‘That’s not true.I’ve only known Dr.Copeland for a few years, so if he was always protecting me, where was he most of my life?”
‘You didn’t need protecting most of your life, Elisheva.He only showed up recently because you’re going to finally need his protection again.’
I hit fast-forward again.
‘Elisheva Batya translates into God’s promise and daughter of God, giving us the promise of God’s daughter, but do you know what Lazarus Copeland means?Lazarus translates into my God is helper, and Copeland translates to owner of land, which gives us God’s help within all the land.Elisheva is the answer to the war between good and evil, and with God’s help-which is you-she can only do that with your protection.’
‘No...no, no, no.This is...this is absurd.Even if I did believe that you were an Archangel, it makes no sense that I’d be chosen for this quest.There are over a billion people in the world, many that are very devout in their beliefs and loyal to their religion...no way would God choose me.”
“And that is where most people get confused.Devoting your life to religion is your choice, not God’s, what with your gift of free will.So, by definition, God’s chosen ones are who He chooses, not the other way around.’
I hit fast-forward again.
‘It’s not a pigment issue.After a few dreams in, one of the soulless tried to pull Elisheva further into the darkness, but you stopped him.However, that wasn’t before his touch marked her for all time, and she is the only person in existence that has the proof of evil branded on her skin.”
“Even if that’s true, that still doesn’t tell us how I’m supposed to defeat these forces of evil.’
‘I will not be telling you that.However, once you fully believe and commit to your destinies, at that time, I will tell you everything.’
Now, while most people would just pretend to believe, so that they could get to the truth, I couldn’t do that.Even on the miniscule chance that Bodhi was really who he’d said he was, there was no way in hell that I was going to get caught lying to an Archangel.
I was also struggling with Bodhi’s truth about my feelings for Lazarus, and I really just wished that they’d go away.Though it rarely happened, on the nights when everything was quiet, and I wasn’t distracted with work or life, I could still feel Lazarus all around me, and it was an unnerving feeling.I could hear his voice like he was right next to me, and I could also smell his cologne like he’d just left my bed.Whenever I was at peace, he was always there, and unfortunately for me, that just added to Bodhi’s claims that Lazarus and I were connected in a way that we shouldn’t be.
Just then, my phone chimed with an incoming text, and despite the piles of work on my desk-an awaiting gift from the three-day weekend-I grabbed my phone to see who was texting me.
Unknown:Do u have time 2 talk 2morrow after work?
Even without recognizing the number, I knew that it could only be Lazarus, and as much as I didn’t want to talk to him, I couldn’t leave this thing with Bodhi unfinished.Whether true or not, I’d been pulled in, and I needed to see this through.
Me:Not until after 5
Unknown:That’ll work.
I set my phone down, then started the recorder again.
‘Because you believe that The Bible has been finished?Because you believe that all these years since that last day are not being recorded for all time?Elisheva, The Bible will never be fully completed as long as God continues to exist, and He will always exist.’
‘So, you’re saying that The Bible will never end, and that we’re just reading an...an installment of its first years?That...that there will always be more?’
“If you think that Heaven has stopped recording miracles, then you are very mistaken, Lazarus.Spiritual history is happening every day, only you’ve all become so used to dismissing these phenomena that you fail to notice all that is going on around you.’
Of course, Bodhi could only be referencing the differences between the Old Testament and the New Testament, which supported his claims that The Bible was a continuous diary of spiritual enlightenment, but if that was true, then who were the scribes that were keeping record now?Where were all these new books of testament?
I let out a deep breath as I considered the unrealistic alternative.On the miraculous take that this was real, how in the hell was I supposed to fight off demons from the underworld?How was one human going to slay a legion of evil and live to tell about it?Of course, that answer was an easy one.
I wasn’t.
If what Bodhi was saying was true, then I was going to be sacrificed for the greater good, and that probably went double for Lazarus.Yeah, we’d be granted eternal life in a kingdom that was indescribable, but right now, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to give this life up just yet.I was also very aware that this was a test of my faith.After all, if I truly believed that all things were possible with God, then why wouldn’t I be able to defeat an army of demons with my own army of angels at my back?
Right?
