“Melanie, what I tell you now is for you and for you alone. You will know when it is permissible to share with your Elisabeth. But not for a season.” He knelt down on one knee and put his startling gaze upon me, his large hands covered mine where they now held the book. My eyes locked with his, and I felt the power within him like hot water running deep into my soul. I nodded obediently.
“I have been granted permission to tell you only this much. The book you now hold was once held by the most beautiful and wisest of God’s angels. He was a Cherubim, an archangel like Michael and myself. But he was the covering angel in charge of us all. He was the leader of our warriors, much like your human general. Adorned with beautiful jewels and precious stones and favored of God, he was created to be the most beautiful to behold. He was also the director of the worship in heaven and once held the anointing of God. He was named Lucifer.”
I shivered at the news. I squeezed the book to make sure it was really in my hands. Gabriel continued as though I had not been disturbed by his words.
“But Lucifer said in his heart he should be as God and was filled with pride and jealousy of God’s greatness. He deceived one-third of my brothers into rising up and trying to put him on the throne of God. The other two-thirds of us fought against him, a great war such as never before burst forth within heaven’s realm. We battled until we cast him and his followers from heaven’s gates, and the Almighty, El Shaddai, stripped him of his exquisitely jeweled garments, his anointing and his position, and renamed him Satan.
“To the earth, they were cast. There, Lucifer and his followers were left to roam upon the face of the earth in exile. Lucifer alone is still permitted to enter the throne room of God from time to time but no longer does he have any authority over the other angels nor is he permitted to partake of God’s goodness.” Gabriel paused as I raised my hand to ask a question.
“Why would God let him back in after you all fought so hard to cast them out?” I wondered, remembering something in the Book of Job about Satan taunting God about Job.
“Lucifer will never forget El Shaddai is the creator, the one true God and master of all when he enters into the presence of the King. He is forced to recognize the depths of his treachery and feel the loss of no longer being in communion with his creator. And the time will come when Lucifer and all of his followers will be forever chained into the deepest levels of hell and seen or heard from no more. Until that day when the final battle and the end has come, God will allow him limited access so that he might look upon the face of his opponent.”
“Lucifer’s pride and hatred kept him from submitting unto God even after he lost the battle for God’s throne. Nor was any remorse found in him. No, he continued to plot further how to be as God. He has since sought to lay waste to God’s plan for fellowship with man since the first of God’s children were raised from the dust of the earth and God breathed his life into them.
“Lucifer has deceived many into following and worshiping him as a god. He used those things that were written in secret in heaven to lure men away from God. He comes as an angel of light, beautiful and pleasing to behold. Many forms has he to deceive the lost. Many faces does he show. Half-truths does he speak to lead the blind down the paths of deception. His pleasure is in the stealing, killing, and destroying all those God loves. And God loves all of mankind.” Gabriel released my hands and stood in one graceful movement.
I processed what he had said as quickly as I could but it took me a moment. Before I could even speak, I had to swallow. It was loud enough to hear it. It was all fascinating, but where did this book fit in to all of that? I felt my face grow pale as I put it together.
“Are you saying this book…this book once belonged to Lucifer? To Satan?” I asked with an unshakable quiver in my voice.
“It was once in his collection of many secret books of heaven, yes. But this one,” Gabriel tapped the book with a large index finger, “he was never allowed to open. It was one which the Almighty, El Shaddai, had made but had not given him the key to open. Our Heavenly Father sees all and knows all. He knew to withhold the key from Lucifer before placing the book within his keeping. He knew the book was for a time yet to come Lucifer did not know of.”
“And now I have it?” I said, aghast.
“Now you have it,” Gabriel said gently.
“Why?” My voice was sounding a little too scared.
“Fear not, Melanie,” he said once more.
“Easy for you to say. You’re not holding something that… Lucifer once did,” I whispered the name. “What am I supposed to do with it?”
“Peace, child.” Gabriel placed his huge hand upon my shoulder, and the weight of it made me lean a little to the left.
“I’m trying to be calm, but—”
“Lucifer does not know what is in the book. He simply knows it was important and that God had not given him the means to open it. He took it with him when he was cast out of heaven. This one book alone did he manage to take. The book was more complex than he had expected. He was not able to open it for he was not worthy. He tried to hide it within the layers of our dimensions but could not. God had made all his books in secret, and so Lucifer did not know that once this book left heaven’s gates and touched the earth’s domain, it would become bound to the earth until the end of the age. He still does not understand this.
“In his rage at failing to open the book, he tried to destroy it, but it could not be harmed. So he hid it in hopes that he might one day uncover its secrets and read the contents. He is convinced it holds the secrets to being like God and did not willingly part with it. Through the millenniums of man’s existence, we have sought to get it back. We have sent many others to find it. Since the contents pertain to the fate of man, so must man help in fulfilling its destiny. You are not the first to have sought the book nor the first to have succeeded in finding it. Those sent of God first to have succeeded in retrieving it in one night,” he said with pride in his voice. His chin lifted and he half-smiled in satisfaction at speaking of my success.
“You mean Satan hid it in that antique shop? I just stole it from him?” I asked suddenly upset and confused.
“Not so. For it was finally taken from him long ago in the first millennium of man’s existence by a human assisted by Michael, my brother. Ever since, it has been hidden and stolen back and forth by the ones I spoke of who have been sent by Satan and by God. It has found refuge in a multitude of places. Each time it was taken back, it was moved for safe keeping.
“Since the fate of the book is so tightly bound with the fate of man, it was destined to be relocated by man, be he good or of evil. Much like the ark of the covenant. Always moving with the children of Israel in the wilderness to abide within the shelter of the tabernacle, until they could build the temple. Then, after a time in the completed temple, it was hidden by the priest to protect it from raiders of war and Satan’s desire to use it for his own gain.
“Likewise, the book has been moved and hidden. It has only been in the antique shop for a few generations now. It was placed there for safekeeping, until another could be found worthy to extract it. We have continually kept watch for when Satan’s chosen competitors get close to discovering it.
“The man you met, known as Jared Kallis, was sent of Satan to find the book as you had. You succeeded where he failed. He could not enter the shop, for there are angels on guard around about at all times so no one but God’s chosen can enter the back room where it was concealed. Angelica and Obadiah were simply helping to keep it safe until one sent of God would come to reclaim it. Whether it is to be moved once more or kept still until the end has begun is up to the Almighty,” he said.
“Oh, good. I was so worried for a moment there that Angelica and Obadiah were working for Satan as a part of his evil plot. I couldn’t believe it. They were so nice.” I breathed out a sigh of relief. My mind was spinning. Just hearing him say there had been others before me gave me chills. I recalled the list of names on the parchmen
t I couldn’t read except my own.
“No, Angelica and Obadiah are righteous. And they were chosen to help hide the book. You, Melanie Bishop, have the key. No one before you has ever been given this gift in the thousands of years since the book has been passed from person to person, from hiding place to hiding place. It is time to open it. The beginning of the end is near. Now I must go. Be well. The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you always.”
“But…hmm. Why do I have it? Why me?” I asked, reaching out to touch his arm but thought better of it and drew my hand back.
“You were the one chosen. More will be asked of you before it is over. But fear not, stand strong, and see the salvation of the Lord. You will have help. Remember, only you can open the book, keep it safe, and help keep it hidden. Though your battle has just begun, you are not alone. You will have help in time of trouble. God is with you, and he has given his angels charge over you to protect you. He has sent his best warriors, Michael the Archangel, and the hosts he commands to keep watch.”
“Michael is here?” I asked, looking around.
“Close by.” Gabriel smiled down at me.
He stepped forward and leaned down above me placing a gentle kiss on my forehead. I immediately felt at ease and peaceful. My panic and concerns of having in my possession a book once kept in Lucifer’s collection, drifted away into a peaceful lull.
“Okay. Bye.” I actually waved at him.
He spread his wings and bent down briefly before shooting upward and flying right through my ceiling as if it was nothing more than a mirage.
Wow.
I closed my open mouth and lowered my head to look at the book in my hands.
“Oh, Lord,” I whispered.
I walked over and sat down on my bed, running my hand down the cover of the book in wonder. It was such a beautiful and mysterious book. This was held by Lucifer, Satan? This was made by God? And now, it was in my hands. I was holding an important part of God’s plan. I was holding something that once existed in the presence of God before the creation of man.
“What are you?” I asked out loud.
I tilted the book and saw the lock was still open. I was about to have revealed to me secrets not even Satan had been granted access to. I shuddered at the importance and weight of this moment. I could still feel the host of witnesses watching over me. I could sense their own interest and joy at seeing the book in the hands of the one God had chosen.
Why me, Lord? I don’t deserve this honor.
I may not understand God’s choices and his direction, but I would obey him. He had shown me he meant business. He had even sent his son, Jesus, to bring me his anointing in person so that Gabriel could anoint me with it.
I slowly and humbly lifted the heavy cover of the book. A sound like a mighty rushing wind escaping whooshed past me, and once again, the air pressure in the room compressed and then expanded until it equalized with a swirling of a mild breeze. I gently pushed the cover all the way open, leaving the first page exposed. My breath was caught in my throat. I stared in amazement and in slight confusion.
The page wasn’t like ordinary paper or parchment. It was silkier and stronger, thick to the touch. It was a brilliant white, with little rainbow particles that seemed to glimmer from within its fibers like shards of glass. At the top of the page were symbols written in gold. I knew it said something, but I had no idea as to what. It wasn’t any written language I recognized but seemed to be in the same language as the cover. However, beneath it was something I did recognize. I ran my right hand along the surface gently.
The rest of the page had thin brass like brackets attached to the page that ran in strips from left to right. Each strip was about a half-inch apart down the page. Like the cover, the raised brass brackets seamlessly transitioned from the page to the metal. They weren’t separate; they were all one piece. Yet they were of different elements. I suppose if the creator of the universe wanted to, he could merge different elements together, but the how stumped me.
“It’s so beautiful,” I whispered to no one I could see. I didn’t know if the heavenly host who were watching and being allowed to see what was in the book along with me or if they were only privy to witnessing this moment as it fulfilled their prayers. That was up to God, I supposed.
I concentrated back on the page. What I recognized was what was on each of the brass like brackets. I had seen them many times throughout elementary school and in high school during my band and orchestra classes. Each bracket had a musical staff with notes etched into it. It was a musical composition of some sort. I turned the page and found more of the same strange writing on the top of the next page. I could tell it must be saying something different because the symbols weren’t the same as the page before. Beneath it was another musical composition, also different than the page before.
This is a book of music? Music for what? And why do I have it?
Gabriel said Lucifer was the leader of worship in heaven. Did that mean this was music God did not want him to read? Music God did not want Lucifer to create or overhear? How odd. And how unexpected.
I knew I could hum the tune but thought better of it. For some reason, I felt nervous to bring to life the notes on the page. The book had been sealed for…for a long time. I didn’t think I should be the one to hum it, sing it, or play it. I had the knowledge. I’d taken music class since the fourth grade and then joined the orchestra in high school. I played the flute. Well, I used to. I hadn’t played in years.
Music had once been a way to escape for me. I could play music and release a part of my pain, a part of my loneliness and sorrow. It also brought me a rare joy for the moments when I was free to play. I did most of my playing at school, however, since I was never allowed to play my flute at home around my father. The noise was “too loud, too shrill, too disturbing” for my father. Only when he was gone driving his trucks would I be allowed to indulge myself.
I always had to borrow the school’s leftover instruments until my father found out he would be expected to pay for the upkeep on the pads and any repairs suffered at my little nine-year-old hands. So, he had gone to a pawnshop and grabbed the cheapest one they had. I had spent hours cleaning it and polishing it. I restored it to a reasonably pleasing state. Not bad for a nine-year-old.
That old Artley flute had been one of my most treasured possessions until I graduated from high school. Only days before I moved out, my father snatched it out of my hand and said it was his. He paid for it, and he was going to sell it for a new fishing rod and a few extra beers. I never saw it again. I had left the house without it and hadn’t played since.
I heard the front door slam and Elisabeth calling my name. It snapped me out of my memory.
“Crap!” I hissed in panic.
I quickly closed the book and pressed the latches together. They made a satisfying click, and I knew the book was locked, but I gave the cover a little tug to be sure. Satisfied, I stuffed it under my blankets and pillows and listened at the door.
“Mel? Are you asleep?” Elisabeth called from down stairs.
I moved my nightstand back in place next to my bed as quietly as I could and unlocked my door to peek my head out.
“Nope! I’m not asleep. Just…studying.” I cringed as I lied.
“Good. I was about to bring up a bucket of water and dump it on you,” she teased.
“No need to do that! I’m up!” I answered hastily.
I glanced at my roughly made bed and the pile of pillows with the oversized mound it made from the book buried underneath.
Water would be bad for the book.
I turned back to the door and locked it. I ran over to the bed and grabbed the book and stuffed it back in the suitcase. I picked it up, being careful not to make any noise. I quickly and silently placed it in the back of the closet where it had been. I followed it up with the overflowing shoe rack and then pulled the coats and dresses back to hang in front of it all and gently closed the closet door.
I b
reathed a sigh of relief once it was tucked safely away. I’d have to think of a better place to hide it than in my closet.
Chambered
Chapter Twenty
Elisabeth came jogging up the stairs with unspent energy. How did she do that? She knocked quickly on my door and said through the other side, “I’m going to call Bradley and ask him to talk to his sister about getting you that NCO. Then, I’m going to jump in the shower.”
“Okay, thanks!” I called from my closet.
Now why hadn’t I asked Gabriel for some tips about that? I slapped my forehead exasperated with myself. It would have been nice to get some insider knowledge on this situation. Maybe get confirmation that how we were trying to handle it was the right way. I trusted Good to keep me safe, but I didn’t want to sit down and do nothing. We were supposed to use our common sense, right? I mean, God gave us common sense as our first defense against stupidity.
I assumed Elisabeth had already walked away from my door, but I had to be sure. I walked over to my new massive door and tried to listen. I couldn’t hear a thing through it. I unlocked it and cracked the door an inch and peeked out. Her bedroom door was mostly shut but not all the way. I could hear her talking quietly to Bradley.
“Yes, today at noon. She’s pretty freaked,” I heard her say. A moment of silence followed as Bradley spoke.
“No, I can’t tell you all the reasons why, other than he left her two vile and hostile messages. We still have the recordings on the answering machine. And I’ll tell you this, he is a monster who shouldn’t be allowed to be out on the streets around normal people. He belongs in a cage with the rest of the animals. He’s extremely violent and sadistic. I’m worried about what he will do if he gets out today. I—” She stopped speaking abruptly, he must have cut her off.
Broken Seed Page 25