I am a disabled Vietnam veteran. I fought for our country and the right to express my opinions without anyone hating me or calling me names — especially the people who have done nothing to earn the rights and freedoms we all enjoy today.
I have sat in church for many years listening to what ministers had to say about God, talking to God and trying to understand what it all meant. Of course God was with me in Vietnam and we talked quite often then.
One night recently, I dreamed the devil was sitting beside me in church in the form of a church member I recognized. I asked him why he was in my church since he promotes everything God is opposed to — lying, cheating, stealing, name-calling, hate and every evil imaginable. He told me he was collecting souls to keep the fires of hell burning, and I told him he wouldn’t get any souls from my church because we all believe in God and his teaching. The devil asked, “Are you sure?” He told me he’d already collected many souls from my church, and asked if it surprised me to learn that many parishioners had chosen money over God.
I was well aware that many of my fellow countrymen had taken up the practice of throwing the stones that are tearing our country apart, but I was not aware that so many had sold their souls to the devil and are still showing up in church asking to be forgiven. This is the ultimate betrayal.
Terry E. Swindell
New Alexandria