L.A. Burning

by King O'Bryan

  By this time a mob had begun to form, who was now moving in closer and closer to Callie like they were almost ready to kill her. Callie knew then her life was in danger so she turned around and began to quickly walk away from the mob of accusers. She picked up her speed. A couple of the men from the mob picked up their speed as well. They were determined to make her pay for what she had done. Callie was scared for her life now. She started screaming for help while also screaming to the angry men chasing behind her that she didn't do anything.

  As she ran down the street back toward the direction of the explosion and into the dust cloud, which now somewhat blinded her, the fire trucks and ambulances were beginning to gather at the site. She could see the blue and red lights from their trucks illuminating in the dust cloud. But—she could also barely see a man dressed in camouflage pants with a black face mask and a black long sleeve shirt come from out the dust cloud that had thickened the area for about a mile. Strange she thought. She had never seen a firefighter or paramedic dressed liked that. But—she didn't care, she needed help. And she needed it QUICK!

  "Hey! Heeeeeey!" She began to holler out. She needed anyone's help.

  The man stopped, turned around and looked at her. She knew he would rescue her. At this moment, she didn't care who it was, as long as they would save her from those few men running after her to try and harm her. She had stopped running by now as she was tired and had begun to cough as she was inhaling the dust from the dust cloud. She couldn't understand how this masked figure wasn't also having trouble breathing. She pushed in toward the man a couple of more feet, reaching out her hand hoping he would grab it to help her. She stepped toward him and the ground beneath her disappeared. She fell down the open storm sewer in the road breaking her neck upon her landing.

  The masked figure stood and heard her scream all the way down the drain. Then he walked in the opposite direction of the explosion. He came from out of the dust cloud. The firefighters and paramedics on the scene were frantically searching for any possible survivors. One even grabbed his arm when they saw him so they could lead him to safety. He immediately broke away from the paramedic, grabbed him by the neck placing him in a choke hold and broke his neck. He slung the body to the ground and kept moving as the firefighters and other emergency personnel pushed into the cloud.

  He walked away from the site in the most methodic way. Others, who had now congregated in the street on the opposite end of the explosion, began simultaneously asking him what had happened. He ignored them. Two blocks down the road, he stopped, removed his mask, and looked back. He had accomplished his goal. He turned his back once more from the original site and continued walking. Just then, explosion after explosion sounded off everywhere. Bombs were detonating everywhere. Those standing in the streets were crushed by debris and killed instantly from the massive fires. Buildings as far as five blocks away had begun blowing up. Fire was everywhere. Everything was burning up. This is what history would call: L.A. Burning.

  Anton walked further never looking back again. He thought to himself, this is just the beginning. A few feet ahead of him, a billboard hovered over the city with the following message:

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  About King O'Bryan

  "So here is a statement you can trust, one that fully deserves to be accepted: the Messiah came into the world to save sinners, and I'm the number one sinner. But this is precisely why I received mercy--so that in me, as the number one sinner, Yeshua the Messiah might demonstrate how very patient he is, as an example to those who would later come to trust in him and thereby have eternal life" (I Timothy 1:15-16 CJB).

  I am the most disqualified person to be writing a book of any sorts. I come from no seminary background or formal Bible college training. I am only 26 years old and have had quite a few scares in my life. I'm a seasoned "trial veteran." I have had major character flaws that I've cooperated with the Holy Spirit and adjusted, and yet, still some that's being unearthed to me as I travel along this journey called life.

  I don't come from a lot of money. I was born of low-birth and have even been looked down upon by many. Because of past mistakes in my life, I've had people to write me off, call me names, and say condemning and belittling things to me and about me. And the list could go on. But all I know is that God has decided to use a little guy from Corinth, Mississippi, to unveil His heart to the whole body of believers around the world. I don't have degrees and titles (in theology or divinity), but I have an anointing that's unmistakable and can't be taken away by man (1 John 2:27). I have a Bible that I eat, sleep, and breathe; and I have the Spirit of the living God living within me impressing upon my heart exactly what to say. I believe that words have hidden power in them; and with that: this is why I choose to write!

  Other Books & Discourses by King O'Bryan

  Storm: Finding Joy Unspeakable

  The Things She Said (coming October 2014)

  The City of Light (coming November 2014)

  Handicapped: The Purpose Behind Our Abnormalities (coming December 2014)

  More books coming soon!

  Other Discourses

  Love Versus Like

  The Metamorphosis: Sin's Doorway

  A Look At the End (A Daniel's Study)

  Community NOT Christianism (coming soon)

  In the Spirit (coming soon)

  Glory Travel (Old Testament) (coming soon)

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  Friend me on Facebook

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  Sneak Peek

  Thank you for taking the time to read my book! I really do enjoy exploring and taking you on various journeys with me of the world's unknown with the written word. But—sometimes, we personally need some spiritual inspiration to help motivate and encourage us as we travel this journey called life. So I've attached the introduction of my book, Storm: Finding Joy Unspeakable, and one inspiration (from the book), which just so happens to be my favorite. Hopefully it will prompt you to want and read more! Thanks for all you do for me, dear reader! I love you!

  Introduction

  On October 24, 2012, a situation happened in my life that was both life-changing and earth-shattering. The world and my personal, little bubble burst in my face leaving me to despair and to sink down to the depths in desperation. On the spiritual side of this and with God’s permission, I entered the Valley of the Shadows of Death, a realm of hell that manifests here on earth. For nearly two years of my life, I endured this experience. And an experience it was. For nearly the entire first month, on this Valley of Death journey, I was completely angry with God not understanding why and how He would orchestrate such a thing to happen to me. Although it took me some time to realize this: I was actually the main cause of my own fiasco that God was simply allowing to get my attention, which He was and will always be so jealous for.

  Pride ate away at my core—my very being. But then, something awakened in me—I began to hear His voice as I encountered His presence in the Word. I ate the Word. I slept the Word. I dreamt the Word. I talked about the Word. I prayed the Word. I spoke the Word to others. The Word became my life. That is, Jesus became my life.

  Storm: Finding Joy Unspeakable unveils 39 inspirations that I was granted by the Holy Spirit to receive during this experience. These inspirations are designed to encourage and uplift you. I do not believe the Father has allowed me to encounter Him in such a real way on this journey only for me to horde these revelations to myself. Jesus said,

  No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a washt
ub or shoves it under the bed. No, you set it up on a lamp stand so those who enter the room can see their way. We’re not keeping secrets; we’re telling them. We’re not hiding things; we’re bringing everything out into the open. So be careful that you don’t become misers of what you hear.

  (Luke 8:16-18 MSG, emphasis mine)

  I have an obligation to you, my dear reader! I understand your struggle and storm that you’re facing; and I want you to know, you do not have to face it alone. God placed other believer’s here to help you through your trying time. So, in this book, you will join me, as I take your hand, on a personal tour to meet the God the Valley. The prophet Hosea says, "I will… transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope" (Hosea 2:15 NLT, emphasis mine).

  The God of the Valley is the same God on the mountaintop; but, He is even more sensitive to our faintest cry.

  I have heard before: either you are going in a storm, enduring a storm, or coming out of a storm, preparing to go in another one. I believe this statement is accurate and filled with truth. Sadly, people overall, both believers and non-believers alike, are generally unaware of what to do while in a storm or valley. Hopefully through my inspirations and your personal Bible study, you, too, will encounter the most loving, understanding, ever-present, compassionate God, Friend, Savior, and Lord of the Storm—the God of the Valley.

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  Suffering 101

  Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the LORD tested Joseph’s character.

  Psalms 105:19 (NLT)

  As this book comes to a close, I want to leave you with the most important inspiration of all. I strategically waited to present it last because this is one I don’t ever want you to forget. This inspiration has carried me thus far.

  In life, the unexpected happens—a sudden death, a loss of a job, a child comes down with a disease, a close relative is imprisoned, etc. These events are not things that anyone sits down to plan for themselves. I once heard, if God gave each of us the pen of life, we would never write anything negative on the pages of our lives. But—the real question is why would God? What does He get from it? Is it pleasurable on His behalf? Is He really all-loving? Or has He really just lost His power to Satan and the evil world, and He doesn’t have the means to fix it?

  Friends—God, the Father is only good (Psalms 73:1). When God first created the world, He had two paths already preplanned—a path of righteousness and a path of suffering. Adam and Eve would determine which path He would use to lay out the course of this world. He did this when He first tested their love for Him by simply asking them to obey His one command, not ten, not two thousand, but one command—“Do not eat from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.” God knew that if they ate from that Tree of Knowledge, knowledge is exactly what they would get—knowledge of suffering. He could have stopped them from making the wrong choice, but He wouldn’t stop them. Likewise, He could stop us, but he doesn’t because He wanted them, as well as us, to freely choose to obey.

  They chose the path of suffering not God. However, because He had already preplanned the path of suffering, just like He had the path of righteousness, He also foreknew how He was going to use suffering to reveal Himself to mankind. After all, that’s all He’s wanted to do— for us to know Him; for us to be friends with Him.

  With this path, in order for us to know Him, He was going to have to allow suffering to take place. Why? If God only showered us with blessing and honor, we would never get to see His heart and understand the deeper things of Him like forgiveness, compassion, mercy and grace. That special revelation was going to have to be experienced. Experienced through suffering.

  Therefore, He sent a Son, His one and only Son, Jesus, to endure the most heinous suffering that anyone could ever imagined (Acts 8:33 AMP). And through Jesus, He could offer to mankind promises that would give us hope and a future. Promises that we could bank on. But, you may be asking, how does all this work with my present suffering, King O’Bryan?

  With each person created after Adam, God told Adam to continue to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28). In other words, keep having children. With each child, God planned his or her life; “every moment was laid out before a single day had passed” (Psalm 139:16 NLT). He planned the blessings the person would receive, but He also planned the sufferings that each person would face or endure to help develop their character and ultimately come unto the knowledge of knowing Him fully through His Son—His forgiveness, compassion, mercy, and grace.

  But most importantly, the sufferings wouldn’t last always; they would only be temporary. They would last until the time came for Him to fulfill the dreams and plans He’s foreordained at each segment of our life. He only allows the sufferings to continue up until the time of the fulfillment of His greater good in our life. He promised, “all things (cancer, imprisonment, death, job loss, divorce or separation, rape, etc.) would work out for your good” (Romans 8:28). As Randy Alcorn once said, “If He didn’t intend for whatever suffering you’re going through now to be included in this promise, He would have had to say, ‘And we know all things EXCEPT (list your suffering here)…” But—God said: “All things work out for good!” In His infinite wisdom, using this path of suffering, He knows how to make it work out for your good.

  This statement has carried me through my valley experience: If God cannot use something to contribute for the ultimate good of His child, according to Romans 8:28, He will not use it or permit it to happen. There’s a Bible verse that I often find myself quoting repetitively while in a valley or storm: “When everything was hopeless, Abraham (but normally I substitute my name here) believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do” (Romans 4:18 MSG).

  You do not have to figure out how the suffering will work for your good. God already knows. You do not even have to spend your days groping and groaning when adversity occurs because God has a definite end date to this matter. Joel Osteen once said, “Sometimes, God will keep us from the fire, but other times, God will make us fireproof.” God isn’t insensitive. Yes, when anything initially happens, He expects us to grieve—we’re humans (Psalms 103:14). But—remember, suffering does not last. Although it’s the path that our ancestors chose, it is also the path that God has also preplanned to work out for our good. He’s using everything, absolutely everything, in our lives to bring His plan for us into fruition.

  Until the end date of our suffering or fulfillment comes, like Joseph, God will continue to test our character through means of trial or suffering. In other words, He will keep allowing and translating us into valley experiences. We’ll go from the mountaintops and descend down into the valley below; and then back up the mountaintop, and back down into the valley below. That process will continue over and over until Jesus returns for us.

  Character is developed through valleys and storms. Until you go through things, then and only then can you develop true, good character. Moses, Job, and Joseph are perfect examples. These men were tested through trial after trial, but look at them in the final analysis. I once heard it like this: if you always give your child what he or she wants, they grow up to be brats and egocentric. However, children who have learned that life is not all about them and that “I can’t always get what I want” become productive citizens in the world. These men were only able to do what was right and trusted God in any situation, no matter what, because they had developed good character. Gifts and talents will place you in positions, but character will maintain you in them.

  The Father is always looking for ways to improve our character. It makes us into the very image of His Son, Jesus. And the only way He can do that is through suffering. God does not see suffering as a bad thing. He sees it as a means to an end to make us into what He wants us to be until the time of fulfilling our dreams comes. After all, “If we suffer [with Him], we shall also reign with him [King Jesus]...” (2 Timothy 2:12 KJV, my insertion). But always remember what the Apo
stle Paul, who had been given a personal revelation of the purpose of suffering, said in 2 Corinthians 4:17 (NIV):

  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

  It’s going to be worth it!

  ~See it. Imagine it. Believe it. ~