Tekoa Manning

What does the tribe of Dan have to do with the Messiah?

“Dan’s troops went last, marching behind their banner and serving as the rear guard for all the tribal camps. Their leader was Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai” (Numbers 10:25).

Dan served as the rear guard of Israel. In this role, the tribe symbolically reflects aspects of the Messiah—the One who is both before His people and behind them as their protector. Dan is associated with judgment and with the serpent imagery found throughout Scripture.

When Moses blessed the tribes, he declared:

“Concerning Dan he said: ‘Dan is a lion’s cub’” (Deuteronomy 33:22, BSB).

This comparison parallels the blessing spoken over Judah:

“Judah is a lion’s cub” (Genesis 49:9).

Both Judah and Dan are connected to lion imagery, authority, and rulership.

According to Jewish tradition, each tribe carried a unique banner representing its identity. The banner of Dan was associated with a serpent, while its camp on the north side was linked with the eagle. Some traditions even describe the viper as a winged serpent held in the eagle’s mouth.

Many scholars and Bible students have noted the absence of the tribe of Dan in Revelation 7, where Manasseh is listed instead. Throughout Scripture, names and tribal arrangements often carry prophetic symbolism. Just as the priestly divisions in passages such as 1 Chronicles contain deeper spiritual patterns, the tribal listings in Revelation also appear to reveal aspects of redemption and the Messiah’s kingdom.

When we examine the tribes listed in Revelation—including the names, meanings, and birth order—we discover themes that point toward the Father’s redemptive plan and the nature of the Son. While much is learned from Judah, the tribe from which Yeshua came, other tribes also reveal prophetic patterns connected to Messiah.

The Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost) marked the outpouring of the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, and many connect this sealing work with the preparation of the Body of Messiah for the coming Feast of Trumpets. Because Revelation 7 speaks of the sealing of God’s servants, Dan’s omission has led to much discussion and interpretation.

“Do not harm the land or sea or trees until we have sealed the foreheads of the servants of our God.”

And I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel:

From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed,
from the tribe of Reuben 12,000,
from the tribe of Gad 12,000,
from the tribe of Asher 12,000,
from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000,
from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,
from the tribe of Simeon 12,000,
from the tribe of Levi 12,000,
from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,
from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000,
from the tribe of Joseph 12,000,
and from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.
(Revelation 7:3–8, BSB)

Judah, the fourth son, means “praise.” Judah held the scepter, and from Judah came Yeshua the Messiah, whose kingdom endures forever.

Dan was also connected to the number four. In Hebrew thought, four is often associated with authority, dominion, government, and rule.

The names of the tribes themselves carry rich symbolic meaning:

* Reuben — “Behold, a son”
* Gad — “Good fortune” or “troop”
* Asher — “Happy” or “blessed”
* Naphtali — “My wrestling”

Benjamin, the twelfth tribe listed in Revelation 7, means “Son of My Right Hand,” a powerful picture of Messiah seated at the right hand of the Father.

Some believe Dan’s omission from Revelation 7 is connected to the tribe’s association with judgment and the serpent imagery found in Jacob’s blessing:

“Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Let Dan be a serpent beside a road, a viper beside a path, who strikes a horse’s heels, so that its rider falls backward. For Your salvation I wait, Adonai!”
(Genesis 49:16–18, TLV)

Over the centuries, many doctrines have unfairly slandered the tribe of Dan, often associating the tribe exclusively with apostasy or evil. Yet every tribe of Israel experienced failure and weakness at different times in history. For example, the tribe of Benjamin was nearly destroyed after the horrific events recorded in Judges 19–21.

Samson, who came from the tribe of Dan, also shares several striking parallels with Messiah. Angels announced both births. Samson was set apart as a Nazirite, while Yeshua was called a Nazarene. In Acts 24:5, Paul himself was accused of being part of the “sect of the Nazarenes”:

“We have found this man to be a pestilence, stirring up dissension among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, and he even tried to desecrate the temple.”
(Acts 24:5–6, BSB)

Both Samson and Yeshua are also connected symbolically to serpent imagery. Yeshua said:

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life”
(John 3:14–15, BSB).

Mashiach means “the Anointed One.” Yeshua is the First and the Last.

Judah was the first tribe to set out in the wilderness march, while Dan went last as the rear guard protecting the camps of Israel. In this way, Judah and Dan together form a remarkable prophetic picture: the Messiah who goes before His people and the Messiah who stands behind them as their protector—the First and the Last.

“Before their 1903 success, the Wright brothers were widely disregarded, mocked, and called "bluffers" by the public and press.”

“Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats.” ~ Howard Aiken

How did the Scofield Bible create politics and religion as we know it today in America?

Free Chapter 18 of King Revealed

Throughout this book we have explored how the temple, the priesthood, and the promises given to Israel ultimately point toward the Messiah. The Scriptures repeatedly reveal a pattern: what began as shadow and symbol finds its fulfillment in the person of Yeshua. The sacrifices, the sanctuary, and even the kingship of Israel were signposts directing humanity toward the coming King.
Yet in the last two centuries, a new interpretive framework emerged that reshaped how many Christians understood prophecy and the role of Israel in God’s plan. This system, known as Dispensationalism, became widely popular through the publication of the Scofield Reference Bible in 1909. By placing explanatory notes directly alongside the biblical text, the Scofield Bible introduced millions of readers to a particular timeline of history and a distinct separation between Israel and the Church.
For many believers, these notes became the lens through which prophecy was read.
Events in the modern Middle East began to be interpreted as direct fulfillments of biblical predictions, and expectations grew that a future temple, renewed sacrifices, and geopolitical conflicts would play central roles in the end of the age.

Because these interpretations have so deeply shaped modern Christian thought, it is important to examine how they developed and how they compare with the broader witness of Scripture. When we step back and look at the story of the Bible as a whole, a different emphasis begins to emerge—one that leads us not primarily to prophetic timelines or political events, but to the revelation of the King Himself.

Throughout church history, believers have wrestled with how to understand the relationship between Israel and the Church. Some early church fathers developed what later became known as replacement theology, the idea that the Church had completely replaced Israel in God’s plan. While this view emphasized the centrality of the Messiah, it sometimes led to harmful attitudes toward the Jewish people and ignored the continuing role of Israel within the biblical narrative.

In response to these ideas, other movements emerged in modern times that went in the opposite direction. Some groups within the Hebrew Roots movement or the so-called “Two-House” theology teach that many believers today are actually the lost tribes of Israel returning to their identity. Paul explains the situation plainly in Romans:

I ask then, did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Certainly not! However, because of their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous.
Romans 11:11, BSB

Continuing with Paul,
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be conceited: A hardening in part has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

“The Deliverer will come from Zion;
He will remove godlessness from Jacob.
And this is My covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”
Regarding the gospel, they are enemies on your account; but regarding election, they are loved on account of the patriarchs. For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.
Romans 11:25-29, BSB

Scripture consistently points to a different emphasis. The Renewed Covenant does not ground the people of God in ethnicity or tribal lineage but in faithfulness to the Messiah.
As Paul writes in Galatians 3:28–29, BSB: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.”

The unifying thread of Scripture is not the recovery of tribal identities but the revelation of the King.
. Replacement theology Erases Israel Dispensationalism Separates Israel and the Church forever Lost tribes’ theories Rebuilds identity around ethnicity

How did all these ideologies creep in?

In nineteenth-century England, theologian John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) branched off from the Plymouth Brethren and founded the more stringent "Exclusive Brethren," which emphasized a stricter separation from non-members and other Christian groups.
Darby, often referred to as the father of Dispensationalism, is widely credited with developing and formalizing the modern pre-tribulation rapture doctrine around 1830- 1833.

He first published his New Testament translation in 1867. After his death in 1882, some of his students posthumously developed an Old Testament translation based on Darby’s French and German translations. By that time, Darby’s Third Edition of the New Testament, along with his students' Old Testament translation, completed what is known as the Darby Bible. Its formal title is "The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation of the New Testament from the Original Languages, by J.N. Darby," and it was published in 1890.

Dispensationalist teaching spread to the United States in the late 19th century, primarily through John Nelson Darby’s travels. D.L. Moody (1837-1899), founder of the Moody Bible Institute, was an early proponent.

Cyrus I. Scofield (1843-1921) mentored Lewis Sperry Chafer (1871-1952), who founded Dallas Theological Seminary and wrote "Chafer's Systematic Theology," the standard for dispensational systematic theology there. These figures and their institutions significantly advanced the doctrines of Dispensationalism.

The Scofield Reference Bible was first published in 1909 by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield and printed by Oxford University Press. Scofield himself was not schooled in ancient languages. His was not a new translation of the Bible, it was the King James Bible with extensive study notes written by Scofield. Those notes explained the Bible through Schofield’s expounded lens of Darby’s Dispensationalist doctrines.

Most traditional Dispensationalists recognize seven specific dispensations, divisions of time or ages throughout history, in which man responds to a specific revelation of the will of God. According to Smith (2005), the seven traditionally recognizable dispensations are:

l) Innocence – Adam
2) Conscience – after man sinned, the flood
3) Government – after the flood, man allowed to eat meat, death penalty
instituted
4) Promise – Abraham up to Moses and the giving of the law/Torah
5) Law – Moses to the cross
6) Grace – the cross to the Millennial Kingdom
7) Millennial Kingdom – a 1000-year reign of Christ on earth in Jerusalem

Cyrus Scofield’s Bible popularized Darby’s ideas among ordinary Christians, especially
in the United States, introducing these concepts that first gained prominence in the
1800s:

1. Israel and the Church are Separate: Scofield taught that God has distinct plans for Israel and the Church, contrary to earlier beliefs that the Church continued Israel’s mission.
2. Jews Must Return to Israel, Scofield asserted that biblical prophecy required:

- Jewish return to Palestine
- Restoration of a Jewish state
- Rebuilding of the Temple
- End-times events centered in Israel

3. The Rapture and End-Times Timeline:
Scofield popularized ideas such as the pre-tribulation rapture and the Messiah ruling in Jerusalem for 1,000 years. His commentary alongside the biblical text led many to mistake his notes as part of Scripture, making his Bible the most widely used study Bible in America by the mid-20th century.

The Scofield Bible has played a significant role in shaping American Fundamentalists and Evangelicals, particularly through its promotion of dispensationalism, and its offspring, Christian Zionism—the belief that Christians should support the Jewish state due to biblical prophecy regardless of who was in charge of the nation. This influence permeated American politics, especially by the mid-1900s, as seen through key figures like Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye, and Jerry Falwell, who propagated these ideas via evangelical voting blocs, pro-Israel lobbying, and prophecy conferences.
Critics argue that dispensationalism, which many theologians view as a 19th-century development rather than historic Christianity, encourages uncritical support for Israel and interprets prophecy too literally. As a result, many churches, including Catholic, Orthodox, and many Reformed Protestant congregations, have rejected Scofield's teachings.

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, pastors began hosting large prophecy conferences to study biblical end-times. One of the most influential was the Niagara Bible Conference. These gatherings promoted Darby’s premillennialist rapture doctrine and Scofield’s expounded dispensationalism. They produced prophecy charts mapping out the rapture, the tribulation, the rise of the Antichrist, and Armageddon in Israel.

The Scofield Bible created a worldview that linked modern Israel with biblical prophecy and Middle East politics with end-times events, continuing to influence evangelical voting patterns and foreign policy attitudes.

One notable connection is with Samuel Untermeyer, a Zionist activist who purportedly helped Scofield access influential networks and funding, though the extent of their relationship is debated. The publication of the Scofield Bible by Oxford University Press gave it significant credibility, making it one of the most influential study Bibles by the early 20th century.

When the modern state of Israel was established, many evangelicals believed that Ezekiel 37 (the vision of dry bones), Isaiah 66, and the Book of Zechariah were integral pieces of a prophetic puzzle. The Soviet Union was often interpreted as the biblical enemy Gog and Magog from Ezekiel.

Hal Lindsey’s book claimed:
- Israel’s rebirth in 1948 began the prophetic countdown.
- The final generation had commenced.
- Global war in the Middle East was inevitable.
For millions of evangelicals, geopolitical events suddenly became viewed as biblical prophecy unfolding in real time. In 1973, the Arab–Israeli War triggered a global oil crisis, leading Western nations to focus intensely on the Middle East. During this time, Israel became a key U.S. ally, and evangelical political activism began to grow. This marked a stronger intertwining of theology and politics. By the late 1970s and 1980s, evangelical leaders, including figures like Jerry Falwell and John Hagee, began organizing politically. Israel became one of the core issues uniting evangelical voters.

In 1999, Falwell stated that the Antichrist would probably arrive within a decade, adding that "of course he'll be Jewish." After facing accusations of antisemitism, Falwell apologized, explaining he was merely expressing the theological view that the Antichrist and Christ share many attributes.

Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League said “Falwell’s statement “borders on anti-Semitism at best and is anti-Semitic at worst,” Rabbi Leon Klenicki, director of interfaith affairs for the ADL, commented that Falwell’s remarks reflect a “lack of understanding of Judaism and the Jewish people in God’s design,” noting that he views them merely as preparatory for the coming of Jesus. “It is a great disappointment after more than 30 years of dialogue; he’s still stuck in the Middle Ages.”

Although that was in the 1990s, today millions of American evangelicals believe Israel, the State, is central to God’s prophetic plan, with the Middle East serving as the stage for end-times events. The Scofield Bible and authors like Hal Lindsey have influenced American voting patterns, organizations like AIPAC, and political lobbying. AIPAC’s own website states, “We supported 361 pro-Israel Democratic and Republican candidates in 2024 with more than $53 million in direct support through AIPAC.”
But how much of American money is going to Israel? 3.8 billion annually. In war time, the total can jump to 10-20 billion dollars.

For roughly 1,700 years of Christian history, most believers did not hold dispensational views. The dominant belief was that the Messiah fulfills Israel’s promises, and the Kingdom of God is not a geopolitical empire. Christianity is defined by covenant faithfulness, not by ethnicity or territory. Many evangelicals raised on Scofield theology believe that a third physical temple must be rebuilt in Jerusalem, even though the Bible never suggests this explicitly. They also believe that sacrifices will resume and the Antichrist will desecrate that temple. However, in earlier sections of this book, Merri and I have explained why these claims are not factual.

The New Testament writers consistently direct our attention away from rebuilding old structures and toward recognizing the living temple God is already building. As Paul writes, believers are “being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit”
(Ephesians 2:22).

The kingdom of God, too, is not merely a future geopolitical empire but a reign that has already begun through the Messiah. When Yeshua walked among the people of Israel, He proclaimed that the kingdom had drawn near. His resurrection did not postpone the kingdom—it revealed its true nature.

Throughout the centuries, interpretations have risen and fallen—systems of prophecy charts, debates about national identities, arguments about timelines and future temples.
Yet beneath all these interpretations lies a deeper and simpler truth.

The Scriptures are not ultimately about a system.

They are about a King.

And when the King is revealed, every shadow finds its meaning, every promise finds its fulfillment, and every longing of the human heart finds its answer in Him.

Join author Merri Trifiro and Tekoa Manning as they discuss dispensationalism and The Scofield Reference Bible. Who was Cyrus Scofield? His reference Bible was first published in 1909 and again in 1917. It became a tool used to change Christian beliefs and steer the church toward Zionist political goals. It also promoted false interpretations that do not align with Scripture, and we have all been influenced by it.

The Scofield Bible & Dispensationalism Published in 1909 during a time of heightened expectations about the end of the world, Scofield’s Bible quickly gained acceptance among fundamentalists and b...

Day Walkers, Night Walkers, & Travis McGee

Southern High School, Louisville, Kentucky - 2012

I feel a wave of fear swell inside me, turning my freckled skin a blotchy red. The splotches seem to spread, crawling across my chest and neck, leaving my cheeks looking sunburnt. There’s no way to hide the fire or my frozen state of panic. I’m sure the onlookers can smell my anxiety. When faced with trauma, my body reacts by freezing up like a reptile. They say lizards become rigid when they get too cold, falling from trees and waiting to thaw out. A strange sense of connection washes over me. Every day, I'm counting down to summer, but right now, it's still fall.
Tank shoved me into the gym lockers. That sentence might sound simple, but it barely scratches the surface of the turmoil and frustration this distress has caused me. I’m barely sleeping and panic attacks are becoming the norm. I feel weak, scared, and utterly out of place.
How do I become a man in a world like this? I don’t know how to stand up to Tank, and what does a real man look like? I think of my dad, he's a man in my eyes, but he was never bullied in school. I can’t say he’s faced much adversity, other than what life has thrown at him, but still.
My head is buzzing from the impact of metal hitting flesh, yet I remain nonresponsive. The pain is escalating.
Who is Tank? He’s a junior with a nickname that perfectly fits his imposing stature. Towering over most of us, he excels in contact sports like football and wrestling. But what truly sets him apart is his razor-sharp wit and biting sarcasm that leaves me stinging with embarrassment.
I stand by the lockers as Tank and his crew laugh. Their words swirl around the room like a windstorm. What started as teasing banter has now spiraled into a tornado of insults. I let their words swirl around me because I’ve mentally checked out, fleeing to a mental space where I can shield myself from the drama. Finally, the gym teacher blows the whistle and barks, “Cut it out!”
I jolt from the whistle, but I still feel as if I am floating outside my body, trying to get my brain to command my limbs to move. Why me? Why am I the limping gazelle on their African safari? Devon gently slaps me on the back, just hard enough to wake me up.
“Come on, Red. It’s time for 4th-period English. Forget these guys.”
Meet Devon, my one friend. He’s not a target for bullying. Somehow, he’s managed to fit in with the in-crowd just enough to avoid the bullies. Devon is a loner, mainly keeping to himself. He’s an average-looking guy who tends to blend into the background. I, on the other hand, have freckles, extra weight, and angry red hair like my grandfather. I wear a man bun, have hazel eyes with wire-framed glasses, and try not to dress like a nerd. I used to feel less unattractive than I do now, especially since the bullying started. Now, I feel as if I was born to be a target.
I realize that I am not like most young men my age. I’m completely uninterested in sports, fitness, or the latest TV series. Instead, I lose myself in gaming, Stephen King novels, and vintage crime stories from the 1960s. I can probably blame John D. MacDonald for my unwavering love of fiction. I escape into the persona of MacDonald’s main character, Travis McGee, who lives on a boat called The Busted Flush in Florida, solving crimes alongside beautiful but wounded women who need rescued from predatory men.

Read the rest of the story👇

Day Walkers, Night Walkers, & TravisMcGee Award winning short story

15 years ago, a girlfriend and I were going to see Jeremiah Yocom in concert.
He sang one of my favorite songs, “ He knows my Name.”
At this point in our relationship, Jeff and I had spoken on the phone a couple of times and had a brief meeting at my assembly when he came to speak.
Now, he was requesting to come to the concert with us. I asked my friend if that would be okay, and she said it was fine. Jeff called the next day to see if his pastor and father could come to the concert.
What?
I was a bit nervous about being under everyone's scrutiny. I was having a hard enough time breathing when he called.

Throughout the set, he would lean over and ask me if I needed anything. Can I get you a bottle of water or something to drink? Are you okay? On and on. My friend pointed out how attentive he was to me and how she could tell he liked me. I was even more nervous then. After every date, Jeff would pray for our relationship. He took his time getting to know me.

Today is our 14th wedding anniversary, and we have survived sickness and health, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, and more.

He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.” — Proverbs 18:22

FINDS a wife— not just “gets married.”

The Hebrew idea behind “finds” implies discernment and intentionality.
It’s not passive. It suggests the man seeks wisely, recognizing value, and chooses with understanding.

Why does he obtain favor from the Holy One? It’s not good luck.
The verse is not saying Marriage automatically equals a blessing or that women are “objects” to be found. It’s not even saying that a man is incomplete without a wife…

What is it really saying? When a man chooses wisely and righteously, the relationship itself becomes part of God’s blessing.

That night, as I sang the song that had helped me make it through homelessness and chronic illness and loss, I periodically glanced over at Jeff. Could he be the one?
Finding a good spouse involves prayer and time.

He knows my name and He knows your name. Here are the lyrics…

He counts the stars, one and all
He knows how much sand is on the shores
He sees every sparrow that falls
He made the mountains and the seas
He's in control of everything
Of all creatures, great and small

And He knows my name
Every step that I take
Every move that I make
Every tear that I cry
He knows my name
When I'm overwhelmed by the pain
And can't see the light of day
I know I'll be just fine
'Cause He knows my name
Jeffrey Manning

If you don’t read anything else today, read this!

My Husband’s Testimony



My husband, Jeffrey Manning, has many amazing stories about the goodness of our Father. It is his voice that closes this devotional. Grab a tissue:

At the request of my beloved wife, Tekoa, and best friend, I would like to share a walk down memory lane with you. It's one of those memories that's like a tapestry. The Holy One was weaving a beautiful quilt, and I was honored to be a part of it. As I start this second sentence, there are already tears in my eyes just thinking about our Abba Father's goodness and how intricate His details are. I hope this message blesses you.

A while back, my dad called me and asked how long it had been since an article featuring a little boy named Colby and me had been published in the Metro section of the Courier-Journal Newspaper. Colby was a cancer patient at Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. As we talked, it was hard to believe it had been over fifteen years since the publication. Weeks prior, my wife had gone through some of my old pictures and plaques to place in our office, and she had pulled the framed article out to hang above my desk.

As Dad and I continued to talk, he let me know that the Kosair Children's Hospital Foundation had called and wanted him to come and take a tour. He wanted to see if I would accompany him. The hospital wanted to show my dad and me all the updates they had made. My dad had been faithfully giving all these years.

This testimony started months after I decided to rededicate my life to Messiah Yeshua in the mid-1990s. Following a church service, a lady approached me and told me she had a word for me from the Father. She said, “The Father has a plan for you to head up a ministry.” Further, she stated that I would be mentoring and teaching many men and for me to get spiritually prepared. I thanked her and then thought, "This lady is crazy! I am trying to get my own life straight, and now I am going to be in leadership. Yea, right lady."

Our Father works in mysterious ways, and I soon realized that the lady in question wasn't crazy. Within a year, two brothers in Messiah and I started the Shield of Faith Christian Police Officers Association. This entire testimony would take another chapter or two to write about. However, one facet of the ministry started about a year later when we received a call from a Crimes Against Children Detective about a young child at Kosair Children's Hospital who would forever change our lives.

To our astonishment, a seven-year-old boy, who, along with his mother, had been traveling with the circus, grabbed a live wire that burned off three of his little fingers. The disturbing part was that his mother abandoned him at the hospital with only the clothes on his back and left with the circus, never to return. We were asked to step in. What could we do? A group of us nervously went and befriended this child, seeing him daily and bringing him clothes and toys. We could tell he hadn't had the best of upbringings due to his choice of language at times. We did all we could and tried to shower him with our Father's love and prayers of protection.

I will never forget the day I received a call from the hospital asking me to come down and be with this child who had lost his fingers. It was the day they would be taking off his bandages completely. After all his surgeries, the little boy would see his hand for the first time. They were worried about this being traumatic and wanted his new friends to be there with him for support. I grabbed a co-worker who was also a member of the Shield of Faith, and we headed down to the hospital. I will never forget holding this child down as he screamed while they took off the bandages. Boy, was this kid resilient! In a couple of minutes, he was fine and ready to play. My co-worker and I drove back to headquarters in silence, with the previous events being replayed in our heads. Simultaneously, we both started talking about how, in the world, a mother could leave their child to go through something like that all by themselves. I am thankful that this story ended well. The little boy, who was abandoned, ended up being adopted by a good family and moving on to a new life. Praise the Lord, Adonai!

Soon after, the Medical Director of Kosair Children's Hospital approached us about regularly visiting some of the children. I remember our first meeting. We were instructed about the do's and don'ts of what to say and not to say. How fragile some of the situations were. We realized that the primary place we were going was to the children's unit in the cancer ward. Talk about having second thoughts. Fear began to rear its ugly head. I was nervous but felt like this was of Abba Father, as did my brothers and sisters of the Shield of Faith.

I remember being as anxious as anything as we went into the first room of the cancer unit. There was this chubby little boy introduced to us as Colby. He had no hair from the chemo treatments, but his smile lit up the room. This little fellow sat up in his bed and spoke with a country twang I will never forget. I remember thinking about all the do's and don'ts and thought, "What would be a safe question for Colby?" So I asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" He thought for a split second and said, "I want to be a Preacher." At that very moment, I knew that the Father had sent us to do this work. I didn't realize that Colby would preach a message to me and others that no spiritual leader ever has since.

Over the next couple of years, Colby and I developed a heavenly-ordained relationship that I will forever cherish. The Shield of Faith members and I began to visit the Hospital once a week on Wednesdays, and very seldom did we miss. The children always looked forward to the police showing up in their uniforms and coming to see them. All the kids had a soft spot in our hearts, but Colby was super special. No matter how much he was hurting, Colby always made it a point to make our day more special than we ever made his.

We were approached by the Hospital and the Courier-Journal requesting to join us during one of our visits. Out of all the rooms and all the children, they chose Colby to share in the article. Yes, He was that special. From that article alone, we started getting a plethora of donations–not just money but toys, including police wagons to carry everything around. Another piece was done in the Southeast Christian Outlook, a local church with over 20,000 weekly in attendance. The Outlook featured Colby getting baptized in the hospital's burn unit. Yes, Colby spread the gospel and became more of a preacher than I ever dreamed of being. He continued to touch everybody he encountered, especially me.

One day, I got the call nobody ever wanted to hear. Colby didn't have long, and he wanted to see me. During the visit, I could not get over how brave he was. Colby asked me if he could be buried with my police handcuffs. What an honor. I remember handcuffing him and me together and letting his family take a picture of us. Two days later, I was called to Colby's bedside, where he took his last breath minutes before I arrived.

I'm proud to say that the Chief of the Louisville Police Department allowed us to take a brand-new police car to es**rt Colby home to Casey County, KY. He also allowed the Shield of Faith Officers to be Colby's Pallbearers and to play taps with the bugle. I had the honor and privilege of speaking at Colby's funeral and placing my cuffs into his casket. This kind soul wanted to preach the gospel, and he did it better than any man I've seen.

I will never forget when we arrived at the cemetery. And we got out of our cars and were close to starting the service. A Donkey came over to the fence. He made the loudest noises and carried on for a couple of minutes. I remember the hairs standing up on the back of my neck. I remember thinking that the donkey braying was for Colby. After the service, two other officers with us mentioned the donkey braying loudly for Colby. The donkey was brought up several times on our ride home, and it also reminded me of the humble donkey Jesus-Yeshua rode on and the fact that our Father used a donkey to speak.

For five years, I was honored to meet and make many friends at Kosair Children's Hospital. Again, several of these children went on to be with the Father, and others received miracles. The toys continued to pour in due to Colby, and I am proud to say that off and on for the past sixteen years, officers of the Shield of Faith have continued to make these visits, as well as my faithful dad.

Yes, Colby was a Preacher and ministered to many unknowingly. I also know that only God could have taken the broken man I was, a man who was trying to get my life back on track and place my feet on a path that would connect me with a little ole country boy named Colby, who would forever change my life.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the ones that indeed are the angels at these children's hospitals. I want to commend the doctors, especially the nurses, who are there daily, caring for and comforting the children and their families. I pray many blessings and much comfort over these angels as they deal day in and day out with some of their new friends suffering and some passing away:

The righteous one perishes, but no one takes it to heart. Godly men are taken away, but no one discerns that the righteous man is taken from evil. He enters into shalom.

–Isaiah 57:1-2, TLV