PART FIVE – Moon River to Harvest Haven (cont.)
Particle – Clothing and Prophecy for a Girl
I began buying clothes and supplies for a baby girl. I also had a prophecy for a girl and what she would be like. These are some of the words I recall (there were many more):
“Alaythia will be a comely, godly child, obedient to her parents, calling them ‘Momma’ and ‘Poppa.’ She will be filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb and receive revelation and spiritual understanding yet as a young child, with words to minister to us in time of need. She will be a great and wonderful blessing. You will enjoy her while she’s here, and you will miss her when she’s gone.”
I would come to realize this prophecy reached well beyond the coming physical child, even as Isaiah’s prophecy to King Ahaz would refer, not to an event in his day, but to one centuries later (Isaiah 7). My prophecy referred to the little girl Paul Cohen and Bob Gregson saw in their dreams, and whom someone else, years later, would also see in a dream, only this time the same little girl would be a grown woman, a reality already unfolding.
We began prenatal classes, but it was too late for me to learn what I thought I needed to learn. On the evening of September 21st, the baby was particularly active and Marilyn was a whirlwind of activity, housecleaning as though we were getting unexpected company.
And we did get unexpected company. At 2:30 AM on September 22nd, Marilyn woke me saying, “I think my water broke.” According to another of Dr. Hardin’s judgments, the child wasn’t to come for a couple more weeks, not that these things are precisely determined.
We called Dr. Hardin, who wasn’t happy about being called at that hour. We were directed to come to the hospital. Arriving there, the doctor examined Marilyn, made arrangements, and was taking leave to get some sleep, thinking the baby wouldn’t be born for several hours. She didn’t reach her room. The nurse, realizing something was happening, called down the hall after the doctor and delivery commenced almost immediately.
It didn’t take long before the baby was out. The total time of Marilyn’s labor from the breaking of water was about four hours.
When the baby came forth, Dr. Hardin was taken by surprise and dropped it! Fortunately, it was to a utensils table less than a foot below. I was annoyed. She was quite incompetent and didn’t seem to care. But there was the birth, as foretold by the Lord in the vision.
Danny was right – it was a boy! Five pounds, fifteen ounces, born at 6:34 AM; a tiny guy, but lively. What to name him? Apparently, we had to scrap “Alaythia.” We pondered for days until we settled on “Jonathan,” which means “God is given” or “gift of God.” Surely, he was a gift, a surprise, and such a wonderful one. I also saddled him with my first and second names, “Victor” and “Nicholas,” something he would come to occasionally teasingly complain about – or is he serious?
We were surprised a child was coming. We were surprised it came so soon, and we were surprised it was a boy. The nursing staff seemed to expect some problems, seeing Jonathan was born of a woman in her early forties and he being premature by two weeks or so. There were no immediate problems.
Imagine the change in lifestyle for us, especially for Marilyn! Just having a child was a huge change after 17 years and getting on in age. Besides, Jonathan was no ordinary child. He didn’t sleep normal baby hours of sleep, not because something was bothering him. He just didn’t sleep like other babies. Nor did he cry, or complain, or whine, or argue or get easily upset. Remarkably, he seemed to take things in stride from the beginning.
(Given Jonathan’s interests and activities today in free running and gymnastics, I’ve reconsidered blaming Dr. Hardin for dropping him. I wonder if Jonathan didn’t surprise her by displaying his natural aptitudes at first opportunity.)
Particle – Dr. Hardin Betrays Our Wishes
We wanted no males involved, but Dr. Hardin, without our permission or informing us, brought in a male pediatrician. There was no need for him.
She performed an episiotomy, which was against our wishes for a natural childbirth. She slipped the procedure in when I wasn’t alert; I suspect she had someone distract me. It wasn’t as though the baby was large or that Marilyn was having problems. Hardin insisted on a few things, some of which we refused and some of which we didn’t have the knowledge or experience to resist or refuse.
Particle – Jonathan’s First Assault Suffered
One of those was a Vitamin K shot. Knowing it was synthetic, I knew it would be toxic, but the nurse insisted on it. They had their arguments; I caved and am very sorry I did. My son suffered his first assault with pain in this world because his father wasn’t informed and prepared to protect him.
I’ve often wondered what harm the toxin did him, considering he received a dose of it in the first hour of his birth. The body’s own natural Vitamin K doesn’t crest until the eighth day. There would be good reason for it. Many physicians don’t even begin to consider that.
Later I found information on the internet from the Crusador Health News Alert, an informative publication put forth by Greg Ciola for the good of many, to confirm my fears. Not only is there no need for Vitamin K shots for newborns, there is every urgent reason to avoid them like the plague they are.
Particle – Much Medical Meddling Manipulating the Masses
No baby should receive shots of any kind unless it is evident to be urgently necessary. The problem there, of course, is that the predominantly atheistic medical establishment thinks it knows better and we poor peons know very little. There’s no regard for instinct, intuition, natural caring, common sense, or respect for God’s wisdom in His creation.
This isn’t to say doctors and proper medical care don’t have their place, or that all medical personnel are atheistic. However, even those who profess faith are deeply influenced by the ruling powers in the medical madness we loosely call “health care.”
Particle – To Circumcise or Not
I questioned whether to circumcise our son. Of course, had we had a girl, no debate. I asked for circumcision, not for religious purposes, but because I heard of the benefits thereof. Hardin strongly argued against it as barbaric. I left it. Good thing; she might have castrated him instead, or tossed the wrong piece away. As it turned out, the time would come when Jonathan would get his medically-necessary circumcision after all.
Particle – Giving Thanks to the Lord
The only comfort I had at the time with an incompetent doctor and the trials of bringing a child into the world, with the medical establishment as it is, was to acknowledge God was in full control over both good and evil. I’m reminded to give Him thanks in everything. Many times thanksgiving has preserved sanity and granted peace in the midst of trying circumstances, especially those perceived to be beyond my control.
Particle – An Overwhelming Experience
What an amazing thing to have a son! I remembered how I had wondered what it would be like to have one, about a year earlier. Doctors had told us before we married that Marilyn couldn’t have children because of hormonal imbalance. For seventeen years they were right – and then they were wrong! I felt like Geppetto with Pinocchio.
For weeks after, I would sit by the crib as Jonathan slept, watching and marveling. I was tickled. Then I wrote a little song:
Oh, my son… my precious son!
Our hearts are bound… and we are one.
My life is new… it’s new in you;
Your very best I will pursue.
Was I falling into idolatry?
Particle – Marilyn’s Fear of Rejection
Marilyn was always afraid of being rejected or abandoned by those closest to her. Perhaps it was because her mother left Marilyn’s father, brother, and her when Marilyn was twelve years old. As well, her mother had been adopted as an orphan and greatly lacked self-esteem, which might have been passed on to Marilyn.
Whatever the origin, Marilyn has had this condition. She often spoke of our going to a mall where, parting ways with her for moments, she feared I wouldn’t return. She lived with that fear, though I never intended, desired, expressed, felt, or thought such a thing, not for one moment.
When Jonathan was born, he didn’t immediately take to breastfeeding. This stirred Marilyn’s irrational fear. Within three days, however, he was nursing fine, and they were released from the hospital. She wanted to come home sooner, but the doctor preferred otherwise.
Particle – Blessings Can’t Be Kept Secret
We decided to share our joy with a small handful of our Moon River neighbors. They were John and Vera Shaskin, Art and Ann Adams, Dave and Pam Adams, Bev Magee and Jack Kilroe (her boyfriend). I recall Jack holding Jonathan and commenting on how “clear” his face was. Many people looked on Jonathan and saw something special. He was a comely child. I was reminded of Moses (Exodus 2:2).
I would carry Jonathan around every day, and he would stare intensely upward. I spent time at his crib when he slept and sat there watching him, marveling at this new life, this little universe before me. If we went anywhere, like shopping, I would show him off to everyone, including strangers. They would look at him and wonder, too.
I can’t say I’m sure it was because of him or because of the way I doted on him, but ever since his birth, he has had favor with both God and man, a favor so foreign to me in my first decades of life, and even to this day with man, though not with God.
He is a miracle child, as with Isaac, Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist.
Particle – Active, yet Slow Developing
Jonathan refused to be restrained in any way. We couldn’t put him in anything with straps or anything confining, like a Snugli. When he was about three months old, we tried strapping him in a lounger. He struggled until he had slipped down under two or three straps and out. The same was true later with his high chair and crib.
He refused to be contained, even in time – he wasn’t disposed to go to sleep until it was our bedtime – hours after we thought he should be in bed. He never cried; he just protested with patience, energy, and importunity. His life in the womb and his birth were that way, and I harbor doubts he’ll accept a grave.
Houdini, meet Hafichuk, your match.
He developed more slowly than other children, however. Perhaps we were simply impatient or had high expectations of him. His umbilical stub took – get ready for this – 50 days to fall off! His teeth were behind schedule, as well.
Particle – Vision – The Sphinx
Shortly after Jonathan was born, in 1991 or so, I had a vision of a sphinx in a desert. I knew I was seeing Jonathan. Behind him, there were several sphinxes, perhaps a hundred yards apart, evenly spaced, every one facing in the same direction, each one still, as sentinels. Each was solitary, yet one in function and purpose.
What is a sphinx? Does anyone know? Some say it has the face of a pharaoh. All I know is that it has the head of a man, the body of a lion, and once had the wings of an eagle. There’s much more significance to it than meets the eye.
I’m reminded of the living creatures spoken of:
Revelation 4:6-11 MKJV
(6) And a sea of glass was in front of the throne, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind.
(7) And the first living creature was like a lion, and the second living creature like a calf, and the third living creature had the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle.
(8) And each one of the four living creatures had six wings about him, and within being full of eyes. And they had no rest day and night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.”
(9) And whenever the living creatures gave glory and honor and thanks to Him Who sat on the throne, Who lives forever and ever,
(10) the twenty-four elders fell down before the One sitting on the throne. And they worshiped Him Who lives for ever and ever, and threw their crowns before the throne, saying,
(11) “O Lord, You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because You created all things, and for Your will they are and were created.”
The Sphinx is found with the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, one of the wonders of the world – the only one left standing of the ancient wonders. With all our knowledge, technology, great machinery, and abilities, the Great Pyramid is still a mystery to us. The architecture of the Great Pyramid is comprised of awesome precision, and there is significance in the measurements, tied in with solar and lunar systems, the stars, and recorded history (even after its construction, and therefore prophetic). It mysteriously expresses some of the Scriptures; and all this is in harmony with its location on Earth.
How enormous and costly a project it must have been! It’s said Egypt doesn’t have the resources to tear it down, much less build one like it.
In Great Pyramid Passages by John and Morton Edgar, this is written:
“The Great Pyramid Text of Scripture, Isaiah 19:19, 20:
This Great Pyramid Text of Scripture, in the original Hebrew, contains 30 words. In Hebrew the letters of the alphabet were employed as arithmetical figures, consequently every word is also a row of figures and thus all Hebrew writing has numeric value. The above Hebrew Text as numbers is as shown below – the value of every letter is given and each line represents a word. The total value is 5449. …
Height of the Great Pyramid in Pyramid inches = 5449.”
Are these things true? How does the Sphinx tie in? Who built it? And what or whom does it represent?
I find the WordWeb dictionary defining “sphinx” as “an inscrutable person who keeps his thoughts and intentions secret.” I’ve never known anyone to be as tight-lipped about his thoughts and activities as Jonathan. Jonathan has told me I can’t read him, and he’s right! He is a sphinx.
I know we’ll be learning much more of the vision.
Particle – Mark’s Vision: Stone Tower
In 1990 or 1991, Mark had a vision. He relates:
“I had a vision of a stone tower in a meadow with beautiful scenery all around it, including a brook, hills, grass, trees, animals, and bright sunshine. The tower had a shuttered window at the top of it.
I realized that to a person in that room, the outside world did not exist, and they would be unlikely to believe anyone who tried to tell them differently. In order to know different, the person inside would have to believe that they were in a room and that there was such a thing as a window with shutters that can open to another world, before they would take the seemingly senseless and foolhardy step of reaching out in the dark and groping for this window that nobody could actually see.
If they had the ‘blind’ faith to do that, they could push on the shutters and suddenly become part of the bigger world. It had disadvantages, though, in that the person would then become aware of what they looked like or how dirty they or their room were when bathed in light for the first time.”
Particle – The Lord Has Done Great Things for Us
There are so many foolish doctrines about God in nominal Christendom. If one truly believes God reigns supreme over all things, those doctrines would be readily, joyfully discarded. Knowing the reality of the supremacy of God is victory over sin, evil, flesh, Satan, error, darkness, hell, and death. Of, from, by, through, with, for, and to Him are all things. As Nebuchadnezzar declared after his judgment:
“Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and exalt and honor the King of Heaven, all Whose works are truth and His ways judgment. And those who walk in pride He is able to humble” (Daniel 4:37 MKJV).
Supremely excellent are the ways of the Lord!
What is the strength and wrath of man?
What is the wisdom of man?
In vain he strives and labors to achieve.
He fails.
But God reigns over all,
His daily wonders to perform.
Blessed are the eyes that see His works,
His hand in all,
His might manifest on behalf of those
Who love Him and who are called,
According to His counsel and will.
Victory belongs to the Lord God Almighty.
In defeat, He reigns;
In destruction, He builds;
In scourging, He refines;
In failure, He prospers;
In weakness, He is perfected;
In His chosen ones, He is manifest.
Nothing below Him can thwart His design;
There is nothing above.
The blessed ones are sure,
Established forevermore,
Their path brighter as they go
Though darkness around them
Grows thicker and more horrible.
Moon River, Oct. 28, 1991
Particle – Depression and a Sense of Rejection
Here I was with a wonderful surprise, a newborn son, yet I was soon plunged into great loneliness and depression. I didn’t realize at the time what was happening or why. It wasn’t until nine or ten years later when I discovered some poems I had written at this time of darkness that I understood why I had been feeling that way. I was surprised to discover I had felt so down within a month of the joyful event of Jonathan’s birth.
Poems such as:
“You’ve got to walk/that lonesome valley/you’ve got to walk/it by yourself,” goes the song. As it was with Abraham, our father of faith, so it is with every sojourner in the faith. “Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed him and increased him” (Isaiah 51:2). There is no other way.
On the day I set out to walk with God
I became lonely.
My family insisted
I remain with it –
I chose my loneliness,
Part of the price to pay
For obedience to God.
I entered a family of those
Who claimed to walk with God,
Only to discover feigned faith.
They insisted I be as they.
Called out from among them,
Again I was lonely.
He gave me a wife,
Knowing it not good
That I should be alone.
Together we searched for friends –
A cup of water here
And a cup there
But no well.
Today, after many years,
He gives us a son
Who helps to bear our loneliness,
But we are lonely.
What is it to be lonely?
It is to be alone
In desires, in thoughts, in understanding,
In conversation, in goals, in interests,
In activity, in purpose.
Added to our loneliness,
Betrayals and disappointments
To sharpen the pain that is there –
They come with smiles
And depart with frowns.
Added to our betrayals and disappointments,
The enmity of adversaries
Opposing what we are
And why we are here,
Hating us without a cause.
Added to the hatred,
Loneliness,
For they hate us,
And us alone.
Moon River, Oct. 29, 1991
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