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Chapter Eleven
THE VILLAGE
"How long've we been
in this place anyway," Dan growled as he stretched, wiped the sweat off his brow and
leaned on his hoe. "It has never been my ambition to be a dirt farmer."
"Mine either," echoed Phil.
"I am a soldier, not a farmer," Jeremiah said as
he reached the end of his row. "We must think of something to escape from this
place."
"Not without Laura."
"We need to find a way to sneak back to that palace or
temple or whatever it is and get her."
"Maybe the villagers will help," Phil said.
"They are too afraid." Jeremiah stated as he
resumed his hoeing, noticing the stares of the other villagers. Dan and Phil followed his
example.
"What are they afraid of?" Dan asked, in a
loud whisper.
"Zeus, of course," Phil spat.
"Angels aren't all seeing, too, are they?" Dan
looked around nervously.
"No, but I am sure his spies are everywhere."
"The villagers?"
"Who knows? There are always those who will sell out
their neighbors and even their family for gain. Perhaps Zeus offers great rewards for
information. Most of these crops and goods go to the temple for Zeus. The villagers only
get enough to keep them alive." Jeremiah dug his hoe extra deep into the soil.
Bitterness lined his face. "Why is God delaying His help?"
Two shadows lingering under a bush at the end of one of the
rows sniggered and flashed their yellow eyes in delight. They would have an interesting
report for their master. Perhaps he would reward them.
"Take it easy. We're all tired. Just work and try to
think of how we can get Laura and get out of here...and what is that smell? Smells like
rotten eggs!" Phil wrinkled his nose in disgust and continued hoeing.
Dan and Jeremiah straightened and sniffed the air then
looked at each other and shrugged.
Phil prayed as he worked watching the villagers out of the
corner of his eye.
They all looked up as they heard a roar near-by and the
sound of heavy footsteps.
"That's no lion!" Dan stared in the direction of
the sound. "It's another one of those cyclops giants."
The villagers had all disappeared like mice into a
woodpile.
Phil looked for a hiding place. "Where did all the
villagers go?"
The earth shook as the cyclops ran toward them, roaring.
Temporarily frozen in place, the three of them stared as the monster bore down on them.
"Quickly, you must follow me!" A woman's voice
sounded behind them and she tugged urgently on Dan's shirt to shake him out of his trance.
Dan reached out to the others with his hoe, shouting and
nudging them into motion at the same time as he followed the woman with the silver hair.
They could all feel and smell the breath of the cyclops as he laughed and reached out for
them triumphantly. His fingers grazed Dan's shoulder spurring him on to greater speed.
Just as the cyclops closed his fingers to grasp Dan, the
woman opened a trap door lightly covered by dirt and Dan and the others fell in with the
woman close behind them. The trap door closed with a bang as they all slid down an endless
dark tunnel sporadically lit by strange glowing light.
The light clothing they all wore was no protection against
the friction of the slide.
Dan rubbed his burning backside and grinned at the others
who were doing the same. "Well, at least we're not in that ugly monster's gut."
He looked around for their rescuer.
She stepped out of the shadows. Dressed all in blue with
silver hair and an ageless face, she approached Dan and spoke to him as the leader of the
group. "My name is Belinda Wolfe. I am a time traveler like yourself," she said
in perfect American accented English.
"Is there any way for us to get home...?" Dan
asked, then added, "And we have a friend. Her name is Laura. Zeus has her. We need to
rescue her, somehow."
"Zeus intends to make her his new bride," Phil
said angrily. "We've been gone from her over a week. He's probably already done it.
If you know anything about Bible history, you know what that means."
"Yes, we must find a way to get her. She is quite
entranced with this Zeus." Jeremiah stared at the woman, wondering how old she really
was and how long she had been traveling in time.
"Zeus has been occupied with a dispute with another of
the 'gods' so her virtue is safe for the moment," Belinda informed them.
"I thought all the evil angels had been sent to a
prison under the earth before Noah's flood and that the flood killed off all their evil
progeny," Jeremiah mused.
"We are close to the time of Noah's flood, but it
hasn't happened yet. What you say is true, of course, but Lucifer and his followers do not
give up so easily. The first destruction and flood were not enough and neither was the
flood of Noah. Now we also have the ranks of the underworld fighting us as well, and they
are not so easily detected." Belinda located a rock that hid a cache of supplies. She
gave them all flashlights. She did not see the two shadows lurking near the cache.
"First we will go rescue your friend, then there are
things you must see before going home." She tried a flashlight. It would not turn on.
She checked the batteries and motioned the others to do the same with theirs. All seemed
to be in order. "Have any of you noticed the smell of rotten eggs recently?"
"I have!" Philip told her.
"We have spies with us. His spies. They have disabled
our flashlights."
"I know how to fix that." Philip said and
commanded the flashlights to work in the name of Jesus the Son of God. The flashlights all
flickered on at the same time.
Two spidery shadows growled and scampered away into the
darkness of the cavern.
"That's what I'm going to do if those ugly bug eyed
monsters abduct me again," Dan promised himself under his breath.
Philip smiled. Dan's whisper had reached his ears. He was
glad Dan had joined them in their faith. He was gong to need it.
"Did you say there was more we had to see?" Dan
directed his question to Belinda. "After we rescue Laura, I want to go home. I
haven't seen my wife and son in months. They probably think I'm dead."
"You can be returned to a point in time that will seem
like the next day to them, so do not be concerned about that. First we must get your
friend, then you must see Egypt and the underworld. It is important to know your enemy in
all his guises. You have already met him in the form of aliens in space craft, I
understand."
"They are not really aliens from another planet?"
Dan's eyes widened in surprise.
"Most of them are those who escaped underground during
the destruction. They are really earth bound. The fallen angels have helped them develop
technology to aid in the deception. The are escorted into the atmospheric heavens by the
fallen angels. Those who came from other planets to fight in the war that led to the
destruction are all destroyed, but our little demons and underground denizens mimic them
in appearance. That first civilization was here for millions of years. Think of how
many there must be. We must learn of their methods so we can warn others. That is the job
we all have.
" Even now, Zeus goes to arrange an alliance
with Ra, ruler of Egypt. He is the most powerful of the angelic rulers. The Egyptians
believe in him totally. He and his cohorts promise eternal life for their loyalty. Zeus
knows he will need this alliance to keep his own kingdom. Ra and other angels under him
have created the most powerful of all civilizations on earth that will continue even after
Noah's flood even though they will lose most of the technology. You must realize this from
your history books and from the massive architecture they left behind that has lasted
through millennia. Others have left structures in Mexico, the mountains of South
America, China and other places that can also be seen and some that will soon be
discovered.
Even in our own time no one has been able to figure out how
these structures were built or what their true purpose was. The Sphinx, of course, was
built by the civilization that was here before with the help and direction of the fallen
ones.
Just before Noah's flood, the people of this time finish
the last of the three pyramids from plans they have found left by the first
civilization."
Jeremiah nodded. "I saw that for myself. I think there
is something significant under the Sphinx that we should know about."
"Yes, I was about to come to that. We will all go to
Egypt after visiting the underworld. There is a black box in a room under the Sphinx. It
is one room of many. We still have much to learn." Belinda looked at Phil. "You
will have many things to preach about and much convincing to do when you get back. Most
people aren't aware of even half the things you've already seen. The Spirit of God must be
with your mouth."
"It is going to change the way I preach, I can tell
you that." Phil said following behind Belinda, who was leading the way.
"This reminds me of the Carlsbad Caverns in New
Mexico. My folks took me through them when I was a kid." Phil looked around in awe as
did the others. An occasional cold drop of water dripped down from above them as they
followed the narrow trail behind Belinda. It was cold, damp, and smelled of antiquity.
Two dark spidery shadows followed behind the group.
Dan snorted. "I smell rotten eggs."
"Sulfur, Belinda informed him. "It's the smell of
demons. They are bodiless evil spirits from the first civilization that lived on Earth.
Sometimes you can detect the smell of sulfur when they're about; sometimes not. They can
even appear as departed relatives, ghosts, if you will. They can occupy human hosts and
cause them to think they have lived past lives. These are very dangerous and deceptive.
The demons are very ancient and have the memories of those who have lived before so they
can be very convincing."
"There's an awful lot to learn. Sometimes my
head feels like it's on overload." Dan commented as he shone his flashlight around
hoping to find the creatures responsible for the smell.
"Children of God have authority over them," Phil
informed them. "That's what I did when I whispered when we were in Zeus's throne
room. I told it to leave in Jesus name and it did. All those movies about the power of
evil never tell you that. They make all Christians look like simpering, ineffective
sissies."
"You are right about that. " Belinda said.
"You have seen how using the name of Jesus, the Messiah, we have power over demons,
Jeremiah. The only thing left to do is accept Jesus as your Messiah and for Dan to accept
Him as his Savior and you will have the assurance of His protection."
"Speaking of protection," Dan mused, looking
around nervously, "whatever happened to the villagers?"
"Ah, yes the villagers." Belinda heaved a sigh
and came to a halt. "You can see how massive these caverns are. We are in the
midlevel caverns. They have holes in various places that lead to an upper level. They
don't know about this place or the underworld. They have legends about the underworld,
some true, some not, but no one knows about these caverns except for the demons and their
bosses, of course." Belinda caught sight of a dark shadow out of the corner of her
eye."They are following us to see what we are up to. They will report to Zeus or one
of his underlings, but even Zeus cannot get here in time to stop us. We must hurry and get
your friend, Laura.
"It is dangerous to do what we are doing without the
assurance of His presence. Without Him we have no power over the evil one and are totally
at his mercy," Belinda added as she paused and indicated the need to stop up the
pace.
Dan and Jeremiah remained silent, both lost in thought as Phil
and Belinda talked together.
"We will travel to where there is a Y in the trail. We
will take the one that goes upward. It will go directly under the temple of Zeus. There is
a secret opening I will show you. After that you are on your own until you bring your
friend back. I will wait on this side of the door then we must take the other trail that
goes downward. There are things you must see."
She paused a moment as she glanced at Jeremiah and Dan.
"Somehow we must convince your friends to become true believers in the Savior. From
now on it is too dangerous to go on without that assurance and confidence. So far they
have been protected by your faith, but now they must add their own faith to yours. Is your
friend, Laura, a believer?"
"Thank God, yes, she is, but she is just a new
Christian, a baby in the faith.
"Sometimes a new Christian's enthusiasm can make up
for lack of knowledge, for awhile, anyway." Belinda patted his hand. "Just keep
praying for her. She probably feels very alone, right now."
Belinda disappeared.
Startled, the others stopped. Her hand reached down and
motioned for them to continue. "We are there," she said.
They found themselves in a small corridor leading to a
door. "Here we must stop and keep those who are following us from going any
further." She stared hard at Phil. "You understand what we need to do?"
Phil nodded and joined hands with Belinda as they rebuked
the demons following them in Jesus name and commanded them to stay where they were.
"Now we can go through the door," Phil announced
with Belinda nodding agreement. "But which way do we go and how do we find
Laura?"
"I have helped you all I can. You must put your faith in God
for this."
"How do I do that?" Dan questioned.
"Yes, I want to know how to do that, as well,"
Jeremiah echoed.
Belinda took Jeremiah to one side and quoting Isaiah told
Jeremiah how to accept Jesus as his true Messiah.
Phil talked to Dan. Dan told him he had already made a
decision for Christ quite a while ago, but prayed with Phil anyway to confess his faith in
front of another.
"This is truly a momentous moment," Phil said
laughing with joy. "There's nothing greater than welcoming in a new member of God's
Kingdom."
"I feel as if a great weight has been lifted from
me," Jeremiah said, his young/old face glowing.
Belinda smiled. "Now you are ready to continue your journey.
I will be waiting here for your return." She touched the door and it slid open with a
swish.
Chapter 12
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