Faith

---

Faith
“A Behind the scenes look at the battle for human souls”

By Dan Blankenship
© 2003




Faith…it’s a word people use many ways. To some faith is the belief in anything that benefits oneself. To others it is a way to explain the power that keeps us trying, pushes us forward when the winds of despair break through to scar our face with constant blowing sand. “We need faith to make it through this trial,” her mama used to say. She remained saying it, even as the Emphysema caused her limbs to turn purple and black. Indeed, it was faith her mama had. Not just the kind of faith that could move mountains, but the kind of faith that supported her mama in maintaining a joyful spirit while a mountain came crashing down on her fragile body.

The tombstone read Karen Rose Antich Born June 7th, 1922 Died September 21, 1982, and that was all. It seemed entirely ignorant for a tombstone to say so little about the deceased, especially this deceased. It hurt; these twice a year visits to a few words and dates carved in marble; supposedly representing the lasting memory of a woman few people knew the way Kelly knew her. She knew the woman who had battled the caustic effects of poverty and a lack of real education, to raise children determined to break that cycle of failure. Kelly was more successful than her mother ever got to witness, unless of course she could now see Colleen, Michael and her from heaven. The thought intrigued her, no it engulfed her, and for a few seconds she felt lightheaded, nausea beginning to infiltrate her senses. Twenty years of visiting this monument to her mother and she had never had a single thought about heaven. Strange, she thought.


\

The demon, damaged wings and gray, slime-covered body, slithered up to the shining being of heaven, leaving its battle sword sheathed for now. “What are you doing, Jehal? You have never interfered with this one before. Why are you here?”

“Quiet fallen one…I have little patience for you or your juvenile comrades. If you draw that weapon you will also swallow it,” Jehal replied, keeping his hand on Kelly’s shoulder.

Vikal stepped backwards, examining the handle of his ancient blade, wondering if Jehal was serious. No angelic-warrior had ever made him swallow a sword before. It sounded painful. Vikal backed off and watched as jehal continued to stand with the earth puppet, as he called them. She wasn’t going to listen, Vikal convinced himself. She was a successful banker, happily married, and dedicated to her children. Embracing and accepting the carpenter’s gift was the last thing on her mind! The college her children will attend is too high on the priority list, clouding her mind from the eternal. He would wait, and attack when the time was right. This earth puppet had no soldiers of prayer on her side; the Carpenter would not gain this one!

\

Kelly scratched her shoulder. For some reason she began thinking again about faith, her mama’s faith in particular. Kelly just didn’t have it - not like she did. She wanted to have it, but people in the real world knew Jesus was just a man, granted a very great man. The possibility that he came back from the dead just didn’t sit well with Kelly. And if he did come back to life, why ascend into heaven and leave his people? It had to be wishful thinking; this thing called Christianity. She turned to leave…but something stopped her dead in her tracks. She could swear she heard a scream. Not the kind of scream associated with someone in distress, but the kind of scream a soldier might yell as he went into battle. But there wasn’t a person in site, anywhere in the cemetery.

Kelly started walking again, this time more slowly. For some reason the phantom cry made her think about one of the few times her mother tried to explain to her why she embraced faith in the Bible and its message. “There ain’t no way,” her mama clarified, “them eleven disciples would have turned away from Jesus during the time they hung Him on the cross. Then come runnin’ back to His defense later on, only to be scalded in oil, crucified upside down, and have their heads chopped off. The only thing that could have changed their minds was seeing Jesus resurrected.”

Kelly had responded by asking about other religions that had people die for their causes, like suicide bombers or the Japanese Kamikaze pilots during World War II.

Her mama stood firm. “Honey, most them Kamikaze pilots had the tops them planes welded shut and only nuff gasoline to make it to their target. And them suicide bombers…they get their families set up real nice by other governments who believe like they do. They also kill others or hurt others by their suicides. Those men that died for Jesus didn’t gain any earthly thing, weren’t forced to do it by some crazy plot to take over the world. They died cause they refused to deny the resurrected Son of God and the message he brought. They’re up in heaven with Jesus cause God wanted it that way, not cause they went looking for a cause to die for.” The nauseous feeling returned to Kelly’s insides as she realized her mama’s words had stuck with her all these years. She felt a tear thread down her face. What was happening?


\
“Back off!” Jehal yelled, his blinding, gold sword clanging against the blades of four smaller but very quick demons. The battle was fierce and Jehal began to fear he might be overtaken. Vikal had acquired the help of three grunts, eager to help the much larger Vikal defeat one of his oldest rivals. Jehal kicked one of the demons in the midsection, sending him spiraling into a tree, which he passed right through – as demons do. One prayer is all Jehal needed; just one prayer offered up for any lost soul, and he would be allowed to call on other servants of the Host to help him fend off the pests that encompassed him.

“Give it up Jehal!” Vikal hissed, slashing his blade about like a child pretending to be a pirate. Jehal could easily beat him in a fair fight. But demons never fought fair. It was against their code of ethics. “You picked the wrong time to make your move. How much longer are you going to drag this on, Jehal!”

“The only reason you brought your friends is because the human is about to embrace the Holy one,” Jehal replied, his strength beginning to build as Kelly examined her mother’s words from more than twenty years ago.

A demon slashed at his leg with a small knife, Jehal moving away just in time. Jehal spread his wings and chased the fleeing demon. It had the nerve to cry out, “I wasn’t gonna cut you! I was just distracting you…so Vikal could maybe…ummmm…cut you…oops.” And with one giant arc of his sword, Jehal sent the demon back to the underworld from which he crawled. One down, three to go.

\


Kelly was sitting in her car, thinking. All the college, all the money, all of the security she had, but she still didn’t have what her mama had – peace of mind, a sincere and honest faith in something more than just a belief system. It was the belief itself that propelled her mama, not the other way around. It was real, not imagined, not man-made, like Kelly always wanted to believe. She could see that now. It wasn’t her mother who was creating her own truth and running away from reality. It was Kelly who created the safe world, where there were no absolute right or wrong; no Supreme Being to offend or praise; no research efforts into the things that please the Creator. Why today, she thought. Then she heard that voice. The voice she longed to hear for the last twenty years; her mama’s voice, “Today’s as good a day as any, darlin’.”

The tears came. They came like never before, and time stopped. Kelly’s world stopped. The worrying about her job, her children, her husband, and even her laundry…it all stopped. And for a while she sat there, just her and Jesus. She spoke to Him out loud, the way she would talk to anyone she cared about. Only this conversation was for eternity, this relationship forever, this love everlasting, and the momentum of the occasion propelled Kelly to emotions she never knew existed. She felt love for a Savior that snatched her burden, hate for the devil that had led her astray for thirty-seven years, joy for the time she had left to walk with the King of Kings, and a longing to study the Word she had foolishly ignored. Her shirt was soaked with tears as she started the car. She didn’t even look at the clock in her automobile. Time was irrelevant right now. She had all the time she needed now. She had eternity and something she was always seeking…faith. Her mama’s faith, and now hers.


\

Jehal, now joined by two of his own team, cried out in joy as the demons retreated. Vikal was left all alone, his weapon once again holstered at his side.

“How did you know she would be ready today?” Vikal asked, green sludge dripping from his lip as he circled Kelly’s car that had still not driven away.

“Actually, she wasn’t ready today. But you helped me get her ready, you and your pack of ugly ones,” Jehal responded, sitting on the hood of Kelly’s car.

“Helped you? What do you mean we helped you?”

Jehal hopped off the hood of the car and walked briskly up to Vikal. Vikal jumped backwards, tripping over his own feet for fear Jehal would strike him. “Have you ever heard of the term ‘you’re trying too hard’?” Jehal asked.

The realization struck Vikal like a lightening bolt. He had made the oldest mistake in the endless battle, letting the enemy feel your presence. Nothing can send a lost soul to the other side faster than feeling the existence of evil firsthand. Vikal left the scene defeated, looking back only long enough to watch the car drive away. His master would be upset. There would indeed be – hell to pay.

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE