Chapter 3: THE TREE THAT GROWS OUT OF HELL.

I COULD NOT see where Ruach had taken me. There was a dank smell-like mold from a closed, wet cellar.

"We will begin here, Anna," Ruach said in a hushed tone. My eyes began to adjust to the deep gloom. We were in the Lord's sheepfold in mid-Heaven. It was a safe "keep" provided by the Lord for His own in that corrupted stratum. A chill ran through me. I knew I could not be attacked here, but I felt exposed-like being in a glass house with an axe murderer prowling around outside. Involuntarily, I stepped backward. As the back of my legs touched the lone bench in the area, I half stumbled, half fell onto the low seating. After I escaped from the trophy room on my last visit, I knew I was marked. Probably, the demons still had my scent.

Ruach did not address my concerns but began His instructions: "You will wear the cloak of invisibility that you received above, but not the shoes." I had received the cloak when I first went to Heaven, along with a pair of shoes. Both rendered me invisible. But those shoes had no soles in them. That was to allow me to touch the heavenly realm. But now I needed protection from all parts of this corrupted stratum. I needed the shoes provided in the sheepfold. Without looking, I reached beneath the bench for the shoes I had worn before. As soon as my hand felt what seemed to be porpoise skin, I pulled them out and began to put them on my feet. "Do not fear, Anna," Ruach continued, "they will not see us or smell us or hear us, for I will speak to you inside your spirit-where they are not granted access." As I finished donning the shoes, I looked up nervously. "If you are ready, we will go," He said in a gentle tone. I smiled into His faceless face and stood. Then I took a deep breath, and as I exhaled, we were invisible.

Immediately, as if we were sucked backward through a tube, Ruach set us down in what seemed to be the main hallway of some enormous structure. He had not said where we were going. But since I was turned backward, I used that advantage to get my bearings. I could see through an open doorway part of the vast moat that encircled satan's castle. My breath caught. "O God," I said within myself, "we are right in his castle." I felt a hand upon my shoulder and heard Ruach's calming voice: "Steady, Anna." I took a deep breath. I wanted to believe that I could pass through this unscathed. Therefore, I settled down and focused my attention on my surroundings.

The walls and ceilings of the hallway were intricately decorated with human bones, even chandeliers of thousands upon thousands of human bones. It was an ossuary. It would have been strikingly beautiful if it had not been so ghoulish. Oil-burning containers by the hundreds lit the dark, dank hall and the rooms that we passed. There was a strange smell. It wasn't whale oil that was being burned. I believe it was oil from reconstituted human fat. The floors were an iron patchwork of stepping stones, but instead of a masonry grout linking them together, the narrow spaces were like open veins where streams of blood were running. With so much blood openly flowing, there was a cloying smell in the air-like the sickening smell of a slaughterhouse. Also, oozing from between the bones in the walls were pockets of pus and rivulets of blood. The blood and pus oozed slowly into a trough at the base of the wall and then ran along like a lumpy, slow river skirting the walls-so that the stench of death was everywhere. Ghastly.

Suddenly we entered what looked like an enormous rotunda with many dark passageways leading from it, twisting and turning into the shadows.

The top of a huge tree took up a good deal of the space. It was in full leaf and had large sacs of fruit hanging from its branches. The fruit was like none I had ever seen though. It made me ill to look at it-for it was flesh, raw flesh and the blood that was traveling throughout the castle was going into the branches that supplied this fruit. Ruach spoke to me: "This is the blood of aborted children and those sacrificed on the altar of satan. Even as prayers rise to God, unrighteous slaughter empowers the fallen one." Within the expansive hall, thrones were set up with one throne elevated on a mound of human skulls. These thrones were also created from human bones, with black velvet cushions to soften their sharp edges.

There, brooding on the elevated throne, was the evil, fallen angel himself. He had black hair that glinted with greens and blues like raven feathers, and he wore black velvet. The velvet must have been impregnated with jewels, for the gems caught the light with each movement. He had unwholesomely long, sharp nails that appeared unclean from digging into putrid flesh, it looked like, for there was a stench about them. His clothing may have been elegant, but flies crawled freely in and out of all open areas: nose, mouth, corners of the eyes. I shivered in revulsion. It made me wonder what diseases were hidden beneath that finery. But you knew, if you were close enough, that all the finery in the world would not cover the smell of rot. His chin was propped up with one hand, and the other hand was soundlessly drumming those overly long nails. Strangely, his face was beautifully cold, dangerous, devoid of light, but beautiful. With laser-like focus, he listened to the cries coming from the blood of those sacrificed to him. He was poised like an animal ready to pounce-tense. Then he smiled-a ghastly grimace-and as if he were a black hole, he sucked all light into himself-all joy, peace, love, hope, and expectancy.

Suddenly, a cacophony of sounds shrilled through the passageways, blasting the tormented silence. I turned to look toward the conflicting sounds. In all their feathered and jeweled finery, false gods began to crowd the entry halls, their personal musicians saluting their arrival with all manner of instruments-unfortunately, loudly playing different music at the same time, therefore clashing as they tried to outdo one another. It was music played as a weapon.

There were so many high demons crowding into my sight that I could only mentally register a few.

Pushing its way down the hall was a gargantuan three-headed monstrosity. One head was a cat's, one a frog's, and one a man's wearing a crown. Their necks went right into an engorged, sac-like body on hairy spider's legs. The demon was so satiated with blood that its round cushion of a body dragged on the floor.

The next was a naked man with bat's wings riding a dragon. He held a snake in his right hand and wore a crown. Another demon crowded past the dragon. He had a man's body, clad in armor, with legs like coiled snakes and a head of a rooster.

One had five cloven-hoofed animal legs in a circle with a furious lion's head in the center (without a torso). Another demon was wearing a crown and a uniform while riding a prancing red horse. One was a huge fly, and on and on they came.

All were ghastly to behold. I realized that these false gods would inspire love in no one-only fear. Their worshippers would be paying homage to them in hopes that they would avoid reprisal. Their followers lived cowed lives, miserably scraping together payoffs to cruel overlords, hoping against hope that they would be spared-from what? satan raised his body on the throne and spoke so quietly that I could barely hear him: "Silence." The sound of the clashing instruments and noisy drumming stopped instantly.

The hideous creatures began to change before my eyes. They morphed into tall, gaunt angels dressed in black, laden with gold and adorned with ceremonial regalia that I supposed indicated their rank in this demonic realm. As they moved toward their thrones, they casually reached for the low-hanging fruit from the tree, a gesture as casual as selecting hors d'oeuvres from a party platter. Watching them bite into the flesh, dripping with blood, was chilling. I had to look away as they consumed the flesh with such relish. satan observed them carefully. I could feel the tension among them. Many had taken over parts of the others' territories by fomenting wars and aggressions on Earth. These fallen angels were not friends. They ruled by control, domination, and terror. Guile and bitter gall had poisoned them. They had stabbed each other in the back as often as they dared and would bring down satan if anyone of them got the chance. They only worked together because together they were more powerful. Watching them, it felt as though they were united in their effort to bring down their great enemy, our God, but after they had taken dominion, they would fight among themselves for rule. satan waited until they reached their seats. When they did, all was still-the type of stillness that has condemnation hanging in it.

As if in response to satan's mood, the flies left him and found more hospitable grazing on the bloody fruit. There was silence. "Why did we lose?" satan finally asked quietly. None answered. He lifted his head and looked at them one by one: "Their fool of a relative was tricked by his own rib. Who could be so stupid, and these are that fool's descendants?" He shook his head in disbelief. "We had them-the whole world."

One of the ashen-faced high demons showed enough courage to answer: "The Nazarene." "Nonsense," satan snapped, "they don't listen to Him. They spout His name and pervert His ways." "But-" another false God began. "But?" satan's tone dripped with sarcasm. "Are you going to whine? Mankind is dense; all we need to do is distract them-then disqualify them." He threw up his hands and shrugged. "You were lax."

"Kill them," came a guttural growl from a throne further away from satan's. "Yes." satan smiled and gave a low chuckle. Then, as if talking to himself, he muttered distractedly, "But we do not need to kill them to neutralize them." He dropped his head backward for a few seconds, smiling and savoring the idea of actually killing mankind-instead of using the longer way of manipulating them. "I would like to kill them, but..." he said. A chuckle ran through the room. Everyone knew how he felt and savored the idea with him. "We almost had a worldwide cartel," another added wistfully. satan rolled his eyes over in the direction of that high demon, and with exaggerated pronunciation, popping his consonants, said, "But we didn't." "Do we need something new?" a demon asked, naively. "No," satan scoffed. "They do not live long enough to learn anything from life. They are so dense; they would need to see our tactics over many lifetimes to learn anything. We will undermine them from within, as we have always done."

Groans came from the demons. Overriding the groans, like a parent with recalcitrant teens, he continued: "We will pack our forces into the spaces given over to us-then, eat them from within. As we corrupt them, we will block out the light. They will be shouting at us from without, but we will be conquering them from within." He chuckled, "Their enemy is already in the camp." There was a glum resistance to this pep talk that was the same as it had always been. Always!

"Do we get no rewards for weakening these dolts?" asked a demon that looked like a peacock when he arrived. This was such a mild retort that it was surprising that such a statement would gather those present into a unified expression of disapproval.

A droning sound began, like the unity of bees in a hive. From the quickness of the unified response, you could tell they had been meeting behind their leader's back. This unity emboldened another: "Drugs are like party favors now. We are poisoning them-dulling them down." Then another blurted, "We have made perversions acceptable, desirable even." The hum continued and increased. It was as if they were growing in strength by exposing their hidden numbers. "Millions are aborted. Their parts carved up and sold," another squalled.

They seemed to be on a roll. More of their numbers were willing to expose their common bond without satan. "We have corrupted their governments until the leaders celebrate their own crimes," a high demon said giddily with his new freedom of risking reprisal. For no reason, he began to laugh. "And the people are demoralized. They feel helpless to make changes." They all started laughing in some sort of frantic release.

"And religion!" A whoop went up from those assembled. "Most of them are worshipping us under the guise of deeper revelations found in hidden sources," another scoffed. Their cheer in response was a little over the top. "Yes," satan agreed, raising his voice above theirs. "We almost had them."

"Worldwide," a demon shouted, playing to the crowd. Everyone clapped. "Yes, worldwide-then..." satan buckled down into a low growl. The levity stopped. "And then we didn't." His words dripped with acid. Quietly at first, the drone began again-this time in deliberate protest. Then one of the high demons whispered defiantly, "The Nazarene"-rebelling against satan's displeasure.

"Don't say His name!" satan blurted far too loudly. All of this was getting to him, mainly the realization that they had been meeting behind his back. Then, like a naughty child, from the back of the room, another voice slipped in the name like a knife: "The Nazarene."

"Don't say His name!" satan screamed. Quickly, like a pack of wild dogs circling their prey, several more goaded satan under their breaths, saying, "The Nazarene, the Nazarene." Amid this growing, gut-churning verbal attack and its implications, I heard a young child crying, "Help me!" I looked around. Ruach touched my arm, indicating it was time to go.

"Help me!" came the cry again. Quickly, I realized that the cry did not come from this room. "Come, Anna," Ruach said with urgency in His voice. He was right; the mood was becoming dangerous. Strident alarm and anger was becoming violent rage. Their collected fury was affecting the room itself. Blood started oozing from the walls and dripping from the leaves of the tree and its fruit. Then terrifying, heavy darkness rolled in. I could hear sardonic laughter, screams of pain, and the drone changed into an open chant defying satan: "The Nazarene, the Nazarene." Smaller demons began to leap from the safety of the inner walls and frantically rushed about trying to get out-like rats jumping ship.

Ruach grabbed my hand. The floor disappeared from beneath us, and swiftly we began to slide downward through the trunk of the tree.