Solomon's Porch (48 page)

But there was one thing Roger never did. He never prayed for himself, always for someone else’s needs.

Other than his wife Elaine, no one really knew what Roger was praying for most of the time. He sought no recognition for his efforts, not even an “atta boy” or two from his pastor for selflessness. A couple of years into their marriage Elaine began to notice that, much more often than not, when Roger asked the Lord for something, He said yes. This actually frightened her a bit at first; it was almost eerie and too good to be true.

Roger did his best to explain to his wife the principles of effective prayer. God, he told her, is not some “magic genie” who grants requests like a divine vending machine. While in church once, the Stones are Methodists, Roger tried to explain to Elaine’s best friend Louise how futile it was to ask God to give you this or that material possession. The Energy, as Roger often called God, could not be manipulated for personal gain. In order to succeed, a prayer’s focus must be on asking Him to show mercy on another, or, if you are praying for yourself, your prayer should always be to give you the wisdom and strength to discern and follow God’s will for your life. Louise did not want to hear the truth and quickly turned away, but Elaine listened and learned.

Roger Stone didn’t really stand out in any way other than there was not a person in the world who could, or did, say anything bad about him. He had no vices, was kind, polite, humble, and pious. His basic personality had changed little since High School. The “salt of the earth,” as his wife and daughters called him.

But as outstanding as Roger Stone was in his practice of the Christian virtues, it was his prayer life that set him apart. He was every bit as extraordinary in his field, intercessory prayer, as Carl Fuchs was in physics. He knew very well that it was his life’s calling.

“Peter, please tell me,” Roger asked, “what should I pray for? I want to help you and the brothers, but I need guidance.”

“What is most on your heart, brother Stone?” Peter respected Roger perhaps more than anyone else on the panel other than the President. “I think it is you who should be guiding us.”

“Well, if I could, I’d like to help people lead simpler lives, more focused on what’s real than on the devil’s worldly lies. I’m certain that if we could move in this direction, suffering would decrease and joy would increase.”

“Do you fast, brother Stone?” Peter asked.

“Yes. I fast once during the week and also at Lent. But I could do better at it if I tried. I’m sure I like to eat a bit too much.”

“Well, brother, I have an idea. Why don’t we call for a worldwide day of fasting and prayer for the day after tomorrow. You can be the prayer leader. It would be a wonderful and productive thing to do the day after the restriction ends. It will keep our minds focused on God.”

Within seconds the media disseminated Peter’s proclamation, calling it “Holy Thursday.”

“That is a great idea, Peter, but I am not qualified or worthy to lead such a prayer.”

“Roger Stone, no one is more qualified than you. It is the Lord’s will that you should do this.”

“Then I accept,” Roger said, without further hesitance and in total humility, “but I would appreciate your thoughts on topics for the prayers.”

“Alright. Let’s stay with your theme, brother Stone, helping people to lead simpler, more Christ-like lives. That is, in fact, exactly why God called me to His service, Roger. My scope is perhaps broader than yours, but our desired end result is the same.”

“Yes, Peter. I’ve known that since I first read about what you were doing at Parkersboro. I wish I could have seen you preach from Solomon’s Porch.”

“Our goal can only be achieved through education, Roger. Everyone born on this planet, until the Lord returns, is subject to spiritual warfare. Light versus darkness, Good verses evil. If a person begins to see his life, and other’s lives, in these terms, certain attitudes and conclusions inevitably result.”

“I understand,” Roger Stone said enthusiastically. “It took me many, many years, Peter, to separate the person from the sin. Hating people because they do bad things is not only against Christian theological and moral precepts, it is not even logical. If you believe in Christ’s teachings, that is.”

“But the world does not want to accept this, Roger. The evil wants us to stay at each other’s throats. As individuals, we despise those that hurt us or act in sinful ways. I’m not talking just about criminal behavior here, but common, everyday human activity as well. We are quick to judge others, slow to shine the Light on ourselves.”

“Few want to turn the other cheek, Peter, or welcome home the prodigal son. Where I’m from, many Christians will quickly and generously show mercy and kindness to total strangers whose lives have been wrecked by hurricanes and tornadoes, but some of these same ‘Christians’ will refuse to show love and compassion to their own children if they are gay or steal or will sit at home in front of the television set and cheer as the eleven o’clock news reports on another execution.”

“Matthew, chapter five, verses forty-three through forty-eight.”

“That’s on the button, Peter. It is very hard to bless those that curse you and to pray for those who spitefully use you.”

“You must help us, Roger. Pray to the Father on our behalf. The Lord is calling you to leadership, brother Stone.”

“That’s it, isn’t it Peter.”

“Brother Stone?”

“Why you’re here, you and the brothers. To help us find true mercy, to find Christ in our daily lives, before it’s too late.”

“Time, Roger, is running out. I’m afraid we no longer have the luxury of half stepping His commandments. Our situation is critical, even if it appears perhaps not to be.”

“Oh, it is critical, Mr. Pete,” Malik Graham said, walking on to the East Room stage. “You need to get these folks on out of here and right now. I ain’t never seen nothin’ like this.”

Peter could feel the disruption too, tremendous energies were being expended. At the same time both Peter and Malik looked up to see how Gabriel was reacting to the developing conflagration.

But he was gone.

Twenty-Six

M
alik chose to directly intervene rather than to signal Peter because what he was seeing wasn’t merely a threat, it seemed to him much more like the end of the world.

On the earthly plane of existence, Peter’s nod to the President and the President’s order to the Secret Service were all that it took to clear the White House of its guests in less than fifteen minutes. While no one could be physically compelled to leave, the strong suggestion that forces beyond understanding now posed a serious threat to human life was, after everything the blessed had just experienced, more than enough incentive for the audience to promptly evacuate.

When Gabriel disappeared he did not actually leave the East Room, he simply switched dimensions. Through senses indescribable in human language, the Archangel knew that his ancient nemesis, Satan, was posturing, presenting himself in such a way as to create the possibility of angelic conflict. This was a very rare and dangerous development.

The true Power in the universe, the Uncreated Energy that binds all things, exists primarily in a spiritual domain that human beings can only occasionally glance. While dominated by the Light, darkness also exists within the Energy and manifests itself through hosts that have freely chosen to reject God.

Once, eons ago, the Uncreated Energy was one Force, pure Love, pure Light; then came Satan’s rebellion, and the creation of creatures in the image and likeness of God, human beings. A battlefield was established on earth, a place where conflict could continue within limitations. Both Light and darkness knew that to bring their war back to their own dimension was to risk it all; the loser surely would be vaporized into nothingness.

The Light claims that ultimate victory over darkness is a foregone conclusion and expects its human creation to believe this on faith. St. John, the youngest apostle of Christ, was given a vision in the first century of what this final conflict between Good and evil would look like. John wrote down what he saw in the book of the Apocalypse, or Revelation as it is more commonly known.

All men are creatures of their times, St. John was no exception. He knew nothing of airplanes, missiles, spaceships, nuclear weapons, submarines, tanks, or lasers. His world was primitive by modern scientific and technological standards, so while John did his best, much of what he saw in his apocalyptic vision was inadequately described.

Malik Graham was a twenty-first century man. His limitations were far less than St. John’s. It was not possible for him to diminish the horror of Armageddon through confusion or symbolism.

In a matter of seconds, the spiritual dimension Malik could see from his seat in the East Room expanded a thousand fold. Two armies were poised on either side of the “room,” which now appeared to be miles, not yards, long.

On one side, Malik saw the beast in all of his repulsive ugliness. Around him were uncountable hordes of demons holding themselves back behind some invisible line of demarcation. The forces of darkness radiated hate, a loathing of God and His favorite creation, man. Malik could sense the devil’s unity of purpose, to destroy humanity and through the process of doing so become a god in his own right, to elevate evil above the Light, to vanquish the Lord.

The second army shone collectively like a blazing star. Its beings projected a reticence for fighting, a desire for peace, and a regret and disgust over being drawn into conflict. Malik absorbed the energy of the army of Light, it filled him with hope and joy and a confident assurance that victory over Satan was indeed inevitable. He was moved by a powerful desire to join them, to become one with them, but he knew that as long as he remained a mortal man he could not do so.

Then Satan extended one of his hideous claws and stretched out a vision from it that filled the space between the opposing forces. Malik was shown the destruction of human civilization, an all encompassing shredding of flesh, the unimaginable suffering caused by total global warfare. It was clear to him that Satan believed that this was the unalterable destiny of man, to destroy himself in a perverted orgasm of senseless brutality.

Then Gabriel appeared from amidst the beings of Light. With a wave of his hand, Satan’s nightmare disappeared and was replaced by a vision of prosperity and peace. Malik saw gleaming metropolises with towers of shining glass and metal separated by open, green spaces. Within these magnificent cities, millions of people were working for their mutual benefit without strife or greed or hatred. Poverty was eliminated, disease tamed, crime abolished. God was established as the true ruler of man, Christ enthroned as an earthly king.

Then Gabriel’s vision vanished and the empty space between the combatants was restored. As soon as this happened, the two armies began moving closer together, activity within each force increasing as they slowly crept toward each other.

That’s when Malik decided it was time to get everyone out of the White House. Once the evacuation was complete Malik could no longer see the vision of the heavenly battlefield. Since he was still alive, Malik assumed that either the angels or the demons must have retreated.

“I’ll never be afraid of the damn devil,” Malik told Peter after he finished describing what he’d seen for him, “but I’m scared to death God and the evil one will battle it out. Don’t think we’d make it through that. We don’t amount to much stacked up ‘gainst all their power. It’s real humblin’ to see that, Mr. Pete, to know how weak we humans really are.”

“You made the right call getting the audience out of there, Malik,” Peter told his brother. “I could feel it too, a sense of dread, foreboding. I felt like, well … ” Peter hesitated.

“Bro?”

“I felt like I was an insect lining up to get squashed.”

The President did not delay action. At noon Eastern Time on the twenty-second of June, he announced a bold set of new federal government initiatives. He declared that “the moment in history has arrived when America must lead the way as a truly Christian country, we must put ourselves in accordance with the Lord’s will for our national destiny and we must simply start doing more godly things and less evil ones.”

Pledging that the United States would “act only in limited self defense” after the restriction ended, the President called for an immediate international summit of world leaders with the express purpose of forging an agreement to eliminate all armed forces and to forever abolish the practice of war. “Imagine the earth with no armies and no need for them,” the President said in his globally televised speech. “All conflicts resolved peacefully through negotiation and compromise. A lunatic’s fantasy, some say. But how can we ignore the fact of the restriction and the other miracles being reported from around the globe? Is it crazy to believe that warfare can be abandoned as a human institution, or is it insane to ignore the will of God? If we must choose between destruction or peace then I say the only rational option is to pick survival.”

Professing his conviction that hunger and want for the basic necessities of life could be eliminated planet-wide in less than a decade, the President proposed an “effort of total commitment” to raise the standard of living for the “poorest and most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters.” The problem of “systemic economic inequality should be attacked with all the vigor of a world war and on all fronts,” he said, from the greater sharing of resources by the affluent, to the elimination of political and economic corruption in the Third World and through an “unprecedented outpouring of love and concern.”