The Children of Eternity (14 page)

“Teach me,” said Jerry. “I want to learn.”

Jonathon nodded. “Sure, but it’s tougher than you think.”

“I still want to try,” replied Jerry.

“Me too,” chimed in Christopher.

“OK,” said Jonathon. “Let’s head back to the shop. It’s going to be a long night.”

It was a long night, but a fruitful one at that. Within an hour, Jerry had managed to materialize a block of gold on the table through nothing more than the power of thought. Then he moved on to more complex items. An hour later he had materialized a surfboard—a good one.

Jonathon was absolutely astonished. “People just don’t get the hang of this like you have—not this fast. It took me over a year to get as far as you’ve come in a couple of hours.”

“I’m not getting much of anywhere,” complained Christopher, just a little bit frustrated. “I can move a two hundred-pound boulder with my mind, but I can’t seem to do this.”

“It’s completely different,” said Jonathon. “I’ve never been any good at telekinetics, and believe me, I’ve tried. Grandma is pretty good at it, but it wasn’t a gift passed down to me, I’m sad to say.” Jonathon paused. “I want to try something.” He unfurled the schematic of the gun. He pointed to a component. “Take a look at this one, Jerry.”

Jerry looked at it. Indeed, he focused his entire being on it. It was more than just pen and ink on paper; there was a feel to it that he couldn’t explain. He felt it within him. He could picture every detail of the component in his head.

“Yeah, I think you’re getting the picture,” said Jonathon, looking over at Jerry and then back at the diagram. “It’s sort of like the books in the libraries of Zion. There is more than just print in them—they have a life of their own. You don’t just read the book; you feel the book. It imparts to you much more than just words; it imparts detailed concepts.”

Jonathon unscrewed the access panel of the particle rifle and pulled from it the thumb-sized component. “OK Jerry, here is what the thing really looks like. Now, materialize it. Don’t doubt that you can do it. Forget what I said about it being difficult. Don’t think about that at all, just do it.”

Jerry took a deep breath and started to concentrate. He imagined the thing that was already in his mind taking shape on the table before him, and it began to do so. It was happening very slowly, but it was happening. It was the better part of five minutes before he finished.

Jonathon picked up the component that looked like a crystal on one side and had tiny metal prongs on the other. “It looks real enough, but will it work?”

Jonathon slipped the new component into the rifle and closed it up. He headed back outside. The others followed. He stopped at the slope. “OK, what you just materialized is a power distributor. If it is not exactly correct, the weapon won’t even power up. Let’s see what happens.”

Jonathon flipped the switch. To everyone’s amazement the capacitor began to hum. Jonathon directed the weapon back at their target rock. He pulled back on the trigger. A beam of brilliant, high energy particles erupted from the gun, practically blowing the rock apart and reducing the sand around it to glowing, bubbling glass.

Jonathon seemed as amazed as everyone else. “Guys, that was one hundred percent power! If that component had been anything short of perfect, it would have fried. Congratulations, Jerry! You just accomplished in a few hours what it would have taken most people ten years to learn. Maybe it’s time to see if you can build the entire thing piece by piece.”

Jerry went back to the diagram, and Jonathon selected another part for him to materialize, then another. One by one they appeared on the table. Jerry wasn’t even keeping track of how many components he had materialized; he just did it, and as each component was completed the table was cleared to make the next one. With each part his speed increased.

The light of dawn had come to the eastern horizon as Jerry finished the final part. He felt so tired. He looked up to discover that Jonathon had assembled the parts into another gun.

“Do you really think that thing is going to work?” asked Jerry.

“I really don’t know,” admitted Jonathon, “but if I had to make a wild guess…my answer would be yes.”

Again they made their way to the edge of the meadow. Their target rock was nearly submerged by the rising tide, yet it was easier to see in the growing light of dawn.

“You do the honors,” said Jonathon, handing the weapon to Jerry. “Let’s not put too much power to the coil on this first shot, maybe twenty-five percent.”

“OK,” said Jerry. “Let’s see if it even powers up.”

Jerry practically jumped when he switched it on and the capacitor began to hum. He quickly regained his composure and dialed the power to its lowest setting: 25 percent. He took aim. He struggled to keep his hands from shaking. His aim was a bit wide. He missed the rock completely and hit the water beyond. A wave shot away in all directions from the impact point as a cloud of steam billowed into the air.

“Yeah!” shouted Jonathon.

Jerry lowered the weapon, looking at it in amazement. It had actually fired.

“Let’s try fifty percent,” suggested Christopher.

“OK,” said Jerry, dialing up the power one more notch. Again he took aim. There was a loud report, as this time he hit the rock head-on, leaving none of it remaining above the waves.

“Crank it up to full power. Let’s see what that thing’s got.”

“OK,” said Jerry, turning the dial the whole way to the right.

The hum of the capacitor increased in both volume and pitch. Jerry selected another rock and took aim. The rock was practically disintegrated by the powerful beam of high energy particles.

“I don’t know how you did it,” admitted Jonathon, “but you just materialized a functioning particle rifle in about an hour and a half. Only the Father Himself could have possibly granted you such a gift as this.”

“I think we’ve all earned a good night’s sleep,” said Christopher. “Way to go, Jerry. Between you and Grandma Gladys, we may just manage to make enough of these things to equip a small army.”

“Don’t forget me,” objected Jonathon. “I’m not all that sure that I can’t do it too. We’ll find out after we all get some sleep.”

Christopher and Jerry agreed. They made their way back up the stairs to their bedrooms amid the growing light of dawn. As they faded off to sleep, they still weren’t quite sure what the path before them looked like, but they now had another weapon in their arsenal.

I
T WAS NEARLY NOON WHEN
Christopher opened his eyes to the sound of voices coming from the first floor below. They seemed to him to be the voices of people who were rather excited. He jumped from his bed and got himself dressed. He headed quickly downstairs to discover his friends and several other men gathered in the dining room.

One man, a short, dark-haired man who appeared to be about 40 years of age, held in his hands a particle rifle. He examined it closely, his eyes full of wonder. He was talking to Jerry.

“What an incredible weapon,” he remarked, “simply fantastic. And you say that you materialized it after only a few hours of practice?”

“Yes sir,” confirmed Jerry.

“I finally managed to make one too, Grampa,” said Jonathon stepping forward. “But it took me three tries to get all of the pieces to work. Jerry has a gift from God—there’s no other explanation.”

At that moment the dark-haired man caught sight of Christopher. A broad smile came to his face. “And this must be the fourth member of your group—Christopher.”

“Yes, it is,” confirmed Jonathon, as they walked over to Christopher. “Christopher, this is my great-grandfather Bud.”

The man extended his hand to Christopher. “Welcome to our home, young man. Jonathon has spoken highly of you. Apparently, you have had quite an adventure.”

“Yes sir, we have,” confirmed Christopher.

“My wife has all of you kids calling her Grandma, so I guess I’ll follow suit on that one. You kids can call me Grampa or Grampa Bud, whichever you prefer. All of my grandchildren and great-grandchildren on Earth called me that.”

Bud glanced over his shoulder to see that the group was gathering around the table. “We’re about to get started. A group of us have been traveling all over Heaven to find out as much as we could about this conflict. We all agreed to meet back here this morning to share what we’ve learned. You’re welcome to share what you’ve learned as well. I think what you young people have learned is important.”

Christopher followed Grampa Bud back to the table, where the others had already gathered. There were four men and three women around the table in addition to the children and Grandma Gladys, and Christopher was certain that all of them would have something to share. He hoped that he would learn a lot about what had happened in Heaven since the invasion.

Bud and his group had only recently learned of the fate of the town of Phillipsburg, a place that most of them called home. It made the meeting all the more emotional. Apparently, about two dozen people had been taken captive during the raid. One of them was the wife of one of the men present.

“How could such a thing as this happen in Heaven?” the man asked, tears coming to his eyes. “Jean and I lived a Christ-centered life on Earth, and we have been good citizens of Heaven for nearly a hundred years. How could the Father possibly have allowed this to happen here? How could He have allowed demons to take Jean prisoner?”

“Maybe it has happened to strengthen us,” suggested another.

“Yeah, by throwing us to the wolves?” asked yet another.

It was a comment that held undeniably disturbing ramifications. Had God thrown them to the wolves, or at least allowed the wolves to attack them?

Bud calmed the growing rumblings. “Look, if we allow ourselves to get all emotional about this, we won’t be any good to anyone. We need to think this out, but only after we have all of the facts. We don’t need to be bouncing off of the walls. I want to hear everything that you folks know about what is happening here.”

Apparently, Bud held considerable influence among the group, for they settled down almost immediately. Then, one by one, they spoke of what they had learned in many diverse places within the Kingdom of Heaven.

One of the men spoke of visiting the second level of Heaven, where the angels were trying to regroup. Apparently, they were being assisted by a team of humans who were both ferrying them to the safety of the only level of Heaven that Satan’s forces couldn’t reach and helping in the development of a battle plan. The human resistance was organized, and they had developed powerful weapons that were indeed effective in combating the demons.

Gladys brought to the group’s attention that several of those sitting at the table not only had such weapons in their possession, but also had the ability to fabricate more. This very fact placed a degree of power in their corner. They just needed the time to make enough of the weapons and find as many people with the gift of materialization as they could. Yet this also could make them a target of Satan’s forces. They would need to be on their guard.

Another spoke of terrible atrocities against saints and angels alike on the first level of Heaven, where a growing human resistance movement had already been brutally crushed by Satan’s forces. The same could well happen to them if word got out that they were arming themselves before they had enough of these weapons and were ready for battle.

And the question as to why God was allowing this to happen came up repeatedly. Christopher, the youngest person at the table, delivered the answer to that question. He spoke of the “rest home in the sky” analogy and of God desiring greater things for His people. Heaven was not an end unto itself but a means to perfection. Christopher was surprised to find that his comments met with general agreement from those present, especially after he spoke of his very personal meeting with the Father.

Nearly two hours had passed before Lilly finally rose to her feet. The group grew strangely quiet as she addressed them. “These are dark times,” she began, her dark eyes intense, “but can there truly be light without darkness? The Lord of Hosts would have you know that you have been chosen to bring the light of His justice back into Heaven. You are His sons and daughters. You have far more power than you know.

“You, all of you, will have a part in driving Satan from this place, and when it is done, it is you who shall judge the angels, every last one of them…even Satan himself. Be not quick to anger or quick to act. Rain does not wear down the mountain overnight, but a little bit at a time. The day is coming when you shall act, but that day is not now. The day is coming when you shall set the captives free, but it is not today. But when that day comes, there shall be no doubt in your minds.”

Those gathered around the table had no doubt that they had heard from the Lord. The path was becoming clear. Most immediately, they would see to the needs of the people of Phillipsburg. Second, they would manufacture the weapon in great quantities; and third, they would begin to assemble an army. They would do it quietly, but they would do it.

As the people departed, they did so with new hope. Each had a sense of purpose and a mission to fulfill. They would drive Satan out of Heaven as they brought new direction to God’s people. Today would be the first day of a new age in Heaven.