Avalon Chronicles #92: "Divine Encounters"

Avalon Chronicles #92: "Divine Encounters"

by Allen B. Clark    allenbclark@aol.com

www.combatfaith.com     www.combatfaith.blogspot.com

Hopefully this that follows will be viewed as more than just "what I did on my summer vacation."

Before any trip that Linda and I commence we pray for "Divine Encounters." These do not necessarily relate only to spiritual situations, but also to personal situations in meeting individuals or unique circumstances. Our recent cruise to England and several days there was no exception to the answers by our Lord to our prayer. We signed up for this cruise because there would be World War II veterans on the cruise making presentations on their experiences in WWII. They were sponsored by the The Greatest Generations Foundation. All were 94-98 years young.

Last spring for my West Point reunion we utilized a private car service for the journey from the airport to our Manhattan hotel. Our driver had been a Vietnam veteran also, a soldier with the South Vietnamese Army, who had escaped after the war and eventually came to the U.S., where he married a Christian and is father to two college grad children. He is a Buddhist. We related very well. On this trip, of 100 or so drivers for the car company, he was again assigned to drive us. When he arrived to pick us up, there were warm embraces of him by Linda and me as we reconnected.

Before we even departed New York harbor from the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, we were on deck looking across the harbor to Governor's Island and the Statue of Liberty and observed an older couple being videotaped. I heard "seventieth wedding anniversary" and Linda and I commenced to introduce ourselves and we struck up a conversation. Our new fellow shipmate was a D-Day and Battle of the Bulge veteran with his wife, daughter, and son-in-law accompanying him. We visited several times during our Atlantic crossing and will remain in contact. It is not a surprise that I connected closely with an affinity and respect for him that was mutual.

On our Queen Mary cruise last year I had attended the Sunday worship service and met a Nicci Pugh from England, who asked me if I were an amputee, after she observed my challenge in rising up from an armless chair. We discovered she had been a British Naval Nursing Sister on the hospital ship Uganda in 1982 during the Falklands War. She cared for the amputees on the ship during the hostilities. We also discovered she has the same surname as Linda's maiden name. She came to visit us on our trip to England after this cruise and gifted me a copy of the book she wrote, White Ship-Red Crosses, an engrossing book about personal stories of the wounded in action from the Falklands War. If anyone is interested in obtaining the book, email me and I will put you in touch with her.

We visited Exeter Cathedral and were there only one day and were able to enjoy a stirring event wherein the Royal Coldstream Guards band presented a concert the sole evening we were there.

Would that any of us be memorialized in such a remarkable way as was this man at Exeter Cathedral.

A few days before the commencement of our cruise I was with my daughter in Austin and we met an Englishman at an Austin hotel. I told him I was traveling to the Exeter area in Cornwall after our upcoming cruise. He stayed in touch with my daughter and obtained my telephone number. He has been involved in the entertainment industry and has managed rock bands. We were in Dartmouth, England and returning to a certain town after a train ride. Before our departure, I received a call from him asking me about my trip and inquiring as to whether we had already come and gone. I told him in fact we were still in England and would be arriving in 30 minutes at a certain station. He said he lived in that town. As it turned out he was shopping 200 yards from our destination train station and greeted us when we arrived. He is working on a show in the U.S. for a band and asked us to attend, if it is scheduled.

For two days we stayed in Chepstow, a town on the eastern edge of Wales, in a hotel that for several hundred years was a private mansion and estate. Get this! There was an active parish church next to the entrance, steps from checkin, so it was the first place ever on a vacation that we were able to begin and end our touring days with prayer in a church that was hundreds of years old!

On of the major destinations planned for this tour was Moriah Chapel in Loughor, Swansea, Wales. This was the site in 1904-1905 of the Wales Revival. It was initiated by Evan Roberts, a man of very modest means, who worked in the coal mines. It was at this home church of his that the Wales Revival began and thousands and thousands of people through services at Moriah and other churches in Wales came to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Weeks before our trip I contacted the church secretary and indicated we wished to worship at Moriah on Sunday August 5 and be their guest. My schedule changed and it looked as if we could not attend that day. The secretary messaged me a few days before the 5th to check on our visit. I told her there was a complication for my itinerary, but that I would contact her Aug. 3 to confirm our plans. I had by that time contracted a cold and told her we would not visit. We woke up in Cardiff on Sat. Aug 4 and Linda said, "Let us go to Moriah." I emailed my contact and had not heard back by the time we went there by train and were at the church with the taxi idling to take us back from the locked-up church. We were about to go back to the train in the taxi when a message was texted and she said she could come and open the church in an hour. We sent the driver away and awaited her arrival. A young man also showed up unannounced to the secretary, when she arrived to open the church for us.

As it developed he was a recent convert to Christianity from an Indian faith group and literally drove to Moriah from northern England to visit the church, but had no appt. as did we. (We have stayed in contact). He joined us and in the church we prayed for another revival and a return to the faith, which is lacking in their community as exemplified by very low church attendance. The secretary told us two special anecdotes: 1. That thousands of the converts in the Revival were Killed in Action during World War One and obviously were able to know of eternal life upon their demise and  2. The Revival changed the communities and whereas previously, the miners would get off work, and before going home, would congregate in the pubs and spend the money needed at home for food and clothes. With the changes manifested in the new converts, the pubs closed and the police had nothing to do in those communities!

This is the memorial to Evan Roberts outside Moriah Chapel.

A dear Dallas friend of ours, when we described our encounters recently, told us she had also prayed for us for 'Divine Encounters." Prayers were answered in incredible fashion!

Avalon Chronicles #91: "1776"

Avalon Chronicles #91: "1776"

by Allen B. Clark   www.combatfaith.com   www.combatfaith.blogspot.com

1976 was the Bicentennial year and communities all across America held celebrations and events to commemorate the adoption of our Declaration of Independence. It was my privilege to serve on the city of Dallas, Texas committee. One of the most significant memories of the several months of planning the commemoration was hearing the words spoken by Temple Emmanuel Rabbi Levi Olan; "The Fourth of July is a celebration of freedom rooted in a religious sense of thanksgiving to God."

The founding of our colonies was embodied in the Mayflower Compact, which could be considered the Genesis of the American republic in Biblical terms. In my possession and well-marked up is a book titled Unto the Generations written in 1968, fifty years ago this year. The author was Daniel L. Marsh, the distinguished  Life Chancellor of Boston University. I am grateful to him for some of the following profound writings of the significance and symbolism of the history of the United States of America.

Henry VIII of England broke with the Roman Catholic Church and established the Church of England in the mid-1500s. Over time adherents and worshippers in that tradition believed that  the Church of England needed "democratizing" and "purifying" in its worship. They became the Puritans of our early history and and eventually began a movement to what became Massachusetts in the early 1600s. By 1606 they were required to worship secretly due to persecution by the King. Some moved to Holland and a small group from there became our Pilgrims, who sailed to Massachusetts in 1620. On the ship the Mayflower Compact was signed, a document described in 1802 by John Quincy Adams, our future sixth president. He said; "This is perhaps the only instance in human history of that positive original social compact which speculative philosophers have imagined as the only legitimate source of government." Here was a document that bound together that tiny group of Pilgrims and it became the Genesis of our nation.

The Declaration of Independence became our "Exodus from human bondage" of the British Empire, which upheld the European tradition of their royalty that colonies were only "to enrich the mother country." King George III viewed our thirteen colonies as a cash register to take money through onerous taxes to pay off England's war debts.

On June 30, 2018 Linda and I were invited to a private viewing of the 1972 movie 1776, adapted from a Broadway play production. (The video is available for purchase and is available for viewing on Amazon Prime). The highlights of the film were innumerable, but three stood out especially for me. 1. The extent of the original regional conflicts that had to be ironed out to come to a consensus for unanimous consent for an agreement to declare independence signed by all the colonies. 2. The magnificent verbiage incorporated in the document by the consummate wordsmith Thomas Jefferson. 3. There was a special segment when a soldier dispatched from George Washington's Continental Army with a message to the Congress, related a battle in which he fought, where in its aftermath two mothers came to the battlefield to retrieve the bodies of their sons killed in action. (The latter touched me tearfully as a wounded soldier from the Vietnam War).

Much has been written and depicted as to the significance of the document, but, its essence is that within every human heart there is a desire for freedom and a breaking of the chains of enslavement by tyrants, oppressive regimes, and various "isms." In the spiritual world there is an opportunity, as in my faith tradition of Christianity, to break the chains of enslavement to addictions, wrong thinking and sin. I sincerely believe that God recognized that the bonds of enslavement in the royal systems of "divine right rule" could only be broken through a totally new system and that became possible only through the founding of our nation. The men and women of our original colonies shed blood, tears, and comfort to bring forth our republic. Very few true republics have endured through history and some so-called republics today are not really republics.

Americans, as we enjoy our holiday, attend parades, watch fireworks, and barbecue in our yards, let us never forget the legacy we enjoy of those colonists and their courage, sacrifices, and spirit. Let us never lose our freedoms and become another political entity someday discarded in the trash heap of history. We are a nation forged in fires of faith as a gift on our shores from our Creator God. Let us maintain our Republic safe from those, who believe one of the "isms" is preferable.

Avalon Chronicles #90: "51st Alive Day and 'Triggers'"

Avalon Chronicles #90: "51st Alive Day and 'Triggers'"

by Allen Clark      www.combatfaith.com     www.combatfaith.blogspot.com

Some veterans with post-war memories experience what are termed "triggers." For some Vietnam veterans it is loud noises that cause a startle response, the whirl of helicopter blades, or car backfires. For some recent veterans it can be as seemingly innocent as driving past street-side trash cans that in their war the enemy rigged with explosive devices.
Triggers for everyone may be past birthdays or anniversaries, good or sad, for deceased parents or loved ones, past loves, losses, or friendships. June 17 each year is my most poignant trigger.
June 17, 1967 became my ultimate emotional trigger and my "Alive Day." A North Vietnamese regular army unit the night before had set up mortar and rocket firing positions across the river from our Special Forces camp and began an intense heavy barrage at  5:30 AM. I was on duty as the camp's Special Forces man assigned to the last two hour alert shift for the night in our inner perimeter with my safe departure from the camp to have been four hours later. It will always be a mixed positive and negative torrent of memories for me. The positive, because I remained in the open, instead of seeking cover in a bunker, to call upon our own mortars to return fire and shoot flares into the dark sky. The negative, because that choice, placed me in the line of enemy fire with the devastating consequence of taking below my knees the full blast of shrapnel spread out from a mortar round landing to my left rear, causing both legs eventually to be amputated below the knee cap.
Often each year and especially on my "Alive Day" when I awaken, the vivid and horrifying memories of that turning point in my life invade my mind and emotions. In my church service today I teared during the hymns and prayers with sadness and recollections of the six of the other eight wounded in the attack (especially combat medic Jimmy Hill), some, who had attempted to help me or carried my litter. I had planned on going to the coffee hour, but in the exit line, Linda told the minister, who also was a Vietnam veteran, that it was the 51st anniversary of my wounds in Vietnam and I lost it. Linda and a high school sophomore, who at my suggestion is considering attending West Point with a career path to becoming an Army emergency care physician, walked me toward my car. I must admit some of my immediate emotion was due to what I knew she would face in her planned future career.
Thankfully, very few ever experience such a traumatic bodily "Alive Day," but,

later in life, by the grace and mercy of God and His Son Jesus, the Christ, I had and have my very positive and uplifting spiritual "Alive Day(s)" that really was and continues to be over many days, and now decades. It became and can be, the day(s) when we know without a doubt, that the only real essence of life is the spiritual, not the physical. In my Christian faith tradition I focus on the blessings that I know my final residence will be in Heaven, because I believe that Jesus died on that cross at Calvary in Old City Jerusalem and paid the price for the forgiveness of all my sins and ensured me the final gift of eternal life. Every day has become my "Alive Day" that I lived and will die as a child in the Family of God. (Photo above indicates how devastating was the damage of the enemy rounds. I was wounded to right of this spot.)

Avalon Chronicles #89: Daily Discipline I

Avalon Chronicles #89: Daily Discipline I

allenbclark@aol.com

www.combatfaith.com     www.combatfaith.blogspot.com

Reference: God's Generals the Revivalists by Roberts Liardon Whitaker House 2008

Liardon's book has a short biography of several men of God, one being John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church. He made faith in Jesus relevant to the common people. He "...pursue(d) a doctrine of complete consecration and holiness in every area of life,..." (35). This pursuit of holiness focused on a legalistic approach to "rules and moral guidelines," but had to get to the point that he understood "being made truly holy came only through the acceptance of what Christ had accomplished on the cross." (35). Early in his life he had to come to the understanding that it was not works, but by "receiving the gift of God's saving grace by faith." (36). The key breakthrough occurred when a Moravian minister convicted him of the understanding that Jesus Christ saved him specifically and individually. The Moravians gave to him and his brother Charles the understanding of the new birth, with the message of John 3:16 "...that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." For us all, that decision gets us into eternal life. (54). He went forward and at the writing of Liardon's book there were seventy million Methodists worldwide due to the conviction, service, and commitment of one man.

His lay preachers were to ask the following questions of class members they oversaw: (Presumably they were not to answer verbally!) It was an audit of personal behavior. Good works and behavior follows acceptance of faith in Jesus.

1) What known sins have you committed?
2) What temptations have you overcome?
3) How did God deliver you?
4) What have you thought, said, or done that might be sinful?

The above is a most worthy daily exercise for us all. The following scriptures are an example of a guideline for Daily Discipline so that they answers to the above could be mild and benign.

King James Version

Psalm 51: 10 "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."

Romans 13:14: "But, put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."

2 Corinthians 10:5: "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"

If we stay cleansed, then we know the following can be achieved, especially each day in big and small needs, with which we need help. When something is troubling us, stop, and ask our Lord how to proceed. Try it, it works!

1 John 3:22: "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight."

Avalon Chronicles #88: "Old Soldiers, Young Stories"

by Allen B. Clark

allenbclark@aol.com

www.combatfaith.com

www.combatfaith.blogspot.com

After my 50th reunion at West Point, I pondered whether I would attend my 55th. This past weekend I did for a very emotional trip down memory lane. My 1963 class at West Point graduated 504 cadets, 134 have passed on, therefore we have 370 remaining. Approximately 100 attended this 55th celebration at our Alma Mater plus spouses, children, and even an adorable 5 year old grandchild, Cora. Our name tags had our cadet pictures. Nice touch and most helpful!

It was incredible! My class of 1963 can be defined as a "war class." The vast majority of us served in Vietnam as junior officers, lieutenants and captains, with 20 of us killed in Vietnam. At least one war widow attended plus several more of those married to classmates deceased in recent years. Our reunion included attendance by one very special person, a daughter, Christine, who came with her son, Ryan. She never knew her father, who was killed in action. This was her second to attend and throughout our days she was busily engaged, constantly visiting her father's friends and receiving many warm embraces. Our war deaths left about 20 children, who never knew their fathers. The twin sons of a company-mate of mine attended and both Linda and I spent some time with these two terrific guys, sons of proud parents. In a culture with high divorce rates it was heartening that the other four of my company-mates attending are married to the same women they dated as cadets!

Our final ranks as general officers, successful businessmen, or decorated combat warriors made no difference to any of us. We are all mellowed out. Some walked very haltingly, some were in wheelchairs, some talked about illnesses and injuries, some from our common war, but, we were all bound together in the commonality of our long ago cadet days and times at war, when we were young. Many of us produced sons and daughters and even grandchildren, who joined the "family business," our nation's military.

We have lost 30 since our 50th reunion. Our first event was the Memorial Service for our departed classmates, held in our magnificent Cadet Chapel, rising majestically high on the hillside above the cadet area. This was followed by many of us walking amongst the grave sites in the West Point Cemetery, where our classmates and friends are in their final places of eternal rest. Our last day at the Academy was, as always, very poignant and emotional. We stood in two ranks on the parade field, marched on by ourselves innumerable times as cadets, while our current Corps of Cadets passed in front of us, literally feet away. There were murmurings about how "young" they looked. One can but imagine in our graduation year of 1963, when the class of 1908 watched us at their 55th, and probably made the same observation about how "young" we looked.

The class of 1908 graduated 108 cadets. Their 55th would have been sparsely attended, but, just as our "young" stories were of the Delta, Cu Chi, Parrot's Beak, Dak To, Ashau Valley, and Tet '68, theirs would have been of the Punitive Expedition to Mexico under General Pershing chasing Pancho Villa, the Moro Expedition to the Philippines, the trenches of Europe in WWI with the Expeditionary Force, Meuse-Argonne, Soissons, China, and Siberia. Some of them served in World War II. Our training camp at West Point is Camp Buckner, named after one of their grads as well as Hickam Air Force Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, also a namesake of a class member of 1908.

When I boarded the bus after lunch in our massive dining hall, where we ate beneath the time-honored mural of past military history, I scanned across to Trophy Point and Battle Monument, dedicated to the 2,230 Regular Army officers and soldiers, who died for the Union in the Civil War. Amidst captured cannon from the Revolutionary War to the Spanish-American War, there are links of the original chain laid across the Hudson River to deny passage up the Hudson River to the British in our American Revolution, so they could not separate our colonies. Many memories flashed through my mind of when we were young, but I exulted in the current reflections of my fellow "old soldiers" and classmates and wondered, if I would be able to attend the 60th. My Lord willing, I will walk again the sacred grounds of this bastion of our nation, knowing that I was a proud soldier of the United States of America, bloodied in war, but, a soldier, who did my Duty as I was called to fulfill it for my personal Honor in service to my Country.

Avalon Chronicles #87: "Words"

Avalon Chronicles #87: "Words"

By Allen B. Clark

allenbclark@aol.com

www.combatfaith.com

www.combatfaith.blogspot.com

Throughout our lives words have had incredibly significant meanings and impact. We have been inspired by words spoken to us personally, words from pulpits, words sometimes even from political rhetoric, words we read, and words we hear from movies and television. But, the most memorable words have been those spoken to us or those we have spoken to others, sometimes in anger or bitterness. Some have lifted us up and, unfortunately, we recollect most vividly those that hurt us.

In our conversation today my dear wife Linda recalled at this exact time in 1994 when her husband, Jack Frost, was in the final days of his life., which ended on New Year's Eve 1994. He was visited by his minister, who suggested to him that in these final days of his life, that he tell Linda all the positive things he remembered and appreciated about her. That he did and Linda has kept those words close to her heart all these many years. We need not await our final days to accomplish this.

We probably recollect all the negative and cutting words spoken to us moreso than the positive ones. The negative and cutting ones stick with us and deeply affect us. We find it very challenging to forgive those, who spoke them, and we neglect speaking the positive ones to those, who mean something to us.

Many of us will be with family over the Advent season. This may be the special time to relate to those we love all the positive attributes and uplifting experiences we have shared. Also, it is a good time to express regrets and ask for forgiveness of those we have hurt.

Some relevant scriptures in the King James Version by Tyndale House in their Life Application Study Bible:

Matthew 24:35 in the words of Jesus, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Neither will ours!

James 3:6, "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell."

Footnote: "A few words spoken in anger can destroy a relationship that took years to build. Before you speak, remember that words are like fire-you can neither control nor reverse the damage they can do."

This a poem written by Linda.

ARE YOU SURE?

Are you sure you really want to say this to me?
Have you thought it over carefully?
Once your words have fallen on my ears,
I may carry their pain for years.

Are you sure? Are you sure?

Words pierce my heart like no other can.
Words are the greatest weapon known to man.

Beyond the grave, the echo of words remain;
They kill life or cause it to renew again.

Are you sure? Are you sure?

Will the cost to me be too great?
These words that you contemplate,
Tossing carelessly into my life
Bringing into my heart this strife.

Please reconsider your thoughts,
Perhaps some kindness can be brought.

Rather than pain, some encouragement
To give some vision to which I might aspire;
For virtue, set my heart ablaze with desire.

Help me lift from earth's weary realm,
With eagle's wings into the light.

Help me set my life aright
But don't bring into my heart the night.

Avalon Chronicles #86: "Massacre and Veterans-Part 2"

Avalon Chronicles #86: "Massacre and Veterans-Part 2"

by Allen B. Clark  

allenbclark@aol.com

www.combatfaith.com

www.combatfaith.blogspot.com

It is time to get down to the core issue and the incident of pure evil of the Texas church shooter. My good friend and fellow veteran, Everett Cox, is the founder of Deliverance Ministry in Oklahoma City, where on Mondays he conducts training on deliverance, and individuals from all over the country travel to receive ministry by him and his team. His web site is www.delmin.org. He has been a guest in my home twice. At my age and at this stage of the final quarter of a life for which I am most grateful, especially after witnessing the horrors of my war in Vietnam and the atrocious events of death and suffering all over our country and the world, it is time to go past timidity and "political correctness." I believe decisively and unequivocally in strategic spiritual warfare, "demonization," and spiritual attacks on all us humans by the "tormenters" doing the bidding and orders of Satan. I will return to Cox's response to this massacre.

My dear readers, we are way beyond "touchy feely" and attempting to analyze wrongdoing by man's secular standards, environmental explanations, and conditions by skating around issues that have impacted all humanity since the fall in the Garden of Eden.

It has been my privilege in past years to have been a guest of chaplains serving the Warrior Transition Battalions of our ill and wounded military. I have sometimes been cautioned in my presentations about relating my own walk of healing from my wounds to refrain from direct proselyting of my Christian faith. It is agonizing for me not to tell the truth and the whole truth. So, this is how I approach the issue. I say, "I know there are in the audience Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, atheists, and Christians. If you desire healing, utilize whatever is your own faith methodology for your healing. As for me, it is my Christian faith that accomplished my healing from the body, soul, and spirit of agonies I faced."

In my Christian faith I recognize first and foremost the strategic war in the heavens above between God and Satan. I recognize that demonic spirits, the soldiers of Satan, have the assignment and authority at the tactical (personal level) to work us over to keep us separated from living a Godly life. These are the "tormenters" in our lives, who are allowed by God the authority to work us over if we have unconfessed sin and any lack of forgiveness. One of my favorite ministers is Derek Prince (now deceased). He was a prominent teacher worldwide and wrote prolifically. I have read twice his book titled They Shall Expel Demons. He wrote, "Demons continually seek to invade a person, but when the person is healthy spiritually, the spiritual 'immune system' within the person identifies and attacks the demons, and they are not able to move in and take control. Any kind of unhealthiness or emotional weakness, on the other hand, makes a person vulnerable to demonic attack."

I will say unarguably that all wrongdoing or instability in our lives is not necessarily due to sin, but can result from faulty choices. Also, all mental disturbances are not reflective of sin or demonic influence. Obviously, man's science through pharmacology must be utilized to heal or contain certain emotional and mental conditions.

In 2 Corinthians 7:1 (KJV) it is written, "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." In the Perry Stone New Testament KJV Hebraic Prophetic Study Bible his commentary on this passage is: "Sin affects the flesh and spirit, and it is manifested in our attitudes and actions. Some of the sins of the flesh are adultery, fornication, murder, stealing and so forth; but sins that corrupt the spirit are envy, jealousy, bitterness, unforgiveness, strife, and unbelief. Sins of the spirit affect our thinking, work against the mind, and defile a person's spirit. Fleshly sins are often visible, but sins of the spirit are internal and may not be seen, yet they are just as destructive." The shooter in Texas embodied many of the above characteristics.

Now, back to my friend Everett Cox and his conclusion on the church murderer. He says, "The only answer to this is he was demonized. Even President Trump says this was an 'evil act.' And more than likely in the '10% Group' as we call it where the demon (s) are in total control. We have had several cases lately of when the demons were manifesting, the person later had to be told what happened. No person in their right mind could go in and start shooting even children. Demons are the only answer. That being the case, we do have authority to shut demons down if we will use it. (Luke 10:19). Quite likely this was a demon of murder manifesting. I heard of a situation recently of where a man with a gun came in to a convenience store, the Christian clerk said, 'In Jesus' Name ...GO.' The man left even leaving his gun on the counter." Being disabled I have always reminded myself that this spiritual technique must be my weapon, if ever confronted by a bad guy.

For all of us, for ourselves, and in analysis of worldly evil and misdoings by ourselves and others, this is my conclusion. Evil or instability may have a medical basis that requires psychotherapy and pharmacology, but with the Christian spiritual dimension then especially necessary. It may require our own reflection and audit requiring our own confession of sin and imparting of forgiveness. But, it may require what is utilized by Catholics and formally exercised through exorcism or through a deliverance ministry such as that directed by my friend Cox. It is time in our lives to grasp the totality of mental illness, depravity, and sin in our own lives and in the world to grasp and take hold of these various means of addressing the issues. We veterans especially need these techniques for our healing.