Soul's Gate

by James L. Rubart

  “I believed I would get a name. I had no doubt, and yet I walked off that mountain with the silence of God ringing in my ears like thunder.”

  “Your name will come, Brandon. Of that I have no doubt. Trust me. Trust the Spirit.”

  “When?”

  “When it’s time.” Reece stood. “And tonight I promise you’ll have an experience that will take your mind off of the subject completely.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I’ve been praying all day about this, and I believe the Spirit is saying it’s time.”

  “Time to . . . ?”

  “Go through the gate into someone’s soul.”

  TWENTY-TWO

  AT EIGHT O’CLOCK ON TUESDAY, REECE STOOD IN FRONT of them in the main room of the cabin, his eyes darting back and forth in an apparent display of nervousness Marcus hadn’t seen before.

  “Tonight your training will take a quantum leap forward.”

  “You’re about to escort us into someone’s soul,” Marcus said.

  “Yes.”

  “The purpose of which is . . . ?”

  “To heal the brokenhearted and set the captives free. It’s not an instantaneous process. Healing takes time. But being inside a soul often breaks chains that have been wrapped around people for years. Chains they often don’t even know they have.”

  “Can I just say I feel I’m far from ready?” Dana pushed herself deeper back into the dark green cushions of the couch.

  Marcus tried to ignore the cold sheen of perspiration running down the middle of his back. He was intimately acquainted with the feeling.

  “That’s exactly the attitude I want each of you to have.” Reece glanced at Brandon and marcus. “This is not a game. it’s not without significant dangers. If God hadn’t told me to train you, we would not be doing this right now.” A slice of pain and worry flecked reece’s features, but it vanished a second after it appeared.

  “Are you nervous, Reece?” Marcus asked.

  “Yes. I am. Going into a soul is to be approached with great caution. The fear and reverence of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear and reverence of entering into another’s soul is also wise.”

  Reece’s face hardened. “A few ground rules. First, you never go into a soul without God leading you to do so. Second, you never go into a soul without explicit permission.” He paused and stared at each of them. “Is that clear?”

  They all nodded.

  “There is never an exception to rule number two. Never. Are we abundantly, exceedingly clear on that point?”

  They nodded again.

  “Number three, when we’re inside we stick together. Because not only do you have to go in as a unit, you can’t get back out unless everyone is together.” Reece folded his arms and stared into the fire that blazed in the hearth behind Dana. “Fourth, never go in without covering yourself with Jesus’ blood. And fifth, if at all possible, avoid going in alone.”

  Marcus finished scribbling in his journal and looked up. “When was the last time you entered into a soul?”

  “Yesterday.”

  “Wait a minute. How did we miss that?” Brandon said.

  “That was why I went to Denver—along with getting your coffee, Brandon, and the newspaper. I went to see an old friend, Doug Lundeen, so I could pray with him and practice with him. And it’s his soul we’re going into tonight with his permission and full support.”

  “You crossed the threshold into this Doug’s soul yesterday?” Marcus asked.

  Reece nodded.

  Brandon rapped his knuckles together. “I thought you weren’t supposed to go in alone.”

  “There were others who went with me.”

  “Who?”

  “A group of men I used to gather with, pray with, war with. The ones who taught me how to go inside many years ago.”

  “Their acquaintance is one I’d like to make,” Marcus said.

  Reece studied his face. “I believe you will someday.”

  Brandon clapped. “And now that you’ve had a little practice, you’re about to do it again. This time with us along for the ride.”

  Marcus’s hands grew cold. Up till now all Reece’s talk had been theory—something he was used to exploring in the classroom. But if what Reece said was true, they would be stepping out of the classroom into a staggering spiritual arena.

  Marcus tapped his journal with the end of his pen. “I have to confess, my synapses are firing in a rather odd manner right now.”

  Brandon stared at him. “Can you translate that for me?”

  “He’s freaked out,” Dana said.

  “Not ‘freaked out.’ I’m full of anticipation. Okay, perhaps I’m hanging over the edge to a slight degree.” Marcus rapped out a staccato beat on his journal. “All right, fine. A significant portion of me is hanging over the edge.”

  “What else do we need to know?” Brandon’s knee bounced like a mini jackhammer.

  “The first time you go into a soul it is extremely disorienting. But I’ll be there, and as you get more experienced, it will grow easier.”

  Reece paced behind his chair. “Inside a soul there are areas of light and areas of darkness. Don’t let the areas of darkness intimidate you. The enemy will entice you to enter the black fortresses inside. Some you’ll be ready for. Others are too dangerous. Be on guard. But know also, the darkness is nothing compared to the light and power of the Spirit.”

  “When you talk of darkness, are you indicating sin within a soul, or a demonic presence inside?” Marcus asked.

  “Both.”

  “Wait,” Dana said. “Demons can’t be inside a Christian’s soul, even if it’s only for brief periods.”

  Reece stopped pacing and leaned on his chair. “Really? How do you know that? Where does it teach that in Scripture?”

  “Christ lives in us, so how would Satan or one of his demons be able to be in his presence?”

  “Yet he can be in the presence of Jesus when he asks to sift Peter like wheat? He can be in God’s presence when he talks to him about Job? There is still sin inside us if you believe Paul in Romans 7, so if there is the darkness of sin still inside us, why couldn’t a demon be there as well?”

  Brandon squinted at Reece. “Are you talking about demon possession or oppression?”

  “I don’t know how it all works. I’m not a theologian. I have many more questions on the subject than I do answers. But I’m not interested in debating the subject with anyone. What interests me is seeing people set free, and I’ve been inside enough Christians’ souls to see things there that need to be destroyed in order to bring about that freedom.”

  Brandon put a piece of wood on the fire. “Can you describe what we’ll be seeing inside Doug’s soul? I mean, are we going to be standing on clouds or be in some kind of construction of his memories or dreams like in Inception or—?”

  “It’s impossible to know. Even if you went into the same soul one hundred times, it’s doubtful you would see the same thing. Each soul on this planet is vast, with a thousand layers to it. Remember, the Spirit is the architect and guide of each journey inside. He takes us in and shows us what we need to see.

  “With some people you’ll stand at the center of a city. With others you’ll be in a wilderness with mountains on every side. I know of a home on the West Coast where each room was a part of a person’s soul.”

  Reece sat and clasped his hands. “When inside, the ground under your feet will feel as solid as the floor beneath you does right now. Your bodies will feel as tangible as they do right now.”

  “Will fatigue be an issue?”

  “Yes.”

  Dana blinked. “How is that possible if our bodies are still here?” “The mind and the body and the spirit are woven together so tightly, you cannot exhaust one without tiring the other.”

  “This is too weird.” Brandon laughed. “I see why you wanted us to watch The Matrix again. I feel like we’ll be jacking in.”

  “Jacking in?” D
ana said.

  “Did you get a chance to watch the movie, Dana?” Reece said.

  “No.”

  Reece motioned to Brandon. “Can you give Dana the Reader’s Digest version of the movie?”

  “Sure.” He leaned forward. “The Matrix was this computer system that controlled mankind—the machines made humans their slaves in order to harvest their electrical energy. Every person lived in these pods where the machines stimulated their brains to make them think they were living a normal life. They had no idea they were slaves.

  “But there was a resistance. People who had been freed from the computer simulation and lived in the real world. And they learned how to jack into the computer world that controlled everyone and set other people free.”

  Dana rubbed her hands together, then held herself tight. “And let me guess. The machines weren’t happy about the resistance.”

  “Exactly.” Brandon talked with his hands as much as his mouth. “The machines created a program inside the Matrix that pitted entities known as agents against those seeking to set others free.”

  “Demons.” Dana nodded. “If we’re carrying the analogy into our world.”

  “Yes,” Reece said. “It’s why I wanted you to see the movie.”

  Brandon turned to Reece. “So you agree? We’re kind of jacking in?”

  “Not kind of. That’s exactly what we’re doing,” Reece said. “With a slight difference.”

  “Which is?” Marcus said.

  “That was a movie. This isn’t. This is real. And this is God’s Spirit doing the jacking in.”

  “Plus the script isn’t written yet,” Marcus said.

  “Very good point.” Reece sucked in a quick breath. The look Marcus saw earlier passed over his face again. Fear. But again it faded quickly.

  Reece clapped twice. “It’s time. Grab hands. That will lessen the feeling of vertigo. We won’t be in there long. This is just a taste.”

  Marcus grabbed Dana’s hand on one side and Brandon’s on the other. Both were damp with perspiration. If what Reece was telling them really was true, quantum mechanics would leap off the page and crash through the wall of theory into flesh-and-blood life.

  He smiled at Reece. “Let’s launch.”

  Reece glanced at each of them, then closed his eyes. “Spirit of God. Take us.”

  Immediately the cabin and the fire vanished and Marcus’s stomach felt like he was dropping down the biggest chute on the world’s fastest roller coaster. Darkness surrounded them, then flashes of light, and then his feet were on solid ground. Not solid ground. Solid sand. To their right were rolling hills covered with huge oak trees, to their left, an ocean. He looked up. Clear. No clouds to mar the perfection of the blue sky overhead.

  “Wow,” Brandon coughed out. “What a rush.”

  “It looks so real.” Dana spun in a slow circle, her eyes wide.

  Reece did his own spin of their surroundings, his face covered in a thin sheen of sweat. It was the first time Marcus had seen their guide seemingly worried.

  “Are we all good?” Reece asked as he glanced up and down the beach.

  “Are you good?” Marcus asked.

  “I’m fine.” The big man’s head continued to wag back and forth as he surveyed the sand.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive.” Reece stopped turning and looked at Marcus full on, then Brandon, then Dana.

  “Doug and I have known each other for years. He’s strong in the Spirit. But that doesn’t mean his soul is a safe place. There are dangers. When you’re in a soul, you need to think like a scuba diver. No more than ten feet should separate you from those you’re with at any time.”

  Reece dug his feet into the sand. “We have permission to be here and Doug knows we’re here.”

  “Yeah, you mentioned that,” Brandon said.

  Reece didn’t seem to hear him. “You will see things in here so real, you won’t be able to tell them from the dimension we normally live in. You’ll see colors you didn’t know existed.”

  “But none of it is truly real, right?” Dana asked.

  “All of it is real.”

  “On a spiritual level,” Brandon said.

  “On every level. It’s Western thinking that separates the seen world from the unseen realms, not God. The line is thinner than most people realize.”

  As the words came out of Reece’s mouth, the topography in front of them shifted, and Marcus felt like he was in the middle of a visual hurricane. Images spun around him so fast he couldn’t make anything out. When the images settled they stood in a canyon, its walls so high he couldn’t see where they stopped. A moment later light spun like water down the craggy brown walls of the canyon as a cloud of gray pressed toward them.

  Marcus couldn’t tell if the light held the darkness at bay, or the darkness was pulling the light toward it. One second he was positive it was the former, the next second the latter. It was like an optical illusion where the shadow of the cube shifts from one side to another.

  “What do you see ahead of us?” Reece glanced back at them. “I want everyone to answer.”

  Marcus spoke first. “A long narrow canyon, light and darkness swirling inside it.”

  “Good. Dana?”

  “The same.”

  “Next?”

  Brandon frowned. “I see a meadow in late spring or early summer. A few clouds in the sky. A deep black path through the middle of it as if it was recently burned.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Yes.” Brandon squinted. “I think there’s a man on the far side of the meadow, strolling back and forth.”

  “Excellent.”

  As Marcus listened to the others’ comments, the canyon faded and he saw what Brandon had described. Dana pulled on Marcus’s arm. “Are you still seeing—?”

  “No. Now I’m viewing Brandon’s scene.”

  “Me too.”

  Amazing. Marcus stared at the field—trees surrounding it, the burn mark, the wildflowers peppered through the meadow, and joy spread out from his heart till it filled his body.

  Reece’s describing what they would see as being beyond their normal color scheme didn’t come close to describing what flooded Marcus’s eyes. The colors so rich, he could imagine tasting them. The beauty of a human soul was stunning.

  Their leader’s voice broke through his ponderings. “It’s time to go. Join hands. Close your eyes.”

  As soon as they clasped hands, Marcus was back on the roller coaster and a moment after that was back in the living room of the cabin, staring at the flushed faces across from him.

  “I . . . I don’t know what to say.” Dana blinked and gave a quick whistle.

  No one else spoke. Finally Reece broke the silence. “I’m proud of you. You did well.”

  “It was astonishing.” Marcus scribbled more notes in his journal. “Will we go through the gate again? And if yes, do you have an indication when?”

  “I believe we’ll go into another soul again soon, but not as a dry run like we did with Mr. Lundeen. We’ll be on a full-out mission to bring healing and freedom to the soul we go into. Which means battle.”

  Dana glanced at all of them. “Do you have an idea whose we’ll go into?”

  “Yes.” Reece slowly nodded as he gazed into the fire. “It will be one of yours.”

  TWENTY-THREE

  ON WEDNESDAY MORNING, MARCUS FELT LIKE HE floated down the stairs as if his feet barley touched the wood underneath them. He stopped on the bottom step and gazed around the room, his mouth slightly open.

  “Marcus? Are you okay?” Dana said. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m in a very passable condition.”

  “He’s more than passable.” Reece pointed at him. “That’s the look of a man who has just had a profound spiritual experience.”

  How did Reece know? It didn’t matter. He didn’t care. After what had just happened nothing could shift his focus from the images still careening through his mind.


  Brandon lurched up from his chair. “You all right, pal?”

  “I’m fine.” Marcus held up his palms. “Really.”

  “You said that already, but you don’t look it,” Dana said. “You look spooked. But in a weird way I’d call happily spooked.”

  “That’s probably an apt description of how I appear in this moment.” Not to mention how disheveled his smile must appear. He glanced around the room, wanting to tell them about the vision but not sure where to begin.

  “What happened?” Dana asked.

  Marcus slumped onto the couch, smiled, and looked at each of them. “Unbelievable.”

  “Are you going to tell us?”

  He stood and floated over to the sliding glass door and stared at the mountains across the river, then turned back to the others.

  Brandon turned to Reece. “Do you have any clue why the professor is acting like he just came back from a visit to Oz?”

  “Because I think he just did.” Reece glanced at Marcus, then at the others. “We have one day left here and part of tomorrow morning. I think the Spirit is going to kick off this last full day right with what Marcus is about to tell us. Give him a moment.”

  A few minutes later Marcus walked back and plopped down on the couch next to Brandon. “I think I just had my first vision.”

  A hint of a smile played on Reece’s face as he pointed at Marcus. “I told you.”

  “Told him what?” Brandon said.

  Marcus grinned and looked at the ground. “The day Reece invited me to come here, he said if I would open my mind to the possibility of seeing visions, that I would start having them. And once they started, I’d have them with increasing frequency.”

  Dana smiled. “’In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.’”

  “Does that mean I’m still young?”

  “Quite,” Reece said.

  “Are you ready to tell us what you saw?” Dana said.

  “Yeah, spill it, Prof.” Brandon leaned back on the couch, arms spread wide along the back.