Fire Wind (7 page)

I began to feel sleepy, but then it all
evened out somehow. I wasn’t in the church anymore, but yet somehow
I was. It didn’t make any sense as nothing of the church was around
me and yet I knew what I knew.

I walked forward into what I knew had to be a
dream of some kind. Whether past, present, or future I did not
know. “What’s going on God?” I inquired.

“
Look and see.”

I looked again and there was nothing.
Literally nothing!

The land before me, the Earth, literally
everything was gone.

“God?” I quivered out in great fear.

“
Watch what I did with nothing.”

I saw it all transpire as a fast-moving blur
of realization after realization. The heavens and earth were made
and sights strange to me and yet similar in some ways passed by
with blinding speed. It was as if I was a spectator over countless
eons of time and change that had transpired upon the planet that
had been created from nothing.

Then the pictures that I was looking at
became marred by war, death, and violence beyond any comparison I
could offer. I shivered within the framework of my mind at the
terribleness of the once glorious creation now being destroyed
before me.

“I can’t bear to see any more!”

“
Watch!”

I did and I watched the world as it had once
been destroyed beyond seemingly any repair. My view shifted until I
stood as if in the air above the planet from a great distance
away.

Earth, if that was what it was and yet I knew
it to be, was before me. The planet was cold and lifeless. All the
light was gone from it and the surface was barren ice for as far as
could be seen. It was a forbidding landscape of hopelessness.

I looked and looked but could not place what
I saw within the framework of what I knew of Biblical history. A
warm wave coursed by me and pierced through the darkness
surrounding the planet and seemed to hover over the surface of the
ice.

Ice began to crack up and where extreme cold
had been before warmth began to rise as steam that seemed to wipe
away the ash of the world’s former destruction. I then watched six
literal days of creation play out before me and then as if in a
blink of time I saw the passage of several thousand years pass by
as if but a few seconds had gone by.

In the brief time after the planet’s rebirth
I saw the same elements that had destroyed it over eons of time
still present within the new creation as if hovering on the edges
of a herd of bison waiting for the herd to sicken before moving in
for the kill. In that brief moment it was as clear to me that they
intended to do no less than what they had done before.

As if to back up that thought I heard,
“As
it is written,
‘The thing that hath been, it
is that
which shall be; and that
which is done
is
that which
shall be done: and
there is
no new
thing
under the
sun.’
”

The creatures I saw, no matter their origins,
were now morphed forever into the form of being destroyers of
worlds.

My view expanded past the Earth and I saw the
devastation of both ages past and those quite recent almost
everywhere within the greater created cosmos. The sight of it all
sickened me. Destruction was being carried out on a daily basis
almost everywhere!

“
There is an end, but yet for now time
remains. My Spirit is yet upon the waters and I have not withdrawn
My Divine favor from mankind, whom I created in Mine own image. My
order to My creation of man remains. Be fruitful and have
dominion.”

I was suddenly back in the world I knew
looking out over the desert towards dark. Before my eyes the wind
blew up a maelstrom of sand into the air which then abruptly took
flame and burned as if oil caught on fire. The swirl of flame
seemed to call to me, but in hesitation against the heat of its
brilliance I drew back and suddenly I was falling.

*****

With a start I reared up. Gasping for air I
looked about the darkened church in fright.

“Easy! Easy! It’s all right!”

I looked to the Pastor kneeling beside me on
the floor to then stare about the darkened church.

“I don’t understand! How long was I out?”

“About eight hours. What did you see Taran?”
The Pastor asked, with keen interest.

I clutched at my head with both hands. What
had I not seen?

Looking to him I said, “Some of what I saw I
understood, so much of what I saw at first I have no comprehension
of.”

“What did you see?” The Pastor asked
patiently.

“At first a period of time that seemed
without end. The Earth and its surface was all different. Creation
as you and I know it was different. It took time, but eventually it
all became destroyed. The planet was left cold and dark. It seemed
to be covered in ice. Much how you read in Genesis I then saw the
days of creation unfold over six literal days. From there I could
comprehend what was going on, but the time before? Is such an
expanse of time even possible? I thought we were the only thing God
created.”

The Pastor shook his head and leaned over to
snare a Bible off of a pew. Turning it he showed me the binding and
said, “The Bible wasn’t first written in English. This is but a
translation off the original scrolls written in ancient Hebrew and
there are quite a few flaws with the translation. Most notably in
the first few verses of the Bible. For years I believed that the
creation of the Earth occurred in the six days of creation, but
looking further I discovered a translation error. Here I’ll read it
to you in the English first and then I’ll read how the verses
should’ve been properly translated.
“In the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth.
 
And the earth was without form, and void; and
darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters.”

Pastor Lonigan looked up to me and said, “The
most notable translation issue is with the word, ‘
was
’. It
should have been translated as the word, “
became
” from the
ancient Hebrew and perhaps a better way of expressing the meaning
of the Hebrew then saying, ‘
without form and void
’ would be
to say, ‘
ruin and uninhabitable’
. Instead of “
moving
”
in verse two the correct translation from Hebrew is
‘
vibrate
’. Here’s what the first two verses should read as,
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
 
And the earth
became
a
ruin
, and
uninhabitable
; and darkness was upon the face
of the deep. And the Spirit of God
vibrated
upon the face of the waters.”
Tell me Taran did you see the
ice covering the planet broken up?”

“Yes I did!”

“Well that explains that part of the mystery
to me now. I always wondered what ‘
vibrating
’ could have to
do with the Spirit of God. Now I see. It seems hard to fathom, but
it’s rather simply laid out that there was an indeterminate period
of time between the first two verses of Genesis and then verse
three where God actively starts the re-creation of His earlier
creation, by making a great light, and a separation of light from
darkness, which at the completion of He said was the end of Day 1.
It seems rather clear that the creation of the heavens and earth in
verses one and two are separate from verse three and yet many do
not see that distinction, but choose to loop the first two verses
in with verse three and claim that it all transpired on Day 1, in
spite of the fact that God specifically outlines exactly what
transpired on Day 1. I think it interestingly collaborative that
God’s first action of recreation in verses 3-5 was to create a
great light and thus the creation of heat by which a frozen planet
could begin to be thawed out by. Well what do you think Taran?

I stared at him astonished at the
possibilities, “So you think the great expanse of time I saw
could’ve happened?”

“Yes, I believe so. Indeed I believe you have
been gifted with a great insight, but tell me how what you saw is
of help to us now?”

“I saw them, the white hairs and many others.
I saw what they were before and how they came to be. They are old
and their hatred for us is real. They have no hope and they hate us
for the redemption we have in God’s Son. They would’ve killed us
long ago, but the Spirit of God has been holding them back. They
are far more advanced than us.”

“Then how do we fight them?”

I looked him in the eye, “I didn’t say they
were stronger than us.”

Just then I heard a peel of laughter drift
into the church off the evening breeze. I glanced from the open
windows of the church to the Pastor and mentally sized him up.

I felt different somehow now and going on the
faith inspired in me by all I had seen I said, “Last night this
church, indeed your whole congregation of believers was spiritually
attacked. Are you ready to defend the faith and claim victory?”

“I am!” The older man said thumping his Bible
to his knee.

Smiling I got to my feet and extending a hand
to the Pastor I said, “Well come on preacher man I know where a
monster of old exists in the flesh.”

He looked at me oddly, but took my hand.
Pulling him up I headed for the door with him close behind.

Twilight was passing by and the evening of
the day, when life seemed to settle down was upon us, but tonight I
felt alive with the challenge of what I felt to be my new
commission in life. Whether I died or lived I didn’t much care,
because for the first time in years I had the joy of feeling
completely alive.

My God had brought me this new life and to
Him I would dedicate what remained of it.

Edgar and his lady love of the night before
were together just outside the café. I tipped my hat to both, but
didn’t stop.

Angus was putting his ‘Closed’ sign in place
and I stopped to tap him on the shoulder and say, “Come along
Brother Angus. I have need of you.”

Angus blinked, but didn’t hesitate to drop in
alongside of the Pastor and follow along behind as I continued on
down the boardwalk.

Thaddeus stepped into my path with his usual
overbearing manner. There was a queer anxiety to be seen in his
beady eyes as he said, “I heard you got religion Marshal.”

“Get out of my way!” I said testily.

“Now Marshal don’t be going and doing
something you might be regretting later. I for one don’t think it’s
a good thing to be mixing too much religion with a position of
governance and all. Now maybe we should just simmer down and……”

Angus cut in hotly, “What are you blathering
about man?”

“He’s just doing as he’s been trained Angus.
Thaddeus, the towns under new management and if you can’t change
then I think it’s time for you to be moving on.” I said point
blankly into his face.

Belligerently Thaddeus drew himself up to
say, “Who do you think you are to threaten me? I hired you and I
can fire you!”

“Well since I’m fired there’s nothing to be
said about me doing this!” I said, as I slugged him in the gut.

He pitched over gasping and I straightened
him back up with a roundhouse right that had his eyes doing strange
things. He started to fall, but grasping ahold of his collar I drug
him along behind me as I made my way towards the dance hall
saloon.

Reaching the double doors I busted through
them with a quite sizable party of townspeople in tow. The eyes of
everyone in the place were on us.

With gasps of exclamation saloon girls
cleared out of the way and shot glasses of whiskey toppled off
their trays to crack onto the floor loudly. Men forgot their poker
chips and drawn hands of cards as they tumbled out of their chairs
and to their feet in sudden fear of incarceration for past
misdeeds.

In general a state of alarm gripped the
saloon and everyone in it except for the woman in red, who stared
at me with cold disdain.

Coolly measured words flowed smoothly off her
lips, “Look what the tomcat drug in. My my Marshal come to raid us
already? I already offered you more than any man in your pathetic
position could ever hope to achieve for himself.”

She could talk a good case all she wanted,
but I was through with formalities. Shoving Thaddeus onto a nearby
poker table I took my hand and wiped it across his broken nose and
then smoothly I spun to drag my bloodied hand down the side of the
saloon mistress’s face.

“Take that Princess of words and be
damned!”

She’d drawn back from my touch, but not
quickly enough. Wisely I stepped back, as I watched her torment
begin. The dying indian in the desert had been right.

The blood on her cheek was a red stain of
crimson against the white of her skin, but her skin was changing.
The struggle in her eyes was disgusting to behold as with
increasing euphoria she tried to gaze at the blood on her face out
of eyes that were suddenly very much not human.

A forked tongue sprang out to swab at the
blood on her now scaly cheek and with gasps of horror everyone in
the place drew back in fright. Everyone that is except for me and
the two men that I’d asked to come along. Both stood behind me with
hands on my back as they fell into deep prayer.

With the blood gone the creature of green
scales, cat eyes, and a forked tongue slid out of the booth. The
size of the creature increased and the red dress fell off from her
in shreds.

The look in its eyes was insane hatred that
was centuries in the making for the likes of me and my kind.
Feeling the directed anger of the skin walker at me I responded out
of the anger that I felt, “I’ve seen much. Enough to know that your
kind and the kind that killed that poor boy and his people are at
enmity with each other. At least most of the time. Then there are
those times that you unite around a common cause. A sincere man of
faith along with a faithful following of believers in the one true
God constitutes such a threat, because their access to power is far
greater than your own. You run the town, but the Pastor was too
much for you so you brought in outside help. The white hairs
performed the sacrifice, but you were the one who ate the boy’s
heart and drank his blood. Unfortunately for you your enemy of old
brought in outside help too. I’m not letting you leave this place
alive!”