

THE JOURNEY OF

THE DREAMER

BY M. D. HODGE

Published by M.D. Hodge at Smashwords

copyright 1991 M.D. Hodge

Cover art is from: Intervention of the Sabine Women

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of

the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial

purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own

copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

Contents

Forward

Prelude

The Journey Begins

The Glimmer

The Shadow Years Begin

The Darkness

The Candle is Lit

The Battle Fields

The Wall

The Flickering

The First Sojourn

The Second Excursion

The Sad Journey

At the Rear

The Deluge

The Island

The Realization

The Rebellion

The Lord Shall Provide

The Tree

Alexander

An Open Door

The Cross

Another Candle is Lit

A Judgment

The World Wars

A Mystery

The Seven Candles

Strategic Retreat

The Warning

The Wrath of God

The Witness

The Battle

The Millennium

New Jerusalem

Epilogue

Forward

Acts 2:17

And it shall come to pass in the last days' saith God' I will pour of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy' and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

This book even though a fiction has an important difference within it. That would be: that most of the dreams are the author's actual dreams. The most personal ones changed for privacy.

While most of the events that are not dreams are the fiction of this book.

The author's intent is to cause people to think about where they stand in their faith with

God and His Son Jesus. For even though the author was in his twenties when he wrote this book and breamed these dreams. He believes that he is one of the old men that has dreamed dreams and to this day still does. He is just not an old man as of yet.

Simply, we are in the last days. Be they the beginning of them. The middle of them, or the end of them. No one knows the answer, but God and His Son.

Prelude

Darkness surrounds the small form of a child. The sound of a heart as it beats is all the sound it hears except for the occasional voice of a woman.

"Timothy," comes a new voice to the child, a voice that is deeper in tone than that of the one he has heard before.

"Timothy, you shall be a sign of my imminent return. You will be rejected as I was, but in the end you shall be heard. Even though your voice shall be carried by another, but that other shall love you as I do.

"Now rest, child. The light of day is not for you right now. It is still several months till your lungs are ready to breathe air and your eyes are fit to be in the light of day. Rest in your mother's womb. Enjoy that which others are denied by their mothers, the warmth and comfort that can only be found within them."

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

:Missouri, Kansas City

:1960, February 14

:8:37 am

Gray clouds hide the blue sky from the people of the bustling city as they go about their business on a cold winter's day. On the busy streets of the city anxiously a young couple drives to St. Mary's Hospital in their 1953 Ford.

"Ohhh!" the woman says in pain, closing her green eyes tightly as she holds her enlarged stomach, her sweaty brown hair wilting around her face.

"Hold on, Sally! We're almost there," the blue-eyed man says as he looks at his watch to time the contractions. He runs his hand through his uncombed red hair.

Ahead of him he sees Garner, so he looks around to see if it is safe to make the turn a little faster than he normally would. He sees that it is not, and so he stops.

"Ohhh!" come Sally's reaction to the pains of birth as she looks at her husband.

"Hurry, Frank!" she demands with urgency. Looking both ways down Garner, he decides it's safe even though the light is still red for him. They arrive at the hospital moments later and pull up to the hospital entrance.

Frank quickly gets out of the dull green car, and runs around to help his spouse.

"I wish you would have said something sooner, honey. You told me last night you didn't feel right." She looks at him angrily, and he does not say another word as they enter the hospital admissions office.

A nurse looks up from behind a high counter-like desk in the rear corner of the large room. A few people seated in the many rows of seats look at the couple as they enter. Immediately the nurse shouts for an orderly and comes to help the young woman. She places one arm behind

Sally, and uses the other to help guide the pregnant female toward the quickly approaching wheelchair as Frank follows closely behind.

As Sally sits in the chair, the nurse grabs Frank by his arm as he begins to follow his wife. She turns him toward a regular desk next to the desk she originally came from behind and sits down behind it.

"All right Mr....?"

"Browning."

"Mr. Browning, we have some papers for you to fill out, and then I'll show you where the waiting room is," explains the nurse as she pulls an immense stack of papers from a large drawer on the right side of the desk.

:1:43 p.m.

Nervously Frank sits on the edge of the waiting room chair. He looks, for possibly the thirtieth time, at the clock on the wall and then looks again at his watch to see if it is still running.

'I hope everything's all right at work.' he thinks to himself. Sally said he was becoming a workaholic, but he felt he needed to make more money especially because of the new baby.

`I hope my boss is not too mad at me, He seemed okay when I called him and told him I would not be in today.' he thinks, again looking at the wall clock. `I don't want to lose this job. It might be a small one, but one of these days I'll get out of the mail room.' He stands, and moves at a moderate pace over to the window as he passes the thirty mostly empty chairs in the room.

"Excuse me," he says to the nurse seated at the little desk on the other side of the window.

"Yes?" She grudgingly replies.

"Could you tell me if you've heard anything about Sally Browning?" he asks, slightly shocked by the nurses look of anger at being bothered. Then he remembers that it is possibly the hundredth time she has been questioned by him, as well as by the other fathers in the room, and so his shock eases.

"No, we haven't Mr. Browning; we'll call you if we do," she says without even checking into the matter. He turns and goes slowly back to the far side of the small room, where he had been seated.

`One of these days I'm going to have a business of my own, and I'm going to give this child everything, but for now I've got to keep my mind on college, and trying to get that accounting degree, so I can move up in the company.'

:4:47 p.m.

A nurse comes up to the red-haired man as he looks at a copy of Life magazine for the tenth time.

"Mr. Browning?"

"Yes?" His head snaps up as the fatigue vanishes from him and is replaced by anxiety.

"Would you come with me?" she asks as she turns and begins to walk toward the door to the waiting area.

"Yes, ma'am!" He almost shouts as he nearly jumps from his seat, and begins to follow her.

They turn left as they enter the hallway and pass several doors before the nurse opens one of them.

Inside the room he sees his pale wife lying in the hospital bed, which is slightly raised. In her arms she holds a small child. He strides quickly into the room, but just as he passes the door, his gait slows. Almost cautiously he walks to the side of the bed as he looks into his wife's eyes.

Tears begin to well in his eyes, blurring his vision.

"Hi, honey," he says timidly.

"Hi, Frank," she says, in a slightly weak voice as she reaches out with one hand and takes his.

"Look at our son," she says as she takes her hand back from her spouse and moves the blanket slightly to reveal more of the small reddish face of their baby.

"I want to call him Timothy," she says.

The father of the small form says, "All right."

THE GLIMMER

:Utah, Salt Lake City

:1968, April 23

:10:18 am

It is a beautiful sunny day as a young, awkward boy with dark red hair, walks slowly down his neighborhood streets. He is dressed in finely ironed dark blue slacks, with a white short sleeve shirt. He looks down at the gray paperback book in his hands, and notices again the stick-drawing pictures within it. He begins to think about what he learned today in Sunday school as he looks up at the saddle of the mountains that tower over the houses on the east side of the city.

He looks at the green blanketed slopes with his hazel eyes and thinks of the man the book talked about the most. A man he has seen in several movies and in a paint-by-number painting in his own home. He thinks about that painting and wonders what He was praying about upon that rocky hill as a light shines down on Him from Heaven. In the background are the silhouettes of the other men that look a sleep, and still the boy contemplates what it all means.

`Well maybe they'll say something about it at church next week.' the eight year old boy says to himself as he turns the corner to his street. He once again looks at the mountains and sees Mt.

Olympus directly before him. Again he feels the joy of living in the shadow of this creation of

God and the love he feels for this city.

His pace quickens as he feels the urge to ride a board down the small irrigation ditch that runs through the back yards of all the houses on his side of the street. Water runs in the ditch only two or three times a day. So he plans in his mind to get to his friend Jimmy's house. The two can help each other take turns riding down the concrete ditch by removing the metal plate which is used to dam up the flowing water.

:April 24

:7:04 am

It is a Monday; for Timothy it is another day at school. Belle Vista is the name of the school, which the young boy feels means `grand view,' for that is what it is to him as he walks to school with the mountains looming above it. It is such an image that causes him to remember his dream from the night before. He recalls walking, on top of the curb on the west side of the large paved playground. He recollects slipping once and as he does so, he spies an unusual rock. In his dream he bends down to look at it more closely; and as he does so he notices the saddle of the mountains again.

He returns to reality as his mind leaves the thoughts of his dreams behind. He looks at the crossing guard as she signals him and several other children across the busy street that separates his subdivision from the school; and so the school day begins.

`This is the only thing I don't like about this place,' he thinks to himself, beginning to dread the long day ahead a thought that possibly every child with him has thought, but for him there is something different in the way he feels about it. It is not the schoolwork that disturbs him, but just a feeling of being out of place. Tim just cannot put his finger on the problem, but he does not look hard to find it either.

:12:28 p.m.

Recess and it has been a very uneventful day for the most part. The schoolwork has not been too hard, and Timothy's teacher, Miss Ushio, tells the class she has a special announcement she wants to tell them at the end of the school day. He wonders if it might be a field trip to the zoo, or the planetarium, or maybe even the Mormon Tabernacle. He remembers going to the museum of the Tabernacle, but he has never been inside the church itself. He thinks about why he has never been in it as he walks along the curb of the west side of the playground.

`It must be a great place in there' he thinks to himself. Suddenly he loses his balance, and one of his feet slips off the curb. As this happens, he sees a strange black, and shiny stone lying upon the paved surface next to the curb. He bends down and looks at it as he picks it up.

`Uhm, I wonder what this is,' he thinks to himself, kneeling; and then he turns his head towards the mountains. He looks at the saddle of the mountain as the sun shines fully upon it and is awed by the beauty of the scene before him. He then quickly stops as he remembers his dream from the night before. Puzzled by this he sits there a moment in shock. Then the bell rings, calling him back to class. As he goes, he again looks at the mountain and tries to understand what has just taken place.

:2:01 p.m.

"Class," the slender Japanese American teacher says, causing the twenty students in her class to look to her. With a large smile upon her face she begins to speak.

"Class, I have an announcement to make.----------- At the end of the school year I plan to get married. ----- It will be in the Tabernacle, and I want all of you to come."

The children all respond joyously as some of the girls in the class go up to Miss Ushio and begin to talk to her.

"Oh, this is great!" says one girl sitting two seats to the left of Tim. She is talking to yet another girl seated in front of her.

"Yes!" Tim replies, so happy for his teacher that he wants to talk with someone about it. "I can't wait to go!" The girl looks at him with a questioningly superior look.

"What do you mean you can't wait to go?" the second girl asks arrogantly.

"I can't wait to go to the wedding," he says more clearly, confused by her reaction. He knows that they do not get along, but he still tries to be the girl's friend, even though she always shows him nothing but hate.

"You can't go!" she states strongly. "You're not one of us!" She and the other girl get up from their desks, both looking at the young boy as if he is crazy.

Timothy watches them as they go up to their teacher's desk. The joy he has just felt leaves him just as they have. Shocked and bewildered by the girl's statement, he sits there looking up at the crowd around his teacher's desk. A loneliness begins to rise within him, and he does not know why.

`What does she mean, `...not one of...them?' he thinks to himself as his earlier self-awareness of being different starts to grow larger within him.

THE SHADOW YEARS BEGIN

:Illinois, Naperville

:1973, May 25

:1:41 p.m.

Tim has grown into a young teenager. He is thirteen now, and school is still a difficult place.

Now, though, it is in his studies, as well as the feeling of not being accepted by the other students at the school. He has tried many times and ways to fit in but it never seems to work out.

He asks himself repeatedly, almost daily, `what can be the problem' but he can never find the answer. This day has been a particularly hard one on him. He confides to a boy, that he has considered a friend, that he has a crush on one of the girls in his class. He soon notices that the entire school is aware of his feelings for this girl. Several of the `hotshots' of the class have hassled him about these feelings. He also observes that the girl in question is avoiding him. Hurt and confused by these events, Timothy enters the last class of the school week. Making him feeling even more out of place than he usually does.

The class is Social Studies, taught by Mr. Evans, a young teacher with new ideas about teaching.

This class is one of Tim's better subjects in school. He has been going to special classes twice a week to help him with a reading problem, which has become more pronounced in the last five years. It is also this class that causes some of the reticule that he has had to deal with.

"So, `Brickhead' I hear you got a crush on Carry. Ugh!" a boy says as he enters the room. Carry looks at Timothy a second and then turns to whisper to her best friend. Tim quickly moves to his seat, without saying a word. Embarrassed beyond any means of comfort within the room, he feels the eyes of everyone upon him. Disgraced not only because of what has just been said, he is now beginning to realize just what everyone thinks of him. He has tried his best to fit in with the people at his school, but it just has never quite worked. He is friendly to everyone, and most of the time he thinks they return his friendliness, but now he sees that it is all a lie.

Last year he had even tried out for the basketball team, but was soon cut from the team due to his lack of coordination. So he became the "Manager," which was nothing more than a glorified water boy. Now he knew better than to do that this year, because that is when he first began to notice the other students' attitude toward him here in Naperville. This year he just stays around a few people he feels he can trust, but after this experience he realizes he can never trust anyone again.

Time passes very slowly within the class. It soon feels to Timothy, as if the class will never end.

Whispers begin to reach his ears from the boys in the class. The insulting name of "Brickhead," he had first thought was about his hair, but he now perceives that it is also in reverence to the fact that he is going to the special education classes. Simply, he knows that they think of him as the class dope, and at this moment he feels every inch of one.

Finally the clock shows that there are only fifteen minutes left in the class, he can no longer take the insults and jabbing words. He jumps up in the class and begins to yell at all that are there as they look on, shocked by the sudden outburst.

"I've had it with you jerks! Why don't you just leave me alone? Why do you always have to pick on me?" he shouts as the teacher jumps up from on top of his desk, where he has been sitting.

"Tim!" he shouts. "Sit down! Stop it!" He appears confused by the sudden explosion by one of his students.

"No, I won't sit down!" Timothy shouts back. "I've had it with these jerks. They insult me and make fun of me, and they hate me!"

"Tim, sit down this instant," the young teacher orders, more determined to regain control of his class. Timothy notices this and slams back down into his chair.

"Now, stop this behavior, right now," Mr. Evans demands. In response Tim places his head down between his arms upon his desk and soon begins to cry. His teacher returns to teaching the rest of the class.

:3:17 p.m.

Timothy unlocks his front door and enters his house. He does not say a word, for he knows no one will hear his words. His father is hard at work as an accountant now for a company in downtown Chicago, for which he had started out as a mail clerk. His mother was most likely out socializing with the other homemakers of the subdivision, possibly playing bridge. He remembers back a short time ago, when the bell rang for the last time for that week of school. He remembers raising his head and seeing Carry look at him sadly, but what type of sadness he wondered. Was it a sadness for him, or for herself, or possibly both? Now he does not care if it is either. He had made up his mind as he rode the bus home that he will harden himself so no one can ever hurt him again.

He places his books on the counter in the kitchen and goes to the refrigerator. He looks at the food and drink within it and decides that none of these will do. He walks across the kitchen to a cabinet next to the sink and opens it. There he sees what will satisfy his tormented mind. He removes three bottles from the shelves and grabs a glass from a cabinet on the other side of the sink. Removing the lids from the three bottles, he pours a little of the liquids from each of them.

Carefully he replaces the lids and places the bottles just as he had found them.

He raises the half-full glass to his lips as the full aroma of the liquid fills his nostrils. He stops as the bitter odor reminds him of the taste. After a short pause, he remembers how relaxing it is, and so he begins to drink. It is just a sip at first as he swallows the harsh substance, burning as it goes down his throat. Soon the glass is empty. He washes it clean, then dries it with the towel in the sink, and replaces the glass in the cabinet, just as he has done several times before.

His head feels lighter, and he begins to feel the anguish leaving his mind; the liquor has done the job he wanted it to do. He then walks up the stairs and into his room, shutting the door. He places a thick stack of records on his player, after which he lies down upon his bed. Within a few seconds the loud music begins as he falls into a semi-sleep, always aware of the rock and roll music as it plays. He feels relaxed and unable to be hurt by anything or anybody, and it fills him with satisfaction.

:1975, May 30

:1:56 p.m.

Mr. Pope, a tall brown-haired teacher, drags a dark red-haired freshman down the hallways of

Naperville North High School, towards the vice-principal's office. The boy just intentionally tripped one of his fellow students, in plain view of the teacher as he begins to watch the students of his study hall. The boy goes along smiling all the way, proud of himself for becoming just as mean as his fellow students had been to him a year and a half earlier. His haughty attitude is also due to the fact that it is his last day of school. This is due to the fact that his family is moving again. The fourth move in his fifteen years of being on this planet of mean and self-serving people, as he sees it. For him all past memories have been erased. He has no recollection of going by himself to church in Salt Lake City, or of the snows on the plains and mountain ranges of Montana before that. For him there is only the present, and he is going to enjoy it by being as mean as possible to as many people as possible. As they turn the last corner towards the office, the young man sees a familiar face. A face he had once thought often about, but now only hates, as he hates all the faces he has ever known in any of his schools. He turns his head back to look at the two girls that now follow behind him.

"I hope I never see either of you ever again!" He yells proudly back at Carry, and her best friend.

"The same here!" Carry's friend says, as Carry looks on with a shocked expression on her face.

It is a look Tim knew he will never forget, as they vanish from view, as Tim and the teacher turn another corner. Tim is now even more proud of himself. Saying these last words in Naperville makes this year complete for him. Now he is ready to leave this hated school and all with it. He is leaving behind him only enemies, after destroying whatever friendships he might have had by becoming just as he thought the other had been to him. As he walks down the hall joyously, he thinks to himself that this event is made even more enjoyable, by the fact that he has just drunk a large serving of whisky.

THE DARKNESS

:Tennessee, Memphis

:1975, August 10

:1:34 p.m.

It has been an easy summer for Timothy. He is not troubled any longer by the pressure he had experienced in Naperville. His drinking has cut back, but is not totally stopped. He walks many times in his new surroundings and thinks deeply about his past. He even remembers back to when he lived in Montana, and in Salt Lake, like the times he had gone to church alone. As these memories fill his head, he recalls the absence of his parents from his life.

He recognizes that they fed him through the years, as well as clothed him, but in important things he comprehends that it was he, and he alone that he had to depend on. His father had become totally engulfed into the world of business. A world that took so much of his time that at the end of the day he would come home, change into a robe, and drink whisky in front of the television.

Soon after this, he would grow tired and fall asleep in his recliner. While this took place Tim watched his mother become the socialite. She became so involved with so many social activities that when Tim returned to where he lived, it was usually to an empty house. A place that was assumed to be a home, but it never really felt like one.

Now Timothy hopes things can become different. They have moved to Memphis, to start a new life. His father has opened a business of his own an enterprise that his father has said would be for Tim and him to run together. This gives Timothy a feeling of hope. A glimmer that his relationship with at least his father will improve. Already his mother is out hunting for the social life, which she had buried herself into in Illinois.

Tim stops his stroll and looks at the pool in the townhouses into which his family has moved.

Sitting in a lounge chair is a girl around thirteen years old. She is wearing a purple football jersey, which totally covers her thin body to just above her knees.

"Hey, Christa," Timothy calls, as the curly-brown- haired girl looks up to see the red-headed young man standing by the wrought iron fence that surrounds the pool. As she stands and begins to walk over to him, he notices part of the cut-off blue jeans hidden by her jersey.

"Hi, Tim. Are you going to come swimming today?" She asks as he glances at her hazel eyes and then quickly looks at the pool.

"I don't know. I might," he replies.

"Well, the others will be here soon, and we were thinking about playing `Alligator.' Why don't you go get your swim suit, and join us?" she asks him in a tone of friendship, a tone that Timothy had not heard very often in his fifteen years.

"All right, I'll be right back!" he says with a big smile on his face. He turns back down the sidewalk toward his townhouse.

"Okay then, see ya in a minute," she says as she smiles at him and then turns and goes back to her chair.

Later that night Tim walks slowly back to his home, as he holds each side of the beach towel wrapped around his neck. He smiles as he thinks about all the fun he has just had. He thinks back upon the game they just played, and how much fun it was leaping into the water as he attempted not being tagged by the person in the pool. He giggles a little to himself as he remembers only being touched twice, and each time it was by Christa.

Timothy knows that he likes her. She is the first girl that he has ever felt relaxed around. He knows that she is his friend, and he likes that. Girls have always been a problem to him. There were many times that he liked a girl, and so he approached them, asking if they could start a relationship, but it never worked. None of the girls he liked, except one, ever liked him. They thought he was strange in some way, and it nags at his insides as he remembers that fact.

`I promise that I will never do that again,' He thinks to himself. `I'm not going to ruin this friendship.' Again he recalls all the fun he had and walks into his home.

He looks at the television as he enters. A John Wayne movie is on, as his father sits in his lounge chair in just a robe and underwear. His eyes never leave the set as Timothy slides the glass door shut and locks it. He walks out of the family room, through the kitchen, where his mother looks at him.

"Now put those wet things in the laundry room," she says as she takes two glasses of liquor into the family room.

"All right," Tim replies as he goes up to his room and changes. He returns downstairs a short time later and places his wet swim suit and towel in the laundry room. He looks at his parents as they continue to watch the movie. He leaves the room, with no one saying any words to each other. As he reenters the kitchen, he looks at the bottles of liquor set out on the counter. For a moment he thinks of having a drink. Then his mind is filled with the laughter of a dozen kids, splashing of water, and the voice of a friend shouting, "I got you Tim!" So he turns to the refrigerator and takes out a can of cola and walks back up the steps. An hour later he is in bed asleep.

The sky is totally black, as Tim looks down his old street in Salt Lake City. Front porch lights from the houses on each side of it slightly spread their light upon it. As Timothy cautiously walks down it, he feels a strange sensation in the air, a perception that frightens the young man as he looks into the darkness at the end of the street. Suddenly he hears what he was afraid of hearing - voices, hundreds of them, shouting and yelling angrily. The fear grows stronger as he stops in the middle of the street. He looks to his right, and standing there is Christa, fear showing in her widened eyes. He looks back towards the end of the street as hundreds of people emerge from the blackness, all running after the two of them, hatred and anger written upon their faces. The young couple then turn down a side street in an attempt to escape the mob. As they continue their head-long flight, they somehow become separated. Feeling the loss of her hand from his, Timothy looks around and finds that she has vanished. He turns to look at his pursuers and sees that they are almost upon him. He begins to run; but as he does, he trips on something and falls to the ground. He looks up to see himself surrounded. He looks at the faces filled with total hatred as he sees them raise the clubs and sticks that are in their hands. The weapons begin to fall toward the teenager, as he leaps up from his pillow upon his bed.

He looks out the window of his room to see the sun rising. Still shaking from the nightmare, he begins to get out of his bed.

"Not again," he says to himself. For he knows he has dreamed that dream before.

:Tennessee, Memphis

:1978, June 19

:12:28 p.m.

Tim awakens from a dreamless night a night forgotten, except for the pain within his head, and the uneasy stomach that tells him he has again been drunk. From a window on the right side of his room the sun shines into his room as agonizing pain begins to shoot through his skull. So he reluctantly rises up to pull the curtains shut. He looks at the clock beside his bed and sees that it's almost time for him to go to work.

He goes to his closet and opens it looking at his clothes. He removes his slacks and shirt along with one of his ties, which his father likes him to wear and places them on his unmade bed. He goes to the bathroom in the hall and closes the door, locking it behind him. Thirty minutes later he walks out freshly showered and shaved as he returns to his room. He shows all the outward appearances of being ready for another long day at the business, but on the inside he totally dreads every moment of it. Within ten more minutes Timothy is ready for work, and so he leaves his room and goes into the kitchen of his parents' house.

"Morning Mother," his says as best he can, continuing his years of hiding his drinking problem.

He opens the refrigerator looking for something to eat.

"Good afternoon!" She replies in a humorously jabbing tone. Tim notices and stops looking in the refrigerator.

"Well I think I'll go and get something to eat at McDonald's," he states as he turns toward the laundry room, which is where the back door is.

"Bye!" He shouts back and is out the door. He gets into his beat up '69 Ford station-wagon and is immediately met by the smell of alcohol. He inhales the smell deeply and feels his headache ease somewhat. He starts the engine, places the car into reverse and is off to work.

:3:45 p.m.

Timothy has been working for almost two hours at his father's electronics store. An overwhelming feeling of boredom fills him with the need to get into one of his secret caches of alcohol that he has hidden throughout the store. He heads toward the rear of the store. Then suddenly the bell rings, indicating that a customer has entered the store. He returns to the showroom of the store, and is immediately confronted with a familiar, but somehow different face. The young woman returns his look.

"Hi, Tim. Long time no see," she says with a slight smile from her full lips, as she moves her curly brown hair from her hazel eyes.

"Christa!" Timothy says surprised to see her. "It's been around two years since I saw you last."

"I know." She states. "I've been back in Memphis for about a year now."

"I thought I'd never see you again, after you moved to Boliver."

"I thought I'd never see Memphis again," she responds with a small giggle.

"What'cha been up to?" he asks quizzically.

"Oh, just going to school. I just finished the eleventh grade."

"Well, that's great. What brings you here?" Tim asks as his mind fills with the memories of the good times they had at the townhouses and of the times they had spent just talking.

"I just, uhm, wanted to look around and see if there was something I might need," she says, walking around the store and looking at the receivers, turn tables, and other items in the room.

The bell again rings as another customer enters the store, and Timothy turns to greet the individual with a wide smile.

After he takes care of the customer, Tim and Christa begin to talk once again. They continue this the rest of the day until Tim closes for the night, only being interrupted occasionally by a customer.

"Do you want to go and get something to eat?" she asks as he locks the doors to the business, and sets the alarm system.

"Sure, why not?" he answers and they go to his station wagon.

"Where do you want to eat?" he inquires as he opens the passenger door.

"Oh, how about, uh, McDold's?" she answers.

"McDold's it is." He says as he shuts her door, again looking at her face, as he realizes she has become quite a beautiful young woman.

:11:52 p.m.

The house is totally dark, as Timothy walks instinctively through the black hallway to his bedroom. As he turns on the light to his room, the brightness of the light matches the feelings that fill the young man. He then undresses, gets in bed, and lies there thinking about the events of the past day. It has been a day filled with the renewing of memories and the happiness of a friendship restored. It is a feeling that he carries with him in his thoughts as he drifts into a deep sleep for the night, totally unaware that he has gone the entire day without a drink.

The sky is a bright gray. Tim looks at the sky line of the city and wonders where he is, but at the same time he senses that is it is a place he has been to many times. He looks at the trees around him, the homes, and the cars on the street he is walking down. In the distance he sees the metal towers for the high voltage wires that power the great city further down the road.

His mind is still filled with the bliss of his talk with Christa. As he thinks of the words that they had shared, he feels light on his feet, and so he pushes himself off the ground. His stomach reacts to the sudden change in direction, but the sensation soon changes to that of a light headiness. He suddenly has a perception of total control, but at the same time he is aware that he is lighter than anything around him.

He leans forward, and begins to fly over the houses and streets below him. He looks at the people below, totally unaware of his presence, as they go about their daily activities. Soon he is over an open field and so he swoops down, heading for the ground below, and then pulls up sharply only a few feet from it, gaining speed as he does.

The energy rush begins to overwhelm him, as he begins to move ever faster. He soars through the air, turning and twisting past an occasional tree, as he flies low over the hills below him.

"Agh!" He shouts as pain suddenly erupts diagonally across his back. He begins to plummet towards the ground spiraling down ever faster. He feels as if he is shackled in irons. Pain flows through him as if he is an airplane ablaze. He tries to right himself; but just as he feels the sensation of control begin to return, again the feeling of an object like a huge baseball bat is slammed against his back. Once again he screams in pain, but the agonizing sound does not end until the air is pushed from his lungs as his body slams into the hard unforgiving surface of the earth.

He lies there in total darkness, fully aware that it is only because his eyes are closed.

"You cannot fly!" A harsh voice shouts from above as he feels the presence of a dark form above him. "You are mine, and I will keep you for my enjoyment."

Timothy opens his eyes and begins to look up toward the voice; but as he does so, pain explodes across his back again.

"Do not look at me. I have not given you permission, Scum!"

"Why are you doing this to me?" Tim painfully asks, but no answer is given to him as the alarm clock beside his bed awakens him. Shivering, he begins to sit up. He feels a sharp pain shoot through his back a pain so bad that he reaches into a cabinet beside his bed removes the bottle that is within, and begins to drink.

THE CANDLE IS LIT

:1980, August 20

:2:45 p.m.

`What have I done to myself?' Timothy asks himself as he lies upon his bed, his head down between his folded arms, his mind racing back through the last few years. Continually he sees himself drinking in his mind's eye. He feels himself losing control of his life, making little mistakes here and there, which had called for a quick reaction on his part to make a capable decision. He fails though to make the right decision three times out of five or just does not act fast enough. The bottles he has hidden in several places throughout his father's business has grown from pints to quarts, and from two to three or four. He does not know which. He is also aware of just how many times he has come close to killing himself, while driving intoxicated. He remembers that once he could dream at night, but now there is only a black void in his life from the time he lies down, till the time he wakes.

The only bright spot in his life is Christa. He had started to date her earlier that year, and found her to be his only refuge from the bottle. When he is with her, he is happy with his life, he feels he can do anything, and be anything. He knows that he is in love with her, and in a way he feels she is in love with him. He is happy with these thoughts. Thoughts like one day marrying her, doing things together, always together.

"No!" He almost shouts, as he realizes what he was thinking.

`Yes, I love Christa, but I'm using her as an escape from the liquor!' He shouts to himself within his head.

`What is it she said the other day? "Only he has the answers," but who is "he."'

"I need to call her." He says as he reaches for the phone.

:3:42 p.m.

Christa walks into Tim's room and looks at the dark- red-haired man, his hand bushing his light red mustache, as he lies upon the bed.

"Timothy, what's wrong? You sounded depressed," she says as she sits on the edge of the bed near his head.

"Christa, I'm an alcoholic, and I need your help," he says as he looks up at her, his eyes red from crying. He sees the shocked expression on her face.

"I never noticed. How long have you been like this?"

"I think it began when I was twelve or thirteen." Again an astounded look appears upon her face as she leans over to lay her head upon his back.

"Oh, Tim, what have you done to yourself?" she says with deep concern.

"I don't know. All I do know is that I want it to stop. Please help me, Christa. I.... I love you," he says as the tears return, and he hides his head within his folded arms.

"And I love you, Timothy, very much. I think I always have."

"Who is 'he.'" he asks, unexpectedly, as he raises his head again, surprising the young woman, as she wipes back her own tears.

"He?" She asks, as she lifts her head, from his back.

"Oh!" She adds, now aware of whom Tim is talking about, as the memory of the conversation she had with him the other day comes to mind. "He is God." She slides off the bed to her knees, so she can look at him face to face, with a gentle smile upon her own.

His mind flashes back to a sunny day of a small boy as he looks up at the mountains. He remembers the church he had gone to in those two short years he had lived in Salt Lake City.

"The only times in the past eleven years that I have heard about God have been with the accompaniment of a curse," he says, saddened by this fact.

"Haven't your parents talked to you about God?" she asks as she wipes the tears from his cheeks.

"No, we hardly talk at all, unless it's business with Dad or laundry with Mom," he replies harshly.

"Tim, God loves you. He loves you more than I ever could."

"But what good does that do me?" He asks, not knowing what she means.

"Jesus, is God's only son. God sent him down to us, so that He could die in our place." She starts to explain, but then sees the puzzlement in his face. "Every person on this planet is a sinner. We were born a sinner, because of what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. Because they disobeyed God, they sinned; and when they sinned, every one of their off-spring, which all of us are, carry on that original sin within us. So humanity became aware of what was good, and what was evil, and by this we are able to choose what will please God, and what will hurt God. God also knew that there were to be good men and women, so He gave them a way to return to His favor. At first it was through the sacrificing of lambs or doves, but finally the ultimate sacrifice was God's only Son. That was Jesus, and He grew to a man, but at the same time He was God.

He never sinned in any way, shape, or form. All He did was preach the love of God and warn humankind to stop their sinning against Him, but for the most part they didn't listen. Finally one day there were these men that were in charge of the Jewish religion. They had grown tired of

Jesus and His teachings, and so they had Him arrested and then killed. Unknown to them though was the fact that He knew they were coming for Him. He could have run or not even gone to

Jerusalem, but He knew what He must do for His Father, and that was to die.

"Just before they arrested Him, He asked to be left alone. In that time God poured into Him every sin that every man and woman would commit. So when they whipped Him, they were also whipping the sins within Him. When they hung Him on the cross to die, they were also killing every sin that every person would commit, from cursing to murder.

"When He died, Timothy, He took your sin of drinking with Him. All you have to do is ask Jesus to come into your life, and He will purge you of your alcoholism. The blood that He shed for you shall be poured over you, and it will expel the sin from you.

"Come down here beside me, and we'll pray together," she requests of him, and he does so.

"Now follow what I say, okay?" He nods. "Jesus, the Son of God."

"Jesus, the Son of God."

"Please forgive me for my sin against Your Father."

"Please forgive me for my sin against Your Father."

"Come into my life, and free me from the bondage of Satan."

"Come into my life, and free me from the bondage of Satan."

"And particularly help me to be set free from alcohol."

"And particularly help me to be set free from alcohol."

"Thank you Lord, for the gift of Your Son for us. Amen."

"Thank you Lord, for the gift of Your Son for us. Amen."

She turns to look at Tim, and she sees that the pain has left him, and so she wraps her arms around him, and he does the same to her.

:11:45 p.m.

Timothy and Christa spend the rest of the day talking to each other. For the first time since she has re-entered his life, they have acted as they did when they had first met. There were many times in the past two years that they had talked, and had fun; most of them in the past few months. None though were an equal to that first summer they knew each other, but this day is different. It is as if a barrier that has been between them has been taken away. They talk mostly about his problems he had from the time of his early teens. They also find time to talk about their feelings for each other, and even a little more about the Bible.

Before she leaves for the night she asks him if he has a Bible. He tells her that he does not, so when he walks her out to the car, she reaches in and hands him one that she always keeps in the car. He takes the black covered book and begins to read the New Testament, as she had asked him to after he returns to his room. As he reads it, some of the words he remembers from his childhood days in Salt Lake City, but most are new and exciting to him. He reads without stopping for three hours, but finally he does stop as a sudden tiredness comes over him. As he lies in bed he remembers the walk he had taken those many years before as an eight-year-old boy. He remembers his thoughts of who was the man they were talking and reading about at church, and he feels a joy rise inside him. He now knows the answer as his eyes slowly close in a relaxed anticipation of a goodnight sleep.

He finds himself walking through a forest that is dark and foreboding, but in front of him he sees the sun light splintering through the leaves of the thick timberland. He walks into the clearing, which is where the light hits the forest floor. Immediately he notices a brick building sitting on the opposite side of the glade. It appears to him to be a school of some type, and so he begins to walk toward it.

He then observes that he is not alone. Only a few yards away on either side of him are two people, and beyond them are yet others. They wave to him, and he returns the wave in kind; a smile is on everyone's faces, as they all emerge from the dark woodland behind them.

As they all converge toward the entrance of the structure, a man walks out of the double doors.

His white robes are in contrast to his shoulder-length dark hair and beard.

`Is this Jesus?' Tim thinks to himself.

"Yes, Timothy, I am Jesus," He replies. "Come, follow me." He turns and enters the building through the open doors, and everyone follows Him inside.

The hall is long with many doors on both sides of it, but Jesus does not stop until He reaches the far side of the extensive corridor. He gestures for them to enter a room on the right side of the hallway. Within it are thirteen long tables with twelve chairs around each of them, except for the one at the front of the large room.

Tim discerns as he and the other adults walk towards the head of the room, that every nationality is most likely represented by the one hundred forty four children sitting in the chairs. He looks closely at the children most with happy looks upon their faces; others though look tired or sick.

One child that Timothy sees almost makes him cry; his dark brown skin clings to his skeletal form as a white child lets the weaker one lie against her.

Once all the adults are standing at the front they hear the voice of Jesus.

"Feed, my children." Then one by one the children pass in front of Tim and the others. As they do, the men and women take a can from the table that is at the front of the room and hands it to each child as he goes by. At first Timothy believes he is helping to feed the hungry, but soon notes that most of the children look well fed and cared for. So he begins to wonder what he is doing.

"You are feeding them the knowledge of God and of Me," Tim hears the voice of Jesus softly say to him.

Time passes quickly as the young man continues to hand out the cans of food, and then finally there are no longer any cans or children. He turns to look at the others with him and finds that they too have gone. Timothy begins to look around, in search of the others, soon finding himself in the hall again.

He hears a clanging sound, like that of glass hitting glass, coming from behind a door on the left side of the corridor. He walks over to it and listens. He hears no other sound come from behind it, so he begins to open the door slowly, to try to discover the cause of the earlier sound.

It is dark within the room, but he senses that there is something there, even though he begins to feel a strange sensation of loneliness growing within him. The door closes behind him, and lights within the small chamber begin to brighten, as an awareness of total isolation erupts within him.

His eyes widen in desire as he sees the large glass before him. He perceives a clear brownish liquid within it, as a familiar harsh smell reaches his nostrils. He reaches out to the table at the center of the small room and encircles the glass with both of his hands. He begins to drink. This time though, something is different; this time the sadness does not slip away. Instead it begins to increase, and he starts drinking more and more in search of the relief. He feels a great depression start to overwhelm him when the contentment fails to come.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK. He hears at the door behind him. He turns and looks at the door and then at the glass within his hands.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK. Comes the sound once again. He places the glass down upon the table and walks back to the door. He begins to reach for the door but suddenly feels as if he is drowning within the ever deepening sorrow of loneliness. His hand stops inches from the door knob.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK. He hears once again and he opens the door. Before him stands

Jesus, who immediately causes Tim to realize that he has sinned. He falls to the ground and touches the sandaled feet of the Man he had so many years ago wished to hear and know more about.

"Forgive me Jesus!" He says as the guilt envelops him, hardly aware of the two hands gently grasping his shoulders. The feeling of the hands upon him causes him to look up; and as he does so, he looks into the face of the Son of God.

Timothy looks into his eyes, which produces an eruption of joy and at the same time a peacefulness rushing through his entire body. He knows even without a word being spoken between them that he has been forgiven.

"Come...," Jesus says as He turns and starts to walk away from the doorway and down the long hallway "Follow Me" and Tim does so.

:August 21

:8:21 a.m.

Timothy suddenly awakens from his dream, totally aware of all that has transpired. Quickly he reaches over to the phone beside his bed, and dials out the phone number as hastily as he can.

The voice of a groggy woman answers.

"Mrs. Vonholt, this is Timothy Browning. I know it's kind of early, but could I please speak to

Christa?" he asks, ashamed of himself for not thinking.

"Oh, Tim, of course, just a minute," she says in a slightly cheerful tone as she places the phone down. Several minutes pass before he hears another line pick up.

"Timothy, what is it?" he hears the voice of Christa ask, in a slightly irritated tone.

"I have just had the most fantastic dream...."

"What?" she almost yells, interrupting him. "You woke me up to tell me you had a dream?"

"Yes, but...."

"Now look here, Tim..."

"Christa, wait!" The tone in his voice causes her to realize something is important in what he has to say.

"Timothy... I'll be right over." She says as she immediately hangs up the phone. Leaving the kitchen, she returns to her room shutting the door behind her.

"Christa?" comes the voice of her mother at the door.

"Yeah, Mom?" She replies, quickly dressing.

"What's going on with Tim? What's this about a dream?"

"Mom, were you listening?"

"Well, I was just starting to hang up the phone when I heard the two of you arguing, but why over a dream; and, for that matter. Why is he calling so early in the morning?"

Christa opens her bedroom door just as she finishes pulling her shirt down, over her still sleep-strewn hair. "Mom, don't worry about it, okay? It's no big deal."

"Then why are you going over to his house?"

"I just have to. For some reason I just feel it might have something to do with Timothy's asking

Jesus into his life last night." She runs out the side door of the house that opens onto the driveway beside the house. She gets into her mother's car and within a few minutes is pulling out onto the street.

As she drives down the streets heading towards Tim's house, she begins to think back on something her grandmother Hill told her once.

She was about ten then, a small, thin girl. She was playing ball with her two brothers when she saw her two older sisters talking to a young man that had driven over to their grandmother's house. Which is located on a side street off Getwell Road.

"Christa!" She heard the familiar voice of her grandmother. She threw the ball she had just caught to her older brother and then ran into the house.

"Yes, Grandma?" she almost shouted as she ran into the house.

"Come over here and sit by me," her grandmother asked from the couch. Christa quickly went over to her and almost jumped onto the sofa.

"Honey, I want to talk to you a minute," the elderly woman began to speak, her voice age-worn.

The young girl looked intently upon the year's drained face of someone she loved very much.

"You know how I have read to y'all, the Bible and such?"

"Yes, grandma."

"Well, I feel it is important that I talk to ya, about what happened to me at church this mornin'."

She places her arms around Christa's little form and brings the child close to her. Christa places her head upon her grandma's chest.

"I was sittin' there singin' the hymns when suddenly I heard this voice inside of me. It said, `Tell

the little ones about me,' and so that is what I'm doin'.

"I've already talked with your sisters and Joey, and now I'm talkin' to you, and then I'm going to talk with your little brother later; but first let's just you and me talk a little, all right?"

"Okay, but who's this voice?" Christa asks as she looks up into her grandmother's face.

"Well, it was Jesus' voice I heard. You see He is the Son of God, like I told ya when I read to you. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be here today. Ya see when I was about your age, I became real sick. I had Polio, and it was so bad that I couldn't move anything, but my head. I was startin' to have problems breathin' when the doctor told my Momma that I might die. She got real angry at the doctor, and threw him out of the house. It made me laugh even though it was hard to do so.

"Then she came over by my bedside and told me that I was goin' to be all right. She knelt down then beside my bed and she began to pray. I don't know how long she did this, but when my

Daddy came home from the fields, he couldn't get her to move. I don't remember too much after that, but I do remember that it was about a week after Momma threw out the doctor, that he came back. He was totally shocked when he saw me sittin' up in bed, and eatin' mush with my own hands."

"You mean Jesus healed you like the blind man in the Bible?"

"Yes, child, he did," her grandmother said with pride and joy.

"But I thought He lived a long time ago," Christa said.

"He did, but what's important is that He's alive right now."

"You mean right this minute? But how?"

"Because He's God, but He was also a man. He came into this world a long time ago so He could learn what we as human bein's feel, and how we think. So that when the time came for Him to die for our sins, He could do so to make it possible for us to stand before His Father once again without shame. For every person on this earth stands useless before God, until they ask Jesus into their lives. Once that happens, then God can use them to help others to find His Son."

Tears come to the young woman's eyes as she turns down the street that Timothy lives on. Still she continues to remember the day she asked Jesus into her life. She thinks of her grandmother who died only a week later; but at the same time she is happy, for Christa knows that her grandmother is with God and Jesus, in heaven. So she wipes the tears from her eyes as she stops the car in the driveway.

She gets out of the car, after looking into the rear view mirror to make sure no evidence of the tears remain. She walks to the back door, located on the arbor-covered patio of the brick house and then knocks. Within a few moments the door opens quickly to reveal the rough, but handsome, face of the man she feels she has fallen in love with.

"What is it, Tim? What dream?" she asks as he steps outside to join her. He explains every thing that happened to him as she listens quietly.

He sits down in the swinging chair that is suspended from the arbor. Pain is written in the creases in his forehead as he recalls the part of the dream that dealt with his sin of alcoholism.

"That's fantastic!" she comments as he finishes. She walks over to the chair and then sits beside

Timothy. She looks at his fiery hair in the early morning light and then into his watery hazel eyes.

"Tim, I love you, and we need each other," she says as she places her hand into his larger one.

"Will you marry me?"

Timothy's head snaps straight as he hears the words and looks with shock into her hazel eyes, and sees the sincerity within them. "But... I just said I was as...."

"I know that, but you and I can fight it, with the help of God, together."

"I love you too, Christa,....... and if you really want me, yes I'll marry you."

THE BATTLE FIELDS

:October 25

:2:41 a.m.

The clashing sound of thousands upon thousands of swords crashing into each other vibrates over yells and cries of the forms that wield them. Timothy finds himself looking up at the forms of dozens of men and women around. All are wearing white garments, much like the ones worn by Roman soldiers. Over this vestment is a blue breast plate, and upon all their heads is Trojan-like helmets, but with a broader neck-guard, and no mane-like form going back over the top. In their hands are short swords, which seem to glow with energy of their own. In their other hand is a shield, and upon the shield he sees a white star of David against a blue background. Lying over the star is a red cross.

"Let me help you up, brother," a man says as Tim looks up to see the tall black man before him and takes the outreached hand.

"Where am I?" Timothy asks.

"This is one of the battlefields of Right and Wrong," the person explains.

"This is where all the people of God come to fight the evils of Satan. We fight for our salvation, as well as for the salvation of others, and it is through prayer that these battles are fought.

"But if these battles are being fought through prayer, why are you wearing armor and carrying a sword?"

"For the same reason you are." Timothy suddenly looks down at his own clothing and sees that he too is in armor.

"This is a spiritual battle, and so this is a spiritual battlefield," the individual continues. "This is the armor of God we are wearing: the vestments of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, as well as the shield of faith, and most importantly the sword of the Spirit."

"But what about our shoes?" Tim asks, remembering the verse from Ephesians. `And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.'

"Look for yourself," the man says gesturing toward the ground. As Tim looks, he sees the only difference in all the people around him as they push their way towards the sound of the fighting.

The person before him is wrapped in large strong sandals with large over lapping leather straps going up his calf to just below his knees. He looks at others in the throng that seem as if they might be bare foot. He spies one man who has set himself upon a boulder, and is rubbing his feet through the thin sandals that are so thin they appear to be almost transparent. Timothy then looks at his own; they are strong looking, but at the same time the straps upon them look thin and weak as if they might tear at any moment.

"With time they will become stronger," the man remarks then disappears into the crowd of blue and white forms. Tim tries to find the man again, but he cannot. So he turns his attention toward the sound of the battle before him. He feels his right hand resting upon the hilt of a sword, and he looks down at the gleaming grip. He grasps the sword with his left hand and draws the two-and-half-foot-long sword from its sheath. He looks at the gleaming instrument and looks at the words engraved upon the blade.

"Through Truth and Faithfulness, shall a Christian honor his LORD, JESUS CHRIST."

Timothy turns his head in the direction of the conflict before him. He, too, then begins to walk toward the front, which is a line that divides the good from the evil, a boundary between those of

God and those of Lucifer. As these very thoughts pass through his mind, Tim sees the horde of the evil one for the first time.

He stops quickly as he looks at the creatures before him. Grotesque forms, some ape-like, while others are human- like in their basic appearance. He looks at their deformed faces, which make him feel the need to vomit, but he fights this sudden and unwanted urge. He watches the fighting before him as he stands upon a ridge a short distance from the conflict. Unexpectedly a new form appears in the midst of the children of Satan. The huge form stands over all that are around him, both good and evil. His features are dark like those about him but not marred with the deformities of the others.

At the moment of his appearance a breach opens within the lines of the creatures of the devil sending hundreds of Christians into the opening directly in front of the enormous being.

Suddenly the colossal form draws forth a immense broadsword, with fire leaping from the gigantic blade. He begins to swing the fiery weapon back and forth into the blue and white warriors before him. Tim hears the screams of the injured individuals.

Rage builds within him, and so he charges down the ridge toward the giant. He pushes those around him aside. Within a few seconds Timothy pushes his way into the breach forging his way through the retreating soldiers, ever advancing toward the towering creature.

CLANG! Is the first sound he hears, from the moment he first started rushing down the hill until where he now stands, with the giant directly in front of him. The being's fiery sword is inches from his face as the heat from the flames sends pain into his entire body.

"So, we meet again Timothy Browning!" His voice bellows out, as the huge form pulls back the sword that had hit the small man's sword only seconds before. Tim looks up puzzled.

Confounded at the statement the creature had just made, he looks at the dark face from behind his sword, which he holds tightly within both hands acting as an outgrowth from his shield.

"When last we met, I hit you with the side of this blade."

"So that's what knocked me out of the sky."

"Yes, and now I'm going to use it to bring you back," the giant says as he lifts the sword over his head and begins to bring the mighty blade down in a chopping blow.

CLANG! The sound reverberates through Timothy's ears once again, but this time it sounds somehow different.

"Enough, Dion! Take your horde and be gone, you traitor!" another massive voice says Tim opens his eyes, realizing the fateful blow he was expecting never came, and there before him stands yet another giant. He looks up at the broad back of the creature that stands between him and Dion and is awed by it.

"Very well, you puppet to God, I will go," the first giant says, and turns to his followers.

"Quickly, take our prizes, and move back!" bombs forth the command. As he does so, the second giant instantly vanishes. Dion notices the departure of his counterpart from the corner of his eye and stops his turn back towards his disciples. Timothy notices this but stops his defensive moves when he sees the behemoth looking in another direction. There what the small man sees in this direction shocks him. Several of the hideous creatures run up to some of the fallen forms of their enemies. They drag Tim's fellow soldiers behind the evil one's lines. Other soldiers quickly run forward and surround the other fallen forms as the creatures try to take them. The horde sees the oncoming warriors and quickly retreat to their lines as they drag those they can with them.

Timothy looks at one of the fallen still in the hands of Dion's followers. It is a woman who is bleeding badly from the wound she received from the giant's sword. He looks on in sudden disbelief as her helmet falls from her head allowing her long straight black hair to fall freely.

Unexpectedly her hair begins to shrivel. The breastplate falls from her limp form exposing the white vestment beneath, now red from the blood. He is immediately sickened, as the garment suddenly turns black from the red stain outward. Then the woman suddenly lifts her head revealing a now hideous face, where only a moment before there was a charming one. Tim hears yells and screams as he looks at the other followers of Satan. He looks on to see the ape-like creatures jumping joyfully about, as the newly deformed human-like creature joins in among them and turns to face her new enemies.

Timothy then looks at the trail of fallen armor upon the blood soaked ground and is amazed as one of his fellows begins to pick the armor up. The soldier then quickly walks over to one of the horde that lies injured upon the battlefield. She places the helmet upon the creature's head, and within seconds the creature's features and vestments change to that of one of the soldiers of God.

"Do not look so joyfully upon that scene, Timothy Browning," the mammoth voice of Dion pierces through all other sounds upon the battlefield. "For your armor can be given to someone else." Timothy looks up at the giant form just in time to see his fiery blade swooping toward him.

He begins to move in a defensive fall as he is caught totally off guard by the sudden attack, but he is too late. The sword hits him in the side, and Tim feels the blade cutting deep into him as the blazing steel cuts through his breastplate as if it were paper.

:4:49 a.m.

Timothy suddenly awakens from his dream, sweat running down his entire body like a shower.

He sits up right as the pain thrusts through his abdomen accompanied by nausea erupting within him.

"Tim, are you all right?" Christa asks as she sits up beside her new husband, the concern on her face barely visible in the dark of the hotel room.

"Are you having withdrawals again?" she says in a tone that tells Timothy he does not need to answer as she wraps her arms around his shivering form.

:9:03 a.m.

"I think you need to write down these dreams of yours," Christa says from the passenger seat of the new couple's Oldsmobile.

"Why is that?" Tim asks as he continues to drive the car down Interstate Forty towards

Nashville.

"Because when you have these dreams, they always have what I believe to be important messages. Messages I think need to be told to others."

"But don'tcha thinks they'll think I'm a nut or something?"

"So what if they do? Your dreams have a message in them, and everyone should have the chance to judge for themselves if they think you're crazy or not.

"Listen, you and I have been studying the Bible almost every free change we get, right? And ever since you asked Jesus into your life and had the dream about Him that very night, a lot of your dreams have been very religious. Haven't these dreams been helping you in your walk with the Lord?"

"Well... yeah, I think so."

"Then why couldn't they help others also?"

"You've got a point. I'll think about it, but in the meantime, could you answer me this? What was going on with those two people at the end of my dream?"

"Well the best I can tell, the girl must have given into her sins and have fallen, thus losing her salvation. This was represented by her losing her helmet; and when that helmet was given to one of the things, it was someone who had just asked Jesus into their life. So that person became one of us."

"But why her helmet?"

"I think it's like the olive branches in Romans eleven. Those who follow the ways of God stay in the bush, but those who don't are broken off and cast away. What that Dion said to you had to do with the rest of the verse, about the branches. That if you don't keep God's ways, you too can be broken off and replaced. That's what must have happened to that girl you saw."

"I think I understand that dream more now that you've explained it, honey.... thanks."

"You're welcome," Christa says as she returns her attention to the Rubics Cube she had brought with her for the short trip.

THE WALL

:Memphis

:1987, April 7

:2:04 p.m.

Timothy had called the pastor of the church his spouse Christa had attended for most of her life.

Pastor Millins talks to Tim a little over the phone about the book he had written about the dreams he had experienced. After they converse a little, the pastor invites Timothy to come in and see him. So the next day Timothy enters into the office of the Pastor, who is a tall individual with strong features in his face. Tim notices his broad shoulders and then looks into the pastor's dark eyes behind the glasses he is wearing.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Timothy. I know your wife's family. The Hills have been an important part of this church since before I came here."

"Thank you for asking me to come, Pastor," Tim says as he shakes his hand.

"Come sit down." Millins indicates a chair next to his desk, as he seats himself in a Victorian style chair just opposite him.

"So what's this book that you mentioned?"

"Well, it's about these dreams I've experienced since I was saved in 1980. Christa and I feel they can help others in their walk with God, or even in helping them to come to God."

"Hmmm.... very interesting. So are you a member here?"

"Ahh... no sir... not yet. I feel that God doesn't want me to become part of any one church at this time, but I may someday."

"You mentioned you had two boys?"

"Yes, James Michael and Joshua Nathaniel."

"Are they going to our school?"

"No, not at this time. Right now they're going to Evangelical."

"Ah, yes, Evangelical. That's a good school."

"We selected that one because it's close to our home off Germantown Extended."

"Yes, I see the convenience in that. They have some classes at Fundamental Church, don't they?"

"Yeah, that's where our boys are going."

"Well, so how can I help you with your book?"

"What I was hoping you could do was, in your free time, that is. Ah, could you read it over, so I could have your opinion on it?"

"I see.... well, if you could leave a copy of it with me I'll see what I can do," the pastor says as he stands.

Puzzled by his sudden movement, Timothy also rises to his feet and hands the typed pages over to Pastor Millins.

"Well, thank you for coming by, Tim. I enjoyed our little talk. I'll try and get back with you in about a month."

"Okay," Timothy says hesitantly as the pastor places his hands on Tim's back, gently directing him toward the door.

:11:46 p.m.

That night Timothy and Christa talk about the events that had transpired at the church that day, and now both lie asleep in their king size waterbed.

The music of "Onward Christian Soldier" begins to fill the ears of Tim as he looks down from the balcony in the sanctuary of the church of Pastor Millins. Timothy sees the congregation below him, and for the first time notices the age of the people there. Most of the people below him are in their fifties or older, with a slight sprinkling of younger people among them.

He looks down at a lady in a black and white dress, who is wearing a large-brimmed white hat.

As he looks on, he sees another elderly woman try to catch the first woman's attention. He

watches the woman as she gestures at her own hat and reads her lips as she says; "I like your hat," to the first woman.

"Tim," a voice calls out from above, and so he looks upward.

"Warn them, Timothy. Warn them that this church is dying. They no longer search for me or hear my call."

:June 15

:9:21 a.m.

Tim waits for Pastor Millins to call him, but the call never comes. Impatient to wait any longer he picks up his phone and dials the number to the church, which is answered by a lady.

"Yes, ma'am, this is Timothy Browning. May I speak with the pastor, please?"

"Please hold," the woman says as the click of the button is heard, placing him on hold. He waits several minutes before the phone again becomes active.

"Tim, this is Pastor Millins

"Thank you for talking to me, pastor. I've been waiting for your call..."

"Yes, I have been very busy. So busy, in fact, that I haven't had a chance to read over your book."

"Oh, that's all right," Timothy says, trying to hide his disappointment. "I just wanted to tell you what happened to me that night after we talked...." He tells the preacher what happened in his dream.

"Oh..... That's very interesting, Tim.... I'll look into the matter. Ah... thank you."

"You're welcome, pastor. Bye." After the pastor returns the farewell, he replaces the phone in the wall unit.

:June 20

:3:29 p.m.

Timothy calls the youth pastor at Fundamental Church and comes at the appointed time to speak with him. He has been waiting for almost half an hour when several teenagers come into the front room of the pastor's offices. Out of boredom, Tim listens in on the conversations between the two boys, and the three girls that have come into the reach of his hearing. They talk and laugh about a trip they have all been on. What unexpectedly catches Timothy's attention though is when one of the boys turns to the other and begins to talk about a joke he has heard. He pulls the other boy over to the opposite side of the room from the girls and whispers the witticism to the other.

`If you can't say it aloud in front of girls, it shouldn't be said at all,' Tim thinks to himself and shakes his head slightly just as the door to the pastor's office opens to reveal a short, balding man with gray hair.

"Timothy Browning?" The man looks at Tim as he stands from the chair he has been sitting in.

"Yes, sir," he says as he shakes the man's hand. They go into the office and sit at the man's desk.

They talk for almost half an hour when they finally finish.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you out, Timothy. It sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders, but as a youth director I just don't see what use I can make of your material."

"Well, thank you for your time anyway." Tim says as he shakes the man's hand and leaves, again disillusioned.

:July 12

:10:20 p.m.

Timothy has been working for the past two weeks on his new plan at getting his dreams out to the church. It hurts him that no one in the church is open to his thoughts, but he is still determined not to fail. He has retyped the entire book in a smaller type and has made several little books with the help of the local library's copy machine. Christa has tried to talk him into not doing what he is planning, but she cannot reach him.

A year ago, on their anniversary, she took him downtown to the County Court House. There they were met by an attorney she had hired. The three went into the civil court room. Once in there, all in the room were sworn in by the bailiff. Shortly afterward the judge entered the room in his black robe. He sat down, and placed his reading glasses upon his face. His honor looked at those in the room and then at some papers before him.

Tim heard his name called, and so stood.

"Come before the bench." The elderly magistrate said as he looked over the top of his lenses.

"Are you Timothy Browning?" The judge asked him, and he replied affirmatively, puzzled even more by these strange events as his name was called.

"Do you wish to change your name to avoid any legal action or for any monetary reasons?" The judge then asked, as total surprise entered Tim's eyes. He looked at the beautifully rounded face of his spouse, suddenly aware of what was happening.

"No sir." Timothy replied. "I'm just tired of not having a middle name."

"Then let it here be known that `Timothy Browning,' shall now be known as `Timothy Micah

Browning,' from this day forward."

The memory fades as the now Timothy Micah Browning is more resolute than ever to show that he has become a full Christian, with the sandals of a man prepared with the gospel of peace.

He parks his Pathfinder in one of the few parking places left in the packed parking lot of the huge Fundamental Church. He is dressed in his best suit, and has his pocket full of the fliers he has made about his book he has written, and how it can be obtained.

He begins placing the fliers on all the cars in his reach. Happily he smiles at a few of the last-minute church goers when suddenly a man stands in front of him.

"May I ask what you are doing?" the individual asks in an angry tone.

"I'm just placing these fliers on the cars so the people can have a chance to get the book that I wrote." Timothy shows the man the fliers and one of the books he has brought with him for just such an event.

"Do you have the permission of the church to do this?" the person demands, his tone even worse than before.

"Well, not really," Tim states.

"Then get the hell out of here!" the man shouts at him, which causes Timothy to look in shock at the man.

"But it's Christian material. I mean I'm not doing anything wrong."

"I don't give a damn!!! Just get out of here!!" the man shouts once again, in a vicious way.

"But....."

"Leave now!!!!"

So Tim turns around as the anger of being treated so badly by this man begins to boil within him.

He walks back to his car, followed by the man that yelled at him. He enters his truck, and backs out of the parking place, rolling his window down as he does so and shouting out.

"I feel sorry for you when you have to stand before God!"

"Get the Hell out of here!!!!!" the man replies with pure hatred in his face, and Timothy leaves.

"Within minutes he is home. Christa walks up to him as he enters the house. Immediately she sees the anguish written on his face.

"What happened?" she asks as she wraps her arms around him.

"They kicked me out of the parking lot," he replies as he begins to cry, shattered by the events of the past few months.

THE FLICKERING

:Memphis

:1989, February 14

:7:38 p.m.

`I smelled it on his breath again,' Christa thinks to herself as she cleans up the kitchen from the birthday party she has just given her husband.

`There must be something I can do? I can't believe no one showed any interest in his dreams.

They're so vivid and accurate in their detail, as well as scripturally sound.'

She looks into the living room and sees Tim sitting in one of the two recliners. She sees the sadness written all over his face and the pain within his eyes.

`Ten letters of rejection from nine publishers in the past year and a half. There must be something I can do.'

"Timothy, you look tired. Why don't you go to bed?" she suggests again looking into the room where he sits watching the television. He looks up at her and stands leaving the room but not a word leaving his lips. She watches him as he walks away, again noticing his pot belly that was not there two years ago.

"Lord, God almighty, please hear my prayer," She begins to pray as she sits down at the kitchen table. She wipes a tear from her cheek and then continues.

"Lord, please help Tim. I love him so much, and I know you love him too. He's been drinking again, and it's ripping this family apart. He yells at the boys, usually for no reason, and he makes them cry. Lord, I know he's still a Christian, but how much longer until he falls from your arms?

I'll stay with him, no matter what happens, Lord, but please don't let what those people did to him kill him spiritually. Please, Lord, please help him." As tears begin to flow quickly down her cheek she feels a small hand rest upon her shoulder. She looks up to see a blonde haired boy standing beside her.

"What's wrong, Momma?" James asks her.

"Your Daddy's hurting right now. I think he feels that he's let God down in some way, and it's causing him to act strange." She is unable to keep it to herself any longer. The young boy wraps his arms around her, and she places her hand upon one of them.

"Why doesn't he go to the church and talk to someone about it?"

"He did in a way, but they didn't pay any attention."

"Then why doesn't he try another church?" Christa looks at her sons blue eyes. Quickly she stands up, and walks into her husband's office, turning on his computer.

:March 3

:1:30 p.m.

DING DONG. The sound of the doorbell comes to Christa's ears, and within a few moments she is opening the door. Standing there is a tall, thin black man, dressed in a dark blue suit.

"Mrs. Browning?"

"Yes, and you must be Mr. Washington."

"Yes, but please, call me Gerald."

"All right. Please come in." She gestures him into the great room. They walk in and Christa sits in one of the recliners, while Gerald sits on the couch, on the opposite side of the room.

"I'm glad you called Gerald. You're the only person from all the churches in Memphis that answered my letter."

"I had a feeling that may be the case, Mrs....."

"Please, call me Christa."

"What a charming name," he says as he continues. "When your letter came before the board of deacons, all of my fellows almost laughed it right into the garbage can, but I asked to have it, and they gave it to me."

"Then you're not a pastor?"

"No, I'm one of the deacons. You see the letter came to the pastor, but he did not know how to handle it, and so he presented it to the deacons, as I told you. When I read it I remembered the words of Martin Luther King, from his last speech. It's a speech I cherish deeply, as do all blacks, if I may say, but with one major difference. They do not use those words as I believe he had meant for them to be used. I feel that he was saying that we as people of all colors shall reach the Promised Land together, but instead they twisted it to say that we shall see the promise, by over taking the whites.

"But that is not what I wanted to say to you, Christa. What I want to key in on is that Mr. King said he had a dream, and that's what has brought me here today. For I believe in the verses found in Acts that say; `and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams'

"So that is why I have come here today. I believe your husband is having these dreams, and I believe they are sent to him from Jesus."

"Thank you, Gerald. I was starting to think I was wrong about his dreams also. I remember those verses, but I too was starting to lose hope."

"That's all right Christa. There are those times when we think the Lord has forgotten us, but we always come around, don't we?" he asks her with a smile on his face.

"Yes, you're right, but how can we help my husband?" she asks as her face reflects her concern to Gerald.

"What's been happening?"

"Well, you see, Timothy was an alcoholic before he accepted Jesus, but once he had, he stopped drinking `cold turkey.' But recently I've smelt liquor on his breath, and it scares me."

"I see, well, first of all let's pray, and then you can give me a copy of the book he wrote so I can look at it."

:11:57 p.m.

Lightning flashes as the sound of the thunder explodes in Tim's ears. He looks about him and sees the ruins of several buildings. Around him he observes people running about, their clothes torn and tattered.

Suddenly he sees a dark form upon a horse riding straight toward him, with a long lance in his hand. The rider lowers the point of the lance as his steed's pace quickens. In less than a second

Timothy realizes his life is in danger and he leaps to one side of the charging rider.

Quickly he stands from where he landed and looks around. Before him, down the remains of a city's street he preserves a light, and within the light he feels the presents of God. Hastily he begins to move towards the light as the joy of being with God begins to fill him. As he starts to run forward, he begins to see a faint image of Jesus standing in the light.

Then without warning he falls; and as he lands he feels as if he is in a field with the weeds brushing against him. He sits up and looks into the air where the light had been only seconds before, but now there is nothing, only a darkening gray sky. He looks around him and sees others about. Most he has never seen before, but others he does recognize. They are actors and politicians, for the most part; and others are people who call themselves Christians, whom he has seen on television once or twice.

He looks at the hill he has fallen onto and is shocked to notice that the weeds are not that at all.

Instead they look like some type of tentacles that wave back and forth. First in an upward motion, and then in a downward movement, like seaweed in a tidal pool swaying back and forth as a wave passes overhead. As each movement pass, he finds himself a little farther down the hill. He looks at the bottom of the slope and is startled at the sight of a sheer drop awaiting him at its base.

Tim tries to stand but cannot. So he tries to crawl up the rise, but for every inch he moves up, the tentacles drive him two inches in the opposite direction. Finally he stops and looks about him. He sees two men clinging to each other like lovers facing death together, and he is sickened by the sight. He looks on a scantily dressed woman, her face caked in makeup in an attempt to hide the black and blue discoloration beneath her eye. He watches as a man in a fine suit bows his head in prayer until he falls into the abyss before all of them. As the individual falls into the darkness below, Timothy looks at the impending darkness before him, and a sadness starts to fill him as he looks over the edge. A sudden feeling of hopelessness fills him as he leans toward the void before him and allows himself to fall over the edge.

The darkness is not complete as he feels himself falling towards his unknown destination. He sees the silhouettes of others falling with him, ever downward. At one point in his descent he sees the forms of several people in a circle holding hands as they fall ever deeper, into the bottomless pit of blackness. Tim joins the group and notices that they are singing a hymn. After a short time he releases their hands as they all continue downward towards the ultimate goal as they continue to sing their joyful song.

After a time he feels as if he has been falling for hours when he suddenly sees a reddish light start to appear below him. He looks carefully as the distance between him and the light grows ever smaller. The light flickers like a flame as he looks at the terrain below him. At first he thinks his eyes are being tricked by the fluctuating luminance, but it is not. The ground is moving like a vast ocean beneath him, always active. As the distance closes, Timothy soon becomes aware of the reason for the motion below. He begins to see the form of millions upon millions of individual people all moving about as if in a daze.

Finally Tim reaches the end of his fall. He feels himself slow as he approaches the ground below and looks about at the endless mass of walking bodies around him. His feet touch the ground, and he knows he is in Hell.

"Tim," comes a voice to his ears, but the sound is far and distant.

"Tim Browning," the voice says again, louder and more clearly this time; and Timothy turns in the direction from which he thinks it is coming. There he sees a ray of bright light fracturing through the red glow. He looks at the forms around him and looks into their faces. He sees the eyes looking aimlessly around, as if searching. Searching for some sign that they are here by mistake, but never finding any.

"Timothy Micah Browning!" He hears the call again and returns his attention to the light, larger now, and with a greater brilliance. He begins to walk toward this light, as it grows wider and more brilliant, till it almost blinds him.

The sound of battle fills his ears, from metal meeting metal, to the sound of people screaming in pain. Tim opens his eyes and looks up to see Christa kneeling over him, dressed in her armor of the Lord. Her shield is poised to defend not only herself, but him from harm.

"Tim, are you all right?" she asks as she touches his face gently.

"Yes, I think I am," Tim replies weakly.

"Well, brother Timothy, I'm glad to see you." comes a familiar voice from behind his wife. Tim raises himself slightly to look beyond her. There standing above her he sees the tall black man he first talked to upon the Battlefields of Right and Wrong. His tall form is balanced in a defensive stance as he quickly glances back at Timothy and then forward again. Tim looks in the direction he is facing, and he can see the horde a short distance away.

"They were about to try to pull your helmet off when your wife and I fought our way to you."

"But that would have caused me to....."

"Die in the sight of the Lord? Yes, but Christa is a good wife. She saw your pain and reached out for help. That is why we are here. Now try to stand. We're still on their side of the lines," Gerald

Washington says, and so Timothy tries to stand. When he is upright, Christa makes him lean on her as they begin to back away from the slowly creeping forward creatures of Satan. It takes them several minutes to return to the lines, of the blue and white glad forms of the soldiers of

God, but once they are there they all sit down.

:3:21 a.m.

As Timothy Browning sleeps, for the first time in months, he rolls over in bed and wraps his arms around his wife.

THE FIRST SOJOURN

:Memphis

:1990, February 14

:7:23 p.m.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Tim. Happy birthday to you," come the singing voices of Tim's and Gerald's families, as Timothy sits at the kitchen table of Tim's home.

"So you're thirty years old, ah?" Gerald says in a comedic tone of voice. "You're over the hill now."

"Like you have any room to talk," his wife Liz says as she hits him on the arm. Tim looks at their youngest boy, Malcom, who is three inches taller than his father and in his last year of high school.

It would be a year next month that Timothy first met Gerald, the day after his dream of his descent into hell and it's never ending sorrow. He remembers telling Christa about the dream and that she immediately picked up the phone. Within the hour Gerald was at the front door of their home, unshaven with sleep still written in his red eyes. Tim remembers looking at him and pointing.

"You're the man..." was all he was able to say before Christa jumped in and explained everything to both men, first to Gerald, about Timothy's dream, and then to Tim, about Gerald.

In the year that has passed, Gerald and Christa have helped Timothy in his fight against his sinful enemy of alcoholism. Gerald also has had long talks with Tim about the Bible and his dreams, both of which the two men have enjoyed thoroughly. They quickly have become good friends and strong allies in their beliefs.

After the birthday cake has been cut and eaten, the two men go and sit in the living room. Once again they begin another of their long talks about the Bible. At one point Gerald begins to talk about Timothy's book.

"You know, Tim that I have found your book very informative, but I just can't shake this feeling that something's missing.

"I agree, but I don't know what it could be."

"You know that might be why, when you tried to get it published there were all those roadblocks, other than the people not wanting to hear you."

"You've got a point. I was thinking that myself the other day. That's one reason I've been a lot happier lately. I have the luxury of knowing what God wants me to do, which in itself is what most Christians would like to know, but just can't find their place. I realize that when all those problems happened, I was being tested for my strength, but I guess I failed."

"So God sent in the reinforcements," Gerald interjects.

"Right, and those reinforcements were you and Christa, and you two have been just great. I just want to thank you for that. I really learned a lot about God those first seven years of my Christianity, but I have learned so much in just the past eleven months, it's just incredible."

"I know what you mean. I feel that I have grown a lot in the Lord too. Your dreams are just amazing. I thank God almost every day for the insight they have given me in how we should act and live as the children of God."

"All right, that's enough, you two," Liz interrupts. "If I don't stop you now, we'll be here all night."

"You're right as always, my chickadee," Gerald responds, standing and stretching. "I am a little tired at that."

"Well, thanks for coming over, you guys. I really enjoyed havin' you here," Timothy says as he shakes Gerald's hand grasping the older man's upper arm with his free hand. Then he receives a hug from Liz.

"Thank you, for comin' over, Malcom. I know you didn't have to, but I really enjoyed your being here," Tim says as he shakes the young man's hand.

"That's all right, Mr. Browning. I really like you and your family, so I enjoy coming over." He steps out the front door before his parents. Gerald and Liz then hug Christa and follow behind their son, again saying their farewells.

:11:03 p.m.

Timothy feels himself floating in an endless void. A vast grayness surrounds him as he floats gently through the expanse.

Suddenly before him he sees a bright glowing figure, like that of a man standing motionless. He looks, and he feels that this luminescent form is millions of miles from him but looks as if He is only a quarter of a mile away.

The form gestures with what Tim thinks is His right hand, and another figure appears, glowing as the first, but not as large. The large form's arms lift above its head, and then arch in opposing directions, as both figures are surrounded by a circular rainbow. In tandem both of the gleaming figures' motion and their corona suddenly burst forth irradiating the nothingness. As it dims, Timothy notices a huge shimmering orb beside the two gigantic forms, their corona still about them. The gray void that had surrounded Tim when he first entered into this dream is now totally black.

Energy leaps forth from the two beings, as a rainbow aura travel along with it. The lightning like energy caresses the shining globe, as parts of it are cast out like sparks. He watches as the sparks encircle the forms like the rings around Saturn. At this time Timothy hears sound for the first time as voices give glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Once again the energy springs from the large beings, but with such magnitude it almost blinds Tim, as he is forced to close his eyes. He is compelled to place his arm over his face, as he tries to block the glaring light until he senses the light dim. Then he again looks upon the vista before him and is awed by what he sees. Before him he sees the universe, unhindered by the skies of the Earth. He looks about him at the trillions of stars that now fill the black space around him. At its core float the two incandescent forms, still ringed by the small spark like forms.

Instantaneously, a bright flash occurs, and Timothy finds himself in a different part of the cosmos. He looks about him to see a moon-like planet floating close to him. He watches in fascination as four glowing forearms appear, the hands of which move over the surface of the sphere below. A rainbow-like aura surrounds the world, as clouds begin to form within the small orb's atmosphere. He watches as the flashes of lightning flicker within the rolling clouds, and he realizes that rain must be falling beneath them. Time passes, and the clouds dissipate. Slowly, at first, Tim begins to see the large body of water. When finally most of the clouds have broken up, he sees it clearly. It appears that all the surface before him is water, reflecting the blue sky of the planet's atmosphere. He looks closely for any sign of land, but none can be seen. Then on the horizon, a faint brownish tint appears, slowly at first, as the world rotates upon its axis, until finally he sees the massive continent reveal itself to him for the first time.

As he looks upon it he again sees the forearms appear, and he watches as the four limbs begin to sculpt the massive land before him. He looks on as mountains shoot up into the sky, and as other land drops away to let water flow into huge lakes down the middle of the terrain. A rainbow like beam strikes the ground as the quartet of hands passes over the remaining surface, leaving a trail of green in its wake.

:6:43 a.m.

Timothy gently awakens from his deep sleep; then suddenly the memories of his dream begin to pour through his mind. He quickly gets out of bed, unaware that he has awakened his spouse by his actions. Then quickly he goes to the opposite side of the house and enters his office. He sets at his small desk, turns on his computer, and begins to write down his dream.

Shortly after Tim begins this, Christa appears in his office doorway, and watches as he quickly types.

THE SECOND EXCURSION

:March 4

:9:50 p.m.

Tim lies in his bed as he thinks back on his last dream. It was so fantastic that after he wrote it down, he immediately called Gerald, who came over at once. When Gerald had arrived at the Brownings', Timothy set him and Christa down. He calmly began to tell them of his dream, but by the time he was through he had worked himself into a joyful mass of energy almost ready to explode.

This energy had become so immense within him that for several nights that followed, he was unable to sleep properly, in an excited anticipation.

Now it has been three weeks, and still no new dreams have filled his sleep. Tim feels a sudden exhaustion from his lack of good deep rest and so begins to relax. Inside a few minutes he is fast asleep.

"Timothy," comes a loud voice, and Tim looks up to see a large shining form before him.

"Who are you?"

"I am Gabriel."

"Are you the same angel that appeared to Daniel?"

"Yes, I am the same."

"So angels don't have wings?"

"No, that is a misnomer. Only the Cherubim and Seraphim have wings."

"Why are you so large?"

"This is our natural size, but when we appear within your realm of reality, we make ourselves look like you. We are a spiritual being, and we are at our most comfortable here."

"So then when there were giants, they were angels?"

"Goliath, and his kind were the offspring of the Fallen, but there was a time when we walked upon the Earth like this. Come; I will show you."

As Gabriel finishes his sentence, Tim suddenly finds himself surrounded by large palm-like trees as large insects fly overhead. They move along through the giant forest until they come to a clearing. Here Timothy stops and looks on in wonderment.

Before him is a small village, which is made up of clay huts. Within the small hamlet he sees human like creatures going about their daily activities. He looks into the sky as a shadow passes overhead. He glances up to see a lightly furred Pterosaur flying through the air. Then Tim sees some bright colors in the side of his eyes. He turns in the direction of the unusual colors and sees a young man scratching the head of a small orange and green tyrannosaurus-like creature.

"Watch the village for a moment," Gabriel asks, and Timothy does so. Suddenly out of nowhere, a giant form appears with several others of the human-like beings.

"What...?" Tim says taken totally off guard.

"Do you remember what happened to Philip in the book of Acts?"

"Yes, I do."

"That is how all long journeys were done in this age. There was no need for any type of vehicles. Come, I want to show you the angel that brought them here." So Timothy follows the angel as he walks into the village.

As they enter the village, Tim notices that no one looks at them, and so he turns to Gabriel to ask him why.

"This is just an image from days gone by. They lived these events long ago. We are still in our time, passing through these past images like the spirits that we are." The large angel speaks before Timothy's words leave his lips as they walk up to the other angel. Tim looks closely at the form before him as the mammoth being kneels down to talk with the smaller beings about him. Timothy notices the brown hair and compelling features as he laughs with the inhabitants of the village. A female walks up to him and hands him a large earthen bowl. It appears that he is thanking her as he starts to drink, but Tim never hears the sound of any of the beings speak. Timothy looks ever closer at the huge face before him and soon turns to look at his companion.

"Yes, that is Dion," Gabriel states. "This was the first time he tasted this drink, and from this moment on he will start to care for it, even more than his love for his Father."

"Is it liquor?"

"Wine. This is the early years of the creations. All the forms were new, and we learned many things about our Father's universe. Many of my fellows began to love the things of the great creation. Many began to love these things more than who created these various objects in the first place."

"Who are these people?" Tim asks as he looks at the beings about him.

"They are what you call the Pre-Adamic race. God loved them the most. He made them to care for his other creations of this world, much like Adam and Eve were in the second creation. They lived off the land and for the land. They did not eat meat or kill any of the creation.

"The only difference between these people and those two of the second creation is that God created all of them at one time, placed Lucifer in charge of them, and gave them that." Gabriel gestures to a large tree in the center of the hamlet. Its tall trunk is a glowing white. Timothy walks over to the huge tree and looks up into its branches. The sky blue leaves remind him of the Star of David. He looks closely at the rainbow colored fruit that hangs from the tree; and he knows, without being told, that this is the tree of eternal life.

"They have all eaten of this tree, unlike Adam and Eve, who ate of a tree that was never seen in this creation. They were given this gift because their Father loved them so. But...."

:6:45 a.m.

The buzzer erupts within his ears, as Tim jumps up surprised by the sudden and loud sound, which cuts short the end of his dream.

The Sad Journey

:April 15

:10:51 p.m.

Tim has been very busy for the past few weeks, since his last dream. Christa and he are preparing their house to be sold, and have been quite busy. Between painting the house, caring for the lawn, and working at his job, he has found little time to write down his latest dream. Finally though, he does find the time and just finishes when a feeling of heavy tiredness hits him all at once, and so he turns in for the night. Within minutes he is fast asleep.

Below him Timothy can see the earth. The once massive continent, is now fragmented into several parts, but the pieces are still close together.

"What's happened?" He asks himself aloud.

"This is the aftermath of the first rebellion," the strong, but now familiar voice says, as Tim looks behind him to see Gabriel again. "Half of the people have become dissatisfied with their lives, while the rest are still happy with God and His ways. Soon all knew of this, and one of the arch angels presented himself before God. He asked God for the stewardship of the planet, and so God agreed. This angel was Lucifer, and as his first action he requested this."

"But didn't God know that Lucifer wanted to be God?"

"Yes he knew full well, but he gave the stewardship to him so that he would show his true loyalty, which was to no one but himself. God also used this as a test to the people of the planet.

"When the continent divided, all the people of the planet became bitter against God. For they all felt that they were being punished for the sins of those who had cursed their Father. Lucifer came to them all and told them that God had taken away their stewardship and had given it to another. He never told them that it was he that had asked for the stewardship and to whom it was given, and so they grew bitter against God.

"As we look upon this memory, he is down there, with more than half of the people, on his side. He is teaching them how to train certain of the animals to hunt and attack the other creatures of the world. He is teaching the beings how to eat flesh and to desire that which is not theirs.

"Lucifer has also made his first attempts at creating his own animals. He has taken their pets, which keep the small creatures from their homes, and he has twisted their very genes. With each try these once small friendly creatures grow in size as well as becoming a very violent monster."

"You mean that small Tyrannosaurs I saw at the village has become the giant dinosaur I know of today?"

"Yes, and as the centuries passed, they became even larger. Feeding on the many creatures of the world and driving hundreds of these creatures into extinction, as they fed the beings that became loyal to Lucifer.

"But God countered his plan before he started by immediately changing the peaceful plant eaters. They too grew even larger, so that the cycle of life could be maintained. For millions of years this war of genetics took place. Lucifer's hatred for God grew, for his first plan to destroy the planet had failed.

"Because of this he grew tired of the planet. So he looked to the stars, and his hunger grew for a larger prize. So he gathered the leaders of the people that followed him and told them of his desire. They too became hungry to be like God, but as God watched this, he became angry. Now look for what he is about to do," Gabriel says as he gestures towards the earth. Tim looks back and sees a large asteroid come flying out of the darkness of space. The massive rock burns its way through the atmosphere of the planet as it flies towards the meeting place of the traitors, a strip of land between two of the eight continents. Lucifer looks up at the burning rock as it hurls toward him. He vanishes as the leaders begin to run to him so that they may be taken from this place. They look in shock and horror as the giant form leaves without them. As this happens, they turn in horror to look at the burning rock above them just before it strikes.

The massive cloud of rock and debris caused by the impact launches high into the air of the planet. Soon a dark haze totally covers the whitish-blue orb, turning the once semi-bright sky into a dim cool one.

"For thousands of years this one event caused the people of this time to once again follow their Creator. Slowly as the temperatures returned to normal, they once again began to forget their own creations. For millions of years these beings have all walked upon the lands of the planet. They have all seen God, they have all befriended angels, but still they let these memories fall from their minds like that of a man remembering the first words he ever spoke.

"Lucifer turned his attention away from these beings in this time and began to talk to those of his kind. He talked to them one at a time. He even talked to me, but he soon knew that my loyalties were to my Father, and he left to go talk to my brothers. Within the many centuries that passed, he soon found that a third of my brothers had gained a love for the thing of the creation. A love that was greater than their love for the Creator; and so they all joined him. These angels were mad at God for various reasons, but mainly for the torment and damage they felt he had caused the planet and all upon it.

"They all joined Lucifer upon the earth and began to teach their treason to the inhabitants, who listened to the lies they were being told. Within a short time all the people of the world began to hate the Lord God.

"Sadly the Trinity came to the surface of Their most precious creation, for They knew that all was lost for Their children. They knew that the chaff had been removed from the angels and that the guardians of the planet had chosen Lucifer as their master.

"The Lord later told me that He cried for His children as He watched them all running toward Him, with total and complete hatred written upon their faces. He turned His head as He raised His arm slowly towards them and destroyed their physical forms that day, and so they are now among the spiritual, which they hate dearly." Tim looks up at Gabriel and thinks for a moment that he sees water in the angel's eyes, as he speaks.

"He destroyed their bodies?" Tim asks puzzled by what he had just heard.

"Yes, he had too. You see they had all eaten of the tree of life, and so the only way he was able to stop them was to totally destroy their physical bodies."

"Even the angels?"

"No, they have the ability to exist in both the physical world as well as the spiritual world. They suffered only major injuries, which required several thousands of years for them to heal, but also disfigured them."

"But what of the people?"

"With their bodies destroyed, they entered into the spiritual world, a world they have learned to hate, for they can no longer truly enjoy their home ever again. For when their souls once again live in a body, it will be a body forever tormented in the Lake of Fire."

:6:11 a.m.

And with this last word spoken by Gabriel still floating in Tim's mind, he awakens from his dream-sleep as memories of what he had just witnessed sadden him.

At The Rear

:May 6

:9:48 p.m.

Tim has been working hard this day as he prepares his yard for the coming summer. Christa has insisted that he make the yard as beautiful as possible, because they are strongly considering placing it upon the market. So someone may like the looks of their home and decide to buy it. Timothy mows, edges, weed whacks, and mulches for most of the day, but now he is a very tired person, and after watching a little TV he decides to go to bed. Within minutes of placing his head on his pillow he is asleep.

"Hello, Timothy," a familiar voice says. Tim opens his eyes to see Gabriel setting on the side of a hill, but still the small man has to look up slightly to look into the angel's face.

"Gabriel, it's good to see you again," he replies to the giants greeting. He begins to look about him and sees a vast plain.

"Where are we?"

"Here, let me show you." The angel stands, fully revealing his long white vestments, his golden breastplate, and a large sword on his side. Gabriel turns and starts to walk up the hill he was sitting upon.

"Wait!" Tim exclaims suddenly.

"Yes, Timothy, it was I that stood between you and Dion. Now come, we have much to witness this night, and time is limited."

Dumbfounded by the explanation and by the fact that this was the first time he mentioned a time limit given to them, Tim follows staggeringly. As they crest the hill he looks down at the vast waving plain before him. Ahead of him, he sees the Battlefields of Right and Wrong. Timothy can see a blue and white line of constantly changing shapes moving from faraway to his right to far in the distance on his left. Beyond the line is a dark and foreboding land, not like the place where he now stands. Around him is beautiful green grass, and brightly colored birds fly overhead to land in one of the trees spread out throughout the land. The land in the dark though is nothing like this. It looks barren and scarred; and from what he can see there are no birds within sight on that side of the line.

He looks at that infertile land saddened by the vision of what it has become, for he feels that at one time all the land about him must have been the same. Then he notices something passed the line, a dark object barely visible against the blackened sky behind it.

"Is that a castle?" he asks as he looks up at Gabriel.

"Yes, it is. It is the Fortress of the Children."

"The Fortress of the Children? Then why is it on Satan's side of the line?"

"The last part of the fortress fell into his hands in 1973, but we will have some of it back soon," the angel says as he points to the large mass of soldiers, in a crescent shape, pushing ever closer to the castle. When the fortress fell God told us that a large number of the special ones were coming to be his sacred servants, but we never thought there would be so many." Gabriel shakes his slightly bowed head.

"Special ones? You mean the aborted children?"

"Yes, but I do not say `aborted.' They are `sacrificed.'"

"What do you mean?"

"They are an offering to Satan so that the two people that conceived the child can continue to live their lives in sin and adultery. They think by removing the child they become free; but in reality, they are both walking further form the Lord, and deeper into slavery by removing the burden of responsibility and decency, relieved from their minds. It leaves them free to continue a life of depravity, much like the Greeks and the Romans lived. A life which in reality is slavery to those very sins which they do as they walk deeper into the darkness. Leaving a feeling of loneliness and dread so complete that they will sin more and more until they look like those creatures on the dark side of the line. Come now, there are other things to see." Gabriel begins to walk down the hill towards the battles, again astonishing the small man still standing at its top. Tim then quickly moves after the angelic form.

Soon Tim sees several of the soldiers of the Lord sitting about upon the ground. He looks at them intently wondering what the angel has to show him.

"These people are all of the family, but they have grown weary of the battle. Some have been discouraged while others have almost given up. They sit here in the rear of the battlefields trying to decide what to do. Look." The giant arm gestures toward a young man sitting indian-style only a few feet from them. This young one's faith has almost been totally shattered. See how he looks at his shield, which he has thrown away from him. He had listened to one of the shepherds of the Lord, but it was revealed that this preacher had committed adultery several times, and it has shaken this young man deeply."

"What did he think the preacher was the way to God?"

"Yes, he had not grown in his faith enough to know that no mortal individual is the way that Jesus had paved."

"Will he make it?"

"I can't say," Gabriel says bluntly, as he walks past the young man. "Here is something I think you should know." He stops in front of a woman, who appears to be in her mid-thirties. "This woman is a perfect example of a North American Christian. She attends church regularly and even goes to Sunday school, but there is a problem. You see that she is in the full armor of God?" Gabriel asks, and Tim replies with a nod, deep in thought. "Look at her vestments," Gabriel requests, Timothy looks at the robe where it is exposed to his sight and is shocked by what he sees. The once-white vestments appear covered in dirt and dried blood stains.

"What does this mean?" he asks, looking up into the angels face high above him.

She is one of the thousands upon thousands that listen to the persons that say that God can not heal her pain, but only they can. So she listens to them as they say that only she can heal herself. All they have done though is make her bitter to everyone that she does not know.

"For example, today she was tested. God brought another of the fold into her path. She was driving to her home when she let herself become distracted from her duty of driving. Doing this she became a hazard not only to herself and the children in her care, but also to others.

"One of these others was the other child of God. He barely avoided colliding with her as she sat at an intersection long after the light had changed to her favor.

"Unfortunately he let his anger win over him and so he honked the horn of his truck at her. She then failed the first part of her test, as he did. Her inadequacy occurred when she failed to forgive the man for his impatience.

"She then failed the second part of her test when farther down the road she honked at the man, who by this time had dropped the matter and was returning to his normal life. This act of vengeance upon her part rekindled the nearly extinguished anger within him, and so he failed the second part of his test. This so enraged the man that he decided to follow her and express his indignation.

"This action on his part scared her, and so she went to a friend's house. Here the man, now less angry, tried to talk to the woman, but again she failed yet another part of the test. She failed to have faith in God to protect her and told her friend to call the police. When the man saw he would not get a fair hearing from her, he agreed that the police should be called.

"The two women went into the house and awaited for the police as she drew further and further away from the help of the Lord, again failing in part of the test. It was different for the man. He had realized that he had sinned against the Lord and he told this to his two sons that were with him as they awaited the police. He explained to them that what he had done from the time that she honked at him until then was wrong and totally unchristian.

"This man grew from this, but she unfortunately did not. They both waited for the police, and when they arrived the man explained what had happened. When he found that he had scared the woman, he apologized to her for doing so and asked her to return the same, knowing that her doing so would show that she had forgiven him. He had forgiven her, but she refused to a point that this will become a sin, which will be held against her when she stands before God." Gabriel shakes his head and kneels down beside the woman.

"Jesus will help you if you ask," he says to her, but she looks about, unaware of their presence as Tim looks at her eyes only to see two white orbs there.

"She's blind," he gasps.

"Yes, and deaf, as I said, like most North American Christians."

"But, what of the man? Didn't he sin, too? Where is he?" Timothy asks as he looks at the people near him.

"Don't look here for him. For as I said, he grew from the test that the Lord placed before him. He has once again returned to the line."

Timothy then hears a strange sound come to his ears. It is as if a voice is speaking in a language he has never heard before, but at the same time it seems to be like meaningless garbage. He begins to look about him for the source of the sound and is shocked by what he sees.

Several men and some women walk together in a large group, walking past the people that rest upon the ground. All are dressed in the armor of the Lord, but it looks somehow different from that which Tim wears.

They all wear the heavy sandals of one that has studied the word of the Lord. Their shield and breastplates are like his, but they seemed brighter while their swords are sheathed at their sides. Then he sees the difference between these people and himself. Their vestments are totally black, and they have no helmets upon their heads.

"Who are they?" he asks as a feeling of dread begins to fill him.

"They are the forerunners of the Liar, the Antichrist."

"But why are they here?"

"They walk in the rear because they know these that you see about you are easy prey to kill."

"But if they're here, now, then they must be in the physical world right now!"

"That is correct Timothy. They are, and you have seen many of them yourself, but you know them for what they are and have turned from their words."

"Then who are they?" Tim asks, wanting to know exactly who they are.

"That, I cannot tell you. Their purpose is to weed out the weak from the strong. They tempt all with the promises of material satisfaction. The people listen for they have grown tired of waiting for the Lord God to reward them. The people have forgotten the promises of Jesus, which say that ours is not of this earth, but of God.

"They seek the riches of the earth, instead of the riches that are not of this earth. These call themselves teachers, preachers and helpers, but worst of all they call themselves Christians. In reality, they are the spawn of Lucifer himself," Gabriel says, anger written upon his face. Abruptly his expression changes to that of an awareness as he looks toward the line.

"Come." He says, and within an instant Tim finds himself in the heart of a massive battle. Quickly he raises his shield, just in time to block a bulky club from crushing into his head. He draws his sword and begins to fight with the other soldiers of the Lord about him, as Gabriel too joins in the fight confronting one of his counterparts.

Suddenly Timothy hears a man cry out. For a moment the voice sounds strangely familiar. Quickly he looks about him and is stunned by what he sees. A short distance from him he sees Gerald lying upon the ground, a spear protruding from the left side of his chest.

"Noooooooo!" Tim screams as he runs over to the tall black man who has become his best friend. Timothy tries desperately to get to his fallen friend; but before he can reach him, another angel appears over his confederate. Tim looks on as Gerald reaches up toward the large floating form above him, and the angel takes his hand then both are gone in that instant.

:3:23 a.m.

Timothy jumps out of bed startling Christa.

"What ... what's going on?" she sleepily says as Timothy reaches for the phone, quickly dialing.

"Liz, can I ..... I'll meet you at the hospital," he says a few moments later and then hangs up the phone as he sits on the edge of the bed.

"What's happening?" Christa asks concerned.

"Gerald just had a heart attack, and I saw it happen to him," he responds as he wraps his arms tightly about her and begins to cry.

The Deluge

:May 8

:1:23 p.m.

Timothy and Christa listen somberly as the Reverend Zechariah Taylor speaks over the coffin of their dear friend. Christa clasps the hand of Liz, who is seated beside them. The rain drums out an un-rhythmic sound upon the portable aluminum canopy as the elegant word of the pastor becomes louder over the occasional clap of thunder.

Tim looks over at the three children of Gerald and observes them for a few seconds each. Jamal is the oldest and tall like his father, but bulkier. They have never met before today, but Gerald had spoken often about him. Gerald had been proud, but at the same time saddened by what this strong-minded man had become. Jamal had worked his way through college, with as much help as his parents could give, plus help from the Affirmative Action funds. He began to listen to Mr. Farracon, a very well-known Muslim leader. Jamal, who was originally known as Matthew had changed his name and his religion. He is now an aide in the offices of the Democratic Party's main headquarters. When Gerald and Jamal last saw each other, it had ended in a very angry fight; and neither has ever spoken to each other since that event two years past.

Colleen is the middle child. She too worked her way through college, and has just graduated the month before. When she came home, she told everyone at her coming-home party that she just received a job offer from Boeing as an Assistant Engineer. Tim remembers Gerald jumping out of his chair and running over to the slightly shorter young woman. He hugged her so tightly that Liz had to pull him away from his daughter, who was waving her arms for help.

Malcom sits in his chair next to his mother holding the other hand that Christa does not have. Tim and he had talked only two months ago about his decision to go into a seminary. Malcom had wanted to talk to Tim because he knew that he could be objective about which school he would attend. They discussed every type of school available, and the pluses and minuses of each one. Tim remembers trying not to influence him in any way, and how proud he was for the young man when he made his final decision.

The rain begins to slacken as the coffin is lowered into the ground. Christa reaches over and hugs Liz, who returns it. Liz looks at the only white couple and thanks them for coming as Christa asks her to call if she needs anything, and Liz shakes her head. Tim then hugs her and then Colleen as his wife had done. As Timothy begins to approach Jamal, the tall black man turns and walks away. Tim looks into his eyes as he turns and sees the hatred written deep within them. Malcom then walks up to Tim and hugs him, thanking him for being there. Tim returns his thanks as he shakes the younger man's hand.

:May 27

:11:57 p.m.

The three weeks since Gerald's death have been hard on Timothy, but he is glad a new week has started. The passing of his friend hurt him because he had become a good and trusted companion. Gerald had been Tim's only real male friend he has had in a long time. Tim had tried to reach out to Jamal, but the slightly younger man would have nothing whatsoever to do with him. Things are not going well at work either. His father has just leased another store in the Mall of Memphis, and sales are not what had been anticipated. So all four of the businesses are starting to hurt financially. These thoughts bother Tim as he lies in bed until the point that his body practically shuts down on its own.

His eyes open to a bright gray sky over head. He looks about him at the jungle-forest-like foliage and a family of spider monkeys. As he looks about he witnesses a lioness pouncing upon her prey on a large plain, which is behind him. In the far distances before him Tim sees something that does not fit into this picture of what he thinks is Africa. He rubs his eyes, and then looks again at the huge form grazing off the leaves of a large tree. Its legs are like those of an elephant, but its long neck and tail reveal it for what it is.

"Yes, that is what you call a Brontosaurus, more accurately an Apatosaurus," the now familiar voice of Gabriel says. Tim looks to his right and sees the large angelic form knelling beside him. Then Timothy returns his gaze to the large figure as it walks diagonally past him as it pays no heed to the now gathering pride of lions to the fresh kill. His gaze becomes more instance as the behemoth passes by. He looks at the fin like growths going down the large creature's back. Puzzled by his thoughts he turns to his guide and begins to verbalize the question he knows he need not say.

"You're correct. That creature is also called a dragon."

"Where am I?" Tim asks, after a short pause he uses to absorb what he has just heard.

"This is the time of Noah," Gabriel answers as he stands and both beings vanish from the point they stood upon.

In the moment it takes, Timothy does not even blink as he becomes accustomed to this swift mode of transport. He finds himself upon a hill overlooking a town. From where he stands, he sees what he thinks is a celebration. He begins to walk toward the town, but stops when he feels a portion of the large hand on his shoulder.

"No! You cannot go down there for that is a place of Satan. For you to see it may cause you to become weak in the Lord and open to Lucifer's deadly grasp. Look from here and listen to what I say!" Gabriel says sternly.

"All right," Tim says as the angel begins to speak.

"It has been a long time since Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit of knowledge. All of these are their off spring, as you are, but not all are of humankind. Look closely at the streets below."

Timothy does as he is told. He sees people running, walking singing, and screaming. Then he sees what Gabriel wants him to see. Three giant forms walk arm in arm with huge urns in their hands as they sing a song.

"Are they angels?" Tim asks.

"No! They are the offspring of the fallen half human, half angel, born by a sin worse than adultery. For we angels are not human, just as you are not animals."

"Then this sin is akin to Bestiality?"

"Yes," Gabriel answers as Tim notes the abhorrence in the angel's voice.

"Look." He gestures, as Timothy looks in the direction the giant form points.

There, in the distance, upon the top of another hill is a huge object. An object that is out of place as it sits not far from the village, but with no water in sight. The immense curving bow and stern beams hold the half skeletal form together, as the small forms of four men move around it.

Within the next moment Tim finds himself standing beside the eldest of the men working on the monstrous vessel, his salt-and-pepper hair not showing his true age. Timothy watches as the individual works as hard as his three sons, then stops and looks toward the village below. In turn Tim does too and sees a group of well groomed, colorfully dressed people laughing and pointing at the men. They watch as the men prod a couple of elephants in harnesses attached to several ropes and pulleys, making them move forward raising a large timber towards the top of the vessel.

Tim watches the eldest shake his head in a disappointed fashion, and then return to his work.

"This is almost as I pictured this except for the way those people are dressed," Tim comments.

"How did you expect them to look?" Gabriel asks.

"Like barbarians. Hardly dressed, drunk and evil looking."

"Most people do, but tell me how do they look to you now?"

"Like people from my time, almost," Tim says confused.

"That is not a coincidence!" The angel says in a forth right tone as Tim looks up at him in a shocked manner.

"The people of this time think of God in the same way they do in your time. It has been a few thousand years since Adam and Eve first came into being. As the people in your time have forgotten the miracles of Jesus, they have forgotten God himself. All they are concerned with is their own self-satisfaction. They do things that will only reward themselves, not others. They seek for beauty. So they always look to improve themselves and things about them because the true beauty is missing from their lives. It is missing because they have chosen not to accept the love of God, and so they find themselves wanting."

"But why?" Timothy asks puzzled. "Wasn't God at His most visible, or most known in this time?"

"Yes, but these off-spring of Adam know that God was their creator as no others of the offspring would ever realize. Because of this they rebelled. Their desire was to be their own beings, much like those who say man evolved from the apes. They are rejecting God as their originator. They seek to be their own creator so they can seek their own pleasures, no matter how grotesque that taste may be so as to remove their guilt for these sins they commit."

Lightning flashes across the sky, and Tim looks up at the now dark gray sky. Stunned by this sudden change he looks at the Ark to see that it is totally completed. The rain begins to fall slowly at first, but soon turns into a torrent. Lightning flashes repeatedly. Sometimes it hits trees and even buildings in the village below. Tim feels as though half an hour has passed and he sees that the village is half flooded as people from it are forced from their homes into the continually heavier rain. They start to climb the hills upon either side of the hamlet, but soon find it hard to work their way up the muddied hillsides.

Again a bright flash of lightning blinds Tim a moment. When his sight adjusts to the darkness once again, he sees that the waves of the water splash against the side of the huge craft. He looks at a few people that have made it to the Ark as they pound upon the side of the ship, but there is no response from within.

:6:40 a.m.

The buzz of the alarm goes off and Tim turns it off as he sets up to start a new day.

The Island

:June 17

:5:03 a.m.

It is a gray day as Tim drives his car into Southwind. He reduces his speed to as slow as the cruise control would allow him to go without losing its effect. To him it is a compromise for what he feels is a safe speed of thirty in a neighborhood and the twenty that is posted and has no children within it.

Two cars and a van pull out from the clubhouse as he comes to a stop at the intersection. He shakes his head at the fact that none of them stopped at the sign. As he drives on, he slowly passes the last two vehicles. Again he stops at a stop sign as he thinks the lead car of the threesome will do, but instead it rolls through the sign. Timothy starts to go when suddenly the lead car cuts in front of him. The driver of the vehicle sticks his head out of the window and starts yelling back at Tim. The small sports car slows down to ten miles an hour causing the three behind him to do the same.

The lead car continues to block the road as its driver continues to yell at Tim. The surprisingly strange behavior of the man begins to turn Timothy's shock into anger. Several times Tim lunges his car as he tries to get the individual to move, but he does not. Finally Tim sees that the other two have fallen back far enough so that he will not endanger the two vehicles behind him. So he swings around the lead car and stops in the middle of the road to find out what is the cause for the strange behavior of the man that cut him off.

The moment Tim gets out of his car he is met by an onslaught of angry and foul words as the tall black haired man in his late forties jumps from his car. Within seconds the other two men join their companion. Tim listens as the dark haired person accuses him of violating the law. Then the oldest of the three men threatens to beat him up. Timothy looks in shock as he hears the threats from the man in his sixties.

He then shows the three men that his family lives in the neighborhood. The man who started all of this situation suddenly falls silent as he walks away from the abuse being shoved into Tim's ears.

Tim politely, even though still angry, asks the men for an apology from them for their behavior. As he does so, the third person, who has been quiet till now, abruptly jumps into the argument. He spews out foul language from every other word that leaves his lips. The man demands that Tim move his car for the tenth time as another car shows up. Seeing a fourth car and after hearing the third man's remarks, Tim, being the youngest of the men present, knows it will be fruitless to pursue for the apology he knows he deserves. With this he returns to his car. As he does so, the rage within him speaks. "I hope you enjoy Hell you hypocrites!"

The eldest man looks at him. "What did you say?" he angrily spits out and so Tim repeats his statement. The man is suddenly silent as a look of shock pales his face.

:10:03 p.m.

Still upset by the events that took place earlier, Tim struggles to sleep in his bed, but finally he relaxes and falls asleep.

The slow rolling motion of the floor tells Timothy that he is at sea. He walks up the steep stairwell to the main deck of the vessel as he hears the sails flap momentarily in the wind. He looks up at the white sail and then out to sea. In the distance he sees a dark ominous island with thick black smoke bellowing out from it. He turns to his comrade, a tall blond-haired man, dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt.

"How much longer till land fall?" Tim asks as he returns his attention to the island.

"About fifteen minutes," the individual replies.

"Good, I'll get everything ready."

They step out of the large rubber raft onto the black shore of the island. Each man holds his crossbow at the ready, with his sword still sheathed at his side. Slowly and stealthily, they climb the rugged terrain. Working their way towards the mouth of a cave above them and being always careful not to cause any small rocks they step upon to fall down the dark rugged slope.

Within minutes they enter the cave and cautiously begin to work their way into the blackness. For the first time, in a while, one of his dreams brings sound to his ears. At first he hears only what sounds like the snapping of a whip, and what they both feel are the screams of women as both men look at each other. Soon though, they start to hear chains and then moans of hundreds of people a sound that makes the cave seem as if it is haunted.

"Light," Tim's comrade whispers, and they slow their pace to a point that they are barely moving.

"You will serve the master!" a harsh voice shouts as they hear a cracking of a whip once again. "You will continue to act like you serve God! You will break the laws of man and ultimately break His laws!" Again the whip cracks as a heavy moan follows it.

Timothy is the first one to see the originator of the voice and signals his companion over to him. Once they are together, they both look at the creature. He is totally human in appearance except for the hair that looks more like the mane of a male lion. They see his sword, which is sheathed at his side, as he snaps the whip within his hand. He stands upon a natural rock bridge overlooking an open area below. Slowly Tim looks around the corner of the tunnel. Here he sees another tunnel leading downward towards the lower level, which the two individuals could not see into from where they knelt. Tim can make out another stone bridge above and to the left of the one that the creature now stands upon. On this bridge he can see several people, both male and female, pulling an ore car across it. He watches as two of the creatures hit their whips against the backs of the miserable forms.

The first creature then turns, so that its face is totally hidden by the large mass of hair upon him. Tim waves his friend on ahead of him into the new shaft he has spotted and quickly follows behind. Deeper they go into the enemy's territory. Always alert to a sudden and unwanted sound. All they hear though is the creatures talking to their slaves.

"Go on; go to church, pray to God, and then go faster than the speed limit home. Home to watch your favorite sports. Curse the officials. Ignore your wife and children. Do what you want to do, and nothing else."

Again the two secretive figures find an opening in the tunnel system. They look out and see that they have reached their goal. Before them is the lower level of the cavern, throughout the vast area are children.

"You are to save the children from the hypocrisy of their parents," a voice comes to Tim; and the two men look at each other to see if the other spoke and realize quickly that neither did. They kneel down and scout out the vicinity ahead of them. They know of the creature above them and to their left, but they soon see that there are five more of them on the level where they are now. They count the children and see that there are about fifty of them. The two men nod to each other.

It begins as the twang of the crossbows is heard, followed by the hissing sound of the bolts flying through the air till they meet their marks with a thump. As the first two guards start to fall, the sounds repeat themselves to meet two more guards, just as they start to react to what befell the previous two.

Timothy re-latches the bolt string just as he hears the sound of his comrade's crossbow fire with a sudden and loud thud directly beside him. He looks up to see one of the creatures with his animal like teeth exposed and clinched directly above him. The creature had drawn his sword and was about to bring the weapon down upon him. Now the long blade, which is above the beast's head, falls behind the creature as it slumps down dead, a bolt protruding from its head.

"Thanks," Tim says as he looks at his fellow who nods his acknowledgment. Quickly, the two rise men from their position and enter the main cavern. Timothy raises his weapon towards the bridge above them and finds it empty.

"Get the kids!" he shouts as he places the crossbow around his back and draws his sword. His cohort, doing the same, gathers the panicked children. Within a few minutes they are back in the tunnel as the children cry and whimper from fright. Timothy, in the lead, cautiously walks up the tunnel as his friend herds the little ones ahead of him.

As they reach the top of the shaft, Tim stops, looking carefully around for the missing guard. He listens warily for any hint of the creature in the near area but only hears the roars of other guards in the distances. He signals his friend to come ahead as he enters into the original tunnel they had used to enter into this place.

"Roarrrr!" The creature's bawl vibrates through the small area as it leaps out from its hiding place in front of the group, its sword drawn and ready.

Timothy charges, knowing that he must pass this guard or they will fail in their mission. The metal blades clang together and the battle is joined. It feels like an eternity as the two beings fight each other, sword always meeting sword, neither breaking through to meet the flesh of the other. Then a tinkling sensation begins to come over Tim. It starts at the top of his head downward till his whole body feels electrified. A feeling of confidence and joy fills him as he knows that the Spirit of the Lord is upon him. The strength of the fight becomes more vigorous as the creature begins to surrender ground. Finally the fatal opening is found as Timothy's sword is driven home in the left side of the guard's chest. Stunned, the creature looks at his slayer and collapses down to the ground. Tim looks on, saddened as he pulls out his weapon from the brute's form. Its blood flows to the ground quickly in a way that catches Timothy's eye. It spreads upon the slick cavernous earth in the form of a flag, a flag that has red and white stripes with a field of blue in one corner and fifty stars.

A roar rings out from the lower tunnel a short distance away, and Tim remembers the children behind him. He turns to look at their dirty, scared faces.

"Come on!" he says as he quickly heads toward the surface of the island.

Timothy looks back at the smoke-bellowing island with two of the youngsters clinging to him for comfort as the small sailboat heads away from it. He notices other ships upon the water doing as they are when a fire ball bursts forth from the isle. Suddenly a blinding flash occurs upon it. The sound of an explosion comes to his ears a short time later as he sees the island begin to sink into the waters surrounding it. Within a few minutes the island is no more.

Tim stirs in his bed and awakens as the sun of another day fills his bedroom with light. He looks over at the still sleeping form of his wife and strokes her face gently with his hand. He then moves closer to her and begins to hold her as he feels the need for comfort.

The Realization

:June 22

:11:23 p.m.

For weeks now Timothy has been trying his best to contact Alden Roberts, who is a pastor of one of the largest churches in Memphis. Finally he has the opportunity to talk to him and Pastor Roberts is very impressed by what Tim has told him so much that the pastor invites him to come and speak to the deacons. So here he sits in the office of the pastor.

"Timothy, it's a pleasure to speak to you in person," a tall, slender, dark haired man says as he opens the door to his office and walks toward him. This causes Tim to jump slightly as he stands and shakes the man's hand.

"Thank you for inviting me, Mr. Roberts. I'm looking forward to discussing this some more with you."

"Well, I found your dreams to be very challenging in their meanings and content. But you do realize that for this church to get involved in this matter more deeply, I must get my deacons involved so that they understand your testimony." Alden cleans his glasses with his handkerchief while leading Tim toward some double doors. He opens one of the doors and leads the younger man in with his hand upon his back.

Six of the men walk up to Timothy and introduce themselves. Two of the men pour themselves coffee from a small home-style brewing machine with their backs to the new men to the room. The two men turn to talk to each other, still unaware of the presence of their pastor and his guest as Tim looks at them. Immediately he recognizes the two individuals as his mind flashes back to only a few days earlier. He turns to Alden and asks to speak with him outside for a moment.

"What seems to be the problem Timothy?" Roberts asks after they step back out into the main office.

"This is not going to work out. At least two of the deacons for sure will never support my effort."

"Why is that?" Alden asks with a concerned expression upon his face. So Tim goes on to tell him of the events of the past Sunday.

"I am sorry for this unfortunate event. I'll speak to the deacons right away and reprimand them," the pastor states, noticeably concerned by the events.

"Please. There's no need to resurface the injury. I feel that could cause more of a problem than to fix it. Just, please, give my apologies to the others, and we'll just drop it right here."

"I don't agree, but if that is the way you want it," Pastor Roberts says as he shakes his hand and then returns to the conference room.

:2:09 p.m.

Christa greets her husband at the door and sees the sadness written upon his face.

"What happened?" she asks in a concerned tone of voice. In response he proceeds to explain to her what has taken place.

"I feel that I have a deeper understanding of my last dream. The lions are tending the sheep in the U.S. It's going to be hard, but I think I must concentrate upon the children for they are the only hope. We must teach them of God as soon as possible so they don't end up lions themselves. What I don't understand is how am I to reach the children if I have to go through the parents first."

"Don't upset yourself over it, Honey. Just leave it in the hands of the Lord."

The Rebellion

:August 5

:5:20 p.m.

Malcom Washington is sitting at the kitchen table holding a glass of iced tea in his hand.

"So how is your brother?" Christa asks as she and Tim work on the dinner for the evening.

"Oh, he's still involved with the Moslems, but he has been asking a lot of questions ever since the funeral."

"Why's that?" Tim asks, puzzled by the statement.

"When, he found out that Dad considered you to be his best friend, it threw off his way of thinking. His hatred of all whites became blurred when Mom talked to him about Dad's feelings about you and the reasons for these feelings.

"Do you think he may return to the fold, so to speak?" Christa inquires.

"I don't know, but at least there's more hope than there was before Dad passed away."

"Do you think that Gerald's passing may be doing just what God wanted it to do?" Timothy asks. "It may possibly be making Jamal realize that Jesus is the Son of God." All fall silent for a while.

:6:12 p.m.

Elizabeth arrives and all four sit at the table as Christa sends the boys into the great room, having just finished eating their meal. After the blessing they begin to eat their dinner.

"I got a call from your friend Alex just before I left, son," Liz comments as she cuts her chicken into bite-size pieces.

"Oh, really!" Malcom says with a tone of gladness in his voice. "He must be calling to say he's coming out."

"Who's Alex?" Christa asks.

"He's a friend of mine from the seminary in Springfield. He lives there, but he said he might drive down here during the break."

"Well, that's nice. What is he specializing in?" Tim asks.

"Children's ministry," Malcom responds.

"That's great," his mother comments. "There's a need for more people in children's ministry."

"Yes, I agree," concurs Tim as his dream of the island flashes back through his mind. He remembers the faces of the children and of the young man that was with him.

"If he does come down, why don't you bring him by here later this week? We'd like to meet him," Christa says.

"All right. I'll do just that," Malcom says and then returns his attention to his meal.

:10:24 p.m.

Thousands of stars fill the clear night sky. More stars than Timothy has ever seen on an average night in Memphis.

"They are beautiful, are they not?" comes the now accustomed voice of Gabriel.

"Where are we Gabriel?" Tim asks as he continues to look into the beautiful sky above, within his dream.

"In Israel, near the town of Gibeah within the boundaries of the tribe of Benjamin. Come, there is something you must see," he says as suddenly the sky is dimmed by the red glare of fire. Tim looks down to see several torches near a clay brick structure. Holding the torches are several men of various ages and sizes. Some wear a leather breastplate with a sword strapped to their side. Most though are dressed in long robes like those Tim has seen in most movies about this era and area.

"What's going on?" he asks, still unable to hear what he thinks to be shouts toward the house. In response he finds himself within the building itself. There he sees an old man moving frantically about the small room. At a table near a rounded clay fireplace built into the corner of the house, he spies a frightened young couple holding each other. The man is handsome and dressed in elaborate robes, which makes Tim think of him as a priest or politician of the time.

"He is a priest," confirms the sitting angelic form. "He is of the tribe of Levi and his spouse is with him."

"Well, if this is Israel and they're Israelites, what's going on?"

"Those things outside may be of the sons of Israel, but they are no longer of God. They forsook God when they decided to follow their fleshly desires of being with other males."

"What do you mean when you say, `being with other male?'" Tim asks, feeling he already knows the answer.

"They are the prince of dogs, the scum of the earth. They are that which God is sickened by the most. They are men like those of Sodom and Gomorrah, when my fellow angels went into those cities in search of Lot.

"Before the darkness ends this night that woman shall die as she tries to protect her husband from being defiled by those creatures," Gabriel explains, plainly sickened by the individuals outside. "Come, I can no longer stand this part of the past."

In that instant Timothy finds himself in the bright sunlight of the day. As his eyes adjust to the sudden brightness, he looks down from the top of a hill into a valley just outside a large village. Before him is a massive onslaught of men. The flashing light of the sun is reflected off hundreds of swords, as flocks of arrows occasionally sail through the air.

"What is happening here?" Tim asks, surprised by the scene before him.

"God was angered by the sins of some of the men of Benjamin and by the fact that the others of the tribe refused to purge themselves of these sicknesses. In response God ordered the other tribes to destroy the rebellious one."

"But I thought Paul was of the tribe of Benjamin?"

"He is. When most of the tribe was destroyed, they sued for peace. God forgave them and allowed them to once again be reunited to Him."

"Help me to understand the overview of this then. God hates homosexuality?"

"Yes!"

"Does he hate the people that commit this sin or the sin itself?"

"The sin itself; but if someone says he has accepted the Lord Jesus but still live the life of sodomy, he is hated by God. This is because he is defiling the image of God Himself, and not just themselves any longer."

"Then is AIDS a punishment from God? A plague?"

"You tell me. Is it not true that AIDS first appeared within the sodomite community in the United States and Europe? Is it not true that those next to be infected were drug addicts? Is it not true that it has spread into most of the other cultures of the people due to adultery? Are not all of these, sins in the eyes of the Lord?"

"I see."

"Also understand this. You yourselves have called this a plague. What does the Bible say of the last day? For that matter, what does Jesus say of the time shortly before his return?"

"Well, in Matthew He says:

`Take heed that no man deceives you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.'"

"The other name for pestilence is plague," Gabriel says; and as these words still echo through his thoughts, Timothy awakens to another day.

The Lord Shall Provide

:August 10

:1:45 p.m.

Tim opens the front door of his home to greet Malcom and his companion a tall blond-haired young man in a T-shirt and jeans.

"Hi, Tim. This is my friend Alex Anderson," Malcom says as he steps into the house.

"Glad to meet you, Alex. Welcome to my home," Tim says as he shakes the young man's hand, memories of his dream again flashing through his head. He sees the island before him and then turns to look into the face of the person that now stands before him.

"Thank you, Mr. Browning," The young man says as Timothy directs them to the great-room.

"Please call me Tim," he says as he sits down in one of the recliners as the other two sit on the couch.

"So you're interested in the children's ministry?" Tim asks.

"Yes, I feel that I'm needed there. It feels like we're losing a lot of the children, due to the methods used in teaching them about Jesus and God."

"I think you're right. If I had been taught better you know what I mean I might have accepted Jesus sooner. They told me about Him, but they never told me who He is in a way I could understand and thus commit myself to Him," Tim agrees.

"Exactly! They leave out his true Godhood. They say He is God and the Son of God, but they never show it," Alex says.

"I know what you mean," Malcom interjects. "I remember going to Sunday school. They'd teach me about His miracles, but it was my Dad that showed me the glorified image of Jesus. I was awestruck by my father's description of His white hair and beard with His flaming eyes."

"Yes, that is an amazing description," Timothy comments, "and I agree it is a description that is not heard enough." They begin a long discussion about the glorified Lord and various other topics. They continue this talk for a couple of hours until finally Malcom suggests that it is about time that they should be going. Alex asks if he could have a copy of Tim's book, and so Tim says he will make a copy and give it to Malcom.

The Tree

:August 12

:9:47 p.m.

As Timothy enters into his dream he is instantly aware of the bright blue sky and the rustling of the long green grass in the slight breeze. He looks about him and sees a vast grassy plain with rolling hills. As he turns about, he unexpectedly finds the only anomaly in this picturesque scene.

Before him is a large hill with a large oak tree at its top. Curious about this strange sight, he begins to climb the hill and soon finds himself at its peak with the huge tree above him. He looks up at the tree and watches the thousands of leaves upon its many branches swaying in the wind.

"Hello, Timothy," comes a voice almost beside him. He turns to look at the trunk of the massive tree and is awe- struck to see first the foot of a man and then the hand emerges from the trunk itself. Finally, the entire form of the individual is revealed and Tim knows who it is.

"Lord!" he says as he kneels down, humbled by the presence of Jesus before him.

"Timothy, please there is no need for that. Here sit with Me and we will talk," the Lord says as He seats Himself against the tree from which only moments before He had emerged. Tim does as Jesus requests.

"I am happy you are among the accounted, Timothy. I have felt your love for Me since you were little. I have brought you here so I could explain something to you," Jesus states with a greatly caring look upon His face, as Tim listens intently.

"You and others like you are the first to feel a part of the immense pouring of the Holy Spirit; all of you are Dreamers. You saw them the first time we talked, but that is not important. What is important is that you understand, so you will not become discouraged ever again. Many are being filled by the Spirit, but many are still babes in Me.

"They have not learned how to find Me as you have. I await them just beyond the door, but they do not hear My knock. You have heard and answered it. That is why you have found your destiny as a Dreamer.

"You have always been one, but you have only been able to be a tool to Me within this year. Please understand that I have opened many doors for you to teach others what I have given you, but most have been shut by Satan. He has blinded the weak in spirit and filled their ears with rubbish. You are right about Alex, but please understand. He is to come behind you, as he did in the dream, a shepherd. I will use him to fulfill the rest of the prophecy for North America. His students, as well as students of others like him, will be Prophets, and the Seers of visions. You are in the front of this line, and you will receive massive wounds before you come to be with Me.

"Remember, I shall never remove your branch from this tree, but do not turn from Me or you will break yourself off." He stands, and so does Tim.

"Timothy, there are other doors out there. They may lead you to unfamiliar places, but take them. I will always guide you as long as your heart is open to Me. I love you, Timothy." Jesus takes Tim into His arms and hugs him.

"Before you go, I want you to remember it is not yet My time, but it will be soon. Remember my words through Peter in Acts," He says.

Tim awakens crying in joy, which also awakens Christa when she hears this. She turns on a light beside the bed and looks to see the smile on his face as the tears pour down his face.

"What is it? What did you dream about?" She asks concerned but at the same time excited.

"Jesus appeared to me again! He said that I just now reached the point of usefulness to Him, but what was so amazing was that He hugged me and He said He loved me!" Tim almost shouts.

"You're kidding," She says in an awed shock.

"He did, really, but He said to look in Acts. Give me the Bible, quick!" She takes her Bible from the drawer in her dresser near the bed and hands it to her spouse.

"I think he is referring to Acts 2:17, don't you?" he asks, and she nods in a confused fashion. "Yes! Here it is! `And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.' 'And your old men shall dream dreams.' Your old men! I think I see now. By the time the Lord comes I will be an old man... He's coming soon, praise God. He's coming soon!" he shouts grabbing his wife and holding her tight as she does the same.

Alexander

:September 2

:10:15 p.m.

It has been three weeks since that night Timothy had dreamed about Jesus. The inspiration of this meeting was so grand that he wrote letters to all the Christian publishers and television networks. Within the last week Tim has received returns from most of these places, and all showed no interest in what he had offered them about his dreams. Now he lies in bed, again depressed by these negative responses from the major places within the church. Then he remembers the words of the Savior: "I shall never remove your branch from this tree, but do not turn from Me or you will break yourself off,' and so he begins to relax and gently falls asleep.

Light comes to the eyes of Timothy, as he sees before him an ancient city, but one that is alive and flourishing. Outside this city is something much different. It is a city of tents with chariots and horses sitting on its rim.

"This is Babylon," comes the voice of Gabriel. Timothy turns to look up at the huge being beside him.

"What's with the army?" Tim asks.

"That is the army of Alexander the Great, as you know him. They have been retreating from their hard march into India and have pulled back to this point. His defeated hosts are now giving him a welcome celebration. Unknown to this man, this is the day of his death."

"What's going to happen?" Tim asks, surprised by the point blank tone of the angelic form.

"Come, I will show you." As Timothy blinks his eyes, he finds himself high above the point where he had stood a moment before. Before him he sees two other armies, but these armies are different. One is dressed in white with golden breastplates and helmets. The others are arrayed in black and red.

At the front of the darkly clad warriors is a large menacing figure upon a black horse. Due to his elaborate helmet Tim feels he is the leader of the darkly clad creatures. As he suddenly charges toward the lightly colored ranks before him, the white troops draw forth their glowing long swords and raise their golden shields up in a defensive move. When the dark leader nears the line, he pulls up causing his stead to rear up as flames dance forth from the animal's nostrils.

"Where is your cowardly leader Michael?" The harsh voice booms out. In response the golden armored ranks open to permit a pure white horse to slowly walk out onto the battlefield of air before them. Upon the horse sits a large figure dressed the same as those that now stand behind him.

"What do you want?" he asks as his horse stops a short distance from the other leader.

"I have come to demand that you leave these lands to me."

"Why would I turn this land over to Satan? You know as well as I that he would turn on the children of God and destroy them."

"So what does that matter to us? They are the toys of God, little insignificant beings to be pushed about as we please."

"They are of the creation, and anything of the creation is good. For you know nothing was created in vain, and for you to say they are toys is to say it was in vain."

"Do not throw the words of God in my face, Michael. You know that they are wasted upon me."

"I speak the divine truth, and to deny it is to deny all that is right."

"Then I deny it!" the dark form yells as he draws his sword and quickly charges his counterpart. Michael only has time to raise his shield in his defense as the mighty flaming weapon crashes down against it, knocking him from his stead.

He stands and draws his own sword. It comes to meet the other's sword, who has turned his horse, and has quickly galloped back in an attempt to beat his adversary from doing just what he has done.

Once again the dark figure turns and charges at the standing form before him. Michael finally braces for the oncoming attack and prepares to make his move. The dark horse charges at him, its red eyes echoing the flames shooting out from its nose and mouth as it approaches. His glowing weapon swings wide and strong as the sound of its crushing against the shield of the rider vibrates throughout the battlefield. The mighty conflict throws the dark form off his horse as it turns and runs back to the black lines.

"Very good, Michael. I didn't know you were that good," the larger of the two forms says as he looks up at his glowing adversary.

"Stand, vermin, and let us finish this, for your time, now, is at an end."

"I will not accept what you say, for I know I am your better," the black form says as he stands, throwing his battered shield aside. Michael does the same. Again the dark form charges, and they engage in hand-to-hand combat.

"You killed the mortal bodies of my sons, and now I will kill you!"

"You know that they should not have been conceived. You and your fellows knew that we must not come to know the flesh of Adam's children. You saw their deformed nature, standing as tall as we, but filled with all the fornication that brought them into being," Michael says as they both circle slowly. Each waits for the other to make the first move, which finally comes as the white form lunges forward. The dark form moves quickly away from the shining blade as he thrusts his own into the crack between the breast and back plate. The sword sinks into Michael and then out again. It causes the archangel to bend in agony. Grasping his injured side then, he stumbles back in a guarded manner.

"You will never win against me! Israel will be mine!" the dark creature says as he again charges, but the wounded being fends off his attack.

"You were allowed to control the Greek. Israel is my ward, and I shall protect her long after you are in the Lake of Fire," Michael says as the other lunges in pure anger in an uncontrollable rage. Michael uses his full remaining strength to cleave the sword into the oncoming form's head. It splits it in half, and the still living dark creature falls down. Down from the heavens and into a mighty flaming hole in the earth. At the entrance to the hole an angel appears and closes it up and locks it.

As Timothy sees the key turn, he suddenly finds himself within a building. In this structure he sees that a large celebration has been taking place. He looks at a man whose tan is slightly lighter than those about him and who have clothes that are a little different. Suddenly he grabs his head as pain is written strongly upon his face. Then life itself leaves from his eyes as he falls down to the ground as those about him run quickly to his aid.

An Open Door

:November 13

:11:45 a.m.

Several weeks have passed since Tim had his last dream. Christa is in a restaurant with her sister Pat as they talk about the family.

"So has Tim had any dreams lately?"

"No, but it doesn't bother him as much since his last one with Jesus in it."

"What happened in that dream?"

"He found his place in the scheme of things."

"What do you mean?"

"Well Jesus told him to look at Acts 2:17, and he knows that he is part of the first wave of the last of those who are trying to prepare us for the soon return of the Lord."

"Soon! How soon?"

"Sometime during our retirement years."

"Our retirement years, uhm. Well, who are these others that are to follow?"

"They will be the prophets and those that will see visions of God and Jesus when they're wide awake."

"Excuse me," comes the voice of a woman sitting behind Pat. The two look in the direction of the voice.

"I'm sorry to be so rude, but I just couldn't help over hearing what you said about knowing someone who is experiencing religious dreams." The woman's middle-aged face was red with embarrassment.

"Oh.... a yes, what about it?" Christa asks, taken off guard.

"Do you believe he or she is really experiencing these dreams, in a message giving manner?"

"Why yes, my husband is, and they are very insightful to the Christian of today, and for the Christianity of the past for that matter," Christa says in a defensive tone, caused by the woman's wording of her question.

"Oh, please forgive me. That came out all wrong. May I please join you?" the black-haired woman requests and then starts to rise as the younger woman looks at her sister and then nods in the affirmative. She sits next to Christa who moves over slightly to give her room.

"What is this dream about Jesus you were talking about?" the woman asks in an excited tone, and so Christa begins to describe her husband's dream as best as she can.

"Oh, praise God!" the elder female exclaims, awed by the experience.

"Can I meet your husband?" she asks, and Christa agrees after she thinks a moment.

:12:43 p.m.

Christa, Pat, and the individual they had met in the restaurant enter her home.

"Tim! I'm home, and I've brought someone who wants to meet you."

Timothy comes out of his office and walks into the living room where he finds the woman standing.

"Mrs. Carlson, this is my husband Timothy Browning."

"Tim, this is Mrs. Edna Carlson. She approached us when she overheard us talking about your dreams."

"Oh, really! It's a pleasure to meet..."

"Oh, the pleasure is all mine!" she says in an excited Southern accent. "My husband is a pastor, and I want you to come to our church and speak!"

"You do? Well, what's the name of your church?"

"Freedom at Calvary!"

"Well, I haven't heard of that one."

"Oh, it's a small church. We only have about thirty to fifty people as members, but we've had up to eighty people at some services."

"If you really want me to speak, I will."

"Well here are the addresses and my phone number. Call me Saturday, and I'll tell you the rest. I tell you, it is such a pleasure to meet you. Bye now!" The cheerful woman quickly walks out the front door, leaving the three people inside stunned.

:November 18

:10:58 a.m.

Timothy nervously sits next to the pastor Alford Carlson, a man in his early fifties with gray-black hair. There are three other people seated upon the dais, as all of them listen to the small choir. The pastor stands when the singing comes to an end and walks up to the podium. He speaks for a moment about church affairs and then asks for all to pray. Once the prayer ends, he turns to look at Tim and introduces him. He stands, shakes the pastor's hand, and looks out at the people. Boredom is written on most of their faces. Silence reigns for several moments as Tim stands there with nothing to say. He looks down at his spouse Christa and his two sons. She smiles at him and nods encouragingly, and so he prays.

'Please Lord, give me the words to speak to these people, and to show your glory.' he says in his silent prayer, and then begins to speak.

"Thank you, Pastor Carlson, for inviting me," he says as he looks at the man still adjusting himself in his seat.

"This is the first time I have ever done anything like this, so please forgive me if I stumble along.

"I feel you should first understand who I am in the sight of the Lord. In Acts 2:17, Peter spoke of the last days. In these times he said that the sons and daughters shall see visions, the men shall prophesy, and the old men shall dream dreams.

"I am a Dreamer of dreams, even though I am young now. I feel that when the Lord returns, I will be an old man." Then Tim tells one of his more recent dreams. As he finishes, he looks at the parishioners and sees their excitement written upon their faces. With this, he tells his last dream and looks at the awe upon their faces. He decides to finish at this time and once again thanks the pastor. As he returns to his seat, all the people in the small church stand and applaud him.

The Cross

:11:03 p.m.

Timothy is elated the entire day, and Christa is right beside him. She spends the rest of the day talking to her family about the events that took place at the church, and about the reaction Tim received from the people and from the pastor. He had asked for a copy of Timothy's book and inquired if Tim could return again, which the younger man said he would.

Now Tim and Christa lie in bed still excited by the events of the past day. Slowly though, they both fall into a deep sleep.

The sun is bright as Tim finds himself at the rear of a large crowd, upon a hill, outside an ancient city.

"This is Jerusalem," comes the voice of Gabriel from beside him, "and these people are gathered here to watch the spectacle of death."

"Whose death?" Tim asks.

"Three individuals shall die this day, but one you know very well," the angel says as Tim's head snaps up to look at him.

"Yes.... Jesus."

As Timothy looks back toward the crowd, he finds himself at its center. Here he is ringed by Roman troops as they hold back the excited mob. An opening forms on the side facing the city, and there before him he sees the Christ leading a large group of soldiers and three men with crosses.

"Oh my...," come the words slowly and then are lost as he looks at the Savior's battered form. Blood, both new and dried, cover His face. Most of it comes from the thorny crown upon His head; but some, Tim notices, comes from His nose and mouth. His clothes are torn and tattered, while His bare feet are dirty and brownish red from the mixture of blood and dirt.

When the Lord reaches the center of the circle, He falls to His knees revealing to Tim the hideous wounds upon His back. Timothy looks at the shredded skin of the Savior's back. He looks into the still open, bleeding wounds; and he believes he sees the white of the spine and ribs. Tim turns away as nausea starts to overwhelm him.

"No, don't turn away. You will not become sick."

"But I feel as though...," Tim begins to protest to Gabriel's request.

"Don't fear. It will not overwhelm you."

With these words Tim returns his gaze to the sight before him. There he sees a man place the large cross near an already dug hole, which appears well used for its ominous purpose. The man's face, shoulder and hands are covered with the blood of Jesus; and Tim can see that the man cries as he is pushed away.

Timothy's attention turns to some movement near him. There he sees two soldiers grab up Jesus and drag His weakened form over to the cross, removing His clothes as they do. They throw Him upon it, which causes Him to arch his back in agony. One of the troops slams his foot down upon the Lord as four others grab His hands. Two of them hold His hands down as the remaining two places large nails at the base of his hands and begins to hammer them into His body and then into the wood. Once this is done, they take His legs, leaving each one slightly bent, and proceed to hammer a nail into each of His ankles. When they finish, the soldier stepping upon His chest moves. As he does this, they attach a guide-rope to the top of the cross. Then five of the troops grab the top of it and begin to raise it. When the wood form is too high for the men to push up farther without difficulty, two long poles are brought into play on each end of the horizontal beam. They use these to push the cross into its upright position as it slams down into the hole made for it. Timothy looks at Jesus' face as this sudden downward movement ends and sees the pain written clearly upon it. He watches as the Savior lifts His bloody and battered face.

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do," Tim hears Jesus say. Tim looks at his guide.

"You hear the Lord's words because this event is for all who follow Him in the past, the present, and the future and because He is God in human form," Gabriel explains and then points back to the cross where the two see Jesus try to lift Himself to breathe. Tim looks on in anguish as he watches the nails in His feet begin to pour out more blood. He falls to his knees as he sees the torn flesh of the Lord's back scraping against the rough wooden column. He looks on as large and small splinters are shoved into His already marred back.

Jesus' head turns to His left, and Tim looks in that direction. He sees another cross there, and upon it is a man tied to it with ropes. Even though Tim does not hear the words, he knows the criminal is heckling the Lord, from his own point of death. He turns to see the other cross just behind and to the right of the Lord. He watches as the man there angrily speaks to the previous one.

"Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise," Jesus says in an anguished way and then in pain relaxes His knees to send the pain shooting through His arms. Tim, unable to stand watching his Lord in so much agony, turns away for a moment.

When he returns his gaze to Jesus, he notices that it is growing darker. He looks up to see the cloud that must have moved in front of the sun and is shocked by what he sees. Above him throughout the sky he sees the ape-like creatures, like those from the battlefield, blocking out the blue sky. As hundreds, then thousands start to gather above the city, the light of day is soon blacked out as they watch with joy as Jesus suffers.

"My God,...my God,... why have you forsaken Me?" the Lord says in the light of the torches that have been lit.

Tim looks about him and sees that the crowd that was first there has dissipated. He can see a centurion and his troops, along with about twenty or so other people. Among them he sees three women and a young man holding one of the three, due to her weeping very deeply.

"Woman," comes the pained voice of the Savior. "Behold your son!" The weeping woman looks toward Him and then turns to look at the young man holding her.

"Behold your mother!" Jesus spits out as his knees once again give way, sending s shudder of pain throughout his body. The young man hearing the words of Jesus, nods understanding that he is to care for Mary as if she were his own mother.

Tim, frozen in sorrow, cannot turn away any longer. He watches as the Lord raises Himself once again.

"I thirst," the Savior says; and in response one of the guards shoves a liquid filled sponge into Jesus' face. He turns His head away from the substance.

"Father,... it is done!" He shouts as His body clasps and becomes as limp as a marionette in a puppet show attached with strings to keep it up.

In shock Tim leaps from his bed and then falls to his knees as he begins to weep heavily. Christa, awakened by the abrupt action of her spouse, walks over to him and kneels down to hold him. She does not say a word as he buries his face into the side of her neck and engulfs her with his arms.

Another Candle is Lit

:November, 27

:4:25 p.m.

"Door bell!!" shouts Joshua from the great-room as a puzzled Timothy pushes himself away from his computer. A few seconds later he opens the door to see the large form of Jamal Washington. As the storm door is opened, Tim notes the suit and bowtie the man is wearing.

"Hello, Jamal, it's a pleasure to see you. Come in," says Tim. In response Jamal adjusts his glasses and walks into the great-room.

"I just want to know what my family sees in you," the black man says bluntly as he seats himself in one of the recliners.

"What do you mean?" Tim asks calmly as he sits down in the other chair after getting James and Joshua to go play in their room.

"I mean, you became friends with my father almost two years ago. Since his death my family still visits you, and Malcom says you helped him in his decision to become a preacher."

"Well, I like your entire family. You're good people who are making yourself better than what was possible only twenty years ago. Your family is Martin Luther King's dream come to fruition. Plus your father... well... I loved him. He helped me through a very rough time in my life. If it wasn't for him, I believe that I might be dead right now. Probably killed in a car crash, due to being drunk."

"But...., softly comes from Jamal, and he falls into deep thought. Tim sits and looks at the man before him as he sees the expression upon his face appear to be that of torment. Several minutes pass, and then he returns Tim's gentle gaze.

"You know, all my life I have fought my father. Now though, I realize it wasn't him I was really fighting."

"Then what were you fighting?"

"It was his beliefs! He has always had white friends. Some even sat with him on a bus during the Civil Rights era. So it's not that, but it was his love for all men. Even when he was beaten up for riding that bus, he never held a grudge or hated the men that did that to him. I just couldn't accept that."

"He was like that because of Jesus."

"But why? Jesus was only a man that said the right words, at the wrong time, and so got Himself killed because of it."

"Have you read the Bible?"

"Yes, Dad told me stuff from it, and from Sunday school, too."

"No. Have you read the Bible?" Tim asks again with more emphasis.

"No," Jamal says, understanding the question.

"Wait a minute," Tim says and quickly gets up. A few minutes later he returns with three books in his arms.

"What are those?" Jamal asks.

"This is a Bible," Tim replies placing the smallest of the three books on the coffee table.

"This is a dictionary, and this is a concordance." He continues placing the next larger and then the largest book down. "To really know what the Bible says, you need these to understand it. Please take these and read the book of Matthew, using these other books as aids. Also read any verses that the reference letters by some of the words say to read.

:November 30

:5:31 p.m.

Three days pass when again the bell at Tim's front door rings. Christa answers it and asks Jamal into the house. She takes him back to Tim's office where he sits, working on the computer once again.

"Timothy, you have a visitor," she says in a cheerful tone as Jamal pokes his head into the small room.

"Come in, Jamal. Sit down!" He gestures to a white wicker chair near him. So the large man sits causing the chair to crackle. In his arms are the books that were loaned to him the other day.

"I would just like to thank you, Tim. For the first time I actually understood the Bible. I also accepted Jesus as my Savior last night with the help of my Mother. I just ran out this morning and bought my own copy of this concordance."

"Well, that's just fantastic, Jamal! I'm real happy for you!" Christa says as she returns to the room from the kitchen.

"Yes, so am I," Tim agrees as he taps his hand on the other man's knee.

"I also realized that the Devil has played me for a fool. He used me to help in the destruction of the relationship between the blacks and whites, and I'm sorry for that."

"Don't be hard on yourself. You didn't know," Christa says.

"Yes, but I should have. There's no telling what damage I may have done. Not only with my Brothers, but with whites I have wronged."

"All you need do is ask forgiveness from God, and He will forgive you. But if you can, find these people and either ask their forgiveness or tell them what you think, and that you were wrong. Then if they don't accept what you have to say, well, it's on their heads then," Timothy comments as his wife agrees.

"You're probably right, but the strangest thing happened to me last night."

"Oh, what was that?" Christa asks.

"Well, I had this dream. I was in this dark forest, but I saw some light ahead. So I walked toward it. When I got there, there was this building. At the door to this place was Jesus..."

"And he took you inside to a room at the end of a long hall where there was a bunch of tables with kids sitting around them all, but one. On this table were some cans, and you handed them to the kids," Tim finishes as Jamal looks on in shock.

"Why, yes! How did you know?" he says. His eyes wide.

"That was the first dream that Tim had when he became saved," answers Christa. "I'll never forget it. The day he told me I asked him to marry me." Christa laughs as Tim's face reddens with embarrassment.

"What do you mean first dream? You mean you've had other dreams?"

"Yes," Tim answers as he takes his Bible from Jamal, and reads Acts 2:17 to him.

"I and now you are what I feel are dreamers of dreams, or `Dreamers' as Jesus put it."

"As Jesus put it? You mean you've talked to Jesus personally?"

"Yes, in a dream I had a while back. I think in the last ten years I've had around a hundred dreams, but I've only seen Jesus in two of them."

"Malcom said something about you having some kind of dream, but I didn't realize until now what he was talking about," Jamal says as he pauses. "And you're saying I'm a `Dreamer'?"

"From what I can tell at this time, I would say yes."

A Judgment

:December 30

:10:30 p.m.

It has been a month since that afternoon that Jamal Washington had talked with Christa and Timothy about his dream. Since then, the younger man has been over several times, and they are quickly becoming good friends. It is a friendship that Tim feels begins to fill the void in his life left by the passing of Gerald. Jamal has just left an hour ago, and now the couple lie in bed as Tim holds his wife. Within a few minutes they are both sound asleep.

Gray clouds fill the sky as rain falls upon a step-type pyramid standing before Timothy. He looks at the carved rock and sees that it appears to be that of a Central or South American civilization. He turns to look upon this community that few people of today know about. What he sees though is an empty city or village.

"What happened?" Tim asks, knowing his angelic guide will answer him even though he has not even looked to see if his giant friend is there.

"This is the remains of a dead society." The reply comes from behind him, and so he turns to look at the angel setting upon the large step-like structure.

"How did it die?"

"It was killed by an illness, an illness you call small pox."

"Small Pox? Wasn't that brought to the Americas by Columbus?"

"That is correct."

"Then why are we here? What does this have to do with God or Jesus?"

"It has everything to do with God. You see, they are the children of Noah. They came to be here by a land bridge between what you call Siberia and Alaska, and they also came by boat. This all took place after God destroyed Babel.

"They knew God, and they knew of his wrath, as witnessed by their own memories of their past, which people of your time have discovered. Soon after they arrived here, they forgot Him. They fell into the deepest of sins. They murdered their children for their false gods and committed the most heinous of adulteries.

"God's anger became so great that he made those who remembered Him to come to this land. When they came though, they brought the judgment of God with them a judgment that would affect both peoples.

"You see, the Lord allowed different maladies to develop in the two separate cultures. For those that remembered God, He gave them sicknesses that can be passed from one to another just by breathing; but for these people he gave a more repulsive disease, one caused by their acts of adultery. Due to the sins of both, God allowed the spread of these sicknesses to both groups, and so this is the result here."

"What is this disease the Europeans caught?"

"You call it Syphilis, and right at the time we stand in, it is spreading like a plague across that continent all due to adultery.

"But since these people have forgotten God, illness is not their only torment they are to face. This bountiful land He has given them shall be given to those that know Him. This shall take hundreds of years as you already know. They shall become poor in this rich land as they watch their conquerors become rich.

"Only those of the people that are in the deepest of jungles or who have some remembrance of God shall survive with some memories of their past," Gabriel finishes as Tim thinks of the native Americans in the United States.

"Mommy!" comes the sound of Joshua's voice to his ears, and so he awakens to the crying of his youngest son as he and his wife both get up to care for him.

The World Wars

:January 20, 1991

:11:03 p.m.

It has been three weeks since Timothy's last dream. In that time Malcom, Jamal and Alex have visited several times. The four men have discussed the dreams of the two Dreamers, along with personal items. It pleases Tim that both of the two brothers have begun seriously dating. He knows that they will marry soon, and so he is very happy for both of them.

Now though, Tim and Christa lie in their bed as they watch a movie they have rented for their VCR. Soon though, they become tired and fall asleep.

A silent explosion bursts almost directly in front of Tim, which startles him as the flash of fire thrusts a huge amount of dirt into the air. As it settles and the smoke from the blast begins to dissipate, he sees before him a cratered landscape. In the distance he sees a Mark I British tank from World War I as it emerges from a ditch. Soon after this, it is followed by a slow moving group of crouching soldiers. Timothy looks in the direction they are moving and sees the heads of men in what appears to be turbans and helmets in a long trench.

"Before you is a battle near Jerusalem," comments Gabriel. "These British troops are starting to make the last charge upon the Turkish lines. Before this day is through, Jerusalem will be in the hands of Christians once again.

"Due to this, many of the Israelites begin to return to their homeland. This fact does not escape the evil gaze of Satan. When he sees this, he put into action two of his many plans to defeat God. He did this because he knew that the last days were quickly approaching.

"First, he ordered two of his strongest followers to enter into the second phase of their plan. Soon after, Russia fell into his hands, and civil war erupted in China. Then he ordered three more of his supporters to go into the world and start discontentment. As a result three nations filled with discord. Of these three, the strongest was Germany, and so the Fallen One worked within this country the most.

"The objective of these creatures was to destroy all the Israelites, and so World War II came to be. The strongest of Satan's beasts gathered others with him, and so they created the `Death Camps' to kill the children of God, both Israelis and Christian alike.

"I will not take you there. For I know you have seen films of these places and of the horrors committed there. That is why God marshaled all of his forces to drive out these perverse creatures, just as he did against Benjamin.

"But, whenever Satan plans destruction, God turns it to good. Even though over six million Israelites died at the hands of Satan's followers. This slaughter caused the recreation of the nation of Israel, which fulfilled the prophecy you have seen in the book of Jeremiah: `I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah... and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.'"

:6:05 a.m.

And as Timothy awakes to the alarm clock, he hears over and over again the verse, and so he looks it up to read it once again, and he looks up Jeremiah 30:3.

A Mystery

:February 17

:10:44 p.m.

After a hard day of work and helping Christa clean the house, for people that are coming to look at it the next day. Timothy fades into his dreams quickly only minutes after laying his head on the pillow.

Tim finds himself in what he feels is a police station. He is seated at one of the many desks in the large room as he notices one of the many officers approach him.

"Alan needs your help down at the mission. He's having a problem investigating that murder," the police officer says to Timothy.

The next thing Tim sees is a large group of officers standing around in an alley lighted by red and blue flashing lights.

"I'm glad you're here," a short balding man says.

"What can I do Alan?" Tim asks, and in response Alan takes him to a taped outline of a body.

"We were called by someone at the mission here, and they reported shots fired. A patrol car came to the scene, where they found a Reverend Michaels kneeling over the body of a Jeremy Daniels, a layman volunteer at the mission. The reverend was holding the murder weapon in his hand so the officers told him to drop it, which he did. He then identified himself. They searched him checked his ID, and found he was telling the truth. They then questioned him and found that he heard the victim talking to a known felon by the name of Marvin Fogerty, a black male, about two hundred and thirty pounds. Father Michaels said that Mr. Daniels requested that they meet so they could talk. Fogerty suggested the alley. The reverend was in the storage room off of the kitchen when he heard the shots, two, and immediately ran out. As he came into the alley, he saw the victim on the ground, with the gun lying beside him. He saw this Fogerty running out of the alley. Michaels then walked over to the body and picked up the gun. It was about then that the patrol car arrived on the scene."

"Did they see the suspect then?"

"No."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Go undercover. Live on the streets. Find Fogerty!"

Tim then finds himself walking down a street as well dressed people look his way and then cross the street or enter into buildings. He enters the mission a short time later and is greeted by a thin, dark, blond-haired man.

"Hello, my name is Reverend Michaels. How can we help you?"

"I was just wantin' some dinner and a bed."

"Well, you came to the right place. Follow me." The man turns and leads Timothy into the cafeteria. Moments later Tim is sitting at one of the long tables, and he begins to eat.

"Jeremy was murdered this morning," a dirty woman says.

"What? Why would anyone want to kill Jeremy?" an old, unshaven man says. He stops eating his soup, wiping some from his whiskers beneath his mouth.

"They say Marvin did it," she answers.

"Marvin! They were friends. Jeremy was the first person to reach him. There's no way Marvin would kill him. Ever since they became friends Marvin started acting different. You know he even said hi to me the other day," replies the man.

"Nah. He did! That's great. Jeremy could always bring out the best in people. It's nice to think that he's with Jesus now."

"You know it. The love of God was with him."

"What about this reverend?" Tim asks.

"Him!" The woman looks at Timothy as if he is insane.

"That man is here to just build his image."

"Just because he's a reverend doesn't mean he's a Christian," the old man says.

"Thanks for the warning," Tim says; and the three of them return to their food.

It is night and Tim enters into an alley where several other people sit upon the ground or in cardboard boxes. He comes to a chain-link fence and seats himself against it. Moments later he feels the presence of others about him. He looks up to see that he is surrounded by people.

"We hear you've been asking a lot of questions. What are you, a cop?"

"Yes, I am," Tim says, causing two of the men to grab his arms and pins him against the fence as they thrust him to his feet.

"What do you want?"

"I want to talk with Marvin Fogerty."

"You mean arrest him?"

"No! I just want to talk with him."

"Well, you can't." The person that first talked to him moves closer to him, drawing back his fist as he prepares to hit him.

"Stop!" comes a deep voice as a large black man with a mustache walks out of the dark.

"He does want to talk. If he wanted to arrest me, he wouldn't have told you he was a cop."

"You're Marvin Fogerty?" Tim asks as the two men reluctantly release him.

"Yeah. Now what do you want?"

"I just want to know what happened in that alley."

"Well, I had this image I had made for myself as being this tough guy, ya see. So I asked Jeremy to talk with me in the alley."

"Why?"

"I... I asked Jesus into my life, and I was afraid I would have ruined my image. If it became known, well you know."

"Then why are you saying it now."

"Because, I don't care about my image now because Jesus is now in my life."

"I understand," Tim says as he walks up to Marvin and places his hand on the man's shoulder.

"Please, tell me everything."

"Well, I met him there, and we talked a bit. Then I asked the Lord into my life. I was filled with this joy and happiness. It made me feel so good, that I gave Jeremy this pistol that I had. I did this because I knew I shouldn't have it since I was in jail a few times."

"I see. Did you see anyone else in the alley or around it?"

"No, but I thought someone was in the kitchen of the Mission because I heard the back door move."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it creaked like someone was leaning against it."

"Thanks," Tim says.

Tim walks into the shelter with Allen, and they ask a lady that walks up to them what other volunteers were there the day of the murder.

Later the two men stand in front of a house as its door opens. A middle aged woman looks at the two men as they both show her their badges.

"Please, come in," she says and they enter the house.

"Could you please tell me, once again, what happened that day, from the last time you saw Mr. Daniels until you heard the shots."

"Well, I was in the kitchen when Jeremy walked through to go out the back door. A few minutes later the Reverend came in, with an inventory sheet to once again count the food goods in the storage room."

"What do you mean once again?"

"Well, he seems to think someone is stealing the food, and at least once a day he counts it. That was the second time he counted it that day. I soon left after he came in. We don't get along."

"Did you see anyone else enter the kitchen?"

"No."

"Have people given guns to members of the staff before?"

"Oh, yes, many times."

"What do they do with them?"

"Well, we give them to the Reverend, of course. He's in charge of things like that. He gives them to the police or just to a pawn shop. He takes the money he gets and then buys something special for the dinner that night."

"Thank you."

Allen and Tim walk into the office of the Reverend Michaels.

"Good afternoon, Officer Allen, officer," the pastor says, smiling as he shakes their hands. "I take it you've arrest the man that killed Jeremy."

"No, not yet. We just wanted some more information."

"What do you need?"

"Well, we need more information to make the case stick. Did you ever see Mr. Daniels have any arguments with anyone?" asks Officer Allen.

"Well, no not really, but.... Well, you see he never really got along with anyone. A few weeks ago I had to talk with him about his attitude."

"Oh, so what did he say when he handed you the gun?"

"Well, he said..." Michaels looks at the two men in shock.

"Why did you kill him?"

"I was... was... a... jealous of him. You see everyone liked him, and he could make people listen to him in a way no one else could. When I saw him guide Marvin to the Lord I couldn't stand it anymore. I watched as Marvin gave him the gun, and then leave. As Daniels turned to come in, I walked into the alley. He gave me the gun, as is our practice. I looked at it. I pulled back the hammer... I aimed it... and fired."

"Reverend Michaels, you have the right to remain silent..."

Tim hears the alarm go off, and he awakens for another day. He sits in his bed a moment as he thinks about his dream.

"What happened, Timothy?" his spouse asks, and so he explains his dream.

"I think it shows an envy from members of the clergy towards their parishioners," Christa comments. "Some of them are jealous of those who haven't worked as hard as they but are loved more by God. So they make it hard on laymen like this to grow within their churches. They discourage them to a point that they may even die in the eyes of the Lord."

The Seven Candles

:Florida, Orlando

:May 12

:7:38 p.m.

The four people of the Browning family walk into the hotel room and place a few Disney World souvenirs around various points within the room. They turn on the television as Christa suggests they play one of the board games they had brought with them. They all agree and are soon playing Clue upon one of the two queen size beds. Soon they all grow tired and so retire for the night.

Tim finds himself in darkness. He calls out for Gabriel, but there is no answer. Soon though he hears a type of chant that sounds familiar, but he cannot quite hear the words. He then sees a light in the distance, like a lone star on a cloudy night. He feels his feet leave the ground, and he feels the familiarity of flight once again. He directs himself toward the light as it steadily grows.

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty for He is the was, the is, and the is to come," comes the chant to his ears as it repeats itself over and over from what sounds like hundreds upon hundreds of voices.

As the light grows, it soon divides into six individual lights in what appears to be a circle. Finally he reaches these lights and sees that this illumination comes from six candles. He sees, though, that there are seven of these large candles resting on large candle sticks upon a small white circular area within the blackness. Of the ones still lit he sees two burning brightly, even though he thinks one is somewhat brighter. The remaining four flickers as they fight to stay aflame, each one dimmer than the one preceding it.

"Timothy Micah Browning!" bombs forth a familiar, but voluminous voice. Tim turns to his right, and there before him is the Christ, but this time He is different from the previous times he has seen Him.

His entire form glows as His eyes flicker like two fires within His head. His hair and beard are a brilliant white, which is even brighter than His white robes. His feet are like polished bronze, which challenges the brilliance of His golden cloth about His waist. As Tim looks upon this, he falls to his knees in worship of the Lord.

"Timothy, My servant, listen to My words. Before you are seven candles, which show the spirits of the seven churches of God. Please understand these churches are spiritual, not physical; within one physical church you can find all seven of these." Jesus gestures to the seven candles. Tim notices that Jesus' tongue looks like a sword as He talks.

"But understand, also, that an entire nation can be like one of these churches. An example is your homeland. As a whole, the United States is lukewarm towards Me. I told John long ago that it is better to be hot or cold for Me, but not as they are. Tell them to change their ways or I will spew them from Me. If this happens, chaos shall reign, and your homeland shall cease to be.

"Each candle shows the love, faith, and righteousness of one of the churches. Two burn brightly and are strong, even though one is slightly weaker. The other four that burn are weak and frail in Me and risk death from the sight of God. The last is already dead. That one is like a person that goes to church on Sundays but commits the most heinous of sins against Me the rest of the time. These sinners are worst because they profess to be a child of God. In reality they are children of Satan.

"Tell those who will listen that the mysteries are being revealed. Warn them to read My prophecies, even though they may not listen. Tell them to read my prophets: Isaiah, Zechariah, Daniel. Tell them to look at the Revelation of John, for from these books come the words of the Father.

Tim awakens softly, quietly dresses, and then leaves the room without waking his wife or his children. He enters the lobby of the hotel. He asks the desk clerk for some paper, and she hands him a note pad. He sees a couch in the corner and sits there; within minutes he is writing.

Strategic Retreat

:Tennessee, Memphis

:June 16

:10:03 p.m.

When Timothy returns from Florida he calls Pastor Carlson and asks to talk with him. They talk about his last dream, and the pastor says he will call other church leaders in the city. For the month that follows, Tim talks to several of these men, with Alford at his side. The two men are only able to convince three of these churches to allow him to speak. When he does speak to them he is listened to and welcomed by only just two.

Tired and worn by these events of the past weeks, he lies in bed quietly as he listens to the breathing of his already sleeping spouse. A few minutes pass and he too is asleep.

He stands on a hill just behind and overlooking the Battlefields of Right and Wrong. He notices quickly that the battle before him is the most intense he as ever seen. He turns to his right to see the large form of Gabriel beside him.

"It's nice to see you again Gabriel," Timothy says.

"Who did you say?" comes a question from a familiar voice to his left. He turns his head to look at its source. Surprised slightly, he sees the stunned face of Jamal Washington.

"Hello, Jamal. I'm glad to see you here."

"Did you say Gabriel, Tim?"

"Yes, this is the angel Gabriel," he says as he gestures upward to the giant beside him.

"Hello, Matthew," the angel says to Jamal. "Welcome to the Battlefields of Right and Wrong. This is where our prayers are put into action in the spiritual realm. In fact, this is where I first met your father. I remember we were talking about the sandals worn by our fellows," Tim says as he looks down at the large man's legs. "Mine looked about like yours when I first saw this place." He turns back to look at his guide.

"What's happening, Gabriel?" Tim asks. "The fighting is the worst I've ever seen it."

"You are seeing into the future this night. These prayers are coming just before the return of the Christ." As Gabriel says this the three of them hear a thunderous trumpet blast as it vibrates the very ground they stand upon. With this both sides of the line increase their onslaught, but Tim notices that no longer do the soldiers of God fall or are even wounded. On the other side though, he sees several hundred or possibly thousands of the creatures falling. He looks on as the blue armored forms quickly pull them to their side of the line.

Again the trumpet blares forth its mighty note. This time it is accompanied by the voice of Jesus.

"Come to Me, children of God!" His voice rings out and the line of blue and white forms suddenly vanishes. All that is left are the few that have just fallen and are just standing in the armor of God along with some of the ones who had been there all along. Stunned, the line of hideous creatures stands motionless as the remaining warriors of God begin to realize their situation. They soon begin to fall back to the top of the hills that the three observers now stand upon.

"Come, Timothy. There is something I want you to see," the angelic form says, and Tim finds himself on the earth. He looks upon a highway where strange cars and trucks drive along with a few that look slightly familiar. Suddenly he hears the trumpet once again. All the vehicles slow down as the drivers look out of their windows to see the source of the strange sound. Several of the cars though pull over to the side of the road.

From a few of these vehicles a few men and women step out and kneel down in prayer. Then the second blast of the trumpet is heard, followed quickly by the words of Jesus as Tim heard before. As he looks at the highway below him, he sees the people that had stopped vanish. Drivers that are still going past witness this, causing most to apply their brakes in astonishment, almost producing several accidents.

Suddenly a massive earthquake begins as the still- moving cars and trucks are tossed about upon the quivering pavement. The sky begins to darken as Timothy notices a volcano in the distance explode with a massive force. He watches the billowing dust cloud as it gushes high into the atmosphere, hurling tons of ash and rock into the sky. At first Tim thinks that the rocks that had started hitting the ground, road, and the occasional vehicle are from the raging mountain; but he soon notices that they are coming from another direction. He looks up and sees the firy trials of thousands of meteors as they fall through the ionosphere onto the unsuspecting people below.

Shocked by this image, Timothy awakens suddenly as he looks at the clock to see that it is four in the morning.

The Warning

:June 17

:5:40 p.m.

As Tim finishes filling the dishwasher with soap and prepares to turn it on, he suddenly hears the door bell ring. When he opens the door, he is not surprised to see the bulky form of Jamal.

"Hi, Jamal, please come in," he says as the worried face of the younger man looks at him.

"Call me Matthew please. Oh, and this is Sherling," he says as he walks in, introducing the small woman that was hidden behind his large form.

"Hello, I'm Tim Browning. Please come in and sit in the kitchen," Timothy says as she enters the house. Her escort quickly moves toward the kitchen, several steps in front of both her and Timothy.

"It's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you, today."

"Why's that?" Tim asks, already feeling he knows the reason.

"He's been talking about this dream he had last night, and he said you were in it."

"Oh really? Well, you go on in with Matthew while I get my wife," Tim says as he turns in the opposite direction from the way Matthew is walking.

A few minutes later Tim returns to the kitchen with Christa, knowing that he may need her help. He introduces the two women to each other as they sit in the remaining chairs.

"So you had another dream?" Christa asks as she looks at Matthew.

"Yes, I did, and you wouldn't believe what I saw!"

"You probably saw me and an angel overlooking a battle between people in blue armor, against some ugly creatures."

"How'd you know that?" Sherling asks, surprised by Tim's description of the dream.

"I had the same dream," he says, which shocks the young woman even more.

"Then tell me why we were in those gray jump-suits and chained," Matthew says, as both Christa and Tim look on puzzled.

"That wasn't in my dream," Tim says, and then tells them what happened in his.

"You saw the rapture?" Sherling says, revealing herself to be a Christian by the way she has stated it, which makes both Tim and Christa smile.

"Yes, I guess I saw two versions of it," Timothy says as he reruns the full dream through his mind again.

"But that's not what I saw after the battle," Matthew interrupts. "When I couldn't find you in all those people that had come up the hill, I got worried. After that those things grabbed me.

"The next thing I knew I was walking through a department store of some type. I was chained to these other people in a straight line; and as I said, we were wearing gray jump-suits. Suddenly I saw this real weird lookin' guy. You know, he was hardly wearing any clothes. Most of his hair was shaved off his head, and he had a whip in his hand. He hit me with it and started laughing, as he stood on top of this thing that placed him over us.

"`Where's your God now?' he yelled out at us. `He doesn't want you, or He would have taken you,' he said and no one said a word as if they felt he was right. I heard that whip of his crack once again, and a woman moaned behind me.

"As I walked on a little farther I heard this strange man and others like him begin to laugh and scream in strange fits of joy. They were pointing behind me, and so I turned to see what was exciting them.

"What...what I saw so horrified me that I...I fell to my knees in pure fear, and...and...and ah. I began to scream and cry like some kind of trapped animal," Matthew says as he puts his head down. His girlfriend places her small hand on top of his large one.

"What is it you saw?" Christa asks as she listens intently and with concern. Tim notices her eyes and sees the compassion written within, a compassion that he has come to love and cherish.

"Well... I... I saw this young boy dressed like the others. He couldn't have been more than twelve or thirteen. His skin was painted kinda like an Indian. Come to think of it, they all were; but as he came into sight, I... I saw in the boy's.... hand a... a... head, the head of a woman as he carried it by her blonde hair. What does it mean?" Matthew asks in a frustrated manner.

"Well, I think we need to look at it from two different angles," Tim starts to elaborate. "For the first, we need to put both of our dreams together. We both saw the rapture upon the battlefield, but then I saw another version of it upon that highway, and what follows immediately after.

"You, on the other hand, saw what I feel is to befall those that were not ready to go in the eyes of the Lord. The others just became saved, probably due to the rapture itself.

"Now we know that those that are left will be persecuted. I believe that is what you witnessed. You see the head of the girl is what showed me that this is what your dream is about."

"Why is that?" Matthew asks as he pushes his glasses back to the top of his nose and then clasps his hands together.

"Well, it is said in the Bible that the people will have to wear a mark upon their bodies so that they can buy anything. If people refuse to wear this mark, they are to be beheaded."

"But what do the gray jump-suits symbolize?" Sherling asks as she places her hand again upon Matthew's.

"Well, I think they symbolize a lukewarmness of those that call themselves Christians and find themselves left here upon the earth after the rapture," Christa starts to explain. "You see in Revelation, Jesus tells one of the churches that they are `lukewarm.' Not cold or hot for Him, but in between. I think the jump-suit is a variation of this. You see, we Christians consider ourselves to be in white or pure. While on the other hand, we think that those that are of Satan are in black. So people that believe in God but do not know Him are lukewarm or gray. They live in what I call a `Gray Zone'. God will leave those people behind."

"But why?" both of the Matthew and Sherling ask.

"So he can weed out those that will fall and those that will still give honor to God by dying for Him," Timothy states.

"I think I understand now," Matthew says as a look of ease comes across his face.

"So, Jamal..."

"Please, Christa, call me Matthew," he says.

"Why's that?" she asks.

"Well, when I first showed up on the battlefield, Tim here introduced me to the angel Gabriel. Gabriel looked at me and said, `Hello, Matthew...,' and from that moment on I knew I needed to change my name back to what I was born with."

The Wrath of God

:July 21

:11:34 a.m.

For the past few weeks Tim and Christa have been working frantically around an ever increasingly hard schedule. Pastors from various churches have been calling and asking Tim to speak about his dreams. He does the best he can at these assorted congregations. At one or two of them though, his reception seems to be cold, but most of the others seem to go well.

Both Timothy and Christa decide, even though it is Sunday and several other pastors had asked him to speak, to take a day of rest. They go for a drive, and stop at a roadside picnic ground. Here they eat a meal they had bought from a fast food place, and enjoy each other's company. Now they watch their sons explore the area, looking for chipmunk holes in the ground near the oak and pine trees. A tiredness comes over him, and so he lays his head in his wife's lap as she strokes his slightly thinning hair; soon he drifts into sleep.

He finds himself in a bright place. As he looks about, he sees thousands upon thousands of people, all dressed in white with palm leaves in their hands. He looks in the direction that the others are and he is awed. He sees there a large throne upon a dais. In this throne sits a figure that is shaped like a man but shimmers as though he is a jewel with light fracturing through him. Tim realizes though that the light comes from this being himself. For this being is GOD, and Timothy feels blessed by this sight of his Lord with a full circular rainbow about Him.

In front of God is a golden altar with four legs that look like the horns of a goat, but he realizes that it must be huge. For beneath it he sees the forms of thousands of people also dressed in white. Before this is stairs that come from the ground and lead up to the altar, and the throne of God. At the feet of these stairs are seven large candlesticks with seven candles within them, as all burn brightly.

In front of these candles stand four creatures unlike anything he has ever seen before. All stand facing a different direction as though they are standing at the center of a compass, each individually facing towards each point of the imaginary compass. All of them have four faces on each side of their heads. One has the face of a man looking forward, while the next has the face of a cow. The next is the face of a lion, while the last Tim assumes is an eagle since each of these creatures has this face along with the others. All of them have three pairs of wings upon their backs. These wings are open to reveal eyes all through the bottom of them, as they look about.

On the floor on each side of the dais is a total of twenty-four men on smaller thrones than the Lord's. Tim realizes these individuals are the Elders mentioned in Revelation. As he looks at them he notices something strange about the floor upon which he stands. As he turns his attention to it, he is overwhelmed by the sights before him.

There he sees the blackness of space as thousands of stars twinkle from below. The most surprising thing to him though is that he sees the Earth as the moon orbits it. It is at this time he notices the silence that is all around him, and so he looks back to the dais.

Here he sees the presence of the glorified Jesus upon the steps of the dais. As He reaches the top of the steps, He hands a scroll with seven broken seals to the Lord God. When He does this, seven angels begin to appear one by one, in a straight line. The Almighty then opens the scroll and seven trumpets are revealed. God takes each of these and hands them to all the angels before Him.

As the last horn is handed to the last angel, another appears before the altar of God. In his hand is a golden censor. He kneels to the Lord Almighty and then turns to look upon Jesus and kneels again. Jesus approaches him and reveals a large quantity of incense within both of his hands. The angel places his censor down upon the dais and receives the gift from his master. Standing, he turns and throws the incense upon the burning coals of the altar. As the incense increases, it hides the throne of God from Timothy's sight. As it begins to dissipate, the angel picks up the censor once again and dips it into the burning coals within the altar. The angel then vanishes from before God, and then Tim sees movement below him. There in the space between the moon and the earth he sees the angel as he pours out the coals as they fall to the earth.

As this takes place, the silence that had been present from the moment Tim first looked upon this scene before him is broken. He hears a massive explosion of sound as all about give praises to the Lord. Lightning and thunder flash and reverberate from the throne itself, as Timothy senses a rumbling of an earthquake from the earth itself.

During the clamoring onslaught the seven angels before God turn and look out at the people. They all lift their trumpets in unison and the sound dissipates.

The first angel to receive a horn then blows the instrument that is at his lips in a long and constant note. As this takes place, Tim no longer finds himself in heaven, but upon the earth. Here he still hears the sound of the trumpet, but nothing else. He looks upon the land before him and the dark clouds above it. Hail begins to fall on the shaking ground as it is accompanied by a red rain. A rain, which he notes, as it hits the ground appears to be blood. He also sees as the frozen hail strikes the surface that it automatically is set aflame, burning the ground as some of the trees near him also becomes a massive blaze.

Suddenly Timothy finds himself near a sea, but no longer is it storming, but a clear day is present. He then hears the call of the second horn, and so he looks up into the sky to see if he can make out its origin again. What he sees though is a huge meteor plunging into the atmosphere above. He watches as the burning rock falls into the sea, causing a massive tidal wave. As the wave spreads, it destroys all the ships that he sees before him. The wave dissipates in the area where the meteor hit and becomes red. Tim knows without anyone telling him that it is blood as it begins to spread throughout the water.

For the third time Tim hears a different note. In response he sees a large glowing orb with a long trail of smoking debris behind it.

"This is Wormwood; the substance that forms it shall poison a third of the water and kill a third of mankind," Tim hears a voice say.

Then just before Wormwood crashes into the earth, the fourth horn is heard. The orb smashes into the ground with a massive explosion that blackens the sky with a dust cloud, which cuts off one third of the sun's light.

As Tim looks up at the darkened sky, he sees the light of an object flying through the sky. He watches this light as it comes closer and closer to him. Soon he realizes that it is an angel as he begins to hear the words he is saying.

"Woe, woe, woe to the inhibitors of the earth because the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels are yet to sound!"

When Timothy hears this, he finds himself in the middle of a desert. In the distance he thinks he can see camels on this gray cloudy day. He looks up to see the clouds but is surprised to see that the sky is perfectly clear. As he sees this once again, he hears the sound of a trumpet as a brilliantly shining object falls to the ground before him. Tim squints as he awaits the explosion of the impact, but it never comes. The sparkling light begins to fade, and he sees yet another angel with shining white hair. He removes from his white robes a key, which he then pushes into the desert sand. As it stops, he turns it, causing the very ground he stands upon to fall away.

As the angel floats in the same place a massive amount of smoke billows out of the hole like a building ablaze. Smoke is so thick that it almost hides his glowing form, and again the sky grows even darker. Tim looks down into the glowing pit, and it appears that it has no bottom. What he sees down there scares him more than he has ever been frightened before. Flying around the pit are creatures he has never seen before. They appear to be centaurs with dragon wings upon their horse-like torso. Their hair is long and flows in the wind as they fly. They use their scorpion like tails as a balance as they turn to and fro within the smoking abyss. As one of them passes close to him, he sees its animalistic teeth and its claw like hands. He also notes that the breast-plate it wears appears to be made of iron, and upon its head are several golden horns that appear to look like a crown. Then the largest of these creatures approaches the angel still hovering near the top of the pit.

"Destroyer! You and your army are to hunt down those of the earth, but not those with the seal of God upon their heads. You are to sting them for five months. You will give them pain, but you are not to kill them. None shall die, even though they seek death," the angel says as Timothy finds himself in the ruins of a building.

Here he sees a man trying to fight off one of these demons as he uses a part of a door as a shield. The creature turns slightly as it hurls the end of its tail through the door breaking it in half as the stinger buries into the man's stomach. Tim watches as the man begins to scream in agonizing pain, and he is thankful he cannot hear it.

He then sees a woman in the corner of the ruins. Tears cover her agonized face as she takes a knife and cuts her wrist. As the blood begins to flow, it stops and the wounds quickly heal. Again she cuts, only to see the same happen again, and so she screams in painful frustration.

Timothy suddenly finds himself before the throne of God. Here he looks on the sixth angel as he raises the trumpet to his lips and blows.

"Go!" comes a voice from the four horns of the altar.

"Go, and release the four angels that are kept bound beneath the Euphrates River," The voice finishes, and the angel vanishes from the presence of God.

Timothy finds himself also departed from heaven as he looks upon the sixth angel again. He watches as the angel parts the water, and there at the bottom of the river is a door. The angel unlocks this door that bursts open as four large beings explode out of it upon their steeds. They only go a short distance from the opening as four huge chains hold them fast.

"You are to hunt down the people of earth for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year; and you are to kill one third of the people that walk the earth," the angel orders the four and then begins to unlock their bindings.

As he does this, Tim looks at the animals the angels ride and is shocked by what he sees. They have the body of a horse but the head of a lion as smoke issues from their mouths. Occasionally the smoke is accompanied by fire and glowing rocks that are so hot that they are yellow as they shoot from the bizarre creatures' mouths. As he sees this he notices the head of a serpent near the face of one animal. He follows the twisting body of the snake to the rear of the animal and notices that it along with several other vipers is the animal's tail.

"Now take your two hundred million followers and do as you are commanded," the angel says as he drops the last chain.

The four angels then signal their followers to come after as they charge up the dry banks of the river. Their horde, dressed in breastplates that look like fire with a dark blue and yellow mix throughout it, comply by following close behind the larger leaders.

"Timothy!" a mighty voice booms forth, and Tim kneels as he hears it. "Please understand. Even though the people of earth are hunted like the animals they will become and are killed, still they will continue killing and taking drugs. Still will the men lie with men, and women with women, and they shall continue to steal and lie."

:2:55 p.m.

"We've got to go home now," she says. They both get up and begin to pack up their picnic, as he thinks about the dream he just had.

"What is it, Tim?" his wife asks, and so he tells her his dream.

The Witnesses

:September 29

:9:57 p.m.

Tim and Christa, along with the help of their children, have worked hard in grooming their yard again for the upcoming videotaping of their house for the real estate company. As they lie down this night they fall quickly into a deep sleep.

Timothy walks down the street of a city with the usual buildings on each side of it. These buildings are different though. Each is in some way damaged and broken, as wind blows paper around in a swirling funnel.

Abruptly the sound of a trumpet blasts into his ears, and he knows it is the last of the seven trumpets. Before him two men suddenly appear dressed in brownish cloth robes that looked as if they were made of twine. Their faces show that they are old men, along with the fact that their hair is white and they walk with staffs.

Suddenly out of the buildings on both sides of the street, several men run out with knives and clubs. They charge the two men as they raise their weapons to attack. Hatred is written upon their faces as they close in upon the men.

Each of the two turns and face opposite sides of the street. They open their mouths, from which flame erupts and burns their attackers to death. Tim looks on in horror when a familiar voice speaks behind him.

"Fear not, Timothy," the voice says and Tim turns to look at the tall form of his angelic guide.

"Gabriel, I am so glad to see you. These last two dreams have been hard to handle."

"I know. That is why the Lord has sent me here. You see, these two men are Enoch and Elijah. By your terms they are very old. Enoch was born before the great flood while Elijah is nearly three thousand years old. They have witnessed all that mankind has done, and so God has sent them to make judgment possible. For as it is said, no judgment can be placed upon a man unless there are two witnesses against him.

"For most of the last half of the tribulation they shall remind those that are left that God is watching, observing their sins, and will soon pass judgment on them. These two shall be hated by those people, for none of God's children are left in the last half of the tribulation. The only exception to this will be the Israelites that did not receive the seal of God upon their foreheads. For God will bring them through this punishment and purify them.

"Several times Enoch and Elijah will be attacked, but each time their attackers' fate shall be the same as those you just saw."

"Oh? Then all that I have seen all this destruction that I have beheld will happen during the tribulation?"

"Yes, but more exactly, the earliest part of it. For when the last trumpet is heard, and the witnesses of God first appear, the last of the flock of the Gentiles will be with God. Then the second half shall begin. Those that are left shall hate God, and He will reward this hate with seven vials of His wrath. Now rest for when you dream again, you shall see more than even before."

:2:22 a.m.

And so Tim turns in his bed, and sleeps a deep and peaceful sleep the rest of the night.

The Battle

:October 20

:10:46 p.m.

For almost three quarters of a century the communists controlled the lands called by them the USSR. Now as their power was falling from their hands, they took it upon themselves to hand them their own fatal wound. Timothy listened closely to the news of the coup d'état and knew it would cause the death of that land as he grew up knowing it. He knew this just as the coup itself failed.

He lies in bed thinking of the possible influence the Christian community will have upon the new lands that will come from this. These thoughts make him forget that it has been three Sundays since his last dream. Soon though, he falls into the long sleep of night.

Tim opens his eyes to look upon the bent street sign at the corner of his street. He turns to gaze upon his house but is met by the rubble of the red-bricked house. As he stares, something to his left catches his eyes. He turns and is shocked by the sight before him. There, only twenty feet away is the muddy waters of the Mississippi flowing past him. He turns back around to look at the main street that runs beside his house and sees that it is buckled and torn.

"This is the result of the seventh vial judgment," Gabriel explains. "Every city and town in the world has been destroyed. Every sign of mankind's sins to the earth and God has been destroyed. Come; there is something else we must see before the battle."

"What battle?" Tim asks as he is suddenly no longer on the street he lives on. His question goes unanswered as he looks at the long line of "M-1 Abrams" tanks before him. Stunned by what he sees, he just looks on at the column of destroyed machines. Their turrets are bent and torn along with their fuselages.

"This is the result of the fourth vial. The heat of the sun became so intense that it caused the munitions and the fuel of these and all other machines of this time to explode. Now they are useless pieces of junk," Gabriel makes clear.

Abruptly Tim feels the quick and exhilarating sensation of flight. He looks below him and sees the waters of the sea passing quickly by. As he looks, before him once again he sees a coastline growing ever longer.

The coastline at first is a long thin line, but he soon sees small mountains on either side of a still thin line. Then he spots movement on the line as it grows. He sees camels and horses walking through tents of various styles and colors. Then he and Gabriel, flying beside him, turn to the right as they pass over the vast tent city.

In the distance he sees a large dust cloud, with columns of smoke behind it. He looks through the haze of dirt to see thousands upon thousands of moving bodies pass below him. As he emerges from the dust, he sees Jerusalem before him. Most of the buildings lie in rubble as Timothy notes that the great city is split in three pieces. Two of the three areas of Jerusalem are swarmed over by the horde below him as smoke from several fires burns in these areas.

The last part of the city holds the remains of a temple. It is here that Tim sees fighting still taking place. He looks on as he sees all the people that are not involved in the conflict begin to kneel and look into the sky.

Suddenly he hears sound for the first time in this dream. A hole opens in the sky and he hears the chant that he had heard when he was with the glorified Jesus. Then a white horse comes running out of it, and there he sees the glorified form of Jesus upon it.

He is dressed in red, and the verse of Revelation comes to Tim's mind: "And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood."

Then Timothy sees an army follow close behind Him. They are all dressed in white, and they to ride white horses. Once again a verse comes to mind: "and all the saints with Him"

The battle stops as all look to see the coming of Jesus as His horse comes to stand upon Mt. Olive. He dismounts; and as His feet touch the ground, His horse vanishes. Instantly the ground begins to shake, and then the mountain splits in two, as Jesus floats in the same spot where He had stepped. The Lord floats over the heads of those who had called Him.

"Go! Go into the valley and seek safety at its end," comes His voice to Timothy's ears, as Jesus comes to stand before the attackers. As the Israelites retreat into the long but not very wide valley, the followers of the Antichrist creep slowly toward Jesus, His sword in hand ready for them.

Tim watches from above as he sees the people in various uniforms and types of armor start to say things. They charge the Lord with their awkward looking weapons as He swings His majestic weapon. The bodies pile up before Him as He takes a step back to give more room for the newly fallen.

Time seems to stretch on forever; but as Tim looks at the nearly set sun, he remembers that it was like that when he first came upon this scene.

Finally Jesus stops near the beginning of the valley as the Israelites are more than halfway through the canyon. The Lord turns from His battle and rises above it and the valley as He heads toward the end of it. Once there He encourages the people fleeing from the evil that now pursues them into the valley.

Horsemen lead the attack against the fleeing masses and cover the ground in a few minutes. They are greeted by the Lord Himself as the last of His new-found followers reach safety behind Him and in the center of the saints. Jesus stretches out His hand, and immediately the horse bucks and whinnies in fright. Several horses fall to the ground dead while others buck around wildly, throwing their riders from their backs.

Others within the horde that charges toward the Lord begin to act strangely as some turn and run back to the fallen city. He looks on as others turn and begin to fight with men in different uniforms from theirs. Tim watches the sudden change as the enemies of God turn upon themselves.

Timothy glances back towards Jerusalem. He sees that the massive army continues to pour into the valley as they run down the sloping entrance. Jesus then sheathes His sword and raises the now free hand. Tim looks on in horror as many of the men grab at their faces and scream in agony. Stunned by what he sees, he is unable to turn away but is glad he cannot hear their shrieks of pain. He watches as the skin of these men, and even the horses that are there, begin to melt away from the skeleton below. Blood oozes out from every pore of their bodies and begins to puddle on the rock floor of the valley. Within time the blood begins to fill the canyon as men and animals alike start to drown in the red gore. As time passes, there is soon no movement left in the lake of blood before him. He looks at the sun at the end of the valley as it finally begins to set within the ruins of Jerusalem before it.

:4:55 a.m.

Timothy quickly awakens. Shaken by what he has just witnessed, quietly he slips out of bed and goes into the kitchen. He pours himself a glass of milk and begins to pet their Old English Sheepdog.

"Hi, hon," comes the soft, gentle voice of his wife as she rubs his neck.

"Hi, Chrissy," he says as he places his hand on hers.

"What happened?"

"I witnessed the battle of Armageddon." They both fall silent.

The Millennium

:November 10

:11:35 p.m.

Tim lies in his bed tired and frightened, frightened to fall to sleep, a way that he has felt for the last few weeks. His fright is due to the last dream in which he was shown Armageddon.

Now, though, exhaustion from this reluctance finally overcomes him; and within a few minutes after placing his head upon his pillow, he falls into a deep sleep.

He sees before him a beautiful city built upon three hills. On one he sees a large temple, and he wishes he could be there. In response he finds himself just outside of it as several wagons sit outside of the massive structure. There, horses are tied to a long hitching post along with some camels. He starts to walk toward the entrance where a river of clear water pours steadily out of one side of it. Suddenly a group of people appears out of nowhere in the company of an angel.

"That's like..."

"Yes it is," responds Gabriel as Tim turns to look at him and recalls his dream about the Pre-Adamic people.

"Come," the angel says and they appear within the temple. There Timothy sees a throne with the Lord Jesus seated upon it in His glorified form. On His right, emerging from under the throne itself, is the river he had seen at the entrance, as people present themselves to the Lord.

"We must go to the end of this time, for it is that which the Lord wants you to see," Gabriel says as Tim again finds himself before the temple. He turns to look out upon the land around him to see what can be seen. What he finds there is what he expected, but not to the large degree that he found. Just past the boundaries of the city, he sees tents stretching out for some distance.

"Why are there so many tents?" he asks as he looks to see if he could find the last of them in the distance.

"You know that is the camp of those loyal to the Lord and His Son?"

"Yes."

"Then what does it matter how many there are?" Gabriel finishes as Timothy senses the rebuke, and then he finds himself on a great plain. He turns to look behind him to see the edge of the tent as he slightly sees Jerusalem in the distance.

As he turns again to face the original direction he found himself when he appeared, there before him he sees thousands of people with weapons of various types begin to appear in large groups. Within a few minutes the prairie is full of these people as they look angrily toward the camp.

Suddenly they all look into the sky in unison as horror is quickly written upon their faces. Tim also looks up as flames fall quickly in a column towards the very place where they stand. He watches as the flames surprisingly funnel out over Jerusalem as they strike the ground only inches from where he stands.

The instant it happens Timothy finds himself above the earth. He looks on as the pillar of fire spreads from the middle-east to engulf the entire globe.

Tim then finds himself by a huge pit filled with fire. Within it he can see the movement of bodies. As he looks closely, he can make out a few of these figures near the edge. What he sees there sickens him as he sees a man whose body is bloody and filled with holes, holes with worm-like creatures coming in and out as its host screams in pain. This time he can hear these agonizing screams, and he quickly turns away.

"This is the fate for all those that deny God," comes the voice of Gabriel.

"This is the place where the sinners shall live out eternity. Those that suffer here are the unbelievers, the homosexuals, the murderers. Here you will find the adulterers, the drug addicts, and those that worshipped false gods. Among them you will find the liars and those that lead these people into sin."

:5:50 a.m.

As Tim hears this, he is awakened by his alarm, and once again begins another day. As he sits up, he finds himself shivering and broken out in a cold sweat. Again he wishes to himself for these dreams to come to an end.

New Jerusalem

:Somewhere over Europe

:December 29

:11:16 a.m. (Approximate European time)

In the weeks that follow the latest of his dreams, Timothy and Christa have been surprised by the events brought about by the coup d'état in what is now being called the Commonwealth of Independent States. One of the churches he has visited and has been welcomed at has sent missionaries to the region. Tim was contacted a few weeks before by the leader of the group, and was asked to join them for a few days.

Christa and he have talked about it for several days, and have decided that it would be a good thing to do. They go to the church, and tell them they will go just after Christmas. The minister tells them that they can only afford to send him, and Christa immediately says that he can go without her.

Now he is somewhere over Europe. He has been flying for almost thirteen hours without sleep. Soon he falls into a deep sleep as the whistling of the engine fades into nothing.

He opens his eyes to a golden city as he walks down a yellowish street that is transparent. He looks through it to see several other streets below as they become so small they are indistinguishable. As he walks, he sees men and women with pure white hair and faces like that of someone in his late fifties. Some of these people in white robes hold long canes as they slowly walk down the street smiling. Occasionally a group of children runs by as they play their childhood games.

"Where am I?" Tim asks Gabriel.

"This is the city of God," comes a familiar voice, but not that of his angelic guide.

He turns and there before him stands the glorified form of Jesus.

"Lord!" Timothy states, stunned as he goes to his knees in worship.

"Stand, my loyal servant," the voice of Jesus says as He takes Tim's hand. "Walk with me," He says and they begin to walk down the street.

"Look there, Timothy." He points and Tim looks to see a large tree with a white trunk and blue leaves. He remembers seeing this tree once before.

"Yes, the tree of life. They are here because Adam's children are purified from the evil of the times before this." Jesus explains. "Tell me what have you seen?"

"Well, I saw those people walking and some children playing."

"Do you know who they are?"

"Well, I think the people are those that were counted as worthy to follow You."

"True, that is who they are. At this time they are celebrating their birthdays in the millions." Tim's mouth drops in awe.

"But who are the children?" Jesus asks.

"I don't know."

"They are those that were killed before they saw the light of day. They are loved by all that live here. Look!" Jesus commands and Timothy looks over a rail down into a large, open area in the middle of the city. At its center is the glowing humanoid shape, which illuminates the city.

"God," Tim says in admiration and then finds himself outside. A light gray haze fills the sky, and he looks about to see small towns spread out before him. As he sees these clay buildings, he notices Brontosaur-like creatures walking in a small herd in the distance. A large herd of bison, along with zebra and prong-horn antelope walks along the grassy fields around him. Tim also sees gazelles and other animals.

As he turns about looking at these animals, he sees a bright object in the corner of his eye. He turns toward the source of the glow and there he sees the huge square rising high into the sky. He looks up at the object until its top is hidden from view by the gray haze, which is brightened the closer it is to the object.

"It really is fifteen hundred miles high," Tim says to himself in a state of total amazement.

"Mr. Browning," comes the feminine voice of the flight attendant with a German accent.

"Yes?" He is surprised by the sudden end to his most joyous dream yet.

"We have landed."

"Oh. All right." He unlocks his seat belt and then exits the aircraft.

After going through Customs, he is greeted by one of the men that he knows from the church that has asked him to come to Moscow. They walk and talk about the large out- pouring of the Lord as they come to some stairs. Halfway down the steps they find themselves confronted by three men, as two more come from behind.

"Give me money!" the man in the middle demands in broken English. The two men realize the circumstance they are in and so comply without any argument. Once they do this, the two men behind them quickly run down the stairs with one of the three that had stopped them. Then the one that had spoken to them begins to turn as Timothy notices a different type of movement from the remaining thief. He turns his head to look and is instantly frozen in fright. Before him only inches from his head is the barrel of a pistol. Abruptly a flash of fire comes from the hole of the weapon.

:3:37 p.m. (Moscow time)

Tim finds himself looking down upon the bloodied face of a man upon some steps. He watches a man push another man with a gun as the weapon falls to the ground. Timothy then notices the man he had just met in customs begins to bend over the man upon the ground. He again looks at the victim of the violence and sees his slightly receding red hair. He immediately comprehends that the person before him is himself, and he understands his form is dead.

`What will happen to my family?' he thinks to himself and then hears something. He turns toward where he thinks the sound is coming from and painstakingly listens. At first it is soft, but soon the sound grows in volume, and he discerns that it is the voice of a man.

"Timothy," the familiar voice says, but he cannot place the originator of the voice. He feels himself moving towards the voice, as a bright illumination suddenly appears before him an illumination that has no form or substance, but just a constant radiance.

Soon he finds himself surrounded by this light. As this happens, he hears a new sound coming to his ears. It is the familiar chant he had heard when he stood with Jesus about the seven candlesticks.

"Timothy!" the voice shouts, and Tim turns to see a familiar and welcome face.

"Gerald!" he says joyously and walks quickly to the tall black man and hugs him.

"It's been a long time. I've been looking forward to this ever since Jesus told me to greet you."

"You knew I was coming?"

"Yes, I've known for some time now."

"What about my family? I'm worried about them. I'm afraid my father won't continue my income to Christa."

"He won't, but don't worry. Christa is going to become a great disciple for the Lord. Your book will be published, and she will go around lecturing to many churches. She and your children and grandchildren will prosper, and they all will be loved and cherished by the Lord as His children."

"So do not fear," comes a new, but also familiar voice behind Timothy. He turns and there before him stands the glorified Jesus.

"Welcome home, Timothy." He says and then embraces the man as he begins to cry for joy.

"Thank you, Jesus."

THE BEGINNING

Epilogue

A tall, grayish, red-haired man walks down a well-worn path through the tropical like forest about him. He looks at the multicolored orchids as they bloom in the shadowed light under the trees.

As he walks a short distance farther, he finds himself out from beneath the forest canopy. Before him and to his left, he sees a large herd of Pronghorn grazing on the fertile land. The man, dressed in a long white robe, bends down and pulls up some of the grass as one of the white-and- black-faced animal's looks toward him. The creature quickly walks up to him as it takes the thin green leaves from his open hand. He strokes the antelope between its two short black horns.

Unexpectedly, he feels warm moist air against the back of his neck. He turns to look for the source of the repeated bursts of hot air against his back. As he does this, he comes face to face with a large leathery face, with its fat flat nose above the wide closed mouth. He looks at the creature's large brown eyes and then follows the long curving neck to the massive body that towers above him.

"Well, how did I miss you?" the man asks the creature as it twists its neck until its head is upside down.

"Oh, jealous, uh!? He says as his hazel eyes look at the creature's sinewy neck and knows that the brontosaur wants to be pet as well. He looks to the small animal he had just fed and sees that it has moved a short distance away. So he turns his attention to the huge creature and begins to scratch and pat the underside of the behemoth's neck.

"Tim!" comes the voice of a woman from down the path he had just come down a few minutes earlier. "Timothy!" comes the voice again, and Tim turns to see the familiar waving silvery brown hair around the soft rounded face of his wife.

"Morning Christa!" he says cheerfully as she walks up to him and begins to pet the huge creature, which causes a deep rumbling to come from it.

"I knew I would find you here when I saw the Pronghorn from home."

"You have always known me."

"I've had a long time to practice," she says as his mind drifts back through time, remembering the day they were reunited.

He recalls the horn blast, and how Jesus looked upon him and all the others about him.

"Here are your bodies, as immortal as your spirits." Tim remembers the words of Jesus as he looked upon his body coming toward him. He looked in awe as the skeleton appeared in the distance. Stunned, he watched organs, blood vessels, and then muscles form upon the base. Finally, as the empty shell was a short distance from him, he looked at his face again. In the next moment he again looked upon the Lord, and his form was once again a trinity of body, soul, and spirit. As he felt himself breathing once again.

Then he heard the trumpet blast again, and suddenly beside him Christa appeared. As he looked upon her, he remembers placing his hand upon her cheek as she rested that side of her head against his palm.

"I missed you," they both said in unison and laughed as they embraced.

"Tim?" comes her voice, and he once again returns to the present.

"Yes, darling?"

"What were you thinking about?"

"Oh, just the Rapture. You know I love you very much?"

"I know," she says as she hugs him.

"Come on; let's go home," Christa requests as she takes his hand. They turn and walk back down the path. As they walk, Tim plucks one of the orchids, and hands it to his wife. She takes it and smells the flower as they again begin to walk.

A few minutes pass as they emerge from the opposite side of the forest. Tim glances up to see the huge cubic city they call "home" before him. He looks as it rises into the gray mist of the sky above him, its top totally hidden from few.

"You know, Christa, I dreamed about seeing New Jerusalem like this once."

"Really, when was that?"

"It was....... uh. You know, I can't remember, but I think it was a long time ago."

"Well... Let's go home." Christa says as she takes her husband's hand and in a blink there vanish from the spot where they were just standing in.
