The Eighteen-Year-Old Woman”: “Miss Lassey Mare, the eighteen-year-old woman, leaves the house to get away from the two men talking about Christ to her parents and siblings. She goes on a walk all night in the light of the full moon, coming upon countrysides and realms of God. In each place from God she discovers a truth that she needs to know about seeking salvation. In her moment of decision for the Saviour, the Devil sends trouble her way to keep her from praying for salvation. But God is watching from Heaven.
THE EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD WOMAN
Mr. Morgan P. McCarthy
The eighteen-year-old woman found herself standing before a dark flowing waters of creek in the deep of late night. The bright full moon shown down upon this world preternaturally brightly. It had to be close to midnight by now. Where the moon shown upon this creek, the waters were bright white; where the moon did not shine upon this creek, the waters were dark black. She was a cheerleader. Her cheerleader sweater was black and white and with gray stripes, was thick and warm, had long sleeves and cuffs, and had a hem along its bottom. Her cheerleader skirt had box pleats, eight black pleats with eight contrasting white pleats, was light and lustrous, and reached nearly to her knees. Her lower legs and her feet were covered in black knee socks with white stripes. And over her feet she had black canvas sneakers with white shoelaces and white soles. And in her pretty and long brown hair she had black and white ribbons blowing about in tonight’s wind. She wanted to cross this creek and continue on across on the opposite shore. Standing upon the bank on this side of the creek, the eighteen-year-old woman reached in her left foot into the creek tentatively. It got cold very quickly—knee socks and sneaker and foot and all—and she brought it back up out of the water and back upon
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the warm dry earth beside her right foot once again.
Her name was “Lassey Mare.” Miss Mare had a visit from two men from a Baptist church today at home at Mom and Dad’s house. These two men—Pastor and Usher—had said to her family, “Only born-again Christians get to go to Heaven when they die.” Instantly the eighteen-year-old woman spoke and said, “Crazy idea. Makes me so mad. Arrogant religious people talking.”
But in the end, Mom and Dad and the rest of the family agreed to pray and get saved. And Lassey Mare said, “I’m getting out of here. Mom, I’m going for a walk. Dad, I’ll be back later.”
And the eighteen-year-old woman fled the house so as to not see her family get like these two Baptist men. And now here she was, several miles from home on a walk in progress now since the middle of this evening. And she felt a great need to get across this cold dark creek to get farther away from her family. She then put out her right leg down toward the creek. And this time she put her whole lower leg down into it. And all of her right knee sock and its leg and foot and all of her right sneaker and its foot got cold and wet. And she raised her right leg back up to the bank where she stood. And she shivered. It was cool late September right now in northern Wisconsin’s rustic wilderness. The eighteen-year-old woman had traveled through many little pastoral havens in this dark of this late night, and they were enhanced by stillness and darkness of countryside. But now she was troubled not at what the Baptist church people had said, but now at this creek that balked her on her walk to get away. And those words still offended her spirit–”Only born-again believers does God allow in Heaven.”
Tenacious and hasty, the eighteen-year-old woman then reached out her long sleeves down into the creek. If she could get used to this cold water a little at a time in this way, then she could go ahead and cross this narrow little creek on foot and get to the opposite bank and continue on her journey. Why did she have to cross this creek? Where was she going? What was she looking for? She knew not the answers to any of these three questions. It were as if a Holy Spirit were leading her. Leaning too far over the bank to get her arms wet, Lassey Mare fell head first down into the flowing waters.
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And she got her whole cheerleader uniform and all of her whole self inside her cheerleader uniform all quite drenched. And when she stood back up to her waist in the creek, she squeezed the water out of her long straight hair and wiped her eyes and shook her head. and the water dripped down upon the creek all around her. Yet the eighteen-year-old girl decided to laugh with herself. “Silly woman,” she chided herself in fun. And now she could continue her journey to somewhere that she needed to be.
And Lassey Mare went ahead to wade across the creek, climb up upon the opposite shore, and to squeeze water out of her pleats and out of her sweater patterns. Then she saw a little bridge that she had not seen before. It was a platform of two eight-by-eight beams crossing the whole span of this creek coming up to here from back over there. It was hidden away from the moonlight and in the shadow of many shrubs and little trees off to the side a dozen feet. No wonder she had not seen this makeshift and basic bridge there in the shade of night. “Silly eighteen-year-old woman,” she teased herself. “But at least I can keep going on,” she then said about continuing her walk to nowhere that she could tell of.
And now, at this point in her lengthy trek, Lassey began to dwell in gloom upon her creed of annihilism. She wondered upon the following in a verbal little soliloquy to herself: “Lassey, where do you think that you will be about a hundred years from now? Will you not return to the earth and be no more at all? Surely your dead body will no longer ever live again. You should end up just six feet under. When a person or animal dies, they are simply ‘no more.’ What if that happens to you? You shall be no more at all. That will happen to you. ‘Death,’ by definition, can only mean ‘the end of life.’ It is the end of all that you ever were as a woman. It is the end of all that you know and of all that you love and of all that you hate. It is the end of all that you see and hear and feel and taste and smell. Why, you shall become dust!”
Now as she was walking, Lassey Mare began to think upon what the pastor and the usher had told her that at first made her angry at them. She could tell that when they claimed that only born-
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again people went to Heaven, that they were not saying that those not born again were going to be annihilated. She knew then and now that when they said that only Christians could go to Heaven, that they were saying that all non-Christians had to go to Hell. She was of all people the most non-Christian. Yet now she came to first doubt her doctrine of ending up six feet under. Was hellfire worse than being no more at all? What was worse and which was true? If she were annihilated at death, then she would never have to endure the burning lake of fire that everybody had heard that Hell was. But then she would be dust. And if she were damned at death, not having become a believer, she would be on fire forever. But at least she would still be alive somewhere after death.
But she had hope. Those godly Baptists had hope; they said that they knew that they were going to Heaven. What if she had what they had? What if she were to get like them and not have to be afraid any more of dying? Heaven must truly be an even better Place than out here in the mysteries of northern Wisconsin of dark moonlit night. Was she to see God if she were to get There? Now would Mom and Dad be there to share Heaven with her if she got saved like they just did? Was this Heaven perfect peace and perfect love and perfect joy? Maybe seeking Christ might not be such an icky idea after all. Surely her carnal offense at this Jesus was not at all worth going to Hell for! Maybe this eighteen-year-old woman was all wrong about this Saviour of the world. He loved her. Maybe she should love Him back. But how could she go about and do this? Mom and Dad could tell her. It had happened for them all of a sudden with the words of those Baptist Christian men before she had stormed off like she did. Now she was sorry for having fled the pastor and his usher. She could go to them and get saved. Or she could talk to her brothers and sisters who were praying probably at the same time as Mom and Dad was when she was out on her walk. They could lead her to salvation.
But then a still small voice told her, “Lassey Mare, do not go back right now.. Do continue this journey. And when you get to the place, you will be ready for Me. Your site of salvation awaits you up ahead, Miss Mare.”
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This whisper was quiet like a gentle breeze, but it had the power of the Words of God. And the eighteen-year-old woman obeyed God’s Words. And she continued her trek of a hike.
Soon she stood in a meadow before a forest of many towering evergreens as high as the sky. In this meadow the moon shone down white light everywhere. In that evergreen woods, all was dark as if there were no full moon tonight. This meadow comforted her. That forest discomfited her. But the quiet divine voice said to her, “Go into the dark woods, O Lassey.” And Miss Mare went into the dark woods. Then the voice from Above said to her, “Find the coniferous tree whose trunk you cannot put all of your arms around, my cheerleader.” She obeyed this Sovereign Power and began to test the evergreens with her arms. And she soon found one so big that her arms could not reach all around it.
The still small voice then said, “Woman seeking truth, now climb this evergreen tree as high as a woman can without breaking a branch underneath her feet near its top.” And the eighteen-year-old woman obeyed at once this Powerful One of Above. She climbed up this tallest tree of the forest to its top and stood upon the smallest branch up here that would not break with her weight upon it. The full bright moon shone down upon her head and the rest of her once again now that she was above the woods and no longer within the woods. And the Word of God bade her, “Hold on and look about in my second heavens, O young woman.” Lassey held on to this top portion of the trunk way up here with one hand, stood steadily upon the branch underneath her sneakered feet, and she looked up above her head to outer space.
Behold, a shooting comet! It was rocketing through outer space from her right to her left. And she could see its myriads of ice crystals that made up its comet’s tail. The head of the comet gave even more light down upon her than even this full moon did. It was a spectacular heavenly phenomenon for the eighteen-year-old woman to witness. And as she watched it zoom by, she said to herself, “What God wrought in this mighty comet!” And then it was past and it shot away and got smaller very far away very quickly. And Miss Mare prayed to the Maker of this comet, “Lord, You created this comet.
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You sent it here, and You sent it away. You know where it had come from, and You know where it is going.” On the top of this swaying big tree way up here, the eighteen-year-old woman began to reflect upon creation. Who made the night dark? Who made the moon and all of those stars? Who made the day light? Who made the sun? Who made the sunrises and the sunsets? Who made the dawns and the dusks? Who made the twilight of the morning and the twilight of the evening? Who made this evergreen upon which she stood? Who made this forest of all of these evergreens?
She further reflected upon all that was made: Who gave cheerleaders and football players life in
their high school years? Who gave cheerleaders their pretty voice to chant cheers? Who gave cheerleaders the strength to skip and hop and prance about in their cheerleader uniforms? Who gave young women the gentleness and delicateness to cheer their team on? Who gave football players the size and strength to play for their high school? Who made eighteen-year-old men handsome? Who made eighteen-year-old women pretty? Who made the joy of high school dating? Who made her cheerleader uniform? If a man did, Who made the man who made the cheerleader uniform? Indeed Who was the Maker of the maker of her special black and white and gray cheerleader outfit?
Who had made herself? Who had created her? Who had first wrought her? Her Creator and Maker and Wise Designer was truly the Lord God Himself! And the eighteen-year-old woman now knew that she had a Creator. He was Jesus Christ. And she was accountable to Him in how she lived her life. This was the first thing that she learned about seeking that Saviour of the world.
Then she heard in her spirit that voice of the Holy Spirit of God again. He said, “Climb down and walk again a little farther for now.” In obedience, Lassey Mare climbed back down this evergreen that reached into the skies, careful not to snag or catch her pleats and all in any of the branches. And when she put her feet back down upon solid ground, she was grateful for the safety of standing upon the earth again. She paused to brush off twigs and pine needles from her sweater and her skirt where she stood. Then she resumed walking north as she was before she had climbed this tree.
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Very soon after she came out upon a wide moonlit clearing of open meadow. This meadow had field grass blowing in the wind, whose heads were up to her shoulders. Without hesitation, and finding encouragement from the full moon now unabated, she stepped out into this field and continued her trek of the dark of night. Grasshoppers were jumping off to the sides out of her way. Crickets sang their autumn songs. And coyotes howled in the night off in the distance. Then she saw a clearing in the middle of this clearing. In the moonlight she could see a plot of this meadow with short green grass like unto a mowed lawn. This lawn looked to be about one acre, and it was a circle of area, and it looked like holy ground. She came up to it and stood before it, saw a shrine of stone tablets therein, and took off her shoes and socks. And she, carrying her shoes and socks in both hands, stepped out into this lawn within the wild field. She came up to these tables of stone. Giving light to these two stone tablets were a semicircle of seven little fire pit fires in front of them. A voice from Above said with the sound of many waters, “These seven fires give light to the Word of God. They are the seven Spirits of God sent out into the world. My seeker, read thus the ten commandments in the light of My seven fires.”
Shaking in fear of God Almighty, the eighteen-year-old woman fell down upon her knees in respect before these two tablets of stone, and this was what she did read therefrom:
“I
Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
II
Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing
that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the
waters beneath the earth:
Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the
Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that
hate me,
And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my
commandments.
III
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Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord
will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
IV
Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded
thee.
Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:
But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt
not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant,
nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle,
nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy
maidservant may rest as well as thou.
And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that
the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by
a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee
to keep the sabbath day.
V
Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded
thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee,
in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
VI
Thou shalt not kill.
VII
Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
VIII
Neither shalt thou steal.
IX
Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
X
Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet
thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant,
his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour’s.”
In great spiritual discernment, Lassey Mare cried up to Heaven, “Lord, I have broken these ten commandments.”
And God the Father called down to her from Heaven, “It is written in Galatians 3:24 about these ten commandments, ‘Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be
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justified by faith.’”
“I am a sinner!” cried up to God’s throne the eighteen-year-old woman.
And now Miss Mare learned the second thing that she needed to learn before seeking Christ as Saviour. She learned that she had sin in her life. She now knew from this journey on foot that she had a Maker and that she sinned in her life. There was more for her to learn now about seeking salvation.
A Holy Ghost wind blew in her ear, telling her to proceed farther out into the night. She then got back to her feet, walked across this holy ground of lawn to its end, and stepped out into the field grass, and put her cheerleader knee socks and cheerleader sneakers back on her feet. And she resumed her nocturnal walk in Wisconsin’s north country.
After a while she came to the end of this field grass meadow and came upon a road, a rural county highway. She saw the sign read, “County Trunk ZZ.” She looked left. She looked right. She began walking left down this countryside road. After about a half a mile, suddenly a quake shook the earth under her feet. She gave forth a shriek and turned to flee and fell back upon her hands and knees.
She quickly turned back around to see, her cheerleader form still upon her hands and knees on this road. Behold a bottomless pit opening up right across the road real nearby, the earth opening up from her left to her right just up ahead. It spread from one hundred feet from the road on one side, breaking up the roadside and ditch and shoulder and road on the one side, and it went across to one hundred feet from the road on the other side, breaking up roadside and ditch and shoulder and road on this other side as well. And the great fires of below filled this air with smoke and burning heat and light of lava. There below had to be Hell itself in its scorching torments of heat for the damned. Too afraid to get back to her feet, Lassey Mare next saw a dragon with red eyes and with black hide and with dark wings and with two horns on his head come up out of this bottomless pit’s new aperture up here before her. This had to be a demon from Hell. Glaring upon the eighteen-year-old woman on her hands and knees,
this dragon said to her, “We from down there are for adultery and for fornication and for uncleanness
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and for lasciviousness and for idolatry and for witchcraft and for hatred and for variance and for emulations and for wrath and for strife and for seditions and for heresies and for envyings and for murder and for drunkenness and for revellings and for all such like.”
The Holy Ghost bade her, “My seeker, seek not these seventeen works of the flesh.”
Then the demonic dragon said to her about the Holy Ghost’s message, “Yea, hath God said just now?”
And the Holy Ghost rebuked this dragon demon, “O unclean spirit—Thus saith the Lord!”
Lo, the devil’s dragon tripped and stumbled and fell back into the bottomless pit. And the earthquake shook the ground underneath Lassey Mare’s hands and knees, and the bottomless pit shut back up again, sealing the demon back down into Hell. And the earth stopped quaking.
And the eighteen-year-old woman now knew that Hell was for fallen angels like this dragon and for people who died without the Saviour.
And Lassey found a most powerful and profound wisdom about Hell that convicted her of her need of a personal Saviour all her own. If Hell were only for the angels who rebelled against Jesus and for those who died having rejected this same Jesus, she needed this Jesus very bad to stay out of there.
Miss Mare now learned most clearly a third thing that she needed to know about getting saved: and that was that she needed Jesus as Saviour to save her from the fires of Hell. So far in this trek across the nighttime this eighteen-year-old woman learned that Jesus was her Creator and that she was a sinner on her way to Hell and that only this Jesus could save her from her sins.
She now found her strength back, and she stood back up, and she looked back toward where she had come. When she had first stood upon this county trunk, she had begun by going down this road off to her left. Now she knew that the Holy Spirit wanted her to go down this county trunk off to her original right from where she had first stood upon this road. So that she did; she began to walk back down this road the other way. And she got to her original place on this County ZZ, and she walked
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another half a mile on from there.
She again paused to look upon this night’s moon so big and bright. Behold, a glistening silver form passing before it in these skies of night. The eighteen-year-old woman gazed in curiosity and anticipation. It began to come down toward her from above. And soon she discerned a silver unicorn with large silver wings. An angel from Heaven was coming down to visit her. And he lighted upon County ZZ before her. And he spoke and said, “Fairest eighteen-year-old woman, we angels of Heaven are for love and for joy and for peace and for longsuffering and for gentleness and for goodness and for faith and for meekness and for temperance.”
Then a voice called down from Heaven from God the Father with the sound of many waters, “Good cheerleader woman, take heed to follow these nine fruits of the Spirit, in this life in Christ, and you will be rewarded in your life to come.”
Then this unicorn angel spoke again and said to Lassey Mare, “The saints in Heaven, milady, have been washed, have been sanctified, have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
In keen insight, Lassey asked, “Good angel, does that mean that God takes away the sin of His believers the moment they get saved?”
“’The saints have been washed’–the Saviour has cleansed them from all of their dirty sins. ‘The saints have been sanctified’–the Saviour has set them apart for Godly living. ‘The saints have been justified’–in the eyes of their Saviour, it is just as if they had never sinned,” preached the unicorn his Word of God.
“Jesus does all that to a person when he or she gets saved?” asked the eighteen-year-old woman.
“He cleans up dirty sinners so that they can go to Heaven and be with Him,” said the silver unicorn.
“Do Christians not sin?” asked Lassey Mare.
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“Christians are not sinless, but they do sin less,” preached the angel unicorn.
“What’s it like where you are from, O silver unicorn?” asked the eighteen-year-old woman.
“What is Heaven like, do you mean, O fair cheerleader?” asked the unicorn.
“Is it beautiful There where Jesus is?” asked Miss Mare.
“It is written about Heaven, ‘And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth it, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.’ Revelation 21:22-27,” recited the silver unicorn angel good Scripture.
“God’s Heaven is a happy Place. God’s Heaven is a beautiful Place. God’s Heaven is a holy Place,” said the eighteen-year-old woman.
“Heaven—don’t miss it for the world,” preached the unicorn angel.
“I had used to be so Earthly-minded that I was no Heavenly good,” said Miss Lassey Mare in self-effacement.
“It is best to be so Heavenly-minded that you are no Earthly good,” said the silver unicorn.
“I believe in Heaven now,” said Lassey.
“Believing in Heaven is good. Believing in the God of Heaven is better,” said the silver unicorn. And with this, he lifted up off of the ground and ascended to the nighttime sky and flew back up to Heaven.
And the eighteen-year-old woman now learned another eternal truth that she needed to learn in her seeking the Saviour. And that was that the Saviour Jesus Christ was the one and only way to
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Heaven. With Christ as Saviour she was going to Heaven. Without Christ as Saviour she was not going to Heaven. She would miss out on this most very good thing if she died without Christ. This good thing was called both “the free gift of eternal life” and “the free gift of everlasting life.”
Miss Lassey Mare now stood alone upon this county trunk road. She had learned four things now vital to her seeking of salvation—one, that the Saviour was also the Creator; two, that she had dirty sin in her life that offended the holy Saviour; three, that the Saviour wanted to keep her out of Hell; and four, that the Saviour wanted to keep a place in Heaven for her.
Continuing onward down this county trunk road, suddenly she came up to a “dead end,” sign and the abrupt end of this road with no place to go straight or go left or go right. Beyond the end of this road was a cornfield ready for cultivation, tall and green and full of cobs. In this bright moonlight she could see nice even trails, wide and long, between the even rows of corn. She had to pick a trail and walk down it. The Holy Spirit bade her to pick any path, and He would lead her His way. And she picked the one right in the middle of this road where it did end.
Walking down this cornfield, she could see the tops of the stalks just above her eyes. Then, after a long while, she could see a form of a man just up ahead, coming toward her in her trail and struggling in gait. They drew closer to each other, and Miss Mare discerned a man bearing a large cross along his back, a man in a first century tunic and with short hair and with a long beard. This man then looked up to Heaven and said, “I feel privileged, O Heavenly Father, to have carried this cross for Jesus a short distance.”
Nonetheless, the eighteen-year-old woman asked him, “Sir, are you Jesus?”
“I am not, O young woman,” he said. “My name is Simon, the father of Rufus and Alexander.”
“That is a heavy cross to carry through the cornfield, O Simon,” she said.
“Not so heavy for me now as it was for Jesus down the Via Dolorosa,” said this man.
“Where are you going with Jesus’s cross, Simon?” asked the eighteen-year-old woman.
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“To Mount Calvary just outside of Jerusalem,” he said.
“But that’s a long way from here,” she said.
“Not for me,” he said. “This is a vision. Things are different in visions.”
“Didn’t the cross happen already long ago?” she asked.
“That it did, and it cannot happen again,” he said. “But this is a dream, and dreams are not real.”
“What happened on the cross that first time in the real world, Simon?” she asked.
“Jesus was crucified on the old rugged cross,” said this cross-bearer.
“How come?” asked Lassey.
“All because of your sins and my sins and everybody’s else sins,” he told her.
“Are you saying that Jesus died on the cross for my sins?” asked the eighteen-year-old woman.
“It is written, ‘But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot:’ I Peter 1:19,” said Simon.
“Do you mean that God shed His own blood because of and for me?” Miss Mare asked. He nodded. “And God died for me?” she asked. He nodded again. “And He did all of that on purpose?” she asked. He nodded.
And he said, “God loved you so much that he willingly laid down His own life on this cross of Calvary for you and me and everybody else.”
“That’s terrible. And that’s wonderful,” she said.
“Only His blood atones for our sins, because only His blood is perfect. He never committed even one sin in His life; hence His perfect redeeming blood,” said Simon.
“That should have been me on the cross. I am so glad that it was Him on the cross instead,” said Miss Mare.
“Listen, young lady,” said Simon. “He is about to speak.”
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She listened and, lo, the voice of authority and of passing away saying in a thunder, “It is finished!”
“What is finished, sir?” asked Lassey trembling.
“Jesus’s work of salvation for mankind is finished,” said Simon. “Jesus declared that utterance on the cross just before He died. Nothing more needed to be done to save fallen mankind from their sins. He just finished making redemption for mankind in this lost and dying world.”
“Simon, your cross. Where did it go?” asked Miss Lassey Mare. The heavy wooden cross was no longer weighing him down across his back
“It had become Jesus’s cross at Calvary for three hours,” said Simon.
“Do you mean that crucifixion?” asked the eighteen-year-old woman.
“From twelve o’clock noon to three o’clock in the afternoon,” he told her.
“Then you are saying that the Lord Jesus died for my sins on the old rugged cross to save my very soul. Am I right, Simon?” she asked.
“You are right, young woman,” he said. “Indeed most aptly understood.”
“What suffering Jesus went through all because He loves me,” said the eighteen-year-old woman.
“This moment you are not far from salvation,” said Simon. “Now that I am free from bearing the cross for my short distance for Jesus, I can go now and leave this cornfield.” And just like that he began walking off to the side through the corn, leaving her alone in this cornfield. And Lassey Mare now learned the fifth lesson that she needed to learn in her search for salvation—that the Saviour went to the cross for her, because He loved her.
In sum, so far, the eighteen-year-old woman learned that the Saviour was her Maker, that she was a dirty rotten sinner in rebellion against the Saviour, that the Saviour did not want her to go to Hell, that the Saviour wanted her to go to Heaven, and that the Saviour bled and died on the cross for her
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soul’s eternity.
Now where should she go here under the light of the bright full moon? A still small voice told her, “Go out of this trail between the corn rows just as you have come into this trail between the corn
rows.” And Lassey Mare did just that. And very soon she was standing just outside this cornfield and beholding a sand dunes of moonlit night in front of her. Behold a group of older cheerleaders, in uniforms of green and white vests and green and white skirts, gathered around a blazing bonfire.
“Hello, cheerleaders,” called forth the eighteen-year-old woman.
“Hello, cheerleader,” called forth the cheerleaders around the bonfire. “Do join us and help us, if you could.”
“How can I help?” asked Lassey Mare.
Their cheer captain spoke and said, “He went right into the bonfire, and now he is probably dead. Poor innocent animal.”
“That’s sad,” said the eighteen-year-old woman.
The cheer captain said, “And we surely cannot see him or what’s left of him in there. The bonfire is too big for us to get any closer to it. Do not get too close to the fire. Sparks come out.”
“Are you college cheerleaders?” asked Lassey.
“Uh huh,” they all said.
“I’m a high school cheerleader,” said the eighteen-year-old woman.
“Oh the good days of high school cheer leading,” said one of them.
“Is college cheer leading less fun?” asked Lassey.
“Cheerleaders are more popular in high school than they are in college,” said another of them.
“What college do you women cheer for?” asked Miss Mare.
“U.W.G.B.,” said another of them.
“Oh, the University of Wisconsin—Green Bay,” said Lassey Mare.
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“Yes,” said another of them. “We are the Phoenix. We are the Phoenix basketball cheerleaders.
And we cheer for the lady Phoenix.”
“Isn’t the Phoenix a mythological bird that rose back to life out of the ashes and flew off?” asked the eighteen-year-old woman.
“Yeah. You’re right,” said the cheerleader captain, still looking for something in the bonfire.
“In legend, the Phoenix was a bird who lived for five hundred years, then burned itself to ashes on a pyre, then rose alive in the ashes to live another period of life.”
All this while the cheerleaders kept looking into this bonfire. “Do you hope that that animal in in this bonfire can still be alive?” asked Miss Mare.
“It was a bird, and he flew right into it,” said another of the cheerleaders.
The cheerleader captain went and said, “We believe that it was a real Phoenix. We Phoenix cheerleaders never saw a real Phoenix before. But we are sure that that was what flew into our bonfire a half-hour ago. Would that we had not built this bonfire this autumn night.”
The eighteen-year-old woman spoke and said, “Poor dead Phoenix bird. If only he had not done that.”
The captain of the college cheerleaders spoke and said, “But if it is a real Phoenix then he will really come back to life out of the fire.”
“He’s been dead now for sure for a long while,” said Miss Lassey Mare. “How can he come back to life after having been dead for so long?”
The cheerleader captain went on to say, “With God all things are possible. Remember, our Lord Jesus was dead in His tomb for three days, and on Easter He came back to life. Nothing is impossible with God.”
“Did you say that Jesus came back to life?” asked the eighteen-year-old woman.
“Yeah,” said the captain of the cheerleaders. “After He laid down His life on the cross, His
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body was put into an empty cave. And on the third day—Easter, of course—the cave was empty. And He went on to walk around the holy land very alive. And everybody saw Him.”
“Is that the resurrection?” asked Miss Mare.
“Uh huh,” said another of the cheerleaders.
“Then Christ did arise,” said Lassey.
“Yep!” said another cheerleader.
“I heard of that,” said the eighteen-year-old woman.
The cheer captain went on to say, “If God can resurrect this burned up Phoenix from this bonfire, could He not have resurrected the Son of God from His tomb in the cave?”
The eighteen-year-old woman said in a converse statement, “If God had resurrected the Lord Jesus, can He not now resurrect this Phoenix?’
The cheer captain went on to say, “I do believe that He can.”
“We, too,” said the other college cheerleaders.
“Should we wait and see and find out?” asked Lassey Mare.
And all of the college cheerleaders agreed with anticipatory nods of their heads. And they called upon God as they looked into the bonfire.
Lo, a majestic and colorful and large bird suddenly came up out of the midst of the roaring bonfire. He hovered above the flames. He sang a song of life in his beak. This was that Phoenix.
He was alive again to live on. God had resurrected him. And he then flew off to live on in its rest of its life. In praise of God, the Lady Phoenix basketball cheerleaders went on to do a cheer performance in honor of this resurrected Phoenix.
The cheerleader captain then asked, “Good high school cheerleader, do you now believe in the resurrection of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?”
“I believe,” said Lassey Mare. “Christ rose again on the third day.”
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This was now the sixth truth that the eighteen-year-old-woman needed to learn about seeking the Saviour for her salvation. Now Lassey Mare understood in her heart that the Saviour had made her and given her life, that she was unclean and unholy with sin in the eyes of the most holy Saviour, that the Saviour loved her and wanted her not to suffer Hell for ever, that the Saviour loved her and wanted her to enjoy Heaven forever, that the Saviour shed His own blood and gave up His own life for her on Calvary’s cross, and that the Saviour could not stay dead, but rather arose from the dead and was very alive right now.
Just then one of the cheerleaders said, “Let’ s see if we can find where our Phoenix flew off to.”
The cheer captain said, “We can never find him now.”
“Let’s look anyway,” said another cheerleader.
And all of the Lady Phoenix cheerleaders ran off to try to find the Phoenix. And the eighteen-year-old woman was left alone here in the sand dunes with the bonfire.
Then from just up ahead somewhere farther north, in a new realm awaiting Miss Mare beyond these sand dunes, came the sound of singing. It was vague and muffled, but Lassey could perceive the singing to be happy singing. She listened in fascination, and this was what she heard from up ahead:
“Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday, dear Patricia.
Happy Birthday to you.”
Then the birthday song ended. Lassey did not stop listening fervently. Then she heard the happy
singing of another birthday song from this same place afar:
“For she’s a jolly good lady.
For she’s a jolly good lady.
For she’s a jolly good lady,
Whom nobody can deny.”
The still small voice told Lassey Mare to run there at once and to see what was happening at this birthday party. And that she did. She ran off of the sand dunes, ran through a little woods, and came
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to a little log cabin at the edge of this woods. This little cabin had little windows. And light from within this cabin shone out into this deep forest through its little windows. And the trunks of big trees were lit up on all four sides of this cabin from this light within. This light seem to flicker inside and outside. It must have been the light of a fireplace. And all inside was festive gaiety.
But still could not Lassey Mare see clearly what was going on inside for the smallness of the many windows. And God knew this. And God sent a strong wind upon the log cabin, and the front door of the log cabin swung wide open in the wind, and the door stayed open, and no one inside went to shut this door. Now the eighteen-year-old woman could see and hear clearly everything happening in this birthday party. She could see them in the fireplace light, and they could not see her in the big trees of night.
Lo, the birthday gal was a young woman about Lassey’s age. And she was beginning to open up birthday presents on her lap on the wooden chair in the middle of this cabin, herself surrounded by her family who had just sung those two birthday songs to her.
She opened her first birthday present, and she said, “Ooo, a wooden checkers game! Thank you! Thank you, Dad!”
And her dad told her, “Yeah, and you did not have to pay for it, Patricia.”
Then she opened her second present, and she said, “Oh, a wooden chess game. Mom, I love it!
Thank you!”
And her mom told her, “It’s yours, Patricia, for free.”
Then she opened her third present, and she said, “Oh, look. A wooden backgammon game just for me! Thanks for this present, Grandpa.”
And her grandfather said to her, “I paid for this for you, Patricia.”
Patricia went on to open up three more birthday presents, also all made of wood. One was a big canister of Tinker Toys. One was a big canister of Lincoln Logs. One was a bag of blocks. After she
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went on to thank her three benefactors for these three birthday presents, one said to her, “You cannot earn such a present”; and one said to her, “You cannot buy such a present”; and one said to her, “You cannot work for such a present.”
Then this birthday girl opened up her last present. Lo, a wooden cross whose vertical bar was about three feet long and whose transverse bar was about one-and-one-half feet wide. Confusion in her eyes not without admiration, Patricia asked, “Grandma, what’s this?”
And the grandmother said, “Just remember, Patricia: Jesus paid it all.”
“It is my favorite birthday present of all today,” said Patricia.
And her grandmother went on to say, “This present is a present from God, O Patricia.”
“Grandma, I love it very much,” said the birthday girl.
And the grandmother said, “Do not reject the free gift of eternal life, my granddaughter.”
“I promise to take this,” said Patricia.
“That is most wise, my granddaughter,” said the grandmother.
Then the winds of the Holy Ghost came back and beat upon the little log cabin and did shut the door to the cabin. The eighteen-year-old woman could no longer witness the birthday girl with all of her presents. Not understanding this vision’s meaning, Lassey Mare asked God, “What are You telling me in this dream, O Lord?”
And the Holy Ghost said into her heart, “Lassey Mare, it is written, ‘If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?’ Matthew 7:11.”
And the eighteen-year-old woman understood this birthday party. God was telling her that she needed to accept God’s free gift of everlasting life in order to get saved from her sins. She in herself could not do anything at all to save her own soul. She needed to rely and depend and trust only upon the Lord Jesus for the saving of her soul. All that the eighteen-year-old woman had to do to become
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a born-again Christian was to ask God to save her soul, and He would save her soul to the uttermost all by Himself. The Saviour of the world would become her own personal Saviour only if she humbled herself before God and prayed for so-great salvation. The free present of eternal life was just exactly all of that—free. And the eighteen-year-old woman now understood the seventh and last absolute truth that she needed to learn to become a born-again believer.
Now, all ready to become saved, Miss Lassey Mare fully understood that the Saviour was her Creator, that the Saviour judged sin and sinners, that the Saviour made Hell for those who died in their sins, that the Saviour made Heaven for the born-again Christians, that the Saviour suffered on the cross like no man ever suffered just for her, that the Saviour rose from the grave on Easter Sunday, and that the Saviour gave salvation only to those who asked for it in grace through faith as a present.
She wondered, Should I pray right here? What should a woman like myself say to make it just right? Should I walk a little farther yet in my nocturnal hike?
And the winds of the Holy Ghost came down in a whirlwind before where she stood, the winds forming a vortex of blowing autumn leaves right in front of her. And this gentle little tornado proceeded to move ever farther north for her. In understanding, the eighteen-year-old woman followed this whirlwind of leaves farther north to a place of prayer where God wanted her to be.
Lo, the Devil saw a cheerleader just about to be saved. Of all things that Satan did become the most frustrated in his war against the Good Lord, losing souls to Jesus were his worst defeats. He had to do something now to Lassey Mare to keep her from going and becoming a born-again Christian. And he had to do it quickly. He needed to send an interrupter. He would send a pack of interrupters.
He must not lose the soul of this eighteen-year-old woman to Christ. He wanted to bring her down to Hell with him when his time would come to go down there. He knew now what he could do to Miss Lassey Mare to change her mind about getting saved. And he sent troublemakers her way to keep her from praying the sinners’ prayer.
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The eighteen-year-old woman now came out onto a holy place. About fifty feet away was a single-file row of many stumps of once-big trees. She counted twelve of them. These symbolized the twelve tribes of Israel, the nation of God. Ten feet beyond these was a children’s little chalkboard on a little metal stand. The chalkboard measured about four feet wide by about two-and-one-half feet high. And ten feet beyond that little blackboard was a semicircle of twelve arbor vitae trees swaying in the wind. These symbolized the twelve Apostles of the Lamb, a figure of the born-again Christians in the world, God’s spiritual sons and daughters. She looked back upon the whirlwind of fall leaves. And it now ascended back to Heaven. She was here. This was the place. Here she must pray.
She began to approach the chalkboard. Just then dim light of most early day came forth from the east. She came up to this chalkboard and its stand and did see the words of title upon its top written in white chalk: “The Sinners’ Prayer.” Underneath this title was a white chalk underline. And underneath this title was a little paragraph written also in white chalk upon this chalkboard.
Ah! Here it was. This prayer all written out for her would convert her to Christianity. Then would it be very well with her soul for ever after. She would pray right now and become a born-again believer.
Standing before this chalkboard in reverence to the holy God, the eighteen-year-old woman began to pray out loud for salvation from the sinners’ prayer on the board, “Dear Father in Heaven:”
In came the Devil.
A person suddenly came up from behind her, along her left hand side, and bumped her along her left shoulder and went on by and stopped and turned around and looked at her. Standing in front of Lassey now was another cheerleader dressed just like her in black and white and gray.
“Jezebel?” asked the eighteen-year-old woman. “What are you doing here?”
This young cheerleader did not reply. Yet it was Jezebel. And Jezebel was Lassey’s fellow cheerleader on the squad. They two were like best friends on the cheerleader squad.
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This Jezebel then raised her right hand and showed Miss Mare a chalkboard eraser. Most sinister now, Jezebel went and pounded her chalk eraser on top of the wooden frame of this chalkboard and made a cloud of chalk dust that spread out and made Lassey cough. Then Jezebel smiled in evil at the eighteen-year-old woman. And still Lassey’s best friend did not say a word to her.
Then suddenly another form bumped into Lassey, and Lassey looked to her right. It was another fellow cheerleader who had come from behind her, one who brusquely knocked Lassey along her right side, stepped beyond her, turned back, and looked right at her without saying a word to her.
“Athaliah?” called forth Miss Mare. “Is that you here now with me?”
This fellow cheerleader also did not reply to Lassey’s greetings. But it was she. This was Athaliah. And she was here right now. And this second cheerleader friend of the eighteen-year-old woman also raised her right arm and displayed a chalkboard eraser in her right hand. And just like that Athaliah put the chalk eraser to the chalkboard and swept off the top line written thereupon in a single sweep of her eraser. She thus erased the title of the writings, the words “The Sinners’ Prayer.” and its underscore. Then, after having done this evil work, Athaliah went on to pound the eraser upon the top board of the chalkboard just as Jezebel had done. And in doing this, Athaliah made a cloud of white chalk dust that choked up Lassey Mare where she was standing. And then the cloud dissipated.
Lassey did not know what to do or what to say. All that she knew was that her cheerleader friends were threatening to take away her salvation before she could even get it if they did not leave soon. This scared the eighteen-year-old woman to her bones.
Then another body bumped into her from behind. The knock jarred her hard against her back, and she almost fell down. And this third problem person turned around to look at Lassey, was also a cheerleader friend on her squad, and also said not a word, “Gomer, have you come to harass me, too?” called forth Lassey Mare. This cheerleader Gomer looked upon her, spoke not, and raised her own chalkboard eraser in her right hand. And at once Gomer put the chalk eraser upon the chalkboard, and
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she meticulously began to erase every little punctuation across the board and up and down until only words remained.
This was almost laughable, but its portent did not cause Lassey to laugh. To make a mockery of the sinners’ prayer with mischief like this was a sacrilege to the way of salvation. Indeed, if this cheerleader did this, what would the next cheerleader do to this next? Would the eighteen-year-old woman not have enough of this sinners’ prayer on the chalkboard to pray the words and get saved in a very short time from now? Having threatened Lassey thus, Gomer then went and slammed the eraser upon the top of this blackboard just as the previous two had done, making a cloud of white chalk dust to come upon the air about.
Then another fellow cheerleader came running up to her from behind and did crash hard against the back of Lassey on purpose. Miss Mare was knocked to the ground upon her hands and knees. Angry now, the eighteen-year-old woman got back to her feet, glared at this fourth problem cheerleader, and said, “You, too, Hagar?” This Hagar did not deign to reply to Lassey, either. Yet she did hold up her nefarious chalk eraser of her own, also.
“Don’t do it, Hagar,” warned Miss Lassey Mare not without entreaty.
Yet Hagar did it. And what she did with her eraser was to erase off of the blackboard the four words, “Dear Father in Heaven:”
True, the eighteen-year-old woman having already prayed this salutation to the sinners’ prayer, could easily remember this four-word salutation in her time to pray to come for salvation. But, if anything else were to be taken away from the chalkboard, she could not pray for salvation in such incompleteness of sinners’ prayer written thus before her. She needed all of the rest, and one more little swipe of an eraser would prevent her from becoming a born-again Christian.
Then, in today’s pattern, Hagar slapped her eraser upon the top of the blackboard and made a cloud of chalk dust from her mischief as well.
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Remembering another pattern of this trial, the eighteen-year-old woman quickly turned around to confront the next cheerleader sent by the Devil.
None came.
Then she turned back to the four cheerleaders with her. Behold, Jezebel, running her chalkboard eraser across the chalkboard, left to right, left to right, left to right, left to right. In panic Lassey Mare charged forward to get at Jezebel and to knock her down and to make her quit. But the three other cheerleaders formed a human wall and did keep Miss Mare from getting to Jezebel. And when Jezebel was done, the sinners’ prayer was now completely erased from the blackboard.
In fear of Hell now from what was just taken away from her, the eighteen-year-old woman cried out and said, “You four cheerleaders can go to the Devil!”
Jezebel spoke now and said, “We don’t need the Saviour. You don’t need the Saviour. No one needs the Saviour.” And having said this to Lassey Mare, Jezebel threw her chalkboard eraser into the eighteen-year-old woman where she stood, marring the blacks of her cheerleader sweater and the blacks of her cheerleader skirt with white chalk powder.
About to weep, the eighteen-year-old woman looked up to Heaven and said, “God help me!”
And God looked down from Heaven. And God was more powerful than Satan. And God was wiser than four evil cheerleaders. And God sent a man of His choosing to come for this lost cheerleader crying up to Him for salvation.
And the man came. He came walking up to the five cheerleaders where they stood. This man of God meant business. They could all see that in him in his gait and in his countenance and in his deportment. The four cheerleaders from the Devil found great fear upon seeing him coming like this.
But the one cheerleader seeking God found great comfort upon seeing him come like this. And when this man of God came up to them, he was holding his King James Bible in front of them in both hands.
And the four interrupters from Satan all scattered and ran for their lives in all directions of the earth.
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And the one sincere cheerleader was now left alone with this man of God.
Like an angel, this man said, “I am the eighteen-year-old man. I have been sent by God to lead you to the Lord. My name is ‘Flanders Nickels.’”
“I am the eighteen-year-old woman. I am seeking Christ. My name is ‘Lassey Mare.’” said the cheerleader.
“I can help you, O Lassey,” said Flanders.
“Flanders, I am ready to pray the sinners’ prayer and get saved. But those terrible cheerleaders went and erased it off of this chalkboard. And I cannot know the words to say to God to become born-again,” said Lassey Mare.
“God knows, and God cares,” said Flanders. And having said this, the eighteen-year-old man of God put his hand to the bottom of the chalkboard, lifted it up toward him, and did turn the blackboard over on its hinges to reveal the back of the blackboard. Herein, on this other side of the chalkboard, was the exact same thing that had been on the original side of the blackboard.
“O Flanders.” said the eighteen-year-old woman, “Thank you!” And she began to cry in joy.
“Don’t cry, fair Miss Mare,” Flanders said with the compassion of an angel.
“I’ll stop crying, good and kind Flanders,” she said. The new day was now red with dawn.
And the eighteen-year-old woman wiped her eyes, sniffled, and took a breath. And she read her prayer of salvation now to God out loud from off of this other side of the chalkboard: “Dear Father in Heaven: I am an unclean person who stands wicked before You. I am bad, and it is all my fault. Please forgive me and cleanse me and help me to repent of my innate badness. You sacrificed Your only begotten Son on the cruel cross of Calvary, because You love me. Jesus shed His blood for me, because He loves me. And the Holy Spirit teaches me this, because He loves me. I now confess the Easter miracle—the historical fact of Christ’s glorious resurrection on the third day. Christ arose! I ask You now to save my soul as my new personal Saviour, O Christ. And I ask You now to give me
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everlasting life in Heaven to come for me where I can be with You. Thank You, O Jesus. In Your name I pray. Amen.”
The new day was now yellow with sunrise.
“How do you feel, comely Lassey?” asked Flanders.
“I feel like crying,” she said in exultation.
“A happy cry,” he said in understanding.
“Yes, Flanders. A happy cry again.” she said.
“I, also,” said the eighteen-year-old man.
And newfound soul and mighty soul-winner shared tears together over so great salvation upon the eighteen-year-old woman.
Then she said, “Could you stay with me a little while, Flanders?”
“I cannot, O beautiful cheerleader,” he said to her. “I have more work to do for Jesus.”
“There are other souls out there that need Jesus, too,” said Lassey.
“Aye, O Lassey,” said Flanders.
“Will we see each other again someday?” asked Miss Mare.
“We shall,” he promised.
“In this life?” she asked.
“Yes, again in this life, pretty Lassey,” he promised.
“In the life to come, also?” she asked.
“Yes, in the life to come,” he promised.
“We can walk and talk together with Jesus Up There, Flanders,” said Lassey Mare.
“That is a promise from Jesus Himself for us born-again believers, O attractive cheerleader,” said Flanders Nickels.
He looked off to the north toward where he had been walking. She looked to the south from
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where she had started her walk.
“You have to go north for your next soul to save,” said the eighteen-year-old woman.
“And you have to go south back home to your family,” said the eighteen-year-old man, “and tell them that you found Christ as they did.”
“Farewell, handsome man of God,” said Miss Lassey Mare.
“Farewell, bonny cheerleader of God,” said Flanders Nickels.
And having bid each other “Good-bye” for now, they left this place of so great salvation of an eighteen-year-old woman and went on to live gloriously and happily for the Good Lord.
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