GHOUL OR GOD
(a fictional short story)
by
Steffan M. Bertsch
The fresh scent of dew and a stream of a golden sunrise cresting over the hill awakened me as I stretched and climbed out of my sleeping bag. Id been in the North Cascades for two days trying to get my head clear. Australians call it a walk-about, American Indians refer to it as a vision quest, but, Ijust called it time to get in touch with myself and my Creator.
I cast my eyes across the lake, calm and smooth, when a kingfisher broke the plane and scooped out a fingerling and flew off to a nearby fir tree to enjoy his prize. The ripples in the lake lapped ever towards me, and soon I wondered whether I should join the bird and eat some breakfast. Fifty feetfrom me were some wonderful blackberries, so I carried a small pan to the cache to fill it, tasting thesweet morsels as I picked.
With my mind on the delightful pan of berries, I sat on a stump and kicked some sand in the air to see that there was no breeze whatsoever, and then thanked God for the beautiful morning I was experiencing. After eating ten or so berries, I heard a rustle, and turned around to see a woman approaching my site. She was ordinary looking in most standards, most noticeable because of the light-weight clothing she wore in the cool mountains.
"Hello," she called. "May I have a word with you?"
"Surely," I said, and gestured her to join me and extended my pan to offer her some berries which she politely refused. My mind raced. For two days, Id been in the wilderness, and seen no people, and,now, walking into my campsite was a woman wearing clothes more fitting for a tropical paradise thanthese mountains. While considering this anomaly, I noticed she was barefoot. "Are you lost?" I asked.
She threw back her head and chuckled. "No, Tommis, no. Im not lost."
"Wha . . . ? How do you know my name?" This was getting a bit weird, and I was beginning to wonder what to do about this lady in my campsite.
"Ill leave if you want," she said, "but, Id really like to give you a message."
I began to shiver and tried to cover my discomfort but
my teeth began to chatter. "Its a bit cool.
Would you like to borrow a coat?"
"Im never cold, but thank you just the same."
My shaking stopped and I caught a glimpse of a golden aura about her head, which caused me to stare in disbelief. Thankfully, the illusion faded when I stared her face, and I soon decided that it had justbeen the way the sunrise caught her hair that had played the trick on my mind. While I stared her, I sawno impressive or distinct features except for the warmest eyes Ive ever encountered. "Okay, whats the message you have for me?"
"Well, its been noticed that you are at a crossroads and need a bit of direction."
"Noticed! Noticed! Noticed by whom?"
She smiled, "Im not at liberty to say. If you reflect upon it, you will know who sent me."
"Then, who are you?"
This time she laughed, "Same answer."
"All right. Tell me what you can."
"Im here to tell you that you are right on the fence, and can have either a trip to heaven or hell when your life is complete on this earth."
"Thats enough coyness and cuteness. Time to leave, lady!" I pointed down a trail.
"If you want, Ill leave." As she turned, the fuzzy golden sphere again covered her head.
I blinked, and it was still there. "No," I said,
as I decided to see what this mysterious lady had to say.
"Ill listen."
She sat on the ground, stirred the sand with her bare feet, and invited me to do the same. I sat, but kept my shoes on.
"You are at a juncture," she said. "Which place do you wish to go after your life is finished here?"
"Heaven, of course. I dont even know if there is a hell."
"Which is exactly why Ive been sent. I need to tell you that there are two separate and distinct beings about your planet that you refer to as gods. The one you follow will decide whether you will have an Eternal or a temporary afterlife, and the quality thereof."
"You mean God in the singular, dont you?"
Her eyes sparkled, and I couldnt tell whether she was smiling or frowning. "Thats the problem down here. There are two, but, because of much confusion, most think all is One. It is by design, by trick, and by deceit that earthlings so believe. Really, there is only One Divine Creator, but, through an experiment which I shant attempt to explain now, an accident occurred and another being was created which has many powers but the other is certainly not God This being has throughtrick, guile and deception, taken over a portion of creation and pretended to be the original creator thereof and it has defied its Creator."
"Are you talking about Satan?" I asked.
"Thats a good name for it, though it goes by many others."
"If theres going to be further discussion on these lines, could we for simplicity, call the two beings God and Satan?" I asked hopefully.
She smiled. "Of course. Now, it so happens that God created this world along with all His creatures, but Satan has swooped down, usurped the territory and modified it in such a way that it is unrecognizable from the original and it integrated its own creatures with Gods so that nobody can tell the difference between the two by looking at them."
I frowned. "You mean were all mixed together, children of Satan and children of God?"
"Exactly."
"And, what race is the children of God?"
She laughed. "No race at all. Theyre every race, both genders, and of many ideologies. Satans children blend in perfectly with Gods. In most families there will be mixed both children of God and those who are not. Satan always works by appearances or illusions, so his children look just like Gods."
"I thought it was a belief system. That people can select or choose God."
"They can. They certainly can. If they can tell the difference between Satan and God. Very few children of Satan choose God because Satan designed them to be repulsed by Divine Love, to be self-centered, egotistic, arrogant, bigoted and hateful. Satans children really dont have what you call a conscience. They dont care about right and wrong; they only care about whether they get caught.
"Gods children are different. They have an inner
guidance; they know right from wrong. No laws are necessary to
stop Gods children from committing murder, rape or robbery.
They know in their hearts its wrong. If one of Gods
children commits a theft but is not caught, he still suffers for
what he has done because he knows it's wrong. If one of Satans
children steals but is not caught, he feels great for pulling
off the perfect crime. Satans children must be told what
they can or cant do. Thats because they only know
evil, theyve been programmed that way. If there are no
restraints upon them, theyll all murder, lie and cheat.
Thats what they were made to do. Gods
children only choose Satan if they are deceived into accepting
the pretenders lies."
"So, I can tell Gods children by whether theyre crooks or not?"
"You could, if you really understood what a crook was.
On this planet, Satan mostly rewards his children and punishes
Gods children. But, lets go back to this heaven or
hell choice of yours.
Earlier this morning, as you were picking blackberries, you were
thinking that this was as close to heaven as youve ever
been, werent you?"
"How did you know that? Can you read my thoughts?" I stared accusatorily. A few moments of silence passed. "Okay, yes, I was thinking that," I finally admitted.
"Do you think it was heaven for the fish the bird caught this morning?"
"You saw that too? Of course you did! Well, not really for the fish, but the bird seemed very contented with its catch."
"Dont you think fish have feelings? Dont you think they have a right to live?"
"Well, Im certain they suffer before they are eaten. But, theyre part of the food chain. Isnt it their job to be eaten or to eat others?"
"Do you think a Loving God would make them part of this . . . food chain?"
"Id never thought of it. Theyve always been in the water to eat or be eaten. Since God made this world, I guess its part of the Divine Plan that I dont really understand. Can you answer it for me?"
She furrowed her brow. "God did not create a food chain."
"Wait a minute, if God created the earth and the creatures thereof, he certainly must have created a food chain for us to survive."
"Thats the key," she said. "God made each of His creatures Eternal, so they would never know death. Satan came upon the earth and corrupted it so all creatures know death. So all creatures are in this ungodly . . . food chain. Do you think that kingfisher enjoyed killing the fish?"
"It seemed to," I said.
"And you. Do you enjoy killing those berries as you eat them?"
I glanced at my stained fingers, then at the pan, then again
at my fingers. "I never thought about it.
But, I guess they will die in my stomach."
"Thats because theyre part of the food chain. This is a kill-or-be-killed world. God never intended it to be that way, but Satan has turned it has corrupted the Divine Creation. Satan has made all the creatures so they must eat one another. And, they are so conditioned to feast on others, that they no longer realize that all existence on this earth is now parasitic. They have become so conditioned by Satan that they care not about others, only about self-preservation."
"The way you talk, Satan is more powerful than God."
"On this planet, yes, for now. Certainly you know the parable about how God planted his crop on the world, an Eternal and Divine Crop. In the night, Satan came and sowed tares, took over the field, developed a food chain, and forced all of Gods children to eat one another. God has had to sit back and watch as the weeds choke the life out of His children because of various tricks and maneuvers Satan has pulled on and about this planet to hold temporary control of it. Now, is the time that the weeds and the wheat will be separated. God is rescuing His children from Satans realm. Those who follow Satan will stay with their ghoul; those who follow God, will be harvested and removed from Satans control."
I closed my eyes and tried to comprehend what she had just said. After several minutes, I opened them and asked, "You said I was at the crossroads, how can I take the correct path?"
"You must detach yourself from things of this physical world and seek those things of the God of Love, those things which are Eternal and not temporal. You must do all that you can for the Loving God, you must know God in your heart, and you must strive ever to avoid that which assists the ghoul that is in control of this planet. Satan controls the schools, governments, businesses, bankers, militaries, nations, literally everything upon this planet."
"Everything?"
"Yes, everything. All that is done on the physical
earth is being done to keep up the illusion. God is correcting
that as we speak. He is breaking down the walls and illusions
created by Satan. That is necessary before the harvest. Satan
is being forced to expend most of its energy to hold up its fraudulent
taxes, fraudulent money, fraudulent courts, fraudulent commerce
and fraudulent countries. If those frauds are exposed, then
Satan will lose many of its followers that now think nothing of
preying upon people in business and trade. Like those who devour
others in the food chain without a thought, so do the people in
business devour the consumers without it bothering their consciences.
They have never thought about it. Satan has kept almost everyone
from knowing that all the worlds a stage and all the people
are merely players. But, now, because of the rescue, Satan is
so busy keeping his fraudulent money and commerce afloat, it cant
keep the
illusion that the earth is a paradise going.
"Satan is such a ghoul that it would rather let the earth die from disease, earthquakes, volcanoes, storms, and global warming, which is not unlike a fever you run when you are sick, than to attend to the planet. In other words, Satan knows its time is up, but it will keep up the illusion until the last possible day to keep as many in its flock as possible. To choose God is to choose Eternal Love. The other choice is the food chain."
"How do I know that youre not a trickster, of the darkness . . . a . . . ghoul?"
"For that, you must search your heart and decide whether you wish to believe any or all of what I have said. That is the message I was to give you. Now I will go."
I closed my eyes for a second, and opened them to find nobody
in my site. I looked around and could not see her in the distance.
I called out, but there was no answer. When I returned to the
campsite, I looked where she had just been sitting in a patch
of dry sand, but could find no tracks left by her bare feet.