The Wheat Germ Girl – Mr. Morgan P. McCarthy

Carol Bree Dale is the wheat germ girl with whom Flanders Nickels has fallen in love. He had discovered her as a model in an old Reader’s Digest ad, and God brought them together. Flanders, a born again believer, though he loves his Holy Bible, he does not desire the rapture of the church as he should. And Carol, also a born again Christian, though she does love the rapture of the saints, she does not love the Bible as she should. They need to repent in the Lord. How will God make this happen?

THE WHEAT GERM GIRL

By Mr. Morgan P. McCarthy

Flanders Arckery Nickels and Carol Bree Dale were on another date together here at home at Flanders’s mom’s and dad’s place. They were sitting across from each other at the kitchen table—she with her back toward the wall; and he with his back toward the rest of the room. “There, dear Carol: we are now right here at this table in this room in my real life just as we were in my very favorite dream I had earlier in my life in love with you,” said Flanders Nickels.

“You were there, and I was here, and we were looking upon each other’s face, and then you woke up,” said Carol. “So quick a dream and so nothing that happened and yet it is still your favorite dream, Flanders. I must really be your ‘most beautiful woman in the world for that to be so.”

“Back then that was the closest that I got to being with my wheat germ girl,” he said, “only in that one dream.”

“All because of a wheat germ ad in the Reader’s Digest,” said Carol. “Who would have known that this wheat germ model before you now would have a guy who falls in love with her all because of her ad in a magazine?”

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“I called you ‘My Country Lass,’” said Flanders.

“You call me also your ‘dream girl,’” said Carol Dale.

“And now that I am a Christian, I also call you, ‘What God Wrought,’” said Flanders.

“You told me often of how you just happened to discover me for that very first time,” said Miss Carol Dale.

“I was looking through a box of old Reader’s Digests looking for pictures of pretty girls,” he said.

“Hardly a place for a boy to look for a girl to admire,” said the wheat germ girl.

“I would think that high school yearbooks would have been a more likely resource of pretty girls than would be magazines about articles to read,” said Flanders.

“You told me that it was not love at first sight,” said Carol.

“When I first saw you in that ad, I thought of you as a pretty girl,” said Flanders.

“But I grew on you,” said Carol. “Before too long I was not just a pretty girl, but a girl ‘too beautiful to be mortal,’ as you bragged on me.”

“I loved what you had on in that wheat germ ad,” he said. “It was a long-sleeved blue chambray work shirt and blue jeans.”

“And now I have on that same long-sleeved blue chambray work shirt and those same blue jeans. And now I also have on a ladies’ blue denim vest,” said the wheat germ girl.

“As that wheat germ ad said in the top, ‘You are what you eat,’” said Flanders Nickels.

“And as the rest of it goes, ‘And what you eat has a lot to do with how you feel. That’s why America’s caught on to the benefits of natural nutrition. Wheat germ is the world’s most nutritious natural cereal. Kretschmer Wheat Germ contains protein, B vitamins, and Vitamin E. It can help provide the balanced diet so important for energy and vitality. So isn’t it time you and your family started eating Kretschmer Wheat Germ?’” recited Carol Dale.

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Flanders then opened up his Bible and read to this love of his life what was to him ‘Carol’s verse’: “’Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?’ Song of Solomon 6:10.”

Returning his love with her love, Carol Dale read to him her Bible verse about him, “’Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.’ Song of Solomon 1:2.”

“Can fiancé and fiancée go and kiss each other and it still be okay with Jesus?” asked Flanders.

“We do go and give each other hugs,” said the wheat germ girl. “Do you think that that bothers our Saviour that we do that?”

He then stood up at his end of the table and put his hands upon the table top, and she did likewise. And they brought their faces toward each other, and they hesitated for a moment. Then he pressed his lips against her lips, and she accepted his lips with her lips. And these two betrothed shared their first kiss. Then they drew apart.

“I wonder if anybody saw what we just did,” said Carol, feeling magical and unsure both at once.

“Mom and Dad are still home,” he said. “I kind of hope that they both saw what we just did.”

“Look, Flanders. Blitz is here. He was here all the time. He saw us,” said Carol.

“Dogs don’t tell on people,” said Flanders. “He was the only one in the whole world who saw us do what we just did.”

“And the Good Lord, too,” said the wheat germ girl. “He sees everything.”

They then sat back down at this table. Flanders said, “I like this farmhouse out in the country, a farmhouse without a farm.”

“Didn’t you tell me that this room here, when your parents moved in, was as cold and stark as the back porch that was in the next room, Flanders?” asked the wheat germ girl.

“Yeah, it had no heat and no furniture and a sink,” he said. “But Dad went to work and fixed it

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up into a warm kitchen for our family.”

“Now it has nice floor and nice walls and a refrigerator and a stove and this table, and a heater, and Blitz’s rug,” said Carol Dale.

“It’s nice in here,” said Flanders.

“That explains how it is that in the next room behind us is another kitchen farther into the house, that one with a regular sink and cupboards and drawers and counters,” said Miss Dale.

“Like two partial kitchens in the same house, but with one step down from one to the other,” said Flanders.

“I tripped over that step just the other day,” she said.

“I have not tripped over it yet,” he said.

Flanders Nickels was twenty years old, and he was a born-again Christian now for two years. And Carol Dale was thirty years old, and she was a born-again Christian now for one year. And this was life for Flanders in Kunesh, Wisconsin, in the township of Pittsfield.

“Let’s eat,” said Flanders. And they went on to eat together a French Toast meal at this kitchen table. Flanders had three pieces of French Toast with butter and syrup, and Carol Dale had three pieces of French Toast with butter and strawberry preserves. Then they got out the wheat germ and they each had a bowl of it with milk—Flanders, with whole milk; Carol, with evaporated milk.

Then the wheat germ girl asked in romantic reminiscence, “Remember how we first met, Flanders?”

“After I fell in love with you as the girl in the photograph and before I fell in love with you as the real girl,” he said. “God brought us together, dear Carol, at the Anston Store.”

“The Anston Store,” she said in sweet dreams. “A tiny little grocery store in the trees.”

“Kunesh and Anston,” he said. “The twin cities.”

“Kunesh and Anston, the twin unincorporated cities,” she said.

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“Kunesh has Industrial Engraving and Manufacturing, right across the street from here, and Anston has Better-Built Wood Products,” said Flanders.

“God brought you to the Anston store that day from only a mile-and-a-half away,” said the wheat germ girl.

“And God brought you to the Anston store that day from the next state west,” said Flanders.

“God told me to go there and find a Christian boyfriend. A Christian girl dare not say, ‘No,’ to God about a thing like that—especially when that girl has been praying that God send her to the way of this special guy,” said the wheat germ girl.

“The Good Lord Who told you to come was the same Good Lord Who guided you all the way to the right place,” said Flanders Nickels.

“You were praying for a Christian girlfriend to come into your life at the time, too,” said Carol.

“Yeah, Carol,” said Flanders. “And when God told me to go to that little countryside store, it was all too easy for me to obey and enjoy a nice walk there.”

“What were you thinking about when you were on your little journey, Flanders, when you were about to meet the woman with whom you had fallen head-over-heels in love?” asked Carol Dale.

“I was singing to myself that song ‘Gone Too Far,’ by England Dan and John Ford Coley,” said Flanders. “And I knew that the real wheat germ girl whom I was about to meet for my first time was God’s special blessing upon me and that there was no turning back and that only good was going to come from this first date there at the Anston Store.”

“I was singing a song in my heart, too, on my drive all the way here. That song was ‘Loving You,’ by Minnie Riperton. And when I was singing this song alone on that long journey, though I did not know at all what you looked like, I knew that because you were from God, that I could learn to feel magic of love and romance with you in my life. I just knew that you would be the most handsome guy for me that God could give life to. And I was going to discover true star-crossed love for a man of

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God in a way that God only would bring it to pass,” said the wheat germ girl.

“I first saw you by the candy counter from the side,” he said. “Your profile was irresistible.”

“What were you thinking then, O Flanders?” asked Miss Carol Dale.

“I was thinking, If this woman is not the woman, she sure can give Carol a run for her money.”” said Flanders.

“You could tell that this girl was built like a brick outhouse. Couldn’t you, Flanders?” asked the wheat germ girl, bragging on herself in flirt.

“The way your long blonde straight hair rested upon your shoulders covered by blue chambray was like an awakening for this lonely man,” said Flanders.

“What else did you notice about me?” asked the wheat germ girl.

“I noticed that were not sitting and still, but rather standing and moving around,” he said.

“I can tell that you had spend lots of time looking at my picture in my ad,” said the wheat germ girl. “Picture women do not move around like real women.”

“You were living!” he said. “There in the Anston Store you were alive as a real woman.”

“Then I began to feel eyes staring at me,” said Carol Dale.

“Your blue jeans had a button fly and not a zipper fly,” he said in remembrances.

“You men!” she said here in the kitchen.

“Then you looked at me, and you saw me,” said Flanders. “I could tell from your smile that you kind of liked me.”

“Kind of liked you or kind of loved you, I could not tell,” said the wheat germ girl. “All I know was that I definitely liked what I was seeing. I really hoped in the Lord that moment we first saw each other at the same time that you were the one that the Lord had brought me here for.”

“And then you spoke,” said Flanders.

And this was what they had said that first day together as they were falling in love in the Anston

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Store:

“Do you remember penny candy, sir?” she asked.

“Yeah. I do,” he said.

“Now it is nickel candy,” she said.

“Someday it may be dime candy,” he said.

“So many nice candies to choose from here in this little store in the country,” she said.

“Root beer barrels, butterscotch disks, peppermints, spear mints, little caramels, little chocolate caramels, neapolitans, even old-time Kit taffies,” said Flanders.

“Yeah. Kits,” she said. “Peanut butter and chocolate and banana and strawberry.”

”Four taffies per pack,” he said.

Then she asked, “Sir, are you my one from my God?”

“I believe so,” he said. “I know that you are my one from my God.”

“What is your name?” she asked.

“My name is Flanders,” he said. “Flanders Nickels.”

“Nickels, just like this candy,” she said.

“What is your name?” he asked.

“My name is Carol,” she said. “Carol Dale.”

“Just like the Green Bay Packer,” he said, “from the title town years.”

“The 1960’s,” said the beautiful girl. “He was Carroll Dale, with two ‘r’s’ and with two ‘l’s,’” she said.

“’Dale’ is a good last name. The famous ‘Dale Evans’ seems to me to be a country girl,” he said.

“I am also a country girl,” said Carol Dale.

“I am a country guy,” said Flanders Nickels.

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This was how dream guy and dream girl had first met. And now here they were, together now in Mom and Dad’s kitchen, engaged.

“Just think, Flanders. Pretty soon I shall become ‘Carol Bree Nickels.’” she said.

“Soon. Soon,” he said in delights.

A silent moment passed now between the two here at the kitchen table. Then the wheat germ girl asked, “Has the Lord answered your prayer yet, Flanders?”

“Not yet, dear Carol. But I know that He will in His time,” said Flanders. “How about you and your prayer to the Lord?”

“Not yet here, either. But He shall in His way,” said Miss Dale.

Their Christian lives were not right in the eyes of God in regard to reading the Bible. Flanders loved to read his King James Bible daily for much time. But his Bible studies were a stumbling block to loving the Lord’s appearing. And as for the wheat germ girl, she loved the Lord’s imminent appearing, but her love for this rapture was a stumbling block to her Bible studies. This was sin in both of their lives, and they sought their Heavenly Father to help them to repent; and their Father in Heaven heard their prayers and was working to get their hearts right with God in both areas.

Flanders said to his wheat germ girl what she already knew about his temptations, “I am about to start the book of Revelation now, Carol, in my Bible-reading. That is the last book of the Bible. After that, I am done reading the Bible through cover-to-cover for my first time. I am so excited about finishing it, that I cannot think straight. And if I get to finish reading the Bible for my first time, then I can go and start reading it all over again for my second time. But the most exciting part is finishing the book of Revelation. But thoughts of the rapture of the believers has been hindering me from reading this last book of the Bible, Carol, as you know. I want to read the Bible for forever, and yet it is like I have to be raptured someday soon, and this rapture could happen before I can study the book of Revelation and finish the Bible lock, stock, and barrel. Once I get raptured, my beloved King James

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Version Bible will have to be left behind. And then I spend eternity in the joys of Heaven, but with unfinished business down here bothering me in Heaven Up There for now on. I will be with Jesus in the life to come, and I will be distracted by thoughts about the Bible that I never go done in this life.

I do not want the rapture to happen quite yet. It will be okay with me if the rapture took me away from the Bible in my second reading of it, I would think. But wait, dear Jesus, until my first reading of it is all finished up. As much as I loved starting the first reading, ending the first reading will be all the better for me. And indeed I find now these past few days, dear Carol, that I am actually resisting my daily Bible studies for fear of losing all of it when the Lord does come. And I have skipped out on my Bible-reading yesterday for fear of being snatched up to Heaven before I was ready. I would have started this last book of the Holy Bible, but my stumbling block distracted me, and I went my first day without my Bible-reading. And if I keep this foolishness up, even would I have finished Revelation in a timely manner in my customary daily attendance to the Word of God, I might end up dallying so long that I cost myself my great final plans for this life. I just pray that today does not end up like yesterday.

I just pray that tomorrow will not ruin today for me. I just pray to be able to find rest in the Word of God again soon as I have always found rest in the Word of God. Keep praying for your wayward boyfriend-in-Christ, Carol,” he said.

“I have, and I will,” promised the wheat germ girl.

“And I have and will keep praying for you and your temptations in your walk with Christ,” he said. “Tell it all to me again.”

And the wheat germ girl also told her boyfriend her iniquities that so caused her to daily stumble in the Lord: “As you know, I do not read my Bible the way you do. You have a problem with finishing it up. But I have a problem with actually starting it up. You read your Holy Bible every day. I read my Holy Bible no day. You righteously love God’s Word. I unrighteously do not love God’s Word. But as for the translation of the church, I love that with all my heart, Flanders. More than

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anything else, I want to be raptured and to be finally with Christ. I pine for my Coming Home. And that is a good thing. Pastor tells us that those who love the Lord’s appearing will get the crown of righteousness when they get to Heaven. But I make that a stumbling block to getting around to reading my Bible. How many times have I started to read Genesis, the first book of the Bible, only to start daydreaming about the rapture. And real quickly after that starts to happen, I shut the Bible up once again. And I quit my attempts at reading the Word before I even get into it. A girl like myself wants to walk and to talk with her Lord for real in Glory. Listening to my Lord as I read His Word is not so virtual to me as actually listening to Him in Heaven with His voice as the sound of many waters. The Bible commands us believers to read it, and we believers ought to want to read the Bible, and there is sin in my life in not reading the Bible. How many times has Pastor preached, Flanders, ‘We don’t have to read the Bible; we get to read the Bible.’ To tell you the truth, I have not gotten far enough in my King James Bible to tell you what Genesis chapter two is all about. And, as for Genesis chapter one, I never did get around to reading all of it. I think that it might be about creation. But this girl just cannot wait till Jesus comes.”

“As I always say about you, dear Carol, ‘You are so Heavenly-minded that you are no Earthly good,’” he teased her.

In mirth, the wheat germ girl said, “At least it is not for me that ‘I am so earthly-minded that I am no Heavenly good.’ Flanders.” Both laughed out loud together. “Do keep praying for me, though, Flanders,” said the wheat germ girl.

“I shall keep praying that God give you complete victory in your temptations, dear Carol,” said Flanders Nickels.

“I am glad,” she said in confidence in Christ.

“It is good to be saved,” he said. “Though, when we become born-again Christians, God does not take away our problems, we still have Him as our Heavenly Father. The lost cannot say that.”

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“Ooo, Flanders, tell me once again how it was that you found Christ,” said the wheat germ girl.

“I would be most glad to, dear Carol,” he said. And Flanders Nickels gave the testimony of his salvation to his girlfriend: “I was walking down the railroad tracks in the countryside here not far away that one day. I walked down those railroad tracks a lot and never had anything go wrong on me. There were two sets of tracks, side by side, and near each other. Well this time I happened to come upon one of those ‘scripture people,’ as I labeled them in my scorn for Christians. He met me as he was coming toward me on these railroad tracks from the other direction. He at once stretched out his hand toward me with a little booklet in his hand, and he had not even yet gotten up to where I was walking. And he said to me, ‘Hi. I am Deacon Proffery of Golgotha Baptist Church. And I would like to give you this salvation tract.’ Then he was there within my reaching distance. And I took the booklet anyway, even though I did not like religious booklets. He was so friendly, that I was too afraid to turn him down. But I refused to thank him for it. Then this Baptist deacon said to me, ‘Let me ask you a question: “Do you know for sure where you are going after you die?”’

I at once said what I believed as a lost person, ‘I will be six feet under, Deacon Proffery.’

Yet he said to me, ‘Your body may be six feet under, but your soul will be either in Heaven or in Hell.’

Blunt in my wickedness, I then said to this deacon, ‘I don’t discuss religion with others.’

Yet he said to me, ‘This is not religion. This is Christianity.’

I was getting a little angry at this outspoken Christian bothering me when I wanted to be left alone. And I said, ‘Christianity is a religion, Proffery.’

Yet again he replied with one of his clever replies, ‘No. Christianity and religion are the exact opposites.’

This strange paradox that he was trying to tell me mellowed out my harsh attitude toward him by making me curious now about what he had to say to me. And I asked him, ‘Those two things are

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opposites of all things?’

‘Oh yes!’ he affirmed, so sure of himself. ‘Religion is salvation by works, but salvation by works is the way to Hell. And Christianity is salvation by grace through faith, and salvation by grace through faith is the way to Heaven.’

‘Surely if there really is a Heaven, a guy has to earn it,’ I said. ‘And if there really is a Hell, a guy has to do something really bad to end up down there.’

Yet this Baptist deacon said to me, ‘It is written, my fellow, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:5-7.’

I was offended by this Bible verse so much that I just had to get rid of him once and for all. And what I did to make this happen was to say to him in a lie, ‘I’ll read this little booklet later.’

And this time he said, ‘Okay.’ Then he said, ‘That little booklet tells you all about how to go to Heaven and all about how to never go to Hell.’

‘Thank you, Deacon Proffery,’ I lied. And he walked away just as I wanted him to do finally.

And as he was walking away, he said, ‘I’ll be praying for you, young sir.’ I did not at all thank him for that.

And then I got an idea straight from the Devil. Satan told me, ‘Why don’t you fold up this little tract into a little ball?’

And I said to myself, ‘Better yet, I will fold it into a paper airplane and fly it away off into the fields!’ I laughed with Satan. Believe me, Carol, not a good thing to do at all, laughing with Satan, especially about something as holy as a Gospel tract. But all lost people have the Devil as their father, and such do what the Devil tells them to do. And I made a little paper airplane out of the salvation

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tract, and I flew it, and it went only as far as the iron beam of these railroad tracks right at my right hand side, and it fell flat upon the top of the railroad tie, and it stayed there and did not move.

Then I heard a train coming down these railroad tracks. I stepped off to the left side of these tracks, and I eagerly awaited the train to come and run quite over this odious booklet unto its certain destruction. The train came. It ran over this tract. I counted the cars. There were ninety-nine cars that made up this train. And the caboose was car number one hundred. And the train then passed by in its entirety. I looked upon the Jesus pamphlet only to see that it was still in just perfect condition. I came up to it in dismay. Even the print upon its pages were still perfectly intact and readable. I stopped to read what it had to say on its cover. There was the question, ‘Where will you be one hundred years from now?’ That was a lot like the question that that Deacon had asked me about where I was going when I died. But this miracle of God with the train paused me to contemplate such eternal questions now. I thought to pick it up maybe and take it home to read maybe. Yet I chose to turn my back on the salvation tract and to walk away.

Lo, Carol, a train coming down the other pair of railroad tracks from the other direction! I very nearly walked right into it! I could have been killed! I had not seen that one coming. Why, I had never even heard it. And there it was, speeding by right in front of my face where I stood, both of my feet right up upon the wooden beams that stretched out laterally from the iron ties. I was afraid for my life.

And God had spared my life just now. In fear of God, and convicted now of my need for Him, I came back up to the first railroad tracks with shaking knees, and I picked up the salvation tract with shaking hands, and I read all of it right there with shaking arms. I read about the Gospel—how Jesus died for my sins and arose from the grave on the third day. I read about God’s free gift of eternal life—how salvation is something that can only be obtained by asking for it. And I read about what believers called ‘the sinners’ prayer.’ And I quickly got down on my knees in a sanctuary between the two pairs of railroad tracks in the midst of large railroad track stones. And I prayed that sample sinners’ prayer

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that was on the back of that salvation tract. I got gloriously saved immediately when I prayed that salvation prayer, as you already know, dear Carol. That is how I had become a born-again believer.”

“Your first day of salvation was not without danger, Flanders,” said the wheat germ girl.

“And your first day of salvation was not without drama of your own, Carol,” he said.

“Could I tell you my testimony of my salvation right now again, Flanders?” asked Miss Dale.

“Right now is perfect, just as any time is for me to hear how you first found the Saviour,” said Flanders Nickels.

And the wheat germ girl told her story, “It was just before we first met, Flanders. I was still in Minnesota with Mom and Dad. And, just as in your case, Baptist soul-winners mighty in the Lord had a hand in getting me saved. Only this was at the door to my parents’ house and there were two men spreading the Word. One was the elderly pastor, and the other was a middle-aged usher, as I could tell in their visit and in their conversation. Mom and Dad were not home, but I was of age. So I agreed to talk about Bible stuff with these Bible preachers—I who knew nothing about the Good Book, and they, who were students of the Good Book.”

She paused to organize the words of her testimony of her salvation, and she said, “Remember when we went to church, Flanders, last Sunday Evening? Pastor preached on a strange situation in the book of Acts where Paul and Silas came upon an outspoken witch.”

“Yes. Another great sermon from Pastor,” said Flanders. “Acts 16:16-18.” And Flanders searched this scripture and found it and read it out loud to them both: “And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.”

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“When Pastor read this passage to the flock and before he taught me better, at first I thought what a good thing this must be that a woman so wicked could say things so righteous,” said the wheat germ girl.

“I had doubts about this woman, and soon understood those doubts when Pastor went on to preach on this Bible passage,” said Flanders.

“I found out from that sermon that Pastor went on to preach that even though she was saying good and godly truths about Paul and Silas in their witnessing of Jesus, it was not a good thing for her to be saying those things,” said the wheat germ girl.

“She was the wrong woman to be praising soul-winners,” said Flanders, remembering Pastor’s sermon with her.

“Yeah. As I found out in Sunday Evening Worship that night, this demon lady’s proclamations were not benefiting the cause of Christ, but rather harming the cause of Christ. And this was because of what she was. It was not up to a soothsayer, a diviner, a woman with a demon, to praise Paul for going around and telling others how to get saved. Who would believe what a woman of the Devil had to say about Paul and Silas? The Devil is a liar, and the father of lies. This woman following Paul all over the place belonged to the Devil as one of the Devil’s own. Who would believe what a witch like herself had to say about Paul? Surely no one would get saved by Paul’s witness so long as she was following him around like this. And Almighty God took care of this problem. Paul called upon God, and she was quite exorcised of her demon,” summarized the wheat germ girl the rest of that illuminating message of Sunday Evening Worship.

“And something just like that happened right in front of you at your parents’ house that day that

that pastor and that usher from that Baptist church in Minnesota had come to your door preaching the word,” said Flanders Nickels.

“Yeah. Only now I understand it a lot better now,” said Miss Carol Dale.

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“Tell me again about your encounter with a witch,” said Flanders most knowledgeable about her day of salvation.

“Yes!” said the wheat germ girl avidly. “For that Baptist church it was Thursday Evening Visitation, when the men of the church went door-to-door spreading the Gospel.”

“Pastor Expound and Usher Morgan,” said Flanders Nickels.

“Yeah!” said Carol in happy memories. The following narrative is the true tale of her conversion of that day: Pastor Expound spoke first there at her door, saying, “Hi, Miss. We are from Transfiguration Baptist Church, and we are out sharing the Word of God with folk in the neighborhood.” Usher Morgan then gave her a salvation tract, which she eagerly accepted. Then Pastor asked her, “Miss, if you were to die today, where would you spend eternity?” Truly no one had ever asked her such a question before. It convicted her of her sins, and she needed to find out more.

And she replied, “I know my telephone number, and I know my address, and I even know my social security number. But I never thought before where I am going when I die.” Then she said, “I think that if I died today, that I would go down to Hell.”

Just then a young woman in a witch hat came running toward them as they stood just outside the door to Carol’s house. The three all turned and watched her run like a demon. And not only did she have on a black witch hat, but she also had on a black prom dress and black tights and black pumps. And her long pretty hair was black. Miss Dale envied her comeliness. If only she could look even half as attractive as she. But very soon she was to find out that this witch hat woman were in truth a real witch. This witch stopped right in front of the stoop, looked up at the three at the top of the stoop, and said nothing and did nothing for this moment in the dark of night.

Pastor Expound then said to the wheat germ girl, “Young miss, did you know that Jesus loves you and that He died for you and rose again?”

And right after he spoke this Gospel to Carol, this witch spoke and yelled very loudly, “These

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two men are the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, who show unto us the way of salvation.” And then she yelled it the second time. And then she yelled it the third time. She was definitely not going to quit her exclamations. And something had to happen to make her quit. She was making a disturbance to the neighborhood. And she was interfering with Pastor’s work for Carol’s soul. And she was contending against Jesus.

Then Usher Morgan stepped in, and he grabbed this dark witch by the shoulders, and he looked her fearlessly in her black eyes, and he said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus to come out of her!”

And suddenly the darkness upon her countenance was gone. And her fierce words were taken out of her tongue. And her witch hat blew off of her head in a breeze and blew away down the street.

And just like that, this formerly demon-possessed lady spoke softly and said, “I need to learn the way of salvation. Could you help me?”

And, Miss Dale, having seen the great power of God just now exorcising the very Devil out of the body and mind of this demonic interloper, now also asked, “Could I get saved, too?”

And Pastor Expound preached a short and plenary sermon on Jesus the Saviour of the world, and then led the wheat germ girl and this pretty woman of black through the sinners’ prayer with these words: “Dear God: I am a sinner. I am sorry for my sin. I believe that Christ shed His blood and died for my sins. And I believe that Christ arose from the grave the third day. Please forgive my sins and save my soul from Hell. Thank You, Jesus. In Your name I pray. Amen.”

Usher Morgan then had a word of prayer for the two new converts, and Pastor invited them to church that coming Sunday. The former witch was so happy that she was crying. The wheat germ girl cried in happiness with her.

“That is how I became a born-again believer, Flanders,” said the wheat germ girl in the true story of her so great conversion.

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“Amen, girl! And again, Amen!” praised Flanders the God Who saves.

“It is good to be saved, and yet it is better to be saved and living for God,” said the wheat germ girl, making manifest allusion to their prayer requests.

“Truly the God Who saves is the same God Who brings repentance of sins that so easily beset us, dear Carol,” said Flanders Nickels.

“I who am focused only on the rapture and choose not to read the Bible,” she confessed her sin.

“And I who focus all on the Bible and choose not to love the Lord’s appearing,” he confessed his sin.

“It looks like we both need to learn a healthy balance between the two desires,” said the wheat germ girl.

“In Luke 10:38-42, the Word of God talks about two very godly women who loved Jesus dearly, but in two different ways. They were Martha and Mary, two sisters in one house. And the Lord Jesus came over for a visit. Martha was busy working for the Lord, taking care of things in the house and in the kitchen, to make things just right for Him. Mary, on the other hand, was busy talking to the Lord, speaking to Him and listening to Him. Martha asked Jesus, ‘Lord, could you ask my sister to help me out a little?’ But Jesus said to Martha, ‘Mary hath chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her,’” preached Flanders Nickels for the edification of the wheat germ girl and for his own edification.

“I think that I know what you’re getting at, Flanders,” replied Miss Carol Dale. “Martha wanted only to work for God in her life for Him. And Mary wanted only to rest in God in her life for Him. Mary chose the better choice of the two.”

“In like manner, Carol,” said Flanders in thinking out loud, “Reading the Bible is like working for God. And believe you me, that kind of work is a most savory enjoyment to the believer. And daydreaming about the rapture is like resting in God. You have a wisdom about that that I do not have.

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More power to you. You have chosen the good part of the two that I have not.”

“Flanders, do you remember last Wednesday’s sermon in our midweek service?” asked the wheat germ girl. “Pastor was preaching on what Jesus called ‘His family.’ And Jesus said that His disciples were more His family than was His own familial family.”

“Oh yes. I remember,” said Flanders. “Pastor was preaching on Matthew 12:46-50.”

“I remember the sermon,” said the wheat germ girl. “Pastor told how in the Bible Jesus’s mom and brothers were nearby and that they wanted to talk with Him. And Jesus said to this that it were His disciples who were His mom and brothers. Then Jesus said, ‘For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.’”

“The disciples whom Jesus declared to be His family did God’s will by going out and laboring for souls to win for Him,” said Flanders.

“The disciples did work for Him. And you do work for Him by reading your Bible. God willed His disciples to go door-to-door, and they did so. And God wills you to study your Bible daily, and you have done so. You are, in essence, because of this, ‘a brother of Jesus,’” said Carol. “You know what I have to say next, Flanders.”

“I do,” said Flanders. “But it is not for me to say.”

“I shall say it,” said the wheat germ girl in self-effacement, “I do not work and read the Scriptures. And because of that, Jesus cannot call me His sister.”

“You are probably thinking that the Scriptures contradict themselves,” said Flanders to the wheat germ girl.

“Yeah. Kind of,” said Miss Carol Dale. “First you tell me that resting in God is better than working for God. And now we have Pastor seemingly say that working for God is better than resting in God.”

“Take comfort and be encouraged, dear Carol,” said Flanders Nickels. “We born-again

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believers are commanded to compare Scripture with Scripture.”

“And what does your knowledge of the Bible tell you about these two passages of verses that we are trying to figure out, Flanders?” asked the wheat germ girl.

“We must find the middle road between the two Bible truths,” he said.

“If they are both true, Flanders, then neither one is wrong,” said Carol.

“It is as you said not too long ago, Carol,” said Flanders. “All we need to do is to find a healthy spiritual balance between working and resting with God.”

“I did say that we needed to find a balance between loving the rapture and loving the Holy Bible,” said the wheat germ girl.

“And that is one thing that God can teach the both of us for our needful repentance,” said Flanders.

“Maybe even today. Maybe even right now,” said the wheat germ girl.

“I wonder how God might do such a thing as wonderful as that?” asked Flanders in all faith. “God works in mysterious ways, dear Carol.”

“Maybe we two Christians can call upon Christ right here and right now and ask Him to show each of us some kind of ‘super verse’ in the Holy Bible that can answer all of our questions and make us both all right in God,” suggested Miss Dale.

“That’s wild,” he said.

“Is it crazy?” she asked.

“It’s great and godly faith,” he said.

“Let’s do it, Flanders,” she said. “You and I.”

“I’ve got my Bible here that we both can use in this great test of God,” he said.

“Could I go first?” asked the wheat germ girl.

He handed her his King James Bible, and he said, “Yes, dear Carol. You are the lady. You can

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go first.”

She then took his Bible in her hands and held it as if for her first time. Without keeping the Holy Spirit waiting, the wheat germ girl held out the Good Book upon its spine and rested it upon her two palms in the air at the level of her heart. And she prayed and asked, “Good Lord, would you open up this Bible now right to where You need me to read?”

Lo, a gentle zephyr came upon this kitchen and this Holy Spirit breeze opened up this Bible right to a verse near the end of the Book. And she read out loud that which God needed her to read, “’Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.’ Revelation 1:3.”

She looked across to him. “Ah, a beatitude indeed, dear Carol,” he said to her.

“It says that if I read this book of Revelation that God will bless me,” said the wheat germ girl.

“It looks that way,” he said. “What kind of blessing do you think that God would bless you with were you to read this book of Revelation?”

“What better place for a blessing than when I get to Heaven, Flanders?” answered Carol Dale.

“You so love Heaven,” he said.

“And Heaven in my time to come can get even better if I go and read the Holy Bible in this time now on Earth, Flanders,” said the wheat germ girl.

“That makes sense!” said Flanders, understanding God’s plan for Carol by answering her prayer with this Bible verse.

“I have always loved Heaven with Jesus, Flanders. Now I love the Bible with a believer’s desire!” said the wheat germ girl. “I did use to daydream about listening to Jesus in Glory as we walk and talk. Now I want to listen to Jesus for the rest of my time down here by reading His Word!”

“Amen! Praise the Lord!” said Flanders Nickels. “Where do you think that you will begin?”

“Why, I will start with the book of Revelation,” she said. “Then, after that, I will start at the

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first book of the Bible and then read the whole rest of the Bible. And I will keep doing that cover to cover until the Lord takes me Home. There shall be showers of blessing upon me for doing that when I get There. But most of all I want to read the Bible, because that is now what I want to do with Christ down here.”

“Praise the God Who answers the prayers of His daughter!” said Flanders Nickels.

“Now it is your turn, Flanders,” said the wheat germ girl.

“I won’t keep You waiting, God,” said Flanders, looking up toward Heaven. Carol handed him back his Bible. And he held it up before himself upon his palms just as the wheat germ girl had. And he prayed, “Lord, please open up my Bible to the right place for me to read.”

And again a zephyr from the Holy Spirit passed through this kitchen, letting the Bible fall open to the right verse for Flanders, near the middle of the Bible. And Flanders read out loud, “’For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.’ Psalm 119:89.”

“Flanders,” sang out Miss Dale in joy for him.

“Carol!” he said in divine revelation.

“I never knew that!” she said, understanding what he had just learned.

And he said it, “The Bible is waiting for me in Heaven!”

“Then you do not have to quit your Bible studies when you get raptured,” said Miss Dale.

“I no longer have to be afraid of the rapture now,” he said. “Now I want it!”

“Praise You, O Heavenly Father, for having answered my boyfriend’s prayer just now as You have answered my prayer just now,” prayed the wheat germ girl.

“Through God and His Word, I have now repented,” declared Flanders Nickels.

“And I, too, also by God and His Word,” proclaimed Carol Dale.

And they got out Flanders’s hymnbook and they sang together the hymn, “There Shall Be Showers of Blessings.”

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It was Christmas Eve, the day after Flanders and Carol found the answers to their prayers and the day before their wedding. They were on their last date as fiancé and fiancée. And they were alone in the living room of Flanders’s parents’ house with the lights of the Christmas tree being the only light in this room. This Christmas tree was the kind of Christmas tree that Flanders had always wanted in his childhood years when he would be a grown-up: this Christmas tree was real and tall and wide and with only big old-fashioned bulbs of many colors and no ornaments.

“It’s beautiful, Flanders,” said Carol.

“You’re beautiful, Carol,” said Flanders.

“Today I am Miss Carol Bree Dale,” said the wheat germ girl. “Tomorrow I shall be Mrs. Carol Bree Nickels.”

“Do you love that?” he asked.

“I do,” said she. “And I love you.”

In the other side of the room was the bride’s wedding dress all set up on a mannequin. The wheat germ girl asked, “Do you love my wedding gown, Flanders?”

“That I surely do,” he said. “And I surely love you.”

She then reached under the Christmas tree for her Christmas present for Flanders, gave it to him, and said, “Merry Christmas, Flanders.”

In like manner he also reached under the Christmas tree for his Christmas present for her, gave it to her, and said, “Merry Christmas, Carol.”

They at once both tore open their Christmas presents. Behold, Flanders got from Carol the complete Left Behindseries of novels written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. He was most pleasingly delighted. And he read the titles of the twelve books out loud in happiness: “Left Behind, Tribulation Force, Nicolae, Soul Harvest, Apollyon, Assassins, The Indwelling, The Mark,

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Desecration, The Remnant, Armageddon, and Glorious Appearing.”

The wheat germ girl said, “You are now finishing up the book of Revelation for your first time and about to start your second reading through the Bible, Flanders. I know that these novels are all about Revelation. I thought that you would like to read about it in another way.”

“Eschatology indeed, beautiful Carol!” he said. ‘Now that I am in Revelation I have found a love for reading about eschatology. I can read about it now in fiction format just as I am now in the Biblical format.”

As for Carol, lo, she got from Flanders a five-volume encyclopedic commentary upon the five books of Moses in the Bible. Also called the “Books of the Law,” “The Torah,” “The Pentateuch,” these books of Moses comprised the first five books of the Old Testament—Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy. And this commentary set preached on these five books.

In most ardent gratitude, the wheat germ girl said, “What wisdom a woman like myself can learn from all of this, O Flanders!”

“There are secrets of Earth’s most early days in this commentary, Carol, things that only Jewish rabbis knew about that no one knows about in this modern age,” said Flanders.

“At just the right time for me, too, Flanders,” said Miss Dale. “Now that I am going through the book of Revelation for my first time, the next thing that I will read in my Bible is Genesis and the rest of these books of Moses. What a great way to start my official first reading of the Bible, to have this commentary to read off to the side.”

“I want only the best for my extra pretty girl,” said Flanders.

“They say that a pretty girl is like a melody,” said Carol.

“Carol, if a pretty girl is like a melody, you are like a carol.” said Flanders.

“Carols are your favorite songs,” said Carol Dale.

“Let’s sing a Christmas carol just for this night,” said Flanders.

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“Yes! Let’s sing about this Christmas tree that our Savior has made and has given life to,” said the wheat germ girl.

And the engaged couple sang the Christmas Carol “O Christmas Tree”:

“O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,

O tree of green unchanging.