What a beautiful place.
That place that was known for its beauty and splendor. That place that defiled all mortal description.
A place filled with joyous laughter, indescribable beauty and spunky colors.
This holy celestial body was known for its numerous names like Paradise, The Third Heaven, The Kingdom of God, a place of rest for the Saints of God, etc.
That was where a caring father was as he stared down into the earth, watching how his son's life was playing out in the cosmos.
On earth, it was a Sunday morning and the saints were worshiping.
But that was not the case for this man's son, who before the hour of his and his wife's death, had been brought up to know the Lord.
The spirit of the deceased Nigerian police sergeant was watching his only son and only child utterly turning away from his first love and going after worldly lust and unrequited vengeance.
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"What are you doing?" he asked worriedly even though his son could not hear him, much less give him an answer.
His son, Savior, was visiting with some of his friends who were drinking and having vain conversations. He could hear how they made plans about some party, girls and clubbing later in the day.
The spirit of his mother joined the police sergeant and she also watched her son.
It broke their hearts to see their son deviating from what they taught him.
Before they went home to be with their maker, the spiritual life of their son had always bothered them.
As a child, Savior had loved the Lord and was dedicated to him.
He always came first in the children's bible class. His parents were so happy for him. They loved him and encouraged him to go deeper in his faith.
His parents knew that he was a great child and they believed in him.
But as the years went by, his parents watched, in horror, as Savior's love and devotion to God waxed cold and eventually fizzled out. Not long after their deaths, which was the last straw that broke the camel's back, he turned into an agnostic.
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While they were alive, he still went with his parents to church, but it was no more out of devotion and love for God. After the unexpected death of his parents, he completely stopped.
He had only been going to church to please them; there was no need for him to continue after they left him.
With their spiritual eyes still on him, they could see what his physical eyes could not see. He was spiritually blind.
They could see the constant battle between demons and the warrior angels of God for his soul.
The prayers they’d prayed for his salvation before their deaths were working in his life. This was why the warrior angels were fighting, and this was why heaven had not given up on him yet.
Both parents wished that they could go and shake him hard, and remind him of God's unconditional love, but they knew that their prayers were doing more than anything they could physically do.
Still, they wanted to start seeing the results. Both parents badly wanted their son to join them here for eternity when his days on earth were over.
They both felt a gentle tap on their shoulders. Without having to turn around, they already knew who it was.
No one else had that kind of gentle, worry-diffusing touch.
Still, they simultaneously spun around and beheld the smiling face of Jesus Christ.
There he was, standing in all his glory and splendor.
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His smile was like the glimmer of a rainbow around a waterfall, but a million times more. For the purpose of his personal visit to comfort them, he'd stepped down the glare of the light that accompanied him everywhere he went. Still, the sergeant and his wife felt as if they could never get used to his brilliance.
Both parents immediately relaxed under his touch.
Smiling peacefully, the police sergeant saluted. "Oh, hi, Jesus."
"And how are you two doing today?"
Both parents replied to him with a hint of concern for their son. Jesus looked down at what they were watching and a flitting expression of grief and pain passed across his face.
"I understand how you feel."
Jesus spoke with a voice that showed that even though he wasn't happy with the current situation, it wasn't impossible for him to sort out.
"We know that whatever we feel is a speck of dust compared to what you feel. Not just for our son alone, but for your creation that has rejected you," Savior's mother said with emotion, her eyes brimming with tears.
As a confirmation to their statement, Jesus smiled grimly. He turned his attention back to the slowly-spinning blue-green globe. "Many people have turned away from my love and embraced the wicked one. It hurts me to see them going astray as sheep to the slaughter.” He paused for a while and sighed.
“But, don’t worry, the prayers you prayed for your son are still working, and I'm not giving up on him."
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Savior's mother exclaimed happily and embraced Jesus in glee. "I know you'd never give up on him. Thank you, thank you so much!"
"What a fortunate child he is for having parents who didn't give up on him. A lot of children are not as fortunate as him, not even children from some Christian homes. I'm glad that exceptional parents like you understood the importance of prayers. If only a lot of parents would have the same understanding.
"It is my desire that more of my people who are called by my name would stop sleeping and slumbering. If only they would rise up in prayers. I will hear them, because my ears are not deaf that I cannot hear neither are my eyes blind that I can not see.
"If only they would stop claiming that evil is all my will, even when it is the enemy's doing. If only they would rise up in faith and take up their place in prayers and change unwanted situations around them.
"For the fact that I love them so much to not want any harm to happen to them, I have also given them the full rights and freedom to make their own choices. Even at that, I try to make them understand that even though they are in the world they are not of the world.
"My people are my ambassadors, and I've given them the power to operate thus. But the enemy has and is still trying hard to make them forget their rights and privileges. This is why a lot of people try to hold me responsible by claiming that every evil that happens in their lives is my will.
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"But it is not and can never be. I make it clear to them that Satan is the god of the world. He is the one afflicting them with sickness, poverty, earthquakes, wars, sin and all kinds of afflictions. They say I am a loving God and yet they contradict themselves by saying that I am in control of all the evil going on in the world. But how can I be a loving God and afflict my children with so much suffering?
"No, a loving God is supposed to protect and deliver his people. And that's why I taught them how to pray during my days on earth. My people must take their authority in the place of prayers and enforce the will of the Father on earth.
"I have done everything, and the devil is a defeated foe. He is powerless in the place where my people are concerned. The victory I have is theirs for the taking. I just want them to exercise the authority I have given them in my name by faith.
"But many are still asking me to do what I have given them power and authority to do. This scenario is like when you wake up in the morning and you want to brush your teeth. You already have your toothbrush, toothpaste and even the ability to do that, but you are calling on another to provide all those things and brush your teeth. You see how ludicrous it sounds?
"Or you have legs but you are telling another person to walk for you. Do you tell someone to eat for you when you have a mouth and can eat?"
Even though Jesus was asking a rhetorical question, the parents slowly shook their heads.
"But I can understand the struggles they are going through day by day and my Grace is always sufficient. No matter what, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail over it."
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When Jesus finished talking, both parents bowed down and worshiped him.
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