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Chapter 1
I met Pastor Joe while serving a six-year prison term for car theft and breaking & entering. He was a young man of
twenty-six, only a year out of seminary, with a heart of pure gold and a passion for saving the souls of young men like
me who had gone astray. The year was 1969; I was 23 and was working on the last year of my sentence before being released
back into society. After earning my trust by being the sincere and caring person he was, he started showing me the error
of my ways and started teaching me about God. He convinced me to go to local high schools to give my testimony in front
of student assemblies. I can remember him saying, "Mark, if your testimony can save just one young person from ending up
in prison, it'll be well worth it." Here I was, this tough kid who had been to reform school three times and was known
as the guy you didn't cross unless you wanted your butt kicked, and he wanted me to teach preppies something. If he
only knew; I was scared to death by these kids who thought staying out past 9:00 p.m. was an adventure. In prison even
the guards didn't mess with me because they knew I didn't care about consequences; they knew it was better to just
leave me alone. Yet here I was afraid to talk to a bunch of wet-behind-the-ear teenagers until after the first time.
They all flocked around me with adoration in their eyes; after that it was easy, and I became quite good at it. Pastor
Joe said I was a natural and should consider going into the ministry.
Pastor Joe was always studying about angels, and he used to talk to me about them whenever I would listen. I
remember him telling me there were always angels watching over us, and that they weren't there just to protect us
but to learn from us. There was one thing in particular that stuck in my mind in Chapter 6 of Genesis, where it talked
about the sons of God and how they saw the daughters of men and took them in marriage. Pastor Joe said there was a big
controversy in the church over who the sons of God were. There were some who said they were angels who had fallen from
grace and others who said they were offspring of angels and humans. Pastor Joe said he thought they were created beings
like angels who belonged to the hierarchy of heaven, to whom God had given power. In the time of Job when God called
the sons of God to present them selves before Him in heaven, at that time, Satan also came, and it was strange that he
was included with the group that were the sons of God. Also in Job, I believe in Chapter 38, it tells us that when the
morning stars (angels) sang together the sons of God shouted for joy, which would make them different from angels.
Then in the New Testament in the Book of John, Chapter One, John says, But as many as received Him (Jesus) to them gave
he power to become the sons of God. Then in Romans, Paul tells us, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are
the sons of God.
Pastor Joe said there were a great many incidents where people claimed they were visited by angels and given
messages from God. Since God never changes, there wasn't cause to doubt that He still uses angels today as He did
in Old Testament days. He would read me stories from the Old Testament like when God sent the Captain of the Lords
host to Joshua; and when He sent the angel of the Lord to protect the three guys the King had put in the furnace for
not worshipping him. Joe had dozens of stories about angels and their interaction with humans. Then he explained that
if we are to believe angels still interact with men, then so do demons. In fact, demons interact even more than angels
since the earth was Satan's home and that of the demons that followed him. Pastor Joe would always get serious when he
talked about demons. He said though we are indwelt by the Spirit of God when we accept Christ, angels never indwell
humans. Demons do indwell those who haven't accepted Christ, and quite frequently. Much evil is done by those indwelt
by them.
At that time, I didn't understand what he was trying to tell me; but he was so sincere. I believed him and
didn't question how he knew this or what it all meant. It wasn't until a year later in life that I started to think
about angels and demons.
In the summer of 1970, I was released from prison and given a bus ticket and $25.00. I hit the road. I soon
forgot all about Pastor Joe and God; I was free and headed back to my hometown. Soon, I realized I needed a way
to earn money. Mom and her latest husband didn't have the money to support me. I didn't want to go back to jail,
so I got a job working in a restaurant; that's where I met Ritchie.
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