Attacked By a Rapist

The Would-Be Rapist Experience and those in the two chapters following, took place in California by people whom we know personally. The near-victim of the would-be rapist is the wife of a dear fellow minister with whom we held an ABC prayer series a year ago. He often repeated, "I shall be an ABC preacher the rest of my life."
Don't you believe we are now entering upon a glorious period of earth's history, when we may expect heaven to reach out its arm in signal blessings even as in the olden days?
The Authors

JUST DO what I say, lady, and you won't get hurt.' My blood chilled. Yet, I really couldn't beheve this was happening to me.
"My retort was, 'You've got to be kidding!' He poked a gun very firmly into my side, and I got the message real qUick-he wasn't kidding. "
Have you ever wondered what you would do if someone could stick a gun in your ribs and tell you to start moving? Probably there aren't very many people living in this day and age that haven't mentally considered the possibility of something like this happening.
Rosemary, a minister's wife, had been visiting in Visalia, California, with her aunt who had recently lost her husband. That afternoon she had called Rosemary to tell her that she was leaving the very next morning for her home. She had been gone three weeks, and was now anxious to get back home. "I could sense," Rosemary told us, "that she was very lonely and knew that I must go over and spend some time with her. My home was approximately twenty miles from there. So I assured her that I would come over right away.
"Aunt Lil had suffered a real shock in finding my uncle dead three weeks earlier, when she had returned home from work. She still preferred not to be alone. This particular afternoon, her brother and his wife, with whom she had been staying, were gone and the house seemed larger than usual. In her loneliness and desperation, she had called me.
"We had such a fine visit, that lovely April afternoon, and I stayed later than I had anticipated. In fact; I stayed until one of the family members came home, which was about 8:15 p.m. Now, feeling that Aunt Lil would not mind, I took my leave and started for home. Thoughts of the afternoon conversation filled my mind. We had talked much about my uncle. My mother had been his sister, and they both had been very positive, plucky people. Reminiscing over their strong family traits somehow seemed to give me strength, too. I inwardly hoped I had the same kind of stamina.
"There is a very lovely shopping center on the road home. So I decided to stop and buy a couple of presents which I needed to purchase. After all, this would save me a forty mile trip the next day.
"I selected the two gifts and had them wrapped. Business was rather slow at this time of night, but there were people around. As 1 started for the door of the large department store, 1 observed that it was closing time. The clerks were just beginning to cover up their merchandise. 1 spoke to the young man who was attending the door. He let me out, and the door was locked! How many times 1 have done this before, as 1 am sure many other women have. We think nothing of shopping in the evenings, and the shopping centers stay open to accommodate us.
"Opening the back door of my car, 1 placed the two wrapped gifts on the seat, then slid into the front seat and closed the door. Just as 1 was putting the key in the ignition, a man swiftly opened the door on the passenger side and got in. As he did so, he said, 'Just do what 1 say, lady, and you won't get hurt.'
"The whole thing seemed so unreal. Here 1 was in real trouble and not a soul in the parking lot. 1 looked around, but could not see anyone. Surely someone would come. And he figured so, too. He really started pressuring me now, and poking me harder with the gun. 1 argued. 1 fought. 1 did everything 1 could think of to stall. All to no avail. Thinking 1 could perhaps get to a service station, or soine other place where 1 could get help, 1 finally started the car. Nowadays people are so afraid to get involved that it is a real risk to even ask for help.
"You can imagine the many thoughts that started racing through my mind. Maybe 1 could run into the glass door Penny's department store. No, 1 must not hurt anyone. Maybe 1 could run into this car coming toward me, and Just sideswipe it. But no, that might not be a good idea either. Maybe my accident would be worse than 1 would antIcipate. And anyway, he could just jump out and run, and there I would be trying to explain to the people in the other car, and the police, why I had run into a car. So that idea wouldn't work.
"He directed me out of the parking lot the dark way, and as I left those empty, parked cars, something just went out of me. He directed me down a street that I did not know. It was dark and not much traveled. Finally, I asked him what he wanted of me. Thinking that perhaps he had chosen my car for a 'get-away' car in a holdup really scared me. But his plan for me was much different. And to me it seemed far worse. I had heard of women who had been kidnaped as I had, and taken to dark, uninhabited places, used and left, or worse yet, killed. All of these thoughts raced as I tried to decide what to do. He told me in a very plain four-letter word what he wanted!
"I had prayed, of course, silently all through the ordeal, when I wasn't talking. The threats that he was making to kill me if I did not quit resisting and fighting with him over the gun did not scare me as much as you might think. I made up my mind right there that if my time had come and Jesus waS ready to let me rest until His return, I was ready to go that way. I could never submit to this man. He was now telling me that he had taken the safety lock off the gun and that any more resisting on my part would mean death for me. I remember crying out, '0 God,' in my agony. However, he did not know that was part of my prayer. At that moment, Philippians 4:19 came into my mind in a way that I shall never forget. 'But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.' My need was for help!
"We had reached the end of the road and he directed me to turn left. Of course I had stopped at the stop sign, so was not speeding. Just to my right, was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen in my life. A lovely ranch-type house spread out before me with every light on, it seemed. In front was a circular drive. I knew now what I must do. Previously I had asked God for wisdom and for help. I am so thankful that claiming promises has become a part of my life, because it was just as natural as breathing for me to ask God for help, and to tell Him that I knew He was giving it to me, and to thank Him for it. I swerved across that circular driveway, partly on the lawn, and blew my horn steadily. Later I found out that I had actually bent the chrome strip on the horn! The people in the house were startled to say the least. The lady came running to the window and saw the man jump from my running car. He had not said another word to me after directing me to turn left. Jumping over the fence he ran out into their orchard, leaving the car door standing open. The lady of the house rn to open her front door, thinking that there had been an accident down the road. She thought the man was my husband and that he had run back to help the people!
"I screamed for her to call the police, that this man was not my husband, but a man who had forced me to drive there. Then she was really scared, too. In fact, she was so frightened that she didn't even see the number she had placed on her phone for such emergencies but just called the operator for help. She had not invited me into her house, but ran back to the phone, closing the door as she Went! Now, what was I to do? Weren't they even going to let me in, away from this man? The thought that he could shoot me at any time from the orchard where he had hidden didn't make matters any better. In fact, I was a 'sitting duck' in that automobile.
"Just then, the man of the house came out into the breezeway, and I mustered up enough courage to run to him. As I turned back to look at the car, I couldn't help but be amused. There it sat with both front doors open, as if it were a great bird about to take off. I had left the light on and my billfold on the seat. Fortunately, however, I had the presence of mind to take the keys with me as I ran.
"It took the police twenty to twenty-five minutes to come the three miles from town. There must have been four police cars. The big problem was that they were so long in coming that the gunman had made his getaway.
"An interesting thing happened about two hours later. A man answering the same description, who appeared to have been running very hard, knocked on the Deputy District Attorney's office door-on the same street, only nearer to town-and asked for a drink of water, at gunpoint. He was not caught there either. The paper bore the headline-'Would-Be Rapist Flees When Woman Honks Horn."
Rosemary's God-given mission, plus her firm faith in God's promises, spelled escape on that threatening road in California. Many dear souls, including the members of the church of which her husband was pastor, still needed her ministry of love.