.. the text for May 30, 2020

Accept the helmet of salvation. - Eph. 6:17

One day, I was preaching with my friend. We were in Pasadena, and we decided to walk through a few stores, using sign language to attract deaf ones.

My friend is a shutterbug. He is constantly taking pictures of whatever with his phone. So, we were walking along the street, I with my cane, he with his phone out snapping away. I didn't know he had stopped to take a picture of a sign, so I kept walking.

Then I noticed he wasn't there, so I turned and looked back. A woman was passing me and as I stood there looking for my buddy, she tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "Do you need help?" She was a short, black woman, about 30 or so. I smiled and said, "No, I'm just waiting for my friend," just as he arrived at my side. She smailed and nodded. I thanked her for her help.

We talked to a couple of people at a bus stop, then crossed to the other side of the avenue, and walked back. We were getting hungry, and we wanted to meet up with other members of our group who were off elsewhere, so we headed back toward the car.

As we walked along, the same woman that tried to help me, she caught up with us and tapped me on the shoulder. She exlaimed, "I didn't realize that you were deaf and blind, I'm so sorry!" She went on to tell me that when she was younger, she had a temporary blindness that afflicted her for a week. She also said that she has tender feelings for those who are disabled. Then she said, "I will pray for you."

I graciously thanked her, but she kept on, "No, I will pray for you. I can put my hands on you, and you will receive sight!" I then understood, she was a faith healer. She confirmed it when she said, "I am a pastor and have my own church. I can lay my hands on you and pray, and your eyes will be opened. Don't you want that?"

I told her, "I truest my God, Jehovah. He has an appointed time, and will heal me. Meanwhile, I will continue to do what I can with the aid of my friends. She became incredulous. "What? Don't' you want to be healed now? I can do it in no time." "No, I truest God and will wait patiently for him to ..." "But," she interrupted, "why go through the suffering, what's the tpoint of it?"

My friend and I showed her scriptures and tried to explain that Christ's true followers would suffer and endure. We had to pick up our torture stake and follow him. My torture stake happens to be my eyes and my ears, and I go through it.

"What would you do, if I heal you, right here, right now?" First of all, if she was going to pray for me, she needed to have her head covered. I didn't point that out. I also knew that the truth was, if she could have healed me, it wasn't with Jehovah's backing, and it would be the work of Satan, who blinds people to the true knowledge of God, Jesus, death, and many other teachings. I said, "I trust my God."  She threw up her hands, and walked away, "Okay, keep on sufferin'!"

The comments today in the text say this:

Satan surely knew that Jesus had the hope of eventually ruling mankind. But Jesus would have to wait until Jehovah's appointed time. And before then, he would have to suffer and die. So Satan offered Jesus the chance to fulfill his hope sooner.

That helmet is an important part of the armor. Let the helment of salvation protect our thinking, in that we wait for Jehovah, the one who can heal. I keep repeating it as a mantra, the words of Micah 7:7, which says, "I will keep on the lookout for  Jehovah, I will show a waiting attitude for the God of my salvation."

Keep the hope alive. It will be here; it will not be late.