“NEXT IN LINE, PLEASE!” an exasperated voice somewhere up ahead of Stan called. “Come on, let’s go. There are a lot of people waiting.”

Stan thanked the elderly woman for the bread one more time, then stepped into the narrow lane in front of the cash register, while his benefactor waited in the line next to him. There were no scanners functioning at the checkouts, no calculators, computers, or working cash registers, so every transaction had to be calculated on paper. Purchases were cash only, and change could be made only to the nearest dollar or whatever coins were available. Anyone who balked at the inconvenience could leave empty-handed. Armed security guards patrolled the front of the grocery store, though no doubt, in the darkness and the confusion, some impatient customers simply walked out the open doors undetected, without paying for their treasures.

At the register opposite Stan, a belligerent fellow was giving the clerk a hard time. “This is ridiculous,” the man shouted. “Where’s all the food? And why can’t you people get some light in here?”

“I’m sorry, sir,” the young man at the register tried to pacify the disgruntled customer.

“And why can’t we use our credit cards?” the obnoxious fellow wanted to know. “The credit bureaus have all our financial information in their computers nowadays. If they’re so smart, they should have a way they could read our bank account numbers without us having to carry cash or those cards. God knows there are muggers everywhere these days. I’ll tell you what we really need,” the man said to anybody who was listening. “We need a leader. I’ve been saying it all along. We need a worldwide leader, someone who can deal with all these problems, not those wimps we have. The world is falling apart; there’s chaos everywhere. We need somebody who has some answers. My family is hungry. I have money in the bank, but I can’t get to it. Somebody needs to get us back on the road to peace and prosperity!”

Stan noticed that the man’s outburst had captured the attention of the people in line. Frustrated at standing in the darkness for so long to check out what little provisions they could obtain at the grocery store, many of the listeners were glad for any diversion. Others listened intently and even nodded their heads in agreement with the oaf doing the talking. That only served to encourage him more.

“I’m tired of hearing about all these wars, too. We can’t even defend our own shores anymore. What are we going to do? We need somebody who can bring some security into this situation. I’ve heard that there’s some guy over there in the middle east who has some answers, and I think it’s high time we listen to him. So what if he has a few strange ideas? If he can get us out of this mess, I’d follow him anywhere!”

The maniacal bellowing had nearly mesmerized Stan. When he turned to see what sort of impact the rantings were having on the elderly woman who had given him her bread, he was surprised to see that she was gone. That’s interesting, he thought. She was farther behind in her line than he was. I wonder how she got through the checkout so quickly?

Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 1
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 2
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 3
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 4
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 5

The automatic sliding doors were stuck in the open position and the flow of the people going in and out of the store seemed perpetual as Stan waited politely to slip inside. After waiting a few moments, he realized that most shoppers had long since discarded their manners as they made for the rapidly vanishing food supplies.

The large grocery store was dimly lit, as the juice dwindled and the battery-powered emergency lights dotting the walls. This store, like most modern grocery stores, drug stores, and department, had been built largely without windows to help prevent burglaries. It depended almost entirely on artificial interior lighting to brighten it’s aisles. Without electricity, the store became a huge, dark cave, with only the emergency spots providing any light at all.

Some people lit their way with flashlights as they attempted to find food, but most simply stumbled along in the dark, bumping from one person to the next, like a bizarre human pinball game. Several people tussled in the aisles, over claims of foodstuffs. A few actually engaged in fistfights, throwing punches wildly, flailing at each other in the dim light.  Civilization was deteriorating right between the canned goods and the macaroni and cheese. The store could not stay open much longer, but that mattered little; the food items most people were scouring the shelves for were all gone anyhow. More than a few brave souls purchased dog food in hopes that, if necessary, it would keep them alive until better sources of sustenance could be found. By now, Stan noted, even the dog food aisles were sparsely supplied.

The bread was gone; so was the milk. Empty egg cartons littered the dairy aisles. Most vegetable racks were vacant. The shelves where the canned foods were usually stocked were barren. Stan found a box of instant rice on the floor. Apparently someone had knocked it off a shelf and in the darkness, it had gone undiscovered. That and two dented cans of green beans were the extent of the food Stan carried as he made his way toward the long checkout lines.

“Oh, excuse me, ma’am,” Stan said, more from habit than civility, as he bounced off a grandmotherly woman in front of him. She had actually been the one to bang into him, but assessing blame in these conditions is as foolish as someone complaining about an open window on the Titanic while it was sinking.

“Quite all right, young man. Are you finding any food?” the woman asked sprightly.

“No, ma’am,” Stan replied. “Not much. And I have a wife and toddler at home. I don’t know what were going to feed our daughter.”

“Well, take this. The woman handed a loaf of bread in Stan’s direction.

“Oh, no! I couldn’t take your bread.” Stan replied, much to his amazement. “There’s no another loaf to be found anywhere else in the store. Believe me, I’ve looked!”

“It’s all right. Go ahead and take it,” the woman said sweetly. “You need it more than I do.”

“But what about you? What are you going to eat?”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. My church is taking good care of me. I’m just here looking to find some food to help someone else. And I guess I found someone else I could help. “

“Your church?” Stan asked

“Yes, for the past few years, our church has been stockpiling basic food supplies to help our congregation and other members of the community get through times of shortages. Many laughed at our pastor when Y2K was hardly a bump in the road, but he was not diverted from his belief in preparing ahead of time. As the Bible says in Proverbs, a wise man sees the need and prepares for it ahead of time. So our church stays ready for an awful storm, a flood, or even an earthquake.” The woman paused for a moment, but it was long enough for Stan to notice the twinkle in her eye.

How can she be so calm in all of this? He wondered.

The woman’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “Fortunately, we didn’t need nearly as much food as the leaders of our congregation had prepared for,” she said, “but it’s a good thing the church thought ahead. No one is poking fun at our food pantry anymore.”

“So your church is helping to feed you during these blackouts?” Stan asked, astonished.

“Oh, yes, the church provides food for about two hundred other people who live near our church property. We’re not eating fancy restaurant cuisine, but we’re surviving. A number of people are actually living in the church gymnasium. These stressful times have pulled our community together like never before.

“Yeah, I’ll bet,” said Stan as he accepted the bread from the woman. “Are you sure you are going to have enough?” he asked with genuine concern.

The woman smiled at him in the shadows as they inched closer to the parallel checkout counters. “Thank you for your concern, but it is unwarranted. I’ll be fine. I have a good group of people around me. The church is just up the road from the grocery store.” The woman reached into her purse and produced a church bulletin, complete with a picture of the church, an address, and a phone number. Stan recognized the church immediately. He passed by it a thousand times before without giving it much thought.

“If you need help, please stop by,” said the woman joyfully. “We can always stretch the soup a little further.”

Stan was intrigued. Almost to his own surprise, he heard himself saying, “I’d really like to know more about your church.”

“Well, I’m on my way there as soon as I leave the store. Why don’t you come on over?”

“Maybe I will.” Stan replied, as he thought of Christine and the baby at home in the cold, with nothing to eat. “Maybe we will.”

Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 1
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 2
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 3
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 4
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 6

Stan stumbled to his car in a daze, trying to keep a grip on his emotions. Think, Stan! Think! He silently screamed to himself again and again. What should I do? What can I do?

For several minutes, Stan sat in the car in the dark. He didn’t even bother to start the engine. Shock crept into the car with him. Gone! Los Angeles is gone! It can’t be! It must be a cruel H.G.Wells type of joke. I can’t take much more of this! He thought. What in the world is going on? For the previous six months nearly every time Stan turned on the news, he had heard of another catastrophe. Hurricanes of enormous proportions, tornadoes, tidal waves, earthquakes in Turkey, massive mudslides burying people in Mexico. “It’s a disaster of Biblical proportions!” Stan and his buddies used to joke, as they laughed at the television commentators trying to outdo the other networks in their coverage of each new crisis.

Few people were laughing now.

And the calamities were, in fact, getting worse. It seemed almost as if there were a domino effect after the Japanese stock market crashed a year ago. Then came the horrendously devastating earthquake that rocked Japan, wreaking destruction not seen in that country since World War II, when two “small” atomic bombs had obliterated much of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bringing the war in the Pacific to an abrupt halt.

When the U.S. stock market came crashing down, the toll was not simply in dollars and cents. Many leading business people in New York had leaped from skyscrapers; the less imaginative had simply thrown themselves in front of the few subway trains that were still running. In the heartland, even farmers and “salt of the earth” types found the loss of their investments more than they could take. Sales of hunting rifles, shotguns, and pistols had been temporarily banned, not because of an attempt to control the game population, but to preserve the human population. Too many people, even some Bible-toting Christians, had used their weapons to take their own lives.

And in a time like this, we need our weapons, thought Stan. Just recalling the riots that took place after nearly every recent calamity sent shivers down Stan’s spine. How can you protect yourself against a mob of thugs who have no respect for lives and aren’t afraid to die themselves? He asked himself. The riots used to take place in the ghetto areas, now the mobs surged through the upscale, suburban communities.

More frightening still was the increase in terrorist activity in the U.S., Russia, and around the world. Several times within the past few months, security officers at Los Angeles International Airport had intercepted nuclear devices that had been planted by terrorists. One brazen bomber had come right into concourse A carrying a nuclear bomb the size of a football in a gym bag. Had he not bumped into a security guard—literally—the bomber might have made it out of the airport and into the community.

Terrorists had already brought down several airlines, and one cruise ship had already been sunk by a terrorist bomb, killing more than a thousand people and leaving more than five hundred scarred for life. Deadly anthrax had shown up in several city water systems, and the word was out that terrorists had targeted more than eleven hundred other cities to be hit with anthrax in a short period of time. So far, the authorities had been able to circumvent the terrorist plots, but Stan knew, as did the rest of the country, that sooner or later, somebody would slip up. The terrorists would succeed, and millions of people would die.

Betrayals were rampant, both on the national level and in personal relationships. Trust was a long forgotten virtue. Nobody trusted anyone anymore.

Finally, Stan mustered enough of his faculties to pull his face out of his hands and start the car. He pushed the button indicating “heat” on the climate control, and soon warm air raised the temperature to the point he no longer noticed the chill. Food! He remembered the original reason for his venturing into the night. I must get something to eat for Christine and Natalie … and I’d better hurry before all the groceries disappear from the shelves!

He slammed the car into gear and roared out of the parking lot toward the grocery store. Arriving at the darkened store, Stan was surprised to see that there were no parking places available in the huge store lot. “Everyone in the country must have the same idea,” Stan said to himself as he pulled the Chevy over the curb and parked on a well-manicured lawn.

I’d better let Christine know what’s going on, he thought, reaching for his cellular telephone in the glove compartment. Stan switched on the phone, but there was no dial tone. “Now what?” he growled angrily. He checked the battery. It was fully charged. There was no reason why the phone should not be working … unless the entire cellular network was down. Stan threw the phone into the seat and darted toward the grocery store door.

Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 1
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 2
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 3
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 5
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 6

“What? Gone! What do you mean gone?”

“The entire downtown section … has been destroyed. It’s gone. All the skyscrapers, the hotels, the banks, the insurance company buildings—everything just crumbled. From what they are saying on the news, it was unlike any earthquake L.A. has ever experienced before. The plates beneath the surface didn’t just slide apart; they seemed to serge together, forcing each other into the air, and then buckled. It was as though all the pressure of the ages just blew the ground apart.

Stan could not believe it! He stood, mouth gaping, while the man continued.

“Thousands of people are dead; who can guess how many are injured? The quake hit right at rush hour, twisting the freeways that run through downtown into massive concrete and metal ribbons. Water lines are ruptured, electric lines are down, and gas mains are broken—all with no way to even get help into the city. Fires are burning out of control …”

“Shhhh!” A woman in front of Stan turned around, holding her index finger to her lips, quieting the man in the sweatshirt. “It’s a news bulletin!”

An irritating but attention-capturing sound emitted from the boom box behind the counter. The sound repeated several more times before a voice could be heard. “Your attention, please. This is the Federal Emergency Management System. This is not a test. Repeat: this is not a test. The earthquake that struck Los Angeles this afternoon is of massive proportions. We still have an extremely dangerous and unstable situation. Aftershocks are continuing to occur, and it is unsafe to go near the city. Repeat: do not, under any circumstances, attempt to enter the city. Those of you living between the Mammoth Lake area and Los Angeles should evacuate in an eastern or northern direction immediately. Do not go south; do not go west toward the sea. Do not attempt to pack your belongings. Take only enough food and water for your family and proceed immediately to the safe areas to which you will be directed. National Guard troops will assist you in the evacuation.

The moment the emergency management officer stopped speaking, the gas station crowd erupted into loud, frightened wails. Several people—men and women—slumped to the floor.

“I’ve got to get into the city,” one man yelled. “My wife works in the Prudential Building.”

“Are you crazy? Didn’t you hear what the guy just said?”

“I don’t care. I’m going to try.”

Just then, the man behind the counter began waiving his arms up and down violently. “Quiet!” he screamed. “Quiet, everybody. Something’s happening!

The crowd calmed somewhat, and amid crackling static, Stan heard the frantic voice of a local radio broadcaster. “It’s horrendous! This cannot be happening, yet even as I speak, the situation worsens. Tonight, approximately fifteen minutes ago, a gigantic fissure opened in the earth near Lake Crowley, otherwise known as the Long Valley Reservoir, in the Mammoth Lakes region of the eastern Sierra Nevada area. According to eyewitness reports from individuals who observed the lake from nearby higher ground, the lake seemed to heave into the air, virtually catapulting it’s contents out of the lake basin. Apparently coinciding with the earthquake—or perhaps causing it—is a volcanic eruption in the area, spewing lava, steam, and volcanic ash into the sky. According to the state’s Department of Water and Power, increased activity has been detected for the past several years, and although seismic activity has recently increased in frequency and intensity, nobody could have predicted this sort of disaster.

“State emergency officials are warning people in Southern California not to drink your tap water. Repeat: do not drink your tap water. It has been contaminated. Lake Crowley formerly rested in a twenty-by-ten-mile crater that is thought to have been formed by a volcanic eruption seven hundred years ago. The lake is one of Southern California’s main water supply sources, collecting mountain runoff, which flows hundreds of miles south by way of aqueducts to Los Angeles. But the catastrophic explosion caused massive amounts of toxic ash to fall into the water, thus contaminating the water supply. Adding to the problem, the volcano has caused rapid melting of snow in the mountains, and flash floods are ripping through the area even as I speak. The floodwater is teeming with potentially hazardous volcanic debris known as lahar. If at all possible, residents should avoid any unnecessary contact with the floodwater until it’s toxicity can be determined.”

The announcer took a breath and then broke from his professional protocol. “It’s awful,” he gasped. “This is the worst disaster I’ve ever seen. There is no electricity throughout most of the state. Water is rushing through the valley like the Johnstown flood, and our drinking water supply is contaminated. The earth is shaking beneath our feet, it’s pitch black outside, getting colder by the hour, and we still have nine hours before sunrise. God help us all.”

Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 1
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 2
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 4
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 5
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 6

Stan noted with concern that his gas gauge still worked accurately, as the indicator tilted far to the left, hovering precariously close to “E.”  He had planned to get gas anyhow, but he didn’t realize they were so low. This is no time to be out of gas, Stan fumed, frustrated that Christine apparently hadn’t filled up the last time she was out. Why can’t that woman get it through her head—gas isn’t always available these days! We have to get it when we can. Stan whipped the car out of the apartment area and headed toward his usual service station. Even at this hour, the roads leading toward L.A. were congested.

Sure enough, as the gas station came into sight, the right lane of traffic slowed to a crawl, then a stop. Cars lined the roadside for nearly half a mile, waiting for their turn at the pump. Stan’s parents had told him that life now was reminiscent of the gas lines they had experienced during the Arab oil embargo in the early 1970s, when gas prices had sky rocketed while available supplies plummeted. This time, however things were even worse. In an attempt to service as many customers as possible, many gas stations limited the amount of gasoline they sold to each customer. No more than ten dollars’ worth could be purchased on good days, five dollars’ worth when the station’s supply was running out. Some days, a handwritten sign alerted customers to the bad news: NO GAS TODAY.

Just as Stan inched the Chevy across the gas stations property line an attendant came out to the sidewalk and put up the dreaded sign: NO POWER, NO GAS. TRY TOMORROW. Tomorrow! Stan cringed. I’ll be lucky to make it home tonight! And I still have to get to the grocery store!

Although the gas pumps were turned off, the snack bar and convenience store portion of the station remained open, lit by battery-powered emergency lighting. Stan couldn’t help noticing the unusually large number of people congregating inside the store, in front of the food area. Many were buying whatever staple food items they could find on the shelves, but a large number of people were simply milling about as though shell-shocked. It looked as though they were gathered around a radio, listening.  Some were crying; others sat dumbfounded outside on the sidewalk curb, as though they had been suddenly over-taken by a dizzy spell and sought the first available place to sit down before they fell down.

Something strange is going on, Stan thought. Stan pulled hi car over to the station parking area and turned off the ignition. He hopped out of the car and gingerly walked toward the crowd. The closer he got, the more he felt like he intruded on a funeral procession.

Everyone wore somber expressions. Many people wept openly. Others stared blankly into nothingness. Several women huddled together, arm in arm, swaying precariously, looking as though the entire group might tumble to the ground if even one of them let go.

A man and two teenage boys stood to the right of the store entryway. Stan noted with bewilderment that they were praying. Praying at the gas station? For what? Asking God to miraculously send a fresh supply of gasoline? Ha! Stan chuckled at the thought.

Stan walked past the praying fellows and entered the station. The interior of the convenience store section of the gas station was surprisingly quiet, especially considering the large number of people in the building. People pressed against a counter, focusing their attention on a small radio behind the counter. “Turn it up!” A large disheveled-looking woman called from the isle next to the darkened ice cream freezer.

“The volume is up as high as it will go,” a man behind the counter replied. “My batteries are getting low. I’ll replace them in a few minutes, but I don’t want to miss anything right now. Just try to keep it down in here, and we’ll all be able to hear.”

Stan nudged a middle-aged fellow dressed in Jeans and a sweatshirt.

“What’s going on?”

“They’re about to give the latest death toll,” the man replied sadly.

“Death toll? From what? Is something wrong? Was there an accident? A wreck on the freeway? People just need to slow down a bit when we have these brownouts …” Stan shook his head disgustedly.

“This is not just another brownout,” replied the man in the sweatshirt.

“Oh?”

“Do you mean you haven’t heard?”

“Heard what? What are you talking about? Our power has been out in our apartment complex, and I haven’t seen a television or heard a radio broadcast all day. What’s happened?”

“There was an earthquake in Los Angeles, a big one.”

“So what’s new?” Stan answered flippantly. He quickly sobered. He didn’t mean to sound so callous, but earthquakes in California were nothing new, especially these days. According to recent reports, seismic activity was so rampant that the needles on the recording machines were having to be replaced regularly.

The man glared back at Stan as though he had insulted his mother. “Loa Angelas is gone,” he said icily.

Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 1
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 3
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 4
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 5
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 6

The beginning of my book, “The Refuge” starts with a fictional story about a young couple’s struggles for the necessities of life when things begin to fall apart in our world as we know it.  It was a very real possibility over a  dozen years ago when I wrote “The Refuge” and today it’s more than a possibility, it’s more like a harbinger, a warning of things to come.  As you read this story, I hope you can see the wisdom in preparing for such a scenario as well as being a part of a Christian community.  This is a 10-part series.  Jim

Part 1

“How long do you think the power will be out this time?” Christine asked pensively. “I’m afraid our food in the refrigerator is going to spoil.”

“Hard to tell,” Stan answered as he lit a candle. “The power has been out since early this morning, so please don’t open the freezer any more than necessary. The ice cream is melting, but the meat should be okay for a while if we don’t let any more cold air escape. Maybe we ought to go to the grocery store and buy some beans and other nonperishable food. We might be in for a long haul.”

Stan stared out the window of the apartment he and Christine had been renting for the past six months. The couple had lived with Christine’s parents for the first three years of their marriage; Stan and Christine were ecstatic when they could finally afford their own place.

It was with a tremendous sense of achievement that they cut the invisible family ties that had connected them to Christine’s parents.  They had packed all their worldly possessions in the back of a U-Haul trailer and moved to a medium-priced apartment south of Los Angeles.

They were not far from La Jolla, about an hour away from Christine’s and Stan’s families—far enough to have some privacy, but close enough that if they ever needed anything, some family member could come to their rescue.

“Free at last, free at last! Thank God we are free at last!” Stan had quipped playfully in his best Martin Luther King Jr. imitation, as they unloaded the last box containing their belongings.

“Yes, isn’t it grand to finally be on our own?”

Now, six months later, in the aftermath of a stock market crash and shortages of almost everything, Stan wasn’t so convinced that they had made the right move. We’re on our own, that’s for sure, he thought.

The normally well-lighted apartment complex looked almost sinister in the eerie darkness. The wind whipped up, swaying the trees, rustling the leaves, and making the ordinary pastoral scene of the apartment complex’s common areas appear somehow threatening. Adding to the surreal effect, here and there, Stan could see the flickering flames of candlelight dancing on the window shades of some of their fellow apartment dwellers. Many windows, however, were pitch black.

As Stan stared into the darkness, he heard a noise in the bedroom. Natalie, the couples eighteen-month-old toddler, had roused from her sleep. “Maybe I better go to the store,” Stan suggested, “and you can attend to Natalie.” It wasn’t Stan’s distain for changing dirty diapers so much as his concern for Christine’s going out into the ominous-looking night that influenced Stan’s decision.

“Okay, that will be fine,” said Christine, already on her way to Natalie’s room. “Try to get some bread and milk if you can. When I was at the store yesterday, the shelves were nearly bare.  There wasn’t a loaf of bread in the entire store. And I haven’t been able to get milk for several days now. It’s unbelievable the way people are reacting to this thing. I think people are stocking up as if it’s a winter ice storm in Georgia.”

“Well, you can’t blame them. Nobody wants to take any chances. Every time there is the least bit of bad weather or the slightest natural calamity everyone converges on the banks and the grocery stores. I don’t know when we will learn that the panic is worse than the actual problem.”

Stan pulled on a light jacket. The temperature had plummeted since the sun had gone down. It was unusually cold out that night, and with winter coming on, he’d soon need a heavy coat rather than the jacket. Worse yet, because the electricity was off in the apartment complex, not only was there no lights, but there was no heat, either. “You may want to put a sweater on Natalie. It’s getting chilly in here. I’ll be back as soon as I can, honey,” Stan called to his wife.

“I’m going to stop and put some gas in the car on the way to the store. No telling how long the lines will be wt the pumps. But I’ll try to hurry. If you need anything, just give me a call on the cellular phone. I love you, Christine. I love you, Natalie!”

“We love you, Stan.” Christine called from Natalie’s bedroom. “Please hurry if you can.

Stan closed and locked the door behind him as he headed for the car. He put the key in the ignition, and the 1985 Chevy groaned until the engine reluctantly turned over. Stan cursed the blinking LED clock on the dash. No matter how often he reset the clock, it skipped back to 12:00 and continued blinking. For a while, the clock had bugged Stan so much that he had put a piece of duct tape over it, just so that he would not have to be greeted by the irrepressible flashing green numbers every time he got in the car. But Christine said the tape looked stupid and, besides, they weren’t the only ones with blinking lights in their cars these days. At least their car started.

Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 2
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 3
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 4
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 5
Who Ya Gonna Call? – Part 6

This grace I need has a name – and his name is Jesus.  Jesus is the bridge that connects us, even though we are sinners, to our Father God.  It took two pieces of wood and three nails to build this bridge.  It’s a holy bridge – one of supreme sacrifice for our sins.

I need Jesus – and I need His Grace on a daily basis.  I remember a time when I thought I had sinned so badly that even Jesus had left me.  But in my darkest hours, He assured me that He would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER leave me nor forsake me (Hebrews 13:5).  I am His, and He is mine – and nothing will ever change that fact.

Yet, I am mystified that there are other Christians who want to blow up this bridge of forgiveness and reconciliation to our Father – a bridge that they themselves or maybe someone very close to them may need to cross over sometime in their lives.

There are people who want to condemn others who have sinned, and think themselves better off because their particular sin is not the one they are condemning.  Most often, when the perspective changes to yourself or others you love, the bridge will be in tact.

As soon as pride lifts its head, especially in the area of who and what the Blood of Jesus will or will not cover, you can be sure that Grace will much more abound (Romans 5:20).

Don’t blow up a bridge that you, yourself, or your loved one may need to cross at some point in their lives.  Others have crossed over this bridge, and it is on the road to their salvation.

If we need one thing in the End Times, it’s Grace and Love.  And we ALL need the Bridge by which we can be forgiven – Jesus.

Love,

Jim

When the agenda by your neighbors is to “wipe you off the map,” there is little peace or time for carelessness.  Indeed, Israel is ‘on guard’ every hour of every day.  She has a solidarity among her people that is based in survival.  They know that they must stand together in unity and they have united together under Prime Minister Netanyahu to speak with one voice.

Lately, in our world, all of Christianity has felt the same encircling by the enemies of Christ.  The antichrist spirit is at work in our nation and in our world.  Christians are coming under persecution by a world system that is moving rapidly towards not just a secular mindset, but a full-fledged antichrist agenda.  What is the antichrist agenda?  It is to rid the world of Christ and to eradicate all Christians.

Of course, this is not going to happen, but as the Last Days play out, Christians will feel more and more surrounded by their enemies and we will need each other to make it through the offensive this is mounting.  It’s even more important to remember that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities, and rulers of high places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

You would think that it would be easy for Christians to know their enemies, and to know the spirit of the antichrist by which they operate, but it’s not all that clear-cut.   Sometimes, it’s the enemy within that challenges the plan of God for His Church and His People in the Last Days.  Have you noticed that instead of a great coming together in the End Times against a common enemy (like Israel has done), Christians today are fighting each other with a fierceness that is very disturbing?

I’m convinced that a major strategy of the devil in the Last Days is to ‘divide and conquer’ God’s Church.  There’s no better way to do that than to convince each group or individual that they alone are the holders of the entirety of God’s truth, and that the rest of the Christians who hold differing viewpoints are all enemies.

In a paraphrase of a famous line:  ”We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

Whatever we are going to do for Christ, NOW is the time to do it. Israel is God’s Time Clock and the alarm is telling us we are near earth shaking events. The AP news service declares; “U.S. Intelligence Officials say Israel won’t warn the U.S. if they decide to launch a preemptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.”

Iran has declared their goal is to wipe all Jews off the face of the earth including those in the United States and around the world!  Israel is surrounded by her enemies, just as the Bible says that they would be in the Last Days. We could be one bomb away from an Armageddon!

This is just one of the reasons Lori and I and all of us at Morningside are preparing for the Last Days great harvest time!  We are enlarging our school and adding a new production studio to reach the youth of the world. Our new ministry and food storage center, with housing for visitors coming for teaching and encouragement and a safe place in Times of Trouble, is under construction. The steel has arrived for this important building we call Morningside Old Mill Inn, which by the way, will house even a tornado-proof shelter for residents and visitors.

Lori and I are not only storing more food at Morningside and doing more to help our friends and faith partners get ready, we are adding to our personal storage for our family! The Bible even says that a person is a fool who sees trouble coming and does not prepare!  We believe what Jesus said would come to pass, will come to pass! And what Jesus told John to write down in the book of Revelation is coming to pass NOW!  Remember tribulation simply means pressure!  WOW, are we already there!

Why are we preparing this City of Refuge with power generators and its own food and water supply? It is to encourage and teach God’s Word, and store and grow food, and save babies, and train young and old alike, and to broadcast the Gospel around the world 24 hours a day!

I will give you just a few reasons why I am storing more food right NOW!  The number one reason is that I have spent the last two decades studying the Bible and focusing on the book of Revelation, researching in the Greek each word of this amazing book one word at a time and I am totally convinced we are living in Revelation Days NOW!  The “Four Horseman of the Apocalypse” are not only out of the barn but they are beginning to gallop throughout the world!

The number two reason why I am storing more food and have even put in emergency power into our home is America has turned her back on God!  The Harbinger warnings from God before Israel was destroyed have all taken place in the United States!  It was ten years after the bricks fell that Israel was destroyed and we are in the tenth year since 9/11!  Read Rabbi Cahn’s book, “The Harbinger” if you do not know of this important warning from God to America!  2012 is not the end of the world like many are saying, but as Rick Joyner has said, it may be the end of the world as we know it!

The third reason is that Jesus says in Matthew 24, that a sign of His return is there will be “no food to eat,” and there will be earthquakes all over the place!  In case of earthquakes or hurricanes or tornadoes or lack of food or riots or power failures, do you have a plan where you will go and where will your family meet if all phone lines and phone towers are down?  Iran plans to explode an Electric Magnetic bomb over America shutting down all transportation that has motors and our electric grid system. Do you agree it is time for America to turn back to God?  Our only safe place is in Jesus Christ;  He will never leave us or forsake us! The Bible says, “Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord!”

It’s time to prepare food and water, for this is key to sustaining life!   Look over our food offers and get ready NOW!  One day it will be too late!

What do you think the Bible means when it says “In the Last Days perilous times will come?” Perilous means difficult, dangerous, furious and reducing the strength!  Are these difficult days?  Dangerous days?  Are people furious and has even the strength of America been reduced?  The warning signs of God’s prophetic words are flashing NOW!  Will you heed them and be ready?

Don’t be afraid – be ready!  Get your food ready for your family and have some for others too!  We can’t give them Jesus until we give them food first!

Remember that we love you and God loves you, He really does!

You know, the world doesn’t really look like the world we knew as teenagers.  Before, in the traditional church, we sent missionaries to occupy and evangelize other nations and other places that had not heard the Gospel.  Now, we find that our nation is one of the top mission fields of the world.  We need to embrace a new breed of missionary that knows how to “go” in a new way.  We are doing this with our Master’s Media kids.  We are embracing the technology and their way of evangelizing.

The way we evangelize, especially to the new generation, must be a way that can reach these kids that they understand.  Most kids are not coming to church – they can’t relate to church.  So we need to go get them.  We need to find a way to reach them with Jesus, and it’s not going to be by traditional means.  It’s going to be different – it’s going to be through social media and other web-related technologies.

You see, it has all changed from when you and I were young.  Back then, the social environment didn’t include a world-wide spectrum.  It only included those in your home town and maybe a few close neighboring towns.  Today, kids are influenced by many, many voices world-wide.  Most of those voices are not the ones they should be listening to – but they’re out there, influencing our kids.  Our voice needs to be out there too – dispelling the lies that they’re hearing from every imaginable source.

Here at Morningside, we are busy training young people, and getting them prepared to evangelize in their own way.  We have just remodeled the Tabernacle into a state-of-the-art studio for them to use to creatively produce Christian programs that other kids will see, world-wide.  We have ordered brand new cameras that are dedicated to the school and the student’s work.  We have just launched a new website built for them to express their faith and give their testimonies (see generationNOWiptv.com).   This week, we are taking them all to Dallas, Texas for a Master’s Commission conference.

For those of us who are older, our job is not done – we must support this new generation, not only with our prayers, but with our means. There are many ways to do this.  You can call our Customer Service department at 417-779-9000 or 1-888-988-1588 and:  (1) give a one-time donation for scholarship funding; (2) you can specify support funds for a particular student. We can leave no greater legacy than to support the next generation in their work for the Lord.  Let’s get behind them.

We can leave no greater legacy than to support the next generation in their work for the Lord.

Love,

                                                                                                            Jim