No Geek Rapture for Me_I'm Old School

by Jonelle Renald

  “No, I am not a child of Abraham. It’s a prayer I taught my children when they were growing up.” He poured her some tea. “Here. Drink this. It will help you recover from the hard knocks of the day.”

  Mia blew on the hot myrtle leaf tea, breathed in the aroma, then took a cautious sip. Not bad — in fact, it was pretty good. In fact, even better than good. “Mmm, excellent.” It wasn’t just the flavor. The warm liquid was warming her from the inside out, putting strength back into her bones and hope into her heart. The broiled fish, hot off the fire, was fragrant and absolutely delicious. The fruit Enoch had picked was soft and juicy like a plum but with the sweet intensity of citrus fruit. Everything was more delicious and satisfying than any food she had ever tasted before. And like the tea, the meal gave her the immediate impression of providing nourishment to both body and soul, producing a flood of joy, the feeling of being filled up beyond her capacity to contain it.

  “I’ve never eaten food like this before,” Mia whispered. “My heart is overwhelmed. It’s about to set me bawling like a baby or rolling on the ground laughing or singing at the top of my lungs or maybe all three at once. I’m not sure my soul is big enough to contain it all.”

  The lines around his eyes deepened as Enoch smiled at her. “I feel the same way. Just go slow. Think about each bite, giving thanks — that’s what helps me. And keep in mind, the more you eat, the greater your capacity to be filled. But this food always makes my cup overflow, not matter how often I eat here!” He paused to think, then continued, “Have you seen the news reports where scientists say that they have discovered proof that the world, the universe Earth inhabits, is a holographic projection? They don’t know how close they are to grasping the reality of their situation. ‘For what can be seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.’ What we are eating now is food indeed because we are in a place of real reality. What you are used to eating is the shadow of real food.”

  Trying to understand what Enoch had said about this being a place of real reality, Mia looked at her hands to verify how solid she was. She asked him, “Does that make me a ghost in this place? A misplaced being who’s barely visible or not entirely present, lacking the proper substance to fully exist in this world? Someone who’s supposed to cross over to someplace else?”

  “In one sense, yes. Your physical body was not intended to live here, but it is not the case that you belong somewhere else, that you are not meant to be here. ‘We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye — we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal body must put on immortality.’ Humans are destined to live here, but in a spiritual body.”

  She took another bite of the broiled fish and mentally blessed God for the strength the fish was providing for her. Enoch was right. This wasn’t a meal to gulp down and hurry through without careful consideration of what you were doing. This menu wasn’t elaborate, but it felt like a Sunday or holiday dinner with dear friends and relatives — a celebration as well as a meal, food best enjoyed with laughter and conversation, precious because shared.

  Mia raised her cup of tea. “To changes and immortality then!”

  After a moment of reflecting, she pointed toward the source of the light. “So I could just walk in that direction, and eventually I would see —?”

  Enoch replied, “Yes, his throne is in that direction, on the other side of this mountain. Although with your heart in the condition it is in, if you are not invited to go, you would find your way blocked at some point before you arrived, and you would be sent back. Divided loyalty prevents you from seeing the Holy Great One. At a later time, you may be permitted to approach the throne. I’m not sure. We’ll see.”

  She nodded and kept looking in that direction for some time.

  After everything had been eaten, every hunger satisfied, Mia and Enoch sat by the fire, still talking. She said, “My sister learned a principle from a friend of hers who said that whenever you meet someone you have an immediate connection to — that person, they are your relative of some degree, a member of your family even if you don’t know how you’re related. If that idea’s true, then you and I are family, Enoch. Ever since you pulled me up off that fence, I’ve felt this connection to you. Plus you’re such a joy to be around, it makes me glad just to be in your company. Also, Chase said something about how I look like the women in your family, your wife and your daughter. Do you know if we are related? I don’t know anything about you, except your name. And only your first name, now that I think of it. And that you have a great sense of timing, thanks to Mother Tallis’s visions, showing up at the exact right time and place to save me. Three times! Who are you? You look familiar somehow, but I have never met you before. I would remember. You make a lasting impression on a person.”

  Enoch’s brown eyes glanced at Mia, then turned back to the fire. “Let’s see. How to begin. Perhaps the place to start is with information that you can accept.”

  “Hahaha!” Mia laughed loudly. “Please! Don’t worry about filtering! My capacity to believe unbelievable things has been greatly increased of late. I’ve seen so much in the last few days that has escaped the bounds of normal reality that a few more fantastic details won’t phase me a bit. Like people from the company I worked at turning into beasts and gargoyles. I doubt anything you share can top that. I hope, anyway.”

  “No, nothing like that,” he said. “I’m fully human and nothing else. Although I am a rather unique person — there’s only been one other like me.”

  After pausing to gather his thoughts, Enoch continued. “A bit of background — I was born in what you would call the Middle East, but I was very well traveled in my youth and ventured to the four corners of the globe. I loved exploring every part of God’s creation, making discoveries, learning knowledge of all kinds. I used to pray that the Lord of Heaven and Earth would show me everything there was to discover. One day after exploring so much of the earth that I felt there was nothing new to explore, the Eternal King showed me the gateways and the stairways to the Unseen Realm. I began traveling between heaven and earth, following the same passageways where angels ascend and descend traveling on their missions for God, carrying petitions of intercession for the children of men, and righteousness flowed before them like water, mercy falling like the dew. I also saw the gateways where the stars go forth as they dawn in the night sky, each star and each gateway having its own individual name and schedule. Gateways where the winds of all four compass directions are stored until they are called upon. Gateways for the dew, rain, snow, and ice to proceed from heaven onto the earth.

  And then I was shown even MORE places to explore. I came to a place with seven mountains. One was a mountain made of hard stone, and in it were hollowed-out chambers divided into four different sections where the dead go, assigned by the condition and status of their soul, where they wait for Judgment Day to arrive. Next to that mountain, I saw another mountain, the most perfect mountain of them all, glorious and beautiful, and on its summit, immense, fragrant with spices, awe-inspiring trees that will never die, ringing the throne of God. And in the valley between these two mountains was a fixed gulf that could not be crossed. I thought maybe I could find the means to cross that gulf and bring some of the captives out of their waiting place, but I learned the hard way that I wasn’t worthy of accomplishing that.”

  Lost in the memory, Enoch fell silent. After a moment he said, “But hasn’t my Lord Jesus showed he is worthy! I saw the one whose face was full of mercy, the Son of man who is righteousness, who stands before the Lord of Spirits, unparalleled in uprightness. In wisdom, he revealed to me hidden treasures of the Unseen Realm because before the Lord of Heaven established the mountains or dug the abyss in the sea, he was there. After what I saw, what I learned —. After I sang praises to the Son of Man with the righteous that stand before him, who are as strong as fire, their hearts filled with blessing, that mounta
in, this mountain where we are now became everything I ever wanted. I never wanted to leave. And so, granting me the desire of my heart, my place on God’s mountain was established by the Lord of Spirits.

  “The Son of Man is a staff for the righteous to lean and rely on so they do not fall,” Enoch said. “A light to the nations, the hope of any troubled heart. One day, all will fall before him to worship, bless, and celebrate him with song because of what he has done. As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. But it was not possible for him to be conquered or stay bound by the cords of death. He walked out of Hades, and Death itself was unable to hold him captive any longer, even though it tried its utmost to keep him down. Once he won the victory over Death, he led forth a host of captives from that dark place inside the mountain made of hard stone! With his own mighty right hand, Jesus took back the keys to the gates of Hell, unlocked them, and held them open while the souls of the righteous dead followed him out. And then he led them all straight to the gates of the righteous, to the gates of Heaven itself.”

  “You’ve never seen anything like it.” Enoch looked at Mia, then looked off into the distance. “I had never seen anything like that sight. There never has been anything like it. It was beyond description. Standing before the gates, Jesus raised his right hand and sang,

  ‘Open to me the gates of righteousness that leads to the throne of God. I will go in and praise the Lord! Because you have heard me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected and refused to use has become the chief cornerstone.’

  “And the gates of Heaven did open to him who had become the sin of the entire world, conquering death and sin for all time. That is how Jesus brought forth a host of captives and led them into Paradise. Mia, did you know those gates where all that happened aren’t so far from here?”

  “Wait — you really mean you saw all that happen. In person. With your own two eyes.” Mia sat straight up. “You saw the harrowing of hell? Actually saw it. How could you have been in Heaven at the time to see it happen? Who are you?”

  “Well, I told you my name is Enoch. And my father’s name was Jared.”

  Intently staring at him, Mia said, “No. Way. Enoch? You can’t be that Enoch from the Bible who never needed a last name because first names alone were sufficient back in your day. The man in Genesis, descendant of Seth, Enoch — Enoch where God said, ‘I’m enjoying this conversation so much, why don’t you just come home to lunch with me?’

  Enoch just smiled at her, shrugged, then nodded his head yes.

  “Of course you’re not kidding,” Mia said. “How else could we be here, how else could I be here? You’re not fazed by meeting giants or humans who turned into reptilians. And you’re not some random supernatural being. You are Enoch who never died, returning again in the last days Enoch! You’re not kidding, are you.”

  “No, not kidding. Zechariah had a vision of two anointed ones, as did John when he was given the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Two olive trees and the two lamp stands who stand in the court of Heaven before the Lord of all the earth — the two anointed ones, the sons of fresh oil. I am one of the two that they both saw. And yes, Elijah and I, we will some day return for a season of prophesying to the world from Jerusalem.”

  Overwhelmed, Mia needed time to process this information. The man who said he was her relative, the man who kept showing up to rescue her — he had been born before Noah’s flood and had never died, which would make him several centuries over five thousand years old. Maybe most shocking of all, he had lived at a time when he would have known Adam and Eve, crafted by the hand of God.

  “How’s that myrtle leaf tea? Like some more?” Enoch asked.

  Still thinking hard, she nodded absentmindedly. Enoch took the cup out of her hand, filled it, and handed it back to her.

  Mia said, “Oh! I just remembered what happens to the two witnesses — what happens after three and a half years in Jerusalem. To them. And you’re one of them. I —. You —.” She was unable to continue speaking, her voice suddenly strangled by the urge to cry.

  Enoch held his hand up, as if to stop her tears. “Oh, Mia, don’t be sad for what will one day happen to me. There is no need to cry. I know what will happen — it’s told in Revelation 11.”

  He quoted:

  “My two witnesses shall prophesy 1260 days, clothed in black rough cloth, as if in mourning. If any man attempts to hurt them, fire proceeds out of their mouth, and devours their enemies. They have power to shut heaven, to hold back the rain, and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with plagues, as often as they decide. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the Beast that arises out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And three days and an half later, the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood up on their feet, alive. And great fear fell upon everyone that saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud — and their enemies saw them go.”

  “You seem so calm about it,” Mia said. “If I knew that — if something like was that intended for me — well, I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about it. It would haunt me constantly.”

  Enoch replied, “Each and every person ever born is destined to die someday. So we all know the day of our dying will come when it’s time. What’s different for me is that I happen to know more details about my death than most people will ever know about theirs. And after a life of thousands and thousands of years — the longest life of anyone ever — I will, we will both be resurrected after a death of only three and a half days. One of the shortest deaths ever. That’s not so bad, is it?” He smiled at her. “I’m not saying I would ever choose what is going to happen to me, but I have had time to make my peace with it. I’ll do whatever The Eternal asks of me, and it will be well with my soul. Besides, I am very glad I have the opportunity to share with this generation what I know about the giants called the Nephilim and their angelic fathers, The Watchers. In order for God’s will to be done on Earth, I must bring help and blessing to the people living in the last of the last days. Your generation needs to learn about the darkness that had its start in my day because it is returning to the Earth. What happened before in my day is going to happen — is already happening — again.

  “At first the Watchers volunteered to descend to Earth to teach people how to properly worship, because they thought humanity was disrespectful toward God and needed to be taught appropriate behavior. But once the angels began living on Earth, they turned against God and began to manipulate humanity, caused people to fall for their schemes while they pursued their own pleasures. The temptation was the same old deceit, ‘You shall be as gods.’ And once again, the promise proved to be a lie. By jumping at the chance to gain forbidden divine knowledge from shining angelic beings (again), humanity leaped into even greater disaster. The Watchers maximized the corruption of guilty hearts and minds tainted by Adam’s fall, making people more evil and more violent than ever before, not more enlightened, not more elevated as promised. These fallen angels have never given up on their goal, which then and now, is to destroy all of us. They and their offspring the evil giants are promoting a strong delusion that will lead many in the world astray, so God needed someone with experience in dealing with their lies and deceit to tell the truth about their plans. That someone is me. I already lived through their corruptions and evil. I know them.”

  Mia shook her head slightly, then thought, “This is so beyond my comprehension. I’ve wandered into a real-life myth. Or an episode from the Bible.” Out loud she said, “I’ll take some more tea, if there is any. Oh — never mind, there’s still some in my cup. Guess I don’t need more after all.” She took a sip of the tea. “So good.”

  H
er blue eyes looked at the man across the campfire. “Then you truly are Enoch, seventh-generation-after-Adam Enoch, who just happened to be wandering by in time to rescue me from fences, devils, and twisted experiments. I haven’t properly thanked you for all that, have I. Thank you. I — thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything you’ve done for me!”

  Enoch replied, “You’re very welcome. I’m glad I’ve been able to help you.”

  She stared into the campfire for a minute, and then said, “All of a sudden I feel like I don’t know how to act around you. I’ve been treating you like a normal person, and that’s the last thing you are. I am sure I’ve been too flippant and disrespectful. Treating people with the honor they deserve isn’t one of my strong suits. I treat everyone like they’re my equal. I have no sense of protocol or deference whatsoever. I’m sure I can’t even imagine what your true status is in Heaven. Above and beyond almost everyone else, I’m sure. And here I am just chatting away like we’re next door neighbors or something. Like we’re equals and I could just come up and talk to you or something. I hope I haven’t offended you with my lack of respect.”

  “Mia, look at me. I want you to be sure you hear what I’m saying. If you start treating me any differently, acting differently than before, I will be extremely disappointed. I don’t want to be treated with some kind of contrived respect that would create a barrier between us. I’m not an corporate executive or chairman of the board, and I wouldn’t appreciate being treated with some artificial and undeserved sense of worship and respect, as if there were a gap between us. Because we are both equals in the sight of God. It would please me much more if you treat me like family, like you mentioned earlier. I am your many times great grandfather, you know.”

  “I imagine everyone alive is related to you.” Mia replied. “They would all have to be since you lived before the flood and are Noah’s great-grandfather.”