The Diamond Arrow, page 7
Without a doubt, the woman declared, “I believe that Jesus is Lord and I believe that the Lord of Hosts raised Him from the dead!”
“Welcome to the family of God; your name is now written in the Book of Life, and you have become a citizen of Heaven,” announced Silas with a big smile to the woman who made the public declaration.
“I now say this again, ‘Who wants to be saved?’ Now is your chance to be known by the Alpha and the Omega,” shouted Silas.
That time around, a few people raised their hands and emerged from the crowd. People started to walk toward the middle of the circle that had formed and they started to gather around Silas and Lydia.
As the newborns in faith were making their public confessions of faith in the Lord of Hosts and His son Jesus the Alpha and the Omega, choirs of angels gathered in the Heavenly Realms and started to sing for the glory of the One who lives forever and His Son. The angel, keeper of the Book of Life, got busy as names were being reported to him while sparkles of sincerity filled the room where he was. Angels, who were ready to report the names from the sudden influx of people who became saved, began to line up in front of the majestic place where the Book of Life was kept.
The number of believers increased that afternoon from the crowd that gathered in front of Paul’s house. People were encouraged when they saw others boldly make a public announcement of their faith in the Lord of Hosts. The last person who accepted the gift of salvation was the man who was previously being tortured by the fallen angel. All that time, he was still sitting on the ground and was watching people going forward and declaring their faith. He finally stood up, went to Silas and said,
“What you have done for me today is beyond words. You saved me from that evil which I welcomed in me while I was doing what I should not have been doing. Stuck in problems in the past, I went to a town healer who got me into dark practices, promising that I would find solutions to my difficulties.” He paused, and looked at Paul and his family.
“I do not want to bother you with this…” he added not sure if he should carry on or not.
“Carry on and share your story,” reassured Silas, encouraging the man to continue his account. Lydia, Paul and Riya drew closer as Silas was encouraging the man to talk.
“The practices were witchcraft and in the last session, which was two years ago, I invoked a dark spirit to come help me. When he came, instead of doing what I had summoned him for, he took over my body and started to do whatever he pleased. I have been under his influence ever since. I spent entire days with my mind wandering in oblivion. There were times where he would let me control my body, but most of the time, I was possessed and he did whatever he wanted.”
Silas, looking straight into the eyes of the man who was confessing his undoing, told him,
“Go and sin no more. Remember, the Lord of Hosts is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us. So take your questions to Him in prayer through Jesus His Son.”
“Can I be saved too, after all that evil that I have done?” wondered the man.
“Of course! The Lord of Hosts is able to forgive your past, present and future sins,” responded Lydia with confidence. The man then accepted the gift of salvation and began to rejoice over the fact that his name was written in the Book of Life.
Silas raised his voice and spoke to the crowd, “You who have received the gift of salvation need to learn the Word of the Lord of Hosts to grow and mature in the knowledge of the Truth. For it is written, ‘My people perish for lack of knowledge’. Gather right here in my father’s house tomorrow, early in the afternoon, and invite people. Go now to your dwellings and rejoice, for you are now citizens of Heaven!”
The crowd cheered and began to scatter.
CHAPTER 18
Disarming Anger
“Come back home,” said Riya to her children who just gained popularity. There were many questions that Paul and his wife had for their children. Amazed by their acquired ability to cast away a fallen angel, and the boldness they had to speak in front of a crowd, Riya wanted to learn more about their skills. So she insisted on taking them home to question them further. As they walked back over the threshold, Silas remembered,
“Father, as we spoke in the common room, you asked about the manifestation of the power that the Lord of Hosts has granted us.”
Paul gestured in approval, which allowed his son to continue, “Does what you’ve just witnessed outside the house answer the question?”
“It sure does! And it triggered more questions,” replied Paul.
Back in their common room, they sat down and questions arose from Paul and Riya. Before answering, Silas indicated that he would prefer the servants be present as well. Puzzled, the parents were not sure they understood the reason.
“The Lord of Hosts desires salvation for all mankind, man or woman, master or servant. May His will be done,” added Lydia as she stood up and called Nabas. The servants’ chief came quickly. Lydia asked him to call the other two servants for a gathering in the common room. Shortly after, the young servant, Haman, and the cook maid came into the room, preceded by Nabas. By then, Paul and Riya were comfortable with the idea of having them receive the gift of salvation.
As they gathered in the room, Silas and Lydia took turns telling them the story of the adventures that led them to Sinayor the Mountain Of-Daily-Thunder, their meeting with Remnar, the angel who led them, as well as the hallway filled with treasures. Right before Lydia could tell about what happened after they entered the whirlpool cloud, noisy bashes resonated on the house gate. Someone was insisting at the gate and banged on it repeatedly.
Haman asked to be excused and rushed to the gate. Evening shadows were beginning to fall on the city. People were getting back into their homes, and lighting up candles and torches for the evening. As Haman opened the gate, a soldier who was banging on it, wrenched it from his hand and rushed into the house. Haman could not clearly see his face because of the evening shadows. He could not see the faces of the other five soldiers who followed the first one either, but he heard the whinnying of their horses. Then he thought that something must be wrong.
The young servant ran past them, arrived in the room and said to Paul, who saw what had happened and was already up on his feet,
“Master! The soldier pulled the gate from my hand and rushed in before I could say a word.”
“What’s going on here?” inquired Paul.
“Your children, Paul, have been requested by Mernid, our ruler,” responded the soldier.
“For what purpose?” asked Paul.
“Only Mernid knows that,” replied the soldier.
“Is that a reason to break into my house without asking permission?” wondered Paul, at the edge of his temper.
“I only did what I was commanded to do,” replied the soldier.
“You could have done it in a more polite manner!” interjected Paul.
“Sorry Paul, we were in a hurry,” said another soldier, recognizing their behavior.
“Silas, Lydia, would you like to accompany these men?” asked Paul slowly, as he turned back to his children, guessing that they could somehow use their power to overcome this troop.
Lydia looked at her brother and noticed that he did not put on his armor; therefore, she did not call upon her armor either. Instead, she said,
“Father, we will follow these men to Mernid’s house.”
“Then, I shall go with you. Prepare the horses,” ordered Paul. Immediately, the servants left the room.
The soldiers were anxious to take Silas and Lydia to their master. As soon as Paul and the twins’ horses were saddled, the soldiers jumped on theirs and surrounded Paul’s family on their way to Mernid’s. They rode up the hill to the large castle that overhung the city. Mernid was waiting for them, pacing across the hall in which he usually gave public interviews.
“What took you so long?” he shouted angrily to the leader of the soldiers. Before the latter could answer, he waved furiously his left hand to shut him up, and looked at Paul instead. With the same ire, he said, “What is this that I heard, Paul? You want to overthrow me with your children?” Confused by the accusations Paul wondered,
“What are you talking about, Mernid?”
“Don’t pretend that you are innocent!” shouted Mernid, “Else, I will throw you and your children into the darkest dungeon.”
At these words, the twins called upon their armor, and felt ready for the upcoming events. Mernid, who was glancing at them, shouted even more irately, “Look! Even in my presence, they are murmuring and conspiring against me!” While saying these words, he was pointing his finger at the twins as they were finishing calling up their armor.
“Guard, throw these conspirators in the darkest dungeon, now!” he furiously ordered.
“Stop!” opposed Silas, “the Word of the Most High says, ‘Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people’ and it is written ‘Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent— the Lord detests them both’, you Mernid will not put us in a dungeon, in the powerful name of Jesus.”
The diamond arrow that was formed as a result of the commanding words pronounced by Silas departed aiming for a dark spot in Mernid’s heart. Piercing through it and hauling the dark matter out of him, Mernid’s heart was freed from the animosity he had for Paul and his children. Lydia, who saw the arrow and its work, smiled looking at her twin brother.
“No, don’t do it!” said Mernid out-of-the-blue to the soldiers who were advancing to lay hands on Paul and his children. “I want to hear them. I want to listen to them. Leave us instead!”
Paul was surprised beyond words.
“Forgive my manners, Paul, as I have been under a lot of pressure lately,” he confided in Paul with a surprisingly gentle tone.
“Please have a seat,” he added, “and let me explain a few things to you.”
Paul was not sure if it was a ruse or not, but when he saw the soldiers leaving the audience room while Mernid offered Silas and Lydia some comfortable seating, he realized that it was tangible. He started to wonder about the scope of the power that his children had in their possession. After they all sat down, Mernid explained the reason why he lost his temper. Gossipers from the city came to report how two wonders were performed earlier by Silas and Lydia, and how the people started to do as they said. The gossipers mentioned that there were meetings scheduled for the following day and that soon, it was just a matter of time that half of the city would choose Paul as their new leader. Paul assured Mernid that there was no jeopardy coming from his family to overthrow his authority. His children were purely working for the glory of the Lord of Hosts, saving souls from eternal damnation. The ruler had questions that Lydia and her brother gladly answered.
“Are you sure you are not plotting against me to snatch the territory from under me?” asked Mernid candidly.
“Mernid, it is written, ‘He has made us kings!’ I am a king in the eyes of the Alpha and the Omega. I have a kingdom already, so I do not need yours. My work is to spread the Good News of my Lord Jesus of Nazareth.”
Perplexed, Mernid wanted to know more about this kingdom that seemed so easily obtainable and graciously given by the Alpha and the Omega. So Silas explained to him the plan of salvation and indicated that his kingdom was not of this world but it was a spiritual kingdom.
At the end of the conversation, Mernid felt appeased; he became convinced that no conspiracy was been prepared against him by Paul or his household. They left the place later that evening and went back home, riding their horses through the streets of the city that was very quiet at that time.
CHAPTER 19
The Training Place
When they arrived, they found Nabas at the gate waiting for their return. He exulted as he was glad that Mernid did not cause them any harm. He took the horses to the stable while Paul and the children headed to the common room.
“I trust that we can finally conclude the discussion we started earlier,” expressed Paul, looking forward to knowing more about the scope of the power that his children had in their possession.
Riya came up to meet them and showed gratitude to the Lord of Hosts for bringing them all back home safe to her. Nabas and the other two servants met them back in the common room. When they sat down once more, Lydia related the events from Mernid’s mansion. Riya and the servants were astonished. After that, Silas continued where they left off prior to the interruption and said,
“When we entered the whirlpool cloud, we arrived immediately in front of the gate to our training place. Over the arched gold plated gate, there was this inscription in bright silver letters: ‘You will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.’”
Lydia continued, “As we passed through the gate, we saw young and middle-aged people who were learning the Word of the Lord of Hosts. They were golden warriors, just like us. There were many ancient scrolls that were properly and cautiously stored on several shelves. The training place was filled with serenity and peace. No disturbance was in that place. People who were there had only one priority in mind: learn as much as possible about the Word of the Lord of Hosts. The place was bright, and a beautiful radiance seemed to come from up high even though the sun was not clearly visible.”
“When we arrived there,” added Silas, “we saw the angel who had spoken to us inside of Sinayor. He welcomed us to the place and revealed that, as part of our training, we were to be there for a while with the objective to learn the Word of the Lord of Hosts. We saw Remnar there too. Through the whirlpool cloud, we went on several missions to gather more ancient scrolls. The angel was right when he said the scrolls were written in many languages, as we found scrolls written in a total of four languages. When they were all finally gathered, we used the whirlpool cloud to travel to store them in caves near a salted sea which must be the lowest land on the Earth.”
Continuing, Lydia said, “The young people whom we saw in the training place originated from many nations. They were also being prepared to become powerful Ambassadors of Christ and to take the Word back to their homes and cities, like we are doing today.”
Silas added, “We felt so honored to be called on missions to bring back the other scrolls. Some of them were written in the fourth century where as other ones were of the eighth century.”
“We’ve seen rare ones that were of the first century!” completed Lydia with enthusiasm.
Recalling the adventures, Silas complemented the sentence of his sister, “Yes, it was a great adventure each time we went through the whirlpool cloud to fetch new scrolls.”
“Our children are ambassadors of the Lord of Hosts! Hallelujah!” exclaimed Riya with deep recognition.
Silas said, “For this reason, the Word of the Lord of Hosts is proclaimed on Earth by disciples of the Alpha and the Omega. Knowledge of the Word is increasing and battles against the power of darkness are being won.”
“The angel often called you by the title of ‘Golden Warriors,’” said Riya, “Could you explain what that means?” she wondered.
“We have received the same training and have been privy to a lot of wonders. Due to the training, we can enter and win battles for the glory of the Alpha and the Omega. As golden warriors, we put on the full armor of God whenever necessary to conquer and vanquish, to destroy and rebuild, to open minds and set free. Invisible to anyone else, we have been granted the grace to see the armor as it appears on us. We are back in Lystra to continue the work that we learned about which started in the training place.”
“How do you remove an invisible armor?” wondered Riya.
“We do not remove it, as it disappears by itself as soon as the battle is won.”
“Do you have it on now?” asked Paul.
“No father, we don’t. But when the fallen angel was being rebuked earlier, and when the child was being healed, we had it on,” replied Lydia.
“Did you have it on when you talked to Mernid?” asked Paul.
“We both did,” responded Silas.
“Are you not sad when the armor disappears?” wondered Nabas.
Turning to him, Lydia replied, “No, we are not; it is because our faith resides in the Lord of Hosts and His son Jesus the Alpha and the Omega. We trust that He wills us to perform His work in due time, and He equips us for every good deed.”
“Is there anything that you cannot do with this armor?” asked Nabas.
“That’s exactly what I am wondering about!” exclaimed Paul.
“Our capacity is enabled by the will of the Lord of Hosts. He is the One who works in us and leads us to will and act in order to fulfill His good purpose.”
“How did you come back?” wondered Paul looking at Lydia. With a smile, she responded,
“When the training time filled with adventures was over, the angel came back and said that it was time to go back to the world and spread the power of the Lord of Hosts.”
“We knew we were ready too,” completed Silas looking in turn at his parents and back at his sister.
“Yes,” continued Lydia, “At the set time, the whirlpool cloud appeared, we entered it, and landed on our feet right outside Lystra. We saw the grey horses and rode them back home.”
“What did you eat and drink all that time? Who cooked for you?” inquired Riya wondering about the physical wellbeing of her children.
“I do not recall eating times. All that I can think of now are these words, ‘It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’’. Maybe we ate, maybe we did not, I do not recall that, mother,” replied Lydia.
