by J.R. Bowles
CHAPTER 10
The Reverend Thomas Lamb had been kneeling on the wooden floor of the cheap hotel. At midnight his words began as he prayed aloud and he immediately felt joined to some force. It was exhilarating, yet frightening as well. As he doggedly repeated his prayers, bizarre images and sensations kept invading his thoughts. His mind was being pulled away into a strange place. He fell into a dream in which, as though through another's eyes and mind, he witnessed the opening of the umbilical center.
As he regained consciousness and control of his body, he trembled in fear. He felt as if the Anti-Christ had touched his very soul, had pulled him into the ghastly ordeal.
When he had returned fully to his own body, he tried to continue the prayer.
“Our Father,” he began, feeling images flash through his mind. His thoughts were traveling the micro-connectors of his brain at the speed of light: a light which seemed to burst forth, illuminating his mind.
“Our Father?” his mind asked. That which was the genetic codes that brought him here. All of his forefathers' and mothers' minds seemed to open and align him with an awareness of who they were. All was passed forward through the crudeness of the human flesh. Each ancestor's physical remnant was like a garment which had been used and discarded, bringing forth the seed that brought him to where he was.
Thomas felt weak in his struggle to continue his prayer.
“Who art in heaven,” he barely whispered. Suddenly, as if a great command had been spoken, he wondered where “heaven” was. Had not Christ come from heaven, lived, died and returned to heaven? Then where was this kingdom that had many rooms? For it was true; if it were not, Christ would not have said it. But what is this room of which he spoke? He pondered this, as he slumped over in the hotel. A room with peeling walls, greased with the smoke and grime of previous tenants. His head fell onto the mattress stained with countless carnal odors. The stench of the sins of humans burned into his brain. He knew this room kept him separate from the other lives of those in the city. This room felt vile and putrid, much like the earth itself.
He struggled to continue his prayer. “Hallowed be thy name.”
He fell into unconsciousness again when his mind asked what is God's name?