Chapter forty

God's Army

Noah poured Zeke a mug of hot apple cider as he continued to give him advice. “Remember, you are a very, very special child, Zeke. You aren’t meant to be a part of a pack, even if you sometimes wish it so. You are meant to be a lone wolf, destined to carve your own path and to always walk ahead of the rest. You are a guide, and you have to help lead humanity to its destiny.”

Noah then went on to share stories of such leaders who had to tread extremely difficult paths before they could reach their final goals of truth, peace, and salvation. Most had to lay down their lives for a higher cause. “Do you know throughout history how many examples there have been of pure souls, guides, and leaders who have walked paths full of thorns? Persecution has been a common fate for those who have attained enlightenment.”

Zeke paid great attention to Noah’s words, as he always did.

“Whenever a lightworker, an enlightened being, has tried to speak about higher truths or to awaken people from their ignorant slumbers, their voices have been muzzled. They have always been held down by force. The powers that rule the material world and control human minds have always unleashed unfathomable cruelty upon these gentle souls. Yet, their message could not be stopped. Their resilience and strength have always broken through the silence, and they have ultimately spread their words to millions through love and sacrifice. Their names can never be erased from the hearts and minds of people. They will forever be etched in the collective psyche of humanity, shining brightly in the golden pages of history.”

Noah narrated the lives of many who had spread the message of the light, those who had come to Earth as lightworkers before Zeke. “One, singular, awakened soul has the power to destroy the entire structure built by the millions who wish to control the human race. They are like live bombs that nobody can stop once they begin ticking, and when they go off, they change everything.”

His eyes began to glow with reverence and pride as he spoke. “Jesus, our beloved Christ, was scourged, given a crown of thorns and crucified by the Romans for spreading the message of love. Galileo was pronounced guilty of heresy, stoned, thrown in jail, and persecuted by the Catholic Church for speaking a simple truth. He tried to teach that the sun was at the center of the universe, as opposed to the popular biblical belief that it was the Earth that everything revolved around. They faced such tragic fates simply because they were ahead of their times and very much ahead of the pack. Don’t forget there is an eternal war between the conscious and unconscious forces governing the human mind.”

Noah went on. “But do such inhuman acts of brutality stop the message of love from spreading or muzzle the voice of truth? No, my dear boy, they do not. Today, we all know the Earth and all other planets orbit around the sun, and the world witnessed the resurrection of Christ to learn the lesson that the physical body can be killed, but the higher soul can never be crucified. The voice of truth comes back to strike the human consciousness with a thunderous force and will continue to do so.”

Zeke had read those stories before, but when Noah talked about them, he revisited those fallen heroes of the past, and for the first time in his life, he connected with their pain and loss and valued their contribution to the advancement of humanity all the more.

Just then, Noah abruptly stood up from his seat and smiled at him. “It’s quite late. Sleep well tonight, kid, and do not forget, you are a lone wolf. You need to chart your own path.” He smiled at him one last time as he turned off the light and left the room.

Zeke tossed and turned in bed for a while, and finally fell asleep. That night he had a dream, and like all his dreams, this one too was a sign from above. In his dream, he was dressed like a poor countryman and was walking through a field. He stopped as he saw a beautiful peasant girl working in the field and humming a beautiful tune. He hid behind a tree and kept looking at her as she happily sang and danced around the field. He stared at her until his dream shifted. He was now walking down a street when he suddenly saw a young boy being chased by a few men. Zeke immediately hid behind the ruins of a broken stone house next to the street and watched the whole scene play out.

The boy tried to run as fast as his tiny legs could carry him, but the men caught hold of him. They shackled him with iron chains and dragged him away as Zeke followed them. What he saw next shook him to his core. The boy cried and screamed for help, but nobody came to save him. Zeke tried to move, but his own feet were frozen, and he stood there like a lifeless piece of stone, totally helpless. They pulled at the boy repeatedly while he kept struggling to free himself. Suddenly his hair fell free, cascading down his back.

Zeke was stunned to discover it was the beautiful peasant girl he had seen earlier. He could now move, but as soon as he tried to help the girl, his dream shifted again. Now a group of well-built men dressed like soldiers was taking the girl to an open ground. They tied her to a wooden stake. Zeke could clearly see that she had a cross clenched in her hand as tears rolled down her cheeks. The men laughed and hurled deplorable abuses at her, calling her names: witch, demon, charlatan. She shut her eyes, and from her expression, he knew she was ready to embrace death, but then she suddenly opened her eyes one last time, looking straight into his own.

Zeke felt as if she wished to tell him something, silent tears still rolling down her cheeks. He tried to scream, but his voice choked. As much as he tried, no one could hear him. She finally closed her eyes and whispered her last prayers as they burned her alive at the stake. He was reminded of the last words of Jesus as he silently watched her body burn to ashes: “God forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

When he woke up, there was an excruciating pain in his chest, and his eyes were wet with tears. The morning sun kissed his face, and as he looked around, Noah was sitting by his bed.

“You were screaming in your sleep. I didn’t want to wake you because you were so deep into your dream, and I knew you had to work through it, so I just sat here patiently, knowing you would come out of it soon.”

Zeke sat up and wiped what was left of his tears. He shared his dream with Noah. “Do all lightworkers have to face the same fate? Are all of us destined to be hanged, stoned, or burned alive at the stake? Why do we always have to suffer and perish? She was such an innocent and beautiful girl. There was a divine light on her glowing face, a beacon of hope. How could they do that to her? How can human beings be so cruel and unkind to each other? She wanted to share something with me, but I couldn’t be there for her. I couldn’t save her, Noah. I just… I couldn’t do anything.”

Noah held Zeke’s hands and sat beside him for a while. A few minutes later, he went to his kitchen and prepared some hot chocolate for them both. He came back with two mugs and handed one over to Zeke.

“So, you saw her in your dreams then! I wanted to share her story with you last night. I forced myself to stop because I thought you had enough stories of pain and sacrifice already, but it looks like she wanted you to remember her, too. The Maid of Orleans, Joan of Arc, was the epitome of a fearless soul, an extraordinary leader, and exceptionally gifted in her ability to lead. No wonder she inspired her troops enough to raise the siege of Orleans. She was practically the savior of France, but her strength and bravery came at the cost of her own life. The Duke of Burgundy sent his men to capture her. They caught hold of her at Rouen in English-controlled Normandy, tried her for such regressive charges as witchcraft, and violated divine law by dressing like a man, and finally burned her alive at the stake for heresy.”

“Then what was the point? What was the purpose of her struggle, of all she lived through? Will humans ever learn to recognize their saviors?”

“Yes, they surely will. Joan was declared a martyr and bestowed with the honor of sainthood​, you see. The French parliament even decreed a yearly national festival in her honor. Even though the gratitude and acknowledgment came some five centuries after her death, they finally had to concede and acknowledge her contribution.”

“Don’t you think the lives of spiritual beings, starseeds, or lightworkers are designed differently from the time they’re born — or maybe way before that, and isn’t that unfair?” Zeke questioned.

Noah smiled and said, “There’s an inspiring story of a lightworker from the East who wasn’t charged with heresy, wasn’t stoned or crucified, but was, and still is, respected and revered by the entire world. I’m speaking of Siddhartha Gautama, or Buddha, as you may know him. The title Buddha comes from the word ‘Buddhi,’ a Vedic Sanskrit word for intelligence, or awareness. Cosmic intelligence downloaded constantly through his mind. You would do well to learn more about him,” Noah said with a wink.

“This is fascinating, but also a hard act to follow!”

“As a lightworker, you must be prepared to face the thorns that will surely be laid on the path you have set out for yourself and others, my dear child. Remember, you are among the vanguard of God’s army.”

Noah’s words took away much of Zeke’s doubt. That night, he had the most peaceful, uninterrupted sleep. The next morning, he began a new journey. The evening spent with Noah and the day before resolved many important issues in his life. He learned that regardless of what he would have to go through, in the end, it was his destiny to propel humanity further towards enlightenment.

Zeke already knew that death wasn’t as ominous as it seemed. It was a mere transfer, a shift, a simple transition from this world to another, just as we would board different buses or change planes to reach a certain destination. He had come to terms with his mother’s death and accepted it, but he knew his life would never be the same. She was one of the pillars of strength that had kept him grounded in the physical world while allowing him to experience his metaphysical journey at the same time. Her support which helped him navigate his journey between his human and Lyran identity was now gone.

He had finally realized his mother’s death was a marker between the end of an old chapter and the beginning of a new one. Thus far, it had only been a journey of his awakening to the other world, which had slowly and steadily unfolded, leading him towards higher consciousness moment by moment, day by day. He was a fully realized guide of humanity, but with his mother’s death, this chapter of peace in his life was over, and now his duty had begun. Now it was time for him to realize exactly what he was meant to do. It was time for him to face all obstacles head-on and carve a path for himself and others, just as the others who had come before him had been doing for thousands upon thousands of years.

Institutions and structures weren’t for him. There was no border nor bounds that could hold him. He needed to learn his lessons from a much larger campus called the world. His knowledge could not be confined to books alone, for books are only other people’s interpretation of things – of knowledge, of life, and of experiences. He needed to observe and draw his own conclusions instead of blindly relying on others’ inferences. He knew now that he had been born to break all the taboos and shackles that society had placed on itself, and breaking shackles is never easy. The task he had been assigned by the realm of God was not an easy one.

Zeke was very sure his path would be as difficult as the ones who came before him if not more so. There was a higher calling for him, and he knew it. His call to action was drawing near, and he could feel it with each passing day. Soon he would need all he had learned because something was coming his way. He didn’t know what it would look like or when it would finally appear in front of him, but he was certain of its existence.

The only respite for him was the knowledge that this time around he wasn’t the only one treading this path. He wasn’t alone. There were other lightworkers across the globe walking a similar path, and they had not been chosen at random. Each one was a part of the Source. They all carried a piece of God’s will, like Zeke, and thus were loved unconditionally by God himself. They were his warriors, spreaders of his light, the commanders of his forces of goodness and love. They were God’s army, and Zeke was one of them. He was among the greatest of them.