The Path (Fire on the Mountain Series) (8 page)

“No, not even close, but they will be coming soon. You’ve only had teasers so far.”

“What kind of questions could these be? Should I brush up on the free will of man versus the sovereignty of God?”

“No, they will be much more difficult than that,” the Voice said, now with a distinguishable smile. “And she will not take clichés or superficial answers, and you’re not to give her any. You must answer her questions. They are important to her and to others.”

“And you can’t tell me some of these questions so I can be prepared?” I asked.

“I don’t know what they are. I just know how important they are and how important these people are. I’m curious too. This is a first for me, being sent back a second time to warn someone about the same thing,” the Voice said with more gravity. “I know you have answers, but I don’t think you will be able to answer them all. That’s because I was told that the council is waiting to help you with them. Do not hesitate to inquire of the Lord, and He will give you wisdom.”

The Voice then turned and started to walk away. I called out after him, “What else is so special about this group?”

He stopped, hesitated for a moment, and then turned and said, “I have never seen so many in one group who are called to be the mighty ones that Enoch talks about. Every one of these is called to walk in more power than I did. Obviously the time is now close.”

As the Voice passed out of sight, I began walking slowly to catch up with the group. I wanted to process all that the Voice had just told me. If I had known what awaited me, I would have slowed down even more.

CHAPTER FIVE

THE TEST

W
hen I caught up to the group they were sitting next to the path, obviously weary, but talking to each other. I approached slowly so as not to disturb their discussion. They were sharing their own stories. When I was spotted, they stopped and turned to me. Mary spoke up, asking what they were all wanting to know:

“Who is that man?”

“He is the Voice,” I responded.

“What voice?” Mary continued.

“The Voice of the one who cries in the wilderness.” I answered.

“Do you mean Elijah?” someone in the group asked.

“Yes.” I answered.

There was a long silence as they pondered this. Then Mary continued her inquisition:

“You are serious?”

“I am serious.”

“Will he be back?” someone else asked.

“He will never be far from us while we are in the wilderness. He is here to prepare the way for the Lord. A basic way that he does this is by working with all who travel this path,” I replied, a little surprised that they all believed me so easily. I continued:

“We are on the path to another world, another realm. On this path, we begin to learn to live in two worlds—the spiritual and the natural. This can be hard at first, but these two worlds were made to be connected, to interface in many different ways. Man, who was created to fellowship with God who is Spirit, was also created to be the connector of these two worlds. To live in both worlds is, therefore, the most natural state for man. The more you can do this the more you will become who you were created to be. This is not unnatural, but the natural state of man when we are delivered from the consequences of the fall.”

I looked around at their faces to try to gauge who was having trouble understanding what I was saying. To my surprise, it seemed that this was nothing new to them, so I continued:

“The Scriptures will not just come alive to us here, but we will live them. In fact, we must live them to survive. They will be our food. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. This is present tense, not past tense. We must receive daily bread from above, the Word of God that is living and comes from Him now, in the present.

“We can no longer merely believe that the things written in The Bible are true, but true faith in The Bible is faith to experience what is written for our present life. There is nothing written in The Bible that we cannot experience today, and we will here. Some of you will likely be used to do even greater miracles than what was done in The Bible. We are now in the times of ‘the greater works’ Jesus spoke of.

“Again, The Bible is not just a history book to believe, it is what we will live and the food that will sustain us every day. It is the arsenal of weapons we will use in every battle. Knowing The Bible is not just a good thing to do, but here it will mean life or death.

“This wilderness is beautiful, but deadly. It will try to kill you any way that it can, and it has a lot of ways to do it. If it does not kill you it will seek to have you turn back. As frightening as this wilderness can be fear will lead you into its traps, so fear can never become our guide. We must learn not to allow fear to control us or influence our decisions. We must use every fear that comes upon us as a chance to resist it and to grow in faith. We will have a chance to do this every day, and every day that we stay the course we will become stronger in the Lord.

“We must also use every trial of confusion to grow in wisdom. Every day it will take more faith and wisdom to stay on the right path. Wisdom comes from experience that is viewed with a teachable heart.”

“How many paths are there?” someone asked.

“There are many, and they are almost all very tempting and inviting,” I answered.

“How can we tell the right one?” someone else asked.

“There is no formula. There is no ‘how to’ that we can use. We are to follow a Person, not a formula. However, my experience has been that the right path always seems to look harder, and in fact is harder, at least for a time. It never seems to be the most inviting, which is why we must have faith to see it and follow the Lord not just our own reasoning.

“The wrong paths seem to always look easier, and will tempt us to try to escape our difficulties and trials. They may, in fact, be easier for a time, but then they will get much harder than the true path. They ultimately lead to traps and entanglements that few ever get free of, if they do not turn back quickly and get back on the right path.

“The right path may never actually get easier, but it seems to become easier as we grow stronger and wiser. The right path has one thing no other path has, and it is the greatest thing of all. When you are on the right path you will get continually closer to the Lord, and His living water will always be available. There is no greater peace and joy that we can know than being close to Him. Our closeness to Him can be so wonderful that we will begin to delight in this wilderness. With Him, the most desolate cave is better than a palace. Without Him, the greatest palace can be worse than a desolate cave.

“If you get on a wrong path, it will lead you away from Him. The joy and peace of the Lord will be replaced by confusion and darkness. ‘
The path of the righteous is like the light of the dawn that shines brighter and brighter until the full day
.’ The path of the righteous is the right path. The right path gets brighter and brighter until we are walking in the fullness of the light. The wrong path gets darker and leads to increasing confusion. Confusion leads to depression and ultimately to despair and death.

“As your fellowship has already grown beyond what you enjoyed on the ship, it will grow much deeper here. Fighting through hardships will knit you together like few things can. There is something else that you will experience here that will create an even greater bond—you will experience the glory of the Lord together. To experience His glory and presence together is the greatest bond of all.”

As I talked, I saw Elijah nearby listening to all that I was saying. This was a bit disconcerting, as well as comforting. It was disconcerting because I felt foolish talking about the wilderness with the master of the wilderness listening. It was comforting to know that he was watching over us so closely. He motioned for me to continue:

“You are all here because you were called. You were known before the world began. You have been given the opportunity to run the race for the highest prize there has ever been or ever will be. This is the path to the high calling of God that the apostles wrote about. Just by beginning, you have already joined the greatest souls to ever walk the earth. It took great faith to begin, and it will take greater faith every day to continue. It was not intended to be easy, but to be the foundry of the great ones who will reign with Christ in His kingdom.”

“What about those still on the ship?” a young girl asked. “My parents are on the ship. Won’t they rule with Christ also?”

“If anyone calls on the name of the Lord they will be saved, they have eternal life and a glorious eternity before them,” I responded. “But this path is for those who would run the race that the Apostle Paul spoke of near the end of his life. He spoke of a better resurrection that he did not feel he had yet attained to, but that he was pressing on toward the mark of the high calling. He was not speaking there of salvation or eternal life. These he had the day he trusted the Savior for his salvation. There is a high calling that not many see and not many pursue. This is the path to ‘
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus
.’”

“I thought we were all going to be the same in heaven,” another chimed in.

“Where did you get that from?” I asked.

“I’m not sure. I think I heard it, but I may have just assumed it. I’ve never before heard what you’re talking about. Are you sure this is in the Scriptures?” she continued.

“Yes, this is in the Scriptures, and you are right to question this. There is much in Scripture about the high calling, and those will be illuminated and fortified in you on this journey. You need to see the high calling to walk this path, just as the Savior endured the cross for the glory that was set before Him. If He needed to see the reward how much more do we need to see it to endure the life of the cross that we have been called to?

“It is right to have this discussion here,” I continued. “All of His created beings have been created for a specific purpose and place in His creation. He has given an opportunity for some from fallen mankind to become His very own family, sons and daughters of the King of kings, and to take on His divine nature. All of creation marvels at this ‘new creation’ that is being raised up from fallen mankind. As they witness the resolve, the sacrifice, and the character of those who walk this path and endure against such opposition and hardship all for the sake of their King, even the angels acknowledge that these are worthy to be their judges.”

“But if it is all by grace, then how is it that people have different rewards, or positions, in heaven?” The young girl blurted out, obviously agitated.

“That is a good question,” I tried to encourage her. “It is true that all that we are and all that we become is by the grace of God. It is by the grace of God that you were called and that you heard the call. We are also told to ‘
make our calling and election sure.
’ This is why the Holy Spirit is called ‘the Helper,’ not ‘the Doer.’ We have a part to do also. We must accept His grace and then walk in it. ‘
Many are called, but few are chosen
,’ or few respond to the call to make their calling and election sure.

“There is a mentality that has crept into much of the world that we are all the same, and all deserve the same, regardless of effort or accomplishments. That is not a biblical concept. In fact, it is contrary to justice, one of the two foundations of the throne of God which is the kingdom of God. The promises given to the churches in Revelation were to the ‘overcomers’ in those churches. Something other was promised to those who did not care enough to live what was revealed to them.

“Like it or not, understand it or not, God chooses who to give opportunities to, and then they must choose to take those opportunities. This is why it says, ‘
Moses chose to suffer the afflictions with the people of God esteeming the reproach of Christ as greater riches than all of the treasures of Egypt.
’ You too have made a similar choice when you chose to follow this path.”

I could tell that the young girl was still having trouble with this concept, but no one else seemed to. Even so, this was making her so uncomfortable that she was obviously not going to ask any more questions. I had learned that when someone has such a veil over their minds concerning a clear and basic biblical truth, no argument can remove that veil, but only the Holy Spirit. So I told them we would talk more about these things later and that we needed to get moving again.