The Children of Eternity (50 page)

“You had a question,” said the Father. “Don’t be afraid. I will answer it.”

“I was concerned about my mother,” said Jerry. “She is so sorry for what she has done. I’ve more than forgiven her; I guess I’ve come to love her very much. Will she always be in Hell?”

“That is not an easy question to answer,” said the Father. “I shall put it this way: Hell was intended to be a place of separation from Me. Its inhabitants feel that emptiness. They didn’t recognize the place in their being that I filled until My presence was gone. They didn’t seek out My Son and the salvation He offered because they didn’t understand what it was.

“Persons like your mother do realize that now. They look back upon their lives with regret. I tell you this: there are many people in Hell who still don’t understand that. They prefer the darkness, though they dread the pain that has come with it for so long. I sentenced them to that place, and the angels delivered them there, but it is Satan who torments them. That is about to end.

“The Hell you’ve known is already changing. You are in no small way responsible for that change. In the end, the Hell in which your mother lives will not be the same Hell to which she was sentenced. It will become less a place of torment and more a place of pandemonium—a realm that will try the determination of those who seek to make it a better place. It will become a place of ceaseless war as a variety of chairmen and presidents, emperors and warlords vie to become its ultimate ruler. In the end, they will rule over nothing.”

Jerry nodded, yet he still had a question.

“So why did I allow Satan to rule for so long?” asked the Father, apparently anticipating Jerry’s next question. “He ruled because it was essential to My plans for humanity. He became the refining fire of Hell—and yes, often that fire was only too real. But the mastery of that domain is slipping through his fingers. His days are numbered. If you must know how many days, the number is one thousand ninety-seven.

“And when his rule has come to an end, Hell shall continue to change for a thousand years. During that time Satan shall find himself bound in chains in a dark place where no one shall hear his screams. At the end of those years Satan will escape, but his freedom will be brief. He will try to reestablish his kingdom, but he will fail. Then all of the books will be opened, and the people of Hell will be judged, as will those who sleep in their graves.”

“It’s a judgment,” deduced Jerry, “so there is hope for my mother and the others.”

“There is hope,” confirmed the Father. “That is the answer that you have sought. However, the day that hope is realized is yet a long way off.”

“Their own children shall be the ones who are the source of their salvation,” said Lilly.

“Yes,” confirmed the Father. “Now you know. But I tell you this: few shall find it. That fact makes Me sad…” The Father paused. “But today is your day, My children, and a beautiful day it is. Go out with Me and feel the breeze through your hair and the sun on your face. Know that I hold the universe in My hands, and small as you are, you are loved; you are significant. You are My sons and daughters. Know that I love to watch My children play.”

A door by the windows swung open wide, letting in the odor of grass and flowers. And God walked hand in hand with the children into the fields of grass and tarried with them. For a time, they felt as if they were the center of the universe, at the center of the Father’s love—and they were.

Kenneth Zeigler was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1954. His life underwent a dramatic transformation following his near-death experience in 1972, when this young teenage atheist became a born-again Christian. He studied chemistry at Shippensburg University and graduated with a master’s degree in chemistry education in 1982, having done his graduate thesis on quantum mechanical modeling of the hydrogen atom. He has taught chemistry and astronomy at both the high school and college level, and has conducted research into the nature of main belt and near-Earth asteroids at both Lowell and Palomar Observatories. He has also been an educational consultant for NASA, working on the Messenger Mercury mission. He currently teaches advanced chemistry at La Joya Community High School in Avondale, Arizona. He and his wife, Mary, have two grown children, Rob and Beth, and two grandchildren, Kindra and Kristen.

Get more information about The Tears of Heaven book series, including blogs, images, and a schedule of upcoming book events at the Tears of Heaven webpage:
www.thetearsofheaven.com.
Also check out Kenneth Zeigler’s free online book,
Lilly of the Valley
, available at the website.