VENGEANCE
by Sally Hayes

"Vengeance is mine", said the Lord. And just as well! We bipeds could not be trusted with such a power. Every time I read the account of Jesus dragging the devil through heaven and making a spectacle of him, it positively electrifies my senses. If it's out on video by the time I get to heave, I would like to see it. And I just can't wait for the big one!; When the final vengeance and punishment is dealt out to the devil and his angels. You know, when the devil is thrown into the lake of fire and all that. Meanwhile, although vengeance and punishment belong to God, I am of the belief that He, every one in a while, lets us share in just a little of it and the subsequent sense of satisfaction ~ all under His careful supervision, of coarse ~ This is my adventure with sweet revenge.
It all began with a private chat with God. "Private"? Ha! At that time I wasn't aware of the fiend from hell bearing the nametag "Doubt" sitting smugly on the sidelines. Not only was he listening in, he was cheering on my prayer. Yes! This was a classic case of "the devil made me say it! I really should have gargled with Drano * before I opened my mouth. I have since learned my lesson and keep a small bottle of it in my prayer closet, and use it before the first word leaves my mouth.
I began in a low roar: "Why don't you ever answer my prayers?!" "If you just answered one lousy prayer perhaps my faith might be a bit stronger, my attitude a bit better, and my joy, peace, love and patience on a higher level!" The ring of the telephone rudely interrupted my question. Brother! My sweet hour of prayer would have to wait. To my surprise it was my heathen sister-in-law Linda, the wife of the heathen brother Kim. What did she want? I hadn't seen Kim or Linda in almost twelve years. It had to be bad news. The first thing she said was, . . .
"Sit down"
I sat.
"Brace yourself."
I braced.
"Take a deep breath."
I breathed.
"Are you ready?"
No!, I wasn't!
"Your brother and I have become Christians!"
No!, said I.
"Yes!", said she.
It was then, for the first time, I saw out of the corner of my eye that little imp. The smirk was off his face. He had dropped his cigar and was now looking rather panicked, he was shaking and had his fingers stuck in his ears.
"Aha!" said upon this discovery.
"EEK", said he.
"You made me believe my brother was beyond reach!"
"Well . . . I . . . you see . . .", he stuttered.
"You made me believe that God does not answer prayer!"
"You lied to me!" I boldly accused.
"I'm a demon! What did you expect? The truth?"
Umm. . . he had a point there. I dropped the subject and went back to my conversation with Linda who was now not just my sister-in-law but my sister in the Lord! After hanging I ran to get my Bible. I opened to the promise the Lord gave me years before over my family. I knew I would have put a date by the verse and I knew (I felt it in my spiritual bones) that the date marked would match the date of their conversion: November 7th. I found the verse and. . . oh!, Well, so much for my fine-tuned spiritual perception bones! So what if the dates didn't match, my brother and his wife got saved and I rejoiced accordingly with the angels and at the same time stuck my tongue out at the demon of doubt, enjoying immensely seeing him cringe.
Call me immature, call me strange ~ I don't care! Just as Jesus dragged a defeated and humiliated Satan through heaven I requested permission to drag that now chained little Beelzebublette around me.
The first telephone conversation I had with my brother, after having being told by his wife that they had become Christians, I made sure my captive fiend was listening in. When Kim came to the telephone, I honestly expected him to say a simple hello: I must admit my chained companion almost had me believing that my brother would laugh me off the planet for the "converted to Christianity" joke they successfully played on me. Instead of a "hello" I got "Haendel's Hallelujah!" I stuck Doubt's ear to the phone so he could hear my brother singing too. Ahh! . . . Sweet revenge.
Such a monumental event definitely warranted a long overdue visit from my husband and I and . . . Little Mr. Doubt. We three all flew up to Canada from Georgia. David and I comfortable in economy class and the fiend in with the baggage. Once there, I rubbed Mr. Doubt's nose in the words my once heathen brother spoke to us in his living room, "I have such a passion for Jesus!" The last time I heard him use the name of Jesus it was not employed as a noun but rather as an adjective ~an expletive no less! Did I just say, "once heathen brother?" I think the word "heathen" implies no religion. He, actually had a religion in his younger days. He was a Satanist. As a kid I used to sneak into his room when he wasn't home and flip through his witchcraft books. Rumour has it he once did a spell wrong (forgot to mix the spit of a black cat, or a crushed toad's liver, or something like that), met with the wrath of the devil, and never messed with spells again.
And, like all good heathens, Kim and Linda could both "boast" a twenty-five year habit. Their evening ritual involved getting their two kids to bed and then, they would indulge in illegal substance abuse. This "substance abuse demon" had its fangs and claws imbedded deeply in their lives and was not going to release its victims without a fight. For about three months after their conversion, the evening ritual continued, despite every effort to try to stop it. They found increasingly difficult to smoke a joint and read the Bible at the same time ~ those killjoys, guilt and shame, tormented them with every puff. But God (I love those two words!) but God, when the time was right, stepped in. During a church meeting someone from out-of-the-blue came and said a prayer of deliverance over them. Back home that evening, they discovered they had only enough supply for one more joint. After finishing the last puff, they both knew that the would never indulge again. . . and they haven't! A twenty-five year habit ~ G O N E!
At that same church, on that same weekend, Linda was also set free from a deep-rooted prejudice. She despised American Indians. She avoided them at all costs. Funny thing about all, that she is an American Indian!
She was ashamed of her race and her heritage but that weekend Jesus sneaked into the hidden teepee ** of her heart, and they had a powwow *** and the shame she felt about her heritage somehow vanished through the smoke hole.
Now, back to my brother's living room. . . I asked Linda if she thought she was going to heaven. I made sure Mr. Doubt's fingers were out of his ears so he could hear her response. "Going to heaven", she asked, "I'm already there!" That was the response of a woman who has spent years on anti-depression pills and years of regular visits to a psychologist. Now, she just oozed the joy of the Lord, totally without the aid of drugs, pills or doctors.
There were countless highlights to our trip to Canada. One of them was my brother told me he loved me. Big deal you may be thinking. Well, it was a big deal, so be quiet! The last time I remember him expressing his feelings about me was to my mother. It was 3 in the morning, and he was drunk, stoned and angry. He yelled, "I hate my sister and I hate her God!" He told mum that he hated God because when he was a little boy he'd lay terrified in his bed (as would his three little sisters) praying desperately that God would please make daddy home quietly.
Well, our extremely violent, loud and alcoholic daddy never came home quietly.
Another highlight was witnessing their water baptism. I was there, during that baptismal service that I found myself standing behind a pulpit saying a few words about the promise God had given me for my brother. I read the verse out loud and made sure Mr. Doubt noticed the date I had written by it: April 5th, 1995. Genesis 24:53; And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things.
The date of Kim and Linda's baptism :April 5th, 1998!

We returned to Georgia and promptly sent Mr. Doubt back to his father below. Meanwhile, I slipped into my prayer closet, gargled with Drano and then addressed my Father above???

Footnotes:

(*) Drano is a medicine to make gargles sold in the U.S. market.
(**) Teepee: Indian tent.
(***) Powwow: A conference between two or more Indians (US)

RETURN TO RHEMA INDEX