by Chuck Black
Ral smiled. “Sure thing, boss.”
28
THE SILENCE OF THE CROSS
AD 33
Validus had come to understand that Apollyon’s greatest evil was accomplished through the minds of reprobate men and women. His influence through humans rendered heinous atrocities that should never have existed in creation. It was hard for the holy perfect warriors of Elohim to see and attempt to defend the victims of such evil hearts. They never became numb to evil, for there seemed no limit to the dastardly, creative ways in which a thing of evil could be done—new ways to torture, new ways to kill, new ways to pervert.
But Validus had also seen the judgments of Elohim, knowing and having witnessed that every act of treachery was judged and punished, both in the Middle Realm and in the Lower Realm. Death was no escape from the righteous judgments of God. In fact, quite the contrary, and the evil King Herod discovered the truth of it the day he closed his eyes in death and twelve draegers delivered him to Hades, where there is gnashing of teeth and the worm does not die.
Throughout the ministry of Ben Elohim on earth, Validus marveled at His power, at His wisdom, and at His courage. But far beyond that, Validus was overwhelmed at the love Ben Elohim demonstrated toward humanity.
Validus had expected that the greatest challenge of the Warrior Order would come during the Messiah’s years of ministry, but it was not to be so.
From a distance Validus stood with General Danick and watched as five thousand people gathered to hear their King teach truth.
“Do they understand, sir?” Validus asked, gazing on the form of God wrapped in flesh. “Do they know what this means? Who He is, how much He loves them?”
Danick turned to look at Validus. “Do we?”
Validus closed his eyes. How could he? The ways of Elohim were unsearchable and unknowable in their entirety. He smiled and looked back at his general. “No sir. We don’t.”
They watched. They listened. They learned. The power of Ruach Elohim flowed down from heaven in a continual shaft of blue flame, filling Jesus with the power to change lives. There were no Fallen today. They could not remain in the presence of such burning holy power.
“What do we do now, sir? Surely there’s great work to be done now that He’s here.”
Danick shook his head. “No, my friend. There is nothing for us to do. Don’t you see? When He is here, we do not need to be. He is sufficient for everything!”
Validus couldn’t help but turn away as his eyes filled. Only now did he grasp the profound impact the intersecting power of Elohim would have in the lives of men, women, and children. He was all sufficient.
For three years the Messiah taught, healed, discipled, and loved the people of the Middle Realm. And through this thin slice of time, He changed the world. The angels of Elohim watched, learned, and healed, for a time of great peril would come. These years were the years of restoration.
At the end, they watched Apollyon’s forces rise up against Him, but He did not falter. Then they came for Him. Apollyon came for Him. Validus could hardly restrain himself as he watched the betrayal begin.
Danick called Commander Brandt, Validus, and four primus commanders to the temple.
“What will happen?” Commander Guilden asked. “Are we to engage the Fallen as they attack Him?”
General Danick looked as conflicted as every warrior felt. “No. Michael has ordered us to stand by. Should Messiah give the word, we will be ready.”
Brandt turned and walked away. When he turned back around, his eyes were fierce and yet sad. “General Danick, I should check on our legions to the north. It’s been some time since I’ve evaluated our position there.”
Danick didn’t hesitate. “Yes, Commander Brandt. I believe that when this is over, our situation in the outlying regions will change quickly. We need to be ready for that. You should leave as soon as possible.”
Brandt turned to leave, and Validus saw into the great commander’s heart through his request. Brandt could not bear what was going to happen. Perhaps he did not trust himself. Validus’s measure of respect for the mighty stoic warrior rose greatly.
“How many legions do you want standing by?” Guilden asked.
“Twelve,” Danick said. “With swords in hand.”
Nothing else was spoken. Validus accompanied Commander Guilden to Gethsemane, his three legions waiting in the hills to the east. Nine more waited to the west and south and north of Jerusalem under the command of the other three primus commanders. The Messiah of the world had come here to pray, and the forces of heaven watched and waited.
When the temple guards came for Jesus, Danick drew his sword and looked as if he was going to attack. The temple guards were surrounded by two dozen demons, but they had grown accustomed to the angel warriors remaining placid. After all, they were at their wits’ end trying to maintain the darkness in the hearts of their subjects in the presence of the brilliant light of Ben Elohim.
Guilden and Validus drew their swords.
“What is it, sir?” Validus whispered.
“Apollyon,” Danick said grimly.
The name sent chills up and down Validus’s spine.
“Where?” Guilden asked, searching urgently in the faces of the Fallen and the surrounding trees.
“There.” Danick pointed his sword at Judas. “In the betrayer. He is there.”
Validus swallowed hard. Never before had he heard of Apollyon possessing a man. He could only imagine the darkness of soul that man was experiencing right now. He shuddered.
“Do we attack?” Validus asked.
Before Danick could respond, the disciple Peter did what every angel wanted to do. He drew his sword and attacked the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. The foolish act would surely bring death to the disciple, but Validus understood it. He knew the man’s heart, for it was his own.
Danick, Guilden, and Validus stood ready, tense, anticipating the call. The legions would be called also, but these three would be the first to bring judgment on the evil men and their demons.
“Put down your sword,” Jesus said. “He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword.” Then Ben Elohim reached for the servant and touched his ear, healing him. “Don’t you know that I could ask of My Father and He would give Me twelve legions of angels?”
Validus’s sword slowly dropped, as did Danick’s and Guilden’s. He was humbled by the power of Messiah, even over his own will. Jesus knew twelve legions were waiting, hands on swords. These puny men had no idea with whom they were dealing. At this very moment the particles of creation by which they existed were being held together by His loving hand, and they were about to deliver Him to Apollyon, the destroyer.
Then Jesus spoke again.
“Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”
As the guards led Jesus away, Danick, Guilden, and Validus stood still and silent in the cool of the garden. Validus thought of this same Peter trying to tempt Jesus not to allow Himself to be delivered to the high priest to be killed and Jesus attributing it to Satan. Validus was ashamed, for he didn’t want to see his King killed either. He had readied himself to strike with his sword to stop it just as Peter had done.
They returned to headquarters in silence, each one in his own thoughts. Though the twelve legions of the army of God would remain on alert, Validus knew they would not be called. He had seen the obedient heart of Ben Elohim.
In the hours that followed, Validus witnessed the unthinkable. There was no sin in the previous four thousand years that compared to what he saw happening to the God of the universe wrapped in the flesh of a man. Somewhere during the beating of Jesus, when no mortal man could have stayed his tongue from crying out for help, Validus turned away and could not watch any longer. Now he understood Commander Brandt, and he wished he had traveled with him, far from this place of blasphemy an
d unholy torture of their King, Yeshua Ben Elohim.
The hour of the Lamb came, and the legions of God stood ready to the very end, but Jesus did not call them. He bore the cross in silence … alone.
Michael came to the temple and stood before Danick and his assembly of commanders. Though fierce in his countenance, he was filled with peace.
“Don’t be troubled, my fellow warriors. All your battles, all your labor … it is for this. This is the Plan for which we have fought. Apollyon tried to stop it, for he knows what this will mean for the people of the Middle Realm, but he does not know it all.” Michael’s face began to glow with the flame of God. “There is a great mystery coming that he does not yet comprehend.”
Suddenly the earth began to shake and the skies of heaven darkened. There was great lightning and thunder as the Lamb of the God swallowed the sins of the world in His death. The priests of the temple and the Pharisees began to run in fear.
Michael drew his magnificent sword and entered the Holy of Holies. And when Jesus gave up His Spirit, Michael cut through the veil of the temple from the top to the bottom.
“What does it mean, Archangel?” Validus asked as the prince of angels came out.
“Now the power of God is given to all who believe!”
29
THE RESCUE OF BENJAMIN BERG
Present Day
Two months later the fall’s cool air turned chilly as winter came to Chicago, and so did a surprise for Carter. Sydney Carlyle transferred to the University of Illinois and began volunteering at Emmanuel Church on a regular basis.
Carter obviously had mixed feelings about Sydney showing up in Chicago to help him, and so did Validus. If there was anyone who could reach Carter with the truth, it would be her. But it also meant that she was now directly exposed to the same dangers as Carter and that Validus and his minimal team of protection would have to protect two potential targets. However, Validus was grateful that both of them seemed to sense the magnitude of the danger they faced as they searched for Benjamin Berg, Carter’s friend from high school and college.
Weeks of searching finally paid off, and their sense of Berg’s peril certainly seemed justified, for Carter had just witnessed an execution attempt by the Fallen on Berg just hours earlier.
Now Validus, Tren, and Ral stood on the third floor of the parking garage across from the Reliance building, one floor above Carter.
“Does Carter know he’s being watched?” Ral asked.
Validus turned and looked at the man in the dark suit standing beside them.
“By us, yes. By the FBI, maybe. By this man … no.” He refocused on the situation below them. “For now, we need to be concerned with helping Carter get Berg away from the Fallen. Stay sharp. We may have to take on some of the Fallen to give Carter time to help Berg escape.” Validus shook his head. This was risky. “When this goes down, Ral, I’m going to need you translated, and make it convincing. If the Fallen see us, they’ll see him.”
“Got it.”
“Tren, there’s only one Fallen watching Berg right now. If he goes for help, I think he’ll go straight to the city’s command headquarters downtown, but there is also a regional command post south of here. I’ll cover east, if you can cover south. We can’t let him get by us.”
Tren nodded just as Berg exited the Reliance building across the street.
“Here we go,” Validus said, and the three angels split three different directions to cover their assignments.
By the time Berg got to the corner, the watch demon was on him, persuading him to return to his office. It nearly worked, but something in Berg forced him to press on.
Then it all broke loose. The watch demon ran south, and Validus immediately regretted taking the eastern line to the city headquarters. He only hoped that Tren could indeed stop him.
Validus bolted after the demon, but he was moving fast. He saw Tren attack from the corner of one of the buildings, but the demon leaped above him and dived headfirst into a building without even drawing his sword. Predicting his exit would be difficult, if not impossible. Validus motioned for Tren to watch one side of the building while he took the other. After a minute, Validus came to the conclusion that the demon had evaded them.
“Let’s advance to the south and try to slow their reinforcements.”
By the look Tren gave him, Validus could tell he didn’t like the plan. Validus didn’t like it either. They may face two or twenty Fallen.
“All we need to do is slow them down, not stop them. We live to fight another day, okay?” Validus gave Tren an encouraging nod as he pulled the .45 he had translated from Carter. He hadn’t been able to reacquire an FN Five-Seven since his dual with the droxan. This was a slow gun, but it might help in a surprise attack. “You’ve turned me into a guardian, so it’s only fair I make a warrior out of you.”
Tren’s eyes narrowed, and his jaw set firm. They moved six blocks south, and Validus pulled Tren to the corner of a small pizzeria. One block up was a red-brick four-story apartment building.
“That’s the regional command post.”
“How do you know?” Tren asked without taking his eyes off the building, his hand tightening around the grip of his sword.
“I know where all 673 regional command posts for the Fallen are, unless they’ve moved in the last ten months. I’ll take up a position across the street. If we’re fortunate, we can bracket—”
Before Validus could move, five Fallen materialized through the building. One of them was the same demon they had chased here. He looked cautious, but the others didn’t. They bolted north.
“You take the nearest two. I’ve got the far three!” Validus said as he launched himself into the street on an intercept course for the lead demon.
He emptied the magazine of his .45 on the second and third demons so they would have to hesitate or divert. Five feet before he reached the leading demon, he jumped, simultaneously slicing his sword across the demon’s neck and head. The Fallen dissolved in an instant. Now ten feet off the ground, Validus twisted his body midair and planted both feet against the brick wall of the building on the opposite side of the street from the pizzeria. He shot off the wall directly at the other two demons. One jumped to meet him while the other bolted north toward Carter, Berg, and Ral.
Out of the corner of his eye, Validus saw one of the demons Tren was occupied with break free and follow the other demon north. They had to finish these two quick or there would be more coming from the command post. Validus worked his sword in five quick crosscuts and thrusts until the last found its mark.
He went to help Tren, but the demon backed off and ran back to their command post.
“Two got away!” Tren said.
They turned north with all speed, hoping they wouldn’t be too late. They hit the corner across the street from the Reliance building just in time to see the Fallen frantically searching for Berg. Validus searched too and saw a taxicab door close just as one of the Fallen materialized through a bus in his search.
Tren readied to attack, but Validus motioned for them to materialize through the parking garage wall and into the shadows. He pointed to the taxicab, which passed the bus on the opposite side from the Fallen. The timing of the operation was perfect.
“That’s Ral. If they make him, we’ll attack. If not, we disappear.”
A third demon joined the first two in their search for Berg, but the taxi was now nearly two blocks away. Validus and Tren retreated west, away from the searching Fallen. Once they were safely away, they rejoined Ral.
He was smiling ear to ear.
“You cut that close,” Validus said with a slight grin.
“I love fooling those wretched Fallen.”
“This isn’t a game.” Tren glared at Ral. “I’m going to track them to see what I can learn.”
Ral watched Tren disappear to the north. “What did I do to him?”
“He’s seen a lot of destruction caused by the Fallen,” Validus said.
; “So have we,” Ral said flatly.
“Yes, but—”
“But the children,” Ral finished for him, seeming to remember that Tren was a guardian and not a warrior.
30
THE INDWELLING
AD 33
“General Danick, your vision to protect the lineage of the coming Messiah was prophetic. Although most of the world has been lost to Desgard, I now see the genius behind your tactics. Until the miracle of the indwelling of Ruach Elohim, I could not imagine how the world could be preserved, let alone regained.”
Validus was in the room with General Danick and Commander Brandt when the Comforter came. Shortly after the resurrection of Jesus, the flame of Ruach Elohim came to rest on the head of each of the disciples, and they were all filled with His Spirit.
It was the beginning of a new era of great power and mighty works. The Fallen had tried to stop it, but the outpouring would not and could not be stopped. And from that room would spread truth and hope not only to the nation of Israel but to all nations throughout the world.
Danick stood before Brandt and put a hand on his shoulder. “We have been through a lot, old friend. And without your trust and leadership, we would not be here today.”
Brandt allowed a quick smile, but Validus knew this meeting wasn’t just to offer praise for Danick’s strategy. He watched the wise commander prepare himself to make a petition.
“General, in spite of what we have seen as a result of your leadership, I must implore you to rethink your current strategy. Humanity is under a new covenant, and the church is beginning to spread beyond the borders of Israel and the Middle East.”
Danick turned away, a hint of sadness on his face, but Brandt was not dissuaded. He moved closer to Danick.