Chapter 9: THE HELMET OF SALVATION.

As RUACH AND I made our way downward, the hall became more and more choked with roots of every size. These were tangled and snarled on the floor and on the walls. Roots now were hanging from the dirt ceiling-dangling down in a loose, though claustrophobic curtain. A tall, warm-looking angel appeared near the mouth of the next root. Ruach called to her: "We're here. Don't leave without Anna." "No, I won't," she said, laughing. He turned to me: "This is Wisdom." It was difficult to tell if she was old or young-maybe both. Her blazing red hair showed glints of silver. It was piled on top of her head with a golden tiara securing the intricate hair design. She was straight as an arrow with golden sandals partially seen beneath her draped, loose-fitting garment. Coils of gold crisscrossed her chest.

"Welcome, Anna," Wisdom said with a smile. "Are you ready for the helmet to be tested?" "With the Lord's help," I answered. She smiled. Then I added softly, "Thank you for going with me." She touched my cheek with her fingertips: "Of course, dear child." Ruach interjected, "Put on your helmet, Anna. There is no time to waste." Robotically, I did as He said. I felt a mixture of excitement and trepidation with a tinge of breathless urgency because we were near the end of the testing and closer to engaging whatever needed to be confronted in order to release the beneficence that the body of Christ needed in the last days. I looked at Wisdom and tried to speak with confidence: "I'm ready!" Then to Ruach I added, "Thank you, Ruach." I made a decisive pivot to the mouth of the cave-like root. Wisdom smiled indulgently and led the way. We entered the tunnel.

Upon entering, there were high puttylike walls on either side of a steep cavern. We began walking a narrow path at the bottom. "It's very dark here," I said to Wisdom. "Yes," she replied. "This is the Ditch of Unreasonable Thinking." "Unreasonable?" I half laughed. "Yes, those who come to Christ are particularly susceptible to walking into this ditch." "But why?" I asked. "Because when they come to Christ, His love floods their hearts, and they equate the change in their lives to include the outer world around them. They expect life on earth to be easier from then on." I blanched. Wisdom laughed: "I see you have fallen prey to equating Christianity with fantasy." "I did, I must confess." "And what helped you?" she asked "I suppose I grew up. I realized that if the Son of God was persecuted on earth-and He was perfect-who was I to escape?"

There was a greater light up ahead, but I could hear the sizzle of exposed electricity-which was alarming. However, Wisdom was leading us upward. We quickly arrived in a stunningly beautiful orchard filled with-what seemed to be-electric trees. Light and power were flashing and crackling from tree to tree so that the orchard actually seemed to sing. It was beautiful. "When you live in harmony with the Holy One, it is as if these trees clap their hands and sing praises to the Lord," Wisdom said. We began walking through the trees as she spoke. It felt invigorating there. Suddenly, buckshot pellets began to hit my helmet. "What?" I exclaimed. "Guard yourself, Anna," Wisdom said. I raised my hand to shield my eyes as I looked up to ascertain the direction of the pellets. I saw a blackened tree. Its branches were shriveled, and many limbs were broken. It sat in a black hole with what looked to be festering materials around it.

"Toxic thoughts, Anna," she whispered. "What?" I gasped. "The mangled and withered trees come from snarled, negative thoughts such as anger and resentment," she said. "These attract demons." Then I saw the culprits. Small, frightening demons were clustered around the black hole, chunking rocks at me. A couple of demons were cutting around the jagged edge of the opening with knives and then eating the corrupted flesh. They were looking at me and laughing. The whole area stank. "The smell is dreadful," I said. "The skull keeps most people from having to smell this rot. But it's there." Wisdom turned to me: "Negative thoughts are poisonous to those created to hold the Spirit of God. But the enemy finds many who are angry, and He goads them into dark corners. Once trapped, he tortures them into bitterness-which eventually will destroy them."

"But how?" I asked. "Not only because it blocks God's life from flowing to them, but toxic thoughts make cells in their body porous so that viruses can slip in and make the person ill. But the children of God do not need to cooperate with the evil one-letting him lead them around by the nose. They have the helmet of salvation. Our Lord has raised them up from the death walk of being a slave to satan, to newness of life. The enemy no longer controls them. Now they may take every thought captive to Christ. Now they do not need to ruminate upon every thought the enemy jams into their mind."

Suddenly, the area where we were standing began to rumble. I braced myself against the side of a nearby high cliff's wall. Wisdom leaned over to make sure I heard her: "Step back into this recess, Anna." She spoke loudly because the thundering of horses' hooves and screaming riders were upon us. Almost immediately they were thundering past us. There were hundreds of wild horses. Fierce black demons were mounted on a few and driving the others. They called out and cracked long whips over the animals. "This is what happens when emotions run your thinking," Wisdom said loudly. "You often have stampedes." I was equally as loud: "This is dangerous." The horses were crashing up against the sides of the high-walled cavern, causing gut-wrenching damage. I knew this would cause disastrous damage to the cells, compromising the walls. "How do we stop them?" I shouted. "Call for help," she shouted back. "Help, Lord!" I called out as loudly as I could shout. Immediately scores of spirits that looked like white whisps swooped in and mounted the rampaging steeds. Almost as quickly, one of the "wranglers" scooped me up and plunked me onto the back of a stampeding horse. I was petrified; I grabbed a handful of the horse's mane and lay down with my other arm and hand around its neck. I was hanging on for dear life. The ride was wilder than the horse itself, for I was jerked and jostled as we thundered down the narrow cavern. The ghostly riders bellowed and whooped with joy as they sought to turn the stampede into a cul-de-sac in order to corral them. Frantically, I sought an answer to runaway emotions. Panic drove my brain to sort through my mental archives at record speed. I came across 2 Peter 1:5 through 6 (CSB): "For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control." I always wondered why self-control was a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Now I knew. Because I had the Holy Spirit, I had self-control. I just needed to apply it. I reined in my emotions. Amazingly, the ghostly wranglers were able to turn the lead horse into the large cul-de-sac. Therefore, the horses, though highly charged, began to settle down eventually and then simply milled around. I waited a few seconds to settle myself also. There was an occasional neigh or lost of the head, but for the most part the horses were now quiet and docile. That was probably the reason the whisp-like spirits silently dissipated. I waited a couple of minutes more, drawing in deep breaths. Finally, with a long sigh of relief, I slid from the horse's back. I stood, patting the steed, and looked around. The cul-de-sac was honeycombed with ancient-looking fortresses carved into its high walls. These recessed structures seemed to be abandoned. They had been active and populated earlier in someone's life with embittered stress-but now the Lord had cleaned them out. Therefore, the horses, now calm, milled their way back into the narrow corridor. Wisdom appeared. "What is this place?" I asked. "Abandoned fortresses," she said, "where past anger or hostility or resentment carved these strongholds into canyon walls. Hate, you see, requires more and more room to spread out and grow. It also produces thorns on the memory trees and hardens people into unforgiveness." "But these are clean now?" I wondered. "Yes, oh yes. These caves have not been visited for years." "Is it safe to explore them?" "Of course." Wisdom nodded. I gave the horse that had carried me a couple of final pats and left him. Then, weaving through the rest of the tired horses, we made our way to the recessed structures. Upon entering one of the strongholds, the air was cool and dry. The walls were black as if at one time they had been tarred. Little light shone within. But still, on the floor was a sticky black sludge. This made walking precarious. Wisdom seemed to float above it. "What is this?" I asked. "Toxic waste. Be careful not to fall into it. This waste builds up within the cells from unforgiveness and bitterness. It makes the cells sticky until there are blockages. This sludge is a residue. It's still being cleared."

"But how?"

"Forgiveness. Your Lord and Savior shed His blood and died on the cross to give you this gift of forgiveness. The least the child of God can do is to pass this forgiveness on to others. The Word says: 'In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God.' This is not optional, it is a command, Anna. As the child of God obeys, the Lord replaces sullen and dark memories with powerful, joyous thoughts."

We began climbing the stairs to an abandoned tower. I was mulling over what Wisdom had said. Finally, I answered her as honestly as I could: "I always want to forgive, but at times I do not feel it."

"Ah," she said with a smile. "That is the problem, isn't it? You may believe the Word is true, but try as you might, you are unable to turn your emotions."

"Yes," I agreed.

"Then," she continued, "you must lean on the Lord through His Word."

We arrived at the top of the tower, and I looked out. Different areas of this internal landscape spread out before me. I thought to myself that this was truly a complex control center, vital to our Lord and to His work on earth. Struggling, I prayed within myself, hoping that the Lord would line up my thinking with the mind of Christ.

"Come, Anna," Wisdom urged after we fully scanned the area. She continued her explanation as we navigated the narrow stairway down.

Wisdom continued: "The Lord asks for humility on your part. All humans are being tested on earth, Anna. This is the reason He asks, Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls." That person's life is none of your business, frankly.

"You do have a job here on earth, and that is to allow the Holy Spirit to mature you in the Lord so that you, like your Master, forgive everyone from your heart. The Word says this, 'If each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart."

We were outside of the abandoned stronghold again. It was eerily quiet now that the hundreds of horses had dwindled away.

Wisdom smiled at me-that sort of warm, motherly smile-reassuring in the circumstance.

"I will meet you outside, Anna." She stopped and looked back at me. "Speak from your heart, for the heart is the final judge within."

She disappeared. Just as quickly, I found myself before a panel of Elders. I supposed that is what they were. These were not dressed in white-but black. I was trying to count them quickly but could not. Each black-robed justice was seated behind a high bench. Immediately, I realized I had come to the final test.

"Anna," the chief justice intoned.

I swallowed hard.

"Are you here to give answer?"

"I am."

"Will you abide by our judgment?"

"I will."

"Then so be it," the chief justice intoned loudly. "In the ancient texts there is no mention of a conscience. Without mentioning that which today is felt to be extremely important, is conscience just an invention of mankind's imagination?"

I closed my eyes and said internally. "Lord, please help me. Give me not only grace but abounding grace."

I opened my eyes and squared my shoulders as I spoke.

"Conscience may not be called by that particular name in the Torah, but it is the first and most decisive reality shown in the Word. Adam and Eve hid after they had sinned. They were ashamed because their conscience convicted them even before the Lord condemned their actions. Jacob's sons were ashamed for what they did to their brother, Joseph. King David's heart staggered and stumbled because he had shed Uriah's blood without cause.

"Our God provides a final checkpoint in the heart to help us live the life a child of God is called to live. For the Word says, 'Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God.' "The Torah may not have given us the word conscience, but it revealed the seat of this final arbitrator within the heart."

There was a pause. The Elders broke into smiles. "The answer has been given."

"Your armor is now fully tested, Anna. Unsheathe your sword."

I pulled the sword out of its sheath. It was gleaming and now had Scripture all over it-Scripture that seemed to change from time to time. I thought that the Scripture references probably changed as needed.

"You have received this sword from your Father in order that you may fight the good fight for Christ crucified and lift up His standard for all to see."

Faster than lightning, I was removed from the testing ground. Immediately, I was in the root cave hall again. Ruach and Wisdom awaited me.

Wisdom spoke: "Your heavenly Father has extended might to you, Anna. This is not earned but freely given from His heart and hand."

Ruach continued: "Your armor has been tested, Anna."

"Thank you, friends, for your support and help. I bless you in the name of the Lord. I will hasten to the job at hand."

"You aren't too fatigued to begin right away?" Wisdom asked.

"No, invigorated," I answered. And indeed, I was flushed with the excitement of the armor having been tested, and, I suppose, having been tested myself right along with it.

"Go with God, Anna. May He give you stunning victory for all our sakes." Wisdom disappeared.