The Second Big Kahuna
Chapter 9
Satan was the individual that Ishtar was arguing with as I lay in that quiet bedroom trying to take a nap, way back in the beginning. Actually, as it turned out, there was a lot more going on than a mere exchange of words. There was "physical" contact, pushing, shoving, and fighting. Ishtar was not alone in his battles with Satan, as Satan was not alone either. These conflicts were all over the control of me, apparently. Satan apparently knew what awaited him if he didn't gain purchase of me at an early age. Thankfully, he didn't gain his purchase.
I can't really remember when Satan first made himself known to me. There was one time when I was over at a female colleague's of mine, when she mentioned about seeing a red masked figure out side of her window one night. I never did know what to make of that. She was rather frightened by the ordeal, though. So, maybe he was just checking up on me. I am not sure. Ishtar tells me that was Satan at the window.
I guess its not really important how or when it began with Satan, in this later stage of my life. What I can tell you though is how our relationship ended. Because it did end. There came a time when I, nor anyone else on this earthly plane, no longer had to fear this particular entity.
.
One thing I am wanting you to understand. Its not that I really am wanting to remember every detail of my time with Satan. I also am a bit foggy of the exact times and the how manys and the separate individuals or entities I got to do battle with. The human mind is a wondrous contraption that deals with certain aspects in life in its own fashion. One of these is denial and I believe the safe squirreling away of information that may be deemed damaging to the psyche or the soul. I went through some very horrific and viscous battles spiritually with teammates of Satan.
These individuals or entities at first came singularly. I guess they thought me to not be much of a challenge at first. Each posed a certain dilemma for me to overcome and each had a unique way in which to be defeated. Each threatened me and wished to cause me some kind of harm. Each had their own way of attack. Some extremely sly and slippery, almost like a film of oil on water, barely perceivable. Not that there wasn't a certain strength to them and their own clever ways to do me harm, but discovering them was the trick. Others were just abrupt as all get out and came at me as a Mack Truck, head on and in my face. They later proved to be by far the easiest to deal with, for I knew when they were most certainly defeated as well. The slippery ones were usually a bit harder to determine exactly when they were no longer screwing with me. Ishtar and I both worked well as a team and learned a great deal in dealing with all manner of evil. We learned from each other and continually watched each others back, so to speak.
One thing I did start to notice was that other individuals were dealing with their own entities, had their own little battles going on with evil, only they were totally unaware. Much as the professor from the University, these separate entities had attached themselves firmly to their victims, and as Mistletoe will do to its host, lives harmoniously, feeding and preying on its victim. I started finding ways of removing such attachments, allowing for God to enter their lives and give them a better opportunity at lifes choices.
Some of these people were put in my way as well, offering its own separate and unique form of harassment and defeat. Some attempted to wreck my car as I was driving along, others either as I walked on the street or I would encounter at work. Those at work some times were especially challenging. For it wasn't a battle ground that I expected. But I soon learned that Evil just plain old didn't give a rats behind. I was a marked man, had a target painted on my back, so to speak, and was deemed fair game at any cost or place.
This all continued for a few years time. Me, trying to
live life as normal as possible, going to work, raising children, loving
my wife and dealing with Evil.
The first of the last encounters I can remember was when I was about 31. Satan was making himself known to me, just sort of hassling me. Taunting me. Trying, I guess to scare me. At the time, all I found him was to be annoying. I am not sure why, other than maybe I was young and cocky and dealing with all the other entities that he was sending my way. It finally came to a point in time when I was just about to challenge him.
I had seen a movie called Crossroads. I believe that was the name. It was about a young guitarist that was challenged by Satan to a competition between a guitarist Satan had and the young guitarist. As the story went, if the young guitarist could beat Satan's guitarist, then the young guitarist would be set free, If he lost, Satan got to keep his soul. As it turned out the young guitarist beat the Guitarist of Satan and went about his merry way.
I thought, fine. It worked in the movie, it might work in real life. I first asked my Pastor what he though of the idea. My pastor, a very kind and gentle soul, didn't believe Satan to be a force any more. He likened him to a sore loser, a wimp, a nothing. But if Satan was a force to be reckoned with, he didn't think challenging him to be a very good idea.
So I went with that. I didn't challenge Satan. I let him continue with his visits and hassles. Some times months would go by and I wouldn't hear from him, then just about the time I thought maybe he was leaving me alone, he would return in his usual fashion. He was a bit of a grandstander, always approaching myself in a rather boisterous fashion. Loud, bragging how he was going to be my undoing, threatening me. Me, praying he would leave me alone, trying to find an end to this crazy relationship.
There was the time when he approached me late at night. A night I shall never forget. There have been times in my spiritual journey which, as I travel forward in time become a key ingredient in my journey, in retrospect. This night shall remain one of these. As I remember it, Satan came to me after my wife had gone to bed. The children were asleep. Seems as though I was in bed, trying to go to sleep myself. I laid there, still and quiet, listening to my wife's steady breathing.
It seems as though the first thing I remember was becoming very thirsty. I didn't think much of this, so I went and got a glass of water from the kitchen. I drank it down and returned to bed. No more than get into bed, and the thirst hit me agin. It was a very odd thirst. I was parched. It was as though I was a sponge that had been wrung dry, no saliva in my mouth or throat at all, and I couldn't produce any. I laid there and tried, but nothing would come from my salivary glands. I was wondering just what the heck was going on. So I got back up, went to the kitchen and drank another full glass of water. Seemed like I drunk one more and filled me a glass to take with me. I went back to bed. I had a small light over my bed which I had turned on as I had left the room. I set my glass of water down on the head board and reached over and turned off the light.
Sure enough, I no more than get comfortable than this thirst hits me again. This is crazy, I'm thinking. I sat up in bed and reached for my glass of water, drunk it down and had to go to the kitchen for another glass as soon as I was through. I drank that one and returned to bed with another full glass. I again set it on the head board and turned off the light I had lit before going to the kitchen. Got back into bed.
Now my nose started running. It was the type of nose running you have in the middle of a cold, where you might as well just keep a handkerchief close by, for it be like a faucet you can't turn off. Luckily, over my wife's head was a box of Kleenex, the tissue an off orange color. I found the Kleenex in the dark grabbed a couple of sheets and wiped my nose. It took a few more sheets before my nose stopped running. I placed these used tissue on the headboard, wadded up together alongside my glass of water. I figured I would dispose of them in the morning.
So, I laid back down, closing my eyes, looking froward to a good long sleep. It was not to be. Again, the thirst hit me. I rubbed my eyes and reached for the glass of water in the dark. Something told me to turn on the light before I drank from it. I thought it odd, but went a head and turned on the light. I looked at my glass of water in disbelief.
The tissue was in the glass of water. All the used Kleenex was floating around, filling the glass with its off orange color. I put the glass of water down in discuss and walked towards the kitchen again.
The layout of the Apartment was such that I had to make a bit of a u-turn to get to the kitchen. I left the bedroom, walked past a closet which held all manner of stuff in there. One of the items in there was a hand made Dog leash that used some 1/4 inch around nylon rope and was about 15 feet long. It had a loop for a handle on one end and a sturdy clasp on the other to attach to my dog's collar. At the time we were between dogs, but I had enjoyed living with a beautiful Irish Setter. The rope was constructed for her. It sat coiled up, hanging from a nail inside the closet. The door was shut as I went past the closet to the kitchen. I entered the kitchen, making the last leg of the u-turn and headed for the sink at the end of the kitchen. There really wasn't a doorway between the small hallway, in which the closet was part of, and the livingroom, which comprised the last room I walked through to get to the kitchen. It was just a few steps to then enter the kitchen. Not a big apartment at all, but comfortable with two bedrooms.
After finishing another full glass of water, I left the
sink with another full glass. The light switch was at the opposite end
of the kitchen and I could see the floor in front of the closet prior to
reaching the light switch. There on the floor in a rather grand fashion,
was the symbol of the Ankh.
I had seen this symbol before, but didn't really understand what it meant. This was laying flat on the floor, in front of the closet door, which was still closed, or closed again. I looked at this in amazement. I had all kinds of questions about that symbol and turned to my favorite Ishtar for some answers. No response.
I could not communicate with him at all. As if the turn of events so far this night hadn't been odd enough. I started to freak just a little. I had a pretty good idea who was behind all the mischief, but couldn't figure out about the symbol in rope. I went into the living room and found a dictionary. I looked up ankh and found a drawing closely resembling the image on the floor. It described the image as referring to either life or death. Great. Being the eternal optimist, I chose for the more positive side of the symbol.
I sat there for a moment, on the couch in our living room. From there I could see the symbol, probably a good 3 feet from end to end and some 2 feet across. It used up the entire length of the dog leash, the white of the rope in stark contrast to the dark brown carpeting covering the floor. Questions abound, but very few answers. Suddenly, I was told to find a Bible. I was hoping for a positive sign, anything that might give me a chance of winning this battle. I went into the living room and opened it up. I am not a biblical scholar by any means.