Zephan and the Vision

  'Let us surrender,' Choosing called wearily from the walls, as another huge rock smashed into the gate, making the town walls shake.

  I'm sure Choosing wouldn't have said this if Diabolus could hear him, but Diabolus had gone back to his castle by this time.

  'Wait,' a man called loudly. 'Diabolus may be right. Perhaps the King won't receive us. Perhaps we've been fighting against him for too long.'

  A murmur of agreement spread from citizen to citizen, leaving Talora jumping up and down in frustration. 'Open the gates! Open the gates!' she shouted, but of course no one could hear her. Then she shrieked in fright as the sound of thunder roared through the maze of streets.

  'There's nothing to be afraid of,' I reassured her. 'It's Conscience.'

  No one had heard a sound from Conscience or Understanding for weeks, but when Conscience began to speak from his prison, peals of thunder rolled through the town.

  It took only a few minutes for Diabolus to come pounding through the streets from his castle to discover the reason for the disturbance. As he opened the prison door to make sure his two prisoners were safely inside, another trumpet blast from below the Ear Gate announced a new speech by the four captains.

  'People of Mansoul, surrender now to the King,' Captain Boanerges called. 'There is still time. If you continue to turn away from the King, Captain Justice has come to make sure you take the penalty for your rejection.'

  Choosing managed to push his way to the front of the crowd lining the walls. Actually, this wasn't very difficult to do, on account of his being so thin. Would he decide to obey Diabolus, or would he obey the King? After all, with a name like his, I imagine he could have done either.

  'We will allow you in, on one condition,' Choosing called down to the four captains, after some thought. 'We have new laws here, and we are content with them. We have made many alterations to our town. We do not want the King to change anything.'

  Captain Boanerges listened patiently to this offer from Choosing. 'Mansoul,' he called back, 'you disappoint me. I thought you were going to say you were sorry for your disobedience to the King.'

  'There's no need for us to be sorry,' Choosing retorted angrily. 'Go away. Tell the King we won't be any trouble to him, as long as he leaves us in peace. There's nothing much wrong here.'

  'Nothing wrong?' Captain Boanerges cried out. 'The King is not interested in bargaining with you. You have heard his message. If you are to be forgiven, you must accept his offer of forgiveness.'

  I noticed a commotion in the crowd as the large man who was called Won't-Believe pushed his way through to join Choosing. He'd left the defence of the Ear Gate in the hands of others. Seeing him coming, everyone jumped aside to avoid being flattened. Won't-Believe quickly understood what was going on, and turned to the crowd.

  'I have come just in time to save you,' he said breathlessly. 'Do you really trust the word of these stupid men? A message of forgiveness from the King? What makes you think the King is going to forgive you?'

  'It's what the messengers have promised,' a boy replied from the front of the crowd.

  'How do you know the messengers are telling the truth?' Won't-Believe asked. He was as large and heavy as No-Truth was small and thin. 'Does it sound likely the King will forgive you for turning your backs on him?'

  The boy was not going to keep quiet. 'The captains down there are telling us the King has the power to forgive.'

  'The King has power all right,' Won't-Believe shouted at the boy. 'The power to punish. And you'd better not forget it, my lad. Don't come calling to me for help when the King has you in his power.'

  Won't-Believe's voice was so loud that the four captains heard him from below the town walls. They gathered their soldiers together and moved away from Mansoul. I could see disappointment on some people's faces in the town, for I felt many of them wanted to disobey Won't-Believe and open the Ear Gate.

  Diabolus looked overjoyed when he heard what had happened, but I took Talora by the arm and pointed to a lively crowd. In all the excitement, the heavy prison doors had come open. Maybe the voices of the captains had broken the locks. Understanding and Conscience had slipped out, unseen by Diabolus, but not by the people who now crowded round the two men in the market square.

  Understanding and Conscience began to call to everyone. Unfortunately, Won't-Believe realised what was happening, and ordered some of the strongest men of the town to march on the meeting.

  'There they are,' Won't-Believe shouted, but he drew back as Understanding pointed an accusing finger at him.

  'If it was not for you,' Understanding shouted, 'the people of this town would have allowed the King's soldiers to enter our gates. You have lied and deceived everyone.'

  Won't-Believe looked angry, and he had a lot of bulk to look angry with. 'People of Mansoul,' he called, 'destroy these two men. Silence them for ever!'

  Conscience continued to point at Won't-Believe. 'Do you really think this big man is the way to peace in our town?' he asked the crowd. 'I tell you, you could have been safe this very moment, but now you have turned down the King's offer of peace. You listened to this stupid man.'

  It wasn't long before some of Won't-Believe's companions joined in the shouting. Talora pulled me back as a fight broke out. Within a few minutes it seemed the whole town was rioting. Although some supported Won't-Believe, most of the people seemed to have taken sides with Conscience and Understanding.

  Diabolus sent a troop of shadow angels to arrest Conscience and Understanding, and after a brief struggle he had the two men back in prison on a charge of stirring up rebellion. This time Diabolus put them both in chains, making it impossible for either of them to escape if the door came open again.

  Early the next morning I was sitting with Talora on the town wall above the Ear Gate, when a piercing trumpet blast from below the town wall startled me -- but not too badly this time. We looked down to see that Captain Boanerges had returned for one last attempt at calling the people of Mansoul back to the King. It was very early in the day, and nearly everyone was still asleep. This time the people took ages to gather at the town walls, and when they did, some of them brought stones to throw down at the soldiers.

  'You poor people,' Boanerges called up in his loud voice, which echoed around Mansoul.

  Before he could say anything more, the people on the walls started to jeer and whistle, and throw their stones. 'Poor?' they shouted. 'We're not poor. We have everything we could ever want here in Mansoul.'

  CHAPTER 14

  Talk of Grasshoppers

  Captain Boanerges waited until the people quietened down. 'You do not know you are poor, for you do not understand the riches the King is offering. You do not know that he is generous and forgiving.'

  'Diabolus never said anything about this,' Choosing replied in his thin voice. 'As Captain of the Castle, Governor of the Town Walls, and Keeper of the Gates of Mansoul it is my job to decide who to let in and who to keep out. And you are definitely not coming in -- because you are telling lies!'

  'Would you rather trust Diabolus, or trust the Creator King?' the captain asked. 'Why do you think the King offers peace? Is he afraid of you? Of course not. He offers you peace because he loves you.'

  This set the people thinking, and it seemed that the whole town became silent.

  Boanerges didn't wait long. 'The King is so great,' he continued, 'that to him you are nothing more than grasshoppers on the path. If you do not move out of his way, he will crush you under his foot. Can you really turn away from him when he offers you peace and mercy?'

  'How do we know there really is a King?' Choosing asked, making others nod their heads in agreement.

  'Have you forgotten him so soon?' Boanerges called from the foot of the town walls. 'Look up at the sky.'

  Everyone looked up, expecting to see some great sign, but the sky looked the usual pale pink and blue of early morning.

  'So what?' an old man shouted.

  'Think of the stars at night,' Capt
ain Boanerges continued. 'Consider how far away they are. Look at the sun rising over the distant hills. Are you able to control it? Can you stop the moon giving you light? Are you able to count the stars in the heavens? Can you control the waves and waters? These are the works of the Creator King, in whose name we come to you today. He loves you. I plead with you to give yourselves over to him and trust him.'

  Choosing was so moved by this speech that he was about to order Won't-Believe and his men to unfasten the great beam that held the Ear Gate shut, when Diabolus appeared without warning.

  'Stop that at once!' Diabolus bellowed. Then he smiled. 'O my friends, you have every right to fear the King.'

  'That's why we're opening the gate,' Choosing called back.

  Diabolus continued to smile, but it seemed to be a very forced smile. 'You are right to fear the King. He wants you to be his slaves.'

  'No,' a group of young men and women replied, 'he wants us to be free. He wants us to live with him.'

  'Are you sure?' Diabolus asked. 'Then why does Captain Boanerges talk of grasshoppers in the King's path? If you are so interested in grasshoppers, I can be a grasshopper to you. I can keep you amused with all sorts of tunes, so you can pass your time in pleasure.'

  I noticed the people look up quickly in interest.

  'However,' Diabolus warned, anger in his eyes, 'I see that some of you are not wearing your armour. You must protect your hearts with my breastplate. Make good use of the helmet of Hope. Place it well down on your heads. Wear it always, and at the end of your days all will be well.'

  Everyone seemed eager to listen to this advice, and the people who had left off their armour ran home to put it on. Before long everyone was protected against the voice of the King's messenger at the Ear Gate. The few words that reached them they caught on their shields of Unbelief, throwing them to the ground and stamping them into the dust.

  Choosing had now made up his mind -- or maybe Diabolus had made it up for him. He leant over the walls and called to Captain Boanerges, 'Tell the King we would rather die than allow him to change our way of life.'

  As soon as the captains received this message, they and the King's soldiers withdrew. I noticed some of the people looked unhappy because Choosing had rejected the King, but their new armour quickly made them forget. While they wore their Helmets of Hope they could always hope that everything would work out all right. They could see no reason to concern themselves with the Creator King. Indeed, they told each other, they were probably much better off without him.

  I wanted to pull the helmets off their stubborn heads and throw their armour over the town walls. I know Talora would have helped me. I wanted to smash their foolish shields of Unbelief and force them to hear the King's message. But, of course, there was nothing we could do to help, because as I'm sure you know by now, this had all happened long ago. It's just that angels feel great disappointment whenever we see anyone rejecting the King, the Creator God.

  CHAPTER 15

  The King's Son

  The vision changed. I was back in Heaven with Talora, glimpsing a time far in the past. We listened while the four captains gave the Lord God a report on what had happened at Mansoul.

  'I made that town and the people who live there,' the Lord God told the captains, when the last one finished speaking. 'I offered them peace and love, yet they will not hear me. I cannot allow the people to remain unpunished. There is a price that has to be paid for the wrong they have done.'

  The King's Son came forward. 'Father, the time has come. I will buy their forgiveness with my life.'

  The King put his arms round his Son. 'It breaks my heart to let you go. The gates of Mansoul are shut fast, and Diabolus is in charge. But I have no choice. You must grow up in the town as a child, and be part of Mansoul. There is no other way for the price for sin to be paid, than by your death as a sacrifice.'

  The angels drew back in dread when they heard this.

  'My angels, you must not fear for my Son,' the King told them. 'He knows the awfulness of what lies ahead. And beyond the blackness there is a time of light.'

  Watched by several millions angels, the Father embraced the Son. 'Do I love you, my Son, or do I love my people even more?' he asked.

  'I am the Lamb,' the Son replied, 'to take their guilt and stain when I die in the town of Mansoul. Then they can be free.'

  I nudged Talora. 'The Lamb,' I said. 'That's what that picture of the slaves by the green river was all about, when we saw a perfect lamb sacrificed, and the blood spread over the doorway for protection. That's why the King's Son is called the Spotless Lamb of God.'

  Talora nodded. Don't misunderstand me, I wasn't saying anything new, for all angels know this -- but it seemed worth saying out loud.

  A gentle singing started, turning into a great and beautiful song of praise. The Son had agreed to leave the safety of Heaven, to be born in Mansoul. The Son was going there to fight and to win a great victory over evil.

  To see it now, brought fresh tears to our eyes. Maybe we started to understand it properly for the first time. No one can earn forgiveness, but people can accept it as a gift. A free gift that no one deserves.

  The vision moved on swiftly. We watched the King's Son grow up in Mansoul; watched him teach the people in the countryside and towns. Many listened and agreed to follow him, but Diabolus was always there, watching, waiting for the time when he could silence the Son of the Lord God.

  It was over so quickly. I clung to Talora in horror, and Talora clung just a tightly to me. The King's Son suffering with the whip and crown of thorns, before being nailed through his hands and feet to the cruel Cross. Death, the darkness of the sky -- and then the Son's victory over death. The joy of seeing him rising from the garden tomb, teaching his followers one last time, then returning to Heaven in triumph.

  Suddenly the vision was over, and we found ourselves wide awake in the shade of the large rock, back on the planet Eltor where we had started out.

  'It was so real,' Talora whispered, in tears. 'So very real.'

  I held her hand tightly. 'It was real.'

  'He suffered so much, Zephan. The Lamb of God, sacrificed to pay for the sins of the people. It's such a strange Universe.' Talora dabbed at her eyes, but I could still see tears sparkling in the corners. 'Here on Eltor there's only peace. On Earth I think there's nothing but war.'

  'War, disease, disaster,' I agreed.

  Talora nodded. 'But the vision has helped me understand more about the Creator's love for his people. You told me you'd been to the real planet Earth. Is there really a town of Mansoul?'

  The voice of the Lord God spoke again across the hot red and orange sand of Eltor. 'Why do you not ask me, Talora?'

  Talora smiled and shook her head. 'I'm sorry, Lord God,' she said. 'I forgot you had given the vision for a special reason. Do we know enough to serve you on Earth?'

  'Know enough?' the Lord God asked gently. 'You ask me if there really is a town of Mansoul, and then wonder if you know enough! What do you think, Zephan?'

  I swallowed hard. 'I know, Lord God, that it wasn't just a dream -- but please explain more.'

  The loving voice of the Lord God came across the hot sand of Eltor. 'Zephan, you only saw things as a picture. However, my people are Mansoul, and they are indeed like a town. Tell Talora what you saw when you visited Earth.'

  I looked straight at Talora. 'I asked the angel who was guiding me where the people were. I wanted to see if they looked like angels.'

  'But without wings,' Talora whispered.

  I laughed, but not very loudly. 'Yes, without wings. I saw people and castles. The angel told me each person is really like a small castle.'

  'What do you mean?' Talora asked.

  I jumped up in excitement. 'I understand now. Each person on Earth is like a miniature version of Mansoul. They can shut their doors and never let the Lord God inside.'

  'You have spoken well,' the Creator said. 'Do you want to help me enter those castles?'

>   The planet Eltor became hushed as we thought back over the vision. Diabolus and his followers had been terrible. It would surely be dangerous to meet them face-to-face in real life.

  'There are two castles on Earth where you can help,' the Lord God said. 'Castle Nadia and Castle Max. They are young castles, and there has been much prayer for them. Like the people of Mansoul, each castle has the freedom to choose.''

  'Choosing,' Talora said. 'Is he there?'

  I think Talora meant it as a joke, but was this the right time for humour? The Lord God had a quick answer.

  'Talora, you are right. Choosing and his companions are there, living around the castles, whispering to the owners. Sometimes they make a great nuisance of themselves. I, too, knock on the doors of people's lives. I can gain entry only if I am invited in, but many doors are tightly sealed, and the owners put up much resistance to change. Soon you will understand more.'

  'When do we go to Earth?' Talora sounded astonishingly eager. I wasn't sure she fully understood what we'd just been told about the danger.

  'You start immediately,' the Lord God replied. 'My Son will lead the attack, but you will not be able to enter any castles. That is not for angels to do. But you can, if you wish, listen from outside to what is being said -- and I am sure there will be times when this is exactly what you will do. Take no fear, I am far mightier than my enemy. I am the Creator God, the Lord God Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth.'

  We stood on the rock, two ordinary angels on the planet Eltor. The twin suns of Caspar had already dropped low in the crimson sky, ready for nightfall. We took one last look at the dark, fiery sky and closed our eyes.

  The sound of voices made us open them quickly. Again the sky had become blue, but the ground felt different than it had in the vision of Mansoul. It was now soft to the touch, green grass and brown soil. I pulled at a handful of long grass. 'This is real,' I said to Talora, as the blades came away in my hand. 'We really are on Earth.'

  We looked around in alarm. To have seen the Earth in a vision was one thing, but to be here now was almost too scary.