Elohim III: The Return (2 page)

At the same festival also, a heifer, as she was led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple.

Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner [court of the] temple, which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone,
was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night.
Now those that kept watch in the temple came hereupon running to the captain of the temple, and told him of it; who then came up thither, and not without great difficulty was able to shut the gate again. This also appeared to the vulgar to be a very happy prodigy, as if God did thereby open them the gate of happiness. But the men of learning understood it, that the security of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened for the advantage of their enemies. So these publicly declared that the signal foreshowed the desolation that was coming upon them.

Besides these, a few days after that feast, on the one and twentieth day of the month Artemisius, [Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for,
before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities.

Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the temple,] as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying,
'Let us remove hence.'

But, what is still more terrible, there was one
Jesus, the son of Ananus
, a plebeian [a Roman citizen] and a husbandman [a property owner], who, four years before the war began, and at a time when the city was in very great peace and prosperity, came to that feast whereon it is our custom for every one to make tabernacles to God in the temple, began on a sudden to cry aloud,
'A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house, a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, and a voice against this whole people!'
This was his cry, as he went about by day and by night, in all the lanes of the city. However, certain of the most eminent among the populace had great indignation at this dire cry of his, and took up the man, and gave him a great number of severe stripes; yet did not he either say any thing for himself, or any thing peculiar to those that chastised him, but still went on with the same words which he cried before.

Hereupon our rulers, supposing, as the case proved to be, that this was a sort of divine fury in the man, brought him to the Roman procurator, where he was whipped till his bones were laid bare; yet he did not make any supplication for himself, nor shed any tears, but turning his voice to the most lamentable tone possible, at every stroke of the whip his answer was,
'Woe, woe to Jerusalem!'

And when Albinus (for he was then our procurator) asked him, Who he was? and whence he came? and why he uttered such words? he made no manner of reply to what he said, but still did not leave off his melancholy ditty, till Albinus took him to be a madman, and dismissed him.

Now, during all the time that passed before the war began, this man did not go near any of the citizens, nor was seen by them while he said so; but he every day uttered these lamentable words, as if it were his premeditated vow,
'Woe, woe to Jerusalem!'
Nor did he give ill words to any of those that beat him every day, nor good words to those that gave him food; but this was his reply to all men, and indeed no other than a melancholy presage of what was to come.

This cry of his was the loudest at the festivals; and he continued this ditty for seven years and five months, without growing hoarse, or being tired therewith, until the very time that he saw his presage in earnest fulfilled in our siege, when it ceased; for as he was going round upon the wall, he cried out with his utmost force,
'Woe, woe to the city again, and to the people, and to the holy house!'
And just as he added at the last,
'Woe, woe to myself also!'
there came a stone out of one of the engines [catapults], and smote him, and killed him immediately; and as he was uttering the very same presages he gave up the ghost.

Now if any one consider these things, he will find that God takes care of mankind, and by all ways possible foreshows to our race what is for their preservation; but that men perish by those miseries which they madly and voluntarily bring upon themselves...

And now the Romans, upon the flight of the seditious into the city, and upon the burning of the holy house itself, and of all the buildings round about it, brought their ensigns to the temple and set them over against its eastern gate; and there did they offer sacrifices to them, and there did they make Titus imperator with the greatest acclamations of joy."
--
The Wars of the Jews
(Book VI, Chapters 5 and 6) by
Flavius Josephus

According to most modern scholars, the author of the Book of Revelation lived at the same time.

"And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice,
Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth...!
The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
--Revelation 8:13; 11:14.

1. Christmas on Eris

Time is immutable. It cannot be altered. Time travel is space travel, for time and space are one and the same. Gravity warps it. Singularities end it; they feed and grow. One or more resides in the heart of every galaxy, of which there are more than all the grains of sand on Earth. The biggest singularity we can fathom died giving birth to our time, our space, and our universe. The resulting "big bang" let the genie out of the bottle, but the evil aspects of its nature must be identified and purged from the good. A remnant of good is all that remains. Most of it was sacrificed to light the stars. There is nothing out of place when we peer into the heavens, but what above us is important? Energy? Matter? They are one and the same as well. Some is light and some is dark. Only the light matters.

Some believe God created the big bang. Perhaps He created other universes too, just in case this one ultimately goes the way of evil. Evil is real. It causes us pain. Anticipation of it creates fear. Regardless, time will allow Elohim and those who remain faithful to Him to continue forever. Their work will never cease, until all evil is purged. The rest will not endure. They will go the way of death, as "...wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever."
--Jude 13

"Let's begin with Europa," says Elohim. "Status report?"

The Winter festival on Eris will begin as soon as the Eridian moon, Dysnomia, rises on the horizon. Although the skies of Eris cannot be seen from its habitable dwellings below the surface, a solid glass dome now covers the newest palace structure and the palace grounds, where the stars and the moon can be clearly observed. Only those inside the dome will be able to witness the moonrise that signals the start of this Winter Festival.

Surrounding the new palace is a solid glass floor that extends to the base of the dome in every direction. Imagine a snow globe with a flat, glass base expanded to a size that would encompass the city of New York or Hong Kong, but with only a single, ziggurat-shaped building consisting of twelve levels, each with 210-feet high walls, that rises to a height of over 2,700 feet and rivals that of the tallest building on Earth. It is a spectacle unlike any other in the universe, and every Anunna who can attend the opening ceremony of this winter's festival beneath the dome are scheduled to arrive within the next few hours.

The year is 1978. Elohim has called a meeting with all of his scientific and engineering project managers in order to assess and establish the date of the planned Earth invasion, which will involve the capture and imprisonment of Baalthazar and his Anunna rebels, the overthrow of Earth's rulers and the complete overhaul of the world's economic and political systems.

The initial invasion will employ the entire Anunna fleet and require transporting all of the Eridian armed services. The first phase of the invasion will not only utilize the tactic of "shock and awe", it will also be a global effort to demoralize any resistance by garnering support for the cause and turning those who would otherwise resist into loyal compatriots who will welcome the new leadership of the Anunna. Elohim's son, Immanuel, will return to Earth with multiple thousands of his most fiercely loyal, resurrected saints, who were murdered by the political leaders in Rome for refusing to worship the emperors and their false gods or deny his legitimate role as the coming savior and ruler of planet Earth.

This meeting is being held in the throne room of the king's pyramid-shaped chamber that sits atop the highest of the twelve levels of the palace below it. The peak of its ceiling height is the same as the walls of each level. The outside walls of the entire ziggurat-shaped structure are covered in gold, as are the outer decks which form the larger portion of the roof of the level below it that extends beyond the walls of each higher level. With the flip of a switch, the king's chamber and every level below it can be raised or lowered by supporting pillars, allowing open air access to each deck. Anyone on the deck of any level can see the horizon, the sky and everything below to the edge of the dome on every side.

Immanuel's primary residence was built above the throne room, making it the highest dwelling in the dome. The view from the throne room, which sits atop the highest of all twelve levels, is breathtaking. Each level of the new palace is currently raised to allow open ventilation, since the air beneath the dome is circulated, filtered and climate-controlled.

The city-state extends beyond the dome and is surrounded by four massive walls in the shape of a square. Underground tunnels with rapid transit highways interconnect all of the underground dwellings in the city with those beneath the dome. The city-state extends 700 miles from the dome-covered temple complex at the center toward each of the cardinal directions, making it larger than many of Earth's nations.

The palace complex at the center of the city also contains the 34th Eridian Dynasty Palace, where Elohim and his queen, Anna, currently reside. Construction of the new palace began three and one-half shars ago during the first century A.D. and was only completed after the last great festival, the Festival of the Second Crossing, which took place in the eighteenth century. When this winter festival is underway, the new palace will be dedicated as the 35th Eridian Dynasty Palace. It has been designed as a self-contained city unto itself.

144,000 permanent residents live within the new palace below the king's chamber and serve Immanuel in every capacity from cooking and cleaning to maintenance, engineering, data coordination and research technology, depending on their talents and what they have chosen to do. These are the first of all the resurrected martyrs on Earth who were killed throughout the ages preceding Immanuel. They comprise a special group, each of whom refused to worship any besides Elohim and testified of their faith in his promise of the coming Messiah.

"Our underwater pumping stations are functioning optimally," says Abgal. "Thanks to the Fort Knox gold, corrosion is no longer a problem, and the laser transporters have been thoroughly tested. We should be able to transport molecular water to any ship in the fleet at any point in the solar system. There is no longer any need to store massive amounts of water aboard any ship that has a functional receiver. We can convert the extra fuel tank space for cargo and additional personnel."

The report is a positive one. Abgal has always been Elohim's most experienced and loyal pilot. A proud Reptilian of royal ancestry, he is now in charge of all Igigi fleet operations, including the outposts on Europa and all underground operations on Mars.

"What about your operatives on Europa?" asks Elohim.

"My Lord?" asks Abgal.

"Are the assignments acceptable?"

"We have used volunteers, scheduled routine work rotations, and offer opting out of the post assignment each quarter. Some chose to remain for four opts, but we set that as the maximum outpost duty to avoid pilot and navigation skills deterioration and unnecessary debriefing or retraining. The Greys seem to enjoy the isolation most of all. Our list of volunteers continues to grow."

"Excellent, they seem to have been bred for the task." Elohim winks at Abgal, knowing that he has three Grey children of his own, whose Anunnaki mother is the love of his life. Abgal is slightly embarrassed by the gesture, but not uncomfortable.

"I want the Igigi to remain unseen during the first phase of Operation Earth," says Elohim. "Humans are unpredictable when they encounter the Igigi."

The Winter Festival opens as moonrise begins and Dysnomia breaks the horizon in the skies above the gigantic glass dome on Eris. The dedication of the new palace commences, and it is dubbed "New Jerusalem".