A Sabbath with the Stones

           The family woke up that morning to a very cold house. You could look at the window but not out of it because of the thick layer of frost that had turned into ice. No frost was visible on the floor. Some family members were awake while others were still sleeping. It was easy to tell that the floor was freezing, and who would dare to step on it without a good pair of wool socks? Even though there was ice on the window a little light came in which indicated that it was morning. It was a brave soul who would get up to start the oil heaters. The warmth of the bed was so nice, and it was sometimes difficult to leave it. 

           But leave, a brave soul did. Weather they took turns or flipped a coin was not certain, but either Mom or Dad would get up and start the two large gas heaters. The black heaters with their stainless steel grill which sometimes doubled as a makeshift stovetop had been left on the night before. Even if they had ran of fuel they delayed the cold enough to make it bearable the next morning for the person who would put more fuel in them and start them. It was always of great importance to have enough fuel to run them over the Sabbath, and getting fuel was always a priority on Friday before sunset.

           

           About twenty minutes after the stove was lit and producing heat, family members started materializing next to it in various stages of consciousness. Because Sabbath morning was not a time to lounge around, the pace was picked up for those who were awake and especially for those who were still sleeping. Having breakfast after everyone was dressed was unthinkable, so the first thing was to get food on the table. On Saturday morning there was usually cereal and toast. Cereal was one of those meals which usually occurred only on Saturday. It was usually cheerios and raisin bran along with the milk from ginger the goat as soon as Lila came back from milking her. Breakfast was not the usual gently paced meal as normal. 

        Mom had a solution to the fact that everybody liked cereal so much. There were two bowels of milk for each of the kids with as much cereal that could be put in them till the milk was gone. Mom’s homemade wholesome bread was sliced and then put into the four slotted toaster and then topped with butter.

At that point in time, supposed experts from the medical media had gone back and forth about weather butter was healthier or weather margarine was healthier. But Dad said that butter was healthier and to be fair, butter was less processed.  After breakfast was over, it was then the time to get dressed for church. In the earlier history of the family Mom and Dad had made it a policy that eating would happen first and then dressing would occur later. 

The aroma of old spice was could be detected around the house and well as various unnamed hair sprays.  Mom would be dressed in her dress that had jungle flowers, ferns and vines on it. Dad would be dressed in his Sabbath shirt which would have flowers on it and his corduroy pants. Caroline and Lila had bought Dad a black stylish and tasteful leather jacket the year before. In winter Dad would wear in to church or his Corduroy dress jacket depending on the season.  Lila and Caroline would look lovely in their dresses. 

The drive from the house to the church took 40 minutes from the kinik area to the Palmer area in Alaska. Dad always drove the double cab ford pickup. Mom would be next to him with Caroline next to her. Lila would be in the back to keep the peace with her four mischievous younger brothers.  The Palmer SDA church seemed huge to the kids but with a full congregation, it would not be many years before it would be outgrown. As soon as they got there, Brian and Brent would take their positions on either side of the main doors of the church. When they saw someone coming, they would open the doors and welcome whoever it was inside.  

Mom who had been assisted by Caroline and Lila had made the families contribution to potluck for church the day before which consisted of Macaroni and cheese with garlic bread and celery sticks. The dishes containing the food were put in the fellowship hall and at that point, everyone split up to their various classes. Mom and Dad went to the adult Sabbath school lesson. Caroline went to the youth room and Lila went to the early teen room while Tim, Brian, Brent and Roy went to the junior’s class.

The class usually consisted of singing, a story, the lesson and the conclusion all of which consisted of about 30 minutes. The time between Sabbath School and church was about ten minutes. The church service began with singing. While singing hymns, you could hear the highs and the lows. You could hear the harmony and notice the swells as you thought about the words to the songs. The piano playing in the front with the organ played procession of hymns that the congregation sung. It was a beautiful experience which would evoke warmth of heart for years to come when the hymns were sung again. There was the old rugged cross, a mighty fortress, redeemed, I sing the mighty power of God, He lives and many other beloved favorites…hymns were and are insightful and thought provoking life and spiritual lessons in song. Older ladies in church sitting behind Dad sometimes mentioned that they enjoyed sitting behind him when he would sing hymns.

After the singing would be the welcoming speech by one of the elders with an addition to the pastor. The Pastor did mention one time something of his love for evangelism. There had been an Italian restaurant in the city of Wasilla by the name of Evangelos.  The family would sometimes go to one of two pizza restaurants. One was Evangelos and the other right near the church was Pizza Delphi which was generally the more favored. 

Eating out, especially pizza was something that did not happen a lot. The family had seen the pastor once at Evangelos Pizza, so when he mentioned evangelism, for several years, it was something of a mystery to the boys. “The pastor is talking about evangelism again. Does that mean that he is talking about Pizza?” But evangelism would become something the boys would understand and be involved in later as some of them would become literature Evangelists.

Pastor Donavan Kack gave a sermon about how the devil recycles trash. He went on to say that the errors taught and propagated now are the same things that he propagated and spread in earlier times. The same untruths and garbage repackaged, which is true, and how we can use the Bible to help us know what trash is and what it is not.

Potluck, when it occurred was an interesting time of fellowship with the other church members. There were all sorts of interesting conversations during potluck from Theology, news, weather, school, jobs and family. Mom and Dad did need to remind the boys not to eat too many desserts. One Sabbath, for a forgotten reason, Mom and Dad forgot to bring something to potluck when it was their turn. With Mom having to teach a class, she was stuck, so she asked to Dad to go to the store and come up with something.

Well Dad got some vanilla wafers, pudding and Bananas which were not cheap in Alaska. Putting the vanilla wafers in the bottom of the bowel, he then sliced the bananas into the pudding. Then he put the pudding on the wafers and that dish became a hit at that potluck and a hit for many a potluck afterwards.

Again, depending on the weather, they would sometimes go a hike on Sabbath afternoon. There was a nameless lake that took about 25 minutes to get to by walking and usually the dogs went on this excursion. At that point you could not really see any other houses from the old house and there were not many people living on that road. You could go far back into the forest without seeing any houses as Brent found out once when he got lost in the woods for several hours when he were chasing Prince who was lila’s dog. 

Usually, when Mom, Caroline, Lila, Tim, Brian, Brent and Roy went camping, Prince always raced ahead. But when Dad went along, Prince always walked behind Dad.  One time Roy went to stake Ginger out near a big patch of fireweeds in the woods. When Ginger ate fireweeds, her milk had a very nice flavor to it. Ginger was a very strong willed goat and Roy being about 7 years old got dragged through the woods for a while. The goat would always resist when someone was trying to take her some place, but when Dad took her someplace she would obediently and submissively follow him.  

There are many places to go walking or hiking in Alaska. With so many lakes, woods, streams, parks, and mountains. There was a miners ghost town, which for a long time was free to visit. There were old buildings from the 1800's, craggy and grassy mountain sides, old artifacts, and in the summer, hillsides in splendor with a violet color because of the fire weeds. There are two high hills with a valley in between, where the mining town was. Just next to the mining town was a small hill between the two large ones. There was a cable running from one large hill to the other, and the loop of it hung about five feet over the top of the small hill in between. 

If you had a pair of gloves, you could grab onto the cable. It took about a dozen people to pull the cable as close to the peak of the hill as they could, but once they let go, the person holding on the cable shot perhaps 20-30 feet in the air and bobbed for a while till the cable was back down to around five feet off the ground. The Matsu glacier was not far, and pure water from the glacier ran near the mining town. One time, when Grandpa Glen came to visit, he and Brent went to the stream running from the glacier near the mining town and drank out of it. It was perfectly safe, delicious and icy cold.  

There was the rare occurrence when the church had a prophecy seminar with the intent of outreach evangelism. They had one that was in a large building with an auditorium between Palmer and Wasilla, and they invited a guest speaker from the Pacific Northwest. When the family arrived at the prophecy seminar, the Pastor was out front and he was talking to a guy who drove a trailer all over the Matsu valley. His trailer and truck were covered with sensationalistic signs all warning people about anything from UFO’s to theology to international trade agreements.  The person who was preaching at the prophecy seminar was a fellow who identified himself as Brother Vick (the name was changed)  and he had come up to Alaska from somewhere in the Pacific northwest with someone whom everyone assumed was his wife.

 John F. Kennedy is in the Guinness book of world records for his ability to speak fast, but he did not hold a candle next to Brother Vick. He had brought his spotlight with him and had the lights in the auditorium turned off when he was preaching. For whatever reason, Tim, Brian, Brent and Roy had missed moment when the other kids had located to the youth section of the Prophecy seminar. They went into the adult seminar and sat right in the front. And they could not understand what Brother Vick was saying because he was, as it seemed to them, talking very fast.

They began to wonder if the adults who were in the seminar could understand what Brother Vick was saying. Their parents had taught them to be polite to any adult, and in a polite way, they would raise their hands and say, “Could you slow down please?” The boys had to ask this question and others like it a number of times.  Oddly enough, no one ushered them out after the first this happened. Brother Vick would slow down a little for a minute and then be talking too fast to be understood. After the fifth time one of the boys piped up, a lady with slightly grey hair who had arrived from the Pacific Northwest with Brother Vick went to the front and ushered the boys out. In the hall she told them that they should not have interrupted Brother Vick so many times. She had been accompanying Brother Dick with the air that one could not but assume that she was his wife. When she had finished talking, one of the boys innocently asked if she was Brother Vick’s mother.

She assumed an offended expression and bluntly exclaimed that they were very rude little boys. All their lives they had heard their Dad refer to their Mother as Mom in their presence, so what they were really asking was if she was Brother Vick’s wife. Mom at that time worked in the school, and because of that she received some interesting information about Brother Vick. On the third day of the meeting, someone had called from a Pacific Northwestern conference informing the church that the woman with Brother Vick was not his wife. It later came out that the person who called the church was Brother Vick’s wife. Perhaps believing that no one knew him in Alaska, he could get there and back with his escort without anyone one knowing.  It cemented in the minds of some of the boys that wrongdoing and deceit is not something you can hide from indefinitely. The event however would never be recalled without a good laugh.

Another event on Saturday night was making popcorn, and like Dad who was good at putting the right amount of yeast, butter and salt on the popcorn, Caroline often made Popcorn which went well with apples and a cooked can of evaporated milk. Gathered in the living room, they would read, play board games or watch something such as Laurel and Hardy or PBS. It would be another week till Sabbath came around, but Mom and Dad’s intention to make the Sabbath day special were not lost on the children, and it would be a treasured memory that would not be erased by time.

It's won't rain!

It won't rain! 

Nature, it seems has a sence of humor when persons predict the weather, be it sunny, rainy or windy. “It won't rain,” is a phrase that has been repeated a lot. During the last few months living in Alaska in the late summer of 1995 after Mom, Lila, Tim and Roy had left, There was just Dad, Caroline, Brian and Brent at the old house on Beverly Lake road. There was lots of work to do as Dad, Brian and Brent would shortly make the long trip from Alaska to South Texas. During a weekend lull, Caroline decided that camping would be fun. There are some states where camping can be alot of fun. Preferably states that do not have ticks roaming in the wild.

Alaska of course falls into this catagory, and as long as it is not winter. Alaska is one of the best places to go camping when factoring in scenery, temperature and climate. As Caroline was in charge, Brian and Brent went too, but happily which would not always be normal in the future when camping was mentioned, and it had to do with rain. The trio was joined by Amanda who was a good conversationalist which was fine since Caroline and Amanda were good friends despite the age gap. And of course Brian and Brent did not mind either. It was a fun camping experience with good food packed and good company. At this point, "It's going to rain," was not the common phrase it would become.

Alaska does not typically get much rain in the summertime, but this camping excursion was an exception. After setting up camp and preparing the fire, Caroline executed a remarkable feat once the rain began and that was that she kept a fire going through four hours of rain with Brian, Brent and Amanda scurrying about the forest near the campground looking for scraps of wood for the fire. The fire did survive however, and later after the respective parities had returned to their tents, Brian and Brent were summoned by the cronic shreiks eminating from Amanda and Caroline's tent. Somehow the daddylong legs seemed to be finding their way into the girls tent and surprizing them.

For some reason, Caroline and Amanda took the befuddled, directionally challenged daddy longs leg's visits with the wrong spirit. Later the group would go out on a boat near evening time and listen to the loons serenading eachother at dusk. Once, a loon popped up about seven feet from the boat and the haunting call of the loon sounded long and serene. Why didn't we bring the camera!? It was a fun camping experience and it did not rain anymore during that camping trip. Other situations regarding camping did not turn out as sucsessfully.

A few months later, and in the state of Texas, Tim, Brian, Brent and Roy were in pathfinders. They had joined a spanish group because there was no English pathfinders available, and marching became a real trial as they did not know their right from their left and none of them understood the marching commands at first. The time came for the pathfinder camporee which was held at Nameless Valley Ranch near Austin. Aunt Iona was one of the guides and she made a delicious porridge in a pot over the fire. That night as it began to drizzle, everyone went to sleep as unsuspecting slumberers.

The next morning it was still raining and had been raining all night. The campground was one big mud puddle and it seemed that everything was wet. Almost a year later, Tim told Mom that he wanted to see what Big Ben was like, but not having the resources then, Mom on one of her free weekends took the boys to areas around the historic cities of Fanin and Goliad around the mid south of Texas.

It was a fun time and finding a campsite, they began to set up tents. There was lauging and joking as the fire was lit, and then the rain came. There were three tents, one of which where the zippers did not work, and it rained hard and long till almost everyone was half wet, but they took it in stride although they hastily packed up camp the next morning.

Going through a nearby town on sunday morning, they passed a toupee shop out of which came a grouchy, cranky looking man who looked furious. The color of his toupee was in stark contrast the color of his hair that was showing under the wig. It reminded Brent of a teacher he had who was about as bald as an egg. When asked by a student if he had thought thought about getting a toupee, the teacher said no because he had seen to many people chase their wigs down the street on a windy day. As Mom and the boys passed the man with the toupee, the expression on his face was one they would not forget and it added to the lighthearted mood of the group.

After the camping trip in Texas, it became expected that if they were going to go camping, it would rain, and this was often the chorus you would hear when camping was suggested.

There was another incident a few years later where the boys went camping and this time nobody got wet, although the weather still had a card to play. Tim by this time had his license and he was not the only one who was exstatic about this except for Mom and Dad. They regarded the situation with dubious concern, but nevertheless, they let him borrow the car keys to the big green LTD which also made Brian, Brent and Roy really happy too. Nevermind that the big lumbering vehicle ran over a stump without hurting the vehicle. It was church campout and the boys brough a tent for Tim and Roy and a tent for Brian and Brent. No one had really told them how cold it can get in the mountains of Arizona which was where home was at that point in 1999.

Brian asked Brent to get rid of the pine cones where they had decided to put their tent, which Brent did as best he could. Not too long after they had been there, the car keys dissapeared, but it was the weekend. Surly they would be found before it was time to leave. Sleeping was not very easy that night. Tim managed to stay warm because he had a warm sleeping bag.

Roy did not, and being that it was quite cold, he hovered over the fire most of the night. In the morning he looked like a sweep, but he had stayed warm. Brian and Brent did not sleep so well either but not because of the cold. That night when Brian lay down, he felt a significant bump right between his shoulder blades. It must have been a pine cone Brent did not see. If the tent had not been so small it would not have been a problem, but for several hours Brian could not sleep.

He turned over and began pounding the pine cone into the ground, but it was unusually tough for a pine cone. Frustrated, he persuaded Brent to sleep there since Brent had neglected to see the pine cone when they chose their spot. Brent did the same thing, trying to pound the pine cone into the ground by he did not have much luck either. A day later the keys were not found and a phone call on a prehistoric cell phone alerted Mom and Dad to the situation. They were about three hours away and did not look forward to making the trip. Much to Mom and Dad's releif, before the phone call ended, the keys were discovered under Brian and Brent's tent. They had been pounded into the ground a little bit. It was probably the work of some devious squirrel.

Never the less, Tim, always the adventurer was always up for going camping unlike some of his younger brothers. "It is going to rain!" "Oh no, it won't rain!" Those who have lived in Oregon will know that in the winter it does little else but rain, which is not really a bad thing except if you go camping and bet odds that it will not rain. Well, one Sunday in 2001, Tim came to Brian and said, "Hey, let's go camping!" "It is going to rain!" Oh no, it is not going to rain. It will be alright, and it will be fun." But Brian was unconvinced, and Tim could not talk him into it, so he resorted to another strategy. "Mom, could I talk you into persuading Brian to go camping?" Mom readily agreed to put her persuasive power into getting Brian to go camping and she included Brent in the deal."

It was a maternal executive order." "Brian, you need to go camping with Tim along with Brent." Well Brian did not want to go as he was sure that it would rain, but now he was forced to. Years later that executive order was looked upon as a wise choice made by a presider with an understanding of forsight. She knew that time together with sibblings would be treasured and regarded as a golden memory. In their early years, some of the children did not understand why Dad did not go camping much, but later, they learned from experience why.

Well, the camping trip was prepared and nature at the onset of a camping trip never seems to loose her droplets. Nature seems to wait until the tent has been set up and the fire is ready to be ignighted. That is what happened, and the evening found the three brothers huddled in a tent at the top of one the numerous small hills in Oregon looking out at the grey sky drenched with rain.

All there was to eat was cold hard boiled eggs. They ate them in the dark while doing their best to read passages of the Bible and then reflecting on them to one another. Brian did not need to say anything because it was raining, but interestingly enough he was enjoying himself as were Tim and Brent. The attempt to start a fire had failed as well as the attempt to eat hot food. But that did not seem to matter anymore as with the Bible open and being discussed, comraderie took the first priority.

A few years later in 2004, Brian was a director for Oregon youth challenge. At the end of the summer the canvassers always did something fun to wrap up the summer. Someone had suggested camping to which Brain said, "It's going to rain!" And again as in beforetmes, everyone said, "Aw, its not going to rain!" "Trust me, it is going to rain!" This went back and forth, but Brian was eventually outvoted. Brian did not have proof that it would rain, but he knew what might happen. "Well I guess we can go camping but I am telling you that it is going to rain." "Don't be a wet blanket Brian!"

Well, Brain prepared ahead this time. When they arrived at the campsite everyone put up a tent except Brian. When asked why he did not put up a tent, he said that he had decided that he would sleep in the van which had a seat that was actually quite comfortable to sleep on. Once again someone said, "It is not going to rain!" "Well you can sleep in a tent if you want but I am going to sleep in the van." Brian's choice was regarded with an obliging humor, but it did rain that night. Most people woke up half wet the next moring except for Brain who slept perfectly dry in the van with a smile on his face. "He did not need to tell anyone, "I told you so." Oddly enough, several years later in 2011 when he would go camping with Beth his fiance, it never seemed to rain even though it was in Oregon. Perhaps the relevance of the phrase, “It's going to rain!” seemed to decrease more and more as who you would go camping with became the most important factor when camping was considered and suggested. Camping can be a lot of fun, especially if you go with people you like to be around, when bring the right kind of food, appropriate clothing, and you nix states that have ticks and that won't give you a heatstroke. Alaska and Oregon are fine states to consider. So if you are going to go camping, make sure you know what the weather is first, and don't pooh pooh someone if they say, "It's going to rain!" Odds are, even if it does rain, if you are with loved one, you will look back with a smile. If you can also look back on it later for a good laugh, you can think about what you will do when someone says, "It's going to rain!"

~A day with the Stones~

(From the late 1980's)

The cold morning light was peeping over the horizon as Lila Stone left the warm house and headed to the goat barn which was hardly a barn since it was an old green van with a corral built around it. At this time of the year in the Alaskan fall, it got quite cold in the mornings while the temperature was warm in the early to late afternoon. Ginger was a large goat with a belligerent attitude, but Lila who was a determined person had dealt with the stubborn goat before. When it came down to who would do what, the goat always lost.
Lila looked into the goat barn and saw that as usual, the chickens were roosting and sleeping on the goat. But ginger did not seem to mind as it was benefit to her as well as the chickens in regard to warmth. Lila gave the goat her water and then milked her. Lila noticed that when she brought warm water, it seemed to freeze before the cold water did. Then she went back to the house and went up the stairs of the back porch and into the house where the aroma of pancakes welcomed her. Dad was at the stove making his delicious pancakes from scratch. Mom and Caroline amide a conversation were setting the table and putting butter, honey, peanut butter and applesauce on it.

“Your cornbread was so good. It was the first to disappear at potluck,” Caroline was telling Mom.

Mom had made Cornbread at potluck after Sabbath the week before, and she had just put a pan of freshly made cornbread batter in the oven.

“Well it was not always the best, but I discovered the if I added twice the sugar and twice the oil, then it turned out well.

“I would not tell that to Grandpa if I were you,” Dad said to Mom.

“But it really is very good Mom,” Lila rejoined as she put the goat milk on the table. “I think that when I bring ginger water, when it is hot, it freezes faster than if it is already cold.”

It was going to be a busy day that Sunday with lot to do. Brian came and sat at the table, eying the honey and then the pancakes. Then Roy sat next to him with Brent predictably on the other side. Dad put a large stack of pancakes on the table as Tim sat next to Roy. Four little boys with notorious appetites on one side with their two older sisters on the other side. Caroline who usually had a good view noticed that Dad was making letters with the pancake batter. Letters which she noticed corresponded to the first letters of her and her siblings first name. Then Mom sat down on one end of the table as Dad sat down at the other end. The blessing was said by Dad. When he finished, he got up to continue making delicious pancakes. It seemed hard to believe, but Dad would always outpace the rate of which his family ate his pancakes, and he was always ahead of them.

There was usually a number of pancakes left after the family could not eat anymore pancakes which Dad made, but that was okay because they made great leftovers.

“Well, said Mom,”One of the things that we need to do first is a little harvesting.”

“Oh boy,” said Tim. I will finally get to harvest those green beans I have been growing near that tree for most of the summer.” That summer had been a busy one since the boys with Dad's direction and help, had dug a pathway to the basement where Dad had made a door in order to take large items in and out of the basement more easily.

“Yes,” Mom continued. “Some of the vegetables need to be taken in.”

Breakfast was a good time with everyone enjoying the pancakes and adding comments to the conversation in general. It took a while but everyone was eventually full, and Mom directed the children to the back garden where harvesting commenced. Dad meanwhile went to the A frame shop area to work on an engine.

“I am sure glad that Rabbit is not around anymore,” Brian commented as he pulled carrots out of the ground, and put them in a bag. A neighborhood kid had accidentally lost his rabbit that summer. That rabbit decided that the back garden was a good place to get food. He would hide out in the day and ransack our garden at night, but we had caught him the week before. Dodging four boys running after him was not much of a feat for a rabbit. But he overdid himself when he was spotted running into a pipe. Brian went in one end of the pipe and Brent went into the other with barely enough room for the boys to wiggle, and rabbit was caught and returned to the neighborhood kid. The lettuce and cabbage showed abundant evidence that it had been the main course in the rabbit's nightly pillaging, so everyone was happy that the rabbit was gone.

“Oh that dumb goat!” We all looked to see Tim heading for the scraggly tree near the goat barn where ginger had made short work his green beans he had been tending most of the summer. The truth was that ginger really was not all that bright, although she was saved excessive scorn in that she did give good milk, and that she had swiped and downed the neighborhood kid's coke when he was not looking. It was too bad about the green beans but there were some still left. The harvesting went on. There was lettuce, tomatoes, corn, some potatoes, peas,onions, cabbage, mustard, and beets. Dad came from the shop and whatever vehicle he was fixing with a stethoscope around his neck.

“So Brent, do you think we should grow macaroni seeds next year?” he said with a wink at Mom.

“Oh yes Dad!”

At that point point, everyone except Brian loved Macaroni and cheese, and Brent started thinking about how often they would have this prized dish next year if they planted macaroni seeds.

At that point it was just past one, and with all the vegetables gathered, Mom decided that we had harvested enough for one day. A lot of the food at the table that summer came from the property rather than the store. In addition, neighbors came by every so often to buy eggs. During that summer there was lot of food to be had. They had milk from the goat which mom would sometimes make into cheese, and eggs from the chickens plus lots vegetables from the gardens. Occasionally that summer the children would eat fresh greens from the store, but it was easy to tell the difference in taste between homegrown and store bought greens. The difference was a deep flavor in home grown food and a shallow lackluster flavor in store bought food. As far as the writer knows, this is still the opinion of everyone in the family. Mom started a pot of beans for dinner before the studies began.

Inside the house with the vegetables gathered, Mom announced that there was a need to do some school work to make up for some things that had not been covered the week before. Except for Caroline who was in high school, Lila, Tim, Brian, Brent and Roy went to home school. It is very likely that in that setting, these students learned more useful things that they remembered better and longer than what they learned in other schools. This mostly had to do with their teacher who had a greater knowledge of them as people than any other person in any other school system. So the studies went on. Brian and Brent studied readers called “Superkids,” while Tim studied another reader called the “Abracadatlis.” Lila studied writing styles and Mom explained to Roy facts about the body. Seeing that this was a good topic to inform all the students on, Mom called their attention. Lila knew all of what Mom was talking about as far as the body. Tim knew a lot about what Mom was talking about. Brian and Brent knew some of what Mom was talking about. But since Roy had not been to school, this was news to him. She explained that the body was supported by the skeleton, and she showed pictures of it. She explained that muscles helped the arms and legs to move as well as other parts of the body.

“I always thought there was nothing in the body but blood, because when I cut myself, that is what comes out,” Roy told everyone else.

One by one, the students began to ask the teacher questions about the anatomy until Lila realized that she had been writing their questions instead of what was in her textbook.“
“Ah! I have been writing the questions you have been asking!” After some more learning, it was getting on toward evening. Mom decided that it was time to put the books away, and get supper on.”

The steamy aroma of pinto beans and fresh cornbread filled the whole house, as Caroline began to set the table for supper. When Mom and Dad went out, Caroline usually presided over meals, and there was never a dull moment.

But that evening, she set the table and then set out the butter, cornbread and beans. Once again without so much as an announcement, people came to the table. Dad said the blessing in his solemn conscious way, and then Mom would begin to serve the boys beans after Dad and the sisters had gotten some. There was hardly a night when there was not any conversation at the table. Talk ranged from school, the garden, the animals, friends, Church and potluck, extended family and where we lived. Dad would sometimes tell a joke or a funny story which the boys did not always get at first. After dinner, well after the sun went down, Dad went to get a Chilton auto mechanics book to examine, which when he had, he got a cup of coffee, and sat down comfortably in the living room. Mom would sit on the couch with the children gathered around her in front of the heater. Caroline usually sat on the back of the couch, comb in hand for when Mom began to get sleepy. Mom would read in a book. It varied from time to time. Sometimes it was the little house books, Heidi, the borrowers, bedtimes stories, or Bible stories. This usually went on for over an hour, and Mom would sometimes begin to fall asleep while she was reading. So it was usual for someone, usually Caroline and Lila to brush her hair. When this happened she would not go to sleep, but would continue reading until bedtime which was different for the boys since they were younger. Mom and Dad and Mom usually made a point of kissing when they knew the kids were watching, which was a little awkward for the kids as they did not know what they were supposed to be doing when this occurred, but it was good psychology and obviously factual. Sometimes there was reluctance to go to sleep, but when there had been a lot of physical activity in a day, it seemed that the boys did not mind so much. There were no lack of covers in that house. And in the winter, there were so many over you that you had a distinct contented and snug feeling when you were warm in bed about to drift off to sleep.

A lethal masquerade...

The identity behind the mask...

In Twinsburg Ohio, there is a festival every year. Twins and triplets and quadruplets attend every year from around the country. There you can see a lot twins, some of who may be almost impossible to tell apart. I am a twin myself, and have had many interesting experiences down through years. When I was in college, my twin brother came to the school where I had been attending for a year. Twins at times look at each other and wonder, “How can someone possibly not know the difference between me and my twin? For example, my brother likes facial hair and I prefer to be clean shaven. How could anyone not be able to tell two fellows apart when one has facial hair and the other does not?

It can be easy if you don't tell your friends you have a twin. Such was the case in college. When my brother came to school, he was clean shaven but got tired of everyone calling him Brent, so he grew some facial hair. Brian and I look so different to me that without my telling my friends that I had a twin, I thought that they should be able to tell that we were two people and not the one person which everyone assumed. Upon seeing Brian, some of my friends, would say, “hey nice, beard Brent!” Poor Brian, he could not win, until the talent show, and then there was no confusion.

When we went to school at the Navajo Indian High school, the same thing happened. We went to different classes and our friends thought we were one person until a media production. When we came onstage at the same time, all the students began to freak out, and later they said, “you did not tell us you had a twin. We though it was one person and you really scared us when you came onstage. It did not help that some of our indian friends were somewhat superstitious. The same thing happened to our younger brother's wife. For three weeks she though we were one person, and our habit of walking up in different clothes ten minutes apart and asking the exact same questions began to scare us. She became a little upset when our younger brother informed her theat He had forgotten to tell her he had two older twin brothers. We were never able to convince her it was an accident.

When Brian and I were very young, my mother used to dress us up in identical clothes for church, and there was only one way Mom and Dad could tell us apart. That was when we opened our mouths. Brian and I never deliberately set out to deceive anyone regarding who was who.

The Bible tells us that there will be two events and entities which will appear to be very similar. It is eternally vital to know the difference between the two and it impacts us as it is not many years away. The signs of the times attest to this. Civil unrest in the world, natural disasters, worldwide political chaos and oppression, earthquakes and a multiplicity of wars all point to a planet whose years are numbered. So what are these two entities? Christ and Satan. What is the question? Will Satan will masquerade as Christ in order to deceive en mass?

It is a topic which I had not studied for myself till now. What we know for sure ought to be that which we have studied for ourselves in God's word. And our prayer should be that people will not take our word for it, but search it out for themselves in the sacred scriptures. While I do not mistrust those whom I have decided to listen to on this topic, I had not yet not searched it out for myself in God's word.

So is Satan going to masquerade as Christ? The scriptures do not tell us directly in a single verse, but a number of verses compared and agreeing on the topic will give us an answer. And this is the aim of contextual and holistic investigation of the holy scriptures. What does the Bible say as a whole on a certain topic? First we will need to observe a number of verses that are connected with the coming of Christ. Then we will observe some facts.

Jesus is coming back. This is the essence christianity. There is a beautiful hymn that harmonizes with this, the greatest hope of the apostles and faithful down through the ages. And so the question is, what does the Bible say? Will Satan masquerade as Christ?

Matthew 24:23~27

23. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24. For there shall arise false christ's, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they should deceive the very elect. 25. Behold, I have told you before. 26. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, behold he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers: believe it not. 27. For as the lightening cometh out of the east, and shines even to the west, so shall also the coming of the sun of man be.

Isaiah 25:9

And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.

2^nd Thessalonians 1:7,8

7. And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with His mighty angels, 8. In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1^st Corinthians 15:51,52

51. Behold I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Exodus 19:19

And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him by voice.

^1st Thessalonians 4:15-17

15. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain to the coming of the lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Acts 1: 9-11

9. And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11. Which also said, You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing you up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven.

Revelation 1:7

Behold, He comes with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen.

Matthew 24:30,31

And the shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31. And He shall send His angels with the great sound of the trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Matthew 27:52,53

51. And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53. And came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city and appeared to many.

Ephesians 5:14

Wherefore He saith, Awake, thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

Mark 13:22

For false christs and false prophets shall rise and shall show great signs and wonders, to seduce, if possible, the very elect.

There have been and will be many people who have claimed to be Christ. When we look in the Bible, we know that there are some things from the true second coming that the impostors and phonies will not be able to duplicate. There are numerous signs and events that will accompany the coming that even Satan cannot and will not be allowed to duplicate. Let's gather facts that describe the true second coming. What are the differences between the true second coming of Christ and that of the great deceiver?

• 2^nd Thessalonians 1:7,8 tells us that Christ will come with the clouds of heaven... His holy angels. They will come forth from Christ to the four winds of heaven to collect his saints. There will be no angels collecting Saints when Satan masquerades as Christ.
• The sound of a great trumpet will accompany the second coming of Christ. Like the trumpet on Mount Sianai, this will be a sound everyone will hear. Every eye shall see Him, and those who pierced him also. This is going to be a worldwide visual and audible second coming.
• 1st Thessalonians 4:15-17 tells us that graves will be opened with the dead (and then the living) being caught up to be with the Lord. Matthew 27:52,53 corroborates in telling us that those who rose at Christ's death on the cross arose with physical incorruptible bodies coming out of the graves. The same will happen when the true Christ comes.
• No false Christ, Satan included will be able to duplicate glorified saints coming out of the graves. If someone claims to be Christ portraying his returning to earth, this will have to be a major accompanying sign according to scripture. If there are not numerous open vacent graves that once held saints, then we could look in our immediate vicinity without going anywhere and ask, “where are the rent rocks? Where are the vacant graves that have been pushed open by occupants who have been glorified?” When Satan masquerades as Christ, no graves will open. The saint's will remain asleep until the true Christ comes and calls them to wake.
• Jesus will come down in like manner as He left, revealed in the clouds of heaven.
• Isaiah 25:9 tells us that there will be a group of people who when the true Christ does come will claim Him as He whom they have waited for. Because they know their Bibles, they have refused to even look at or listen to the false christ . This group has not been deceived by those who claimed to be Christ, who also displayed miraculous signs following their lies. They will not go to see the false Christ's weather he be reported to be in the desert or in the secret place. They will remember Jesus's warning in sacred scripture and will faithfully pay no heed to the false reports. This is the group who will say, “this is the Lord.” There is a strong hint here that this group has already witnessed reports that Jesus has returned, and had rejected the reports because of what they knew from the Bible.
• There will be numerous reports of Christ's return to earth in various places. Using the Bible, we will not to give into fatal curiosity, but ignore the lethal temptation to see for our selves.
• When it is Jesus himself coming in the clouds of Glory, all the tribes of earth will mourn. Why is this? They will not be mourning when Satan and the other false christs come.
  When they give into the temptation to go where Jesus is reported to be and are taken in by Satan's grand ruse, and then they see Christ, the true Christ coming, they will realize too late that they have been duped. Their agony stems from the fact that their fates are sadly sealed.
• “For as the lightening cometh out of the east, and shines even to the west, so shall also the coming of the sun of man be.” This will not be a visit, but a mission. When Jesus the true Christ comes, he does not take the time to perform signs and wonders as the false Christ's and false prophets do. He comes on an errand to collect His saints living and dead and to consign sinners to the first death. He also comes to doom Satan to his thousand year prison sentence on a dead planet full of dead sinners, bored stiff with no one alive to tempt or annoy.
• Satan masquerading as Christ will want to take time to say many of the same things that Christ said when He was on earth. Yet Satan always twists the truth as he always twists scripture to frame his lies, much as he did in his temptations to Christ in the wilderness when he deliberately misread the scriptures.
• 2^nd Thessalonians 1:7,8 lets us know that 1, those who obey the gospel commission, and 2, who know God, and remember the words of Christ which are embeded in their memory, will not be deceived.
  Those who choose to listen to the false Christ and to go out to see him against the solemn warnings of Christ will be deceived.
  With universal censure and scorn, they will be looked upon by the deceived world as pathetic idiots and morons by the vast majority who have been deceived against the warnings of Christ...the vast majority who have not studied Scripture and do not know God. The whole world will be deceived by this, the greatest delusion of the enemy of souls. All the tribes of the earth mourn when Jesus, the true Christ comes, letting us know that Satan had tragically succeeded in deceiving everyone. They mourn because they realize they have been deceived to their deaths.
• We will know from scripture without having to go anywhere or listen to anyone that the reported false christs, including, and especially Satan are phonies because we have studied the genuine shown us in the Bible.

God has shown us how to recognize the false Christ's without hearing a word they say. Indeed, Christ has warned us not to even listen to them or go to see them.

When currency examiners study to be able to know false bills from a true one, they never study false bills. They study only the real one so closely that they can spot a phony on sight. God has shown us in Bible that we can comprehend a false Christ without seeing them or having to hear a word they say. And this is done by examining very closely the what God has shown us concerning what His true coming will be like according to the Bible as opposed to other imitators. We must pay no heed to the false, but study the genuine with prayerful vigor. “All the tribes of the earth shall mourn.” All the tribes of the earth, a somber testament to Satan's success in masquerading as Christ, shall see too late that they have been deceived to their deaths.

The enemy of souls has succeeded on a grand scale. But if we are students of the word, we do not have to be deceived into sin. It was the prime purpose of Satan to get Jesus to sin when he was on earth, and Satan failed. Every attempt failed, and we can look at Jesus to know how to throw a wrench in the arch deceiver's well oiled engine of trickery.

But what was the power? It was in the word's “It is written!” In the wilderness, when Satan tempted Christ, every answer was, “It is written, it is written, it is written.” So Satan said, “I can play that game too.” Of course Satan never plays by the rules. In Matthew 4:6, Satan took Jesus and set Him on a pinnacle of the temple which was a tall building, and said “If thou be the son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning thee: (?) and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” But in this excerpt from Psalms 91, Satan leaves out a very important sentence as Jesus well knew. A sentence that would remind Jesus of His mission which He never forgot. Here is Psalms 91:11&12 undefiled.

11. “ For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all they ways. 12. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” Jesus used a power available to all of us to defeat the arch deceiver. He used scripture.

How can we know that Satan will be the one to masquerade as christ? Surely there will and have been many humans twisted enough to imagine that they are christ, and this is true. Yet what kind of person could pull off the following?

“All the tribes of the earth shall mourn.” All the tribes of the earth; a somber testament to Satan's success in masquerading as Christ, shall see too late that they have been deceived to their deaths, and will wish they had studied scripture closer and held to conviction over impulse. There is no person in history who could pull this deception off. “They shall show great signs and wonders, to seduce, if possible even the very elect.” There will be miracles attending Satan and other false christs. He will heal people of cancer, heal people of sickness, and in every way imaginable will imitate Christ, in speech, action, deportment, but there will be a fatal flaw, which if we had not been warned by Christ in scripture, we would fall for.

Satan, when he masquerades as christ will deceive all the tribes of the earth, and they will mourn to know they deceived when they see the genuine coming of Christ. Satan has had 6000 years to study and deceive humans, and he knows his evil art well.

We are not to venture on the enemies ground and go to listen to him even with the Bible as a shield, or humor false reports. Jesus has told us not to for good reason.

The principle here is choosing to trust knowledge God has given us in the Bible over impulse. If we do, we will know that a false christ is false without ever having to see or hear it, and we will stay right where we are, which should be as far away from false christ's as possible. People who do not know the Bible, will think we are ridiculous ingrates. We will most likely be hated and perhaps hunted and it could well be a dangerous time for us, but as we stick to our Bible based convictions, God will be with us. A popular phrase nowadays is that seeing is believing, but we do not need to see or hear in order to obey the words of Christ. So will Satan masquerade as Christ? This is not a 100% yes, but it is very likely. But most importantly, if we prayerfully store the words of Christ in our hearts, and remember and obey them, and ignore the urging curiosity of impulse, God will preserve us from the strong delusion that will take the world captive. Let us know the word of God so well that by the grace of God, we are not deceived. And we will be among that group who says, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” In the meantime, the best thing we can do is prayerfully study the Bible for ourselves, and so by doing, we will build up a holy consecrated arsenal against Satan's lies, and it will be contained in the words, “it is written.” We will have followed the example of Jesus, and like Him will become more than conquerers through Him who loves us and gave Himself for us.