Part 30 (2/2)
”Now we're talking!” The image of me leveling one of those babies at Semyaza and pulling the trigger played in wide-screen format in my head, complete with surround sound.
The professor was nodding. He understood now. ”Here it is . . . ,” he said. He leaned forward. I leaned forward, as though we were huddling under a super-secret confidential security bubble. ”Truth,” he said.
I waited for more. Blinked. ”Truth,” I repeated.
”An upright heart.”
”Professor, maybe you didn't understand me-”
”Faith.”
”I need something I can use to-”
”The Word of G.o.d.”
He nodded and grinned knowingly as though he'd just handed over an a.r.s.enal of weapons.
”Professor, what I need is-”
”You just don't get it, do you?” he snapped, his voice rising. ”After all you've been through and you still don't grasp the concept.”
”What I understand is-”
”Your enemy is not human!” the professor shouted. ”He is a supernatural being with cosmic power of evil proportions which you cannot begin to comprehend! And for reasons unknown to us, he is stalking you, and he will annihilate you unless you find a way to fight him off!”
”But that's what I'm trying to do!”
”No you're not! You're searching for an enchanted supernatural sword that will intimidate and possibly kill him, a weapon forged by someone else that will swing the balance of power in your favor.”
I couldn't argue with that. That's exactly what I wanted.
”Well, I have news for you. It doesn't work that way. You'll have to look elsewhere, Grant. I'm all out of magic swords. I'm sorry you wasted your time coming out here tonight.”
He wheeled himself back to give me room to stand.
At the front door I turned back. ”You can teach me how to fight him?”
”Yes.”
I closed the door and took my seat on the sofa. ”I believe you were telling me about the true nature of this universe,” I said.
”If you don't understand the nature of the cosmos, you understand nothing,” the professor said.
He gestured with a book containing a collection of ancient texts that was old and worn with use. As he spoke he sometimes patted it for emphasis, but rarely did he open it. He gave every indication of having memorized it. ”The Bible unashamedly portrays a world that is at once natural and supernatural, a cosmos that is inhabited by both natural and supernatural beings. The spiritual realm is not something that is far away, it is here and now. It is part of the very fabric of the universe.
”Jacob is a wonderful example. The Bible describes how one day he took a journey and on his way stumbled into an encampment of angels. He called the place Mahanaim, which means 'two encampments.' The next day, he got up, and continued on his journey.”
”What was the encampment of angels doing on earth?”
”The Bible doesn't say.”
”Does it say where the angels went after Jacob left them?”
”No.”
”Did they deliver a message of some sort, something useful Jacob recorded that has been pa.s.sed down to us?”
”Nothing.”
I was stumped. ”So the angels were just vacationing on earth?”
The professor laughed. ”We don't know what they were doing. That isn't the point of the story.”
”What is the point?”
”That they're here. It's that simple.”
”If that's true, why don't more people know about them, or act like they're here?”
The professor sat back in his wheelchair and mulled a moment. ”The level of awareness of the supernatural has varied throughout history, by design largely, whatever suits the purposes of Lucifer. G.o.d has always been up-front about its existence. Maybe it would help to think of Lucifer and his bunch as the Mafia . . .”
”That's easy to do,” I said.
”A person can drive through downtown New York and never see the Mafia. That doesn't mean they're not there. People can live all their lives in New York and never knowingly encounter the Mafia, though they have probably been affected one way or another by the Mafia's presence. Just because they don't operate out in the open, or people don't talk about them often, doesn't mean the Mafia doesn't exist. But when it is in the Mafia's best interests to make themselves visible, they are more than capable of making their presence known in dramatic and powerful ways. Does that help?”
”So the cosmos consists of natural and spiritual. One is as real as the other. Both are present. Got it. Now what?”
The professor sighed. ”The hard part.”
”How come there's never an easy part?”
”If I was talking with anyone else at this point, Grant, I would tell you the good news.”
”Which is?”
”For a person in Christ, the good news is, 'He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world,' meaning that, for the Christian, G.o.d has placed His Spirit within him to protect and guard him against the devil's evil schemes.”
”You're talking about salvation, right? And because I'm Nephilim, I can't be saved.”
”Correct. If G.o.d's Spirit was inside of you, Semyaza's demons would not be able to possess you.”
”So G.o.d's Spirit is unavailable to me.”
”I have nothing that says otherwise.”
”Which means?”
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