Soul's Gate

by James L. Rubart

  FIFTEEN

  THE SCRAPE OF THE CABIN’S FRONT DOOR PULLED MARCUS out of the world he’d lost himself in. He rolled over on the couch and looked up. Reece was back. His breathing was slow and rhythmic, but something in Reece’s face made the big man look like he’d just sprinted one hundred meters. It was flushed. He held what looked like a USA TODAY and a white coffee cup in one hand, the other held an old piece of wood, bleached almost pure white by the seasons.

  “Welcome back.” Marcus sat up and set down his book.

  Reece nodded at him.

  “Was your excursion enjoyable?”

  “It was good.” Reece set the newspaper and cup on the kitchen counter and peeled off his coat. “Time well spent.”

  “You appear winded.”

  Reece stared at Marcus for five seconds before answering. “I’m not.” He turned the piece of wood over in his hands and rubbed its surface. “Where are Dana and Brandon?”

  “They confiscated your SUV and set out for Denver.”

  The hint of a smile passed over Reece’s eyes, but his mouth stayed stoic. “Wonderful. They wanted to spend a little alone time together? That’s good. We need a team that’s unified.”

  Marcus stared at Reece as the man spread honey on a slice of wheat bread, then took it and a glass of milk to the small round oak table near the windows. Something in the equation of the moment was off. And it felt like it should be obvious as to what it was.

  The thought niggled at the back of Marcus’s mind, so he waited. After years of studying anomalies in the world of physics and trying to find answers where the questions hadn’t been formed yet, he’d learned to trust his brain and give it time to unearth answers.

  That’s it!

  The newspaper. Where had Reece gotten the newspaper? Marcus rose from the couch, walked over to the kitchen counter, opened the paper, and glanced at the date, then at Reece, then back to the paper. Impossible.

  “May I inquire as to where you were?”

  “I already told you.” Reece tilted his head forward and stared at Marcus from under his eyebrows. “Out.”

  “Where?”

  “I had to do something.”

  “And what was that something?”

  “Drop the verbal ping-pong, Marcus, it grows tedious quickly. If you feel you’ve discovered something and want to ask me about it, say it. Clearly.”

  Marcus pointed to the newspaper. “The date says June 6.”

  Reece took off his hat and tossed it across the room onto the couch. “And that’s a problem why?”

  “Unless you’ve discovered a method of rearranging the laws of physics, that cannot be today’s newspaper.”

  “Explain.” Reece cocked his head.

  “Your SUV has remained in the same spot since you left, and the distance between us and the nearest town is thirty-seven miles.” Marcus folded his arms. “It would fascinate me to understand how you covered seventy miles in the past hour and a half, unless you were given transportation from here to Buena Vista and back by the Blue Angels. And I didn’t hear any F/A-18 fighters taking off.”

  “Well done, Marcus.” Reece slapped the top of the table and the hint of a smile returned. “If anyone would notice, it would be you.”

  “Well done what?”

  “Find the others. Then gather them at the listening post.” Reece stuck the last of his bread into his mouth and chewed slowly. “Bring your Bible. Tell Dana and Brandon to do the same.”

  “What for?”

  Reece took a long drink of milk. “Let’s do it now, shall we?”

  When Brandon reached the listening post, Reece was already there sitting down. His eyes were bright as he handed Brandon a cup of coffee.

  “It’s vanilla. I had to heat it again. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Where did you get this?” Brandon stared at the cup.

  “That’s what we’re going to talk about right now.”

  Brandon took a sip of the coffee. Not bad. He hadn’t seen an espresso machine in the cabin. Reece must have one up in one of the smaller cabins.

  “I was kidding about the latte. I didn’t know you had a machine around here.”

  “It was no effort.” Reece lifted the Bible from his side onto his knees.

  A few seconds later Dana and Marcus arrived. Once they were settled, Reece lifted his head. “Holy Spirit, I invite you into this. Give them ears to hear and a heart to understand.”

  He glanced around the circle, his blue eyes on fire. “It’s time for your first lesson, thanks to the eye for detail the professor has as part of his unique makeup.” Reece opened his Bible. “But first I need to ask each of you something. Do you think the Bible is from the mouth of God?”

  They nodded.

  “Do you think the stories in it are real? That they happened?”

  They nodded again.

  “Excellent. Then this should be simple.” He turned a few more pages in the Bible on his knees. “Turn to Acts chapter 8. Read verses 26 through 40. Come get me when you’re finished and we’ll talk about it. It should be very stimulating.” He stood and walked the fifty yards down the stone path back toward the cabin and sat in a chair right outside the nine-foot sliding glass door. For a few moments the only sound was the river racing around and over the boulders and stones that covered the stream bed.

  “He seems pretty pumped up about this,” Brandon said a few minutes later.

  “Almost animated.” Dana looked at Marcus. “Did you do this to him?”

  “All I did was notice he had today’s paper.”

  “That got him all excited?”

  Marcus nodded. “His explanation should be mesmerizing.”

  “Why does he have to explain having a newspaper? There are other times in recent recorded history when people have had a newspaper,” Brandon said.

  “This is either an extraordinary newspaper or our leader has a very remarkable talent.”

  “Can you just spit it out, Prof?” Brandon said.

  Marcus pointed to Reece’s SUV and then to the dirt road leading toward Buena Vista and raised his eyebrows. “It’s today’s paper. Consider the implications for a moment.”

  “Why can’t he have today’s paper?” Brandon asked.

  “Duh.” Dana tapped the side of her head. “There was no time to get to Buena Vista and back. And we would have heard his SUV fire up.”

  “Precisely.” Marcus crossed his legs and wrapped his hand around his knee.

  “So how’d he get the paper?” Brandon glanced at them.

  “Exactly.”

  Brandon opened his Bible. After he finished the section in Acts, he looked at Dana. “Why has your face turned a whiter shade of pale?”

  Dana blinked, closed her Bible, and let it slide from her hands into her lap. “Because I think I know what Reece’s explanation will be when we call him back over here.”

  “I think I know as well.” Marcus smiled.

  Brandon continued to stare at Dana. “And that’s freaking you out?”

  “Yeah, a little.”

  “Because?”

  She massaged her lower lip with her thumb and forefinger. “If I’m right, we’re either dealing with a man who has an extremely serious connection with God, or a religious lunatic who has misplaced his brain and wants us to do the same.”

  SIXTEEN

  “YOU GUYS READY?” BRANDON GLANCED AT MARCUS AND Dana.

  They nodded.

  “All right then, let’s get this circus started.” Brandon waved his hand. “Reece! The clowns are ready.”

  Reece made his way back to the fire pit and sat with his back to the cabin. “Marcus, would you lead us in asking the Spirit for wisdom in these next moments?”

  “Yes.” Marcus bowed his head. “Open our eyes, help our vision extend past ourselves, and reveal our limiting beliefs. Show us the truth, Lord. Amen.”

  “Thank you.” Reece cocked his head. “Here we go. Read the passage out loud, Brandon.”

  Br
andon leaned down and chided himself for the fourth time in the past two hours for not bringing his reading glasses. Criminal that at thirty-five he had to deal with them, but at least he wasn’t at the point where he had to do the daily wrestling match with contacts.

  “‘But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:

  “’ “He was led as a sheep to slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he does not open his mouth. In humiliation his judgment was taken away; who will relate his generation? For his life is removed from the earth.”

  “’The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.’”

  Brandon looked up and heat washed through him. Reece couldn’t be serious. The big man tapped the pages of his Bible. “Read the first six words of verse 40 again.”

  “’But Philip found himself at Azotus . . .’”

  “Does that seem strange to any of you?” Reece glanced at each of them. “The distance between Jerusalem and Azotus is sixty-six kilometers, or forty-four miles.” He shut his Bible and looked at each of the three again. “Questions?”

  Brandon held up his Bible. “You’re not actually saying—”

  “I am.” Reece snapped his Bible back open. “’The Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away . . . Philip found himself at Azotus.’”

  Marcus, Dana, and Brandon glanced at each other.

  “You’re saying this”—Brandon stabbed at the chapter in Acts with his forefinger—“is actually possible today? That you’ve got some sort of spiritual Star Trek beam-me-up-Scotty machine tucked away in the woods?”

  Reece stared back at Brandon as the corner of the big man’s mouth raised almost imperceptibly.

  “You are.” Brandon laughed and slumped back in his chair. “You are for sure crazy. If last night left any doubt, it has now been erased. Zippo. Gone. Ladies and gentlemen, Reece has left the universe.”

  Dana frowned, shut her eyes, and opened them a moment later. “You really expect us to believe you zapped yourself into Colorado Springs or Denver or wherever and back?”

  Reece looked toward the chalk cliffs that rose to two thousand feet on the other side of the river. “I wasn’t expecting to talk to you about this till later. Marcus figured it out quicker than I expected him to.”

  “That wasn’t a no,” Dana said.

  “True.”

  “You’re saying the Spirit of God picked you up, transported you instantly to another part of the state, and while there you picked up a paper and a vanilla latte for Brandon, then traveled back here just like Philip was teleported after talking to the Ethiopian.” Dana whirled her finger around her head to indicate how crazy Reece was.

  “Philip didn’t take a USA TODAY or coffee with him.” Reece rubbed his neck. “How’s the coffee, by the way, Brandon?”

  “It’s excellent. I guess it didn’t lose its flavor in the beaming process.”

  “Good to hear that. Sometimes it gets lost in transportation.”

  Dana stared at Reece. He was clearly enjoying the interplay between the four of them. “Next thing out of your mouth is going to be that we can do that too.”

  “It might be.”

  “You are crazy. Brandon is right. There has to be a logical explanation.” Dana turned to Marcus. “What do you think of all this?”

  “I’m keeping my mind open.”

  “You’re a physics professor. You should be the least swayed by this fantasy.”

  “No, that’s probably why I’m more receptive.”

  “Do you care to explain that?” Brandon said.

  “At some point. I’m still contemplating a number of hypotheses.”

  “Didn’t you all tell me in one of our early conversations that you’d read the New Testament?” Reece placed his hands behind his head.

  “I have read the New Testament.” Dana drew out her words.

  “And the Old?”

  “I’ve read that too.” Dana frowned at Reece.

  “Excellent.”

  Brandon crossed his legs and leaned back. “What’s your point?”

  “If you’ve read them, when are you going to start believing what they say? I thought you said at the start of this conversation you believed the Bible was God’s book and the things in it were true.”

  Dana started to speak, then stopped. Brandon stepped in. “Maybe something like that did happen once, but I haven’t heard a heck of a lot of it happening lately.”

  “So the Bible is a book of exceptions?” Reece leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “Just because you haven’t heard of it happening in modern times, it hasn’t happened? That verse about God being the same yesterday, today, and forever is simply poetic license?”

  Brandon stood and held his arms at shoulder height and wiggled his hands. “Watch!” He froze in position for a few seconds, then let his arms fall to his sides. “Whew! I made it. I’m back.”

  Dana and Marcus laughed. Brandon shook his head. “Sorry. I’m not buying it.”

  Marcus stared at his Bible, then looked at Reece. “Isn’t it possible the scholars who translated the verse out of the Greek were incorrect? That ‘snatched Philip away’ and ‘found himself’ meant something different than instantaneous transportation?”

  “Yes, I think we have to consider that.” Reece thumbed through his Bible. “But what about the other times? Were those mistranslations too?”

  “Other times?” Marcus asked.

  “Where from?” Brandon said. “The book of Reece?”

  Reece stopped turning pages. “Let’s see what Jesus’ buddy John has to say about it.” He scanned the pages with his finger. “Here we are. John, chapter 6, starting at verse 16.”

  He stood and lumbered back and forth across the edge of the patio as he read. “’When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened. But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.’

  “Anyone want to explain that one to me? Is that another mistranslation? That the boat ‘immediately reached the shore where they were heading’? The Sea of Galilee is about eight miles across. The boys had been rowing against a strong headwind and were about halfway across. So even if you want to say the meaning of the story is they ‘got there quickly,’ I’m not thinking they covered four more
miles ‘immediately.’”

  Reece dropped his Bible on the concrete ring of the fire pit in front of them. “My friends, you’re not in Sunday school anymore, and we’re not dealing with a nice, neat little flannel graph Jesus that fits easily into the shoe box when the class is over.

  “You’re going to have to accept the fact that this Jesus and the Spirit all three of you have followed most of your lives isn’t one that will stay locked up in a westernized translation of Christianity.

  “Remember Snoqualmie Falls, Brandon? Marcus? And the power we saw there?” Reece turned and looked at the river. “If you believe there is a spiritual realm, I suggest you further your exploration of it. If you believe there is a spiritual realm, then it’s time to master its secrets. I think God meant it when he said, ‘And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness—secret riches.’ But most people don’t like exploring without all the lights on. And if you say you believe the Word of God, it’s time to start acting like it.”

  Reece picked up his Bible and ambled across the patio. “I’m going to give you some time to think about this and talk about it with each other. Just one suggestion: pray about it. Because I guarantee you, the enemy of your souls does not want you discovering a Christianity of the truly miraculous that leaps off the pages and becomes active in the real world.”

  He turned to leave. “Oh, and if you think the idea of teleportation is intriguing, I think you’ll enjoy tomorrow’s discussion as well. Maybe even more so.” The heels of his boots made muted clicks on the walkway as he strode off.

  SEVENTEEN

  BRANDON STOOD AND TRIED TO WRAP HIS BRAIN AROUND Reece’s explanation of where he’d been. It wouldn’t wrap. Dana’s headache getting healed? Sure. Even a prophecy about the three of them was possible. But teleportation? Right.

  “Our host is certainly not boring.” Brandon set his Bible on the stones next to his feet.

  “I think we should hike down to the river to talk about this,” Dana said.

  “Good call. I don’t want him overhearing our escape plan.” Brandon motioned with his hands like he was driving a car and marcus smiled.