Duchy Vanderbloomen, a Dutch cheerleader for De Pere High School in 1999, loves life with her Border Collie pet named ‘Ringer.’ Ringer is a most sagacious dog with an uncanny savvy, and he makes his mistress happy. A man named Flanders comes into her and Ringer’s life at Voyageur Park by the Fox River. This guy preaches Christ crucified and risen again to her. And she must make her decision about what she will do about Jesus.
THE DUTCH CHEERLEADER
By Mr. Morgan McCarthy
Flanders Nickels, a born-again Christian at eighteen years of age, was at Voyageur Park down the road from his parents’ place, sitting upon a dock in the Fox River. This city of De Pere had nice parks, and this park was always Flanders’s favorite. The year was 1999. Voyageur Park’s main shoreline, right here, had a sidewalk up on the bank that ran parallel to the river, and it had a main dock out in the river parallel to this sidewalk and less than a foot away from the land, and it had several lesser piers that extended farther out into the river, these piers connected to the main dock and at ninety-degree angles to the main dock. This bunch of docks swayed up and down and left and right as the river flowed. And right here where he was, at the farthest most edge of the middle pier, as he looked out into the broad and wide river, was a perfect place to pray under the sun. And this he was doing right now in joy of the Lord. His shoes were on this dock at his side, and he had no socks. And he splashed his bare feet around in the river as he sat there, and he prayed his thoughts now of prayer, “Lord, if You will, send someone my way to witness to about the Saviour of the world Jesus Christ.”
Page 1
After having said this in prayer, Flanders went on to praise the Creator for His making of the rivers of the world. Then he heard the still small voice of the Holy Spirit say unto him, “Turn around where you sit, Flanders.” The man did not know why he must do this in the middle of his prayer. But he did so anyway. Behold, a pretty cheerleader and her handsome Border Collie playing a game together!
It looked to be a race across these docks between loving mistress and adoring pet. The cheerleader girl was running as fast as she could in her white sneakers across the long straight span of dock next to the shoreline from one side over toward the other side. And her Border Collie dog was leaping from one little pier unto the next little pier, in the midpoints of these little piers. It was truly amazing seeing this dog frolicking with his mistress like this. This big dog had not the advantage of getting running starts to his great leaps, these little piers running perpendicular to the cheerleader’s big dock as they did. And yet he was still athletic enough to traverse the river between these piers in great jumps. And the spans of river that he did leap over were many feet wide. It was like he were a wonder dog. And this cheerleader were like a princess to him. And this Border Collie was ahead of his mistress in this most fascinating spree. And the dog pet came to what Flanders thought to be the finish line before the young woman did. Yet Flanders wanted to see more. And this dog turned back around and continued his race, and this young cheerleader woman in like went on to turn around and continue her race. Good! This
delightful game was not done yet. And the Border Collie increased his lead. And when he got to the other end, where this game had commenced, he stopped, looked at his mistress, cocked his head to the side at her, gave her a mischievous brown-eyed look, and barked out a “whoof,” at her. The dog won the race. And right after, the comely cheerleader came running up to him, herself coming in second in this race. “Oh, Ringer,” called forth the fair cheerleader, “you’re too much.” And the girl put her arms around this Border Collie’s neck and hugged him and kissed him most affectionately. And the Border Collie purred like a kitten and kissed his mistress most endearingly with his tongue.
Flanders Nickels watched from nearby. The dog was handsome. But the cheerleader was
Page 2
pretty. And indeed her cheerleader uniform was even prettier than were her attractive face and her slender form. Her cheerleader sweater abounded in maroon and blue and white. On the top was a field of blue with a maroon chenille emblem that read “REDBIRDS” in all capital letters. On the bottom was a field of maroon down to the hem. Between the blue field and the maroon field and to both sides were little fields of white. And threesomes of stripes did divide up her pattern of cheerleader sweater into true cheerleader fashion partitions. And, as for her long sleeves to this cheerleader sweater, they both in like were maroon and white and full of those triple stripes, and the cuffs were maroon. As for her cheerleader skirt, it was all maroon, and it had two white stripes running along at its edge, and it reached nearly to her knees. And the cheerleader pleats to this cheerleader skirt were knife pleats. And she also had on white socks and those aforementioned all-white sneakers. Flanders thought to himself in wonder upon such apparel, I can’t believe a girl can dress this way. Cheerleaders were the most exciting of girls to Flanders. How daring a pretty girl like this was to be wearing something this irresistible in front of all the world to see. This cheerleader girl was most classy of girls. He kind of wanted to ask her now, “Woman, would you become my homecoming queen?” Truly she must be a DePere High School Redbird varsity football cheerleader.
Then thoughts from the Holy Spirit bade him, “This girl, Flanders. Witness to this woman.”
And Flanders Nickels now remembered having prayed for God to send a lost soul his way to win for Christ. Of course. He had forgotten. This football cheerleader was the one whom God was sending his way in answer to his prayer. He must come up to her and tell her the Gospel, how Christ died for the sins of the world and did rise again from the dead. And this he went ahead and did right away.
His King James Bible in both hands, Flanders Nickels came up to this strange woman and her unique dog, and he asked her most directly, “Miss, do you know that a Saviour died for our sins and rose again the third day?”
“I have heard people tell me about the Saviour of the world, kind sir,” she said.
Page 3
“Are you born again?” he asked her.
“No. I am not at that,” she said, kindness in her features at his interest in her.
Yes. This was the one to whom he must witness for his Jesus. She had the Gospel in her head, but not in her heart. She heard about the Saviour, but did not know Him personally. She confessed that she were not born again. And she had come around hardly a few minutes after he had prayed that God send a lost soul his way to the glory of God.
“What’s your name?” he asked this comely cheerleader.
“My name is ‘Dutch Vanderbloomen,’” said the girl. “People call me ‘Duchy,’”
“Duchy Vanderbloomen,” he said. “Are you Dutch girl?”
“Uh huh,” she said with a nod of her head.
“That makes you a Dutch cheerleader then,” he said in hearty approval.
“That it does,” said Miss Vanderbloomen.
“I never met a Dutch cheerleader before,” he said. “I like that.”
“What’s your name, sir?” she asked.
“I am Flanders Nickels,” he said to the fetching cheerleader. Then he asked, “Would you mind if we sat down and talked about God, Duchy?”
“I’d be honored to talk about God with you, Flanders,” she said.
And young man and young woman found a picnic table nearby, and they sat down upon it, and the Border Collie sat down in the grass to his mistress’s right hand side.
“Would you mind if I introduced my wonderful Ringer to you, Flanders?” asked Dutch.
“I would like that very much,” said Flanders Nickels.
“Ringer, meet Flanders,” said the Border Collie mistress. “Flanders, meet Ringer.”
And Ringer extended his right fore paw for a shake, and Flanders took it in his right hand, and they shook friends in greeting and in instant good friendship.
Page 4
Flanders said to the Border Collie, “You’re an amazing dog, Ringer.”
“Woof!” replied Ringer.
“What did he say?” Flanders asked Duchy.
“He said, ‘Why, thank you, Flanders,’” translated this cheerleader mistress.
“You’re very welcome, Ringer,” said Flanders.
Ringer was a purebred Border Collie whose markings were all genuine black and white all throughout. In the middle of his black canine countenance ran a white line from above his eyes down to his muzzle. His ears were half-cocked. His eyes were brown. His tail was all black. But his most distinguished feature of his markings was there in the middle of his front left leg. The top of that leg was a simple black, and the bottom of that leg was a simple white. But the black above came to an abrupt end and the white below came to an abrupt start completely evenly at the knee. It was as if a Creator had drawn a “circle” there the way the division between black and white were a perfect straight line all around the leg there. Flanders thought to himself upon this so even a division of markings, It is almost as if the Maker had taken the white part of the leg and attached it to the black part of the leg. It was like the left front leg were two parts that were joined together.
Upon seeing this good man admiring her especial dog, Dutch asked, “Flanders, would you like to see Ringer do a trick?”
“I do want to see him do a trick,” said Flanders most eagerly.
“He knows lots and lots of them,” said the Dutch cheerleader. “What kind of trick would you like to see him do for you?”
“How about your favorite, Duchy?” asked Flanders.
“Oh good. That one,” said Dutch Vanderbloomen. “My favorite trick is also his favorite.”
“Let’s go and see what he can do,” said Flanders, getting excited.
And the mistress said to her Border Collie pet, “Ringer, do the ‘1812 Overture,’ for my new
Page 5
friend.”
And the Border Collie went on to act out the classic by Tchaikovsky with unparalleled canine sagacity and with a certain improvisation no doubt encouraged by his mistress over his many times with this same trick: First he brought his muzzle forward, then opened his muzzle and closed it down upon itself. Then he pulled back on his muzzle, his legs bending back from the pull. Then he opened his mouth again and shut it again. After this, he immediately ran back a few feet, and he got down upon his belly, and he lay his head down upon the ground on his chin. Then he brought his fore paws down upon his ears where he lay. And then he kept his ears covered and shut his eyes. Then he stood back up. This show was done. Thus was his trick with the 1812 Overture. And Flanders understood all of it beginning to ending.
The Dutch cheerleader mistress asked, “Flanders, could you tell what my Border Collie was doing?”
“Yes,” he said. “It was all about cannons.”
“Flanders,” sang forth Duchy, “no one else could ever guess it before.”
“Oh, Ringer is a most capable actor,” said Flanders. “I could see him grabbing a hold of the lanyard and pulling it back. And I could see him letting go of the lanyard and letting it go back to its place. I could see him running back from the cannon and covering his ears and his eyes from the noise of the cannon going off. I could clearly feel the blast of the make-believe cannon the way he got down to the ground and all. Your Ringer is a truly gifted dog, Duchy.”
“You comprehend him almost as well as I do,” praised Miss Vanderbloomen.
“I understand big dogs,” he said. Then he asked, “Does he do other tricks, too, Dutch?”
“Yes!” said Duchy. “I taught him to do a hundred tricks.”
“Why, Ringer is just like Lassie!” he praised mistress and dog.
“You speak words after my own heart, Flanders,” said the Dutch cheerleader.
Page 6
“You fell in love with Ringer a long time ago. I bet,” he said.
“He is the love in my life, Flanders,” said Miss Vanderbloomen.
“Did you know that God loves you and me so much that He died for our sins?” asked Flanders.
“He did?” asked Duchy.
“He did,” said Flanders.
“Even Ringer cannot do that for me, Flanders,” said the cheerleader at this park.
“God’s love for us is perfect love,” said Flanders.
“You did tell me that you wanted to tell me about Him,” said Dutch. “Are you a born-again Christian, Flanders?”
“That I am, Duchy,” he confessed Christ.
“Surely a Christian is the kind of person who knows Christ better than anybody else,” said the cheerleader girl.
“I know that I am going to Heaven, because I am born again,” he said. “And I know people go to Hell, because they are not born again.”
“I think that I am going down to Hell, Flanders,” said the high school cheerleader. “I am not born again like you are.”
“The Lord Jesus can change that for you,” said Flanders. “What one does with Christ down here makes all the difference for all eternity to come, Duchy.”
“Is that why He is called ‘the Saviour,’ Flanders?” she asked.
“Yes, Dutch. Jesus saves to the uttermost,” he told her.
She paused, spoke nothing for a moment, then said, “I had a bad dream about Hell last night, O Flanders.” And she said, “And I am still scared, even though it was just a dream.”
“Could you tell me your nightmare, Duchy?” he asked.
“I think I must,” she said. “Telling it to a Christian might make me less afraid for now.”
Page 7
And she told the kind believer her scary dream about Hell: “I found myself in a world full of darkness. I seemed to be in a narrow and very deep pit in the earth. My feet and lower legs felt wet and cold, and I looked down toward my uncomfortable feet. And I saw dirty stinky water up to my knees in this dark pit. I tried to lift my legs up out of the water, only to find that my feet were stuck in the mud that lay below the water. I could tell that my feet were both bare by the feel of the mud around my toes down there. I then reached out my arms in this blackness, and found that they could not stretch out far. Feeling around with my hands down here, I found that my pit was hardly three feet in diameter. I then looked upward from where I was trapped. Behold, I saw some light up in the sky! It was a full moon shining down upon me as a hopeful luminary. I then fought hard to get out of the mud and the water, and I tried to climb up out of this deep narrow hole in the ground with my arms hard against the walls of this pit. Well, I did get my feet out of the mud, and I did get my legs out of the water; but my arms could not let me climb upward in this pit. My hands kept slipping down the sides of this abyss. And I fell back down into the water and the mud. I looked back up at the good full moon. Lo, this moon had moved as it does in the sky. And the edge of my pit way up there was now blocking some of that moon now. A crescent edge to one side was now blocked by the edge of the aperture at the top of my pit. I was losing my moon slowly and steadily. God help me! I had to get out of this terrible well! And I tried again to climb the walls of my prison in the earth. I rallied and found the strength of a man in my dogged determination. I managed to climb up a foot higher in this abysm. But then my arm bent the wrong way on me, and I fell back down into the water and the mud. It was my left arm, and I think that I pulled a muscle in it. It hurt with a stinging. I didn’t think that I could use it anymore. I looked upward to see the moon. Alas, now it was only half there. One half of it was now blocked by the ground up above at the edges of this great deep pit. Lord, help! I then said to myself in a vow now full of adrenaline, ‘Dutch Vanderbloomen, you will get out of here.’ And I began furiously to try to climb up out of this dread world of darkness. I did not get as far up as I did in my last time, before I felt
Page 8
something happen to my other arm. This time my right arm had bent the wrong way. And I fell back down into the water and the mud. It was stinging painfully. I had now pulled a muscle in my right arm. And I knew that I could not use this arm anymore, either. Fear of eternity in my mind, I dared to look up at God’s divine moon, to see what was left of it for me to see. Of course, more of this moon was now blocked by the edge of the circle at the top of this well way up there. To my greatest fears, now only a crescent of the moon remained to shine down God’s light upon me in my terrible place of darkness. My arms were now too injured for me to climb. My legs were now too weak to get my feet out of the mud. And God was not here with me in this Hell. And my spirit was crushed. And my soul was damned. I cried out to the Lord one last time, saying, ‘God, give me one more chance.’ And the Lord spoke to me and said dread words: ‘Verily I say unto you, “I know you not.”’ And then the moon made by God disappeared from my view. And I knew that I would never ever get out of this world where there was no light. Then a demon called down from above in mock and gloating upon me, ‘”And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 25:30.’ Then he left me, too. I was damned to the place of utter darkness for ever.
And I cried, and I gnashed my teeth.” Having finished her nightmare narrative, she said, “That was my
nightmare in bed last night about Hell, Flanders.”
Yet, instead he said, “Would that Hell were just blackness and darkness, O Dutch Vanderbloomen.”
“What’s that mean?” she asked. “Can it get worse than that?”
“It can, and it does, and it is,” he told her.
“Then what is Hell most of all, if it is no light forever and ever, Flanders?” she asked, her bones shaking with apprehensions.
“Hell is the eternal lake of fire,” he told her in cogent clarity.
“That is worse,” she said in humility and understanding. Now the real Hell was even more
Page 9
dreadful to her than was her dream Hell. “I do not want to go down there and burn in fire, Flanders,” she cried out in perplexity. “I am afraid of Hell like never before.”
“That gives me hope for your soul to hear you say that, Duchy,” he said. “Just before I had gotten saved, I found a dread fear of Hell and its fire, too.”
“You were just like I am when you got saved then, Flanders?” she asked.
“Fear of Hell is a most good reason to get saved, Dutch,” he said in comforting words.
“That I am,” she said, “afraid of going to Hell.”
“Fear of Hell is also a most convincing reason to get saved,” he went on to say. “One could say that ‘I was scared right into Jesus’s arms.’”
“How did you get saved, O Flanders?” asked the convicted cheerleader.
“Because my best friend Proffery was an outspoken Christian. He told everybody whom he knew about the Saviour. And he told lots and lots of people whom he did not know about the Saviour. And he told me the very most about the Saviour. And he finally got through to me, despite my pride and my ignorance and my stubbornness,” said Flanders.
“How did Proffery finally convince you to seek Jesus for salvation?” asked the searching cheerleader.
“It was through a pair of Bible verses that his pastor had preached on in church that Sunday,” said Flanders. “Pastor had preached to his flock that morning that there was one sin that God could not ever forgive. It was called ‘the sin against the Holy Ghost.’ And it was found in Matthew 12:31-32. Right after Proffery had learned about this unforgivable sin, he rushed home to tell me all about it. He knew that God needed me to learn about this Bible passage, and that this bold new truth would take away from me any of my own reasons for not getting born again. One could say for me, that this was ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back.’ And it truly disproved all of my own beliefs about why I did not need God in my life.”
Page 10
“What were your beliefs about why you did not need God at that time?” asked Duchy Vanderbloomen.
“Oh, I believed that God automatically would forgive me for everything bad that I did in life no matter what I did and no matter what I thought,” said Flanders. “For a while there I had the perfect rebuttal to say to Proffery every time he told me that I needed to repent and get right with God. I always went ahead and told him, ‘You always tell me that God is a God of forgiveness, Proffery.’ And that always shut him up.
And each time he could only say to me, ‘I’ll pray for you, Flanders.’”
“Then what was this strange unforgivable sin that Proffery had to say to you?” asked the Dutch cheerleader.
“It is written, I now tell you, Dutch, ‘Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.’ Matthew 12:31-32,” recited Flanders.
“What do these two verses say? What is the sin that even God cannot forgive? What is this blasphemy against the Holy Ghost?” asked Miss Vanderbloomen.
“The sin of dying in your sins,” answered Flanders Nickels.
“Oh,” said Duchy. “I think I know what you mean.”
He went on to explain further, saying to her, “If a person lives a lost life all of his life and dies still lost in his sins, he must go to Hell. If a person rejects the Gospel all of his life and then dies still rejecting the Gospel, he must go to Hell. If a person does nothing about Jesus all of his life and then dies still doing nothing about Jesus, he must go to Hell.”
“That makes sense,” said Duchy Vanderbloomen.
Page 11
“God offers all people everywhere the free gift of eternal life. If a person chooses not to ever ask God for this free gift of eternal life, God cannot forgive that person that sin, and that person is damned,” preached Flanders Nickels.
“It sounds like an unsaved person has to ask God to get saved in order to get saved, Flanders,” said the cheerleader girl.
“And once a person gets saved, he is automatically forgiven of all of his sins,” said Flanders.
“And once he is saved, he is saved for forever, even if he sins again; and he will sin again. When he does sin as a believer, he must ask for forgiveness to keep short tabs with God. But no sin can keep a Christian out of Heaven, and no sin keep send a Christian to Hell.”
“It sounds like becoming a born-again believer is a win-win situation and like not becoming a born-again believer is a lose-lose situation,” said the Dutch cheerleader.
“A seeker of Christ has everything to gain and nothing to lose,” said Flanders Nickels.
“What did you have to say to him after he taught you all of that?” asked Dutch.
“I said, ‘I think that I need to ask Jesus to forgive me and to save me, Proffery.’” he said to Miss Vanderbloomen. “And he told me that the unbeliever has it the worst down here and the worse in the life to come. And he told me that the believer has it the best down here and the best in the life to come.
He also said that the worst that the Christian will ever have it is down here, and that the best that the non-Christian will ever have it is down here.”
“It gets real good Up There for the born-again Christian, and it gets real bad down there for the one who is not a born-again Christian,” said Duchy in spiritual understanding.
“Indeed Heaven and Hell, Dutch,” he said.
“What did you do then to become a born-again believer after Proffery told you all of these important things?” asked the teenage cheerleader.
“I prayed and asked God to save my lost soul so that I did not have to go to Hell,” he said.
Page 12
“It sounds real easy,” she said.
“I had to humble myself before the all-holy God,” he said. “And I was very glad to do so.”
“You prayed the prayer, and you got saved,” she said in scriptural discernment.
“Yes. I did,” said Flanders Nickels. “Proffery Coins led me line-by-line through that prayer, and I accepted God’s free gift of everlasting life in Heaven.”
“That is a very good thing for every person to go and do,” said Duchy.
“Would you like to pray right now and get saved yourself, Duchy?” he asked. “I can help you through the prayer as Proffery had helped me through my prayer.”
“I am afraid of 666,” she said. “What is the number 666? Before I become a believer, I want to learn all about that scary number.”
“Right now, if you pray and receive Christ as Saviour, you will never have to be fearful of 666, Duchy,” he promised her in truth.
“I want to know what that number means first, Flanders,” she insisted. “That number has scared me all my life.”
“Okay,” he said in constraint. He had almost won her soul, were it not for her surprising distraction about this mystery number of the world of the future. And he went on to teach her, saying, “It is mentioned in Revelation 13:16-18, Duchy, where it is written in Scripture, ‘And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.’”
“Woe! Six hundred threescore and six!” said Dutch Vanderbloomen. “Tell me everything that you know about it, Flanders.”
“The number 6, in itself, is man’s number, Duchy. And man comes short of the glory of God.
Page 13
And this number ‘666’ is a trinity of sixes. And in the Tribulation to come, there shall be an unholy trinity ruling the world—the Devil and the Antichrist and the False Prophet. The Devil will eventually come into and dwell within the Antichrist. The Antichrist will be the most tyrannical dictator of all time; he will be the official ruler of the world. And the False Prophet will be the Antichrist’s main
advocate. This Antichrist will force all the world to worship him. And this False Prophet will institute the number system—he will deceive all the unsaved of the world to have the number ‘666’ printed upon their right hands or in their foreheads. By this taking of the number, that person acknowledges Antichrist as God. Yet, by taking this number, that person can legally continue to buy and to sell in this life. People will be in long lines en masse to take this number. Without this number, that person can no longer legally buy and sell in this life. This number 666 is called ‘the mark,’ ‘the name of the beast,’ ‘the number of his name.’ This ‘beast’ is the Antichrist. In addition, no true born-again Christian will give in and take this number. And he will be hunted by the beast. And he will not be able to buy and sell. God is faithful, nonetheless. Yet many believers will by martyrs for Christ at the hands of Antichrist because of this,” preached Flanders eschatology.
“Now you make 666 sound like a good thing to take,” said Duchy. “Is there more to this number than what you have just said? I always thought that it was a terrible horrible number.”
“It is a most dread number to avoid even unto death, Duchy,” he said of this earth’s future. “You see, all who take this number are damned to Hell in the life to come with no way out.”
“That’s the scary number that has always terrified me, Flanders,” said Dutch. “I thought is was real bad.”
“It is written, ‘And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence
Page 14
of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.’
Revelation 14:9-11,” declared Flanders a most grave indictment.
“Woe! Woe! God means business!” said the Dutch cheerleader.
“It is the number that brings eternal doom,” said Flanders.
“Don’t take the number, and die of hunger and thirst; take the number, and go to Hell,” said
the frightened cheerleader.
“And not only that, Duchy, but even if the lost do not take the number, not only do they die of hunger and thirst, but then they still go to Hell,” said Flanders. “Yet, when a Christian does not take the number, when he dies, he goes straight to Heaven at once.”
“Even then, when that time comes, God goes to bat for his Christians,” said Dutch.
“He does,” said Flanders. “In Revelation 14:13 it talks about that. It goes like this: ‘And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.’”
“You do not fear 666, Flanders,” she said.
“Because I will not be here on Earth in those days,” he said. “I will already have been raptured up to Heaven before all of this commences.”
“Are people like me who are not raptured going to be left behind to face that tribulation?” asked
the searching cheerleader.
“All the born again believers will be raptured just before Antichrist comes. All the ones who are not born again believers will not be raptured just before Antichrist comes,” taught Flanders this
Dutch cheerleader. “Yes, all the lost people will be left behind to face that tribulation.”
“That’s I!” cried out Dutch Vanderbloomen. “I truly need to fear 666 and the fires of Hell that it
Page 15
will bring upon me were I to take that number.”
“Unless you were to let me lead you to the Saviour before the rapture takes place,” he said.
“When will the rapture take place?” she asked.
“Only God the Father knows, Duchy,” he said.
“Then I better get saved right away,” she said.
“Right now is the best time,” he said.
“Can I ask one last question?” she asked.
“I can seek to answer another question, Duchy, but the next event on God’s timetable is the rapture, and that is said to be imminent,” said Flanders.
“I’ll be ready to pray and get saved right after my last question,” she promised.
“Okay,” he said.
And she asked her question, “What did you mean by the number 6 falling short of the glory of God?”
“That is because God’s number is 7,” he said.
“God has a favorite number?” she asked.
“Seven is God’s number of completion and of perfection,” he said. “Just as six falls short of seven, man falls short of God.”
“Does Revelation or anywhere else in the Bible say more about God’s ‘seven?’” asked the teenager cheerleader.
“Yes. Revelation does at that,” he said. “I know of four verses in the book of Revelation that talk about ‘the seven Spirits of God.’”
“What are God’s seven Spirits, do you think?” she asked.
“I do not know,” he said. “It is a mystery to me, Duchy,” he said. “I think that I will have to wait until I get to Heaven and ask Him in order to find out the answer to that question.”
Page 16
“Four verses,” said Dutch. “Do I get to read them all out loud for myself, Flanders?”
“Why yes, Duchy,” he said. “I would love to hear you speak the Words of God.”
“You show them to me, and I will read them out loud for the both of us,” she said.
“That would make me most glad, Duchy,” he said. “Let us have some great fun!”
“This will be fun for me, too, Flanders,” said the Dutch cheerleader.
He turned to the first such Scripture verse that he knew of the four, and he showed his open Bible to the girl, and said, “Revelation 1:4.”
And she read it from the open page: “JOHN to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;”
He then turned to the second verse of the four which he knew about this topic, showed it to the pretty cheerleader of a woman, and said, “Revelation 3:1.”
And she read it from the open page: “And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”
Flanders Nickels then turned to the third verse of the four in Revelation about these things, and he showed it to her, and he told her, “Revelation 4:5, Duchy,”
And she read this verse that was upon the open page: “And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.”
Then, lastly, Flanders turned to the fourth such verse, showed it to her, and said to her, “Revelation 5:6.”
And she read it from in front of her, saying, “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven
Page 17
horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.”
“Seven is my second favorite number, Duchy,” he said.
“What is your first favorite number, Flanders?” asked the Dutch cheerleader.
“777,” he said.
“777!” she said. “A trinity of sevens!”
“God is a trinity,” said Flanders. “Indeed it is the holy trinity.” Then he said, “This is also called the ‘triune Godhead.’”
“I think that I know what that trinity is,” said Dutch Vanderbloomen. “That is ‘the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.’”
“Well said, girl!” he said.
“Now I am ready to get saved, and nothing will stop me or change my mind, Flanders,” she promised.
“Praise Jesus for the salvation of a pretty Dutch cheerleader’s soul,” said Flanders.
“What do I need to pray right now?” she asked.
“Just repeat after me and mean it from your heart,” he said.
The two bowed their heads for the sinners’ prayer, and Flanders began, “Dear Father:”
And Duchy Vanderbloomen repeated after him, “Dear Father:”
Suddenly Ringer began to give a warning of danger by way of a spooky baying. Both soul winner and mistress looked up from their prayer’s beginning.
Lo, suddenly a flock of big white birds with great white wings and long deep bills came swooping in unto them in their midst, causing mischief and wreaking havoc and interrupting this most urgent prayer.
“Flanders!” cried out the cheerleader woman, “what is all this all of a sudden?”
“I believe that is is a flock of pelicans sent here by the Devil,” answered Flanders in
Page 18
consternation and in spiritual discernment.
“What do we do now?” she asked. “A girl cannot pray with all of this happening.”
“I must try to chase them away from us,” said Flanders.
In his own knowledge Ringer understood what Flanders was getting at, and he at once turned on the flock of pelicans to seek to chase them all away for his mistress’s good sake.
The cheerleader herself also attacked the assaulting pelicans.
Duchy was swinging her arms and hands all about her head to swat them and to slap them and to get them out of here. Flanders was punching at them with his bare fists, trying to knock them down out of the air. And Ringer was leaping up and trying to bite them to wound them.
But the pelicans were many, and their adversaries were few. The many pelicans were biting upon the three of God with their big and long and deep beaks, and the three were getting cuts in their ears and in their noses and in their lips. And the flock of pelicans were also beating upon the threesome of the Lord with their strong and broad white wings, and the three were getting bruises in their hands and in their wrists and in their arms. And this army of pelicans sent by Satan were also scratching the three of the Lord most painfully, and the three victims were bleeding in their heads and in their necks and in their shoulders. And Flanders and Duchy and Ringer were being overcome by dozens of pelicans fighting for the Devil. Satan did not want to lose this Dutch cheerleader to God. And he sought to keep the cheerleader woman from praying for salvation by sending these pelicans their way, pelicans who were each possessed by a demon. Satan looked down from the sky, and he was well-pleased. Jesus looked down from Heaven, and he had great Godly compassion.
“It is not working, Flanders,” said Duchy. “We are losing.”
“Alas, Duchy, we cannot in our own strength chase these pelicans away from us,” said Flanders.
And Ringer sat there, intrepid, but wounded.
“Flanders, are we all three going to die?” asked the Dutch cheerleader. “I am not ready to meet
Page 19
the Lord yet.”
“I do not know what to do, Dutch,” said Flanders.
And Dutch said, “Here in a situation like this only God could help us.”
Of course! This was the time that the born-again Christian must pray to God for His help. He had not stopped to think about doing this at first. When this horde of pelicans had come attacking in the air like they did, Flanders had found himself so busy in battle that he had not found time to stop and think and to consider God. How foolish he was in this unusual oversight that he had just committed. He should have stopped his battle to pray for God’s deliverance from these pelicans from Hell. Right now was not too late for him to do this. In Psalm 46:1-3 it was written, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.”
Pow!
Suddenly the biggest of the demonic pelicans crash dove down upon the Dutch cheerleader from directly above, and his powerful aviary form struck the girl hard upon the top of her head with this sound that Flanders had just heard. Flanders heard it first, then saw the result after. And the result that he saw after this collision was the Dutch cheerleader being knocked out where she was standing, and her form falling straight down face first down upon the grass of this park, and her female self all spread out on the ground and not moving.
Were she dead? Were she alive? She was surely quite unconscious.
Ringer was the first one at her side. Flanders, right after, came running up to her as well. Ringer put his fore paw upon his mistress’s prone back and did whine in dismay and cares. Flanders
put his fingers to her wrist in great fears for her; he felt her pulse beating and alive. He and the Border Collie looked at each other. Flanders said, “She lives, Ringer.”
Page 20
In communication to the man, Ringer looked at him, then up at Heaven, then back at him. Flanders understood what the sensible Border Collie was telling him. And this flock of pelicans continued pecking and beating and scratching the two remaining advocates of Jesus. And Flanders now did what Ringer had reminded him to do. He prayed now. And in this prayer, he said, “Lord, please take away these bad pelicans out of this park from us right now if You would.”
Lo, God Almighty took away the violence from these pelicans for good. Suddenly these aggressive pelicans stopped their assaults. They stood there and looked at each other in curiosity and in puzzlement. And they suddenly looked to be normal wild pelicans now, and no more demonic pelicans anymore. In fact now they were every bit the benign and benevolent kinds of birds that pelicans had always been for the people of De Pere at this Fox River. This flock now wandered around peacefully about this Voyageur Park, got bored, looked for something to do, and then flew off one-by-one. And after a few minutes, the whole flock of bad pelicans turned good pelicans had flown away off to the other side of the river. And the pelicans were all gone.
God had turned the tables on Satan, because a born-again believer had prayed to the glory of the prayer-answering God, and because God answered that prayer for His glory. It is written in John 15:7, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”
Then Flanders prayed for the recovery of the knocked out Dutch cheerleader. And, behold, God answered this prayer at once as well. Duchy Vanderbloomen stirred where she lay, opened her eyes, and said, “My head hurts. What hit me?”
“You’re going to be all right, Duchy,” said Flanders in great relief. “God is good.”
“God is good,” she said in agreement. She rallied and managed to sit up where she was. She looked around where she sat with a daze still in her eyes. “Ringer, is that you?” she asked her Border Collie.
Page 21
“Woof!” replied Ringer in reply.
“Ah, Flanders, my rescuer,” she said, looking at the Christian man.
“Hurt and weary, but doing well, Dutch,” he said.
The Dutch cheerleader shook the stun out of her head, looked around clearly, and remembered what had just happened to her. “All those big bad pelicans are gone now, Flanders, Ringer,” she said.
“God sent them away,” said Flanders.
“I am ready for God now, Flanders,” said Duchy Vanderbloomen.
“Whoof!” replied Ringer in agreement.
And Flanders Nickels led her through the sinners’ prayer line by line: “Dear Father in Heaven:” said Flanders Nickels.
“Dear Father in Heaven,” repeated Duchy.
“Even cheerleaders sin, and I am one of them,” he said.
“Even cheerleaders sin, and I am one of them,” she said.
“Forgive me of all of my sins. I want to repent of them,” he said.
“Forgive me of all of my sins. I want to repent of them,” she said.
“I confess that Jesus the Lord died for my sins on the cross,” he said.
“I confess that Jesus the Lord died for my sins on the cross,” she said.
“I confess also that this same Christ rose again from the dead on the third day,” he said.
“I confess also that this same Christ rose again from the dead on the third day,” she said.
“I ask You now, ‘Would You become my own personal Saviour right now?’” he said.
“I ask You now, ‘Would You become my own personal Saviour right now?’” she said.
“Save my soul from Hell, and save my soul for Heaven,” he said.
“Save my soul from Hell, and save my soul for Heaven,” she said.
“I thank You, O Good Lord,” he said.
Page 22
“I thank You, O Good Lord,” she said.
“In the name of Jesus,” he said.
“In the name of Jesus,” she said.
“Amen,” he said.
“Amen,” she said.
Behold, the Dutch cheerleader was now born again into the family of God as a daughter of God.
It is written in Galatians 3:26, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Duchy had become a Christian.
It was a week later now. Duchy and Flanders and Ringer had recovered from their battle wounds from the pelicans. And they were all three on a first date here at Voyageur Park. Boyfriend and girlfriend and dog-friend were playing “keep-away” with a Frisbee in the green grass of Wisconsin.
Flanders tossed the Frisbee toward Dutch, but it went way over her head; she leaped to grab it, but missed, and it went on beyond where she was standing. But the Border Collie raced back behind his mistress, leaped high up in the air, and grabbed it deftly in his teeth, and landed sprightly upon his four feet. He turned back around and gave Flanders a brown-eyed look of gloat.
Flanders said to Duchy, “He’s telling me, ‘Ha ha!’”
Duchy said to Flanders, “Ringer got the Frisbee again this time.”
“Just like last time,” said Flanders.
“And just like the time before,” said Dutch Vanderbloomen.
The Border Collie then dutifully brought this Frisbee and set it down before the feet of his cheerleader mistress. And the cheerleader tossed the Frisbee back toward Flanders, and the dog in the middle raced back toward the fellow after the Frisbee. This time the Frisbee fell short of where Flanders was standing, and it landed in the grass five feet in front of him. Man and Border Collie raced
Page 23
to retrieve it. Of course the quadruped beat the biped to the Frisbee. And Ringer snatched it up in his teeth and did turn to look upon his mistress and cocked his head to the side at her.
“He’s grinning, Flanders,” said the cheerleader girlfriend.
“I did not know that dogs can do that,” said Flanders.
“My Ringer can,” said the Dutch cheerleader.
“He got the Frisbee again this time, Duchy,” said Flanders.
“Yes,” said Dutch. “And he probably will get it again the next time.”
“And he probably will get the Frisbee again the time after that,” said Flanders.
“How many times in this game did we get the Frisbee?” asked Duchy Vanderbloomen.
“I cannot remember the last time in this game that one of us got the Frisbee,” said Flanders.
“Ringer got the Frisbee every time. Didn’t he?” asked the new cheerleader convert.
“I do believe so,” said Flanders Nickels.
“Oof! Oof!” barked Ringer, and he dropped the Frisbee at Flanders’s feet.
“What did he say?” asked Flanders, picking up this Frisbee.
“He said, ‘I want more,’” said the cheerleader girlfriend.
“Look at him—not tired out in the least even though he did all the running, Duchy,” said Flanders.
“My arm is tired from throwing the Frisbee,” said Dutch.
“My wrist is sore from throwing the Frisbee,” said Flanders.
“Shall we rest up, Flanders?” asked the Dutch cheerleader.
“I had fun. Let’s rest up from our games,” said Flanders.
And the cheerleader mistress said to Ringer, “Good boy, we are done playing keep-away, and you won again. I love you, Ringer.” And she came up to Ringer with her cheerleader arms opened out toward him. Quickly forgetting this game, the Border Collie ran up to his adoring mistress and threw
Page 24
himself into her loving arms, and they kissed each other in the face in sweet affection as she hugged him.
“Hoof! Hoof!” barked out the handsome dog.
“He said, ‘I love you, too.’ Didn’t he?, Duchy?” asked Flanders.
“That he did, boyfriend,” said the Dutch cheerleader.
A moment of contemplation came upon the three. And Flanders said, “You are the pretty cheerleader among your cheerleader group of De Pere High School, Duchy.”
“I am?” she said, looking at him with a wonder and a hope in her eyes.
“If our high school had not already had its homecoming, you could have been like ‘my homecoming queen,’” he said.
“I missed out on homecoming this year, Flanders,” said Miss Vanderbloomen.
“I did, too, Duchy,” said Flanders Nickels.
“We can still be girlfriend-and-boyfriend even without homecoming, Flanders,” said the football cheerleader.
“Indeed, Dutch, girlfriend-and-boyfriend-in-Christ,” said Flanders Nickels.
“Yes! Yes!” said the varsity cheerleader. “That is even better.”
“My Dutch cheerleader, would you become a lonely Christian boy’s ‘Homecoming Queen?’” asked Flanders Nickels.
“My boyfriend-in-the-Lord, would you become a Dutch cheerleader’s ‘Homecoming King?’” she asked.
“Amen to that, girl!” he agreed with her.
“And I say, ‘Amen,’ too, to that, handsome fellow,” agreed the Dutch cheerleader with him.
It is written in Jeremiah 33:3, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”
Page 25
