The Children of Eternity Read Online Free PDF Page A

was involved in what he had just done. Then Jerry tried it for himself. More than three hours later, Jerry rolled a small ink pen several inches across a table with nothing more than the power of thought. It wasn’t so much mustering up the power to do it as it was mustering up the faith to do it. The power wasn’t resident within the individual but within God’s own Holy Spirit who permeated all of Heaven. It became a matter of convincing himself that all things were possible, even when common sense urged that they were not.
    In the coming days and weeks, mastering such an ability might become a matter of survival. Yes, they could escape a demon by simply gating away 1,000 miles or to another level of Heaven entirely, but did they truly wish to spend their eternities constantly on the run? No, it would be better to stand and fight and vanquish their foe if possible—and apparently it was.

C HAPTER 2
     
    I T HAD BEEN DARK FOR several hours when Bill Anderson emerged from a glowing cloud of blue and onto his front porch. His wife and the boys were there waiting for him.
    “I was starting to get worried,” said Sarah, stepping forward. “Well…how did it go?”
    Bill’s expression was not encouraging. “Not too well. We arrived just outside of the great walls of Zion, at the gate where we normally enter.” Bill paused. “There were people running everywhere. In all of my years in Heaven I have never seen panic like I did today. I mean, there was never any reason for it. People were gating out all around me, tens of thousands of them. It was impossible to enter into the city with a flood of people trying to get out. Not many people were in the mood to talk to us either, but those who did talk painted a real grim picture.
    “The angels and demons had been battling in and above the streets all day. They were still battling. There was smoke drifting everywhere. Parts of the city were in flames. Many people had tried to reach the Holy Place to seek sanctuary, but at least some were turned back by roving bands of demons. Both angels and demons alike were urging the human population of Zion to leave. I swear, I never thought I’d see a day such as this.”
    “Did you try to gate right into the city itself?” asked Jerry.
    Bill shook his head. “Son, you know that doing that is forbidden. You have to walk beyond the walls of the city before you can gate in or out.”
    “Dad, I had the feeling that it was more an issue of etiquette than a hard and fast rule,” said Jerry. “In an emergency, I think it would be allowed.”
    “I don’t know about that, son,” replied Bill. “We weren’t about to put it to the test.”
    “Mr. Anderson, could you tell who is winning this war?” asked Christopher.
    The hesitation in Bill’s answer was not encouraging. “From what we were able to learn, this was a sneak attack by an enemy who had been preparing for years. The angels were caught completely off guard and were falling back. Many had been captured. As you all know, angels can’t gate like we can. They can’t travel instantly from one place to another simply by thinking about it. That ability is reserved for the Father and His children. Wherever they go, angels have to either walk or fly.
    “But there are physical gates that they can use, rings of stone and metal like the one in the meadow not far from here. The angels use those to move great distances. Now, our ring is what they call a local gate. It allows angels to move mainly from one place to another on this plane of Heaven. But there are also the main gates, one or two on each level of Heaven. They allow angels to travel anywhere, even back to Earth or to the depths of Hell.
    “Apparently, the demons entered through those gates and managed to gain control of them. That is how they got here in the first place. Then they spread out to the local gates, controlling them as well. They’ve managed to cut the angels off from each other. They’ve got them in full