Support yourself with friends who can pray with you and for you.
When Good Samaritans Get Mugged: Hope & Healing For Wounded Warriors,
by Pastor David R. Stokes, Critical Mass Books, Fairfax, Virginia, 2017. PB, pp. 178,. $16.97, Kindle $4.99. ISBN-10: 0996989293, ISBN-13 978-0996989299.
www.davidrstokes.com
www.criticalmassbooks.com
Pastor David R. Stokes is a prolific writer, with several books on the market (“The Shooting Salvationist”) plus is a guest-host for radio talk shows, has done voice-over work and is a pastor at Expectation Church, Fairfax, Virginia. His style of writing is open, with many anecdotes, humorous and serious. This book is easy reading.
The title is confusing, though. “When Good Samaritans Get Mugged: Hope & Healing for Wounded Warriors,” may lead one to believe the material is aimed for the military. The focus, though, is on people everywhere, and when the inevitable happens, such as situational tragedies (at the time of this writing, the floods in Houston, TX) or deaths in the family. How to get up when you have been struck down to your knees, and keep going. The answer is not to leave God, no matter what happens. He has plans for you, though you can’t see them yet, and you will prevail.
The book is filled with examples through history of people being struck down, such as the Good Samaritan Biblical story, Paul of Tarsus and Lazarus. They were afflicted and suddenly, God was there to help, in one case---to resurrect. What Pastor Stokes offers the reader are three things to remember about your life.
(1) to literally “get clean”---drugs or just clean up your life
(2) get clear---see what your objective is and focus on that
(3) get close---to God and this includes daily Bible readings and memorizing favorite Bible verses.
Stokes references his own past with the numbers, 2-6-3-5, which are from Isaiah 26: 3-5, “Thou shalt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee.” The numbers were part of a high school group and if someone spoke them to you, it meant you were straying. Beware the demonic triad, the world-the flesh-the devil, which is actually the title of a 1959 film starring Harry Belafonte, Inger Stevens and Mel Ferrer. They are the survivors of a world-wide nuclear disaster and are in Manhattan, N. Y. The problems they encounter are the same problems the Earth had.
Support yourself with friends who can pray with you and for you. Remember Bible verses to say to yourself when things get rough. Be honest with God. He knows all.
Copyright 2017 Marie Asner
