Chapter 37 - Since 1978 part 1/6

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Love overcame the man's anger in Helsinki in 1978

  This happened while I was working at The Christian book & cassette shop (Oasis) in August 1978. Reino came there one morning and said that he should travel that afternoon to a section of Ahoinen's village called Ylimmäinen to write a deed of purchase for a plot he and his wife had already booked there. 

  Unfortunately, he was unable to get any deputy to take his place in that evening the Homeless Men's Shelter (Doss house),where he had a work shift starting 4 pm.

  He was told to go to the Ahoinen village so late that he could no longer succeed in getting any of the other guards to replace him. Reino asked me if I would agree to chase him that night? He promised to pay me for my work. I said I didn't need any compensation and that I'd be happy to help him. 

  After all, I had lived free with Reino and his family in that big mansion in Korso, so I felt obligated to help him with that. He was delighted to receive my consent and advised me how to act that night from 4 pm to 12 pm. After all, I had seen those things done before when I went there to meet Reino and Keijo.

  In particular, Reino warned me of a man, who had commonly known as James Bond of the city, alias Jesse. The man was a handsome with masculine face that many admired. He was also athletic. His outward appearance and posture and body was like that of the best Greek-Roman wrestler. 

  He was about 40 years old and 175 cm (5 ft 9 in) tall, weighting about 85 kg (187 lb 6 oz) and was reportedly trained in the army as an agent. He was able to strangle the man in 2 min. Therefore, he was widely feared.

  Once, he also showed his strength at Doss house, where he had come as a permanent resident about 6 months earlier. An older man discovered that Jesse was withdrawn, lonely and depressed. So he went to talk to Jesse and Jesse immediately attacked over him and started strangling him. Luckily, Keijo saw the situation and shouted, "Come here to help me! Someone's trying to strangle the man!"

  Then many men came to the rescue and only with great effort got Jesse' hands loose the old man' throat. The old man had already turned blue in his face and he had to breath deep many times to recover. Fortunately, he survived. Keijo warned Jesse and demanded him a firm promise never to attack anyone again because the Doss house operates on Christian principles. That's when Jesse promised to behave properly from then on.

  I was 29 years old at the time and very thin. I was 185 cm (6 ft 1 in) tall, I weighting only 65 kg (143 lb 5 oz). I had spent a lot of time fasting and praying to seek a guided life from above. Because I was clearly underweight and otherwise peace loving and avoiding fighting, I decided to be on the look out for Jesse and to avoid confrontation with him until the very last.

Background information before confrontation

  Reino told that Jesse would usually come alone after about 11pm to sleep in Doss house' bedside. He used to go to a pub on Friday evenings for a drink. He didn't drink so much that he would even get drunk, but according to the rules of the Doss house, he wasn't allowed to stay overnight drunk. That was a good rule!

  I had to be vigilant for everyone coming into the Doss house, to secure that not alcohol was smelled. If it smelled, I had to kindly ask the man to take a small walk trip in the neighborhood and then come back. Then he was almost always allowed to step in. 

  I had heard, that Jesse was quite civilized, as was evident in his way of speaking. He didn't use coarse language. Perhaps he had been dismissed from his post and his wife had therefore left him and the man had become pennyless and homeless(?)

  Fortunately, since the 1950s, there have been separate lodgings for women and men in Helsinki, including homeless people like Jesse. The original form of work had changed so that the city contributed financially to the accommodation of homeless people. The lodging houses kept a detailed record of those who stayed there.

  Reino and Keijo had testified to Jesse about Jesus. Jesse didn't want to listen. After that, both of them and their families and I had been praying for Jesse for a while at the Oasis where we prayed for those in need. We were very sure that some spirit of darkness ruled over Jesse!

  After starting my watch shift that Friday night, it was only after a while that I remembered that it was a Sabbath evening and that I had promised to dedicate those days to Yehowah. The Sabbath begins with a Friday evening sunset and ends with a Saturday evening sunset.

  I was sorry and apologized to Yehowah for not being vigilant and awake at the time. At that point, I could not longer cancel my guard duty. The evening went very well until almost 11 pm. All the other men on the list had already arrived at the Doss house, except for Jesse.

Face to face encounter with Jesse

  At 11 pm I heard the front door open and I saw Jesse walking alone up the stairs. I greeted him and asked to come near the guard's desk. When he came in, I noticed that he was a really handsome man! I had not seen in Helsinki no one like him even though I had lived there for about 12 years!

  I felt the smell of alcohol and said kindly, "Jesse, your breath smells of alcohol, and you know you can't come to here in a drunken state. Therefore, I kindly ask you to take a little walk around the block and come back. Then most of the alcohol vapors will evaporate and I promise to let you go inside the house to sleep."

  When Jesse heard it, he puched his upper body out over the table and stared at me intently. I saw burning anger in his eyes. Then he punch with a fist on the table and shouted, "Such a weak boy doesn't command me!" I could already wait for the hardship because he was so full of anger and disgust for me. The lobby of the house was soundproofed, so others did not hear his yelling.

  Then he looked around and said in a bad voice, "Ah, only the two of us are here. Now your days are coming to an end. I strangle you to death!" Then I felt as if the devil was looking at me through his eyes and at first I was panicking. When I remembered that I was breaking the Sabbath, I did not dare to call on Yeshua for help.

  I was really tense because one of my principles had long been that I would not use physical or mental violence in any situation. After all, Adonai Yeshua commanded us his disciples saying, "Do not resist the evil one!" But he allowed his disciples to escape their persecutors when necessary.

Fast getaway

  Then did I remember that on the left next to the guard table, is an unlocked door, which takes to the dining room and opposite the door, the other side of the hall is another door which takes to a courtyard. I should ran through the courtyard to the gate which leads to Kalevankatu, open it, and escape from Jesse to the street and survive.

  Immediately I jumped out of my chair and quickly opened the door. I closed it when I saw Jesse running behind me. After Jesse opened the door, I ran to another door that was in the back lock! Jesse was already in my hut, so I started to escape between the empty dining room tables and eventually decided to go back out the door to the guard's desk.

  I realized that I wouldn't have time to open the three doors that led me to the men's lodging, and I wouldn't run down the stairs until Jesse reached me. So I turned and said to him, "You will come against me in your own power, but I will meet you in the name of the Lord of hosts! Let's see how it goes now!" I was still panicking and trembling!

Quick confrontation and tough wrestling

  When Jesse's hands were already caught in my throat, I gained a surprising amount of power and suddenly grabbed Jesse' armpits and lifted him up before he could strangle. As I was already throwing him, his head toward the sharp staircase leading up to the loft, I realized that if he hit his head to the sharp edge of the stairs he will at least get a skull fracture or even die!

  Then I had pity on him and I said in my heart, "Oh my Elohim! I don't hate this man, but I love him and I don't want to do him any harm!" Then I had time to jump ahead and get a hold of Jesse's waistband, which ended his flight just a few inches just before the stairwell.

  I carried him in my lap near to the watchman' desk, onto of the thin carpet, and I put him to the floor, turning him face to face with me. As soon as his feet touched the floor, I put my right foot behind his feet and I pushed him backwards so he started to topple over on his back. As he began to topple over on his back, I graciously placed my right palm to protect his skull so that it wouldn't hit to the floor and get injured.

  We toppled over to the floor with Jesse toppling on his back and me on top of him, between his legs. I pushed Jesse's shoulders against the floor and said: "Stop already resisting, for I am now stronger than you." He tried to reach out with his hands to get a grip on my throat, but I "weak boy", had fortunately longer arms, so he could not reach to my throut. He yelled with hate saying, "As soon as I catch your throat, you will die!"

  He arched to the bridge several times, but he always drop back down and I did drop on him. His shoes slipped on the mat every time I pushed him quickly with my middle body against his raised body as he curved over the bridge. Then he always collapsed down to the floor.

  I took an even stronger grip from his waist and my chin pressed against his chest. I could smell his sweat. The more he resisted and tried to push me away, the tighter grip I took of him. Then I got feel in my heart and see the supernatural power of Yehowah' love to him!

  I began to feel a deep, supernatural love for him. I saw him in the eyes of Yehowah. All my fears were gone now and only the pitiful love for Jesse had captured me! I saw that he would not be able to free himself from my grip, no matter how hard he tried. That's why I said, "Stop Jesse, because your fighting and resistance against me doesn't help you. I'm not going to hurt you, because I love you!"

  Jesse continued to persistent opposition, trying to arched to the bridge again and again to trying disconnect me out of him, but then every time I pushed him quickly with my middle body, and he fell down every time, and I fell on him. Finally, after about 15 minutes, he was totally wet and exhausted. 

  He gasped in breath many times and was very tired. Then I felt more and more divine love for him as if he were my own beloved but disobedient son.

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