chronicles #133: "I Believe in Angels"

DISCLAIMER: Not for youth to read. Graphic.

     The spring of 1966 at Fort Hood, where I was on duty as the junior aide-camp to the commanding general of the second armored division (MG John E. Kelly, West Point 1936), was a very complicated and emotionally-trying time for me as a young Army lieutenant and graduate of West Point class of 1963. My then wife Jackie devastated me by very strongly indicating she desired I resign from the Army. My first pathway perhaps to deflect this was to transfer from the Corps of Engineers to the less "dangerous" Army Intelligence and Security Agency. Even after accomplishing this, she desired me to resign. I accepted my fate to depart my beloved Army. BG Robert H. Safford desired I accompany him for a tour in Korea as his aide. I knew this course of action meant I could return from Korea in my fifth year of required service and avoid an assignment to the war zone of Vietnam. However, my sense of loyalty to my duty, family tradition and West Point's motto of  "Duty Honor Country," prompted me to choose the "Harder Right" rather than the "Easier Wrong." I volunteered for Vietnam without informing Jackie. August 1, 1966 found me departing Love Field Dallas headed for Saigon. My original assignment as an interrogator of Communist Prisoners of War soon changed to become a staff officer in the Fifth Special Forces Group, the Green Berets. 

     A staff officer I was not to be, as I was assigned to a clandestine intelligence collection unit eventually called Project Gamma with my Detachment B-57 responsible for covert intelligence collection operations in Cambodia. I adopted a fake name and identification as Captain Allen Copley, infantry officer. Fast forward to mid-June 1967, in my 11th month of a 12 month tour. I was at Dak To Green Beret camp in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. A regular army North Vietnamese Communist battalion had crossed the border from Cambodia into our area and ambushed two of our patrols a few miles away. My Saigon-based commanding officer radioed me that he would be flying up to Dak To on Saturday June 17, 1967 to evacuate me from the camp due to the impending attack by the Communists. He arrived at 9:30AM that day as scheduled, but, I had already been medevacked  to the Army hospital in Pleiku. At 4:30 AM I had been the American on a tour shift in the camp on my two hour alert duty, when an intense mortar barrage began.

     During my actions to have our own mortars return fire and locate the enemy on the hillside to the south of us (eventually resulting in my being honored with the receipt of a Silver Star for Gallantry in Action), one of those rounds hit me to my left rear thrusting me on the ground on my stomach. From here I relate what transpired from the report to me (elaborated upon by me) by Green Beret Combat Medic Jimmy Hill in 2004. "I was in the bunker when I heard someone yelling '...my legs...my legs.' I went up to respond from my underground bunker and, as I started up, a blast knocked me back and a piece of shrapnel lodged in my left shoulder. Soon, I started back up the steps and team member SGT Cramer and combat medic SSG Leslie St. Lawrence brought you into my bunker on a stretcher with you on your stomach. St. Lawrence got to you fast. Your left leg was blown off below the knee and your right leg was broken in five places. You were bleeding to death with both femoral arteries severed and many other wounds. St. Lawrence had no clamps/instruments of any kind with him. He used his fingers to clamp down on the bleeding and hung on that way for a fairly significant time, until help arrived. He did this with incoming mortar fire coming in on both of you. Les was wounded, but not seriously and did not have to be evacuated."

     Hill continues in the bunker. "You were alert and oriented, however you were in shock. You kept telling me to help the others outside even though you had traumatic injuries to both your legs. You were going into shock from massive blood loss. Your blood pressure was dropping; veins were collapsing; weak pulse....I started the plasma IV, injected you with morphine in both legs and loosely applied tourniquets in the event the bleeding might start again. At the time you told me your real name and asked me to contact your wife and parents because you "knew" you were going to die. I told you, 'Not today...because you are my first American patient.'" In later conversations with Jimmy, with whom I have remained in contact, I told him had I known I was his first American combat casualty, I would have asked for a second opinion! Jimmy later told me "There was someone else in the bunker that morning!!!!!" I have often reflected as to whether it was an angel?

    Sgt. Cramer, also wounded, came by my bed at the hospital and I will always remember his uplifting words, "Captain, what you did under attack, reflects on you as a Special Forces officer." I have never related this conversation publicly, but have kept it close to my heart.

     Bottom line, when wounded, I also yelled out "Oh, God, I'm dead." I do not remember any pain after the wounding, never, ever all the way up to when Jimmy shot me with morphine. Do I believe in God and angels? An angel had to have been right there through it all and in the bunker, but perhaps even my God was beside me. The odds do not explain my living except by Divine Intervention! I have gone on to live a rich and fulfilling life, always cognizant of that Day of Miracles on June 17, 1967, three days before my 25th birthday. Yes, I do believe in angels. I had one beside me that fateful morning!