The Children of Eternity (25 page)

They were almost to the edge of the Holy Place when Lilly heard someone calling her name. She turned to see a slender, dark-haired woman in a long, frilly dress.

“It’s you!” exclaimed Lilly. “I know you—you’re Elizabeth!”

“Hello, Lilly,” said Elizabeth, taking Lilly by the hand. “It is delightful to at last meet you in person. The Father told me that I would find you here.”

“Bless you, Sister Elizabeth,” said a young man, approaching the group. “What you have done for us has been a true inspiration.”

“Tis the Father and our Lord Jesus who are to be blessed,” said Elizabeth.

The young man nodded and moved on. Elizabeth turned once more to Lilly.

“I have heard of the contribution that the four of you made in saving so many of our brothers and sisters,” said Elizabeth. “It was an act of great bravery.”

At that moment Christopher put it all together. “You’re the one I’ve heard so much about, the one who made her way through the battle lines, setting the prisoners free. You showed the people how to harness the power of the Father’s Holy Spirit to defeat the demons.”

“I may have been the one who used the power, but the source of that power was not within me,” replied Elizabeth. She gazed into Christopher’s eyes and smiled. “But you too have harnessed that power. I am not so sure that you didn’t discover it before me. That was an act of great faith and courage.”

“You seem to know a great deal about us,” noted Jerry.

“One of your number possesses the same gift,” replied Elizabeth, turning to Jonathon.

“That may be,” replied Jonathon, “but you yourself seem to possess all of the abilities that we possess as a group.”

“That is why the Father told you that you must act as a group,” said Elizabeth.

“And I am to learn from you all of these things,” deduced Lilly. “I am to become your student. That is, if you will accept me.”

“That is the will of the Father,” replied Elizabeth. “I gladly accept you, little sister. I have lived alone for far too long. I have already made room in my home for you. Once we leave the city, that is where we shall go. The Father would have me tutor you and teach you those things that I have learned during the many centuries that I have been here.”

Lilly nodded and then turned to Jonathon. “I’m afraid that I will be leaving you, at least for the time being. I’ll need to gather up my things from your great-grandparents' home, and then I’ll be on my way.”

“But we will get to see each other from time to time,” replied Christopher, “at least I hope so.”

“Of course,” replied Elizabeth. “The four of you are still a team, even though, for now, you will be studying in far-flung places. You will always be welcome in my home.”

The group departed the Holy Place, met up again with Zurel, and traveled through the city. They spoke of what had already happened and what was to come. They spoke of the goodness of the Father. When they reached the Great Hall of Records, Jerry stopped.

“You go on,” he said, looking to the great crystal structure. “I have something to do here, and it may take me awhile.”

“Do you need help?” asked Jonathon. “I am most familiar with the cataloging structure of the books here. I’d be happy to assist you.”

Jerry smiled. “Thank you, Jonathon, but this is a personal thing. It’s something that I sort of have to do on my own. I have to do this before I take another step.”

Christopher nodded. “Let me know how it all turns out.”

“I will,” said Jerry. “I’ll try to catch up with the rest of you a bit later.”

As the rest of the group headed on down the avenue, Jerry took a deep breath and made his way toward the main door of the Hall of Records. Jonathon had been right: he did know this library far better than Jerry did. He might have been of great help to him. Jerry thought back. He had a lesson on how to use this place a long time ago. Did he still remember enough to make use of it?

Jerry stepped through the great doors. This place was almost empty. Not too many people visited this place. Even now that the eyes of the people of Heaven had been opened, they seemed reluctant to come here. Jerry cleared his mind. He focused upon his birth mother. He didn’t even know her name—that was, until now. The name came into his mind as if it had always been there: Leona Stahl. Her book was on the third level, aisle 34, section 7. He was on the move up the spiral stairway.

One idea after another rushed through his mind. He had always assumed that he would never see her here in Heaven and that her life was none of his concern, but he didn’t think that way anymore. He had forgiven her, and now he was searching for a way to rescue her from herself, to bring her into the family of God. There just had to be something that he could do for her. She couldn’t be that old, perhaps in her early to mid-40s. Every day middle-aged people gave their hearts to the Lord. Why couldn’t she?

He would look into her book. Yes, that is what he would do. He would first evaluate her life situation, then go from there. He could go to the Father, perhaps speak to a guardian angel. There had to be options.

He reached the third level and made his way toward aisle 34. All the while his mind was working. Here was aisle 34. He turned. He found section 7, then row 3. He scanned the bindings. Then he found her book.
Leona Stahl
was printed in bold white letters upon its coal black binding. No, perhaps he wasn’t remembering the system properly—that must be it. But he
was
remembering it properly. This was a
black
book. His birth mother was already dead and in Hell.

In his most terrible dreams he hadn’t expected this. The Father had wanted him to find this book; he was sure of it. But why? If his birth mother was beyond all hope, beyond all redemption, why did he have to know this?

He hesitated, then pulled the book from its place in the shelf. He sat down on the floor and opened it to the first page. Almost immediately the words printed upon that page were transformed into an image. He was witnessing his own mother’s birth in a hospital in Ottawa, Canada. For the first time he saw his grandmother and her newborn child.

He moved ahead to try and understand the life of the mother he had never known. He became witness to his mother’s first steps and her first words. He watched as the family moved to Ohio. He saw his mother’s first day in school. She was so cute with her red hair and freckles. It explained a lot about him.

His grandparents weren’t particularly religious. They belonged to a church but rarely attended. He watched his mother grow from a child who was fair of face, to a pretty girl, to a beautiful young woman. She was a good student and a member of a thing called the student council. She was a very popular girl.

But all was not well in the Stahl home. His mother’s father was a truck driver and was on the road sometimes for weeks at a time. There were rumors and suspicions about his extramarital affairs when he was away from home. Then one day he simply left, abandoning his wife and his teenage daughter. Leona’s home life, which on the surface had seemed stable, began to crumble. Her parents’ divorce gave closure and child support gave some financial stability, but the lives of Leona and her mother were on the rocks. Leona’s mother struggled to keep their home, but her daytime job as a secretary and her evening job as a waitress barely paid the bills. Leona tried to help too, working after school at the local supermarket, but they were losing ground.

That was when Leona met Tom. Tom was a salesman at his father’s large and very successful new car dealership. He was 22 and she was barely 17, but it didn’t matter. She was swept off of her feet with talk of love and romance. Tom had the resources to take her out on expensive and elaborate dates. Even Leona’s mother approved. After all, Tom came from an affluent and well-respected family. He had the wherewithal to take good care of Leona.

One thing led to another. Four months after their relationship started, Leona found herself pregnant. Still, she wasn’t concerned. After all, the father of her child was Tom. She would become Mrs. Tom Sanderson and live happily ever after. Sadly, it wasn’t to be. Only too late she discovered that all she was to him was some action on the side. He had other more serious interests—a fiancée who was more his age and social class. He could hardly afford to have his life ruined by an underage teenager from the wrong side of the tracks.

Still, he had been playing with fire. Leona was an underage minor, and her mother had every intention of bringing this little fact to the attention of the authorities. His little fling could well earn him a conviction as a sex offender and some time in the gray bar hotel. Clearly, an arrangement, a financial one, had to be made.

Tom’s parents agreed to fork out a considerable sum of money to Leona’s family in compensation for their son’s indiscretion. However, there was a condition. Tom Sanderson could ill afford to have Leona coming back to him at some future point demanding child support. His affair with her had to remain a secret from his fiancée. True, there could be a clause in their legal agreement that would forbid Leona’s mother from doing this, but that wouldn’t prevent Leona from doing it herself when she turned 18. There was really only one solution: the child would have to become a nonentity; it would have to be aborted and soon. After all, Leona was already well into her fourth month.

Leona was devastated by the prospects of sweeping this first child out of her life. But at her mother’s urging, she relented. The settlement would pay off the mortgage and the credit cards and give Leona a start toward college, a chance at a new life.

Leona was promised that it would be a simple procedure. It was called partial birth abortion, a new procedure that was often used in the case of a late-term pregnancy. Jerry witnessed it all in that sterile operating room within the federally funded abortion clinic. The doctor and nurse were so comforting to his mother even as they proceeded to kill him. He witnessed his mother’s own grief as the procedure was concluded.

Yet there was something else. For the first time, he remembered the terrible pain of the procedure, a pain beyond imagination. He remembered the confusion. It had been a new sensation for him. Up until then, all that he had known was a sort of bliss, a sense of quiet awakening, a sense of becoming something new. Yet as quickly as the pain began, it had ended. In that moment, he had been born into a new life, the life he knew now.

The procedure ended, and after an hour or so, Leona was on her way home. She cried almost the entire way.

The intense pain and fever began some time late that night. Leona was rushed by her mother to the emergency room. Then she was placed in the intensive care unit. By noon the following day, Leona had joined him in death. Yet they would never be together. Even as her spirit rose from her body, a dark violet vortex formed within the hospital room before her—an ethereal corridor to another realm.

The nurses couldn’t see his mother’s spirit and her perilous plight as she tried to escape the vortex that was in the process of drawing her into its dark depths. They were too busy trying to resuscitate the young patient before them.

A few seconds later, Leona vanished into the swirling clouds of the vortex. Jerry followed her helpless, ethereal plunge as she hurtled through the growing darkness. He could almost feel her pain as the surging electricity coursed all around her.

A moment later she seemed to materialize in a stone corridor, her back to the wall. Before her was the brightness of what appeared to be a great arena. Leona was terrified—Jerry could feel her fear—yet she began to walk forward; indeed, she couldn’t seem to resist. She stepped into the vast, white marble arena. A wall that was perhaps ten feet high separated her from a vast number of spectators all robed in white who sat in ever-ascending rows of seats beyond the wall. They must surely have numbered in the tens of thousands.

Beyond the spectators was a series of tall, white columns that encircled the arena and towered toward the stormy sky. Yet the most spectacular sight here was the radiant Being who sat upon a great white throne before her. He was a true giant robed in white, and His eyes were focused upon her. Dressed only in her hospital gown, Leona was hardly prepared for such a grand meeting. An angel approached Leona and quickly took her by the arm.

“Come, child,” he urged, drawing her toward the great Being before her.

All the while Jerry walked by her side. Yes, he knew this place; he had been here once. This was the Great Judgment Hall. It was in this place that he had officially proclaimed his love for the Father and His Son. He had been so happy that day. On that glorious day he had truly entered into the Kingdom of Heaven. He recognized the Being before him all right: He was the Father. Yet on this day He seemed different. He was stern, even sad.

“Let the book be opened,” He said in a thundering voice.

And it was. Leona saw her entire life unfold before her. Throughout most of it she remained silent. It wasn’t until the end, when she saw the birth and immediate death of her son, that she broke down into tears.

“Does Leona Stahl’s name appear in the Lamb’s Book of Life?” asked the Father, turning to an angel who stood at a crystal podium, upon which sat a thick book.

It took only a few seconds before the response came. “No, Lord, her name is not here.”

The Father turned to Leona. “Why did you not turn to My Son? He was there for you if only you had asked. Now I must cast you from My sight into outer darkness and into the hands of Satan and his angels.”