“Distance and time are very important where you come from, aren’t they?” Jamal commented. Then, reflecting a bit on what life on Earth must be like, he added, “It must be strange to live in a place where time is so important.”
I could see him trying to imagine what it must be like for me. At last he shrugged and added, “Well, there is sort of a sense of time here too, I guess, but I think we measure change differently than you do. Where you come from, time is mostly measured by the movement of clocks, or changes in your own bodies, or the changes in things around you. We have changes here too. But in this region where the breath of eternity flows through every being and every element of existence, there is no real sense of time as you know it. Still, we do have changes-wonderful changes-and I’ll get into that shortly.
“Anyway,” he said, pointing off in the distance again, “over yonder is that dark region of the wars, where great battles are fought in the spirit. My father often tells me the stories of the wars fought there, the great adventures, and the victories won. Tremendous battles have been fought there. My father is a warrior in the armies of the Prince. All the men of my city are, and I am too, and some day we shall all join in the last, great battle. Oh, what excitement that will be, when we mount the mighty horses trained by my father, Ja-al, and ride across the Great Plain and down into that dark region where all the armies of God shall assemble to break the power of darkness and bring Light back into that land! Oh, what a day that shall be. How I long for that day to come soon!”
Jamal’s eyes were alive with excitement as he spoke, gazing off in the distance at things and places I could not see as yet. He seemed to be speaking of a great, final, triumphant battle some time in the future, when the rulers of darkness would at last be cast down. The Earth would once again be ruled by the Lord of the Host of Heaven, the Prince of Heaven, the Only Begotten Son of the Founding Father, Jesus Himself.
Jamal turned to me excitedly, still caught up in his inner thoughts. “Can you imagine the rejoicing when your world will be set free and brought into the Light again? How we all long for that time!”
His face seemed to shine at just the thought of it. With an effort, he pulled himself back to our present reality, perhaps realizing that I knew relatively little about all these matters and the workings of his world. He looked at me with concern in his eyes. “It must be very hard for you living there where everything is so dark, so confusing…” His voice trailed off a bit again as he mused for a moment longer about what life must really be like for those living on Earth. Then he cheerfully added, with a warm pat on my shoulder, “But I’m so happy you’ve been able to come, if only just for a short while!”
As we walked, he went on trying to fill me in on details about his world. “I could tell you of some of the regions here that I know. But of course I don’t know them all, for there are so many more than I could possibly learn of. There are so many places in our Father’s great Kingdom, bless His Name forever. Someday we’ll get to explore them-but that will take an eternity, don’t you think? Maybe when we’re together again in the future we’ll go exploring, but that may have to wait until the Fallen Ones have been subdued.”
My mind swam through his words, not completely understanding all that he was saying. He noticed my eyes flash with interest at the mention of the Fallen Ones.
“You know,” he said, “the Fallen Ones!-Those angels exiled to the dark region. They were once…” he paused. “Dare I speak of them? They were once fellow citizens and servants in Our Father’s Kingdom. They were once Children of Light. They were magnificent, and none more so than their leader. I can’t tell you all the glories, the wonders, the honor and majesty and privileges they once enjoyed, but they spurned it all and rebelled.
“Yes, even here in this wonderful place given us by God, we’ve had problems. It was sad for our great Founding Father and His Son. But you see, these Holy Ones have kissed all their children with life and given them the freedom of choice, so that we are like gods, able to choose to love and serve God, or reject Him and serve ourselves. One-third of that great assembly was subverted and rebelled and went out from the presence of God in that day. What battles, what a falling away there was then! But the Prince of God, His only Son, Jesus, overcame them with His own blood, and now the end is very near for the armies and leader of the Fallen Ones. Though many of those unhappy creatures still wander through the dark and desert regions in torment, most of them have gathered on Earth to prepare for the final battle. But I will tell you more of those things later. Let us now speak of happier things, for this is a time for rejoicing! Come! Let me show you the city of Tricon, the city of a people who serve in the army of the Great Prince.”
To me, Jamal appeared to be a boy of perhaps 12 years old, yet in his speech and in his eyes I saw a depth of maturity and wisdom far beyond his age, and his spirit reflected the richness and vastness of this timeless place. He was a child of eternity, never having to hurry to grow up-though perhaps he already was grown up! Perhaps he was actually some ancient sage, who chose for my sake to appear in the form of a boy.
Everything here seemed so peaceful. I could hardly imagine there ever being a war, where angels fought pitched battles with degenerated creatures called the Fallen Ones. As we walked and talked, we came to the edge of a rocky outcropping that overlooked the beautiful city of Tricon. The view from the crest of this lofty place was breathtaking! I couldn’t have imagined such a scene in a thousand years. As I looked out across this new land and down at the amazing city below, I wondered how my own world and my life on Earth fit in to all of this. Life on Earth seemed almost insignificant compared to living in this vast dimension, this unimaginable expanse and greater reality that surrounds and engulfs that tiny sphere, the home of humanity. Earth was somehow out there, encased within this greater realm where mighty men and godlike beings ruled and did battle.
Certainly I wanted to know more about the dark forces that held hostage my home world, and how soon their empire would finally weaken and collapse, and what part this friendly boy and his father had to play in our lives and the heavenly wars waged in regions largely hidden from the view of those on Earth. It was hard to imagine that my world had almost since the beginning of time itself been involved in some great celestial battle. I had so much to learn, and I was very curious to learn more. I especially wanted to see and meet the Great Prince, the Only Begotten Son of the Founding Father, the One we served and followed by faith.
2 - The Temple of Tricon
We seemed to climb down from quite a height before entering the city. The buildings of Tricon were of unusual architecture, for they all curved inward toward the center of the city. I can’t quite describe it, but it was not unlike a great flower beginning to open up. From a distance, the buildings seemed to resemble the golden petals of a chrysanthemum opening around a most amazing center. The city had such overall symmetry and beauty that clearly it had been carefully designed and constructed with both artistry and practicality in mind. It was a marvelous work of art, a thing of beauty, a joyful creation set like some precious jewel into the side of rugged but magnificent high ground that overlooked a vast expanse of land. One could see great distances here. Unlike Earth, there didn’t seem to be any noticeable curvature of the surface, so the land seemed to stretch out endlessly in all directions.
Tricon was a marvelous crystal city, and at its center was the most beautiful structure of all-the temple. This towering edifice shone with a great light, and being at the very center of this flower-shaped city, looked much like a large, golden stamen. It was tall, pyramidal in shape, very much like a radio antenna or tower, but it was not made of metal. The whole device seemed to be formed from three columns of light that shone up and out of a foundation of precious stone. These three beams of light converged into a spectacularly bright pinnacle high above the tops of the buildings.