CHAPTER 5: The World Beneath
Far from being a dark and musty dungeon as you’d expect to find on the earth, this was a very well built, sanitized, streamlined and high tech facility. The only somewhat creepy thing about it was the utter absence of people.
“Good work, Annette!” Enoch said as they briskly walked down the halls of the dungeon. “This place is deep enough that it ought to lead to the central main network of halls and the rest of the ship. We need to move quickly though! I will ask the Lord for a miracle here, that there won’t be any lingering security technology. . . you just never know! This place doesn't look like it's been used in a while if ever.”
“Eleneth has practically zero security, you know! They don’t guard or protect ANYTHING, which is one oddity here. . . but I guess that’s the Heavenly Culture, though, eh?” Annette mused aloud.
“No, they do– you just don’t see it. You’ve been living in the protective bubbled city/nature area, which is meant to keep and nurture new souls such as yourself. Starlion is a rescue ship for souls. It was designed as you see it now not only to destroy the Enemy’s kingdom but also to help survivors who are in a particularly bad state to recover to the point that they’ll be in a better position to accept the Lord. However, I have been a bit impatient with their schedule as of late. This has practically led them into vacation mode here on Malacandria. We need fighters immediately! The spirit of the people here was mostly that of the typical Christians you’d find in the typical church on Earth– and these were predominantly a bit lazy. Heaven is no classless society, and there are entire populaces within Her that are composed of Christians who did not accomplish very much for the Lord. Actually what you’re seeing here is not much of an eternal reward, by Heaven’s Standards. They are doing a lot better now, though, since they decided to go to the battle frontier. I guess I didn’t explain this very well to you: Salvation, your eternal life, is free and you can’t do anything to earn it. You just have to believe and receive the Lord, accepting Him as the Son of God! But your reward and how much you get is based upon what you did for Him, and how much you forsook for the Kingdom, etc.”
They walked down a well lit corridor with small empty rooms on either side, like some kind of hospital. Enoch explained to her that most of the lighting in places like this was done with a special kind of crystal that would never stop shining, as long as it had a small vein of optical fiber running through the wall connecting it to a light source somewhere. Some crystals didn’t even need that!
"Those were the special kind Noah used to light the Ark during the Flood– glowing gems which could also be found in many of the foothills and wooded area surrounding Eleneth. . ." Enoch went on and on. He was full of curious information, but Annette drank it all in.
They passed by some areas which were quite profound- a mix of the high-tech hospital atmosphere, and natural cave formations with extremely high ceilings and stalactites which glowed vividly. The light appeared to be exposed veins of gold and silver as well as many other precious gems. It was quite a dungeon!
Enoch continued to explain that these were usually very deep chasms that were naturally formed, and so metallic platinum stairwells had been built into them, blended artfully with the rock. They passed through several hallways filled with empty cells and then down several more of these long stairways. As their pace had slowed a little, they were able to converse during their walk. Annette learned many things from Enoch, who took her through why she had been rescued early, and some details about her past life in Heaven. Sometimes what Enoch told her was over her head, but she listened intently and loved the sound of his voice, which both gave her a strange nostalgic feeling, and a sense of longing for things far away. She loved the mystery of what was taking place, realizing with a thrill that the shallowness of her former life wasn’t real, at least not compared to this.
“What do you say we stop here for a while? Prancer hasn’t radioed any emergencies as of yet, so I assume we’re pretty far from our pursuers.” Enoch said, offering to take Annette’s jacket like a true gentleman.
They sat at the bottom of one of the deep stairways surrounded by the glinting and shiny precious stones embedded in the stone walls– a miner’s paradise.
“Contrary to popular belief, the less you know, the less we have to unteach you. The worst thing for your discipleship today would have been if you were a seminary grad, or something like that. That was the condition of many of the people of Eleneth, which is why its culture is the way it is–Eleneth is sort of a training ground for newcomers to the Heavenly City that need to adapt and get used to the limitless freedom Jesus actually wants to give His people. There are many cities like this– the majority in fact!” Enoch said.
“Enoch, you said before you were taking me to meet the King of Heaven, right? Why don’t we talk to Him now? This is all His Kingdom, even if we’re on Mars now. I mean, this ship is a part of Heaven, right?” Annette asked.
“I am happy you asked! It’s better when you initiate something, in this case. I think enough has been forced upon you. Sorry I talk so much, I should be allowing The King to be doing most of the talking. Here.” Enoch reached down into one of his pockets and pulled out a small golden key, handing it to Annette. As soon as her fingers touched it, it started to glow.
“What’s this? Feels cool!”
“That’s the Key of Prophecy. Jesus is inside you now, and His Holy Spirit, but you are going to need this for unobstructed communication with Him during your many travels from now on. When you hold this key in your hands, focus your mind on Him and the Words will start to appear in your mind. Sometimes you will hear Him, and sometimes you may think you are imagining things. . . but take this as an opportunity to grow your faith a bit more! Soon we will be meeting Him in person, anyway. Here, let me try first and show you how easy it is.”
Enoch took back the key for a moment, and the aura of light around it changed to blue in his hand as he closed his eyes and began to speak. Was it possible he was going to speak the very words of Jesus Himself?
“Annette, welcome to My Kingdom! This is the Romance of the Kingdom– that I love you and desire you! I have looked forward to this time, when you would take the step by faith to receive Me, and Am so proud of you for saying yes to Me. The road before you is long, and hard for you to see now, but I invite you to My Palace! There I will tell you face to face My eternal undying love for you. Thank you for your patience with some of my children here in Eleneth. They are also destined to accomplish great things in My Name, but have a lot to learn still. Now won’t you let Me speak My Words through you? Take the key!”
Enoch handed it back to Annette, and she closed her eyes. At first she didn’t see or feel anything, but the comfortable tingle of the key in her hand made her want to relax. She didn’t feel any magical words appear, but there was a picture in her mind of a shed in the backyard of her childhood home. She used to play out there when it rained, and make little houses in the sand. She felt the feeling of being very much at home, and comfortable – and creative! She had no idea what she was about to say but she just opened her mouth anyway and began to speak.
“You were always Mine, even before you knew it. I knew that you didn’t need to know My Name right away, because it would have made little sense in the place you were in. I am sorry I did not choose to reveal Who I Was until today, but it had to do with the choices of many other people. I will keep leading you on, My Annette, and you don’t have to worry. I want you to take time in My Spirit and feel My Love.”
She fell silent, and there was only the sound of some distant water drops splashing from above, echoing around them in the deep cave. Enoch smiled at Annette, who had tears in her eyes. She handed him back the key.
“You’re probably used to that, right? I mean, that’s something you can do anytime you want. I just want you to know that was really, truly special to me.” Annette said.
Enoch
affectionately brushed back some of the strands of hair hanging down over her eyes.
“His Words have different effects on everyone– and here it’s easier to notice these effects physically. I don’t even really completely understand how the weapon of Prophecy works… but it is always beneficial!”
Enoch took back the key in his hand, gazing at it like he’d never seen it before. It seemed the air around this key was rippling.
They kept walking, finally finding their way to the lowest point in the whole cave network. It looked more like an underground living area instead of some sort of dark and dank prison as one would expect. They found themselves before a large door, with panels that contained a bright glowing yellow and green gel.
“When we go out there, just play it cool, and if anyone talks to you just smile and let me do the talking. They'll think your some newly picked up soul here on a tour, which will basically be what you are anyway," Enoch said.
The door opened and Annette gasped at the quick rushing of air, which carried with it the scent of honeysuckle. Before them towered large tropical ferns, and beyond that was a large open area stretching far into the distance for miles Everything was well lit with what appeared to be a miniature artificial suns - the light seemed so alive that you just thought "small sun" when you saw it. It didn't feel like electronically generated light. Birds echoed everywhere and the sound of rushing water was also quite loud. There was a silver metallic walkway suspended over more of these massive tropical ferns and also flowers down below, with small streams running under these, but this wasn't the ground. It seemed as though the waters were also on supported platforms with earth and yet were themselves suspended above even more tropical plants far below. The ceiling was about 100 meters or so above them and you could see windows looking in from above, and large light blue lights and fog machines, or atmospheric generators creating a pleasantly warm climate inside. A large macaw flew up to them and landed on a branch.
“HELLO!” said the macaw, and Enoch looked at Annette with an expression of caution. She didn’t respond.
“Hi! We appear to be somewhat lost here. Could you show us to the exit?” He said nonchalantly.
“Sure!” replied the macaw, bowing in a parrot way, which consisted of bobbing his head several times politely. “Follow me!”
He flew to a branch a little ways down the walkway. There didn’t seem to be any people around, so they were able to enjoy the scenery a bit more uninterrupted. There were many panels with flashing lights on the railings on either side, every so often that reminded you that you were in an artificial environment. Otherwise it seemed more real than a real jungle. It reminded Annette of a Disneyland ride with its fake or controlled environments. However, this was obviously not fake! Life was coming out of every inch of this place. Every breath made Annette feel so refreshed! Any nervousness she had before was gone.
After a while they came across some people wearing uniforms strolling through the walkways. It was a couple happily chatting as though they were on vacation, although obviously they were of some kind of high rank and most likely on duty. They merely cheerfully nodded at the intruders and continued on their way. The parrot was patiently waiting for them to catch up to it before flying ahead a little ways, so Enoch and Annette continued on. After a little while they started talking again, as the journey turned out to be a long (and beautiful) one.
“So tell me, Mr. Enoch, are we ghosts now? How is it everything feels so real?”
Enoch kept walking, and without a word he plucked a tropical leaf hanging over the railing from a very exotic looking plant and showed it to Annette.
“See this leaf?”
Annette nodded her head. It was a long green leaf that looked like it belonged to the fern family, but actually she couldn’t be sure. Even though she did have some botanists in her family tree back in the day, she hadn’t really studied enough to know much about that. It had glowing blue outlines which were very unearthly, and it also gave off this interesting scent that wasn't at all unpleasant.
“Do you think this leaf is alive?” Enoch asked, with a rhetorical tone in his voice.
“Why, yes, but it will die soon.” She responded, interested.
“Yes, that's what you'd think, right? Ah, except this is the Heavenly Domain where nothing can ever die… but let's say this is back on Earth. On earth if you pull a leaf off a tree then it’s going to die. Well guess what? In many ways you are like this leaf, having lost your life back on earth. Actually everybody who is born on Earth is born under the curse of Death. The clock’s a-tickin’ from day one. You don’t get off of that train until you crash and it’s all over. Everybody dies. Right? Wrong. Jesus came, saved the planet, and anyone who is connected to Him and anyone who BELIEVES in Him will never die. It’s like He’s the Root, and if you get connected with Him, then even if somebody plucks your life out, it can easily be reinstated to the Source of All Life. However there is a temporary shift, as you are going from one to the other. If your body dies, your spirit goes into the Spiritual Dimension to roam free a while, and this cannot indeed interact with the physical world. At least not yet. Actually the days are coming when all that is in the unseen realm will be manifested in the seen realm. The only thing that’s going to matter is Which Side you have sworn allegiance to. Now that you have received Jesus and decided to serve Him you are ok. But what can be said about all those that reject Him? Scary. But now we’re in this Flux Realm, where we are still unable to really interact with the physical unless the Lord ordains it."
"But how is it that there are people from outside visiting Eleneth and interacting with all these "spirits" on board? Weren't they physically from Mars, or Malacranberria or whatever you called it?" Annette asked.
"Good point. Contrarily, here on Malacandria we are in direct contact and interaction with the inhabitants. This is because they are already used to dealing with spirits— Holy Spirits, that is. They are wise and only work with those who are in league with Jesus and the New Jerusalem… So this is a good place to be for us! I hope that answers your question. Still, none of this will completely make sense until the day when all creation is completely redeemed and the Son of Perdition is completely cast out. So hold on tight! There is yet much to learn, and many mysteries to uncover.”
“I sort of get it, I think!” Annette said, as she stared at the leaf Enoch had given her.
It's surface had a gooey oil coming from it, similar to aloe vera. She took some of this gel and rubbed it between her fingers, and that was the last thing she could remember doing before the world faded from her eyes in a snap.