Heaven and Hell (4 page)

For the first time, love was more than sex, deeper than a physical sensation. Love was caring and nurturing, and in the arms of Chris, it grew stronger as the years passed. Chris claimed over and over that it was Christ within him that allowed him to love her as he did. At first, Serena wasn’t so sure that she was buying that explanation. After all, how could the spirit of a long dead prophet live inside of her husband? Still, there was clearly something wonderfully different about Chris. He had a sweet spirit about him. It was that aspect of his character that had initially attracted her to him.

To please her husband, Serena continued to go to church with him. That was the goal foremost in her mind. She even became involved in the charitable activities of her husband’s church.

For Serena’s sake, Chris had done his best to take an interest in some of the things that motivated her, short of compromising his own relationship with his God. Therefore, attending renaissance fairs and the like became an integral part of their lives, and had given rise to the medieval scholar character Chris played at the events. To him, it was a small price to pay for his wife’s happiness.

Those five wonderful years passed before her quickly—the sweet Serena lived once again. Her husband had become her whole world. His love had changed the course of her life. Yet somewhere along the road she had missed something crucial, her husband’s love for God. Now she feared that omission might separate them for all eternity. She hoped against hope that she was wrong. After all, she had changed so much during these past five years, did so much good.

Surely, God would realize that, it was in the vision that played out before the courtroom for all to see. She wasn’t the woman she had been. Through her husband’s church she had clothed the poor, fed the hungry, and visited the sick. She had done all of these things cheerfully and without complaint. Didn’t Jesus say that whenever you did these things for even the least of God’s children, that you had done it for Him? Maybe, just maybe, it would be enough.

It was difficult to say how much time had transpired when the images before her finally faded. She gazed up at the figure sitting on the throne; He seemed deep in thought. Then He turned His gaze toward the angel who stood behind the podium. “Does her name appear in the Lamb’s Book of Life?”

The response was immediate and definitive. “No, Lord, her name does not appear in the book.”

God’s eyes turned toward the woman kneeling before Him. “Then the time has come to pass judgment upon you, child. Serena Farnsworth, the books have been opened, your life’s deeds have been reviewed, and you have been found wanting. Do you have anything to say in your own behalf before judgment is cast?”

Serena was shaking all over. Somehow she’d hoped that these proceedings would have gone a little better than they had. Chris had warned her about this day, he’d practically pleaded with her to utter those few simple words. Why hadn’t she been able to put her belief in that pagan goddess aside? The goddess wasn’t here to save her now. Only Jesus could have done that. How easy it would have been to avoid all this, to have said the prayer of faith with Chris, but now it was too late.

But what about her husband? God had just addressed her by her maiden name, not her husband’s name. What could that mean? Her fate was sealed, she knew that. Her concern now was for Chris. She gathered up her courage.

“My husband,” pleaded Serena, tears flowing down her cheeks. “What’s going to happen to him? Please, Lord, please tell me.”

The mighty figure upon the throne gazed into the eyes of the distraught woman. There was compassion in His eyes.

“Peace, be still, child. He of whom you speak is no longer your husband. That is why I call you by your maiden name. Years ago, he accepted the gift that I had offered him, the gift I offer to all humanity. My only Son was sent into your world to prove to all the reality of my love. He became the perfect sacrifice, paying the penalty for the sins of all humanity. Through His sacrifice, all people gained the right to be called my sons and daughters. Chris is now my son, through an act of faith. He dwells even now with a great multitude in Heaven. Let your heart not be troubled, he is in my hands now and forevermore. But you, child, you are no daughter of mine. Nor are you any longer the wife of my son.”

The radiant figure rose slowly to his feet. All the while His eyes remained fixed upon the woman before Him.

“Even as you go into outer darkness, know that My mercy endures. I know how dearly Chris loved you. To realize that you were in the hands of satan would burden him with grief for all eternity. Surely, you would not desire such a destiny for him. For this reason, I have removed all memory of your existence from his mind and from the minds of all of the saints. For them it will be as if you had never existed. You shall remember the love you shared, but he will not. It is best that things are this way, for his sake.”

Serena’s despair deepened, as she felt a gentle hand upon her shoulder. She looked over to see the angel who had guided her to this place. He motioned for her to rise to her feet; she complied.

“Miss Serena Farnsworth, you shall be removed from my presence and that of the saints,” commanded the mighty being before her. “In outer darkness you shall abide, a place of wailing and gnashing of teeth, there to dwell with satan and his angels until the day of final judgment. Let it be done.”

The angel guided Serena to the left, away from the judgment seat of God. Before her, a great amber vortex opened. Serena could sense the vast void, the emptiness that was a place without the presence of the Spirit of God. The swirling undulating corridor arched downward, downward into the eternal abyss reserved for the damned.

For an instant, Serena turned to behold the face of God one last time. She was surprised to see sadness upon the face of the Creator of the universe. Even now He grieved for her.

“Come, child,” bid the angel, taking her hand in his. “We must go.”

Serena watched the great courtroom fade into the mists as she was drawn into the vortex. She sensed she was falling as she and the angel plunged headlong toward places unknown.

S
ERENA felt a sense of profound nausea as she plummeted through a confusing corridor of swirling turbulent clouds, occasionally illuminated from within and without by ragged bolts of lightning. She heard the low rumble of thunder and felt static electricity coursing around her as she plunged into the netherworld. As she proceeded ever deeper into the abyss, the environment grew darker, more sinister. The glowing clouds around her seemed to lose their luminous energy, fading to gray ragged masses of oozing vapor. Then she saw what looked like a tunnel suspended in space, a portal leading to the realm of the damned.

Gray clouds swirled into the tunnel like waters descending into a drain; and as they were swept in, they vanished into the darkness. It was a terrifying sight to behold, like a special effects expert’s version of a black hole. Yet, unlike a black hole, the walls of this tunnel appeared not to be composed of swirling vapors, but rather of dark shadowy rock that faded away to a realm of total darkness the deeper they went.

It didn’t make any sense, it was surreal, and yet its form was unmistakable. How could such a thing be? It was like an enormous cave, miles wide. Near its mouth, something caught Serena’s eye. It was there for but a moment; then gone. A long slithering form like a titanic snake emerged from its lair and into the light, then retreated to lurk in the shadows, just out of sight.

She looked to the angel who continued to firmly hold her hand in his. The angel’s wings were fully extended now. He turned and pivoted, navigating his way amidst the turbulent clouds and swirling eddies of this eerie realm. He drew her closer to him as the turbulence increased, as they grew closer to the dark and chilling passageway.

Again the form appeared, much closer this time. It was not so much like a snake as it was like a winged dragon. There were frills around its neck, and coarse scales covered its long sinuous body. It turned, rolled, and pirouetted about the entrance to its lair. Only then did Serena see the others—a myriad of tiny forms, dwarfed by the mighty serpent, being swept along with the clouds into the darkness. They were humans, a great multitude of them, caught up in the ethereal winds and swept into the darkness. The great dragon watched them, every last one of them, as they tumbled helplessly into his lair. Here and there she saw a few who had angelic escorts, like herself, but most of them were alone.

It was then when Serena realized that the dragon was watching her. His gaze did not leave her for a very long time as she was swept toward him. Her heart was filled with terror at the sight of this netherworld behemoth, whose form now filled her entire world. It was more than just his appearance or size that frightened her, it was his aura. She could sense his evil—as though evil itself was incarnated in this fleshly form. A scream froze in her throat as he loomed closer. Then he abruptly turned away, focusing his attention on others.

As she and the angel passed into the realm of darkness, they were swept into the great tunnel, descending ever deeper. The thundering turbulence faded away to a dead quiet calm. It was an eerie blackness, vast and lonely that surrounded them. The other souls she had seen but a moment before had vanished into the darkness of this realm beyond God’s universe. Only the radiant angel, who held her close to himself, lent any illumination or warmth. Serena was certain that without him, this would be a place of unimaginable cold.

And there was something else about this place—an emptiness that penetrated to the depths of her soul. Never had Serena felt such a thing. It went beyond a sense of emotional depression; it was a somber melancholia that emanated from the very darkness itself. She couldn’t shake the terrible feeling; something fundamental to life was missing from this place.

The flight continued. Though the angel’s wings swept back and forth to a slow but steady rhythm, there was not a breath of wind left in their wake. Perhaps there was no air here at all. In that case, these appendages upon the angel’s back were not wings at all in the conventional sense. Perhaps they were some sort of exotic propulsion system. No, what was she thinking of? This couldn’t be a vacuum, she was still breathing, or at least seemed to be. No, she wasn’t thinking straight.

Serena’s attention was drawn to a point of light ahead. It looked like a star, the only star in a vast universe of total darkness. Though it seemed infinitely far off, it was growing steadily brighter.

Within a few minutes it had come to dominate her world, pushing back the dark nothingness, bathing her in an eerie amber illumination. The bright point of light became a phosphorescent disk, an expanding ball of radiance surrounded by the nothingness of the void. She could feel its growing heat. It was indeed a star, a lone sun, the only source of heat and light here in this dismal realm.

A moment later, a dark spot appeared near its center. This sphere of darkness grew rapidly, eventually swallowing up the great luminary, and plunging them into darkness once more. Yet as the disk loomed closer, Serena could see that it was not a true realm of darkness like that which surrounded it. Its growing rim was bathed in a halo of color, a yellow inner ring transitioning slowly to green and blue, with a violet fringe that faded into the blackness. Upon its gray disk, flashes of lightning swept through swirls of mists, while dull red illumination blanketed the landscape below. There was so much to take in. It was both frightening and awe-inspiring.

The strange new vista vanished, obscured by swirling clouds of gray. There was a return of gravity; and an instant later, Serena felt the floor beneath her feet. The angel’s wings folded and they were walking. The mists around them parted, and Serena found herself walking down a hewn stone stairway cut into a spiraling rocky corridor. It was an almost claustrophobic environment, illuminated from above by shimmering oddly shaped crystals of fantastic size.

“Where are we?” gasped Serena, trying to take in the unearthly environs around her.

“A small island in the realm of outer darkness,” replied the angel, glancing only momentarily at his frightened companion.

That wasn’t much of an answer. To someone who was new to this whole state of affairs, it was no answer at all.

“What is outer darkness?” asked Serena, who wanted to hear another voice just as much as she wanted to hear the answer.

“It is a spirit realm beyond your universe, beyond the creation of God,” came the reply, “a void, a place largely untouched by the hand of the Creator. Before the Father spoke the universe into existence, there was only a sea of nothingness. Outer darkness is the manifestation of that primal state.”

Serena looked around again. She didn’t fully comprehend all that the angel told her—everything was happening so fast.

“And into this sea of nothingness came the fallen, those who rebelled against He who had created them,” continued the angel.

“Lucifer and his angels?” asked Serena.

“Among others,” confirmed the angel. “Lucifer was the name given to him by God, but he long ago rejected that name, so great was the enmity between him and his Creator. He took onto himself a new name, as did the angels who followed him.”

“He became satan,” Serena said.

The angel nodded. “Here, he and his legions were to be exiled for all eternity, separated from their Creator. Here, they might ponder forever the bitter fruits of their savage disobedience. Even still, God was not without mercy. Amidst the sea of nothingness, He had spoken into being an island, this island, a place where one could stand upon solid ground, breathe life-giving air, and feel the warm orange sun. It was here, that lucifer and his wayward followers came to dwell. This was to be their prison until the day of final judgment. Only in this place would they be able to manifest a physical presence. Beyond this island, they would become but wandering spirits, without form or substance.”