CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: A TIME FOR REJOICING
Larry now went to the podium and called to everyone to please be seated. “God has freed us from the curse tonight. I had no idea what was going to take place this evening, nor did any of you. It was the Lord God of heaven, the true God, the Creator of heaven and earth, that protected us tonight from the power of Satan and his agents. It was God who delivered us from their threats and curses.”
“But,” Larry continued, “Let us never forget what we have been delivered from, so that we will never get close to it again!”
Words of agreement ran through the audience.
“Please, now, we should kneel in prayer and thank Him.
“Oh, our God, we love Thee so much, and we thank Thee for delivering us from the power of the enemy. May we, each one in this room, dedicate the rest of our lives to Thee—to love Thee, and to serve Thee all our days, whatever the future may bring. In the name of Jesus Christ, our only Lord and Saviour, we ask it, Amen.”
Standing to his feet, Larry said, “And now my friends, let us praise God from whom all blessings flow. Let us praise Him in song.”
Because a small optional church service was regularly held here on Sunday mornings, there were songbooks in racks on the back of the chairs.
Now, thrilled at the deliverance from the black arts, they began singing. And did they sing! One song right after the other.
“Redeemed! how I love to proclaim it! Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb . .”
“Look upon Jesus, sinless is He; Father, impute His life unto me.”
“On a hill far away, stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame . .”
“Lead on, O King Eternal, The day of march has come; Henceforth in fields of conquest, Thy tents shall be our home . .”
“Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature, O Thou of God and man the Son! . .”
“He leadeth me! O blessed thought! O words with heavenly comfort fraught! . .”
Then they sang this one:
“Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see.
“ ’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!
“Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come; ’tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home!”
And they ended with this one:
“What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer. O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear.
“All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!
“Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged, Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
“Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer!
“Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care? Precious Saviour, still our refuge. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer;
“In His arms He’ll take and shield thee, thou wilt find a solace there.”
“Well, friends,” Larry said, “we should leave now. But let us remember that it is our responsibility to remain close to God every day—through study of His Word, prayer, and daily renewed dedication. Otherwise Satan will catch us in some other net later on.”
CHAPTER THIRTY: THINGS HAPPEN FAST
Events moved more rapidly now. Larry had barely returned to the dorm, when a call came through for him. It was Mr. Steger on the line. “Larry, the feds are going to raid the warehouse tonight and make arrests. I thought you should know this.”
The next morning, everyone learned what had happened. Not only were the president and treasurer arrested, but the drug enforcement investigators had discovered that the three spiritualists were also heavily implicated, and they were placed under arrest.
Immediately, with the approval of board members who lived at a distance, the faculty and staff met and elected the librarian as acting president for the remainder of the school year. It was decided that, in the crisis they had just been through, she had been the boldest faculty member on campus in defense of the academy’s best interests.
Later that spring, the president, treasurer, and the three spiritualists were tried and given lengthy prison sentences.
The students then held a special student body meeting and elected Larry as president of the Student Association for the coming year.
But he declined, explaining that his folks would be returning in May; and, as soon as school was out, he would probably move with them to some other location, wherever his father’s next government contract took him.
At this, the current student body president stepped to the podium and declared that he was resigning in favor of Larry. “He can be student body president for the rest of this year. He deserves it, for God used him to save us from the power of witchcraft.”
Immediately after that, the faculty met and voted to ask Larry to continue the special class for the remainder of the year. Unless someone continued teaching it, the students could not receive credit for it. They told Larry he could teach whatever he and the students wanted. Since he would not have time to teach all the different weekly class sessions, it was decided that he would hold a single meeting once a week in the Assembly Hall, which all the students would attend.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: THE NEW CLASS BEGINS
“Why should I be holding these meetings?” Larry thought to himself. “I’m not special. Why would anyone want to listen to me for the rest of the school year? Shouldn’t one of the teachers be doing this?” These were questions which ran through Larry’s mind. He was truly puzzled.
But when he laid it before the Lord in prayer, he received no indication that he should try to back out of the job.
Then Larry realized that he had dedicated his life to serving God and helping others. Why should he hesitate to take on this, a new and different assignment.
When everyone had assembled for the first class session, it was obvious that every student in the school was there. But Larry was surprised to see that apparently every faculty and staff member had also come, along with their families. They were quietly sitting in back. Fortunately, the Assembly Hall was large enough to hold them all. “Perhaps they’re curious about what we’ll have at the meeting,” Larry wondered.
What he did not realize was that, by this time, he was deeply respected, not only by the students but also by the faculty and staff. Both students and faculty felt he had saved the school.
Larry went to the podium. “Well, this is something new for me,” he said. “Are you sure you don’t want to get someone else? I’m not a teacher.”
A ripple of laughter ran through the audience, and one student near the front spoke up, “You’ve been teaching us things for weeks!”
Everyone thoroughly liked Larry and were enjoying his modest discomfort.
“I’ve given a lot of thought to what we should do for these meetings,” said Larry. “So I’ll tell you what I have in mind, and you shoot it down if you want.
“This is a class for teenagers; and, although a few older ones have come along for the ride, everything will be for you, the students. We’ll just let them sit in as observers. Is that agreeable with you?”
Larry raised his hand and all the students raised theirs.
“Now, since this is a class just for you and me, it seems we ought to make it as practical as possible. And the best way I can think to do that is for the young people in this school to ask questions from the audience, and we’ll see if we can get some answers. How does that sound?”
Hands raised.
“My idea is for you, not me, to take charge of the direction of most of these meetings. I know you’ve got questions. Everybody does. And teenagers have a bundle of them. Are you with me?”
Hands.
“Okay,” said Larry, “I want you to ask questions that really count with you; and, since I’m supposed to be the teacher, I’ll see what I can come up with.
“And,” he added, “I want you to tell me where you want these meetings to go.
“I open the floor to discussion.”
A boy who usually didn’t say a lot stood to his feet. “I know we’ve got questions here,” gesturing with his arm around the room. “Since all this started with these witches, we’ve been talking about a lot of things, real serious things, in our dorm rooms.
“Questions we don’t seem to get answers to most other places. We already got plenty of history, science, and English. But, from the best I can tell, that’s not going to take care of our personal problems. Not now or later on.
“From what we’ve talked about by ourselves, we’ve got problems about God and how to keep from falling into sin. We want to know how to get through life and somehow do it right.
“We see grown-ups everywhere who’ve messed up their lives. Some real bad. And we don’t want to do all over what they’ve done. But we don’t know where to start and we don’t know how to keep it going. If you understand what I mean.”
“Well,” said Larry thoughtfully. “I guess you said it pretty well.”
Another student stood to his feet. “I’ve got a hunch that we’ve got a chance here, for a little while, to talk and figure out some things that we might not get figured out later.”
After several minutes of discussion, back and forth, the students decided they would like it the most if Larry would explain to them more about how to have a deep Christian walk with God.
One thing was clear to them: That which had changed the situation at the school was the solidity of Larry’s personal principles. And the students wanted to know more about them.
It was generally agreed that what they wanted was a stable, happy life; and they recognized it would have to be a life with God. Otherwise they were doomed to repeat the mistakes of their parents.
