Chapter 6: THE POWER

I was once again on the avenue where I had placed the torch. I realized then that I had entered into the darkness without taking the torch with me, but I had somehow returned to the street where I had left it. I could not see the torch from where I was, so I began to walk, waving the sword as I did. I knew I had to find the torch.

As I walked, I started to feel increasing darkness and oppression. It was indeed an avenue of monuments. As I waved the sword and my vision grew, I became alarmed that there did not seem to be life anywhere. The trees and grass in the middle of the street were green, but I did not feel life in them. I suspected that they were artificial, but when I looked more closely they had all of the functions of life, but were dead somehow.

I continued to walk. It was a cold, damp, and dreary place. Finally, I came to a monument, which was green and brown tarnished bronze and seemed to increase the dreariness of this place. The statue was fastened to a marble foundation, but it all felt cold and meaningless. Even so, I felt that it was the statue of a great person, though I did not recognize who it was.

I continued on, gently swinging the sword, not knowing what else to do. Then I saw a golden glow in the distance. It appeared to be life. As I approached it, I saw that it was a tree. It was still rather small, hardly taller than I was, but I was astonished by what I saw as I stepped up to it.

The tree was the torch that I had left. It had grown and now had branches. It was full of life. It stood out in this place like an oasis in a desert. I reached out to grasp the branch closest to me. Immediately it fell into my hand. It was a torch just like the first one, which was now a tree.

"Take it back to the monument," a voice behind me said.

I turned to see the white eagle. He was whiter than I had remembered him, having seen him before, but I thought it must be because of the darkness of the place we were in. I also knew that he had become even wiser. His talons stood out, sharper and more powerful, and his eyes were more piercing.

"You were right to plant the torch. If you had held onto it, you would have had one good torch, but now you will have many."

"How is that?" I asked. "And where are we?"

"You are in the heart of a great city that has died but is about to live again."

"Is this where you're from?" I asked, knowing that it wasn't, but I wanted to keep the conversation going until I thought of something better to say.

"I have friends here and a few disciples. They will help you with what you are here to do."

"What is that?"

"You have the torch and the sword, and you are here, so you are going to use them here."

"I hardly know how to use them. They were just given to me." Sensing a bit of impatience rise in the eagle, I continued, "But I will do the best I can. Tell me what you know about my purpose here."

"That's my job, and I will tell you all that I can. I'm also glad to hear that you do not know too much. You're safer that way. You will know what to do when it is time to do it. My young friends will help you."

"Where will you be?"

"I will be watching, just as I was when you touched the sea with the torch a few years ago."

"A few years ago-it could not have been more than a couple of hours ago!" I protested.

"No, it was over five years ago. Remember, time in the heavenly realm does not seem the same as on the earth. I saw you when you did it. From the time the Lord gave you the torch until you touched the water with it was three years, so He gave it to you eight years ago."

"I don't remember you being there. Where were you?"

"Remember, I don't have to be there to see. I also saw the other gifts you received and those that you will soon be given. It is time for them, but there are still many things for you to learn. Your training is not over, but the time on earth is short. You must learn fast, and you must learn to teach others faster."

I looked down at the sword and torch that were in my hands. I looked around and wanted to use them both but did not know what to do with them. So I just held on to the torch and waved the sword.

"I am here to help you get started," the old eagle said, "Others will help you along the way. Now, go back to the monument you passed. Touch it with the torch and watch."

The old eagle spread his wings and he lifted high on a wind that I could not feel into the dark sky. Even though he soon disappeared, I could feel him and knew that he was watching. I then began to feel many others watching me as well.

I started to walk, holding the torch out in front, waving the sword as I went. I felt increasing strength, and my vision grew. As this happened I wanted to attack the darkness. "I was born for this," I thought to myself.

"Yes you were," an unfamiliar voice answered. "You and many others, too. This is your time."

Turning, I saw another eagle, much younger than the first. Even so, this young one seemed even more regal than the older one. It was the way he thrust his chest out a little more, and his wings were slightly open as if ready to soar at any moment. It was obvious that he had explosive energy but contained it with great grace. As if he heard every thought, he responded.

"I am of another generation. I am not greater than my Father, but I have been given more authority. I am here to awaken and guide the great champions who are now maturing on the earth. I will help you and the others who are to prepare them for what is to come."

"How will I prepare them?"

"First you will learn to use the sword and the torch for more than just edifying yourself. That is important to know, but it is just the beginning. When you have used what is in your hand, you will begin to understand the rest of what you are to be given. Then you will know what you are to do with all of your gifts."

We began to walk. My eyes turned toward the trees that we were passing. I then noticed the fruit. It was beautiful, compelling, and I felt a tinge of hunger.

"Don't even look at it," the young eagle stated as if he had to repeat this often.

"Why?" I asked. "It looks like very good fruit, and I am very hungry." Then I sensed why I could not eat from them. "These are all trees of the knowledge of good and evil, aren't they?"

"They are. How did you know?"

"They seem to be alive, but they're dead, and the fruit looks delicious. Why is it they are on this avenue of monuments? And why is it full of these trees?"

"The monuments are to people who were alive but are now dead. These monuments are to people who were given life to give to the earth, but after beginning in the Spirit, they tried to complete the work by their own wisdom and ways. By that they began to cultivate these trees. That is why they exist together on this road.

"This is one of the main avenues that the people of this city come to. They do not love these monuments, but the monuments make them feel secure and significant, as if they were the heirs of the greatness of those represented. They also love the fruit from these trees, even though it is poison to them and it kills them just as it killed their empire."

As we walked, my vision continued to increase. I began to see that the street was very wide, well manicured, and would have been very beautiful in sunlight. It still felt dead. The young eagle soared above me, and I knew he was watching me closely and discerning my thoughts.

"What am I going to do here with the sword and torch?" I asked him.

"First, understand these monuments. Even the smallest touch of life from God has the power to grow into that which would have restored the earth and made it a garden again. These monuments are to people who had life. They froze into dead monuments because they started thinking about how to build monuments to their own lives. There is no purpose in building monuments on the earth! They will all perish!

"What you are to build is part of the heavenly city. You will fail in your purpose if you care what men think of your work. You must only care what the Lord thinks of it. You are not here to build monuments, but a movement that will not stop moving. The River of Life never stops moving. The Spirit never stops moving. If you stop, you will have departed from the way of the Spirit and the way of life."

As we approached the monument that I had passed earlier, the young eagle stopped and said, "You must bring this monument to life again."

"Why would we want to do that?" I protested. "And how?"

"The Father loves redemption. The King loves redemption. He also honors the fathers who walked in His ways upon the earth, even if they only walked in them for a little while.

These monuments were not His will, but He is going to redeem them and use them for the sake of the fathers and for the sake of their children who now live in this city.

"Remember, Ishmael was not His will either. Even so, He blessed Ishmael and made him a great nation. You will be surprised by how the sons of Ishmael will glorify the Lord at the end, and you will be surprised by how these monuments will also.

"If you want to stay on the path of life, you must love redemption the way He does. It is a part of your purpose to help redeem monuments. That is why you are here with the sword and the torch."

"But I thought they fell by building these to themselves," I protested again. "How am I going to help redeem them? What will either the sword or torch do for these dead monuments?"

"You will continue to walk in darkness if your understanding of redemption does not grow. You must honor these fathers and mothers. You must touch them with the word and with the fire. When you do, the life that was in them which is eternal, will flow from them again. You cannot attain to your own destiny without the life that they had.

"The Lord is going to make these monuments live, and living water will flow from them again. This will be a token of His redemption power and His resurrection. These trees look alive but are dead, and their fruit is death. These monuments look dead, but they still have life in them. The life that they carried is eternal. Put the torch to that statue."

I lifted the torch and put it under the face of what was a great English poet's statue.

Quickly it renewed the bronze so that it began to shine. Soon the whole face was glowing.

"That is enough," the eagle said.

I backed up and watched. The statue was still a statue, but there was life in the face just as there was life in the torch and sword that I held. I then took the sword and plunged it into the heart of the statue. It went in easily all the way to the hilt.

As I drew it out, the breast of the statue began to burn with the glow of sunset/sunrise colors and of the torch. As this happened, there was also a slight glow on the horizon. I was again astonished by the wonders of the torch and sword-how they did not take life but gave it.

"They can kill, too," said the eagle who was now soaring above me. "They bring life back to that which had life, but the great danger is they can also give life to that which was dead."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You have the power of blessing in your hands. What you bless will be blessed, even if it is not what the Lord wants to be blessed. If you bless the work of the enemy, it will prosper. You must only bless by the command of the Lord.

"The enemy only receives his authority on earth from man. The greater the authority you have been entrusted with, the greater the harm you can do when you use it wrongly and the greater the enemy is empowered when you give it to him.

"You have great blessing or great destruction in your hands. You must only build what the Lord wants built and tear down that which the Lord wants you to tear down. You have been given both tools and weapons. The more powerful they become in your hands, the more careful you must be."

"Well, I think I should begin to kill those trees," I replied.

"Yes, that you will do at the proper time, but now is not the time. For now we will concentrate on giving life. These trees are still useful to the Lord."

"How is that?"

"The Lord put The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the center of the Garden of Eden for a crucial reason. There can be no obedience from the heart unless there is the freedom to disobey. These trees attract people to this place, and some who come because of the trees will notice that there is life again in our friend here.

"When anyone touches him, that life will grow. Life grows with interaction. We do not know if his message will be completely restored, but it is possible. His teaching could begin to flow through the earth again. But that is not in our hands. You have done your part, so now we must move on."

"Where are we going?"

"There are other monuments in this city that you must touch and help to bring back to life. If the people respond to them, streams of living water will begin to flow throughout this city. Then they will join to form a great river. If enough are awakened to those who lived in their past, there will be life in the present, and they will flow together down the great river that will carry them to a glorious future."

"If you are an eagle here, you must have seen into the future of this city. Will that happen here again?" I asked, not wanting to waste time with monuments if it did not produce results.

"It is not our place to be concerned with results. The Lord gives everyone a chance, even when He knows they will reject it. However, when I fly high enough I can see into the future, but only a narrow part of it. I know that life will flow through this city again, and I know that so many of my kind would not be here if the potential of this city were not great.

"It is our place to use the gifts that we have been given and to trust the Lord with the results. You must learn well the lessons of this city. You will then be sent to many cities and nations to do it again. You are called to give life to cities and nations by giving life to their past, their monuments. Others are doing the same, and others are also preparing for the harvest in additional ways, but this is your part."

As I walked and the eagle continued to soar above me, I felt an urge to strike one of the trees of knowledge with my sword just to see what would happen.

"Go ahead," the faint voice above me encouraged.

I struck the tree just above the little fence at its base. The sword easily passed through it. I watched to see if it would fall over, but it did not. Then the fruit began to fall from it. Soon it gave off a terrible stench. I looked at the fruit still on the tree, and it was rotting right before my eyes. I backed far enough away so that none of it would fall on me.

"That's how the Lord cursed the fig tree," I heard the eagle say from above, also marveling at the sight. "That sword is His Word. It can give life, or it can take it."

I then stepped close enough to put the torch to the side of the tree. The fire took to the tree as if it was dry paper, consuming it quickly. There was nothing but ashes. A breeze came that blew the ashes away. Soon there was no evidence that the tree had even been there.

"Those are divinely powerful weapons!" the eagle remarked. "That tree has deceived many people."

"That was fast," I responded. "I can't believe it happened so fast."

"I wouldn't call seventeen years fast," the old eagle retorted, having appeared seemingly out of nowhere. He was obviously irritated.

"You have both been very foolish! Remember, time is not the same here. That is why on the earth patience must be joined to your faith, or you will miss the timing of the Lord. We will have to return to clean up this mess," he said, departing as fast as he had come. He seemed to be in a terrible hurry.

I still did not know why the old eagle had been so irritated. I could also tell that my young eagle friend was likewise confused. I was sorry that he had not explained it to us. I began to walk again and touch more monuments. Soon I could tell that the day was dawning. It was not as dreary either. I knew the sun would soon break through the fog.

"Many thought that this city had no future, that its night had come for good, but its greatest day may just be starting," I said to the young eagle who was still with me.

I could feel a great hope rising in me for the city. I then noticed that he did not seem to hear. He was trying to look far away into the future.

I, too, became lost in my own thoughts. I began to think of the valley, the horse, and the little girl. I wondered if Rivers of Life were about to begin in this city again. I wondered if there was a connection so that they could flow into that valley also.

I became deeply concerned for that brave little girl. Her grace, wisdom, and maturity so far beyond her years made her one of the greatest treasures I had ever found. I wanted to get back, but I knew that what I was being given here, and what I was learning, was part of the plan for her and the valley she was trying to defend.

I looked up again at the eagle. He had obviously seen something, but I could not tell if he was rejoicing or alarmed. As I looked up at him, I soon began to feel what he felt. I knew that my training was almost over. The alarm was about to be sounded. A great battle was about to begin.