Chapter 8: THE TREE AND ITS FRUIT

I was running as fast as I could toward the place where I had cut down the tree with my sword. I knew something terrible had happened, but I could not understand what it was.

Then I began to smell a terrible stench, like rotting fruit, but it was far more pungent than any I had ever smelled. It was then that I saw it-a tree that towered over all others. It reached such a height that it covered a large section of the avenue of monuments. Its leafy boughs were so thick that it was dark beneath it.

As I proceeded toward it, I began to hear crashing noises which became louder as I moved closer. I slowed down as every sense within was telling me that this was more ominous than anything I had ever faced.

I then heard voices. At first there were just a few, but as I got closer it sounded like there were many, maybe hundreds. Then it sounded like thousands. The stench and the air created by this tree wrought a depression that was like a choking fog. I finally had to stop because I just could not bear to go any closer. Then one of the eagles spoke up.

"This is not good!"

"Anyone can tell this is not good!" I retorted. "It would be a little more helpful to know what this is."

"This tree-it is not supposed to be like this," the young eagle said, with an obvious trembling in his voice.

"This is the result of your own impatience, ignorance, and immaturity," the old eagle interjected, who had just landed behind me.

"What happened? How is this the result of my mistake?" I demanded.

"You foolishly cut down one of the trees and did not plant the torch in its place. You know very well that every time you displace the devil, or one of his strongholds, he will try to return, and if he can he will come back many times more powerful."

"I did not think about that. It is still hard to believe that one brief moment of carelessness on my part could have caused all of this!"

"The weapons we have been entrusted with are very powerful, but you must never destroy a work of the devil unless you can replace it with the works of God. If you destroy a planting of the devil, you had better plant that which is of God in its place and be ready to defend it," the old eagle elaborated with obvious chastisement in his tone.

"But the eagle who was with me told me to 'go ahead' when I wanted to cut down the tree," I protested. "We both felt it was the right thing to do."

"The young eagles are here to help you, and they can help you, but they are still young eagles. It does not matter who is with you or who agrees with you; you are always responsible for your own actions.

"Many who are given great knowledge do not have great wisdom. You have walked with Wisdom Himself and He abides in you. It is wisdom to inquire of the Lord before you use the authority and the weapons that He has given to you. Wisdom may still speak to you through one of us, but He will mostly speak to you through your own heart. Your obedience is to Him, not to young eagles or to old ones!"

I felt the old eagle's frustration, but I had to press him for all the understanding I could get. I was overwhelmed by the thought of having caused such a great problem.

"If I had planted the torch in its place, I would not have had it to continue touching the monuments with," I protested.

"First, you should not have cut down the tree without the command of the Lord. Then, if He commands you to do such a thing and you have to plant the torch, you do it even if it means waiting for a time. Every time you plant this torch it will multiply. Everything planted which is the Father's will bear more fruit and multiply.

"It may seem incomprehensible to you to have to wait for that because you are so impatient, but His kingdom grows more through the patient bearing of fruit than through attacking the works of the devil. There is a time for attacking the strongholds of the devil, but that is never the main work of the kingdom.

"Remember this: You will not be judged by how many monuments you awaken, even though it is a part of your calling. Neither will you be judged by how many of these trees planted by the devil that you cut down. You will be judged on how obedient you were. Now, this lesson is over.

"We have a great battle on our hands. It is certainly wisdom that we now press on without delay. This tree is still growing, and the enemy means to have this city, which cannot be allowed."

I started walking forward again. I knew that the old eagle was telling me the truth. I had foolishly used what had been entrusted to me, and now I had brought on a great conflict which had not been necessary and one that we were not ready for.

All of the eagles were walking beside me, including the older one.

"Couldn't you be a little more helpful by flying?" I asked.

"It is hard to fly in this kind of air," one of them answered with the obvious agreement of the rest.

"Hard? Well it's hard for me to walk, but I know I must do it. Can you fight on the ground like this?"

"Not very well," the old eagle confessed. "You are right. We must fly."

With that he lifted slowly into the air, and the others began to follow. They did not go far or very high, and I was glad that they didn't. The farther we walked, the more evil it felt. I did not want to go on. The depression grew into a gripping fear.

Soon I wanted to just abandon the whole city and start again somewhere else. If the eagles had not provided the company and covering above me, there is no way I could have continued. Even so, I was going slower and slower. Shortly, I was gasping because of the great stench.

While still at a distance from the tree, I could see what was making the crashing noise. It was the fruit dropping from the tree. It was so heavy that it crashed through the roofs of buildings and houses. When it hit the street, it splattered with such force that it was like a bomb. When each one hit, a putrid fog would rise from where it fell.

Then I saw where the voices were coming from. There were great crowds of people who had come to eat the fruit. They were devouring it as if it were a delicious delicacy. It was so repulsive that I had to turn away to keep from vomiting. I felt the old eagle standing beside me.

"You had better watch this," he demanded. "You must understand what the fruit is doing to the people. Wave the sword! Hold up the torch!"

I looked down at the sword and torch that I had in my hands. I had almost forgotten them and was just dragging them along. As I began to wave the sword, a gentle, refreshing breeze began to blow around us. It was like getting oxygen again.

I waved it more and more until I could see that the breeze was touching the eagles who were hovering above. With the fresh air, our vision improved quickly. Slowly confidence began to replace our fears.

I then lifted the torch as high as I could. The torch was growing brighter because of the breeze that the sword had released. Hope and resolve began to displace the depression in our group. With the sword and torch we were creating our own atmosphere.

As I looked up I could tell that the eagles all felt the thrill of flying. Great faith began rising in all of us for the coming battle. The weapons which had been given to us were greater than what we were facing. I began praying earnestly for the wisdom to use them the right way this time. I started to move ahead but was arrested by the old eagle who barked:

"STOP! Do not go one step farther!"

I froze in my tracks. "What's the matter?" I asked, stunned a bit by the force of his command.

"You were all about to be killed. It is good to have courage, but do you not have any wisdom at all?"

"What are you talking about?" I demanded. "How were we about to be killed? What we have is obviously much more powerful than any weapon of the enemy."

"That is true, but the fruit falling from this tree could have wiped you all out at once. As I said before, we need to stand here and watch what the fruit is doing to the people. We must be sure to go only where there is no fruit about to fall."

I knew right away that the old eagle was right. I felt as foolish and immature as a child. I apologized. I could tell the young eagles all felt chastised as well.

I then began to watch the people who were the closest to us and were eating the fruit. I started waving the sword again, which I had stopped doing for just a few moments after the old eagle's rebuke. I was surprised by how foul the air had become in just those few moments.

As I raised the torch again, light came back into our eyes so that we could see better. However, it soon became obvious that the people in the fog could not see us at all. They seemed to be almost totally blind, only able to see for a few feet or so. This caused them to grope like animals for the fruit for which they seemed ravenously hungry.

As the people ate the fruit, they became pale and grew thinner. Some were gorging the fruit down as if they were starving, and the faster they ate, the faster they lost weight as diarrhea was flowing from them. This was a large part of the stench, but these people did not seem to even notice.

As they continued to eat, sores began to grow on them. The pain from the sores was obviously excruciating as they brushed up against one another, causing them to strike at the person they had touched. This drove the people farther and farther from each other.

We watched until those we were observing began to die. Some began to kill others who got close to them. Violence was growing, and so was the paranoia and depression. I could not imagine a scene out of Hell itself being any worse.

"The devil does not just like to kill, but he loves to torment," the old eagle remarked. "In everything he does, he tries to reduce human beings to the lowest animal state. He thinks if he can cause such humiliation to men who were made in the image of God, it is a way to mock God Himself."

It was a terrible, grotesque sight, and steadily getting worse. As the depravity grew, it was soon hard to believe that these were humans.

"A pack of dogs has more dignity," I thought.

I then noticed the blood on the ground. It was being sucked into the earth as if by a slow, but powerful, vacuum cleaner. As I watched, I could tell it was being drawn into the roots of the tree. The blood was its food. In the place where there was a terrible battle and much death, I looked up and could see that the branches above it were growing faster and producing more of the deadly fruit.

"We can wait no longer, or the whole city will be lost," one of the eagles cried out. "We must do something."

I knew he was right, but I also knew if we had proceeded without the knowledge of what we had just observed, we would not have survived our brave charge into the darkness.

I also began to feel that anyone who was working for peace on earth was doing the Lord's work. Any kind of bloodshed was feeding the root of these evil trees, which were producing this evil fruit, and were increasing the evil one's grip on the earth.

"What should we do?" I asked the old eagle.

"That is why you are here," he responded. "I can give you knowledge and sometimes wisdom, but it is not my place to lead in a battle like this."

"But it was my foolishness which led to this, and then I almost got us killed!" I protested. "Certainly I am not the one to lead in a fight like this!"

"Maybe you are now humble and teachable enough to do just that," the old eagle retorted, obviously resolute that he was not going to lead and I was.

I knew there was no time to argue, so I just did what I felt needed to be done until an obvious leader appeared. I called all of the eagles together and organized them into two groups, appointing leaders for each one.

The first group was to fly ahead and find a path where the fruit was not about to fall. They were also to attack any fruit that they could obviously make fall prematurely. This would help clear the path more, and hopefully the premature fruit would be too unripe for the people on the ground to eat.

The second group was to go behind the first. They were to look for any fruit that had been missed or was growing so fast that it became a threat to us. I asked the old eagle to stay close to me, which he agreed to do.

As I began to walk forward, the eagles all flew ahead to do their jobs. I continued waving the sword and raising the torch. As I did this, I felt strength flowing into my arms, and even my feet began to feel lighter. Soon this was purifying the air and giving light for a good distance.

This was crucial because the eagles could go no farther than the light from the torch and air from the sword, or they would choke and start getting sick.

After proceeding slowly for what seemed to be hours, we began to hear a terrible commotion in the distance. There were thousands of raging voices. A chill went through us all. I could even tell that the old eagle was growing tense. Obviously, a great battle was taking place ahead.

Did we dare to continue? Who was fighting? Where was our leader? I looked back to see if anyone was coming to help us. I could not see or hear anyone, but I did notice that fruit was again falling on the path not far behind us. I just could not believe how quickly it was growing.

I also knew that we were trapped. We could not go back, and we could not stay where we were. There was nowhere to go but forward, and I did not need the old eagle to tell me that.