The Old Prophet and the Man of GOD

1


Cynthia had just started dating Johnny when she started having the nightmares. These were like no dreams she had ever had before. At times she would wake up with a parched, dry throat, and the feeling that she had been spent the night out in the scorching sun. At other times, she awoke even more tired than she had gone to bed, with the distinct impression that she had spent the night walking through thick dense marsh lands. The green, humid stench of these swamps filled her nostrils as she climbed out of bed to get ready for work and she couldn't help wonder how it was possible for dreams to feel so real. Johnny appeared considerate and caring when she mentioned these dreams to him, but did not seem to take her too seriously when she when she started talking some nonsense about an old prophet and a man of God. He was just happy to have finally snagged the girl of his dreams – he didn't need her getting all spooky on him. Not that he considered all things of a spiritual nature spooky, after all God had told him that she was his wife. This was how he had convinced her to go out with him. Now it seemed that Cynthia was falling head over heels for him and he was quite excited about this. But something was still gnawed at his mind, bothering him like the constant dripping of a tap. Was this really God's will, or was it just his own will? Had he wanted to be with her so desperately that it blurred the lines between his own desire and what God was really saying? If he lacked any conviction about the relationship, he certainly did not show it. As he picked Cynthia up for their first dinner date, he put all doubts to the back of his mind, at least for the rest the evening. Everything had to be perfect.


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2



Abidel and Beza had spent one lunar cycle travelling through the plains of the Masai and into the desert of Sara before they decided to turn back to see the Oracle at the Path leading to Low Earth for a third time. Abidel, servant of the Most High, from the town at the Edge of Sara and High Earth, was no closer to seeing the end of the drought and famine that plagued the Edge. Normally, such a thing would be trivial to a man as annointed as him. He had been known to end many a drought in High Earth with a simple wave of his staff to the sky to open up the floodgates of heaven. But this time was very different. His lack of foresight in this matter had worried the Chieftains of the Edge so much that they had sent him to see the Oracle. Three lunar cycles and two visits to the Oracle later, he was no closer to knowing the end of the drought and famine, but instead had started seeing visions of a strange world. A place where no horses or camels were needed to pull chariots they called cars. A place where men and women packed, like Low Earthen slaves being herded to High Earth, into long carriages that moved beneath the earth. A place called London. Abidel was certain that the Oracle had caused the dreams, and so they returned to him for the third time, determined to understand the meaning of these visions.

'Why dost thou trouble me yet again, Prophet from beyond the Sara?' The Oracle's voice bellowed from the corner in which he sat meditating when Abidel and Beza walked into his hut. He hadn't even turned from the wall he faced to acknowledge them as they entered his humble abode. And they could sense the growing impatience in his voice.

'If I may so humbly address thee, O Great Oracle, thy servants have returned to seek thy wise counsel concerning the dreams that plague my sleep. Visions of another world. They have become even more vivid since our last visitation.'

'Did I not tell thee that thou shalt see like thou hast not seen before?'

'Thou speakest the truth, Great Seer, but of what consequence are my dreams to the Chieftains of the Edge who have sent me? They seekest the knowledge of the plague's end, or indeed the very power to part the clouds and turn the arid lands green again.'

The Oracle sighed as he stood to his feet and faced them. 'O ye of little understanding, how long must I contend with thee? I tell thee the truth, thy dreams shall cease before thou hast returned to the Edge, the rains shall return to Sara before thou hast completed thy journey.'

'Dost thou sayest that the rains shall commence when my dreams end?'

'Indeed they shall, but the famine will linger nine lunar cycles before the land is made whole again. At this time, a child shall be born, the son of a King and a young maiden, and he shall rescue all of High and Low Earth from their tribulations.'

'The child spoken of in the Holy Scrolls of the Prophets?' Beza blurted out excitedly, before recoiling once he remembered that as Abidel's right-hand man he was not meant to speak while the man of God sought counsel with the Oracle.

The Oracle kissed his teeth at Beza's petulance and turned to Abidel once more. 'Indeed, the prophecy spoken of in the Holy Scrolls shall surely come to pass, but not without my blessing. I, the Oracle who watches over all the Earth, must bless the child, for untold evils seek to end its life before it begins. I tell thee truth, the expecting mother must make the journey here from High Earth and the child must be born here to ensure its protection and the fulfilment of the prophecies.'


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3



Johnny took Cynthia to a lavish restaurant overlooking the Thames, and they shared a romantic evening together. It was the best date that Cynthia could remember for a long time - she was already imagining walking down the aisle in the stunning dress she had already picked out, the lovely three bedroom house with the white picket fence, and two wonderful kids, Junior and Jacinta. But this was when things started going horribly wrong. A brilliant evening would have ended perfectly if Johnny had taken her to her doorstep like every gentleman should. Instead, insisting that the night was young, he convinced her to go back to his place to 'hang out'. The alarm bells went off in her head at the suggestion, but she threw caution to the wind. They were having such a lovely evening and she didnt want it to end so soon, so ignoring the check in her spirit, she wilfully obliged. A late night curled in front of the telly and a couple of harmless bottles of wine later, left the outcome inevitable....when Johnny woke up, head throbbing, he caught the image of Cynthia hurriedly packing her things together to leave as the dizziness in his eyes cleared. He tried to stop her as she walked out the front door but there was already a taxi waiting for her. He glanced at his watch. 8.30am. It was Sunday morning! He had to be at church by 9am to lead praise and worship! He hurried back inside, had a quick shower, threw on the best looking clothes he could find and headed straight to church. He was inevitably distracted as he stood on stage singing praises to God, though he tried not to let it show. He surveyed the packed auditorium from his vantage point and saw no sign of Cynthia. As the choir took their seats and the Pastor took to the pulpit to deliver his message, his troubled mind was elsewhere. He was so wracked with guilt about the previous night that he just wanted to find Cynthia and beg for her forgiveness.

'The title of my message today is the Old prophet and the man of God'

The words stopped Johnny's wandering mind dead in its tracks. He immediately remembered the words from Cynthia's dreams that he had so easily dismissed.

'Our Bible reading today is taken from the book of First Kings, chapter thirteen. I'll read from verse eleven. Now there was a certain old prophet living in Bethel...'

Now Johnny was acutely attentive.

'The man of God said, 'I have been told by the word of the Lord: You must not eat bread or drink water here or return by the way you came'. The old prophet answered, ‘I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the LORD: Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’ (But he was lying to him) So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house.'

Remorse filled his heart as the reading finished and the revelation of the message sunk in. He was the old prophet, Cynthia was the man of God. He had deceived her into thinking that God had said something He really hadn't said, and now they would both face the consequences for their actions.

'The irony was that when God really spoke through the old prophet,' the Pastor's voice bellowed from the pulpit, 'it was to pronounce judgement for the man of God's disobedience. And truly the old prophet's words came to pass - the man of God never made it home as he was mauled by a lion on the way back!'

The rest of the sermon was a blur. In that moment, he knew that he had to speak to Cynthia. Warn her about the lion. The enemy of us all, roaming around, seeking for whom to devour.

'So the moral of the story is that you must have confidence in what God is saying to YOU....'

That morning, Johnny responded to a forgiveness altar call at the end of the service. He lay on the floor distraught, with tears in his eyes, as the Pastor read from Psalm 51.

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4


When Abidel's dreams stopped soon after he and Beza left the Oracle, he knew that the rains had returned to the Edge of Sara. They returned to a hero's welcome at the Edge. The people of the town rushed to receive them as they appeared in the distance from the desert of Sara. It had already rained for nearly two lunar cycles there, so the people knew that their expedition must have been successful. Their farmlands had not yet turned green again, but they knew that Abidel would know the reason for that, or even have the solution. Indeed, he did have the answer as told to him by the Oracle, but he doubted the veracity of the great Seer´s claims. Was this really the time in which the Great Prophecy would be fulfilled? Also, he still wondered about his other worldly dreams, their significance, and what sinister part, if any, the Oracle had played in igniting them in the first place. He tried his best to put away any negative thoughts of the Oracle as voicing them would no doubt be considered blasphemy in all of High and Low Earth. Abidel recounted everything the Oracle had told them to the Chieftains of the Edge. According to them, barely seven lunar cycles remained for the child spoken of in the Great Prophecy to be born, and this would coincide with the replenishment of the land, perhaps even be the reason for this renewal. The Oracle had seemed to indicate that the child would come from High Earth, so immediately the Chieftains sent a delegation to the Emperor´s Palace, to tell him of the news and begin the frantic search across all of High Earth to find the unborn child in time to receive the Oracle´s blessing and protection.


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5


Cynthia’s dreams stopped the very night she spent at Johnny’s house. She couldn’t bring herself to go to church that morning, and refused to take any of Johnny’s calls. She was wracked with a range of emotions. A large part of her was furious at Johnny for what had happened, and how he had 'taken advantage' of her, but she couldn't, try as she might, silence the soft voice that kept telling her that she had allowed it to happen...she had more than enough warning and she could have removed herself from that situation anytime she wanted. Eventually, she had to face the fact that even though she was angry at Johnny, she was even more angry at herself and consumed with guilt. After listening to the tape of the sermon from that morning, she also realised now that her dreams were probably some sort of warning to her, and she wondered how she could have been so blind.

A few weeks later, when she explained to her Pastor why she had decided to change churches, at least temporarily, he granted her wish even though she had just become a youth minister at their church. He had already known about it because Johnny had remorsefully broken down to him within days of the event. If she felt that she needed her space to heal emotionally and spiritually, that’s exactly what he would give her.

As the weeks passed, Cynthia maintained no contact with Johnny. Frustrated by this, he went to see his Pastor for advice as to what to do. “Let her be,” the man said, and preached a mini-sermon to him about dealing with inevitable consequences despite having sought repentance for the actions that caused them. He needed to assure himself of God’s forgiveness, even if he never had the opportunity to seek hers. It was that night he finally got a call from her. His initially relief at seeing her name on his phone dissipated when he heard the words he least expected to hear – “I’m pregnant.”

Johnny was stunned into utter disbelief at the news, and suddenly felt his world crumbling around him. He was speechless, so she kept the call brief, “The baby is yours, and its due in seven months.” Click. His Pastor´s words from that morning reverberated in his mind. Inevitable consequences. This was an eventuality that he and Cynthia had to deal with together. And deal with it they would, but if only they knew that having a child out of wedlock was the least of their worries. Somewhere, in a land far away, in another time, the Oracle rubbed his hands with glee at the conception of a child that would be his pawn. The pawn in his very own immaculate conception.