When I decided to write the essay on Matthew 28:19 and Parallelism, it was with confidence, energy and resolve. I jumped up from the couch, stood tall and with pep in my step walked downstairs to my computer. As I pulled up my office chair and placed my hands on the keyboard suddenly there appeared wasps swarming on the inside of the windows just in front of my computer. There were 10 to 15 wasps buzzing, hitting the window and then flying overhead. How eerie. Then the thought hit me: I am getting ready to write about the authority and power of the name of Jesus. The powers of darkness want to stop it. I grabbed a nearby fly swatter and began killing the wasps, all the while breathing the name of Jesus. At last, the buzzing and pandemonium stopped. All were dead.
I proceeded to write the essay but before doing so, I shared this incident with my sister. Looking back at the text to my sister I see the date was February 24.
Two weeks later, I was in my garage sorting through some storage bins that contained my dad’s writings, looking for one essay in particular. There were several copies of that essay, but I grabbed one that was protected in a three-prong paper folder. I took it upstairs to read. As I flipped through the pages, I discovered, unrelated to the essay, near the back of the folder a copy of a letter. It was a letter dated February 19th 1978 addressed to a gentleman from Wales that Dad corresponded with on Biblical topics.
The beginning of the letter was the usual “How’s the weather?” type of pleasantries. Then came these paragraphs:
. . .I have some rather bad news. I hope you will forgive me, but your last correspondence was lost—how I cannot fathom for the life of me. I had read the article—the sequel to your pamphlet on Matthew 28:19—to a friend on a Saturday evening. After I finished it, I put it back in the envelope with your letter, and placed it with the other articles so I could take them to school to make copies. I have never seen it since. I searched the house—my desk four times, my files, my bookcases, all drawers in all cabinets, inside all furniture, even my office at school on the outside change that some way I had left it there—but not a trace. Where or how it disappeared would baffle Sherlock Holmes. I am truly sorry. If you can obtain another copy by some means, I will personally retype it and make all the copies you want, never fear. I hope you do not think me superstitious, but I honestly feel that the powers of darkness are sometimes directly responsible for these mishaps. It is certain that they do not want certain truths to be revealed. This particular article was one of your best, I thought.
I was stunned. Here, 46, years (almost to the very week) BEFORE I wrote on Matthew 28:19, the powers of darkness had tried to obscure another commentary on that same subject ( I don’t know what the pamphlet said, but based on my dad’s comments, I am sure that it reinforced the Name of Jesus having all authority).
I had not been previously aware of this letter, or the incident Dad described. The subject of the essay that I had retrieved from the storage bin was not related to the subject in the letter. It was a very random finding. Or was it?
