John 8:44 New King James Version (NKJV)

⁴⁴ You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources,for he is a liar and the father of it.

The only thing we have is the truth. I recently caught a preview of the news involving a popular television host, Mario Lopez. I’ve always liked this young man, and wanted to see what the news story was about. It turns out that Mario gave an honest opinion about a subject matter that he felt strongly about. The subject was about “transgender” children and all Mario Lopez said was, that he did not believe that 3 year-olds knew anything about sexuality, and that kids should be allowed  to be kids.

Mario Lopez was the guest of Candace Owen, a conservative, black young woman. To be black and conservative in today’s society is unacceptable to many,  but to be black, conservative, and have your own show is dangerous, because if you appear as a guest, you’re going to be noticed for the wrong reasons.

Mario Lopez was called out by the usual watchdogs that prey on any misguided words that do not agree with their beliefs. Of course, Mario sent out a tweet extending his apologies for being ignorant and  insensitive, which may have worked to keep the ravaging sharks at bay for awhile; we shall see.  This is the modern- day reaction we live with for giving our honest opinions.

The interesting thing about this entire scenario is the fact that we know who owns the airwaves. Satan has a way of controlling and calling into judgment  anything that is godly, true, and just; he wants every fiber of truth to be distorted. This battleground has become a dangerous, uneven playing field. Do not step into those shark-infested waters, as you will pay a price.

I, along with everyone else, see the direction where these deceptions lead.

During the same newsfeed, a story of Jussie Smollett surfaced. Jussie Smollett is the young, black actor who created a web of lies to get attention. It is a fact that everything he staged was proven false. From beating himself up to making a noose to make it seen as if some hateful white supremacist attacked him, Jussie  layered his lies on thick, but in the end the truth prevailed. Smollett was flanked by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Why? Because if these two black “leaders” did not take the side of a gay black man, they would be considered homophobic and racist against their own race. So to save face, they appease the masses. I honestly felt sad for Jesse Jackson because I saw something in his eyes that spoke conviction. How can good, honest, black people have respect for these two men? To me they have lost all credibility. The city of Chicago spent over $130,000.00 investigating this false hate crime, but everyone knows the truth, including Rev.Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

But now back to Mario Lopez. In the eyes of those who believe they were wronged, Mario did two unthinkable things: He was interviewed by Candace Owen, and he told the truth.

I’m sorry to say this, but Mario Lopez is now a moving target, and is branded with the infamous “Scarlet Letter.” Mario spoke what was in his heart, but to those of us who still believe in the sanctity of marriage, family and protecting our religious rights, Mario Lopez gained our respect. Mario Lopez will be included in many of our prayers, and our prayers are more powerful than any fiery darts the Enemy throws at us.

My heart goes out to those parents who have bought into the lies of our society and the way children should be taught and raised. We all have our crosses to bear, but please leave our children/grandchildren out of this confusion of “transgenderism.” Children are innocent and too young to be exposed to this complicated matter. Children don’t need to know about, he, she, them, they; children just want to play and be loved. Allow parents to parent, as their  children are a gift of God and He will give parents the right tools and discernment to guide them, and when to expose them to the things of the world.

I agree with Mario Lopez, and even though he had to apologize, we all know that he was telling the truth.

This is one of my favorite Bible passages, every day I fall short, but every day I try to become a better person… pray for me.

During my sabbatical from the Catholic Church, I had the great privilege of working for George Otis, an Evangelical minister; the name of his ministry was High Adventure.

I was a member of the Valley Vineyard, and it was through this ministry that I met and became friends with a young lady name Vickie. Vickie was working for High Adventure and told me of a part-time opening. My children were young and both in school, so I was able to take on the responsibility of that position.

High Adventure’s offices were located on the second floor of a business building in Northridge, California. There the genius of George Otis took on the world to spread the gospel. “The Voice of Hope” was his brainchild, and he put up the first Christian radio station in Lebanon, near the Israeli border. Mr. Otis’s “High Adventure” was not an easy task because all this took place in the mid-seventies when Lebanon was being torn apart by the PLO. I was unfamiliar with the acronym PLO and was too embarrassed to ask what it stood for. The PLO was a topic of conversation at work, and I quickly learned that PLO stood for Palestine Liberation Organization, a terrorist group headed by Yasser Arafat.

George Otis did not listen to the voice of doubt, but to the voice of God. In order for him to accomplish this monumental undertaking, through this entire journey God aligned Mr. Otis with the right people to bring hope to Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries. Soon they would hear Christian programs to lift their spirits. George Otis, with the favor of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, and Major Saad Haddad of Lebanon, and other-hand picked men of God, who helped set up  “The Voice Of Hope.”

My job at High Adventure was to prepare taped programs for airing on The Voice of Hope. One of my duties was to listen to “Thru the Bible” programs by J. Vernon McGee. I was to splice out the name of “Jesus” or “Jesus Christ” whenever it was used  because many Jews and perhaps Arabs who were Muslims might be listening to the broadcast, and out of respect to their beliefs, George Otis did not want to offend them; he only wanted to bring the Word of God to them.

J. Vernon McGee was a Bible scholar, whose  voice was so distinct that I can still hear it playing in my head. This was another means by which the Lord trained me to love the Word of God. Though J. Vernon McGee did not agree with Catholic doctrine, his understanding of the interpretation of the Bible was and is still well received by Protestants. Although he died in 1988, his program is still aired (Thru the Bible) on over 600 radio stations today.

The staff at High Adventure was small: Mr. Otis, his secretary, the accountant, and his assistant, Vickie, Don, his son, and me. The offices were small, and I worked in the back room. George Otis was a little taller than me, but when he walked into the office, and when he spoke, it seemed that the room shrank because he exuded extraordinary grace. George Otis was always upbeat and ready to take on what the world threw at him.  This one-time CEO of Lear Jets  was now a humble servant of the Most High God. Nothing would change the course God had paved for this giant, and George Otis knew God was on his side because he never stopped seeking Him.

On many occasions, George Otis traveled  to the Holy Land and Lebanon to oversee The Voice of Hope. He was on the PLO’s hit list, so he was instructed by Israeli officials to get a bulletproof vest for traveling to Lebanon. As part of my job responsibility, I was asked to drive to Los Angeles to pick up the vest for him. Anyone who knows me also knows that I really don’t like to drive to Los Angeles. I was given the keys to an old station wagon, of course no navigation apps, no map, just handwritten directions to get to some ammunition store in downtown LA to pick up the bulletproof vest. Through the grace of God  I made it there and back safely. When I turned off the engine of the old wagon, the car kept rattling and moving like it was having convulsions. I thought that I had done something to cause this and was scared to go back up to the office. I prayed for the car to stop shaking, and then went about my business.

On various occasions I drove to Camarillo to a beautiful church off the 101 Freeway, either to take paperwork, or to pick up something of importance for Mr. Otis. I loved working for this ministry, but it was short-lived because of Mike’s position, which required us to move to Orange County.

My desire to visit the Holy Land started in this small office. Part of the High Adventure ministry was to take tour groups to Israel. I’d hear the wonderful stories of the birthplace of our Lord so I longed to visit it. God knows the desires of our hearts, so He has granted me opportunities to visit the Holy Land. My first trip took place in 1996, and I have continued to travel there almost every year since.

I am surprised that George Otis’ story has not been picked up by some big movie production company, because what he did was both dangerous and exciting. I know of no other person who can say that he built a Christian radio station in Lebanon, especially in the height of a war. I pray that someday a movie will  be made about George Otis’ High Adventure.

The Lord has been so gracious to me because I never really realized how great the impact of George Otis has been on the Christian world. I naively saw him as my employer with a crazy busy job. I was ignorant of the war in Lebanon and the special need for the Voice of Hope to offer hope to Christians in the Middle East. I thank God that I had minuscule part of such a meaningful ministry. God is good!

I’ve always been a scaredy-cat, and can remember when this fear set into my mind. I’m sure it was part of my upbringing that brought this on. This fear got ahold of my mentality and has stayed with me most of my adult life.

The fear came in different ridiculous waves from fear of small, yappy dogs, to fear of getting pistol whipped and, of course, scary movies.

When my sister Norma and I were in our early teens, our mother sent us out to buy hamburgers. We walked to the local fast food establishment, which was less than a mile away. On the way there we encountered a dog that viciously came at us. Granted, the dog was a Chihuahua, but it was meaner than hell. We were about a block from the restaurant when the dog attacked us. We both froze, and the dog smelled our fear and knew he could keep us captive. Norma and I huddled together with our fists to our mouths. This fear was real, but at the same time comical. I would speak to Norma is a low voice to explain an escape, but it was as if the dog could understand what I was saying. I’d take a step and the barks got louder and more malicious. All Norma would say was, “What are we going to do?” I am the older sister, and wanted to step up to the responsibility of protecting her but the dog was relentless. In broad daylight, on a normal street lined with homes on one side and Colton High School on the other, we were in prison for what seemed to be hours. Finally the stupid dog grew tired of his bullying and went home. Needless to say, this ruined our outing; by the time we got home with the hamburgers our mother gave us an ear full for taking so long. It was useless to try to explain that a bantam weight dog held us up for so long. Our mother would never believe the story either way.

The first scary movie I saw was “The Tingler.” I was seven years old when this movie debuted. In the movie the spine of a person would escape and kill people. In one part of the movie “The Tingler” escaped into a movie theater to get its next victim. My sister Jo and I had our legs folded on the theater seat so that “The Tingler” could not get us,  and we screamed the entire time. Little did I know that this was a prelude to the mother of all scary movies “The Exorcist.”

My mother read the book The Exorcist so when the movie came out she wanted to see it. Mike and I were living in Santa Barbara at that time. We drove to Colton to pick up my mom and then headed to UCLA where the movie was playing. We waited in a long line to get in. I never asked my mom what the movie was about, because I was caught up in the hype that the film created.

The movie scarred the rest of my life, I have never been so scared of anything since then.  I closed my eyes for a better part of the movie, but when I opened them, it was only to catch the most gory graphic parts. I wanted to cry, but I was in shock . Even today I cannot watch the trailer for this movie. This was in the early 70’s and we had a 240 Z two-seater car. I sat in between my mother and Mike. It was the longest ride home, and I thought for sure that either Mike or my mother were going to turn into the Devil. I never looked at them nor spoke a word, no one did.

The movie, The Exorcist, was captivating because exorcisms are real – so real that Pope Francis recently convened an exorcism workshop at the Vatican with 250 priests from 51 countries  in attendance. Exorcisms are in high demand because of the impact of the evil that has effected people.  People open doors to demons and they invite other evil spirits to join them; before you know it, the person is effected. Demons don’t need an invitation because people unknowingly  invite them in by viewing pornography, abusing drugs, alcohol, etc. This is just a small example of demons getting into your life. New Age and occult involvement is another big open door for Satan, he loves religions that make you a demi god. Satan is the master of all deception and is waiting for us to crack that door to come in.

Parents need to discern what their children are watching  because evil seeds planted can traumatize them. The Enemy’s plan is to get them while their minds are pliable and innocent.

Fear is not from God, and though I’ve known this for years, I still struggled with this phobia.

For the last 10 years Mike, my husband  has traveled for work. Sometimes he would be gone for several days. I suffered greatly whenever Mike traveled. I never got a good night’s sleep either. I broke this fear by praying the Rosary, and sleeping with a St. Benedict crucifix.

I no longer am a slave to fear, I praise God that I was delivered of this through prayer.

My Prayer: Dear Lord, remove all fear from us: fear of dying, fear of cancer, fear of divorce, fear of everything that is not of You. Your Word says that perfect love casts out all fear. Dear Lord, allow us to experience Your perfect love. Train us to say Your prayer, ” The Our Father” to deliver us from all evil. Touch those who are afraid of the unknown. Let them have complete trust in You.  Amen