Professor Grimes walked into the room a few minutes before his class was scheduled to start. A quick head-count revealed that only five people had shown up. Given that 64 people had signed up for the course he had hoped for a better showing, but experience had taught him that the first class after Christmas rarely attracted many students. People apparently thought that the holiday was a good excuse to take it easy – not just on Christmas itself, but also in the week before and the week after. This fact greatly irritated him when he first started teaching, but over the years he had come to accept it. As his father had told him many years ago, you might wish that the weather was different, but it is what it is and you have to live with it. And so the professor made the best of things.

“Good morning, students,” Professor Grimes said brightly. “It’s good to see you here today. I trust that you all had a blessed Christmas.”

“I spent the whole day sick,” Ashley complained.

The professor looked at her, concerned. “Are you still sick?”

“I don’t think so. I might be contagious, though. I don’t really know.”

“Have you been to see a doctor?”

“Yeah.”

“What did he tell you?”

“That I was sick.”

Professor Grimes sighed. “I see. Well, as I was saying, I hope you all had a blessed Christmas. Today we are going to continue our research into the topic of the paranormal. Last week we studied the black knight satellite, which–”

“Which turned out to be a hoax,” a student in the back of the room called out. “And I bet today we’re going to learn that ghosts are a hoax too! Why not just call this class the ‘study of paranormal hoaxes’ and be done with it?”

“Because this is not a study of hoaxes, Max. It is a study of paranormal phenomena. As I said in our last class, some of the stories in the textbook are simply modern myths, but others are quite real. The whole point of this class is to investigate them, not to make snap judgments and then move on to something else.”

“But ghosts aren’t real! Everyone knows that. This is all bogus.”

The professor shook his head. “I am afraid you are very much mistaken. This is one area where we do not have to depend on obscure accounts in little-known books. I found it remarkably easy to find firsthand accounts from reputable people. In fact, I actually know several people who experienced hauntings personally, and I know of several houses that are genuinely haunted. These are not stories of someone who knows someone who knows someone else. I have talked with people who witnessed these things first hand. Moreover, I suspect that if you ask your peers you will be able to track down other firsthand accounts. Hauntings are so widespread that this is not very difficult.”

“You can’t be serious,” Max scoffed. “That’s crazy.”

“It’s not crazy at all. In fact, if none of your friends have ever told you a ghost story then your attitude may be the reason why. If you make it known that you consider seeing a ghost a sign of insanity, then people who have seen them will go out of their way to avoid telling you about it. After all, no one wants to appear stupid. But genuine accounts of ghosts are quite common and are not hard to track down. In fact, these things even happen to well-known people.

“Therefore, in my mind, the question is not whether there are ghosts, or whether hauntings occur. In my opinion these things can be taken for granted. The question is, what is the truth behind this matter? Are ghosts simply the spirits of the dead, or are they something else? Who is actually behind these phenomena and what is really going on?”

“I still think this is all nonsense,” Max replied.

“Many people do, until it happens to them. In fact, I remember reading an account of someone who was every bit as skeptical as you. This person was actually a member of a local skeptic’s society and spent his free time debunking things like this. Then one day it started happening to him.”

The professor turned around, picked up a sheaf of papers off his desk, and began leafing through it. “Oh, here we go. This person is a contributor to a well-known political blog and, to the best of my knowledge, is not religious in any way. His bias against the supernatural was quite strong until this happened. Here is his account:”

My fiancee and I moved into our current residence in April. Spacious, private, it’s right up our alley at least until we can get an apartment. Soon after moving in I began to notice some strange things. In the living room, I would turn off the light and TV when going to bed. An hour later, they would be back on. Footsteps around 3am. Cold spots during the heat of summer. Odd things, but I tried not to give them much thought.

About a month in, my far better half started complaining she was being “woken up” by something in the night that would poke her arm. I joked it was probably me, until one night I couldn’t sleep and found myself watching TV in the living room. Erinn started tossing and turning, then came into the room telling me she didn’t appreciate me trying to wake her up. I told her I would turn the TV down, but she insisted “you know what I mean, poking me like that. Don’t act like you’ve been in here the whole time.”

I have spent some free time in the past year serving as a skeptic for a local paranormal group. I came to their investigations with the approach that everything has a rational explanation, and barring a few odds and ends, most of the “activity” being reported did. So now, I had the awkward situation of having this happen in my own house.

Curious, we decided to run the “flashlight test” in the bedroom. For those unfamiliar, you remove the front part of a flashlight away from the battery just enough that a “ghost” can still make the connection and turn the bulb on, but you can’t turn it on yourself by bumping or blowing on it. Our question “is there someone here who wants us to know they are” was answered by both the flashlight on the floor, and our bedroom lighting, which simultaneously brightened then dimmed. Testing my initial reaction that it was just coincidence, we asked again, and again the flashlight and our room lighting brightened and dimmed.

Erinn asked more questions, and per the tedious yes/no responses we came to find out it was simply trying to get our attention, to acknowledge it was here in our house. The poking, the footsteps, and even audible name calling were all because of that. We eventually found out from our landlord that the previous owner had fallen in the kitchen downstairs and died from her injuries shortly thereafter, so perhaps that is who has been wandering in our room.

From time to time we hear the noises, but it has quieted down a lot since we had “talked” with whatever or whoever it is. We like the place too much to leave and it doesn’t seem to mind us now that we have settled in. I suspect most “hauntings” run along these lines, as opposed to the Hollywood bed-rattling and full-body apparitions.

A girl in the front row shivered. “That’s freaky,” Ashley said.

“It is an intriguing story,” the professor replied. “There are several things that stand out about it. First of all, this happened to someone who did not believe in the paranormal, and it had the effect of converting a materialist into someone who was open to the supernatural. In fact, according to the ghost, that was the whole reason behind the hauntings. The ghost knew that this person was a skeptic and wanted to prove that the skeptic was wrong. In other words, the ghost had a specific agenda.

“Second, the ghost was far more powerful than the skeptic was willing to admit. The ghost had the ability to operate electrical appliances, to turn lights on and off, to interact physically with people, to change the local temperature, and to even make noises and talk.”

“But they didn’t actually talk to the ghost,” Ashley pointed out.

“That’s true, and that is an excellent point. The ghost clearly had the ability to talk, because the skeptic mentioned ‘audible name calling’. Therefore, the ghost could talk but chose to communicate through the skeptic’s crude flashlight setup. The question is, why?”

Ashley shrugged. “How should I know? It’s a ghost. Maybe that’s just the way they do things.”

The professor shook his head. “I think the ghost knew exactly what it was doing. It’s clear that the ghost had real powers. It could not be seen, and yet it could physically interact with people. It could not be detected, but it could operate electrical appliances. That is actually terrifying – to know there is an unseen entity living in your house that you cannot control, and yet it could kill you if it wanted to. Yet because of the way the ghost approached the situation, the skeptic came away not only believing in ghosts but believing that they were also harmless. The reality is that they are not harmless at all.”

Max laughed. “Ghosts can’t kill people! That’s ridiculous.”

“If a ghost can affect electrical machinery then it can certainly kill you. Your car, after all, is an electrical machine. So is an airplane. If a ghost can operate a switch then it could easily bring down a plane or cause your car to crash. Moreover, if a ghost can poke someone awake then I see no reason why it couldn’t strangle them in their beds. The only reason the skeptic was not scared was because the ghost said it meant no harm.”

“And I’m sure the ghost was being honest,” Ashley replied. “After all, it was just the spirit of the dead landlady. I’m sure she didn’t want to hurt anyone.”

“How do you know that’s who it was?” Professor Grimes asked.

“Isn’t is obvious?” Ashley asked. “I mean, come on. The landlady died, and then the ghost appeared right after that! There’s got to be a connection.”

“There may be a connection, but I doubt it is the one you’re thinking of. One thing we can know for certain is that ghosts are not the departed spirits of the dead. We know this because the Bible is quite clear about what happens after death. When–”

“Objection!” Max called out. “You can’t go around using the Bible to prove things. That’s preposterous.”

Professor Grimes looked at the student, surprised. “Young man, this is a theological seminary. The only degrees we offer are related to divinity, theological studies, and becoming a pastor. All of those degree programs rely heavily on the Bible. If you object to the Scriptures then what on earth are you doing here?”

“It’s the principle of the thing. Lots of pastors don’t believe the Bible.”

The professor sighed. “Judging by the polling data I have seen, I must admit there is truth to that. There are a great many people in churches today – including in pulpits – who do not believe what the Bible says. Why they chose a career teaching things that they believe are lies is something I will never understand. The fact remains, however, that the Bible is wholly true and without error. It can be trusted, and in this class I will use it as a source of infallible truth. Therefore, I will take it at its word.

“It is especially important to trust it when it comes to what happens after death. The very nature of that subject makes scientific investigation impossible. Scientists cannot perform experiments to find out what the afterlife is like. The only way to get firsthand knowledge of death is to die, and once you die you cannot come back. Therefore, all we can do is believe the account that God has given to us. Fortunately, God has revealed quite a lot about what happens after death. Those who repent and believe in Christ go on to live with Him in Heaven, and those who reject Him are taken to Hell, where they are tormented. Since this is not a theological studies class I will not elaborate on this point. It suffices to say that the dead do not have the option of coming back to Earth and haunting people. Those who are in Hell are trapped there, and those who are in Heaven do not make field trips back to Earth – barring a few very specific exceptions, such as Moses and Elijah on the mount of Transfiguration. Moreover, no one has the option of staying here in ghost form and avoiding both Heaven and Hell.”

“So ghosts aren’t dead people, then?” Ashley asked.

“No, they are not. Dead people are not given the option of becoming ghosts. Therefore, if ghosts are real – and I believe they are – they must be something else.”

Ashley looked puzzled. “Well, what are they?”

The professor glanced down at the notes that he was still holding in his hand. “Before I answer that question let’s take a look at a few more cases. The blog post I mentioned earlier generated quite a response. Other people came forward with their own stories. I cannot vouch for the truth of any of these, but they do line up with the firsthand accounts that I’ve heard. These kind of hauntings are fairly typical. For example:”

I moved into my house with my ex a few years ago. Basement was a gaudy swinger/Moron pad with 4′ high mirror-walls and rope lights above wood wainscoating which ran around a huge living room / party area. Wall to wall to wall.

Every time I would walk upstairs to the main floor, at the third step from the top, I would ‘feel’ something angry looking at the back of me. More of an impression; plus fear that something bad was behind me.

Happened every time I came up the stairs. Never mentioned it to the wife.
About a month after moving in, we were sitting upstairs talking about how much we liked the new house. I said, “I love this place, except for that one spot.” She looked over and immediately asked, “The third step from the top?” “Yes! You feel it too?!”

She felt the same thing at the same spot and we had never talked about it. A few months later we remodeled the basement. From the day they took out the mirrors, I have never felt anything on the stairs.

As they say, until it happens to you. But for me, I believe…

“That’s lame,” Ashley commented. “So they had a scary feeling! Boo hoo.”

“Yes, but think about it,” the professor urged. “Two different people, both apparently former skeptics, got a very bad feeling from the weirdest of things – walking on the third step of a staircase. There is no reason why such a trivial thing should incite a feeling of terror. Yet, some entity was able to inspire a genuine haunting emotion without ever touching the person or actually appearing. That is a remarkable ability! After all, the only way you would know if I was angry was if you saw me, or heard me, or saw something that I had done. Yet this being was able to convey anger telepathically. That is deeply troubling.

“This also points out something else: these ghosts have emotions, and they are not good ones. In this case we see anger demonstrated. In the previous case we saw pride – the unseen ghost was being ignored, and it didn’t like it at all.

“All of this brings us to the third case. This one is highly instructive:”

I once lived in an old pre-Civil War era house. ….It was cool. The rent was cheap and it had lots of extra rooms, extra space.

There was one room that was full of junk left by previous occupants. We didn’t think anything about it at the time, but all the junk was piled up in the far corner of the room…..in a sort of junk mountain.

We cleaned all the old junk out and didn’t use that room for a while. Then, we started storing boxes of our own stuff in there…..and some odd chairs.

When we went to get something in that room, we found that all of our stuff had been piled up on top of itself in the far corner…..just like the old previous junk had been.

We moved it all back. Came back later….it was back in the corner.

This went on for the entire time we lived there. Whatever was left in that room would end up piled on top of the other stuff, in that far corner. ….We never heard a sound. …..And we could never catch it happening. No matter how much we tried to catch it in the act.

“Now that’s creepy,” Ashley said.

“It’s also very revealing. This ghost wanted to prove that it lived there, and it did so in a rather childish fashion. It, too, had rather startling powers – it was able to move physical objects, it could do so silently, and it had the ability to avoid being detected despite the intense desire of these people to catch it in the act. That could explain the failure of the ghost hunter shows on TV – if these ghosts do not want to be found then they are very capable of avoiding being detected.”

“But why? I mean, why would they show themselves to some people but not to everyone? What’s the point of that?”

“That is exactly the right question to ask,” Professor Grimes said. “These beings are obviously powerful. They can operate electrical machinery, they can interact physically, they can move objects, they can talk, and they can communicate emotions telepathically. They are also arrogant, childish, and proud. They go out of their way to prove to skeptics that they are real, and yet they avoid doing anything that would make the general public realize just how real and dangerous they actually are. It is as if they are playing a game, living in the shadows. They want to be feared but not understood. They want people to know they are there but they wish to remain hidden in the darkness.

“The question is, who are these beings? They are clearly not the spirits of dead people – the Bible rules that out. I also doubt that they are angels. Angels certainly have a great deal of power and may be capable of doing all these things, but angels are the servants of God, bound to do His will and His will alone. I find it impossible to believe that they spend their free time moving around people’s furniture in childish displays of ill humor. No, I believe we can rule that out. It is simply not in the character of an angel to act in this manner.”

“So what are they?” Ashley asked.

Professor Grimes paused for a moment. “I believe they are demons. The Bible refers to them as familiar spirits, and strictly warns against having anything to do with them. Demons are a perfect match for the modern ghost phenomena. They are spirits, they have the power to do everything that ghosts have been documented as doing, and they are evil. Demons are quite capable of physical interaction with people, and they can most certainly talk. I have no doubt that they can operate appliances and move physical objects.”

“But ghosts are harmless!” Ashley protested. “They don’t go around possessing people.”

“I disagree. I think that demon possession still happens today, although it is more rare than it was when Jesus walked the Earth. The problem is that modern society does not believe in evil spirits, so they simply diagnose it as some type of severe psychological disorder. Now, let me say that there are definitely genuine psychological illnesses, and I do not want to downplay that. But I suspect some people are afflicted with something far worse than a mere psychosis and are simply being medicated.

“It is also not true that all ghost stories are harmless. The people who I have talked with in person have told me genuinely frightening stories that are far worse than the mundane accounts I’ve seen online. These people were physically attacked by something they could not see, or saw their children attacked. Their appliances were not merely turned on or off, but actually destroyed. Their possessions were not stacked in a corner, but picked up by an invisible force and thrown at them. Those are not things that a holy and righteous angel would be doing. No, those are demonic acts, done by deeply evil spirits.”

“What are you saying?” Ashley asked.

“I am saying that this world is filled with vast numbers of enormously powerful spirit beings – beings that we cannot see, but which have immense abilities. The book of Revelation hints that there may be hundreds of millions of them. On the one side are the angels, who worship God and fight that His will be done. On the other side are the evil spirits, who oppress, harm, lie, and destroy. You cannot see either side, but they are there and they are very real. The angels are mighty warriors who work to protect the people of God and further His agenda, and they outnumber the evil spirits two-to-one. The evil spirits, however, are desperately wicked. They will destroy your life if they can, and they are determined to do so.

“Oh, they may not appear to be all that dangerous. To some people, like the skeptic, ghosts seem pretty harmless. But there is nothing harmless about them or their aims. The Bible calls their leader the father of lies and the adversary of all believers. They are extremely deceptive, and at times they may even appear to be helpful. Even Satan can appear to be an angel of light. But there is nothing good about them or their goals.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Ashley said.

“Then you are thinking clearly,” Professor Grimes remarked. “It is vital to understand that ghosts are not a harmless fantasy – they are a very evil reality, and should be avoided. The Bible strictly forbids interacting with familiar spirits. Do not go near them. Do not live where they dwell. Do not interact with them. You do not want to make friends with them. If anything, we are all called to be ghost busters. It is our job as Christians to resist them – to fight back.”

“But how can anyone possibly fight something they can’t see?” Max asked.

“Why, with spiritual weapons, of course. The Apostle Paul talked about this nearly two thousand years ago, and his words are as true today as they were then. As he said in Ephesians, ‘For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.’”

Ashley looked confused. “What does that even mean?”

“It means that we’re at war – not with mere communists or terrorists, but with the rulers of darkness and with spiritual wickedness in high places. There is a battle going on around you and evil is doing all it can to utterly destroy you. Your only hope for survival is to hide yourself in God and use His power to fight back. Ephesians 6 lays out the battle plan for fighting these beings. It can be done. As Christians, the forces of darkness have no power over us because Jesus Christ is within us and He has overcome the world. He who is in us is greater than the evil spirits that are in the world.

“Now, exorcism is another topic entirely and it is well outside the scope of this class. That is one of many subjects that the modern Church does not teach on, and so many believers are ill-equipped to fight. If this is something that interests you then I highly suggest doing some additional research, as I assure you your enemy is well-equipped and highly focused. If you resist the devil then he will flee from you, but if you don’t resist then he will ‘sift you as wheat’, as Jesus said.”

“I don’t get it,” Ashley said.

Max spoke up. “It means he’s going to mop the floor with you.”

“Oh.”

The professor glanced up at the clock. “Students, it looks like that’s all we have time for today, so I’m going to let you go. Be sure to read the next chapter in your book before the next lecture. Class dismissed!”

Hebrews 12:6: “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.”

This brings up a very important point. The Lord hates sin, and when it is in our lives the Lord will bring things to bear in order to drive it out. This is being done because He loves us. He is like a father, who is unwilling to see His sons fall into destruction. It is not a pleasant thing but it is necessary.

On the other hand, the Lord does not chasten those who are not His. This is why they can lead such terrible lives and yet everything seems to go well for them. The Lord is letting them go on to destruction because they are not His sons.

All of this brings up an important point: we must get rid of the sin in our lives. We can’t hold onto it. Jesus hates it and has made it abundantly clear that our sin must be dealt with. It is not a matter of seeking forgiveness, for Christians already have that. What we cannot allow is for sin to continue to reign over us. Christ offers us freedom from sin, and that is something we desperately need. If we go to Him He can sanctify us and achieve the victory over sin. We cannot conquer our “besetting” sins, but He can. We cannot defeat sin by just “trying harder” endlessly, hoping that “this time” it will work – but we can go to Jesus and ask Him to defeat it. With God all things are possible.

The reason I mention this is because so many modern Christians reject what the Bible teaches about sin. They’re not concerned about their own depravity and even enjoy the sins that they regularly commit. They know that what they’re doing is wrong, but they simply dismiss those parts of the Bible and keep on living as they please. They have no real desire to pursue holiness.

This will not end well for them, for sin has very serious consequences. The Lord will discipline those who will not let go of their sins, and that can be a very fearful thing. But there is a far greater danger. Those Christians who refuse the call of holiness and continue to pursue sin may not be Christians at all. After all, there is no salvation that rejects the lordship of Christ. Jesus will not be your Savior if you refuse to make Him your master as well.

This is the cover art for the seventh book in the Emma Wynn Detective Series.

This blog covers a lot of different topics, from religion to global warming to speed limits, and has content ranging from theological papers to science fiction books. One might naturally ask, just what is the theme of this blog? Does it even have a point, or is it just a random collection of random stuff?

There actually is a coherent theme. It is:

Proverbs 8:1: “Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?
2 She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths.
3 She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.
4 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.
5 O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.
6 Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.
7 For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.
9 They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.
10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
11 For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.”

This blog is, very simply, an attempt to attain wisdom – an exploration of truth and reality. We are dedicated to the preservation and collection of understanding. The truth is out there, if one will but look for it.

Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Faith is absolutely central to the Christian life. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Our relationship with God is dependent upon faith. So what is faith? Well, to a large extent, faith is whether or not we actually trust God to keep His promises.

You see, God has given us His Word, the Bible. This holy book contains a great many promises. For example, we have been promised that if we believe in Jesus we will have everlasting life. We have been promised that the Lord is coming again. We have also been promised that the Bible is infallible, that God has preserved it from corruption, that there is a Heaven and a Hell, and a great many other things.

We are therefore faced with a choice: are we going to believe that God will keep the promises He has made? Are we going to accept His Word as being wholly true and act on it, or are we going to reject it and do something else? Many people choose to reject God’s Word – either by dismissing it or by editing it, which amounts to the same thing. Few people choose to believe Him – but it is so important that we do.

This chapter of Hebrews lists people who believed God and then acted on that belief. They trusted Him, even to the point of losing their own lives – and yet they did not get to see the promises that God made come true in their lifetime. As verse 13 says:

Hebrews 11:13: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”

These people trusted God and followed Him. They weren’t concerned about the fact that this faith led to their deaths. They had their sights set on something much more important:

Hebrews 11:15: “And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.”

They considered themselves to be mere strangers and pilgrims in this world. They were not “mindful” of what their faith cost them because their minds were fixed on Heaven. They were seeking a better country, and this honored God greatly. They trusted Him, they acted on that trust, and they gave their lives – and so God has prepared for them a city. As it says about Moses:

Hebrews 11:25: “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.”

Moses had no love for the pleasures of sin; he chose to suffer with the people of God rather than continue to enjoy sin. He chose affliction over ease. He trusted God and believed that the “reproach of Christ” was far better than “the treasures in Egypt”.

That is what we must hang on to. It may be that we are surrounded by unbelief; these days many who call themselves Christians have rejected the Bible’s truth for their own fantasies. Because sin abounds the love of many has grown cold – but we dare not allow our own love to grow cold, or allow disbelief and doubt to take root in our hearts. We must fight it – and the way to fight it is to stay in the Word.

What we must do is have faith, and simply trust God. We must believe in His promises even if others do not. We must make a choice not to doubt Him, even when the cost is high and the promises can only be seen afar off.

As Hudson Taylor found, the secret is simple: all you have to do is rest in God’s faithfulness, for He will be ever faithful. It is not hard. In fact, it is simple: just trust and obey.

“Good morning, class!” Professor Grimes said cheerfully. “It’s great to see all of you here this morning. Today we’re going to begin our investigations into the paranormal by–”

“Woah woah woah,” a student shouted. The professor looked around and spotted an unkempt student in the back of the room, who was wildly waving his arms. “Hold on there, professor! Don’t you know that it’s, like, Christmas?”

“Dan, it is most definitely not Christmas,” Professor Grimes replied. “It is December 23rd. Christmas is not for another two days. Besides, what possible difference does that make?”

“Why, it makes all the difference in the world! It’s way too close to Christmas to be learning anything. What are you, some kind of pagan? You gotta respect the holidays! Give us a break.”

Professor Grimes was silent for a moment. He glared at the disheveled student. “Listen here, young man. This is college, not kindergarten. I am here to teach you things and you had better be here to learn them. If you find it impossible to learn then I suggest you drop my class. I am most certainly not going to cancel this lecture simply because a holiday is two days away. That is completely ludicrous.”

“Man, that is so wrong! Where’s your Christmas spirit?”

“You have a great deal of maturing to do,” Grimes said icily. “Christmas has absolutely nothing to do with laziness and self-absorption. In case you did not know, Jesus Christ was not born of a virgin in Bethlehem so that you could goof off in college classes. His divine sacrifice is not honored by your brattish insistence that everything revolves around what you want. It is high time you learned to man up and take responsibility for your life.”

“Whatever,” Dan sighed.

Professor Grimes resisted the urge to pick up the student and toss him through the classroom window. He instead turned to the blackboard and began writing. “As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, today we are going to begin our investigations into the paranormal by studying a rather unusual type of UFO. Normally when one investigates unidentified flying objects one hears of flying saucers, or strange aircraft, or occasionally alien abductions. This particular UFO, however, is quite different. What we are going to study today is not an unidentified aircraft, but an unidentified satellite.

“I first heard about this rather unusual object while reading the book Dead Men’s Secrets by Jonathan Gray. The satellite is first mentioned in the prologue, which begins on page ix. There we find this intriguing passage.”

The professor turned to his desk and picked up a well-read book. He flipped through a few pages, then cleared his throat and began reading:

It was, I recalled, in October 1957, that man’s most daring triumph – Sputnik I – had been rocketed suddenly into orbit 584 miles above the earth. With excitement, mingled almost with disbelief, millions worldwide had scanned the night sky to glimpse that shining artificial moon skimming on its path east to west against the canopy of stars. Within four months America had followed suit.

So, after aeons of tortoise-paced development, humanity had suddenly leapt off the planet; it was startling – and we were alive to see it!

Then came a bizarre discovery. It was hushed up quickly, I recalled. …

As tracking stations swung into action to monitor these new moons, the night sky had tossed up an awesome mystery. Another satellite was discovered already in orbit. Certainly it was neither American nor Russian – and the uncanny truth was nobody else had the technology.

French astonomer Jacques Valle of the Paris Observatory, saw it three times in 1961 and got eleven data points in forty-five seconds. It seemed to be orbiting in reverse at an altitude of over 22,000 miles above the earth.

Experts were jolted. Who put this satellite into orbit? How long had it been there?

Professor Grimes put down the book. “I had heard many reports of UFO sightings over the years, but none of them were quite like this one. In fact, the account of the black knight satellite is so amazing that I was surprised I’d never heard of it before. Why was this story so obscure? After all, if mankind really had spotted an actual alien satellite then why wasn’t this common knowledge? Why was I forced to discover it in a rather obscure book? It didn’t make any sense.”

“Maybe no one cared,” Dan called out from the back of the room.

“Or maybe people forgot about it,” Lora added.

The professor shook his head. “Both of those possibilities are highly unlikely. After all, in 1961 the space race was just a few years old and there was a keen interest in anything remotely related to outer space. Finding proof of an alien civilization would have been one of the greatest discoveries of all time. People definitely would have cared, and they would not have forgotten about it. There are therefore two likely possibilities. One is that the government quickly covered this up in order to keep the public from finding out. The other is that it never actually happened.”

“So which is it?” Lora asked.

“Let’s take this one step at a time,” Grimes replied. “Before we look for corroborating accounts, let’s analyze the claims in this particular story. That might give us some idea as to the veracity of this report.

“First of all, Sputnik I really was launched in October 1957. The launch occurred on the fourth day of that month. The information regarding its orbit is also more or less correct. The satellite’s actual orbit was an elliptical low Earth orbit, whose height varied from 139 miles to 900 miles high. 584 miles is within that range.”

“Who cares?” Lora asked. “We all know that Sputnik I is real! Why does this even matter?”

“Because it gives us an idea of how accurate the author is with his information. Think of it this way: if he cannot accurately report real, known history, then why should we trust him on facts that we cannot verify?

“To get back to the subject at hand: there is one other claim that we can check. The author stated that Americans launched their own satellite four months after Sputnik I was launched. This is correct. The first American satellite, Explorer I, was launched on January 31, 1958, which was just shy of being exactly four months later. This means that the author’s historical details are correct, which lends credence to his account. With that out of the way, we can finally take a look at his claims regarding this unidentified satellite.”

“Finally,” a voice called out from the back of the room.

Professor Grimes ignored it and continued. “The author claims that the unknown satellite orbited the Earth using a geosynchronous orbit, and that the satellite was first spotted in 1961. According to history, the first satellite to ever achieve that orbit was Syncom 2, which was a communications satellite that NASA launched in 1963. In 1961 the Soviet Union launched the first human into space, but no geosynchronous satellites were launched. It would be several more years before the technology existed to launch a satellite into that particular orbit.”

“Couldn’t it just be an early Soviet experiment?” another student asked.

“Possible, but unlikely,” Professor Grimes replied. “In 1961 the Soviet Union was devoting enormous resources to try to embarrass the United States. They went out of their way to prove that their space program was superior – not because they cared about space, but because they desperately wanted to prove that communism was superior to capitalism. Had they achieved a geosynchronous orbit before America did you can be sure that they would have bragged about it and used that success to smear the West. It is highly unlikely that they would have kept it a secret. That would have defeated the entire point.”

“So, what – are you saying it really was an alien satellite?” Lora asked.

Professor Grimes shook his head. “We have not yet arrived at that conclusion. You must not jump ahead of what we have established. So far all we know is that the author’s retelling of history is correct, and if a geosynchronous satellite really was detected in 1961 then it almost certainly was not built by the Russians or the Americans.”

“So it would have to be alien, then,” Lora insisted.

“Not necessarily! A geosynchronous orbit – provided it is of the geostationary type – could be stable for centuries or even millennia. If the black knight satellite existed it could have been an alien satellite, or it could have been launched by an ancient, lost civilization.”

The entire class burst our laughing. Dan spoke up. “Are you trying to tell me that cave men launched the satellite? Seriously?”

“Ancient man was a great deal more advanced than you realize,” Professor Grimes replied calmly. “In fact, that will be the subject of a future lecture. For now it is enough to say that there are two possibilities. If the satellite really did exist and if it was not built by modern man, then it either came from aliens or from ancient man. Those are the only two logical alternatives. Our next task is to find out if this satellite really did exist.

“This is where matters become difficult. If this were a science experiment then we could simply perform the experiment ourselves and see what happens. History, however, is quite different. Real science is testable, repeatable, and falsifiable. History, however, is none of these things. Since we cannot go back in time and look into this ourselves, all we can do is look for corroborating accounts.”

A voice called out from the back of the room. “Is class over yet?”

The professor ignored him. “Interestingly, I was able to find several accounts of the black knight satellite – but none of them corroborated with Jonathan Gray’s account. Plus, every single mention of Jacques Valle in association with this satellite can be traced back to Jonathan Gray’s book. It would appear that Jacques did not observe this mysterious object in 1961. The reality is that he did claim to see a UFO, but the date was May 1955 and the UFO was hovering over his house. It was not in orbit and it was not a satellite. What actually happened to him in 1961 was quite different from Jonathan Gray’s report. The reality is that, while working on the French Space Committee, Jacques reported seeing people destroy tracking tapes that had recorded an unknown object in earth orbit. However, the object tracked on the tapes was in a retrograde orbit, not a geosynchronous orbit, and Jacques assumed it was a captured asteroid. The incident sparked his lifelong interest in UFOs, but he did not claim that the object on the destroyed tapes was an alien satellite.”

Lora spoke up. “Well, but the accounts are kinda similar, aren’t they?”

“In a way, but there is an important difference. It would appear that an unknown object was tracked in 1961, but that object was assumed to be an asteroid, not a man-made satellite. That is a key difference! Since the evidence was erased there is no way to analyze it further. It must be pointed out that a passing asteroid is a much more reasonable explanation than an alien satellite.”

“Well that’s depressing,” Dan called out.

“But that is not the end of the story. You see, there are other accounts of the black knight satellite that are completely different. For example, on March 7, 1960 Time Magazine announced the discovery of a ‘dark’ satellite in orbit. This unknown object caused a great deal of worry and consternation until they realized that it was simply part of a derelict Air Force Discoverer satellite. This shows how easy it was to lose track of things back then.

“Another account I came across was record by Jon Keel in Disneyland of the Gods. Keel said that in February 1960 the United States detected an unknown object in polar orbit. This object could not have been a passing asteroid because it was actually transmitting data – specifically, a star chart from 13,000 years ago. The satellite was tracked for seven months, and on September 3, 1960 a tracking camera took a photograph of it. It was said to be a glowing red object that moved from east to west.”

“Wow,” Lora said. “That’s amazing!”

“It is indeed. However, like the Jonathan Gray story, I can find no corroborating accounts, and the supposed photograph cannot be found anywhere. There are a few other reports that add additional details to the story – such as the object weighing 15 tons, and the photograph being taken at 8:51 PM – but they all appear to come from the Jon Keel book.”

“So what does that mean?” Lora asked.

“It means that we have two conflicting accounts, each of which tell a very different story, and neither of which can be corroborated. That in itself is highly suspicious. As conspiracy theories go, this one is remarkably poor. It makes astounding claims but there is no solid evidence to support it. Unless additional information turns up I can only conclude that the story of the black knight satellite is a myth.”

“Seriously?” Dan said. “Do you mean I sat through this whole class just to find out that the satellite never existed? You could have just told us that at the beginning!”

Professor Grimes nodded. “Yes, I could have. It is true that you learned that an obscure, all-but-unknown paranormal story was most likely false. I am glad you were paying attention – but you must keep in mind that that is not all you learned today. You were also given a demonstration of techniques that can be used to analyze other paranormal stories, to see if there is any truth to them – and we will be applying those same techniques all semester. Some of the stories we will investigate will turn out to be true, and others will be false. Regardless, we will discover the truth through the use of logic and actual investigation. We will not simply assume whatever we want to believe and then go on from there. In this class the truth actually matters.

“It is vitally important to get to the truth of a matter, and not simply accept whatever you read or were told. In order to do this you must have a mechanism for determining the truth. Without that you will have no way of knowing whether your beliefs correspond to reality.”

“So what?” Dan asked. “Who cares?”

“I assure you, young man, that you will care. At the end of the day reality always wins. You can attempt to put it off, but the longer you ignore the real world the harder it will bite you in the end. You will be much better off if you make peace with reality while you are still young.”

Professor Grimes glanced up at the clock. “That will be all for today, students. I wish you all a Merry Christmas. Don’t forget to read up on chapter 2 for our next class. You are dismissed!”

Hebrews 10:34: “For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.”

Do we really believe that we have “in heaven a better and an enduring substance”? Many people today have no desire whatsoever to go to Heaven; they vastly prefer their lives here. They see Heaven as a drab, boring place with nothing to do. This is a far cry from the picture of Heaven that the Bible paints! Heaven is consistently depicted as being a much better place, which is something I have discussed extensively elsewhere. The desire for Home should be on all of our hearts. Here we are but strangers and pilgrims. This world is not our home. As Paul said,

35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.

What we need is patience. The Lord will return, exactly as He promised:

37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.

This is the cover art for the sixth book in the Emma Wynn Detective Series.

Hebrews 10:30: “For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

People today don’t really believe in a God of wrath. Instead they believe in a harmless god of love, who would never hurt anyone or send anybody to Hell. They think that God doesn’t really care if you believe in Jesus or not; it doesn’t matter what you’ve done or what god you placed your faith in. He is all love and snuggles.

But this god of theirs is a false one who does not exist. Vengeance belongs to God, and He has promised to repay and judge – and He always keeps His word. The Bible warns us that “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” People have lost their fear of God, but God is going to cure that. The day is rapidly approaching when people will once again discover that God is holy, awesome, powerful, and full of wrath toward those who have despised His Son. One day soon people will cry out to be hid from the wrath of the Lamb:

Revelation 6:12: “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?“

[Editor’s note: I do not know when the Lord will return. It may be soon, or it may be many years from now. What I do know is that He will return, and when He does many people will be caught off-guard. This post is meant for them.]

So it finally happened. People had been talking about the return of Jesus for centuries – in fact, it had been a topic of intense interest from the very day Jesus ascended back into Heaven. Throughout the centuries countless people had warned that His Return was near, and dozens claimed to know exactly when it would take place. Yet, all of these false prophets were proven wrong. The predicted dates came and went and nothing happened. In fact, Jesus tarried for so long that many people started believing that He would never come back at all. “It’s all a hoax,” they said – just a bunch of crazy people spouting apocalyptic nonsense. And yet, despite all that, it still happened. Jesus really did come back and take His Church – and you were left behind.

But the Rapture didn’t happen the way everyone expected. For example, there are billions of professing Christians in the world, and yet very few of them were taken. Preachers had said that when the Rapture happened the world would almost be depopulated. Vast numbers of people would simply vanish, leaving behind a very confused populace. But the reality is that very few people disappeared. Even in churches only handfuls of believers are missing. Countless lay members, Sunday School teachers, deacons, preachers, and missionaries are all still here. On top of that, millions of children are still here too. How is that possible? If the Rapture really did just happen then what is going on? What does it all mean?

Well, for starters, it means that the faith of billions of people was actually not genuine. If you were left behind then you were not saved. Period. All genuine believers in Christ were taken. It doesn’t matter if you were struggling with sin and addiction, and it doesn’t matter if you had fallen into trouble and been disgraced. God did not take all of the “good” Christians and leave the bad ones behind. Instead, God took all of them. He even raised the dead ones back to life – that’s what all the commotion in the graveyards was about. The righteous dead have been raised and every last Christian on the planet is gone. Everyone who was left behind is an unbeliever.

The truth is that many people who claimed to know Christ never knew him at all. You may have been a pastor, an elder, or a Sunday School teacher, but that doesn’t make you a Christian. In order to be saved Jesus must be your Savior and Lord. There are many people who tried to earn their salvation by being good people. That is why Catholics were not taken to Heaven: they categorically denied the doctrine of “salvation by grace alone through faith alone.” They believed that Jesus was not enough – that in order to be saved you had to add your own good works to the mix. That grave error was condemned throughout the New Testament, especially in the book of Galatians. Their heresy has now been exposed on a global scale, as they have been left behind.

There are others who wanted Jesus to bring them to Heaven but refused to submit themselves to His authority. These peoples’ ‘saving prayer’ consisted of “Lord, bring me to Heaven, but in the meantime don’t you dare tell me what to do.” That prayer is incapable of saving anybody, as they now know. Those who refused to make Jesus their Lord have now discovered that Jesus was not their Savior either. It is a package deal.

Then there are the countless cults. Mormons claimed to know Jesus, but their Jesus was a false one. A false Jesus cannot save you, as they have now discovered. Jehovah’s Witnesses have also been rebuked. They claimed to be the true way to God, but God left them behind. Their faith was in a false god, and a false god cannot save anybody.

People all over the world said that there were many ways to God. They mocked the idea that Jesus was the only way – and Jesus has now mocked them. His words were faithful and true. He was right all along but people did not believe him. As a result, they have been left behind.

The reason so few church members were taken is because of the rank apostasy in churches. Christ warned us that when the time of His Return drew near there would be a great falling away from the truth. Many people had abandoned true Christianity long ago, and as a result when Christ finally did return they were caught holding onto a phony belief system that had no power to save. It turns out that the truth really does matter. A lie cannot save you.

So what happens now? The good news is that it is still possible for you to be saved. The bad news is that you are facing a long and difficult road. You have missed out on some important blessings and there is no way you can get them back. For example, the Church was the Bride of Christ. Throughout all of eternity they will have a special relationship with Jesus. You were offered that relationship, but you turned it down. Now that the Rapture has happened, it is too late for you to be a part of the Bride. You can still rejoice before the Throne, but the blessings promised to the Bride are blessings that you will never have.

But you can still be saved. The way you become saved has not changed – it is still through faith in Jesus Christ. However, you must believe in the real Jesus – not the Mormon Jesus, who was just a man who rose to become God; not the Jehovah Witnesses’ Jesus, who never really rose from the dead; and not the Islamic Jesus, who was just a prophet and was never God at all. You must believe in the Biblical Jesus – the eternal God, part of the Trinity, who became a man, lived a perfect life, died on the cross to take upon Himself the punishment we deserved for our sins, and then rose from the dead on the third day and is now in Heaven interceding for us. That is the Jesus you must believe in. In order to be saved you must believe that His death on the cross – and nothing else – paid the full penalty for all of your sins. He took on Himself the punishment that you deserved. He died in your place, and that is why you can be forgiven. Your debt has been paid by Him. That is why salvation comes only through Him. That is why so many people were left behind. They were looking elsewhere for salvation.

Second, you must repent of your sins. You have to let go of the idea that your own good deeds play any role in your salvation. God hates your good deeds: He detests your efforts to save yourself by being a good person. It is doomed to failure. You have broken the law of God in countless ways. God commanded us to not lie, to not steal, to not lust, to not covet, to not profane His name, and to worship Him with every fiber of our being. Those who sin even one time – and we have all sinned – are guilty and worthy of death. God has warned us that those who die in their sins will be thrown alive into the Lake of Fire, where they will burn for all of eternity.

The only way to escape this – the only way to find forgiveness for our sins – is to run to Christ and beg for forgiveness. There is no salvation apart from repentance. You must repent. You must admit that God, not you, is the ultimate authority. God makes the rules, and you have failed to follow them. You have broken His commands. You have disdained His holy law. In order to be saved you must ask for His forgiveness and put yourself under His authority. That is what it means when people talk about giving your life to Christ. It means your life does not belong to you anymore. It means that God is your master, that God calls the shots, and that you are bound to do what God wants.

Jesus will save all who go to Him. He will cast out no one:

Matthew 11:28: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

There are a great many other things that you will need to know. For example, sanctification (the process whereby the sin in our lives is defeated and we become more like Christ) is also accomplished by grace through faith, just like salvation. We don’t achieve victory over the sins in our lives by trying harder and redoubling our efforts, but by running to Christ and asking Him to do what we cannot. There is also the very important matter of all the historical events that are about to take place: the rise of the antichrist, the seven-year tribulation, the appearance of the Mark of the Beast, and many others. Rough times are ahead. If you place your faith in Christ the chances are very good that you will be hunted down and executed. Countless millions of people will be saved in the years to come – and countless millions of people will be martyred. Being a Christian will be very difficult. In fact, this is what Christ had to say about it:

Matthew 10:22: “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”

In other words, your faith in Christ will cause everyone to hate you. You will be universally despised. You will be hunted down and, in all likelihood, beheaded. It will be horrific. However, in order to be saved you must endure to the end. That is your only hope. If you do not endure to the end then you will not be saved.

You see, during the Church Age it was not possible to lose one’s salvation. The Holy Spirit sealed the Bride of Christ until the day of redemption. When the Rapture happened, though, that all changed. Those who were left behind are still saved by grace through faith, but you must demonstrate that faith by holding onto it. If you take the Mark of the Beast then you will be damned:

Revelation 14:9: “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”

The Bible is quite clear about this. If you want to be saved then you must not worship the beast or his image. You must not take the Mark. If you do then you will be utterly lost, as it is impossible to repent of this. It is an unforgivable sin. Once you cross that line – no matter what you had done before – there is no going back. You will be “tormented with fire and brimstone” in the presence of God, day and night, forever and ever without end.

Living for God during the years ahead will not be easy, but with Christ all things are possible. Millions will find salvation and will go on to inherit eternal life – and billions will take the Mark and be damned forever. That is the choice that lies ahead of you.

There are many other things that you need to know, but I cannot possibly include them all here. My suggestion to you is to read the Bible and ask God for wisdom:

James 1:5: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

That is how I came to understand the Bible – I asked the Lord for wisdom, and He graciously grave it to me. He can do the same for you. All you have to do is ask.

Professor Grimes glanced up at the dingy clock that hung over the classroom door. That same analog clock had been there fifteen years ago when he had first started teaching. Back then he had been a history professor, teaching the lessons of the past to bored students who could barely stay awake. As time went by, years of gross mismanagement by the University’s leadership led to a serious financial crisis. Rather than spending their money more wisely, however, they chose to fire dozens of teachers – as if they had been the ones who decided to build a multi-million-dollar stadium for a football team that had not had a winning season since 1936. As a result the aging professor found himself teaching twice as many classes, with no corresponding increase in salary. However, since almost no one ever showed up for his lectures he found that his job had actually become much easier. It had been four years since he had last given any student an A. For a reason that was beyond his ability to comprehend, most students felt that they could skip every class and then rescue their grade by acing the final – despite the fact that the final only counted for 20% of their grade. He warned them in the course syllabus that if the students skipped their midterm exams and writing assignments they would be unable to pass no matter how well they did on the final, but it never made any difference.

The clock told him that it was six minutes until 10 o’clock in the morning. He had already taught two other classes that day. This was the one he had been looking forward to, as it would be the first time he had ever taught a course on this particular subject. The professor still could not figure out why a divinity school would want to offer a course on paranormal phenomena, but that decision was above his pay grade. These days he simply did as he was told. He had long ago stopped trying to reason with people who were apparently incapable of thinking rationally.

A quick glance around the classroom showed that eleven people were present. Sixty-four people had signed up for the class, despite the fact that the room only had thirty chairs. At one time that would have motivated the professor to find a bigger classroom, but he eventually learned that only about 10% of his students ever showed up. Despite double-booking his classes every single year he had never ran out of seats. That was one thing he could count on.

In fact, he was somewhat concerned about the eleven people who were already in class. That number seemed unusually high to him. Professor Grimes got up from his desk and walked around in front of it. “Excuse me, everyone, but this is Paranormal Studies 313. Please check to make sure that you are in the right room.”

One young man quickly looked up, confused. “Um, are you sure? This is room 239, isn’t it?”

Professor Grimes shook his head. “No, I am afraid not. This is room 4A, as it says right there on the door that you used to enter this room. You do realize that this is a one-story building, don’t you? There is no room 239 in the Whitaker building.”

“Oh,” the student replied.

“What class are you looking for?”

“I guess this one will work,” the young man said vaguely. “All I know is that I’m supposed to be attending class. This is a class, isn’t it?”

Professor Grimes sighed. He grabbed the class roster off of his desk and started flipping through it. “What is your name?”

“Dan,” he replied.

“Dan Cervantes?”

The young man nodded.

“You are indeed signed up for my class,” the professor said at last. “You are in the right place.”

“Um, ok. But what’s in room 239?”

Professor Grimes flipped through the sheaf of papers in his hand. “According to this, you are signed up for a music class that is held in room 239 of the Jenkins building. That class is on Mondays from 8am to noon.”

“Does that mean I’m late?” Dan asked.

“No, Dan, it does not. Monday was yesterday. Today is Tuesday.”

“What do you mean?” another student piped up. “I thought today was Friday!”

“We use the Gregorian calendar in this country,” Professor Grimes said crisply. “In that calendar Monday is always followed by Tuesday. Perhaps in some alternate dimension Monday is followed by Friday. That, however, does not happen on this planet.”

Professor Grimes dropped the student roster back onto his desk. “For the purposes of this class I will assume that all of you are supposed to be here and are signed up for this course. If you are supposed to be somewhere else then that is your problem. I will take no responsibility for your class attendance. For that matter, I do not take attendance at all.”

“Yes!” a voice in the back of the room called out. “Score!”

“I do not take attendance because it is not necessary,” Professor Grimes continued. “The grade is completely determined by your performance on written papers, midterm exams, and the final. If you can ace all of those without ever attending class then you obviously do not need to be here, and I congratulate you. However, in my fifteen years of teaching no one has ever done that. The only people who have ever passed my classes – and I assure you it is a short list – are those who have actually bothered to show up. It is a difficult chore, but that is how learning works. You cannot possibly learn what I have to tell you if you are not here to hear it.”

“Can’t we just read the books?” another voice asked.

“What is your name?” the professor asked.

“Lora,” the girl replied.

“Well, Lora, it is true that I expect you to complete the reading assignments that are listed in your syllabus. The course textbook that you were supposed to purchase was designed to help you. However, I am not going to stand here and read the textbook to you. If the textbook told you everything that you needed to know then there would be no point in even having class. What I am going to do is go beyond what the textbook says and give you additional information – information that, I might add, is critical to your passing this class. If you do not take notes then you will fail.”

“But I don’t have a pencil!” Lora complained.

“Then use a pen,” Professor Grimes replied. “Incidentally, let me remind everyone of my no-cell-phone policy. When you signed up for this course you signed a document that granted me permission to confiscate your cell phone and set it on fire if I believed that it was disrupting the class. With that in mind, I expect–”

“No way!” Dan shouted. “You’re crazy.”

Professor Grimes sighed and once again picked up the class roster from his desk. He leafed through it for a moment, then removed a piece of paper. He then walked over to Dan and laid it on his desk. “Is that not your signature?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Dan reluctantly admitted. “But I didn’t know that’s what I was signing!”

“This is a half-page document that is written in a 16-point font. Before my secretary would even allow you to sign it you had to tell her that you had read the document, you fully understood the document, and you had no questions about the document. If you lied to her then that is your problem, not mine. My conscience is clear.”

The professor then took the release form back to his desk and placed it into the student roster. “As I was saying, all cell phones must be off while I am teaching. If there is some dire emergency then you may have it on vibrate, but you must leave the room before you answer the phone or send a text message. Under no circumstances may you use your phone while this class is in session.”

At that moment the professor heard a beeping noise. He looked around and saw a student in the back row furiously typing out a text message on his cell phone. The professor walked up to the student, who was intent on what he was typing. “And just who are you?” the professor demanded.

“Tyler,” the student said without looking up.

“Tell me, Tyler. Did you hear anything that I just said?”

“Just a minute! I’m kind of busy now.”

“TYLER!” the professor shouted, in a voice that commanded authority. “This is your final warning. Do you see that fire pit over there?”

The student looked up, startled, and glanced in the direction that the professor was pointing. “Oh. Weird! Yeah, I see it.”

Dr. Grimes looked at Tyler coldly. “Last semester I burned eight cell phones in that pit. I will not hesitate to burn yours as well if you do not turn it off RIGHT NOW. Do I make myself clear?”

The young man signed. He flipped his phone closed and stuffed it back into his pocket. “You need to chill, man. You’re crazy! We’ve got lives too, you know. Not everything is about you.”

“I will make this very simple,” Dr. Grimes replied. “I am being paid to teach this course and that is exactly what I will do. If you try to interfere with my teaching then you will face my wrath. If you do not want to be here then you are free to leave. However, as long as you are in this room you will follow my rules.”

“I need these credits to graduate,” Tyler replied sourly. “But you seriously need to mellow out. You would be way more popular if you just let us do our thing.”

“And I am sure that if I gave an automatic A to all my students I would be the toast of the school. But I refuse to do that, young man. The world around us may have stopped caring about quality, but I have not. I still have standards and I will enforce them. If you want a passing grade then you will have to earn it.”

A chorus of groans sounded. Professor Grimes ignored it and walked back to his desk. “As I was saying earlier, this is Paranormal Studies 313. We are going to spend the semester studying the paranormal. This will include, but is not limited to, UFOs, ghosts, out-of-place artifacts, conspiracy theories, and so forth. We will expose these things to the hard light of science and see what we can learn.”

“But they’re all bogus!” Dan cried out.

“And how do you know that?”

“Well, they just are. Everyone knows it.”

“Is that so?” Professor Grimes replied. “Tell me, Dan. Have you examined every single UFO sighting?”

“Um, no,” Dan replied.

“Ok, then have you examined any UFO sightings?”

“No. But other people have. Like, the government. They say they’re all just weather balloons.”

“And how do you know that they are correct? Have you examined their methodology? Have you read their reports? Have you actually examined the raw data yourself?”

“Why would I do that? I mean, look, they’re the government! If they say that UFOs are a hoax then they’re a hoax. Why would they lie to us?”

Dr. Grimes stared at the student, surprised. “Are you serious? You can’t possibly be serious! Dan, the truth is that governments lie to us all the time. They lie about whether Social Security is solvent. They lie about global warming. They lie about the radiation that is released from nuclear disasters. Governments all over the world have a consistent habit of lying. Why on earth would you think that they are a credible source of information?”

“What are you talking about?” Dan asked.

“Take global warming, for instance. Despite what you may have been told, 96% of all so-called global warming emissions are caused by the oceans. Of the remaining 4%, 3.44% are caused by non-human activity. That means that humans only account for 0.56% of all global warming emissions. That’s one half of one percent! If we entirely eliminated all of our emissions it would not matter. Despite what governments all over the world have led you to believe, human-caused emissions are not warming the planet and destroying it. Our emissions are, in fact, incapable of doing so.”

“That’s crazy talk!” Lora exclaimed. “All scientists know that global warming is true. It’s settled science! All climate-change deniers are kooks.”

“It is a hoax,” Professor Grimes said firmly. “95% of the greenhouse effect is caused by water vapor. Carbon dioxide – the vast majority of which is released by nature, not man – accounts for a tiny percentage of any warming effect. On top of that, studies have shown that there is no statistical correlation between temperature change and carbon dioxide levels. None! Carbon dioxide is not a toxic poison; it is a requirement for life to even exist on this planet. What’s more, scientists know all of these things but still persist in lying about it.”

“But–” Lora said.

“There are no buts about it, young lady. If this was real science, these people wouldn’t be secretly talking about was to ‘hide the decline’ in temperatures. They wouldn’t be trying to destroy the careers of people who are exposing their hoax. They wouldn’t go out of their way to hide their raw data so that no one else can see what they’re doing. Real science is about being honest and open. Global warming is not science. It is a scam.”

“But scientists agree!” Lora replied. “They formed a consensus. It must be true.”

“That’s preposterous! Science isn’t done by consensus. You might as well say that truth is defined by a committee. People don’t get to decide what the truth is, nor do committees get to decide what is or is not reality. If you are forming a committee to decide what the fundamental laws of the universe are then you are doing it wrong. That is not how science works. Real science – unlike the fake science that you see so often today – is testable, repeatable, and falsifiable. It does not consist of outright lying, hiding your findings, and then smearing your opponents.”

“But smearing people is so effective,” Lora complained.

Professor Grimes nodded. “Oh yes, it’s quite effective. For example, in the 1840s Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis told his colleagues that if they simply washed their hands after delivering a baby they could dramatically cut the mortality rate. At the time, however, the idea that a medical doctor should be clean and sterile was greeted with ridicule. Washing your hands was seen as utterly preposterous. Despite taking pains to actually prove that washing hands really did save people’s lives, he was still ridiculed for his theory. In fact, he was hounded so much that he was eventually forced out of his position as a doctor. Dr. Semmelweis was absolutely right, but ‘consensus science’ made sure he lost his job for it, and cost countless women their lives. That is exactly what smearing people does.

“The reality is that the truth has never been popular. It does not matter if you can prove your results. It does not matter if you are right. It does not matter if you have evidence and logic on your side. Throughout the long centuries of history science has almost always been settled by consensus, and that has had terrible consequences. Dr. Semmelweis challenged this and was duly punished for it. Others have done the same thing and met similar results. Yes, perhaps eventually the consensus does change. But those who challenge the consensus are persecuted, reviled, and destroyed. It is how science works – not by seeking the truth, but by seeking ‘heretics’ and burning them at the stake. In the past it attacked those who dared to suggest that doctors should wash their hands. Today it attacks those who suggest that mankind’s 0.5% contribution to greenhouse gasses is not destroying the planet. Scientists can consistently be trusted to personally attack anyone who challenges them.”

“I object to that,” a student in the back of the room called out. “Just because it happened in one isolated case doesn’t mean anything.”

“But it’s not just one isolated case,” Professor Grimes replied. “For example, the 2011 Nobel Prize in chemistry went to an Israeli scientist named Daniel Schechtman. He won the prize for his discovery of quasicrystals. Schechtman actually discovered them in 1982, but when he announced his findings he was met with great derision. In fact, he was actually kicked out of his research group in the United States. His brilliant discovery was not dispassionately analyzed by his peers. No, instead he was ridiculed and lost his job, despite the fact that he was right and had the facts on his side. It only took him thirty years to break through the ‘consensus’. This sort of thing happens all the time – in fact, don’t even get me started with what evolutionists have been doing.

“The sad truth is that we are living in a time when you simply cannot believe what you are told. Your local newspaper is not going to be honest with you. The newscaster on your local TV station is going to give you a slanted version of the news. Scientific studies are often badly distorted to give a result that is designed to please whoever funded the study, or whatever the ‘consensus’ has already decided. Even when people are not actually trying to be dishonest there are times when they are just flat-out wrong. Doctors once lauded the health benefits of smoking, and they once believed that the way to cure diseases was by draining your blood. In fact, that was one of the contributing factors to the death of George Washington.

“Honesty is a rare thing these days. When millions or billions of dollars are at stake, and when there are personal reputations on the line, you can usually expect the truth to suffer. It is a very rare man indeed who will sacrifice everything for the sake of honesty – especially in these days.

“What we are going to do, then, is take a hard look at a subject that few people ever bother to actually investigate. Since honesty is a rare commodity, we will investigate this ourselves and see what we can uncover. It may be that in some cases there is not enough evidence to support a conclusion, but at least we will have looked into the matter ourselves, instead of trusting a stranger who may have an agenda of his own.”

“You’re awfully cynical,” Lora said accusingly.

Professor Grimes looked her in the eye. “A person can only be lied to so many times before he begins to suspect that the truth is a rarity. Perhaps one day you’ll learn to look into things yourselves, instead of simply believing whatever you are told to believe.”

The professor sighed. “ Incidentally, class, be sure to read chapter 1 before Friday. You are dismissed.”

Hebrews 10:25: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

It is a good thing for Christians to go to church, and this verse says that we should not stop this practice. However, many people go far beyond what this verse teaches. They say that Christians should attend church every time the doors are open, and if you’re not there twice on Sundays, and on Wednesday, and on every other special occasion, then you’re some kind of heathen. The “good Christians” are there on Sunday evening, and the “really awesome Christians” are there on Wednesdays too. Only “losers” attend church just on Sunday morning. Some Christians judge each other’s faithfulness based entirely on how many times per week they attend church. In fact, it gets so bad that some people only go to church on Wednesdays because they want to be seen as one of the top-tier Christians in the church. It boggles my mind, but in many places church attendance has become a ridiculous game of “I’m better than you”.

That is completely unwarranted. All this verse says is “don’t completely stop going to church”. It does not say “you are forbidden from missing even a single service”. There is a difference! Nor does the Bible say “Judge each other based on how many times per year you make it to church.”

Besides this, churches today are nothing like New Testament churches. Today people go inside, sit there for an hour while the pastor monologues, and then they go home. Aside from some singing there is no audience participation at all. (Well, there’s offerings too, I suppose.) In many ways it is a pretty empty experience: you go, you sit there, you listen, you go home. If you have questions about the sermon, well, that’s too bad. Your chances of cornering the pastor and having an in-depth discussion on the wild things he just said are pretty close to zero.

The New Testament church was much richer. People interacted; it wasn’t a case where only the licensed, seminary-educated Pastor was allowed to speak. Each person had a thought, or a piece of wisdom, or a need, or a request, or a struggle, or something. People discussed the challenges they were facing, formed relationships, and helped each other. It wasn’t a sterile experience that demanded nothing of those who came. You didn’t have to have a license and a Ph.D. to say something. It’s no wonder that many people are loathe to attend today’s church services! If I had the choice I would attend just once a week, on Sunday mornings; I only go every service because I have to run the sound system for the services. (Somehow software developers always get roped into running the sound system. It’s kind of odd.)

On top of all that, people almost always miss the second half of this verse: “and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching”. The ‘day’ being discussed is, of course, the Second Coming. [Technically, he’s probably talking about the Day of the Lord, but that’s a different discussion.] Paul clearly expected us to know when the Return of Jesus was close at hand, and he urged us to meet even more often when we saw things starting to fall into place.

Sadly, many churches today either ignore prophecy entirely or are filled with false doctrines about it. Even those who believe that the Lord might come back one day aren’t aware of the signs that are being fulfilled and don’t believe that His return might be near. Churches have been asked “What things are you concerned about happening in the next fifty years?” Believe it or not, the Second Coming does not come up. The idea that we might be running out of time is about as big a worry to many churches as an invasion of Martians – unlikely at best, and laughable at worst.

The Church would be absolutely shocked if the Lord returned this afternoon. They’re not expecting it; they think they have all the time in the world. A great many people are going to be caught completely off-guard, despite the fact that Jesus told them to be watching for His return.

I don’t know what can be done about this. Perhaps this is just a sign of the times. It’s still depressing, though. We have badly lost our way.

This is the cover art for the second book in the Emma Wynn Detective Series.

Hebrews 10:22: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”

“full assurance” – I like that! We know that we are saved; we are assured of it. Now, the Catholic Church strongly disagrees with this. They teach that believing that you are saved is a sin. In fact, not only is it a sin, but it is a mortal sin, and you can get sent to Hell for it. That is what they believe – and they are wrong.

Believing that you are saved is not a sin; it is simply believing the promises that God has given to us. God wants us to know that we are saved! The reason we can know for sure is because Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient – He “paid it all”. Nothing more needs to be done to make sure that we reach Heaven. When we “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ” then we are saved, and that is the end of the story. We have full assurance. “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God raised Him from the dead, then thou shalt be saved.” It is as simple as that.

Amy Stryker suddenly found herself standing in a beautiful garden. A dense morning mist covered the ground, hiding the soft grass from view. She could see mountains on the horizon, and in the distance there was a single river that branched into four different streams. Everywhere she looked she saw magnificence and splendor. The plants, the trees, the flowers – everything was perfect. The air itself seemed to whisper thoughts of peace and tranquility.

“Where am I?” she said aloud. “This certainly doesn’t look like Mars!”

“That’s because it isn’t,” a familiar voice called out.

Amy turned around and saw her sister standing a few feet away, on the banks of a river.

“Amanda?” Amy asked curiously. “Is that really you? But – hold on – wait just a minute! This has to be a dream. There is no way this can be real.”

“Yes and no,” Amanda replied. “First of all, this actually is a real planet that is within the Milky Way galaxy. The Artilect used to come here quite often, back when he was trying to find a way to go back in time to rescue us. In fact, this garden was one of his favorite places and is a very special refuge. But you are correct. You are not actually standing here. In reality you are still on Tonina, and our dog Alex is curled up next to you at the foot of the bed. This is not a mere dream, though; it is a vision. The things you are seeing and hearing are very real. It’s just that you’re not physically here right now.”

“But what about you?” Amy asked. “Are you real, or am I just imagining you? I mean, after all, you’re dead. How can you possibly be here?”

“Death is not the end, you know,” Amanda said. “Jesus has taken away death’s victory. We’ve simply moved on to a better country.”

“Yes, I know that. But people don’t usually come back from the dead and hang out.”

“They do sometimes. After all, the prophet Samuel came back from the dead to condemn King Saul. Also, Moses and Elijah came back from the dead to appear on the mountain where Jesus was transfigured. So it has happened before.”

“I guess,” Amy said. “Oh, Atzi, I miss you – and I miss Mom, and Dad, and Tim. I miss all of you so very much, and would give anything to spend time with you again. I hate being here alone.”

“I know,” Amanda replied softly. “We all know. But what you’re doing right now is very important. You’re almost done, Tiger. You’ve come very far and you don’t have much further to go. All you have to do now is finish what you’ve started on Earth. Then you can come home.”

“Is that why we’re here?” Amy asked.

Amanda nodded. “As I said, this planet is a real place and orbits a real star. It is a special sanctuary, reserved for those who need it. The only people who may come here are the administrators, the Artilect, and the Sentinel. The nanites know where it is; when the time has come you can ask them and they will bring you here.”

“And then what?” Amy asked.

Amanda pointed into the distance. “Through those trees and across that river is a Door. This door is a very special one. When your work is done, you can come here and it will open for you. It will then bring you to the country that lies beyond the farthest star. It is your way home.”

“A door?” Amy asked. “Why a door?”

“Because you cannot die,” Amanda explained. “The nanites can keep you alive forever, but it is not a good thing for you to stay in the shadowlands for that long. Once your work is done the Door will unlock and you will be called home.”

“Then what?” she asked.

Amanda smiled. “Then you will rest, until the Lord creates a new heavens and a new earth. You’re almost there, Tiger. Just hold out a little bit longer.”

The vision then disappeared, and Amy drifted back into a dreamless sleep.