Scars of My Guardian Angel

by Russell L Martin

  One other thing, I confess, I didn’t live for God during my youth. I was a foolish young man. Not living for Jesus Christ, I was a terrible father to my children and they have suffered because of it.

  But here’s the ticket, I have asked for forgiveness and God is faithful to forgive. So trying to condemn me by reminding me of my sinful past, is I guess pretty good conversation, but has no meaning to me or God. He has cast my sin as far as the east is from the west.”

  “Little Soul, I have walked among the sons of God and I have heard your name. I walked among the demons of Hell and a second time I have heard your name. I know the Creator is going to use you in some way. Come with me and let me show you the kingdoms of Earth where I will give you reign over millions of my servants. Let me fill your heart with the pleasures of the most beautiful women. There is nothing you could imagine that I can’t provide for you, just take my hand. Remember you’ve failed God on Earth before, what if you fail him here? Don’t you think He may cast you out, as he has cast me down to the Earth?”

  “Lucifer, I have what I want, and that is to serve the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Creator of all things above and below. I answer to only Him.”

  Lucifer shakes his head, “Whatever the Creator is up to with you couldn’t have much effect on the final days. Just look around on Earth, it’s in the season of the great falling away. I have the souls of men right where I want them. The rivers of pride run deep.”

  He turns and walks back through the portal with his six angels following close behind.

  I take a deep breath with a long sigh of relief, and I hear the sound of a strong wind and turn just in time to see the portal close. You could now see right through the rock doorway as the fiery blue portal window vanished. The fresh smell of the mountain air has returned as the stench of sulfur dissipates. The dark shadows from the heavy canopy of clouds disappear. I look up and feel the warm sunlight hitting my face as if to have assurance God is in control. I turn and see Nipper and Allayer smiling, heading in my direction.

  * * *

  I look back at my Guardian Angel and notice something about his face, arms, and legs that I hadn’t noticed before; he has deep scars all over him. What could have happened to him? Even though I feel the urge to ask and want to talk to him, I realize this isn’t the time or place. I’m not sure if I could find the right words anyway. He must have noticed me watching him, because he gives me a short smile and places his right hand on my shoulder as he passes. They are all now heading for the portal to Heaven.

  I ask Nipper and Allayer, “Are we going with the Warriors? Can we go to Heaven now?”

  “Not yet, we have a few more things to show you here on Tabula Rasa.”

  “Well dang, I was ready to hit the road Jack. After the long conversation with the most evil being in God’s creation, I am definitely ready to get off the top of this mountain!”

  I look over at the portal as the first six Angels go through with my Guardian giving us a small wave as he turns and disappears through the portal.

  “Allayer, when will I see him again?”

  “You’ll get to spend a few days in Heaven with him before he’s reassigned.”

  “Sounds great, are we ready to go?”

  Nipper grabs my wine pouch, takes a little sip, and then passes it around to Allayer. After we had a small refreshing taste of Tabula Rasa wine we start our journey off the mountain. As we make our way through the scattered saplings, I can now see the two Angels wearing sackcloth and the Angel of persuasion just a few yards away from the entry back into the cavern.

  Nipper tells me, “We need to catch up before they go through the hidden gate.”

  As we make our way through the cavern and down the mountain trail, I can’t help but think: How strange is the event that had just taken place on top of that beautiful mountain . As I tried to make sense of it all, I hear Allayer and Nipper talking. I keep forgetting they can hear my thoughts.

  “Hey, guys.”

  “Yeah, Chado, go ahead ask away.”

  “Well, I was wondering about a few things I’m not real clear on, like, why don’t the Warrior Angels ever say anything? As a matter of fact, the three Angels walking ahead of us haven’t said anything either, except when they were talking to the condemned men; and you two don’t mind having conversation at all.”

  “Chado, Nipper and I were once human. Remember us telling you how we got killed back around the time when the Ark of Covenant was stolen from God’s children? At our time of death, God gifted us with knowledge, a spirit of comforting and transformed us into a type of Angel. There are millions just like Nipper and I. You’ve already seen how different we are from the others. We don’t have the same power as the Angels of God. We are limited and different in a lot of ways.”

  “Different, can you tell me how?”

  “Sure, it’s actually pretty easy to explain. In the beginning, God created man in his own image. Nipper and I both still have a lot of human characteristics remaining, proving we aren’t much different from you. We still love to joke around and have fun like we did as mortals. When you eventually reach Heaven, God will gift you with several angelic abilities, you’ll see.”

  “Abilities, like what kind of abilities?”

  Allayer and Nipper both laugh, “Patience, Little Soul, patience.”

  “Yeah, why did Lucifer keep calling me ‘Little Soul’? I started to ask him why, but I didn’t want to lengthen our conversation any longer than I had to. ”

  “We don’t know, maybe he calls everyone Little Soul, or it was his way of trying to get you angry so you might spill the beans about your assignment.”

  “Yeah, maybe so. I know I didn’t like it. Hey you guys finish explaining about the Angels.”

  “Well, God designed the Heavens and the Earth and saw that it was good. He didn’t stop there, He continued forming and designing every living creature including Angels. I guess you could say He needed help to run it all, and what better way than to have Angels of all sorts to help Him do just that. The Hosts of Heaven were designed by God as creatures of light. You and every believer on Earth, Heaven and Hell know them as Angels. God designed each one in a very special way. They all have commonalities, but each being has its own unique gifts. The Angels of Heaven or Hell have no idea what it’s like to be human, so don’t be alarmed when they don’t show the same characteristics as mortals. We know without a doubt, you’ll feel right at home with the Angels after you’ve been in Heaven for a while.”

  “Allayer, do you think when I get to Heaven; my Guardian Angel will talk with me?”

  “Sure, he will. The Angels of Heaven open up a little better when you’re one on one. My advice would be to go a little slow at first. Trust me; he’ll open up to you.”

  Nipper chimes in, “Remember, they have never been mortal, so their conversation will be more rigid or should I say direct and to the point. Oh yeah, they don’t really joke around as much as we do.”

  “Thanks for the heads up guys.”

  We finally get to the bottom of the mountain where the stone trail meets the cobblestone road. Allayer and Nipper continue following the three Angels ahead of us as we turn to the right heading away from the village .

  “Why are we still following the Angels? Aren’t we going back to the village?”

  “No, we’re not going back to the village. But we aren’t really following them, we just happen to be going in the same direction as they are.”

  We continue walking down the long, winding cobblestone road for several miles. As we walk, I see a few scattered homes nestled in the foothills of the mountain range that we were leaving behind us.

  “Hey guys, I have another question.”

  “Go ahead, shoot.”

  “I’m curious about the portals. How are all the people here coming from Earth and leaving for Heaven? I know they’re using portals, but the whole thing on top of the mountain with the secret passages, surely everybody that comes and goes doesn’t ha
ve to make their way through all that, right?”

  Nipper chuckles, “No, of course not, what you saw on top of the mountain was designed for the condemned and the coming and going of God’s Angels. No one else here will ever see that. The portal to Hell that’s on top of the mountain is the only one on Tabula Rasa.”

  “So where are the other portals located?”

  “God has them scattered all over the planet.”

  “Well, why don’t the souls here just go find a portal and zoom off to Heaven?”

  Allayer grins, “Chado that would defeat God’s plan for the citizens of Tabula Rasa. It’s like this, they arrive here as lost souls without any knowledge of God. After they are here for a while and fully aware of the truth and know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, at that moment, God allows their eyes to be opened and they see the path to Heaven.”

  “So the portals become visible only after they surrender their hearts over to Jesus? ”

  “Yes, not only can they see the portals, they are led to the portal locations by the Holy Spirit.”

  “Now that is really cool. Why isn’t it like that on Earth?”

  “Well, Satan kind of messed that up. Remember he has full reign over the Earth, at least what God allows him to reign over. When a Christian dies they are met at that second by Angels like us and we transport them straight to the Gates of Heaven. It’s kind of like the flash of light you talked about. When someone passes that’s rejected the Lord, in that very second they are met by some of Lucifer’s demons, or on special occasions, his fallen angels do the transporting to Hell’s gates. Chado, can you imagine dying and in the next second you’re facing something like what you saw on the mountain that came out of the portal of Hell?”

  “No, I couldn’t imagine. That is a scary thought. You know some of the rich and famous that make their living joking about Christians claiming to be atheist are going to have a rude awakening. So what happens when there’s some kind of huge natural disaster or terrorist attack where hundreds or maybe even thousands are killed? Do we have enough Angels to take care of that many at one time?”

  Nipper stops in his tracks looks over with a smile, “Remember God has designed legions of transporters like us and if needed, one Angel can transport ten thousand.”

  Allayer reaches for my wine pouch before we start walking again, “You know transporting that many souls at one time isn’t the problem. The problem is sorting them out. The saved are transformed from mortal to immortal at the same time the lost are.”

  “Why is that a problem? Y’all can’t tell them apart when the saved and the unsaved die?”

  “Oh yeah, we can tell them apart because the saved have a glow or an aura around them, and the lost, well they have a type of darkness surrounding them. ”

  “An aura, what do you mean?”

  “Well it’s like this, when you were back on Earth living the life of a Christian, God gave you a spirit of discernment. When you were walking through your church on a Sunday morning, mingling with fellow believers, did you ever notice a special glow in the faces of certain ones?”

  “Yes, I have, I’ve even shared my thoughts about that with close friends. It was something different in their faces. You could see and tell they had the love of Christ.”

  “That’s right, even some of the lost can see it, they know it’s something different about Christians but just can’t totally understand. With that curiosity and hearing that soft, still voice of God, some are drawn to it and eventually are saved. The sad thing is that millions hear it, feel it and then reject it.”

  “So tell me why it gets tricky when you have to sort the saved from the lost during a large disaster?”

  “Chado, do you remember the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares?”

  “Sure I do, Mathew 13:24-30.”

  “Quote it to us, we have time.”

  “Okay. ‘The kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.

  But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.

  So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’

  He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’

  But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them .

  Let both grow together until the harvest, and at that time of harvest I will say to the reapers, first gather the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ”

  Nipper says, “We believe the meaning behind that scripture relates to the final rapture, but it mirrors the same sorting out we have to do when a multitude of mortals die at the same time. To answer your question, you need to understand, even though the demons have no right to the saved, they still try to drag them away. We think they know, it’s just they are mean and hateful and are trying to scare the saved and make trouble for us. Remember they hate the Christians and despise the Angels.”

  “That sounds like what happened when we had the little run in with that demon back on Earth.”

  “Yep, same thing, we always have a Warrior Angel nearby as we transport. And usually some of the Christians have their Guardians with them at the time of passing. So we don’t usually worry about the demons.”

  “That reminds me, I’m glad my Guardian was with us when you guys picked me up from my ocean floor death bed. The nasty demon that grabbed my ankle gave me a pretty good scare. However, that demon tucked his tail and vanished when my Warrior Angel’s sword lit up as he unsheathed it.”

  Nipper asked, “Yeah, but what about your other question?”

  “Oh yeah, back on the mountain, when the Nephilim Giants attacked, why didn’t the Warriors’ swords light up like my Guardian’s did before?”

  “Well, Chado, back in the Gulf of Mexico your Guardian was sending a message to Lucifer that you were off limits. The battle on the mountain, the Warriors had no need to use that much force to defeat the giants or the fallen angels. Lucifer knows that his crew is no match for God’s Angels. ”

  Nipper takes one more swallow of wine and hands me the lamb skin pouch as we continue down the cobblestone road.

  Allayer points up ahead, “That’s where we’re headed, Chado,”

  * * *

  As I look, I see a row of trees standing on the edge of a hill. These wooden giants all planted in a perfect line, as if they were meant to watch over the small village at the bottom of the hill. Their huge limbs swaying in the wind almost like a dance. I continue to follow Nipper and Allayer as we walk off the cobblestone path onto plush green grass and finally, we all plop down underneath a huge elm tree. “Chado, keep an eye on the crossroad at the bottom of the hill.”

  As I look I see several people gathered together underneath another big shade tree just a few feet from the road intersection, when suddenly I notice a flicker of light in the center of the crossroad and two people appear. I rub my eyes and wonder, what did I just see? I notice Allayer and Nipper are now grinning, as I look back, two of the people sitting under the shade tree immediately get up, walk over to introduce themselves, and then all four walk back to the shade tree and sit down. I see it again. Another flicker of light, three small children appear right in the same place as the others.

  Before I could ask, Allayer starts to explain, “This is one of many portals of salutation that are scattered all over the planet. These portals are used to transport the people of Earth that have died without any knowledge of God here to Tabula Rasa.”

  “Wow, so that was the flashes of light coming and going we saw just before we arrived?”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  “Who are the people greeting them? ”

  “Well it could be anybody that God gave the task to. He usually chooses souls that He knows will be really good at i
t. It might be someone from three thousand years ago or He might even have people from your time.”

  “So when they arrive you say they have no understanding of what’s happening?”

  “We know… it’s a bit strange. When they get here their minds are a lot like those of very young children. God does this so that everyone is easier to teach. But some of the older people are so deeply rooted in hatred and sin that it sometimes shows up later as God allows the free will factor.”

  Nipper chimes in, “God gives them a sense of peace and a hunger to learn. After they arrive, they are brought to these villages, where they are made to feel at home and are comforted by some of God’s teachers. The teachers encourage some of the younger new arrivals to be mother or father figures to the children here.”

  “Guys, you know this is an almost foolproof setup. A person can get here, be taught, and accept Jesus as Lord and then move on to Heaven. It makes you wonder, how in the world does anyone fail to understand the truth - or just reject Christ - like the condemned we brought to Hell’s portal?”

  Nipper mumbles, “Like we just said, free will is a killer.”

  Allayer shrugs his shoulders and sighs, “That question has been asked for a couple thousand years. When you think of it, it’s a lot like Earth. Most people are exposed to God all their life and just don’t get it. Men are born with a sin nature, and even with an opportunity, or should I say a second chance like this one, they still turn away from the love of God. We believe some are just born for destruction.”

  “I know; that’s a sad thought. If they only knew what they were missing out on. ”

  We grab a couple apples and oranges on our way past a small grove of fruit trees near the bottom of the hill. I ask, “So where are the portals they use to get on God’s freeway to Heaven?”