Mission

by Patrick Tilley

  That may make you smile, and scientists and sociologists will say that mass murderers, sadists and child-rapists are the products of society; the victims of deprivation. That’s true, but it is the lack of love, justice and compassion, that corrodes an individual’s humanity and creates a kind of darkness of the soul. And when that happens, the elementals, the ‘Braxian creatures from the Pit, move in and take control.

  Once again, let me stress that we are not talking about the joke demons conjured up by popular fiction. The naked fang-toothed ladies with snakes in their hair, or the red-eyed goat-headed ringmaster conjured into cinematic life by such masters of the macabre as Roman Polanski. These forces exist. They are around us all the time just as the Power of The Presence is. And they are a very real danger. For it is the elemental within us that makes us cruel, vicious, violent and destructive. The twin subjects of possession and exorcism have been richly exploited by novelists and film-makers. In the hands of the Shlock-meisters they have been stripped of their true meaning, becoming bastardised rituals like the US Cavalry charge and the slaughter of Hollywood Indians. Yet both are rooted in the actions of The Man as he moved through Galilee. For it is only the Power of The Presence that can drive ‘Brax out once he has a grip on us. And I say ‘us’ advisedly. It is not only the sadistic killers behind prison bars, or those lurking down dark alleys, or behind the curtains of suburban bedrooms that are in trouble.

  Since fang-toothed ladies, exorcism and Hollywood all feature in the previous paragraph, let me persuade you to make a brief mental leap from Palestine to Transylvania; the mist-shrouded legends of vampires and virgins who never keep their windows locked. You may have wondered why such stories exercise such timeless fascination. The answer is not hard to find. It is yet another allegory. Count Dracula is no more than a symbolic front-man for ‘Brax. It is not the warm red stuff that runs through our jugular veins that Count ‘Brax is after, but the life-blood of our humanity. He wants to sink his teeth into our soul. To drain the power of the Ain-folk spirit from us and with it, our immortality. He wants to turn us into zombies; part of the legion of the living dead.

  It is Count ‘Brax who is condemned to live forever in the darkness of the world. The rays of the rising sun that send him scurrying back to his cobwebbed coffin is the Light of The Word; the cross from which he recoils, the shining Power of The Presence. That is the core of truth that lies under all the fancy Hungarian embroidery. But, please, don’t let it stop you enjoying the movies.

  It was Gabriel’s spirit-being that Ya’el used to power an experimental healing mission by the Twelve and the Followers of the Way. Matthew, 10 relates how the disciples received the gift of the spirit and were sent on their way; Luke, 9 echoes this account, and Luke, 10 describes how the seventy (two) initiates were given almost identical mission orders. Through a mix-up in the oral transmission of this material, the writer of Luke has split into two what was, in effect, one operation.

  Once again, numerologists may already have spotted the significance of the number combinations, but for those of you who are not familiar with the workings of this arcane science let me explain: Gabriel’s spiritual power was divided by both the disciples and the followers – 12 + 72 = 84 which, by Fadic reduction (8 + 4) = 12. Once again, The Man’s message is repeated. The many gathered together to make those who will be saved. The elect. The Ain-folk. The twelve great Aeons of Eardh-Ain that themselves were part of The Presence. For 12 (1 + 2) = 3. The Trinity. Not the misleading Christian version, but the True Trinity. The Creator, the Creative Force, and the Created. United and indivisible.

  Gabriel’s presence within his followers told Ya’el what he wanted to know. Men could be switched back on. The sleeping Ain-folk driver could be jolted awake by a heavy input of Celestial power. And the disciples had been able to use it to heal the sick and drive out ‘demons’. But Ya’el noted that when Gabriel’s spirit withdrew, the resident Ain-folk element rapidly sank back into a state of torpor not all that far removed from its previous semi-mummified condition. The Ain-folk element inside the disciples was like a dead battery. Gabriel’s brief presence had given them a boost but they couldn’t hold the charge. Only the massive transfusion of power from the Empire that was due to take place after the Resurrection could provide the long-term input to raise their awareness to its original level. And The Man knew that ‘Brax would do everything he could to prevent that happening.

  After withdrawing from the disciples, Gabriel’s spirit-being transferred to the module near the summit of Mount Hermon to await the arrival of the first of the longships. The Man followed with the Twelve. He stopped briefly at Caesarea Philippi where he left nine of the disciples to await his return then pressed on with Andreas, Jacob and Johan barZebedee. Next to Mary, it was these three who possessed the highest degree of ESP. In the Book, Shimon-Petrus replaces his brother but that is due to the creative editing I’ve mentioned.

  As the longship at the head of the chain of rescue vessels moved into solar orbit between Earth and the planet Venus, it made contact with Gabriel. And while The Man was making his way towards the snow-capped summit of the mountain with his three closest disciples, Michael was beamed down into the module.

  Ya’el, who had been in constant touch with Gabriel during his journey northward could hardly contain himself but, by a supreme effort of will, he forced himself to stay with Joshua and the others until they reached the high plateau.

  It was the reunion of Ya’el with the two Celestial Envoys that was the mystical event recorded in the Book as the Transfiguration. Andreas, Jacob and Johan had not been given any prior warning or explanation. Consequently, they were somewhat startled when two luminous humanoids suddenly materialised on either side of The Man. Beings from beyond the world of men that the awed trio were later to describe as ‘fiery angels’.

  As Michael and Gabriel embraced their commander, Ya’el’s great spirit-being disengaged from its host-body, presenting the now terrified disciples with an even more incredible sight. For, as Ya’el detached his meta-psyche, Joshua’s body was pierced by shafts of dazzling white light which seemed to come from a central point within; raying outwards through his clothes and his bare limbs. There was a bright aura around his head and as the three disciples watched through half-closed eyes, his face began to shine like the sun.

  The shafts of light that pierced The Man became more and more brilliant, then coalesced, blotting out Joshua’s body completely and making the incandescent forms of the two ‘angels’ look pale by comparison. Finally, the light was so blinding, Andreas, Jacob and Johan were forced to shield their faces. But the light pierced their hands. They felt it burn into their brains and, in a sudden flash of awareness, they recognised Michael and Gabriel as the Celestial powers who had been present in the physical bodies of Abraham and Moses, Aaron and Elijah, the leaders and guardians of the twelve tribes of Israel. And they understood that, over the tens of thousands of years since the Atlantean catastrophe, Michael and Gabriel had guided the destiny of the chosen people; keeping alive the vital spark of inner consciousness that ‘Brax had constantly threatened to extinguish; nurturing the seed-grain of memory that held the secret of our origin and destiny until the moment when the power and spirit of Ya’el was to come into the world again.

  Hard on the heels of that revelation came an even greater one. Andreas, Jacob and Johan ‘saw’ Ya’el and realised who he was. Convulsed by a kind of clairvoyant ecstasy, the three disciples suffered a massive brain seizure and passed out. As they fell to the ground, the Ain-folk spirit element within them mushroomed out through their skulls like an atomic fireball. A rapturous fission-fusion process in which their inner-being merged with that of the cosmos.

  Samadhi. Union with the Ultimate Principle.

  Each of them saw himself as an infinitesimal speck of space-dust floating in the star-filled vastness. A gossamer-like mote of awareness that knew itself to be part of the infinite cloud of cosmic consciousness that filled every dimension of s
pace and all eternity. The Power, the Wisdom and the Being of The Presence; the God of Israel and the Saviour of the Christians, Allah, Brahmah. The Nirvana to which Buddhists aspire.

  ‘The dewdrop in the shining sea.’

  It was a timeless moment of inexpressible joy. Inexpressible because although it is possible to experience the presence of God and be granted a glimpse of his ultimate purpose, it is not possible to even begin to describe either by the written word.

  Language is a product of the ‘Braxian world in which our spirit is held prisoner. It is one of the bars of our cage. This is something we tend to ignore, even deride, but deep down we know it to be true.

  There are moments in our lives when we experience feelings of great joy, happiness, love. Moments of exultation. States of being when a veil seems to lift from our eyes, revealing a new dimension of existence. They are moments we would like to share with the people close to us but are unable to, because we cannot find the words. Not because our vocabulary is limited through a lack of education, but because there are no words to describe what we feel.

  There is a saying that friendship, like love ‘is better felt than e’er expressed’. And we know this to be true. Because if we try to put into words what, or how, we felt during one of those unforgettable moments, we begin to realise that in attempting to describe it we are debasing the experience.

  But it is the very fact that we can experience the inexpressible that proves our ‘otherness’, and the existence of some kind of divine presence. And it exposes the hollowness of the materialist philosphy which holds that Man can hope for nothing more than a brief, accidental moment of bio-chemical consciousness in a universe devoid of purpose and whose beginning and end are as irrelevant as his own.

  When the three disciples regained consciousness, they found The Man standing over them. He was quite alone; his appearance perfectly normal. The landing module, of whose existence they were unaware, had departed in a blaze of ethereal light, carrying Michael and Gabriel to a rendezvous with the longship that, in another timeframe, had obligingly appeared for my benefit in the night sky over Manhattan.

  What Andreas, Jacob and Johan had experienced now seemed like a dream but they knew it was something more than that. They were convinced that they had witnessed a quite extraordinary event, the details of which now hovered tantalisingly just beyond the horizon of memory. And they were left with the impression that, at one point, they had understood everything.

  The Man ordered them to keep silent about what they had seen then led them back to Caesarea Philippi. When they had rejoined the others, The Man announced his intention to go to Jerusalem where he would be arrested and crucified. He had already warned Mary of Magdala of his eventual fate when he had sought her out after his baptism in the Jordan. The news left the disciples astounded and dismayed. They could not understand how someone who had escaped as if by magic from hostile mobs, who could be in two places at once, who had the power to perform miracles of healing, could be put to death. Who, on earth, could have power over him? Crucifixion was a Roman method of execution. How could the Romans hold him where others had failed?

  The Man answered their questions. He explained that although his death would take place at the hands of the oppressors of Israel, the decision to die was an essential part of his mission. But it was not the end. He would be restored to life on the third day and his resurrection would be the beginning of even greater things to come – in which each of them would play an important part.

  It was now about the middle of January. The Man had another eight weeks to prepare himself for death. His last journey took him south from Caesarea Philippi, through the Greek-speaking area to the east of the Sea of Galilee, down the river Jordan to Jericho and on to Jerusalem. During his meeting with Michael and Gabriel on Mount Hermon, the timing of his arrest and execution had been coordinated with the crew of the longship, which was now heading round towards the far side of the sun. With his entry into Jerusalem it would swing back towards Earth and three days after his death would be in the correct orbital segment ready to send Michael and Gabriel down to ensure the smooth transfer of his meta-psyche and the body of his earth-host to the longship.

  On this last trip down the road, things were different. The Man no longer fled the crowds. In each village, or wherever people gathered about him, he preached The Word in the form of parables. He reached out to touch as many people as possible. He healed all those who were brought to him. He let people sing his praises. He let people believe whatever they wanted to believe. That he was the Messiah, the Son of God, the new King of Israel; the prophet of the new order that would throw out the Pharisees and Sadducees and give power to the people; the leader who would weld the multifarious underground groups into a single revolutionary army and drive the Romans into the sea. He even let people think that he intended to make good his prophecy that the Temple in Jerusalam would be utterly destroyed – even though the actual event was not due to take place for another forty years.

  More and more people flocked to join the exuberant crowd that now surrounded him, first lining the route and then tagging on to the procession as it wound its way towards Jerusalem. A city already crowded with pilgrims, and with more arriving daily from every part of Palestine for the coming Passover celebrations. A city that was playing host to Herod Antipas, who had taken up residence at the family palace in the Upper City and was lavishly entertaining the City Fathers, and Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator of the province, who was lodged at the Fortress Antonia over in the Second City next to the Temple, with several cohorts of hard-nosed Galatians. Nobody with anything to lose wanted trouble while those two were in town.

  Jerusalem was the bastion of the establishment. New York and Washington rolled into one. And as the reports came in of The Man’s triumphant progress towards the city, the fat cats who ran the country from within its walls became increasingly nervous.

  The situation was very like that in many states of South America today. The country was controlled by the Sadducees, a tightly-knit group of wealthy families. They, or their appointees, held all the key posts in the Temple hierarchy and the Sanhedrin. It was a neat, watertight set-up. The Sadducees controlled the priesthood; the priesthood controlled the Temple; and the Temple was the richest organisation and the largest single industry in Palestine. The High Priest held a unique position. His office combined the authority of Ayatollah Khomeini, the infallibility of the Pope, and the financial clout of King Khalid of Saudi Arabia.

  The High Priest was not just there to light incense and intone the Torah in the Holy of Holies. There were investments to protect. Tax revenues from every Jew over twenty years of age, who was obliged to contribute half a shekel annually; a percentage on the yearly turnover from the sale of birds and animals sold to pilgrims for use as burnt offerings; commission from the money-changers in the courtyard who lived off the tourists. It all added up. And now, here was some lunatic preaching what amounted to anarchy. An anti-materialist philosophy which exhorted rich men to give away all their possessions and urged the poor to give no thought for the morrow. Dangerous notions.

  But it wasn’t just what The Man was saying that posed a threat to the fortunes of the Sadducean junta. It was what he was doing. For it now appeared that he actually did possess some kind of extraordinary power. The Man had cured literally hundreds of people. It was little wonder that the ignorant, impoverished people that now surrounded him had been impressed. In his message of salvation and of the kingdom that was to come, they saw the promise of freedom from the burden of their daily lives; the often back-breaking toil in conditions of semi-slavery to which their humble birth and the system had condemned them. The Man’s presence and his words were an affront to the authority of the High Priest and an assault on the sovereignty of the state and those charged with the direction of its affairs. Caiaphas, the then holder of that prestigious post, was in no doubt as to what had to be done. The Man would have to go.

  The decision was simpl
e but its implementation was beset with problems. The Jewish state, despite its sectarian class-structure which concentrated the power and wealth in the hands of a privileged minority, was, for its time, relatively humane. In Judea, the only capital crimes were blasphemy and adultery. For both of which the sentence was death by stoning. For all other offences, the most severe punishment was flogging. Usually thirteen strokes; with an absolute maximum of thirty-nine. Convicting The Man on a charge of adultery was, by all accounts, out of the question. There were a number of Pharisaic experts who thought that they could make a charge of blasphemy stand but, as always, it was a question of interpretation. The Man had already outwitted the rabbinic undercover men who had been sent out to ask him trick questions. Unless his conviction could be guaranteed it was a dangerous course to follow. If the confrontation with The Man was allowed to develop into a public debate it might end by diminishing the authority of the High Priest and making the Sanhedrin look ridiculous.

  It was Annas, the High Priest’s father-in-law, and ex-holder of the same office who came up with the idea of manoeuvring The Man into the hands of the Romans. They had the power to execute criminals and did so by hanging, beheading and crucifixion. If Joshua the Nazarene could be arrested and found guilty of a crime against Roman law, then the problem was solved.

  There was one small snag. Roman law usually ensured a fair trial. But the plan had three weighty points in its favour. First, Pontius Pilate, the man charged with governing the province, owed the Sanhedrin. Caiaphas proposed to call in his marker. Second, Roman justice was highly efficient: once a man had been found guilty and sentenced, punishment was swift and inevitable. And third, if the Nazarene was tried and executed by the Romans his death would be their responsibility. And it meant that if, by some inconceivable trick of fate, Joshua actually was the Messiah, God’s retribution would fall on the backs of the Romans and not the Jews.